The Southern Journey of a Civil War Marine: The Illustrated Note-Book of Henry O. Gusley

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Edward T. Cotham
University of Texas Press, 2009 M09 15 - 223 páginas
The confiscated Yankee diary that ran in the Confederate press, fully annotated and illustrated with drawings by a fellow Civil War Marine.
 
On September 28, 1863, the Galveston Tri-Weekly News included an item headlined “A Yankee Note-Book.” It was the first installment of a diary confiscated from U.S. Marine Henry O. Gusley, who had been captured at the Battle of Sabine Pass. It was so popular, the newspaper made an ongoing series of the entire diary, running each excerpt twice. For Confederate readers, Gusley's diary provided a rare glimpse into the opinions and feelings of an ordinary Yankee, an enemy whom—they quickly discovered—it would be easy to regard as a friend.
 
This book contains the complete text of Henry Gusley’s Civil War diary, expertly annotated and introduced by Edward Cotham. One of the few surviving journals by a U.S. Marine serving along the Gulf Coast, it records some of the most important naval campaigns of the Civil War, including the spectacular Union success at New Orleans and the embarrassing defeats at Galveston and Sabine Pass. It also offers an unmatched portrait of life aboard ship.
 
It also includes previously unpublished drawings by Daniel Nestell—a doctor who served alongside Gusley—depicting many of the events the diary describes. Together, Gusley's diary and Nestell's drawings are like picture postcards from the Civil War: vivid, literary, moving dispatches from one of “Uncle Sam's nephews in the Gulf.”

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Contenido

Introduction
1
Introduction to the NoteBook
31
1 The Battle Below New Orleans
35
2 Ship Island the Pearl River and Lake Pontchartrain
56
3 Pensacola
63
4 New Orleans
69
5 The Mississippi River
73
6 Baton Rouge Plaquemine and Donaldsonville
87
11 The Capture of USS Hatteras
131
12 A New Commander
134
13 Mississippi Sound
143
14 The Swamps of Louisiana
148
15 Butte a la Rose
157
16 Mobile Bay
162
17 The Return to theTeche Country
167
18 The Battle of Sabine Pass
173

7 The Return to Pensacola and Ship Island
92
8 The Capture of Galveston
104
9 Matagorda Bay
110
10 The Battle of Galveston
117
19 Letters from Prison
176
Notes
179
Index
207
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Página 200 - And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that in all cases when allowed they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
Página 21 - When these formidable mortars arrive and you are completely ready, you will collect such vessels as can be spared from the blockade, and proceed up the Mississippi River and reduce the defenses which guard the approaches to New Orleans, when you will appear off that city and take possession of it under the guns of your squadron, and hoist the American flag therein, keeping possession until troops can be sent to you.
Página 51 - Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow, But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow.
Página 51 - Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the ramparts we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried. We buried him darkly, at dead of night, The sods with our bayonets turning; By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, And our lanterns dimly burning.
Página 102 - COME listen awhile to me, my lad ; Come listen to me for a spell ; Let that terrible drum For a moment be dumb, For your uncle is going to tell What befell A youth who loved liquor too well. A clever young man was he, my lad ; And with beauty uncommonly blest, Ere, with brandy and wine, He began to decline, And behaved like a person possessed ; I protest The temperance plan is the best. One evening he went to a tavern, my lad ; He went to a tavern one night, And drinking too much Rum, brandy, and...
Página 188 - Bréese gives his officers full credit for behaving handsomely under a troublesome fire from, field-pieces and concealed riflemen. On the 21st, with a mortar schooner alongside, I proceeded up toward the city of Vicksburg, to obtain ranges and draw the fire of the enemy's forts, about which we had no information. The rebels allowed us to get within good range, when they opened on us with all their batteries, without, however, doing any harm, and enabled us to get the desired information. I gave them...
Página 102 - One evening he went to a tavern, my lad ; He went to a tavern one night, And drinking too much Rum, brandy, and such, The chap got exceedingly "tight " ; And was quite What your aunt would entitle a fright.

Acerca del autor (2009)

Edward T. Cotham, Jr., is an independent scholar based in Houston, Texas. He is a member and past president of the Houston Civil War Roundtable, and also leads tours of Civil War battlegrounds in Texas and lectures to historical and civic groups.

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