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BOOK DESCRIPTION: 8vo, 478 pgs, index, Bound in full pebbled leather-like cloth with matching slipcase; new endpapers, marbled page edges. Stated Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 29 plates, many folding and with text figures. CONDITION DESCRIPTION: The new binding and slipcase are fine. Interior pages are age-toned, some pages with old staining and browning. Former owner's, Alexander Shaler, signature on title page; else clean and tight. CONTENTS DESCRIPTION: Gibbon graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1847 and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Artillery. He served in the Mexican American War without seeing combat, attempted to keep the peace between Seminoles and settlers in south Florida, and taught artillery tactics at West Point, where he wrote The Artillerist's Manual in 1859. When the Civil War broke out, Gibbon remained loyal to the Union, despite three brothers, two brothers-in-law, and a cousin who joined the Confederate Army. He gained significant battle experience, from the Second Battle of Bull Run to Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. After the war, he went on to serve as the central commander at the Battle of Big Hole during the Nez Perce War (1877). Although the Nez Perce suffered more casualties than the US Army, this battle changed the course of the conflict and set the Nez Perce on the path to Canada. This important military manual used during the Civil War. From the Preface: "This work, originally designed as a book of instruction for the cadets of the Military Academy, has, since my separation from the department of artillery, been extended beyond the limits at first proposed, with a view of spreading information not popularly accessible, upon a subject of the first importance to our national defense. It is submitted to my brother officers, trusting that many allowances will be made for its defects, and that some one more capable of doing justice to the subject will be induced to offer to the service, and to our militia -- on whom, in the event of war, the principal defense of our large fortifications must devolve -- a more complete system of instruction than I have been able to furnish. Where translations have been made, it has been my endeavor to select such portions as are or may be applicable to our own service, leaving out those peculiar to the foreign." This scarce military manual is associated with General Alexander Shaler, whose signature is on the title page. Alexander Shaler initially was the Lt.Col. of the 65th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as the 1st United States Chasseurs. He later became a general commanding his Brigade and received the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg. Captured at the Battle of the Wilderness, he was sent to Libby Prison, in Richmond, Virginia and then to Macon, Georgia. In the summer of 1864 he was placed under the fire of Union batteries bombarding Charleston, South Carolina. Exchanged, he served out the remainder of the War in the Army of the Gulf serving in Arkansas. Following the war he served as commissioner of the Fire Department of New York City and was a founder of the National Rifle Association.
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