INSCRIBED “US INFANTRY AND RIFLE TACTICS” AND INSCRIBED VIELE’S “HANDBOOK FOR ACTIVE SERVICE,” WITH DYNAMIC CDV, OF ADJUTANT LEWIS PARMELEE, BERDAN’S 2nd US SHARPSHOOTERS, KIA ANTIETAM!

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Item Code: 2024-333

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Lewis Clark Parmelee was born in 1839, the son of a wealthy New Haven, CT, businessman. The history of Berdan’s sharpshooters noted, “Adj. Parmelee was a great favorite in the regiment, a young man of excellent address and education, having passed through a course of studies at Edinburg, and had belonged to New York city's crack regiment, the Seventh — or National Guard. He could quote all the great poets and prominent authors.” It is fitting that among the relics he left behind after his death at Antietam were two military books: Viele’s Hand-Book for Active Service, dedicated specifically to the 7th New York Militia and bearing the label of a  Washington, D.C., book shop, and the other the 1861 US regulation tactics book for infantry and riflemen.

Parmelee had served as a private in Co. H of the 7th NY State Militia and was with them for their thirty-days active service starting in April 1861. The exact date of his muster into Berdan’s 2nd US Sharpshooters is unclear, but the regiment was mustering in by company in Fall and Winter 1861, so he likely was appointed at that time or very early 1862, mustering in as 1st Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant, his educational background likely serving him well as the unit’s executive officer. The regiment saw action at Rappahannock Station, 2nd Manassas, and South Mountain before the Antietam, where it was part of Phelps’s 1st Corps brigade and charged into the Cornfield in support of the Iron Brigade. The turned toward the Hagerstown Pike to face a counter attack by Starke’s troops. The fighting was close and heavy, with the regiment losing some 66 killed and wounded of just 130 or so in action (the whole brigade numbering just 425) and Parmelee commanding the remnant, when Confederates began pulling back and he ran forward to seize a Confederate flag along the fence bordering the Pike, only to be shot down by its defenders. He was buried where he fell on the field. His father was notified, assured his “effects will be cared for & sent to you at the earliest convenience,” and journeyed to the battlefield to retrieve his son’s body a short time later and inter him back in New Haven.

Parmelee’s copy of Viele is in good condition, though lacking the front endpapers. Parmelee inscribed it in ink inside the front cover: “Lewis C. Parmelee / Adj’t 2d Reg’t / USSS.” Parmelee’s signature is fully legible, though showing rubbing on his last name. The book includes instructions on the drill of recruits individually, formation and drill by company and by regiment, how to conduct a march, form a camp, establish guards, etc., along with  instructions on rations and cooking, constructing field fortifications and other advice. The book was published by Van Nostrand in 1861,and has its original red cloth binding. There are some book dealer notes in pencil below and opposite the inscription.

Parmelee’s tactics book is the pocket-size manual bound in green cloth titled, “US Infantry Tactics, for the Instruction, Exercise, and Maneuvers of the United States Infantry, Including Infantry of the Line, Light Infantry, and Riflemen…” and carries the notice of its approval and adoption by the Secretary of War on May 1, 1861, and publication by Lippincott in 1861. Parmelee actually inscribed it three times on the endpapers indicating he referred to it often and kept it with him. The first is in pencil: “Lewis C. Parmelee / 555 Broadway / August 1861.” The lack of rank and home address shoes he purchased it before his official appointment to the sharpshooters, but in preparation for renewed service in the field and likely as an officer. He then inscribed it twice in ink after his appointment, both the same way: “Lewis C. Parmelee / Adjt. 2d Reg’t / USSS” showing he had it in the field. This mirrors his signature in his copy of Viele and certainly indicates he had both volumes with him in the field. The volume is in very good condition, complete with fold out plates, and follows a program similar to Viele, but concentrating more on maneuvers and drill of foot troops in particular, with sections on the “School of the Soldier,” “School of the Company,” “Instructions for skirmishers,” “School of the Battalion,” etc.

Included with this is a classic Carte-de-Visite studio portrait of Parmelee full-standing, used in a cropped version in the regimental history. He is shown in uniform, wearing forage cap with insignia partially visible below the sloping top of his forage cap, regulation officer’s frock coat with 1st Lieutenant shoulder straps, sword belt, sash, and sword, with his gauntlets casually displayed on his overcoat, which is draped over the photographers table or chair at his side. He adopts one of the power poses popular among military men of his time, having his arms crossed, and looks slightly askance at the camera, exuding confidence and ability, perhaps with a touch of haughtiness. The card bears the backmark of E.S. Dunshee of New Bedford and shows glue marks likely from a missing tax stamp indicating the print was made sometime after August or September 1864, likely for the family and sometime close to that date since Dunshee moved to Rochester, NY, at some point in 1864.

This is a great grouping from one of the most famous regiments of the Civil War and belonging to an officer with strong combat record who lost his life in one of the most famous battles of the war.  [sr][ph:L]

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