Van Zwaluwenburg, Jacob, b. 1843

Memoir, n.d.

Van Zwaluwenburg, Jacob, b. 1843
Rank:	Private
Regiment:	United States. Army--Infantry Regiment, 16th
Service:	1861 May-1865

Background note:

Born on January 16, 1843, in Elburg, Netherlands, Jacob Van Zwaluwenburg emigrated to America with his family in 1850 to avoid the military conscription of his elder brother. Shortly after settling in western Michigan, his father contracted typhoid and died, and the family was split and spread out over the state, with Jacob being shuttled from one elder sibling to another.

Ironically, in a fit of patriotic fervor, Jacob enlisted in the 16th U.S. Infantry at the start of the Civil War, and saw considerable action in the western theatre, including the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, and Stones Rivers, as well as the Chattanooga Campaign.

Scope and Contents:

Jacob Van Zwaluwenburg's autobiography contains discussion of his experiences during the Civil War along with a fascinating account of his childhood in the Netherlands and America. He discusses his family, schooling, and religious upbringing in the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church in the the Netherlands). He describes the ocean voyage and Erie Canal journey which brought the family to Michigan.

Van Zwaluwenburg describes his wartime experiences in the 16th U.S. Infantry, from his humorous efforts to volunteer through the end of his enlistment. He provides particularly detailed descriptions of the battles of Shiloh and Stones River and the fighting around Chattanooga. His account centers on the experiences of a private and strays little into the fields of politics and the evaluation of generals. Although there are a few geographical and chronological errors, the account provides an interesting view of the common soldier in the regular army.

The journal is in both manuscript and typescript; however, the two are not entirely the same. The typescript copy, 36 pages long, follows the manuscript copy, 33 pages long, with only minor differences until page 18 of the manuscript and page 22 of the typescript. From this point the copies differ greatly, although they cover roughly the same events. The manuscript is incomplete, lacking an ending.

M-1824

Link to subject index to the Jacob Van Zwaluwenburg Journal

Contents listing to the Jacob Van Zwaluwenburg Journal

Alphabetic index to the Schoff Civil War Collections

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