This collection contains a diary and a volume of reminiscences by Gilbert Edwin Dunbar, who served with the 13th Michigan Infantry Regiment from 1862 to 1865.
The Diary (about 86 pages) commences on January 1, 1864, and chronicles Dunbar's time as an assistant quartermaster at Chattanooga, Tennessee. In brief daily entries, he wrote about loading and unloading supply ships and trains that stopped in the city, and mentioned other regiments passing through Chattanooga. He also commented on his social life, which included a visit from his father and social calls with local women. After April, he occasionally mentioned news of the war, including developments around Atlanta and related battles; he also shared his favorable opinion of General Ulysses S. Grant. Dunbar mentioned seeing a parade of African American troops on May 1, and on June 30 described a dispute with Colonel Easton, who had charged Dunbar with disobedience and neglect of duty. The final entry is dated August 31, 1864.
The Reminiscences (49 pages), written after the war, begin with a brief introduction indicating Dunbar's intent to publish his memoirs, followed by "Chapter II," which recounts the 13th Michigan Infantry Regiment's training at Camp Douglas in Kalamazoo. Dunbar described his experiences in camp and included a list of the regiment's officers (pp.5-8); after mentioning the unit's departure for Tennessee (p. 12), he copied entries from his diary, commencing on February 13, 1862, as the unit boarded railroad cars bound south through Indiana. Dunbar wrote about the rainy weather and its effect on the soldiers' marches and described the scenery in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. He sought out a battlefield near Munfordville, Kentucky, where he saw the bodies of horses that had been shot during the action (p. 26). The regiment stayed in Bowling Green, Kentucky, between March 2 and 11 (pp. 29-34), and arrived in Nashville on March 13 (p. 37). The volume concludes with an entry dated April 6, 1862, as Dunbar's regiment headed toward Savannah, Tennessee.
Gilbert Edwin Dunbar, the son of Lyman and Mary A. Dunbar, was born in New York on July 31, 1840, and moved to Decatur, Michigan, before 1860. He had at least 8 siblings: Francis, Chester, Marietta, Myra, Eugene, Mott, Clarance, and Charles. He joined Company C of the 13th Michigan Infantry Regiment and was mustered into the United States Army as a sergeant on January 17, 1862. He served in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, and was promoted to second lieutenant (May 15, 1862), first lieutenant regimental quartermaster (August 18, 1862), captain assistant quartermaster (December 5, 1863), major quartermaster assistant (October 1, 1865), and brevet lieutenant colonel (March 13, 1865). He left the military on November 22, 1865, and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he worked with his father and several siblings as a flour merchant. He died on November 17, 1916.
