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CIVIL WAR DIARY OF MARTIN TROUGH, 14TH WEST VIRGINIA INFANTRY AND POW,
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CIVIL WAR DIARY OF MARTIN TROUGH, 14TH WEST VIRGINIA INFANTRY AND POW,
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small (16mo) pocket diary, ca 100 written pages. Unlike most soldiers in the Union Army during the Civil War, Martin Trough fought on his home soil. A soldier in the 14th West Virginia Infantry, Trough was a tough nut, a little older than typical and perhaps a bit more confident in his own abilities to survive the hardships of military life. Throughout his service, he kept a small pocket diary to keep a record of his experiences, jotting down brief notes about each day`s events. On March 16, these included `Cooking Beans and Dumplings tonight,` and a note that he `Dreamp of seeing my wife last night and talking to her. Talks of moving us soon.` Most of the entries are equally brief, but in their brevity, they can be quite poignant. On April 12, for example, he wrote simply `Laid over at Danville, suffered very much with the cold. 4 men froze to deatÂ….` Although he was a regular diarist, Trough left some brief gaps in his diary in April and May, 1864, first when he fell ill - an illness that was very visible in his handwriting - and then for a time after rejoining his regiment when he was taken prisoner at Cloyd Mountain (Gap Mountain) on May 13. When his diary resumes, he was being marched to Lynchburg under strong guard, and then sent by rail to `Camp Sumpter,` the infamous Andersonville Prison Camp. Andersonville diaries are typically grim, but prisoners were often so ill that they wrote very little. Although Trough`s diary is of the small pocket variety, giving little space to write, he writes every day and both the continuity and the evocative nature of his entries more than makes up for the brevity, providing a sense of the ebb and flow of rumors and daily life in prison, and the seemingly never ending arrival of prisoners, and their all too familiar departure. On June 14, for example, he reported tersely: `Still raining and very cold. 90 died since last night, evry thing still in camp. Heard Old Abe was nominatedÂ…. [June 17] Still raining and cool feel vary well. Plenty of roomers in camp. Heard thare was no exchange during the war. Evening heard there was 5 thousand to leave.` The hardships of life in Andersonville went beyond exposure, overcrowding, and the lack of food, and Trough records incidents of men `accidentally` shot by the guards. Indeed, one of the first pages in Trough`s diary is a `List of Prisners executed in Camp Sumpter, Ga., July the 11,` followed by seven names. But through all this, Trough remained remarkably hopeful. He found encouragement from prisoners arriving from Sherman`s Army who brought news of the progress of the Atlanta Campaign, and on July 21, he wrote `Still hear our forces is coming, Rebs fortifying, real commotion out side. 152 Yanks come in. Molasses instead of meat. [July 22] 300 more Yanks come in. Heard we would soon get out of hear. Niggars fortifying this placeÂ….` The conditions, however, certainly did not improve, with dozens, or even hundreds of prisoners arriving at a time - three from Trough`s own regiment, as he notes. Although there is a certain sameness to these grim statistics, Trough makes a record of the rumors flying about federal cavalry coming near, troops moving in, and (in a different line), dreaming of eating pie at home. As the summer wore on and the federal pressure on Georgia increased, it became increasingly evident that something at camp would give. Trough`s entries for early August document this tense and confusing time: [August 7]: `Vary pleasant day looks like rain. I feel vary well. Hear they was sending one trane load of sick to day. 34,840 men here in this campÂ…. [Aug. 9] Stockade fell down. Feel vary well this a.m. a fine shower. Great deal of sickness here now since dark last night. Up to 9 a.m. 80 has died. More YanksÂ… [Aug 16] Still here all hopes is gone. 1,000 deaths per week. This is the hottest day this month. Potatoes 10 ct. per day, dried currents 10 ct per spoonful. [Aug. 18] Saw the most destressing sight at the gate, Dead and dying and sick. Still in good hopes of geting out.` Beginning in the first week of September, prisoners were removed from camp in detachments, and Trough was transported to Charleston, where he witnessed federal shells bursting above the city, and then to Florence, South Carolina, deprived of food most of the trip. The desperation of both sides is clear; on September 18, after spending the night in rail cars, Trough reported that after a series of cold nights and scant half rations, `Yanks made a brake today, 13 got killed they say.` The prisoners had no bread for days at a time, though apples and sweet potatoes seem to have been available for a price. His menu for September 21 included `2 spoonfulls of flour, 1/2 pint of meal, the same of beans today, small bit of pork, 2 spoonfulls of rice.` He reported that plenty of men were taking the oath. Most unusually, Trough appears to have taken advantage of the situation and gone into business for himself, at least for a brief time, selling potatoes and baking cakes. Some of his fellow prisoners took another course, taking the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy; on November 17, he reported seeing 300 `Galvanized Yanks` come in. On November 27, however, he remained loyal to the Union and remained in prison: `Got orders to pull up stakes for exchange, But none went but the sick. I with the rest of my hundred was put back. Oh how bad I feel about it.` A fine example of an Andersonville diary with a continuous record of one soldier`s experience. The diary shows the hardship of service, but is complete, legible, and looks appropriate for an artifact of a terrible passage in Civil War history.
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