Bartlett Yancey Malone
"THE DIARY OF BARTLETT YANCEY MALONE"1
The 4th day of June about 11 Oclock in the nite we left our old camp clost to Fredericksburg and marched twar Culpeper and bout 6 O'clock the 5th day we got to Spotsylvaney Coathouse and about 2 o'clock in the eavning we stopt for to camp for the nite after marchen about 20 miles that day And the 6th day we stade in camp untell about 2 O'clock in the eavning for General Hils core was a fiting at Fredericksburg the Yankees crossed ther after they found out that we had left we marched about 8 miles the 6th day and it raind on ous very hard befour we taken up camp.
And the 7th day we started on our march about sun up and about 12 o'clock we waded Rapadan River at Rackoon Foad and about 4 O'clock in the eavning we stopt to camp again in about 5 miles of Culpeper Coathouse.
The 8th day we marched up to Culpeper and stopt to cook Rations The 8 day we staid at Culpeper untell about 3 O'clock in the eavning and then we was ordered down to Brandy Station about 4 miles from Culpeper whar the Calvry hat bin fiting all day and we staid all nite and the next morning we found that the Yankees had all gon back on the other Side of the River and we marched back to Culpeper again and cooked another days rations and about 3 O'clock in the eavning we started again in the direction of Winchester and we got as far as Hasel Run (Hazel Run or Deep Run) by nite And the next morning which was the 11th we started about sun up and about 9 O'clock we got to a littel town cauld Woodwin and whilst we was a passen threw the 6th N. C. Brass Ban plaid the Bonnie Blew Flag. And about eleven O'clock we got to a littel town cauld Sperysvill 5 miles from Woodwin And about 2 O'clock in the eavning we past threw Washington and ther we found a meney pritty and kind Ladies they had water all along the streets for the Soldiers to drink and we dident go but a few miles futher untell we stopt for the nite after going about 20 miles that day.
And the morning of the 12th we started about sun up and about 3 o'clock in the eavning we crossed over the Blew Ridg and past threw a littel town cauld Front Royal and about a
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mile from ther we waded the Shonadoak River and taken up camp on the other bank that nite.
And the morning of the 13th we started at day and when we got in 12 miles of Winchester we found that the Yankees was at New Town on the Pike road running from Winchester to Strawsburg (Strasburg) 7 miles from Winchester and we turnd and went by ther and caught up with the Yankees about half way from ther to Winchester and attacked them and drove them back about a mile by nite
And the next morning which was the 14th General Hooks (Hoke) Bregaid and General Smith and Hoses (?) all moved around to the west of Winchester and taken 20 peases of artillery with ous and when we got opersit the Yankees work the artillery taken ther position and about 3 o'clock in the eavning our Baterys opend on them taken them on surprise and General Hares (?) and General Smith Bregaid charged on them and taken their first line of brest works befour nite And General Johnstons (Johnson) Divishion was a fiting them on the other Sid clost to town
And the next morning which was the 15th the Yankees had left their works and was a trying to make thir escape toward Martinsburg but about day they run up on General Johnstons divishion about 5 miles from town wher three Regt of them was maid to stack thir armes and a grate meney kild and wounded we then marched down to whar Johnston fought them that morning and stopt and staid ther all day
And the next morning about 10 o'clock our Regt was marched back to Winchester for Provost gard and about a hour befour sun down I was sent to Taylor's Hotell with 10 men to gard the Yankees Prisoners And I staid ther the next day and also the next
And the next morning which was the 18th I was relievd about 9 O'clock and started after my Regiment and about 3 o'clock in the eavning we got to Smithfield and by nite we got to a littel plais cauld Leas Town which was 22 miles from Winchester and we staid ther all nite and the next morning we overtaken
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our Regiment about five miles from ther wher we staid all day
And the next day we staid ther
And the 22th we taken up a line of march again about day and about 7 o'clock we past threw Shepardstown and ther waded the Potomac and landed in Maryland about 8 oclock And about 3 miles from ther we past threw. Sharpsburg And about 3 miles from ther we past threw Ketersvill And about 3 miles from ther we past threw Boonesboro and about 3 miles from ther we stopt to camp.
The 23 we left about day and when we had gon about 4 miles we come to Beversvill and about 7 miles from ther we past threw Coverstown And about a mile from ther we past threw Smithburg whar we found a good meney Secesh And about 2 miles from ther we got to a littel town cauld Ringgoal wright war the line run between M. D. & Pa. And about 2 miles from ther we stopt to camp and cook rations closs to Wainsboro.
The morning of the 24 we left about 7 oclock and after marching about 5 miles we come to a town cauld Quincy And about 3 miles from ther we past threw Funktown and about 4 miles from ther we got to Greenswood whar we taken up camp for the nite but our company had to go on yard at a town cauld Faytvill about 2 miles off.
The morning of the 25th I got a Splendid breakfast in Faytville And about 2 Oclock in the eavning we was releaved and went back to the Regt:
And the next morning which was the 26th we had orders to leave at day break but it was a raning so hard we dident leave untell about 8 oclock and it dident Still sease raning but raind all day but we got as far as Momenburg by nite which was 14 miles from wher we left in the morning And our Calvery taken a 135 prisners clost to the lettel town
The 27 we left about 6 oclock and after marching about 6 miles we come to a town cauld Hunterstown And about 4 miles from ther we got to New chester And 3 miles from ther we
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got to Hampton And 3 miles from ther we got to Berlin wher we taken camp for the nite
The 28th we left at sun up and about 12 oclock we got to Yolk which was 12 miles from Berlin:
The 29th we stade at Yolk in the Yankees Hospital.
The 30th we left at day break and taken the same road back that we com And about 12 oclock we got back to Berlin again And when we stopt for nite we was about 20 miles from Yolk:
The Month of July
The first morning of July we left earley and about 12 oclock we got to Gatersburg (Gettysburg) which was about 10 miles from wher we started in the morning And when we got there we found the Yankies was ther And in a few minutes after we got ther we was ordered to the feal Our Bregaid and General Haser (Hays) charged the enemy and soon got them routed and run them threw the town and then we stopt
In our Company George Lyon Marshal Walker and Thomas Richard got kild And Sidney Hensby Anderson Plesant D. A. Walker Garababel Grimstead William Dunervant & Bedford Sawyers was wounded
The 2 day we laid in a line of battel at the Same plais And the enemies picket a firing on us all day Thomas Miles kild on picket Shot in the head And about Sun down our Bregaid and Hoser was ordered to charge just in frund and take the enemes Batterys we charged and succeeded in driven the infantry from behind two stone fences and got part of the Batterys But it was soon so dark and so much smoke that we couldent see what we was a doing And the enemy got to geather again and we had no reinforcement and we had to fall back to our old position Colonel I. E. Avry (Avery) was kild in the charge in our company non kild Andrew Thompson Franklin Wells and R. Y. Vaughn was wounded And Michagels Miles misen
The 3 morning we went back in town and laid in a line of battel all day in the Streets And ther was a great deel of fiting don that day but our Divishion was not cauld on
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The nex morning about a hour befour day we went back about a mile from town and staid ther all day
The morning of the 5 we left befour day and it a raining as hard as it could poor and marched in the direction of Hagerdstown and didnt get but about 6 miles all day for the Yanks calvry kep a running up on ous all day
And the 6th we left at day and about 2 oclock we got to Wainsboro and we past threw town and then stopt to cook rations
The 7th we taken the road to Hagerdstown which was 10 miles from Wainsboro And about 2 oclock in the eavning we got ther and taken up camp
The 8th day it raind very hard and we still stade at the same plais the 8 we staid ther and the 10 we staid at the same place until about a hour by sun And then started and past threw town and went about a mile toward Williamsport and stopt and staid all nite
The 11th we taken our position in a peas of woods and after nite built brest works
The 12th we staid behind our works and no fiting don except sum picketing And after nite we was ordered to the wright And was marched down in rear of A. P. Hills old Divishion
The 13th we staid ther untill dark and then started to retreet back across the Potomac And it was about 6 miles to the river and it was a raning very hard And we was a moving all nite and the next morning about sun up we waded the Potomac at Williamsport and it was waist deep And then we marched about 6 miles and stopt to cook rations
The 15th we marched about 7 miles and stopt at nite clost to Martinsburg And the 16th we marched up to Darksvill and stopt again And we still staid at Darksvill untell about a hour by sun and marched to the Alagater mountain by 10 Oclock in the nite:
The 21 we left at day break and crost the mountain And marched as far as Hedgersvill by 2 Oclock in the eavning which was 25 miles we expected to bag the Yankees at plais but when we got ther they was all gon;
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The 22th we left Hedgersvill and marched back to Bunkerhill whitch was 18 miles.
The 23 we marched and about 10 oclock we marched threw Winchester and taken the road to Culpeper and marched about 5 miles and stopt for the nite:
The 24th we marched near the Shanadoah River and found that the Yankees had got possession of the gap in the Blew Ridg
And then we taken the write and come in to the Winchester and Stanton Road at Middeltown 5 miles from Strawsburg and we stopt at nite clost to Strawsburg which was 23 miles from wher we started at in the morning
The 25th we marched all day toward Stanton and travild about 18 miles and stopt clost to Edensburg:
The 26th we past threw Hawkenstown and 2 miles from ther we come to Mount Jackson and we marched as far as New Market and stopt fer the nite
The 27th we left the Stanton road and taken a road that led to Gordensvill: we crost over the Shanadoah mountian and crost the Shanadoah river on Pontoon Bridges and when we stopt at nite we was at the foot of the Blew Ridg which was 18 miles from Newmarket
The 28th we crost over the Blew Ridg which was 14 miles across it
The 29th we marched up to Maderson coathouse whitch was 6 miles and stopt and taken up camp
The 30 we staid at the same plais
The 31st we left at one Oclock and marched down between Culpeper and Gordensvill
"The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone" (1919) The University of North Carolina, The James Sprunt Historical Publications, Published under the direction of: The North Carolina Historical Society. Editors: J.G. DeRoulhac Hamilton, Henry McGilbert Wagstaff, & William Whatley Pierson, Jr. - Volume 16, Number 2
1INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The following is the diary of a North Carolina farmer, Bartlett Yancey Malone, who fought during the American War of Secession from July, 1861, to November, 1863, when he was captured and made prisoner. He entered the Confederate Army at the age of twenty-three as a private and rose to the rank of a sergeant, being a member during his active service of the 6th North Carolina Regiment. As he said, this regiment at the time of his capture in battle on the Rappahannock River belonged to "General Hooks (Hoke) brigard Early Division Ewels Corps Leas Armey." As his story shows, Malone participated in most of the great battles and campaigns in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. After his capture, November 7, 1863, he was imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland, where he remained until February 24th, 1865.
An inquiry as to the justification for the publication of this document would be pertinent, for on a cursory reading it seems little more than an extended weather report. Mr. Malone performed no extraordinary feat of heroism, at least none such was recorded; he participated with individual distinction in no political movement of importance; he played no role which would cause historians to single him out for particular notice. His diary is reproduced here as a document of human interest which reveals, with much quaintness of expression, the thoughts of a simple soldier of the ranks - the thoughts, it is to be presumed, of a mass of men, which have oftentimes been inarticulate. There is a frankness about this diary that conveys inevitably, I believe, the conviction of sincerity. And there is a lack of emotion - as when in remarking on an event which, we are told, caused the soldiers great grief, the death of Stonewall Jackson, he merely said, "And General Jackson died to-day, which is the 10th day of May" - an absence of bitterness and of complaints which, considering the provocation of circumstances, make the diary of almost as much interest because of these omissions as because of what is included. Perhaps the most conspicuously absent feature
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is that of any statement of the Southern cause for which he was fighting. Not only does the writer refrain from criticism of the North, but he omits to tell why he is fighting for the South. He assumes the Southern cause tacitly and of course. Mr. Malone was chiefly concerned with his job of being a soldier and, as there was no passion nor rancor in his story, there was likewise no exaltation nor fervid declamation. He asserted no particular knowledge of military events nor predicted the result of any engagement. "What the result is to be is more than I no." He did not seem to have been especially elated by victory, and he was certainly not demoralized by defeat - not even that of Gettysburg. He committed himself on rare occasions to expressions which manifested a confidence in the ultimate outcome, as after a successful battle he said: "We whipt them like we aulways do." He was unconsciously a brave man who took a sober sort of joy in fighting. On one occasion, when alluding to a battle of more than four hours in length, which began about three o'clock in the afternoon, he remarked: "we had a wright nice time of it from then on tell dark." There is no notice taken of the horrors of war, of bloody scenes which he must have witnessed on the battlefield; nor were there any complaints made of the pains of the wounds he received. His attitude toward the enemy was unemotional, almost indifferent. He sometimes referred to the federal soldiers as "the Scamps," which, in view of the heated controversies of the time, must certainly be regarded as a mild term of reproach. It is true that he designated General Benjamin F. Butler as the "Yankee beast," but that was an expression then so current in the South as to be conventional so far as Butler was concerned. Having done with these negative, though very significant, aspects, it might be said that, judging from the diary, Malone was chiefly thinking - possibly from a farmer's habit - of the weather with its attendant pleasures and discomforts and about food.
One persistent habit of Malone was to record the texts of sermons which he heard, together with references to their biblical sources. This practice, in addition to revealing some interesting evidence as to the nature of Civil War sermons, will remind some
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readers of the time when it was considered a cardinal sin to be unable to quote and cite the preacher's text. Religion affected him in this way not only, but it influenced his poetry.
That part of the diary which describes Malone's experience as a prisoner at Point Lookout is, I think, an important and valuable addition to the limited, first-hand material dealing with Southerners in Northern prisons. It was when writing his reflections on prison life that the first note of despair comes into his journals. His criticism of the treatment of prisoners there may be summarized under four heads: First, there was not food enough. "Our rations at Point Lookout was 5 crackers and a cup of coffee for Breakfast. And for dinner a small ration of meat 2 crackers three potatoes and a cup of soup. Sugar we have non." Later he described the food supplied by saying, "Our Rations gets no better we get half a loaf of bread a day a smal slice of Pork or Beef or Sault Beef for Breakfast for dinner a cup of Been Soup and Supper we get non." Coffee and sugar, which last commodity had for a time been supplied, had been taken away. At one time his friends caught, cooked and ate a rat. Secondly, he wrote of the poor protection against the cold afforded the prisoners. Many had to sleep on the ground with only one blanket. "All the wood we get at Point Lookout is one sholder tirn of pine brush every other day for a tent. 16 men to every tent." He recorded that five men froze to death on one night. Thirdly, he mentioned the frequent shooting of prisoners by the guards for trivial reasons. At one time he states that a prisoner was shot and killed by the guard "for no reason attall." Fourthly, he rather bitterly resented the placing of negroes as guards over him.
It will seem strange to some that the writer of this diary should have spelled General Lee's name, which undoubtedly was very familiar to him, as "Lea." This spelling of the famous name may be explained by the fact, of which I have been informed, that in Caswell County there were a number of people who spelled their name "Lea," as, indeed, did an officer of Malone's regiment. This and other orthographic curiosities must
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be considered in the light of the fact that he was a graduate of the "corn field and tobacco patch" university.
No serious editing has been undertaken. Outside of an occasional attempt to indicate in some cases the accurate form of certain proper names and places, the diary has been allowed to stand without comment as written.
WILLIAM WHATLEY PIERSON, Jr.
Chapel Hill, N. C., March 25, 1919.