3rd week
We got our soldiers! Today in class we received the names of the soldiers that we will be researching for the duration of the semester. I find this assignment very different in a good and interesting way. I think it will be fascinating to collect and compile the history of a man who served and fought during the Civil War. The reason being, we are starting our research with just a name and a file of records that have been scanned. The final product is something I think I will always be proud of.
My soldier’s name is Amos Phillips. I hope to research, find, and understand as much of his past as I can. There were several copies of scanned information and sources that were in my file on Amos Phillips. I believe that during class I looked through easily over a hundred documents. The frustration in this research is honestly just trying to read and understand the handwriting. I have never been good at reading cursive but needless to say this project will help improve that weakness.
All of the records I received on Amos Phillips range from very important enlisting dates to hand written letters. In addition, there are medical records and muster calls throughout the file. I found it interesting in fact that several of the medical records were not fully completed or filled out. When I was trying to collect basic information like hair color, eye color, and physical traits of that nature those sections of the medical forms were left blank. This was very frustrating because now I will probably never be able to know the basic appearance of my soldier. Regardless, I hope to compile an accurate depiction of his time of service. I hope that I can do justice to the name of man who contributed to such an influential part of United States history.
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