Saturday 17th May 1862
I had the toothache very badly this morning for a while. It was 9 o’clock or after before I got the house cleaned. I went up to the garden & got some lettice for dinner, also some flowers for the vases. I eat a hearty dinner of onion & lettice & felt drowsy and headache all the evening. Did no work today. My head ached badly at night. Smith the tanner staid all night. Fannie ironed some this evening & made some ginger cakes for the children. I washed Zona & put her on clean clothes. Pinck took a long nap this evening.
Sunday 18th [May 1862]
Cloudy & dull this morning. I slept very alte. My head not entirely well yet. Breakfast late. Mrs. Faning brought up a kitten last night. Willie & Zona think a great deal of it & Pinck is as anxious about it’s good treatment. Zona has been trying to get it to eat some molasses cakes. I will stop for this time as dinner must be got out & my head feels badly. No one here for dinner but the children & I. My head ached very bad after dinner. I went to bed soon after supper. Mr. Henry got home about 8 o’clock. Mrs. Fanning slept in side room. All are well at Uncle Dillards’s & Aunt Welch’s. I was so glad to see him for home is not home without him.
Source: Diary of Cornelia Henry in Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journal and Letters of the Henry Family. Clinard, Karen L. and Russell, Richard, eds. (Asheville,NC: Reminiscing Books, 2008).
