A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee
A journal of hospital life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee: from the battle of Shiloh to the end of the war: with sketches of life and character, and brief notices of current events during that period by Cumming, Kate.
Dolly Sumner Lunt was born in Bowdoinham, Maine in 1817. Although she was related to the fierce abolitionist, Charles Sumner, she moved south to Covington, Georgia to join her recently married sister. While teaching school in the area, Lunt met and married Thomas Burge, and she settled into life on his plantation. Her husband passed away in 1858, and Mrs. Burge managed the affairs of the plantation herself during the Civil War. Burge begins her diary, A Woman’s Wartime Journal, published in 1918, by voicing her anxiety about the approach of General Sherman’s Northern army on January 1, 1864. While she worries over the arrival of Sherman’s troops and their habit of pillaging and burning everything in their path, she records stories of visits by local raiders posing as U.S. soldiers and the sleepless nights she has spent watching fires on the horizon. Despite Burge’s efforts to hide her valuable possessions, which include sending her mules into the woods, dividing her stores of meat among the slaves, and burying the silver, the passing Union troops raid her house and plantation, taking her slaves with them. They also set fire to cotton bales in her barn. By Dorthy Lunt Burge
Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, passed in Milledgeville, at an annual session in November and December 1861. In compiling and preparing for publication, the Acts passed at the late Session of the General Assembly, you will abbreviate the enacting and repealing clauses, as has been the custom for several years past, where the same can be done without changing the true import of the Acts.
Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georiga passed in Milledgeville at an annual session in November and December 1863, also the extra session of 1864.
Advance and Retreat by Gen. John. B. Hood (1880) (selected chapters) (The War Times Journal)
These on-line excerpts from Lieutenant-General John B. Hood’s memoirs are based on the original 1880 edition published by Burk & M’Fetridge. General Hood was an 1853 West Point graduate, and in the eight years before the American Civil War, he served as a line officer in the western United States. He began the war in the Army of Northern Virginia and fought with distinction throughout the conflict, being severely injured on several occasions. He saw his greatest successes as a Brigadier General under Longstreet. Later in the war, after his injuries and rapid promotion to high command, his star waned somewhat and he resigned his commission in January 1865 after the disastrous Tennessee campaign. He died in New Orleans during an 1879 yellow fever outbreak.
Charles Berry SENIOR was born in England in 1845, and moved to the United States, near Rock Falls, Iowa, when he was 12-years-old. At the age of 19, he enlisted in Company B of the Seventh Iowa Infantry, at Plymouth, Iowa, in February of 1864. Charles remained in service for a year and a half, participating in General SHERMAN’S four-month campaign against Atlanta in the summer of 1864. As part of the Western Army, Charles fought in a total of twelve battles, including engagements at Reseca, Lays Ferry, Rome Crossroads, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas, Knick Jack Gap, one battle near Atlanta, plus a five-week siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Allatoona, Marietta, Savannah, Columbia, and Bentonville. Charles wrote to his father during the Civil War about his experiences and thoughts.
Civil War Letters of the Christie Family, Atlanta, Georgia (Minnesota Historical Society)
The Civil War Letters of the Christie Family at the Minnesota Historical Society offer an interesting perspective from three brothers who served in the Union army. Thomas and William Christie, who were both born in Ireland, enlisted in the First Minnesota Battery in 1861 and participated in the Vicksburg campaign as well as General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea.
Communication of Secretary of War. Feb. 22, 1865. Confederate States of America. War Dept
“Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested to furnish this House with the number of able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, claimed to be exempt from conscription by the Governor, laws and resolutions of the State of Georgia.”
“Co. Aytch” by Samuel R. Watkins (Project Gutenberg)
A classic Civil War memoir, Co. Aytch is the work of a natural storyteller who balances the horror of war with an irrepressible sense of humor and a sharp eye for the lighter side of the battle. It is a testament to one man’s enduring humanity, courage, and wisdom in the midst of death and destruction. By Sam Watkins
A letter from Georgia’s GOvernor Joesph Brown to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the constitutionality of conscription, which was turned into a pamphlet.
Correspondence Between Governor Brown and the Secretary of War, upon the Right of the Georgia Volunteers, in Confederate Service, to Elect Their Own Officers. Georgia. Governor (1857-1865: Brown)
Correspondence between Georgia’s Governor Joe Brown and the Confederate Secretary of War upon the right of the Georiga Volunteers in Confederate Services to elect their own officers, which was turned into a pamphlet.
Cyrus F. Jenkins Civil War Diary, 1861-1862 (Digital Library of Georgia)
The Cyrus F. Jenkins Civil War Diary, 1861 – 1862, held at the Troup County Archives, chronicles Cyrus Franklin Jenkins’ experiences as an enlisted man in the Meriwether Volunteers, Company B, 13th Georgia Infantry Regiment, during the first year of the war, June 1861 to March 1862. Jenkins vividly describes the early euphoria of the war and the regiment’s campaigns in western Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of Floyd’s Brigade and in Savannah in Lawton’s Brigade. The regiment took part in skirmishes at Sewell Mountain, Laurel Hill, and Whitemarsh Island. While traveling, Jenkins also remarks on the changing scenery he encounters. Additionally, his account of camp life highlights the medical care available to Confederate soldiers at this stage in the war. Jenkins was killed at Spotsylvania, Virginia, on May 12, 1864.
Digital images of the original diary written by 10-year-old Carrie Berrey who experienced the Battle of Atlanta first hand.
Diary of Carrie Berry, age 10, Atlanta, Georgia
Ten-year-old Carrie Berry lived with her family in Atlanta, Georgia in 1864 while Union general Sherman tried to capture Atlanta. The diary that Berry kept daily shows the immediate effect of the war on her and her family. Sherman’s offensive against Atlanta brought a lot of damage to the city and made things very difficult for the residents. Berry wrote about the difficulties her family faced. Many days, she wrote that shells fell around her house, and her family took shelter in the cellar.
Diary, July-September 1864, of William King of Cobb County, Ga., who remained alone on his plantation to protect his property and slaves from depredations by Federal forces, and papers, 1879, concerning King’s claim against the U.S. government for damages by Federal troops, based on his claim that he was a Unionist during the war. Diary entries record difficulties and hardships affecting all classes, his generally good treatment by Federal soldiers and discussions of slavery with them, the cancellation of religious services by Federal army order after Confederate ministers refused to pray for the U.S. president, the collapse of Confederate forces around Atlanta, and the return of federal troops from Stoneman’s Raid, having suffered greatly.
Julia Johnson Fisher kept her diary over an eight-month period in 1864. This brief account of a tumultuous time chronicles the life of Julia and her family in Camden County along the south Georgia coast. Much of the diary is foreboding and at about 9,000 words, Julia does not dwell on any subject long. But, the diary is rich in its descriptive detail of the deprivations brought on in the South by the Civil War, and in its descriptions of family and community relationships and social order.
This on-line edition of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet’s memoirs is based directly on the 1912 second edition published by Lippincott, Philadelphia. General Longstreet, who began the American Civil War in New Mexico, served with great distinction throughout the course of the conflict. His chief claim to fame was as commander of the Confederate Army’s First Corps, which in its various incarnations fought through most of the major wartime campaigns.
George Washington Baker Papers. Personal Correspondence, 1864-1865. George Washington Baker
George Washington Baker of Washington County, N.Y., served with Company K, 123rd New York Volunteers in the Civil War. The collection includes letters of Lt. George Washington Baker, who served with the Army of the Potomac. He was involved in campaigns in Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina, which he described in letters to his family in Upper Granville, N.Y. Included in these letters is much description of the Battle of Chancellorsville and the capture of Atlanta. He discussed at length army food, picket duty, and his opinions on current political issues, including the replacement of generals, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the presidential race. His sisters Lizzie and Ellen taught school in the South before the war, and the collection includes a few of their pre-war letters, among them Lizzie’s description of a murder in Alabama, as well as other family letters were written before and after the war.
How It Was: Four Years Among the Rebels. Mrs. Irby Morgan
Mrs. Irby Morgan was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee and was General John Hunt Morgan’s cousin. Her memoir, How It Was; Four Years Among the Rebels (1892), records her experiences in Tennessee during the Civil War. Her husband, Irby Morgan, actively supported the Confederacy by raising money and acquiring goods for the army. Mrs. Morgan documents early efforts to prepare for war and then describes the war itself. She worked as a nurse in her home in the early part of the war, but her family fled across the South, stopping in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Marietta, Georgia, and finally Augusta, Georgia, where they lived until the war ended. The narrative closes with a series of letters written during the war and excerpts from The Vidette, a magazine published intermittently by General Morgan’s troops.
Letters of Pvt. Edmond Hardy Jones, 64th Ga. Infantry (Oct. 1863-Aug. 1864)
The following are letters from Edmond Hardy Jones to his wife Susan, and span a period of almost one year. E. H. Jones was a private in Company F, 64th Georgia Volunteers. He served with that unit in Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. His exact birth date is not known but was probably about 1838 in Talbot County, Georgia. He married Susan J. Willis about 1858. The family, his wife and four children lived in Box Springs, Talbot County, Georgia during the war.
Memoirs of a Southerner, 1840-1923. Edward J. Thomas, b. 1840
Edward Jonathan Thomas was born March 25, 1840, in Savannah, Georgia. Outside of his own account in Memoirs of a Southerner, there is little published biographical information about him. The first section of Thomas’s short narrative concerns plantation life in Georgia. He describes this life as “master and slave in its prettiest phase” (p. 8). He writes in detail about the logistics of slavery on the plantation, including such topics as housing, rations, clothing allowances, distribution of tasks, chasing runaways, and church attendance. He notes, for example, that Peru’s slaves were in charge of the same parcels of land every year, thus encouraging efficient work and thereby ensuring that “the industrious and diligent negro seldom worked after the noon hour” (p. 9). Thomas admits that there were cruel masters in the South who overworked and abused their slaves, but says that this never happened in Peru.
Message from Governor Joseph E. Brown, to the Extra Session of the Legislature
Message of his excellency Joseph E. Brown to the extra session of the Legislature, convened March 10, 1864, upon the Currency Act, Secret Session of Congress, the late Conscription Act, the unconstitutionality of the act of suspending the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in cases of illegal arrests made by the President, the causes of the War and the manner of conducting it, and the terms upon which peace should be sought.
Milo Grow’s Letters from the Civil War (longleaf.net)
These are the letters of a man caught between divided loyalties. An idealistic northerner educated in the same tradition that produced Emerson and Thoreau, Milo Grow moved south to Georgia shortly before the Civil War, where he taught school and practiced law. There, he seems to have found a place among the colorful individualists of the small-town South, made friends, developed strong loyalties, and married a spirited woman in a setting where that meant marrying into a whole family, a community, and even a way of life. Milo enlisted in the Confederate Army, Company D, 51st Regiment, “Miller Guards,” on March 15, 1862. According to family history, Milo was captured at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, after being wounded the previous day. He was taken to Fort Delaware, Del., and thence to the new Northern prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland, where he died Jan. 24, 1864.
Recollections of a Naval Life: Including the Cruises of the Confederate States Steamers, “Sumter” and “Alabama”. John McIntosh Kell, 1823-1900
Summary for How It Was: Four Years Among the Rebels. Harris Henderson
Summary for Memoirs of a Southerner, 1840-1923. Jennifer L. Larson
Summary for Recollections of a Naval Life: Including the Cruises of the Confederate States Steamers, “Sumter” and “Alabama”. Harris Henderson
Summary for The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865. Harris Henderson
Summary for War Stories and School-Day Incidents for the Children. Mike Millner
The Great Speech of Hon. A.H. Stephens, Delivered Before the Georgia Legislature, on Wednesday Night, March 16th, 1864, to which is Added Extracts prom [sic] Gov. Brown’s Message to the Georgia Legislature. Alexander Hamilton Stephens, 1812-1883
The Siege of Savannah in December, 1864, and the Confederate Operations in Georgia and the Third Military District of South Carolina During General Sherman’s March from Atlanta to the Sea. Charles Colcock Jones, 1831-1893
The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865. Eliza Frances Andrews, b. 1840
War Stories and School-Day Incidents for the Children. B. M. Zettler (Berrien McPherson), b. 1842
The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl by Eliza Frances Andrews depicts the chaos and tumult of a period when invaders and freed slaves swarmed in the streets, starved and beaten soldiers asked for food at houses with little or none, and the currency was worthless. Eliza’s agony is complicated by political differences with her beloved father.