1863 January 5 Staunton, Va.

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

Monday night, January 5, 1863.

Gen. Pemberton telegraphs that the Yankees have gone off from Vicksburg, leaving a considerable quantity of entrenching tools +c. Things do not look quite so favorable at Murfreesboro. Gen. Bragg says on the 2^nd: "The enemy retired last night but a short distance in rear of his former position." A short and sharp contest occurred on the evening of the 2nd. Gens. Wheeler and Wharton were again in the enemy's rear, on the 1^st, and destroyed 200 loaded wagons. The worst, however, is in a dispatch from Murfreesboro on the 3^rd which says: "The enemy, in strong force, continue in position about three miles of the town. Nashville has been reinforced." A majority of the heirs of Mr. Sowers' estate wish me to act as Administrator de bonis non +c. H. J. Crawford having been the Executor. I am not unwilling, but apprehend some difficulties. The steamer Alabama has captured another Yankee vessel, the Ariel, which had more than 800 persons on board, including 140 marines.

[transcript by the Valley of the Shadow project]

MSS 38-258