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Collection: WILLIAM FREDERICK THAYER DIARY
1864-1865
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Physical Description: Diary, 1 item.
Acquisition: Gift of Robert* T. Broili, Raleigh, North Carolina, grandson
of William F. Thayer. Accessioned 4 October 1967.
Description: From April 8, 1864 to June 27, 1865, the diary of Sergeant
William Frederick Thayer (1841-1904) traces the activities of the Co. A,
4th Regiment Iowa Vet. Volunteers. Written in an account book of Robert
Habersham & Son which Thayer appropriated in Savannah, Georgia, on
December 21, 1864, and since the narrative begins over eight months be¬
fore Thayer gained possession of the book, it seems likely that the
portion of the diary which covers those months was copied from another
account or from notes that Thayer had been keeping. It also seems
possible that the entire diary was written after the war from notes
taken during the war.
The diary covers the movements of the company from Iowa to Chicago,
south to Alabama, and then; north along the eastern seaboard to Washington,
D. C. After the end of the war, the company returned to Louisville,
Kentucky, where Thayer was at the end of the diary on June 27, 1865. The
volume includes a brief report of the events of almost eveiyday during the
period it covers. On some days Thayer wrote "nothing of eny noatj" and in
' one instance: "Sept. 11th &12&13&14&15&16& 17th [1864] was
nothing transpired but the regular roteen of Camp duty. ..."
The 4th Regiment, Iowa, engaged in numerous skirmishes during its
campaign in the south. After an encounter near Decatur, Georgia, he
observed that "the dead Rebs lay vary thick." On February 17, 1865, they
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entered Columbia, South Carolina, where they "drove the Rebs off & captured
some," and the Mayor of the city surrendered . to the Commander of the Brigade.
The city began burning on the night of the 17th, and Thayer said it was still
' burning when they left on the 19th.,
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