The just-cracked code a Confederate officer used for his Civil War diary wasn't to keep military actions a secret; it was to protect gossip from the front lines.
James Malbone wrote straightforwardly about casualties and his day-to-day thoughts, but he brought out the code for entries about a soldier who was found in bed with another man's wife, The Associated Press reports. Malbone also wrote details about Varina Howell Davis, Confederate President Jefferson Davis' wife, saying she had "high cheek bones wide mouth" and was possibly of mixed race.
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