Cyrus Wilkinson Elliott kept a diary while he was enlisted. The original diary is located in the Hillsdale Historical Museum, Hillsdale, Michigan. The following is an exerpt written by the publishers of the diary.

A copy of the diary can be downloaded at *(I am not sure if you will be able to download this without an ancestry.com account):

https://mediasvc.ancestry.com/v2/stream/namespaces/1093/media/d4a6cbb6-7750-464d-95cf-1cbf80c4da36.pdf?client=Trees&filename=Cyrus%20Elliott%20civil%20war%20diary%20part%201

Cyrus Wilkinson Elliott, the son of Benjamin Elliott, Jr., and Sarah Grewell, was born April 23, 1841, in Marlboro Township, Stark County, Ohio. In 1851 at the age of ten, he went with his parents to what is now Amboy Township, Hillsdale County, Michigan, where they settled on Territorial Road. Unlike the present road of today, Territorial Road was a single, cut-out, dirt road that served as the dividing line between Ohio and Michigan. On December 8, 1863, at the age of twenty-two, Cyrus enlisted at Hillsdale in Company K, 27th Infantry, as a Corporal for three years.' His decision to join the Civil War was an unusual one as his parents were strict Quakers, and they opposed any kind of war or violence. The formation of Company K was ordered by the Governor in September of 1862 and was "entirely recruited in Hillsdale County." ln other research and family lore, it was said Cyrus was a Sharpshooter, but the official records do not list him as such. Ninety-six men of Hillsdale County served in Comapny K besides fourteen in Company D, twenty-eight in Company G, one in Company F, one in Company E, and two in Company H, totaling one hundred and forty-one men. In the latter part of 1864 there was a small company of men raised in Hillsdale County, fifty of its men being from there, which called themselves the 2nd Independent Company of Sharpshooters, who joined the 27th in April, 1864. It is not known if Cyrus had been attached to this company after his enlistment! but with these men joining, there were then one hundred and ninety-one men connected with the 27th Infantry. While Cyrus enlisted in December of 1863, the History of Hillsdale County, Michigan states that eight companies of this regiment were ordered from Ypsilanti, Michigan, to Cincinnati, Ohio, in April, 1863. From Ypsilanti they traveled to Kentucky where it was attached to the 9th Corps, and in June they were sent to Mississippi where operations there resulted in the capture of Vicksburg. This was known as Vicksburg I & II and lasted from December, 1862, to July, 1863, under General Sherman. Apparently the 27th came in at the tail end of the operation. The siege on Vicksburg lasted forty-eight days in which the Federal Army shelled the city, hoping hunger and starvation would cause surrender. Company K was serving in the Washington Artillery in the Army of the Potomac and, no doubt, participated in this shelling. In July the population of . Vicksburg was starving to death, and on July 3 Pemberton asked Grant for the terms of surrender. After this, the Infantry was reported as having a "sharp skirmish with the enemy near Jackson." They returned with the 9th Corps to Kentucky, and in September, 1863, were ordered to Knoxville by way of the Cumberland Gap. November 16 found Longstreet's Army (Confederate) approaching Hoyt's Station southwest of Knoxville. The 27th fell back to Knoxville with the Confederate Army following. Longstreet's Corp was 15,000 strong and was in Knoxville because Longstreet had made his disapproval known to Bragg about a Confederate assault at Chattanooga. Jefferson had visited the Confederate Army in mid-October and proposed Longstreet be sent to Knoxville. The Federal Army made a temporary stand at Campbell's Station to secure the trains. Eleven men were killed or wounded there; eight were missing. When the 27th reached Knoxville, they defended it so well that Longstreet could not break it. The regiment had eight killed and seventeen severely wounded during the month of November. After pursuing Longstreet, the 27th remained in east Tennessee until the middle of January, 1864. After January, the 27th marched to Kentucky and then were ordered to Annapolis, Maryland, where it was joined by the Sharpshooter Division. In the last half of April it joined the Army of the Potomac in Annapolis, where Cyrus probably picked up his diary, either as a gift or something he bought for himself.

Cyrus W Elliott