Journal of the Eighteenth Annual Session, of the National Encampment, Grand Army of the Republic.

$975.00

Item Number: 145743

Philadelphia: Town Book and Job Printing House, 1884.

First edition of this record of post-war social meetings by members of the army; from the library of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Royal octavo, original morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the front panel. General Sherman and his son’s bookplates to the front pastedown, calling card of 12th Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, Robert Burns Beath laid in. In very good condition with rubbing to the extremities. General Sheman’s library was inherited by Philemon Tecumseh 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.

Of Grand Army Reunions, General William Tecumseh Sherman explained that "the object [of the reunion] is purely social, and designed to preserve the memories of war, and to cherish the friendships formed during that period of our national history." General Sherman loved army reunions, typically eschewing the uniform and insignia of his high rank, preferring to wear a Grand Army of the Republic hat like everyone else (Katharine Burton, Three Generations, 1947, p. 216).