New England Civil War Museum In CT Acquires Soldier's Diary

VERNON, CT — The New England Civil War Museum and Research Center has acquired an artifact that shows what life was like during the war on a personal level — the actual diary of a Union soldier from Massachusetts who wound up fighting alongside soldiers from Connecticut.

The museum is located on the second floor of Vernon Town Hall in a fully preserved Grand Army of the Republic Hall.

Museum director Matthew Reardon said the diary of Private Henry C. Comins came to the museum courtesy of his great-grand niece, Shirley MacDougall. In addition to the original diary, MacDougall also donated a full typed-out transcription of the diary, Reardon said.

Reardon said Henry Campbell Comins was born on April 11, 1837 in Hadley, MA.

At 25, Comins, a farmer, enlisted in October 1862. After his enlistment, he, along with many other residents of Hadley, were mustered into Company H of the 52nd Massachusetts Regiment. The 52nd Massachusetts was a unit raised to serve for only nine months and consisted primarily of men from Franklin and Hampshire counties.

After being organized at Camp Miller in Greenfield, MA, Comins and his regiment were sent to the deep south, Reardon said.

The 52nd Massachusetts arrived in Baton Rouge, LA, in mid-December and was placed in the same brigade as the 24th Connecticut Regiment, another nine-month unit. The 24th was raised in the central part of the Nutmeg State.

All throughout Comins' time in Louisiana, he and his regiment moved around a lot, as his diary describes. But they did not see action until the Siege of Port Hudson that summer. Port Hudson in Louisiana was one of two towns that the Confederates held that the Confederates held that the Confederates held that keyed control of the Mississippi River. The other was Vicksburg in Mississippi, Reardon said.

On June 14, 1863, the 52nd Massachusetts participated in the assault on the Confederate entrenchments of Port Hudson and ended up with three killed and seven wounded. Comins survived "unscathed" and was present at the surrender of Port Hudson on July 9, 1863, Reardon said.

The following month, he returned home with the regiment and was mustered out with it at Camp Greenfield.

The transcribed copy of Comins' diary is available to researchers anytime the museum is open. The original diary is available by appointment only. For more information on the museum, see its Facebook page.