This is a complete and nicely identified set of Gen. Winfield Scott’s three-volume infantry tactics in near excellent condition- somewhat appropriate since the owner was also a book-binder by profession. Scott’s Tactics came out in 1834 and the system was still in use in some places at the beginning of the Civil War. This particular set was published in New York in 1840 by Harper and Brothers, and is in very good condition, about excellent, with only minor scuffs to the bindings, some thin stains to covers, and some waviness from dampness to the pages of Volume 3 and the last pages of Volume 2. Each volume bears a wonderful, brown ink inscription reading, “Capt. E. C. Williams / Cameron Guards / Harrisburgh / Penna” which dates between December 1846, when Williams raised the militia company as Captain, taking them into active service as Co. G or the 2^nd Pennsylvania Vols., and August 1848, when he returned to Pennsylvania and was appointed an aide-de-camp to the Governor with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Born in 1820, Edward Charles Williams, was a bookbinder and stationer in Harrisburg, PA, and later a merchant and postmaster. Prior to raising the Cameron Guard and going to Mexico, he had militia experience with the Dauphin Guards, who served in the Philadelphia riots of 1844. As Captain of Co. G, 2^nd PA Volunteers, he served from the landing at Vera Cruz to the capture of Mexico City, reportedly being wounded in the shoulder at Chapultepec, where he raised the flag over the citadel, and recovered soon enough to be said also to be, “the first to hoist the American flag over the City of Mexico after its capture.”

The 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment mustered into service ten companies strong at Pittsburgh for the duration of the war January 7, 1847, and served until July 1848. They left Pittsburgh for New Orleans by several steamboats beginning on January 8, arriving there starting on Jan. 14, and departed from there on three ships on Jan. 31, crossing the Gulf to the Lobos Island, from which they took part in the March landings at and siege of Vera Cruz as part of Pillow’s (third) brigade of Patterson’s (third) division. This was followed by the Battle of Cerro Gordo, and Scott’s Mexico Valley Campaign, with the regiment missing the battles of Contreras, Churubusco and Molina del Rey, but taking part in the fighting at Chapultepec and Mexico City, and later doing occupation duty at Mexico City and San Angel.

After returning from Mexico Williams was elected Sheriff of Dauphin County, serving 1850-54 and served as Brigadier General in the Pennsylvania militia from 1854-1861. At the beginning of the Civil War the Governor ordered him to organize Camp Curtin, where he was reportedly the first volunteer sworn in, likely explaining a commission as Brigadier General of PA Volunteers dating April 19, 1861. He commanded a brigade “during the three months’ service,” under General Robert Patterson, a major general of Pennsylvania volunteers tasked by Winfield Scott with retaking Harpers Ferry, but whose slow advance and pause after taking Martinsburg enabled Johnston to join Beauregard in time for First Bull Run. Williams mustered out as brigadier general as of July 20, 1861, a day after Patterson was replaced by Banks and a week before he himself was mustered out.

Williams saw subsequent field service as well, gaining a commission from the Federal government as Colonel of the 9^th Pennsylvania Cavalry dating to Oct. 20, 1861, apparently mustering November 11. The regiment left the state Nov. 20, 1861, and was posted at Jeffersonville, IN, opposite Louisville until January 1862. It was then posted by battalion in different locations in Kentucky until early March, when it moved to Tennessee, also posted there by battalion, with portions of the regiment seeing action at Lebanon against Morgan, with skirmishes at Livingston, Moore’s Hill, Tompkinsville, being reunited for more action at Perryville Oct. 8, 1862, where it lost 10 killed and 27 wounded, but earned praise from Gen. Buell for its steadiness under fire.

Williams is said to have resigned as of October 9, 1862, the day after Perryville, but the regiment seems to have been commanded in the battle by the Lieutenant Colonel. A county history says, “General Williams was at Henderson with his regiment when Buell and Bragg made their march into Kentucky, was ordered to Louisville without delay, and from thence to Crab Orchard, where he prevented Kirby Smith’s cavalry from entering Kentucky at that point. His services in that campaign were indeed arduous. Owing, however, to a question of rank, in which not only he but the other officers in the volunteer service were concerned, he pre-emptorily resigned and returned to Pennsylvania.”

The “question of rank” is unexplained, but since it also involved “the other officers in the volunteer service,” it likely involved assertions of seniority by regular army officers of lesser rank, even though Williams had prior service as brigadier general in PA Volunteers or the “US Volunteers General Staff” as some listings have it.  Whatever the motive for his resignation, he returned to Pennsylvania and later lived in Chapman, Snyder County, PA, where he died in 1900.

There is a short biography of Williams by Norman Gasborro on the Civil War blog of  gratzpa.org, as well as one published in the Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County. We illustrate two obituaries of him and a photo as Brigadier General.

This is a classic, early US Army manual with tight Mexican War date and use by an officer with some active service in both that war and the Civil War.  [sr] [ph:L]

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