August 21st.

Miriam and mother are going to Baton Rouge in a few hours, to see if
anything can be saved from the general wreck. From the reports of the
removal of the Penitentiary machinery, State Library, Washington
Statue, etc., we presume that that part of the town yet standing is to
be burnt like the rest. I think, though, that mother has delayed too
long. However, I dreamed last night that we had saved a great deal, in
trunks; and my dreams sometimes come true. Waking with that impression,
I was surprised, a few hours after, to hear mother's sudden
determination. But I also dreamed I was about to marry a Federal
officer! That was in consequence of having answered the question,
whether I would do so, with an emphatic "Yes! if I loved him," which
will probably ruin my reputation as a patriot in this parish. Bah! I am
no bigot!--or fool either....

August 23d.

Yesterday Anna and I spent the day with Lilly, and the rain in the
evening obliged us to stay all night. Dr. Perkins stopped there, and
repeated the same old stories we have been hearing, about the powder
placed under the State House and Garrison, to blow them up, if forced
to evacuate the town. He confirms the story about all the convicts
being set free, and the town being pillaged by the negroes and the rest
of the Yankees. He says his own slaves told him they were allowed to
enter the houses and help themselves, and what they did not want the
Yankees either destroyed on the spot, or had it carried to the Garrison
and burned. They also bragged of having stopped ladies on the street,
cut their necklaces from their necks, and stripped the rings from their
fingers, without hesitation. It may be that they were just bragging to
look great in the eyes of their masters; I hope so, for Heaven help
them if they fall into the hands of the Confederates, if it is true.

I could not record all the stories of wanton destruction that reached
us. I would rather not believe that the Federal Government could be so
disgraced by its own soldiers. Dr. Day says they left nothing at all in
his house, and carried everything off from Dr. Enders's. He does not
believe we have a single article left in ours. I hope they spared
Miriam's piano. But they say the soldiers had so many that they offered
them for sale at five dollars apiece! We heard that the town had been
completely evacuated,