Mexican War diary of Zenas Matthews
Volunteers sought for 1846 US-Mexico War diary project
In 1846 a young soldier named Zenas Matthews traveled across Texas to fight in the 1846 US-Mexican War. Along the way he kept a diary that ended up in the Special Collections of Southwestern University's library. The diary is now online, and Southwestern and FromThePage.com now invite volunteers to join a crowdsourcing project to annotate, index, and help clarify difficult readings of Matthews' diary.
Matthews joined Gen. Taylor's army on the Rio Grande and his diary includes descriptions of the Siege of Monterrey and the taking of the Bishop's Palace. The project also includes Matthews' service papers: a 1846 honorable discharge signed by C. B. Acklen and Col. John C. Hays; a 1849 letter certifying that Matthews served and was honorably discharged, signed by John C. Hays; and a 1887 Declaration for Service Pension.
The manuscript has been transcribed by volunteer Scott Patrick of the San Jacinto Descendants, but we seek additional commentary as well as indexing of names, places, events, and other subjects. Be a part of history!
Zenas Matthews Papers: http://fromthepage.com/ZenasMatthewshttp://fromthepage.com/ZenasMatthews
For more on the project: http://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/6475-collaborative-transcription-projecthttp://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/6475-collaborative-transcription-project