When Colonel Cadwallader Jones handed me the dispatch for my husband, I had not the faintest clue that it was concerning President Lincoln's assassination. The question of who had killed him was definitely on my mind for the longest time. I thought for sure the South would be blamed, but as Mary Darby said, "they murdered him themselves. No Confederates are in Washington." He may be the first killed in office, but I assure you that for as long as there are still problems, even without the war, he will not be the last.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Confederate's Defeat
I cannont believe that this day has come; the day that the South surrenders to the North. Grant and Sherman both smashed through our lines with forces that greatly outnumbered us. General Hood is urging me to go west, to Texas maybe, in case this portion of South Carolina is overrun with Yankees. In the words of my friend Buck, "Now we belong to negroes and Yankees! I do not believe it." But there is no use in leaving now with all those Yankees already everywhere like the red ants they are. It was evident throughout the war how different our views can be. Because of their numbers they are willing to sacrifice any three for our one soldier. But now look what has happened. What will become of the Southern states?
Siege of Vicksburg
Terrible news has just reached me. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Union's gunboats have crossed the river "spreading themselves over our fair Southern land like red ants." Grant and Sherman cut off the Confederate army from food, supplies, and all communication. When I heard a man read the headline from a newspaper, I almost fainted. It was like a stab to my heart when I found out that our boys were practically starved to surrendering on, of all days, July 4th. I now fear the worst of our Southern states.
http://books.google.com/books?id=oRtCAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=mary+chesnut#PPA205,M1
http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/vcmpgn/siege.htm
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