J. O. Humphreys served with the 1st Independent Ohio Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. He was mortally wounded at Petersburg, Virginia.
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This collection consists of a digital transcription of J. O. Humphreys' Civil War diary (April-July 1864). Private Humphreys was among the Union soldiers who briefly occupied Lexington, Virginia in June 1864, an event known locally as Hunter's Raid. The Union forces, led by General David Hunter, destroyed several VMI buildings, as well as much of the cadet library and laboratory equipment.
An unknown Union officer discovered the Order Book for the VMI Corps of Cadets, (containing administrative details of cadet life from January 17, 1862 to May 7, 1864) and it eventually came into Humphreys' possession. He used the empty pages in the back of the volume to record an account of his unit's activities and described the the events at VMI and Lexington in his entry on June 12.
Humphreys was subsequently mortally wounded at Petersburg, Virginia. Before he died, he gave the Order Book to his best friend, Private Harvey Rhodes. The book was cherished by Rhodes, who settled in Indiana after the War. When Rhodes died, the book was inherited by his son. The original Order Book, now including the diary, was returned to VMI in the 1970s, more than one hundred years after its disappearance.