Mixter, Calvin Symmes, 1832-? [Civil War diary of Calvin Symmes Mixter]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06583.03 Author/Creator: Mixter, Calvin Symmes, 1832-? Place Written: Various Places Type: Diary Date: 1864 Pagination: 1 v. : 273 p. : Height: 16.7 cm, Width: 8 cm Order a Copy
Signed diary including a printed image, an eclipse calendar, a mileage chart, and postage rates in the opening pages. Mixter writes from various locations, including Washington, D.C., during 1864. On 12 January, accepts appointment as 1st Lieutenant Adjutant, 3rd Regiment North Carolina Colored Volunteers. Reports to serve under General Edward Augustus Wild on 21 January. On 14 May reports "Cheering news continues to arrive from the Army of the Potomac. Our losses have been severe, but the rebel are being driven back." Discusses the events of battle preparation and an extended period in camp near Fort Powhatan, Virginia. Reports seeing President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant on 21 June 1864. States that on 3 July, his wife informed him he had been reported as being killed. In August, reports being diagnosed with malaria and receiving treatments of blue mass and quinine. On 28 October, writes a note to Sergeant O. A. Hendrick suggesting that a commanding officer completes an application to muster out Mixter, on account of his absence from military duties for over sixty days. On 10 November, states "the newspapers reed today confirm the report of the re-election of Prest. Lincoln by an overwhelming majority" following Lincoln's campaign against George McClellan. Receives his resignation 9 November and plans to appear before a board of medical examination. On 23 November, returns home to Boston. Final pages include account ledgers and a quote reflecting the Dred Scott decision. Referring to African Americans, the quote states "They had for more than a century before been regarded as being of an inferior order and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations ... " Bound in original leather with a front clasp.
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