GENERAL SHERMAN'S COPY OF SHERIDAN'S MEMOIRS IN RARE MOROCCO BINDING

Philip Henry Sheridan (1831-1888). Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan. New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1888. 2 volumes, 8vo. Publisher's deluxe full morocco. First edition.

Sherman's personal copy of his fellow general's personal memoir in a scarce deluxe full morocco binding. Though no inscriptions from Sherman or Sheridan are present, it may very well have been sent directly from Sheridan to Sherman. Sheridan writes in his memoirs regarding his and Sherman’s early Ohio connection through the Ewing family: "I knew General Sherman very well. We came from near the same section of country in Ohio, and his wife and her family had known me from childhood. I was always kindly received by the General..." (p. 139)

In his own memoirs, Sherman writes positively of Sheridan and clearly respected his colleague a great deal. When Sherman prepared to retire from the Army, he personally requested "authority to turn over the command of the army to Lieutenant-General Sheridan on the 1st day of November, 1883" with “as little ceremony as would attend the succession of the lieutenant-colonel of a regiment to his colonel about to take a leave of absence." (pp. 461-462). Sheridan and Sherman are often compared together by military historians as early practitioners of "scorched earth" tactics. A unique connection between the two men in this book.

Condition: boards detached, scuffing, typical offsetting.

PROVENANCE:

The Sherman-Fitch Library

Primarily assembled by General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891), the collection of books was inherited and curated by his son, Philemon Tecumseh Sherman (1867-1941). Before his death, Philemon transferred the library to his niece, Eleanor Sherman Fitch (1876-1959). Eleanor was the granddaughter of General Sherman through his eldest daughter, Maria "Minnie" Ewing Sherman Fitch (1851-1913). Until now, the Sherman-Fitch library was held at the family estate in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

The library includes a range of diverse material owned by General Sherman that principally relates to the Civil War, American history, and the Sherman family. Many works in the Sherman-Fitch library are historically significant, including General Sherman's annotated copy of Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs, the Sherman family bible, and Barnard's "Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign."

Most examples in the collection are affixed with bookplates that bear both General Sherman's and Philemon's names. In some cases, where General Sherman's ownership was clear, his bookplate was not always affixed. However, books with just Philemon's bookplate were generally acquired after his father's death in 1891. General Sherman’s bookplates were likely added by Philemon after his father’s death. Philemon’s bookplates were placed by Tecumseh Sherman Fitch (1908-1969) after he inherited the library in 1942.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Books, Memoirs, Generals, Ephemera]