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No restrictions. Open for research.

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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Jacob D. Irish Diary #05368-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum in November 2007 (Acc. 100816).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Armando Suarez, October 2010

Encoded by: Armando Suarez, October 2010

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• City Point (Hopewell, Va.)--History, Military--19th century.
• Diaries.
• Families--New York (State)--Social life and customs.
• Fort Stedman, Battle of, Petersburg, Va., 1865.
• Irish family.
• Irish, Jacob D., ca. 1835-1902.
• Soldiers--New York (State)--Diaries.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Artillery operations.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military life.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
• United States. Army--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army. New York Artillery. Independent Battery, 19th (1862-1865)
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Jacob D. Irish was born circa 1835 in Westerlo, Albany County, N.Y., and died in April 1902. He enlisted for service at the age of 30 with the 19th Independent Battery of the New York Artillery during the last stages of the Civil War in September 1864. He served in various places throughout the western part of Virginia, including Petersburg, City Point, Poplar Grove, and Alexandria, as well as being present at the offensive assault by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on Fort Stedman. He eventually mustered out in Elmira, N.Y., sometime in mid-June and returned home.

The collection consists of a diary kept between 1 January and 27 August 1865 by Union soldier Jacob D. Irish. From January through June, entries were recorded on a daily basis. These entries are short and describe drill and guard duties, cooking and wood cutting chores, camaraderie with fellow soldiers, as well as the continuing correspondence between Irish and his family. The entry on 25 March describes the assault on Fort Stedman by Confederate soldiers. Another entry, written while at City Point, Va., on 17 April, refers to mourning Abraham's Lincoln death stating, "Flags at half mast for Uncle Abe and firing guns all day." The diary continues with intermittent entries after Irish mustered out in mid-June of 1865 and returned home.