The Southern journey of a Civil War marine : the illustrated note-book of Henry O. Gusley / edited and annotated by Edward T. Cotham, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gusley, Henry O., 1837-1884.

Contributor:

Cotham, Edward T. (Edward Terrel), 1953-

Series:

Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas heritage series ; no. 10.

Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas heritage series ; no. 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gusley, Henry O., 1837-1884--Diaries.

Gusley, Henry O.

United States. Marine Corps--Biography.

United States.

United States. Marine Corps--Military life--History--19th century.

Seafaring life--Gulf Coast (U.S.)--History--19th century.

Seafaring life.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.

Gulf Coast (U.S.)--History, Naval--19th century.

Gulf Coast (U.S.).

Gulf States--History, Military--19th century.

Gulf States.

America, Gulf of--History, Naval--19th century.

America, Gulf of.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.

Gulf Coast (U.S.)--Description and travel.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

On September 28, 1863, the Galveston Tri-Weekly News caught its readers' attention with an item headlined "A Yankee Note-Book." It was the first installment of a diary confiscated from U.S. Marine Henry O. Gusley, who had been captured at the Battle of Sabine Pass. Gusley's diary proved so popular with readers that they clamored for more, causing the newspaper to run each excerpt twice until the whole diary was published. For many in Gusley's Confederate readership, his diary provided a rare glimpse into the opinions and feelings of an ordinary Yankee—an enemy whom, they quickly discovered, it would be easy to regard as a friend. This book contains the complete text of Henry Gusley's Civil War diary, expertly annotated and introduced by Edward Cotham. One of the few journals that have survived from U.S. Marines who served along the Gulf Coast, it records some of the most important naval campaigns of the Civil War, including the spectacular Union success at New Orleans and the embarrassing defeats at Galveston and Sabine Pass. It also offers an unmatched portrait of daily life aboard ship. Accompanying the diary entries are previously unpublished drawings by Daniel Nestell, a doctor who served in the same flotilla and eventually on the same ship as Gusley, which depict many of the locales and events that Gusley describes. Together, Gusley's diary and Nestell's drawings are like picture postcards from the Civil War—vivid, literary, often moving dispatches from one of "Uncle Sam's nephews in the Gulf."

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Galveston Tri-Weekly News Introduction to the Note-Book

1. The Battle Below New Orleans

2. Ship Island, the Pearl River, and Lake Pontchartrain

3. Pensacola

4. New Orleans

5. The Mississippi River

6. Baton Rouge, Plaquemine, and Donaldsonville

7. The Return to Pensacola and Ship Island

8. The Capture of Galveston

9. Matagorda Bay

10. The Battle of Galveston

11. The Capture of U.S.S. Hatteras

12. A New Commander

13. Mississippi Sound

14. The Swamps of Louisiana

15. Butte a la Rose

16. Mobile Bay

17. The Return to the Teche Country

18. The Battle of Sabine Pass

19. Letters from Prison

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [179]-206) and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79588-2

OCLC:

648315085