Papers of Lewis N.T. Allen, 1863-1866.

ArchivalResource

Allen, Lewis N. T., b. 1840. Papers of Lewis N.T. Allen, 1863-1866.

Papers of Lewis N.T. Allen, 1863-1866.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/456460675

Allen's pocket diary that he kept from Sept. 4 1863 to Apr. 9 1864, a fair copy of his Civil War diary created probably in the 1870s, and his correspondence that covers the period of his military service. The pocket diary includes occasional records of the picket, guard, and other details of his duties as Corporal of Co. G of the 72nd Illinois Infantry Regiment (Sept. 5 1863 to Mar. 19 1864), a brief account of a trip to New Orleans as a guard to Gen. Butterfield and reporting for duty at the 64th Regiment of Colored Infantry. Also included is what looks like a sample of phonetically recorded speech of an African American soldier, a draft of a love letter, and miscellaneous accounts. The fair copy of Allen's Civil War diary covers his service in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi from Oct. 1 1862 to Apr. 26 1864, including the battle of Champion Hill and the siege and capture of Vicksburg. Detailed entries contain personal reflections, (he was prone to sentimentalizing: a receipt of fifty cents worth of postal stamps from home prompted a paean to motherhood), and lively accounts of camp life, especially prayer meetings, Bible classes, attending local churches, and sermons delivered by the regimental chaplain. (He held rather skeptical views of professional chaplains who did very little for the souls of masses that surround them and are only concerned about collecting their $120 and getting home.") The entries describing the regiment's duty at Memphis, Tenn. include a rather colorful account of a "Mascarade ball" that his company was ordered to disperse; when Captain unmasked the revelers, "he found we had both soldiers and citizens, some officers, one major" as well as "a number of men belonging in town, and a dozen young women of not very good character, some of them extremely handsome and very bold." The diary also describes encounters with Confederate prisoners and African Americans with whom he seemed to be particularly fascinated. On July 20 1863 Allen recorded: "The negroes are enlisting. Today eleven hundred went up to Vicksburg to join a Regiment there they look gay in their uniform." Noting a backlash from the "rebels" who had "killed many innocent colored people and two white men only a few miles from here," he adds: "The men are getting almost mad with being so treated and say if ever they take any prisoners they will kill them ... I don't blame them for many are their old masters and overseers." Some of the local residents who had refused to obey the commands of Negro soldier "soon find the blue coats are bound to be respectful whether on a white or Black man ... I like their way of putting down the rebellion and intend while I am instructing them to be soldiers to help them put down the rebellion in the most decisive manner." The correspondence include love letters that Allen exchanged with sweetheart Maggie between October 1863 and February 1866. Maggie's letter of Feb. 18, 1866 describes a fundraising event to benefit the Freedmen's Bureau. Letters to Allen from his siblings -- Sarah A. (b. 1843), Samuel (b. 1844), Ira H. (b. 1848), and Joseph R. (b. 1849) Allen and other relatives in Urbana, Ill. convey local news and gossip (the school, holidays, parties, people leaving for Ohio and Kansas, etc.) and family news, including the death of his sister Caroline (b. 1846). There are also letters from Allen's friends, including Arthur E. Howell, Captain Co. H, 64th Regiment of Colored Infantry, and a letter from Robert Henry McCounaughy of Champaign, Ill. to "Friend John" (1863, Dec. 12) that contains a lengthy discussion of pros and cons of getting an officer's commission in a "Negro Regiment."

43 pieces : also printed materials and ephemera.1 box.

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