The last diary page of Rutherford B. Hayes before he entered the Union Army for the War.
May 15, 1861.–Judge Matthews and I have agreed to go into the service for the war,–if possible into the same regiment. I spoke my feelings to him, which he said were his also, viz., that this was a just and necessary war and that it demanded the whole power of the country; that I would prefer to go into it if I knew I was to die or be killed in the course of it, than to live through and after it without taking any part in it.