Apr 13, 2023 - Sale 2633

Sale 2633 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 531
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(CIVIL WAR--WISCONSIN.) Joseph M. Bartlett. Diary of a soldier who died at the Siege of Vicksburg. [56] manuscript diary pages plus [5] pages of memoranda. 12mo, 5 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches, front wrapper and first 4 leaves detached; otherwise minor wear. Various places, 1 January to 17 June 1863
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Additional Details

Joseph Marcellus Bartlett (1842-1863) was a farmer in Milford, WI, about 50 miles due west of Milwaukee, when he enlisted in the 29th Wisconsin Infantry in August 1862, a decision he described on the opening page of this diary as "the most foolish thing he could have done with his eyes open." He served alongside his brother Julius Bartlett in Company B. The diary begins with the White River expedition in support of the Vicksburg campaign. On 15 January, "we arrived at St. Charles [Arkansas] yesterday and expected a fight, but the rebels left just in time to save their bacon." Six days later, "we stayed at St. Charles all night and some of the boys set the place on fire, and it burned pretty nice."

Soon a wave of illness spread through the regiment. Bartlett was admitted to the camp hospital with a bad cough on 26 January, his brother Julius was also unwell, and the diary records an almost daily death toll from among his regiment. His cousin Theron died on 16 February. Bartlett was released despite his persistent cough, in time to participate in the Siege of Vicksburg, but the steady pace of hospital deaths continued. On Easter Sunday, 5 April, "a man droped dead today talking with the doctor."

Conditions were rough: "We run up the river about 3 miles and landed our stuff in the damnest mudhole that ever was. I slept last night on some brush in a secesh garden" (14-15 April). As part of the regiment's "pioneer corps," on 22 April he found himself "tearing down secesh buildings to make a pontoon bridge." The regiment played a part in the Battle of Port Gibson: "Received orders to go down the river and land and march behind the bluff and charge on the batteries. . . . Continued marching all night. Met the rebs with 3 field pieces and drove them off. . . . Commenced to kill the rebs at 8 o'clock" (30 April-1 May). At the Battle of Champion Hill, 16 May, "have had the most terrible conflict for length of time ever known. Whiped the devils." The next day, "I have been engaged all day burying the dead boys. . . . Put 34 boys in one hole." On 25 May he contracted a bad case of dysentery, and wrote his final entry on 31 May. Another six days of entries in another hand followed from 11 to 17 June, presumably by his brother Julius. On 12 June: "Massel [Marcellus] dyed today at 2 o'clock. I sent his money home by Capt. Mott. He had nothing els of eney value that I could send home." The official records show that Joseph M. Bartlett died of disease on 12 June 1863, but his brother Julius survived to return to Wisconsin.