Monday, April 20, 2026

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel John Beatty, December 4, 1861

Rode to Louisville this afternoon; in the evening attended the theatre, and saw the notorious Adah Isaacs Menken Heenan. The house was packed with soldiers, mostly of the Sixth Ohio. It seemed probable at one time that there would be a general free fight; but the brawlers were finally quieted and the play went on. One of the performers resembled an old West Virginia acquaintance so greatly that the boys at once y'clepped him Stalnaker, and howled fearfully whenever he made his appearance.

SOURCE: John Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, pp. 85-6

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