[July 21, 1861]
On the 21st as I said before we got to Wrightsville where I was most hospitably received by Mr. & Mrs. Lippitt. The same afternoon Mr. Edmondston left me and returned to his camp. My intention had been to remain but a few days, see Mr. E’s encampment, how he was occupied, stationed & then to return home. But Mrs. Lippit was so kind & so pressing in her entreaties to me to remain longer under her roof that I nothing loth to be persuaded to remain near Patrick gradually lengthened my stay until from days my visit stretched into weeks! I found the camp on the sea shore commanding a view of the coast for miles, & the duty of the Company was to act as Pickett Guards & give notice should an attempt at landing be made by the enemy. Mr Lippitt went every morning up to his business in Wilmington & I remained either quietly with Alice or, when Mr E’s duty permitted it, when over & spent the day & dined with him in Camp.
The only thing that occurred to break the monotony of the continued drill – drill twice every day – was the occasional passage of a Lincoln War Steamer, which would steam slowly by spying & sounding as she went. From without we hear of continual skirmishing in which neither side gained much advantage, particulary in the West of Va where Wise & Floyd carried on a warfare rather against the elements than the Yankees, & the same may be said of them.
Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html
