August 18. Sunday.–Last night, about ten or eleven, five companies of Colonel Moor’s (Second German Regiment) Twenty-eighth Regiment arrived from Clarksburg under Lieutenant-Colonel Becker. My partner, L. Markbreit, is sergeant-major. This morning, raining hard. Exciting rumors and news. A Tennessee regiment and force coming through the mountains east of Sutton–a battery of four guns, one [...]
August 17. Saturday.–Dispatches came last [night] from Colonel Matthews. He can’t return as ordered for fear of losing his command between Summersville and Sutton; rumors of Wise, etc., etc. Colonels Tyler and Smith go with him nine miles back towards Gauley Bridge to fortify. The colonel thinks this is a mistake of judgment and is [...]
August 16. Friday.–A morning of small excitements. A wagon train stopped on its way towards Sutton to search for arms or ammunition concealed in boxes of provisions. . . . Drake, Captain, and Woodward search train in vain for contraband.
August 15. Thursday.–A bright, lovely day and the prettiest evening of the month. The bright moonlight exhibits the landscape enough to show its loveliness and the lights and shadows. The hills and woods are very picturesque. It makes me long for wife and boys and friends behind. How Lute would enjoy roaming with me through [...]
August 14. Wednesday.–The weather has changed to cool, and although the sky is still clouded I hope this long rain is now over. Our prisoners turn out to be Hezekiah and Granville Bennett, cousins of the notorious James and William Bennett, aged forty-nine and twenty-two, father and son, and Moss and George W. Brothers, aged [...]
August 13.–Still rain. My horse hitched to a tree on the brow of a hill very near my tent broke loose during the night, and, it is said, rolled down the steep hill and swam the river. This morning he was seen trotting about in high feather on the opposite side of the river. He [...]
August 12. Monday.–Showery all day. Sent to Clarksburg H. T. Martin. He will probably be sent to Columbus for safe keeping. I gave him a letter to my brother-in-law to insure him attention there in case he should need. It is impossible to avoid mistakes in these cases. Union men may make charges merely to [...]
August 11. Sunday.–Raining this morning, very warm. Arrested, on complaint of a Union man, H. T. Martin, a secession editor, who is charged with holding communication with James and William Bennett, leaders of a guerrilla party. He was formerly from Ohio. Is a Southern state’s-right Democrat in talk, and makes a merit of holding secession [...]
August 10. Saturday.–Rained a good part of the night. We learned that while the right wing of our regiment occupied the court-house at Sutton, many records, etc., etc., were torn up. It is said the old clerk cried when he saw what had been done. Disgraceful! What a stigma on our regiment if true! We [...]
August 9, Friday.–The colonel is out of humor with Lieutenant Rice for letting men on guard go to their tents to sleep and scolds him severely in the presence of his men. A little less grumbling and more instruction would improve the regiment faster. The men are disconcerted whenever the colonel approaches; they expect to [...]
August 8. Thursday.–Rumors of the approach of a great army under Lee from eastern Virginia are still rife. The enemy is said to be near Monterey, the other side of the Alleghanies and aiming to come in this direction to reoccupy western Virginia, capture our stores, and to dash the war if possible into Ohio. [...]
August 7, Wednesday.–Another bright, warm day. With Adjutant Fisher pistol shooting this A. M. Tolerably good firing. Last night a picket shot through the hand; said he fired twice at his assailant; doubted. Supposed to be an accidental wounding. Letters from Ohio.
August 6.–Warm, beautiful weather. A busy day, settling disputes between citizens and their quarrels. I held a sort of police court. Dr. Joe also decided cases. The parties under arrest, we hear their stories and discharge or put on bread and water as the case seems to require. All local tribunals suppressed or discontinued. We [...]
August 5.–Cloudy and showery and sunny at intervals this Monday morning. Went out shooting pistol with Adjutant C. W. Fisher. No good shooting by either. I did the worst, pistol dirty –cleaned it.–More couriers, more rumors of Wise down towards Greenbrier County.
August 4. Sunday.–Visited the hospital. It is airy and comfortable–the court-house of the county, a large good building. The judge’s bench was full of invalids, convalescent, busily writing letters to friends at home. Within the bar and on the benches provided for the public were laid straw bedticks in some confusion, but comfortable. A side [...]
August 3, 1861.–Called on James T. Jackson, a Secessionist, for a map of Virginia–one of the Board of Public Works maps. He said he once had one but his brother had sold it to a captain in [the] Seventh Regiment. Called then on William E. Arnold, a lawyer and Union man. He offered every facility [...]
WESTON, August 1, 1861. DEAREST:–Do you remember a year ago today we were riding on the Grand Trunk Railroad from Detroit by Sarnia eastwardly? Jolly times those. If you were here, these would be as pleasant. The water in the river below our camp flows past you in the Ohio; in these low water days, [...]
August 1, [1861].–Another hot, moist day; deep fogs in the night. Two gentlemen, suspected of secession proclivities, clerks of the courts, were required to take the oath of allegiance to the new State Government of Virginia and to the United States. They say it is not always so rainy here; they lay it to the [...]
July 31. Wednesday.–Another warm, bright day. Orders from General Rosecrans direct Colonel Lytle to go with his regiment to Sutton and put this place in command of Colonel Scammon. This is supposed to indicate that we are to remain here for some weeks.
CAMP NEAR WESTON, VIRGINIA, Wednesday, P. M., July 31, 1861. DEAR MOTHER:–How you would enjoy sitting by my side on this beautiful hill and feasting your eyes on the sweep of hills that surrounds us. Nothing in Vermont is finer. The great majority of the people here are friendly and glad to have us here [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
July 29. Monday.–A bright, warm day. Marched yesterday fourteen miles; today, nine miles to Weston, which we reached soon after noon. A pretty county town of one thousand people or so, surrounded by hills, picturesque and lovely. Encamped on a hill looking towards the town, my tent where I now sit opening upon a sweet [...]
July 28. Sunday.–Busy from 4 A.M. packing baggage, striking tents, and preparing to move. Baggage enormous and extra; great delays; great stew. Our new Irish quartermaster– a failure so far. Got off about 11 A. M., in a great shower. I rode backwards and forwards; got wet; weather hot after the showers; face and nose, [...]