1862 February 1 Wheeling, Va.

[from the diary of Charles Hay, of the 23rd Ohio, returning from furlough]


 Wheeling, Virginia, Feb’y 1st., 1862.
Today, leaving the hills of the “Keystone State”,
and coursing swiftly down the banks of the Ohio, through the
border of the “Buckeye State”, I, tonight, find myself
in the “Old Dominion,” in the principal city of
the Western portion. ~~ I left my uncle’s at 8 ½
o’clock this morning in company with my cousin,
Miss Lydia T. to go to New Brighton.  By dint of
running about half a mile, we just succeeded in
getting on the cars in time, by missing which, we
would have had four miles more to walk.
     Having staid here about 3 hours, and become
dissatisfied with the people of the place; who are
too aristocratic to suit my plain notions, I came
on to Rochester, 3 miles from New Brighton, and on
the Ohio River.  New Brighton is a pretty village,
and has good buildings, and does a considerable
business, being situated on the line of the P. Fr. W. V.
C. R. R, and but 3 miles from the Ohio River.
     Rochester is also on the same road, at the junction
of it and the Cleveland & Pittsburg R.R., but is a
place of no consequence, and but little business,
as I could see, is transacted . ~  At 3 P.M. I
                                                           
left Rochester for Wheeling, distant, 65 miles.  A 3
hours ride brought me to Bridgeport (opposite Wheeling)
and in another half hour, by means of the omnibus,
I cross the River, and here I am.  The first thing
I did was to visit the Post Hospital at this place,
to find an acquaintance who is an assistant there, having
entered the Hospital as a patient last Fall, but has
now recovered.  By his aid, I succeed in getting
a suitable place to stay, in the shape of the “Swan
House,” which, though not first class, is very good,
both as to accommodations and charges.  But I
feel fatigued and sleepy, consequently, I will “drop off”
here, and “turn in” for the night.
I might add, by way of postscript, that my
today’s trip was a pleasant one.  The favorable
weather and beautiful scenery combined to make a few dull
hours pass rapidly and pleasantly by.  The placid waters
of the Ohio, occasionally ruffled by a passing steamboat,
the steep, rocky hills, of either side, approaching in
most places close to the shore, an occasional island,
the numerous oil-derricks, the pretty villages, &c. &c, together
with the clear, bright day, unusual for February, tended
to beguile away a short time that might have hung heavily on
                                                     my hands.

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 13925