Civil War Diary of P. L. Loufman

The title of this post is a quote I’ve seen and heard in various forms. I have not been able to pin down a definitive source of the quote but a version of it seems to have been around as early as World War I and seems to apply to the Civil War as well. The life of the soldier was filled with military routine: drills, guard duty, picket duty, work details and the same food every day. Many fought boredom by playing games, sketching, whittling and making music, among other activities. This is a photo of two Union soldiers whittling.  The title quote is ever present in my mind while I’m transcribing Philip's diary. There are often several days in a row with entries stating “Nothing new to report,” “guard duty all day” or “went blackberrying.” This was one of my downfalls during my previous attempts at transcribing the diary. Because of my lack of time and patience, I kept looking for all of the action. The movies don’t focus on the monotonous days of drills and guard duty. More informa...

Philip L. Loufman was a Private with the 1 st Regiment, West Virginia Light Artillery, Battery C.  The history of the battery is a little confusing but I've pieced together some information from various sources. The battery started out as the 18th Ohio Volunteer Militia, Company B, which was mustered out in August 1861. In September 1861, almost the entire company reenlisted as a battery of light artillery and was offered to the service of Governor Pierpont of West Virginia. The company traveled from Marietta, Ohio to Wheeling, West Virginia.  Battery C (Pierpont Battery) was organized in Wheeling during the first part of 1862.    Most of the men in the battery were from Washington County, Ohio.  I was not able to find a picture of Battery C. But I imagine this photo of Battery F gives a good idea of what Battery C might look like. The battery fought in several battles throughout 1862 and 1863 including Cross Keys, Chancellorsville, the second Battle of Bull ...

Back in high school (early 1980s) I became aware that my grandmother had a Civil War diary from my great-great grandfather Philip L. Loufman. At that time (way before personal computers), I went to her house with a pad of yellow lined paper determined to transcribe the diary. It didn't take me long to be overwhelmed by the task (probably 5 or 10 minutes). The entries were all written in pencil and difficult to read. Add to that my almost total lack of interest in the Civil War, and I had little to no context to understand much of what my great-great grandfather was writing about. What I could understand wasn't very exciting - days on end of drills, fishing and picking blackberries. Needless to say my first attempt at a handwritten transcript didn't get very far.  Years later, in the early 2000s, after my grandmother had passed away, I asked my mom for the diary so I could transcribe it. This second attempt went much better. I had slightly more patience and knowledge of the ...