Alexander Hobbs was a 21 year old private, a volunteer recruit in the 42nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of the Union Army. He was captured on 1 January 1863 at the Union defeat in the Battle of Galveston, and subsequently held prisoner in Houston. He later proceeded to Union-controlled New Orleans where he remained on parole until the 42nd Massachusettes was officially discharged on August 20 1863.
The Hobbs diary records his experiences as a volunteer recruit in New England, his participation in the Battle of Galveston, and his life as a prisoner in Houston. Included in the collection is the Bible he apparently carried with him during this period. The Bible contains notes of soldiers' deaths and burials, and a rough list of the dates Hobbs arrived at various locations during his Civil War service.
This material is open for research.
Permission to publish from the Hobbs diary must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center.
Alexander Hobbs Diary, 1862-1863, MS 370, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
Purchased from Goodspeed's, Boston, Massachusettes, November 1982, with funds provided by Mr. & Mrs. Edgar E. Lackner.