The Diary of Civil War Private Richard Dodge

The Civil War began in 1861 and continued until the surrender of the Confederate Army in 1865. During that period thousands of men from both sides fought and died. The towns of Lisbon, Lyman, and Landaff, New Hampshire, sent over 188 young men into service, and forty (21%) died, 43 (22%) were disabled and about 26 were reported as deserters. The remainder were either discharged or mustered out without physical injury. Essentially, over forty percent of those sent were either killed, died from disease, or disabled.Richard Dodge was from Lyman, New Hampshire and wrote his diary during the period from January, 1863 through July, 1863. His enlistment began in Concord, New Hampshire and from there the regiment traveled by train to Connecticut where they boarded a steamer to New York. On December 11, 1862, Richard’s Company C boarded the steamship Cambria and proceeded along the east coast and then along the south coast of Florida before heading to Ship Island to take on coal. From there they headed for the Mississippi River and steamed up river to Carrollton, Louisiana where they disembarked at 3 p. m. on December 26, 1862. The entire voyage took fifteen days.