A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 126

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 126

Mr. Hunter had his accustomed interview with Judge Campbell this morning in quest of news, and relating to his horoscope. His face is not plump and round yet.

A Mr. Lehman, a burly Jew, about thirty-five years old, got a pa.s.sport to-day on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, to arrange (as agent, no doubt) for the shipment of several thousand bales of cotton, for which sterling funds are to be paid. No doubt it is important to keep the government cotton out of the hands of the enemy; and this operation seems to indicate that some fear of its loss exists.

Some 40,000 bushels of corn, etc. were consumed at Charlotte, N. C., the other day. A heavy loss! Both the army and the people will feel it.

There seems already to exist the preliminary symptoms of panic and anarchy in the government. All the dignitaries wear gloomy faces; and this is a gloomy day--raining incessantly. A blue day--a miserable day!

The city council put up the price of gas yesterday to $50 per 1000 feet.

JANUARY 11TH.--Clear and pleasant. Cannon heard down the river.

Mr. E. A. Pollard, taken by the Federals in an attempt to run the blockade last spring, has returned, and reports that Gen. Butler has been relieved of his command--probably for his failure to capture Wilmington. Mr. Pollard says that during his captivity he was permitted, on parole, to visit the Northern cities, and he thinks the Northern conscription will ruin the war party.

But, alas! the lax policy inaugurated by Mr. Benjamin, and continued by every succeeding Secretary of War, enables the enemy to obtain information of all our troubles and all our vulnerable points. The United States can get recruits under the conviction that there will be little or no more fighting.

Some $40,000 worth of provisions, belonging to speculators, but marked for a naval bureau and the Mining and Niter Bureau, have been seized at Danville. This is well--if it be not too late.

A letter from Mr. Trenholm, Secretary of the Treasury, to Mr. Wagner, Charleston, S. C. (sent over for approval), appoints him agent to proceed to Augusta, etc., with authority to buy all the cotton for the government, at $1 to $1.25 per pound; and then sell it for sterling bills of exchange to certain parties, giving them permission _to remove it within the enemy's lines_; or "better still," to have it shipped abroad on government account by _reliable_ parties. This indicates a purpose to die "full-handed," if the government _must_ die, and to defeat the plans of the enemy to get the cotton. Is the Federal _Government_ a party to this arrangement? Gold was $60 for one yesterday. I suppose there is no change to-day.

Judge Campbell, a.s.sistant Secretary, returned to his room to-day, mine not suiting him.

Col. Sale, Gen. Bragg's military secretary, told me to-day that the general would probably return from Wilmington soon. His plan for filling the ranks by renovating the whole conscription system, will, he fears, slumber until it is too late, when ruin will overtake us! If the President would only put Bragg at the head of the conscription business--_and in time_--we might be saved.

JANUARY 12TH.--Bright and frosty. Gold at $66 for one yesterday, at auction.

Major R. J. Echols, Quartermaster, Charlotte, N. C., says the fire there destroyed 70,000 bushels of grain, a large amount of sugar, mola.s.ses, clothing, blankets, etc. He knows not whether it was the result of design or accident. All his papers were consumed. A part of Conner's brigade on the way to South Carolina, 500 men, under Lieut.-Col.

Wallace, refused to aid in saving property, but plundered it! This proves that the soldiers were all poor men, the rich having bought exemptions or details!

Gen. Lee writes on the 8th instant, that the troops sailing out of James River are, he thinks, destined for another attack on Wilmington. But none have left the lines in front of him, etc.

Gen. Lee also writes on the 9th instant, that the commissary agents have established "a large traffic through our lines, in North Carolina, for supplies;" and he desires the press to say nothing on the subject.

Mr. Ould, to whom it appears the Secretary has written for his opinion (he was editor once, and fought a duel with Jennings Wise, Mr. Seddon being his second), gives a very bad one on the condition of affairs. He says the people have confidence in Mr. _Seddon_, but not in President _Davis_, and a strong reconstruction party will spring up in Virginia rather than adopt the President's ideas about the slaves, etc.

The Chief of the Treasury Note Bureau, at Columbia, S. C., asks where he shall fly to if the enemy approaches. It is understood one of our generals, when appealed to by the Secretary, exclaimed: "To the devil!"

Mr. Miles introduced a resolution yesterday (in Congress) affirming that for any State to negotiate peace is _revolutionary_. _Ill timed, because self-evident._

Gen. Bradley T. Johnson writes from Salisbury, N. C., that because the travel hither has been suspended by the government, the Central Railroad Company of that State _refuse_ to send the full amount of trains for the transportation of soldiers. It must be impressed too.

I am a.s.sured by one of the President's special detectives that Francis P. Blair, Sr. is truly in this city. What for? A rumor spreads that Richmond is to be evacuated.

Gen. Lee writes for the Secretary's sanction to send officers everywhere in Virginia and North Carolina, to collect provisions and to control railroads, etc. The Secretary is sending orders to different commanders, and says _he_ would rather have the odium than that it should fall on Lee! The Commissary General approves Lee's measure.

Gen. Lee's dispatch was dated last night. He says he has not _two days'_ rations for his army!

Commissary-General Northrop writes to the Secretary that the hour of emergency is upon us, and that Gen. Lee's name may "save the cause," if he proclaims the necessity of indiscriminate impressment, etc.

JANUARY 13TH.--Clear and pleasant--but little frost. Beef (what little there is in market) sells to-day at $6 per pound; meal, $80 per bushel; white beans, $5 per quart, or $160 per bushel. And yet Congress is fiddling over stupid abstractions!

The government will awake speedily, however; and after Congress hurries through its business (when roused), the adjournment of that body will speedily ensue. But will the President dismiss his cabinet in time to save Richmond, Virginia, and the cause? That is the question. He can easily manage Congress, by a few letters from Gen. Lee. But will the potency of his cabinet feed Lee's army?

A great panic still prevails in the city, arising from rumors of contemplated evacuation. If it should be evacuated, the greater portion of the inhabitants will remain, besides many of the employees of government and others liable to military service, unless they be forced away. But how can they be fed? The government cannot feed, sufficiently, the men already in the field.

Everybody is conjecturing what Mr. Blair has proposed; but no one expects relief from his mission, if indeed he be clothed with diplomatic powers--which I doubt.

The President, I believe, is calm, relying upon the loyalty of his cabinet. But he is aware of the crisis; and I think his great reliance is on Gen. Lee, and herein he agrees with the people. What will be the issue of the present exigency, G.o.d only knows!

I believe there is a project on foot to borrow flour, etc. from citizens for Gen. Lee's army. Many officers and men from the army are in the city to-day, confirming the reports of suffering for food in the field.

There is a rumor that Goldsborough has been taken.

Mr. Secretary Seddon is appointing men in the various districts of the city to hunt up speculators and flour; appointing such men as W. H.

McFarland and others, who aspire to office by the suffrages of the people. _They_ will not offend the speculators and h.o.a.rders by taking much flour from them. No--domiciliary visits with _bayonets_ alone will suffice.

Of thirty Federal deserters sent to work on the fortifications of Lynchburg, all but four ran away.

It is understood that the President announced to Congress to-day the arrest of the Hon. H. S. Foote, member of that body, near Fredericksburg, while attempting to pa.s.s into the enemy's lines. This, then, may have been Capt. Norton's secret mission; and I believe the government had traps set for him at other places of egress. Meantime the enemy _came in_ at Savannah. This is considered the President's foible--a triumph over a political or personal enemy will occupy his attention and afford more delight than an ordinary victory over the common enemy. Most men will say Mr. Foote should have been permitted to go--if he desired it.

JANUARY 14TH.--Cloudy and cool. The news that Goldsborough, N. C., had been taken is not confirmed. Nor have we intelligence of the renewal of the a.s.sault on Fort Fisher--but no one doubts it.

The government sent pork, butchered and salted a few weeks ago, to the army. An order has been issued to borrow, buy, or impress flour, wherever found; but our _political_ functionaries will see that it be not executed. The rich h.o.a.rders may control votes hereafter, when they may be candidates, etc. If domiciliary visits were made, many thousands of barrels of flour would be found. The speculators have not only escaped hitherto, but they have been exempted besides.

The a.s.sembly of Virginia pa.s.sed a resolution yesterday, calling upon the President to have revoked any orders placing restrictions upon the transportation of provisions to Richmond and Petersburg. The President sends this to the Secretary, asking a copy of any orders _preventing carts from coming to market_.

Flour is $1000 per barrel to-day!

F. P. Blair, Sr., has been here several days, the guest of Mr. Ould, agent of exchange. He left this morning for Grant's lines below the city. I saw him in an open carriage with Mr. Ould, going down Main Street. He looks no _older_ than he did twenty years ago. Many consider Ould a fortunate man, though he is represented as a loser in the war.

Blair seemed struck by the great number of able-bodied men in the streets.

Major Maynard, Quartermaster, says he will be able next week to bring 120 cords of wood to the city daily.

If Richmond be relinquished, it ought to be by convention and capitulation, getting the best possible terms for the citizens; and not by evacuation, leaving them at the mercy of the invaders. Will our authorities think of this? Doubtful.

One of the President's pages told me to-day that Mr. Blair had several interviews with the President at the latter's residence. Nothing relating to _propositions_ has transpired.

The clerks are again sending out agents to purchase supplies. The President has decided that such agents have no right to expend any money but that contributed. This. .h.i.ts the a.s.sistant Secretary of War, and Mr.

Kean, Chief of Bureau, and our agent, Mr. Peck, for whom so many barrels of flour were purchased by the latter as agent, leaving the greater part of the contribution unexpended; nay, more, the money has not _yet_ been refunded, although contributed five months ago!

Some 700 barrels of flour were realized yesterday for the army.

JANUARY 15TH.--Clear and frosty. Guns heard down the river.

Dispatches came last night for ammunition--to Wilmington, I believe. We have nothing yet decisive from Fort Fisher, but I fear it will fall.

Mr. Hunter was in the Secretary's office this morning before the Secretary came. I could give him no news from Wilmington. He is much distressed; but if the enemy prevails, I have no doubt he will stipulate saving terms for Virginia. He cannot contemplate the ruin of his fortune; political ruin is quite as much as he can bear. Always at the elbow of the Secretary, he will have timely notice of any fatal disaster. He is too fat to run, too heavy to swim, and therefore must provide some other means of escape.

Last night and early this morning the Jews and others were busy, with hand-carts and wheelbarrows, removing barrels of flour from the center to the outskirts of the city, fearful of impressment. They need not fear.

I have enough flour, meal, and beans (black) to subsist my family two weeks. After that, I look to the kind Providence which has. .h.i.therto always fed us.