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John Daniel Follmer diary and memoir
Typed transcript of the Civil War diary of John Daniel Follmer, Quartermaster Sergeant of Company F, 161st Pennsylvania Volunteers (16th Cavalry). In 1864 he was promoted to Regimental Commissary Sergeant. After the war he moved to Michigan with his family and remained there until his death. This...
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| Collection: | John Daniel Follmer Diary and Memoir |
| Collection Number: | Am.66910 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
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| Physical Description: |
0.02 Linear feet ; 3 volumes |
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This collection is open for research. |
| Summary: |
Typed transcript of the Civil War diary of John Daniel Follmer, Quartermaster Sergeant of Company F, 161st Pennsylvania Volunteers (16th Cavalry). In 1864 he was promoted to Regimental Commissary Sergeant. After the war he moved to Michigan with his family and remained there until his death.
This transcript was made by his grandaughter. The two volumes here contain John D. Follmer’s reflections on and observations of various moments of the Civil War as he experienced them, which were recorded much later in life. It was while in retirement that he begun the process of composing his diaries on which this finding aid is based. These diaries have been popular among academicians as Follmer’s works have been the subject of academic papers and theses. Recreating those experiences in his narrative, Follmer gives an exceptional up-close-and-personal documentary style which, on occasion, offers the reader as well a close experience of the war. Volume 1 covers the three years he spent in service from 1862 to 1865. This volume is fascinating in details and emotional insights. There are two versions: one is handwritten and the other typewritten. He discussed issues from the disappointing rations to home sickness to marching orders to face-to-face gun battles. Regarding the rations, he once wrote “On such rations we were expected to keep fat and strong, and fight like devils, be model soldiers, and courteous gentlemen. We managed to fill the bill. I reckon?” (p. 10, original manuscript / p. 4, typed manuscript). However, the scarcity of the rations they received which lacked sufficient nutrients to keep the soldiers well coalesced with the difficult environmental conditions which later produced unpleasant illnesses and bodily ailments. In addition to illnesses he also reported that some men died of homesickness. But, “[d]iscipline had done much to make us soldiers” (p. 5, typed version). He spoke vividly of the carnage and death left by previous battles observed along their path from destination to destination. There’s also the issue of the war’s toll on the soldiers as time passed: “War is a horrible thing. It makes men heartless, brutal, and in many instances sinks out of sight all of higher and nobler manhood.” Then, of course, the occasional political commentary, “If good old President Lincoln would send Stanton to China, and Halleck to Patagonia, and allow Gen. Meade to exercise his excellent judgment without restraint, furnish men and ameans, 1864 would see the war successfully ended.” The better descriptions that Follmer offers come later in the volume during the year 1864 where he offers a more extended prose with “thick” descriptions of what he saw and of the people he encountered. Volume 2 is completely handwritten and is an account of the battle at Gettysburg in July of 1863. Follmer supplements his narrative with large quoted portions of text from correspondence and books written by individuals like Edward A. Pollard (author of “The Lost Cause”), Arent DePeyster (a British military officer), Adolphus Greely (an explorer and United States military officer), a Carlton (unidentifiable), and Morgan Rawls (a Confederate Army officer and politician). He also quotes a large section of the newspaper the Richmond Enquirer. |