[CIVIL WAR DIARY OF CAPTAIN ROBERT PATTISON OF THE 16th ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, PROVIDING AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE UNION'S ATLANTA CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA AND THE SHENANDOAH CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA].

Pattison, Robert, Captain:

Published by [Various places in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. January 1863 to January 1865].

A junior officer's eyewitness account of important military engagements in both Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and Sheridan's Shenandoah Campaign. This fascinating diary, written by twenty-seven-year-old lieutenant (later captain) Robert Pattison of the 16th Illinois Infantry, covers the entire year of 1863, while his company was on duty in Nashville and at various stations in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia; continues through his participation in the Siege of Atlanta in 1864; and ends in January 1865 after the author was promoted, transferred to Sheridan's Shenandoah Campaign, and wounded during the Battle of Cedar Creek. During the course of 1863 and 1864, the 16th Illinois participated in eight engagements documented in this diary, including Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Rome, Dallas, Kolb's Farm, and Kennesaw Mountain. Following Pattison's promotion to Captain and Assistant Commissary of Subsistence for the Department of West Virginia's Kanawha Division, he supported Sheridan at Berryville and Fisher's Hill. Pattison's diary stops abruptly after his mention of action beginning at Cedar Creek on October 14, 1864, and the entries do not start again until his arrival at Bermuda Hundred on December 28, matching exactly with his pension disability applications claim that he sustained a wound during the Cedar Creek action. Robert Pattison, Jr., (1834-1917) was born in Philadelphia and was employed as a carpenter in Dallas City, Illinois. Pattison enlisted just a month following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in 1861, joining Company I of the 16th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. After his promotion, Pattison served with Crook's division until he was mustered out on October 9, 1865, at Washington, D.C. As soon as he returned to civilian life in Philadelphia, Pattison was breveted major and was married to Elizabeth F. Craig (d.1912) the same year. Pattison's diary begins January 1, 1863, nearly two years after his enlistment as a second lieutenant. The first six months of Pattison's diary cover camp life and duties in Nashville, Edgefield, Murfreesboro, Bridgeport, Athens, and Anderson Station, Tennessee. In the first entry, dated January 1, 1863, Pattison writes: "New Years and still the rebellion goes on…took dinner up three times during the night expecting an attack." On January 16, 1863, Pattison mentions difficulties with his young African American servant, "borrowed" from a local slaveholder: "[I] returned to camp about five, company relieved from duty. My boy came back with a chain locked to his neck." On January 19, Pattison writes how he tries to help the boy: "…quite damp all day, relieved about nine o'clock; returned to camp; rained nearly all night. Got the boy some shoes pants and hat." His kindness apparently engendered some loyalty, or at least confidence, as "The negro boy taken yesterday…returned to camp [when] his master stopped in town left him to hold his horse. He got another darkey in his place and left." In May 1863, Pattison witnessed the execution of a Union deserter: "On battery with a large gathering of citizens at 12 o'clock, Julius Nilike of the 10th Michigan was led out and placed blind folded facing the guard seated on his coffin ¼ past twelve. The order was given: ready, aim, fire - with the crack of the guns he fell back without a struggle. Five balls passed through his breast. The guards consisted of twelve men & sergeant of the 10th Michigan. In a short time he was underground…." The 16th Illinois moved quarters to Edgefield, Tennessee, in early June 1863. By July, Pattison was being introduced to the local belles by a family he had befriended, and on July 16, recorded comments made by townspeople and impressions of what should constitute lady-like behavior: "went up to Wm. Lawrence's [and] spent the evening. Introduced to a Miss Davis. She is considerable of a talker. Played cards and talked about the rebellion. [The townsfolk] do not like to harbor the idea that they ar. Seller Inventory # 58705

Bibliographic Details

Title: [CIVIL WAR DIARY OF CAPTAIN ROBERT PATTISON ...
Publisher: [Various places in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. January 1863 to January 1865].