Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, May 9, 1863

Received orders to move tomorrow. Our camp life at Smith's Plantation has been as pleasant as we could wish. Our time was spent in batallion and company drills and dress parades. Part of the time we were engaged in building bridges across the bayou for troops to cross on which would shorten the distance materially between Milliken's Bend and Grand Gulf, or Carthage, which is opposite. One of the wonders of the day was our men bringing a small steamboat through the bayou from the Mississippi with commissary stores and ammunition, something I believe was never done before. This plantation is a large sugar and cotton plantation and has several large sugar works and cotton gins on it. It is a valuable one, worth before the war many hundreds of thousands of dollars, but as the darkies have all left, there is no saying what it is worth today. I enjoy the morning and evening walks, as the weather then is delightful. I saw quite a number of acquaintances pass on their way to the front. Among them Batteries A and B, Chicago Light Artillery. We have heard of the battles in the front and that our armies have been victorious. One day quite a number of rebel prisoners passed to the rear. Our orders are to move in as light marching order as possible. I take nothing but what my saddlebags will hold, namely, a change of underclothing and tooth brush and comb. Captain James, with two companies, C and I, have been detailed some seven miles from the main camp to guard a bridge over a bayou. I rode down to see them and found them contented and happy, indulging in blackberries to their hearts' content. I enjoyed them myself. We heard the guns at the attack on Grand Gulf, which was a strongly fortified place, and which defied the gunboats. It was taken by troops crossing below and forcing their works. Companies C and I returned to the regiment last night.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 13

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, Wednesday, March 19, 1862

No news today. Nothing from Foot yet. Troops are embarking down at the Arsenal to go down the River. It is supposed that an attack is to be made upon Norfolk. An overwhelming force is going down. This afternoon we rode up to the Camp of the 98^th NY, Col Duttons Reg^t — Saw the Lyons officers. Saw two Batteries of Artillery and five Regiments on parade near by — Got home before sun down. The Regiments up on “Meridian hill” all have orders to be ready to leave in twenty minutes after orders are rc^d. They all embark. A great many Reg^ts from the other side of the River are embarking at Alexandria. The 27^th is there & going.

SOURCE: Horatio Nelson Taft, The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 1, January 1,1861-April 11, 1862, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington D. C.

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, Monday, March 24, 1862

A Review today at Meridian Hill, Gen^l Caseys Division about 20,000 men (none of his Division have yet left). Troops are leaving on board Steamers every day at the rate of ten or fifteen thousand pr day. News today of a Victory near Winchester V.A. by our troops under Gen^l Shields. The bombardment at Island No 10 still continued at last news, the Gun Boats throwing Shells some 1½ & 2 miles and out of range of the Rebel guns. Our fine old neighbor Com Smith now goes again to his office at the Navy Yard. When he heard by Telegraph that the “Congress” had raised a white flag, “Joe is dead,” says he. He knew that “Joe” would not surrender, and he was in command. “Joe^s” watch was taken from the dead body (running) after the battle, and a part of the plunder obtained by the Rober the other morning. The Com^d offers $150 Reward for the watch which will be paid if it is returned and no questions asked. I was at Mr Reynolds with Julia this evening. They are from Iowa City. Got home about 10.

SOURCE: Horatio Nelson Taft, The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 1, January 1,1861-April 11, 1862, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington D. C.

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone, January 7, 1863

And the 7 day was clear and cool and we all was in General Revew

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 28

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone, January 9, 1863

And the 9 day was clear and cool and we all was on Divishion revew again General Hood was our revewing Officer

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 28

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 1, 1862

Camp Cairo Ills. Wednesday morning clear and pleasant. Routine of the morning as usual. No drilling to day. The Col. for the diversion of his Officers obtained the use of one of the Steam Tugs which are daily running to & fro in the harbor—for a pleasure excursion    A portion of the command for the morning voyage—another portion for the evening. Capt. Parke & Lieut. Williams were among the passengers in the forenoon Lieut Allen remained in camp intending to go in the afternoon but did not We had a very pleasant trip of it first visiting Birds Point paying our compliments to Gen Paine—the new commander The performances of the day ended with Dress Parade.

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 232

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 2, 1862

Thursday morning     Cloudy air heavy and damp. Drill by Cos. in the forenoon Set in raining in the afternoon—preventing Battalion Drill. Raining ceased towards evening Dress Parade—finis—

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 232

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 3, 1862

Friday morning cloudy & misting rain. Weather prohibiting the usual duties. Our pleasant weather which has continued ever since the first of September has now taken its final leave we all think    Dress Parade again this evening—Notwithstanding the mud

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 233

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 4, 1862

Saturday morning     Cold & gloomy as usual misting rain Co. on police Duty to day the inclemency of the weather prohibits Drilling     Dress Parade as usual.

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 233

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 5, 1862

Sunday morning Still cloudy & cool Inspection of Barracks at 9 O'clock, Call for church at 11 am where the men are permitted to go to which church they please Lieut. Allen Officer of the Guard. No Dress Parade this evening but Roll Call or Co. Report

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 233

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 6, 1862

Camp Cairo, Illinois. Monday morning cool. Lt. Williams with 7 men were ordered in to the Fort to Drill on the artillery. Battalion Drill at 3 O'clock P. M. Very short Dress Parade. The Col. & lady gave a party to a few selected friends this evening

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 233

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 8, 1862

Wednesday morning cloudy and damp Raining the most of the day. Rec'd marching orders this evening Have orders to march on board the Boat at 12 O'clock to-morrow No Dress Parade this evening on a/c of the inclemency of the Weather, The Col. gave a dinner to the Officers to day

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 233

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, January 9, 1862

Thursday morning cloudy     Preparations making early this morning for our march Marched to the landing at 2 O'clock. The Brigade is all ready for embarkation but there is such a fog on the river that the expedition is postponed until the fog clears away The troops are marched back to their quarters with the expectation of leaving to-morrow morning any how. Too muddy for Dress Parade this evening.

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 233

Diary of Private John C. West, Sunday, May 24, 1863

Left Richmond yesterday about 6:30 o'clock a. m. Found a number of the Texas Brigade and a few of my regiment on the cars and soon became acquainted with them. The trip was monotonous, as usual, until we reached Gordonsville, where the crowd was so great that twenty of us had to stand on the platform. General J. E. B. Stuart was aboard and appeared to be very fond of ladies and flowers. He is of medium size, well formed, fair complexion, blue eyes, whiskers and mustache of sun-burnt reddish color, usually accompanying fair skin. I had quite a pleasant time on the platform watching the attempts of the proscribed to get a seat in the cars and their repulse by the provost guard. The cars were for the accommodation of ladies and commissioned officers. I never knew soldiers of any grade to be put in the same category with women before. I happened, however, to meet Tom Lipscomb, my old college classmate, who is now a major, who managed to get me in under his wing. We had a long talk about Columbia and old college days. He informed me that Lamar Stark, my wife's brother, was a prisoner confined in the old capitol in Washington city. We reached Mitchell's Station at 4 o'clock p. m.; walked five miles, a hot walk, to camp on the Rapidan, near Raccoon Ford. My regiment, the Fourth Texas, has a delightful camping place in a grove of large chestnut trees, on a hillside. We have no tents and the ground is hard and rocky, but we are all satisfied, and one day's observation has led me to believe that no army on earth can whip these men. They may be cut to pieces and killed, but routed and whipped, never! I called on Colonel B. F. Carter this morning and had quite a pleasant interview. He is a calm, determined man, and one of the finest officers in the division. To-day was the regular time for inspection and review. One barefooted and ragged hero came to Colonel Carter's Tent with the inquiry, "Colonel, do you want the barefooted men to turn out today?" to which the Colonel replied negatively, with a smile. I went out to the review which took place in an open field about 600 yards from camp. There were some ladies on horseback on the field. Their presence was cheering and grateful. They were all dressed in black, as were more than two-thirds of the women in the Confederacy. On returning to camp I called on Major Bass, of the First Texas, and gave him $25.00, which I had received for him from Lieutenant Ochiltree, at Shreveport, Louisiana, to be handed to Bass if I did not need it.

I received two haversacks to-day, miserably weak and slazy, made of thin cotton cloth. I have only taken a change of underwear, towel, soap and Bible and Milton's Paradise Lost. I have sent all the rest to Richmond with my carpet sack, to be left at Mrs. Mary E. Fisher's, on Franklin street, half way between Sixth and Seventh.

I wrote a letter to mother and one to wife to-day and read the 104th Psalm. I opened to it by chance, and it contained just what I felt.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, pp. 52-4

Diary of Private John C. West, Thursday, May 25, 1863

While we are encamped life is so monotonous that I do not usually regard it as necessary to keep a diary, but occasionally we have a little variety and spice which is exciting and pleasant. Yesterday we received notice early in the morning to prepare to march five miles to attend a review of our division which was to take place about a mile beyond General Hood's headquarters. We left our camp about 8 o'clock a. m. and reached the muster ground about 10 o'clock. We found the artillery posted on the extreme right about three-quarters of a mile from our regiment.

The brigades, Anderson's, Laws', Robertson's and Benning's, were drawn up in line of battle, being over a mile long; our regiment a little to the left of the center. As we were properly formed General Hood and staff galloped down the entire length of the line in front and back again in the rear, after which he took his position about 300 yards in front of the center. The whole division was then formed into companies, preceded by the artillery of about twenty pieces; passed in review before the General, occupying about an hour and a march of over two miles and a half for each company before reaching its original position. The spectacle was quite imposing and grand, and I wish Mary and the children could see such a sight. After passing in review we rested awhile and were then again placed in line of battle, and the artillery divided into two batteries, came out on opposite hills in front of us, where they practiced half an hour or more with blank cartridges. This was the most exciting scene of the day except the one which immediately followed, viz: We were ordered to fix bayonets and the whole line to charge with a yell, and sure enough I heard and joined in the regular Texas war whoop. This was the closing scene of the day, after which we marched back to camp. There was an immense crowd of citizens out on the occasion as spectators, reminding me very much of an old time South Carolina review.

On our return to camp Companies E and F were ordered on picket guard about a mile and a half from camp. We packed up everything and were soon off and are now encamped on the bank of the Rapidan at Raccoon Ford. Last night was quite cool but I slept comfortably after the tramp of yesterday.

To-day Companies E and F are variously employed. There is one squad fishing, another has made a drag of brush and are attempting to catch fish by the wholesale. Two or three other squads are intensely interested in games of poker; some are engaged on the edge of the water washing divers soiled garments as well as their equally soiled skins. I belonged to this latter class for a while, and have spent the remainder of the morning watching the varying success or failure of the fishermen and poker-players, and in reading a few chapters and Psalms in the Old Testament and the history of the crucifixion in the New. I forgot to say that on yesterday I met on the parade ground Captain Wade and Major Cunningham, of San Antonio, and also John Darby and Captain Barker. Darby is the chief surgeon of Hood's Division. I went up to a house to-day about half a mile from our picket camp and found a negro woman with some corn bread and butter milk. A friend who was with me gave her a dollar for her dinner, which we enjoyed very much. The woman was a kind-hearted creature and looked at me very sympathetically, remarking that I did not look like I was used to hard work, and that I was a very nice looking man to be a soldier, etc., etc.

Here are the chapters I have read to-day: Deut., 23:14; II Chron., 32:8; Jeremiah, 49:2; Revelation, 21:14.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, pp. 54-6

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells, January 11, 1863

The regiment was formed at 4 this morning. In the afternoon we received marching orders. Our division has been moving up all day. Logan's division is here. The stockade fort that the contrabands are at work on near the depot is almost completed. At 4 o'clock we had dress parade. Orders were read, fining the absentees from roll call since the last of December, one dollar each time.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, pp. 25-6

Diary of Dr. Alfred L. Castleman, November 9, 1861

This morning, as I passed through the camp giving directions about cleaning and ventilating tents, whilst the regiment was on parade, my Colonel, seeing me so engaged, gave orders that no directions of mine need be obeyed till he sanctioned them. A very strange order; but as it releases me from responsibility for the health of the regiment, I shall henceforward leave the police regulations of the camp to him, and stay at the hospital. I think it will take but a short time to convince him of his mistake, and that he knows nothing of the sanitary wants of a camp.

SOURCE: Alfred L. Castleman, The Army of the Potomac. Behind the Scenes. A Diary of Unwritten History; From the Organization of the Army, by General George B. McClellan, to the close of the Campaign in Virginia about the First Day January, 1863, pp. 50-1

Diary of 2nd Lieut. Benjamin F. Pearson, November 28, 1862

Evening it snowed to cover the ground near 1½ inch deep. Our Capt TM Fee & First Lieut Wm M McCreary spent the day in the citty of St Louis & got us a mess chest & some other articles. I drilled the company fore & afternoon. 4¼ Oc we were on Dress perade

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 96

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson: Sunday, December 21, 1862

I wrote a letter to Norton's wife for him. Dress parade and review. Adjutant came and Mr. Wright also. Fine weather. Col. wants his room cleaned for $1. I sent a paper to father.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 10

Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, April 17, 1863

Today two brigades of our division were reviewed by Adjutant General Thomas of the United States Army. Afterwards we were closed in "mass by divisions" and the general made a speech to us on the "contraband" question. They expect to raise negro regiments and expect to raise 20,000 in the West, who are to be officered by white men. He said he had the power to issue commissions to those who were desirous of becoming officers, but the rush had been so great that the applications had to be limited to sixty from each regiment; more than that number have applied, or will apply, from our regiment. General Sanborn, our brigade commander, told General Thomas as they rode by that our regiment was the best drilled of the new troops he had seen.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 12