The Journey to Louisiana

After being delayed in New York for two months, at the end of January Nye was finally assigned to the transport ship West Point, headed for Louisiana. He was put in charge of a group of 138 men from other regiments who had been treated in city hospitals, as well as a group of prisoners, deserters, and mechanics. Nye wrote, “I have to see to all men on board.”

At the beginning of the journey, when the weather was bad, Nye wrote with compassion about the condition of the men on board. “Sevrel of my men are sick from the affects of this Expense on the vesell and I am almost worn out [working?] to make them comfortable”.

Along the journey to this far, unfamiliar land, Nye wrote about the progress they made each day, the wind and water conditions, and about the health of the men and horses aboard the ship.

The following map links segments of the diary with the location were Nye was when he wrote them. Click on each map pin to learn more.

When Nye finally arrived in Louisiana, he found himself overwhelmed by the growing excitement around the upcoming siege of Port Hudson…

The Hospital and the City

Perspective Stereograph of New York City Hospital from the South Side, 1867

New York Hospital’s relationship to the city around it changed throughout its history, and that change is well reflected in Nye’s journeys around the city during his stay there.

When the New York Hospital opened in 1791, it was far outside (to the North) of the city, in the midst of farmland. The street it was on, Broadway, ended at the building, and there was a large stretch of cow pastures that separated the hospital from the rest of the city.

Over the next decades, the city grew northward, eventually enveloping the New York Hospital.

In almost every entry during Albert’s stay at the hospital, he writes about getting a pass and going out into the city, to explore as well as to find a way to get transportation to reunite with his regiment in Louisiana.



“I got a pass out of the Hospital + went to the Post Office and looked about the City a little did not see any thing worthy of note. Reported myself ready to go to my Reg”

The following interactive map gives you an idea of where he went in the city, as well as a little look into some New York City history.