Diary of Corporal John Worrell Northrop, Tuesday, August 9, 1864

Terrible rain; it swelled the stream to a river. The stockade fell in several places. On the east side through the swamp about eight rods fell. One place on the west a sentry box fell carrying the sentry in it. Soon as it occurred the sentinels fired and two cannon shots over the camp succeeded, to warn us to be quiet or shot would be rained on us. Meantime we were amused to see the Rebls get out of their quarters and double quick to the weak points. The camp was in a hurrah to see the Rebs getting drenched as well as ourselves. Some prisoners plunged into the flood to bring out floating timber or pieces of boards that came down as if they were a God-send, for we would not be allowed to pick them up if we were outside. At these places the Rebels stood in line of battle for more than an hour and when the rain ceased, they had only time to temporarily repair the damage before night; so fires were built and a strong guard kept out all night.

SOURCE: John Worrell Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 103

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Friday, February 6, 1863

Cloudy. Commenced getting out timber for pallisades. William Beatty died.

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

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Wednesday, February 11, 1863

I cut a pile of wood. Cold. Clarence A. Hubbard had his ankle dislocated and leg broken just above, while pallisading.

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

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Monday, January 12, 1863

I cut wood.

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

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Sunday, February 19, 1865

Pass Port Hudson in the night also Battan Rouge. all day passing through the richest contry I ever saw. fine plantations splendid houses & villages of negro houses in regular order with streets; land at Carrolton at 3. P. M. go off & look around but few troops here. Saw flowers in bloom, & oranges on trees. town all the way from here to New Orleans which place we land at at 4 P. M. Gnl Reports. we then cross & disimbark at Algiers at 4.30. any amount of Black troops, & our Brigade which is again disorganized. Hear that Genl Steele is removed. Genl Veach assigned the comd of a Div, raining when we land and 10. P. M. before our things get to camp. no wood & no fire. More than 200 sailing vessels lieing in river here and about 50 to 100 steamboats some 20 gunboats, no end to small craft. Some troops leave on a steam sailing vessel for 3d time wrecked and loss 15 men

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 J. Wyeth, February 7, 1863

HAM FAT.

Freedom of the town for to-day, and all over town we went; had a dug-out race, and about all who were in it got a ducking. Our party went up the shore of the river some distance. We saw the ways where a ram had been started, but was destroyed to keep our gunboats from taking her. We then branched off into the woods and finally found a picket-post, where we got some good cider and had a chat, arriving home just in time to get our guns and "fall in."

It seemed our right wing was "on a march." Quartermaster Bush said we were going for wood, but we could not understand why it took four or five companies to escort an equal number of wagons a few miles from town, unless there was a large force of the enemy about; and if there was, why had we heard nothing from them for five days? Our orders were "light marching order," nothing but guns and ammunition; but most of "E" took haversacks and dippers, and were glad we did. We started about two o'clock this afternoon, and after marching about two miles we struck an "obstacle." The road was completely barricaded by large trees felled across it; and as cutting would delay us the rest of the day, we turned into the woods and went through a swamp, and soon found ourselves in the road again, marching towards "Long Acre." We left "B" and "C" at the junction of two roads, near a blacksmith shop. We soon left the wagons also, they probably stopping for the wood which was piled up by the roadside. We still kept "marching on," and by dark we were tired as well as hungry. There was worse for us in store, however. The boys ahead began to scatter and growl, and soon we were in the water. It was icy-cold and waist deep. Some tried the runway on the side, but it was slippery with ice. One of the boys made fruitless attempts to keep both feet on the rail. His efforts on that parallel bar were edifying; but being the youngest member of "E" (sweet seventeen), he will have more time than the rest of us to improve. After much struggling, down he went, gun and all. The water was three feet deep; and after fishing up his rifle he concluded to wade with us the rest of the way. We know "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." He was not in a beautiful or joyous mood then, but will probably be a JOY forever.

The ford seemed to us about a mile long. It was probably only a quarter, if that; but it came to an end at last, and we footed the rest of the way on dry land; varying the monotony by private details for forage at every house we came to; striving to get ahead of the officers in their attempts to save the cider from us.

Between ten and eleven o'clock P.M. we halted, and were informed that the "object, &c., was accomplished," "about faced," which brought "E" to the front, and started for home. Twelve of our men went ahead as advance guard, under command of Lieut. Newell, and another twelve of us as support. A short distance behind came the column. We were on the same road, and knew we had the same ford to recross, and suffered torments until it was over with, and we fairly out of its sight. We foraged right and left; hardly a man of us without two or three old hens, dipper full of honey, and a few with a ham or two. The advance and support had the most and fattest pickings of course. We rejoined the other companies, "B" last, at the blacksmith shop; and about five o'clock A M. came in sight of the picket and saw Plymouth.

SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, pp. 37-8

Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, April 16, 1863

Went into camp, and a hard place it is; wood scarce and "water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink," except the Mississippi water, which is very trying on one's constitution. Tonight I witnessed one of the grandest sights I was ever permitted to witness. Through the kindness of some officers I got on board the steamer "Quincy South" and went down again to see the running of the batteries. The night was a pleasant one, stars shining brightly and not a cloud in the heavens, and yet not too light. I went down to within two miles of Vicksburg and could see the lights in the city and on the bluffs distinctly. About half past nine I saw some dark objects floating down the river so noiselessly that you could scarcely detect them; not a light was to be seen on them. The transports, with barges of cotton and hay lashed to them on the Vicksburg side, and cotton piled up around their boilers and engines to protect them from the cannon shot. I fairly held my breath; not a sound was to be heard; all was anxiety and suspense; my thoughts were with the brave men who were to undertake such a perilous voyage. I waited for the first shot; after about half an hour's suspense I saw all at once a brilliant light, which was the signal for the rebels, and then it seemed as if a hundred guns opened at once. The rebels built a large bonfire which lit up the river for miles. Oh, what a sight it was the flash of the cannon, the bursting of shells, but above all the deafening roar, which was like peal after peal of the loudest thunder. How I trembled for the fate of those on board the transports, as they were not near so well protected as those on the gunboats. I saw one of the steamers which the officers on board said was the "Henry Clay" floating by the city, burning. How I hope all the rest have gone safely through the fiery path. I am to be envied, as I do not believe there is another officer in our brigade that has had an opportunity to see this scene. I await the news with great anxiety and refer those who read these pages to an abler pen than mine to do this heroic act full justice.

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

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Wednesday, February 1, 1865

33d in advance, drizzly rain most of day. Roads bad. train did not get up. we camp at 2 P. M. in field where is plenty of wood. Evening raining and prospects dismal

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. 572

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, November 15, 1862

We went into our own house & fixed up & I went up to my upper place with L Meredith & we got a load of wood evening I attended the lodge of the IOOF & got a traveling card for six months. we had a good social time.

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 95

Diary of Corporal John Worrell Northrop: Wednesday, June 22, 1864

The first day of the month that it has not rained. The man shot last night is carried out dead this morning. By trading some, we are enabled to increase our rations to about half we could eat under normal conditions.

Selden, the Rebel quartermaster, has set up a sutler shop on main street on the north side, with a view of absorbing Yankee money men are starved to spend. The fact that some of the stuff on sale is the same as that issued to prisoners justifies suspicion that he had a reason for cutting down our rations. He attempts to whitewash this matter by putting two prisoners in charge, Charles Huckleby, of the 8th Tennessee, and Ira Beverly, of the 100th Ohio. Nevertheless we are told by Rebel sergeants that he has a commission from Richmond. He only appears, however, once every day. These boys expect to live better while in his service, but admit that the profits are "gobbled" by Selden; that he furnishes the stuff and fixes prices. It seems an unlikely place to make money, but the few who have any spend it fast and pay high prices. While exchange in Federal money is prohibited by Rebel law, it is openly done everywhere by Rebels, and in this case by a "C. S. A." military officer. Articles in stock consist of flour, molasses, small sticks of wood, plug tobacco, a vicious sort of whisky made from sorghum. These things appeal to starved appetites of thousands; and those who have money cannot resist the temptation to let it go. Though this is poor stuff, it is better than the scant rations irregularly issued. We have to pay from 25c to $1 for an onion, 10c to 40c for miserable apples, 25c a pint for meal, 40c for wormy hog peas, 40c for 1½ pint of flour, 10c for small piece of wood. With the advent of this institution rations grow less in quantity and quality. It is simply a scheme of this Rebel quartermaster to catch greenbacks, watches, rings, and things of value which men eagerly put up. It is not instituted with a view to benefit us. If such were the object, why do they extort such prices, why are rations cut down, why are we cheated out of one day in five by not getting rations?

SOURCE: John Worrell Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 77-8

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 William S. White, March 5, 1862

Yesterday we received orders to move this morning at daylight. We will join the right section of our battery, from which we have been separated for six months, and march to King's Mill Wharf, on the James River, there take the steamer to City Point; from that place going through Petersburg to Suffolk by rail. We are now attached to the brigade of Brigadier-General George W. Randolph, our former Captain, who has just been promoted.

After a march of six miles we joined our right section, and at 3 o'clock reached King's Mill Wharf. A twenty-mile march through mud and mire is no easy undertaking, and then to camp on a barren bluff minus every comfort is enough to try the patience of Job. No water, no wood in two miles of us, and the cold wind holding a jubilee over our comfortless situation. Our force numbers about five thousand. This will be a large force to take from Magruder, but a fight is early expected at Suffolk, whilst everything seems quiet on the Peninsula.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 111

Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, February 12, 1863

We have a splendid camping ground, plenty of wood and water, Made ourselves very comfortable. I feel so much better here where we can have batallion drills and dress parade.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 8

Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, January 3, 1863

We encamped in a corn field last night, completely exhausted; in the middle of the night it commenced to rain but I slept through it until I woke up and found myself in two inches of water. I tried the top of a furrow but that was not much better, so gave up sleep as a bad job. We started about 10 o'clock on our march for a camp ground. The roads were the worst I have yet marched on; snow, mud, water, everything that makes marching disagreeable except dust. Marched a few miles and then filed off into some beautiful woods where I understand we are to camp for a while—good water, plenty of wood and a good chance for rations and mail to reach us, what more can a soldier want?

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 7

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 6, 1865

A bright frosty morning.

This day I am fifty-five years of age.

It is now reported that Gen. Early made his escape, and that most of his men have straggled into this city.

One body of Sheridan's men are said to have been at Gordonsville yesterday, coming hitherward, while another were near Scottsville, aiming for the South Side Railroad.

The Adjutant-General, having granted furloughs to the returned prisoners two days ago, to-day revokes them. Will such vacillating policy conciliate the troops, and incite them to heroic deeds?

The President and his wife were at church yesterday; so they have not left the city; but Gen. Lee's family, it is rumored, are packing up to leave.

I bought a quarter of a cord of oak wood this morning to mix with the green pine, and paid $55 for it.

Gen. Early's cavalry, being mostly men of property, were two-thirds of them on furlough or detail, when the enemy advanced on Charlottesville; and the infantry, being poor, with no means either to bribe the authorities, to fee members of Congress, or to aid their suffering families, declined to fight in defense of the property of their rich and absent neighbors! We lost four guns beyond Charlottesville, and our forces were completely routed.

There are rumors to-day that a column of the enemy's cavalry has reached Hanover County. Gen. R. E. Lee has ordered Major-Gen. Fitz Lee's cavalry to march against them.

Twelve M. They are bringing boxes to the War Office, to pack up the archives. This certainly indicates a sudden removal in an emergency. It is not understood whether they go to Danville or to Lynchburg; that may depend upon Grant's movements. It may, however, be Lee's purpose to attack Grant; meantime preparing to fall back in the event of losing the day.

Four days hence we have a day of fasting, etc., appointed by the President; and I understand there are but three day's rations for the army—a nice calculation.

Gen. Johnston telegraphs the Secretary that his army must suffer, if not allowed to get commissary stores in the North Carolina depots. The Secretary replies that of course his army must be fed, but hopes he can buy enough, etc., leaving the stores already collected for Lee's army, which is in great straits.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 441

Diary of Private John J. Wyeth, December 11, 1862

The guard was relieved early, and at seven A.M. we fell into line with the regiment, marching across the town to Fort Totten, where we joined our brigade. We made little progress till nearly noon, when, as we thought, we started, but there were continued hitches somewhere, and we had many chances to stretch ourselves on the ground. We were loaded down this time, carrying blankets and knapsacks, and most of us a change of clothes. About four o'clock we passed the pickets on the Trent road, apparently about a regiment, having a prettily situated entrenched camp, on a small elevation; their posts being about an eighth of a mile farther up the road. Soon after leaving them we encountered the first “obstacle" of the expedition. We kept halting, and then starting a little, and soon found we would probably have to sleep in wet clothes. We had to cross quite a long and deep run of water, but, for a change, were allowed to struggle with the plank at the side of the road; but those who succeeded in keeping their feet on the narrow, slippery timber, were few, but dry, and consequently happy. We saw lights ahead, and supposed we were close to camp, but had to march three miles or so before we turned into a cornfield on the left of the road, having marched about fourteen miles. A self-imposed detail of two went back to get water for the mess, and what wood we could find; then made our fire, had supper, and turned in. No good bunks now, but plenty of soft dirt to be tucked up in. 

SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 23-4

Diary of Corporal John Worrell Northrop: Thursday, May 12, 1864

Still rainy. When I awoke this morning I lay in water; no shelter, no wood; consequently I am wet all day. All the wood we have is green brush and roots they let us pick from the bank. This is very little; we use it for cooking.

SOURCE: John Worrell Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 45

Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, December 29, 1862

Marched into Memphis, encamped in the southern part of the city near Fort Pickering—one of the meanest places we ever encamped in, no water or wood near. Glad to get a chance to lie down as our tramp has been a hard one. A snow flurry during the night.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 7

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, June 9, 1863

Still at our camp of the 6th inst., with plenty of wood and abundance of good spring and lake water; no improvement in the rations. Yesterday I went to Yazoo and bought rice, sugar and molasses, upon which the mess is living high. No news of the enemy, but cannonading is heard every day in the direction of Vicksburg. Heavy bodies of troops are arriving every day at Jackson, and it is thought that we will make an advance before long. The health of our brigade is pretty good.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 215

Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Friday, September 19, 1862

Osaco Lake. Cheese 25c. Came ̧ from Sauk Center to Alexandrian forest. Fuss about dinner. Attempt to arrest one of the Third—failure. We joined cavalry—fuss about guard relief. Two loads of wood.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 5