Information
Sheet
R Sweet, Benjamin Guy, 1838-1909.
190 Journals, 1862-1872.
One volume,
typescript.
This is a typescript of four journals
kept by Benjamin Guy Sweet. They
describe his experiences in the 74th Illinois Infantry during the
Civil War, removal to Jasper County, Missouri, in 1867, and operation of a newsstand and
bookstore in Carthage
in 1872. The typescript includes a subject/name
index to the journals.
Born in 1838 at West
Troy, New York, Benjamin Guy Sweet
was a resident of Norvell, Michigan, by the time of the Civil War. He enlisted in the 74th Illinois
Infantry at Rockford, Illinois, in August 1862, and served
throughout the war despite chronic ill health.
He married Inez Hall at Genesea,
Illinois, in 1866. For reasons not specified in his journals,
Sweet moved his family from Illinois to Jasper County, Missouri,
in 1867, arriving at Carthage
in September. There he established a
newsstand and bookstore, and by 1872 he offered a large stock of newspapers,
books, and stationery. According to the
family, Sweet went on to operate businesses in Webb City,
Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas,
and owned lead mines in Oklahoma. Sweet died in 1909 at Los Angeles, California.
Sweet’s journals were preserved through
the years by his wife, son, and grandson.
Of the four journals, two detail his service during the Civil War. The other two cover his postwar activities. All of the diaries have chronological gaps
separating them, and they do not form a complete record for 1862-1872.
After training at Camp
Fuller near Rockford,
the 74th Illinois joined Federal
forces operating in Kentucky. The regiment was involved in several small
skirmishes, and got its first real combat experience at the Battle of
Perryville in October 1862. Soon after
the battle, the regiment was ordered to Munfordville, where it spent the next
several months as the post’s garrison force.
Sweet, afflicted with chronic rheumatism which left him unable to walk,
reported himself disabled at Munfordville, and spent the next several months
in the hospital. He was transferred to
the Invalid Corps in 1863, and was sent to Camp
Douglas near Chicago to guard Confederate prisoners-of-war
there. The Civil War journals conclude
with entries written at Camp
Douglas and a single
entry for March 1865. Accompanying the
journals are copies of two wartime photographs of Sweet and P. H. Bohart, a
comrade-in-arms from the 74th Illinois.
The last two journals describe Sweet’s
removal from Illinois in 1867 and his business
operations at Carthage
in 1872. The travel journal is the
briefest of the four, and consists of a mileage log and short notes on the
three-week journey. The journal for 1872
concerns his business at Carthage and difficulties in finding suitable commercial
space after losing the lease on his first location. Sweet ultimately moved into new facilities
owned by C. C. Colby in May 1872.
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