. . . about the events that I have been describing over the last few weeks . . .
- One of the best secondary sources, probably the best, dealing with the Civil War on the Peninsula is Defend this Old town: Williamsburg During the Civil War by Carol Kettenburg Dubbs . . .
. . . one of its chief sources is,
The Vest Mansion, Its Historical and Romantic Associations as Confederate and Union Headquarters (1862-1865) in the American Civil War by . . .
2.
David Edward Cronin. Cronin, an officer of the 1st New York Mounted Rifles, has been
mentioned before and was present at many of the operations in the winter of '63-'64 which
I have described. However, besides being an participant, Cronin was also documenting events. Along with the
The Vest Mansion book he also wrote
The Evolution of a Life, Described in the Memoirs of Major Seth Eyland and
mutiple volumes of papers now held by the New York Historical Society.
The volumes detail the activities of the 1st New York Mounted Rifles during the Civil
War, in Virginia along the York and James Rivers, and in North Carolina. This cavalry
unit participated in the following campaigns: Deserted House (Jan. 1863), Longstreet's
seige of Suffolk (May 1863), Bottom's Bridge (Feb. 1864), Drewry's Bluff or Fort Darlington
(May 1864), and The Darbytown Road (Oct. 1864). Material also describes daily routines
such as picket duty, orderly and courier duty, and scouting patrols on the Peninsula.
Some skirmishes with Confederate bushwhackers and the looting activities of the Mounted
Rifles are also described.
The pseudonym "Seth Eyland" is used for the book because, not only writing for posterity the multifaceted Cronin was also a
writer/artist for
Harpers Weekly. His articles appeared under that name, though his graphic work normally went uncredited.
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| New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, 1941 |
