Preface by the Archivist/Editor: Doris B. Hopper
A.B. Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois
M.A. Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois
LH.D. Illinois Col1ege, Jacksonville, Illinois
Associate Professor of Speech Communication and
Associate Dean of Students Emeritus, Illinois College
This
is the record of Hassell Hopper‘s service during the American Civil War with
Company E 101st Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
The
information from the time he enlisted at age 21 with the rank of Corporal on
August 9, 1862 through the battle of Holly Springs, Miss., when he was taken
prisoner to June 30, 1863, the beginning of the first diary, comes from three
sources: local newspaper reports in 1862 and 1863, the History of One
Hundred and First Infantry, Adjutant General’s report, Illinois, Vol. 5,
1861 - 1866 revised, and from a brief history of the Regiment appearing in the Jacksonville
Daily Journal on Sunday May 30, 1909.
Newspaper articles are properly p1aced and cited. Other Army records,
including his promotion to Sergeant on May 1, 1863 and injury records are included
in the Appendix as well as his notations of monetary accounts, miles marched,
Rebel/National losses, and service records of Co. E, which he had recorded at
the end of the diaries.
The
rest of the information for June 30, 1863 to June 14, 1865 when he returned to
Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois comes from two diaries kept by Hassell
Hopper which were in the possession of his two daughters, Misses Anna and
Eunice Hopper.
In 1944 they gave me a diary
(July 5, 1864 to June 15, 1865) and asked me to transcribe it, which I did
verbatim using my own footnotes. I assumed that it was the only diary. I spent
many hours in this exciting project while my husband (Hassell Hopper’s grandson
Edward Hopper) was serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II as
Recognition Officer on the escort carrier U.S.S. Marcus Island (CVE-77).
After
having the transcribed diary bound, they gave me a second earlier diary (June
20, 1863 to July 4, 1864). When I had completed transcribing it, properly
footnoted, I combined the two into one bound volume. I’m not sure of the exact
date. At that time I had no information
about his service preceding the date of the first diary. My husband and I fell
heir to a scrapbook which Hassell Hopper had kept after returning home. In it
was a brief history of the Regiment which had appeared in the local paper in
1909. (Note: The scrapbook also contained the front page of the EXTRA 8:10 a.m.
edition of The New York Herald for Saturday, April 15, 1865 announcing
the assassination of President Lincoln.) Then we obtained his army records from
Washington and with this additional information I was able to include his Civil
War service from enlistment in 1862 to his capture at Holly Springs and the
beginning of the first diary. I added an additional map and had the volume
rebound with all its updated information.
This was about 1980.
The
Jacksonville newspaper publishes a column, originally called “A Glance Into The
Past” now labeled “Looking Back”, in which items of 10 – 20 – 50 – 75 – 100 –
120 years ago are reprinted. Beginning in 1981 the 120-yr.-old section was
filled with Civil War news which I clipped and mounted in a notebook. Now, in January, 2001, I have again revised
the Preface and clarified some entries with the addition of these quoted newspaper clippings which pertain to Co. E,
101st Regiment, Illinois Voluntary Infantry. Our son, J. Mitch Hopper
(great-grandson of Hassell Hopper), has put
this complete and indexed volume on his Internet Website - http://www.brainmist.com (as of January, 2002).
It
is understandable why diaries kept during times of stress should often be brief
and sketchy as to locations and exact particulars of the movements of the
armies involved. I have footnoted
wherever possible. He had even neglected to record his
participation at Missionary Ridge, Dallas, Peachtree Creek or Resaca although
at the end of Diary II he does record losses in killed or wounded. Nor did he
mention his having been wounded. Historical records note that at Resaca he
received a gun shot leg wound and that the next day while on a forced march,
his wound still bleeding, he suffered a sunstroke. This left him with impaired
health and family members remembered him as having a slight limp.
It
is also difficult to be sure what short cryptic entries really mean - (x from
J), x to o, (sent JH), (recd JH), etc. I think they indicate letters sent and
received. There is also one notation (paper) which could mean either receipt of
writing paper or of a newspaper.
Problems
were compounded by the fact that after returning home he retraced many of his
pencil entries in ink, and not always word for word. Xeroxing certain
difficult passages helped to make them readable. However some remained undecipherable, and those I have indicated
(?). Footnotes have come from newspaper
reports and/or published historica1 accounts. A Civil War vintage Atlas
published in the late 1800s that has been in our family for ages aided greatly
in making the various maps of his movements.
The
first diary from June 20, 1863 through July 4, 1864 covers scouting expeditions
and engagements throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and into A1abama during the
summer and fall of 1863 and the preparatory measures, in early 1864, for the
Georgia campaign under Sherman. The second diary from July 5, 1864 through June
14, 1865 covers activities during the march through Georgia, subsequent
conquests throughout the seaboard states, the Army’s arrival in Washington,
D.C., and the return to Illinois.
The
quotation appearing at the beginning of this volume he had copied from a
tombstone in a cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia on August 20, 1864. The authorship
of the quotation is attributed in the diary to “2nd Michael, 12 and 46”.
However, this quotation is from The Apocrypha and is a paraphrase of verses
44-45, 12th chapter, the 2nd book of The Maccabees.
“For if he had not expected that those who had
fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for
the dead; or if it was through regard for the splendid reward destined for
those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought therefore
he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be set free from their
sins”.
The Second Book of the
Maccabees
12th
chapter
verses
44-45
(Note: It was great fun to
follow the action during Ken Burns’ recent Civil War documentary series on the
Public Broadcasting System with the volume of diaries on one knee and Ulysses S.
Grant’s Personal Memoirs on the other!)
Doris B. Hopper