October 25, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB’s (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Historical Collections Unit has published “Well Satisfied with My Position”, the Civil War journal of Spencer Bonsall, a hospital steward serving in a Pennsylvania regiment. The original handwritten journal has been part of UAB’s Reynolds Historical Library since its inception in 1958.

The new publication, edited by Michael Flannery, associate director for Historical Collections at UAB, and Katherine Oomens, a former library associate at the Reynolds Historical Library, includes Bonsall’s journal entries for much of 1862 and early1863. The book also contains editor’s notes, photos, maps and drawings, some by Bonsall himself, that help give the reader a firm grasp of the setting and context of Bonsall’s writings.

“Bonsall’s journal details the ordinary day-to-day activities of camp life in an army of the time,” Flannery said. “He likens the early days of the war to a picnic, but soon the bloody battles of the Peninsula campaign and the Seven Days bring the harsh realities of war home to this man, whose main occupation was tending to wounded, sick and injured soldiers.”

As a hospital steward for the 81st Pennsylvania regiment, Bonsall was part administrator, part pharmacist and part surgical assistant. He was responsible for the procurement of supplies, record keeping, dispensing of medicines and the organization of the hospital.

The first part of the journal covers the Peninsula campaign of Union General George McClellan, culminating at the battle of Fair Oaks. A six month gap follows, a time when Bonsall was reported “sick in hospital” according to military records discovered by the editors. Bonsall resumes writing in the last days of 1862, through the battle of Fredericksburg and into the beginning of the Chancellorsville campaign.

The last entry is in late March of 1863. The editors are unsure if Bonsall simply stopped writing or if parts of the journal have been lost. They do know that Bonsall was seriously injured in July at the battle of Gettysburg.

“His horse was shot out from under him on the first day of Gettysburg,” Flannery said. “The injuries he suffered in the incident ended his military career and he eventually returned home to Pennsylvania, although perhaps without the permission of the U.S. Army!”

The journal is a captivating look at the everyday life of a common soldier, recording camp conditions, attitudes towards generals and the Confederates across the battle line. Flannery and Oomens finish with a fascinating epilogue of Bonsall’s departure from the army and subsequent life in Pennsylvania.

“Spencer Bonsall does not write about battlefield valor, brave charges or even dramatic defeats,” according to Flannery. “He writes of the important, but uneventful duties of keeping a large body of men fed, clothed and cared for. We get a rare, intimate glimpse of camp life, medical care and military operations from the perspective of an otherwise ordinary but dedicated hospital steward.”

The new edition is published by Southern Illinois University Press. The original journal, which consists of 60 tightly written pages, was purchased by Dr. Lawrence Reynolds in 1957 from Henry Schuman, a prominent antiquarian book dealer in New York. The Reynolds Historical Library was established when Reynolds donated his extensive collection of rare medical writings to UAB in 1958.