WA 040Diary owned by Civil War colonel John B Yates. It is written in a coded language. With the help of a professor we determined that the code is a Masonic Memory Jogger. The Masons used a number of rituals that had to be memorized, and hence the code. Using the book “Illustrations of Masonry” by William Morgan, written in 1827, I have been able to deciper bits and pieces of the diary. There are two cards attached to the diary. One is his business card. He was a civil engineer and surveyor with the A.L &T.B.R.R. Office in Albion, Michigan after the war. 
WA 040The other card is an invitation to a “Washington Ball” at Union House, in Delhi, February 20, 1863. There is a page in the diary signed by Clarence Smith. Without decoding the page I don’t know if this was something he wrote to Col. Yates or something else. I don’t know the date of the coded entries but likely during or early post-civil war. There is a penciled notation of 1859 at the front of the book but I expect this was done earlier. This document is useful for anyone researching Masonry and the Civil War, communicating in code, etc. M
Price: $990.00
Note: Colonel Yates was born in Schenectady, NY in 1833. He married Ellen Bell (1840-1888) in 1858 and they had 7 children between 1858 and 1877. 
WA 040Moving to Albion, MI he enlisted as a captiain on August 22, 1861. He served in Company A, Michigan Engineers and Mechanics. The regiment worked at repairing bridges and railroads and building blockhouses and fortifications and skirmishing with the enemy.
WA 040 He took part in engagements at Bowling Green, Perryville, Stones River and Sherman’s March through Georgia and the Carolinas. William T Sherman wrote of Yates: “Its journal of operation during the campaign in Georgia and the Carolinas would illustrate the absolute limit of man for physical labor. I have sometimes reproached myself for cruelty in imposing or allowing to be imposed on it such hard and constant labor I now desire to endorse the paper with an emphasis that will show that I was conscious of the fact. I will be much pleased if Col. Yates can be suitably rewarded for his past most valuable services.” Col. Yate died in 1899 at Amesburg, Ontario.
Clarence Smith was a private in the 94th New York Volunteers. He was with the Patent Office Hospital October 1, 1862 during the Battle of Antietam.