The book extracts here have been provided to me by Mr. Howard Bock, a member of the Delaware Genealogical Society, and I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart for giving me permission to include this on the website.  I've copied his booklet as he has written it.

The above is a copy of the outside page or cover of the Civil War Sick Report for
Company "E," 4th Regiment, Delaware Infantry Volunteers for
January through June of 1863. 
It reads:

Sick Report 1863
D. E. Buckingham
(the above information was written in ink)
4th Del. V.
(It appears the above, in blue pencil, was written at a much later day)

SICK REPORT 1863
Company "E", 4th Regiment, Delaware Infantry Volunteers

The following is a summary of the information extracted from the Civil War Sick Report, of Company "E", 4th Regiment, Delaware Infantry Volunteers.   [Mr. Bock] I obtained the Civil War relic from Norman T. and Dorothy E. Dempsey of Corner Ketch, Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware in June of 1997.  The Sick Report has been presented to the Historical Society of Delaware for inclusion in their Civil War collection.

The Sick Report was recorded on a sheaf of 6 by 16 inch paper.  The sheets were folded and bound to produce a 6 by 8 inch pad.  When received, the report had been folded to a 4 by 6 inch size and tucked inside (but not attached to) a 5 by 7 inch hard back cover.  The cover was basically a paper product, colored dark brown, with a leather-like appearance and included a side loop which served as a pencil holder.  The cover was imprinted with the phrase "Hasty Lines" in gold.  It appears the Sick Report may have initially had a cover but most likely it was not this "Hasty Lines" cover.  More information concerning the "Hasty Lines" cover follows as Appendix III.

The outer surface of the Sick Report, as it now exists, is no more than half of a tattered and torn page of the report.  (A copy of that page precedes this summation.)  Written on that outer page with pen and ink is "Sick Report 1863, 'D.' E. Buckingham."  Time has taken its toll on the initial of Buckingham's first name.  The remaining pen strokes were not sufficient to make an absolute determination that it is the letter "D".  My initial reaction upon seeing the name Buckingham, was to assume that it referred to Richard G. Buckingham, who was the First Sergeant of Company E.  It seemed appropriate that the First Sergeant might be responsible for maintain the Sick Report.  However, after further investigation and examination, it was determined the name was probably that of First Lieutenant David E. Buckingham who also served in Company E.  The strong, well preserved "E" which preceded "Buckingham" was an initial determining factor.  Additionally, in October 1997, I [Mr. Bock] was examining a pension application involving Private Andrew B. Morrison who died in 1864 while serving with Company E in Virginia.  That pension application included an 1880 affidavit provided by David E. Buckingham.  The signature on that affidavit erased any doubt:  It was a precise match of the signature on the cover of the Sick Report.  Beneath Buckingham's inked signature on the badly worn outer page was "4th Del. V." written in blue pencil.  It appears this entry was made at a later time than the "Sick Report 1863" entry and the signature of David E. Buckingham.  At the Bottom of the cover page is an "Official stamp (see below).

The stamp indicates the Sick Report was in Washington D.C. on Jan 27, 1883.  Possibly the Report was being used by the Record and Pension Division to verify the service of the veterans of Company E relative to pension applications.  S.G.O. may well refer to the Surgeon Generals Office.

The individual pages of the Sick Report were organized into four columns.  On pages 1 through 7 are neatly inscribed vertical lines indicating the columns.  Although the four column format is maintained throughout the Report, there are no inscribed vertical lines after page 7.  Throughout the report, a full or partial line was entered horizontally, from the left side of the page, to separate the last entry of one day's report from the first entry of the following day's report.  Today, 134 years after the data was entered, most of the information is quite legible.  Unfortunately, some entries were lightly written, or have faded so much over time that they are barely discernable.

The first entry in the Sick Report was made on 10 January 1863.  At that time Company "E" was located at Camp Vermont, near Hunting Creek, about 4 miles south of Arlington, Virginia.  The Company had been camped there since late 1862

Column 1 of the Report frequently contains an indication  of the date and/or month preceding the name of the first soldier on "Sick Call" that day.  Normally the soldiers family name was preceded by the initial(s) of his given name(s).  However, in some instances, the family name is preceded by the soldier's complete first name.  Company "E" was raised from the men of Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, DE.  Many of the family names of the soldiers of Company "E" are still very evident in the Mill Creek Hundred and Newark area today.  Every name which appears in the Sick Report, except for minor variations in spelling or juxtaposition or omission of initials, corresponds with the roster of Company "E", 5th Regiment which appears in the Appendix, "History of Delaware 1609-1888." Volume 1, by J. Thomas Scharf, A.M., LL.D.  Variations in name spelling between the Sick Report and Scharf's "History of Delaware" are noted in Appendix I of this document.

Column 2 contains a record of the soldier's ailment(s).  In some instances the ailments do not appear to be medical terminology which is presently used.  Spelling also creates some interpretation problems.  For example, there are five different spellings of "diarrhea," none of which is the currently accepted spelling, in the report.  A list of ailments which appear to be spelled incorrectly, not currently used or open to interpretation are included in Appendix II of this document.

Column 3 Contains a determination of the soldier's duty status (duty, light duty, excused, etc) based on his ailment.  In some instances there are no entries in this column.

Column 4 was bland in many instances.  When there were entries they consisted of the initials DSH or, infrequently, what appeared to be a single initial H, S or L.  Not every duty status entry was initialed; when there were initials there was only one notation for each day's record.  DSH does not match the initials of any member of Company "E," 5th Regiment, DIV.  However the Surgeon for the entire 4th Regiment was one Major D. S. Hopkins.  It would seem appropriate that he would be responsible for making duty determinations in column 3 and authenticating the Report by entering his initial(s) in column 4..

Columns 1 and 2 appeared to have been maintained by the same person on any given day.  It appears maintaining the Sick Report was primarily the responsibility of Lieutenant David E. Buckingham.. However, there were days when the handwriting and the spelling of some words vary.  It appears someone other than Lt. Buckingham completed Columns 1 and 2 of the Report on those days.  Very likely another officer, or non-commissioned officer,  was designated to complete the report when Lt. Buckingham's duties required that he be elsewhere.  Likewise Columns 3 and 4 were recorded in a different hand on some days.  Possible Lieutenant Linton Smith, the other member of the 4th Regiment's Surgeon Staff, assumed the responsibility when Major Hopkins was not available. It seems likely the initials DSH or H would appear in column 4 when Major Hopkins was "making the rounds" and L or S on those days when Lt. Smith acted in his behalf.  Lt. Bucking ham and Maj. Hopkins, or their replacements, may have made their rounds together.  It is also feasible that Buckingham, or his replacement, may have made the rounds on his own then presented the report to the Surgeon, or his replacement, for completion of columns 3 or 4.

In May 1863 Company "E", accompanying the entire 4th Regiment under the Command of General E. D. Keys, marched out of their winter quarters at Camp Vermont.  They made feinting moves toward Richmond, Virginia.  Then, sometime in June 1863, they set up camp near Chickahominy, Virginia.  This increased activity, in particular the marching, seems to be reflected on the pages of the Sick Report.  From the first entry in the Report on 10 Jan 1863 until mid-May 1863, while the unit was encamped, foot problems were only mentioned twice as ailments.  However, in the period between mid-May and 9 June 1863, there were 15 foot problems recorded.  The Sick Report appears to reflect the same increased activity for Company "E" as the history books - Marching!  The last entry in the Sick Report is dated 10 June 1863.

In 1992, at the age of 84, Mrs. Edna Eastburn, the widow of Oliver Eastburn III, was preparing to leave her home in Corner Ketch to enter Friends Boarding Home.  The Eastburns and the Dempseys were good friends and were very active in the Corner Ketch's Harmony Grange.  At that time Mrs. Eastburn passed her Harmony Grange papers and records on to the Dempseys.  Unknown to any of the parties at the time, the Company "E" Sick Report was among those Grange papers.  Edna Eastburn then moved to Alaska in 1993.

In 1997, an attempt was made to determine where the Sick Report had been from 1863 until the Dempseys received it in 1992.  I wrote to Mrs. Eastburn in Alaska.  Mrs. Eastburn, now 88, wrote that she was not aware the historical relic was among the papters she gave to Mr. Dempsey.  She does not recall ever seeing the Sick Report.  She stated that to her knowledge her late husband, Oliver, was not aware of its presence either.  Oliver Eastburn III was too young to have served in the Civil War.  He did not move to Delaware until 1945.  Oliver Eastburn Sr., his grandfather, was in the Civil War but with a unit of Pennsylvania Volunteers.  No Eastburns served in Company "E" so there is no obvious route by which the Report could have been handed down generation by generation through the Eastburn family.  However, there were many Eastburns in Mill Creek Hundred from before the Civil War until the present and some intermarried with members of Company "E" and their descendants.  Through the years there were unions between the Eastburns and the Buckinghams.  Oliver Eastburn III had many friends among the Buckinghams.  Possibly the relic was passed on to Oliver Eastburn III by a descendent of David or Richard Buckingham.  There are many possible scenarios.

It would have been interesting to be able to trace the movements of the report over the years.  We know where it was for at least part of 1863.  It was in Washington, D.C. for a period of time in 1883.  For some period of time before 1992 it was with the Eastburns and with the Dempseys from 1992 until 1997.  In all we can account for only about 7 of its 134 years of existence.  Very likely we shall never know where it was those other 127 years.  However, for the immediate future at least, it will be at the Historical Society of Delaware, 505 N. Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware.

Howard M. Bock
1 December 1997

Sick R

Jan 10	W. Mott
[Sat]	W. Vans--
	W. Greenwal--
	W. Mason
--------------------
Jan 11	W. Mott
[Sun]	W. Greenwalt
	W. Mason
--------------------
Jan 12	A. Morris--
[Mon]	W. Wolf
	W. Mason
	W. Greenwa--
--------------------
Jan 13	W. Weaver
[Tue]	W. Wolf
	W. Mason
	A. Morrison
	W. Green--

[Page 1]

NOTE:  Only a one inch stub of Page 1, the left side of the page, remains.  Month, date and names, or partial names, are all that is visible.

Reference this and all following pages of the Sick Report:
1.          Items in parenthesis [Tue], [Feb], [Page 1], etc are not part of the Sick Report. They have been added for clarity.
2           Names followed by -- are incomplete.  Names of soldiers which are incomplete, misspelled, or in any way vary from the roster of Company E, 4th Regiment, Delaware Infantry Volunteers (DIV) as it appears on page xx of the Appendix of History of Delaware 1609 -1888 by J. Thomas Scharf are more completely identified in Appendix I.
3.          Spellings and abbreviations of ailments, including the "old English" weaknefs, sorenefs and giddinefs, are as they appear in the Sick Report.  Comments concerning the identification of "Ailments" are included in Appendix II.
4.          The individual(s) who maintained the Sick Report used a line or partial line to indicate the final entry for a given day.  A dashed line (----------) has been used herein for that purpose

[Page 2]

NOTE:  Page 2 is the reverse side of Page 1.  The approximate one inch remaining is far right-hand portion of the page, All that is shown is the initials DSH in two locations.  These would most likely be the initials of Major D. S. Hopkins, Surgeon for the 4th Regiment, who determined the duty status of the men who appeared on the Sick Report.

[Page 3]

[Page 4]

NOTE:  The upper left hand corner of this page contains a partial stamped oval imprint.  The legible portion included "DEPARTMENT OF THE....."  along the top, a partial date  " .....31  18...." in the center and "PENSION OF......" along the bottom.

[Page 5]

NOTE:  The upper right hand corner of the page contains the partial stamped imprint.  The legible portions include "DEPARTMENT......." along the top,  a partial date "JAN..........." in the center and "PENSION............" along the bottom.

[Page 6]

NOTE:  The upper left hand corner of this page contains the partial stamped imprint.  Legible portions include  "............THE IN.........", "..........188?..." AND "................OFFICE."

[Page 7]

[Page 8]

[Page 9]

NOTE: The upper right hand corner of this page contains a franked, three cent,, postage.

[Page 10]

NOTE: The "unknown" shown for A. Morrison on 10 Mar is as it was written in the Sick Report.  

[Page 11]

[Page 12]

NOTE:  The upper left hand corner of this page contains the partial stamped imprint.  The legible portion includes " ..................TERIOR".

[Page 13]

[Page 14]

[Page 15]

[Page 16]

[Page 17]

[Page 18]

[Page 19]

[Page 20]

[Page 21]

NOTE:  The remainder of this page, the back of the page, and the only other remaining page were blank..

APPENDIX I

In many instances soldier's names, as recorded in the Sick Report, were abbreviated, misspelled, first and middle names juxtaposed, etc.  All names appearing in the Sick Report were checked against the roster of Company E, 4th Regiment, Delaware Infantry Volunteer as it appears in "History of Delaware, 1609 -1888" by J. Thomas Scharf (Volume I, Appendix page xx).  Every name which appears in the Company E Sick Report is identifiable in Scharf's roster.  Shown below are the "incorrect" names, as they appeared in the Sick Report, followed by the complete name and rand of the soldier as it appears in the "History of Delaware."

NOTE:  The above in not a complete roster of Company E, 4th Regiment, D.I.V.  Only those Company E soldiers whose names were recorded incorrectly in the Sick Report are shown above.  Soldiers whose names were recorded correctly in the Sick Report and other members of Company E who were not on "sick call" during the period of the Report do not appear above.

APPENDIX II

In some instances, the soldier's ailment(s) in the Sick Report are misspelled or recorded in "old English".  Some of the terms appear to be terms which are no longer in common usage.  Such terms are listed below.  Where possible the correct spelling or identification is provided.  Some terms could not be identified (?) even after consulting Medical Dictionaries, Medical Encyclopedias and requesting assistance from the Delaware Academy of Medicine in Wilmington, DE. 

APPENDIX III

As previously stated the "Hasty Lines" hardback cover which protected the Sick Report probably has no historical connection with the Report.  Very likely it was at hand long after 1863 when someone recognized a need to protect this relic of the Civil War.  The cover provided the desired protection.  It probably also served to keep the Sick Report hidden from view for a few decades.  However, the cover also contained items of interest.

Inside the front of the cover is the signature "Helen M. Thompson."  Above the signature, written on a piece of paper which has been glued in place, is a poem which reads as follows:

    "When friends have know each other
    As long as I've known you
    "A Very Merry Christmas" means more each time it's due,
    Wishes grow sincere and friendship grows more true -
    When friends have known each other as long as I've known you."

On another piece of paper affixed to the inside of the back cover was:

            "Happy are we met,
            Happy have we been,
            Happy may we part,
            And happy meet again"

This was followed by the comment:  "The above little verse was the happy way in which Mrs. Sharpless, toastmaster dismissed the "Waverly Club" and guests, after the 25th Anniversary Luncheon."  This was signed "Anna T. Walker"

No attempt has been made to further identify or locate the persons whose names appear above.

Return to the 4th Delaware Page