ounces for each member of my family daily for two
months. This is war, terrible war! But if Grant is not rapidly
reinforced, at the present rate of his losses his army will be consumed
in two months. There is some consolation in that prospect!

AUGUST 20TH.--Rained hard all night, and a good deal to-day. Between 10
and 11 P.M. last evening, as we were retiring, a musket was fired
somewhere in the rear of the building, and fragments of lime and brick
were heard rattling against the window-shutters. This morning I
perceived where the ball struck, a few inches below the window-sill of
the chamber on the second floor, where Custis and Tom were lying. Some
one, I suppose, had heedlessly fired his gun, after returning from the
fortifications.

Well, the papers to-day fall below the official announcement of the work
of yesterday afternoon. Gen. Lee's dispatch says we captured 2700
prisoners near Petersburg on the Weldon Road. No other particulars are
given, and the affair is still in mystery, for some purpose, perhaps.

It is rumored that Gen. Hampton captured 4000 men last night or this
morning; but I doubt. Without that, the week's work is good--Grant
losing from 10,000 to 15,000 men. A few more weeks, at that rate, will
consume his army, and then--peace?

Gen. Bragg complains, in a letter to the Secretary of War, that the
orders of the department, and of the Adjutant-General, are not
furnished him, which must diminish, if persisted in, his usefulness in
the important position to which the President has called him. They, are
all inimical to Bragg--all but the President, who is bound in honor to
sustain him.

The price of flour has fallen again; Lee's victory frightening the
dealers.

Robert Hill, commission merchant, Bank Street, gave me two pounds of
coffee to-day when I told him of Lee's dispatch. It was accepted, of
course, and is worth some $20 per pound.

Guns are heard down the river again this evening, and all are wondering
what Lee is doing now.

AUGUST 21ST.--Cloudy and pleasant; no rain last night, but the earth is
saturated. No additional news from the army. It is said Gen. Bragg
prevents news, good or bad, from expanding--believing that any
intelligence whatever in the newspapers affords information to the
enemy; and he is right. All the mysteries will be solved in a few days,
and we shall have all the news, good, bad, and indifferent. I heard
cannon last evening; also this morning. Our casualties could