Atlanta.

COX, Jacob Donelson [William T. Sherman].

$16,000.00

Item Number: 145734

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882.

First edition of this account of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s career-defining campaign; from the library of William Tecumseh Sherman. Octavo, original blue cloth with gilt titles, illustrated with maps of battle operations. Inscribed by General Sherman on the front free endpaper, “General Sherman 1882, from the Author No. 75 West 71 St. New York.” William Tecumseh Sherman and his son Philemon Tecumseh Sherman’s bookplates to the front pastedown. In very good condition with light rubbing to the spine, front and rear panels, a small loss to the bottom edge of the front free endpaper. This set was inherited by P. T. Sherman, who transferred the library to his niece, Eleanor Sherman Fitch, before he died. Eleanor was the granddaughter of General Sherman through his eldest daughter, Maria “Minnie” Ewing Sherman Fitch. Until now, the book was held at the family estate in Washington County, Pennsylvania. An exceptional association.

John D. Cox was a lawyer from Ohio who was appointed a brigadier general at the start of the Civil War. He served in the Eastern Theater, fighting during the Maryland Campaign, eventually assuming command of the IX Corps. Promoted to major general, he commanded the 3rd Division, XXIII Corps, Army of the Ohio during the Atlanta, Franklin-Nashville, and Carolina Campaigns, giving him the experience to write his narrative of the 'March to the Sea.' After the war, Cox was elected the 28th Governor of Ohio before returning to his legal practice. Historian David J. Eicher said of Cox's 'Atlanta,' despite its one-sided nature: "This work is outstanding and one of the best of volumes in the Scribner's set. Its author not only commanded a division in the battles for Atlanta but was well trained in literature, military affairs, and politics." (David J. Eicher, The Civil War in Books, 111).