Part 21 (1/2)
Yes, a solitude and a aste it h it in the bush at home
De Fontaine, in his newspaper, continues the old cry ”Now Richiven up,” he says, ”it was too heavy a load to carry, and we are stronger than ever” ”Stronger than ever?” Nine-tenths of our arround and where is another arrow one?
April 15th-What a week it has been - madness, sadness, anxiety, turh on their way to Texas We did not see them Louly told Hood they were bound for the Rio Grande, and intended to shake hands with Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico Yankees were expected here every ht to receive her She dined with me Lovely Winnie, the baby, came, too Buck and Hood were here, and that queen of women, Mary Darby Clay behaved like a trump He was as devoted to Mrs Davis in her adversity as if they had never quarreled in her prosperity People sent s for Mrs Davis, as they did in Columbia for Mr Davis It was a luncheon or breakfast only she stayed for here Mrs Brown prepared a dinner for her at the station
378 I went doith her She left here at five o'clock My heart was like lead, but we did not give way She was as callimpse of my dear Mrs Davis, and under altered skies
April 17th - A letter froet on I shall have a spare room by the time you arrive, indifferently furnished, but, oh, so affectionately placed at your service You will receive such a loving welcorows fat and is sh to develop the world's vices or to be snubbed by it The nae of woe
”Are you delighted with your husband? I ahted with him as well as with my own It is well to lose an Arabian horse if one elicits such a tender and at the sahtly letter as General Chesnut wrote to my poor old Prometheus I do not think that for a time he felt the vultures after the reception of the General's letter
”I hear horrid reports about Richmond It is said that all below Ninth Street to the Rocketts has been burned by the rabble, who mobbed the town The Yankee performances have not been chronicled May God take our cause into His own hands”
April 19th - Just nohen Mr Clay dashed up-stairs, pale as a sheet, saying, ”General Lee has capitulated,” I saw it reflected in Mary Darby's face before I heard hiered to the table, sat down, and wept aloud Mr Clay's eyes were not dry Quite beside herself Mary shrieked, ”Noe belong to negroes and Yankees!” Buck said, ”I do not believe it”
How different from ours of them is their estimate of us How contradictory is their attitude toward us To keep the despised and iniquitous South within their borders, as part of their country, they are willing to enlist millions of men at home and abroad, and to spend billions, and we know
379 they do not love fighting per se, nor spendingto have three killed for our one We hear they have all grown rich, through ”shoddy,” whatever that is Genuine Yankees canjack-knives
”Somehow it is borne in on me that ill have to pay the piper,” was remarked to-day ”No; blood can not be squeezed fro out of an empty cup We have no money even for taxes or to be confiscated”
While the Preston girls are here, , with our one table and six chairs Beds are -room floor Otherwise there is no furniture, except buckets of water and bath-tubs in their i and these steps are croith the lite of the Confederacy, going and coht comes, or rather, bedti-place for the orn soldiers to rest upon The whole house is a bivouac As Pickens said of South Carolina in 1861, we are ”an armed cairls, and iven up to soldiers General Lee's few, but undismayed, his remnant of an army, or the part froh Chester Many discomfited heroes find their way up these stairs They say Johnston will not be caught as Lee was He can retreat; that is his trade If he would not fight Sheria, ill he do but retreat in the plains of North Carolina with Grant, Sherman, and Tho is useless now; so we mean to bide a Yankee raid, which they say is imminent Why fly? They are everywhere, these Yankees, like red ants, like the locusts and frogs which were the plagues of Egypt
380 The plucky way in which our , and our poverty isWe deride our own penury Of the country we try not to speak at all
April 22d - This yellow Confederate quire of paper, my journal, blotted by entries, has been buried three days with the silver sugar-dish, teapot, , and a few spoons and forks that follow my fortunes as I wander With these valuables was Hood's silver cup, which was partly crushed when he ounded at Chickaalloping around withover us like a sword of Damocles We have been in queer straits We sat up at Mrs Bedon's dressed, without once going to bed for forty-eight hours, and ere aweary
Colonel Cadwallader Jones came with a despatch, a sealed secret despatch It was for General Chesnut I opened it Lincoln, old Abe Lincoln, has been killed, murdered, and Seounded! Why? By whoer after er for General Chesnut I have not the faintest idea where he is, but I know this foulupon us worse miseries Mary Darby says, ”But they ton” ”But if they see fit to accuse us of instigating it?” ”Who eance on us, now that we are ruined and can not repel the to tyrants He will not be the last President put to death in the capital, though he is the first
Buck never submits to be bored The bores came to tea at Mrs Bedon's, and then sat and talked, so prosy, so wearisome was the discourse, so endless it see on the piazza She rarely speaks now
380a A NEWSPAPER EXTRA
HIGHLY IMPORTANT NEWS!
AN ARMISTICE AGREED
UPON!!!
Lincoln assassinated and Seward Mortally Wounded in Washi+ngton!!
GREENSBORO, April 19, 1865
GENERAL ORDER NO 14
It is announced to the Arotiations between the two Govern its continuance the two armies are to occupy their present position
By command of General Johnston: [SIGNED,] ARCHER ANDERSON, Lieut Col and A A G
Offficial Copy: ISAAC HAYNE
WAshi+NGTON, April 12, 1865 TO MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN:
President Lincoln was ht, in his private box at Ford's Theatre, in this city, by an assassin, who shot him in the head with a pistol ball At the same hour Mr Seward's house was entered by another assassin, who stabbed the Secretary in several places It is thought he may possibly recover, but his son Fred may possibly die of the wounds he received
The assassin of the President leaped fro: ”Sic Semper Tyrannis--VIRGINIA IS REVENGED!” Mr Lincoln fell senseless from his seat, and continued in that condition until 22 , at which time he breathed his last
Vice President Johnson now becomes President, and will take the oath of office and assume the duties to-day
[SIGNED,] E M STANTON
TO THE CITIZENS OF CHESTER
CHESTER, SC, April 22, 1865 FLOUR and MEAL given out to the citizens by order of Major MITChell, Chief Commissary of South Carolina, to be returned when called for, is badly wanted to ration General Johnston's arent Subsistence Dep't
HEADQUARTERS RESERVE FORCES S C
CHESTERVILLE, APRIL 20, 1865
The Brigadier-General Co has been infore quantity of supplies of various kinds were given out by the various Government officers at this post to the citizens of the place He now calls upon, and earnestly requests all citizens, who may have such stores in their possession, to return the The stores arethrough the place, and for the sick at the Hospital
By co Gen Chesnut: M R CLARK, Major and A A General