A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital Part 134

The Senate pa.s.sed a bill yesterday abolis.h.i.+ng the Bureau of Conscription, and I think it will pa.s.s the House. The President ought to have abolished it months ago--years ago. It may be too late.

Col. St. John, Chief Mining and Niter Bureau, has been nominated as the new Commissary-General.

FEBRUARY 16TH.--Cloudy; rained yesterday and last night.

We have no important news from South Carolina, except the falling back toward Columbia of our troops; I suppose before superior numbers.

Branchville is evacuated.

The roads will not admit of much movement in the field for some days.

But pretty heavy cannonading is heard down the river.

Congress did nothing yesterday; it is supposed, however, that the bill recruiting negro troops will pa.s.s--I fear when it is too late.

Meantime the President is as busy as a bee making appointments and promotions, and many meritorious men are offended, supposing themselves to be overslaughed or neglected.

The published letter taking leave of Mr. Secretary Seddon rasps Congress severely, and is full of professions of esteem, etc. for the retiring Secretary. The members of Congress reply with acrimony.

The quartermaster at Charlotte, N. C., dispatches the Secretary of War that he has there some millions in specie, government funds, besides specie of the banks for safe keeping. He also desires the removal of the "Foreign Legion" there, paroled prisoners taken from the enemy and enlisting in our service. They are committing robberies, etc.

I saw Gen. Lee at the department again this morning. He seems vigorous, his face quite red, and very cheerful. He was in gray uniform, with a blue cloth cape over his shoulders.

Exchange of prisoners has been resumed, and many of our men are returning from captivity. Gen. Grant has the matter under his control.

Gen. Pillow has been appointed commander of prisons in place of Gen.

Winder, deceased.

Only 4-5/8 pounds bacon were issued as meat ration to detailed men this month.

I learn that some 2000 of our men, confined at Point Lookout, Md., as prisoners of war, during the last two months, offered to take the oath of allegiance, which was refused, because it would reduce the number to exchange.

By the last flag of truce boat a negro slave returned. His master took the oath, the slave _refused_. He says "Ma.s.sa had no principles."

FEBRUARY 17TH.--Frosty morning, after a rain last night.

We have no authentic war news this morning, from any quarter.

Congress is at work in both Houses on the Negro bill. It will pa.s.s, of course, without some unforeseen obstacle is interposed.

A letter from Gen. Lee to Gen. Wise is published, thanking the latter's brigade for resolutions recently adopted, declaring that they would consent to gradual emanc.i.p.ation for the sake of independence and peace.

This is a strong indication (confirmatory) that Gen. Lee is an emanc.i.p.ationist. From all the signs slavery is doomed! But if 200,000 negro recruits can be made to fight, and can be enlisted, Gen. Lee may maintain the war very easily and successfully; and the powers at Was.h.i.+ngton may soon become disposed to abate the hard terms of peace now exacted.

How our fancies paint the scenes of peace now which were never appreciated before! Sitting by our cheerless fires, we summon up countless blessings that we could enjoy, if this war were only over. We plan and imagine many things that would be bliss to us in comparison with the privations we suffer. Oh, what fine _eating_ and comfortable _clothes_ we shall have when we enjoy another season of repose! We will hunt, we will "go fis.h.i.+ng," we will cultivate nice gardens, etc. Oh for peace once more! Will this generation, with their eyes open, and their memories fresh, ever, ever go to war again?

There is a _dark_ rumor that Columbia, S. C., has been taken possession of by the enemy; but I hardly believe it, for Gen. Beauregard would fight for it.

Gen. Beauregard telegraphs from Columbia, S. C., _yesterday_, that Gen.

Pillow proposes to gather troops west of that point, and Gen. B.

approves it. The President hesitates, and refers to _Gen. Cooper_, etc.

Eleven o'clock A.M. Raining again; wind east.

Mr. Hunter looks rather cadaverous to-day; he does not call on the new Secretary often. Gen. B. is a formidable rival for the _succession_--if there should be such a thing.

To-day my son Thomas drew his rations. I have also had another load of coal from Lieut. Parker, C. S. N., out of his contract, at $30, a saving of nearly $100! that will take us through the winter and spring. We also bought another bushel of black beans at $65.

Alas! we have news now of the capture of Columbia, S. C., the capital of the State. A dark day, truly! And only this morning--not three short hours ago--the President hesitated to second Beauregard's desire that Gen. Pillow--although not a "red tapist"--should rouse the people to the rescue; but _Gen. Cooper_ must be consulted to throw obstacles in the way! This will be a terrible blow; and its consequences maybe calamitous beyond calculation. Poor South Carolina! her day of agony has come!

FEBRUARY 18TH.--Rained last night; but this is as lovely a morning as ever dawned on earth. A gentle southern breeze, a cloudless sky, and a glorious morning sun, whose genial warmth dispels the moisture of the late showers in smoky vapors.

But how dark and dismal the aspect of our military affairs! Columbia fallen and Charleston (of course) evacuated. My wife wept, my daughter prayed, upon hearing the news. South Carolina was superior to all the States in the estimation of my wife, and she regarded it as the last stronghold. Now she despairs, and seems reckless of whatever else may happen in Sherman's career of conquest.

A dispatch to Gen. Bragg states that Thomas's army (the ubiquitous) is landing at Newbern, N. C.! This is to cut Lee's communications and strike at Raleigh perhaps.

The people are stunned and sullen; sometimes execrating the President for retaining a cabinet in which the country has no confidence, etc.

One hundred for one is asked for gold.

The President was at work very early this morning making appointments in the army. But that does no good to the cause, I fear. A sufficient number of men must _be_ placed in the ranks, or there will be no military success.

The Senate has pa.s.sed a bill abolis.h.i.+ng the "Bureau of Conscription,"

and it is now before the House. That is one step in the right direction. Hon. J. Goode yesterday made a speech in favor of its abolition, in which he said 150,000 men had been "handled" by the bureau during the last twelve months, and only 13,000 had been sent to the army! But it did not pa.s.s--no vote was taken; it is to be hoped it will pa.s.s to-day.

It is rumored that the "money-printing machine" was lost at Columbia, including a large amount of "treasure"--if Confederate Treasury notes be worthy that appellation.

FEBRUARY 19TH.--Another bright and glorious morning. I hear of no news whatever from the South--although I know that important events are transpiring--and the reticence of the government is construed very unfavorably. Hence if Beauregard has fought a battle, it is to be apprehended that he did not gain the day; and if this be so, South Carolina lies at the conqueror's feet.

I thought I heard brisk cannonading in the distance (down the river) this morning, but am not certain. I saw Mr. Hunter going briskly toward the Executive department. He does not come often now to the War Office.

The new Secretary has a large audience of members of Congress every morning.

The President and three of his aids rode out this afternoon (past our house), seemingly as cheerful as if each day did not have its calamity!

No one who beheld them would have seen anything to suppose that the capital itself was in almost immediate danger of falling into the hands of the enemy; much less that the President himself meditated its abandonment at an early day, and the concentration of all the armies in the Cotton States!

FEBRUARY 20TH.--Another morning of blue skies and glorious suns.h.i.+ne.

Sherman is reported to be marching northward, and to have progressed one-third of the way between Columbia and Charlotte, N. C.; where we had "millions of specie" a few days ago.

Some of the lady employees, sent by Mr. Memminger to Columbia last year, have returned to this city, having left and lost their beds, etc.

Grant's campaign seems developed at last. Sherman and Thomas will concentrate on his left, ma.s.sing 200,000 men between Lee and his supplies, effectually cutting his communications by flanking with superior numbers. It is probable Charleston, Wilmington, and Richmond will fall without a battle; for how can they be held when the enemy stops supplies? and how could the garrisons escape when once cut off from the interior?

And yet Congress has done nothing, and does nothing, but waste the precious time. I fear it is too late now! It is certainly too late to raise recruits for service in the campaign now in _active operation_, a fact which our politician leaders seem to be unconscious of. Even our furloughed troops cannot now rejoin their regiments from their distant homes.

Then, if Lee must evacuate Richmond, where can he go? No one knows!

My belief is that the only chance for Lee--and a desperate one--is to beat Grant _immediately_, before the grand junction can be formed.

Letters are beginning to come in from the South, advocating the abandonment of Richmond, and the march of Lee's army into East Tennessee and Northern Georgia, and so on down to Montgomery, Ala., etc. etc.; concentrating in the Cotton States. What an ugly programme! How many would then follow the fortunes of this government? How many heads of bureaus, etc. would abandon it? How would it be possible for those with families on their hands to get transportation? A great many other questions might be asked, that few could answer at this time.