Colonel Joseph C. Audenried's Handwritten Memoirs of His Civil War Service & European Tour of 1871

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• Lot Description
  Brown leather-bound compilation, titled in gilt on cover, Journal./ Jos. C. Audenried,/ Colonel & Aide-De-Camp./ United States Army, partial title in gilt on spine, single volume, approx. 330pp. Handwritten final drafts of Audenried's memoirs, divided into two sections, the first titled, Jos. C. Audenried/ Colonel & Aide-de-Camp, Staff General W.T. Sherman/ Commdg. US Army, Head quarters of the Army/ Washington, DC/ December 17th 1873; the second section titled, General Sherman in Europe and the East/ by Jos. C. Audenried. 
  
  The first section begins with Audenried's arrival at West Point in 1857 and his early military experience during the Civil War. A few passages read: 
  
  At the time of my admittance to the Military Academy, peace and plenty reigned through out the United States and War seemed a thing almost impossible. On the 24th of June 1861 I graduated at West Point. The year previous the difficulties at Harper's Ferry occasioned by the raid of John Brown, had greatly excited the Cadets from the South and they were accordingly very bitter towards the North and the abolitionists. I frequently heard the cheer "Hurrah for a Southern Confederacy" without knowing what it implied...
  
  En route to Yorktown, the enemy had buried shells, so arranged as to explode the moment anything struck them. Among these we passed with great good luck only one man and horse were hurt. Passing down a deep cut in the road we found a pile of abandoned stores burning. Among these were shells which occasionally exploded making a very disagreeable gauntlet to run...About four miles from Williamsburg, we encountered the enemy pretty strong in Cavalry...
  
  At Fredericksburg, I rode among [Sumner's staff] and never during all the war did I come under heavier fire of musketry. The bullets seemed to hiss by one in every direction, and I closed my mouth each moment expecting each moment to get my death wound. I am glad to remember now how perfectly calm I was at that critical moment. I felt a blow to my leg and thinking a retreating soldier had run against me, I looked down quickly and saw the blood upon my sabre. I knew then that I was wounded....
  
  He goes on in further detail about many major battles, including the Battle of Bull Run, and other encounters while under enemy fire. 
  
  In the second section, Audenried’s account of his military and diplomatic tour of Europe as aide-de-camp to W.T. Sherman, is distinguished by keen insight and polished writing. Whether traveling in western, southern, eastern, or central Europe or the Levant, Audenried displays a fascination with the exoticism of everyday life mixed with the condescension of an upper class American, making for great reading on every page.
  
  Selecting a few passages to provide a sense of the writing and content of the diary:
  
  Visiting the Gypsy Quarter in Granada, he wrote: We returned thro what is called the Gypsy Quarter which lies on the side hills, furnished with a window, door, & a kind of chimney. In these live people, donkies, hogs, and the livestock possessed by the tribe. We were immediately beset by the children begging and as we did not respond, some threw stones at us. Granada is by far the dirtiest town we have yet been in and is now a cold place. We have fires in our rooms but the fire places are so small that we get but little comfort....
  
  While gathered with the military and political hoi polloi of Spain, Audenried and Sherman met a General Milans of the Spanish army whom he had met while Milans toured the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, adding he was not very complimentary as regards either [Gen. George B.] McClellan or Fitz-John Porter... When they were led in to meet the King of Spain, they were not impressed with what they saw: and we thro one small room into another where was the King, Amadeo, son of the King of Italy, and one year King of Spain. He came forward shook each one of us by the hand slapping with each shake one leg audibly against the other. This done he asked of the General a few questions in Spanish, which the General speaks quite well, about his brawls and address me some words in French -- We found him to be a man of about 30 yrs. Tall, thin, and awkward with black hair parted in the middle, black whiskers, very poor teeth which he displayed in laughing (which he did at everything he said), and altogether very unkingly. The General thought he showed brain, for my part I did not... Much more.
  
  In Florence, Audenried and company met a curious cast of creative artists, beginning with the great operatic prima donna from Albany, NY, Emma Albani; the brother of the British writer Anthony Trollope, and the renowned sculptor Hiram Powers: Mr. Powers met us in his hearty, simple manner, he wrote, and though his hair and beard are quite gray, his large brown eyes have great fire and seem to pierce right through one. He still works but only an hour each day. His studio is full of models. One of his sons has followed his father’s profession, another a photographer. We went into the house and found there Mrs. Powers, a married daughter, two single ones, the youngest being quite pretty, a daughter-in-law, and three lovely little granddaughters...
  
  More notably, they also met an aging Jenny Lind, the former singing sensation living in semi-retirement: After dinner we had the great pleasure of going to a musical at Jenny Lind Goldsmith’s. She has small apartments on the 2nd floor of a house on the Arno. I was very anxious to see her and being ushered into the reception room was received by a sprightly German woman with quick grey eyes rather sharp and firm face and who had the average height of woman. She was dressed in a pearl colored satin, trimmed with lace and red ribbons, had a red bow on her head fastened with several hair pins... I asked her if she would ever return to America and was told the journey was too long. She spoke most affectionately of that country... [hears her sing and accompany herself] I never expected to ere, much less hear and talk with Jenny Lind, even in her old age. To me her singing was charming, how it compares with that of her youthful days I cannot say. In my mind Jenny Lind was a person of the Past, hence my great desire to see & hear her...
  
  When in Rome, they secured an audience with Pope Pius IX: When he came to us he was very gracious and immediately told us to stand up. He spoke a moment in French to the General and fingering my button, we were in undress uniform, asked what the bird on it was. He was told the American Eagle.
  
  Messina, Malta, and Egypt followed (Returning to the Hotel we found several American awaiting us, many of whom had been in the rebel Army in the U.S. Among them were Gens. Loring, & Reynolds and Col. Reynolds, Long, & Major Hunt...), with a long account of touring city and villages, pyramids, mosque, the tomb of Mehmet Ali, then Constantinople, Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, England and Ireland.
  
  An extraordinary travel diary in its own right, well written, observant, long and detailed, and filled with fascinating details.
  
  Colonel Joseph C. Audenried
   
  Lots 92-97, 99
  
  Born into a well to do Philadelphia family, Joseph C. Audenried (1839-1880) enjoyed a privileged seat at the table of history. Handsome, intelligent, and supremely efficient, he made the most of his innate talents and good fortune as he built a truly unique career, becoming one of the most trusted members of the staff of Major General William T. Sherman. 
  
  A career military man, Audenried graduated 17th in his class at West Point in 1861, and was immediately commissioned 1st lieutenant in the 3rd US Cavalry; however his talents soon attracted the interest of his superiors, and for two years, he served on the staff of one division commander after another. His first staff position was as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Daniel Tyler, one of the Division commanders at the First Battle of Bull Run, and despite the ignominious defeat there -- for which Tyler was substantially held to blame -- Audenried remained a valued officer. In the late summer, he transferred onto the staff of the 2nd US Artillery in the defenses of Washington, DC, and then in March 1862, he transferred again to the staff of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Army of the Potomac under Brigadier General William H. Emory, and four months later to the staff of the 2nd Army Corps under Major General Edwin V. "Bull" Sumner, earning a promotion to captain. 
  
  Under Sumner, Audenried witnessed the shocking combat of the late summer months and the unfolding of the Maryland Campaign. In the hellish West Woods at Antietam, he was seriously wounded and obliged to leave the field, but was cited by Sumner for his gallantry. He returned to the 2nd Corps to take part at Fredericksburg, but when Sumner was voluntarily relieved of duty in March 1863, Audenried moved on. After a brief stint under John Wool, he traveled to the western theater to serve under Ulysses S. Grant, and took part in the fall of Vicksburg and pursuit through Tennessee. Finally, in October 1863, Audenried was transferred under Major General William T. Sherman, never again leaving his staff for the remainder of his life. With Sherman, Audenried took part in the Chattanooga and Knoxville Campaigns, the Atlanta Campaign, and the famous March to the Sea and March through the Carolinas. 
  
  During the course of the Civil War, Audenried had the distinction of serving under the most illustrious officers in the Union army and was recognized three times for gallant and meritorious service with brevet promotions to captain, major (Atlanta) and lieutenant colonel (war service). Although he married 18-year old Mary Colket in 1863 and had a daughter, Florence, in 1867, he apparently never considered settling down to a civilian life, nor did he leave Sherman's side for long. Promoted to captain of the 6th Cavalry in July 1866, headquartered in St. Louis, he participated in the Indian wars in the west under Sherman's command, earning a promotion to colonel in March 1869, and when Sherman was promoted to lieutenant general when Grant was elected president, Audenried went along, moving to Washington, DC. 
  
  A sophisticated, polished figure, handsome and popular, Audenried was well known and well respected in the capitol. He accompanied Sherman and Grant's son, Fred, on a diplomatic and military tour of Europe in 1871-1872 to build ties with foreign governments and review their armies. As early as 1876, however, Audenried began to display the signs of serious, but unknown illness, and at the age of 41, on June 3, 1880, he died in Washington. 
  
  Poised at the heart of American military power, the Audenried Archive is a historically important assemblage offering insight into the mind and personality of the top brass in the army from the Civil War through the Indians Wars, with particular insight into the enigmatic William T. Sherman. 
  
  An exceptional survival from the most trusted staff member of one of the most distinguished officers in the nineteenth century US Army.
  
  Provenance: Archive of Colonel Joseph C. Audenried

  Condition

  Excellent condition, tight binding with minimal wear on the cover. 
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