Welcome back once again for another round of transcripts from the George F. Parry Civil War diaries (George F. Parry family volumes, Collection 3694). If you're just joining us, in 2012 HSP acquired the diaries of Bucks County resident and Civil War veterinary surgeon George F. Parry. In that collection are three diaries he kept during the Civil War dating from 1863 to 1865, when he served with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. In celebration of Parry's work and the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, I'm providing monthly posts on Fondly, PA of transcripts of entries from his diaries.
To see other posts in the series, check out the links over on the right-hand side of this page. Clicking on the diary images will take you to our Digital Library where you can examine the volumes page by page, along with other digitized items from the Parry collection.
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In July 1864 the Atlanta Campaign continued to ravage both Union and Confederate armies. It was also a big month for Parry as he and his regiment faced Confederate forces in several skirmishes in various spots in Georgia. He noted the takeover of Marietta by the Union army at the beginning of the month. By the end of the month, Parry was in Lawrenceville still in the thick of it as his commanding officer had just refused a Confederate order to surrender.
Notes about the transcriptions: I've kept the pattern of Parry's writings as close as formatting here will allow, including his line breaks and spacing. My own additional or clarifying notes will be in brackets [ ]. Any grammatical hiccups that aren’t noted as such are Parry's own.
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Sunday, July 3
In a woods between Big Shandy and
the mountains now occupied by the Rebels own
Troops. Moved out at 10 A. M.
marched to the Left of Lost Mt.
by a great number of Rebel works
on into Marietta[,] a quite a place
mosly deserted. Captured a number
of Prisoners[.] Rebels in full retreat
went into camp at ten O'clock after
a Hard days[sic] and a exciting one.
*****
Saturday, July 9
the men then moved on the
Rebels across the River. dis-
Mounted. Reinforced by
G Division of Infantry.
Rossville Groville[?] a very fine|
place but all taken up
by our army. one of the finest
of places.
*****
Thursday, July 14
Marched about four miles South
and Camped
Afternoon Capt.
Hilbury and [I?] rode out[,] got
out side of Pickets and then
went in[.] found a Seceshs
Plantation[,] got Potatoes[,] Apples[,]
Chickens[,] tin ware[,] Books & [got?]
Back to Camp by dark.
*****
Monday, July 18
Moved out on Raid with three
Days Rations[.] Marched south
East[,] drove the Rebels fifteen
miles and destroyed five
miles of Atlanta + Macon Rail
Road[.] a very nice day and
Quite an exciting one
fell back
Five miles and encamped
*****
Friday, July 22
Marched all night some 30 miles[.]
Halted in the morning one hours for
rest and then proceeded one towards and
arrived at Covenington [Covington, GA][,] captured two
trains of cars[,] Burnt them[,] also des-
troyed one million dolls. worth of cotton[.]
Burnt Depots of cars and tore up
the Rail Road – fells back ten
miles and encamped for a few
hours in a woods - then
*****
4 mich Cavalry
placed under arrest for capturing Horses
Saturday, July 23
Marched on in a north east
Direction – capturing a great amo-
unt of Horses[,] destroying much
cotton[.] arrived at La[w]renceville at
4 P. M. and encamped for the night[.]
The roads strewed with all kinds of
plunder. Living on the best of the
Land. La[w]renceville quite a place
captured a great many horses
and mules.
*****
Thursday, July 28
Up at 1 O'clock and at Day
light moves on the Rebels on
foot[.] fought them some time
Lieut. Brant wounded[,] also 2
Others. at one time entirely
surrounded. fell back to
the [illegible] roads and camped[.]
Flag of [illegible] sent in by the Rebels dem-
anding our surrender – Gen'l. [Ganard?]
could not see the point to surrender[.]
*****
