104 pp. (numbered 21-124) in a larger ledger book, pp.5- of which contain notes in another hand concerning the organization of a Civil War Unit, the Ann Arbor Greys. 9¼x6, red leather decorated in gilt.
Fascinating, well-written and very legible diary of a young man traveling westward with a small company during the second year of the Civil War. The group, possibly a military unit, was certainly organized in military fashion, with 20-year-old Samuel Delano King being elected "1st corporal or orderly sergeant corporal, it is the worst position in the lot on account of having extra guard duty to do..." The party gets their mules, which they must break, and heads west along the Platte. King describes in detail the events of the trek, the country passed through, and the miles traveled each day, as on Saturday, July 12th, 1862, "Traveled 24 miles, passed some beautiful scenery, passed chimney rock which is a great & grand freak of nature, is of the shape of a cone with a round chimney at the peak or a reversed funnel, the cone part is four hundred feet high & the chimney part one hundred & fifty..." Though King and his companions encountered no hostile Indians themselves, they heard word of troubles, "...there is a company of soldiers stationed here, last night or yesterday afternoon they had fifty mules & horses stolen they were in charge of a teamster four miles from camp the teamster was shot twice (killed) supposed to be done by `Bannock Indians'..." The unit drinks in the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, "...a party of 12 of which I was one took a trip over to the Great Falls on Snake River, they are the grandest I have ever seen or expect to see Niagara is very tame, the channel through which the river runs is at least fifteen hundred feet deep, solid rock..." By the 15th of October they had made it to Walla Walla, "a place of about three or four hundred legitimate inhabitants & about two thousand floating. The place is composed principally of gambling, the mayor keeps a gambling saloon, this class of men govern all city matters. Every thing is high, board $10 a week & every thing else in porportion." The next several months are spent around Walla Walla. This diary was evidently copied by King from smaller daybooks he kept, for in his final entry he states "June 11th to Sept. 1st 1863, Having lost my small journal I will have to rely upon memory or wholly dispense with these two & a half months of my existence."
Condition:
Wear to the covers, spine strip detached with half of its leather covering gone; the portion of the ledger at front regarding the formation of the Ann Arbor Greys was formerly glued together in spots, with damage resulting when the pages were opened; the bulk of the diary, the portion used by King, is in quite nice condition.