. . . I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. ~ Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)The Civil War broke out at a time in U.S. history when many in the society had a passio...
. . . I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. ~ Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)The Civil War broke out at a time in U.S. history when many in the society had a passionate interest in natural history. Even during the war, soldiers collected fossils, rocks, and other specimens from the land where they camped, marched, and fought. Over the past couple of years, I have been in search of accounts of these activities, but, until recently, I never quite realized the risk I ran in doing so. The risk became clear when I read Isaac Lyman Taylor’s Civil War diary.The diary was published in four issues of Minnesota History (Vol. 25) in 1944. Links to each portion of the diary can be found at the Minnesota Historical Society’s Library page (scroll down to an entry titled Campaigning with the First Minnesota: A Civil War Diary).Before enlisting at age 24, Taylor, who studied science at Burlington University (Iowa), had been a school teacher, first in Illinois and then in Belle Prairie, Minnesota, at a school for Chippewa Indians, replacing his younger brother, Patrick Henry (“Henry” or “P.H.”), who’d left that teaching position to enlist in the First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. Isaac soon followed Henry into the First Minnesota Volunteers, enlisting on August 21, 1861, in Company E, the same company in which his brother served. (Biographical information on the Isaac is drawn from Hazel C. Wolf’s introduction to the first installment of Taylor’s diary (she edited each article that appeared in Minnesota History), and The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers by Richard Moe (1993).)The First Minnesota would fight in nearly all of the major battles in the East, including the two Bull Runs, the Peninsula Campaign around Richmond, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. It is one of those storied military units that is celebrated for its constant bravery under fire and, specifically, for its actions at Gettysburg (more on that later).Taylor’s diary, written in three separate volumes, does not begin until New Year’s 1862, several months after he first experienced combat. He typically wrote relatively short entries, describing succinctly his health, the weather, and what he did during that day. He often added commentary on the state of the war which he followed closely, the army’s leadership which he didn’t hesitate to skewer, and the doings of the political system which often brought out his disgust. The tone, the style, and the syntax of his writing are fresh and modern, exhibiting a well developed and endearing sense of irony and sarcasm. Without question, there was, for Taylor, a humorous vein to be found in life, even in the army or, perhaps, especially in the army.The opening of the diary sets the tone. Taylor knew that, if a soldier fell in battle, his diary was at risk of being taken by looters who roamed the battlefield when the shooting stopped. So, he began each volume of his diary with an appeal to whomever might find it. The first of those pleas, directed to a Rebel who might come across his body, reads as follows (the spelling, punctuation, and syntax of each entry in the published text are Taylor’s own.):To Whom It May Concern.Mr. Secesh; Please forward this diary to J.H. Taylor, Prairie City, McDonough Co., Illinois. By so doing you will exhibit your magnanimity, accommodativeness & divers other virtues, beside conferring no small favor on a defunct individual.Yours Truly, I.L. TaylorHigh Private of Co. E1st Reg. Minn. Vol.Even with this somber task, Taylor’s attitude comes through – “conferring no small favor on a defunct individual.”Isaac Taylor was a man harboring scholarly ambitions with an abiding interest in natural history. On March 24, 1861, when his unit was in Washington, D.C., he was exploring the city, presumably on some sort of authorized pass. I use “presumably” advisedly bec