The Civil War Journal of Lt. Russell M. Tuttle, New York Volunteer Infantry

At the outbreak of war in 1861, Russell M. Tuttle was a junior at the University of Rochester. Inspired by the death of a friend, and urged by classmates and an influential professor, he enlisted with the 107th Regiment, New York Volunteers in August 1862. During the war, he saw action in Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee, took part in the Siege of Atlanta and the March to the Sea, and returned through the Carolinas on his march home in the waning days of conflict. An orderly sergeant at muster, he achieved the rank of captain before discharge at war’s end. Sensitive, introspective and literate, Tuttle kept a journal of those bloody years between 1861 and 1865. Previously unpublished and only recently discovered, the journal tells the story of a young man driven to war by principle and the resulting struggle of loneliness, bloodshed, self-preservation and hope that often defines soldiers. This volume contains the text of Tuttle’s journal along with 38 photographs, rare period illustrations, maps and an index of names and locations. Appendices include an obituary of Tuttle, an overview of the 107th and an 1861 description of the effects of disease on an army in the field.

Editor George H. Tappan lives in Kingwood, Texas.

Russell M. Tuttle
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 246
Bibliographic Info: 73 photos, maps, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2006
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2331-6
Imprint: McFarland

Editor’s Note      1
List of Maps      5

1. War! War!! War!!!      7
2. In the Service of the United States      15
3. The Maryland Campaign      26
4. Back Across Virginia to Join Hooker      59
5. Fairfax Station, Virginia      64
6. Hooker’s Campaign of the Spring of 1863      81
7. One Year of Service Is Passed      89
8. Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee      105
9. On the March      119
10. After the Battle      126
11. August 13, 1864      147
12. Entered Atlanta      152
13. The Siege of Atlanta      157
14. “Going South to Seek Salt Water”      166
15. Entered Savannah      174
16. Goodbye Savannah      179
17. Homeward Bound      217

Epilogue      225
Appendix A. History of the Tuttle Family      227
Appendix B. A Note on the 107th New York Volunteers      228
Appendix C. “Health of the Volunteers”      229
Index      231

“highly recommended…very readable”—Civil War News.