Photos courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society Above, a page of the diary that Lt. Theodore Chase kept while serving in the Union Army as well as the buttons off of his coat, which are in the Warren County Historical Society’s collection.

Theodore Chase kept a detailed diary of his time serving in the U.S. Army as part of the 151st Pennsylvania Infantry. We pick up from last week’s story in April 1863.

Rumbles about a movement of the Army rippled through camp the next week but the rumor didn’t come to pass for the 151st.

Chase notes that the men did some target practice and played some baseball.

But it wasn’t home and Chase was keenly aware of that.

¯ Apr. 19: “Morning very warm, seems like July at home. Went to the landing afternoon. Thought much of home, would like to have been there, but alas there is no consolation for wishing. So goes the world.”

The 151st was largely unengaged during the Battle of Chancellorsville in early May, guarding the Union supply trains.

A week later – and just two months until his regiment would be mustered out of the service – his health problems would really begin.

He complained of being “taken unwell” on May 11 and of a “back ache, head ache, etc… symptoms of jaundice,” the next day. “Stuck to my bunk,” he concluded.

His situation did not significantly improve.

¯ May 15: “Morning cool & pleasant. Cool wind all day. Health bad – would not care if I was at home.”

¯ May 19: “Morning cool & pleasant. Feel hard up as usual – want something good to eat but don’t get it here…. Very bad headache all afternoon, can eat nothing or get anything I could eat. Feel better at dark.”

¯ May 22: “Health about the same – hard up – very weak – unable to walk much – no appetite.”

On May 30, he notes that the regimental doctor encouraged Chase to return to Washington for additional treatment. He arrived in Washington the next evening and was sent to a Seminary Hospital in Georgetown the following day.

Various treatments were given – various powders, quinine and better food.

Three weeks later, Chase was ready to bust out.

¯ June 24: “Feel pretty well – ready to leave when hospital consents. All sorts of rumors flying about.”

The next day, he called himself “ready again for service.”

Those rumors? The infancy of the Gettysburg campaign, Confederate General Lee’s second invasion of the north.

Six days later, Chase, still in Washington, notes in his diary, “rumors-rumors-rumors. Impatient.”

On July 2 – the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg – Chase was given his orders and sent to Harrisburg to “help guard that city” as there was “no chance of locating own company.”

He went to Philadelphia the next day and, by the fourth, Chase said that “all talk of Gettysburg – wonder if Co. F. made it there.”

They did.

Lt. William Blodget, from Sugar Grove, wrote in a July 2 letter back to Warren from the battlefield: “Every man stood up to the work and fought like a tiger without a single exception. Our poor boys fell around me like ripe apples in a storm. God bless them! They were heroes – every one of them. Only thing – putting it at 30 killed and wounded out of 52!”

By July 9, Chase had met up with a couple members of the 151st in Harrisburg and had been given permission to go to Gettysburg, he notes on the 10th, “to see what help we can give after it is all over.”

He visited a field hospital in Hanover that day but “found none of our boys there and took the 1 o’clock train to Gettysburg.”

His search for members of Co. F continued on July 11.

“Visited the hospitals. Found Frank Lyon, Lacy, Bill Carr and Sam Allen – doing well. Visited a part of the battlefield later in the day.”

On July 12, Chase went to the area where Co. F. found on July 1.

“Saw many graves, many bodies half uncovered, clothing, knapsacks & canteens – plenty hard fighting done all along the line. We heard heavy firing toward Hagerstown.”

He visited the famed Little Round Top on July 14, calling it “a very strong point” and “the strongest point I ever saw.”

The next week was spent caring for the men of Co. F. who were wounded, visiting them in the myriad of barns and farmhouses that had been converted to field hospitals in the wake of the battle.

¯ July 19: “Frank Lyon was taken worse last night and died this morning at 10 o’clock. Took him to the Embalming Office at 11. The rest doing well.”

He returned Lyon’s body to the hospital from the embalming office the following day.

On July 21, Chase and the rest of the 151st left for Harrisburg to be mustered out of the service, which occurred formally on July 27.

He arrived back in Warren on August 3.