Albert Underwood Civil War Diary

The following manuscript is a copy of a diary, transcribed so you may enjoy and appreciate the life and hardships of one soldier, and of our country during the Civil War in the year 1864.

The assumption is that the diary was logged by Albert S. Underwood from Annapolis, Parke County, Indiana based on the discovery of a promissory note in a pocket of the diary. The promissory note was given by Hugh Sample to Albert Underwood for $25.00, dated December 12, 1864.

Mr Underwood died on January 27, 1865 from injuries he received while returning home. He was one of seventy members of the 9th Indiana Light Artillery aboard the boat the ELIPSE, which exploded at 6 a.m. in the Tennessee river at Johnsonville, Tennessee. Of the seventy soldiers, their were forty survivors, one of whom was Captain George R. Brown, my great uncle.

The diary came into my family's possession when, in 1922, at Crawfordsville, Indiana my parents moved into the home place of Captain Brown. My father was administrator of his estate, and in sorting through an old foot locker, found the diary. My father kept the diary in his desk drawer for many years. The diary was written with pencil, in a distinctive style, making it difficult to read.

The original diary was transcribed by Mr. Ralph Williams, a teacher at Waveland, Indiana and given to his students to type and make hectogaph copies. (You may find names of towns and rivers not spelled as they are now, or they may have been typed incorrectly.)

The original diary was given to the Indiana Historical Society, located at 140 North Senate Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46204, phone (317) 232-1879. The society's resource center is in the Indiana State Library building.

Richard T. Johnson 207 North Howard St. P. O. Box 73 Oxford, IN 47971