Specimen Days

DOWN in the Woods, July 2d, 1882.—If I do it at all I must delay no longer. Incongruous and full of skips and jumps as is that huddle of…

YOU ask for items, details of my early life—of genealogy and parentage, particularly of the women of my ancestry, and of its far back…

THE LATER years of the last century found the Van Velsor family, my mother’s side, living on their own farm at Cold Spring, Long Island,…

July 29, 1881.—AFTER more than forty years’ absence, (except a brief visit, to take my father there once more, two years before he died,)…

I WENT down from this ancient grave place eighty or ninety rods to the site of the Van Velsor homestead, where my mother was born (1795,)…

OF the domestic and inside life of the middle of Long Island, at and just before that time, here are two samples:

WORTH fully and particularly investigating indeed this Paumanok, (to give the spot its aboriginal name,1) stretching east through Kings,…

FROM 1824 to ’28 our family lived in Brooklyn in Front, Cranberry and Johnson streets. In the latter my father built a nice house for a…

AFTER about two years went to work in a weekly newspaper and printing office, to learn the trade. The paper was the “Long Island Patriot,”…

I DEVELOP’D (1833–4–5) into a healthy, strong youth (grew too fast, though, was nearly as big as a man at 15 or 16.) Our family at this…

LIVING in Brooklyn or New York city from this time forward, my life, then, and still more the following years, was curiously identified…

BESIDES Fulton ferry, off and on for years, I knew and frequented Broadway—that noted avenue of New York’s crowded and mixed humanity, and…

ONE phase of those days must by no means go unrecorded—namely, the Broadway omnibuses, with their drivers. The vehicles still (I write this…

AND certain actors and singers, had a good deal to do with the business. All through these years, off and on, I frequented the old Park,…

IN 1848, ’49, I was occupied as editor of the “daily Eagle” newspaper, in Brooklyn. The latter year went off on a leisurely journey and…

TO sum up the foregoing from the outset (and, of course, far, far more unrecorded,) I estimate three leading sources and formative stamps…

NEWS of the attack on fort Sumter and the flag at Charleston harbor, S. C., was receiv’d in New York city late at night (13th April, 1861,)…

I HAVE said somewhere that the three Presidentiads preceding 1861 show’d how the weakness and wickedness of rulers are just as eligible…

EVEN after the bombardment of Sumter, however, the gravity of the revolt, and the power and will of the slave States for a strong and…

ALL this sort of feeling was destin’d to be arrested and revers’d by a terrible shock—the battle of first Bull Run—certainly, as we now…

BUT the hour, the day, the night pass’d, and whatever returns, an hour, a day, a night like that can never again return. The President,…

FALMOUTH, VA., opposite Fredericksburgh, December 21, 1862.—Begin my visits among the camp hospitals in the army of the Potomac. Spend a…

December 23 to 31.—THE RESULTS of the late battle are exhibited everywhere about here in thousands of cases, (hundreds die every day,) in…

January, ’63.—LEFT camp at Falmouth, with some wounded, a few days since, and came here by Aquia creek railroad, and so on government…

HERE is a case of a soldier I found among the crowded cots in the Patent-office. He likes to have some one to talk to, and we will listen…

Letter Writing.—WHEN eligible, I encourage the men to write, and myself, when called upon, write all sorts of letters for them, (including…

February 23.—I MUST not let the great hospital at the Patent-office pass away without some mention. A few weeks ago the vast area of the…

February 24th.—A SPELL of fine soft weather. I wander about a good deal, sometimes at night under the moon. To-night took a long look at…

LET me specialize a visit I made to the collection of barrack-like one-story edifices, Campbell hospital, out on the flats, at the end of…

THIS young man in bed 25 is H. D. B., of the 27th Connecticut, company B. His folks live at Northford, near New Haven. Though not more than…

HERE in this same ward are two young men from Brooklyn, members of the 51st New York. I had known both the two as young lads at home, so…

THE GRAND soldiers are not comprised in those of one side, any more than the other. Here is a sample of an unknown southerner, a lad of…

May, ’63.—AS I write this, the wounded have begun to arrive from Hooker’s command from bloody Chancellorsville. I was down among the first…

May 12.—THERE was part of the late battle at Chancellorsville,(second Fredericksburgh,) a little over a week ago, Saturday, Saturday night…

OF scenes like these, I say, who writes—whoe’er can write the story? Of many a score—aye, thousands, north and south, of unwrit heroes,…

June 18th.—IN one of the hospitals I find Thomas Haley, company M, 4th New York cavalry—a regular Irish boy, a fine specimen of youthful…

IN my visits to the hospitals I found it was in the simple matter of personal presence, and emanating ordinary cheer and magnetism, that I…

June 25, Sundown.—AS I sit writing this paragraph I see a train of about thirty huge four-horse wagons, used as ambulances, fill’d with…

THE SOLDIERS are nearly all young men, and far more American than is generally supposed—I should say nine-tenths are native-born. Among the…

June 29.—JUST before sundown this evening a very large cavalry force went by—a fine sight. The men evidently had seen service. First came a…

July 4th.—THE WEATHER to-day, upon the whole, is very fine, warm, but from a smart rain last night, fresh enough, and no dust, which is a…

I AM writing this, nearly sundown, watching a cavalry company (acting Signal service,) just come in through a shower, making their night’s…

THIS afternoon, July 22d, I have spent a long time with Oscar F. Wilber, company G, 154th New York, low with chronic diarrhœa, and a bad…

August 8th.—TO-NIGHT, as I was trying to keep cool, sitting by a wounded soldier in Armory-square, I was attracted by some pleasant singing…

August 12th.—I SEE the President almost every day, as I happen to live where he passes to or from his lodgings out of town. He never sleeps…

THERE has lately been much suffering here from heat; we have had it upon us now eleven days. I go around with an umbrella and a fan. I saw…

SOLDIERS, soldiers, soldiers, you meet everywhere about the city, often superb-looking men, though invalids dress’d in worn uniforms, and…

ANOTHER characteristic scene of that dark and bloody 1863, from notes of my visit to Armory-square hospital, one hot but pleasant summer…

Aug., Sep., and Oct., ’63.—I AM in the habit of going to all, and to Fairfax seminary, Alexandria, and over Long bridge to the great…

October 20th.—TO-NIGHT, after leaving the hospital at 10 o’clock, (I had been on self-imposed duty some five hours, pretty closely…

EVERY now and then, in hospital or camp, there are beings I meet—specimens of unworldliness, disinterestedness, and animal purity and…

AMONG other sights are immense droves of cattle with their drivers, passing through the streets of the city. Some of the men have a way of…

TO add to other troubles, amid the confusion of this great army of sick, it is almost impossible for a stranger to find any friend or…

CULPEPPER, VA., Feb. ’64.—HERE I am pretty well down toward the extreme front. Three or four days ago General S., who is now in chief…

ONE of the things to note here now is the arrival of the paymaster with his strong box, and the payment of bounties to veterans…

ABOUT the excitement of Sunday, and the orders to be ready to start, I have heard since that the said orders came from some cautious minor…

DILAPIDATED, fenceless, and trodden with war as Virginia is, wherever I move across her surface, I find myself rous’d to surprise and…

I AM back again in Washington, on my regular daily and nightly rounds. Of course there are many specialties. Dotting a ward here and there…

IT is plain to me out of the events of the war, north and south, and out of all considerations, that the current military theory, practice,…

I WONDER if I could ever convey to another—to you, for instance, reader dear—the tender and terrible realities of such cases, (many, many…

IT is Sunday afternoon, middle of summer, hot and oppressive, and very silent through the ward. I am taking care of a critical case, now…

AS I turn’d off the Avenue one cool October evening into Thirteenth street, a soldier with knapsack and overcoat stood at the corner…

MICHAEL STANSBURY, 48 years of age, a sea-faring man, a southerner by birth and raising, formerly captain of U.S. light ship Long Shoal,…

Oct. 24.—SAW a large squad of our own deserters, (over 300) surrounded with a cordon of arm’d guards, marching along Pennsylvania avenue.…

IN one of the late movements of our troops in the valley, (near Upperville, I think,) a strong force of Moseby’s mounted guerillas attack’d…

AS a very large proportion of the wounded came up from the front without a cent of money in their pockets, I soon discover’d that it was…

SOME of the half-eras’d, and not over-legible when made, memoranda of things wanted by one patient or another, will convey quite a fair…

WELL, poor John Mahay is dead. He died yesterday. His was a painful and long-lingering case, (see p. 30 ante.) I have been with him at…

I MUST bear my most emphatic testimony to the zeal, manliness, and professional spirit and capacity, generally prevailing among the…

THIS city, its suburbs, the capitol, the front of the White House, the places of amusement, the Avenue, and all the main streets, swarm…

Sunday, January 29th, 1865.—HAVE been in Armory-square this afternoon. The wards are very comfortable, new floors and plaster walls, and…

AS I walk’d home about sunset, I saw in Fourteenth street a very young soldier, thinly clad, standing near the house I was about to enter.…

HERE is an incident just occurr’d in one of the hospitals. A lady named Miss or Mrs. Billings, who has long been a practical friend of…

THERE are many women in one position or another, among the hospitals, mostly as nurses here in Washington, and among the military stations;…

Feb. 23, ’65.—I SAW a large procession of young men from the rebel army, (deserters they are call’d, but the usual meaning of the word does…

TO-NIGHT I have been wandering awhile in the capitol, which is all lit up. The illuminated rotunda looks fine. I like to stand aside and…

March 4.—THE PRESIDENT very quietly rode down to the capitol in his own carriage, by himself, on a sharp trot, about noon, either because…

LOOKING over my scraps, I find I wrote the following during 1864. The happening to our America, abroad as well as at home, these years, is…

WHETHER the rains, the heat and cold, and what underlies them all, are affected with what affects man in masses, and follow his play of…

March 6.—I HAVE been up to look at the dance and supper-rooms, for the inauguration ball at the Patent office; and I could not help…

I MUST mention a strange scene at the capitol, the hall of Representatives, the morning of Saturday last, (March 4th.) The day just dawn’d,…

March 27, 1865.—SERGEANT CALVIN F. HARLOWE, company C, 29th Massachusetts, 3d brigade, 1st division, Ninth corps—a mark’d sample of heroism…

THE WAR is over, but the hospitals are fuller than ever, from former and current cases. A large majority of the wounds are in the arms and…

April 16, ’65.—I FIND in my notes of the time, this passage on the death of Abraham Lincoln: He leaves for America’s history and biography,…

WHEN Sherman’s armies, (long after they left Atlanta,) were marching through South and North Carolina—after leaving Savannah, the news of…

PROBABLY the reader has seen physiognomies (often old farmers, sea-captains, and such) that, ;behind their homeliness, or even ugliness,…

THE RELEAS’D prisoners of war are now coming up from the southern prisons. I have seen a number of them. The sight is worse than any sight…

Frank H. Irwin, company E, 93d Pennsylvania—died May I, ’65—My letter to his mother.—DEAR MADAM: No doubt you and Frank’s friends have…

May 7.—Sunday.—TO-DAY as I was walking a mile or two south of Alexandria, I fell in with several large squads of the returning Western…

FOR two days now the broad spaces of Pennsylvania avenue along to Treasury hill, and so by detour around to the President’s house, and so…

May 26–7.—THE STREETS, the public buildings and grounds of Washington, still swarm with soldiers from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri,…

May 28.—AS I sat by the beside of a sick Michigan soldier in hospital to-day, a convalescent from the adjoining bed rose and came to me,…

May 28–9.—I STAID to-night a long time by the bedside of a new patient, a young Baltimorean, aged about 19 years, W. S. P., (2d Maryland,…

May 31.—JAMES H. WILLIAMS, aged 21, 3d Virginia cavalry.—About as mark’d a case of a strong man brought low by a complication of diseases,…

IN one of the hospital tents for special cases, as I sat to-day tending a new amputation, I heard a couple of neighboring soldiers talking…

October 3.—THERE are two army hospitals now remaining. I went to the largest of these (Douglas) and spent the afternoon and evening. There…

EVEN the typical soldiers I have been personally intimate with,—it seems to me if I were to make a list of them it would be like a city…

AS I have look’d over the proof-sheets of the preceding pages, I have once or twice fear’d that my diary would prove, at best, but a batch…

DURING those three years in hospital, camp or field, I made over six hundred visits or tours, and went, as I estimate, counting all, among…

THE DEAD in this war—there they lie, strewing the fields and woods and valleys and battle-fields of the south—Virginia, the…

AND so good-bye to the war. I know not how it may have been, or may be, to others—to me the main interest I found, (and still, on…

SEVERAL years now elapse before I resume my diary. I continued at Washington working in the Attorney-General’s department through ’66 and…

1876, ’77.—I FIND the woods in mid-May and early June my best places for composition.1 Seated on logs or stumps there, or resting on rails,…

AS every man has his hobby-liking, mine is for a real farm-lane fenced by old chestnut-rails gray-green with dabs of moss and lichen,…

SO, still sauntering on, to the spring under the willows—musical as soft clinking glasses—pouring a sizeable stream, thick as my neck, pure…

AWAY then to loosen, to unstring the divine bow, so tense, so long. Away, from curtain, carpet, sofa, book—from “society”—from city house,…

DID you ever chance to hear the midnight flight of birds passing through the air and darkness overhead, in countless armies, changing their…

MAY-MONTH—month of swarming, singing, mating birds—the bumble-bee month—month of the flowering lilac—(and then my own birth-month.) As I…

AS I journey’d to-day in a light wagon ten or twelve miles through the country, nothing pleas’d me more, in their homely beauty and novelty…

June 10th.—AS I write, 5 1/2 P. M., here by the creek, nothing can exceed the quiet splendor and freshness around me. We had a heavy…

June 19th, 4 to 6 1/2, P. M.—Sitting alone by the creek—solitude here, but the scene bright and vivid enough—the sun shining, and quite a…

The fervent heat, but so much more endurable in this pure air—the white and pink pond-blossoms, with great heart-shaped leaves; the glassy…

Aug. 22.—Reedy monotones of locust, or sounds of katydid—I hear the latter at night, and the other both day and night. I thought the…