An order for the publication of the names of alien enemies.--Some
excitement.--Efforts to secure property.--G. A. Myers, lawyer,
actively engaged.--Gen. Price gains a victory in Missouri.--Billy
Wilson's cut-throats cut to pieces at Fort Pickens.--A female spy
arrives from Washington.--Great success at Leesburg or Ball's Bluff.
OCTOBER 1ST.--I find that only a few hundred alien enemies departed from
the country under the President's proclamation, allowing them forty
days, from the 16th of August, to make their arrangements; but under the
recent order of Mr. Benjamin, if I may judge from the daily
applications, there will be a large emigration. The persons now going
belong to a different class of people: half of them avowing themselves
friendly to our cause, and desiring egress through our lines on the
Potomac, or in the West, to avoid being published as alien enemies going
under flag of truce _via_ Norfolk and Fortress Monroe. Many of them
declare a purpose to return.
OCTOBER 2D.--A day or two ago Col. Bledsoe, who visits me now very
seldom, sent an order by Mr. Brooks for me to furnish a list of the
names of alien enemies for publication. This was complied with
cheerfully; and these publications have produced some excitement in the
community.
OCTOBER 3D.--The President not having taken any steps in the matter, I
have no alternative but to execute the order of the Secretary.
OCTOBER 4TH.--Sundry applications were made to-day to leave the country
under flag of truce, _provided I would not permit the names to be
published_. The reason for this request is that these persons have
connections here who might be _compromised_. I refused compliance. In
one or two instances they intimated that they would not have their names
published for _thousands of dollars_. My response to this was such as to
cause them to withdraw their applications.
OCTOBER 5TH.--To-day several Southern-born gentlemen, who have lived
long in the North, and have their fortunes and families there, applied
for passports. They came hither to save the investments of their parents
in Northern securities, by having them transferred to their children.
This seems legitimate, and some of the parties are old and valued
friends of mine. I know their sympathies are with their native land. Yet
why are they so late in coming? I know not. It is for me to send them
out of the country, for such is the order of the Secretary of War. The
loyalty of the connections of these gentlemen is vouched for in a note
(on file) written by Mr. Hunter, Secretary of State. Their names must be
published as alien enemies. They will take no part in the war.
OCTOBER 6TH.--Nothing of importance.
OCTOBER 7TH.--Nothing of note.
OCTOBER 8TH.--Mr. Gustavus Myers, a lawyer of this city, seems to take
an active interest in behalf of parties largely engaged in business at
Baltimore. And he has influence with the Secretary, for he generally
carries his points over my head. The parties he engineers beyond our
lines may possibly do us no harm; but I learn they certainly do
themselves much _good_ by their successful speculations. And do they not
take gold and other property to the North, and thereby defeat the
object of the sequestration act? The means thus abstracted from the
South will certainly be taxed by the North to make war on us.
OCTOBER 9TH.--Contributions of clothing, provisions, etc. are coming in
large quantities; sometimes to the amount of $20,000 in a single day.
Never was there such a patriotic _people_ as ours! Their blood and their
wealth are laid upon the altar of their country with enthusiasm.
I must say here that the South Carolinians are the _gentlest_ people I
ever met with. They accede to every requisition with cheerfulness; and
never have I known an instance where any one of them has used subterfuge
to evade a rule, however hard it might bear upon them. They are the soul
of honor, truth, and patriotism.
OCTOBER 10TH.--A victory--but not in the East. I expect none here while
there is such a stream of travel flowing Northward. It was in Missouri,
at Lexington. Gen. Price has captured the town and made several thousand
prisoners, whom he dismissed on parole.
OCTOBER 11TH.--And Wise has had bloody fighting with Rosecrans in
Western Virginia. He can beat the enemy at fighting; but they beat him
at manoeuvring, with the use of the guides Gen. Winder has sent them
from our prisons here.
OCTOBER 12TH.--Col. Wright has had a race with the Yankees on the North
Carolina coast. They fled to their works before his single regiment with
such precipitation as to leave many of their arms and men behind. We
lost but one man: and he was fat, broke his wind, and died in the
pursuit.
OCTOBER 13TH.--Another little success, but not in this vicinity. Gen.
Anderson, of South Carolina, in the night crossed to Santa Rosa Island
and cut up Billy Wilson's regiment of New York cut-throats and thieves;
under the very guns of Fort Pickens.
OCTOBER 14TH.--Kissing goes by favor! Col. M----r, of Maryland, whose
published letter of objuration of the United States Government attracted
much attention some time since, is under the ban. He came hither and
tendered his services to this government, but failed to get the
employment applied for, though his application was urged by Mr. Hunter,
the Secretary of State, who is his relative. After remaining here for a
long time, vainly hoping our army would cross the Potomac and deliver
his native State, and finding his finances diminishing, he sought
permission of the Secretary to return temporarily to his family in
Maryland, expecting to get them away and to save some portion of his
effects. His fidelity was vouched for in strong language by Mr. Hunter,
and yet the application has been refused! I infer from this that Mr.
Benjamin is omnipotent in the cabinet, and that Mr. Hunter cannot remain
long in it.
OCTOBER 15TH.--I have been requested by Gen. Winder to-day to refuse a
passport to Col. M----r to leave the city in any direction. So the
colonel is within bounds! I learn that he differed with Gen. Winder
(both from Maryland) in politics. But if he was a Whig, so was Mr.
Benjamin. Again, I hear that Col. M. had some difficulty with Col.
Northrop, Commissary-General, and challenged him. This is a horse of
another color. Col. N. is one of the special favorites of the President.
OCTOBER 16TH.--Col. M. applied to me to-day for a passport to Maryland,
bringing a strong letter from Mr. Hunter, and also a note from Col.
Bledsoe, Chief of the Bureau of War. He seemed thunderstruck when I
informed him that Gen. Winder had obtained an order from the Secretary
of War to detain him. A few moments after Gen. Winder came with a couple
of his detectives (all from Baltimore) and arrested him. Subsequently he
was released on parole of honor, not to leave the city without Gen.
Winder's permission. I apprehend bad consequences from this proceeding.
It may prevent other high-toned Marylanders from espousing our side of
this contest.
OCTOBER 17TH.--Hurlbut has been released from prison. Mr. Hunter has a
letter (intercepted) from Raymond, editor of the New York _Times_,
addressed to him since the battle of Manassas.
OCTOBER 18TH.--I cannot perceive that our army increases much in
strength, particularly in Virginia. The enemy have now over 660,000 in
the field in various places, and seem to be preparing for a simultaneous
advance.
It is said _millions_ of securities, the property of the enemy, are
transferred to the United States. It is even intimated that the men
engaged in this business have the protection of men in high positions
_on both sides_. Can it be possible that _we_ have men in power who are
capable of taking bribes from the enemy? If so, God help the country!
OCTOBER 19TH.--Col. Ashby with 600 men routed a force of 1000 Yankees,
the other day, near Harper's Ferry. That is the cavalry again! The spies
here cannot inform the enemy of the movements of our mounted men, which
are always made with celerity.
OCTOBER 20TH.--A lady, just from Washington, after striving in vain to
procure an interview with the Secretary of War, left with me the
programme of the enemy's contemplated movements. She was present with
the family of Gen. Dix at a party, and heard their purposes disclosed.
They meditate an advance immediately, with 200,000 men. The head of
Banks's column is to cross near Leesburg; and when over, a movement upon
our flank is intended from the vicinity of Arlington Heights. This is
truly a formidable enterprise, if true. We have not 70,000 effective men
in Northern Virginia. The lady is in earnest--and remains here.
I wrote down the above information and sent it to the President; and
understood that dispatches were transmitted immediately to Gen.
Johnston, by telegraph.
The lady likewise spoke of a contemplated movement by sea with
gun-boats, to be commanded by Burnside, Butler, etc.
In the evening I met Mr. Hunter, and told him the substance of the
information brought by the lady. He seemed much interested, for he knows
the calm we have been enjoying bodes no good; and he apprehends that
evil will grow out of the order of the Secretary of War, permitting all
who choose to call themselves alien enemies to leave the Confederacy.
While we were speaking (in the street) Mr. Benjamin came up, and told me
he had seen the letter I sent to the President. He said, moreover, that
he did not doubt the enemy intended to advance as set forth in the
programme.
OCTOBER 21ST.--The enemy's papers represent that we have some 80,000 men
in Kentucky, and this lulls us from vigilance and effort in Virginia.
The Secretary of War knows very well that we have not 30,000 there, and
that we are not likely to have more. We supposed Kentucky would rise.
The enemy knows this fact as well as we do; nevertheless, it has been
his practice from the beginning to exaggerate our numbers. It lulls us
into fancied security.
OCTOBER 22D.--We have news of a victory at Leesburg. It appears that the
head of one of the enemy's columns, 8000 strong, attempted a passage of
the Potomac yesterday, at that point pursuant to the programme furnished
by the lady from Washington. That point had been selected by the enemy
because the spies had reported that there were only three Confederate
regiments there. But crossing a river in boats in the face of a few
Southern regiments, is no easy matter. And this being the _People's
War_, although Gen. Evans, in command, had received orders to fall back
if the enemy came in force, our troops decided for themselves to fight
before retreating. Therefore, when seven or eight regiments of Yankees
landed on this side of the river, two or three of our regiments advanced
and fired into them with terrible effect. Then they charged; and ere
long such a panic was produced, that the enemy rushed in disorder into
the river, crowding their boats so much that several went to the bottom,
carrying down hundreds. The result was that the head of the serpent
received a tremendous bruising, and the whole body recoiled from the
scene of disaster. We had only some 1500 men engaged, and yet captured
1600 muskets; and the enemy's loss, in killed, wounded, and prisoners,
amounted to 2000 men. This battle was fought, in some respects, by the
privates alone--much of the time without orders, and often without
officers.
OCTOBER 23D.--The President is highly delighted at the result of the
battle of Leesburg; and yet some of the red-tape West Point gentry are
indignant at Gen. Evans for not obeying orders, and falling back. There
is some talk of a court-martial; for it is maintained that no commander,
according to strict military rules, should have offered battle against
such superior numbers. They may disgrace Gen. Evans; but I trust our
_soldiers_ will repeat the experiment on every similar occasion.
OCTOBER 24TH.--We made a narrow escape; at least, we have a respite. If
the Yankee army had advanced with its 200,000 men, they would not have
encountered more than 70,000 fighting Confederate soldiers between the
Potomac and Richmond. It was our soldiers (neither the officers nor the
government) that saved us; and they fought contrary to rule, and even in
opposition to orders. Of course our officers at Leesburg did their duty
manfully; nevertheless, the soldiers had determined to fight, officers
or no officers.
But as the man in the play said, "it will suffice." The Yankees are a
calculating people: and if 1500 Mississippians and Virginians at
Leesburg were too many for 8000 Yankees, what could 200,000 Yankees do
against 70,000 Southern soldiers? It made them pause, and give up the
idea of taking Richmond this year. But the enemy will fight better every
successive year; and this should not be lost sight of. They, too, are
Anglo-Saxons.
OCTOBER 25TH.--Gen. Price, of Missouri, is too popular, and there is a
determination on the part of the West Pointers to "kill him off." I fear
he will gain no more victories.
OCTOBER 26TH.--Immense amounts of patriotic contributions, in clothing
and provisions, are daily registered.
OCTOBER 27TH.--Still the Jews are going out of the country and returning
at pleasure. They deplete the Confederacy of coin, and sell their goods
at 500 per cent. profit. They pay no duty; and Mr. Memminger has lost
hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way.
The press everywhere is thundering against the insane policy of
permitting all who avow themselves enemies to return to the North; and I
think Mr. B. is beginning to wince under it. I tremble when I reflect
that those who made the present government, and the one to succeed it,
did not represent one-third of the people composing the inhabitants of
the Confederate States.
OCTOBER 28TH.--The most gigantic naval preparations have been made by
the enemy; and they must strike many blows on the coast this fall and
winter. They are building great numbers of gun-boats, some of them
iron-clad, both for the coast and for the Western rivers. If they get
possession of the Mississippi River, it will be a sad day for the
Confederacy. And what are we doing? We have many difficulties to contend
against; and there is a deficiency in artisans and material.
Nevertheless, the government is constructing a monster at Norfolk, and
several similar floating batteries in the West. But we neglect to
construct casemated batteries! Our fortifications, without them, must
fall before the iron ships of the enemy. The battle of Manassas has
given us a long exemption from the fatigues and horrors of war; but this
calm will be succeeded by a storm.
OCTOBER 29TH.--The election to take place during the ensuing month
creates no excitement. There will be less than a moiety of the whole
vote cast; and Davis and Stephens will be elected without opposition. No
disasters have occurred yet to affect the popularity of any of the great
politicians; and it seems no risks will be run. The battle of Manassas
made everybody popular--and especially Gen. Beauregard. If he were a
candidate, I am pretty certain he would be elected.
OCTOBER 30TH.--I understand a dreadful quarrel is brewing between Mr.
Benjamin and Gen. Beauregard. Gen. B. being the only individual ever
hinted at as an opponent of Mr. Davis for the Presidency, the Secretary
of War fights him on vantage-ground, and likewise commends himself to
the President. Van Buren was a good politician in his day, and so is Mr.
Benjamin in _his_ way. I hope these dissensions may expend themselves
without injury to the country.
OCTOBER 31ST.--Mr. Benjamin, it is understood, will be a candidate for a
seat in the C. S. Senate. And I have learned from several members of the
Louisiana legislature that he will be defeated. They charge him with
hob-nobbing too much with Northern friends; and say that he still
retains membership in several clubs in New York and Boston.