Civil War Diaries
George Templeton Strong: Civil War Diaries
Book • 2025
This Library of America volume gathers George Templeton Strong's diary entries from the Civil War years, edited and annotated by Geoff Wisner with additional previously unpublished material from the original manuscript.
The book presents Strong's vivid, day-by-day observations of wartime New York, the Sanitary Commission, battlefield visits, the 1863 draft riots, and political figures including Lincoln and Stanton.
Wisner restored many passages omitted or misread in the 1952 Nevins edition, providing fuller domestic, social, and military detail.
The volume highlights Strong's literary voice—witty, candid, and acutely observant—while not obscuring his prejudices, offering historians and general readers a primary-source window into Northern civilian experience during the Civil War. Published as Library of America volume 396, it reintroduces what many consider one of the great American diaries of the nineteenth century.
The book presents Strong's vivid, day-by-day observations of wartime New York, the Sanitary Commission, battlefield visits, the 1863 draft riots, and political figures including Lincoln and Stanton.
Wisner restored many passages omitted or misread in the 1952 Nevins edition, providing fuller domestic, social, and military detail.
The volume highlights Strong's literary voice—witty, candid, and acutely observant—while not obscuring his prejudices, offering historians and general readers a primary-source window into Northern civilian experience during the Civil War. Published as Library of America volume 396, it reintroduces what many consider one of the great American diaries of the nineteenth century.
Mentioned by
Mentioned in 0 episodes
Introduced and discussed by ![undefined]()
![undefined]()
Max Jacobs
Brenda Wineapple
American Masterpiece: The Civil War Diaries of George Templeton Strong with Brenda Wineapple and Geoff Wisner
