If  I was to happen to lose this dairy, whoever finds it, I'd be tolerable
thankful if they would please return it to me.

My name is William Murdock Hall and I live in Carroll County, Virginia.  Just
leave it at Early's store in Hillsville and I'll thank ye kindly.

May 14th, 1861

Today is my birthday and I am 22 years old.  Just the age they are looking for
to serve in the army.  A soldier come by on a horse last week and told me that
I'd have to go to Hillsville to be examined by a doctor...  to see if I'm fit
to be a soldier.   I told him I didn't have no quarrel with them yankees and
that I didn't own no slaves, but that I had to work like a dog myself to feed
my family.  Ain't got time to go off whippin' yankees.  He said I had to go
or else they would come get me.  I told him to come ahead and I'd fill his
hide with buckshot if he set foot on my place.

If I have to go into the army, what will happen to my family?  Who will feed
them?  My boys are just babies; James is 2 years and John is 6 months.  Not
hardly the age to work and my wife can't leave 'em to work the fields.  We
are poor farmers and have to grow everything we eat (else we don't eat).

In Carroll County, somebody told me that there are only 150 slaves owned by
only 50 of the 2000 people that live here.  This here is a rich man's war and
I want no part of it.

I need to get myself a new gun.  My flintlock still shoots, but it's pretty
old and is not too accurate since it is a smoothbore.  Belonged to my grandpa
and is about fifty years old, I reckon.

I told my wife I would write down how to load the gun in case she would need to
shoot something if I warn't here.

1. Set the gun on the ground with the barrel pointing up.
2. Take the powder horn and pour a "charge" (about a teaspoon full of
   gunpowder) in the barrel.  (If we was target shooting, I'd use a powder
   measure to make sure I got just the right amount.)
3. Take a little wad of cloth with a little tallow (or grease) on it and stick
   it in the barrel.
4. Take the ramrod and poke this all the way down into the barrel. (The ramrod
   is a hickory stick about 3 foot long and as big around as the inside of the
   barrel.)
5. Take a ball (a round bullet) and wrap it in a little piece of greased cloth
   and put it in the end of the barrel.
6. Take the ramrod and poke the ball all the way down into the barrel.
7. Pull back the hammer a little ways and lift the frizzen and pour a little
   powder in the flashpan.
8. Pull back the hammer the rest of the way. Aim and shoot.  Learn to do that
   two times a minute and ye'll be allright.

There's lots of kinds of guns to pick from, don't know what I'll get, but I
reckon it'll be a caplock.  They're cheaper and there's a man in Hillsville
who makes 'em right there in his shop, so he can fix 'em if something goes
wrong.

Flintlocks and Caplocks - They work about the same, the only difference is how
the spark is made to explode the powder.  Flintlocks have a piece of flint rock
mounted on the hammer that hits a piece of metal called the "frizzen".  This
causes it to make a spark when ye pull the trigger.

The spark drops into a little pan (called the "flashpan")  filled with
gunpowder and sets it on fire.  The flash from the burning powder goes into a
small hole in the side of the barrel where the "charge" of gunpowder sits
behind the bullet, and causes it to explode.  Sometimes the powder in the pan
burns, but the gun don't fire. (This is called a "flash in the pan".)

A caplock works the same way except ye don't have a flint, a frizzen or a
flashpan.  Instead, it has a small hollow tube sticking up out of the side of
the barrel (called a "nipple") where ye put a thing called a "cap" which
looks like a miniature thimble.  The cap is filled with stuff called fulminate
of mercury which explodes when ye hit it a sharp rap.  The hammer of the gun
comes down on it and causes it to explode, the fire goes down through the hole
in the middle of the nipple and into the powder charge inside the barrel.

Caplocks are more sure to fire than flintlocks, cause the rain gets into the
flashpan sometimes.  But the caps cost money and ye can't make 'em, got to
buy 'em.

About ten years ago, we started seeing guns with factory made cartridges or
"shells" as some people call 'em.  Everything is in one little tube, powder,
cap and bullet.  They say ye can shoot 'em real quick, but the cartridges cost
a lot and are hard to find.  I don't think they will ever catch on.  Ye can
always buy gunpowder and lead and make yer own bullets for a lot less money.
In a pinch, I've even loaded my gun with small rocks.

They say the army uses paper cartridges, which is a little tube of paper that
contains the gunpowder and the bullet all in one place.  Don't think they'll
catch on either.

When I get time, I'll write down 'bout how to make bullets.