Sunday, March 11, 2012

1862 March 12 Lynchburg, Va.

[from the diary of William M. Blackford, former diplomant, bank officer and editor, with five sons in the Confederate Army]

Wednesday 12 The cars on the Orange Road which
had resumed their trips have again suspended
The news from the West is still doubtful though
our party claims a victory. Gen McCullough &
McIntosh are killed & Price wounded. Van
Dorn was on the [?] The loss on both sides
is said to be very great. the Northern papers
claim a victory for the Federals--I greatly fear
we have been beaten. The consternation produced
in Washington & in the north by the naval victory
is really amusing. An attack by the Merrimac
was feared in Washington--A meeting was held this
evening to ascertain the sense of the people as to
petitioning of the President to proclaim Martial law
Speed[?] Mosby & Bishop Early spoke in favor of it.
I have been opposed to it--but feel my oppo-
sition shaken. I do not see how otherwise we
can put down the drunkeness[?] which seems
to have come in like a flood. Meeting adjourned til tomorrow.

MSS 4763

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