Francis Marion Johnson enrolled as Principal Musician of the Thirty-second Regiment, Illinois Infantry, on September 3, 1861. He was born in alton, Madison County, Illinois. Most of his service was in Mississipi and Tennessee. There are two sections of his diary illustrating the typical soldier's life on that front. the first section covers departure from his home from May 21, 1862 through August 1862. The second section picks up on Sept. 3, 1962 until he was discharged in Feb. 1863.