March 1863

Sunday. Down to [Capt.] Syberg’s. Looking over my summer clothing. My white Marseilles vest [1] is gone – stolen I expect. Saturday night invited to Mr. Graves’ to supper.

March 2, 1863

March 3, 1863

March 4, 1863

In school. At Borland’s. Paid me. They are going away soon. Stopped [teaching them].

March 5, 1863

At school half day. Parade in the afternoon. Let boys go [so they could attend].

March 6, 1863

In school. Rainy. Nothing new. Read [Clement L.] Vallandigham’s speech for stopping the war & reunion. [2]

March 7, 1863

Studying. Down the street. Mrs. Sarah Adamson here. Rainy. Down to [Capt.] Syberg’s.

March 8, 1863

Sunday. Down to [Capt.] Syberg’s. Drizzling a little. Reading Godolphin by Bulwer.

Mrs. Adamson brought me some Marseilles [cloth] for a summer vest, $2.50 for ¾ yard.

Went out into the country about 12 miles with [Capt.] Syberg. Last night, invited to a party to Graves’ [but] did not go.

In school. Parade. [General’s Sterling] Price & [Edmund Kirby] Smith here. [3] Price is a large, portly man. Smith quite an insignificant fellow. Fine parade. At church. Henderson paid me for March.

General Edmund Kirby Smith
"...quite an insignificant fellow [in stature]" -- RLG

March 27, 1863

March 28, 1863

Saturday. Dr. Wright [4] came to see me. Went around town with him. Was introduced to his brother, Colonel of a regiment. Called on Bishop Lay. Evening, at Graves’. Then went to Dr. [William A.] Cantrell’s. [5] Bob Watkins got into a scrape with Capt. Hampton, the enrolling officer, and shot him. The guards took him but as their guns were not loaded, he pulled out one pistol and told them to let him go. He walked quietly off to some distance and then ran off.

March 29, 1863

March 30, 1863

March 31, 1863

[1] A Marseilles vest would be one made of two layers of cloth with a softer material sandwiched in between and then stitched to create a quilted appearance.

[2] This may have been the speech Ohio Congressman Vallandigham delivered to the U. S. House of Representatives on 23 February 1863 that outlined his objections to the conscription bill. A few months later, he was arrested for delivering a speech favorable to the South. Vallandigham was the undisputed leader of the “Copperheads.”

[3] Edmund Kirby Smith and Sterling Price were undoubtedly in Little Rock to meet with Theophilus Holmes. Smith replaced Holmes as the Commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the CSA in March 1863. The ailing Holmes would stay on in Arkansas for a time but the defense of Little Rock would be relinquished to Price a few months later.

[4] Dr. D. C. Wright joined Co. A (“The Capitol Guards”), 6th Arkansas Infantry on the same day as Ralph Goodrich. He was discharged on the 8 July 1862. He would serve later in the war with Harrell’s Battalion which saw light duty in the Camden area and then participated in Price’s Missouri/Kansas invasion.

[5] William A. Cantrell (1826 -1903) was born near Nashville, Tennessee, attended Princeton University, and eventually entered the Medical Department at the University of Louisville. He graduated there in 1847, practiced in New York, New Orleans, Pine Bluff (AR) and eventually Little Rock. He married Ellen M. Harrell in 1852 and eventually built a large brick home at the northeast corner of Scott and 7th Streets. Mrs. Ellen [Harrell] Cantrell, also a native of Nashville, was a lady of scholarly attainments and by the age of 16 had published a number of stories in the popular periodical Godey’s Lady’s Book. The Cantrell’s had a large number of children who led successful careers, some of whom were Goodrich’s students.

[6] George C. Watkins was a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Arkansas (1853-54). Following the war, he would form a law partnership with Uriah M. Rose who was a good friend of Goodrich’s. Judge Watkins was most likely a brother of Dr. Robert A. Watkins, mentioned previously.

The Diaries of Ralph Leland Goodrich, 1859-1867