Papers, 1856; 1863-1864; 1905.

ArchivalResource

Savage, Minot J. (Minot Judson), 1841-1918. Papers, 1856; 1863-1864; 1905.

Papers, 1856; 1863-1864; 1905.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/207169270

Savage's diary includes printed pages listing officers and members of the U.S. Christian Commission, instructions to the delegates, and "general suggestions"; a short section of memoranda concerning soldiers, their home addresses, regiments, and the nature of their wounds and illnesses, and requests, and an almost daily record of 81 pages from 16 September 1863 through 9 November 1863. The diary cites his own series of "firsts" (first ride in a sleeping car, first dinner in a soldiers' camp, first ambulance drive, etc.), his fellow delegates and their home parishes, their travel from Boston via train, boat, and wagon train to the battlefields and field hospitals around Louisville, Kentucky, Bridgeport, Alabama, Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee, their illnesses, the care of wounded on or off the battlefield, travel and lodging conditions, the morale of soldiers, his impressions of the South and Southerners, his one experience teaching "in the negro school" (p. 48), his attendance at an evening service at "the Colored Ch[urch] beyond the Chattanooga Depot," (p. 57-59), the activity of generals, and a succinct description of his duties as a delegate: "Distributed papers & bks. Supplied some shirts & cloths. Talked with the men; found out how wanted to be a Christian." (p. 32). At several points he is frustrated in his intention to carry out his duties; too many delegates in one place, no wounded soldiers on a train he met, and, when he arrived on Sunday, 25 October, to hold religious services, he learned that the entire 3rd East Tennessee Cavalry had embarked upon a scouting expedition. Savage's longest stay was in Nashville, where he visited the office of the U.S. Christian Commission when he was not too ill, spoke with wounded soldiers, distributed reading matter, and saw Mt. Olivet Cemetery. On his way home, he toured the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, where he had his travelling companions sign his diary, and for which he listed a separate log of expenses (p. 112) in contrast to the total expenses (p. 82) incurred during his nearly two months in service. Pasted in the back of the diary are three "passes" and a ferry ticket. There are five items in the miscellaneous folder, including: a letter to Savage from his brother Wilbur, dated 18 October 1856; two commissions from the Office of the U.S. Christian Commission, Philadelphia, one dated 13 August 1863, the other dated 21 September 1863 (these served as his identification papers and appear to have enabled him to board trains without charge); a commission, dated 6 August 1864, from the American Home Missionary Society appointing him missionary to "publish the Gospel in the State of California,--to any congregation or congregations, whose invitation, by the advice of the Agent of the Pacific Coast, You May accept"; and an acknowledgement of 3 November 1905 from Buckingham Palace, addressed to G. P. Putnam's Sons, reporting that "His Majesty...is happy to accept the Volume" by Rev. M. Savage.

1 v. (112 p.) ; octavo.1 folder (5 items)

American Antiquarian Society