(CIVIL WAR NEW YORK) Barton Albert R Diaries of a New York

Sale 2486 - Lot 265

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(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) Barton, Albert R. Diaries of a New York medical student and Lincoln campaign worker. Small photograph mounted as frontispiece of 1863 diary. [128]; [131]; 114; 278, [20]; 165; [24] manuscript diary pages. 6 volumes. Original bindings, the 1862 and 1863 diaries in original 4to cloth gilt with minor wear, the next three volumes in 4to worn 1/4 calf, and the 1879 volume in 12mo cloth; only minor wear to contents; daily entries in 1862 and 1863, with more sporadic entries after. Vp, 1862-70 and 1879

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Albert Raymond Barton (1835-1879) never enlisted during the Civil War due to poor health. During the war years, he drifted through several towns and several occupations, eventually settling on medical school; he went on to a career as a physician after the war. Throughout all of his adventures, he kept a diary with long, expressive entries, frequently reflecting on the war and particularly the draft.
Barton was a native of rural Dorset, VT, but by the time he began these diaries in 1862, he was living more or less permanently in Rome, NY, where he served as a postal clerk. On 14 May 1862, he went to Cohasset, MA and "secured a berth on a fishing vessel," thinking that vigorous work in the salt air might restore his health (reminiscent of Two Years Before the Mast). Finding himself "sick all the time," he left the ship on 5 June, and did sporadic postal work in Rome over the next year. In 1863, he enrolled for a term at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. In the summer of 1864 he returned to Rome, working nights as a clerk in the collector's office at Erie Canal until his health gave out again. The next two winters were spent studying at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in Manhattan.
Barton, a Republican and a Union supporter, commented frequently on war news. After Antietam, for example, he wrote (inaccurately) 'Heavy fighting in Maryland. Stonewall Jackson and other rebel generals are reported prisoners' (18 September 1862). On 29 July 1863, he penned a long account about the funeral of a local soldier who was mortally wounded at Gettysburg. While in Michigan, Barton wrote "A portion of a regiment of colored troops from Detroit paraded the streets here. . . . They made a fine appearance" (8 December 1863). He summed up his patriotism on 7 May 1864: 'It is not for ourselves or our nation alone that we are fighting, but for the oppressed of every land; for all who love freedom and hate oppression, and who believe that all men born free and equal, whatever their nationality or color.'
Health concerns, however, prevented Barton from enlisting. Although of prime age for military service, he never volunteered, and kept a nervous eye on the progress of the draft at all times. The experience of his brother Wallace was a cautionary tale. On 1 September 1862, Wallace enlisted in a nine-month Vermont regiment; by 1 December he was in the camp hospital and spent the rest of his service there. Albert spent three weeks in December visiting his sick brother, touring other regimental camps, and taking in the sights of Washington before finding himself under "under surgeon's care' from the strain of travel. While making one of his frequent visits to Vermont on 13 August 1862, Barton wrote 'I found considerable war excitement in this town. The authorities had arrested one man for attempting to run away to escape a draft, and they had a notion of arresting me, but concluded to let me pass.' On 27 August 1863, he wrote on the county draft held in Utica: 'It produced considerable excitement for a time, all anxious to know who had been drafted, and it's 'How are you, conscript?' now with almost everyone we meet on the streets. I was fortunate, more so than [brother] Rollin who drew a prize.' Barton never was drafted, so never needed to seek a formal medical exemption.
On 6 October 1864, during the heat of President Lincoln's re-election campaign, Barton attended a lecture in Rome by congressman Roscoe Conkling, and then accepted a position with the Republican Committee for a month: 'I concluded to accept, thinking it better for me, in my present state of health. The work is light, and not as confining as at the [canal office], and the pay is the same.' On 19 October he wrote 'Yesterday was a proud day for the Republicans of Rome. . . . They rushed in here in cars, wagons and on horseback, filling the streets and making the largest crowd ever gathered in Rome on any occasion.' Of course, he was deeply affected by Lincoln's assassination on 15 April 1865: 'The places of business here are all closed and draped in mourning. Flags . . . are flying at half-mast and the bells are tolling. Everyone on the streets wore a sorrowful expression and all true friends of the Union felt as though they had lost a personal friend, as well as the nation one of its greatest and noblest men.' More detailed notes on this poignant diary are available upon request.