Leroy Wiley Gresham (November 11, 1847 – June 18, 1865) was an American diarist during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. His journals are the only known diary of a civilian teenage boy spanning this time-period.Finding Aid, Lewis H. Machen Family, A Register of Its Papers in the Library of Congress
Prepared by John McDonough and David Mathisen & Revised by Patrick Kerwin. Latest revision: 2004-10-21. Catalog record permalink: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm77086777. Michael Ruane, Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/invalid-boys-diary-focus-of-library-of-congress-civil-war-exhibit/2012/11/08/c55c7758-21db-11e2-8448-81b1ce7d6978_story.html

Life

LeRoy was the son of John J. and Mary Gresham.USGenWeb Archives USGenWeb Archives, Rose Hill Cemetery Magnolia Section
/ref>page (xxxvi), John Rozier, ed., ''The Granite Farm Letters: The Civil War Correspondence of Edgeworth and Sallie Bird'' (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988). His father was "twice mayor," a prominent businessman, judge, and attorney. His mother, (née Mary Baxter 1822), is the sister of Sallie Bird; thus he is briefly mentioned in correspondence kept in the Baxter-Bird-Smith Family Papers of the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

Libraries.(e.g. "Bud is writing to Cousin Leroy" page 10; see footnote page 28, John Rozier, ed., ''The Granite Farm Letters: The Civil War Correspondence of Edgeworth and Sallie Bird'' (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988). He is interred in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Magnolia Section. LeRoy was severely injured when a chimney collapsed on him and crushed his left leg in 1856.Southern Discomfort
by LeRoy Wiley Gresham, April 2013,

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

He was semi-mobile thereafter, but developed other more serious medical issues related to a slow-progressing disease that would eventually kill him. LeRoy spent almost all of his time sitting, reclining, or confined to a special wagon pulled about town by family members or slaves. In 1860, LeRoy's mother, Mary Gresham, gave him a journal to write in when he was about to leave with his father, John Gresham, for Philadelphia to see a specialist about "his condition." LeRoy (or "Loy" as he was known to his family) began writing in June of that year and only stopped five years later just before his death a handful of weeks after the war ended.Invalid boy’s diary focus of Library of Congress Civil War exhibit
The

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

. By Michael E. Ruane, November 08, 2012

Diaries

LeRoy's diaries offer insight into the life of a prominent slave-holding Southern family, the secession crisis, the four-year

, and slavery (his family owned 100 slaves on two plantations in Houston County, GA). His journals are also the only known 19th-century account that meticulously details, on a daily basis for five years, the course of a fatal disease (which is carefully identified in both books by a medical expert). The entries offer details on the treatments given to LeRoy by his doctors and family, his physical ailments (fever, abscesses, coughing, chronic pain, etc.), how the drugs affected him, and his steady decline until death.

Posthumous publication

His seven journals, edited and annotated by Janet E. Croon, were published June 1, 2018 by Savas Beatie under the title ''The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Journals of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865''. The book includes the tagline: A remarkable account of the collapse of the Old South, and the final years of a privileged but afflicted life. The book won two major awards and was a finalist for a third. Selections from his diary appeared in a

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

exhibit, "The Civil War in America", from 2012-2013, and were reprinted in ''

''. and featured in an article in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. A companion book dedicated solely to his medical condition was concurrently published as ''I Am Perhaps Dying: The Medical Backstory of Spinal Tuberculosis Hidden in the Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham,'' by Dr. Dennis Rasbach (Savas Beatie, 2018).

References

Primary sources

Selections of his diary
from the online version of the

exhibit

Additional sources

* Clarke County, Georgia Census 1860.
Macon teen’s diary provides perspective on Civil War

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

, December 15, 2012 Liz Fabian
Short biography from "Voices of the Civil War"
at