Scope and Contents:
Corp. Edward W. Crippin, who served in Co. C, 27th Ill. Vol. Inf., kept this diary throughout much of his service in the Civil War. The nearly daily entries begin in Aug. 1861, describing training camp life in Cairo, Ill. As the war progressed, Crippin documented the actions of his regiment in the Battle of Belmont (Nov. 1861), the Battle of Farmington (Apr. 1862), and the Stone River Campaign (late autumn 1862). Crippin's last entry is on Sept. 19, 1863, and describes the Battle of Chickamauga. Crippin died Dec. 24, 1863, of wounds received at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Nov. 25, 1863.
The diary was published in the Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909.