Beschreibung:

Pocket diary for the year 1858; 5 war-date letters (including 3 soldier’s letters); pocket diary partially spanning 1862-1863; sketchbook from the 1864 Overland Campaign; miscellaneous Holmes family documents. On July 2, 1862, following heavy losses in the Peninsula Campaign, President Abraham Lincoln called on the states to raise “three hundred thousand more” soldiers for the Union army. Twenty-one-year-old David Clinton Holmes answered this call when he enlisted into the Union army on July 23, 1862. A printer by trade, Holmes hailed from Pulaski, MI, in Jackson County. Holmes mustered into “H” Company of the 20th Michigan Infantry on August 19, 1862. On September 1, 1862, Holmes and his regiment departed Jackson, MI, to join the Army of the Potomac. According to a regimental history compiled by General Byron M. Cutcheon of the 20th, this regiment was “always at the front, was never stationed in a fort, never on duty at the rear, but was constantly on the fighting line.” Holmes would see action throughout his enlistment including at the Battles of Fredericksburg; Horse Bend, KY; Vicksburg, MS; Blue Springs, TN; Wilderness; Spotsylvania; and finally at Cold Harbor where he lost his life. The Civil War-era manuscript material in the collection provides insight into the rigors of daily life for a Civil War soldier, but it is in his artistic renderings that Holmes paints the most vivid and relatable portrait of his wartime experiences. An interesting element to this collection is that a pre-war diary is included with the Civil War materials. The 1858 diary allows for an exploration of the civilian life Holmes left behind, which only heightens the longing later revealed in his wartime writings and illustrations. The pocket diary spans January 1st through December 31, 1858. The interior cover page of the diary was inscribed by Holmes as follows: D. C. Holmes “Citizen Office,” Jackson, Jackson, Co. Michigan, January 1st, 1858. The diary begins on January 1st with this musing from Holmes: The New Year! yes the New Year, a whole year is now before the world, it is not only New Years here but all over the whole world. Many will hail it with gladness, but a silent tear passes over my cheek as I think of the past. Mother, brother, Sisters, and old friend whom I now hold dear, I heartily “Wish you a happy New Years;” to my enemies (if I have any) may they seek to do their utmost in gratifying their revenge, and them, a Happy New Years to them. He then continues, What am I doing today I ask myself. Why nothing that is, in particular, got up swept out the office and I then loafed. This loafing is hard work, but then it is New Year. Throughout the diary, Holmes demonstrates a youthful exuberance and sense of humor: January 12 All quiet and cool in the Office today, only a wee bit of a skirmish in the afternoon no body killed. Set type went on errands. Holmes writes often about his work in the printing industry as in this January 7th entry: Publication day, and a busy day too papers to work off, forms to wash, water to carry, papers to fold, and the City papers to carry make a fellow “git up and git!” He writes about his family and longing for letters from home. Lengthy stretches without correspondence were a great source of frustration to Holmes as he angrily recorded on July 28, 1858, Letters: if I ever was mad I’m mad now, no letters! What does it mean have all the folks slighted me. I’ll get up a new set, blow me if I don’t! If I do get one now, if I write back, shoot me! A whole week without a letter! His entries are often rife with philosophical whimsy as in this March 1858 entry: Riches…What are they composed of: owning a fine house, grounds, a splendid stone, (not paid for). No Oh no! What then owning a large farm with fine houses barns and all the necessaries, and also (a mortgage on it) No oh no. What then owning a bank with 2 or 3 million dollars of notes out that you cannot redeem. Oh yes I have at last found out what true riches