History and Camp Life of Company C, Fifty-First Regiment, Masachusetts Volunteer Militia, 1862-1863

Worcester, Massachusetts: Charles Hamilton, 1886. First edition [1886]. Externally worn and spotted. Illustrated in black and white, including a folding map. Brown cloth over beveled boards, 131 pages. Edgewear and soil to the covers, including considerable spotting to the lower edge of the front cover, fraying to the corners and spine ends, good hinges, sound text block, age-toned but clean pages with some widely scattered occasional finger soil, no names or other markings. The Massachusetts 51st Regiment was mainly from southern Worcester County, and spent much of the Civil War in North Carolina. What make this history particularly interesting is the large number of extracts from letters and diaries written by the company's members as events unfolded, written at the time the events actually occurred (rather than recollections) and from the perspecitve of the "army boys". These extracts describe, first-hand, relentless marching, debilitating fatigue, unexpected optimism, and the tedium of camp life, interspersed with fierce fighting. They speak of whiskey rations and cold fingers, scavenging for wood, help from black slaves, the adequacy of ammunition supplies, making coffee in the middle of the night while on guard duty, and of Rebel prisoners and "the solemnity of a battle". The book also contains a brief history of the company, its roster, the military records of each comrade, and copies of orders and reports. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Fair. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.