James H. Evans papers

The collection concerns James H. Evans; Company F, 7th Wisconsin Volunteers, US Army; and the POW camp at Salisbury, NC in 1864. Contains a diary, recorded in 1864 and early 1865, and a New Testament, provided by the Confederate Bible Society. James H. Evans, of Cassville, Wisconsin, enlisted in Company F. of the 7th Wisconsin Volunteers, on Wednesday, February 3, 1864, and was formally sworn in three days later. The 7th Wisconsin was a part of the First Brigade, Fourth Division, Fifth Corps of the Union Army. Soon after his enlistment, he was transported by rail to Madison, then Chicago, then Baltimore, then Washington. From there, his regiment was marched to Culpeper, Virginia and eventually saw combat at the Battle of the Wilderness. Evans began recording this diary in February of 1864, shortly before he enlisted. The blank pages for the month of January 1864 would come in handy in early 1865, when he needed additional space to record his activities and thoughts that year. When examining the original diary, the reader should be aware that the first pages of this volume record his writings for 1865. Other entries for January 1865 also appear in the very back of this volume. In the transcription, the recordings for 1865 appear at the end, for the sake of convenience and clarity. Evans’ diary entries are erratic (only about half of the pages have any writing) and not always coherent. Even so, there is plenty of valuable information to be gleaned from its pages, providing insights not only into the life of an infantryman, but also into the life of a prisoner of war. Some of the most important days of Evans’ life were May fifth and sixth, the days when he entered combat at the Battle of the Wilderness, was wounded and taken prisoner. Fortunately, though he was shot through the leg, the bullet must not have hit a bone. If it had, his leg would have had to have been amputated, and there is no record to indicate that it had. On May sixth, he wrote that he “got a Negro to carry me on his back …into an Ambylance.” Later entries show that his leg injury gradually improved. Evans also recorded that the Confederate authorities transported him and other prisoners around to a variety of locations, until keeping him at the POW camp at Salisbury, North Carolina until his death. Evans frequently wrote of his memories of his friends and family back in Wisconsin, sometimes only listing their names, and at other times, writing of his plans for his return home and what he intended to do once he got home. Most entries record the weather and what he ate, both before and after his capture.