This entry is from A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital by John Beauchamp Jones
May 10, 1861
The ladies are postponing all engagements until their lovers have fought the Yankees. Their influence is great.
Day after day they go in crowds to the Fair ground where the 1st S. C. Vols, are encamped, showering upon them their smiles, and all the delicacies the city affords. They wine them and cake them — and they deserve it. They are just from taking Fort Sumter, and have won historic distinction.
I was introduced to several of the privates by their captain, who told me they were worth from $100,000 to half a million dollars each. The Tribune thought all these men would want to be captains! But that is not the only hallucination the North labors under, judging from present appearances ; by closing our ports it is thought we can be subdued by the want of accustomed luxuries. These rich young men were dressed in coarse gray homespun! We have the best horsemen and the best marksmen in the world, and these are the qualities that will tell before the end of the war.
We fight for existence — the enemy for Union and the freedom of the slave. Well, let the Yankees see if this "new thing" will pay.
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| Bombardment of Fort Sumter: John Rogers, Engraver From NYPL Digital Gallery |
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