By the Dim and Flaring Lamps The Civil War Diaries of Samuel McIlvaine

Sgt. Samuel McIlvaine made entries in this Civil War journal during rainstorms, with poor lighting, & sometimes, while seriously ill. His descriptions throughout the journal of soil, crops & farm tools suggest he was a farmer. Other notes portray a devout Christian, who felt a moral imperative to participate in this war. He realized the possible significance of his work by detailing descriptions of common objects such as the cotton gin & of natural phenomena like stalagmites & stalactites. This Sergeant in the 10th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, during a period when primary education was barely mandatory in the United States, wrote these short diaries portraying a quick humor, a sensitivity to political issues & to human situations, with the ability to express in a literate style, his part in the events that engulfed him. Sgt. Samuel McIlvaine was born April 13, 1824 in Champaign County, Ohio. He died near Stevenson, Alabama, about September 8, 1863. His remains were later interred in the Chattanooga National Cemetary in Tennessee.Cramer, Clayton E. is the author of 'By the Dim and Flaring Lamps The Civil War Diaries of Samuel McIlvaine' with ISBN 9780912526461 and ISBN 0912526467.