Richard W. Surby (1832-1897). Grierson Raids, and Hatch's Sixty-Four Days March, with Biographical Sketches, also the Life and Adventures of Chickasaw, the Scout. Chicago: Rounds and James, 1865.

12mo. 9 lithographic plates. Modern calf. FIRST EDITION. Coulter, Travels in the Confederate States 439; Howes S-1140.

A scarce first edition of Englishman Richard W. Surby's dramatic experience during the American Civil War. The son of an English soldier stationed in Canada, he moved to the United States and happened to be in Illinois when the war erupted. He immediately joined the Union Army and participated in Colonel Benjamin Grierson's cavalry raid. Traveling from La Grange, Tennessee, through the heart of Mississippi, they freed slaves, burned Confederate supplies, and destroyed railroads, bridges, and infrastructure.

Once in Louisiana, Surby was captured near Port Hudson and was confined at Libby Prison in Richmond. Traveling in slow stages by railroad, he includes detailed observations of the Confederacy in his narrative.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Books, Bibles, Soldier's Bibles, Prayer Books, Ephemera, Pamphlets, Publications, Booklets] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation] 

Spotting throughout, plates toned, 1 plate loose.