January 1864: David writes about the weather on several occasions. He records there being two inches of snow on the ground on the sixth and on the thirteenth and complains that the weather is cold enough to freeze a dog. By the end of the month, however, the weather is very warm. The regiment works on the building of a bridge across the Holston River. On many days David writes that it is all quiet in camp but on the sixteenth, the cavalry had a skirmish with the rebs. On the fourteenth a soldier marries a girl in camp, which David describes as a gay old time. After leaving Knoxville and Maryville, David and his regiment approach the Great Smoky Mountains, which he finds to be a very pretty view on the twenty-seventh.

February 1864: The weather again dominates David's thoughts throughout this month. Instead of snow, however, David writes of rain and mud on several days. He also notes that there is some pretty young ladies in town while stationed in Maryville. Most of the month is spent drilling, but on the fifteenth David records that a large cavalry force were about to attack us. David’s time with Mary Strong is cut short because the regiment is ordered to march on the twenty-sixth.

March 1864: The shifts in the weather fill David’s dairy for this month. One day it is raining and the next it is clear and pleasant. David’s frequent trips to town get him into trouble on the seventh when he is arrested for traveling without a pass, but it appears that no serious action is taken against him because the next entries tell of his spending time with Sally and Mr. Dicks. While not having a gay time, David spends his time on picket duty. On the twenty-seventh, Reuben W. Willett and David attend a payer meeting.

April 1864: There is no shift in the weather this month, only rain. The regiment spent the month rising early and making marches. When the regiment stayed dry, they drilled and had parades. On the seventh, after one of their hard marches, the regiment set up camp three miles west of Knoxville. From there, the regiment moves to Loudon, which David describes as a very pretty looking place. On the eighteenth, David writes that he had a good feather bed to sleep in. To relieve the tedium, David writes of having a gay old chat all night in camp. On the twenty-seventh, David tells of how he and three others went to a dance. The regiment participates in a grand review for Major General O. O. Howard on the twenty-ninth, where David had the pleasure of seeing a lady lieutenant colonel.

May 1864: The regiment participates in the opening stages of the Georgia campaign as the regiment passes into Georgia on the fourth. At Chickamauga creek, David engraves his name on a tree. On the sixth, David tells of an ominous sign: the officers have sent their baggage to the rear. The weather is hot and dusty in Georgia. The regiment endures heavy cannonading on the eighth, but is not involved in battle. They do participate in action on the ninth, where twelve of their men were killed or wounded. With their right on the front lines, David writes that we expect a heavy battle. The regiment makes breastworks on the eleventh, which soon prove to be unnecessary. In the morning hours of the thirteenth, the Confederate forces evacuate and David writes that his regiment is in hot pursuit. On the fourteenth, the regiment engages the Confederates in thick woods and brush. Accordingly, it was a heavy fight. By the end of the month, the Confederates have made a well fortified stand on the Coosa River in Georgia and David has marched through a splendid country.

June 1864: During June, David and his regiment participate in the Atlanta Campaign. The Georgia heat is unrelenting, but so is the constant rain. Many days David hears heavy cannonading in the distance. The regiment is constantly building barricades. David tells of being roused in the middle of the night to exit his tent and return to his rifle pit. On the fourteenth, the rebs made a faint charge on our skirmish lines but failed. Casualties begin to mount, and at one point seven are wounded one day. On the twentieth, David tells of the colonel of another regiment losing his leg because of a cannon ball, and a lieutenant died two hours after being shot on the twenty-second. On the sixteenth, David goes up the hill where General Leonidas Polk was killed. Though the regiment is on the front line of battle, David describes several other events. For example, he washes his clothes and himself in a creek on the sixth and is disappointed that he did not receive any letters on the seventh. The next day, David writer of the bands playing music. David writes of being sick with a cold on the twelfth. On the twenty-sixth, David talks of a bargain between the two armies to not fire on the lines.

July 1864: Being sick, David is excused from duty as July opens. On the fifth, he reports taking many prisoners and crossing the Chattahoochie River. The armies continue to play their game of cat and mouse as they move, entrench, and make faint attacks. Artillery duels back and forth are a daily occurrence. David talks of building trenches and constructing breastworks while the Confederates do the same. Not all materials are used for defensive purposes: David carried boards to sleep on on the thirtieth. David describes the grinding pace of the game between the armies on the twenty-first as he we writes of the army advancing only a quarter of a mile because the rebels have strong works. He has a narrow escape on the twenty-fourth after a shell struck his works. A new pair of pants arrives on the first, and the weather is extremely hot for most of the month. At church on the tenth, the text read was the fifth chapter of John. David went to the river to have a wash on the eleventh and had a good swim there on the fourteenth.

August 1864: The Union army is only four miles from Atlanta as the month opens and has closed to within one mile by the third. Heavy cannonading and steady shelling continues for most of the month, with the Confederates firing their big guns on the ninth. Demonstrations are made against the Confederate army on many occasions. On the fourteenth, David tells of artillery shells hitting the buildings in Atlanta. On the seventh, David writes a letter to a stranger, having received her address from a comrade. He is sent out foraging on the fifteenth, and tells of the death of Andrew Ripley on eighteenth. He patches up his shirts on the twenty-third and complains of a big boil on fourth. David goes to the division hospital on the twenty-fourth and spends the rest of the month there.

September 1864: David spends first two days of September in the general field hospital. On the third, David mentions a hail storm and records that it is confirmed that Atlanta is taken. The next day, he writes that he has orders to go back to Chattanooga on a hospital train. In the number two hospital in Chattanooga, David writes that it is very lonesome here. On the ninth he avows that the dysentery has come back on me. Though the days are warm, the nights are excruciatingly cold. On the twentieth, David is transported to a hospital in Nashville and procures a pass to go downtown on the twenty-first. He talks of going to a theatre and meeting three women from Iowa on the twenty-fourth. While recuperating, David gets a tooth filled on the twenty-sixth and attends church.

October 1864: One hundred sick men arrive at the hospital on third. On the sixth David receives bad news from home but does elaborate. He is hopeful that he might obtain a furlough on the eleventh. David receives many letters while convalescing, including a telegraph dispatch on the fifteenth. The furlough is approved, and David is on his way home on the seventeenth. He arrives in Platteville, Illinois on the twenty-second.

November 1864: There are no entries for the month of November.

December 1864: There is only one entry for this for month. On the fifth, David says farewell to those I love and starts his return to the hospital. That morning, he arrives in Indianapolis.