William H. Tillson Diary, 1863-1864

ArchivalResource

William H. Tillson Diary, 1863-1864

William H. Tillson Diary, 1863-1864

http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/t/Tillson,William_H.html

William H. Tillson was mustered into Company E, 84th Illinois Infantry Regiment, United States Army, on 1 September 1862. He was captured by Confederate troops while foraging for water on 21 September 1863, the day after the Battle of Chickamauga. He was eventually taken to Libby Prison in Richmond, Va., travelling through Chattanooga, Tenn.; Atlanta, Ga.; Augusta, Ga.; Columbia, S.C.; Charlotte, N.C. (which he mistakenly called Charlottesville); Raleigh, N.C.; and Petersburg, Va. He spent the next several months as a prisoner of war before being exchanged in April 1864. He was discharged from the Army due to wounds on 22 September 1864. The collection contains William H. Tillson's handwritten transcription of the diary that he kept, 1863-1864, while a prisoner of war. The diary describes his capture while foraging for water the day after the Battle of Chickamauga, where he was serving with the 84th Illinois Infantry Regiment; his transportation from Georgia to Virginia through various locations in the South; and his confinement in a warehouse adjoining Libby Prison in Richmond, Va. The diary details conditions within the prison and the reaction of southern soldiers and civilians to the captured Union soldiers.

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eng,

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection