(CIVIL WAR MASSACHUSETTS) Chandler Julius Bernard Diary kep

Sale 2517 - Lot 64

Price Realized: $ 688

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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(CIVIL WAR--MASSACHUSETTS.) Chandler, Julius Bernard. Diary kept by a private in Washington during the closing months of the war. [175] pages of manuscript diary entries plus numerous pages of memoranda in rear. 16mo, original cloth, detached from text block; dampstaining; author identified by later inscription on front pastedown, with address label of son Parker B. Chandler (1884-1966). Vp, 1 January to 24 June 1865

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Julius Bernard Chandler (1836-1885) of Abington, MA served a three-year term in the 12th Massachusetts Infantry, which lost more than half its men at Antietam. In 1864, he re-enlisted in Battery A of the 3rd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, which did garrison duty at Fort Totten in Washington through the close of the war. This diary describes no combat, but is full of wry complaints about camp life: "Had what little pleasure there is usualy enjoyed in pileing wood on the strength of a slice of bread for breakfast" (12 January) or "Tom Ward entertained the co. by holding two cats by the tail and letting them fite" (2 February). Several entries are devoted to the tyranny of his "detestible" captain Benjamin A. Ball. The events of April are of course the most dramatic: "News came that we had captured Lee and his army (nothing official). We fired a salute of 10 guns in honor of the victory, whether it is true or not" (7 April). "About 30 of the boys, myself included, got passes and went to Washington in the evening to see the illumination. A very lively time. The streets was crowded with soldiers and citizens, fire works was sent up from the White House and War Department" (13 April). "The president died at 7 1/2 o'clock & his loss is deeply felt by all the soldiers. . . . A squad of men was sent out from every fort . . . to see if they could find anything of the murderers of Lincoln" (15 April). The diary continues through his departure for Massachusetts; the day he mustered out was described as "the pleasantest day of my life" (14 June).