Jun 05, 2008 - Sale 2148

Sale 2148 - Lot 93

Price Realized: $ 9,600
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
"TAKEN FROM THE TRUNK OF A REBELL CAPTAIN" (CIVIL WAR.) Minor, C.L.C.; and E.P. Harmon. Confederate officer's account book, confiscated and used as a Union soldier's diary. 68 pages. 8vo, leather gilt, spine reading "Cash Book"; hinges broken, several pages torn or cut out, some dampstaining near dried flowers. Includes a fly-leaf signed by Minor and Harmon; Harmon's inscription ("Taken from the trunk of a Rebell Captain at Hewlett's Station on the Virginia Central Railroad May 25th 1864") with 2 pages of botanical specimens; Minor's detailed expense log, 6 November 1860 to 4 May 1864, 38 pages; Harmon's diary, 2 May to 4 June 1864, 16 pages; Harmon's pay and mess accounts, 7 to 28 May 1864, 1 page; Minor's bank account register, 3 January 1861 to 10 February 1863, 5 pages; list of wedding presents received by Minor and his wife Fanny [December 1860], 2 pages; list of scrip held by Minor, 1 page; and memoranda apparently by Harmon's wife Emma after the war, 2 pages. Virginia, 1860-1864
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Additional Details

Charles Landon Carter Minor (1835-1903), the original owner of this volume, served as a captain in the 2nd Regiment, Virginia Cavalry. He survived the war, and went on to serve as president of Maryland Agricultural College (now University of Maryland) and as the first president of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech). He also wrote two books defending the Confederacy. His account book notes numerous cavalry expenses such as a sword belt, gun sling, and horse-shoeing, as well as personal accounts.

Edward P. Harmon (ca. 1844-1888), who found this volume among a trunk of Minor's possessions aboard a captured train, was a resident of New Gloucester, Maine, and a private in the 5th Regiment, Maine Infantry. After the war he worked as a machinist in Gardiner, Maine.

Harmon's diary begins three weeks before the volume was captured, so we can assume the earliest entries were written retrospectively. Spectacular content for the Battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River, and Cold Harbor, with several updates over the course of each day during combat. At the Wilderness, for example: "8 a.m. Got shelled very badly to day, it was enough to make a person shake with fear for the cast iron humming birds . . . 9 a.m. Nothing but pickett firing now. 10 a.m. Our artillery has just got to firing the first time since the fighting commenced . . . 6 p.m. Our right was turned and flanked & we had quite a skedaddle, the troops were somewhat demoralized." At Spottsylvania: "It is awfull hot to day, the woods got on fire and a great many of our wounded men have been burned to death, I have been putting the fire out. This is an awful time for poor soldiers." At North Anna River, where the book was confiscated: "Came here on the railroad, burnt the station, destroyed the railroad and had a good time generally." Exceptional Civil War diary, and an evocative artifact.