1861 January 25 [Staunton, Va.]

[from the diary of Joseph A. Waddell, civilian clerk in the Quartermaster Dept., Staunton, Va.]

Va. At Alick’s again to-night – The cheerfulness
with which she undergoes such labors is admira-
ble. I would not have consented for her to sit up
anywhere else. The children seem about in a- [sic]
about the same condition. The war new is not
encouraging for us, the enemy’s forces outnum-
bering ours vastly, and pressing in on every side.
The last report in relation to our defeat in Ky.
is that we lost 300 men – that Crittenden with
6000 attacked the Federalists, supposing them to
be 1500 in number, but they turned out to be 14000,
strongly posted and fortified at that. There was a
report to-day that a large body of Federalists (15
regiments) were approaching Lewisburg.

[Transcription by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 38-258