The diary was in the possession of R. A. Rankin's daughter who was the grandmother of my wife, now ex-wife. She now has possession, but has agreed to let our daughter make some notes, because of my interest. I became very interested when I learned the 31st was at Vicksburg. My parents lived just north of Vicksburg at the time (1965), and my father was also a WBTS "buff". The diary is well written, giving river names, towns, miles marched today, etc. I spent hours with a mag. glass, but was not allowed to remove the diary from the house of my wife's parents. I also talked hours with the grandmother about her father. He was a strong Confederate from an area which was very dissident to the cause. As with all ex-confederates in the area life was not always pleasent.