1862 December 19 Staunton, Va.

[from the diary of Joseph Addison Waddell, former newspaper editor and civilian employee of the Quartermaster Dept.]

Friday night, Dec. 19, 1862.

A dispatch from Winchester last night started that a party of our cavalry had returned from an expedition to Hagerstown and Poolsville, Md., bringing 35 prisoners, many horses +c. It stated also that the "Baltimore Sun" reports the Federal loss at Fredericksburg at 40,000 — that the Washington Cabinet were quarreling amongst themselves — that Burnside had been rumored from                   the head of the Federal army and Fremont put in his place. A rumor was current that a fight had occurred in New York, and 1500 people killed, in consequence of an attempt by Lincoln's officials to arrest John Van Buren. A letter from Frederickburg states that Mrs. Lomax (Kitty's grandmother) returned to the town, after assurance was given that the place would not be fired into, and when the bombardment began, her brother, Mr. Presley Thornton, undertook to convey her to the basement of a neighbor's house, which was considered entirely safe — and the writer of the letter had heard nothing further of her.

[transcript by the Valley of the Shadow Project]

MSS  38-258