(CIVIL WAR WISCONSIN) [Holden R Smith] Diaries of a 1st Wis

Sale 2615 - Lot 125

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(CIVIL WAR--WISCONSIN.) [Holden R. Smith?] Diaries of a 1st Wisconsin Cavalry sergeant through Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. [104, 82] manuscript diary pages in 2 diary volumes, plus [40, 55] pages in 2 volumes of memoranda. 4 volumes total. 12mo, unmatched contemporary calf wrappers, worn; first diary dampstained and intermittently rough going, second one with a few pages smudged but generally clean and legible, memoranda volumes quite worn. Various places, 1 January 1863 to 2 November 1864

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The first diary begins with service in Missouri, leaving for Kentucky on 31 May 1863 and soon arriving in Tennessee for the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns. The second diary begins in Tennessee in January 1864. The regiment was engaged in frequent skirmishing, driving in enemy pickets, and foraging. At the Battle of Dandridge on 17 January, "the enemy advanced again the afternoon. After a severe contest we succeeded in holding our ground, but with considerable loss." In the 27 January Battle of Fair Garden, "companies E F & I charged two regts of Rebs and drove them several miles. Myself & ten men captured two ambulances and two prisoners & two mules." Shortly after the arrival of a fresh batch of enlistees at Cleaveland, TN, on 2 April, "14 of Co. H men were taken prisoners. 12 of them were recruits and were out on their first day's duty."

For the spring of 1864, the regiment joined in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. At the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge in Georgia, 7 May, "8th Iowa charged on a Reb battery at Varnell & were repulsed. This reg't then charged into the town and took possession, and camped there for the night." The next week at Resaca, 14 May, "Co. F thrown out as pickets. Canonading and musketry was heard nearly all day . . . succeeded in turning the enemy's right flank." A daring raid is described on 26 May: "Five companys of this regt charged about 2 miles into the Reb lines, captured 48 prisoners. Fell back with small loss. Sergt. Inman wounded, lost several horses." He describes his role in McCook's raid behind the lines southeast of Atlanta from 27 to 30 July: "Marched nearly all night, not allowed to build fires. . . . Several shots were fired at us which we did not return. . . . Skirmished with the enemy for several miles, charged on them several times. At last charged into the heads of two brigades. Lost Maj. Payne, Lieut Warren and several others." After most of the raiders had returned safely, on 6 August "several men came in this morning dismounted who had travelled through the woods several days." On 3 September he happily reported "news of our troops taking possession of Atlanta."

The memoranda volumes include various scrawled pay and clothing lists for the author's company, as well as a "sick report." One includes three pages of quite accomplished pencil drawings, including portraits of Private Herkimer Fuller and Major Thomas Mars, two unidentified portraits, some architectural details, and most lovingly, "the stove of Squad 5, Company F, 1st Regt.," with soldiers' boots warming nearby.

This diary's author and his regiment are not named, but his movements match the regimental history of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry perfectly, and Colonel Oscar LaGrange is mentioned frequently. Most of the dozens of named enlisted men are from the regiment's Company F. Holden Roswell Smith (1836-1906) of that company was a New York native who settled in Wisconsin shortly before the war. On 23 March 1864 he notes sending money to his father Sheldon Newton Smith, who is also mentioned on 31 March 1863; on 17 July 1864 he notes his promotion from corporal to quartermaster sergeant. A few pages of postwar memoranda include "threshing acct of Smith & Porter" including S.N. Smith. Sergeant Smith was very likely the author of all four volumes.