1866 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN by Holland 1st/1st CIVIL WAR UNION MAJOR PROVENANCE

  
The Life of Abraham Lincoln by J. IMPORTANT PROVENANCE: Owned by Lyman Gibson Bennett, Major, 4th Arkansas Cavalry, Union Army during the Civil War.

He signed and dated (December 21, 1865) this copy on the front endpaper. The signature matches verified copies of his signature on record. Published in 1866 by Gurdon Bill in Springfield, Massachusetts. In original maroon cloth with blind stamped bordering and paneling and gilt lettering.

Faux Lincoln signature in gilt on top cover. [5], 6-544, [2] (pages of publisher's advertisements), [2] pp. Illustrated with a steel-engraved frontispiece portrait of Lincoln and with three additional engraved plates. This is the first "full and complete" biography of Abraham Lincoln. PROVENANCE: Lyman Gibson Bennett (1832 - 1904) was an American teacher, surveyor, and civil engineer from Schuyler County, New York, who served the Union army during the American Civil War.

In 1861, Bennett enlisted as a Corporal in Co. E of the 36th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a three-year unit known as the Fox River Regiment. Louis, Missouri throughout late 1861 and early 1862. His detached duty, which included map-making and work on fortifications, ended in time for Bennett to join his regiment for the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas on March 7, 1862. He was permanently detached from the 36th Illinois after the battle to serve on the engineering staff of Brigadier General Samuel Ryan Curtis.

He sketched the Pea Ridge battlefield and was the cartographer of the Army of the Southwest as it marched across Missouri to Helena, Arkansas. In 1863, Bennett took a commission as major of the 4th Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (United States), which he helped raise and organize.

He resigned and was honorably discharged in August 1864. As a civilian, Bennett again joined the engineering department of General Samuel Curtis, then commanding the Department of Kansas. He mapped the 1864 battlefields of Price's Raid, and was sent to inspect the army's installations along the stage line to Denver, Colorado.

The book Powder River Odyssey: Nelson Cole's Western Campaign of 1865, The Journals of Lyman G. Bennett and Other Eyewitness Accounts by David E. Wagner (2009), was written almost entirely from the journal that Bennett kept in 1865. The book is in Good condition - binding is firm with hinges only slightly weakening.

Rear hinge starting to crack. Heavy rubbing along extremities with some cloth loss to crown and heel of spine. Some fraying to cloth covering the spine and joints.

Foxing throughout - light except the first and last quartile of the book and near and on the plates where it is quite heavy. Some pages with heavy foxing in the gutters. Water dampening stains to last few pages, quite a bit on rear endpapers.

Please view the pictures as they are an important part of the condition and content information.