This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2022
[CIVIL WAR]. Diary of Captain Robert Pattison of the 16th Illinois Infantry. 112 pp. in manuscript with a few hand drawn maps and numerous pages with personal accounting and notations at end, tall 12mo (165 x 89 mm); brown leatherette pocket diary. Robert Pattison (1834–1917) was enrolled in the 16th Illinois Volunteers on 24 May 1861 and honorably discharged 9 October 1864. He served as Lieutenant for most of his service until he was appointed Captain on 18 May 1864. The diary opens on 1 January 1863: “The fight at Murfreesboro still goes on”. The summaries begin with their march to Nashville, with several entries of the people encountered by Pattison including a wife whose husband was in the Confederate army. 26 August 1863 outside of Shelbyville: “I went back and stopped into a house to get a drink, got into conversation with the woman of the house who looked to be about eighteen and newly married… she did not see any use opposing the Yankees any longer as they were just as good people…” Other entries include prisoners arriving at camp, spying on the Confederates, and a detailed entry about a deserter. 15 May 1863 at Granny White Pole: “He was led out and placed blind folded facing the Guard seated on his coffin… 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 in a short time he was under the ground”. The 16th Illinois Infantry was organized on May 1861 at Quincy Illinois and saw action throughout the War including the Battle of Island Number Ten at New Madrid, Missouri on 18 March 1861. They also participated in the siege of Corinth, pursuing the enemy to Booneville on 22 April 1861. Includes a typescript of the entire diary and several pages of historical background research on Pattison.