Daily diary kept by George Paddock of Meriden, Connecticut. Paddock was fighting in the Civil War with the Seventh Connecticut Infantry, Company C. He listed his location at the top of each entry. The front pocket of Paddock̕s diary holds an envelope, made from letterhead from the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind in Raleigh, NC, and which bears two five-cent Confederate stamps. Inside the envelope is a manuscript Confederate poem. In the back pocket of the diary is a newsprint copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and two small pieces of cloth, one a deep orange and the other a dark blue. Paddock, an unmarried clerk, enlisted on 4 September 1861 and was mustered-in on 6 September 1861. He was wounded in action at the battle of Olustee on 20 February 1864 and was captured at Bermuda Hundred, VA, on 2 June 1864. Paddock was discharged on 12 September 1864. He was in the meat market business with his father and was reportedly the first to introduce "refridgerator" beef to Meriden. Later, Paddock removed to Jackson, MN, where he acquired large real estate holdings.
