Diaries

Correspondence

Diaries

Historic Sites

Literature

Memorialization

Military Records

Newspapers

People

The Albert Gore, Sr., Research Center has several diaries depicting personal perspectives on the Civil War.

The Community Collection
Miscellaneous Series:  The Community Collection has a personal diary that belonged to Emma Lane, a Murfreesboro resident during the time of the Civil War. The diary has entries from January 1, 1864 to July 31, 1866. Among the notable events that Lane recounts are the execution of a Confederate spy and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The Gore Center  has the original diary as well as transcriptions that were used as a featured article in the Murfreesboro Magazine.

The Pittard Collection (Homer and Mabel)
Civil War—People Series:  The Pittard Collection includes a transcription of a diary written by James P. Lytle, a Confederate captain from Unionville, Tennessee.

The Warden Collection (Margaret Lindsley Warden)
Serial Publications Series: The Margaret Lindsley Warden Collection includes in the "Serial Publications" series a diary kept by John Berrien Lindsley, M.D., from the years 1856 to 1866.  It provides interesting  accounts of the Civil War by a medical doctor in Nashville, Tennessee. Some notable entries include: 

  • p. 77—Lindsley recounts the experience of being notified that the University of Nashville buildings were needed for hospitals in 1862.  He discusses helping to feed the weary soldiers.

  • p.80—Lindsley describes how a carriage or a wagon could not be retained unless guarded by one or more soldiers with a musket or bayonet.

  • p. 83—Lindsley describes scenes of confusion, pillage and pilfering at the Confederate government storehouses. He also recounts how the soldiers needed clothing and describes the railroad and suspension bridges burning and illuminating the night sky.

The Womack Collection (Bob)
Civil War Diaries Series:  The Bob Womack Collection has numerous photocopies of diaries written by Union and Confederate soldiers and other individuals in the "Civil War-Diaries" series.


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