I tried to send you an email sometime back but it evidently did not get to you. I would love to see a copy of the diary and might possibly undertake typing it up and getting my publisher to make it into a book. That would be Southern Historical Press in S.C. At that time you were interested in some of my books but as I say I never heard back from you. As for the lists that are being placed on this list. They are parts of one of the historical societies publications that they have for sale to the public. If anyone is interested I can get you in contact with them. They have many good publications for sale and they make the money to continue publishing records by the sales of these. Susie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Suzanne Pickens" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 2:48 PM Subject: Re: [AL-PIKE] Re: First Alabama Infantry C.S.A. >I too have lists with names not on Jan's lists and in addition the diary >contains a list of names of men who died in prison camp and most notably >tells of a Capt. Meadows who was shot and presumably killed (Wood says his >leg would probably have to be amputated) by senteniels. The "transcriber" >of the diary says the shooting of Capt. Meadows can be documented. > > Well, right now the diary is in my living room along with several letters > and service records and some sundry family records. The diary was written > by my great great grandfather, Capt. John Henry Wood of the First Alabama > during his time in prison camp after their capture at Island 10. It won't > change any history books, but it is, I think, an interesting account. > > I have mentioned these documents to a couple of people in the Pike County > Historical Society at various times and there didn't seem to be any > interest. To my knowledge, no one has ever read the papers, at least not > recently, aside from our family, nor does anyone know of its existence. > > I am a cultural resources historian and always thought it was a pretty > nifty primary source, but when no one appeared interested, I figured I was > letting family pride get in the way of historical judgement. > > So there we are. I want very much for this document to be made available > to the public, but I want it to be done in a proper way, not just scanning > pages willy nilly. > > Also, my aunt had some "preservation" work done on the documents and had > them "transcribed," just before, I might add, I came looking for them to > edit for my MA thesis. The notebook was taken apart and the pages > laminated as were the letters. This renders the originals, especially the > letters nearly unintelligible so much reliance has to be placed on the > transcription. > > My desire has always been for it to be serialized in a historical journal, > I don't think it is publishable. I had hoped for the proceedings of the > Pike County Historical Society, but I received no encouragement. > > Please understand, I don't want to try to make any money off the diary, if > I wanted that, I could have sold it on ebay a long time ago (and > technically at least, it belongs to my aunt). I want it to be a proper > historical resource, fully accessible, but with my gggfther recognized and > credit given to my family who fortunately kept and preserved it. Perhaps > y'all who are in AL can tell me where it would best be deposited. > > So what cha wanna know about it??? I'm happy to post stuff like names > mentioned, the list of the dead, etc., info on John Henry and family > (several brothers also served including Major Pinckard Wood). Oh, and I > have a transcription of a letter from Capt. Wood's brother in law that > makes Sullivan Ballou's look like a form letter! > > Suzanne Pickens > [email protected] > 386 328-9118 > Palatka, FL > > > ==== ALPIKE Mailing List ==== > Visit Pike Co. ALGenWeb: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~alpike/ > >

Susie, I am sorry, I never saw the email, but I have so many projects going right now and geneaology has been on the back burner that I could have just deleted it, again, I am sorry. I am quite familiar with the Southern Historical Press -- I went to grad school at USC and worked for some time at the SC Archives managing the National Register. Like I said, I thought the stuff was pretty cool, but it was just family stuff, no big deal. My grandmother used to take it out and show it to us and tell us about sitting on Uncle Pink's (Major Pinckard Wood) knee when he had on his uniform for reunions. And she always told us he was the youngest Major in the Confederate army (as yet unproven). It didn't really hit me that I actually had personal access to something other people might be interested in or it would have been made public by now. You know when you are a researcher, you always have that dream that you are going to find something no one's ever seen before, it never occurred to me maybe I had. I know I'm babbling, I've just wanted this diary and the letters to mean more than gggrandpa's scribbling, but no one ever seemed interested. As for a copyright, like I said, no one has really known the papers existed until now. I can do a heck of a footnote for any kind of original document, but I know nothing about copyrights. As a historian, I want the information to be available as widely as possible. I would also like to be involved in how it is presented and I think family information on Capt. Wood would be useful to understanding his feelings and beliefs. This is not going to answer any big questions, but it is a record of a Confederate soldier's love of country, family, God, his comrades and his experiences while defending them. And I want the information, when used, to be properly credited. So again, please forgive my babbling -- it will take a little while to shift into historian mode. And thank you for showing an interest in gggrandpa's scribblings. Suzanne Pickens

Also, I have John Henry Wood's original enlistment certificate Jan. 12, 1861 as a 2nd lieutenant in the Rough and Ready Pioneers of Pike Co. I'm assuming that they were absorbed by the 1st AL when regular army was commissioned.

Having trouble sending diary pages -- graphic files too large, will work on this. Suzanne