July 11th/62
  Camp Jones  Flat Top Mt
Dear Father
                 Alf Long arrived
in Camp last night
bringing the watch letters &
stockings for me.  I shall
probably be able to
sell the watch it is
however out of repair
but I guess I can get
it fixed.  Gillett wants
me to try his new pen &
I will do it just here
it seems like a very
good one by the way
I will compare it
with mine I like mine
best I got it when I
was in Cin last
winter it is very
large commercial style

[page 2]
well we are still
here but there are
now indications that
we will leave soon
and it is thought
by some that we
will go to eastern Va
Col Hays says he thinks
we will I only hope
it is so. I notice
that although it is
raining to day men
are fast erecting
screens of boughs to
hide our camp as it
can be seen by the
rebels from a great
distance from the
mountains beyond us
I only hope we will
go in to Eastern Va
I wrote to Tom & Eti
a few days ago

[page 3]
The boys of each
company have erected
large Booths of boughs
between their Quarters
which makes it cool
and pleasant and
every evening they have
a dance in some of
companies.  The health
of the regiment is very
good.  All the boys
of the regt call me
Fatty.  How did the
anniversarry exercises
go off  I suppose Mr Scott
now patronizes the school
where do you have so
much clover to cut
so he will see the peaches
this year
I do not know what
you had best do with
the threshing machine unless

[page 4]
have some one run
it I have not seen
John Benton yet about it
How many pounds of
wool have you got?
How much will Mr Gault
get for his wool
I killed a large Rattle
snake a few days ago
he had 9 rattles & a button
I went to work & skinned
him and now have the skin
tanned there are a great
many of them about here
they are ugly customers
Citizens tell of people who
have died from there bites
about here.  I will send
this skin to you by
mail one of these days
I found him out about two
miles from camp Citizens thought
it a terrible thing to see me
skin him Should we move I will
write you immediately Yours truly J.D. Templeton

[upside down in top margin of page one]
P.S. Tell mother I recd her letter

MSS 10317

                   District of West Tennessee
           Office of the Provost Marshal General
                    Memphis Tenn–July 11. 1862

Special orders
No. 15

Mrs M. M. Goff wife
of A. S. Goff a private in the so-called
Confederate army being one of the parties
within the purview of special order
No 14, and she being near her
confinement and unable to leave
the city of Memphis, it is ordered
that the time presented in said
order be extended in her case to
thirty days
      By command of Maj Gen U.S. Grant
                        Wm S. Hillyer
                 Provost Marshal General

MSS 10645

[from the diary of James Dinsmore Templeton, musician and private in the 23rd Ohio]

Guard mounting
laid abed until
quite late as it was
raining hard rained
most of th enight
showery all forenoon
wrote Letters to
Aunty Hays & Father
Did not practice
on account of rain
men at work screen-
-ing the Tents with
boughs
some indications of
our leaveing
pretty clear this
afternoon

MSS 10317

[from the diary of Private Ephraim Wood of Co. C, 13th Massachusetts]

   Friday   July 11th
   Cloudy nearly all day, but no
rain.  I am on guard.  The Regt
had Company drill in morning
and Battalion drill in the
afternoon.  Received orders to be
ready to march at any hour,
but I think it will be
a number of days before we
march.  I heard to day that
Governor Andrews had [ word lined through]
issued a proclamation, which
said he would allow ten days
for the people of Massachusetts
to volunteer to enlist, after
which he should commence
to draft.  I hear that Natick
has got to furnish over a
hundred.  The Countersign
to night is Stewart.
Capt Cary    Officer of the day.
Lieut Fox           ”              of Guard
Sergeant Tower of Co B Sergeant of      “

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 12021

[from the diary of Anne Madison Willis Ambler]

Friday July 11 1862
Today we got a Baltimore paper.  July 4th,
– It is plain to see that McClellan is beaten
at Richmond- but I fear they are going to
make another strong stand there.  They speak
of  his being reinforced & advancing on Richmond
under protection of their gunboats.   Oh- will
they never be satisfied that they can not
conquer us?  Why can not reason have some
voice with them,-  Passion alone seems to
reign,–Fannie & I walked to started to Clifton but Tommie hurt his foot & we
returned.  I never go that I don’t regret that we hadn’t staid
there, – You will never know know much
better it would have been for us, –
A very disagreeable thing happened at the table to day,-
Fannie said she thought something was polite, & I said,
yes, certainly, that is right, in an emphatic tone, Mary
coming in at the time without hearing any more
than what I said, remarked with great pique that she
 hoped “we would teach them something after a while”,
Fannie, in astonishment, explained what she meant & after a few
words we stopped talking–But F. being very much mortified,
asked Mary what she meant after dinner as she did not
like to think she had set up to mistreat M & sis B-or been thought to do it
–Fanny said she meant it for me, as I was always finding fault with
her manners. I think to find out when I had been guilty- but
it was only a general assertion & could not be proved.  We had
many words–Mary said she was sorry & the matter was
hushed up–But it is most disagreeable to me to be
told in such terms when I am a guest that I am not agreeable
or rather meddlesome–I will try not to offend again. Guilty conscience 


[transcription done in 1972 by her granddaughter Anne Madison Wright Baylor]

MSS 15406

[from the diary of William M. Blackford, bank officer and former diplomat, with five sons in the Confederate Army]

Friday 11.– It began to rain at day light
and turn cool.  Nothing important
from the army–In the evening
Charles Minor arrived.  He has been
employed by Lewis in some capacity
in his survey of the country near
Richd and has run up here to see
his wife.  She had left Browns
and gone temporarily to Sue’s. I
think she had better have remain
-ed at Edgewood.–I cant say I
fancy her much.  Went over to Sues
in the evening–met there Dr. south-
gate, of the Army–Son of our old
cashier in Norfolk.

MSS 4763

[from the diary of Eliza Oswald Hill, refugee from Wilmington, N.C.]

Friday 11th  After the storm yesterday. It is damp- & very cool this morn
ing.  Eliza & I must have both taken cold sleeping with the windows
open – as neither of us feel well today–My mind is so worried about
Tom that I cannot sit quietly to anything.  Had he been killed I should
have thought the melancholy news would have reached Chapel Hill be
-fore this-& had his Regiment the 18 Miss’ been in the fight some
mention would certainly have been made of it in the papers–I am
afraid he is sick at some private  house–or gone off to join
Stone Wall Jackson in some of his bold dashes–Not he alone, but
his Regiment or Company–the letter from Liz this morning was
all we received–She leaves for Wilmington on the 14th after remain
-ing there two days will return to Chapel Hill–The Richmond dis-
patch has nothing new in it to day–But I learn from the Wilmington
journal that the Yankees are trying hard to get Vicksburg–I hope they
may find it as hard to take as they have found Richmond–& with less
sacrifice of life on the Confederate side.

MSS 6960

[from the diary of Jesse Calvin Spaulding, Co. F,  25th Massachusetts]

Thursday
July 10

Drew lots with the other orderlies to
see which should stay all night
I got all night off, and staid in quar-
ters.  The company presented a sword to Lieut.
Lawrence. Jo G[?] made the speech.

MSS 11293

Camp on White House Farm
July 10th 1862

A courier is just starting for Rich-
mond and I have a moment or so
to write you a few lines, my darling.
Last night your letter written
last Saturday & Sunday was
handed to me.  I thank you,
dearest, for it. I too united
with you in ascribing praise
and thanks to God for his
merciful kindness to us in the
late battles. My heart bleeds
for those who have been
bereaved.  Remember me
with sincere affection
to Mrs Carrington and
assure her  of my warm
tender sympathy.  Poor Harrison
was a gallant, generous
noble man.  I have not
been able to learn why
he was acting as volunteer
aid for Genl. Magruder.
That General certainly
had a staff large
enough to have performed

[page 2]
the duties pertaining to such
an organization for half
a dozen generals, if they
had been in place.  I did
hear a report that Genl
Lee spoke of this body of men
as “pusillanimous puppies,
whom Genl. Magruder called
his staff.”  I do not know
that this is so, and you
need not repeat   it–
    I wish I had time
& means to write you a
long letter.  How much
I wish to see you, my
darling wife,  I cannot
tell. You must ask your
own heart.
Kiss the children for me.
Love to Mrs. Riddle.
Ten thousand kisses for
you dearest. I pray
for your safety, and that
you may have strength & courage
for these sad times & that we
may meet in joy when the dark clouds
are rolled away bye the hand of God–
Yr affec husband John T. Thornton.

John Thruston Thornton, Captain Co. K, 3rd Virginia Cavalry

MSS 4021

                                                     Edgemont House
                                                      July 10th 1862

My own Dear Bettie
                    You will see from this that I am now
at a place, where, above all others, I wish you were
at just now.  However I am cheerful, indeed am
in remarkable spirits, Geo and I having just been
most heartily inspirited at a restaurant down
town.  Besides this it has just commenced to rain–O
this is glorious!  I came very near telegraphg to you
to come down tomorrow, but we are on the march, &
perhaps our army will go back again to the valley.
I wish it were consistent with the welfare of
the Confederate States for us to return to the land of
milk and honey, as compared with the dismal
swamps of the Chickahominy–fit homes only for
lizzards, l___e, musquitoes and Yankees.–
I have come into Richd in search of my  horse.
Two of our Lts and myself put our private horses
and Geo. Carrington’s & another horse in charge of
some of the company servants, and sent them

[page 2]
out to graze.  They however with were taken with
a desire to have a small game of cards, and
went off to play, turning our horses loose.  they
all strayed off & came into Richd. & we can’t
find them high nor dry–so we lose about
about $300 each.  The result of the game
was wonderful, every body lost, and the
negroes especially were badly beaten–so
much so that I hope their resources for gambling
are entirely broken up.
I have little news to write you since my last
of the 8th, which I could not send away from
camp until next day.  The army is indeed
in motion, but we have no idea where
we are going, except we conjecture.  We
came in on church hill today and filed
to the right towards Mechanicsville, which
is the last I have seen of them today.
I go out to camp tonight and am in
high hope that we may be able to stay
about Richd a few days.

[page 3]
Cousin Mollie sits by me now and looks
as neat and bright as a new pin.  I am
really ashamed of myself for I feel and
look like an old road wagoner.  I looked
in the glass at the hotel just now and
was frightened as much almost as the
dog on a box of Mason’s blacking.
Clem, John McPhail & Clem McP & Capt Tucker C. &
myself dined together today.  We had a merry
time, and certainly a very good time for
the gentlemen of the artillery who have
not had good “eatings” for some time.
Geo Carrington forgot some of the mortification
he felt at not getting his box of “goodies”
from home.–
You spoke of sending me a box.  I would be more than glad to receive something to
lessen the tendency we have to scurvy by
reason of eating so much salt meat; but
I do not know that I could get it, if
it were sent. If we stay here any time,
it would be different.

[page 4]
The scheme which you and Lizzie have
on hand just now, I think, suits very well
indeed.  All hands, I think, would be
well suited and satisfied.
Remember me to all most affectionately.
Write to me immediately here (Richd), and
believe me, though in haste,
              Fondly yours,
                         James Dinwiddie

MSS  10102