Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Saturday, February 14, 1863

Twenty-four above zero. Train left. Lieut. Larned left. Very stormy and blustery. Capt. and Lieut. Marsh returned. Clarke lost in the snow storm.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 12

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Monday, February 16, 1863

Train left. Quite blustery in the morning. I moved into the former office of Major Day.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 12

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Tuesday, February 17, 1863

Train did not leave for Breckenridge. Clarke found. A very warm day. I cleared the portico of snow and ice.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 12

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, December 1, 1862

7 Oc Amandus Mullen & I took the cars for St. Louis arived 8 we then went to the arsenal & to[ok] a view of all the preparations there for war then took the cars & went to Corondelet took a view of the gun Boats building & the big guns. took dinner with Anthony Lobsinger then took the cars for the citty then took the Street Cars & came to Benton Barracks I was on Dress perade A Mullen staid with us the night

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 97

Diary of 2nd Sergeant Richard R. Hancock: Friday, May 30, 1862

Between daylight and sunup about twelve hundred Federal cavalry surrounded Booneville, a. small village station on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. There was one train of cars there and about five or six hundred Confederates, including the sick and their nurses, but there was no armed force there to defend the place. So the Federals had quietly taken possession of the place, set fire to the depot and train of cars, and had collected all the Confederates that were able to travel, and perhaps a number that were not really able, and formed them in line ready to march off, when about eighty of our battalion came upon the scene. Small as our squad was, we made a daring charge and released the prisoners. How they (the prisoners) did come yelling towards us! We then dropped back into the woods near by, and after a little skirmishing, the Federals withdrew in time for us to save two boxes of cars and also the engine. The train was loaded with arms and ammunition. Our loss was one killed (Culwell), three wounded, and it was said that the Federals carried off two prisoners, though the prisoners were not from our battalion. The Federal loss was two killed, several wounded, and nine prisoners. How those prisoners whom we released did appreciate being set at liberty! And they did not forget it, but continued to express their gratitude to our battalion when they happened to meet with any of us along through the war. The release of five or six hundred prisoners, in the hands of twelve hundred Federals, by not exceeding eighty Confederates, was no small feat.

The Confederate Army was moving south along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, in the direction of Booneville. So there was no little excitement in Confederate ranks on account of the explosion of the bombshells in the burning cars, being taken for heavy cannonading. However, they soon learned better, for it was not long before the head of the column passed Booneville. Our sick had to get out, or be taken out, of the depot to avoid being burned alive, so they were lying about on the ground, some dead and others in a dying condition; so the scene was anything but a pleasant one to look upon. Our battalion moved back to the same place we camped the night before.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 172-3

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Thursday, February 23, 1865

Very little mail Belle Ve Dere starts A. М. at 2 P. M. our Regt on board the Izetta to cross to depot. drop 4 miles below, & return to depot. unload at 4 P. M. raining hard. move up to depot. an Irish girl brings out hot coffee for some of the boys. at 7. load on the cars & have a 20 minutes run to Lake city, on Lake Pontchastran where at 8. P. M. cos B. G. & K embark on board steam ship Alabama. find it full of mules & about 300 men of some 7 regts. 35 Wis, 7th Vermont, 27 & 28th Wis 1st La. &c. at 10 weigh anchor and are off.

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. 575

Diary of Private Jenkin Lloyd Jones: Monday, November 10, 1862

Corinth. We were again disappointed, the train leaving us behind and nothing to do but wait another twenty-four hours. In the afternoon E. W. Evans and I went to the hospital where we learned that our comrade E. R. Hungerford had died at about 2 P. M. Sunday, and was to be buried in the evening.

SOURCE: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, An Artilleryman's Diary, p. 12

Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Tuesday, May 8, 1860

Warm and cloudy. At work in office in forenoon. At 5½ P M started to Decatur to attend Republican State Convention in company with quite a number of other delegates—Cars crowded—Very windy day, threatning rain, but giving none—turned quite cool towards night—Reached Decatur at 2 Oclock at night, and stopped at Macon House where Gilpin and I got a small, hard, bed together, and slept a little

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 404-5

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: August 14, 1862

our Regt left thar and marched up toward Gordensvill And I was not able to go with them so they excused me and started me back to the Hospital clost to Richmond And we had to walk to Hanover Junction which was about 4 miles And we had to stay thar all next day for we could not get eny cars to tak us eney futher

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 24

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: August 16, 1862

we got on the cars about 8 oclock and got to the Hospital about 11 And then I staid at the Hospital untell the 2 day of September

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 24

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: September 2, 1862

I taken the cars at Richmond and got as far as Gordensvill the first day

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 24

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: September 3, 1862

we rode on the cars as far as Rapadan River and Bridg was burnt thar and then we had to walk from thar to our Regiment And it was 115 miles to Winchester And 35 from thar to the Reg. but we left Rapadan

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 24

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Saturday, March 22, 1862

We left Harper's Ferry in the morning. During the afternoon, the battery was loaded on railroad cars at Sandy Hook. The train started by seven o'clock in the evening, for Washington.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 36

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Tuesday, February 14, 1865

Revelie at 3 A. M. Raining Regt moves out of camp at 6:30 a. m. & are on the cars at 8, a. m. cars were crowded, 1/3 of men on top, at Duvalls Bluff at 1. P. M. on board steamer Paragon at 4 P. M. 50th Ind on board Rowena we tie up 30 mile below. Duvalls Bluffs a perfect mudhole. Left mail at the Rock, which was not destributed. Rained almost incessantly all day.

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. 574

Diary of Private John C. West, Sunday, May 10, 1863

On the cars between Meridian and Selma tried to get transportation at Jackson to Augusta, but the quartermaster declined to give it to me; took it to Atlanta and will try to get it to Augusta from there. Left Jackson at 6 o'clock yesterday evening; Greggs' Brigade had just come in from Port Hudson; met several regiments at Meridian going to Vicksburg and to the fortifications between Vicksburg and Jackson; reached Meridian at 3:30 a. m. and floundered about the depot until 5 o'clock and got a pretty good breakfast for a dollar and a half, and started at 6 o'clock for Selma; reached the landing at 11 o'clock; had a tedious time changing baggage and then only went four miles up the river to Demopolis and went through another tedious lugging of baggage from one point to another, and finally sat in the cars for an hour and a half bored and hungry; got off at last and went rattling through beautiful fields of corn nearly all the way to Selma; took the steamer Cherokee from Montgomery and am now on my way up the river, and, Oh! what would I not give to have Mary and the children with me now, for the route is comparatively easy from here to Columbia.

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, p. 36-7

Diary of Private John C. West, Monday, May 11, 1863

Reached Montgomery this afternoon about 5:30, just too late for the cars, hence must be detained another night on the road. I walked up town a little while ago and met Mr. John A. Elmore; inquired about Culp, my old college chum, and found he was a lieutenant in the army at Vicksburg; his family is with his father-in-law. Heard here of "Stonewall" Jackson's death; it is a sad calamity for the south, but I doubt not God will raise up other great spirits to aid us with their counsels and to fight our battles for us. I wrote a letter on the steamboat, which I intended to hand to some one to mail across the Mississippi, or else mail it in Augusta.

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, p. 37

Diary of Private John C. West, Wednesday, May 13, 1863

Left Montgomery in a crowded train of cars; when we reached the coal station found a suspicious personage, of whom the guard took charge; he had no papers and said he was a substitute for a nephew of Dr. Green, of Fort Valley, and that his papers were in possession of a squad who had left him at Montgomery, he having some other friends there, and becoming too convivial to leave. He said he had paid a policeman one hundred dollars to let him out and then walked to the coal station. I wrote a letter for him to Dr. Green, explaining the circumstance and asking his assistance. This little affair gave the curious some excitement.

About the time I reached West Point a gentleman named J. J. Thrasher, of Atlanta, introduced himself and made inquiries about Mrs. Nelson, wife of Col. Allison Nelson, or "Mary," as he affectionately termed her. He seemed to know all about the family and gave me their history and said their father, Mr. Green, was one of his best friends. He also asked after Mr. Knight; spoke very highly of him and said that his father, his uncles and aunts, Mr. and Mrs. Mangum and Avery, had all died within the last three months. I gradually became sociable enough with Mr. Thrasher and his daughter to enjoy their lunch very much, the first delicacies of the kind that I have seen since I left Texas.

Soon afterwards a very kind old gentleman named John A. Broughton asked me to take a seat by him, and informed me that he had once been to Texas and farmed in Fayette county, but concluded to return. He is about the third man I have met who was ever able to get away from Texas after being once fixed there. He is, however, worth a million of dollars and has only two children. He offered me money and divided his lunch with me. I parted with him at Madison about 12 o'clock at night.

The cars being very much crowded, I offered a neat looking person a seat by me. He seemed to be very communicative, and gave me a full history of his experiments in distilling, and of his daughter's progress at Northern schools, which he greatly preferred to Southern. He told me his name was ———, and that he was a first cousin of Judge ———, of —— in Texas, whom I knew very well. He gave me a very minute account of the circumstances under which the Judge left Georgia. It amounted in substance to this: The Judge took part and assisted an editor in writing a very scurrilous article, commenting on the conduct of a state senator, Mr. ———.

The senator was offended and was about to call the editor to account for the article, when the editor shot and killed him, and Judge ——— left because he feared that his testimony would convict his friend. My informant added further that it was thought by some that the trial would develop facts which might show Judge to be accessory to the killing, etc. This entire circumstance, of which I had heard vague and indefinite rumors in Texas, was related to me voluntarily, without a hint on my part that I had ever heard of it before, and without a question to draw him out particularly on the subject. He seemed to be very candid and loquacious on all subjects, and gave me a very minute history of his own domestic affairs.

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, p. 37-9

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells, December 23, 1862

Gen. Grant passed through here this morning on the train. The division of Denver's, (ex-governor of Kansas, for whom Denver City was named) passed through here today also. The troops are all coming up further north. The cars are going north loaded with cotton. I think this is a cotton expedition.

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 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: June 11, 1862

we left Chickahominy And went to Richmond and taken the cars and went to the Junction that night And the next morning we left thar And about a hour befour the sun set we arived at Linchburg

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 21

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: June 13, 1862

we got on the cars about dark and the next morning we found our relief at Sharlottsvill (Charlottesville) which was about 75 miles from Linchburg And we chainged cars at that plase

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 21