March 1864

In school. Snow melting off rapidly. Down the street. Charles Adamson here. Stayed to dinner. Down the street with him. Made four dollars on selling confederate money today.

March 2, 1864

In school. I turned Walter Reardon [1] out of school for his insolence to me. Down the street. Paid Mrs. Fulton rent. Nothing new.

March 3, 1864

In school. Down the street. Took a ride with [Ernest] Weidemann [and] drank whiskey with [him]. Got hold of Sauter [and we] drank ale [and got] drunk. Came up [the street] with me. [When he got to] fooling [around with] the negroes, I told him I did not want any such thing [and he] got mad and hitched off. Had a squabble with the niggers after.

March 4, 1864

In school. Down the street. Nothing new, only the fleet came up the other day. They say that [William Edward] Woodruff is sent south of the lines for writing secesh talk [2] &c. Saw Flower in the evening.

March 5, 1864

Saturday. Down the street. Saw Mrs. Adams. She said that [her son] Sam was in Virginia & that he said he wished he was here going to school with me & that he would learn more. Saw Sauter. Drank lager & wine with Bernoys & Cohen. Said he would get me into the Masonic Society &c. Rather boozy up home in the evening [but] did not show it much.

March 6, 1864

Sunday. Morning at church. Charles Adamson here nearly all day. At home. [William] Woodruff wrote a letter south saying he did not value the oath [of allegiance to the U.S.] he had taken and other things quite as bad. The authorities resolved to send him south & confiscate his property, but I hear that he is pardoned & is allowed to remain.

March 7, 1864

March 8, 1864

March 9, 1864

In school. At night, Sauter here. [He was] drunk & wanted me to go down the street with him. It was after ten [and we] were arrested & taken to the guard house or rather the jail till morning. [3]

March 10, 1864

Taken to [the Provost] Marshal & fined ten dollars apiece. We did nothing – were neither drunk nor noisy. It was outrageous. There is liberty indeed where the army goes. There is a set of tyrannical puppies here that try to lord it over the poor.

March 11, 1864

In school. Down the street. Nothing new. Cobb here. I want to see him tomorrow to get my pay. Yoest here last night & said that some persons had spoken about running me for County Clerk, but it was too late.

March 12, 1864

Saturday. Rode out with Weidemann’s ponies. Took Minnie Schreifer. Nothing new.

March 13, 1864

March 14, 1864

March 15, 1864

In school. Nothing new. Election yesterday and today. Everything goes on quietly.

March 16, 1864

In school. Nothing new. Sauter told that he and I went on a bender together & got put into the guard house. Had a ride with Weidemann’s ponies. Cold. It has been for several days.

March 17, 1864

In school. Nothing new. Went out riding with Minnie Schreifer – a girl quite pretty, about ten years old. Epstein played fiddle tonight. Delano Dodge came in. We had a stag dance. Little warmer today. Some bushwhackers to be hanged tomorrow at the Penitentiary. Good enough for them, though I suppose they think they are serving their country by murdering people who are not in areas against them. Queer kind of humanity.

March 18, 1864

In school. Down the street. Nothing new. Called on Mick Egan. Yoest here in evening.

March 19, 1864

Saturday. Down the street. Bought shoes for five dollars. Running about a good deal. Nothing new. Took a ride with ponies with Minnie Schreifer. Got one of the ponies shod in the morning. When riding out, passed my school boys, Scotts & Drennens, & they all commenced to yell at me like so many wild apes. They are a regular nuisance. Joy be with them. Made one dollar today selling confederate money. That is all I will make in that way, I fear, as it is getting dull for sale. Got a letter from mother & one from [my sister] Augusta. Sent one to [my brother] Jim at Pine Bluff [Arkansas].

In school. Nothing new. Evening, Lieut. Litherland [4] & Delano Dodge here. Had a stag dance.

March 24, 1864

In school. Rainy. Epstein & I went down in evening & got a gallon of Lager & [some] cheese. Drank & ate. Report that Confederates have taken Pine Bluff. [5]

In school. Saw Cobb [who] could not pay me. Said he would the last of this week. Said he would come up with it. Nothing new. At Weidemann’s. Minnie Schreifer is a pretty girl.

March 29, 1864

In school. Cold. Down to Weidemann’s. Playing with Minnie [Schreifer]. Feds at Arkadelphia. [6]

March 30, 1864

March 31, 1864

[1] Probably Lambert Walter Reardon who died in 1897 and is buried in Mt. Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.

[2] William Edward Woodruff (1795-1885), was the editor of the Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock.

[3] The Provost Marshal General established a curfew during the Union occupation of Little Rock.

[4] Probably Ebenezer [“Eben”] C. Litherland, a 28 year-old former school teacher from Friendsville, Wabash County, Illinois. Lt. Litherland served in Company H, 15th Illinois Cavalry.

[5] This turned out to be a false report. Once Col. Powell Clayton and the 5th Kansas Cavalry occupied Pine Bluff in September 1863, the Union never relinquished it.

[6] This report was true. General Steele took part of his army from Little Rock on the 24th of March and arrived in Arkadelphia on 29 March 1864. This was the first leg of what would later be called the “Camden Expedition.”

The Diaries of Ralph Leland Goodrich, 1859-1867