Diary of Orrin Brown, Atlanta, Georgia
Tuesday–Nov. 8th
Rested pretty well last night. The weather is still cloudy but warmer than it was. My mess mate went down town this fournoon and got some Buckwheat shortcake, it had a very little cornmeal in it and it was first rate. I have found out since that it was Rice Flour. I went to the Camp of the 19th Mich. about 2 miles from here and put in a Vote for Old Abe. Three Cheers for him as our next President! Wrote a letter home and mailed Part First of my journal. And a paper with a Fig leaf enclosed. We did not draw any rations today. There was several of the boys got into the commissary building and filled their haversacks with hardtack and with the rest 5 or 6 of our mess. I found a book titled The Forgers Daughter and read 124 pages in it since sundown.
The 19th Regiment Michigan Infantry mustered into service at Dowagiac, Michigan (near Orrin’s hometown), in September 1862. The unit saw action at the battles of Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, and during the Siege of Atlanta. They also marched to the sea with Sherman. Among the 19th’s troops was Capt (later Major General) Frank Baldwin, one of only 19 men to ever receive the Medal of Honor twice. Baldwin became adjutant general of the state of Colorado before he died in Denver in 1923.
The powers that be wanted to make sure Sherman’s army voted before they cut ties back to the North. And vote for Old Abe they did:
Lincoln was highly popular with soldiers and they in turn recommended him to their family back home. The following states allowed soldiers to cast ballots: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Out of the 40,247 army votes cast, Lincoln received 30,503 (75.8%), McClellan 9,201 (22.9%)…
Who knows if this might be the book in question, but I found a reference to a book called “Sibyl Monroe, the forger’s daughter; or, Out of the shadow into the sun” by Martha Russell, published in Philadelphia by J.W. Bradley in 1860. There’s supposed to be a copy in the University of New Mexico library in Albuquerque. The same title shows up on an Amazon affiliate, published by L.P. Crown and Co, 1859.
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