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

Wednesday 15 It cleared off last night
The news of the fight in Kentucky
still vague and contradictory, but
I think there is little reason to doubt
we have beaten the enemy–It is most
remarkable that nothing definite
has been heard from our commanders
Went with Charles in the evening
Sue has had one of her severe attacks
and suffered dreadfully–

MSS 4763

[from the diary of Joseph Addison Waddell, civilian employee in the Quartermaster Dept.]

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

Tuesday
Oct 14
Rainy yet and chilly.  I piled on the
blankets and sweat pretty well.  Mike
was on guard so I had the whole bunk to myself
Laid round the same as common.  Read some
and talked some.  Have felt better to day.

MSS 11293

                Wagon Camp near Martinsburg Va
                          Tuesday October 14th 1862.
Dear Loved Ones,
                             I thank you all for the letters
sent by Jemmie, & for the many expressions
of kindness contained in them.  No one
can rightly appreciate a letter, untill like
myself they have not heard from home for
a month or more.  Mothers Fannies & Sis
Janes letters have all been read daily since
their receipt last Thursday: Their only
fault was that of Oliver Twist’s porridge.
I am now wearing, Mary dear, your very
acceptable present; It fits like a charm
& is very becoming with my vest.
I am still at “Kitchen Camp”, my mare
being unfit for duty. My Company has
for the last five days been with Gen. Stuart
in a raid into Pensylvania[sic]. It was very
galing to me to have to stay behind at such
at time, but  try to submit cheerfully
to the devices of Providence.  They will be
back tonight, & I hope “Bet” will be able for
duty by tomorrow or next day.

[page 2]
Jimmie has staid here with me most of the
time since his return from R.  Today he
has gone to Charlestown to get the horse
Bro George gave him.  Last Sunday we
rode together up to Camp (the other side of
Martinsburg) & Jo made some remarks &
then read some extracts from the life
of Harrison.  Though the congregation
was small owing to nearly the whole
Regt. being on Picket or scouting duty,
the services were interesting & made
me feel more like Sunday.
Cavalry is certainly a more pleasant
branch of service than Infantry.
In the former there is a better chance
of living well, Keeping clean & of being
in good spirits.  A horse is about
enough care to prevent one from
getting too lazy & on a march he
keeps the course mightily.  On my
way here from Winchester I stopped
a night with McCarthy (7th Va. Inf.) &
pitied the men–right in the midst
of a great army–in a dirty camp
with no tents, while here we can

[page 3]
get milk, buttermilk, butter, loaf bread
apples &c.  Every morning a lady living
near here gives me a whole bucket full
of buttermilk; I have breakfasted with
her three times.
 Jemmie wrote you what a union place
Martinsburg is. The other day when some
Yankee Prisoners were standing on the
wide walk there, ladies(?) were of=
fering to fill & light their pipes for
them, & I saw one give a ring to
one of the Yankee hirelings.  I saw
Miss Belle Boyd in M. (her home) the
other day.  It is easy to tell the
houses of our friends in the town.
A week or two since some of the
Unionists went around with a
brush & bucket of tar & daubed the
doors & porches of all the Southern
sympathizers.  At one place there
is traced in the tar, “Where is Jeff?”
This reminds me of what I saw writ=
ten in a public place of the Taylor
House in Winchester.  Some Yankee vain=
gloriously wrote “Where’s your Jackson

[page 4]
now? March 20th 62″  Some Southern
wrote right under “Where was he on
March 23d May 28th June 26th? Also[?]
inside “where, Sept 25th 1862.”
But my sheet is filling too rapidly; I
could fill it with incidents and
anecdotes.  Give my love to all the
children.  Ask Annie, if she’s forgot=
ten about the little girl who jump
ed out of her skin.
  Why didn’t Susan write to me? If
you all did but know how much
good it does J & me to get letters
the mail bags would groan with
them.  Continue to direct to Winchester
    Mary’s present to Tom smith shall
be delivered when he returns from
home.  He has been very kind to
me, as indeed all the men have.
My mind is full of what to write–In
deed I have set down but the Alphabet
of what I meant to.
     I must go & graze Bet
          Affectionately
               Charley

[side margin of page 4]
Wed. Morn.  Gen Stuart got back last night, having been as far as Chambersburg
Pa. He brought over 1000 horses.  The men were in fine spirits. They went en-
tirely around McC.s whole army, & near Balto. No loss[?] in the Brigade.

[side margin of page 1]
I have gained fifteen or twenty lbs in flesh since leaving
home.

[side margin of page 2]
Jemmie did not get his horse at Charlestown. he is [dead?]

Charles Elisha Taylor, 1842-1915, Co. F., 10th Virginia Cavalry; later a Baptist minister and eventually president of Wake Forest College.

MSS 3091

                                                    Bunker Hill. Berkeley County
                                          13 miles from Winchester. 14th Oct/62
My dear father. My regiment has been so situated since I reached
          it that it has been almost impossible to write Home with
    any sort of comfort or certainty of the letter’s being read.
I write now & shall have to trust to luck that you
get it.  We have been remaining quietly at our present
camping grounds for two weeks, doing guard duty &
drilling.  I have seen quite a busy times myself, having
been engaged attending a General Court Martial the
whole time.  I am its Judge Advocate &  have a great
deal of Labor to perform.  I supposed you heard
from us thro’ Mr Smiley, who came on with me to
the Potomac River.  I reached my company in
Maryland at Sharpsburg–but a day too late
for the fight.  Had a hard time footing it the whole
way, tho’ occasionally spent my time pleasantly.  Was
detained at Winchester for a week by Instructions.
No one allowed to pass to the army at that time.
Visited my relatives there & was much pleased.
I am holding Court Martial in the House of Mr
Gilkerhouse, the father of the Gentleman who married
Miss Cabell of Winchester.  Fine old fellow.  He gives
great accounts of the Yankees sojourn in Bunker
Hill, his little place.  This County is perfectly stripped
now of everything. So many soldiers of each Army
having passed thro’  Impossible to get an Butter or Milk.

[page 2]
My Co. suffered a good deal in the late battle.  17 wounded
& 1 killed (A Woody)–The wounded mostly slightly
I do not know what move is on foot next. I understand
we are destroying the Winchester & Potomac R R
thoroughly now–This looks like a fall back.
Stuart has gone to Md with his cavalry
scouting & sent many prisoners back.
What has become of Davis & Short!  I expected
them some time ago. & am almost entirely
without clothing–being compelled to send
my trunk back. Tell Stuart when he comes
I want him to bring my overcoat from
Lynchburg. Tis very cold here now.  Tell
him to bring all the shirts & socks he can
raise–I have only 1 new (shirt) &
that’s getting very weak.  His Company numbers
only 8 or 10-Mine 33,
Lt Hill is at Home wounded–
He cd easily bring my Overcoat
Give my best love to all
Write to Winchester, 49th Va
Earlys BrigadeEwells Div
                  Yr affec Son
                   Joseph C Cabell, Jr.
                            1st Lt Co H 49 VA

P S
       at Shepherdstown-we got a terrific bombing-but nobody
was hurt-as we crossed the River to Va
We gave it to the Yanks pretty badly there

MSS 276

                            Camp near Winchester,
                            Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1862
My own dear Ella,
                                         Your sweet and
prized letter, dated Oct. 2, was received only
last evening; but it was read with not the
less delight by reason of the long delay, especially
as this was the fault of the mail, not of any
lack of promptness in you.  I will write you
thus quickly a reply, though this will be the fifth
in a fortnight; for I take great pleasure in wri
ting to you, and I feel confident that my letters
can not follow one another so rapidly as to weary
you.  You tell me how much I am missed, and
how necessary my love has become to you; so I will
relieve the pain of separation as far as possible by
sending you messages of love.  But you must not,
my own darling, fear for an instant any occupa-
tion of my mind by other scenes and friends to the
least withdrawal of my thoughts from you or cooling
of the affection which I have pledged to you. Yet
I can use your tendency to apprehensions of this sort

[page 2]
as a strong argument in favor of our speedy marriage.
Each of us has great confidence in the other; but
neither can be fully satisfied, and have the richest
enjoyment of our mutual love, until united by the
nearest and dearest tie, so as to be one. Then you
will always feel that you have a perfect right to
claim my undivided affection and that it is just.
Then also you will feel not the slightest disposi-
tion to check or conceal the overflowing tide of
your own love to me.  Dr. Thornhill, our surgeon
and my valued friend, expressed a few days ago
the opinion that no man who is in the army ought
to marry during the war, furnishing as the reason
the painful anxieties of his wife and her poignant
distress in the event of his death.  Per contra, Prof.,
now Lt. Col. Coleman, in a conversation with me
last fall, spoke of the inexpressible comfort and
support which a man has in the devotion of his
wife and their communion of soul, though compelled
by duty to be absent from her.  He said this with
reference to the marriage of his sister-in-law to
a soldier.  As the objection to marriage is based
chiefly on the deeper and stronger love which binds

[page 3]
husband and wife, and which constitutes the lia-
bility to severe anguish in the death of one of the
parties, can we–should we be willing to forego
the delight of the warmer affection through dread
of the greater affliction that may happen?  In my
former letter I commended the subject to your de-
liberate thought and decision; and I still leave
it there, though I can not conceal my own earnest
hope that the day of our union will not be postponed.
I do wish you to be wholly and confessedly my
own—my treasure, my charge, my life.  I sym-
pathize with you in your concern for your mother;
but I do not believe her sorrow well-based and
permanent, however natural it may be at first.
I will do all I can to make here feel that she has
not lost a daughter, but gained a son.  Alas! if
we defer our marriage to the better days of peace
how long shall we wain?  God in mercy sent them
speedily! But to human calculation t here is little
sign of good in these times of trouble.  I expect to ap-
ply for leave of absence about thirty days in order
to attend Conference, and to quit the camp in time
to have the rite solemnized before the session. Pro-

[page 4]
bably, we will move towards Richmond soon, so
that as much time will not be required for the
trip as now, and perhaps we will be able to
correspond more rapidly on the matter.  There are
more practical points to be settled, and I am so
far off that I can not well attend to them.
Will you, my darling, though you hate the practical
aspects of the question, think on them and let me
know your mind?  For instance, Conference will
meet Wednesday, Nov. 19. Shall I be at Spring
Grove the preceding Monday, and shall on that
evening go to Danville, so as to take the cars next
morning for Petersburg?  Is there anyone whom you
prefer to marry us, or shall we have Jno Boggs as
the most convenient and the preacher on the circuit?
Can you have some friend to meet me at Danville
and to represent you, and give the requisite statement
to the clerk in order to the issuing of the license? &c
   I have been thinking, dear Ella, that Charlottesville
may be the most suitable place for your sojourn
while I am with the army.  It will be probably be
as convenient as any place to the army, and as safe.
I have many pleasant friends there, and I think that

[page 5]
I can provide for you a comfortable home. In all
these matters, my one object is your happiness, darling
of my heart; and I wish you freely to advise con-
cerning them.
                         Accompanying your letter was another
from Jno. Brown.  He preached Sabbath, the 5th, a mission
ary sermon for Judkins, and gives me the gratifying
intelligence that his J’s spirits are high, and only light
ahead.  He and Ettie are bound by the tie of plighted
love, and I  hope will soon be bound in the holy bonds
of wedlock.–I am deeply pained by the news of the
death of Jno. Stanly.  Two weeks ago I parted with
him, well, cheerful, hopeful.  He was a frank, gene
rous, good man, and an useful minister.  God
comfort and care for his widow!–We have seen
by the papers that our troops under Van Dorn were
defeated at Corinth; and yesterday we heard by a
telegram that Bragg has been beaten by Buell. These
are heavy blows.  But reverses should only stimulate
us to greater zeal in our cause and more importunate
pleadings with the God of battles.

[page 6]
since Friday we have had rain and clouds; but
this morning the sun shines forth cheerily.  Yester-
day Longstreet reviewed a large part of this corps for
the gratification of two Englishmen, members of parlia-
ment, I believe.  I was again compelled to take
part in the parade, but some slipped away.  Our
regiment numbers over three hundred present, in-
cluding officers.  There ought to be twice that num-
ber here.  Gardiner Houston reached the corp Sun-
day. He is well, and reports his brother improving.
I wish you could take a glance at our camp and
mode of life.  I, with the surgeons, occupy one of
the few tents in the regiment.  I have spread some hay
on the ground, and on that my oil-cloth and
blankets.  I am now seated on my blankets rolled
up for the day, and with paper on my knee write
these lines.  We have two meals a day, about 8 A.M.
and 3 or 4 P.M.  We do not drink coffee, tea, rye
or ought else but water.  Our diet is very simple
beef, mutton, or bacon, biscuits, sometimes fried
apples.  I have no books except a copy of the bible
with which are published our hymns and a discipline.
As I must examine a class at Petersburg on the histori

[page 7]
cal parts of the Scriptures, I will have an addition
al interest in reading them.  We have no candles,
and are apt to retire early on that account, though
we occasionally protract a conversation to a tolerably
late hour.  Br. Waggoner came to his regiment
Saturday.  His is the 56th Va., and he is only a
few steps from me.  If Jno Wheelwright shd join
the 18th, I will be well off for the society of
brethren.  And what time do I devote to my dear
Ella from whom it is so sad to be absent?  Thoughts
of you, my love, are seldom away during my waking
moments.  They mingle with every occupation, they
are present whatever company I keep.  You are
associated somehow with every scene and every
subject; by day and night, in my reading, in
studying sermons, in conversation, in my walks,
in my prayers; you are with me.  am I not correct
in believing that your experience is similar?
  I am comforted by your assurance that morn
ing and evening I am in your prayers.  I shall
not expose myself to any unnecessary danger, for
my life and safety are dearer to me now on your
account.  I would at any time feel it a duty to take

[page 8]
care of myself; but the words, “for my sake,” will
seem to be heard from your lips and they will have
power.  Continue to pray for me, that I may have
strength to do my whole duty, and may be blessed
in my labors.  You need not apprehend any
danger soon.  All is quiet, and nothing indicates
that a battle is near.  The general impression
is that we will in a few days leave for some
point near Richmond.  But we think that
Lee would gladly accept battle here, if McClellan
would offer it.
                          Always remember me
affectionately to your mother, and present
my kindest regards, or indeed, let me say at
once my love to the rest of the family.  Tell cousins
Lou and Emma that I will expect to find
them very good when I next visit Spring Grove.
    When will another letter come from my beloved?
Very soon, I trust.  Some, I am sure, are on the
say to me.  Think of me always: think for me
practically, as well as affectionately. And believe
me to yours with devotion.
                                  J. C. Granberry

[in top margin of page 5]
Early Tuesday[ sic] morning.  Yours of the 8th received last
evening.  Only time to thank you and “advise” against your
pedagogue plan.  Gen.  Stuart has just returned from a big scout
to Chambersburg, Pa. Brought back mayor and town council,
1000 horses, &c.
                   

John Cowper Granberry, former University of Virginia chaplain, later Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church South and a trustee of Vanderbilt University.

MSS 4942

[from the diary of Lt. John Tyler of Letcher’s Artillery]

(Oct 14th)  Again have to register a
cloudy morning.  Feel rather better than did yesterday.
James went to Leesburg for Mrs P-.  Miss L-
sent to borrow for me a Greek lexicon from
Rev. Mr Williams library.  Jas. returned
with it, did not see Dr Jackson.  Wrote let-
-ter this morning, to Jennie, Ma, & Uncle
Jas.  This afternoon wrote Florrie & sent
off all the letters & a paper to Wheatland
to go by Mr Milton tomorrow morning.
Has continued cloudy all day but no rain.
Sat up this afternoon.  Feel somewhat bet-
-ter, but very tired.  Miss L- sat part the morning

with me and did me the favor to mend
my overcoat.  Miss L. – Jeannette & Mrs P sat the
evening with me.

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 6150

Fort Tillinghast, Va. Oct 14/62

[from the diary of the Rev. Francis Butler, chaplain of the 25th New Jersey]

Tues 14.  Very busy again – Several sick – We have N.J. 25th & 2
& Vert. 12 & 13 in our Brigade –        At Eveg. held prayer
meeting in five tents – Sibleys, 20 men each – about – started
one Mess   Field & Staff Officers.  Men ordered to sleep on arms &
40 rounds ammunition served – about 10 P. M. rumor of attack – no reason

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 12935

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

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1862

Slept on top of
the cars last night
quite cool rather Cold
lost my cap last night
borrowed an old hat
this morning from a
boy of Co H. arrived
at Cumberland this
morning early got
off & played some than
after a time ran out
near two miles 1/2
Remained there all day
Many of the boys
drank [all?] day
rumored a battle
last night Cloudy
Cool to day

MSS 10317