Diary of a Union Soldier: Hugh Ernest Craig

1 January 1865 -- 22 September 1865

This is a short note to indicate that such a document exists and what information it contains. A lady has transcribed the original diary into a 20 page document and I am only showing the introductory page that was written by the person who transcribed the diary as well as the first and last page of the transcription. This document is loaded with information but it is only useful if you understand what all of it means. Every time that I read the document, I would see new information as it shows the daily life of a soldier in the Union Army stationed in Minnesota during the period of the diary.

The original transcription showed that Hugh E. Craig went hunting and returned with chicken. This is not tame chickens that we have today but rather it was prairie chicken, a wild bird of the open plains. Another item is that the word boys is used regularly in the document, this does not refer to young men but rather it refers to Aboriginal men who were part of the group. In 1958, I worked in Northern British Columbia, Canada, on a pack-horse party and we would regularly see signs carved on a piece of wood that stated a number of boys, horses and dogs had passed through this area on a certain date. When I asked what the word boys referred to, our guide told me that was how the Aboriginal men referred to themselves.

The daily Diary shows that Hugh and his wife, Harriet, were both together at the army encampment from 1 Jan. 1965 until she left for home on 29 March 1865. After Harriet left, Hugh looked forward to her letters whenever mail would arrive and he wrote to her on a regular basis. He was very lonely as he and Harriet had only been married since 15 Dec. 1864 a mere 16 days before the first entry in the diary. Their fist of five children was born 26 Dec. 1866. the full family unit can be found at the following link: Descendants of Hugh Ernest Craig & Hattie Orrock.

To give an idea of what the document contains, only three pages are available from this web. the owner of the transcription does not wish to have the complete document available as someone may steal it from her.

Introductory information added by the transcriber:

First Page and Last Page of diary. Note:: the last entry is three years after the second last entry that is the daily diary of Hugh Ernest Craig.

This full transcription and the original should be made available to the general public and the best place that I can suggest is the Minnesota Historical Society. The link to their system is found at: Local History Services [[email protected]]

Last edited: 17 February 2022