A Boy in Blue
n.p. n.d. (7) unnumbered typed pages. in blue paper binder. 28cm. Apparently a daughter's effort to record her father's account of his Civil War Service from what he had told her over the years. Lahnan reports that he enlisted in Company E of the 13th Michigan Volunteers (probably the 13th Michigan Infantry Regiment which was raised mostly around Kalamazoo). Lahnan's described service tracks pretty closely with the movements of the regiment except for a clanking reference to Vicksburg, since the 13th never went to Mississippi. Lahnan recounts their success in figuring out that a sick African American in a cabin was trying to hide lots of tobacco. He also writes of the long lines of African Americans following the Army and hoping for something to eat when the Army was having trouble feeding the soldiers. He says that the march to Savannah left him pretty much wasted away -- down 50 pounds from his initial weight of 145. Between oysters and milk his health was restored. He meets and doesn't recognize someone even more ragged and emaciated who turns out to be a friend who had escaped from Andersonville. His regiment's arrival in Washington ends happily when Sherman demands that his ragged troops be allowed to stay in the city. This brief account concludes with: "As Congress was not in session at the time we had a mock legislature with one of our soldiers acting as speaker of the house and other taking part as though the House was in session. Then came the day of the big parade." Very Good. Item #92973
Price: $225.00