_Sunday evg. Dec. 21._ The cotton on this island is nearly all ginned.
I have not been able to start the steam-gins in Beaufort yet--am
waiting for authority to use the steam, which comes from the
condensing boiler under the control of General Brannan's
quartermaster. I asked General Saxton about it the other day, but he
said he didn't know as they would let him have it. The General feels
very blue about his position here, and I don't wonder. He declares he
will not stay if he is not sustained, and says that General
Halleck[87] sympathizes with Brannan and don't mean to let him be
removed.
_Wednesday evg._ I looked over the Coffin people's cotton Monday and
found it was not yet clean enough to pack, so refused to weigh it, and
set the women at work picking over the whole of it again. Each woman
keeps her own pile--the same that she and her husband raised.
I find rumors here that General Saxton and staff are to be relieved.
General Saxton believes in his being relieved, but no mail has come
yet to confirm it.
I want to keep R., G., C. P. W. and Bryant on plantations which I may
buy, and they are all anxious to stay.