orts of the guns, of a damp evening.
We are sending back defiance with our guns.
The President has not taken any notice of my communication.
Mr. Benjamin is too powerful to be affected by such proofs of such small matters.
April 5
Newbern, N. C., has fallen into the hands of the enemy!
Our men, though opposed by greatly superior numbers, made a brave resistance, and killed and wounded 1000 of the invaders.
The enemy were piloted up the river to Newbern by the same Mr. Dibble to Newbern by the same Mr. Dibble to whom I refused a passport, but to whom the Secretary of War granted one.
The press everywhere is commenting on the case of Dibble-but Mordecai still sits at the gate.
April 6
Two spies (Lincoln's detective police) have been arrested here, tried by court-martial, and condemned to be hung.
There is an awful silence among the Baltimore detectives, which bodes no harm to the condemned.
They will not be executed, though guilty.
April 7
R. G. H. Kean, a young man, and a connection
oldsborough, and the news from North Carolina seems vague and unsatisfactory.
They say we beat the enemy at Kinston; yet they have destroyed a portion of the railroad between Goldsborough and Wilmington.
They say the Federals are retreating on Newbern; yet we know they made 500 of our men prisoners after they crossed the Neuse.
It is reported that our loss is small, and the enemy's large; and that our 3000 men fought successfully their 18,000.
However, we have sent some 15,000 reinforcementof Lincoln.
Well, if we gain our independence, instead of being the vassals of the Yankees, we shall find all our wealth in the hands of the Jews.
The accounts from North Carolina are still conflicting.
It is said the enemy have retired to Newbern; but still we have no letters beyond Goldsborough.
From Raleigh we learn that the legislature have postponed the army bill until the 20th of January.
December 23
The battle of Fredericksburg is still the topic, or the wonder, and it trans
e 20,000 of his men by discharges, transfers, and details.
Nothing but his generalship and the heroism of his men saved us from ruin.
The disasters of Donelson, Newbern, Nashville, Memphis, Roanoke, New Orleans, Norfolk, etc. may be traced to the same source.
But all new governments have been afflicted by a few evil-disposed leaf the land — and I ask it, knowing the request will never be known by them until the war is over.
January 8
Gen. French writes that the enemy at Suffolk and Newbern amounted to 45,000; and this force now threatens Weldon and Wilmington, and we have not more than 14,000 to oppose them.
With generalship that should suffice.
armies regarding his Emancipation Proclamation.
And it is likely he has met with grave losses at sea, for the invading army in North Carolina has retired back on Newbern.
But the season for naval enterprises is not over, and we are prepared to expect some heavy blows before April.
The revelations in the intercepted dispatches
communicated, he has observed, soon becomes the topic of public conversation; and thence is soon made known to the enemy.
The iron-clad gun-boat, which got past Vicksburg, has been up the Red River spreading devastation.
It has taken three of our steamers, forty officers on one, and captured large amounts of stores and cotton.
Gen. Wise made a dash into Williamsburg last night, and captured the place, taking some prisoners.
Custis (my son) received a letter to-day from Miss G., Newbern, via underground railroad, inclosing another for her sweet-heart in the army.
She says they are getting on tolerably well in the hands of the enemy, though the slaves have been emancipated.
She says a Yankee preacher (whom she calls a white-washed negro) made a speculation. He read the Lincoln Proclamation to the negroes: and then announced that none of them had been legally married, and might be liable to prosecution.
To obviate this, he proposed to marry them over, charging only a dol
wed exertions.
It is a dark hour.
But God disposes.
If we deserve it, we shall triumph; if not, why should we?
But we cannot fail without more great battles; and who knows what results may be evolved by them?
Gen. Lee is hopeful; and so long as we keep the field, and he commands, the foe must bleed for every acre of soil they gain.
March 15
Another cold, disagreeable day. March so far has been as cold and terrible as a winter month.
March 16
Gen. Hill is moving toward Newbern, N. C., and may attack the enemy there.
The weather continues dreadful-sleeting; and movements of armies must perforce be stayed.
But the season of slaughter is approaching.
There was an ominous scantiness of supply in the market this morning, and the prices beyond most persons — mine among the rest.
Col. Lay got turkeys to-day from Raleigh; on Saturday partridges, by the Express Company.
Fortunate man!
March 17
On Saturday, the enemy's lower Mississippi fleet attacked our b
I learn, to-day, that the remaining eye of the President is failing.
Total blindness would incapacitate him for the executive office.
A fearful thing to contemplate!
April 17
From the Northern papers we learn that the defeat at Charleston is called by the enemy a reconnoissance.
This causes us much merriment here; McClellan's defeat was called a strategical movement, and change of base.
We have some rumors to-day, to the effect that Gen. Hill is likely to take Washington and Newbern, N. C.; Gen. Longstreet, Suffolk; and Gen. Wise, Fort Magruder, and the Peninsula-he has not troops enough.
Gold advanced 7 per cent. in New York when the news of the reconnoissance reached that city.
We are planting almost every acre in grain, to the exclusion of cotton and tobacco-resolved never to be starved, nor even feel a scarcity of provisions in future.
We shall be cutting wheat in another month in Alabama and other States.
Among the other rumors, it is said Hooker is falli
cisive must occur there soon, and I hope something calamitous to the enemy.
The President and the cabinet have been in council nearly all day. Can they have intelligence from the West, not yet communicated to the public?
We learn from Newbern, N. C., that gray-haired old men, women, and children, who refused to take the oath of allegiance, have been driven from their homes, on foot, despoiled of their property.
Among these I see the names of the Misses Custis, cousins of my wife.
Gen. , but he will attach no importance to it.
Among the papers sent in by the President, to-day, was a communication from Gov. Vance, of North Carolina, inclosing a letter from Augustus S. Montgomery, of Washington City, to Major-Gen. Foster, Newbern, N. C., found in a steamer, captured the other day by our forces, in Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.
It informed Gen. F. that a plan of servile insurrection had been adopted, and urged his co-operation.
All the Yankee generals in the South would
were ready to die-but would never surrender.
This was followed by another assault, in which the enemy lost great numbers, and were repulsed — as they have been in every subsequent attempt to take the town.
A letter from our agent in London says H. O. Brewer, of Mobile, advanced £10,000 in March last, to buy a steamer for the use of the Confederate States.
Gen. Whiting writes from Wilmington, that a captured mail furnishes the intelligence that the enemy have thirty-one regiments at Newbern, and he apprehends they will cut the railroad at Goldsborough, as we have but two small brigades to resist them.
Then they may march against Wilmington, where he has not now sufficient forces to man his batteries.
The general says he is quite sure that individual blockade-runners inform the enemy of our defenseless points, and inflict incalculable injury.
He desires the Secretary to lay his letter before the President.
A circular from the Bureau of Conscription to the commandants of
en, besides capturing another gun-boat Thus the campaign of 1864 opens auspiciously.
And Gen. Early has beaten the foe in Hardy County, Northwest Virginia, capturing, it is said, some 800.
It is supposed that Gen. Pickett will push on to Newbern, and probably capture the town.
At all events we shall get large supplies from the tide-water counties of North Carolina. General Lee planned the enterprise, sending some 15,000 men on the expedition.
Yesterday the Senate Committee reportedThis will cover all their cousins, nephews, and pets, and exclude many young men whose refugee mothers and sisters are dependent on their salaries for subsistence.
Such is the unvarying history of public functionaries.
Gen. Pickett, finding Newbern impregnable, has fallen back, getting off his prisoners, etc. But more troops are going to North Carolina.
Sunday, February 7
The tocsin is sounding at 9 A. M. It appears that Gen. Butler is marching up the Peninsula (I have not heard the
ms ruin to the finances unless they speedily achieve success in the field?
I think he must fight; and I am sure he will be beaten, for Lee's strength is probably underestimated.
We are also looking to hear more news from North Carolina; and Newbern will probably be stormed next, since storming is now the order of the day.
April 24
Cloudy and windy, but warm.
We have none of the details yet of the storming of Plymouth, except the brief dispatches in the newspapers; nor any reliabuld be cheap at that price!
April 29
A letter from Major-Gen. Hoke, dated Plymouth, April 25th, and asking the appointment of Lieut.-Col. Dearing to a brigadiership, says his promotion is desired to lead a brigade in the expedition against Newbern.
The President directs the Secretary to appoint him temporarily for the expedition.
Soon we shall know the result.
By flag of truce boat, it is understood Northern papers admit a Federal defeat on the Red River, the storming of Plymouth, e
