The most interesting, and probably the most useful portion of the collection are Bennett's diaries, kept for all of 1863 and for January-February and October-November, 1864. According to an entry of October 10, 1864, he had lost the journals he had made for the earlier months of the year, a regrettable incident, for his writing was detailed and gave unusually observant pictures of the life and activities of the Union forces with which he was associated.
He took an active part in the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and in 1864 was a member of Sherman's army in Mississippi and Georgia. Not only did he comment on the campaigns with insight, but he was also a keen observer of the conduct of his fellow soldiers under many conditions. Thus, he described vividly such incidents as the ribald celebration following the reenlistment campaign in the regiment, the destruction of a stretch of enemy railroad, successful and unsuccessful foraging expeditions, the wit of soldiers spending the night in rain-soaked trenches, the loss of men and animals from exhaustion during a hurried march in pursuit of fleeing rebel forces.
Sometimes ill, sometimes shivering with chill and dampness, often homesick for his wife, Bennett frequently wrote with a tinge of bitterness. Particularly did he distrust the medical profession, upon whom he blamed many deaths and unnecessary brutality in the treatment of the sick and wounded, although he added that this was an evil of war “insufficient to wean one from the glorious and righteous cause in which we are engaged.”
The presidential election of 1864, he considered “the great battle of the war,” capable of deciding the fate of the nation; a Lincoln partisan, he viewed the possibility of McClellan's election as a disgraceful calamity. Despite the miseries he saw or felt, he was not blind to the beauty and interest of much of the Southern territory through which he passed; that the Southerners should be devoted to their land, he understood, and he regretted the willful destruction of Southern property, and profiteering at the expense of the afflicted people.
Of interest too is a notebook in which Captain Bennett made miscellaneous entries in the period from 1862 to 1864: accounts for the money which he kept for other men in the company, mess table accounts, list of supplies drawn and issued; orders and prices of special clothing and equipment for himself and others; the 1862 election returns for Co. I; and lists of men wounded, killed, discharged, transferred, and deserted in the company in 1864.
Also included in these papers is the Orderly Sergeant's roll book for Co. I from October 29, 1861 to August 31, 1862. The men were listed individually, and daily notations made to show whether they were present, absent, ill, on detached service, and so on.
This collection is also available online; click here.
