Elijah Iliff, an eighteen-year-old from Sodus, Michigan, was one of three Iliffs who enlisted in Co. B, 6th Michigan Infantry in August 1861. After spending the winter and early spring near Baltimore, the 6th was ordered to join Benjamin Butler's forces in the Gulf, helping to secure control over the area stretching from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the belly of the Confederate beast. They earned a good reputation in combat, capturing the battle flag of the 9th Louisiana at Baton Rouge in 1862, and serving on the Bayou Teche expedition and countless smaller forays in 1863. Iliff's diary begins in the fateful year when he was in barracks at Detroit, and then traveling by steamer from New York to New Orleans and finally Jefferson City until March. The first engagement he describes is an expedition to Ponchatoula in March, when they were sent to secure the rail lines, running into a succession of more or less small, but deadly skirmishes. His diary reads: March 25: "Ponchatoula. A little skirmish in the morning down by the bridge. Drove the rebs back. Fell back three miles up the railroad in the afternoon. [Mar. 26] Three miles south of Ponchatoula on the railroad swamp on both sides. Negroes building breastworks. Our pickets attacked and drove in in the afternoon. The rebs drove back again. Warm." After a short lull in April and early May, the 6th Michigan boarded the steamboat Creole for Port Hudson, coming under fire on May 24: "Advanced about two miles farther. Heavy artillery fire most all day. On picket at night had a deal of a time skirmishing." Heavy cannonading and musketry consumed the next two days, but Iliff's last entries tell a sad, but all too familiar tale: "[May 27] Charged on the breast works & was wounded. Shot twice in Side & leg broke by grape shot. [May 28] Lied in Hospital attended by John H. Iliff. [May 29] Still in Hospital failing fast. Died at night. " Diaries in which soldiers describe their own mortal wounding are rare, and in 20 years I have never seen one mentioning a soldier's own death (presumably this entry must have been added by his brother John). Although the entries are very brief, the diary is a powerful record of life and death in Civil War Louisiana, with accounts of the battles at Ponchatoula and Port Hudson. Small (16mo) pocket diary, three days per page; good condition.
Elijah Iliff, an eighteen-year-old from Sodus, Michigan, was one of three Iliffs who enlisted in Co. B, 6th Michigan Infantry in August 1861. After spending the winter and early spring near Baltimore, the 6th was ordered to join Benjamin Butler's forces in the Gulf, helping to secure control over the area stretching from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the belly of the Confederate beast. They earned a good reputation in combat, capturing the battle flag of the 9th Louisiana at Baton Rouge in 1862, and serving on the Bayou Teche expedition and countless smaller forays in 1863. Iliff's diary begins in the fateful year when he was in barracks at Detroit, and then traveling by steamer from New York to New Orleans and finally Jefferson City until March. The first engagement he describes is an expedition to Ponchatoula in March, when they were sent to secure the rail lines, running into a succession of more or less small, but deadly skirmishes. His diary reads: March 25: "Ponchatoula. A little skirmish in the morning down by the bridge. Drove the rebs back. Fell back three miles up the railroad in the afternoon. [Mar. 26] Three miles south of Ponchatoula on the railroad swamp on both sides. Negroes building breastworks. Our pickets attacked and drove in in the afternoon. The rebs drove back again. Warm." After a short lull in April and early May, the 6th Michigan boarded the steamboat Creole for Port Hudson, coming under fire on May 24: "Advanced about two miles farther. Heavy artillery fire most all day. On picket at night had a deal of a time skirmishing." Heavy cannonading and musketry consumed the next two days, but Iliff's last entries tell a sad, but all too familiar tale: "[May 27] Charged on the breast works & was wounded. Shot twice in Side & leg broke by grape shot. [May 28] Lied in Hospital attended by John H. Iliff. [May 29] Still in Hospital failing fast. Died at night. " Diaries in which soldiers describe their own mortal wounding are rare, and in 20 years I have never seen one mentioning a soldier's own death (presumably this entry must have been added by his brother John). Although the entries are very brief, the diary is a powerful record of life and death in Civil War Louisiana, with accounts of the battles at Ponchatoula and Port Hudson. Small (16mo) pocket diary, three days per page; good condition.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
