Summary – “document daily life in Washington, D. C., through the eyes of Horatio Nelson Taft (1806-1888), an examiner for the U. S. Patent Office. Now located in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress, the diary details events in Washington during the Civil War years including Taft’s connection with Abraham Lincoln and his family. Of special interest is Taft’s description of Lincoln’s assassination, based on the accounts of his friends and his son, who was one of the attending physicians at Ford’s Theatre the night Lincoln was shot, on April 14, 1865.” – Text from Library of Congress
See diary entries on June 29th 1863 and Oct 5th 1863 for comments related to the Battle of Gettysburg.
NOTE – This exhibit also has an essay that provides more background info on Taft and explains the significance of his diary.
Posted by Don Sailer
Credit – Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
About N. Claiborne Wilson – “During the Civil War he served as a Major in the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment. He was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.”
About Collection – “Of the N.C. Wilson portion of the collection, the most significant item is a diary-account book fragment which includes entries (July 25th-July 3, the day of his death) from Pennsylvania and the battlefield at Gettysburg.”
Learn more about the other materials in this collection here, as VMI does own a few other letters from Wilson to his father. Note that the image of Wilson does not appear to be in VMI’s collection (apparently owned by Wilson family).
Posted by Don Sailer
Credit – Virginia Military Institute Archives
“A Great Peril Escaped” – Read an editorial published in the Chicago (IL) Tribune on July 7, 1863 (See in column 1).
Newspaper Citations – “What Pennsylvania has Escaped,” New York Times, July 6, 1863, p. 4: 3. ; “A Great Peril Escaped,” Chicago (IL) Tribune, July 7, 1863, p. 2: 1.
“Gen. Lee Again Victorious!” – Read the article published in the Fayetteville (NC) Observer on July 9, 1863 (see column 6).
Posted by Don Sailer
Newspaper Citations – “Gen. Lee Again Victorious!,” Fayetteville (NC) Observer, July 9, 1863, p. 2: 6.
Newspaper Credit – 19th Century U.S. Newspapers (Gale)
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.
Posted by Don Sailer
Credit – Digital Library of Georgia, University of Georgia Libraries
Narrative John Taylor Cuddy was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on October 17, 1844. His schooling was limited since he worked in the family business. In the late spring of 1861, like tens of thousands of his fellow Pennsylvanians, he was caught up in the excitement of the Civil War and President Lincoln’s call for volunteers. Carlisle and its surrounding area quickly brought together four companies of volunteers during April 1861. One of these, the Carlisle Fencibles under Captain Robert Henderson, took into its ranks the young Cuddy, who added a year to his age to avoid possible complications with his enlistment. This unit subsequently became Company A, 36th Regiment, 7th Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, and John Taylor Cuddy was mustered into this regiment as a private on June 5, 1861.
The 36th, after training at Camp Wayne near Philadelphia, joined the defense of Washington and spent some relatively quiet months before being engaged in the battles around Gaines Mill and Mechanicsville in June 1862. Cuddy’s response in letters home was one of relief and confidence that if he could survive three heavy encounters, he could come home unscathed. Action at the late summer 1862 Battle of Antietam followed for the 36th, although Cuddy may have been on leave when it was fought. As events balanced out the unit’s earlier inaction, the regiment fought bravely and well in the losing cause at Fredericksburg in December 1862.
Cuddy’s letters in the new year of 1863 reflect the exhaustion of men already counting down the days of their three-year enlistment. Cuddy’s own words are reflective of much of the popular response in the North to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863). In scathing tone, the teenager predicted a long war now that “the rebels is fighting for ther rites.” In the same letter he hopes strongly that the division will go home to recruit replacements, hinting that many of the early enlistees, including Cuddy himself, were weary of war and would not return from any home assignment. A long period of relative inactivity protecting the national capital did not improve morale. Cuddy and his parents tried to arrange a home leave, enlisting the help of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin. Though granted, permission for the furlough was forgotten in the turmoil of the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in June 1863. Cuddy and the 36th remained in Washington, reduced to anxious letters home to find news of the course of Lee’s advance. In April 1864, Cuddy and his companions were tantalizingly close to their final days as soldiers when the 36th was ordered to join Grant’s attack towards Richmond. During the confusion of the first and second day of the Battle of the Wilderness, the 36th suffered disaster when it was cut off and forced to surrender all its 272 officers and men. There were no more letters home from the teenaged veteran, who when captured had just one month before the end of its enlistment. Cuddy was among those who were entrained and then marched to the notorious Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Sixty-seven men of the 36th perished in the horrendous conditions of the open camp. John Cuddy survived Andersonville, but when he and others in his company were transferred to another equally harsh camp in Florence, South Carolina, his shattered health gave way to the ravages of five months in captivity. There he died of illness and malnutrition on September 29, 1864, eighteen days before his twentieth birthday.
Family
John Cuddy was one of five surviving sons of John and Agnes Cuddy. The Cuddy family owned and operated a distillery in the town. John Taylor also had a sister, Maggie, and two brothers who died as young children.
The slideshow below includes some of the pictures that were originally published in the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg: Report of the New York State Commission (Albany: J. B. Lyon Co., 1916).
Vermont’s Monument to Her First Cavalry, Detail (House Divided)
These are just some of the pictures that were published in the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg: Report of the Pennsylvania Commission December 31, 1913 (Harrisburg: Wm. Stanley Ray, 1915). See Pennsylvania Guests 1 for a picture of granddaughters of General Meade and General Hill. Pennsylvania Guests 2 is a picture of General Longstreet’s son, Grandsons of General Longstreet, and Grandsons of General Pickett.
Click on the Image to the right for a larger version.
“The reunion at “Bloody Angle” – Pickett’s men in for[e]ground; Union men lined against wall. Photo shows the Gettysburg Reunion (the Great Reunion) of July 1913, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. ” – Text from Library of Congress Metadata
Posted by Don Sailer
Image Credit – George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Click on the Image to the right for a larger version.
“Photo shows the Gettysburg Reunion (the Great Reunion) of July 1913, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg ” – Text from Library of Congress Metadata
Posted by Don Sailer
Image Credit – George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Click on the Image to the right for a larger version.
Read President Wilson’s speech at Gettysburg (on July 4, 1913) here.
Posted by Don Sailer
Image Credit – George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Speech Credit – : John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=65370
Click on the Image to the right for a larger version.
Image Caption – “Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Of Battle Of Gettysburg, PA”
Speech Credit – John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15669
Click on the Image to the right for a larger version.
“Heroes of battle of Gettysburg paid tribute by surviving brothers-in-arms. Washington, D.C., May 30, Although there are only a few of the boys in blue and gray left, two of them were strong enough today, Memorial Day, to drop flowers from the air on the Gettysburg battlefield to honor their comrades who lost their lives in this historic battle of the Civil War. Here we see, left to right: William H. Jackson, 95, of Washington, D.C., 5/30/38” – Text from Library of Congress Metadata
According to an article in the Washington Post, the two veterans were unable to drop the flowers over Gettysburg – Click here to read the full article.
Posted by Don Sailer
Image Credit – Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Newspaper Citation Washington (DC) Post, May 31, 1938, p. X13.
Newspaper Credit Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Click on the Image to go to this collection.
