Primary Documents

It is my firm belief that the best way to understand history is to listen to the voices of the people who were there. It has been my experience that all too often history has been written by and for an audience of elites. Sam Watkins (p.19-20 ) said it best :

"The histories of the Lost Cause are all written by 'big bugs' generals and renowned historians, and like the fellow who called a turtle a 'cooter,' being told that no such word existed in Webster's dictionary, remarked that he had as much right to make a dictionary as Mr. Webster or any other man; so have I to write a history.....In the following pages I propose to to tell of the fellows who did the shooting and the killing, the fortifying and ditching, the sweeping of the streets, the drilling, the standing guard, picket and videt, who drew ...[13] dollars per month, and rations, and who also drew the ramrod and tore the cartridge.".

In the past few years many scholars have begun to see the value in a balanced approach to history. Wonderful, seldom examined resources exist that relate the story of the common man. This is especially true during the Civil War when so many of the common soldiers were literate, accomplished correspondents and journal keepers.

I am extremely fortunate that so much material for the 24th Michigan has survived. I'd like to thank every individual and institution for allowing me to use share the material on this site. I'd like to take the opportunity to point out that I make NO monetary profit from my 24th Michigan research, not do I expect to in the future. Reading these letters and diaries, and looking at the photographs is reward enough.

Photographs of the Webster Wood diaries are courtesy of his descendant, H. Webster Wood. Used with permission.

Thanks to the people at BeSeen, you can now search the complete text of the entire website. This should prove useful to researchers and genealogists. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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