March 10-13
Lizzie Minor ( or rather Lewis) is very sick. John Lewis and Jimmy and Tommy Minor come by on their way to
town to get a doctor to go down but they do not succeed in getting him til Sunday morning [the 12th] as the
river is so high. Dr. Nelson on his return, spends Sunday night with us and he tells me Lizzie is better. Monday
the 13th I get a note from Sarah Leitch telling of the mischief done by the Yankees to some of my friends. Her
family, as well as most of the other town people, came off very well, as they had guards but many of those in
the country were treated shamefully. Mr. Brown, I hear, has suffered much. The low dogs even broke up the
furniture and tableware. Hear my two boys, Davy and John, are supposed to have gone with them. The Orange
Dale family were completely broken up. Everything in the way of provisions was carried off, the house
searched about twenty times and all their silver taken and they treated in the rudest manner. They are all in town
now. Suppose it is a temporary thing [and] that they will go back to Orange Dale when things get quiet. Oh,
these are troublous times. We seem to have fallen upon these evils days spoken of in holy writ. How many
happy homes have been broken up and how many hearts have been made to ache by the merciless foe!