March 17, 1862
“St. Patrick’s Day in the morning.” Came home to Looking Glass, partly on horse back, partly in the canoe, & partly on foot—on account of the water. Father rode with us to the place where we took canoe. Dear old gentleman, I am grieved to see him so despondant & low spirited. It is so unusual for him that it is doubly distressing. God send us good news to lighten his heart. Found the Hyacinths in most beautiful bloom! They are truly exquisite & as we came into the gate & their fragrance stole over us, the charm of a quiet home never seemed greater. As they looked up to us in their peaceful beauty, smiling in the midst of these War’s alarms, it made us prize our seclusion the more. Ah! Lord Falkland I could emulate you in the ingemination of Peace! Peace!
All the afternoon preparing a basket of eatables of divers kinds for Patrick to send to Col Leventhorpe at Hamilton. I omitted to mention last night, not I am sure from want of thankfulness, that Thomas Jones was safe and that Mr Turner was absent on leave when the attack on New Berne occurred. Happily for Sophia, as her baby was born on the day of the fight in Hampton Roads—the 8th—rather more than 9 days before the Newberne disaster.
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
