The Diary of Cyrus B. Comstock
compiled and edited by Merlin E. Sumner
Book #400
$37.50
408 pp., index, photos, hardcover.
This diary records the soldier life of a young West Pointer who would become one of U. S. Grant’s most trusted staff officers. Comstock’s engineering background and skilled military judgment manifest themselves early in this diary, which covers the period December 13, 1850 to Grant’s funeral in 1885. Most of the detail focuses on two 4-year periods, Comstock’s days at West Point and his Civil War service. Thus the diary offers a great and detailed view of life at West Point from 1851 to 1855 and includes minute comments on the customs of West Point life and on the curriculum. The author routinely mentions the activities of many who would be important officers in the war, giving this section a rare fascination.
The great value of the book comes from the wartime coverage, which amounts to just over one-quarter of the narrative. Good reportage of the early operations after Sumter gives way to a gap in the diary from August 1861 to June 1862. The author records sketchy but interesting accounts of activities in the Peninsular campaign before another gap occurs between September 1862 and April 1863. Much of great interest to engineering operations appears in the following entries as Comstock’s duties carry him to the western theater. The coverage in 1864, after Comstock’s appointment on Grant’s staff, is much fuller and provides intimate descriptions of the May campaign and of Grant and his associates.
—Excerpt from Eicher, Civil War in Books
