Beschreibung:

George G. Thwing Civil War diary (Jan – Nov 1862), 96 pages, 5.75 in x 7.25 in., self-titled A “Memorandum of Butlers Expedition on the Mississippi River!!” July 12th /62.” Faint writing on the front of the diary reads “State House, Baton Rouge” and the rear cover bears the inscription “Day Book ! Yay Book !!!!”. Accompanied by Thwing family correspondence spanning 1861-1866. The family correspondence consists of 89 total letters, of which 40 are written by Private Thwing during his enlistment, another 13 are written to Private Thwing, and an additional 35 are to/from other Thwing family members. Diary and correspondence intertwine providing a detailed account of Thwing’s service including references to the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the occupation of New Orleans under General Benjamin “Beast” Butler, and the Battle of Baton Rouge. George G. Thwing (ca 1841-1862) was born in Massachusetts to Gardner H. and Jane Littlefield Thwing. He was the eldest of two children, the younger being his sister Eliza Jane who was five years his junior and who features prominently in the family correspondence. George’s father is listed as a blacksmith residing in Cambridge, MA, in the 1850 US Census, but neither George nor his father Gardner appear in the 1860 Census. Military records indicate that George was a 21-year-old clerk when he enlisted as a Union Army Private for three years’ service on December 5, 1861. However, the family correspondence indicates that he was, in fact, a printer. On September 14, 1861, in the only letter in this collection written prior to his enlistment, George writes to his sister Eliza that “…All is excitement about the War…a great many of the printers working at the ‘Riverside’ have gone to the seat of war.” Presumably this is a reference to Cambridge’s famous “Riverside Press” which was founded and operated by printer Henry O. Houghton, and was the forerunner to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. George may have worked at the Riverside Press Building in 1861, or perhaps he was engaged as a printer in another location. His letter continues, “Business at my Printing Office is ‘rushing,’ Mr. Miles has started three or four works, within the last week, so that I shall have plenty of work…” On December 22, 1861, George mustered into “E” Co. of the 30th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, which was raised by General Benjamin F. Butler. Known originally as the “Eastern Bay State Regiment,” the MA 30th was organized at Camp Chase in Lowell, MA, and it is here that Thwing’s diary commences. “The regiment I joined was quartered at Camp Chase, Lowell, Mass. and remained their for about a month; the Mass 30th, Maine 12th, two companies of horse took the cars for Boston, after arriving at Boston all of the men were formed into line and marched to Long Wharf and embarked on board of the Steamship Constitution; the steamship remained anchored close to the Wharf for about a month.” Due in part to an ongoing feud between Massachusetts Governor John Andrew and General Benjamin Butler with respect to whom had the authority to raise militia within the state, the soldiers of the Eastern Bay State Regiment were on board the Constitution for an extended duration. Conditions were less than comfortable on board the Constitution, a situation relayed by Thwing in his characteristically descriptive prose style. “Co. E the company I belonged to was quartered in the lower hold of the ship a miserable pace for a human being to live in, while we were quartered there we had nothing to eat but muddy coffee and hard bread and salt junk, the place our company were quartered was full of body lice. The officers got for their food, turkeys, chickens, and everything that could be had in markets. The privates would get better food if they were in the State Prison than they do here.” By mid-January, the steamer Constitution would sail for Fort Monroe, VA, to begin the next phase of its journey, an event noted in Thwing’s diary, “Monday 14th[ Jan 1862] –