Lieutenant Cornelius C. Platter Diary (1864 – 1865)

Lieutenant Cornelius C. Platter’s diary (Nov. 1864 – April 1865), which is available from the Digital Library of Georgia, provides an account of his service with the 81st Ohio Infantry Volunteers as they marched through Georgia and the Carolinas with General William T. Sherman. This diary offers an interesting perspective on life as an officer throughout this campaign. “We are entirely cut off from communication with the north and are an isolated command,” as Platter wrote on November 13, 1864. One can view the entire diary at once or select a specific section through the table of contents. The project also includes a collection of all the images from George Barnard’s Photographic Views of the Sherman Campaign (1866).