Monday, 1863 August 10, Fauquier County, Virginia: “Lord, save or we perish”

[Diary of Confederate civilian Lucy Johnston Ambler]

August 10, 1863. Again there seems to be apprehension of
the negroes going off. At Leeds, Mrs. J. K. Marshall’s farm,
29 went off with the Yankey army reducing their numbers very
much. They still think more are going. There is a body of
Yankey cavalry within five miles of us and it is probable
they are there for the purpose of helping off the blacks.
Poor creatures! They seem doomed to utter extirpation. Some
of the Yankeys advise them to go, and others tell [them] they
had better stay where they are.
We hear nothing of our army that is at all reliable,
but trust that God will be with them and give them a signal
victory over our enemies. We hear a good deal of riots at
the North resisting the draft but I fear Lincoln has placed
his foot too firmly on the necks of the people for them to
offer resistance, unless the hand of God interfere. We must
as far as we can judge be prepared to fight fresh hordes of
these barbarous people who seem bent in every way on our
entire destruction. Lord, save or we perish. May it please
the Lord that our universal cry for peace may ascend to him
who is more ready to than we to ask good at his hand. O
may his mercy be upon us even as our trust is in his army
mighty to save those who in humble reliance on him put all
their trust in him and cast their cares on his strong arm
mighty to save through Christ.

[Editor: Lucy Johnston Ambler (1800-1888), Morven Plantation, Fauquier County, Virginia.
She married Major Thomas Marshall Ambler in 1819; they eventually had ten children.]

MSS 5191