William A. Sypher papers

Scope and Content

Diaries (2 v., 1862 Sept. 2-1863 Dec. 31 and 1865 Jan. 1-1865 July 30, and notations through November 1865) of William A. Sypher, a private in Company A of the 42nd Ohio Infantry during the Civil War, and later pension application information (1890-1901). Handwritten entries made almost daily in diaries describe drills, training and maneuvers, weather conditions, and identify his location, beginning in Columbus, Ohio; including other Ohio sites, Charleston, Virginia; Vicksburg, Mississippi; St. Louis, Missouri; and ending in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. A list of the officers of the company is at the end of the first diary. At the end of the second diary is a list of Confederate boats surrendered upriver (of Vicksburg?); notations of the distances between "MO" (Mobile?) and Baton Rouge, Vicksburg, Memphis, and Cairo, Illinois; and a list of his wages earned from Sept.-November (1865?). Also present in a pocket at the back of the diary is a strip of paper listing names and on the back listing steps in rifle drill and also a military pass, 1864 April 26, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by order of General George Cooke, directing pickets to allow 7 contrabands (probably enslaved people) with 2 guards and a driver to pass through the lines to McHatton plantation. Diary (v. 1: 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.; v. 2: 5 x 3 in.).