Analysis: The Angel Of Andersonville

A good portion of the world population has, at one time or another, kept a journal or diary of the events in their life. When that person is famous, or the events recorded in that journal turn out to be a major historically significant event, other people are interested in reading those journals and diaries. Among the most interested in these writings have been historians. Historians have relied heavily on personal letters, diaries, journals, and even hastily written notes to piece together our history. Without these personal writings, history as we know it would be very different. Our past would be much more limited in detail and information. Some of these personal writings are professionally developed and published and are classified

He was already advanced in age when Andersonville opened, but he made it his daily work from sun up to sundown each day to be at the prison and pray for and with the prisoners, regardless of their religion. When times seemed the worst, he went to former Southern parishioners, asked for money to feed the prisoners, and got the money. Father Whelan used the money to buy grain and make bread that would feed the prisoners for weeks. His many efforts to make a miserable existence a little better for the prisoners gave him the name the Angel of Andersonville. His sacrifices were not forgotten, and thousands mourned his death not long after the end of the war (The Angel of Andersonville). The daily life of a soldier during the Civil War varied from unit to unit, much as can be said for today’s military. Some of the struggles facing the soldiers was the distance they had to travel to get to the battles while other struggles had more to do with weather. The worst struggles were faced by Southern soldiers in the latter part of the war as morale was dropping and money was scarce.
“August 19,

They contain private thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Many are grammatically incorrect, some are even poorly written, while others read like a textbook or a best selling novel. Regardless of the education of the writer, diaries hold first hand accounts of events with details that cannot be found anywhere else. These first hand accounts of a person’s life are considered prized literature by some. Autobiographies and biographies are a very popular genre of books in the literature world today. A person does not have to be a Hollywood starlet, or world renowned recording artist, or even an influential politician to be considered an interesting topic when choosing a book to read. Furthermore, most books written about history are largely based on such writings. How else could someone in modern times know what daily life was like in Colonial America, on a trade ship on the ocean, or in a wagon crossing the frontier. Without diaries, historians would be limited to artifacts that have survived and would then have to determine what was their intended use. Artifacts can only tell a part of a story, Without the written records of life, we would know very little of our past. Histories were recorded in written form and personal narratives in ancient times as proven with cuneiform and hieroglyphics. These personal writings are a necessary part of historical