Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR - UNION] Archive of Civil War diaries and other items carried by Hospital Steward John Hill White of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment . Various locations in the Eastern Theater: 1862-65. Archive comprising four printed wallet-style diaries of the period accomplished in manuscript with daily entries for the years 1862-1865. Mostly executed in pencil with some later outlining in pen, an 1862 diary has been used in 1863 with the dates manipulated by hand, general wear commensurate with age and use, some thumbsoiling but overall very legible and well preserved; White's inscribed 1862 travel Bible in a wallet-style binding, with his penciled military history to the front blank. A few pages detached or torn; White's crimson uniform sash and his battle worn uniform cap. The crown of the cap affixed with White's contemporary manuscript list of battles listing 2nd Bull Run, Gettysburg, Wilderness, etc. The cap generally worn, retains only one 13th Mass. Regiment button, strap detached; A small volume, Wisdom in Miniature, inscribed by White; White's annotated copy of Three Years in the Army, the story of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, Boston, 1894. Signed on the title page by White and several other surviving veterans, with many intriguing annotations to the margins. Original cloth. Hinges cracked with preliminaries detached and worn, some internal stains; And a few later photographs depicting White in his Civil War uniform, etc. The Civil War diaries of a Union Hospital Steward which includes firsthand accounts of Gettysburg and Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater on April 14th, 1865. The diaries largely report White's daily movements (including to the quality of weather, meals, campsites and marches) but are frequently punctuated by details of battle preparations, the battles themselves, the locations of field hospitals, the recording of the dead and wounded and the noting of other major war events. A summary of the diaries by year: March, 1862: The diary opens at Martinsburg, Virginia in advance of the regiment seeing action at Winchester. Later that month the regiment "went through Centreville and Bull Run, rough woods, log huts for 150m, men dead, horses in large numbers, everything destroyed, snowed hard ... at Bull Run found the bodies of men of Mass 1st". As a Hospital Steward White reports the death of each man suffering in his regiment and later describes caring for the wounded after the battle of Cedar Mountain and 2nd Bull Run. On August 31st, White was taken prisoner where he was treated well by the rebels before being exchanged. A good description of this is provided in manuscript of the margin of Three Years in the Army, in which White describes being captured by J.E.B. Stewart ("He was a dam coward") and providing urgent care for the Confederate wounded. April, 1863: The diary resumes as White leaves the Campbell Hospital in Washington for Belle Plain before the fighting at Fitzhugh's Crossing: "Rebels in sight across river. Fight commenced in the afternoon. Corp Bush, Lieut Caldwell killed. Corp Foy leg & arm taken off. No firing at night." After the Battle of Chancellorsville, White remained at Fitzhugh House before the long march towards Gettysburg. Longer entries continue through the battle and its aftermath. On July 2nd, White writes "went to Gettysburg. Found Rebs in force. Fight commenced at about noon. General Reynolds killed ... our regiment pretty well cut up ... found ambulance could not get to hospital..." and on July 3rd "at hospital near Gettysburg ... Wounded being brought in all day. Tremendous artillery firing. Reports of Longstreet's capture. Rebs whipped badly." May, 1864: From the hospital in Culpeper, VA White sets out for The Battle of the Wilderness and on May 6th: "Established hospital. Heavy firing all day. Burnside's Corp went in at noon. 7 of our regiment brought in. Lieut Stewart wounded. Gen'l Baxter wounded. Woods on fire for miles. 350 wounded there" and on