Extraordinary war-date soldier’s leather-bound manuscript diary kept by John Conway Shaler of Hampton’s Battery (Pittsburgh), leather-bound, 3.75 x 5.25, approximately 123 pages, covering the period from October 1, 1862, to January 31, 1863. Shaler’s outfit, Battery F of the Pennsylvania Volunteers was organized in Pittsburgh in October 1861 under the leadership of Robert B. Hampton. The Battery was soon ordered to join General Nathaniel Banks’ forces on the Upper Potomac, and arrived at the front on October 15. The Battery engaged the enemy on various occasions into the early months of the following year, and on February 26, 1863, pushed the Confederates, led by Stonewall Jackson, as far as Edinburg; within weeks, the enemy had been driven to Cross Keys. During the fateful following July, the Battery, stationed at the peach orchard, fought at Gettysburg in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, the Union achieving victory only at great human expense. Shaler traces the activities of the Battery in the earliest months of its existence, detailing both the realities of army life and tracing the outfit’s movements and activities in detail. Some excerpts: “Received a box from home containing flannels, books, buttons, preserves &c. To pass way time we have a game of ball [baseball?] this afternoon…. To leave this place in the morning at six o’clock to go to Maryland Heights near Harper’s Ferry…. There is an alarm of rebels…. Find they are moving the same we are and we start again…. Commence cutting logs to build a hospital…. See a government balloon tied down in a ravine. The view from the heights which we reached late in the afternoon is magnificent. One of the most desolate sights I ever saw is a large deserted camp here…. Reach Charleston at 9 o’clock take a number of the citizens into custody…. There is a murmur in camp that we are to join Genl. Bank’s [sic] naval expedition to Texas…. Gen. Slocum with us all day…. A church near the road side set on fire by some straggling soldiers. The wretches!… By short moves and long stops we make but a few miles and go into camp early….” Accompanied by a fine unsigned copy of the 1909 book History of the Hampton Battery F, Independent Pennsylvania Light Artillery, the standard history of the outfit, which provides much background and additional information on Shaler’s comrades and the trek he records. In very good condition. with expected wear and a few tears to covers, and mild toning and soiling to interior, the writing remaining quite clear, dark, and legible. R&R COA.
