Digital Collections
Tilghman Vestal Diary

MS 485 Tilghman Vestal Diary, 1862-1865

This is the diary of an 18 year old boy from a Quaker background who was pressed into service in the Confederate Army but refused to bear arms or to pay the tax that would release him. The diary is in two parts. Part One covers his travels with a Tennessee regiment, his court martial and imprisonment. Part Two tells of his leaving New Garden School in 1865 to make the dangerous trip to Federal territory on the Carolina coast and from there by sea to Washington and then Philadelphia where he planned to stay.

Part I

Tilghman Vestal ignored the conscription which required him to join the army after his 18th birthday on 8-5-1862 and on 2-2-1863 he was arrested and taken to Columbia, Tennessee. He was assigned to the Tennessee Regiment commanded by General Lucius Polk in March, 1863, and made his way to join the regiment at Chattanooga. From there he was sent to Knoxville where he became ill and was hospitalized for ten days. He then was sent to Orange Courthouse, Virginia, where he was stationed with the 14th Tennessee Regiment. He was tortured with bayonets for refusing to serve in any capacity. When the order came to repeat bayoneting, others in the regiment protested and the order was rescinded. General Lucius (?) Walker applied for Tilghman’s discharge, but either General Lee or Secretary Stanton recommended court martial.

In 9th month the regiment moved to a new camp nearby. A chaplain came who argued against Friends for being Abolitionists. In 10th month marching orders were received and Tilghman traveled with the wagon train (provisions, ambulances, quartermasters, etc.). The troops engaged in a skirmish near Bristol Station but Tilghman’s regiment did not take part. The army engaged in destroying the railroad from Bristol Station to the Rappahannock followed by a retreat to a camp near General Lee’s headquarters.

Tilghman Vestal steadfastly refused to bear arms or to pay the tax and on 11-6-63 he appeared at a court martial at Brandy Station, 3 miles from camp. The next night the advance of the Federal army caused a hasty move toward Culpepper Courthouse and the Rapidan River and back to the old camp.

Tilghman was sentenced to Castle Thunder, Richmond, Virginia. On 11-19-63 a guard took him to the “noted and abominable cellar under Orange County Courthouse” which he describes. He was soon taken to Gordonsville and then to Richmond where he entered Castle Thunder. On 11-21-63 John Crenshaw came to inform him that his uncle Cyrus Mendenhall wanted to pay the $500 tax and get him out of prison. Tilghman agreed but later had second thoughts. When he finally decided his conscience would allow him to accept the payment of the tax, he learned on 12-10-63 that he could not be released even if the tax were paid. He was ill but was cared for by a kind doctor. He describes Castle Thunder and his life there in some detail.

On 2-2-64 he, along with over 100 others, was moved to Salisbury Prison in North Carolina and there Part One ends.

Part II

While a student at New Garden Boarding School in 1865 Tilghman Vestal decided to leave and travel across the lines to live in the north. He describes his journey, at one point mentioning that he had been released from prison by a modification of the sentence. He is helped along the way by sympathetic Friends. He mentions Fair Mount Foundry and the company shops (now Burlington, N.C.) where he waited to take a train to Goldsboro. Passing safely through Goldsboro, he continued toward the coast, often receiving help from blacks. When he arrived at Fort Anderson (a Union earthwork on the Neuse opposite New Bern) he had traveled 267 miles in 10 days; he had walked 132 of those miles. At Fort Anderson he survived by fishing with the help of a black boy and his mother who cooked the eels Tilghman caught.

On 3-7-1865 he sailed for Norfolk via Roanoke Island. From there he took the boat to Fort Monroe and another to Washington. Traveling from Washington to Philadelphia he met a Friend who suggested he seek out Uriah Hunt and Son, Booksellers. He did, and Uriah Hunt welcomed him, gave him the Latin books he had sought to purchase, and helped him to find work. Before being hired to work on Samuel Allinson’s farm, he toured Philadelphia, describing his wanderings in some detail.

The Tilghman Vestal Diary is not available via the web at this time. The diary and transcript may be consulted in person at the Friends Historical Collection at Guilford College. Contact the Friends Historical Collection for additional information and updated information concerning future online availability.

See also MS 235 John B. Crenshaw Papers, which contain letters about Tilghman Vestal and original letters of Tilghman Vestal to which he refers in his diary.