PUBLIC "-//Virginia Military Institute::Preston Library::Archives//TEXT (US::ViLxV::vilxv00045::A Guide to the Willaim J. Black Diary)//EN" "vilxv00045.xml" A Guide to the William J. Black Diary, 1864-1865 Black, William J., Diary mss 00015 Diane B. Jacob Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Virginia Military Institute Archives © 2002 Virginia Military Institute

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Machine-readable finding aid derived from html. Machine-readable finding aid created by Diane Jacob. Date of source: 2002 Description is in English Feb 16, 2004 PUBLIC "-//Virginia Military Institute::Preston Library::Archives//TEXT (US::ViLxV::vilxv00045::A Guide to the Willaim J. Black Diary)//EN" "vilxv00045.xml" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Feb 26, 2004 converted to conform to eadVIVA.dtd by vivastrict.xsl 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the William J. Black Diary, 1864-1865 A Collection in Virginia Military Institute Archives mss 00015

Virginia Military Institute Archives 2002 Virginia Military Institute Archives Staff Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Archives, Preston Library, Virginia Military Institute Descriptive Summary Archives, Preston Library, Virginia Military Institute William J. Black Diary 1864-1865 mss 00015 The collection consists of one item. English Administrative Information Access

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 Use Restrictions

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 Preferred Citation

William J. Black Diary, mss 00015, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, Virginia.

 Alternative Form

The William J. Black Diary is available in full-text format on the VMI Archives website at: http://www.vmi.edu/archives/manuscripts/ms015.html

 Biographical/Historical Information

William Johnson Black was born at Lynchburg, Virginia on August 2, 1845. He was the son of Allen J. Black and Mary Haythe, both of Campbell County, VA. Black entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1862 and resigned in 1864 to join the Confederate Army. He served in Captain John J. Shoemaker's Battery (Breathed's Battalion, Stuart Horse Artillery). Following the Civil War he was in the express company business in Lynchburg, Virginia. He married Virginia Price on March 5, 1871 and the couple had two children (Charles and E. Stockton). Black died at the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Richmond, Virginia on January 24, 1935.

 Scope and Content Information

The collection consists of the one volume diary of Confederate soldier William J. Black. The diary entries date from October 1864 - January 1865, written while Black was serving in Captain John J. Shoemaker's Company, Virginia Horse Artillery. Included are brief accounts of various skirmishes and the Battle of Cedar Creek; campsites and positions are recorded daily. Following the diary entries are copies of two of Shoemaker's reports detailing Battery activities, dated September 1, 1864 (covering the period May - August) and December 25, 1864 (covering the period September - Dec 25). The volume also contains Black's Virginia Military Institute account book, listing expenses incurred while a cadet (1862-1864) prior to joining Confederate Army.