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May 16th
Is it a dream, oh no
its a dread reality. here I am
seated on the floor of one of
the Liby prisen as a prisener
of war. most of my Regt are
with me. I have learned to feel
thankful that I was not wound
ed in the bloody strife and then
fall into the hands of my enemies.
The night before the 15, just
at eve my Regt were relieved from
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On May 16, 1864, confederate troops attacked Union positions at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia. During the battle some 400 Union soldiers, including a general, were captured. James Childs Hitchcock (1841-1864), serving in the 27th Mass. Regiment, also became a prisoner of war. On the day of the battle, his journal entry records his shock at finding himself in Libby Prison in Richmond. A few months later Hitchcock was transferred to Andersonville Prison in Georgia where he died from unknown causes on September 18, 1864. Andersonville Prison was the most awful of American prisons. When news of its condition leaked out to the press after its capture by the Union Army, the disgust toward the Confederates made stronger the thirst for revenge among many Northerners. It remains a stain on the South.
L00.039
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Excerpt from James Childs Hitchcock's Civil War Military Journal
author James Childs Hitchcock (1841-1864) |
date May 16, 1864 |
location Virginia |
height 5.75" |
width 3.0" |
process/materials manuscript, paper, ink |
item type Personal Documents/Diary |
accession # #L00.038 |
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