August 2026

“I have the duties of Captain, 1st Lieutenant, and 2d Lieutenant, all combined, at present to perform..,”—War Letters of William Thompson Lusk.

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War Letters of William Thompson Lusk.

Kosciusko Farm, August 25th, 1861. My dear Mother: I am seated writing my usual Sunday letter, happy to state that my spirits are good and health excellent, as Uncle Charles will confirm. I was out drilling my men yesterday, when my attention was attracted by somebody nodding to me in a familiar style – a [...]

William Howard Russell’s Diary.—Navy Department.—A ride to camps on outskirts of Washington.

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My Diary North and South – William Howard Russell

August 25th.–I visited the Navy Department, which is a small red-brick building two storeys high, very plain and even humble. The subordinate departments are conducted in rooms below stairs. The executive are lodged in the rooms which line both sides of the corridor above. The walls of the passage are lined with paintings in oil [...]

“Danger here; men killed and an enemy coming or near Cheat River.”—Rutherford B. Hayes

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Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes

Saturday 24.–Doctor and I laughed at a soldier who said it was Saturday. We thought it was Thursday. The finest day’s march yet. Streams, mountain views, and invigorating air! Reached Buckhannon [Beverly] at 2 P. M.; greeted by friends in the Guthries warmly–Captain Erwin, Captain Bense, Captains Tinker, Clark. Saw Tatem, sick, Charles Richards, Tom [...]

Major William Schnackenburg

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Library of Congress

Title: [Major William Schnackenburg] Creator(s): Metzner, Adolph, artist Date Created/Published: [1861] Medium: 1 drawing on front of sheet: graphite ; sheet 24 x 15 cm. Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-51175 (digital file from front of original item) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Call Number: DRWG/US – Metzner, no. 4 (front) (A size) [P&P] Repository: Library [...]

Rebel War Clerk

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Civil War Day-by-Day

AUGUST 24th.—We are resting on our oars after the victory at Manassas, while the enemy is drilling and equipping 500,000 or 600,000 men. I hope we may not soon be floating down stream! We know the enemy is, besides, building iron-clad steamers—and yet we are not even erecting casemate batteries! We are losing precious time, [...]

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

Saturday, August 24.—Clear and pleasant; some passing clouds and in the evening slight squalls and rain. The Dutch steamer with the mail arrived to-day from Demerara. We were looking anxiously for news from home, as at last accounts ( July 20, from New York) a battle near Manassas Junction seemed imminent. Demerara papers to the [...]

Confederate Colonel Alexander R. Chisolm, aide-de-camp to General P.G.T. Beauregard

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Civil War Day-by-Day

Civil War Era Photographic Portraiture No. 10 Title: [Confederate Colonel Alexander R. Chisolm, aide-de-camp to General P.G.T. Beauregard, in uniform] Date Created/Published: [between 1861 and 1865] Medium: 1 photograph : albumen print on card mount ; mount 11 x 7 cm (carte de visite format) Summary: Photograph shows identified soldier. Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-58421 (digital file [...]

William Howard Russell’s Diary: Punishment for killing a black boy.—Washington navy yard.

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My Diary North and South – William Howard Russell

Note: This particular diary entry–a document written in 1861–includes terms and topics that may be offensive to many today.   No attempt will be made to censor or edit 19th century material to today’s standards. August 24th.–My servant came in this morning, to announce a trifling accident–he was exercising my horse, and at the corner [...]

“Here Jackson and his gallant men fought. Here the work of that memorable Sabbath was finished.”–Letters from Elisha Franklin Paxton.

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Elisha Franklin Paxton – Letters from camp and field while an officer in the Confederate Army

Letter To The Editor Of The Lexington “Gazette.” Camp Harmon, August 24, 1861. I do not merit the compliment paid me in a paragraph contained in a recent number of your paper, which gives me the position of leading a portion of the 4th Va. and 7th Geo. in the charge upon the enemy’s batteries. [...]

Civil War Day-By-Day

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Civil War Day-by-Day

August 24, 1861 President Davis names James M. Mason as commissioner to Great Britain and John Slidell as commissioner to France. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Of?ces of the Bridgeport (Ct) Farmer and of the Cumberland (Md) Alleghanian (secession papers) destroyed by mobs. Mayor Berrett, of Washington, D. C., arrested on [...]

“I was not able to see him in private. Genl McClellan was there and Col Baker and Col Duryee and Genl J.W. Denver and other distinguished characters.”—Horatio Nelson Taft

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1861. A fine bright day. Went to the Presidents at 1/2 past 8. Many members of the Cabinet there to see him and officers of the Army. I was not able to see him in private. Genl McClellan was there and Col Baker and Col Duryee and Genl J.W. Denver and other [...]

Rebel War Clerk: Prospect of Arms from Europe.

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Civil War Day-by-Day

AUGUST 23d.—No arms yet of any amount from Europe; though our agent writes that he has a number of manufactories at work. The U. S. agent has engaged the rest. All the world seems to be in the market buying arms. Mr. Dayton, U. S. Minister in Paris, has bought 30,000 flint-locks in France; and [...]

You need not attempt to come to see us.

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Civil War Day-by-Day

MANASSAS JUNCTION, August 23, 1861. My Dear Mother: We received your letter this morning when John Clark came. George wrote a day or two ago, which you had hardly received when you last wrote. There is no news of any kind worth writing. George and myself are both well at present. It has been raining [...]

A Diary From Dixie

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Civil War Day-by-Day

August 23d.–A brother of Doctor Garnett has come fresh and straight from Cambridge, Mass., and says (or is said to have said, with all the difference there is between the two), that “recruiting up there is dead.” He came by Cincinnati and Pittsburg and says all the way through it was so sad, mournful, and [...]