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Inventory

Civil War Diary
Dates: July 1861 - August 1862
Accession Number: 900424H
Donor: Vigo County Historical Society
Description: One envelope in a flat storage box


Content and Scope of Collection

This Civil War diary chronicles the activities of the 31st Regiment Indiana Volunteers between July 1861-August 1862. There is no name listed on the diary to verify ownership. The diary was donated to the Vigo County Historical Society in 1968 and ownership was attributed to a James Harvey Washburn. However, there does not appear to be any evidence which links Washburn to the 31st Regiment. A James H. Washburn died in Vigo County in 1923, but it is unlikely that he is the author of the diary. Washburn was originally from Illinois and would have been 14 years old during the time the diary chronicles

Most likely the author of the diary was from Sullivan County, Indiana, and served in Company D of the 31st Regiment. (The back of the diary contains lists of soldiers from Company D.) The diary has been transcribed and appears in a newspaper article by Dorothy Clark in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, May 31, 1970 (see inventory folder for a copy). For a history of the 31st Regiment Indiana Volunteers, see SpC 973.74S.