History of the Forty-Eighth Ohio Vet. Vol. Inf. Giving a Complete Account of the Regiment (etc.)
Author: BERING, John A. and Thomas Montgomery
Title: History of the Forty-Eighth Ohio Vet. Vol. Inf. Giving a Complete Account of the Regiment (etc.)
Publication: Hillsboro, Ohio: Highland News Office, 1880
Edition: First Edition
Description: Hardcover. 12mo, 290pp. The final section of the book has its own separate title page, which reads: "The Escape and Re-Capture of Maj. J. A. Bering and Lieut. EW. J. Srofe, with Prison Life at Camp Ford, Texas, from Oct. 12th, 1864, to May 17th, 1865." About very good in the publisher's reddish-brown cloth, stamped in blind with gilt spine title. Boards mildly dust-soiled, with some scuffing to the spine ends, and a few small dings. The cheap paper stock is evenly age-toned, and the front inner hinge is tender, but holding. A presentation copy, SIGNED and INSCRIBED by Bering on the front paste-down to a fellow soldier who endured some of the events described in the book: "Presented to J. L. Day, in memory of the days spent together at Camp Ford Prison Texas, by the author J. A. Bering. Lynchburg, Ohio Nov 16 / 83." The previous owner, almost certainly Day himself, has marginally emphasized a few places in the prison narrative, indicating situations that he either remembered or personally witnessed. The various companies of the 48th contain several soldiers with the last name day, but no "J. L." We suspect that he must have belong to another unit which was being held at Camp Ford around the same time as the 48th Ohio. Very good-.
The 48th Ohio Infantry Regiment was initially organized in October of 1861 near Cincinnati, and mustered out on May 10, 1866. During the war, the unit saw action at a number of key events, including Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, and the Red River Campaign. The regiment was captured at the Battle of Mansfield, also known as the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, in April 1864.
This regimental history is rare in the trade, and significant not just for its detailed account of the unit, but also for its account of a Confederate prison. The last copy we could trace in commerce was offered by Ernest Wessen in 1960, who described it as "quite rare." OCLC lists a healthy number of holdings, however the records are hopelessly muddled, with a number of digital-only holdings under the same accession number.
A rare presentation copy of a very scarce Ohio regimental history, important in any collection of Civil War unit histories. Ryan 50. Nevins I, p. 58.
Seller ID: 11280
Subject: Civil War
