studying urbanization via a Civil War officer's diary

A few weeks back, the students learned about Nathaniel Kenyon, a Union officer in the 11^th Regiment, Illinois Infantry. He became a prisoner of war in Tennessee in 1862. A typed transcription of the diary he kept during the Civil War is in the University of Alabama’s Hoole Library. 

The students were asked to read an excerpt from his diary and then trace his movements throughout the south. Along the way, they were challenged to make connections between his experiences and emerging urban life via maps and short reflections. See excerpts from their writings and their maps in this posting. To get a better look at the maps, click on each image.

Rae: Nathaniel C. Kenyon was born in 1838 in Salem, New York…[He]enlisted in the Illinois Infantry at the age of 23. He enlisted in the town of La Salle, IL…. However a mere six months later, Kenyon is captured by the Confederate Army. Kenyon was probably captured at the Battle at Fort Donelson which occurred in February of 1862. According to The Civil War Trust, Union soldiers were reported captured or missing after this battle.  His change in tone and emotion is obvious from his January entries to those he recorded in March…

 [I]ntriguingly, Kenyon is visited by two very notable Confederate military commanders during his time as a prisoner of war. He is visited by a “Col. Forrest” who was Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was a Confederate commander at Fort Donelson. Kenyon mentions that he is under the charge of “Sgt. Wirz.” This is the Swiss born Confederate military man, Henry Wirz. He was appointed by President Jefferson Davis to be the Confederate commander east of the Mississippi River for a short period. He went on to become the superintendent of the infamous Andersonville Prison….

I think [Kenyon]  fared better than a majority of his comrades. Kenyon never attempted escape or unruly behavior while in capture. For that behavior, he was rewarded. He receives books to read and pass the time. He also states that he gets a “mattress” to sleep on…. Kenyon begins to lose hope of release as his time capture grows on, but finds comfort in the prospect of a Union victory. Kenyon states, “The Old Flag was still slowly and surely making its way toward the Gulf, borne by as brave men as the world can furnish –the men of the Northwest-although we are fighting against brave men their cause is not just and therefore they cannot prosper.”

Caroline: In a detailed account of his time with the Confederates in many Southern cities, I was able to take notice of his treatment as a prisoner, and several elements of urbanizing America. Other than the use of steamboats and railroads, in his description, I didn’t notice much urbanization in the South.

During his time on the steamboat…. it was obvious those men [navigating his boat] weren’t nearly has qualified as the maritime men from the [David] Cecelski reading. Those men knew a distinguished craft of traveling on water, but it seemed the men steering on Kenyon’s steamboat didn’t know much of what they were doing. Kenyon said they kept running into timber, would stop often, and made very little progress each day. His story revealed to me how skilled the enslaved maritime men must have really been.

Ben: At first it was hard to make a connection between his story and the topic of 19th century cities as he spent nearly all his time captive in a transport or confined in Tuscaloosa, but it became obvious quickly that these waterways and railroads were the quickest ways from town to town and the lifeblood of the country. His journey down Mississippi railways to Mobile and up the Alabama to Tuscaloosa must have meant that the rivers and rail road were the most efficient and economical way to transport.

Devon: His diary [shows you how] important the railroads were to the war and the developing urban cities.  …During the 19^th century the train was a vital technology that helped people, consumer goods, and ideas travel across the country. The trains became an important part to the development of urban spaces… If the cities that Kenyon visited were not connected by a train system, then it was connected by a water way. Thanks to the improvements in transportation during the 19^th century Kenyon was able to see different cities across the south. The cities were places were rural society was merging with the urban new world…. Kenyon’s diary never gave the impression that Kenyon thought of himself as a victim. Despite his situation he still managed to stay active and retain his civility…Civility was an important part of urban life.

Emily: This diary is very interesting because it catalogues the travels of Kenyon through the South... We get to see a firsthand account of what it was like to use the railroads and waterways to get [to] places. Today we can just take a straight flight somewhere, but when you map out Kenyon’s journey [,] we can see that the opposite …The path they took had to follow railroads and natural landscapes …When I look at the map through the eyes of someone in 1860s I see that you have to utilize the natural formation to your benefit.

Jasmine: Kenyon’s journey starts in Belmont, Tennessee. It is winter and he soon develops a fever. [H]e …discovers that they are on the move [,] boarding a train to Corinth, Mississippi. From Mississippi to Mobile, Alabama… Arriving in Mobile [,] Kenyon boards a steam boat named Lily. On the way to Demopolis, Alabama they stop to pick up wood and Kenyon describes seeing “very large” plantations along the river. This is where I believe Kenyon gets to see and experience plantations first hand. … [H]e did not know how large plantations were … As the journey commences to Tuscaloosa, sleeping on a cold, damp deck and living off of stale bread and molasses begins to take a toll on Kenyon. Traveling up the Tombigbee and Black Warrior River was rough. The river was rising fast causing the boat to run into the banks delaying the travel time making progress very slow. Wh[ile] in Tuscaloosa [,] Kenyon becomes hungry and bored. If he wanted more food he had to purchase it for double what the Confederates pay and as a prisoner he was not allowed anything to read....Kenyon’s mood dramatically changes when he hears news from Capt. Cobb, a POW traveling three days behind Kenyon. Cobb claims that the old flag (Union flag) was still flying and that the flag was making its way to the gulf coming mostly from men in the northwest. This I believe is where Kenyon gains back his hope and courage in himself and the Union. I also think that this is where we can witness some urbanization in America. All throughout Kenyon’s journey he sees trains and steam boats which are both important in creating urban life in America, but hearing men coming from not only the north but the northwest helps us and Kenyon create this image that America ‘s expanding.

Undre: I noticed that the tone of his writing was coincidentally in sync with good weather…. I believe that talking about the weather was almost like a modern day Twitter or Facebook post. Serving as a[n officer] for the Union Army, and being down rated to a POW[,]  was an extremely humbling experience.

Voni: Kenyon does not ever portray himself as a victim, it is merely because of our awareness of his situation that we even want to oblige him to that description. Because he rarely alludes negatively to his circumstances and details of his emotional state are even more rare, the emergence of social etiquette can be seen quite clearly in this diary. Kenyon, for the sake of war and appearances cannot allow his captures to see him as weak, but he does not even allude to it in his personal diary. This implies, to me at least, that the social standard for masking emotions was either extremely engrained, especially in a soldier, or Kenyon was aware this could get into someone else’s hands, or both!

Wayne: Kenyon was transported on the railroad and with a steam boat. Both of these modes of transportation were vital in building urban areas by allowing a quick and efficient way to transport goods and people alike. Two cities mentioned by Kenyon were Mobile and Tuscaloosa. At the time, these two cities were in the process of expansion thanks to the waterways and rail systems. Mobile and Tuscaloosa were mass producers of natural resources such as coal and timber. The story of Kenyon is a commonly told story of the soldiers that fought in the Civil War. A young Lieutenant from Illinois, captured in battle, then transported to a POW camp site. Although Kenyon was forced to endure the hardships of battle and of captivity, his journey provides good insight to the landscape of the south and provides examples of the rapidly growing transportation system and urban areas.

Will: You see his interactions with urbanization the whole time because urbanization is centered around the railroad and the river. Urbanization was formed around the railroad and rivers, not the other way around. Cities like Tuscaloosa are here because of where the river is placed, and this man shows this because he is hitting all of these cities from Corinth to Demopolis by traveling these urbanized railways and rivers.

Caleb: On April 22, 1861 he was appointed 1^st S[e]rge[a]nt and on July 1861 he was commissioned [as a  F]irst Lieutenant…. Nathaniel  wasn’t killed in war….He lived to be 86 [which] was not common at that time because of …diseases.

Postscript: I enjoyed reading the students’ entries. They generally detected emerging urban life in the context of the modes of transportation that moved Kenyon from rural to more populated communities. There are still opportunities to juxtapose his life against what we have been learning via other course materials. In other words, how do we take a primary source like Kenyon’s diary and find meaning in it with the help of secondary sources, such as Gunther Barth's study of emerging urban culture and David Cecelski’s exploration of enslaved watermen, among them ones who served either the Union or Confederate armies during the Civil War?


For example, I wonder if it is possible to see how he participated in the “common humanity” or the “civilizing process” about which Barth speaks in regards to people who inhabit urban areas.

Some of the students seemed positioned to address this issue, particularly when they mentioned his civility and his interactions with the Confederate officers. This common humanity and civility are very important as they demonstrate how he emerges triumphantly despite being a prisoner of war. His triumphs go beyond the Union victory. It is a triumph that is embedded in racial and class politics. Some of the students intuited this. Some of their good ideas have the potential to reach a fuller conclusion. Perhaps we hesitate proceeding analytically in certain directions. It is easier to shy away from being confrontational when we are still working as a society through difficult issues like race and class. For sure, some students could see the North-South conflict, but fewer saw how much the soldiers had in common. 

I hope we can address such commonalities as we enter the second half of the semester. They will become critical as we finish reading Barth (the operative word being “reading;” yes, we must read the texts before us). When we read and digest information, we are better positioned to analyze documents and have productive conversations. Doing all of these things can also help us make connections between the past and the present.  Few things exist in a vacuum. Is there anything about Kenyon’s experiences – interior or exterior - that feel familiar? Resolved? In-process? It’s worth it to think about these things as we try to find meaning in our own lives. In the big scheme of things, the Civil War was not that long ago. 

We will soon move on to study urban life through two very different, but not entirely, people: Clarence King, a white geologist from Newport, Rhode Island, and  Eliza Potter, a New York-born hairdresser of mixed race who owned her “own house under her own fig tree” in Cincinnati. How can we build on the ideas, readings and conversations we have had thus far and analyze these two individuals’ lives? And our own? Such questions are worth asking as we turn this week to Barth's exploration of how department stores and vaudeville houses helped urban people cope and a "common humanity."