On August 7, 1862, George Alfred Hitchcock (born in Massachusetts in 1844) was mustered into Company A, 21st Massachusetts Infantry. From this date until January 1, 1865, he kept a meticulous daily diary.
His first experience in battle was at Fox's Gap on South Mountain, and then an attack across Burnside's Bridge at Antietam. Then came the disastrous Union advance toward Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg; a journey by rail to Paris, Kentucky, via Pittsburgh, Columbus (drunken 21st Infantry soldiers in conflict with local security) and Cincinnati; the protection of the Mount Sterling, Kentucky, area from guerrillas; an expedition from Camp Nelson through the Cumberland Gap to eastern Tennessee; Burnside's Knoxville campaign; the arduous winter return march to Camp Nelson with Confederate prisoners; efforts to regain his health and a return to the 21st Regiment; and a compelling account of his capture at Cold Harbor and imprisonment at Andersonville and Millen, Georgia, and Florence, South Carolina; and finally, his release.
