| Thursday the 27 (November, 1862)
Friday the 28
well my papers have come from Washington
Saturday the 29
Sunday the 30
today I have been secreeting a little
Monday the 1 day of December (December, 1862)
today I lifted my papers out of the office
but I am not going for a few days - I am waiting for a friend to go too
- well I shall get started about Thursday
Tuesday the 2
this is a windy day and quite cool - well
I have been here about 3 months and ten days and I am very anxious to leave
here
Wednesday the 3
this day is cool and windy - well I stated
to go to Mount Vernon to see the remains of Washington but we did not get
to go so we came back again
Thursday the 4
this is a nice day - I am waiting with patience
to start - well my friend papers came this evening and we will be ready
to start early in the morning - well I must quit writing for this time
and fix up my traps
Friday the 5
we got up before daylight this morning - we
got to the wharf before light and got our breakfast and got on the 8 O'clock
boat - we got to Washington and got our papers in and got our pay this
evening - I had to wait till morning to see about my detailed pay
Saturday the 6
well I tried to get it but did not succeed
in getting it so I had to leave without it - well I took the 3 O'clock
train to Baltimore and got there at dark and at 8 O'clock we started for
Harrisburg Pa and got there about 4 O'clock AM and changed cars for Pittsburgh
city
Sunday the 7
we got to Pittsburgh at dark and at 1 O'clock
Monday morning the 8
we started to Wheeling Va and got there at
6 O'clock - but too late for the Grafton train so I had to lay over
Tuesday the 9
I took the cars for Clarksburg where I arrived
at half past one O'clock - I got into a wagon and rode in it to Duck Creek
and at 8 O'clock I got home after being away from home almost one year
- so this winds up my service in the army of the United States after being
in its service 18 months - I must say in conclusion that I had very hard
times and that the army is not the place for me and I am very glad that
I am out of it service so that I can act on my own thought and do as I
please again - well I must quit writing for my journal is out - so farewell
to the Army - but I must
thank god for his protection to me through my long campaign and I certainly
do for I am not a disbeliever
so goodby for the present
Pr Jesse Cheuvront
This ends the journal written by Jesse Cheuvront
from Jun 10, 1861, to December 9, 1862, Pvt, 3d Virginia Volunteer Infantry
(Union).
(From the transcription Foreword by Ray Davis (20 January
1997):
"Jesse Cheuvront was born November 18, 1829 and
died September 1, 1863 - nine months after his discharge from the
Army. According to a genealogy done by Rev. Wesley L. Cheuvront,
Jesse died of Erysipelas*, a disease of which
he appears to have contracted during his service time. This was apparently
the basis for his discharge from the Army because many journal entries
are complaints of "feeling unwell". The latter portions of the journal
are very difficult to read - Jesse's's handwriting appears to have declined
and become labored and cramped starting midwinter of 1862. During
this period, the letter structure became less clear, the words smaller
and the pen pressure appears to have varied considerably. Additionally
the entries contain incomplete and disjointed thoughts..."
[
*Funk & Wagnell's defines ERYSIPELAS as a contagious and infectious
skin disease
characterized
by inflammation, redness and swelling. Untreated, erysipelas can
extend
into deeper tissues, with bacterial invasion of the blood stream, which
can be fatal.
Often caused by infection of wounds, Erysipelas is sometimes epidemic,
as it was in 11th-century France, where it was called Saint Anthony's
Fire. ]
from the WLCheuvront text:
(s/o CALEB, b Feb 10, 1792-May 15, 1865 and Rebecca Covert, b. Uniontown
PA Nov. 18, 1829; died Sept. 1, 1863, age 33 years. He was
a physician and surgeon, unusually successful in the treatment of dyphtheria
that was once considered a scourge. [He died on the way to Wilmington,
OH., where he'd planned to marry his cousin's daughter, Virginia Darbyshire,
a granddaughter of Ann Covert Darbyshire, a wealthy brick and tile producer
in Wilmington. He caught Erysipelas en route [sic], "a contagious
skin disease caused by streptococci which causes vesticular and bulbous
lesions"]. He became sick upon arrival in Wilmington and died before
he could be married. He was buried in Wilmington, OH, where a small
marble slab marks his grave. [He had been a soldier in the Federal Army
of the Civil War, and W.L. Cheuvront notes that Will H. Cheuvront had in
his possession the "fine hacksaw" with which Dr. Jesse amputated the leg
of one Manley Morgan, whose leg had been crushed by a log.] |
