Donald B Jenkins - The Lost Civil War Diary of Captain John Rigdon King: The Story of an American Civil War Hero

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First published 2018

Copyright Donald B. Jenkins 2018

ISBN 978-1-63499-070-7

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Typeset in 10.5pt on 13pt Sabon

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

This is a district map of Hagerstown taken from Pages 1877 Atlas. The King home was directly across the street from St. Johns Lutheran Church in District 3. As can be seen from the map, John had an easy walk to the Public Square downtown and to the Hagerstown Academy, which he attended for some years. (Western Maryland Historical Library)

This is a portion of a larger map prepared by Jedediah Hotchkiss to illustrate the Valley Campaign of Stonewall Jackson of 1862. Hotchkiss was a well-known cartographer and topographer who prepared maps for General Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War. This map shows some of the towns and cities mentioned in John Kings diary such as Hagerstown, Clear Spring, Williamsport, and Martinsburg in West Virginia and Winchester, Newtown, Front Royal and Strasburg in Virginia. (Library of Congress)

Pictured above is an artists aerial rendition of Hagerstown viewed from the steeple of St. Johns Lutheran Church looking north along Potomac Street towards Public Square. Note the lone horseman, a buggy and a conestoga wagon in the foreground. Johns home is not shown, but would have been located in the right, lower corner across from St. Johns. (Washington County Historical Society Archives Collection)

Here is another view of Hagerstown taken by a camera from atop St. Johns Lutheran Church looking north along South Potomac Street. The King home was in the right near corner of the photo and is not visible. It probably would have been similar to the houses shown in that corner. (Washington County Historical Society Archives Collection)

This is the first page of the diary of John R. King dated Tuesday, October 22, 1861. The notebook with a black-and-white marbleized cover and lined paper that John bought is very similar to those school composition books that are still used by students today. Each page of the diary measures 6 by 7 inches. The entire diary was written in beautiful Spencerian script that John probably had learned while a pupil at the Hagerstown Academy. The diary plus two school books for his youngest brother, Willie, cost John only $1.31. On October 22, John had a busy first day beginning with a big quarrel with a neighbor, Mr. Russett. Then, at seven in the evening, John was called upon to fight a fire in town because he was a member of the Hagerstown First Hose Company. He was paid $5.00 for his firefighting efforts. (Diary of John Rigdon King)

This rare photograph of Fair View House was taken by the Biscoe brothers after the Civil War. John King often stopped at Fair View House, which sat atop Fairview Mountain at 1,690 feet, for drink and a meal when traveling. Fairview Mountain is just west of Clear Spring, Maryland, just off the National Pike. Dwight Biscoe is shown on the porch with an opera glass along with an unidentified boy. Walter S. Biscoe took the photograph. The building is no longer standing. (DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Civil War Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints)

Newcomers Tavern Stand, was built c. 1812 and was located four miles west of Hagerstown. It was a very busy tavern and stagecoach stop during the nineteenth century. John King frequented the tavern when traveling on business for his father. The structure (pictured) was restored after the above photo was taken in 1975 and is now a private residence. (Maryland Historic Trust Library and Paula Stoner Dickey)

A very rare, previously unpublished, nineteenth-century photograph of the front of Martin Happels earthenware pottery shop at 75 East Washington Street. The cross street is Locust. A variety of finished pottery items offered for sale are shown displayed in front of the store. Also note the large advertising sign overhead which seems to depict a flowerpot. Pottery kilns were eventually banned from towns and cities because of the danger of their sparks causing a fire. Hagerstown and Washington County had a number of potters plying their trade during the nineteenth century. (Authors collection)

Lt-General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson began his famous 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign with a loss at Kernstown on March 23 and ended it with victories at Cross Keys and Port Republic on June 8 and June 9. Between those dates, he routed Union Colonel John R. Kenly on May 23, 1862, in a surprise attack at Front Royal and then put Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in flight at the battle of First Winchester May 25. On May 9, 1862, John R. King and his companion, John Burgess, were camped with the First Michigan Cavalry at Round Hill near Strasburg. The two teenage boys were busy taking photographs of Union soldiers and officers when they learned that Banks army was retreating north due to Jacksons onslaught. When a massive stampede began, John R. King sought with the rest to make his escape, but after wandering through the adjacent woods for several days was captured and taken into Jacksons camp at Winchester. Jacksons men must have enjoyed leafing through Johns confiscated diary until one of them probably gave it to the Nisewanger family. (