An AMAZING New Addition to BTC: The Diary of Octave Bruso

I was very pleasantly surprised on Thursday evening when Tom Bauerle emailed me to ask if I would be interested in some materials on the Petersburg Campaign in his possession. I eagerly agreed when I learned Tom had purchased his great great grandfather’s diary in an auction and transcribed the entire thing! Tom’s great great grandfather is Octave Bruso, a private in the 50th New York Engineers during the Petersburg Campaign. I’ve started posting entries from Bruso’s diary today, and new entries will appear, one a day, until the contents of his diary are exhausted. My hope is to gather more diaries and letters of soldiers and civilians who participated in the Petersburg Campaign. If you know of anyone who has a diary or set of letters pertaining to the Siege of Petersburg, please use Beyond the Crater’s Contact form to let us know!