A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 20

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 20

The Abolitionists of the North want McClellan removed--I hope they may have their will. The reason a.s.signed by his friends for his not advancing farther into Virginia, is that he has not troops enough, and the Secretary of War has them not to send him. I hope this may be so.

Still, I think he must fight soon if he remains near Martinsburg.

The yellow fever is worse at Wilmington. I trust it will not make its appearance here.

A resolution was adopted yesterday in the Senate, to the effect that martial law does not apply to civilians. But it _has_ been applied to them here, and both Gen. Winder and his Provost Marshal threatened to apply it to me.

Among the few measures that may be attributed to the present Secretary of War, is the introduction of the telegraph wires into his office. It may possibly be the idea of another; but it is not exactly original; and it has not been productive of good. It has now been in operation several weeks, all the way to Warrenton; and yet a few days ago the enemy's cavalry found that section of country undefended, and took Warrenton itself, capturing in that vicinity some 2000 wounded Confederates, in spite of the Secretary's expensive vigilance. Could a Yankee have been the inventor of the Secretary's plaything? One amused himself telegraphing the Secretary from Warrenton, that all was quiet there; _and that the Yankees had not made their appearance in that neighborhood, as had been rumored_! If we had imbeciles in the field, our subjugation would be only pastime for the enemy. It is well, perhaps, that Gen. Lee has razeed the department down to a second-cla.s.s bureau, of which the President himself is the chief.

I see by a correspondence of the British diplomatic agents, that their government have decided no reclamation can be made on us for burning cotton and tobacco belonging to British subjects, where there is danger that they may fall into the hands of the enemy. Thus the British government do not even claim to have their subjects in the South favored above the Southern people. But Mr. Benjamin is more liberal, and he directed the Provost Marshal to save the tobacco bought on foreign account. So far, however, _the grand speculation has failed_.

OCTOBER 3D.--Gen. Wise was countermanded in his march against Williamsburg, by Major-Gen. Gustavus W. Smith. He had 2700 men, the enemy 1500, and he would have captured and slain them all. Gen. Wise was the trusted and revered Governor of Virginia, while Smith was the Street Commissioner in New York.

A strong letter from Vice-President Stephens is published to-day, in which it is successfully maintained that no power exists, derived either from the Const.i.tution or acts of Congress, for the declaration of martial law. He says all punishments inflicted by military governors on civilians are clearly illegal.

There is a rumor that we have Louisville, but it does not seem to be authentic. We have nothing from Lee, and know not exactly where McClellan is.

Many people thought the President himself would take the field. I doubt not he would have done so if the Provisional Government had continued in existence until independence was achieved.

OCTOBER 4TH.--A splendid aurora borealis last night.

Yesterday, most of the delegation in Congress from Kentucky and Tennessee pet.i.tioned the President to order Gen. Breckinridge, at Knoxville, to march to the relief of Nashville, and expel the enemy, without waiting for orders from Gen. Bragg, now in Kentucky. The President considers this an extraordinary request, and will not, I suppose, grant it.

It is said Gen. Lee is advancing against Gen. McClellan at Martinsburg.

If Lee attacks him, and beats him, he will probably be ruined, for the Potomac will be in his rear.

The enemy's paper, printed at Nashville, thinks Bragg has taken Louisville. I hope so. I think we shall get Nashville soon.

Gen. Butler, the Yankee commander in New Orleans, has issued an order to all the inhabitants of that city, sympathizing with the Southern Confederacy, to present themselves immediately, and take the oath of allegiance, when they will be recommended for _pardon_. If they do not comply with the order, they will be arrested by his police, cast into prison, and their property confiscated. These are the orders which rally our men and make them fight like heroes. How many Yankees will bleed and die in consequence of this order? And Lincoln's Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation will seal the doom of one hundred thousand of his own people!

A letter from Gen. Lee, dated October 1st, says that McClellan has not crossed the Potomac. Some of his scouts have been at Martinsburg, or in its vicinity. It is not to be supposed that Lee can be _amused_ by McClellan, while a force of any magnitude is sent against Richmond. Some fear this, but I don't.

OCTOBER 6TH, MONDAY.--A Jew store, in Main Street, was robbed of $8000 worth of goods on Sat.u.r.day night. They were carted away. This is significant. The prejudice is very strong against the extortionists, and I apprehend there will be many scenes of violence this winter. And our own people, who ask four prices for wood and coal, may contribute to produce a new Reign of Terror. The supplies necessary for existence should not be withheld from a suffering people. It is dangerous.

There is great diversity of opinion yet as to the locality of McClellan's army and Lee's intentions.

A dispatch from Gen. Van Dorn, in West Tennessee, indicates that we are _gaining_ a victory over Rosecrans. The battle was in _progress_, not completed.

OCTOBER 7TH.--Nothing further has been heard from Corinth. A great battle is looked for in Kentucky. All is quiet in Northern Virginia.

Some 2500 Confederate prisoners arrived from the North last evening.

They are on parole, and will doubtless be exchanged soon, as we have taken at least 40,000 more of the enemy's men than they have captured of ours.

Yesterday, Congress, which has prolonged the session until the 13th instant, pa.s.sed a bill increasing the pay of soldiers four dollars per mouth. I hope they will increase _our_ pay before they adjourn. Congress also, yesterday, voted down the proposition of a _forced loan_ of one-fifth of all incomes. But the Committee of Ways and Means are instructed to bring forward another bill.

This evening Custis and I expect the arrival of my family from Raleigh, N. C. We have procured for them one pound of sugar, 80 cents; one quart of milk, 25 cents; one pound of sausage-meat, 37-1/2 cents; four loaves of bread, as large as my fist, 20 cents each; and we have a little coffee, which is selling at $2.50 per pound. In the morning, some one must go to market, else there will be short-commons. Washing is $2.50 per dozen pieces. Common soap is worth 75 cents per pound.

OCTOBER 8TH.--At last we have definite accounts of the battle of Corinth, on Friday, Sat.u.r.day, and Sunday last. We have been defeated, and fearful has been the slaughter on both sides. The enemy had overwhelming numbers. We have no particulars, further than that our army retreated. This is bad for Van Dorn and Price.

My family arrived last night, well, and pleased with the cottage, which they call Robin's Nest. But we were saddened by the loss of a trunk--the most valuable one--containing some heavy spoons, forks, and other plate, saved from the wreck at Burlington; my wife's velvet cloak, satin dress (bought in Paris), my daughter's gold watch, and many other things of value. Twelve trunks, the right number, were delivered; but one did not belong to us.

OCTOBER 9TH.--Early this morning I was at the depot. The superintendent suggested that I should send some one to Weldon in search of the trunk.

He proffered to pa.s.s him free. This was kind; but I desired first to look among the baggage at the depot, and the baggage-master was called in. Only two were unclaimed last night; but he said a gentleman had been there early in the morning looking for his trunk, who stated that by some mistake he had got the _wrong_ one last night. He said he stopped at the Exchange, and I repaired thither without delay, where I found my trunk, to the mutual joy of the traveler and myself. It was sent to the cottage, and the stranger's taken to the hotel. Had it not been for my lucky discovery, we should have had no spoons, forks, etc.

My wife has obviated one of the difficulties of the blockade, by a subst.i.tute for coffee, which I like very well. It is simply _corn meal, toasted like coffee_, and served in the same manner. It costs five or six cents per pound--coffee, $2.50.

I heard a foolish North Carolinian abusing the administration to-day. He said, among other things, that the President himself, and his family, had Northern proclivities. That the President's family, when they fled from Richmond, in May, took refuge at St. Mary's Hall, Raleigh, the establishment of the Rev. Dr. Smedes, a Northern man of open and avowed partiality for the Union; and that the Rev. Dr. Mason of the same place, with whom they were in intimate a.s.sociation, was a Northern man, and an open Unionist. That the President's aid, and late a.s.sistant Secretary of State, was an Englishman, imported from the North; Gen. Cooper, the highest in rank of any military officer, was a Northern man; Col.

Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance, was also a Northern man; Gen. Lovell, who was in the defeat at Corinth, and who had surrendered New Orleans, was from Pennsylvania; Gen. Smith, in command of Virginia and North Carolina, from New York; and Gen. Winder, commanding this metropolis, a Marylander, and his detectives strangers and aliens, who sold pa.s.sports to Lincoln's spies for $100 each. He was furious, and swore all the distresses of the people were owing to a Nero-like despotism, originating in the brain of Benjamin, the Jew, whose wife lived in Paris.

The Senate, yesterday, pa.s.sed the following resolutions, almost unanimously:

_1st. Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America_, That no officer of the Confederate Government is _by law_ empowered to vest Provost Marshals with any authority whatever over citizens of the Confederate States not belonging to the land or naval forces thereof or with general police powers and duties for the preservation of the peace and good order of any city, town, or munic.i.p.al district in any State of this Confederacy, and any such exercise of authority _is illegal and void_.

_2d. Resolved_, That no officer of the Confederate Government has const.i.tutional or other lawful authority to limit or restrict, or in any manner to control the exercise of the jurisdiction of the civil judicial tribunals of the States of this Confederacy, vested in them by the const.i.tutions and laws of the States respectively, and all orders of any such officer, tending to restrict or control or interfere with the full and normal exercise of the jurisdiction of such civil judicial tribunals _are illegal and void_.

_3d. Resolved_, That the military law of the Confederate States is, by the courts and the enactments of Congress, limited to the land and naval forces and the militia when in actual service, and to such other persons as are within the lines of any army, navy, corps, division or brigade of the army of the Confederate States.

Yesterday, the _Dispatch_ contained an article, copied from the _Philadelphia Inquirer_, stating that a certain person who had been in prison here, arrested by order of Gen. Winder, for disloyalty, and for attempting to convey information to the enemy, had succeeded in obtaining his release; and, for a _bribe_ of $100, a pa.s.sport to leave the Confederacy had been procured from Gen. Winder's alien detectives.

The pa.s.sport is printed in the Philadelphia paper, and the bearer, the narrative says, has entered the United States service.

This must have been brought to the attention of the President; for a lady, seeking a pa.s.sport to go to her son, sick and in prison in the North, told me that when she applied to Gen. Winder to-day, he said _the President had ordered him to issue no more pa.s.sports_. And subsequently several parties, government agents and others, came to me with orders from the Secretary (which I retain on file), to issue pa.s.sports for them. I hope this may be the end of Winder's reign.

A letter from Gen. Lee states that, in view of certain movements, he had, without waiting for instructions, delivered the sword, horse, etc.

of Gen. Kearney, lately killed, to his wife, who had made application for them. The _movements_ referred to we shall know more about in a few days.

Gen. Van Dorn dispatches the department that his army is safe; that he took thirteen guns and 700 prisoners. So it was not so disastrous a defeat. But the idea of charging five times his number!

OCTOBER 10TH.--Mr. Brooks called this morning to get me to draft a pa.s.sport bill, which he said he would get Congress to pa.s.s. I doubt it.

I wrote the bill, however. He says fifteen or twenty members of Congress visit his house daily. They dine with him, and drink his old whisky.

Mr. B. has a superb mansion on Clay Street, which he bought at a sacrifice. He made his money at trade. In one of the rooms Aaron Burr once dined with Chief Justice Marshall, and Marshall was a.s.sailed for it afterward by Mr. Jefferson. It was during Burr's trial, and Marshall was his judge. Mr. Wickham, who was Burr's counsel, then occupied the house, and gave a dinner party. Marshall did not know Burr was to be one of the guests. I got these facts from Mr. Foote, whom I met there the other evening.

A letter from Gen. Bragg to the President, indicates but too clearly that the people of Kentucky hesitate to risk the loss of property by joining us. Only one brigade has been recruited so far. The general says 50,000 more men are requisite. Can he have them? None!

OCTOBER 11TH.--There are rumors of Abolition gun-boats in the York and James Rivers. A battery of long range guns was sent down yesterday.

It is said that an army of raw Abolitionists, under Sigel, has marched from Alexandria toward Culpepper County. If this be so, we shall soon have more fighting, and more running, I hope. Lee keeps his own counsel--_wisely_.

OCTOBER 13TH.--Northern papers, received last night, speak of a battle at Perryville, Kentucky, on the 9th instant, in which the Abolitionists lost, by their own confession, 2000 killed and wounded, which means 10,000. They say Bragg's forces held a _portion_ of the field after the battle. If this prove not a glorious victory for our arms, I don't know how to read Abolition journals.

I see that our Congress, late on Sat.u.r.day night (they adjourn to-day), pa.s.sed an act increasing the salaries of officers and employees in the departments residing at Richmond. This will make the joint compensation of my son and myself $3000; this is not equal to $2000 a year ago. But Congress failed to make the necessary appropriation. The Secretary might use the contingent fund.

Another act authorizes the President to appoint twenty additional brigadier-generals, and a number of lieutenant-generals.

The _New York Herald_, and even the _Tribune_, are _tempting_ us to return to the Union, by promises of _protecting slavery_, and an offer of a convention to alter the Const.i.tution, giving us such guarantees of safety as we may demand. _This is significant._ We understand the sign.

Letters from Gen. Lee do not indicate an immediate purpose to retire from the Potomac; on the contrary, he has ordered Gen. Loring, if practicable, to menace Wheeling and Pennsylvania, and form a junction with him _via_ the Monongahela and Upper Potomac. But Loring does not deem it safe to move all his forces (not more than 6000) by that route; he will, however, probably send his cavalry into Pennsylvania.

And Gen. Lee does not want any more raw conscripts. They get sick immediately, and prove a burden instead of a benefit. He desires them to be kept in camps of instruction, until better _seasoned_ (a term invented by Gen. Wise) for the field.