A REBEL WAR CLERK'S DIARY AT THE CONFEDERATE STATES CAPITAL. BY J. B. JONES, CLERK IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES GOVERNMENT; VOL. II. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. HO 18 JUN 1948 LIBRARY A REBEL WAR CLERK'S DIARY. CHAPTER XXIX. Some desertion.-Lee falling back.--Men still foolishly look for foreign aid. Speculators swarming.-God helps me to-day.-Conscripts.-Memminger shipping gold to Europe.-Our women and children making straw bonnets. Attack on Charleston.-Robert Tyler as a financier. - Enemy throw large shells into Charleston, five and a half miles.-Diabolical scheme.-Gen. Lee has returned to the army. AUGUST 1ST.-The President learus, by a dispatch from Gen. Hardee, of Mississippi, that information has reached him, which he considers authentic, that Gen. Taylor has beaten Banks in Louisiana, taking 6000 prisoners; but then it is said that Taylor has fallen back. I see by Mr. Memminger's correspondence that he has been sending $1,000,000 in sterling exchange, with the concurrence of the President and the Secretary of War, to Gen. Johnston and Gov. Pettus. What can this mean? Perhaps he is buying stores, etc. Gen. Pemberton, it is said, has proclaimed a thirty days' furlough to all his paroled army-a virtue of necessity, as they had all gone to their homes without leave. Gen. Lee writes that fifty men deserted from Scale's Regiment, North Carolina (a small regiment), night before last, being incited thereto by the newspapers. He wants pickets placed at certain places to catch them, so that some examples may be made. Gov. Vance urges the War Department to interdict speculation on the part of officers of the government and army, as it tempts them to embezzle the public funds, enhances prices, and enrages the community. (3) |