~ SYLVESTER BUNYAN PHILLIPS ~ Son of Richard Phillips and Eliza Perry, husband to Marcia Louis Sumner
SYLVESTER B. PHILLIPS-Captain Sylvester Bunyan Phillips served for three years as Captain of Co. E, Third West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. Many of his cousins, friends, and his brother were in his company. At the end of three years when the company was reorganized as Co. E, Sixth Infantry he resigned. Sylvester B. Phillips, a son of Richard and Eliza Perry Phillips, was born March 3, 1830, at French Creek, and died December 12, 1909. He married Marcia Sumner who bore him four children : Leonard, Clara (Heavner), Nellie (Stuart), and Claude. His second wife was Lou Rollyson.
His wifes diary. Transcription below
Sunday, May 26th 1861 This has been a pleasant day. Sylvester and I did not go to church, but he has stayed with me all day. We have talked over that ______ of our country and our own dangerous condition in particular a little bank of loyal hearts, true to the Union surrounded by Secessionists. I know not how soon my beloved husband may be torn from me. He has done everything today to cheer and encourage me. He was reading poetry aloud one of my Scrap Books. I noticed a little scarcely perceptible tremor in his voice when he read the following stanzas. [she quotes from a poem about a soldier s wife].
June 10th 1861 Sylvester did not come home last night. It is the day set for his company to drill. I took the children with me and went up to Clarksburg, and while on the way, I heard that the U.S. troops had been summoned back to headquarters at Phillipp s that they had then started out . Sylvester dame up from town presently and confirmed the report. There was that mourning among the people when they heard that their protectors were to leave so soon.
Thursday 27th June. A day of terror and alarms to the most of French Creek. This morning, the girls distinctly heard the booming of cannon. In a short time runner came from town with the startling information that a large body of Southern troops were in Buckhannon. Shortly after news came that they had arrested some of the Union men in Buckhannon and that they had arrested John Burr after chasing him a long distance and shooting at him three time. Next the report came that they had fired the town and were on their way to French Creek Then commenced a reign of terror such as I never witnessed before and hope I never may again. Whole families sought refuge in the woods secreting their wearing apparel and bed clothes in the woods and burying their provisions. I thought I would show courage becoming a solder s wife and not a thing did I move from the house except a box of N.Y. Tribunes. I should not have done that had it not been at the urgent request of other inmates of the house who feared it would fare hard with us if they were found in our possession. I had also a letter from my illustrious kinsman, Senator Summer and one from Horace Greeley. I put them in a safe place. I put my husband s miniature and a pocket containing his valuable papers, notes, in my bosom. Then I sharpened my butcher knife, made a sheath for it and hung it to my belt, resolved I would not leave my house alive. Nearly all the men on French Creek were in the woods that day. Some with their guns watching the turnpike. What made a bad matter worse was, that nearly all the guns in the country were taken off by the Volunteer Company [Sylvester s military unit]. They took them for self defense to Clarksburg and intended to send them back when their baggage wagon returns as the U.S. will furnish them arms as soon as they reach Clarksburg. I could not help being thankful, in the midst of the terror and excitement today that the Volunteers went just when they did. Just at night we heard that the Southern troops had left Buckhannon taking with them the provisions left there by the Northern Army. And worst of all, taking prisoner that brave young Pennings, the one who brought out the flag on the day the Volunteers passed through Buckhannon, and Arthur Hiddey. I think we shall hear of a battle soon, for I think those provisions were left there as a bait. Cannons have been heard today at intervals from 8 o clock a.m. till 3 o clock p.m.
Tuesday, July 2d We heard last night that a body of Indiana troops had arrived on French Creek and stationed on the hill by the meeting house. Their provision wagons have not come yet but the people of French Creek are taking them huge loads of victuals of the best quality. I spent the morning in cooking for them. This afternoon I took up a basket full of bread, pies, butter and boiled meat. When I arrived at mother s I saw one of them standing in the door with his sober gray uniform and glistening musket and bayonet. Mother introduced me to him, and he told me he remembered by husband very well, as his Company passed through their camp on Wednesday last. His name was Joseph Burquin, of Company K, 10th Indiana Regiment. He took a great fancy to Clara [the Phillips little girl] and said he left a little Clara at home. Mrs. Phillips and I went on up the hill to the Meeting House, and were soon welcomed by the honest Hoosiers. Some of them were out hunting Secessionists, some strolling about, some sleeping and some partaking of the good cheer which was constantly arriving from the overjoyed Union people of French Creek. The soldiers talk as if they thought they had landed in an earthly paradise, one of them told me he thought when he left home he was coming to a land of enemies, but that he had found some very kind friends. They were anxious to find out all about the Secesh (secessionists) in our place for they wanted to take as many of them as they could find to the Federal Court in Clarksburg. The leading rebels about here have hid I m afraid the troops will not find all of them. While we were there a squad of soldiers came in with an out and out Secesh dressed in full uniform of the Upshur Grays, (a rebel volunteer company). They captured him at home, while he was at dinner and made him go and put on his uniform which he did, very reluctantly. When they arrived with him, he was placed with a number of other prisoners in the pulpit a strong armed guard placed around them. What would our dear Mr. Lawson say if he knew how his pulpit was occupied! I could hardly help pitying the poor villains when I saw how downcast they looked, but my pity left soon, when I thought of the way they had threatened the Union people, tried to overthrow the government. Martin Bosely, the one in uniform, hung his head and glowered at us from under his little red Secession cap. The soldiers had a great deal to say about the loved ones they left behind. One man in a Corporal s dress showed me his wife s portrait and told me about his little babe at home. Another, a great brawny 6 footer came and after giving my hand a grasp like the gripe of a vice, told me what his girl said to him when he left home. Gemini, Hon, I ve a good mind to put on the trousers and go too He said he had sisters that could shoot as well as he could. He showed me his gun and told me how the bayonet was adjusted and how the percussion tape fed out at they shot. On the way home we heard joyful news that General McClellan with a great many thousand troops arrived in Buckhannon last night .
July 4, 1861: I went to Buckhannon today. There were 8 of us in the wagon When within two miles of Buckhannon, we came to the smoldering and nearly extinguished fires of the Pickett s Guards. Presently a turn of the road brought us in view of an Ohio Regiment s encampment, their tents pitched in regular order, and they were on dress parade. We stopped a few minutes to see them then proceeded onward. We met two splendidly dressed officers, who I learned afterwards were General McClellan and ________ going to review.
July 5: I found a precious relic today while rummaging Sylvester s papers, a scrap of paper on which was written with pencil, in a bold dashing hand the following words. Capt. Phillips, Virginia Vol. As soon as you can get ready you will follow me on the Buckhannon road. Gen B___ McClellan Maj.Gen. Commanding. He sent it to Syl when they started from Clarksburg. He had another autograph of Gen McClellan s, a pass, on which was written: Let Capt. Phillips pass in and out of camp at all times. I put the former in my pocket and when I got home rolled it with a piece of the Secession Flag which was torn down at Jacksonville by the Indiana 10th Regiment (one of the same soldiers gave mother a piece which she divided with me). I put it carefully away in my box of relics .
July 20: [This was the day that she wrote the letter to Sylvester that is separately listed; see the link to this auction above] This evening Father came down here bringing a bundle directed to me. I opened it and it proved to be the rebel clothes Sylvester wrote to me about. There were 3 shirts, 1 pair drawers, 1 pair pants, and a coat with Captain s epaulettes. None of them had ever been worn. They were neatly marked, and in the pockets of the pants was a letter from a girl, Kate ______ of Pocahontas county to her brother in the Southern Army. It made me feel bad to look at the clothes and think of the loving hands that had prepared them for a son, husband, brother or lover who was destined never to wear them and who may have found his last resting place in the bloody field at Rich Mountain.
Wednesday July 24th: Father and Mother were here this afternoon. Sylvester told us a great many incidents of the battle of Rich Mountain. He said he saw the dead rebels in the trenches before the earth was thrown over them. Among them he recognized Clay Jackson, one of the Upshur Greys of Buckhannon. Before the battle, he had boasted that he intended to kill a damned Yankee and cut out his heart and roast it. He was the first man killed. Directly under him lay one of the McFadden boys, also of the Upshur Grays. Poor Boys. Their rebellion cost them dear. Sylvester said he had always had an instinctive dread, a horror of touching a dead body, but while on the battle ground, he said he found himself turning them over and lifting their heads to see if he could recognize any of them. I believe a soldier becomes hardened and inured to scenes of blood and death.
Wednesday August 28th. I have busied myself with a labor of love today. I have been making Sylvester a needlebook in wich the colors of our flag, the glorious Red, White & Blue, are blended. An Ambulance passed by today driven very slowly. I think there must have been some sick soldiers in it. This P.M. evening part of the 23rd Ohio Regiment passed. They had come through the mountains from Huttonsville, their baggage wagons sent around by the pike. The men took a limited supply of provisions in their haversacks and had toiled wearily over the mountains expecting their wagons would be at hand when they struck the pike again, but by some oversight, or negligence, the wagons had not come. They were nearly starved. A great many of them came in to beg a little something to eat. Mrs. Morgan gave them all the milk, buttermilk and bread they wanted. They are a great many of them from Ashtabula Co,. Ohio and are the finet of any Ohio Regiment I have yet seen. Their Colonel, Col Scammon, is brother in law to the Governor of Ohio. He is very cross and tyrannical with his men and they hate him wretchedly. Col. Scamp they call him. He even threatened to shoot one of his men for stepping out of ranks to pick up an apple as they marched along. His men threaten to kill him themselves in the first battle they are engaged in .
Friday September 13th: News came today of a terrible battle between a gang of Rebels under General Lee and some say Wise Johnson too and the he 23rd and 10th Ohio Regiments. The battle commenced at Summerville after severe fighting, the rebels retreated across Gauley River, burning the bridge in their flight. Our troops pursued them about 20 miles and the rebels had fortified themselves and were fighting still at last accounts we received. A soldier told Mr. _________ this news today. _________ to scare us told us the news and reversed it, telling us that it was the rebels who had chased our men 20 miles .
Sunday May 11th [1862]: A beautiful day and one that I shall remember as long as I live, for it has been one of terrible excitement to me. Libby Mullins called this afternoon and told me that she had heard that the 3d Virginia and 75th Ohio were all cut to pieces in the late battle. I felt as if my heart was freezing with terror. I believe I should have gone crazy if I had borne this suspense long. Just as Libby left, Charlie Tull came bringing me a dispatch which read as follows: Franklin, Va. May 11th 1862. Mrs. M.S. Phillips Buckhannon. Expect to be at home in a few days. I am slightly wounded. Frank Phillips thigh broken. None killed in Company E. S.B. Phillips. I felt inexpressibly relieved, and thanked God that it was no worse and that his dear life had been spared.
Friday May 16th: I am looking for Sylvester all the time. I have got his fine white shirts nicely done up, ready for him, have baked pound cake and cookies and made every preparation for his comfort. I feel very uneasy about his wound, as he did not state how or where he was wounded. My Father and Father Phillips are here, waiting anxiously to hear something more definite from the battle, as the French Creek people are in agonizing suspense about their relatives in Company E. About 5 o clock P.M. I heard the rattle of a carriage coming down street, and thought to myself I wonder if that is not him. I ran to the front door and the carriage had stopped at our gate and Sylvester was alighting from it. He was greatly fatigues and looked worn out. In 5 minutes our Parlor was packed and full as it could hold of the town people and soldiers who flocked in to see him and hear about the fight. The front guard and portico were also thronged by an eager crowd. His wound is in the left should blade it was struck by a ball which was nearly spent and did not enter but which injured the bone and caused him to bleed inwardly. He said he was deathly wick when it first struck him as it jarred him so violently and bled inwardly. He has leave of absence for 30 days. It reads as follows: Head Quarters Gen. Milroy s Brigade. Mt. Dept. Camp Milroy May 12th 1862. Special Order No. 34. Leave of absence for thirty days from this date is hereby granted to Capt. S.B. Phillips of 3d Va. In consequence of wounds received in late battle near McDowell Va. Subject to the approval of Major General Fremont. By Order Brig. Gen. R. H. Milroy. On the back of it was Gen Fremont s approval. I saw him on Thursday, the 13th and talked with him about an hour. He tells me the Old Pathfinder is worthy the love and confidence of his men and in him the Rebels will find one they cannot trifle with. Sylvester represents him to be very agreeable and interesting in conversation. He regrets that his faithful friend and ally. Kit Carson is not here to aid in these mountain skirmishes with the Rebs. The Gen. when I was with him was about applying his battery to the telegraph wires, newly erected. The account of the battle which he gave me, I briefly sum up in a few words Milroy s force was confronted on Thursday the 8th of May by the united forces of Johnson and Jackson. After a sharp skirmish with a portion of Jackson s army, he was joined by Schenek, who made a forced march of 34 miles in one day. The enemy then approached in 3 directions, with a large force, appearing at various points on the mountains. Milroy detached 4 regiments, which in attempting to prevent the placing of a rebel battery, brought on an engagement. The rebels were severely cut up and did not succeed in placing their battery, it being dismounted by our men. The 3d Va. Was not called into action till 4 o clock, but was kept back as a reserve. Sylvester told me it was the hardest part of the battle to him and his men to stand idle and see their brother soldiers falling under the deadly fire of the enemy and they were kept back. When at last the order rang out for the 3d Va, they made a furious charge and their rapid firing told fearfully upon the rakes of the enemy. Gen. Milroy said he had never seen as rapid loading and firing done, as was done on that day by the 2d Va boys. They fought till 8 o clock, some of them having fired 50 rounds. The men suffered terribly with heat and one of Company e, Benjamin Reeder, had fits upon the battle field. A perfect discipline seemed to prevail in the rebel army and as fast as one man was shot down, another, from a reserve in the rear would take his place. While the fight was the hottest one of our boys, Watson Cartright, sung out to another, Ain t this fun, God. Two of Capt Shuttle worth s men were shot dead, several of our Company E wounded, tow of them, we fear mortally John White and Frank Phillips. White was wounded in a very singular manner; the ball struck his head and was split into two halves by the outer plate of the skull, one half passing into the vacuum between the two plates and the other half in the upper part. They were both extracted and White was alive on the day the Captain left. He could not speak and Sylvester got him a pencil and paper that he might write. He held out his right arm and made motions so that they knew it was paralyzed. Sylvester then told him to try and write with the left one. He wrote my right arm is stiff We suppose he injured it when he fell. The Captain then asked him how many rounds he had fired when he was wounded. He made a figure 5 upon the paper. The Surgeons told Sylvester that his wound was worse than if the ball had penetrated into the flesh. I had a murderous feeling towards the rebel that did it when I looked at his wound. A round, blood red mark, just the size of the ball upon his left shoulder .
Saturday May 17th [The Phillips get the news that White died on Monday the 12th ..]
On the 22nd of July [1862] Sylvester returned to his Regiment, but much against my will, for his health is very frail. I am a helpless cripple. Mother stayed with me till this time, when _______ Boyles, a girl from the country took her place, as she felt as if she must go home.
August 2, 1862: On this day a strange ceremony was performed by the soldiers and citizens, hanging John S. Carlile (traitor to the New State he once advocated so zealously) in effigy. The long procession went slowly up Main Street, the drum and pipe playing the rogue s march and the prisoner blindfolded, sitting in the cart upon his coffin, surrounded by his guard.
Source: From Mrs. Phillips diary which was on sale on Ebay.
(DIARY Magnificent diary written by a West Virginia soldier s wife, Marcia Summer Phillips who was married to Captain Sylvester Phillips, of Company E, 3d Regiment of the Virginia Volunteer, from French Creek West Virginia (technically at the time still part of Virginia when the western counties that did not secede were intermittently occupied by Confederate troops and the region saw heavy conflict see historical notes below, after the excerpts from the diary). French Creek was in Upshur County, Virginia (that voted against secession) but there were plenty of secessionists in Upshur County and they joined the rebellion as the Upshur Grays some of them were friends and neighbors of the Phillips, and some of the diary is devoted to the tensions caused by the political tearing apart of the county. This diary is about an 80 page documents (about 8 by 5 inches though not all pages are of even size and are on different pieces of different colored papers) written in tiny close hand on both sides from May 26, 1861 to August 21, 1862. Some staining and tearing, but very readable; the ink has not faded except on a few pages. Several decades ago, a descendant of the writer scotched taped over some tears and taped along the spine of the diary (it was originally bound by string). The front page has a lot of tape on it, but most pages have no tape. There are some small tears and bends and folds. Also, some notes have been pinned to some pages with straight pins and clips (which can be removed, but I will not do this). The writing on the notes is in much more recent ink; there are also a few stray more recent ink marks on a few of the pages. A very few pages have some pieces cut out. Contents include the fear of the Phillips of being in the midst of enemy troops, Captain Phillips preparations for war, Confederate prisoners of war that Mrs. Phillips saw, details of battles from Sylvester s letters, Sylvester s musings on seeing his former neighbors who are part of the rebellion dead on the battle ground, tending Sylvester s wounds after he comes home after being wounded, her fear at his frailness after he leaves to rejoin his regiment [I believe that he survived the war, there is a record that he was discharged as a Captain from the 3d Regiment of the Virginia Volunteers].
Also letters of correspondence between Marcia and Captain Phillips before and during the war; see a portion below. )
French Creek, July 20th, 1861 Saturday Night
Ever dear Husband: I have just received the suit of clothes you sent me and found one of your precious letters in one of the pockets, for which I thank you a thousand times. I have an opportunity of sending this by Isaac, although I sent you a few lines this morning by Mr. Douglas. I will write again for I judge you by myself and your letters are to me as cold water to a thirsty soul, therefore I think you can stand the pressure of two letters from in one day. I came to Isaac s yesterday, should have gone before but the children were very sick with the measles. They are much better now I never saw any one look as Clara did, the spots on her were nearly purple and she was broke out very thick. She got cold one morning the measles all went in, a more distressed child I never saw. We gave her hot teas and spirits and finally got them out again, but I think she would have died if we had not brought them out. Lenny has been such a dear patient little fellow during his sickness. He is such a good child. I feel sometimes as if he was too good for this world. Some of the clothes you send home are very nice. I could hardly repress a tear when I read the little not that was found in the pants when I saw how neatly the shirts were marked, to think of the loving wife, mother, or sister, who prepared these clothes for some poor fellow who may have found a bloody grave at Laurel Hill. God preserve thee, my darling husband from such a fate. I was much pleased with the box you sent me, I have laid it away carefully, among my relics. The children are delighted with their tent and I think it will make them a fine playhouse if they ever have any one to put it up for them, or to use a soldier s phrase, to pitch it for them. I hope the time is not far distant when their dear Papa can leave the lines, tented field where long he s been a lodger and pitch his tent at home. Sylvester, dear, on the whole, how do you like the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war? Does your head ever reel, grow dizzy with excitement as mine does? Last summer when we were living in our peaceful home by the Creek, surrounded by fields of waving glistening corn, what a peaceful time that was. Do you remember how often I used to complain to you how dull and monotonous our life was, and wish that something would occur to break the monotony of that quite existence. But now, how changed. There is excitement enough crowded into one week, for a whole lifetime. I wonder sometimes how I stand it as well as I do, then I think of that promise in the Bible: As thy day is, so shall thy strength be, that explains it to me. Dearest Sylvester. I pray for you every night that your life and health maybe precious in this sight and that you may be at all time in His loving care. Do not fail to meet me there every night. I am glad to learn that you have found such a friend and assistant in Loomis. Tell him I send my love and good wishes to him. He is one that I have always respected very highly. Lenny never has had such a teacher that he loved as he did Mr. Loomis, as he always calls him. Tell Burnham that his friends are well, but his mother is very anxious about Walter since she heard he had gone to Staunton. Willie s health is improving some, he is very impatient to get back to comp. There is a brave patriotic heart in his weak body. Your Father s folks are about as usual, Mary is a little better. Now dear Syl, I will close with that oft repeated request Wrote soon and often. Goodnight and God bless you. Your own M (Marcia).L.C.P.
P.S. Dear Sylvester. Do you remember the bunch of white sweet scented honeysuckles you brought me the day I was baking Soldier bread for you? I said to myself when you gave them to me I will never part with them, I will keep them always for the sake of the one who gave them They are beside me now, seeing them has brought the following to mind rough and unpublished it is, but you will accept it I know. Beside me as I write, They lie, those faded but still fragrant flowers. Whose graceful clusters pure and snowy white Once decked the wildwood bowers. It was a dear one s hand That plucked those flowers, and brought them unto me. Tis for his sake that they beside me stand Though far away is he. Gone is their beauty s hour. But their delicious fragrance still remains, It tells my heart that Love s eternal power The hand of time disdains.
More information regarding these documents. This information came from John Groves andother cousin. He emailed the seller and here is her response back to him
"Hello John: The diary was not bought on ebay and I do not think you have seen the images before. These Sylvester Phillips documents were in the possession of my Aunt Susan Rucker Ruttenberg. Here is the connection between Sylvester Phillips and my Aunt Susan: After the war Sylvester and Marcia had another daughter, Nellie. Marcia died shortly thereafter in 1871. Nellie married a Mr. Stuart and they had a daughter Eva Stuart in 1888. Eva Stuart married Wistar Gates ( I have some Eva Stuart and Wistar Gates documents and letters also up for auction right now). Eva and Wistar Gates had just one child, Wistar Stuart Gates. Wistar Stuart Gates married Susan's mother's sister (in other words, her maternal aunt). Wistar Stuart Gates and his wife never had children of their own, and their niece, Susan, was like a daughter to them. When they died, most of their papers and possessions were willed to Susan. Susan first married a Mr. Waller and had three children, then divorced. In 1980, she met my Uncle Dr. Herb Ruttenberg and they were married. Uncle Herb is a pediatric cardiologist, and he has made huge fortunes as a surgeon and testifying as an expert witness. However, every time he gets a lot of money, he and Susan go to Mexico and rent a little house on the East Coast, and operate a free clinic where he does as much cardiac surgery on needy children as he can before his money runs out. Often times, he will have run up huge credit card bills as well, renting equipment, etc. for his clinic. So, then he returns to the United States to make some more money. So, you see, Herb and Susan are in a perpetual state of financial distress. Uncle Herb is now 72. He just took a job in the middle of nowhere in the tundra of Eastern Alaska as the town doctor, and Susan is going to be teaching English to the native children. It will be a big adventure, even though they are a little bit old to have such adventures. But, because Uncle Herb always spent his money, he needs to keep working. So, as they were cleaning everything up, because they are only taking a few things to Alaska this Fall. Aunt Susan decided to sell some of these papers and letters, and asked me to list them on ebay for her. I forgot to say that Susan's three children are not much interested in any of these things, and they do not have any children. Susan's daughter has been very sick with AIDS, she got it 15 years ago from her husband, who has hemophilia. Susan needs to have a good cash reserve in order to make emergency trips back from Alaska to tend to her daughter, if necessary. I am telling you all of this, because you are "family" also, and you might be curious to know all of this if you are the high bidder. You can see I am not really related to Sylvester Phillips since I am related to Susan by marriage, and she is related to Wistar Stuart Gates by marriage. You, however, are actual family of the Phillips. It would be wonderful if this diary found its way back to the Phillips family. Email again if you have any questions. Take care, Alison Ruttenberg
UPDATE: 8/18/02
John, The Ebay seller of the diary decided to let the bidding continue. As you know she was upset by the Upshur Co. Historical Society. After my email exchange with her, she added the following info to the Ebay auction page:
Additional important information, all bidders please read!!! This diary belongs to my Aunt Susan Rucker Ruttenberg, and I am selling it for her, along with the other Gates and Phillips family memorabilia that I currently have listed and will be continuing to list throughout the Fall. These items are from Susan’s Uncle Wistar Stuart Gates, who married Susan’s maternal aunt. Susan was like a daughter to Stuart, and he left all of these items to her when he passed away several decades ago. Stuart was the great grandson of Sylvester and Marcia Phillips. Marcia died shortly after the war in 1871, but Sylvester lived for many decades after her death. In the diary and letters, Marcia talks about their two children, Leonard and Clara, but after the war, they had more children before her death. Two of the additional children are important for purposes of discussing the diary: Claude and Nellie. Nellie married Jerome William Stuart, and they had a daughter, Eva, who was born on March 26, 1887 in Upshur County. I have Eva’s birth certificate, signed by the Upshur County Court Clerk. Eva married Wistar Gates, and they moved to Detroit Michigan. They had one son, Wistar Stuart Gates (who married Susan’s aunt). The diary, letters, and other letters to the children written after the war were in a very old envelope, marked as Marcia Phillip’s papers. There are also pictures of the Phillips’ house in French Creek, and I will be posting links to them tomorrow night after I get them from Aunt Susan. These pictures were taken from 1890-about 1920. Susan is quite sure that the diary is the original copy written by Marcia. The handwriting in the diary and the letters sure looks like the same hand, but I am not a handwriting expert. Since this auction commenced, a controversy has arisen because apparently, there are other handwritten copies of this diary. Claude Phillips had a handwritten copy of this diary in a red bound book. This raises the question: Was Claude’s copy the original? Or was the document that Nellie had the original? (Nellie’s document is the document that is up for auction). Or are both handwritten copies that were made sometime after the war? I do not know the definitive answer to these questions. The only people who know for sure, Marcia, Claude and Nellie, have been dead for decades. In my opinion, Claude’s handwritten copy in the red covered book is probably not the original, since civil war era diaries were not in colored leather, but if bound in books, were bound in brown or tan leather. This red covered book that Claude had disappeared shortly before his death in 1923. Because it has disappeared, the Upshur County Historical Society has taken the position that the document was stolen from him. However, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Claude’s red covered book was stolen. The document that is currently up for auction was in Eva Gates’ possession in the 1920s, was not in a red covered book, and is not the document that Claude Phillips had. Shortly before the book disappeared from Claude Phillips’ possession before he died, a Mrs. Giffin, from the Upshur County Historical Society had copied out the document in the red covered book. She then gave this hand copied out version to the Upshur County Historical Society which transcribed it and published it. The version that Claude had is different in at least one respect that the copy up for auction. The document Claude had ended with “We did not see more than a dozen berries and blossoms, and did not deem them worth the trouble of dismounting.” The copy up for auction does not end with this entry, and the copy up for auction rather abruptly ends on August 20, 1862. I noticed something else about the document from Nellie, that is currently up for auction: It has cross-outs, starred lines, and other doodles in it throughout in the same ink as the handwriting. It also has a few crossouts and edits in pencil and other more modern ink, as if someone were editing it for copying. (Perhaps additional evidence that it was copied out by hand by someone such as Claude Phillips??) The Upshur County Historical Society has informed me that it “has assumed all rights to the content of this diary since the 1950's when a transcribed copy was placed in the repository of the Upshur County Historical Society [by Mrs. Giffin].” However, any implication that the Historical Society has the right to ownership of the document up for auction is absolutely absurd. At most, the Historical Society has obtained the rights to the transcription of the copy that Mrs. Giffin made; the Historical Society cannot in any way have obtained the right to the original document or another original handwritten copy of it. However, if the high bidder intends to transcribe this document and publish it, I recommend obtaining legal advice to determine whether this would or could infringe upon the rights the Historical Society has in its copy of Claude Phillips’ copy that was made by Mrs. Giffin 80 years ago. "
At that point the bidding was at $800, and it has not moved since. The auction ends tomorrow evening. All very interesting.
John Groves
Thanks to cousin John Groves for this information and correspondence.
***********************************************************************************************************************************
The following has been transcribed from:
Upshur Brothers
Of the Blue
And the GrayBy Betty Hornbeck
McClain Printing Co.
Parson W. Va.
1967Sylvester B Phillips
In a diary compiled during the war year; Mrs. S. B. Phillips, wife of Buckhannon's illustrious war captain, whose home stood where Anderegg Jewelry Store now stands recorded on June 14, 1861, the arrival of United States troops, 1,500 strong from Philippi, along with 30 baggage cars and one cannon. Singing the "Star Spangled Banner", the soldiers pitched their snowy white tents on Farnsworth Hill above town, their camp covering about two acres.
"Henry Wenhall Diary, entry of July 2, 1861; Journal of Mrs. Syltester B. Phillips, entry of July 4, 1861. Mrs. Phillips kept a journal during the time her husband was an officer during the Civil War. It is on file with the Upshot County Historical Society.
On June 15, the soldiers were called back to Philippi, leaving several loads of provisions, perhaps as bait for Rebels, hoping to entice them from their headquarters at Huttonsville into Buckhannon. It was the intention of the Northern forces at Clarksburg and at Philippi to intercept any such attempt and to cut off the Rebel retreat but, McClellan's forces arrived along with Colonel McCook's Dutch regiment of 1,600 who stationed themselves on St. Joseph's Hospital hill and on July 1 McClellan commanded S. B. Phillips' local company by attaching them to his bodyguard.
On June 12, 1963, just 100 years to the day after Mrs. Phillips recorded the last entry in her journal, French Morgan. Buckhannon historian, presented to the Upshur County Historical Society background concerning the journal writer. It is well that his account be recorded here as the Phillips journal is invaluable in describing Buckhannon during the Civil War.
"Migration of the New Englanders to the French Creek area, when Zedekiah Morgan moved his family to the Sago area during 1801, continued during the years until during 1815 David Phillips brought his family, driving all the way in an ox cart from Ashfield, Massachusetts, to locate at the upper end of Mulberry Ridge. His son, Richard, married Eliza Perry and they became the parents of Sylvester Bettes Phillips, born at French Creek in 1830.
David and Clarissa Sumner lived at Ottes, Massachusetts, where their daughter, Marcia Louise, was born in 1835. It was after that date that the Sumner family moved to French Creek, where Marcia's brother was postmaster for a number of years.
"Sylvester 'Sil', and Marcia were married in 1852, when he was 22 and she 17 years of age, and by the time of the Civil War they were the parents of a son, Leonard Herres, called 'Lennie' by his mother, and a daughter, Clara.
During the first year of the war the family lived in French Creek. Property had been purchased in Buckhannon, and early in the spring of 1862 the family moved in the house located at the northwest corner of East Main and Spring streets, adjoining the Heavner House Hotel, later to be called the Valley House where the building of the Central National Bank is now located (1963).
"At that time the house stood on the middle of the lot back some 30 feet from the street, as did the hotel. It was in this house that much of the journal was written. Elias Heaves, operated the hotel and it was but natural that his son, Clark, should later marry Clara, the daughter of his neighbor.
"Mrs. Phillips described the Henavner House, as well as the Tilliston Tannery House across the street. The Heavner House was razed to make room for the new building of the bank, the Phillips house was moved to the edge of the street, brick veneered. and houses a couple of stores at this time, (1963), while the Janney house still stands looking about the same as formerly, and is being used for apartments until the present owner, Mrs. Ernest Phillips, passes away.
"In later years, after Marcia had died and Capt. Phillips had remarried, he lived in the large two-story red brick house, with the cut stone fence in front, located on the northeast corner of South Kanawha and East Lincoln streets. He died in 1909. Marcia died nine years before I was born-(French Morgan is 83 years old)-no one living in Buckhannon today ever saw her. From the pages of her journal it may be determined that she was a cultured, refined, educated woman, albeit somewhat self-concerted, probably justified when it is remembered that he was a member of a distinguished New England family.
"Without any explanation whatever, the journal ended abruptly on Friday, June 12, 1863, dung the midst of the war. Mr. Phillips had resigned as an officer and that may have had something to do with it"
Entries of this diary of Mrs. M.L.S. Phillips, wife of Capt. S.B. Phillips
“…the 17th Ohio Regiment passed through here today. I don’t know that anyone else would feel as I did while watching as the vast marching mass of men, with their murderous looking muskets gleaming in the sun and listening to their steady tramp, tramp which seemed to shake the earth. Then came the huge army wagons loaded with their provisions and camp equipage…….”
Diary date, Tuesday July 23, 1861
“On the battlefield, Capt. Sylvester Phillips found himself turning over the bodies of the dead Rebels and lifting their heads to see if he could recognize any of his friends and neighbors.”
This passage refers to a battle that took place on the western slope of Rich Mountain.
Diary date, Wednesday July 24, 1861
In French Creek, Orderly Sergeant Loomis Gould and Capt. S. B. Phillips were forming and organizing a Home Guard using arms recently captured in Battle to arm citizens to protect themselves and their homes when Federal Troops were absent.
“Always on the hunt for Rebel sympathizers, Gould and Phillips captured Lewis Luncford and Dan Bassel a member of the Upshur Grays. Upshur Counties were paticulary bitter in their feelings toward Bassel. The gossip at the time blamed Bassel for cruel and inhumane treatment of Jim Jennings and Arthur Kiddy, who earlier had been captured near Buckhannon during a skirmish with Colonel Turk’s Rebel forces. The pair had been taken to Rich Mountain and forced to dig trenches with a heavy cannon ball chained to their legs. When the two men were ready to drop with fatigue and hunger, it was said that Bassel ordered his soldiers to probe them with bayonets”
Diary date July 26, 1861
“The wife of Capt. S. B. Phillipss, in charge of the Virginia 3rd Troops, stated that while the soldiers were looting the stores prior to their departure, that Captain Bailey of Co. D, 2nd Virginia, came to see her and stated that while in Beverly he had boarded with Mrs. Arnold, a sister of “Stonewall Jackson”, a true Union woman, who mourned over the eror her brother fell into when he espoused the cause of the South.”
“During this conversation a roar was heard in the eastern end of town, and great excitement prevailed in the street. In their retreat the Union forces had set fire to the Star Mill Bridge (North Florida Street Bridge) and it son fell into the river. Many of the citizens thought that this a wanton destruction since there was a way to ford at that spot and a crossing could be made with little delay.”
The book contains much insight into the times and is a good investment for those of you who may have ancestors there during this time………… john
Captain S. B. Phillips signs for his pension
Back to More Phillips