Colored lithographic print, published by J.C. Fuller, lithograph by Major & Knapp, NY, 1864. Standard memorial format, with attractive colored military vignettes in margins surrounding the company roster, with list of engagements. The poster is lightly faded, with light soiling, wear & foxing, though still attractive and entirely legible. Slightly chipped round the margins. Four small tears from the margins have been neatly taped [ca.1950s] from the reverse. Else VG.

The 8^th Illinois Cavalry was organized and mustered for three years service at St. Charles, Ill, on September 18, 1861. Serving with Army of the Potomac Cavalry, this regiment participated in all its major engagements from the 1862 Peninsula Campaign through Gettysburg and the Mine Run Campaign near the end of 1863, at which point it was detached and reorganized in the Washington defenses.

Although the regiment participated in numerous cavalry actions associated with Grant’s Overland Campaign, and through the end of the war, it is best known for its service with John Buford’s Union cavalry division at Gettysburg, where one its officers—[Lieutenant Marcellus Jones, Co. E]—fired the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg, while on picket on the Chambersburg Pike, 8 am, July 1, 1863. Also, 8^th Illinois captain Elon Farnsworth was one of the three “boy” brigadier generals promoted on the eve of Gettysburg [the others being George Custer & Wesley Merritt], and was to die tragically in leading in a futile cavalry charge at the tail end of the battle.

Superb 8^th Illinois Cavalry memento. Fine Gettysburg unit collectible.

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