J. Scroggs, an Ohio farmer, whose Scottish immigrant ancestors included forebears of Vice President Adlai Stevenson and his later famous namesake, felt the emotional pull of the Civil War. Married to Margaret Young, daughter of a river boat captain, and with three children to support, Scroggs at first resisted the glamour of marching off to war. But as others in Columbiana County joined up and as news came of great battles like First Bull Run and Shiloh, Scroggs became restless. On August 5, 1862, he enlisted for ‘three years or during the war.’ He confided to his diary, ‘Tomorrow I leave home, probably never to return…. May God protect my wife and babies. To all my dear friends, Good Bye, Good Bye.’

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Scroggs had begun to keep a journal in 1852 and his entries during the fifties reveal the struggling but happy farmer to have been highly religious, a strong Republican in politics and a fervent Unionist with marked antislavery beliefs. In 1857 when the Dred Scott decision was announced he wrote, ‘Our great national sin is the holding in bondage and traffic in the bodies and souls of men…. The cries and groans of these oppressed and suffering millions, have reached the Lord of the Sabbath, who in strict justice hath marked the iniquity of this sinful and ungodly nation.’

Scroggs served in the 104th Ohio as a private stationed in southern Ohio and later in Kentucky. Plagued with flu, dysentery, and chronic migraine headaches, he spent time in various hospitals as well as in the field. On one occasion, papers for his separation from the army for reasons of ill health seemed certain to be approved, but they failed to make it through final processing and his army career continued. With brief visits at home interspersed, he saw action in various Kentucky campaigns.

In October of 1863, Scroggs applied for appointment as a commissioned officer in charge of Negro troops. His interest in the use of black soldiers was longstanding. During 1861, early Union defeats convinced him that the side which first used black troops on a large scale would win the war. ‘Until,’ he wrote, ‘the policy of emancipating and using the slaves of rebels in every capacity is fully and clearly inaugurated, nothing but disaster and defeat awaits us.’ In January of 1864 Scroggs received notice of his appointment as second lieutenant in charge of the 5th Regiment, Union Infantry of African Descent. He left shortly for Norfolk, Virginia, where the new unit was engaged in Grant’s seemingly endless efforts to seize Richmond.

Scruggs’s regiment served with distinction during the slow process of dislodging the Southern forces from the capital city of Richmond. The blacks were ‘honored’ at Petersburg with the lead assignment in seizing the crater after the famous tunnel explosion. Scroggs ably records the sad blunder of the Northern forces in their failure to support the brave assault of his unit.

Scroggs ended his long army service in April of 1865, on the move to North Carolina, still in the field against the enemy. Contrary to his gloomy prediction about never returning home, he was mustered out and died quietly in 1876, in his familiar Ohio sheep country. His diary, kept until the end of the war, has not been published before. We are indebted to Dr. Sig Synnestvedt, State University of New York at Brockport, for furnishing it to us, as well as for editorial notes in the text.

The following extracts from his diary illuminate his observations on the service of Negro troops under his command during the attack on the Crater and, later, in the fighting for Fort Gilmer on New Market Heights, during the Petersburg Campaign of 1864.

July 30-The day is over and the battle is Lost-I had just went out last night in charge of a working party when I was notified to return as the regiment was under marching orders. With its usual celerity, the 5th soon filed from the trenches and in silence took up the line of march. At midnight we were established in our position on the front line, our left joining on the right of the Ninth AC [IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac] with orders to hold our ground but not advance. Capt. Marvin and Lieut. Spangler and their companies I and B were thrown out as skirmishers. Three Div. of the 9th Corps, were massed on our left and formed the charging column supported by the 2nd Corps.

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