Albert V. D. Collier was a lieutenant in the 15th New York Engineers during the American Civil War. He graduated from Albany Medical College in 1866. The diary reflects the writer's clerical and guard duties as a military surgeon's clerk in...
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Albert V. D. Collier was a lieutenant in the 15th New York Engineers during the American Civil War. He graduated from Albany Medical College in 1866. The diary reflects the writer's clerical and guard duties as a military surgeon's clerk in Kingston, New York, 1864 April-May, and more extensively his service as an officer in the 15th New York Engineers in Virginia, 1865 January-May. Entries for 1865 describe camp life, drills, disciplinary matters, visits to City Point, construction of bridges and other works, and the siege and fall of Petersburg, as well as family matters, meals and expenses. The writer, apparently a lieutenant, entered the Army on 1864 December 15, commanding men in Company G and, briefly, Company H. Fellow officers mentioned in the text, among them Captain Pierson, identify the regiment as the 15th New York Engineers. Based on internal evidence and other sources, authorship is attributed to Albert V. D. Collier, First Lieutenant of Company G. The endpapers contain a few miscellaneous notes in another hand.
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