"The Diary"

To the best of our knowledge, there are but two extant objects which may  be said to belong to Frederic Augustus James. One is a stone marker set into the earth of Andersonville, Georgia, upon which is cut the inscription - "8858-F.A.James-.USN". The second of James' possessions is his journal. We offer it here that, by sharing it with you, we might give it the honor it deserves. 

Captain James H. Sherman is credited as being the donor of the receipt book given to Frederic James while they were both prisoners in the Military Prison at Salisbury, North Carolina. This was to become the very book used to record James' life as a prisoner-of-war. In eight separate entries written between February and April of 1864, James records his personal contact with James Sherman. In the March 18th entry, James states: "Capt. S. moved down into the citizen's room." Frederic James never tells us what happened to the "Capt.", who he was, whether he was Army, Navy, or civilian, or what happened to him after May of 1864 when James was transferred to Andersonville. Do you, the reader, know? If so, would you share your information with us?

Some time prior to February 20, 1864, Captain James Sherman gave the unwritten receipt book to Frederic James who used it as his  prison diary. 

James and Sherman were both prisoners in Salisbury, NC; Sherman remained there when James was transferred to Andersonville.

There is no writing on the right rear inside page of the diary. On one red blotter page is stamped: "Camp Winder, Andersonville, July 17, 1864." On four blotter pages, he has written in pencil a poem entitled "'St. Patrick's Day"; on one half of a blotter page an untitled poem, and on the second half of that page, an essay entitled "Morale". On the rear blue page, he wrote in ink the poem entitled "Abide With Me". The poem is actually the hymn "Eventide" composed in 1847 by Henry Francis Lyte and set to music in 1861 by William Henry Monk. It is not known if the other four poems are James' original composition or if he copied them from other sources.

The journey of the physical diary is somewhat sketchy. The final hand-written entry by James was in Andersonville on August 23, 1864. Possibly his very good friend, shipmate and "nurse" in the prison hospital at Andersonville, Richard Tinker, was responsible for its survival and return to East Boston. We do know that by some manner the diary reached the hands of his widow, Ellen Foster James. The second clause of her will (Middlesex probate), probate 82,000 states: " to Benjamin F. Merritt, my old desk and care of late husband's civil war journal, and at his death to go to Loyal Legion." Benjamin Frederic Merritt was a nephew by marriage to Ellen Foster James.  His father was Benjamin Merritt, Jr. and his mother was Walthea Alden James, a sister of Frederic Augustus James.  The nephew was born on March 14, 1865 and thus was 44 years old at the time of Mrs. James' death in 1909.

In January of 1969 Norman Flayderman, a well-known Connecticut dealer, was offering the James' journal for sale and I was fortunate enough to purchase it.

As a long-time student of American History and the Civil War, I welcomed the challenge of discovering who Frederic Augustus James really was.  

After several years of research, I believe I've come to know who he was and is. The Internet now gives me the opportunity of sharing this little-known individual with you.