- Collection:
- America's Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia
- Title:
- Henry Beck Civil War diaries, 1864-1865 (transcriptions)
- Creator:
- Beck, Henry, b. 1839
- Date of Original:
- 1864/1865
- Subject:
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
- Location:
- United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
- Medium:
- diaries
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- The collection consists of two volumes of Beck's diary compiled during his service in the Army of Northern Virginia. Beck's diaries from 1861-64 were lost in a fire at the headquarters of a Confederate Reunion in Birmingham, in 1894 . In 327 diary entries, Beck provides detailed observations on the daily life of an enlisted man in the Confederate Army. Beck ruminates on weather conditions, daily marches and his primary duty of feeding the troops. He gives detailed accounts of troop movements and battle strategies. Beck vividly recounts the battles at Spotsylvania, 2nd Cold Harbor, Monocacy, Cool Spring, Berryville, Opequon, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. After the Confederate defeat at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, Beck embarks on a four month tour of Northern Virginia in which he attends numerous social functions, attends to daily business in the local towns and meets, courts and falls in love with his future wife. Beck's final diary entries find him back home in Alabama in February, 1865, on what turns out to be a permanent furlough.
Processing Information: Collection reprocessed in 2009.
Henry Beck (1839-?) was born in Germany, immigrated to the United States and settled with his family in Havana, Alabama, in 1857. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in April, 1861, and joined the Army of Northern Virginia. In April, 1864, he became the commissary clerk for Company D of Battle's Brigade, Rode's Division' 2nd Corp. Following the war, Beck moved to Greensboro, Alabama, became a merchant, and married Lucy Heller. The Becks had five children and moved to Birmingham in 1887, where they continued on the family business. Henry was a mason and was an officer in the Knights of Pythias . Additional information about Henry Beck has not been determined.
America's Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia received support from a Digitizing Historical Records grant awarded to the Atlanta History Center, Georgia Historical Society, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the Digital Library of Georgia by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. - External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_turningpoint_ahc0422f-002
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ahc/turningpoint/do:ahc0422f-002
- Language:
- eng
- Rights Holder:
- Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: Henry Beck Civil War diaries, MSS 422f, James G. Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center., as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.
- Original Collection:
- Henry Beck Civil War diaries, MSS 422f, James G. Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta History Center
- Rights:
-
