Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: July 5, 1862

we stade at the same plase untell sun down And then our Regiment had to go on picket And we marched down in about a mile of the Yankees and sent out our detail

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 23

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: July 6, 1862

we was on picket at the same plase

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 23

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: July 7, 1862

we was releaved about twelve oclock And then we marched back about a mile in the woods

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 23

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: August 7, 1862

marched about four miles toward Ashland And when we stopt it was dark And then our company had to go about 5½ miles futher to stand picket and it was 12 oclock in the knight when we got to the plase whar we we was to stand

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 23

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: December 31, 1862

last day of 1862 was cool and cloudy and our Regiment had muster inspection in the day and at nite our Company had to go on picket gard down the bank of the Rapahanok River whar we was in about a hundred yards of the Yankees pickets they was on one side of the river and we was on the other we was in talken distence but our officer would not alow ous to talk they would cum down on the bank and hollow to ous and say if we would bring the boat over that they would come over on our side and have a talk. So that was the last of our works for the year 1862.

BARTLETT Y. MALONE Co. H. 6th N. C. Regiment

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 27

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Tuesday, February 7, 1865

Day cool. A. M. making Inspection reports. P. M. rec my commission as 2d Lt of co G. aggregate too low to muster. The Negro Brigade from Ft Smith is doing most of the Picket duty

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 573

Diary of Corporal John W. Dennett, May 29, 1863

Started from camp at Potomac Creek at six A.M., marched to the Rappahannock, and went into position at United States Ford. The rebel earthworks could be plainly seen, on the opposite banks of the river. The weather was pleasant. Marched fourteen miles. Remained on picket at United States Ford until June 4.

SOURCE: John Lord Parker, Henry Wilson's Regiment: History of the Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry, the Second Company Sharpshooters and the Third Light Battery, in the War of the Rebellion, p. 275

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells, December 16, 1862

We packed up twice to change our camp today, but the order was countermanded each time. The arsenal is a very extensive building and the rebels turned out one hundred small arms per day. We are preparing it for an extensive hospital. Quartered here again tonight. I went up to the depot and while there met old Captain Backman, of Co. C, 12th Ind. Reg. He is now sutler in the same regiment, which is located but a few miles below here doing picket duty on the railroad.

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, p. 18

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells, December 24, 1862

On picket guard today. Got my boots half soled. Gen. McPherson passed through here, and Logan's division is coming up and passing through. Our old brigade (Col. Stevenson's) also passed. A train came in a little after dark and was loaded with cotton. The country is stripped of everything and so we are on half rations. All the hogs and live stock have been killed. The Negroes are suffering and I think they would welcome their old masters. There are a great many leaving, a large carload left today. We have poorer fare than at any time since we enlisted.

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, p. 21

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel John Beatty: August 18, 1861

The name of our camp is properly Elk Water, not Elk Fork. The little stream which comes down to the river, from which the camp derives its name, is called Elk Water, because tradition affirms that in early days the elk frequented the little valley through which it runs.

The fog has been going up from the mountains, and the rain coming down in the valley. The river roars a little louder than usual, and its water is a little less clear.

The party sent in pursuit of the bushwhacker has returned. Found no one.

Two men were seen this evening, armed with rifles, prowling among the bushes near the place where the affair of last night occurred. They were fired upon, but escaped.

An accident, which particularly interests my old company, occurred a few minutes ago. John Heskett, Jeff Long, and four or five other men, were detailed from Company I for picket duty. Heskett and Long are intimate friends, and were playing together, the one with a knife and the other with a pocket pistol. The pistol was discharged accidentally, and the ball struck Heskett in the neck, inflicting a serious wound, but whether fatal or not the surgeon can not yet tell. The affair has cast a shadow over the company. Young Heskett bears himself bravely. Long is inconsolable, and begs the boys to shoot him.

SOURCE: John Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 57-8

Diary of Private Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Wednesday, March 4, 1863

Company on picket. All gamblers and pirutes put on roots. I came under the latter head.

SOURCE: Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's Texas Rangers, p. 9

Diary of Private Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Thursday, March 5, 1863

Still on picket.

SOURCE: Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's Texas Rangers, p. 9

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Saturday, February 1, 1862

During the past month the right section done picket duty once on the Potomac.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 31

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Monday, February 17, 1862

We (centre section) were relieved from picket duty by the right section, Lieutenant J. G. Hassard.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 32

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: December 11, 1862

Weather warm. I was on fatigue nearly all day, cutting and hauling wood for the company. We had dress parade at 4 o'clock. Just at dusk the news came in that a guerilla band was to attack us before morning. Fifty men from our regiment and forty-eight from the 126th (which is here doing picket duty) were detailed to build breastworks of cotton, four hundred bales of which lay near the depot. Col. Norton and Major Bates did the engineering. After they had finished we lay on our arms during the night, but no enemy made its appearance, and about 7 o'clock we were ordered back to camp.

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, p. 15-6

Diary of Private Adam S. Johnston, August 16, 1862

Left Camp College Hill, or was rallied and sent to Gallatin, Summer county, Tenn, and slept on our arms all night, and the next morning our company was sent out to ascertain where company K, of the 79th Pa. Inf was, as they were put on out-post picket in the night and could not be found in the morning. We found them on the Gallatin road, one mile from town; in the mean time orders came to right-about and march to camp again. On arriving there, orders had come to the regiment to right-about and march to College Hill again, leaving Co. D behind. So we lay over until the next day, and a train of cars came for us and we returned again to camp, making a march of 23 miles.

SOURCE: Adam S. Johnston, The Soldier Boy's Diary Book, p. 18

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel John Beatty: August 6, 1861

Our camp equipage came up to-day, so that we are now in our own tents.

Four of my companies are on picket, scattered up the valley for miles, and half of the other two are doing guard duty in the neighborhood of the camp. I do not, by any means, approve of throwing out such heavy pickets and scattering our men so much. We are in the presence of a force probably twice as large as our own, and should keep our troops well in hand.

Our scouts have been busy; but, although they have brought in a few prisoners, mostly farmers residing in the vicinity of the enemy's camp, we have obtained but little information respecting the rebels. I intend to send out a scouting party in the morning. Lieutenant Driscoll will command it. He is a brave, and, I think, prudent officer, and will leave camp at four o'clock, follow the road six miles, then take to the mountains, and endeavor to reach a point where he can overlook the enemy and estimate his strength.

SOURCE: John Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 45-6

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Wednesday, January 1, 1862

Battery in camp near Poolesville; we, the centre section, on picket at Conrad's Ferry. Our picket duty, at this place, has been a very pleasant one, being very light, except the guard duty. Firing of videttes was very frequent during the night. But never did either party disturb the other with artillery practice during our stay. Sometimes signal rockets were sent up on the Maryland side, by rebel sympathizers, which were generally answered from the Virginia shore. General Stone had strong block-houses, of solid oak-timber, built on the line from Muddy Branch to Conrad's Ferry, for the defence of the Maryland side, large enough to hold three hundred men each. May it be remembered, pigs had to suffer in our neighborhood. The weather, having been pleasant for weeks, became very wintry after the first of January.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 30-1

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Monday, January 20, 1862

The centre section was relieved from picket at Conrad's Ferry, by the left section, under Lieut. Newton. The guns of the former remained there to be taken by the left section.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 31

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: November 25, 1862

On picket one mile southeast of LaGrange, the night was very cold.

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, p. 13