Description
On the outbreak of war in 1861, Russell M. Tuttle was once a junior On the University of Rochester. Inspired by the death of a friend, and urged by classmates and an influential professor, he enlisted with the 107th Regiment, New York Volunteers in August 1862. All the way through the war, he saw action in Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee, took part within the Siege of Atlanta and the March to the Sea, and returned in the course of the Carolinas on his march home within the waning days of conflict. An orderly sergeant at muster, he achieved the rank of captain before discharge at war’s end. Sensitive, introspective and literate, Tuttle kept a journal of those bloody years between 1861 and 1865. Up to now unpublished and only recently found out, the journal tells the story of a young man driven to war by principle and the resulting struggle of loneliness, bloodshed, self-preservation and hope that frequently defines soldiers. This volume incorporates the text of Tuttle’s journal together with 38 photographs, rare period illustrations, maps and an index of names and locations. Appendices include an obituary of Tuttle, an overview of the 107th and an 1861 description of the effects of disease on an army within the field.