yed whist with them
in the most genial and friendly way.

16. This afternoon Negley sent over a request for help, stating that his
forage train had been attacked. The alarm, however, proved groundless. A
few shots only had been fired at the foragers.

17. The news from Fredericksburg has cast a shadow over the army. We
did hope that Burnside would be successful, and thus brighten the
prospect for a speedy peace; but we are in deeper gloom now than ever.
The repulse at Fredericksburg, while it has disabled thousands, has
disheartened, if not demoralized a great army, and given confidence and
strength to the rebels every-where. It may be, however, that this defeat
was necessary to bring us clearly to the point of extinguishing slavery
in all the States. The time is near when the strength of the President's
resolution in this regard will be put to the test. I trust he will be
firm. The mere reconstruction of the Union on the old basis would not
pay humanity for all the blood shed since the war began. The extinction
of slavery, perhaps, will.

While the North raises immense numbers of men, and scatters them to the
four winds, the enemy concentrates, fortifies, and awaits attack. Will
the man ever come to consolidate these innumerable detachments of the
National army, and then sweep through the Confederacy like a tornado?

It is said that many regiments in the Eastern army number less than one
hundred men, and yet have a full complement of field and company
officers. This is ridiculous; nay, it is an outrage upon the tax-payers
of the North. Worse still, so long as such a skeleton is called a
regiment, it is likely to bring discredit upon the State and Nation; for
how can it perform the work of a regiment when it has but one-tenth of a
regiment's strength? These regiments should be consolidated, and the
superfluous officers either sent home or put into the ranks.

20. This morning, at one o'clock, we were ordered to hold ourselves in
readiness to march at a moment's notice, with five days' rations. Court
has adjourned to meet at nine o'clock A. M. Monday. It is disposing of
cases quite rapidly, and I think next week, if there be no
interruptions, it will be able to clear the docket.

A brigade, which went out with a forage train yesterday, captured a
Confederate lieutenant at a private house. He was engaged at the moment
of his capture in writing a letter to his sweetheart. The letter was
headed Nashville, and he was e