New here/looking for info

[Carlsmys76]

Hello all,
New to this forum, in fact have never posted to a forum before. But, I am in the process of trying to solve a family mystery and this seems to be the place to find the answers I need . So, here's the mystery:
My father grew up in possession of a civil war diary. My father died in the 1970s and I acquired the diary recently, this many years later, and have been transcribing it. I am trying to figure out who the author was and how he is related to me.
Here's what I know for sure. He is one of the 16 officers captured on August 17th 1864 near Winchester Virginia with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Tay of the 10th regiment from New Jersey.
I have a list in the diary of eight of those officers. I am looking for the full list, which I know LC Tay provided in his last diary. I would like to find a way to access those names.
I am located on the west coast which makes this search more difficult. There are other documents that I believe could help me at the National Archive but they are not published online yet.
I'm hoping some of you with your expertise may be able to help me. Thx in advance!

 

[Pollaco]

Howdy + Welcome from Texas!

 

[Larryh86GT]

Welcome.

 

[Library Lady]

Welcome from the Civil War Books, Stories and Media Forum. Please come browse our pages.

Civil War Books, Stories, & Media

In general, Non-Fiction or NF refers to Factual Stories focused on actual events and people. Historical Fiction or HF refers to any book or movie that has a historical plot, a setting, or characters that are created from the authors imagination.

civilwartalk.com

If you require assistance obtaining records from NARA, you might consider using @Bob Velke 's business Gopher Records. It gets good reviews here.

 

[lupaglupa]

Can you tell us what else you know about the author of the diary? Have you done any genealogy that links you to veterans of the Civil War?

 

[JOHN42768]

Welcome, enjoy

 

[scooter748driver]

Welcome from the Fort Sumter and the Fredericksburg forums.

 

[redbob]

Welcome aboard from middle Alabama and good luck on your search.

 

[Michael C. Hardy]

Welcome! While it is somewhat cumbersome to use, you might try the Official Records. There might be a reference in them. You might want to start with volume XLIII. https://collections.library.cornell.edu/moa_new/waro.html

 

[RedRover]

Hello all,
New to this forum, in fact have never posted to a forum before. But, I am in the process of trying to solve a family mystery and this seems to be the place to find the answers I need . So, here's the mystery:
My father grew up in possession of a civil war diary. My father died in the 1970s and I acquired the diary recently, this many years later, and have been transcribing it. I am trying to figure out who the author was and how he is related to me.
Here's what I know for sure. He is one of the 16 officers captured on August 17th 1864 near Winchester Virginia with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Tay of the 10th regiment from New Jersey.
I have a list in the diary of eight of those officers. I am looking for the full list, which I know LC Tay provided in his last diary. I would like to find a way to access those names.
I am located on the west coast which makes this search more difficult. There are other documents that I believe could help me at the National Archive but they are not published online yet.
I'm hoping some of you with your expertise may be able to help me. Thx in advance!

From the Newark Daily Advertiser, Newark, NJ, 9-16-1864...

From Baquet's history of the New Jersey Brigade, a list of the officers of the New Jersey Brigade captured on Aug. 17, 1864 with Lt. Col. Tay...

From the same, a reference from a diary to the incidents resulting in the capture of much of the 10th New Jersey, etc.

History of the First Brigade, New Jersey Volunteers

www.google.com

 

[Carlsmys76]

Thanks to you all for all the help already shared! The book above that RedRover sent has the same list of officers that are written by the author of the diary I have. (With the exception of one additional name in the dairy. My best guess reading the authors handwriting, his name was Lieut. Benjamin Russel.)
Here is the rest of what I know:
1) the book excerpts above now confirm I have transcribed the correct names of officers.
2) I have traced my family tree and found that two of my great great grandfathers served for the North. One, Captain Isaac Kain, but he was mustered out before the capture date. The other, Captain George W. Hummel.
3) I believe that Captain Hummel is now confirmed as my great great grandfather by matching the list in the book above to his handwritten list. And, by finding him in my family tree.

Additional info I know from the diary, includes the place and day Capt Hummel was released and signed a log declaring he was now free. His freedom came at Annapolis, Maryland on february 23, 1865.
The Captain states, "Feb 23rd arrived at annapolis M.D. at 9:00 a.m. Very pleasant morning. Went up to the dining room and partook of a good breakfast. Then we went up and registered our names and got assigned to our quarters."

I would like to find a source for that registry on that day. I was able to see a registry book online through the National Archive, but there are many registries created in Annapolis and I found that the vast majority of them are not yet digitized.

Does anyone have a source I can access to verify that my relative did indeed register his release? That last piece of the puzzle would help me feel 100% certain that I have found the author of this diary.

Thank you all so much! It means a lot to me and to my son, whom will carry this family history with him and to future generations in our family.

 

[RedRover]

Thanks to you all for all the help already shared! The book above that RedRover sent has the same list of officers that are written by the author of the diary I have. (With the exception of one additional name in the dairy. My best guess reading the authors handwriting, his name was Lieut. Benjamin Russel.)
Here is the rest of what I know:
1) the book excerpts above now confirm I have transcribed the correct names of officers.
2) I have traced my family tree and found that two of my great great grandfathers served for the North. One, Captain Isaac Kain, but he was mustered out before the capture date. The other, Captain George W. Hummel.
3) I believe that Captain Hummel is now confirmed as my great great grandfather by matching the list in the book above to his handwritten list. And, by finding him in my family tree.

Additional info I know from the diary, includes the place and day Capt Hummel was released and signed a log declaring he was now free. His freedom came at Annapolis, Maryland on february 23, 1865.
The Captain states, "Feb 23rd arrived at annapolis M.D. at 9:00 a.m. Very pleasant morning. Went up to the dining room and partook of a good breakfast. Then we went up and registered our names and got assigned to our quarters."

I would like to find a source for that registry on that day. I was able to see a registry book online through the National Archive, but there are many registries created in Annapolis and I found that the vast majority of them are not yet digitized.

Does anyone have a source I can access to verify that my relative did indeed register his release? That last piece of the puzzle would help me feel 100% certain that I have found the author of this diary.

From the Daily State Gazette, Trenton, NJ, 3-1-1865:

Thank you all so much! It means a lot to me and to my son, whom will carry this family history with him and to future generations in our family.

Mr. Hummel applied for a federal pension in later years. Perhaps this pension files might have more information.

 

[lupaglupa]

A pension file would have a lot of information that would help you confirm that Captain Hummel is your ancestor. You can order copies directly from the National Archives or through a service such as Gopher Records.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Hello all,
New to this forum, in fact have never posted to a forum before. But, I am in the process of trying to solve a family mystery and this seems to be the place to find the answers I need . So, here's the mystery:
My father grew up in possession of a civil war diary. My father died in the 1970s and I acquired the diary recently, this many years later, and have been transcribing it. I am trying to figure out who the author was and how he is related to me.
Here's what I know for sure. He is one of the 16 officers captured on August 17th 1864 near Winchester Virginia with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Tay of the 10th regiment from New Jersey.
I have a list in the diary of eight of those officers. I am looking for the full list, which I know LC Tay provided in his last diary. I would like to find a way to access those names.
I am located on the west coast which makes this search more difficult. There are other documents that I believe could help me at the National Archive but they are not published online yet.
I'm hoping some of you with your expertise may be able to help me. Thx in advance!

Interesting. Welcome.

 

[A. Roy]

Welcome! I can see you're already getting some good help here!
AR

 

[bankerpapaw]

Hello all,
New to this forum, in fact have never posted to a forum before. But, I am in the process of trying to solve a family mystery and this seems to be the place to find the answers I need . So, here's the mystery:
My father grew up in possession of a civil war diary. My father died in the 1970s and I acquired the diary recently, this many years later, and have been transcribing it. I am trying to figure out who the author was and how he is related to me.
Here's what I know for sure. He is one of the 16 officers captured on August 17th 1864 near Winchester Virginia with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Tay of the 10th regiment from New Jersey.
I have a list in the diary of eight of those officers. I am looking for the full list, which I know LC Tay provided in his last diary. I would like to find a way to access those names.
I am located on the west coast which makes this search more difficult. There are other documents that I believe could help me at the National Archive but they are not published online yet.
I'm hoping some of you with your expertise may be able to help me. Thx in advance!

Welcome from NW Georgia!!

 

[Stryker65]

Does anyone have a source I can access to verify that my relative did indeed register his release? That last piece of the puzzle would help me feel 100% certain that I have found the author of this diary.

Other than what @RedRover provided, the only other source would be the muster roll of the Tenth New Jersey, which I'm not sure exists. Such a muster-roll would usually describe dates of capture and exchange, but I haven't found one for any New Jersey regiments.

 

[Fairfield]

For your list, I'd see if there has been a book on the history of the 10th NJ. 2nd, you might do a search on historic newspapers to see if there has been a reunion (those notes often reside with local historical heritage groups); best hope the list itself has been put in a newspaper--most likely, a local one. 3rd, in 1890 there was a census of veterans: there are the online records (which are summaries) and the individual surveys done by each GAR post (which can be far more detailed); SUV can tell you if those surveys are still with the SUV chapter or if they are with the SUV library--regiments were recruited regionally so the GAR post of that region is apt to have been manned by vets in the area; a while ago, I found a web site with this information--I suspect that it was part of SUV's site The fifth and most tedious way is to pull up the roster of the 10th (you can do this easily on HDS), determine the officers and then biddle through those names, checking to see which were listed as POW at the correct time.

 

[Carlsmys76]

Thank you fairfield. A lot of acronyms though. Would you mind clarifying:
GAR, SUV, HDS
Thx so much

 

[Carlsmys76]

Yes, I have emailed to try to get access to the muster rolls that do exist in a new jersey library but have not heard back yet.

I do feel, due to the information you all have given me already, that I am 99% sure my relative was Captain George W. Hummel on the list provided by Redrover. He would be twice great grandfather on my father's mother's side.
Connecting him to the imprisonment is the last piece I need to track down, to make sure this was his diary.