A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 60

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 60

SEPTEMBER 4TH.--There is a rumor that Gen. Lee (who is still here) is to take the most of his army out of Virginia, to recapture the Southern territory lost by Loring, Pemberton, and Bragg. I doubt this; for it might involve the loss of Richmond, and indeed of the whole State of Virginia. It would be a sad blow to the extortionate farmers, it is true; but we cannot afford to lose the whole country, and sacrifice the cause, to punish the speculators. It may be, however, that this is a _ruse_, and if so, Lee is preparing for another northern campaign.

The project of the Hon. Mr. Boteler to place Rains's subterra sh.e.l.ls under the Orange and Alexandria Railroad used by the enemy, was referred by the Secretary to Col. J. Gorgas, the Northern Chief of Ordnance, who says he can furnish the sh.e.l.ls, but advises _against the use of them_, as they will "only irritate the enemy, and not intimidate them." For this presumptuous advice, which was entirely gratuitous, I do not learn that the Secretary has rebuked him.

Letters from Western North Carolina show that the defection is spreading. In Wilkes County, Gideon Smoot is the commander of the insurgents, and has raised the United States flag. I have not learned, yet, whether Lieut.-Col. Lay, of the Bureau of Conscription, reached that far; and I was amazed when the good nature of Col. Preston yielded to his solicitations to go thither. What possible good could he, a Virginian, and formerly an aid of Gen. Scott, effect in that quarter?

SEPTEMBER 5TH.--It is believed that Lee, with a large portion of his army, will proceed immediately to Tennessee against Rosecrans; and it is ascertained that Meade is sending reinforcements thither. But I fear for Virginia when Lee is away! Meade must have a large army left behind, else he would not send reinforcements to Rosecrans. This move will excite the fear of the extortionate farmers, at all events, and make them willing to sell their surplus produce. But if Richmond should fall, and the State be overrun, it is possible it would secede from the Confederacy, which would be a virtual dissolution of it. She would then form alliances with other Southern States on a new basis, and create a new provisional government, and postpone the formation of a permanent one until independence be achieved. However, I am incredulous about the abandonment of Virginia.

Meantime, I hope France will intervene, and that Mexico will recognize the independence of the Southern Government.

Another letter from Hon. Mr. Miles, of Charleston, in reply, as it seems, to a pretty severe rebuke by the Secretary of War, for asking Jenkins's brigade of South Carolinians for the defense of South Carolina, was received to-day. Knowing the honorable gentleman's intimate relations with Beauregard, the Secretary criticises the conduct of the general in permitting the enemy to establish himself on the lower end of Morris Island--allowing a grove to remain, concealing the erection of batteries, etc. etc. Mr. Miles in reply a.s.serts the fact that Gen. B. did the utmost that could be accomplished with the force and means left at his disposal by the government; and that the grove would have been felled, if he had been authorized to impress labor, etc.

It is sad to read these criminations and recriminations at such a time as this; but every Secretary of War is apt to come in conflict with Beauregard.

Gen. Whiting asks, as second in command, Brig.-Gen. Herbert, and reiterates his demand for troops, else Wilmington will be lost. This letter came open--having been broken on the way. If a spy did it, which is probable, the army will soon learn what an easy conquest awaits them.

Mr. C. C. Thayer, clerk in the Treasury Department, leaves on the 9th, with $15,000,000 for the trans-Mississippi Department; another clerk has already gone with $10,000,000.

After all, I am inclined to think our papers have been lying about the barbarous conduct of the enemy. A letter was received to-day from C. N.

Hubbard, a respectable farmer of James City County, stating that when Gen. Keyes came up the Peninsula about the 1st of July, he sent guards for the protection of the property of the people living along the line of march; and they remained, faithfully performing that duty, until the army retired. Mr. H. complains that these guards were made prisoners by our troops, and, if exchanges be demanded for them, he fears the next time the hostile army approaches Richmond, their request for a guard will be refused. What answer the Secretary will make to this, I have no means of conjecturing; but Mr. Hubbard recommends him to come to some understanding with the enemy for the mutual protection of the persons and property of non-combating civilians; and he desires an answer directed to the care of Col. Shingler, who, indeed, captured the guard.

The Secretary consented to the exchange.

SEPTEMBER 6TH.--Northern papers received yesterday evening contain a letter from Mr. Lincoln to the Illinois Convention of Republicans, in which I am told (I have not seen it yet) he says if the Southern people will first lay down their arms, he will then listen to what they may have to say. Evidently he has been reading of the submission of Jack Cade's followers, who were required to signify their submission with ropes about their necks.

This morning I saw dispatches from Atlanta, Ga., stating that in one of the northern counties the deserters and tories had defeated the Home Guard which attempted to arrest them. In Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia, we have accounts of much and growing defection, and the embodying of large numbers of deserters. Indeed, all our armies seem to be melting away by desertion faster than they are enlarged by conscription. They will return when there is fighting to do!

A letter from Col. Lay, dated North Carolina, to the Chief of the Bureau of Conscription, recommends the promotion of a lieutenant to a captaincy. The colonel is _great_ in operations of this nature; and Col.

Preston is sufficiently good natured to recommend the recommendation to the Secretary of War, who, good easy man, will not inquire into his age, etc.

Gold is worth from 1000 to 1500 per cent. premium; and yet one who has gold can buy supplies of anything, by first converting it into Confederate notes at low prices. For instance, coal at $30 is really bought for $3 per load. A fine horse at $1000 for $100. Bacon, at $2 per pound is only 20 cents; boots at $100 is only $10, and so on.

Thank Heaven! the little furniture, etc. we now have is our own--costing less to buy it than the rent we paid for that belonging to others up to the beginning of the month. A history of the household goods we possess would, no doubt, if it could be written, be interesting to haberdashers.

I think we have articles belonging in their time to twenty families.

The following list of prices is cut from yesterday's paper:

"_Produce, provisions, etc._--Apples, $30 to $35 per barrel; bacon is firm at $2 to $2.10 for hoground. b.u.t.ter is advancing; we quote at $2.50 to $3 by the package. Cheese has advanced, and now sells at $1.50 to $2 per pound; corn, $8 to $9 per bushel; corn-meal, $9 per bushel, in better supply. Flour, at the Gallego Mills, new superfine, uninspected, is sold at $25 per barrel; at commission houses and in second hands, the price of new superfine is from $35 to $40; onions, $40 to $50 per barrel; Irish potatoes, $5 to $6 per bushel, according to quality; oats firm at $6 per bushel. Wheat--the supply coming in is quite limited. The millers refuse to compete with the government, and are consequently paying $5 per bushel. It is intimated, however, that outside parties are buying on speculation at $6 to $6.50, taking the risk of impressment.

Lard, $1.70 to $1.75 per pound; eggs, $1.25 to $1.50 per dozen; seeds, timothy, $8 to $10; clover, $40 to $45 per bushel.

"_Groceries._--Sugars: the market is active; we hear of sales of prime brown at $2 to $2.15; coffee, $4.25 to $4.75 per pound; mola.s.ses, $15 per gallon; rice, 25 cents per pound; salt, 45 cents per pound; soap, 50 cents to 80 cents, as to quality; candles, $2.75 to $3 per pound.

"_Liquors._--We quote corn whisky at $20 to $25 per gallon; rye whisky, $38 to $40, according to quality; apple brandy, $25 to $30; rum, $28 per gallon."

SEPTEMBER 7TH.--Batteries Wagner and Gregg and Fort Sumter have been evacuated! But this is not _yet_ the capture of Charleston. Gen.

Beauregard telegraphed yesterday that he was preparing (after thirty-six hours' incessant bombardment) to evacuate Morris Island; which was done, I suppose, last night. He feared the loss of the garrisons, if he delayed longer; and he said Sumter was silenced. Well, it is understood the great Blakely is in position on Charleston wharf. If the enemy have no knowledge of its presence, perhaps we shall soon have reports from it.

Gen. Lee, it is said, takes _two corps d'armee_ to Tennessee, leaving _one_ in Virginia. But this can be swelled to 50,000 men by the militia, conscripts, etc., which ought to enable us to stand a protracted _siege_, provided we can get subsistence. Fortune is against us now.

Lieut.-Col. Lay reports great defection in North Carolina, and even says half of _Raleigh_ is against "the Davis Government."

The Secretary of War has called upon the Governor _for all the available slave labor in the State, to work on the defenses, etc._

The United States flag of truce boat came up to City Point last night, _bringing no prisoners_, and nothing else except some dispatches, the nature of which has not yet transpired.

SEPTEMBER 8TH.--We have nothing further from Charleston, to-day, except that the enemy is not yet in possession of Sumter.

Mr. Seddon, Secretary of War, said to Mr. Lyons, M. C., yesterday, that he had heard nothing of Gen. Lee's orders to march a portion of his army to Tennessee. That may be very true; but, nevertheless, 18,000 of Lee's troops (a corps) is already marching thitherward.

A report on the condition of the military prisons, sent in to-day, shows that there is no typhoid fever, or many cases of other diseases, among the prisoners of war. Everything is kept in cleanliness about them, and they have abundance of food, wholesome and palatable. The prisoners themselves admit these facts, and denounce their own government for the treatment alleged to be inflicted on our men confined at Fort Delaware and other places.

An extra session of the legislature is now sitting. The Governor's message is defiant, as no terms are offered; but he denounces as unjust the apportionment of slaves, in several of the counties, to be impressed to work on the defenses, etc.

SEPTEMBER 9TH.--Troops were arriving all night and to-day (Hood's division), and are proceeding Southward, per railroad, it is said for Tennessee, via Georgia Road. It may be deemed impracticable to send troops by the western route, as the enemy possesses the Knoxville Road.

The weather is excessively dry and dusty again.

Gen. Jos. E. Johnston, Morton, Miss., writes that such is the facility of giving information to the enemy, that it is impossible to keep up a ferry at any point on the Mississippi; but he will be able to keep up communications, by trusty messengers with small parcels, with Lieut.-Gen. E. Kirby Smith's trans-Mississippi Department. He says if he had another cavalry brigade, he could make the navigation too dangerous for merchant steamers between Grand Gulf and Natchez.

Two letters were received to-day from privates in North Carolina regiments, demanding to be transferred to artillery companies in the forts of North Carolina, or else they would _serve no more_. This is very reckless!

Ordnance officer J. Brice transmitted to the Secretary to-day, through the Ordnance Bureau, an OFFICIAL account of the ammunition, etc. at Vicksburg during the siege and at the evacuation. He says all the ordnance stores at Jackson were hastily removed to Vicksburg, and of which he was unable, in the confusion, to get an accurate account, although he accompanied it. He detained and held 9000 arms destined for the trans-Mississippi Department, and issued 120 rounds to each man in the army, before the battle of Baker's Creek. Much _ammunition_ was destroyed on the battle-field, by order of Gen. Pemberton, to keep it, as he alleged, from falling into the hands of the enemy. During the siege, he got 250,000 percussion caps from Gen. Johnston's scouts, and 150,000 _from the enemy's pickets_, for a _consideration_. There was abundance of powder. The ammunition and small arms turned over to the enemy, on the surrender, consisted as follows: 36,000 cartridges for Belgian rifles; 3600 Brunswick cartridges; 75,000 rounds British rifled muskets; 9000 shot-gun cartridges; 1300 Maynard cartridges; 5000 Hall's carbine cartridges; 1200 holster pistol cartridges; 35,000 percussion caps; 19,000 pounds of cannon powder.

All this was in the ordnance depots, and exclusive of that in the hands of the troops and in the ordnance wagons, doubtless a large amount. He says 8000 defective arms were destroyed by fires during the bombardment.

The troops delivered to the enemy, on marching out, 27,000 arms.

The Governor demanded the State magazine to-day of the War Department, in whose custody it has been for a long time. What does this mean? The Governor says the State has urgent use for it.

Gen. Cooper visited the President _twice_ to-day, the Secretary not _once_. The _Enquirer_, yesterday, attacked and ridiculed the Secretary of War on his pa.s.sport system in Richmond.

The Northern papers contain the following letter from President Lincoln to Gen. Grant:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION,

"WASHINGTON, July 13th, 1863.

"MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT.

"MY DEAR GENERAL:--I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg I thought you should do what you finally did--march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pa.s.s expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen.

Banks; and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. A. LINCOLN."

If Pemberton had acted differently, if the movement northward had been followed by disaster, then what would Mr. Lincoln have written to Grant?

Success is the only standard of merit in a general.

SEPTEMBER 10TH.--A Mr. J. C. Jones has addressed a letter to the President asking permission to run the blockade to confer with Mr.

Bates, of President Lincoln's cabinet, on terms of peace, with, I believe, authority to a.s.sure him that none of the Northwestern States, or any other free States, will be admitted into the Confederacy. Mr. J.

says he has been on intimate terms with Mr. B., and has conceived the idea that the United States would cease the war, and acknowledge the independence of the South, if it were not for the apprehension of the Northwestern States seceding from the Union. If his request be not granted, he intends to enter the army immediately. He is a refugee from Missouri. He a.s.sures the President he is his friend, and that a "concentration of power" in his hands is essential, etc. The President refers this paper, with a gracious indors.e.m.e.nt, to the Secretary of War, recommending him either to see Mr. Jones, or else to inst.i.tute inquiries, etc.

S. Wyatt, Augusta, Ga., writes in favor of appeals to the patriotism of the people to counteract what Mr. Toombs has done. What has he done? But he advises the President, to whom he professes to be very friendly, to order a discontinuance of seizures, etc.

A. Cohen (Jew name), purser of the blockade-running steamer "Arabia" at Wilmington, has submitted a notable scheme to Gen. Winder, who submits it to the Secretary of War, establishing a police agency at _Na.s.sau_.

Gen. W. to send some of his detectives thither to examine persons coming into the Confederate States, and if found "all right," to give them pa.s.sports. It was only yesterday that a letter was received from Gen.