Sep 28, 2023 - Sale 2646

Sale 2646 - Lot 100

Price Realized: $ 2,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
(CIVIL WAR--MAINE.) Riveting diary of a 14th Maine officer in the Siege of Port Hudson. [18] manuscript pages. Folio, 13 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, disbound from a larger volume; minor foxing, possibly an early transcript. With typed transcript. Louisiana, 7 May to 15 July 1863
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This diary begins with the 14th Maine Infantry departing from its winter quarters in Bonnet Carré, LA to participate in the siege of Port Hudson, LA. At one point they make a forced night march "through the swamp for Doyle's, which we reached at daylight next morning, having marched 24 miles of the worst road between h--l and St. Louis in less than 8 hours" (20 May). On 24 May they reach the outer defenses of Port Hudson, and the author provides several long descriptions of the fort and countryside: "The renowned Port Hudson is in full view. You see the Stars & Bars of the Rebels fluttering and flaunting defiantly in the breeze, the sentinels with their bright guns on the parapets and the cannon in the embrasures, so close are we to the garrison" (26 May). The regiment's pickets found a baby abandoned to the advancing Yankees: "The heartless mother had in her a fright at our sudden and near approach abandoned her infant to the mercy of the Yankees and fled within the Rebel lines."

The author was chosen as one of the six from his company to serve as a sharpshooter on 27 May: "By dodging from tree to tree and behind stumps, logs & taking advantage of every irregularity of the ground, we managed to get within rifle range and . . . kept three of their best guns . . . silent all day." On 3 June, he was one of four men serving as the company's advance picket, a quarter mile from the Rebel works, giving him opportunity to contemplate "houses now bereft of furniture and falling rapidly to decay, occupied by the soldiery they so much despise, and their miles of fencing pulled down." He describes the heartless pillaging undertaken by some of the army's more undisciplined troops. The next day, 30 men who had been recruited in New Orleans all deserted to the Rebel side, one of them an orderly taking General Banks's orders with him; the deserters straggled back in over the next week.

The author served as vidette (mounted sentinel) as an assault began on 13 June, giving him "a fine view of the whole grand scene and saw distinctly where nearly every shell exploded." On 16 June, an "order read calling for 1,000 volunteers to form a storming party." Our author apparently volunteered but was unable to participate on 21 June.

The Colored Troops serving in the division are discussed on 23 June, somewhat unflatteringly. He concedes that "the Negro reg't which got so badly cut up in the late fight was . . . not contemplated that they should be in the assault, but owing to a misinterpretation of orders, they were advanced towards the enemy's works, who on seeing what they were, turned their attention for a time almost exclusively to them. Hence the great loss of life among them."

On 4 July, the Confederate commander refused to surrender, "and says that they will eat the saddles and bridles and everything else they may have, digestible or indigestible, within the garrison." The Union troops were thinned out as well: a 5 July summary shows that only one 14th Maine captain was on active duty, and he was commanding the regiment; most companies were being led by sergeants. On 8 July, Port Hudson surrendered: "Vicksburg and Port Hudson ours. The Mississippi open to navigation once more."

We suspect the author of this vivid diary was Lieutenant Charles E. Blackwell. The author served in Company I of the 14th Maine, probably as an officer; Captain Gardiner is referred to in the third person, suggesting that the author was a lieutenant. 2nd Lieutenant Charles E. Blackwell was named in the Official Records as one of the Port Hudson storming party volunteers on 15 June, along with three sergeants, a corporal, and 4 privates. Our diarist writes on 21 June: "The volunteers for the storming party started this morning. . . . I regret that physical disability prevents my going with them. Co I sends eight men, three of whom are serg'ts and one corporal." Charles Edward Blackwell (1837-1899) of Patten, ME settled in Wyoming after the war. The diary is apparently unpublished and otherwise unknown.