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About Me
- Jim Buck
- I have written a novel about the 23rd New Jersey called Journey to Honor. The story is based on the unpublished diary of Josiah Crispin. In August 1862, he joins the 23rd New Jersey. The war is going badly. Confederate victories threaten to entice Maryland and other states to secede. The North needs a victory and the Army needs reinforcements, so Crispin and his friends are rushed to Fredericksburg without basic training. The 23rd arrives so ill disciplined and untrained that they are written off as a bunch of “Yahoos.” The Yahoos are honor-bound to serve nine months. They start an intense on-the-job transition from citizens to soldiers and learn the Rebels are not their only enemy. Incompetent officers, deadly new weapons, sickness and savage weather are just as lethal. Crispin keeps a day by day account of these events in his diary. But when Josiah is wounded and captured, he has only minutes to choose between losing the record forever and trusting an enemy soldier to send the diary home. Journey to Honor is the true story of the Yahoos' epic struggle for survival as seen through the eyes of the soldiers who lived and died in it. Available in fall 2008.
6 comments:
OK, folks, to leave a comment place your cursor on the the red word "comments" and left click. A box will come up and you can say what's on your mind. Best wishes.
Jim,
Greetings from North Dakota. I'd like
to thank you for putting up the information that you have so carefully & thoughtfully placed on the web in regards to these "Jerseymen" who served in this unit.
My own Great-Great Grandfather Edward Tonkins Shinn served in the 23rd.
"GO Yahoos!"
Charles S. Lewis
I would be interested in reading your book. When in specific does it come out?
I have been researching the unit's colonel, but have not quite gotten into many of the real details of the regiment. Should be making a trip to Trenton soon to find the regimental archival collection, so may be able to help out on other individuals if i know ahead of time.
That being said, had the 23rd waited an extra day or two at Harrisburg before returning to Jersey, there would have been a good cliche cousin on cousin fight brewing. Lore is that a company of the 35th Battalion of the Virginia Cavalry burned the same bridges the 23rd had been guarding. "The Comanches" included many of Col E.B. Grubb's cousins.
I am rather curious to read this novel. The obituaries stated that my cousin (the colonel) was seen as a martinet, but gradually gained the admiration of his troops. I wonder if this held true in the eyes of Josiah Crispin. From the pictures of the colonel with those sideburns, i could easily see him being somewhat unpopular.
Great site, Jim. I had an article in the Beverly Bee about this website. I look forward to seeing you in Burlington County again in the future. My one relative I know for sure is Charles Smith in Company G, which was comprised of Beverly-Willingboror residents. I think I have more but need to research more thoroughly.
take care,
Dennis Rogers
So was mine. William H Swaim of Wrightstown, NJ along with his brother Charles. (Charles is listed as "Swain") Later my grandfather changed the surname to Swain. He was death, maybe a translation error. The rest of the family is still Swaim.
Michael J. Swain
Cherry Hill, NJ
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