(CIVIL WAR OHIO) Thomas J Cook Pair of pocket diaries by a

Sale 2546 - Lot 68

Price Realized: $ 1,625

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

"BULLETS AND SHELL WHISTELING AND SCREACHING OVER US IN ALL DIRECTIONS" (CIVIL WAR--OHIO.) Thomas J. Cook. Pair of pocket diaries by a sergeant under Burnside and Sherman. 2 volumes. [271]; [186] pages. 12mo, unmatched original limp calf, first volume with moderate wear, the second worn with front wrapper detached; second volume apparently lacking 2 leaves at beginning, others coming loose, a few pages written in faint ink. Vp, January 1863 to February 1865

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Thomas J. Cook (1841-1925) of Salem, OH enlisted as a corporal in the 104th Ohio Infantry in August 1862, and was promoted to sergeant in August 1863. The first of his two pocket diaries was kept from January through 17 October 1863, in operations in Kentucky and East Tennessee under General Burnside. On 26 August he reported that Burnside "is not a very stilish man in his dress. Wares an old slouch and check shirt."
Cook's second diary was more eventful, from 31 March 1864 to 21 February 1865. His regiment embarks on Sherman's Atlanta campaign on 29 April 1864, and saw action at the Battle of Resaca on 14 May: "Crossed the valey in good order, under a heavy shower of grape & canister. Moved up to the top of the ridge & were ordered to hold it at all hazards. . . . We lay there with the bullets and shell whisteling and screaching over us in all directions, cliping off the twigs . . . and in a good many instances taking off the tops of good sized trees." Two weeks later Cook was hit in the leg by a stray bullet while reading his mail on a stump. The wound was enough to keep him out of action through November. On a train back to the hospital on 21 June, "when we got 43 miles from Nashville we found a train that had been thrown off the track by gorilahs. They shot the enginere four times, also wounded another man." He returned to his regiment in time for the resounding Union victories at the Battles of Franklin (described 1 December) and Nashville (15-16 December): "We received the order to advance double quick, but the mud was so deep we could not move faster than a brisk walk. . . . We had to lay down right in the mud as the bullets whistled over close. . . . The order come for us to clime over our works. We rather expected to have warm work, for the Rebs were fortified in front of us. . . . Our brig captured five pieces of artillery. The Rebs are fairly routed, with our cavalry at their heels."