Description:

MASSACHUSETTS SOLDIER'S NEW ORLEANS DIARY
Small pocket diary, approx. 140pp. 2"x 3", for the year 1862, belonging to Alfred S. Parnelle, a member of the 30th Massachusetts Infantry. The diary covers Parnelle's deployment from Boston to Louisiana, where he takes part in Benjamin Butler's capture of New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Each page of the diary features a printed space for each day's entry, making Parnelle's entries necessarily short and terse. However, they still contain much information on his deployment and service. One of the front flyleaves lists his date on enlistment as Oct. 9, 1861, and his wife makes an entry on Feb. 18, 1862, noting that she is mailing the diary on that day: "This little book is for Alfred. Hope it will be useful to him, and that he will often think of her who sends it." Parnelle records that he receives the diary on Mar. 27. However, he also fills in important information on the days previous to this, including his departure from Boston aboard the steamship Constitution on Jan. 13, his arrival at Fortress Monroe in Virginia on Jan. 16, and his further voyage to Ship Island off Mississippi, arriving on Feb. 12, where he begins work as a quartermaster's assistant. In this capacity, he notes the movements of many different ships and their cargoes throughout the rest of the diary, including numerous troop arrivals and the deployment of gunboats and mortar boats to the Mississippi. From this point, he begins to record the progress of Butler's expedition, noting that the general visits the entrance to the Mississippi from Apr. 6 through 8, and that the expedition gets underway on Apr. 16. The entry for Apr. 29 notes that Fort Jackson, one of the major defenses on the river, has been taken, and he marks Butler's arrival at New Orleans on May 2. Parnelle himself arrives in New Orleans on June 2. Once there, he spends the next month or so performing his duties in the adjutant general's office, before relocating to Baton Rouge in time for the pivotal battle there on Aug. 5. Although Parnelle continues his clerical duties in Baton Rouge and does not directly participate in the engagement, the memoranda section at the back of the diary gives a brief description of the casualties in this engagement: "Battle Baton Rouge - Killed 87 W[ounded]M[en] 294... Enemy about 1500." The diary is bound in black cloth, with the year embossed on the cover in gold. A very interesting documentation of some of the logistical details of one of the most important actions of the war. Very good.

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May 24, 2016 10:30 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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