I don’t have a lot of diaries in my personal Civil War library but this one has proven extremely helpful. I came across it when writing a post on Foster’s 1864 attack or “demonstration” as he called it on Charleston. A very complex assault where a number of the key Federal players didn’t file reports in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Major Edward Manigault was a Confederate artillery officer for a good part of the siege of Charleston. General PGT Beauregard asked him to keep a diary of his activities from July 10, 1863, until August 31, 1864 during his service on James Island. There is a lot of information about which guns were where and several detailed maps. One of the maps on the part of Foster’s assault on James Island is shown below. A truly unique book.