Search

Diary of Frank Smith Reader of Brighton, Pennsylvania, who was a private in the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry, Company I. The diary covers the period of 10 March to 25 June 1864 and contains ca. 80 pp. Reader, for the period covered by this diary, was on detached duty from his regiment, serving as a clerk at General Franz Sigel's and General David Hunter's headquarters in Martinsburg, Cumberland, and in the field. Reader participated in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 and was present at the battles of New Market, Piedmont, and Lynchburg. Diary entries comment on the weather; Reader's moods; daily duties; troop movements; skirmishes and battles; and the scorched earth policy employed during the Valley Campaigns. Please see the historical note for further information concerning Reader and his regiment.

Diary kept by Corporal James M. Chidester, Co. A, 3rd Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry, during his service in the Civil War, 1861-1864. Contains day by day accounts of the marches and battles in which he participated, descriptions of camp life and general conditions for Union soldiers. His company was active throughout West Virginia, Western Maryland and the Northern Virginia and District Columbia area. He participated in battles at Romney, Cedar Mountain, Manassas Junction, Janelew, Hedgesville, Martinsburg, Bull Run, and White Sulphur Springs. At White Sulphur Springs in 1863 he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Confederate Army and transferred to Richmond, Virginia. He remained in Richmond for about one month, then was traded for Confederate prisoners and sent to Annapolis Hospital at the U.S. Naval Academy, and later discharged, March 1, 1864. The final page of the diary are a memoir of Chidester's life after the war as a teacher and storekeeper in Preston County, West Virginia, where he served as assessor and deputy sheriff for many years. There are also some accounts, a record of letters sent and received while in the hospital in Annapolis, and lists of books read while in Annapolis.

Three pocket diaries authored by William M. Goudy of Wheeling, (West) Virginia, a corporal in the First West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, Company G, who was mustered into service on 31 October 1862. The entries run from January 1862 through November 1864, when Goudy's company was mustered out at Wheeling. Diary entries are brief and sporadic; subjects discussed include weather, marches, encampments, drilling and inspection, combat, eating, church attendance and sermons, and social visits and events. Goudy also makes record of letters received, money sent home, and items and money received from home. See Scope and Content note for more information. For Goudy's Military Memorial War Record, see A&M 4102, "Civil War Memorial Record of William M. Goudy and Other Material."