Reuben S. Searle was an 18-year-old farmer from Southampton when he enlisted on 8/8/1862. On 9/2/1862, he mustered into Company D of the 37^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.  He served for the duration of the war and recorded the bulk on 1862 and 1865 (respectively) in these two volumes of diaries.

The first diary, a commercial 1862 pocket diary by Charles Geer of Hartford, Connecticut.  Its cover is heavy card covered in black, glossed fabric with embossed border patterns and gold gilded date.  An embossed strip of material serves as the clasp, securing the tab of the folding rear cover to the front.

The 37^th left Massachusetts on September 7^th for Washington D.C. – a city which provided plenty of excitement for Reuben.  Each entry is dated, and he frequently talks of going into the city, swimming in the river, and even chasing deserters in the downtown area.  He discusses the responsibilities of his rank, his schedule, and often notes the weather as being “pleasant”. His first real entries that deal with combat concern Fredericksburg, where he records the commencement of the battle, the sounds of firing along the Rappahannock, and his Captain going to the front on the day of the infamous and disastrous US assaults. He notes that he was ordered to stay and guard the supplies at the 37^th’s rear position, and moved up to the front himself on the 15^th of December.  Reuben was quite the enterprising individual, as evidenced by the accounting record for various small tasks men of the company paid him to complete. He closes the year opposite the city Burnside failed to fully capture, noting some minor illness and the daily life of a soldier in the Army of the Potomac – rations, visiting friends, drill, and the ever-varying weather. He closes on the eve of the arduous mud march, with the last two days of the year finding him sick and staying in the captain’s tent to recover. An interesting and criptic addendum reads “ ‘Anything you are a mind to write’ / Remember the night away from home the 26^th of March 1862”.  His entry for the 26^th mentions going to see a Nellie and a Katie that evening and having a nice time.  It is possible, if not probable, that the entry was written by one of the ladies. A penciled calling card reads “Nellie L. Reed” across a hand-drawn banner.

His second diary is of a similar variety, though manufactured by a firm in New York and embossed with a stylized “DIARY – 1865” on the outer flap’s closing tab.  [cm][ph:L]

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