William J. Hardee (1815-1873). Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics. Nashville, Tennessee: J.O. Griffith & Co., 1861. 

Vol. I only (of 2), 8vo. Folding frontispiece, plates. Original brown cloth. Parrish & Willingham 4685. 

Inscribed to front free endpaper: "[T].B. George's Book  / [illeg.] the 7th 1861 / T. B. George is in / his 21th [sic] year / T.B. George Born / Jan the 12th 1841 / T. B. George"

Thomas B. George enlisted as a Captain in Company H of the 1st Tennessee Infantry (Turney's) on 27 April 1861. Organized from men around Shelton's Creek in Lincoln County, Tennessee, they bore the nicknames "the Shelton's Creek Volunteers" and "The Shelton Creek Boys." 

They traveled to Richmond for training and were one of two Tennessee regiments present at 1st Manassas (Bull Run). They joined with the 7th and 14th Tennessee Infantries to form the Tennessee Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia and joined the Peninsula Campaign, seeing action at the Seven Days' Battles. They fought at Second Manassas (Bull Run, 29 August 1862) where George was wounded "slightly in the chest" before further action at Harper's Ferry, Antietam, Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg (near the center of the Confederate line), and Chancellorsville. 

They engaged at Gettysburg as one of the leading units to run into the famed Iron Brigade at McPherson's Ridge. The Iron Brigade moved swiftly and captured nearly half the brigade. Then, on the final day of the battle, they participated in Pickett's Charge, along with the 7th Tennessee Infantry, pushing further than any other regiment. George was wounded in action, though the day is not specified. 1864 saw further battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House before they moved to the Siege of Petersburg.

Near the end of the war, George was captured at Sailor's Creek, Virginia, late on 6 April 1865 and was sent to Johnsons Island, attempting to escape while en route. He was recaptured but released after swearing an oath of allegiance on 18 June 1865. 

Above an 1855 War Department memo by Jefferson Davis he wrote, "My poor heart is sad." Perhaps, George was expressing his dismay at the end of the war and the fall of the Confederacy. 

The book is the first Confederate edition published in Tennessee. In a Secret Session of the 33rd General Assembly of Tennessee, Senate Resolution No.3 passed which resolved that the "Secretary of State be authorized to have published for the use of the State, two thousand copies of Hardee's and two thousand of Scott's Military Tactics, to be bound in plain, cheap, substantial binding, one copy of each to be furnished to each commissioned and non-commissioned officer engaged in military duty under the authority of the State..." 

An excellent soldier's tactics manual. 

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Dampstaining, losses to spine.