Portrait of a soldier 15333 years of age, Beatty was older than the
typical soldier who mustered into the army
in 1861, and at 5 feet 11 inches, he was taller
than most mid-nineteenth-century
Americans. He was thin, possessed dark hair,
and wore a mustache, characteristic of Civil
War soldiers.
Like most soldiers, Beatty typically began
his journal entries with comments about the
climate. The weather has been delightful,
warm as spring time. The nights are
beautiful' is representative of the remarks he
frequently made. The landscape was also a
source of interest. 'This is peculiar country,'
he remarked while in Louisville, 'there are
innumerable caverns, and every few rods
places are found where the crust of the earth
appears to have broken and sunk down
hundreds of feet.'
Beatty was also struck by the obvious and
routine role that slavery played in the lives
of the Southern people. Upon arriving in
Louisville, Beatty came across a sign that
read 'Negroes Bought and Sold,' and this
struck a cord with the Ohioan. 'We have
known to be sure, that negroes were bought
and sold, like cattle and tobacco, but it
nevertheless, awakened new, and not by any
means agreeable, sensations to see the
humiliating fact announced on the broad
side of a commercial house.' To this he
added, These signs must come down.'
Beatty found camp life both rewarding
and a nuisance. It was rewarding to enjoy
the weather of the South and to hear the
pleasantries of music under moonlit nights.
'The boys are in a happier mood, and a
round, full voice comes to us from the tents
with the words of an old Scotch song.' Still,
it was difficult to keep the men out of
trouble. 'The boys, out of pure devilment, set
fire to the leaves, and to-night the forest was
illuminated.' In August 1862, he wrote: 'I am
weak, discouraged, and worn out with
idleness.' Excessive drinking often brought
retribution and insubordination from the
soldiers. When Beatty arrested a half-drunk
soldier and strapped him to a tree for being
insolent, the soldiers reacted scornfully. 'It
was a high-handed outrage upon the person
of a volunteer soldier,' Beatty observed, and
the common soldiers never let their
commanders forget they were volunteers.
There were also casualties beyond the
battlefield for the soldiers of Beatty's
regiment. When a soldier got a letter from
home that his girlfriend had married
someone else, Beatty remarked that the news
made this soldier 'crazy as a loon.' The poorWhen Confederate General Braxton Bragg marched
into Kentucky in tne summer of 1862, Union General
Don Cartes Buell was forced to pursue him and to
build bridges across the rivers in this picture. Buell's
troops are crossing the Big Barren River. Here the
19th Michigan Engineers had to reconstruct the bridge
by using pontoons located in the middle of the river.
(Review of Reviews Company)