Dec 8 - Rained most of the day. Staid in the house almost all day. Wrote to Uncle L[ucius]* and parents. Discussions on raising a cavalry regiment. Eve I presided at the debating society when the proposed constitution was discussed.
Dec 9 - Pleasanter weather, more enlivening. Rode into country with Col. Herrick. Saw two old men. Roads very muddy. Officiated at funeral in regular battery. Eve a good large mail. Letter from Ella.
Dec 10 - Wrote some on a letter to Western Episcopalian*. Now regulate my food and have no trouble with dyspepsia etc. Quite a relief. Eve debating society. Many wish to reenlist in cavalry. Regiment paid off.
Dec 11 - Have evening school for blacks; does better than daytime.
Dec 12 - Rainy most of day. Studied and went out a little. Sometimes at a loss for out-door employment. No sick and no papers to distribute. Called on Mr. Fry.
Dec 13 - Cloudy in a.m. Rained most of night. Fair attendance at church and I explained the parable of laborers in the vineyard. Eve a letter from Ella. Some homesick but prayer meeting did me good. Taught contrabands. Rain all p.m.
Dec 14 - Cloudy and cool. Have too little outside employment. No reading matter to give - no hospital. Went and saw saw mill. Eve a real good debating society. Read the President's message and Proclamation offering pardon to rebels below the rank of Colonel in certain terms*. Major Parke here.
* Lucius Chittenden, brother to Richard's father Asahel, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1794. As an adult he lived in Washington Heights, NY. He married 5 times. His fourth wife was a Miss Lamson of Newburg with whom he had two children. His last wife, who survived him was Amelia Lockwood from Stamford CN who he married in July 1866. Lucius died on 21 December 1868 at the age of 74. His daughter Lucia married Frederic Charles Blenkinsopp Coulson , Grandson of Lord Byron.
* The Western Episcopalian was a journal of varying frequency published between 11 August 1853 and 25 June 1868.
* President Lincoln's proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction of 8 Dec 1863 can be read here: http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/procamn.htm
Showing posts with label Col Herrick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Col Herrick. Show all posts
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
1 - 7 Dec 1863
Dec 1 - Moderating. My mare improves under Brush's care. Got good letters from Mother and Ella. Sterne has been home. Major Park here. Col [Horace] P[ark] at Pulaski.
Dec 2 - Lovely day. Went to mill. Counselled Birmingham who is in affliction. Saw the ruined place of rebel congressman Brown. Met rebel prisoners on way north.
Dec 3 - Lovely weather. Somewhat dyspeptic and depressed at eve. Talked with Col Swayne about it. Have commenced again teaching the colored boys to read.
Dec 4 - Lovely day. Rode down to bridge and felt better. Got on well in study. Must accept invitations to meals with officers. Seldom see papers now. Good prayer meeting at evening. Bragg has been driven back by Grant. 6000 prisoners and 50 cannon.
Dec 5 - A plan of life suggested. My father's idea in educating me was to have me prominent. I have unusual advantages , good mind, good education, good habits, quite good health, nervous disorder producing over anxiety and some dyspepsia I can control. Why should it not be my plan to make myself more of a man. Thus I can do more good and please my father. Read, write, and improve in speaking. Not as Gough or Douglass, not as Thatcher, but as Dr. Smith, Dr May or Dr. Sparrow.
Dec 6 - Most lovely and undecember like day. Good attendance in chapel a.m. Got on well in preaching. Bible class p.m. A good man from the 27th there. A most excellent and full meeting in evening. Pull up in dug-out and float down Elk river with Col H[errick] and adjutant.
Dec 7 - Fair but cloudy. Chilly wind. Was more industrious than usual having received a new impetus. Felt a little depressed at evening on account of lack of religious sympathy. The prayer meeting was a season of great peace to my soul. Regret my diffidence as to personal exhortation. Col Swayne addressed to regiment on re-enlisting. Some excitement in regiment.
Dec 2 - Lovely day. Went to mill. Counselled Birmingham who is in affliction. Saw the ruined place of rebel congressman Brown. Met rebel prisoners on way north.
Dec 3 - Lovely weather. Somewhat dyspeptic and depressed at eve. Talked with Col Swayne about it. Have commenced again teaching the colored boys to read.
Dec 4 - Lovely day. Rode down to bridge and felt better. Got on well in study. Must accept invitations to meals with officers. Seldom see papers now. Good prayer meeting at evening. Bragg has been driven back by Grant. 6000 prisoners and 50 cannon.
Dec 5 - A plan of life suggested. My father's idea in educating me was to have me prominent. I have unusual advantages , good mind, good education, good habits, quite good health, nervous disorder producing over anxiety and some dyspepsia I can control. Why should it not be my plan to make myself more of a man. Thus I can do more good and please my father. Read, write, and improve in speaking. Not as Gough or Douglass, not as Thatcher, but as Dr. Smith, Dr May or Dr. Sparrow.
Dec 6 - Most lovely and undecember like day. Good attendance in chapel a.m. Got on well in preaching. Bible class p.m. A good man from the 27th there. A most excellent and full meeting in evening. Pull up in dug-out and float down Elk river with Col H[errick] and adjutant.
Dec 7 - Fair but cloudy. Chilly wind. Was more industrious than usual having received a new impetus. Felt a little depressed at evening on account of lack of religious sympathy. The prayer meeting was a season of great peace to my soul. Regret my diffidence as to personal exhortation. Col Swayne addressed to regiment on re-enlisting. Some excitement in regiment.
Friday, November 18, 2011
15 - 21 Sept 1863
Sept 15 - Read papers and wrote letters. Distributed testaments in Illinois battery - well received. A private there had been a city missionary in Chicago. At Missouri hospital. Toward evening weary, but spirited a little and nervous. Anti-Vallandigham* resolutions largely signed in regiment.
Sept 16 - A little cloudy, quite a relief. Fine display of the brigade and cavalry out on inspection. Felt weary toward evening and somewhat dis-spirited and lonely but the prayer meeting did me good. Feel my work is great but must cast my care on the Lord. Feel want of family intercourse and society.
Sept 17 - Rain, clouds and cool wind. Beginning to feel the monotony of camp life. Read in "Chaplain's manual" useful instructions on dealing with sick and well. Eve to prayer meeting of 32nd Missouri. Not as interesting as ours I think. Burnside* has marched on a hoodless conquest and deliverance of E. Tennessee. Appetite less voracious.
Sept 18 - Chilly day. Rode to town on my little horse. Liked him and did not like him. The horse question has troubled me much for ten days. Rosencrans has taken Chattanooga and Burnside.
Sept 19 - Chilly still. Lib. our cook sick and Jim cooks. Studied etc. P.m. to 32nd hosp[ital]. Shall alternate daily between that and ours. Gave tracts and papers. Eve talked with Col Herrick of bringing wife and friends south in winter.
Sept 20 - Fine day. An unexpected and delightful tho' short call from Sam who has a furlough of 20 days. He is well. His regiment has suffered and is suffering much from sickness and death. In p.m. preached to an unusually good number of soldiers. Col Herrick has talked to officers about attending church. Very bad sick head ache in eve.
Sept 21 - Fine day. A.m. to Chaplain's meeting etc. P.m. school. My school room does well. Six or eight in attendance. In eve spent an hour or two with Col. Swayne who is quite sick. Prayer with him. Good letter from Ella and Henry.
* Clement Laird Vallandigham was born 29 July 1820 in Lisbon Ohio. He was elected as a Democrat to the Ohio legislature in 1845 and 1846, and by a very small margin to the U.S. Congress in 1858 and 1860 representing the district around Dayton. When the war broke out the majority anti-secession population of Dayton turned him out of office by a large margin in 1862.
He was a member of the copperhead movement and was vociferously anti-war on the basis of states rights, and perhaps racism played a part as well, as he defended the institution of slavery.
After the war, Vallandigham returned to Ohio, lost his campaigns for Senate and the House of Representatives on an anti-Reconstruction platform, and then resumed his law practice. By 1871 he won the Ohio Democrats over to a "new departure" policy that would essentially neglect to mention the Civil War.
Vallandigham's assertion that "he did not want to belong to the United States" prompted Edward Everett Hale to write The Man Without a Country. This short story, which appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in December 1863, was widely republished.
Vallandigham died on 17 June 1871 in Lebanon, Ohio, at the age of 50, after accidentally shooting himself with a pistol. He was representing a defendant in a murder case for killing a man in a bar room brawl. Vallandigham attempted to prove the victim had in fact killed himself while trying to draw his pistol from a pocket when rising from a kneeling position. As Vallandigham conferred with fellow defense attorneys in his hotel room, he showed them how he would demonstrate this to the jury. Grabbing a pistol he believed to be unloaded, he put it in his pocket and enacted the events as they might have happened, shooting himself in the process. Vallandigham proved his point, and the defendant, Thomas McGehan, was acquitted and released from custody. Pictured below
Union General Ambrose Everett Burnside was born 23 May 1824 in Liberty Indiana. He attended West Point, graduating in 1847. He fought in the Mexican-American war doing mostly garrison duty in Mexico City near the end of the war. At the close of the war, Lt. Burnside served two years on the western frontier, serving under Captain Braxton Bragg in the 3rd U.S. Artillery, a light artillery unit that had been converted to cavalry duty, protecting the Western mail routes through Nevada to California. In 1849, he was wounded by an arrow in his neck during a skirmish against Apaches in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Burnside was a brigadier general in the Rhode Island Militia. He raised a regiment, the 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, and was appointed its colonel on May 2, 1861. Within a month, he ascended to brigade command in the Department of Northeast Virginia. He commanded the brigade without distinction at the First Battle of Bull Run in July, committing his troops piecemeal, and took over division command temporarily for wounded Brig. Gen. David Hunter. After his 90-day regiment was mustered out of service, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 6, and was assigned to train provisional brigades in the nascent Army of the Potomac.
General Burnside also fought in North Carolina, Antietam, Fredericksburg, East Tennessee, The Overland campaign and the Crater.
Burnside was relieved of command on August 14 and sent on leave by Grant; Meade never recalled him to duty. A court of inquiry later placed the blame for the Crater fiasco on Burnside and his subordinates. In December, Burnside met with President Lincoln and General Grant about his future. He was contemplating resignation, but Lincoln and Grant requested that he remain in the Army. At the end of the interview, Burnside wrote, "I was not informed of any duty upon which I am to be placed." He finally resigned his commission on April 15, 1865.
Burnside was noted for his unusual facial hair, joining strips of hair in front of his ears to his mustache but with chin clean-shaven; the word burnsides was coined to describe this style. The syllables were later reversed to give sideburns.
Sept 16 - A little cloudy, quite a relief. Fine display of the brigade and cavalry out on inspection. Felt weary toward evening and somewhat dis-spirited and lonely but the prayer meeting did me good. Feel my work is great but must cast my care on the Lord. Feel want of family intercourse and society.
Sept 17 - Rain, clouds and cool wind. Beginning to feel the monotony of camp life. Read in "Chaplain's manual" useful instructions on dealing with sick and well. Eve to prayer meeting of 32nd Missouri. Not as interesting as ours I think. Burnside* has marched on a hoodless conquest and deliverance of E. Tennessee. Appetite less voracious.
Sept 18 - Chilly day. Rode to town on my little horse. Liked him and did not like him. The horse question has troubled me much for ten days. Rosencrans has taken Chattanooga and Burnside.
Sept 19 - Chilly still. Lib. our cook sick and Jim cooks. Studied etc. P.m. to 32nd hosp[ital]. Shall alternate daily between that and ours. Gave tracts and papers. Eve talked with Col Herrick of bringing wife and friends south in winter.
Sept 20 - Fine day. An unexpected and delightful tho' short call from Sam who has a furlough of 20 days. He is well. His regiment has suffered and is suffering much from sickness and death. In p.m. preached to an unusually good number of soldiers. Col Herrick has talked to officers about attending church. Very bad sick head ache in eve.
Sept 21 - Fine day. A.m. to Chaplain's meeting etc. P.m. school. My school room does well. Six or eight in attendance. In eve spent an hour or two with Col. Swayne who is quite sick. Prayer with him. Good letter from Ella and Henry.
* Clement Laird Vallandigham was born 29 July 1820 in Lisbon Ohio. He was elected as a Democrat to the Ohio legislature in 1845 and 1846, and by a very small margin to the U.S. Congress in 1858 and 1860 representing the district around Dayton. When the war broke out the majority anti-secession population of Dayton turned him out of office by a large margin in 1862.
He was a member of the copperhead movement and was vociferously anti-war on the basis of states rights, and perhaps racism played a part as well, as he defended the institution of slavery.
After the war, Vallandigham returned to Ohio, lost his campaigns for Senate and the House of Representatives on an anti-Reconstruction platform, and then resumed his law practice. By 1871 he won the Ohio Democrats over to a "new departure" policy that would essentially neglect to mention the Civil War.
Vallandigham's assertion that "he did not want to belong to the United States" prompted Edward Everett Hale to write The Man Without a Country. This short story, which appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in December 1863, was widely republished.
Vallandigham died on 17 June 1871 in Lebanon, Ohio, at the age of 50, after accidentally shooting himself with a pistol. He was representing a defendant in a murder case for killing a man in a bar room brawl. Vallandigham attempted to prove the victim had in fact killed himself while trying to draw his pistol from a pocket when rising from a kneeling position. As Vallandigham conferred with fellow defense attorneys in his hotel room, he showed them how he would demonstrate this to the jury. Grabbing a pistol he believed to be unloaded, he put it in his pocket and enacted the events as they might have happened, shooting himself in the process. Vallandigham proved his point, and the defendant, Thomas McGehan, was acquitted and released from custody. Pictured below
Union General Ambrose Everett Burnside was born 23 May 1824 in Liberty Indiana. He attended West Point, graduating in 1847. He fought in the Mexican-American war doing mostly garrison duty in Mexico City near the end of the war. At the close of the war, Lt. Burnside served two years on the western frontier, serving under Captain Braxton Bragg in the 3rd U.S. Artillery, a light artillery unit that had been converted to cavalry duty, protecting the Western mail routes through Nevada to California. In 1849, he was wounded by an arrow in his neck during a skirmish against Apaches in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Burnside was a brigadier general in the Rhode Island Militia. He raised a regiment, the 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, and was appointed its colonel on May 2, 1861. Within a month, he ascended to brigade command in the Department of Northeast Virginia. He commanded the brigade without distinction at the First Battle of Bull Run in July, committing his troops piecemeal, and took over division command temporarily for wounded Brig. Gen. David Hunter. After his 90-day regiment was mustered out of service, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 6, and was assigned to train provisional brigades in the nascent Army of the Potomac.
General Burnside also fought in North Carolina, Antietam, Fredericksburg, East Tennessee, The Overland campaign and the Crater.
Burnside was relieved of command on August 14 and sent on leave by Grant; Meade never recalled him to duty. A court of inquiry later placed the blame for the Crater fiasco on Burnside and his subordinates. In December, Burnside met with President Lincoln and General Grant about his future. He was contemplating resignation, but Lincoln and Grant requested that he remain in the Army. At the end of the interview, Burnside wrote, "I was not informed of any duty upon which I am to be placed." He finally resigned his commission on April 15, 1865.
Burnside was noted for his unusual facial hair, joining strips of hair in front of his ears to his mustache but with chin clean-shaven; the word burnsides was coined to describe this style. The syllables were later reversed to give sideburns.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
24 - 28 Aug 1863
Aug 24 - Col. Sheldon called on Col. Herrick to my surprise. Not quite well but going back. Col. Swayne left for Ohio.
Aug 25 - Remarkable change yesterday a.m. Clouds and chill wind. It is strengthening. Men have requested prayer meeting every night except when on guard. I urge religious thoughts and reading in regiment.
Aug 26 - We begin to eat. Clear but cool day. Am stupid and weak. By request attended funeral of a soldier in 63rd O[hio VI]. P[rayer] meeting in eve. A supper given at G[?] house to Gen. Grant. I was not invited.
Aug 27 - Fine and cool. Rather weak. A letter from Ella but too short and in pencil. In p.m. to town on business and eve a pleasant call at Col. Boyd's with Col. Herrick.
Aug 28 - Rained most of the a.m. I studied. Often feel tired and weary in my work. Have prayer meetings every evening except when on guard. Bowels some sore. Chilly weather.
Aug 25 - Remarkable change yesterday a.m. Clouds and chill wind. It is strengthening. Men have requested prayer meeting every night except when on guard. I urge religious thoughts and reading in regiment.
Aug 26 - We begin to eat. Clear but cool day. Am stupid and weak. By request attended funeral of a soldier in 63rd O[hio VI]. P[rayer] meeting in eve. A supper given at G[?] house to Gen. Grant. I was not invited.
Aug 27 - Fine and cool. Rather weak. A letter from Ella but too short and in pencil. In p.m. to town on business and eve a pleasant call at Col. Boyd's with Col. Herrick.
Aug 28 - Rained most of the a.m. I studied. Often feel tired and weary in my work. Have prayer meetings every evening except when on guard. Bowels some sore. Chilly weather.
17 - 23 Aug 1863
Aug 17 - Attended Chaplain's meeting am. A cool room and pleasant talk.
Aug 18 - Mr. [Daniel] Rheem [i.e. Ream] of Ohio here to get away his son [John]* - very low at the hospital. He chafes at delay in papers. The poor boy dies on the 21st.
Aug 19 - Lay too cold and got up feeling agueish and unwell. Write to wife twice a week now.
Aug 20 - Still unwell tho' keep about my duties. Mr. Rheem [sic] complains that Dr. Rose who is sick does not see his son and other patients. I inadvertently repeat the complaint. Col. Herrick notifies him. He requests to know who complained. I write and explain. The Dr. soon friendly again.
Aug 21 - Unwell still. Bad taste and poor appetite. Col. Herrick the same. Got on finally in preparing sermon this evening.
Aug 22 - Feel worse, have fever. Disappointed in letter from wife this week - now get one saying she has taken whooping cough. Undressed and went to bed to be sick. Was mulled[?] off and feel better.
Aug 23 - Sunday. Too unwell to do duty. Mr. K.A. Brumell addressed the regiment. Good attendance. Col Swayne dropped in going home [?]. Weak but better than yesterday.
* Pvt. John Ream, born 1838/9 in Madison twp. Fairfield Co. Ohio. He was the son of Daniel (born abt 1808 in PA) and Sarah (born abt 1811 in OH).
Aug 18 - Mr. [Daniel] Rheem [i.e. Ream] of Ohio here to get away his son [John]* - very low at the hospital. He chafes at delay in papers. The poor boy dies on the 21st.
Aug 19 - Lay too cold and got up feeling agueish and unwell. Write to wife twice a week now.
Aug 20 - Still unwell tho' keep about my duties. Mr. Rheem [sic] complains that Dr. Rose who is sick does not see his son and other patients. I inadvertently repeat the complaint. Col. Herrick notifies him. He requests to know who complained. I write and explain. The Dr. soon friendly again.
Aug 21 - Unwell still. Bad taste and poor appetite. Col. Herrick the same. Got on finally in preparing sermon this evening.
Aug 22 - Feel worse, have fever. Disappointed in letter from wife this week - now get one saying she has taken whooping cough. Undressed and went to bed to be sick. Was mulled[?] off and feel better.
Aug 23 - Sunday. Too unwell to do duty. Mr. K.A. Brumell addressed the regiment. Good attendance. Col Swayne dropped in going home [?]. Weak but better than yesterday.
* Pvt. John Ream, born 1838/9 in Madison twp. Fairfield Co. Ohio. He was the son of Daniel (born abt 1808 in PA) and Sarah (born abt 1811 in OH).
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
25 - 29 June 1863
June 25 - Crawled about in P.m. My friend Dr. Smith put me to bed. Pain in bowels. In distress. Mustard helped none. Morphine finally quieted me.
June 26 - Drowsy and confined to bed. Weak. Murphy nurses me. Excellent care. No appetite. Have fever and loose bowels. Take medicine. Can eat, gruel and beef tea.
June 27 - Still sick. Col. Swayne, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Rose, Col. Herrick, Maj. Park and James Fifer* and other privates very kind.
June 28 - In bed all day. Some Sunday thoughts. Mr. Fry was too unwell to preach to regiment.
June 29 - Col. Swayne of his own accord has kindly got me a sick furlough of 20 days and pushed it through. Home here.
* James W. Fifer of the 67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
June 26 - Drowsy and confined to bed. Weak. Murphy nurses me. Excellent care. No appetite. Have fever and loose bowels. Take medicine. Can eat, gruel and beef tea.
June 27 - Still sick. Col. Swayne, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Rose, Col. Herrick, Maj. Park and James Fifer* and other privates very kind.
June 28 - In bed all day. Some Sunday thoughts. Mr. Fry was too unwell to preach to regiment.
June 29 - Col. Swayne of his own accord has kindly got me a sick furlough of 20 days and pushed it through. Home here.
* James W. Fifer of the 67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Monday, November 14, 2011
1 - 7 May 1863
May 1 - Marched to Iuka. Refreshing rest at noon by the cool springs. Eve got to Burnsville. I rode about to see that contrabands got food.
May 2 - Col. Herrick wished to go to Corinth by a R.R. train for business and I accompanied him. Saw the battle field by the forts where Col. Smith and Adjt. H[?] fell. Eve regiment came. Felt depressed.
May 3 - Sunday a.m. washed in a stream. P.m. the regiment left for Bethel. I staid and preached for Mr. Fry. Pleasant p.m. and eve.
May 4 - Dr. Smith having invited me to visit a hospital under his charge, I staid and talked with patients. Staid p.m. and eve at his room. At pleasant chaplains meeting in a.m.
May 5 - Early to Bethel. Fixed ourselved again.
May 6 - Busy about camp.
May 7 - Prepared rations to send to be distributed on Friday.
May 2 - Col. Herrick wished to go to Corinth by a R.R. train for business and I accompanied him. Saw the battle field by the forts where Col. Smith and Adjt. H[?] fell. Eve regiment came. Felt depressed.
May 3 - Sunday a.m. washed in a stream. P.m. the regiment left for Bethel. I staid and preached for Mr. Fry. Pleasant p.m. and eve.
May 4 - Dr. Smith having invited me to visit a hospital under his charge, I staid and talked with patients. Staid p.m. and eve at his room. At pleasant chaplains meeting in a.m.
May 5 - Early to Bethel. Fixed ourselved again.
May 6 - Busy about camp.
May 7 - Prepared rations to send to be distributed on Friday.
Friday, November 11, 2011
23 - 26 April 1863
April 23 - Lovely morning. Started early on march. Passed through rolling lovely country and beautiful vales. Two or three large plantations and mansions. Dead horses killed in a skirmish. Eve camped at Bear Creek.
April 24 - Left early a.m. A march through a lovely country. [?] farms and plantations and wooded hills. At noon came in sight of Tuscumbia [Alabama]. P.m. rode into the place. Pleasant flowery gardens but mostly deserted houses, stores closed and empty or broken open.
April 25 - Warm. Studied in a.m. Col. Herrick and self rode into town in p.m. My mare is too poor. Col. H[errick] and I were at Col. Fullers in eve. Later Major and I took a good bath. Fond thoughts of dear absent wife and baby[?]. How I long to see them.
April 26 - Showery morning. Men collected under cotton sheds. Too rainy for services. Read and visited them some. P.m. a pleasant meeting under trees. [?] attendance from brigade. Eve rain again and could not have prayer meeting.
April 24 - Left early a.m. A march through a lovely country. [?] farms and plantations and wooded hills. At noon came in sight of Tuscumbia [Alabama]. P.m. rode into the place. Pleasant flowery gardens but mostly deserted houses, stores closed and empty or broken open.
April 25 - Warm. Studied in a.m. Col. Herrick and self rode into town in p.m. My mare is too poor. Col. H[errick] and I were at Col. Fullers in eve. Later Major and I took a good bath. Fond thoughts of dear absent wife and baby[?]. How I long to see them.
April 26 - Showery morning. Men collected under cotton sheds. Too rainy for services. Read and visited them some. P.m. a pleasant meeting under trees. [?] attendance from brigade. Eve rain again and could not have prayer meeting.
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