December 31, 1863

December 31, 1863

---Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant arrives in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the headquarters of the Army of the Ohio, under command of Maj. Gen. John Foster. 

---Sarah Morgan in New Orleans writes in her journal with poignant wistfulness:

Thursday night, December 31st, 1863.

The last of eighteen sixty-three is passing away as I write.... Every New Year since I was in my teens, I have sought a quiet spot where I could whisper to myself Tennyson's "Death of the Old Year," and even this bitter cold night I steal into my freezing, fireless little room, en robe de nuit, to keep up my old habit while the others sleep. . . .

"Old year, you shall not die;

We did so laugh and cry with you,

I've half a mind to die with you,

Old year, if you must die."

No! Go and welcome! Bring Peace and brighter days, O dawning New Year. Die, faster and faster, Old One; I count your remaining moments with almost savage glee.

Sarah Morgan