War Diaries of George S. Patton

100% Complete


Completed Pages: 3,281
Registered Contributors: 56
Launched May 11, 2020 and completed Jan. 22, 2021.

In 2020, Library of Congress staff transcribed specific campaigns within the By the People program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic building closures. Staff transcribed images of collections material featuring Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, and George Patton. Check out this blog post to learn more about the “staff only” campaigns and their successes - Making Room in the Crowd: Library Teleworkers Transcribing in Extraordinary Times.


Because of potentially offensive language and views, which reflect both their time and circumstances, this transcription project may not suitable for all volunteers.

George Smith Patton was a soldier first and foremost. Born in California in 1885, he graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1909. “I believe that I am only capable of being a soldier,” he wrote to his future father-in-law Frederick Ayer before graduating. Several days later, he confided to Beatrice Ayer whom he would marry in 1910: “it is in war alone that I am fitted to do any thing (sic) of importance.” Commissioned second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1909, he was a major general when the U.S. entered World War II. His military exploits during that war astounded the world.

Patton was an inveterate war diarist. It is telling that, except for a brief honeymoon diary in 1910 and fox-hunting diaries in the 1930s, he started diaries at the start of a new war, as if that was when he came to life. The earliest war diary, 1916, documents his participation in the Mexican Punitive Expedition, organized to capture Pancho Villa. His World War I diaries begin when he received orders on May 18, 1917, and close on March 16, 1919, with the note: "The end of a perfect war." The next major series of diaries begins after the U.S. entered World War II. The first entry is dated August 5, 1942, with Patton’s departure for London to participate in the planning of Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. The series ends in December 1945, just after the war and shortly before Patton’s untimely death on December 21st.

The diaries are riveting. They record Patton’s daily activities and observations, likely as a tool to analyze events, unquestionably as an outlet to vent privately. They reveal his candor about himself and his frank and often critical assessments of others. They are also unfiltered. They can be profane, echoing the callousness of war. They also contain observations and perspectives that are sometimes disturbing.