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Preferred Citation

John Mottram Diary, 1865, Accession #10988, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The John Mottram Diary was purchased from James Cummins Bookseller of Pottersville, New Jersey, on October 31, 1990.

Scope and Content Information

This is a 1865 morocco wallet diary which belonged to Private John Mottram, Company K, 13th New Hampshire Volunteers, Army of the James. The inside cover bears two inscriptions: "Steal not this Book for fear of shame for here you see the owners name" and "Mr. John Mottram Co. K 13th N. H. Chaffin's Farm Va Genl Ords Head Quarters." The 13th New Hampshire, part of the 2nd Division under the command of General Edward Ord, was stationed near Chaffin's Farm (Fort Harrison). Mottram, a thirty-six-year-old Portsmouth resident, enlisted in the regiment on September 20, 1862 and served until mustered out on June 21, 1865. [See S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth Regiment Of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry In The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin And Company, 1888), page 682]. Throughout the diary Mottram is merely an observer and chronicler of events and typically employs the phrases "This Morning is very fine" or "All is well." The majority of the entries are in ink; synopses of several are appended at the end of this guide.

Prefaced by the usual calendar, population, distance, rates of postage, eclipses and other tables of information, entries are brief due to the limited number of lines allotted for each day during the period of January 1 to July 3, 1865. His regiment was among those participating in the Union Army's nine-month siege of Petersburg and it later saw duty during the occupation of Richmond. There are numerous references to drills, inspections, dress parades, rifle practice (with blanks), picket duty, and the arrival of Confederate deserters. Other members of the 13th New Hampshire mentioned by name are Captain Matthew T. Betton (who receives a haircut from Mottram on February 13) and Lieutenant Colonel Normand Smith; also of interest is Mottram's mention of the 13th New Hampshire's posing for a daguerreotype (February 3).

Mottram mentions several prominent Union generals (Ulysses Grant, Benjamin Butler, John Gibbon, William T. Sherman) and civilians (Abraham Lincoln and members of his cabinet) as visitors to the front and claims to have seen Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his staff across the lines (January 16). He also is a eyewitness to the departure of the Confederate peace commissioners [Vice- President   Alexander Stephens (1812- 1883), Judge John A. Campbell (1811-1889), and Senator Robert M. T. Hunter (1809-1887)] for talks with President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward during what later became known as the Hampton Roads Peace Conference (February 9). Other entries of interest include: desertions by members of the 81st New York (January 21 and April 2); doughnuts for dinner (February 19); black Union troops reviewed by General Gibbon (March 14); a member of the 12th New Hampshire shot for desertion (February 9); and St. Patrick's Day celebrations during a grand review held for Lincoln and Grant (March 17).

Private Mottram misplaced his diary and had to search the camp for it (March 4); he also witnessed the capture of Richmond on 3 April and was among the first Federal troops to enter the city. He has nothing good to say about the Confederate capital, its paroled rebels or African-Americans residents; indeed, he agrees with the decision by the Union military ordering blacks to leave (April 3-19). During this period he notes Lincoln's visit to the city (April 13); the starving condition of Manchester residents (April 5); and the arrival of Governor Francis Pierpont (May 11). (On the diary's back inside cover Mottram's address during the occupation is given as "Richmond, 5th Street/April 7, 1865.")

There are no entries from July 3 to August 20 and August 22 to December 31, 1865. However, for August 21 there is a pencilled reference to a report by the Secretary of the Navy on "the Polaris Castaways ." [43rd Congress, 1st session, executive document 1, part 3]. This is in reference to an ill-fated U. S. naval arctic expedition of 1871-1873 during which its commander was murdered by arsenic. [The report is found in 43rd Congress, 1st session, executive document 1, part 3. For a narrative of this expedition see Pierre Berton, The Arctic Grail (New York: Viking, 1988), Chapter 9.]

The back pages of the diary contain various memoranda notations, apparently jotted down by Mottram to add details of specific events, especially those omitted from his chronological entries. They include or make mention of: a longer description of the 13th New Hampshire's entry into Richmond; (April 2); Lincoln's Richmond visit (April 2); a lieutenant arrested for shooting a picket and later hanged (February 7 & 18); and a soldier shot for desertion (March 26). Also present in this section is a list of battles [1862-1864] in which the 13th participated, a roll of Company K members who enlisted at Portsmouth; cash accounts, 1865 and 1872; prices for items of clothing, 1864-1865; and "The Japanese hair stain (?) of S. G. Upham(?), 25 South 8th Street, Philadelphia," apparently a series of minature watercolor designs.

Selected Chronological Diary Entries, 1865

January 1: Receives blank diary as a present from his wife Jane (January 22)

January 2: Stationing of the regiment at Chaffin's Farm, Virginia

January 3: Afternoon snowstorm

January 4: Arrest of Private Thomas Greasom(?) for stealing from a sutler

January 5: JM assigned to build a stable at the headquarters of Major Gen. Alfred H. Terry's staff

January 9: Captain [Matthew T.] Betton returns from furlough, delivering JM's watch chain from home

January 11: Eight rebel deserters cross over to Union lines

January 12: Captain Betton commences a school for military tactics

January 13: Gen. Benjamin F. Butler is relieved of command, Army of the James

January 14: Regimental inspection; Butler's farewell address to the troops; is replaced by Gen. John Gibbon as commander of the XXIV Corps

January 16: Gen. Lee and his staff are seen across the lines by JM

January 17: Visit by Sanitary Commissioner John Davis

January 20: JM has seven months left in the army

January 21: Member of the 81st New York Volunteers deserts to the Confederacy

January 22: Company K fails an inspection

February 3: The regiment poses for a "small" daguerreotype

February 8: "I have been very lucky"--JM finds a silver case and gold pen

February 9: Confederate peace commissioners pass through the area; member of the 12th New Hampshire regiment shot for desertion; Lt. Col. [Normand] Smith begins his twenty-five day furlough

February 13: JM cuts Captain Betton's hair for him

February 19: Doughnuts for dinner

February 28: JM visits the camp of the 40th Massachusetts

March 4: JM misplaces his diary

March 7: Wash day

March 8: Camp celebrates Gen. Phil Sheridan's Waynesboro victory [2 March 1865]

March 14: Black Union soldiers reviewed by Gen. Gibbon; election day in camp

March 17: St. Patrick's Day celebrations; grand review held for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch

March 23: After a troop movement, JM sees the spires of Richmond

March 26: Review of troops by Gen. Grant and Pres. Lincoln

March 28: Rebels want to trade goods for newspapers but JM says it is against orders

April 1: JM receives pay-- $64.00

April 2: Two members of the 81st New York desert camp

April 3: Union troops advance on rebel lines and continue into Richmond; U. S. flag hoisted from the Capitol at 10:00 a.m.; numerous fires; several buildings blown up

April 4: The regiment is relieved of guard duty by the 19th Wisconsin

April 5: JM visits Libby Prison and Castle Thunder; sees starving people in Manchester (a suburb of Richmond) [On the back end page of his diary Mottram lists his address on April 7, 1865 as 5th Street, Richmond]

April 9: Salutes fired in honor of Lee's surrender

April 12: Richmond blacks "ordered away"

April 13: Richmond blacks arrive at Petersburg; Gen. Grant and Lincoln visit Richmond

April 15: JM learns of Lincoln's assassination

April 18: JM mentions glimpse of CSA Gen. George E. Pickett; says the city is filled with tens of thousands of pardoned rebels and blacks

April 19: JM comments on black and white refugees

April 24: The regiment is sent to Manchester

May 11: Gen. William T. Sherman's army passes through Richmond

May 26: Governor Francis Pierpont arrives in Richmond

June 6: JM spends his time making rings and badges; good supply of whiskey

June 18: The 139th New York Volunteers are mustered out

June 21: JM and the 13th New Hampshire Volunteers are mustered out

June 22-26: The regiment is transported home; JM takes advantage of stops in New York, Boston, Nashua, Concord, and Portsmouth to visit sites and stay in hotels; wife joins him

June 30: JM seeks employment at navy yard