Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Tuesday, December 27, 1864

Quite decent under foot; hut about done; shall move into it to-morrow night. Captain Merritt Barber has been over and turned over Company E property to me; good brigade dress parade this evening; had a call from Lieut. Pierce of the Second Division to-night; have written Levi Meader this evening; am to be brigade officer of the guard to-morrow.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 245

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Wednesday, December 28, 1864

Mounted brigade guard at 8.30 o'clock a. m. as officer of the guard; northeast chilly wind; brigade dress parade this evening; Tenth Vermont worked on breastworks this forenoon; finished my cabin today; wrote brother Charles this evening; received a letter and diary for 1865 from Cousin Pert; weather very rough to-night.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 245

Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Wednesday, June 7, 1865

On duty as officer of guard A. M. cos D. G. F & A. of 33d & 4 cos of 28th get off. P. M. balance of 33d off. I left on board with detail to guard & transfer Regt property. Sea rough Bellevedeere in

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 605

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: October 31, 1864

Quite cool today. Lost all my blankets and overcoat yesterday. Passed Island No. 10, and arrived at Columbus, Ky., at 11 p.m. At Cairo changed boats for Paduca, Ky., where we arrived at 8 p. m. Next day, Sunday, went on shore to cook rations but slept on board at night. On the 24th camped on the river bank — very muddy, rainy and cold. On the 28th was the officer of the guard at the bridge above the town.

SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 136

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: April 22, 1864

Officer of the guard. Marched again at 10 a. m. Cavalry skirmished all day. First Louisiana in advance of infantry. Cut a road through a wood. Expected a fight all day. Somehow I did not believe we would have a fight, but my captain, Felton, believed we would, and get badly whipped too. “I will tell you what I will do Captain”, I said: “I will bet you ten cents, and that is the extent of my pile, that the First Louisiana don't fire a gun until we get into Alexandra.” He did not take the bet and I did not believe he had the money to cover it. Money was not very flush with any of us. It had been a good while since we were paid off. One of our men was killed today by a rebel. At six p. m. stacked arms and the men had stripped off their equipments and were preparing for supper when orders came to march immediately at double quick. There was a scramble to get into line and we went on a double quick about half a mile and halted in an open field. Slept on our arms that night. General Dick Taylor did not molest us and I had a good sound sleep.

SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 99-100

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: March 2, 1865

Last night a shot was heard beyond our outpost. Could not learn the cause. It seemed to be in the direction of Charlestown. About nine o'clock this morning I received a call from Captain Kibbe, Officer of the Guard, asked for any information that I could give. I could not give him any as it was beyond our outpost. Putting a man in charge of the outpost, the Captain ordered me to go with him for an investigation. The people we called on had not noticed it. They became used to the report of a gun and did not pay any attention to it. At the home of a Mr. Snyder we were invited in and received very pleasantly. As it came time for us to go, as it was getting near noon, they urged us to remain to dinner. The invitation was accepted. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Snyder and two young daughters. Mrs. Snyder was in very poor health, the daughters doing the house work. A fine chicken dinner was served for which we were very thankful. After dinner Mr. Snyder invited us out to take a look over his place. He was the owner of a grist and saw mill, and a large farm. We were treated very kindly by the whole family. All expressed sorrow over the war. The location was near Charlestown. When the time came for us to go, we received a very cordial invitation to call again. We made our way back to the picket post after our very enjoyable time and good dinner, on Sunday, March 2d, 1865.

At 3 P. M. we were relieved from picket duty. Made our way to camp with pleasant recollections of the good time that came to us on this Sunday on picket duty along the line of the Harper's Ferry and Winchester Railroad.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 142-3

Captain William F. Bartlett to Lieutenant-Colonel Francis W. Palfrey, December 31, 1862

Headquarters Remainder Banks' Expedition,

No. 194 Broadway, New York, December 31, 1862.

. . . . As regards myself, I ride with ease, hardly with comfort. My horse is wild, fractious, and stubborn. He is a valuable beast, of great strength, endurance, and mettle. But I am not exactly in condition now to break a wild brute. He rears with me, jumps, etc. My friends beg me not to ride him, and I have not mounted him for a week. My man, a splendid horseman, rides him hard every day, and is breaking him. I am looking for another one, more gentle, and may keep both. It is a delightful sensation to me, to move about on a horse after hobbling around on crutches so long.

You will wonder at the heading of this letter. General Andrews sent for me and desired me to take command during his absence of a week or so, notwithstanding my telling him that my commission must be one of the youngest of the eight still here. So that my command is just now about eight thousand, — rather ridiculous, isn't it?  . . . . My regiment I am getting into excellent order. I drill the non-coms, in the manual, an hour every morning, standing on one leg. In the afternoon, I drill the whole line in the manual an hour and a half. I visit the guard every night after twelve, to see that the officer of the guard and day are doing their duty, etc., etc. The officers and men are all interested in their work and everything goes well

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 54-5