将历史带入生活
An 阿宾顿 student unearthed a soldier's unread Civil War diary while interning at a local museum. Her historical detective work shed new light on life during a pivotal time in America, and her findings are available to the public.
Jennifer Rogers was elated when the archivist at Doylestown's Mercer Museum gave her the go-head to transcribe the journal, which dates from Private Joseph Eisenbrey's enlistment to the end of the war.
《易胜博》, which Rogers spent 10 months deciphering, includes vivid descriptions of “soldiers that had been made to bite the dust,稀缺的食物, and camping on the cold ground. The impact of Eisenbray's experiences in Company C, 8th Regiment of the 宾西法尼亚 Cavalry remains with her.
"Transcribing the journal deepened my appreciation for local history and allowed me to develop a friendship with the man behind the diary." — Jennifer Rogers, 美国研究 major
Eisenbrey wrote vividly about the war's last major battle at Appomattox Court House where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union's Ulysses S. 格兰特:
1865年4月9日. 周日.
The Rebels could not resist long. ... An “orderly” had just been brought a dispatch that Lee had surrendered his whole army to Grant. If they had not we would have annihilated every one of them. We encamped on the Battle field for the night, only the field between us and the Rebels, some of our boys went across and talked to them.
Private Eisenbrey's original discharge papers discovered in the Mercer Museum archives by 阿宾顿 student Jennifer Rogers.
图片来源:Regina Broscius
A week later, victory turned to sorrow as word of Abraham Lincoln's assassination spread:
周日美联社. 16th.
News came today that “Our President” had been shot by a cowardly assassin. The men are all gathered around the camp fires talking it over in subdued tones, some believe it and others not. If it is so it is the “Greatest loss the Country could have received at the present time.”
4月19日星期三
The assassination of President Lincoln is a sad affair indeed to think that as soon as the fruits of his administration was beginning to show themselves ... 叫他被砍倒; ... [he was] released from the cares and troubles of this world.
In one of his final entries, Private Eisenbrey reflected on the future:
8月19日星期六
I hope to become a useful citizen and help build up our nearly ruined country so that Peace, 繁荣, and Harmony may exist throughout the land from Maine to the shelf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Rogers couldn't resist the urge to find out more about the rest of her friend Eisenbray's life. She dug through census records and journals, learning he was born in the Bucks County river town of Lumberville. He raised a family in Philadelphia while building a successful dental practice.
Private Joseph Eisenbray never resided more than an hour from the Mercer Museum, where — thanks to 阿宾顿's Jennifer Rogers — he lives forever.
