What Are the Best CW Diaries You Have Found That Are Available Online?

Salterr said:

I did think, looking over the other letters that the handwriting was slightly different even though they're addressed to the same woman and signed by him. One letter is from a hospital he was in. The other mentions not being paid and having to steal from the commissary. I have the envelopes where he addresses his sister. This letter seems to be all over the place and written over the course of the day, not all at once. From his wording he seems to be in the 39th Iowa but I can't find him anywhere or the officers he mentions. It might be possible to match up my blanks with the letter and figure it out but I've stared at this letter for hours trying to figure them out. He got really hasty with his writing in the end and it seems to get sloppier when he was running out of space.

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Salterr said:

@Reconstructed Rebel and @rosefiend I've finally transcribed the requested letter to the best of my ability. There are a few words I can't make out but once I post the picture maybe someone can fill the gaps. I've modernized the spelling the best I could. There are multiple letters from the same man addressed to his sister that I have if you want. He spells his name differently on the other letters but I think we might be able to identify him.

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Talk of cannons and cross dressers! Please help identify a possible Iowa soldier. | Researching Civil War Records & Ancestry

Hi everyone, I’ve come asking for some help in identifying the soldier who wrote this letter. I have 4 or 5 of his letters addressed to his sister but can’t narrow down his name. I’ve just transcribed this one but there are some words I couldn’t decipher which might help identify him.His name I...

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gjpratt said:

Our own @CWdiaryPA has transcribed his great great grandfather's wonderful diary of his experience in the Shenandoah Valley during Jackson's Valley Campaign. Daily from March 1 through July 5, 1862.

https://jacksonsvalleycampaign.com/

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Reconstructed Rebel said:

Reading CW era diaries is a weakness of mine. Memoirs contain a lot of what the writers learned or may have heard in retrospect, but nothing beats reading someone's in the moment candid observations about their first experience in battle or experiences in camp. There are plenty of obscure diaries that have been donated to various universities and organizations that are now digitally available. Does anyone have a recommendation they would share, either a source or a particular diary itself?

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irenemack said:

I read Mary Chestnut's diary and was disappointed. I thought it would be more interesting

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irenemack said:

I read Mary Chestnut's diary and was disappointed. I thought it would be more interesting

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Reconstructed Rebel said:

I'm reading it now. What did you find interesting? My takeaways so far for what it's worth-

I'm struck at how early in the war she laments the taking of prisoners, each time complaining that the Confederacy can't feed their own soldiers. So this was an issue much earlier than I supposed.

Her repeated mention of spies in Richmond and Washington, both male and female, surprised me. Maybe there is a book somewhere that names the (apparently) many people that undertook such dangerous jobs, but other than a few famous names, I was unaware how common this was.

Given that the enslaved people in her immediate circle were not physically mistreated, she seems to discount the possibility that slaves are seriously mistreated anywhere. On the topic of white men having children with black women, she appears to lay the blame as much with the women (slaves) as with the men. Mrs. Chestnut, married at 17, is not wise to all the ways of the world in these matters, but this reflects the innocence that was deliberately cultivated in females of her generation as far as I can tell.
Awa
Like many writings by those who idealized the perfection of the Southern way of life under slavery, there is sad lack of awareness for the limitations slavery imposed on black people. She is puzzled as to why a black man who was a talented musician would try to run away. The white people in her narrative are happy being served and the black people are happy serving them.

Despite confident words, the Confederate government officials were evidently aware from the beginning that the odds were against their success, per Mary's conversations with them and her husband. This surprises me too. They were evidently relying heavily on foreign support that did not materialize.

These are just my impressions, I'm not sure if others would share them. It may also make a difference as to which edition is read. I believe there were three different ones, not all of them containing the same entries.

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Reconstructed Rebel said:

Reading CW era diaries is a weakness of mine. Memoirs contain a lot of what the writers learned or may have heard in retrospect, but nothing beats reading someone's in the moment candid observations about their first experience in battle or experiences in camp. There are plenty of obscure diaries that have been donated to various universities and organizations that are now digitally available. Does anyone have a recommendation they would share, either a source or a particular diary itself?

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4thMichigan said:

You might try making a visit to my website "Crossing Hell on a Wooden Bridge". There are currently diaries from 13 different soldiers in the Fourth Michigan Infantry along with almost 500 letters (with many more to come). There are a few postwar memoirs posted there as well, and I would certainly recommend reading them also. Please keep in mind that the website is, and always will be, a work in progress. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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