PA Photos and Documents

These two digitized diaries were kept by William W. Heed (1843-1927) of West Chester, Pennsylvania, while he served in the armed forces during the Civil War. Stationed first in Annapolis, Maryland, and then at the War Department in Washington, D.C., toward the end of the conflict, Heed was an office clerk and copyist in both locations. Heed was born in West Chester to Samuel Stryker Heed (1815-1867) and Christiana Walter Heed (b. 1824). A lifelong resident of the town, Heed was educated locally, and at the age of fifteen, he worked in the printing shop of the Village Record newspaper. When the Civil War broke out, Heed enlisted in the Union army. He was captured by the Confederates and jailed in Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. After his release, Heed took a position in the U.S. War Department in Washington, D.C. Heed also served as a clerk for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for one session.

These two volumes document the activities and to a lesser extent the thoughts of Heed during his service. Instead of entering passages on the specified day in his diary, Heed may have organized his thoughts and written his entries at a later time. Such a pattern of composition would account for the legibility of his handwriting and explain why all the daily entries exactly fit the space allotted for them. That habit is also evident in that Heed began to chronicle the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on the day Lincoln was shot (10:15 pm on the evening of April 14, 1865) along with other related shootings. Heed could not have heard of these events until the following day at the earliest.

The diary entries are chiefly matter-of-fact observations recorded by Heed during his service as a Union soldier. Interspersed among his entries are comments about the progress, or lack of progress, of the war effort. On January 21, 1864, Heed wrote, “It is rumored the Rebels are about to attack Knoxville again,” and on February 4, 1865, after learning that the Confederates continued to want nothing short of separation, he said “The war is now to be prosecuted with redoubled energy.” Additionally, he recorded what later came to be important milestones, including his entry on March 6, 1864: “Gen. Sherman has invaded Georgia, making a very bold and daring movement through the interior of the South.” On November 2, Heed wrote that Sherman had captured Atlanta. On April 9, 1865, Heed mentioned that news had been received of the surrender of General Lee’s army to General Grant. Heed concluded, “Peace is beginning to show itself.”

Heed was interested in the politics of the time. As elections occurred, he mentioned voting for both national and state offices. On June 8, 1864, he recorded that the Unionists had nominated Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson for President and Vice President respectively, and later that year, on August 30, that George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton had been chosen for the same positions by the Democrats. On November 8, the Lincoln-Johnson ticket prevailed.

William Heed preferred living in Annapolis over Washington, commenting on the dirt, dust, and climate of Washington. He often traveled back to Annapolis to visit his friends and former haunts. There were things in Washington that Heed would never see in Annapolis, including baseball games. On August 27, 1865, he wrote: “Tomorrow we are to have a grand Base Ball match between the Athletics of Philadelphia and Nationals of this city. The game is attracting considerable attention among all classes.” The following month Heed said Washington would host the Philadelphia team and the Atlantics of New York City for the national championship. Things in Annapolis that Heed would never see in Washington included a fleet of Russian ships anchored near the Naval Academy preparing to winter locally.

Heed describes the many times he attended the theater in Washington, including Grover’s Theater, the Oxford Hall of Music, and performances at Ford’s Theater which included Christy’s Minstrels, Maggie Mitchell in “Pearl of Savoy,” Edwin Booth in “Richard III,” Mrs. Bowers in several appearances (a French play entitled “Camille,” “Audley’s Secret,” and “The Day After the Wedding”), actors Frank Drew and Susan Denin in three brief presentations, Edwin Forrest in “Macbeth,” and John Clarke in “The Streets of New York.”

Lastly, beginning on April 14, 1865, Heed chronicled the assassination of President Lincoln and related shootings with references to J. Wilkes Booth. The following day Heed states “Never did I witness a day of such unrivaled sorrow.” Heed then chronicled Lincoln’s funeral procession to Springfield, Illinois, mentioned the death of Booth in Virginia, and incorrectly claimed that Jefferson Davis had been captured in Georgia wearing one of his wife’s dresses.

After the war, in 1870, Heed married Emma Keffer, the daughter of a Civil War veteran. They had two children, Edna (1873-1973) and Helen (b. 1884). Later in life, Heed operated a hat store on West Gay Street in West Chester and also wrote a column of reminiscences for the Daily Local News entitled “By-Gones Retouched.” In addition to his column, Heed worked into his 80s as a proofreader for the Daily Local and claimed he was the first man in West Chester to write shorthand. A traveler and outdoorsman, he took several trips to the West Coast and had a summer residence in the Pocono Mountains. Around the age of 82, Heed was injured when he slipped on ice. Heed died in West Chester and is buried in Oaklands Cemetery in West Goshen Township.