The Civil War Notebook of Daniel Chisholm

The author's letters home to his family describe his experiences as an ordinary soldier during the Civil War

Samuel Clear and the brothers Chisholm, all three from Uniontown, Pa., served in the same company during the final 13 months of the Civil War. Daniel Chisholm later collected the letters he had written home and some of his brother Alexander's and, along with a war-time diary loaned to him by Clear, transcribed everything into a private notebook. The diary and letters are studded with memorable verbal snapshots of the battles and in-between times from the pragmatic viewpoint of the enlisted man: inviting a starving Confederate deserter to share breakfast; treating diarrhea with "Burnt cheese, Gun powder, and Whiskey"; the hanging of Union deserters while the troops jeered; Confederate attacks ("On they came with a woman-like scream"). The material also reveals personal reactions to Lee's surrender, the assassination of Lincoln and the two-day victory march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Daniel Chisholm's notebook, edited by Menge, a descendant, and Shimrak, a friend of Menge, is a rare find.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.