"As far as I can make out, Beauregard sent Mr Chestnut to the president to gain permission for the forces of Johnston and Beauregard to join and, united, to push the enemy if possible over the Potomac.
Now every day we grow weaker and they stronger, so we had better give a telling blow at once."
Mary Boykin Chesnut is one of the most important voices of the American Civil War with her unique perspective from inside Confederate halls of power. Her husband James Chesnut, Jr, served in the South Carolina legislature, and in 1858 was elected to the U.S. Senate. He resigned from office after Lincoln's 1860 win, then returned south to help draft the ordinance of secession and attend the First Confederate Congress. He was a close aide to Jefferson Davis for much of the war as history unfolded.