Diary of Betty Herndon Maury - June 7, 1862

Saturday 7th [June 1862]

Have just read a Richmond paper of last Monday giving an account of the battles of Saturday and Sunday 31st [May] and 1st [June]. We were victorious on both days. Took the enemy's camp and drove him back three miles. The 24th Pa was in the battle.

The fight on Saturday lasted until night. We had thirty thousand engaged. The enemy fifty. On Sunday we drove them back to their second line of entrenchments, and then stopped about four o'clock. There were about fifty thousand engaged on both sides that day. The editor blames the Generals for not following up our advantages. Why did they stop at four o'clock?

The difference between the tone of this paper and the Yankee trash that we have been reading lately is very striking. There was no bombast, no boasting, and no exaggeration in this paper.