This is a scarce pair of identified Civil War binoculars marked and sold by the well-known military goods firm of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham and inscribed to the officer who purchased them or received them as a gift in November1862 after his promotion to Captain. These are the correct Civil War pattern, showing a straight bridge linking the two eyepiece tubes, and have the standard sunshade extensions.

We attach an image of them as offered in the SH&G 1864 catalog, which notes them available “black japanned or leather covered.”  These were the leather covered version, with the leather still tight and in place on the sunshades, but missing from the brass barrels (fairly common on field-used examples,) which are rubbed bright from handling and use. The blackening of the eyepiece tubes is good, but shows some scratches and scrapes from extending them. The black enamel edge trim is good overall. The eyepiece tubes extend well and the optics are good. The gutta percha eyepieces show expected wear around the edges that shows as a light brown. The eyepieces are unmarked, as is often the case when sold through a major retailer. Schuyler, Hartley and Graham then itself engraved one of the eyepiece tubes on one side, “S.H.& G. / NEW YORK.” These were likely a gift from family, friends or comrades in honor of Shepard’s promotion to Captain in November 1862 and were additionally engraved with his new rank, name, and date: “CAPT. E. O. SHEPARD / NOV. 1862.”

Born in 1834, Edward Olcott Shepard was raised in Nashua, NH, was an 1860 graduate of Amherst, and was a teacher and highschool principal in Concord, MA, when he enlisted at age 26 in a company of Massachusetts Infantry on 6/18/1862, mustering in as 1^st Lieutenant on 6/30/62 with rank effective to the day he enrolled. A few weeks later they were sent to join the 32^nd Massachusetts Regiment who had left for Washington on May 26 just six companies strong. Shepard’s company was the first of four additional companies to reach the regiment, joining it 7/23/62 at Harrison’s Landing, and was designated Company G. The regiment spent its entire field service in the 5^th Corps, Army of the Potomac, from July 1862 to its muster out in late June 1865, giving it a lengthy service record, with participation in some thirty battles and losses of some sort on 70 occasions according to CWData, with battle losses just in killed or mortally wounded of 5 officers and 139 enlisted men.

Shepard is listed as present on the rolls for pretty much all the regiment’s major engagements up to his third wounding and capture on February 6, 1865, being absent on the muster rolls only for short leaves in April 1863 and January 1864, and sick leave from mid-August to mid-October 1864, when the regiment did see action at the Weldon Railroad and Poplar Springs Church. He was wounded three times: twice lightly and once somewhat more seriously in February 1865, when he was taken prisoner, though exchanged and hospitalized, but back as “present” on the March-April 1865 roll. He was transferred from Co. G to Co. F in October 1862 and promoted Captain of that company Captain 11/21/62, and mustered on 11/29/62 with rank effective as of 11/21/62, hence the November the gift and inscription of the binoculars. He was promoted to Major June 30, 1864, though some records date it to 12/5/64, likely the date of his formal muster in at that rank. The regiment’s muster out roll dates it to 6/30/64 and the regimental history dates it prior to July 12 when they were erecting breastworks on the Petersburg line that would become Fort Prescott, named after their Colonel (mortally wounded in the June 18 Petersburg assault and died the next day.) With the loss of the Colonel and the Lt. Colonel going home, the Major moved up to Colonel, and two Captains advanced to field grade: one to Lt. Colonel and Shepard to Major.

The regiment’s engagements included Fredericksburg, where they lost 35 officers and men, of whom 6 were killed or mortally wounded; Gettysburg where, with one company detached, they took some 227 men onto the field as part of Sweitzer’s brigade, fighting in the Rose Woods and in the Wheatfield, losing some 81 men, including 22 killed or mortally wounded. Shepard was lightly wounded in the fighting, suffering a contusion in the left groin that did not sideline him. (The regiment’s monument on the field is a wonderful stone shelter-half tent with canteen hanging from it. A second plaque locates the regiment’s field hospital, sheltered by rocks, very near the front lines.)

In 1864 at Spottsylvania they lost 103 men, including 5 color-bearers, of whom 46 were killed or mortally wounded, followed by another 52 casualties including 23 killed or mortally wounded in the fighting at the North Anna, Shady Grove Road, and Bethesda Church, with yet further losses in the assault on Petersburg on June 18, where they lost 6 killed and 17 wounded, with Shepard among the wounded on that day or in subsequent fighting along the line on June 22, the date he is noted as wounded in the records and returned to duty. This was followed by more fighting at Jerusalem Plank Road, the Weldon Railroad, Poplar Springs Church, as well as general service in the trenches. In the 1865 fighting they saw heavy action at Hatcher’s Run (AKA “Dabney’s Mill”) on February 6, where they lost 74 in killed, wounded and missing, with Shepard wounded in the head, temporarily rendered unconscious and captured while commanding the brigade’s skirmish line. He was transferred from Petersburg to Richmond on February 8, paroled on February 22 at James River, hospitalized in Annapolis. The exact date of his return to the regiment is not given, but he is listed as present on the March-April muster roll. The regiment’s final engagements had included Dinwiddie Courthouse, Five Forks, and the Appomattox Campaign, where it was one of the regiments detailed to accept the surrendered arms and colors. He was mustered out with the regiment 6/29/65 at Washington.

Shepard was later breveted Lt. Colonel in the volunteer forces, to date March 13, 1865, “for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Va.” and was a member of the G.A.R. and MOLLUS. He studied law after returning home, passed the Massachusetts bar in 1867, later becoming part of the law firm of Jewell, Field & Shepard, acted as counsel to several railways, was a member of Boston Common Council, and Council President, as well as Judge Advocate General in the state’s military. He married, had four children, and passed away in April 1903 in Newburyport, MA.

We show several images of Shepard as a line officer and a field officer, as well as the Schuyler, Hartley and Graham illustration of the binoculars, and a portion of a Julian Scott painting showing an officer steadied by some enlisted men atop a rail fence, binoculars in hand to scan for enemy troops. Included with the binoculars are four other items: 1) An original muster roll of Shepard’s company for January-February 1863, which has interesting notes on which men detailed other duty, absent sick or wounded, etc. This has been framed and we have not examined it out of the frame. There are separation lines and foxing along the folds, but everything is legible. The muster roll also includes a payroll covering Nov. 1, 1862, to the end of February 1863. 2) A copy of the 1880 regimental history by Parker, in good condition, bearing the name of Lucius Coleman, Westminster, Mass., another veteran of the regiment, who served as a private in Company A from 1861 to 1864. 3) A scarce copy of the 22 -page pamphlet by Luther Stephenson titled, A SKETCH - GIVING SOME INCIDENTS DURING THE SERVICE OF THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY PRESENTED BY GENERAL LUTHER STEPHENSON AT THE ANNUAL RE-UNION AUGUST 4, 1900, which includes a copy of the 1894 photo of veterans at the dedication of their monument at Gettysburg. This is in fair condition, in paper covers with pages loose, but seemingly all there. 4) A framed copy photo of Shepard (bust shot as lieutenant.)  [sr][ph:m]

Extra shipping charge required.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!