Weather uncomonly cold & cloudy for some days, anything but farming weather #cw150

April 5, 1863

Sunday — Came home in a canoe from father’s where we have been for two days, Mr E having business with him. Weather uncomonly cold & cloudy for some days, anything but farming weather. No news. It is supposed the enemy delay their advance on Charleston until the Connecticut election which takes place tomorrow & is the first open issue of Peace or War presented to the people. Seymour takes the ground that the war is iniquitous, unjust, cruel, unconstitutional, & suicidal. Peace on any terms. Let the South go, but Peace for the North. We shall see how many agree with him. Mr E quite sick, threatened with rheumatism, with considerable fever.

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

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Throwing off my bonnet I listened & distinctly heard two more [cannon] in quick succession in the same direction #cw150

March 30, 1863

 We have destroyed two of the enemies gunboats which attempted to run past our batteries at Vicksburg, sunk one & the other lies on the opposite shore a wreck. Gen Loring at Fort Pemberton has repulsed the expedition which came down Yazoo Pass destroying a Gunboat the Sciota & some transports. The enemy are re-inforcing & we, it is said, are doing the same in the Sunflower. Col Ferguson has repulsed the expedition sent down that River to join the one down the Yazoo Pass & thinks he can maintain himself & destroy it. Rosencrans is retreating towards Nashville, supposed to join Grant & march down the Mississippi Valley to ensure the fall of Vicksburg. So far all is good & hopeful for the future. The River is falling. Well for us that it is, for the Hunter Trunk Dam has been in great danger from the side current from the break above. Walked there with Patrick this afternoon. Its escape was a narrow one. As it is, half the base is gone. Busy all the morning making a model of an obstruction to navigation which Patrick thinks may be used with advantage in the Harbour of Charleston. It is a Scotch invention patented just before the war & perhaps Gen Beauregard has not seen it. So Mr E has concluded to send him both drawings & a model of it. My harmless little cardboard affair requires a great stretch of imagination before it can be magnified into a barrier to oppose the passage of an iron clad with torpedoes bearing death & destruction moored at intervals along it. I hope that Gen B will use it, as it will be a delightful thought to Patrick should he be enabled to contribute even a mite to the defence of his native city.

 This morning whilst stooping down admiring the beauty of my Hyacinths, my ear in consequence close to the ground, suddenly I heard the unmistakable “boom” of a heavy gun in Southerly direction. Never since the war began have I heard one so plainly. Throwing off my bonnet I listened & distinctly heard two more in quick succession in the same direction, probably a Gunboat in the Chowan, & that report heard by me in such tranquil repose may carry agony to the heart of some of our poor neighbors on that River! The enemy have been very busy in the inglorious task of destroying seines & fisheries there latterly & it is most likely that they are shelling some defenceless village like Winton or some isolated house such as Mr Etheridges at Coleraine — feats which their valour has accomplished once before.

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

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No public news. The papers say it is the lull which precedes the storm #cw150

March 28, 1863

 River very high and still rising. Went out yesterday with Patrick in the canoe, the water as smooth as a lake. He shot several partridges and Musk Rats. The chase was most exciting, for chase it was, paddling through the thickets between bushes, now entangled in a vine, now floating with the current so as not to alarm the prey & then pursuing it with all the strength of Mr E’s muscles, aiding Ned’s. Ned showed himself as keen as a pointer dog in finding & pointing at the partridges. No public news. The papers say it is the lull which precedes the storm, a lull which will soon be fearfully broken. God defend the right!

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

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it is hard living at best & everything is so high that their purses cannot accomplish many dainties #cw150

March 26, 1863

 First Swallow came! They are a little later than usual, but this is a backward Spring. We had snow & sleet on the 20th & 21st in Va the heaviest fall of snow of the season. Hooker’s Army is at a stand-still in consequence. We have another freshet in the River & the Lowgrounds again full of water; no getting to father’s but by canoe. Patrick has gone out to attend to the repacking of the cotton at Hascosea, a Legacy of trouble & anxiety left us by the Christian Burnside & the foolish orders issued to move it last Feb a year ago. Well, I hope this is the last of it, and the ownership will I trust soon be upon the broad shoulders of the Government who can bear it better than we can. Am busy getting three boxes ready to send to our nephews in Charleston. We have not much to send, but poor fellows, anything will be welcome to them, for it is hard living at best & everything is so high that their purses cannot accomplish many dainties.

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

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Our River rising again, & again is the plantation being filled with water. #cw150

March 2, 1863

We have captured another Gunboat in the Miss. River. The Indianola, sent out by the Abolitionists to retake the Queen of the West, was in her turn taken by would be prey assisted by the C S Steamer Webb. She sank, being much disabled, but it is thought we can raise & make her fit for service again. Things remain as they were before Vicksburg. Preparations for an attack still going on. Pope has been ordered there, it is said, to take command. Semmes & Maffit playing havoc with the Abolition shipping in the West Indian Seas. Every arrival brings news of some new capture. A conscript law similar to ours has passed the Abolition Senate. It remains to see how the House & the dear people will view it. Our country the past week filled with troops going to the Blackwater. A cavalry Regt encamped for some days at Halifax waiting for the river to fall so that they could cross. All quiet as yet in S C. Our River rising again, & again is the plantation being filled with water.

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

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effort had been made to break in…two people were to be whipped for the offence #civilwar150

July 21, 1862

Anniversary of the Battle of Manassas.  Who would have thought one year ago that this war would still be raging and the Blockade unraised?  With the exception of salt & shoes I think we suffer less from the Blockade than we did; our people having determined to do without many things which formerly they thought to be necessaries cease to feel the want of them as they did at first.  The want of coffee is a sore discomfort, but it is astonishing how cheerfully it is borne.  Thanks to Patrick’s far seeing I suffer less than my neighbors; indeed I have not yet felt the want of a single thing, a blessing vouchsafed to few.  Shoes for the servants I need most, but the weather is warm & they can go bare foot tho’ I do not like it.

Went with Mr E to the Plantation.  An effort had been made to break into our Pork House.  The rogues got nothing, but Mr E took most summary & immediate measures to repress the spirit of disorganization & theft before it should become prevalent amongst our people.  He summoned all the men, told them such a thing must be known to some of them, it could not occur without the cognizance of somebody, & gave them half an hour to bring him the guilty person, but that two people in the throng were to be whipped for the offence.  At the end of the time, they being unable to agree in a verdict, he had twenty or more straws of different lengths thrown into a basin and the lots drawn.  Upon those two who had the shortest straw the punishment was to fall.  Hogfeeder Solomon and Ishmael were the unfortunate ones & were without more delay made to suffer the penalty.  This plan seems hard, but he says it is the only one to prevent thieves being as rampant here as they are at Conneconara.  It makes it the duty of the whole plantation to detect offenders.  This must be one of the fruits of the War, as we never had such a thing before.

In the afternoon came Mr Shaw for a nights lodging & shelter from a coming shower & well for him, good man, that he reached one in time, for a harder, longer, more uninterrupted rain was never before seen.  It cannot be general.  The quantity of water which feel we have no means of estimating, but the whole yard & lot were afloat.  Tho well drained with large ditches, the bridge in the road in front of the house was washed up and the water almost deep enough to swim a horse there, where there is never a drop in ordinary times.  If, however, it should be general we have a terrible freshet before us, so goodbye to the young corn.

Mr Shaw is on his way to join the Scotland Neck Mounted Rifles.  He joins to avoid the Conscription.  He brought us an idle rumour of seven hundred Conscripts having rebelled inRaleigh& having been fired upon, but I do not believe a word of it.

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

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we ought hence forth to say lie like a Yankee! #cw150

June 14, 1862

Came Patrick home sick.  I fear he left too soon.  Gen French is to take the matter of the Independent Companies into consideration.  That means that he is not going to do it, Patrick says.  Well, he has nothing to reproach himself with; actuated by a feeling of pure patriotism, he is anxious to do something for the country in this her hour of need, but so many obstacles are thrown in the way of the Cavalry that he has been unable to raise his corps and no infantry is now being organized.  It is a sore disappointment to him, but he bears it manfully & cheerfully.  God knows what is best for us & he must be content with the consciousness of having striven to place himself in active service, having done everything in his power consistently with his principles to effect it.  He has still to go to the Secretary of War to report & then I suppose all will be over.  Lieut Col Edmondston will be a thing of the past.

At night came brother.  He tells us that the damage from the freshet is terrific, the most destructive ever known.  The loss to the army of our supplies will be severly felt & not only on our river but all the Rivers in the country have overflowed & the Low-ground crops are lost.  I hope our armies will not feel it.

Jackson’s victory over Banks & Shields has developed a more enormous capacity for lying than the father of lies himself even possesses.  Altho we have 3,000 men now prisoners in Lynchburg, in his official report Banks acknowledges the loss of only 85, says he had but 3,000 men & out of 500 waggons he lost only 50.  As to the stores at Front Royal & Winchester, he knew nothing of their being there until he came upon them during his orderly retreat when he burnt them.  Liars ought to have long memories, for by his own showing he had a wagon to every six men in his army & was so supremely indifferent to all sublunary things that he did not know with what or how his men were fed.  But this seems the vice of the age—lying.  To “lie like a Greek” has been proverbial; we ought hence forth to say lie like a Yankee!

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

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another battle near Richmond, but my dear Willie was not hurt #cw150

June 11th [1862]

This is very cool weather now, we sit by the fire, the 4th of this month the river was very high, the low grounds were covered with water, all the corn, wheat, and oats were under water.

There has been another battle near Richmond, but my dear Willie was not hurt, he was not in the fight. I hope the Lord will bring him home in good health, if he lives I expect him home the 16th of July. I feel that the Lord is good to me and mine, glory to his name forever.

I feel cheerful and thankful to my Saviour.

Source: Mary Jeffreys Bethell Diary, 1853-1873.  #1737-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/bethell/menu.html

 

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Jackson is the only one of our generals who gives the enemy no rest #civilwar150

June 11, 1862

Went with Mr E to Looking Glass for the first time since we moved out.  The last part of our trip was taken by me in a cart, Mr E on Horseback, such an inconvenience is the River.  Our Dams are torn to pieces, but in this we have fared no worse than our neighbors, as the whole valley has been swept from the source of the river to the mouth.  The loss of property, stock, fencing, corn, wheat, & Labour is immense.  In our immediate section 1,000,000 bushels would not cover it.  One of our neighbors lost two negroes drowned.  We, thank God, escaped that distress.  It is a serious question with father & Mr E whether they will put back the Looking Glass dams or not.  I hope not.  Make what corn we can & pasture the rest & by raising stock for the future fill up our income.  The risk and loss is too great & our force too weak to put back the work.

Jackson has gained another victory in the Valley of Va.  He has beaten Shields & holds Fremont in check, who fears to attack him singly.  No particulars as yet.  He is the only one of our generals who gives the enemy no rest, no time to entrench themselves.  Matters before Richmond look  gloomy to us out siders.  McClellan advances, entrenching as he comes.  Why do we allow it? Richmondmust fall after a time if he is allowed to go on.  The loss of life was terrific on Sat & Sunday.  The enemy admits a loss of 5,000 killed & wounded, we 2,500 on our side, & both of course are under the mark–& yet to us it seems a useless bloodshed, as after removing their Camp & stores we “fell back” and allowed them to occupy the entrenchments from which we had driven them.  It is more than we plain people can understand & faith was never so much needed as now, earnest unquestioning faith!

Never was known such a summer for wet & cold.  We have had a fire all day & a good one too ever since the 1st of June.  Verily it is no “summer at all, but a winter painted green,” as are the Sweedish summers; and as for rain, never did so much & so violent & heavy rains fall before.  It is more than a week since a plough has been put in the ground & from present prospects it will be a week longer & that near the summer solstice!

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

 

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It is the highest freshet ever before known #cw150

June 9, 1862

Mary’s boys came out saying that their mother & Grandfather would follow before very long.  Father had a most narrow escape on Saturday night.  He went upon the steps to mark the rate of the rise in the river when they, being improperly fastened, or rather not fastened at all, floated up & he was thrown backwards, striking the back of his head against the Piazza floor.  He received a severe blow on the back & went down under the water.  Mary, thinking he was stunned, jumped off the piazza & seized him by the shoulders & attempted to raise his head, but fortunately it was not the case & beyond a thorough wetting they both escaped unhurt.  It is the highest freshet ever before known, being 20 inches beyond the highest water mark, full [---] ft.

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

 

 

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