The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd Fifteenth Iowa Infantry 1861-1863

by Boyd, Cyrus F.

• ISBN13: 9780807123287
• ISBN10: 0807123285
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-01
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr

Summary

A native of Warren County, Iowa, Cyrus F. Boyd served a year and a half as an orderly sergeant with the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry before becoming first lieutenant in Company B of the Thirty-Fourth Iowa Infantry. His diary - expanded in 1896 from a pocket diary he carried on his campaigns from Indianola, Iowa, to Lake Providence, Louisiana - offers a full account of soldiering in the Union army. Before his promotion, Boyd was an intermediary between privates and company officers, a position that offered him unique opportunities to observe the attitudes and activities of both the unit leaders and their men. The outspoken Boyd frankly expresses his opinions of his comrades and his commanders, candidly depicts camp life, and intricately details the gory events on the battlefield. Although not always pleasant reading, The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd is a vibrant, honest chronicle of one man's experiences in the bloody conflict.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the 1998 Edition	1	(2)
Introduction to the 1953 Edition	3	(2)
Part I--Indianola, Iowa, to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee October 15, 1861--April 7, 1862 The Battle of Shiloh	5	(35)
Part II--Pittsburg Landing to Iuka, Mississippi April 8, 1862--September 20, 1862 The Siege of Corinth	40	(30)
Part III--Iuka to Lafayette, Tennessee September 22, 1862--December 31, 1862 The Battle of Corinth	70	(32)
Part IV--Lafayette to Lake Providence, Louisiana January 1, 1863--March 14, 1863 The Canal at Lake Providence	102
ILLUSTRATIONS after page 68
The Battle of Shiloh (from Harper's Weekly, April 26, 1982)
Portraits of Cyrus F. Boyd, Hugh T. Reid, William W. Belknap, Daniel Embree, and John MacArthur
The Battle of Corinth (from Harper's Weekly, November 1, 1862)
Map of U.S. Grant's Campaigns, 1862-1863