Diary of a Yankee engineer
Subtitle: the Civil War story of John H. Westervelt, engineer, 1st New York Volunteer Engineer Corps
By: edited by Anita Palladino.
Contributors: Palladino, Anita.
Series: The North's Civil War,; no. 1
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 265
Subjects: Westervelt, John H. -- Diaries.; United States. Army. New York Engineer Regiment, 1st (1861-1865) -- Biography.; Military engineers -- New York (State) -- Rockland County -- Diaries.; New York (State) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.; Rockland County (N.Y.) -- Biography.
Genres: Diaries.; Personal narratives.; Biography.
Description: On September 8, 1862, John H. Westervelt enlisted as a private in the 1st New York Volunteer Engineer Corps. That same year, Westervelt shipped out of New York aboard the Star of the South to South Carolina to join the Union campaign near Charleston. In April of 1863, he began a journal for his thirteen-year-old son Frazee.

One hundred and thirty-one years later, John Westervelt's journal - 68 entries written on a series of tattered yellow pages, a record of "such things as may come under my personal observations" - was found in the trash outside his former home in West Farms, New York. Soon after, his drawings, meant to accompany the journal, were discovered in the West Point Special Collections Archives.

The journal and the drawings have been reunited at last in Diary of a Yankee Engineer, giving a poignant, first-hand view of a soldier's experiences during the War of the Rebellion. Westervelt's words, not intended for the history books but for the education of his young son, present an authentic and rare look at the soldier's life. This is the story of an ordinary man in an extraordinary time - a man who lived as he thought right, and who died in consequence.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-262) and index.