Wartime chronicles written by a Civil War veteran steeped in Sandwich history have been rediscovered by a Malta man who has a knack for finding historical items.

Capt. Frederic Stevens Mosher, who would go on to be a multiterm Sandwich mayor, served in the 115th New York Infantry during the Civil War. In 1864, he wrote a journal entry for every day of the year.

Many of his entries detail the day’s weather. But others recount the kind of battles he engaged in, the number of soldiers wounded, killed or missing in his company, and other happenings of his life as a Civil War military officer.

“Remained in the woods all day,” Mosher wrote on June 8, 1864. “Very quiet along the lines today, but little firing ... Sent letter to mother.”

Two days after that journal entry, he was promoted to captain.

Earlier that year, he fought in the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg, as well as the battles of Chesterfield Heights and Cold Harbor. On June 15, he was part of a successful attack on Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina.

Mosher’s grandchildren are the reason a photocopy of his wartime journal still exists.

In a Jan. 16, 1992, letter, Frederic’s grandson Henry Mosher of Cambridge, Massachusetts, tells family that Elizabeth Hammond Holdeman (Frederic’s granddaughter) found a small leather-bound pocket diary in an attic trunk.

Henry Mosher took time to photocopy the diary pages. He sent copies to all of Frederic’s living grandchildren, according to the letter embedded in the book.

“The leather-bound pocket diary is in surprisingly good condition considering its age and the conditions under which much of it was written,” Henry Mosher wrote more than three decades ago.

In his family letter, Henry recalled memories he had with his veteran grandfather. He said Frederic told his grandchildren that the biggest advantage to being a military officer was getting the first pick of trees to hide behind during battle.

One of the photocopied diaries made its way to DeKalb County, where it was rediscovered in 2025.

The man who found it, John Wright, 74, of Malta, said he saw the plastic comb binding-spined photocopy of Mosher’s 1864 Civil War diary at an estate sale in Sandwich this year.

He took it to the Sandwich Historical Society and the DeKalb County History Center so that local experts could have a look.

Joiner History Room Director Rob Glover, who works as an archivist and collection specialist at the DeKalb County History Center, said he and other area historians believe the photocopy is authentic.

“I don’t think there was ever a question of whether the diaries were authentic because Mosher was so prominent,” Glover said. “I was just surprised that there wasn’t already an available copy here or in Sandwich. The biggest question we had was what the diary contained.”

Zach Oldenburg, a History Center archives researcher, has studied the 1864 diary (and another 1863 diary from Mosher) at length.

“He [Frederic Mosher] reflects on his time as a judge for the Army, his travels onboard multiple naval ships, and participation in well known battles such as Cold Harbor,” Oldenburg said. “Mosher’s diaries provide a personal narrative of late war experience that include detailed accounts of life in the Civil War.”

Personal narratives aren’t always included in Civil War diaries, Glover said.

The photocopy of Mosher’s diary isn’t the only historical document contained within the plastic-bound book. A written presentation, which was created by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States months after his death to chronicle his military career, also was included.

Frederic Mosher’s service began on Aug. 1, 1862, when he enlisted as a soldier, according to that record. Fifteen days later, he mustered into service as a 1st Lieutenant of Company C of the 115th New York Infantry Volunteers.

Wright, whose father, Paul T. Wright, served in World War II, has collected military books, artifacts and primary documents for the past 55 years.

A year before finding Frederic Mosher’s photocopied diary, he discovered the journal of World War I veteran Sgt. Albert Walter Leonhard at a DeKalb estate sale.

“[Veterans] deserve all the respect we can give them,” Wright said. “I think it’s a really important thing that people serve their country and that we remember what these veterans did. Not just currently, but going back to the Revolutionary War.”

Glover said Civil War diaries that turn up in the 21st century aren’t always big discoveries. But the efforts taken to uncover them help preserve the stories of those who wrote them.

“Often it’s not a matter of discovering a new Civil War diary,” Glover said. “That does happen with diaries that were kept within families for a long time or some venerable old institutions. But now it’s often more a case of not being familiar with the diaries and not really knowing what they contain.”

Frederic Mosher was born on July 18, 1841, in Ballston Spa, New York, according to the Loyal Legion. His mother was Caroline Castle Mosher, the sister of DeKalb County pioneer Miles B. Castle.

After he was discharged following the end of the Civil War, Frederic went to Sandwich, where he partnered with his uncle (Castle) in the lumber and coal business. He also worked as a cashier at the Sandwich Bank. Later, he served several terms as Sandwich mayor, school board president, and president of Sandwich Bank.

He also spent time as the president of the Northern Illinois Telephone Co., the treasurer of the Sandwich Fair and was the commander of the Sandwich Grand Army of the Republic Post, according to information provided to the Joiner room by the Sandwich Historical Society.

When he came to Sandwich after the Civil War, Frederic slept in a room above the Sandwich Bank.

“One night he heard noises downstairs, investigated with his service revolver in hand and fired at two men who were robbing the bank,” Henry Mosher wrote about Frederic in his letter. “The robbery was thwarted and one man was wounded but they escaped on a ‘handcar’ waiting on the railroad nearby.”

Henry wrote that his grandfather slept with a revolver under his pillow until the day he died.

Frederic Mosher died on Oct. 14, 1925. Henry, who photocopied his Civil War diary more than 65 years later, was there.

“Grandpa was fortunate to survive three years of that bloody war without being wounded,” Mosher wrote. “I happened to visit the old home with my father the night grandpa slumped over and was gone. They say ‘Old soldiers never die – they just fade away.’"