ity.

MARCH 8TH.--An application of Capt. C. B. Duffield, for a
lieutenant-colonelcy, recommended by Col. Preston, came back from the
President to-day. It was favorably indorsed by the Secretary, but Gen.
Cooper marked it adversely, saying the Assistant Adjutant-General should
not execute the Conscription act, and finally, the President simply
said, "The whole organization requires revision--J. D." I hope it _will_
be revised, and nine-tenths of its officers put in the army as
conscripts.

Raining this morning, and alternate clouds and sunshine during the day.

One of the clerks who was in the engagement, Tuesday night, March 1st,
informed me that the enemy's cavalry approached slowly up the hill, on
the crest of which the battalion was lying. At the word, the boys rose
and fired on their knees. He says the enemy delivered a volley before
they retreated, killing two of our men and wounding several.

Reports from the Eastern Shore of Virginia indicate that Gen. Butler's
rule there has been even worse than Lockwood's. It is said that the
subordinate officers on that quiet peninsula are merely _his_ agents, to
tax and fine and plunder the unoffending people,--never in arms, and who
have, with few exceptions, "taken the oath" repeatedly. One family,
however (four sisters, the Misses P.), relatives of my wife, have not
yielded. They allege that their father and oldest sister were persecuted
to death by the orders of the general, and they _could not_ swear
allegiance to any government sanctioning such outrages in its agents.
They were repeatedly arrested, and torn from their paternal roof at all
hours of the day and night, but only uttered defiance. They are ladies
of the first standing, highly accomplished, and of ample fortune, but
are ready to suffer death rather than submit to the behests of a petty
tyrant. Butler abandoned the attempt, but the soldiery never lose an
opportunity of annoying the family.

MARCH 9TH.--A frosty morning, with dense fog; subsequently a pretty day.

This is the famine month. Prices of every commodity in the market--up,
up, up. Bacon, $10 to $15 per pound; meal, $50 per bushel. But the
market-houses are deserted, the meat stalls all closed, only here and
there a cart, offering turnips, cabbages, parsnips, carrots, etc., at
outrageous prices. However, the super-abundant paper money is beginning
to flow into the Treasury, and that reflex of the financial tide may
produce salutary results a fe