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Diary and memoir of a Confederate soldier, railroad laborer, and shop owner from Grafton. The memoir begins with Mugler's birth in Alsace-Lorraine in 1838, and covers his immigration to the United States; enlistment in the United States Army in 1851; military duty in New York, Boston, Rhode Island, Texas, California, and the Washington Territory where he participated in the expedition against the Yakima Indians as a member of Company B, Third Regiment, United States Artillery, under Phil Sheridan; and his return to Orange County, Virginia, where following the passage of the Secession Ordinance he enlisted in the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry serving as chief musician. The memoir concludes with Mugler's military career during 1861-1862. The diary covers the remainder of his military service, 1862-1864, and his confinement as a war prisoner at Elmira, New York, 1864-1865. Following the war, Mugler returned to Washington, D.C., and eventually gained employment with the National Cemetery Corps, working at various Virginia battlefields. While in Virginia he served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Convention of 1867. He worked at the National Cemetery at Grafton and for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, eventually becoming superintendent of painters on the Road Division in West Virginia. After 1874 he worked briefly as a self-employed painter, and then opened a paint and hardware store in Grafton which he managed until the end of his life. Subjects include the Battle of Mine Run, the retreat from Antietam, the Battle of the Wilderness, prison life at Elmira, New York; reconstruction in Virginia; railroading and the railroad towns of Keyser, Oakland (Maryland), Parkersburg, Fairmont, and Wheeling; the strikes of 1877; interviews with Generals Ord and Sheridan; the Murphy Temperance Movement and W.C.T.U. activities; the Liberal Republican movement of 1872; the Greenback Party; the Chicago World's Fair of 1893; political figures such as John S. Carlile, John G. Carlisle, John T. McGraw, John W. Mason, Frank Hereford, John E. Kenna, John A. Logan, James G. Blaine, and "Sockless" Jerry Simpson.

John W. M. Appleton (1833-1913) was an officer in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the Union's first regiment of African American soldiers, during the Civil War. Appleton's letters to his wife, memoirs, military records, and other materials provide a detailed account of his military service with this regiment, including the daily operations and activities of his company, troop movements and engagements, and the challenges facing black troops. Appleton also drew detailed sketches in his memoir and letters that depict the battlefield landscape and his unit's positions, including fortifications, encampments, and quarters. Significant topics include the geography around Charleston, South Carolina; the assault on Fort Wagner and other engagements in the Charleston Harbor in the summer and fall of 1863; the fatigue work and picket duty of the 54th Massachusetts; and the battle of Olustee and related engagements near Jacksonville, Florida, in February and March 1864. Also included are family materials and business papers. The family materials include genealogy as well as books about Hon. William Appleton and Samuel Appleton. The business papers contain a ledger from Appleton's time as an agent with Oriental Powder Mills. See Scope and Content Note for more details. See Historical Note for more information about Appleton.