March 7, 1861, at Rancocas, New Jersey Pa went into Mt. Holly, the county seat, today to order seed for the spring plantings. The ground is thawing and soon we will be putting the ploughs to the mules to begin turning it. We have a new mule and I hope he takes to the plough without a lot of fussing. We had to buy a new mule because old Philip, a most disagreeable critter, passed on my birthday, January 23. I am 17 now and thinking about what I am going to do now that I am grown. Pa said that once the plantings done I could walk into Burlington, it's only about 4 miles, and see if I could get one of the river barge captains to let me work for a ride south down the river to Philadelphia. I've never been to Philadelphia. Pa has, and he says its a big city that's full of danger and excitement. He says I'll get so scared I'll swim back across the Delaware River and run straight through Camden all the way back to the farm here in Rancocas! I think Pa's just trying to scare me. Philadelphia can't be much different than Rancocas. Probably just has more people and more buildings. Pa always brings the latest news back when he goes into Mt. Holly. Seems we have a new President. Mr. Abraham Lincoln was sworn in three days ago in Washington, DC. People around here have been saying that when he became President we would go to war with the South. From what I understand they keep blacks as slaves. We want them to stop, they said no, so we're going to fight. The only black I know is old Buckman who lives off the Springside Road between here and Burlington. He's real quiet and keeps to himself. Pa says he's a run away who came up from down south through the underground railroad. The only railroad I know of that comes from the south is the one that runs up through Burlington from Camden. But it isn't underground. It dosen't even go through any tunnels. Pa dosen't think there will be a war. Even if there is it won't have anything to do with us here in New Jersey. We probably won't even find out about it until after it's over.