Henry Breidenthal Civil War diary

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  Henry Boyer Civil War diary

  Manuscripts

  Diary kept in Lexington, Kentucky. Laid in: tariff of prices on goods exposed to sale by the sutler.

  mssHM 30479

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  John Coyle Civil War diary

  Manuscripts

  A diary kept by John Coyle while serving as an agent of the United States Christian Commission from July to October, 1864. Daily entries give detailed accounts of Coyle's ministry in Alexandria, Virginia, including hospitals, churches, schools, and prisons and his encounters with the patients, physicians, nurses, preachers, congregants, students, and inmates; the accounts of his ministry to soldiers wounded in the battles of the Overland campaign include African-American troops. Coyle met with many African-American preachers, including Leland Warring, a former slave turned preacher, the founder of Alexandria's "contraband school." Waring autographed the front flyleaf of the diary commemorating their meeting. Coyle's descriptions of the city hospitals include accounts of the L'Ouverture Hospital for African-American troops. The entries also describe some sightseeing, including a day trip to Mount Vernon. Reverend Coyle found service in the field less satisfying, as he was mostly engaged in distributing goods and newspapers, with very few opportunities to preach, but he did take the time to visit neighboring communities.

  mssHM 83835

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  Andrew Henry diaries

  Manuscripts

  Two diaries kept by Andrew Henry while he was performing mission work in the United States and Great Britain from 1840 to 1843. The first volume begins with his departure from Nauvoo, Illinois, in November 1840, and focuses on his subsequent missions to Illinois, Ohio, New York State, and his departure and voyage to Great Britain. The second volume records his mission work in England and Ireland (including Northern Ireland) through August 1843.

  mssHM 52739 (1-2)

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  Mormon Battalion diary of Henry Standage

  Manuscripts

  Typescript of Henry Standage's diary, kept while he was serving in the Mormon Battalion from 1846-1847. The diary opens with his departure from Council Bluffs, Iowa, with the Mormon Battalion in July 1846. It traces their travels across the plains, including stopping at Fort Leavenworth, arriving in Santa Fe (where he recalls General Kearney's bloodless encounter with Mexican troops, and concludes "the Lord is...opening the way before us"), trading with Alpacha Indians, the taking of "Spanish prisoners," and the difficulties of marching and moving supplies. Once the Battalion had arrived in California, Standage records stopping in San Diego only to be ordered to march to San Luis Rey ("It does seem as though we should never have rest in the service of the United States," Standage complained), drilling in San Luis Rey before preparing to march to Los Angeles, derogatory remarks about the "Spaniards" in Los Angeles, a description of the city, and his interest in Roman Catholic ceremonies. The diary ends on July 19, 1847, while Standage was still in Los Angeles.

  mssHM 16998

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  Charles Lee Civil War diary

  Manuscripts

  Diary that Charles Lee kept from January 1 to November 10, 1864. In addition to camp life and multiple vows to lay off whiskey, the diary covers visits to the regiment by Ulysses S. Grant and Joshua Thomas Owen, and gives brief accounts of the battles at Morton's Ford (1864, Feb. 6 - 7), Po River, (May 10, 1864), and the Petersburg campaign, including Jerusalem Plank Road (June 22 - 23), Strawberry Plains (Aug. 14), Ream''s Station (Aug. 25), Weldon Railroad (Aug. 25), and Fort Sedgwick (Oct. 27) and describes Finley hospital which Lee described as "a singular place" with the "Band playing at one End of the Ward outside and the Doctors performing an operation at the other."

  mssHM 30476

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  Henry Jones diaries

  Manuscripts

  This collection consists of seven diaries kept by Henry Jones from 1837-1871. Jones' daily entries, often accompanied by philosophical reflections, sentiments, and opinions, begin in November 1837 and continue largely uninterrupted until the end of 1858. Entries for the year 1860 consist of only a few in December. The diary resumes in 1864 and continues until July 1870, when Jones departs for Nebraska. In his diaries, Jones' presents a detailed account of his personal life and his relationship with friends and family, along with the life of the Quaker communities in Gwynedd, Upper Dublin, Montgomery Township, and other villages in Pennsylvania. He relates information on the antebellum and Civil War era because of his frequent trips to Philadelphia, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. Also included are three cartes-de-visite: one of Henry Jones and two of Mary Yerkes Shoemaker. Jones meticulously documents the local, state, and national abolitionist meetings, conventions, lectures, including women's organizations, that Jones attended for almost 30 years. He writes about his ties with Hicksite Quaker preachers, leading non-Quaker abolitionists, and social reformers, including Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and John Mercer Langston. He describes political meetings and conventions between 1838 and 1896, including temperance meetings, festivals, the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1838, the Whig, and then Republican party nominating conventions. He reveals his opinions on economic and political issues, revivalism, phrenology, "animal magnetism," telegraph, alternative medicine, and spiritualism. He also lists books read, including the writings of Frederick Douglass, Lydia M. Child, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

  mssHM 83955-83964