Harris served as a private in Company F of the 149th Indiana Infantry Regiment, which occupied Decatur, Alabama in 1865. He enrolled at Terre Haute, Indiana, on February 15, 1865 at the age of twenty. Harris records his experiences as a soldier and traces his journey south to Decatur. Harris also describes his interactions with locals in North Alabama, writing in April 1865 that he "halted to talk with a family of Rebbs questioning concerning their so-called independence but found out nothing of importance Except that ther hopes had fled." He also includes descriptions of skirmishes in which he took part, as well as lengthy descriptions of the terrain and weather. Harris adds his comments on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and writes down song lyrics and poetry at points. Harris was discharged on September 27, 1865.
Harris served as a private in Company F of the 149th Indiana Infantry Regiment, which occupied Decatur, Alabama in 1865. He enrolled at Terre Haute, Indiana, on February 15, 1865 at the age of twenty. Harris records his experiences as a soldier and traces his journey south to Decatur. Harris was discharged on September 27, 1865. The transcription includes a key to the cipher that Harris sometimes used, as well as notes and clarifications in brackets and parentheses. Also included are the complete lyrics to the Union song "Reply to the Bonnie Blue Flag," part of which Harris records in an entry here.
This broadside was published by conservative Alabamians in opposition to the 1868 Alabama constitution, known as the "Reconstruction Constitution." The constitution was revised by the constitutional convention on November 5, 1867, and ratified in 1868.
