Captain John Gedney

Chronicles of many of the events and battles in Thiselton's journal exist in published histories. Historians rely on the accuracy of record keepers, but even when most accurate, primary sources may not tell us what we most want to know. What did it feel like to be a soldier in the Civil War? What if we could see through the eyes of the participants? Journals like Thiselton's are possibly the closest we can come to actually experiencing the war. Many soldiers kept journals; reading more than one journal entry of the same event deepens our experience.

John Gedney was a member of Thiselton's regiment (Company B) who also kept a journal. He was mustered in as a private and was later promoted to captain. According to the Record of Soldiers and Officers of the Town of White Plains, 1865, John Gedney, resident of White Plains, worked as a farmer, and enlisted in the 6^th New York Heavy Artillery in 1862 for three years. Gedney's name appears in both the White Plains Enrollment of Persons Liable to Military Duty, dated July 19, 1864, and the Military Roll for the Town of White Plains, 1862.

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