19th Century
General Jean-Jermaine Pelet had a long career in the French military. Shown here is an extract of his personal journal (presumably revised from the original), detailing events towards the end of Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812. The journal includes several map sketches of important locations, including Krasnoi, where Pelet fought and was wounded.
In 1812, British Royal Artillery officer Robert Woollcombe was deployed to the island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea to join the regiment of Sir John Murray, and aid the allied forces in the Peninsular War against the Grand Armée of France.
Later journal entries are in a hurried hand, as presumably there was much for Woollcombe to do once he reached land, but the passages written at sea are neat, detailed, and often lavishly illustrated, like the one seen here, showing a number of naval and admiralty flags and their meaning.
Thomas H. Campbell was a soldier in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, and his letters home to Miss Hennie V. Wood of Cool Well, Virginia contain many details of life in military camp. While stationed at Charlottesville, Virginia, Campbell discovered that not all soldiers shared his moral temperament:
There is a good deal of wickedness even in our company though the rules prohibiting it are very strict. No man is permitted to swear or get drunk in camp. It is a hard matter to be a good Christian among so many wicked men...