A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 17

"Very respectfully,

"A. G. BLEDSOE,

"_a.s.st. Sec. War_."

Of course I ceased operations immediately. So large a concourse of persons now acc.u.mulated in the hall, that it was soon necessary to put up a notice that Gen. Winder would grant them pa.s.sports. But the current set back again. Gen. Winder _refused_ to issue pa.s.sports to the relatives of the sick and wounded in the camps, well knowing the generals, his superiors in rank, would not recognize his authority. He even came into the department, and tore down the notice with his own hands.

JULY 20TH.--I am back again, signing pa.s.sports to the army. But yesterday, during the _interregnum_, the Beaverdam Depot was burnt by the enemy, information of its defenseless condition having been given by a Jew peddler, who obtained no pa.s.sport from me.

JULY 21ST.--A Marylander, a lieutenant employed by Gen. Winder to guard the prisoners (the generals and other high Yankee officers), came to me to-day, with a friend who had just arrived from Baltimore, and demanded pa.s.sports to visit Drewry's Bluff, for the purpose of inspecting the defenses. I refused, fearing he might (I did not like his face) have been corrupted by his prisoners. He said very significantly that he would go in spite of me. This I reported to the a.s.sistant Adjutant-General, and also wrote a note to Gen. Wise, to examine him closely if he came within his lines.

JULY 22D.--To-day Gen. Winder came into my office in a pa.s.sion with a pa.s.sport in his hand which I had given, a week before, to Mr. Collier, of Petersburg, on the order of the a.s.sistant Secretary of War--threatening me with vengeance and the terrors of Castle G.o.dwin, his Bastile! if I granted any more pa.s.sports to Petersburg where he was military commander, that city being likewise under martial law. I simply uttered a defiance, and he departed, boiling over with rage.

JULY 23D.--To-day I received the following note from the Secretary:

"JULY 23D, 1862.

"J. B. JONES, ESQ.

"SIR:--You will not issue pa.s.sports except to persons going to the camps near Richmond.

"Pa.s.sports elsewhere will be granted by Brig.-Gen. Winder.

"Respectfully,

"GEO. W. RANDOLPH,

"_Secretary of War_."

JULY 24TH.--Already the flood-gates of treasonable intelligence flowing North seem to be thrown wide open. The Baltimore papers contain a vast amount of information concerning our condition, movements in progress, and projected enterprises. And to crown all, these rascals publish in the same papers _the pa.s.sports given them by Gen. Winder_. I doubt not they are sold by the detectives, Winder being ignorant.

JULY 25TH.--More Northern papers received to-day, containing news from the South. Most fortunately, they can know nothing reliable of what is pa.s.sing within Gen. Lee's lines. The responsibility of keeping his gates closed against spies rests in a great measure on myself, and I endeavor to keep even our own people in profound ignorance of what transpires there.

JULY 26TH.--There is a pause in the depreciation of C. S. securities.

JULY 27TH.--Gen. Lovell, it is said, will be tried by a court-martial.

The same has been said of Generals Magruder and Huger. But I doubt it.

JULY 28TH.--The Examining Board of Surgeons, established by the Secretary of War, has been abolished by order of Gen. Lee. It was the only idea of the Secretary yet developed, excepting the "handing over"

of the "whole business of pa.s.sports to Gen. Winder."

JULY 29TH.--Pope's army, greatly reinforced, are committing shocking devastations in Culpepper and Orange Counties. His brutal orders, and his bragging proclamations, have wrought our men to such a pitch of exasperation that, when the day of battle comes, there will be, must be terrible slaughter.

JULY 30TH.--Both Gen. Jackson and Gen. Stuart were in the department to-day. Their commands have preceded them, and must be near Orange C. H.

by this time. These war-worn heroes (neither of them over forty years of age) attracted much attention. Everybody wished to see them; and if they had lingered a few minutes longer in the hall, a crowd would have collected, cheering to the echo. This they avoided, transacting their business in the shortest possible s.p.a.ce of time, and then escaping observation. They have yet much work to do.

JULY 31ST.--Gen. Breckinridge has beaten the Yankees at Baton Rouge, but without result, as we have no co-operating fleet.

CHAPTER XVII.

Vicksburg sh.e.l.led.--Lee looks toward Washington.--Much manoeuvring in Orange County.--A brigade of the enemy annihilated.--McClellan flies to Washington.--Cretans.--Leo has a mighty army.--Missouri risings.-- Pope's coat and papers captured.--Cut up at Mana.s.sas.--Clothing captured of the enemy.

AUGUST 1ST.--Vicksburg has triumphantly withstood the sh.e.l.ling of the enemy's fleet of gun-boats. This proves that New Orleans might have been successfully defended, and could have been held to this day by Gen.

Lovell. So, West Point is not always the best criterion of one's fitness to command.

AUGUST 2D.--The Adjutant-General, "by order" (I suppose of the President), is annulling, one after another, all Gen. Winder's despotic orders.

AUGUST 3D.--There is a rumor that McClellan is "stealing away" from his new base! and Burnside has gone up the Rappahannock to co-operate with Pope in his "march to Richmond."

AUGUST 4TH.--Lee is making herculean efforts for an "on to Washington,"

while the enemy think he merely designs a defense of Richmond. Troops are on the move, all the way from Florida to Gordonsville.

AUGUST 5TH.--The enemy have postponed drafting, that compulsory mode of getting men being unpopular, _until after the October elections_. I hope Lee will make the most of his time, and annihilate their drilled and seasoned troops. He can put more _fighting_ men in Virginia than the enemy, during the next two months. "Now's the day, and now's the hour!"

AUGUST 6TH.--Jackson is making preparations to fight. I know the symptoms. He has made Pope believe he's afraid of him.

AUGUST 7TH.--Much incomprehensible manoeuvring is going on in Orange County.

AUGUST 8TH.--We hear of skirmishing in Orange County, and the enemy seem as familiar with the paths and fords as our own people; hence some surprises, attempted by our cavalry, have failed.

AUGUST 9TH.--Jackson and Ewell are waiting and watching. Pope will expose himself soon.

AUGUST 10TH.--Jackson struck Pope yesterday! It was a terrible blow, for the numbers engaged. Several thousand of the enemy were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. Among the latter is Gen. Prince, who arrived in this city this morning. He affected to be ignorant of Pope's brutal orders, and of the President's retaliatory order concerning the commissioned officers of Pope's army taken in battle. When Prince was informed that he and the fifty or sixty others taken with him were not to be treated as prisoners of war, but as _felons_, he vented his execrations upon Pope. They were sent into close confinement.

AUGUST 11TH.--Our killed, wounded, and captured did not amount to more than 600. We might have captured a whole brigade at one time during the battle, but _did not_. They charged our batteries, not perceiving a brigade of our own lying concealed just in the rear of the guns: so, when they advanced, shouting, to within _thirty yards_ of our troops, they rose and "let them have it." Nine-tenths of the enemy fell, and the rest were soon dispatched, before they could get away. One of their dying officers said they would have surrendered to us, if we had demanded it. He was reminded of Pope's beastly orders, and died with a horrible groan.

AUGUST 12TH.--Pope claims a victory! So did McClellan. But truth will rise, in spite of everything. I will not quote Bryant literally, because he is an enemy in this war, and falsifies his own precepts.

AUGUST 13TH.--McClellan is gone, bag and baggage, abandoning his "_base_;" to attain which, he said he had inst.i.tuted his magnificent strategic movements, resulting in an unmolested retreat from the Peninsula and flight to Washington, for the defense of his own capital.

So the truth they crushed to earth on the Chickahominy has risen again, and the Yankees, like the Cretans, are to be known henceforth as a nation of liars.

AUGUST 14TH.--Lee has gone up the country to command in person. Now let Lincoln beware, for there _is_ danger. A mighty army, such as Napoleon himself would have been proud to command, is approaching his capital.

This is the triumph Lee has been providing for, while the nations of the earth are hesitating whether or not to recognize our independence.

AUGUST 15TH.--Moved my office to an upper story of the Bank of Virginia, where the army intelligence office is located--an office that keeps a list of the sick and wounded.

AUGUST 16TH.--We have intelligence from the West of a simultaneous advance of several of our columns. This is the work of Lee. May G.o.d grant that our blows be speedy and effectual in hurling back the invader from our soil!

AUGUST 17TH.--We have also news from Missouri of indications of an uprising which will certainly clear the State of the few Federal troops remaining there. The _draft_ will accelerate the movement. And then if we get Kentucky, as I think we must, we shall add a hundred thousand to our army!

AUGUST 18TH.--From Texas, West Louisiana, and Arkansas, we shall soon have tidings. The clans are gathering, and 20,000 more, half mounted on hardy horses, will soon be marching for the _prairie_ country of the enemy. Glorious Lee! and glorious Jackson! They are destined to roll the dark clouds away from the horizon.

AUGUST 19TH.--Day and _night_ our troops are marching; they are now _beyond_ the right wing of Pope, and will soon be acc.u.mulated there in such numbers as to defy the combined forces of Pope, Burnside, and McClellan!