"Second year. Confederate independence. I write daily for my own distractions. These memoirs pour servir may some future day afford dates, facts, and prove useful to more important people than I am. I do not wish to harm or to hurt anyone. If any scandalous stories creep in, they are easily burned. It is hard, in such a hurry as things are in, to separate wheat from chaff.
Now I have made my protest and written down my wishes. I can scribble on with a free will and free conscience."
