A Yankee at Arms: The Diary of Lieutenant Augustus D. Ayling, 29th Massachusetts VolunteersWhen New Englander Augustus Ayling responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War, he began a diary that he would keep until the end of the conflict. That recently discovered manuscript now provides us with an unusual panorama of the Civil War as seen by one man who fought in three different theaters. A company-grade officer in the Union Army for most of the war, Ayling was a highly literate, keen-eyed observer who described major events of the war in elaborate detail. Early in his service, he witnessed firsthand the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac, the peninsular campaign of McClellan, the battle of Fredericksburg, and the retreat of Burnside. Following the transfer of his regiment to Kentucky, he participated in the Vicksburg campaign, which culminated in one of the Union's most important victories. Upon returning to Kentucky, he enjoyed a brief wartime romance before a bout of malaria sent him home on sick leave. Eventually, he rejoined his regiment outside of Knoxville, where it helped to repel Longstreet's troops. After the war, Ayling was recalled to a regiment occupying Richmond and was made a judge advocate. From this vantage point he witnessed the beginnings of Reconstruction and of reconciliation between members of Northern and Southern white elites. Throughout his diary, Ayling eloquently described the difficult conditions under which soldiers served, revealing both the pleasures and problems of an officer's life. As lively and dramatic in its reportage of key events as it is meticulous in detail, Ayling's diary provides valuable perspectives on both the battlefield and the homefront. The Editor: Charles F. Herberger is professor emeritus at Nasson College, Springvale, Maine. His books include The Riddle of the Sphinx and The Thread of Ariadne. |
Contents
Enlistment and Fort Monroe 373 | 3 |
The Monitor and the Merrimack and Newport News | 17 |
An Infantry Officer in the Army of the Potomac | 33 |
McClellans Retreat and the Hospitalization | 47 |
Lieutenant Ayling on Sick Leave | 63 |
The Fredericksburg Campaign | 75 |
Winter Camp and Transfer to Newport News | 90 |
A Wartime Love Affair | 107 |
Travel to Knoxville on Return from Sick Leave | 171 |
Winter Camp in Eastern Tennessee | 188 |
Hard Times and a Depleted Company | 203 |
The End of the War | 219 |
Postwar Duty in Richmond Virginia | 232 |
Last Days in Richmond | 255 |
Epilogue | 271 |
Notes | 277 |
Occupation Duty in Kentucky | 122 |
Down the Mississippi and the Siege of Vicksburg | 135 |
Occupation in Mississippi and Return to Kentucky | 153 |
Bibliography | 295 |
Common terms and phrases
29th Massachusetts Regiment Adjutant afternoon April arrived August Augustus D Ayling baggage battery Battle of Fredericksburg blankets boat Boston breakfast brigade Burnside camp Captain Brooks cars Centerville cold Colonel Barnes Colonel Davis Colonel Edmands comfortable command Company H Confederate Cordie Corps court Court Martial Creekside December dinner dress parade drill duty early enemy February feel felt fire forenoon Fort Monroe friends glad guard half past Hampton Roads hard headquarters House IX Corps James River January July June Kentucky Knoxville leave letter Lieut Lieutenant look Lowell March miles morning move mustered nice Nicholasville night noon November o'clock officers Official Army Register orders passed Peninsula Campaign picket pleasant pretty quarters rain rebel Richmond River roads rode sent Sergeant Seven Days battles sick sleep slept started supper Tennessee tent things told tomorrow tonight took town Twenty-Ninth Regiment Uncle Vicksburg Virginia York