Banta, Abraham Thomas.

[Civil War Diary Transcript].

[Tennessee; Kentucky]: [1863 (transcribed 1895-1897)]. 91 11” x 8½” photocopied leaves, typescript rectos only (about 30,000 words), bound in three-hole vinyl folder. Folder very good minus with light edge wear and scuffing; remnant of penciled price to cover sheet, else internally fresh with a few handwritten amendments.

This is a rare and thrilling firsthand account of a soldier's experience in the Civil War, transcribed by his sister's husband 30 years later from the “original copy removed from drowned body of Thomas Banta.”

Per the present cover page, Abraham Thomas Banta was born in 1839 and “quit Bloomington University in Indiana to go to War.” He died there, in July 1863, “four months short of his twenty-fourth birthday.”

Banta's diary begins at Camp Zion, Tennessee in January 1863 and soon sets the tone of his spirit: “God forbid that this war should continue any longer for it is the most degrading and demoralizing thing upon the people that ever disgraced God Almighty's green earth.” Entries cover the weather, general morale (“portion of our boys on a high”), tasks like horseshoeing, guard duty and orders: “On drill as usual . . . We were ordered out here to hold the Yanks in check as they made Duke's regiment skedaddle and killed Col. Hutchison. The saddles are on our horses. The men are stretched around asleep; neither men nor horses have had anything to eat since morning . . . We may have to mount our horses at any moment.”

Detailed text describes the scenery, camp life (“one of the most irksome and burdensome, yet one of the most lazy lives that mankind was ever subjected to”), pickets, payrolls and Banta's views on military strategy. We see his troop through Frankfort and Lexington, Versailles, Harrodsburg, Knoxville and the capture of Elizabethtown “and several hundred prisoners.” He laments the “demoralization and devastation” of “bright and intelligent youths” as well as the “cruel” effects of war on women and “the negro” – “Horrible is war in every respect!” The account goes until late June, noting the perils of river crossing and terrible rain, “very hard on soldiers in camp without tents.” Banta perished soon thereafter.

A thorough, fascinating Civil War diary and incredible survival. No record was found of this account in OCLC or online. Very good -. Item #2411

Price: $400.00