DIARY UPDATE

Morgan Andrew's Diary

Since I first posted about the Civil War Diary of Morgan Andrews on December 5th, I have continued transcribing it, and within its pages additional information came to light about Morgan's death.

Morgan Andrew's Civil War Diary

In my previous posting I quoted what I thought were the last entries in the diary that were dated July 6-8 1862, in which Morgan very matter-of-factly says that he isn't feeling well for several days and then blank pages.  The image from the company roster said Morgan died on July 30 in Cumberland Maryland of disease.

Roster of the 84th Regiment, showing that Morgan died of disease.

However, several pages in, the diary continues in someone else's handwriting...

The first entry, under July 21 lists the names of the household where Morgan is being cared for: "Jacob Riser, Cumberland Maryland When (sic) Julia Riser Mary E Riser }Daughters"

July 21st Diary entry. It is not certain that this entry was made on the 21st.

At first, I thought one of the members of the Riser family had undertaken to update Morgan's diary.

But further down, this entry tells a different story:

Diary entry dated 23 July 1862.

It reads in part, "Got to Cumberland 9 P.M. Found M. deranged Continued so untill morning when partly rational   recognized us"...

Got to Cumberland? The Rizers lived in Cumberland they would not have arrived in Cumberland. This is someone else. Recognized us? Who would Morgan recognize?

His family! Someone in Morgan's family had traveled to Cumberland to assist in his recovery. The diary does not give many clues, but since it was had been handed down in his brother Fairman's family, it was most likely Fairman Andrews.

The entries continue for several days as Morgan's condition varied, sometimes giving hope and sometimes offering none, until the final entry:

Morgan died at 2 oclock this afternoon...

The disease that took Morgan's life is never named. It could have been any of a dozen diseases that took the majority of the casualties of the Civil War. Whichever disease it was, it was probably waterborne because in this entry from July 5th...

The July heat in the Washington D.C. area was taking a toll. The young soldiers did not drill and
took the opportunity to bathe in the Potomac River.

Morgan brags, "I swam across 6 times without touching (the bottom)"

Even before the Army camped on it's shore, the Potomac was a foul river as this quote from Wikipedia illustrates:
      "Beginning in the 19th century, with increasing mining and agriculture upstream and urban sewage and runoff downstream, the water quality of the Potomac River deteriorated... It is said that President Abraham Lincoln used to escape to the highlands on summer nights to escape the river's stench"

Particularly at the beginning of the Civil War the importance of proper sanitation measures was not understood. The soldiers would drink from the same water that was used for bathing and as a toilet. Tens of thousands of soldiers died from diseases like typhoid and dysentery as a result.

Morgan was one of them.

2019 Genealogy Goal - Organizing my files.

Here's an update on my 2019 goal of organizing my genealogy files. 2-4 hours each weekend have been dedicated to filing all the many, many papers that were piled in different areas of my house. I was convinced that I was going to conquer this mountain of paperwork. Until...

Sequestered "educational" papers.

I found several "hidden" piles of paperwork; in the bottom of a file drawer, shoved between two shelves and filed in with published histories.  UGH!  Most of the papers were from workshops and conferences that I had attended and covered topics of particular interest to my personal genealogy education. BUT, among those educational papers were family history documents and printouts.

But thanks to a minor snow storm and a quiet Saturday, all the papers have been evaluated, sorted and filed. Whew! That was some marathon session of organizing!

Now, on to my digital files!