Beschreibung:

Lot includes a pocket diary, 6 in. tall, soft leather binding with flap and string tie, 92pp. Also includes a transcription of the diary. Plus book on Ohio 123rd Inf.: Keyes, C.M., ed. The Military History of the 123d Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Sandusky (OH): Register Steam Press, 1874. 12mo, brown cloth, 196pp. There is nothing in the diary or text to identify the writer, but he is literate (he can even spell "bivouac"). He identifies the diary as having been written at Martinsburg Va. Jan 10th A.D. 1864. The diary begins by describing the formation of the unit at Monroeville in Huron Co., Ohio in the autumn of 1862. He notes: Before it was a full reg't (1000 men) the boys were guarded on the space of about ten acres by a camp guard, which was the only way to keep the men together. If they were not guarded the men would have been scattered from camp to their homes by hundreds. The guards with unloaded guns did their duty as faithful as if they were in the heart of the enemies country. Those that were not on guard were almost afraid to talk to a guard for fear of being hurt although he was no more dangerous than any one else. He then notes the loss of men over time. When they first set out, The reg't was then very near as large as our whole brigade is at present. He describes the journey by train, then another train, then riverboats, then another train, etc. He does make special note of the landscape. For a regiment derived from the relatively flat northern part of Ohio, its southeastern region was something of a shock. Particularly around Marietta and Parkersbug (just across the river), we were not in what might be called a "Hilltaneous country." It was just a "warm up" for what they would find once they crossed the river into western Virginia and West Virginia, on their way eventually to the Eastern battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. The nature of the terrain was to nearly have disastrous consequences. One train to which they transferred in Virginia only had freight cars. That road is a branch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, one of the roughest railroads I suppose in the United States. The cars run around hills over hills & through hills. We run through twenty-three tunnels ere we reached the town of Clarksburg. A slight accident happened among those hills which I suppose will never be forgotten by the boys of the 123rd Ohio. They encountered a freight train headed toward them on the same track. Those two trains were able to stop before colliding, but the train behind the author's, which also carried soldiers from the 123rd, could not see the traffic ahead and ran into the rear of the first troop train. The last three cars of the first train were destroyed, but no one killed. They rolled the damaged cars off the track, doubled up in the remaining cars and continued into even hillier country. They moved from one small town to another - Clarksburg, Buckhannon (an old dirty looking town like most of the Southern cities), Beverly, Huttonsville, Webster and New Creek, where they stayed about a month. Unfortunately, part of that time the winter rains arrived, and many became ill marching in the cold and wet. The first deaths from disease struck the regiment. In this march a great many got a bad cold confining them in hospitals for a long time & some in their little chambers never more to rise. They expected Jackson to raid New Creek, but he never did. So they marched to Burlington which is a town of one or two houses and a barn like most West Va. towns. They stayed there a few days before proceeding to Petersburg, 29 miles away. They held up at Petersburg for several weeks until summoned to Moorefield. The dispatch state that Moorefield was attacked. We could not doubt it in the least for we already heard the few canons playing very actively which told at once that there was something wrong at Moorefield....our teams with tents and everything else were sent toward New Creek for fear of being captured.... He b