Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-01-28


You think the enemy are In trap, aud
can be captured; by vigorous assault. /
have been blamet for not having ordered
q general attack on the enemy when they
were drawing round me their lines of
circumyallation at Vicksburg. Do you
now order an attack upon those troops
down there beiqE us, aud will bet you
my life that notone Odd man OF the
attacking column will ever come back
across that VRllly, except as a prisoner"
When Davis vas passing through North
Carolina, he OILY stopped at Wilmington
to consult with Gen. whiting. While there
he was pressedby q numerous delegation
OF Confederate office holders to stop in
Raleigh for CONSULTATION with Gov. Vance.
This he angrily decliued. 1t appears that
the health of Mir. Davis is rapidly breaking
down under hb ueuraligy attacks, in SO
much that he can no longer use his only
good eye by candle light. He continues
his old habit afte' dinner of stretching him
self On the carpei before the FIRE in a room
otherwise Enlightened, and it is fast be-
coming dangerous for any one to approach
him.
Always of Violent and fretful temper,
that is becoming greatly aggravated by his
mlstortunes, ard jim describes him on
one occasion as fiuging about the chairs
and furniture when 30 disturbed. About
four weeks sgl Il pistol exploded in his
room when he was loading 1t, and the
whole family rtshed up, feeling confident
that, as they lad long decided, he bad
committed suicide.
Jim says thAt Mrs. Davis, iu converse
ton with female friends, frequently talks
OF the Confedercy as hopeless, and is loud
IN regrets for the lost pleasures of Wash
ington.
There is no forage except in the Missis-
slppl Department, and the allowance for
Mr.. DaVis's TIVE horses is two quarts of
corn each per day, on which, says Jim,
they are growing thin. Not long ago Mr..
Davis received present OF twenty turkeys,
the food for which now comes from the
corn rations of the quadrupeds, making
them still thinner. A turkey, Jim SAYS,
lasts the family three days-roasted or
oroiled the first day, cold the next, aud
hashed the third.
Mr.. Davis receives no compauy-has no
wine in his cellar, but has several kegs of
brandy sent from blockade runners at Will
miugton. Jim says that Mr.. Davis told
him that the Yankees had killed all the
people whom they found on his Mississip
Pi plantation, and that they we're all found
lying pigglety piggIety iu hole, their
legs and arms cut off, and, in some cases.
their heads bloody and beaten. protrudinp
from the ground. jim says he believed
this story, until one of his fellow servants
who could read, told him it was a lie 10
deceive them. Then Jim determined 10
leave.
When he did leave, he was hidden in a
hole in the earth At Charles City for three
days before he was found by his, wife, the
last female slave owned by Mr.. Davis in
the Presidential mansion. Jim wore an
overcoat, and in it the autograph name OF
Mr.. Davis aud the date. 1860. "How do
you keep your coat so good2" we asked
nun: DE answered, "Oh, golly, Massa
Davis gave it to me year ago, and might
never get another, so took care of it,
DE had on his feet new but very coarse
0rogans OF untanned leather, which "Massa
DAVIS got from the quaFtermaster, aud he
told me take care of them for thew cost
$780," e'''
The utmost distress prevails in Richmond
for food, there not being more than two or
three beeVes killed in the city per day for
private consumption. Fresh beef was
about 81 pound when be left. For a
string OF three perch, weighing less than
a pound each, he paid SI3. OYSTERS were
$50 quart, as they could only be obtain
ed in the night on account of the Yankee
occupation of the James River with gun
boats. ~
The negroes are forbidden to 60 near the
LIBBY Prison, and he believes there are
black soldiers confined there, as he has
seen them ut a distance.
Beauregard is known to have black Dr;.-
oners at Charleston, who are reporte5 m
De suosisted on the minimum ration that
WIN support life. He says the lower two
tul5os OF charleston is now uninhabitsble
ana IN ruins. jim says he has not yet
hesru anything about arming the negroes,
and remarked: "Ifthey only armed us thew
would soon see on which side these moor
niggers would be-"
jim says that, at the time of Meade,s
advance across the Rappahannock and f;pbt
at Nine Run, Lee had made every prepa.
ration to fall back, having only 80, 900
ragged and disheartened troops with him
Davis sent out all the clerks and employees
OF the Quartermaster's Department xith
axes and spades to block up the Mechan.
icsvlIIe and Petersburg roads leading to
Richmond leaving open only one road bv
Whlch Lee was expected to make his re-
treat, he having sent word to Davis that
he was making all the fuss and disturbances
he could to detain Meade, but that he could
not hold out long.
The negro appears Intelligent, and evil
IDENTIFY knows whereof he afirms.
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CoCGHs. RRoNru,-,.