Interpretation of diary entry

[ClintI]

In my 2x great grandfather's diary, the words in the attached image appear. I'm having a hard time discerning what they say. Are there any 19th c. handwriting experts to help me out? The words in question are "was mustered out of the Mja Bay Cape Munsen". I know from his discharge paper that it was signed by a G.D. Munsen (or Munson) and the word Captain appears to be on the next line down on his discharge, so I think it reads "by Capt Munsen (or Munson)." What I can't make out is the "Mja" since it follows "was mustered out of the, I assume it was a place or his unit? I'd appreciate all suggestions, thank you.

 

[TerryB]

I read "USA" for US Army. Merry Christmas!

 

[Story]

There's snowflakes falling on my screen at the moment which makes divination more difficult.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

Is there a date on the entry? What unit was he in? These details could help.

 

[LSBusch]

I hope those initials(?) appear elsewhere in the diary so you will have some context. Or perhaps others here have seen the initials "USA" used in this way in Civil War documents (as suggested by TerryB). (I haven't, but my experience is very limited.)

 

[TerryB]

We definitely need a date. Could the cannonading mentioned be post-surrender celebration?

 

[ClintI]

Thanks for all the responses. In answer to the questions about the date, it was Dec 18, 1864. He was on Sherman's march and mustered out prior to reaching Savannah. He was in the 68th OVI. I like the USA explanation. That makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[TerryB]

Thanks for all the responses. In answer to the questions about the date, it was Dec 18, 1864. He was on Sherman's march and mustered out prior to reaching Savannah. He was in the 68th OVI. I like the USA explanation. That makes a lot of sense to me.

So the cannonading was the bombardment of Savannah.

 

[ClintI]

Terry B and all - yes, and he wrote about it all along the march.

 

[tony_gunter]

Thanks for all the responses. In answer to the questions about the date, it was Dec 18, 1864. He was on Sherman's march and mustered out prior to reaching Savannah. He was in the 68th OVI. I like the USA explanation. That makes a lot of sense to me.

That's strange. How would one muster out prior to reaching Savannah? Book the next flight out?

Have you spent any time researching the 68th OVI otherwise? I found a nice unit history published as "The Long Road Home."

 

[ErnieMac]

That's strange. How would one muster out prior to reaching Savannah? Book the next flight out?

Have you spent any time researching the 68th OVI otherwise? I found a nice unit history published as "The Long Road Home."

Sherman had captured Fort McAllister on December 13 and established communication with the naval blockading squadrons the following day. I guess he chartered a boat.

 

[ClintI]

I find it odd that he was mustered out before reaching Savannah as well. His discharge paper states he was "not mustered out before [this date] by reason of being on the march from Atlanta to Savannah. Discharged for reason of expiration of term of service." As he writes in his diary in November, his three-year service expired on November 10th, though he is reinstated for about another month. His discharge paper lists the place as "before Savannah". He first goes to Ft McAllister, eventually to Hilton Head where he departs on December 22, aboard the SS Arago bound for New York. He then takes a series of trains getting as far as Columbus, Ohio, about 160 miles from home. How he got the rest of the way, to Salem, OH, is unknown.

 

[Tom Elmore]

"was mustered out of the USA [U.S. Army] by Capt. Munson"

Presumably Captain Gilbert D. Munson, Company B, 78th Ohio. I see the 78th Ohio and 68th Ohio were in the same brigade.

 

[ClintI]

Tom, thank you for that additional information! I'm going to include it in the book!

 

[CWdiaryPA]

"USA" is how I read that.

I, too, transcribed my 2x grandfather's CW diary. In case it's helpful to your project: it might be handy to Google a table of Copperplate or Spencer script (both, actually) that shows letters of the alphabet, & have it handy for when you get stuck. I'll attach an ex. of one of these. I wish I'd thought of this instead of gritting my teeth & staying puzzled when I hit a wall.

From the mid-1700s through when our grandfathers were likely still young enough to be taught to write in school in the early to mid-1800s, the American handwriting (penmanship) style was called Copperplate, or English Round Hand. (My grandfather was born in 1830.)

But around 1840ish-1850ish, Spencerian script began being taught in America, then eventually replaced Copperplate. Judging from this image, your diary is much easier to read than mine, so your relative was probably born several years after mine, maybe even a decade later. Therefore, he may have been in the first generation to learn Spencer.

Copperplate capital letters had flourishes, & my grandfather's letters "S, W, M, Y, F, Q, G," as they started sentences, were more elaborate than the remainder of the letters in words in his sentences. They had fancy flourishes.

Good luck transcribing!

 

[ClintI]

All very interesting, thank you. My grandfather was born in 1838. It is helpful!

 

[TerryB]

"USA" is how I read that.

I, too, transcribed my 2x grandfather's CW diary. In case it's helpful to your project: it might be handy to Google a table of Copperplate or Spencer script (both, actually) that shows letters of the alphabet, & have it handy for when you get stuck. I'll attach an ex. of one of these. I wish I'd thought of this instead of gritting my teeth & staying puzzled when I hit a wall.

From the mid-1700s through when our grandfathers were likely still young enough to be taught to write in school in the early to mid-1800s, the American handwriting (penmanship) style was called Copperplate, or English Round Hand. (My grandfather was born in 1830.)

But around 1840ish-1850ish, Spencerian script began being taught in America, then eventually replaced Copperplate. Judging from this image, your diary is much easier to read than mine, so your relative was probably born several years after mine, maybe even a decade later. Therefore, he may have been in the first generation to learn Spencer.

Copperplate capital letters had flourishes, & my grandfather's letters "S, W, M, Y, F, Q, G," as they started sentences, were more elaborate than the remainder of the letters in words in his sentences. They had fancy flourishes.

Good luck transcribing!

View attachment 461187

Need help on these initials. https://civilwartalk.com/threads/need-help-with-initials.199873/#post-2611947

 

[CWdiaryPA]

All very interesting, thank you. My grandfather was born in 1838. It is helpful!

Oh wow! I wasn't far off.

How long is the diary? Do you have much farther to go?

 

[CWdiaryPA]

Need help on these initials. https://civilwartalk.com/threads/need-help-with-initials.199873/#post-2611947

Darling mini hearts, the kind a teen girl would write. I'd say she was hopeful for his hand.

Probably a longshot, but if hearts-girl was so young she didn't think signage conventions mattered much, the first part could be two letters scripted together. That's the first thing I saw because that's exactly how I'd write "ef" in cursive.

That could also be an "f." Sorry to say that below loop may also be a "q." However, were it a "g," it's curious hearts-girl didn't capitalize it. She may have penned the "g" first, then started in on drawing the hearts, & got distracted, so that by the time she got to letter two, she forgot she set out to do the whole thing in lower case. Also a little odd there is noticeable difference in spacing between letters one and two, versus two and three. What's with squishing two and three?

Middle one looks like a "D" and last one resembles a tipped over boat, maybe a "V."

Young people have inside jokes, plus initials for clubs that can also be inside jokes (growing up, my friends & I formed the "DDHH," & no one ever knew what we were talking about. We wrote that on everything that passed between us).

If you're on Twitter, maybe post for help there with tags. People have helped me in the past. I wish I could have been more definitive. Ah well

 

[TerryB]

Thanks so much. He may forever be a mystery, but I agree that the best way to think of this is a teenage girl who wants to be married to her beau. When I was a kid in junior high, the way we did the initials thing was to put a plus sigh in between them. I grew up in NE Arkansas in a town that was largely populated by Mississippi transplants, so the missing plus sign is another question mark.