Vicksburg shelled.--Lee looks toward Washington.--Much manoeuvring in
Orange County.--A brigade of the enemy annihilated.--McClellan flies
to Washington.--Cretans.--Leo has a mighty army.--Missouri risings.--
Pope's coat and papers captured.--Cut up at Manassas.--Clothing
captured of the enemy.
AUGUST 1ST.--Vicksburg has triumphantly withstood the shelling of the
enemy's fleet of gun-boats. This proves that New Orleans might have been
successfully defended, and could have been held to this day by Gen.
Lovell. So, West Point is not always the best criterion of one's fitness
to command.
AUGUST 2D.--The Adjutant-General, "by order" (I suppose of the
President), is annulling, one after another, all Gen. Winder's despotic
orders.
AUGUST 3D.--There is a rumor that McClellan is "stealing away" from his
new base! and Burnside has gone up the Rappahannock to co-operate with
Pope in his "march to Richmond."
AUGUST 4TH.--Lee is making herculean efforts for an "on to Washington,"
while the enemy think he merely designs a defense of Richmond. Troops
are on the move, all the way from Florida to Gordonsville.
AUGUST 5TH.--The enemy have postponed drafting, that compulsory mode of
getting men being unpopular, _until after the October elections_. I hope
Lee will make the most of his time, and annihilate their drilled and
seasoned troops. He can put more _fighting_ men in Virginia than the
enemy, during the next two months. "Now's the day, and now's the hour!"
AUGUST 6TH.--Jackson is making preparations to fight. I know the
symptoms. He has made Pope believe he's afraid of him.
AUGUST 7TH.--Much incomprehensible manoeuvring is going on in Orange
County.
AUGUST 8TH.--We hear of skirmishing in Orange County, and the enemy seem
as familiar with the paths and fords as our own people; hence some
surprises, attempted by our cavalry, have failed.
AUGUST 9TH.--Jackson and Ewell are waiting and watching. Pope will
expose himself soon.
AUGUST 10TH.--Jackson struck Pope yesterday! It was a terrible blow, for
the numbers engaged. Several thousand of the enemy were killed, wounded,
and taken prisoners. Among the latter is Gen. Prince, who arrived in
this city this morning. He affected to be ignorant of Pope's brutal
orders, and of the President's retaliatory order concerning the
commissioned officers of Pope's army taken in battle. When Prince was
informed that he and the fifty or sixty others taken with him were not
to be treated as prisoners of war, but as _felons_, he vented his
execrations upon Pope. They were sent into close confinement.
AUGUST 11TH.--Our killed, wounded, and captured did not amount to more
than 600. We might have captured a whole brigade at one time during the
battle, but _did not_. They charged our batteries, not perceiving a
brigade of our own lying concealed just in the rear of the guns: so,
when they advanced, shouting, to within _thirty yards_ of our troops,
they rose and "let them have it." Nine-tenths of the enemy fell, and the
rest were soon dispatched, before they could get away. One of their
dying officers said they would have surrendered to us, if we had
demanded it. He was reminded of Pope's beastly orders, and died with a
horrible groan.
AUGUST 12TH.--Pope claims a victory! So did McClellan. But truth will
rise, in spite of everything. I will not quote Bryant literally, because
he is an enemy in this war, and falsifies his own precepts.
AUGUST 13TH.--McClellan is gone, bag and baggage, abandoning his
"_base_;" to attain which, he said he had instituted his magnificent
strategic movements, resulting in an unmolested retreat from the
Peninsula and flight to Washington, for the defense of his own capital.
So the truth they crushed to earth on the Chickahominy has risen again,
and the Yankees, like the Cretans, are to be known henceforth as a
nation of liars.
AUGUST 14TH.--Lee has gone up the country to command in person. Now let
Lincoln beware, for there _is_ danger. A mighty army, such as Napoleon
himself would have been proud to command, is approaching his capital.
This is the triumph Lee has been providing for, while the nations of the
earth are hesitating whether or not to recognize our independence.
AUGUST 15TH.--Moved my office to an upper story of the Bank of Virginia,
where the army intelligence office is located--an office that keeps a
list of the sick and wounded.
AUGUST 16TH.--We have intelligence from the West of a simultaneous
advance of several of our columns. This is the work of Lee. May God
grant that our blows be speedy and effectual in hurling back the invader
from our soil!
AUGUST 17TH.--We have also news from Missouri of indications of an
uprising which will certainly clear the State of the few Federal troops
remaining there. The _draft_ will accelerate the movement. And then if
we get Kentucky, as I think we must, we shall add a hundred thousand to
our army!
AUGUST 18TH.--From Texas, West Louisiana, and Arkansas, we shall soon
have tidings. The clans are gathering, and 20,000 more, half mounted on
hardy horses, will soon be marching for the _prairie_ country of the
enemy. Glorious Lee! and glorious Jackson! They are destined to roll the
dark clouds away from the horizon.
AUGUST 19TH.--Day and _night_ our troops are marching; they are now
_beyond_ the right wing of Pope, and will soon be accumulated there in
such numbers as to defy the combined forces of Pope, Burnside, and
McClellan!
AUGUST 20TH.--We have now a solution of the secret of Pope's familiarity
with the country. _His guide and pilot is the identical Robt. Stewart
who was sent here to the Provost Marshal--a prisoner._ How did he get
out? They say money did it.
AUGUST 21ST.--Some apprehensions are felt by a few for the safety of
this city, as it is supposed that _all_ the troops have been withdrawn.
This is not so, however. From ten to fifteen _thousand_ men could be
concentrated here in twenty-four hours. Richmond is not in half the
danger that Washington is.
AUGUST 22D.--Saw Vice-President Stephens to day, as cordial and
enthusiastic as ever.
AUGUST 23D.--Members of Congress are coming to my office every day,
getting passports for their constituents. Those I have seen (Senator
Brown, of Mississippi, among the rest) express a purpose not to renew
the act, to expire on the 18th September, authorizing martial law.
AUGUST 24TH.--In both Houses of Congress they are thundering away at
Gen. Winder's Provost Marshal and his Plug Ugly alien policemen. Senator
Brown has been very bitter against them.
AUGUST 25TH.--Mr. Russell has reported a bill which would give us
martial law in such a modified form as to extract its venom.
AUGUST 26TH.--Mr. Russell's bill will not pass. The machinery of
legislation works too slowly.
Fredericksburg has been evacuated by the enemy! It is said the Jews
rushed in and bought boots for $7.00, which they now demand $25.00 for,
and so with various other articles of merchandise. They are now
investing money in real estate for the first time, which is evidence
that they have no faith in the ultimate redemption of Confederate money.
AUGUST 27TH.--Huzza for Gen. Stuart! He has made another _circumvention_
of the enemy, getting completely in Pope's rear, and destroying many
millions worth of stores, etc.
AUGUST 28TH.--Pope's coat was captured, and all his papers. The braggart
is near his end.
AUGUST 29TH.--Bloody fighting is going on at Manassas. All the news is
good for us. It appears that Pope, in his consummate egotism, refused to
believe that he had been outwitted, and "pitched into" our corps and
divisions, believing them to be merely brigades and regiments. He has
been terribly cut up.
AUGUST 30TH.--Banks, by the order of Pope, has burnt 400 Yankee cars
loaded with quartermaster's and commissary stores. But our soldiers have
fared sumptuously on the enemy's provisions, and captured clothing
enough for half the army.
AUGUST 31ST.--Fighting every day at Manassas.