In honor of Memorial Day and knowing that my fellow Kossacks will appreciate an account of what war used to be like for the kids who fight it, I am posting a transcript of a diary kept by my great great grandfather, Aaron Loder Mastin, a Civil War veteran.
He started out a nineteen-year-old infantryman but due to a nasty case of jaundice, he wound up pretty quickly getting left behind his unit, recovering in a field hospital. There, he helped care for other sick and wounded soldiers, eventually joining the hospital unit, and spent the rest of that war caring for sick and dying men.
During the first part of his service he kept a diary of his activities, sometimes daily. It is charmingly poetic in parts, humorous in others, and horrifying in still others. Overall, it is sad. Entries cover the period from August 1, 1861 to November 8, 1861 with a break in writing, and then again regular diary entries from February 13, 1862 to April 20, 1862, the day a revolver accidentally discharged into his left hand. This injury eventually led to his mustering out of the Union Army, with two fewer fingers.
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