Shallenburger, George W. (d. 1872) [Union Navy diary of 2nd Assistant Engineer George W. Shallenburger on the USS Silver Cloud and USS Forest Rose with 2 cartes de visite]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02263.02 Author/Creator: Shallenburger, George W. (d. 1872) Place Written: various places Type: Autograph manuscript signed Date: 1 January 1865-11 April 1865 Pagination: 1 v. : 160 p. ; 12.8 x 8.8 cm. Order a Copy
Brown wrap-around leather diary. Signed three times by Shallenburger, with his name written in block letters below the second signature. First two signatures on first page and third signature on penultimate page. Written mostly along the White and Mississippi Rivers. Includes an almanac with important statistics before the diary begins. Each page has space for three days of entries. Each entry has 1-2 sentences. Most entries deal with the weather, ships that he passed, correspondence sent and received, condition of the river, and ship repairs. The diary begins with Shallenburger on the "Silver Cloud," but he is transferred to the "Forest Rose" on 25 January 1865 (there is no reference to it in the diary, but it is mentioned in his military records in the collateral file and GLC02263.03). on 16 January references having his photograph taken; on 27 January captured a deserter and passed a fleet of 14 vessels; on 28 January picked up a woman at Friar's Point to testify in her son's case in Helena; on 1 March leaves Cairo, Illinois for home by train and arrives home on 4 March; on 27 March leaves home by boat for Pittsburgh, where he will catch a train; reports to an admiral on 31 March where he is told he will be court martialled for overstaying his leave; on 5 April was given a copy of the charges against him; on 6 April placed under arrest and says he has a "carbunkle on my posterior."; on 11 April says he was tried by a court martial for staying ten days over his leave on board USS "Benton" and does not know the results. Rest of the pages are a hodgepodge of recipes, notations of his bills and spending, as well as a list of ships he came across during his service (he was honorably discharged in November 1865). One of the cartes de visite is a photograph of Ebenezer Prest (10 x 6 cm.), a sailor on the USS "Quaker City," while the other is a faded photograph of Shallenburger's old vessel the USS "Queen City" (6 x 10 cm.).
Assistant Engineer Shallenburger was from Brownsville, Pennsylvania. He died on chronic diarrhea he contracted during his service in the South.
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