March 10, 1861

A Letter

Virginia Military Institute

Lexington, March 10th

My Dear Ma & Pa

I received your letter a few days ago & was very glad indeed to hear from you & to hear that you were all well. I have no news to tell you only that I am well and [hearty] & am getting along very well in my studies. I have no news whatever to tell you. Lexington is very dull indeed at present. Well old Abe has taken his seat. I wonder what will be done now. I suppose Virginia will either have to go North or South now, there is no choice to save the Union so she might as well secede now as any other time. The convention in Richmond is not doing anything at all now but they will have to do something now & that pretty soon. I hope Va will secede.

Well we will all go to squad drill tomorrow. There are over two hundred cadets here now. We have four Companies, A.D.B.C. There are one orderly sergeant, & 3 company Sgts. in each company. They divide each company up in 4 squads, the orderly Sgt. has first pick & he always picks the best soldiers. My orderly Sgt. picked in his squad. The Orderly Sgt. & Captains always make the Corporals out of this squad. I think I stand as good a chance for one as anybody else.

I have got father letter to write yet tonight and a long lesson for tomorrow therefore I have not got time to write any longer. I have written this letter very carelessly & fast you will have excuse me this time, & I will take more pains the next time. I am very much obliged to you both for the money you sent me. Cousin Ellen & family send their love to you all. Write [to] me something about your overseer–where he is from & how he does & where does he live, at home or up the Creek. Give me a general description of him. I must write to Capt. tonight. I cannot get either of my sisters to write to me. It makes me feel very badly, I suppose they have both forgotten me & forgotten that there is any such person living. I write to both of them but they won’t write me. I suppose I will have to stop writing. Give my love to both of them when you write to them. Give my love [to] the Capt.ain & Orderly Sergt Coffee. My respects to all the neighbors. If Va secedes they will send us all over the state to drill recruits. Write soon. Excuse all mistakes as I have written this letter in five minutes.

Good Bye

From you Son

A.C.L. Gatewood.

New York Herald

The News.

The government have received despatches from San Antonio and Fort Brown, Texas. Col. Waite, the commander of the United States forces in Texas, had endeavored to reorganize the troops, but found it impossible to do so, owing to their complete demoralization through the conduct of Gen. Twiggs. The troops were in a destitute condition, having scarcely supplies sufficient to enable them to reach the coast. Capt. Hill, the commander at Fort Brown, was in expectation of a collision between his command and the State authorities.

The steamship Empire City, bound for Texas, with troops and ordnance stores, anchored at Quarantine last night.

The Hon. John Cochrane was last evening serenaded at his residence by Dodworth’s brass band, at the instance of a large number of his political friends. The object of the serenade was to welcome him on his return home from his congressional duties, and was intended to show for the satisfaction his conduct has given then during the four years he had been a member of Congress, and from which duties he was not about to retire.

In another column we publish an account of the twenty sixth day’s proceedings of the Southern Congress, embracing a report of the special committee appointed to devise a flag for the new republic, together with a correct representation of the flag selected by the committee and subsequently adopted by the congress. The design is striking, and the flag has the merit of originality as well as durability. The upper and lower sections, composing the part, are red, the middle section white, while a blue union, containing seven stars in a circle, reaches from the top to the lower red. This flag possesses an heraldic significance probably not comprehended by the uninitiated. The blue union signifies firmness, constancy, faithfulness; the white, purity and peace; and red is emblematic of war. With the seven stars in the blue, this flag can be read as follows: - Blue - Seven States have entered into a covenant of Good Faith. White - To promote the general welfare in time of Peace. Red - to provide a common defence in times of war. To assist the reader to interpret the flag more fully, we would state that in engraving heraldic devices it is ruleable to make the portions delineating blue in horizontal lines, and red in perpendicular ones.

Diary of a Yankee in the Patent Office

SUNDAY 10

Rather a cold day but no frost, a cold wind. Went to Trinity Ch (Dr Butlers.) this morning with my old friend S Patrick. Bro C R, Maj Sol [Bulkley?] & Juliet also there. In afternoon, all went to Dr Smiths ch, heard a Mr Fish from Paris (France). He is trying to raise funds for the Protestant cause in France. He did not speak very good English but was still very interesting and could be easily understood by close attention. Was in at Willards with Bro in the Evening. Wife has been writing to Hariet Brownson. C R & self talking of Wmstown Characters.