The Book Shed

Much shelf wear to tips, corners, and edges of the bookcovers rubbed, spine sunned, hinges clumsily repaired. Clean and unmarked. James Harrison Wilson wrote several of these mini biographies of Civil War notables. A Major General himself he also wrote on the Spanish AMerican War his experiences in China and on the Boxer Rebellion. A graduate of the West Point class of 1860. A military engineer, he quickly rose through the ranks attaining the rank of Brevet major General as a cavalryman under Phillip Sheridan. The subject of this biography William Farrar Smith,a Vermonter, was also a military engineer who rose while serving in various commands during the war. Smith was alternately praised and blamed for vrious actions through the war and was eventually relieved of his command.From the Arlington Cemetary website biography of Smith: "His Corps was attached to the Army of the Potomac in time to take part in bloody repulse at Cold Harbor, where he found time to bitterly criticize George G. Meade. Next, his Corps and a Division of colored troops were ordered to take Petersburg. His fatal hesitation here, perhaps because of formidable Confederate works or perhaps because of a bout with malaria from which he suffered for a decade, may have lost him the opportunity to shorten the war by nearly a year.On July 19, 1864, he was relieved from command of XVIII Corps, seemingly to placate Butler, for Smith was a Brevet Major General, United States Army, in the omnibus promotions of March 1865. He resigned his volunteer commission in 1865 and his Regular Army commission of Major of Engineers in 1867. In his remaining years he acted as president of a cable car co, as president of board of police commissioners of New York City, and from 1881 to 1901 as a civilian engineer in government employ on various river and harbor improvements. He made numerous literary contributions to the history of the war, including several articles for "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War." "Every effort is made to ship all books and other items within 24 hours. Clean recycled packing material will be used when possible. The Book Shed has a been a member of the Vermont Antiquarian Bookseller's Association since 1997. An online bookseller with a bookshop sensibility!