Among the Wounded: A Civil War Talk by Dave Twombly
Wednesday May 22, 2013
7:00 PM until 8:30 PM
Please join fellow Civil War enthusiasts and others who treasure family heirlooms for a talk by local area resident Dave Twombly about the discovery of his great-great grandfather’s civil war diary that was written between May-June 1864 as a volunteer minister in the Union Army.
The diary came to light in 1995 when David’s daughter was in sixth grade and needed information for a report on the Civil War. Twombly’s father, Gilmer, found this Civil War-era memoir entitled “Among the Wounded in 1864,” written by his great-grandfather Alexander S. Twombly in an old steamer trunk some years ago, and then sent her several illustrations from the memoir.
The diary is unique in that it was not written by a Union or Confederate soldier but by a well-educated minister who served as a volunteer for the U.S. Christian Commission in May and June of 1864. “Among the Wounded” also deals almost exclusively with the “human” aspects of what Rev. Twombly encountered, instead of the descriptions of battles, routine camp events, and, of course, the weather, that are usually found in such manuscripts. The diary is illustrated by excellent sketches drawn by Alexander Twombly himself.
“If the Civil War had had a different outcome, my father and mother would have never met. I am very pleased to share my great-great-grandfather’s memoir with other members of the Twombly family and with others who also have a strong interest in the Civil War. In the process, I have found new relatives in Massachusetts, Texas and Arizona I never knew before and have learned a lot more about the Twombly family genealogy.”
David Twombly will show slides of the manuscript with images sketched by his ancestor as well as read parts of the diary.
Twombly is founder of Twombly Wealth Management Group, LLC, an independent financial management firm located in Brattleboro, Vermont. David was a history and political science major in college and has always had a strong interest in American history and particularly in the Civil War.
Location: Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room
