Here's a layperson's view. Why do people keep a diary anyway? Do they
secretly hope that someone in the future will find it after they are long
gone. Maybe some do. They may do it for the same reason that I scribble down
(or should I say mostly type in) my family tree information - in the hopes
that someone in future generations will find my research and take it up
where I left off.  And maybe that's why people kept diaries during times
like the Civil War. They realized something historical was happening around
them and they wanted to put down their own thoughts for future generations -
just as some are doing now during the Gulf War.

Transcribe it word for word. Your ancestor would want it that way. If they
didn't want someone to read it, they wouldn't have written it down. That's
my uneducated humble opinion.

:-)

Lonny J. Watro
amature historian

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