Just Seven Lines--The 1863 Diary of Robert Sherrard Bell
Harry and I gave a presentation this weekend at the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum on the diary of Robert Bell. The diary, though sparse on details, is a fascinating document.
Robert Bell was the uncle of former Winchester Mayor Stewart Bell Jr. When Stewart died in 2001 and his son Tom and Tom's wife Kathy gave the diary to the museum and it is a treasured item.
Street. The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation now owns the house.
At age 21, in Nov. 1861, Robert Bell left the University of Virginia to join the Rockbridge Artillery of VA. while the unit was in winter camp in Winchester.
In 1863 he began writing in a small pocket diary. At the time, he had no idea of the marches and battles that he would record. And, as all soldiers, had no idea what diary entry might be his last.
In 1863 he began writing in a small pocket diary. At the time, he had no idea of the marches and battles that he would record. And, as all soldiers, had no idea what diary entry might be his last.
The diary is very similar to an annual pocket calendar you might buy today. Each page is about two and a half inches wide. Bell wrote with a pencil—in some cases, it seemed it was a very dull pencil and the handwriting is hard to decipher at the bottoms of the pages.
He mainly wrote of his daily routine—weather, food, his health, and sermons he had heard. He had 7 lines for each day to record events. If the artillery was in camp with not much going on, he had 7 lines. If they were participating in a major battle—he had 7 lines. He never ran over into the next day regardless of events.
He mainly wrote of his daily routine—weather, food, his health, and sermons he had heard. He had 7 lines for each day to record events. If the artillery was in camp with not much going on, he had 7 lines. If they were participating in a major battle—he had 7 lines. He never ran over into the next day regardless of events.
He recorded participating in the 2nd Battle of Fredericksburg, 2nd Winchester, and Gettysburg. He also enjoyed good Union lamb as his unit moved North to Gettysburg. He did not talk much about his emotions except when he stopped by his uncle's house in Front Royal when on his way to Winchester: “Experienced a feeling of my lost estate that I have never felt before.” Imagine a brief enjoyment of a visit with family in a comfortable home after having marched 23 miles that day!
I was appropriately dressed in mourning for the presentation because the last diary entry we read was on November 5, 1863: "Windy. Very disagreeable. On picket at the Rappah-bridge."
He was struck by a shell on November 7 and died soon after. The corporal of his company wrote his father and step-mother a long letter describing his death. The letter is a perfect representation of what Drew Gilpin Faust described as "the good death" in her book, This Republic of Suffering, Death and the American Civil War.
Byers recounted Bell's last words in his letter, "'I have always tried to do my duty, to my company and to my God; and if I have failed at any time, I hope I am forgiven.' A few moments after he asked Morrison Smith to pray for him, but was suffering so severely that he was hardly able to participate in the prayer offered. After the prayer, he charged Johnny Brown to give his bible to his father and tell him that he was always a dear father to him; also adding 'bid all my friends farewell and bid them to see me in heaven.'”
Beyer sent the diary, Robert's bible, and a map showing where his body was buried. The family moved the body after the war to Mount Hebron.
Almost a year later during the 3rd Battle of Winchester, Robert Bell's stepmother gave birth to Stewart Bell Sr., the father of Stewart Bell Jr.
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