July 2026

Extracts from the journal of Commander Semmes, C.S. Navy, commanding C.S.S. Sumter

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

Wednesday, July 31.—Morning clear, afternoon rain, this being the rainy season. We have been all day negotiating about bringing off our coal, the excuse of the merchant being that he has to depend on free negro labor, which is difficult to procure. A large proportion of the population of the town is of this class, [...]

Flesh Wounds

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Miscellaneous document sources

The Charleston Mercury July 31, 1862, The following recipe for flesh wounds has proved very efficacious, and is recommended to the Medical Faculty as an experiment. It has been practically tested by an officer in the French army, who was wounded in the arm, and in the space of eight days his wound was healed. [...]

Field Piece

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News of the Day

Daily Times Leavenworth, Kansas July 31, 1861 The Osawattomie Herald gives an interesting reminiscence relating to a field piece, now in possession of Capt. Snyder, of the Third Regiment. During the troubles of ’56, this cannon was at one time, in charge of a guard of six Missourians, at a place near the State line. [...]

Foundry

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News of the Day

Bellville Countryman Bellville, Texas July 31, 1861 The citizens of Port Lavaca, says the Victoria Advocate, have established a foundry for casting cannon, and also procured machinery for the manufacture of small arms. An old nine pounder, long located in Victoria, has been sent down there to be rifled. The Reagan Guards and Texas Guards, [...]

Torn Asunder – Images from America’s Civil War

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Library of Congress

Ten years ago, I created a short video using photographs from the civil war and mixed it with a couple of medleys of civil war music recorded about 100 years ago. All of the photographs are from the U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. _________ Description of photographs: Keedysville, Md., vicinity. Confederate [...]

We were going to war with a people of not half our numbers, without money, without munitions of war, without navy, without anything in fine of those elements which go to make up the ensemble of a people powerful in war…

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Journal of Surgeon Alfred L Castleman.

1861, July 31.—On the 19th of June, 1861, the 5th Regiment of Wisconsin Vols., being partially organized, went into camp at Madison, Wis. Here it remained for a time, perfecting its organization, drilling and preparing itself for the hardships, the dangers, and the responsibilities to be encountered in the battle-field, against a people warlike and [...]

Civil War Day-By-Day

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Civil War Day-by-Day

July 31, 1861 11 Union officers are submitted to Congress to be promoted to brigadier general. Includes William B. Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, Samuel Heintzelman, Joseph Hooker, William Tecumseh Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Missouri State Convention elected Hamilton R. Gamble Governor, Willard P. Hall Lieutenant Governor, [...]

“Many of the leading ladies are Secessionists. We meet many good Union men; the other men are prudently quiet.”—Rutherford B. Hayes

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Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes

CAMP ON WEST FORK OF MONONGAHELA RIVER, WESTON, VIRGINIA, Tuesday, P. M., July 30, 1861. DEAREST:–We are in the loveliest spot for a camp you ever saw–no, lovelier than that; nothing in Ohio can equal it. It needs a mountainous region for these beauties. We do not know how long we shall stay, but we [...]

“A fine young first lieutenant was accidentally shot by a gun falling on the ground out of a stack.”—Diary of Rutherford B. Hayes

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Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes

July 30. Tuesday.–Warm, bright morning. Damp in the tent with the fogs of the night. Hang out my duds to dry. Have met here divers Cincinnati acquaintances and Lieutenant Conger and Dr. Rice, of Fremont. Just now a fine young first lieutenant (Jewett of Zanesville) was accidentally shot by a gun falling on the ground [...]

Extracts from the journal of Commander Semmes, C.S. Navy, commanding C.S.S. Sumter

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

Warning The following journal entry contains wording that is offensive to many in the world of today. However, the entry is provided unedited for its historical content and context. Tuesday, July 30.—Thick, cloudy weather and heavy rains. Hauling in to the coast of Venezuela near the entrance to the gulf of Para. So thick is [...]

Soldier: “This is the first time I ever used a spade and I don’t like it too well.”—Rutherford B. Hayes

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Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes

WESTON, VIRGINIA, Tuesday Morning, July 30, 1861. DEAR UNCLE:–If you look on the map you can find this town about twenty-five miles south of Clarksburg, which is about one hundred miles east of Parkersburg on the Northwest Virginia Railroad. So much for the general location; and if you were here, you would see on a [...]

“Extremely anxious about these women.”—Woolsey family letters; Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell to Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey.

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Woolsey family letters during the War for the Union

Receiving the nurses, and seeing that they were safely started on their way to various hospitals, and reporting to the New York committees on their services therein were among our occupations in the first year of the war.  New York, July 30th. My dear Miss Woolsey: I was extremely glad to receive your excellent letter [...]

A Georgia Woman

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Miscellaneous document sources, News of the Day

Daily Chronicle & Sentinel Augusta, Ga July 30, 1861 Culverton, Hancock Co., Ga., July 27. Editor Chronicle & Sentinel:–I read various accounts in the papers of what the ladies are doing for our soldiers. I should like to furnish an instance for your paper which I think quite as good if not better than any [...]

“All went helter-skelter—coaches, cabriolets, barouches, buggies, flying over the roads, as though all Fairfax were mad.”—Diary of a Southern Refugee, Judith White McGuire.

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Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War by Judith White McGuire

July 30th.—I have just been conversing with some young soldiers, who joined in the dangers and glories of the battle-field. They corroborate what I had before heard of the presence of Northern females. I would not mention it before in my diary, because I did not wish to record any thing which I did not [...]