Four hundred thousand troops to be raised.--Want of arms.--Yankees offer
to sell them to us.--Walker resigns.--Benjamin succeeds.--Col. J. A.
Washington killed.--Assigned, temporarily, to the head of the
passport office.
SEPTEMBER 1ST.--The press and congressional critics are opening their
batteries on the Secretary of War, for _incompetency_. He is not to
blame. A month ago, Capt. Lee, son of the general, and a good engineer,
was sent to the coast of North Carolina to inspect the defenses. His
report was well executed; and the recommendations therein attended to
with all possible expedition. It is now asserted that the garrison was
deficient in ammunition. This was not the case. The position was simply
not tenable under the fire of the U. S. ships of war.
SEPTEMBER 2D.--I voluntarily hunted up Capt. Lee's report, and prepared
an article for the press based on its statements.
SEPTEMBER 3D.--My article on the defenses of North Carolina seems to
have silenced the censures of the cavilers.
SEPTEMBER 4TH.--J. R. Anderson, proprietor of the iron-works here, has
been appointed brigadier-general by the President. He, too, was a West
Pointer; but does not look like a military genius. He is assigned to
duty on the coast of North Carolina.
SEPTEMBER 5TH.--Our Congress has authorized the raising and organizing
of four hundred regiments. The Yankee Congress, 500,000 men. The enemy
will get theirs first; and it is said that between 600,000 and 700,000,
for three years or the war, have already been accepted by the U. S.
Government. Their papers boast that nearly a million volunteers were
tendered. This means mischief. How many will rush forward a year hence
to volunteer their services on the plains of the South? Full many
ensanguined plains will greet the horrific vision before this time next
year; and many a venal wretch coming to possess our land, will occupy
till the day of final doom a tract of six feet by two in some desolate
and unfrequented swamp. The toad will croak his requiem, and the viper
will coil beneath the thistle growing over his head.
SEPTEMBER 6TH.--We are not increasing our forces as rapidly as might be
desired, for the want of arms. We had some 150,000 stand of small arms,
at the beginning of the war, taken from the arsenals; and the States
owned probably 100,000 more. Half of these were flint-locks, which are
being altered. None have been imported yet. Occasionally a letter
reaches the department from Nashville, offering improved arms at a high
price, _for gold_. These are Yankees. I am instructed by the Secretary
to say they will be paid for in gold on delivery to an agent in
Nashville. The number likely to be obtained in this manner, however,
must be small; for the Yankee Government is exercising much vigilance.
Is not this a fair specimen of Yankee cupidity and character? The New
England manufacturers are furnishing us, with whom they are at war, with
arms to fight with, provided we agree to pay them a higher price than is
offered by their own Government! The philosophical conclusion is, that
this war will end when it ceases to be a pecuniary speculation.
SEPTEMBER 7TH.--The Jews are at work. Having no nationality, all wars
are harvests for them. It has been so from the day of their dispersion.
Now they are scouring the country in all directions, buying all the
goods they can find in the distant cities, and even from the country
stores. These they will _keep_, until the process of consumption shall
raise a greedy demand for all descriptions of merchandise.
Col. Bledsoe _has resigned_, but says nothing now about getting me
appointed in his place. That matter rests with the President, and I
shall not be an applicant.
SEPTEMBER 8TH.--Major Tyler has been appointed _acting_ Chief of the
Bureau of War.
SEPTEMBER 9TH.--Matters in _statu quo_, and Major Tyler still acting
chief of the bureau.
SEPTEMBER 10TH.--Col. Bledsoe is back again! He says the President
refuses to accept his resignation; and tells me in confidence, not to be
revealed for a few days, that Mr. Walker has tendered his resignation,
_and that it will be accepted_.
SEPTEMBER 11TH.--The colonel enjoys a joke. He whispered me to-day, as
he beheld Major Tyler doing the honors of his office, that I might just
hint at the possibility of his resumption soon of the functions of chief
of the bureau. But he said he wanted a few days holiday.
SEPTEMBER 12TH.--Gen. Pillow has advanced, and occupied Columbus, Ky. He
was ordered, by telegraph, to abandon the town and return to his former
position. Then the order was countermanded, and he remains. The
authorities have learned that the enemy occupies Paducah.
SEPTEMBER 13TH.--The Secretary, after writing and tendering his
resignation, appointed my young friend Jaques a special clerk with $2000
salary. This was allowed by a recent act.
SEPTEMBER 14TH.--Some of Mr. Walker's clerks must know that he intends
giving up the seals of office soon, for they are engaged day and night,
and all night, _copying_ the entire letter-book, which is itself but a
copy of the letters I and others have written, with Mr. Walker's name
appended to them. Long may they be a monument of his epistolary
administrative ability, and profound statesmanship!
SEPTEMBER 15TH.--And, just as I expected, Mr. Benjamin is to be Mr.
Walker's successor. Col. Bledsoe is back again; and it devolved on me to
inform Major Tyler that the _old_ chief of the bureau was now the _new_
chief. Of course he resigned the seals of office with the grace and
courtesy of which he is so capable. And then he informed me (in
confidence) that the Secretary had resigned, and would be appointed a
brigadier-general in the army of the Southwest; and that he would
accompany him as his adjutant-general.
SEPTEMBER 16TH.--Mr. Benjamin's hitherto perennial smile faded almost
away as he realized the fact that he was now the most important member
of the cabinet. He well knew how arduous the duties were; but then he
was robust in health, and capable of any amount of labor.
It seems, after all, that Mr. Benjamin is only _acting_ Secretary of
War, until the President can fix upon another. Can that be the reason
his smile has faded almost away? But the President will appoint him. Mr.
Benjamin will please him; he knows how to do it.
SEPTEMBER 17TH.--A man from Washington came into my office to-day,
saying he had important information from Washington. I went into the
Secretary's room, and found Mr. Benjamin surrounded by a large circle of
visitors, all standing hat in hand, and quite silent. I asked him if he
would see the gentleman from Washington. He said he "_didn't know who to
see_." This produced a smile. He seemed to be standing there waiting for
someone to speak, and they seemed to be waiting an invitation from him
to speak. I withdrew from the embarrassing scene, remarking that my
gentleman would call some other time. Meanwhile I wrote down the
information, and sent it to the President.
SEPTEMBER 18TH.--Gen. Floyd has been attacked at Gauley, by greatly
superior numbers. But he was intrenched, and slew hundreds of the enemy
before he retreated, which was effected without loss.
SEPTEMBER 19TH.--We hear of several splendid dashes of cavalry near
Manassas, under Col. Stuart; and Wise's cavalry in the West are doing
good service.
SEPTEMBER 20TH.--Col. J. A. Washington has been killed in a skirmish. He
inherited Mount Vernon. This reminds me that Edward Everett is urging on
the war against us. The universal education, so much boasted of in New
England, like their religion, is merely a humbug, or worse than a
humbug, the fruitful source of crime. I shall doubt hereafter whether
superior intelligence is promotive of superior virtue. The serpent is
wiser than the dove, but never so harmless. Ignorance is bliss in
comparison with Yankee wisdom.
SEPTEMBER 21ST.--The Secretary has authorized me to sign passports "for
the Secretary of War." My son attends to his letters. I have now an
opportunity of _seeing_ more. I have authority to order transportation
for the parents of soldiers, and for goods and provisions taken to the
camps.
SEPTEMBER 22D.--Harris and Magraw, who were taken on the field of
Manassas, looking for the remains of Col. Cameron, have been liberated
by Gen. Winder, on the order of the acting Secretary of War. This is
startling; for Mr. Benjamin was the most decided man, at the time of
their capture, against their liberation. _Per contra_, a Mr. G., a rich
New York merchant, and Mr. R., a wealthy railroad contractor, whom I
feared would break through the meshes of the law, with the large sums
realized by them here, have been arrested by the Secretary's order, on
the ground that they have no right to transfer the sinews of war to the
North, to be used against us.
SEPTEMBER 23D.--Thousands of dollars worth of clothing and provisions,
voluntary and patriotic contributions to the army, are arriving daily.
SEPTEMBER 24TH.--The time is up for the departure of alien enemies. This
is the last day, according to the President's proclamation. We have had
no success lately, and never can have success, while the enemy know all
our plans and dispositions. Keep them in total ignorance of our
condition and movements, and they will no more invade us than they would
explore a vast cave, in which thousands of rattlesnakes can be heard,
without lights. Their spies and emissaries here are so many
torch-bearers for them.
SEPTEMBER 25TH.--Mr. Benjamin and Gen. Winder, after granting a special
interview to Messrs. G. and R., have concluded to let them depart for
Pennsylvania and New York! Nor is this all. _I have an order from Mr.
Benjamin to give passports_, until further orders, _to leave the country
to all persons who avow themselves alien enemies, whether in person or
by letter_, provided they take no wealth with them. This may be a fatal
policy, or it may be a _trap_.
SEPTEMBER 26TH.--Had a conversation with the Secretary to-day, on the
policy of sending Union men out of the Confederacy. I told him we had
15,000 sick in the hospitals at Manassas, and this intelligence might
embolden the enemy to advance, capture the hospitals, and make our sick
men prisoners. He said such prisoners would be a burden to them, and a
relief to us. I remarked that they would count as prisoners in making
exchanges; and to abandon them in that manner, would have a discouraging
effect on our troops. He said that sending unfriendly persons out of the
country was in conformity with the spirit of the act of Congress, and
recommended me to reperuse it and make explanations to the people, who
were becoming clamorous for some restriction on the egress of spies.
SEPTEMBER 27TH.--To-day I prepared a leading editorial article for the
_Enquirer_, taking ground directly opposite to that advocated by Mr.
Benjamin. It was written with the law before me, which gave no warrant,
as I could perceive, for the assumption of the Secretary.
SEPTEMBER 28TH.--I sent the paper containing my article to J. R. Davis,
Esq., nephew of the President, avowing its authorship, and requesting
him to ask the President's attention to the subject.
SEPTEMBER 29TH.--To-day Mr. Benjamin issued several passports himself,
and sent several others to me with peremptory orders for granting them.
SEPTEMBER 30TH.--A pretty general jail delivery is now taking place.
Gen. Winder, acting I suppose, of course, under the instructions of the
Secretary of War--and Mr. Benjamin is now Secretary indeed--is
discharging from the prisons the disloyal prisoners sent hither during
the last month by Gens. Johnston, Floyd, and Wise. Not only liberating
them, but giving them transportation to their homes, mostly within the
enemy's lines. Surely if the enemy reciprocates such magnanimous
courtesy, the war will be merely child's play, and we shall be spared
the usual horrors of civil war. We shall see how the Yankees will
appreciate this kindness.