Original civil war diary recording a mostly objective account of the 9th Ohio Light artillery under Brigadier General George Morgan and 3 other brigades of infantry evacuating Cumberland Gap. Severe lack of food and water and other hardships.

Includes the diary, two civil war buttons, one civil war photo of a soldier, 1864 2 cent piece, two love letters to a soldier and a small suitcase (13x9x4) full of old ledger books, checks, invoices, a photo album, a large thick bible from 1860s that has beautiful plates in it but is missing the front cover. It has the family tree in it also from the 1880s back to the 1700s, and old documents mostly belonging to John Darragh, the father(?) of two civil war soldiers. John Darragh was from Pennsylvania. The author of the diary was affiliated with this family maybe by marriage or could have been a relative.

The photo may be of the author or one of the Darragh sons. There is record of Thomas Darragh serving as a lieutenant in the Company F Pennsylvania Infantry. The two "love letters" are addressed to "Tom" or "My friend" in 1864 and 1865. So they are likely to him. They are mainly about his love and fidelity and concern if he is boozing while he is away.

There is also records online of a James Lyon Darragh, son of John Darragh, that also served in the war and was a riverboat engineeer during the war.

The author of the diary was from the 9th Ohio Light Artillery and served under lieutenant Hind and Seargeant Coolidge during the evacuation. He was an educated man and either spoke french or at most quoted Victor Hugo a few times. He was aware of the death of Sturn in Hugo's arms. He had excellent penmanship even when he was running out of food, water, ink and patience.

So the diary begins... On August 17, 1862 at Cumberland Gap "the pickets (watchmen) reported that the enemy were advancing in great force to attack our position." Cumberland Gap had changed hands 3 times and in June 1862, the union army held the important, stategic position. On August 17, the author was not aware that the confederates advanced an offensive but bypassed the gap and went deep into Maryland and Kentucky. So the author objectively recounts the almost daily activities of the camp and the rumors of "imminent battles ahead."

They held the position for 3 months but were later cut off from supply and began to experience severe shortage in the heat of summer and fall. There is an account of the well known event of Morgan commanding that all munitions be destroyed and to burn the forts so to not leave any help or fortress for the confederates if they take the area again after they evacuate. The 4 brigades then march amazingly over 200 miles in 16 days from Cumberland Gap into Kentucky arriving on October 3. The diary continues through Kentucky where there is an account of them camping on the estate of Henry Clay and then on into Danville and Camp Dick Robinson. The diary ends in December 1862.

I'll now explain what the lot includes and it's condition but will write in many excerpts after that as soon as I can.

This lot includes one diary, one soldier photo, two letters written to a soldier named Tom, (likely Thomas Darragh), 2 cent piece from 1864, antique decorative glass and wood case, one suitcase with mostly John Darragh's checks, invoices, papers, ledgers, photo albulm, and misc photos. One daguerreotype of a woman, two civil war buttons...brass.

The diary is 6" x 3 1/2" with a well worn leather cover. The diary has 60 pages, 44 of which are fully written on. The soldier's written account is legible with only a few words I can't decifer. The paper is yellowed with age. The paper inside is bound well together with the exception of the first two pages have pulled partially away from the rest. The first two pages have no war account on them. The binding to the leather case is partially pulled away from the cover.
The first page has the following written on it "This is an imperfect sketch" and it looks like the letter H, then a and the rest of the word is not legible. The corner where the sketch was is torn out. The last 15 pages are blank and the 3rd to the last is stuck to the inside of the leather cover with a few small rips on that page. The diary is in pretty good shape!




Buyer pays actual shipping with full insurance.

Please convo me if you have any questions.