This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/28/2018
[U.S. Civil War] Important Diary of a Civil War Soldier While Incarcerated at Andersonville Prison. January 2 – December 15, 1864. Attributed to Dewitt C. Spaulding, Co. G, 8th Michigan Infantry. Black cloth covers, loop enclosure broken, some leaves detached but retained. An engrossing journal describing the daily tedium and ongoing brutality of war. Bulk of diary takes place within the notorious Andersonville Prison: entries range from his first impression of the camp (“Tongue cannot tell Neither any one imagine the suffering of the Prisoners in this Camp. Oh such a sight”) and accounts of awful weather (“Still Rainy. Rain, Rain, Rain”), to descriptions of starvation (“I know not what I shall live on tomorrow. Perhaps Faith”), prayer (“God Speed all Raids made toward this place and help us poor miserable creatures”), squalor and sickness (“I saw two mens feet Rotting off today”) and death (“A poor fellow died this morn of Brain fever close by my tent”). Other entries detail the trial and execution of the Andersonville Raiders, escape attempts, rumored movements and tactical positions of Union troops and current events (“Today bring [sic] good News. Grant still closing around Richmond. the Report is that Lincoln is renominated for President”), and The Battle of the Wilderness, where he was captured while attempting to help a wounded comrade. Soldier’s handwriting is legible, his prose eloquent. Journal includes a diagram of plots in Clinton County, MI; a list of all soldiers in his regiment; account leger for purchased supplies; and a list of soldiers who have died in battle. A riveting document and heart-wrenching first-hand account of a tragic period in American History.