[CIVIL WAR DIARY OF PELEG T. BROWN, A UNION ORDERLY IN THE 20th CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, PROVIDING AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE MILITARY CAMPAIGNS IN ALABAMA, TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA DURING 1864, INCLUDING THE SIEGE OF ATLANTA AND SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA]
Brown, Peleg T.
Published by [Various places in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, as described below, 1864
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William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 13 July 2006
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[203] leaves (written in ink and pencil - approximately 15,000 words). A Valentine and clipped poem tipped to the front paste down (see below), obituary clipping laid in at rear. [8] leaves of printed preliminary material (title page, stamp duties and almanac), and [17] leaves of "Memoranda" for cash accounts. 16mo. Daily diary bound into contemporary brown leather wallet-style binding with flap. Binding quite worn, front cover detached (but present), backstrip chipped, flap separated from binding. Very clean internally and easily readable. Very good overall. A soldier's eyewitness account of some of the most important military engagements during the Civil War, including the Siege of Atlanta and the capture of Savannah. This fascinating diary, written by an intelligent 28-year-old medical orderly, covers the entire year of 1864 as his company marched through Alabama and Tennessee, and participated in the capture and occupation of Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea. The 20th Connecticut Volunteers participated in eleven Civil War engagements, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Tracy City, Tn., Resaca, Ga., Cassville, Ga., and Peach Tree Creek (near Atlanta). Peleg Brown participated in all these engagements. Brown's diary begins January 1, 1864, in Stevenson, Alabama and ends in Savannah, Georgia on December 30, 1864, and gives detailed information on his experiences during that year. It is unknown whether Brown kept additional diaries during the war. Brown was orderly to Surgeon J. Wadsworth Terry, whom historian John Storrs lauds as "one of the most faithful of the faithful surgeons" in the Regiment. Storrs quotes Terry as saying of Peleg T. Brown: "There were many fine officers and men in the regiment, among the latter I know of none more worthy of honorable mention than my faithful orderly, Peleg Brown, who, in every battle was by my side, rendering assistance to the wounded, and in the hospital gave most conscientious care to the sick and suffering." Every entry in Brown's diary begins with a brief mention of the weather, with many entries mentioning a regular correspondence with his wife, Jane (referred to here as â Jennie'). Brown also records his support of "Uncle" Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election that year, and how he supplemented his income during the war by selling tobacco products, food, and other goods. Peleg T. Brown (1836-1922) was born in Scituate, Massachusetts and was a resident of Derby, Connecticut at the beginning of the Civil War. Brown survived the war and in 1869 moved to Sandwich, Massachusetts. At his death in 1922, he was buried in Scituate. Massachusetts historian Simeon Deyo describes Brown as "a tack maker by trade. He has been tax collector for the town for four years. He was in the war of the rebellion, serving in Company B, Twentieth Connecticut Volunteers, from 1862 to 1865. In 1858 he was married to Jane H. Sherman, who died in 1878, leaving one daughter, Mary L. In 1880 he was remarried.Brown was a member of the Masonic order, was a GAR Post Commander and a member of the Sandwich Methodist Episcopal Church." Brown enlisted in the Union army on August 5, 1862 as a Private, and by September 8th, 1862 was mustered into â B' Company of the 20th Connecticut Volunteers, serving with them until he was mustered out on June 13, 1865, at Fort Lincoln, Washington, D.C. The first four months of Brown's 1864 diary cover camp life and duties in Stevenson, Alabama and Cowan, Tennessee. On January 4 he writes: "Tonight finds me in the 20th Conn Vols Hospital. We are at Stevenson, Ala., have been here two months. Left the Potomac Army 26th September 1863, arriving at Bridgeport, Ala., Octr 3d 1863. Remained there two nights, then went to Dechard, Tenn., from there to Cowan [Tennessee]. From Cowan we went to Normandy [Tenn.], then to Shelbyville, Bell Buckle [Tenn.], Wartrous, Duck Creek and back to Dechard & Cowan. Remained at the latter place until we came here.first snow last night.". Seller Inventory # WRCAM58235
Bibliographic Details
Title: [CIVIL WAR DIARY OF PELEG T. BROWN, A UNION ...
Publisher: [Various places in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, as described below
Publication Date: 1864
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[MANUSCRIPT CIVIL WAR DIARY OF PELEG T. BROWN, A UNION ORDERLY IN THE 20th CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, PROVIDING AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE MILITARY CAMPAIGNS IN ALABAMA, TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA DURING 1864, INCLUDING THE SIEGE OF ATLANTA AND SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA].
Used
Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
A soldier's eyewitness account of some of the most important military engagements during the Civil War, including the Siege of Atlanta and the capture of Savannah. This fascinating diary, written by an intelligent twenty-eight-year-old medical orderly, covers the entire year of 1864 as his company marched through Alabama and Tennessee, and participated in the capture and occupation of Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea. The 20th Connecticut Volunteers participated in eleven Civil War engagements, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Tracy City, Tn., Resaca, Ga., Cassville, Ga., and Peach Tree Creek (near Atlanta). Peleg Brown participated in all these engagements. Brown's diary begins January 1, 1864, in Stevenson, Alabama and ends in Savannah, Georgia on December 30, 1864, and gives detailed information on his experiences during that year. It is unknown whether Brown kept additional diaries during the war. Brown was orderly to Surgeon J. Wadsworth Terry, whom historian John Storrs lauds as "one of the most faithful of the faithful surgeons" in the Regiment. Storrs quotes Terry as saying of Peleg T. Brown: "There were many fine officers and men in the regiment, among the latter I know of none more worthy of honorable mention than my faithful orderly, Peleg Brown, who, in every battle was by my side, rendering assistance to the wounded, and in the hospital gave most conscientious care to the sick and suffering." Every entry in Brown's diary begins with a brief mention of the weather, with many entries mentioning a regular correspondence with his wife, Jane (referred to here as 'Jennie'). Brown also records his support of "Uncle" Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election that year, and how he supplemented his income during the war by selling tobacco products, food, and other goods. Peleg T. Brown (1836-1922) was born in Scituate, Massachusetts and was a resident of Derby, Connecticut at the beginning of the Civil War. Brown survived the war and in 1869 moved to Sandwich, Massachusetts. At his death in 1922, he was buried in Scituate. Massachusetts historian Simeon Deyo describes Brown as "a tack maker by trade. He has been tax collector for the town for four years. He was in the war of the rebellion, serving in Company B, Twentieth Connecticut Volunteers, from 1862 to 1865. In 1858 he was married to Jane H. Sherman, who died in 1878, leaving one daughter, Mary L. In 1880 he was remarried.Brown was a member of the Masonic order, was a GAR Post Commander and a member of the Sandwich Methodist Episcopal Church." Brown enlisted in the Union army on August 5, 1862 as a Private, and by September 8th, 1862 was mustered into 'B' Company of the 20th Connecticut Volunteers, serving with them until he was mustered out on June 13, 1865, at Fort Lincoln, Washington, D.C. The first four months of Brown's 1864 diary cover camp life and duties in Stevenson, Alabama and Cowan, Tennessee. On January 4 he writes: "Tonight finds me in the 20th Conn Vols Hospital. We are at Stevenson, Ala., have been here two months. Left the Potomac Army 26th September 1863, arriving at Bridgeport, Ala., Octr 3d 1863. Remained there two nights, then went to Dechard, Tenn., from there to Cowan [Tennessee]. From Cowan we went to Normandy [Tenn.], then to Shelbyville, Bell Buckle [Tenn.], Wartrous, Duck Creek and back to Dechard & Cowan. Remained at the latter place until we came here.first snow last night." By the end of the month, Brown was ordered back to Tennessee to check in on conditions there, departing for Cowan on January 22: "This morning early I started for Cowan, get there before breakfast, find them all there and have a hospital established and operating. Hear that David Rowell [of Brown's town of Derby, Ct.] was wounded in the attack and died of his wounds last night. Capt Upson is no better. His recovery is exceedingly doubtful." At the beginning of March, Brown was ordered to "go to Cowan with a sick man. Received orders from Surgeon Terry to report to Cowan [Tn.] for duty." The diary also includes Brown's observations of camp life, his medical duties, as well as selling food and tobacco to supplement his private's pay. For example, on February 4 he reports that ".Dr. Jewett goes to Cowan and Tracy City.Bought a box of cigars from Deacon Clark for four dollars and one half, and sell two dollars and seventy cents worth of them tonight. I also buy three pounds of butter at fifty cents a pound." In the second half of March he notes "still continue our business in apples & cigars, sell a good many of both." The remainder of the diary entries provide Brown's engaging day-to-day account of the Atlanta campaign and Sherman's "March to the Sea," including the siege, occupation and destruction of Atlanta and the capture of Savannah. There is a sense of building anticipation as Brown describes the march toward Atlanta, which for him and the 20th Connecticut, began on May 3rd: "Marching orders this morning at eight o'clock. Draw rations. Weather fine. March round Lookout Mountain.stop in an open field that is all I can tell about the place somewhere near the Chickamauga battle field. Find lots of shot and shell on the ground." The next day finds Brown passing through the horrors of war left from the year before at the Battle of Chickamauga: "March at six this morning, passed over the Chickamauga battle field, see lots of graves some of the dead were not covered, see hands and feet sticking out." On the 7th of May, Brown was likely contemplating these horrors himself as he prepared for the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge where the Rebel forces hoped to repel the Union advance toward Atlanta: ".Lt. Col. Buckingham took command yesterday. It is said that we have one hundred and twenty five thousand men in the army and the rebels have only about forty thousand. See Genls Hooker, Sickles and Butterfield. We march about sixteen miles. We form a line of battle, we march over the ridge where we now expect to find the Rebels, Seller Inventory # 58235
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