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Now that the war is over, I feel that none of my family can understand the horrors I went through. When my mother asks about my time spent during the War, she doesn't understand that I just can't talk about it. The only thing I can do is to write in this journal; and even this isn't fulfilling my need to clear my head of war.

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My name is John. I am a private in the 28th Brooklyn Regiment for the Union Army. I am 21 years old and feeling 50 because of this war. I was raised to be an abolitionist, and I joined to rid this country of slavery.

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The worst part of being a soldier is the boredom. Most days I have hours and hours to do whatever I want, but I don't have anything to do. The sickness is bad too. If you are not bored, you are sick with quickstep, or scratching the lice on your head. Rations from the government still haven't arrived, so are meals are meager.

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Soldiers spent only a small amount of time in actual battles but most of their time was spent in camp. Most days were filled with hours and hours of free time.  In addition, boredom, hunger and disease were common problems for soldiers. Maybe you did not receive your rations for the day, or you were suffering with bed lice or dysentery.  You might also be suffering from an injury.

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From the beginning, Basic Training took civilians and turned them into soldiers. Days and days are spent working on drills and guard duty.  During Basic Training most described the food there as so foul that they had to buy their own food from freed slaves that came into the camp.

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When the Civil War started, many wide-eyed recruits envisioned war to be noble and exciting. But their expectations were very different from actually being in a battle or just living a military camp life.
Many soldiers, after experiencing battle, believed that the folk back home could have no way of understanding what they were going through so when they wrote home they wrote about everyday, normal events. They could not write about the horrors they had seen during the actual fighting.

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In the battle of Cedar Mountain I loss at least three of my friends. I heard them moan, and I could hear in their voice that they were filled with pain.

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During the life of the 28th Regiment, 1 officer and 50 enlisted men were killed in action.  I officer and 10 enlisted men received wounds in action. 1 officer and 10 enlisted men died of disease and other causes. and 2 enlisted men were captured and died in the hands of the enemy.

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The day after the Confederate army attacked Fort Sumter I eagerly enlisted in 28th Brooklyn Regiment, along with another 699 men.   After that I was rushed off to basic training.  The days were packed with drills and guard duty.  Our day began at 4:45 with reveille and our first drill. The men in my regiment seemed to enjoy their army lives except for the very poor rations that we were given.  Here we were training to free slaves, and it was these very same people who provided us with new milk, hominy, corn cakes, pies, hot rolls, broiled shad and all sorts of cakes.  Even though we still had to pay for this food, they gave us very reasonable prices. Much better than what the government was able to do.

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Even in the north and free states,  some people viewed people of African descent to be "less than" human. But there was still a large population that viewed all people as equals.The abolitionist understood and made efforts to free people from slavery by buying their freedom. In 1860 word was spread about the work of a well-known Reverend by the name of Henry Ward Beecher and his church in Brooklyn.  This church was an important station on the Underground Railway and the congregation helped runaway slaves escape to freedom by giving them food, clothing, and a place to hide from the slave catchers. (Citation - Document 12)  A highly publicized act was when the Plymouth Church, under the leadership of Reverend Beecher, raised money to buy the freedom of a young black girl named "Pinky".

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Pettinato, Tony. “Union Soldier Describes Daily Life in Civil War Camp.” GenealogyBank Blog, 17 May 2016, blog.genealogybank.com/union-soldier-describes-daily-life-in-civil-war-camp.html.

Alexander, Edward. “Life of the Civil War Soldier in Battle.” American Battlefield Trust, 7 July 2017, www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/life-civil-war-soldier-battle.
Blake, John F. “Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn in the Civil War.” Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn in the Civil War - Soldiers, www.bklynlibrary.org/civilwar/cwdoc015.html.
Brooklyn Public Library. “Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn in the Civil War.” Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn in the Civil War - Soldiers, www.bklynlibrary.org/civilwar/cwdoc013.html.

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Recruiting in the New York City Hall Park in 1864. Illustration from a sketch by George Law, published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 19, 1864., 1943 - 1945

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Ever since I was a small child I wanted to be a shop keeper.  My parents taught me the importance of treating everyone fairly and with dignity.    Living in Brooklyn, New York, my family were members of the Plymouth Church.  On the 5th of February our Reverend held an auction of a young black girl.  Everyone was giving money and valuables to the Reverend to buy her freedom.  We raised $900 to buy her freedom.  She was brought to the church and the Reverend pulled out a ring from the basket and said to her "With this ring I wed thee to freedom."  When this happened, I knew I had to do something about slavery and being a shop keeper was not enough.