Jan 2 - Staid in the house mostly. The trio above moved, left at evening, too expensive here. I felt quite lonely at first.
Jan 3 - Walked down town and felt worse. Felt uneasy about myself and went to a doctor. Opium powders help me.
Jan 4 - Sunday. Fine weather. Too weak to go out to church. Bowel disorder better. Had service for a few in Mrs.Lester's parlor. [?] on John 14:6. A S[unday] S[chool] for children. A good sabbath. How merciful is my Father. Heard of great battle south of Nashville between Rosencrans* and Bragg*.
Jan 5 - Monday. Weather fine. Disorder no worse. Walked down town in a.m. and got tired. Bowels feel sore. Depressed toward evening but reading psalm and prayer more like light in darkness. Wrote to Ella.
Jan 6 - A chilly wind but fair. Feel much better. Pleasant call on Mr. Burr. Saw contrabands. Wrote home. Much interested in life of Alfred and Trals [?]
Jan 7 - Wednesday. Fair weather. Pleasant interlude with Rev. Mr. Carrgill of Ky. and Mr. Scofield, chaplain in a.m. For p.m. trying to get away. Do not yet succeed. Every pleasure in devotions. Feel more used to pain of absense from home. Thinking of dear Ella and reading her old letter tonight.
* Union General William S. Rosencrans was born 6 Sep 1819 in Little Taylor Run, Kingston Twp., Delaware Co. Ohio. He had little schooling. He worked as a store clerk in Utica and Mansfield, Richland Co., Ohio. He received an appointment to West Point, graduating in 1842. When the Civil War began he was assigned by Ohio Governor William Dennison as a volunteer aide-de-camp to Major General George B. McClellan who commanded all Ohio volunteer forces at the start of the war. Rosencrans was promoted to Colonel and briefly commanded the 23rd Ohio Infantry regiment which included future presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. On 16 May 1861 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. His victories at Rich Mountain and Corrick's Ford in West(ern) Virginia were among the very first Union victories of the war, but his superior Maj. General McClellan received the credit. In 1862 in the Western Theater, he won the battles of Luka and Corinth while under the command of Maj. General Ulyssis S. Grant. His brusque, outspoken manner and willingness to quarrel openly with superiors caused a professional rivalry with Grant (as well as with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton) that would adversely affect Rosecrans's career.
Given command of the Army of the Cumberland, he fought against Confederate General Braxton Bragg at Stones River, and later outmaneuvered him in the brilliant Tullahoma campaigne, driving the Confederates from Middle Tennessee. His strategic movements then caused Bragg to abandon the critical city of Chattanooga, but Rosecrans's pursuit of Bragg ended during the bloody Battle of Chickamauga, where his unfortunately worded order mistakenly opened a gap in the Union line and Rosecrans and a third of his army were swept from the field. Besieged in Chattanooga, Rosecrans was relieved of command by Grant.
Following his humiliating defeat, Rosecrans was reassigned to command the Department of Missouri. He was briefly considered as a vice presidential running mate for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. After the war he served in diplomatic and appointed political positions and in 1881 was elected to Congress, representing California. He died 11 March 1898. Pictured below
*Confederate General Braxton Bragg was born in Warenton North Caronlina on 22 March 1817. He entered West Point at the age of 16 and graduated 5th out of 50 cadets in 1837. Bragg served in the 2nd Seminole War in Florida and then in 1843 was stationed at Fort Moultrie where he became friends with a future rival, William Tecumse Sherman. In 1844 Bragg was court-martialed for disobedience to orders and disrespect toward his superior officers for a series of nine controversial articles published in the Southern Literary Messenger called "Notes on our Army" which included specific attacks on the policies of General in Chief Winfield Scott. He was found guilty and received an official reprimand from the secretary of war and suspension at half pay for two months.
From 1845-1847 he fought with distinction in the Mexican-American War under General (later President) Zachary Taylor as well as Colonel Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederacy. Before the start of the Civil War, Bragg was a colonel in the Louisiana Militia. On December 12, 1860, the Governor of Louisiana appointed him to the state military board, an organization charged with creating a 5,000-man army. On January 11, 1861, Bragg led a group of 500 volunteers to Baton Rouge where they persuaded the commander of the federal arsenal there to surrender. The state convention on secession also established a state army and Moore appointed Bragg its commander, with the rank of major general, on February 20, 1861. He commanded the forces around New Orleans until April 16, but his commission was transferred to be a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army on March 7, 1861. He commanded forces in Pensacola, Florida, Alabama, and the Department of West Florida and was promoted to major general on September 12, 1861. His tenure was successful and he trained his men to be some of the best disciplined troops in the Confederate Army.
Bragg commanded a corps (and was also chief of staff) under Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh, 6-7April 1862. In the initial surprise Confederate advance, Bragg's corps was ordered to attack in a line that was almost 3 miles long, but he soon began directing activities of the units that found themselves around the center of the battlefield. His men became bogged down against a Union salient called the Hornet's Nest, which he attacked for hours with piecemeal frontal assaults. After Johnston was killed in the battle, General P.G.T. Beauregard assumed command, and appointed Bragg his second in command. Bragg was dismayed when Beauregard called off a late afternoon assault against the Union's final position, which was strongly defended, calling it their last opportunity for victory. On the second day of battle, the Union army counterattacked and the Confederates retreated back to Corinth. Bragg received public praise for his conduct in the battle and on April 12, 1862, Jefferson Davis appointed Bragg a full general, the fifth man to achieve that rank and one of only seven in the history of the Confederacy.
After Perryville Don Carlos Buell was replaced in command of the Union Army of the Cumberland by Maj. General William S. Rosencrans. In late December, Rosecrans advanced from Nashville against Bragg's position at Murfreesboro. Before Rosecrans could attack, Bragg launched a strong, surprise attack against Rosecrans's right flank on December 31, 1862, the start of the Battle of Stones River. The Confederates succeeded in driving the Union army back to a small defensive position, but could not destroy it, nor could they break its supply line to Nashville, as Bragg intended. Despite this, Bragg considered the first day of battle to be a victory and assumed that Rosecrans would soon retreat. By January 2, 1863, however, the Union troops remained in place and the battle resumed as Bragg launched an unsuccessful attack by the troops of Maj. General John C. Breckinridge against the well defended Union left flank. Recognizing his lack of progress, the severe winter weather, the arrival of supplies and reinforcements for Rosecrans, and heeding the recommendations of corps commanders Hardee and Polk, Bragg withdrew his army from the field to Tullahoma, Tennessee.
At the age of 59, Bragg was walking down a street with a friend in Galveston, Texas, when he suddenly fell over unconscious. Dragged into a drugstore, he was dead within 10 to 15 minutes. A physician familiar with his history believe that he "died by the brain" (or of "paralysis of the brain"), suffering from the degeneration of cerebral blood vessels. An inquest ruled that his death was due to "fatal syncope," possibly induced by organic disease of the heart. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama.
Fort Bragg in Fayetteville North Carolina is named for him.
Pictured below as a young man during the war
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