War Diaries (July 1) (nonfiction)
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Diaries
Van Buren Oldham: July 1, 1864
After dark last night we went out over town finally calling in at the theater where we paid two dollars to see a few paintings and hear a few songs sung. Two hours here was spent most disagreeably then we returned to the hospital. This morning I went to the barber had my hair cut and after going back and taking breakfast with Jones I started on the cars for Atlanta falling in with Capt[ain] Head. I have spent all the money sent to me from home, selling my last ten doll[ar] bill of greenback yesterday for $35.00. Reached Atlanta at 4 o'clock P.M. Found a train ready for Marietta, but thought I would stay over the night with Capt[ain] Head who was going to stop. I found upon going to the hotel however the guards were too numerous so I had taken a seat in a crowded boxcar and came to Marietta. Found the Div[ision] Hospital close to town and L[ieutenant] Lyons[1] staying in it from the effects of a slight wound. I will remain with him tonight. The battle line is close to Marietta and I can see our batteries at work on top on Kennesaw Mount[ian]. The Yankees have approached in parallels to within a few yards of my Brig[ade] so that rocks, hand grenades and etc. are used. The boys are seeing a hard time.
—Martin Van Buren Oldham, Company G, 9th Tennessee Infantry ("The Hickory Blues") (diary)
[1] Assumed to be Lieutenant Samuel H. Lyons of Company H 9th Infantry
- https://www.utm.edu/departments/special_collections/E579.5%20Oldham/text/vboldham_1864.php
- https://www.utm.edu/departments/special_collections/E579.5%20Oldham/text/vboldham_indx.php
George Beck: July 1, 1940
Had all my hair cut off. No blankets but just bare boards to sleep on. Received for dinner four potatoes with skins on, drop of thin soup. Tea fifth of a small loaf and nothing for breakfast but coffee. Dinner was twelve o’clock and tea at one. Next meal in twenty tree hours time. Tried to make cigs out of coffee grounds and clover.
—George Beck (diary)
Reina Spiegel: July 1, 1941
We’re all alive and well. All of us, Nora, Irka, Zygus, my friends, my family. Tomorrow, along with all the other Jews, I’ll have to start wearing a white armband. To you I will always remain the same Renia, but to others I’ll become someone inferior: a girl wearing a white armband with a blue star. I will be a Jude.
I’m not crying or complaining. I’ve resigned myself to my fate. It just feels so strange and sorrowful. My school vacation and my dates with Zygus are coming to an end. I don’t know when I’ll see him next. No news about Mamma. God protect us all.
Goodbye, dear diary. I’m writing this while I’m still independent and free. Tomorrow I’ll be someone else—but only on the outside. And perhaps one day I’ll greet you as someone else still. Grant me that, Lord God, I believe in you.
—Renia Spiegel began her diary in January 1939 at the age of 15.
- Excerpts from the Diaries of Renia Spiegel @ Smithsonian Magazine
George Beck: July 1, 1944
Had to give a glass of urine up for examination. Today first time I’ve had any food since Sunday, just about starving. Nun gave me a bag of pastry and started crying, said she had a son in France only seventeen, she hopes he is taken prisoner then she will know at least he is safe her husband is a toff and sleeps in the next bed to me.
—George Beck,1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment, prisoner of war (diary)
In the News
Fiction cross-reference
Nonfiction cross-reference
- George Beck (nonfiction)
- Reina Spiegel (nonfiction)
- Martin Van Buren Oldham (nonfiction)
- War (nonfiction)
- War Diaries (nonfiction)
External links
- https://www.utm.edu/departments/special_collections/E579.5%20Oldham/text/vboldham_1864.php
- https://www.utm.edu/departments/special_collections/E579.5%20Oldham/text/vboldham_indx.php
- http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/george_beck.htm
- Excerpts from the Diaries of Renia Spiegel @ Smithsonian Magazine
- http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/george_beck1.htm