: "And now, it is only necessary for you to name the day--"
Here the girls commenced to giggle, and the young men tried to suppress
a smile; I felt annoyed, but it did not strike me until after they had
left, that I had said anything absurd. What evil imaginations they must
have, if they could have fancied I meant anything except the battle!

August 9th.

To our great surprise, Charlie came in this morning from the other
side. He was in the battle, and General Carter, and dozens of others
that we did not think of. See the mountain reduced to a mole-hill! He
says, though the fight was desperate, we lost only eighty-five killed,
and less than a hundred and fifty wounded! And we had only twenty-five
hundred against the Yankees' four thousand five hundred. There is no
truth in our having held the Garrison even for a moment, though we
drove them down to the river in a panic. The majority ran like fine
fellows, but a Maine regiment fought like devils. He says Will and
Thompson Bird set fire to the Yankee camp with the greatest alacrity,
as though it were rare fun. General Williams was killed as he passed
Piper's, by a shot from a window, supposed to have been fired by a
citizen. Some one from town told him that the Federals were breaking in
the houses, destroying the furniture, and tearing the clothes of the
women and children in shreds, like maniacs. O my home! I wonder if they
have entered ours? What a jolly time they would have over all the
letters I left in my desk! Butler has ordered them to burn Baton Rouge
if forced to evacuate it. Looks as though he was not so sure of holding
it.

Miss Turner told Miriam that her mother attempted to enter town after
the fight to save some things, when the gallant Colonel Dudley put a
pistol to her head, called her an old she-devil, and told her he would
blow her d---- brains out if she moved a step; that anyhow, none but we
d---- women had put the men up to fighting, and we were the ones who
were to blame for the fuss. There is no name he did not call us.

August 10th, Sunday.

Is this really Sunday? Never felt less pious, or less seriously
disposed! Listen to my story, and though I will, of course, fall far
short of the actual terror that reigned, yet it will show it in a
lukewarm light, that can at least recall the excitement to me.

To begin, then, last evening, about six