April 26th, 1862.
Nothing can be positively ascertained, save that our gunboats are sunk, and theirs are coming up to the city. Everything else has been contradicted until we really do not know whether the city has been taken or not. We only know we had best be prepared for anything. So day before yesterday, Lilly and I sewed up our jewelry, which may be of use if we have to fly. I vow I will not move one step, unless carried away. Come what will, here I remain.
–A Confederate Girl’s Diary,
Sarah Morgan Dawson
When Dawson states she that “nothing can be positively ascertained,” she is unsure whether or not
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When she writes that “everything else has been contradicted,” she means that
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In this passage, the phrase “we have to fly” most likely means they have to
