The colonel's diary; journals kept before and during the civil war by the late Colonel Oscar L. Jackson...sometime commander of the 63rd regiment O. V. I.

Foreword

In his will, Colonel Jackson directed his Executors to edit and publish the Journals he had kept before and during the Civil War, and in compliance with his instructions, I have prepared them for publication. The sketch of his life after the Civil War was prepared by the Hon. Edwin W. Jackson of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

As commander of a company, and later of the regiment, Colonel Jackson carried a note book in his pocket, and during the halt on the march or the lull between charges in the battle, he made notes of the events taking place within his observation. He does not give a history of what is in the past, but paints a moving picture in words, of a soldiers experience in the camp, on the march and in battle, and makes the reader feel that he is present in the stirring scenes he records.

David P. Jackson, M. D. 492 Logan Ave., Sharon, Penna., May bth, 1922.

Table of Contents

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Boyhood Anecdotes 1

Chapter I

Oscar Lawrence Jackson was born on September 2, 1840. His parents were then living in the little village of New Port, situated in what is now Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. His father kept the village store and post office.

About the time Oscar was seven years old, his father had been elected a Justice of the Peace. New Port is on the right bank of the Beaver River, where there was at that time a dam of the Pittsburgh and Erie Canal, with a lock on the opposite side at the hamlet of Hardscrabble. High water on the Beaver had damaged the lock, and the canal boats arriving from either direction had to tie up and remain until the lock could be repaired, which took nearly a month. Quite a company of boatmen had thus become stranded at Hardscrabble. They formed a kind of camp on shore and slept on the boats.

They were a rather lawless set and committed some depredations in the neighborhood. One farmer made information against two of them and they were brought before Squire Jackson for a hearing. There were no lawyers present and one of the accused made a speech in his own defence, arguing that the evidence was not sufficient to justify his commitment for court. He wound up his speech by drawing a pistol and laying it on the table before him with the declaration, "If you send me to jail I will shoot you." Squire Jackson was busily writing his record of the case, and when this threat was made did not even stop his pen, but continued writing as if nothing had been said. The hearing was held in his store room and a set of counter scales was beside him. When he had finished writing, he picked up a pound weight, and rising to his feet, called the constable to come forward. He then read the commitment commanding the constable to take the defendant to the Jail at Beaver and commit him to the custody of the sheriff. The boatman made no resistance but meekly allowed the constable to take him away.

Little Oscar was present at the hearing and heard the boatman's threat of violence. Shortly afterwards an incident occurred which showed that he had inherited his father's resoluteness. His mother took sick and he was sent to request his aunt to come to her assistance. It was necessary for the seven-year-old to unlock a boat and mount the oars and row across the river to where the hostile boatmen were encamped. He was very much afraid of them but without hesitation he rowed across, secured his boat on the opposite shore, and picking up a small stone, walked through the crowd. After passing them some distance, he laid his stone up on a fence rail, and on his return, again armed himself with it, and passed through the enemy to his boat. In this instance he showed the qualities of character which enabled him to do his duty in the face of terrible danger in the great Civil War. His courage was mostly moral courage for naturally he was rather timid and cautious. His strong will power enabled him to suppress his timidity and. when it was necessary, to face danger without flinching, when it was in the line of duty.

When Oscar was ten years old his father bought the interests of the other heirs in the farm, three miles south of New Castle, Pennsylvania, which had been settled by Oscar's great-grandfather about 1797, and. is still in the possession of the family. New Castle was then, in 1854, only a village and the country around quite primitive. The life of a boy on a farm was strenuous and money scarce. In the hope of getting a little pocket money, Oscar gathered a bucket of raspberries and walked with them the three miles to New Castle. He tramped all over the town and went to all the stores but could not sell a berry. Finally a groceryman gave him some New Orleans molasses in exchange for the berries, and he started on his walk home, tired and hungry, but the molasses had fermented and was sour and worthless and frothed out of his bucket. In after life, Colonel Jackson would tell this story with a keen remembrance of the disappointment felt by the weary and footsore boy.

Chapter II

On September 2, 1858, Oscar L. Jackson was eighteen years old. That fall he secured an appointment to teach school in one of the school districts of the township in which he resided, Shenango Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. The school was known as the "VanEman School." By his contract with the school directors of the township, he was engaged to teach four months and twenty-four days to each month. This required teaching on Saturdays in order to complete a month's school in a calendar month. His salary was eighteen dollars cash for a school month, seventy-five cents a day, and boarding on the days the school was in session, but not on Sundays. That is, he was authorized to "board around" with the families of the district. The teacher was quartered on the inhabitants for his subsistence while the school was in session. The custom in that township was for the teacher to spend one night at a time with each family in the district in turn, and when he had gone the rounds, to commence over again until the term was completed. This custom has now gone out of use but it had its advantages. It gave the teacher an opportunity to get acquainted with all the parents in the district and to observe the home life of his pupils, and thus get an insight into their individual characteristics which was very useful in the school room. At the same time it gave the teacher an opportunity to study human nature, and get more or less intimately acquainted with a large number of men and women, giving him a practical knowledge of people. This was a fine addition to the education of any young man or woman and very helpful to them in after life. On the day his school opened he commenced keeping a diary in which was made the following comment on this custom: — "I find boarding around very heartsome but a waste of time. As far as amusement is concerned, I have capital times, and I think I learn something besides. I can see the different characters of men better than ever I did.

Young Jackson commenced his school on November 15, 1858, with ten pupils, the employment of the older boys and girls in finishing the fall work on the farms keeping many out of school at the first of the term. The number of pupils gradually increased until by January 3, 1859, he had fifty-five pupils, w ith an average daily attendance of forty-two.

He liked the business of teaching very well and was encouraged to hear that he received the approval of the people of the district. He attended and took an active part in a teachers meeting held in the evenings at intervals, and occasionally visited other schools in the township to observe methods. Also social parties at some farm house where he enjoyed the company of young men and women or went to Spellings and Singing Schools held in some school house. He had read Bayard Taylor's letters in the "New York Weekly Tribune," describing his European travels under the title "Views Afoot,"" and one day he dismissed school early and walked the seven miles to New Castle to hear him lecture.

While teaching his first term of school he had a source of worry and anxiety in the sickness of his mother who was gradually dying of consumption. Part of the time he walked home four miles in order to be with her at night, or dismissed school to stay with her when she had bad spells. Under date of February 24. 1859, he writes:

My mother is very low at this time and I feel uneasy so much away from home. I would rather be with her more as her end draws nigh. I feel that I am losing my best and greatest earthly •friend and I desire to comfort her who has done so much for me, that I may in part atone for those times in which I did not do as well as I might have done.

His parents were of the Scotch Covenanter sect and were taught that it was a violation of the Second Commandment to have a picture taken, because it said, "Thou shalt not make any likeness of anything in the earth beneath or the heaven above." For this reason there had never been a picture taken of his mother. Oscar was very anxious to get a picture of his mother and in the early fall of 1858 he managed to secure the dollar necessary to pay for it, and started with her in the buggy to go to New Castle for that purpose. They had only gone half a mile when his mothers strength gave out and she told him she was not able to make the trip. He was terribly disappointed for he was convinced she would not live long and there would be no hope of ever obtaining her picture again, but without a word he turned the horse and drove back home.

Under date of Tuesday, March 22, 1859, he writes: When I came home from my school on last evening, mother seemed a good bit worse. She. could talk but little. I asked her how she had been through the day. Her answer was "bad, bad." rhrough the fore part of the night she did not sleep any and seemed to suffer a great deal of pain. I assisted to attend to her all night. Once she asked me if I did not think she would soon be free from pain. I replied that I did. I think these were the last words she spoke to me. She frequently repeated the words Jesus, heaven, home, and she had no other idea than that she was going to heaven and to God. About half past four o'clock, Tuesday, March 22, 1859, she departed this life. We buried her body at the Stone Church graveyard in New Castle. A very large company of neighbors and friends attended her funeral.

(I was eight years old when our mother died and I remember the long procession of farm wagons which followed the hearse the four miles from our house to the church-yard. The family rode in our farm wagon, for such was the primitive custom. There was not a carriage in the township at that time. — Editor)

-After his mothers funeral he went back to his school and finished it. He gave the school an examination, as he called it, at which many of the parents and citizens were present. He writes :

Some of the parents made a few remarks in which they praised me very much for my success in teaching and by a unanimous vote invited me to teach their school next winter, for which I thanked them and also thanked both scholars and parents for their kindness and hospitality.

After finishing his school he worked three weeks at home on the farm and then commenced attending a select school at New Castle, taught by Martin Gantz.

In his diary he gives the following account of the great June frost of 1859:

June 4, 1859. This evening a very heavy frost fell in our neighborhood, and on Sabbath morning (June 5) vegetables, fruits of all kinds, and leaves of the trees seem as if scorched by fire. Great anxiety was shown for the welfare of the growing wheat, the only thing which we thought had escaped the almost general destruction, but on Monday, June bth, our doubts were wholly removed by the wheat turning yellow, as if harvest was at hand, which we did not expect for three or four weeks. The wheat on our farm is a total loss. Barges farmed for us this year and we expected 400 bushels of wheat from the looks of the crop one week ago.

On our farm alone the amount of loss in grain, fruit, vegetable.-; ■ and so on, will be about six to eight hundred dollars. (An immense loss for a farmer in those days. — Editor)

June 10th. We now have news from a distance and find that the territory over which it extends is about as follows: Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Western New York, Indiana, and Illinois. Our county suffers very heavily, probably $200,000 would not more than cover the loss. Sabbath, June 5th, presented the most melancholy sight I ever beheld. The day before, the landscape presented a sight of uninterrupted prosperity, waving grain, growing corn, gardens teeming with the necessaries of life, or showing the taste of a cultivated people; but alas, the work of one short night laid all living products of the soil low, low, forever. Many who the day before thought they were rich, now fear the want of daily bread. The vine, blossoming to cheer the heart of man looks as if smote with fire, and all that is beautiful and good of the husbandman's labor is utterly destroyed. But the energy of the American people, with the blessing of heaven, can again make the desert to blossom like the rose.

July, 1859. Our harvest of grain this year was light, being greatly injured by the frost, but oats, clover and hay are a reasonable crop. I assisted in putting them up and also in working the corn during the vacation of school. Our corn, replanted on June 15th, grew very rapidly after the middle of July and promises a good crop. Buckwheat and potatoes are doing well and the farmers still believe that harvest shall not fail nor the earth cease to yield her increase.

(In 1859, the great wheat raising districts in the West were still in the possession of the Indians and this frost caused wheat to advance greatly in price. Most of the farmers lived on corn and buckwheat cakes until the next harvest. The children took cold corn and buckwheat cakes to school for their noon lunch. —Editor)

TRAMPING IN OHIO

He understood that there were better openings for a school teacher in Ohio than at home, and on August 24, 1859, started on foot with $14.00 in money, carrying his clothing in a carpet sack that weighed fifteen pounds. He walked sixteen miles the first forenoon to his uncles house near Darlington Station on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. At that time this was the nearest railroad station to New Castle, the county seat of Lawrence County. He stayed over night with his mother's relatives there and the next afternoon boarded the cars and reached Steubenville, Ohio, early the next morning, a distance of sixty miles, for which the fare was $1.75, lying over at Wellsville for supper and a bed for which he paid sixty cents. The time the train was actually running to make the twenty-two miles from Wellsville to Steubenville was only twenty-five minutes. He comm.ents that this was "faster than I like to go in the dark."

At Steubenville he found another Pennsylvania school teacher, John Pyle, from Butler County, and they hired saddle horses at a livery stable, paying $1.50 each. They rode twelve miles to Richmond, the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, and took the teachers examination. At Richmond he found a man who agreed to take his horse back to Steubenville and pay twenty-five cents for the privilege. He started on foot that afternoon to search for a school. This was August 26, 1859.

August 26th. I came out as far as Mr. Johnson's and I stayed all night with him. They treated me first rate and would not charge me anything.

Saturday, August 27th. I took dinner with Mr. Winters, a director of the Wintersville school, and a gentleman, but the school was engaged for two sessions. Went to see Mr. Ross who is a very fine man. He directed me to Thomas Hunt, a directon also, but I could not get a school, and he refused to keep me over Sabbath because he was going to church. Next went to Stever Robison's but no school. He also refused to keep me. A rain was coming up and I began to fear a wetting. Went from there to

Mr. Ault's, who agreed to keep me over, and I stayed with him till Monday morning.

Monday, August 29th. This morning on leaving Mr. Ault's I asked what was my bill. I had eaten with him over Sabbath, the fare very common. He said one dollar and that he charged travellers just what the victuals were worth. I supposed from that that I had eaten very large quantities of corn, beans, and so forth, counting by measure. I asked if seventy-five cents would be sufficient, he said it would and I gave it more cheerfully than I would have given 100 cents.

At Island Creek Post Office, I got in company with a Mr. Morrow who recommended me to go with him to the Presbyterian church, for there was preaching at that place and I could get a great deal of information about schools from the directors who would be there. I did so and heard a very good sermon from a Reverend from Pittsburgh. I was introduced to a son of the old gentleman who had brought me to church and he gave me encouragement about their school, so I went home with him and took dinner. One of the other directors appeared willing to employ me and it only remained for the third one to give his consent. Mr. Morrow and I went to his house and told our business. He said they wanted a teacher and he supposed I could have the school. We talked the matter over among ourselves, seemingly satisfactorily, but from some unaccountable reason he refused, all at once, to employ me, nor would he give me any satisfaction why. I bore with such treatment for a little, but reason gave way to passion and I told him what I thought of such a man and left him abruptly, thinking that this was a little of a queer world. From there I went to Jeddo and put up with Mr. Jewetts.

August 30th. This morning when I left Jewetts, they refused to charge me anything but I gave the boy some change. They had treated me very kindly. I journeyed to Shanghai, from there to PCnoxville. Took dinner at James Moore's. Went down Tar Burn's Run from there to Somerset and finally put up at Mr. Henderson's. I crossed Yellow Creek several times. The land about it is very poor; no bridges over the stream and 1 had to pull my socks and wade it. The greatest curiosity I saw was the Tunnel Mill, which is supplied with water by a tunnel cut through a hill.

He spent August 31st calling on several directors but without success. He adds:

I returned to Mr. Henderson's, stayed all night with him. He only charged me three bits (37>^ cents) for keeping me two nights. Very reasonable.

On September 1st, he was offered a school at $25.00 per month, but refused to take it because the wages were too low.

September 2, 1859. I was down in Belmont County today but no chance for employment. One school had nine applicants. I put up at McKrails. They are Quakers and treated me in a regular "thee and thou" style for twenty-five cents. This is my birthday. I am nineteen years of age, weigh about 135 pounds, five feet, eight inches in height.

September 4th, Sabbath. I stayed in Somerset over Sabbath, I did not attend church today but I employed myself part of the day, profitably I think, in reading the Bible and in prayer. I have my pocket Bible with me which was almost the last advice my father gave, namely, "To take it along." He told me, also, when I started from home, to beware of the company with which I associated.

On the 5th he walked to a railroad station and took a train for Wheeling, Virginia, and the next day took passage on a steamboat for New Martinsville, Virginia. He took deck passage because the fare was fifty cents while cabin passage was one dollar. He was warned by a Methodist minister at New Martinsville to be very careful what he said in town, as he was now in a slave state. He writes :

Although the steamboat men were very unmannerly and disobliging, I found Wetzel County, Virginia a harder place. They are great rowdies here. Their schools are in a very bad condition. No general system at all. Pay teachers by subscription. Of all the places I have seen I dislike this most. This may not be a fair sample of Virginia, but, if it is, save me from such.

September 7th. I determined on leaving Virginia, so I crossed the Ohio River in a skiff, rowing it myself, and landed in Monroe County, Ohio. I started on foot for Zanesville (80 miles). I put up all night at Mr. Starke's after being refused lodging at two other places. This man had travelled some himself and could sympathize with a boy away from home. They did not charge me anything but I gave the children some change.

September 8th. I got in company with a Mr. Cooper with a team, who hauled my carpet sack and I rode, on level ground, about twenty miles. I put up in the evening a little early on account of spraining my ankle. I bathed it in water and rubbed it with Davis' Pain Killer which almost cured it. In the morning I could walk very well. I travelled about twenty-six miles.

September 9th. I walked today about twenty-seven miles, and had the diarrhea which weakened me very much. I did not eat any dinner, except a few crackers. I put up at Mr. Moore's. They charged me twenty cents.

September 10. Started early this morning so that I could get to Zanesville before dinner. I enquired at Chandlersville for William Jackson but no one knew him. It commenced raining about ten o'clock and I had to stop at a house on the road-side; but I managed, between showers, to get to town about one o'clock. Went to the Auditor's office and found that William Jackson lived about twenty miles away, near Otsego. Took the cars and came to Norwich and about five o'clock started for their house, distant about twelve miles, but it was so muddy that I could not go, so I put up at Mr. Miller's. The old lady gave me some peppermint and liquor which helped my summer complaint.

September 11. I started about eight o'clock, and for the first few miles I enquired if any knew William Jackson, but none did and I began to fear that they had moved away. I walked some eight miles and was getting very weak when I asked a man I met on the road how far it was to Otsego, and if he was acquainted there and knew William Jackson, when to my surprise it proved to be my cousin, George B. Jackson. I was almost overcome with joy at meeting a friend when I did not expect it. I stayed over Sabbath with him.

September 12. Cousin George and I rode the horses over to Uncle William's. He had seen me before and so had his son, John. We determined to see whether they knew me yet or not. So, when we rode up, George told them I wanted to buy horses, and John started to the meadow and brought up the horses for me. Uncle did not loiow me either, so George told him who I was, but he would not believe him then and said that he had seen me once and could not be fooled that way, but I convinced him of my identity. When John came back with the horses I examined them and we rode them, talked about the price and so on, but from a hint his mother threw out, he began to suspect who I was and finally named me. It was quite a ruse but I could hardly keep from laughing when George told them I was a horse drover.

I remained about one week at William Jackson's, in which time I was at Marquis' Mill, to a Sabbath School celebration at Otsego, to church in the same place, to a singing at Claudius Bainter's, and up through Coshocton County some, at Bloomfield, at Minor Church, etc., etc. Aunt is a very kind old lady and did every thing she could to make my stay profitable. Uncle and John also treated me in a very kind manner and I felt almost at home and I find that friends are good when travelling. The chance for school teaching in the northern part of Muskingum County is very slim, the schools being generally taken. The wages are poor, $24.00 to $30.00 per month of twenty-four days.

September 19. I left Uncle William's this evening for Cousin George's. I intended going on to Somerset, Perry County, in search of employment as a school teacher. My funds are becoming very low. John Jackson lent me two dollars to defray my expenses.

Tuesday, September 20. It is raining and I have abandoned the plan of starting from this place today. I have not as yet received any word from home but I have written three letters. I do not get homesick but som.etimes I feel the blues a little on account of employment.

September 21, 1859. I started this morning at 7:00 in a very heavy fog which continued to hide the sun until about 10:00. In the meantime it rained a little. When I reached the railroad the cars were passing, some twelve passenger cars in one train and going so slow that if I had been aware of it in time I could have got on. The train presents the appearance of a mass of human beings. The reason was that the State Fair was in Zanesville this week. I arrived at Zanesville at one o'clock. The streets are very much crowded with visitors, 40,000 being the estimated number inside the fair grounds today. I went on by rail from Zanesville to Lexington, county seat of Perry County, and put up at Mr. Gordon's.

September 22. I went from Lexington to Somerset today, via John Randolp's and was in Mr. Nurse's school. It will hardly compare favorably with schools of that class in Pennsylvania.

A young Mr. Marlow advised me to go into Hocking County, as he thought the schools there were not all taken yet. I must confess that I feel a little uneasy about getting a situation that will pay. When I left Pennsylvania, I expected to find teachers scarce in Ohio but instead of that they are plentier than in Lawrence County. I have been in some eight counties and there is scarce a school in any of them but is taken and those that are not, have from one to nine applicants. Indeed I have no doubt that there are more school teachers in Ohio at this time than schools. The wages are good, varying from $24.00 to $36.00 for males, and $16.00 to $30.00 for females.

Somerset is a pleasant village and, according to my fancy, can boast of some very pretty girls. But, unfortunately, in my opinion, there are a great many Catholics. They (that is the Catholics) have a College, Church, Academy, etc. here. I, unawares, put up with a Catholic family tonight and was almost frightened when I found it out, but my fears were groundless, for they treated me first rate and refused to take any pay. The name was Crossing.

(This illustrates the way the Scotch- Irish ^settlers regarded Catholics, who were very rare in the part of Pennsylvania in which Oscar was raised. The feud between the sects in Ireland still influenced them. — Editor)

I had an opportunity of examining their books, etc. Their version of the Bible differs very little from ours, and that difference is in names more than in doctrine, and in arrangement more than history, as far as I examined. Their confession of faith commences with very good sense but it soon runs into the absurd — to a Protestants' view. They have numerous crosses hung up in their houses, one or two in every room. One of the brother Catholics had a "raising " today (that is, a large gathering of neighbors to put up the frame of a barn) and, as a natural consequence, a dance in the evening. Mr. Crossing's boys (where I was staying) urged me to go down to it and I consented. I found quite a crowd of both sexes. Black Betty having gone dry, a man was started to town for some more — what? Why, liquor, of course.