This is a good copy of the revised 1863 US Army Regulations with a great series of inscriptions. If you really want to understand the inner workings of the army in the Civil War these manuals are a place to start. Every officer was expected to familiarize himself with these as much as with tactics. This one has very clear, brown ink inscriptions, essentially giving its own history. John M. Post inscribed it three times, giving a chronology of his acquisition of the book and then his promotions, and lastly passed the book on to his First Lieutenant, H.D. Hammer, in January 1865 penning an inscription on that occasion as well. The two men had known one another from the beginning of the war when they both served as enlisted men in Company E of the 3^rd NY Cavalry, with Hammer at first out-ranking Post. The unit took part in an extraordinary number of actions- Phisterer credits them with roughly 125, many smaller actions in North Carolina and then larger battles in Virginia. They lost 3 officers and 29 enlisted men killed in action, another 19 mortally wounded, and another 10 officers and 128 enlisted men wounded- a high number for a cavalry unit. At Little Washington, NC, on 4/18/63, both men were in Company E when it was credited with Company A for the capture the battle flag of the 7^th CS Cavalry.

Post’s first inscription is as 2^nd Lieutenant “M” company 3^rd NY Cavalry on May 1^, 1864. His next is as 1^st Lieutenant and Adjutant on July 1, and then as Captain of Co. E on Jan. 8, 1865. His last is placed below a line of dashes and reads: “Presented to Lieut. H.D. Hammer by Capt. John M. Post Jan. 18^th 1865,” with a flourish underneath.

In itself this is a partial summary of Post’s record. He enlisted at age 26 on 6/13/61 and mustered into Co. E of the 3^rd NY Cavalry as private on 7/17/61, made Corporal 5/24/62, Sergeant 1/27/63, Sergeant Major 6/15/63, reenlisted 12/16/63, 2^nd Lt. Co. M 4/25/64, Adjutant 7/2/64, Captain of Co. E 1/8/65, and mustered out 7/12/65.

Herman D. Hammer enlisted 8/11/61 at age 22 and mustered into Co. E as a Sergeant 8/22/61. He reenlisted 1/5/64 and was mustered in as 1^st Lieutenant 1/29/65, and mustered out 7/12/65.

Naturally, the date an officer was mustered in is different from the date of his commission and the effective date of rank given to him on that commission. Hammer, for instance, was officially commissioned a 1^st Lieutenant on Dec. 22, 1864 with rank dating from October 20, 1864 (when he moved up to fill a vacancy created by promotion of another officer. Hence, Post gave Hammer the book after he had been commissioned a lieutenant by the Governor of New York, though before he was mustered in, i.e. formally enrolled in the regiment at that new rank for purposes of pay, etc. Included above is a photo of Hammer from civilwardata.com.

Sometimes called the “Van Allen Cavalry” after their first Colonel, companies were recruited in different parts of the state and formally organized into a regiment after reaching Washington with Van Allen formally taking command of the whole on Sept. 9, 1861. They initially served divided between two divisions in the Army of the Potomac and then moved as a regiment to North Carolina in March 1862 they were sent to North Carolina, eventually becoming part of the 18^th Army Corps in the New Berne area and took part in numerous smaller actions at places like Washington and Core Creek, but also took part in the New Berne-Goldsboro Expedition, etc. In April 1864 joined the Army of the James as part of Kautz’s cavalry division in operations before Richmond and Petersburg. The took part in raids against the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and the Southside and Danville Railroad under Wilson. And, they took part in the June assault on Petersburg and numerous other actions related to the siege until December, when they were moved back to Norfolk, taking part in operations in that area, and subsequently posted to Suffolk, Portsmouth, and again to Norfolk from June to July, when they were mustered out.

This is a good copy with an interesting history. A later owner pasted gilt-lettered black name label and personal library number inside the cover, facing the flyleaf with the inscription. [sr][ph:L]

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