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George C. Burmeister diary, 1864
1864-01-06
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Wednesday 6 What a terrible winter it must be in the north weather states, the newspapers are teeming with articles, stating how this and that are person froze to death, what suffering was carried on board several passenger trains, among the passengers by being blockaded in the deep snow. Even here we hear people say, this is one of the coldest winters they have ever experienced here. The Mississippi River is closed till Cairo Ill. and the Ohio is also shut up with ice to Paducah Ky. How I pity some people who are ill prepared to meet such awful cold and snow; in some parts of the northern states the thermometer has ranged from 40° to 52° below zero. Here the cold has not been above 10° below zero, still we have considerable labor frequently to keep our tent sufficiently warm. The ground is covered with a thin coat of ice, and the "Memphis Bulletin" has a long list of accidents occurring to persons in the city by falling down upon the slippery pavements, some have been killed almost instantly while other had their limbs broken, this is published in its daily issue, and it is really frightful to read the account, why cannot the citizens remove the ice from the pavements? This war appears to have stultified the feeling of man to such an extent as to render must people incapable of the least empathy with the sufferings of their fellow men. This is especially noticeable in cities.
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Wednesday 6 What a terrible winter it must be in the north weather states, the newspapers are teeming with articles, stating how this and that are person froze to death, what suffering was carried on board several passenger trains, among the passengers by being blockaded in the deep snow. Even here we hear people say, this is one of the coldest winters they have ever experienced here. The Mississippi River is closed till Cairo Ill. and the Ohio is also shut up with ice to Paducah Ky. How I pity some people who are ill prepared to meet such awful cold and snow; in some parts of the northern states the thermometer has ranged from 40° to 52° below zero. Here the cold has not been above 10° below zero, still we have considerable labor frequently to keep our tent sufficiently warm. The ground is covered with a thin coat of ice, and the "Memphis Bulletin" has a long list of accidents occurring to persons in the city by falling down upon the slippery pavements, some have been killed almost instantly while other had their limbs broken, this is published in its daily issue, and it is really frightful to read the account, why cannot the citizens remove the ice from the pavements? This war appears to have stultified the feeling of man to such an extent as to render must people incapable of the least empathy with the sufferings of their fellow men. This is especially noticeable in cities.
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