ABSTRACT
Oliver Wendell Holmes edited his writings, his diary and his letters, from the front after the Civil War, so the impression the modern reader receives from what remains is very much the one that Holmes intended posterity to have. In this diary, Holmes was attempting to rationalize his experiences in his first proper military engagement, the first occasion on which Holmes was wounded, and the first time that death in the war seemed a very real possibility to Holmes. As was often the case with Holmes, the physical experience is heavily overlaid by philosophical musings on the meaning of it. For Holmes, both in the Civil War and on the Supreme Court, the thought tended to overshadow the action, as this extract already makes clear. Much more vivid is Holmes memory of thoughts and state of mind for though Holmes have been light-headed that the reason was working even if through a cloud.
