Booknotes: The Civil War Diaries of Charles Kelly

New Arrival:
• The Civil War Diaries of Charles Kelly: The 44th New York Infantry in the War of the Rebellion by Don Owen (Author, 2022).

The direct ancestor of author Don Owen's wife, Charles Kelly was born in Scotland to Irish parents in 1831. His family immigrated to the United States when Charles was 15. They settled in the Empire State, and the prosperous Charles gave up his Penn Yan, NY business pursuits to join the war in October 1862, when he obtained a commission as second lieutenant in Company C, 44th New York. Kelly kept a record of his wartime experiences in a collection of diaries, the entries of which started on October 6, 1862 and ended on October 9, 1864, the latter being the month during which he mustered out of service having been wounded twice during the conflict.

From the description: "Follow the diaries of Charles Kelly, an officer in the 44th New York Infantry Regiment, as he journeys to Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. From there, with General Meade’s Army of the Potomac, he pursued General Robert Lee, as Lee fled from Gettysburg and crossed the Potomac. Charles was with General Ulysses Grant in the first clash between Grant and Lee in the Wilderness. From there Charles fought at Spotsylvania, the North Anna River, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and a dozen other places."

The material is not annotated, but the bibliography reveals that Owen utilized a selection of book, periodical, and newspaper sources along with government publications (principally the O.R.) as his research base. The Kelly diaries are incorporated into the text through both block quotes and splicing of shorter excerpts into the main narrative. Numerous maps, photographs, and other illustrations are sprinkled throughout.