MONDAY 15
It seems pretty probable that “Sumpter” is taken but I think that we cannot rely entirely upon the news. There seems to be a great war spirit up throughout the Country. Washington will soon be a great Military Camp. My wife is not so much frightened today. I think we will not hurry in getting the family off. It has rained some today, and it [is] threatening a storm tonight. Applicants for office are less pertinacious than they were and many have left for their homes. I was down at Willards. The same crowd seems to be there still.
The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of Congress.