A group of two religious books and a Gettysburg relic from Robert Taylor Scott (1834-1897), Co. K, 8th Virginia Infantry. Items include: 

1. Pressed oak leaf affixed to card with the pencil inscription: "In Memory of my comrads [sic] who died on July 3, 1863 / Picked April 186[8?] on that field." Verso reads: "For My dear Hus[band?] / March 10th 1868."

2. The English Version of the Polyglott Bible. Baltimore, Maryland: Armstrong & Plaskitt, 1832. 32mo. Engraved frontispiece and title page. Contemporary embossed and gilt forest green morocco. Ownership inscription by Scott to front free endpaper, dated 6 April 1844. 

3. The Book of Common Prayer. New York: G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode, [1850]. 32mo. Contemporary leatherette boards, gilt-lettered "R. Taylor Scott."

Robert Taylor Scott (1834-1897) was a lawyer from a prominent Virginia planter family. When war broke out, he recruited Scott's Company (also known as the Beauregard Rifles) and was commissioned as their Captain. The group became Company K of the 8th Virginia Infantry. Scott would rise to the rank of Major and serve on the staff of General George E. Pickett. His father-in-law, Richard Henry Carter (1817-1880), captained Company B of the same regiment. 

The 8th Virginia was hard-fought, seeing action in most of the major engagements in the Eastern Theater including First and Second Manassas (Bull Run), South Mountain, Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, where Scott retrieved the oak leaf as a memento. The 8th Virginia took part in Pickett's Charge and suffered heavy casualties. The officers of the regiment were almost annihilated. In 1865, most of the regiment was captured at Saylor's Creek on 6 April. The remaining men surrendered at Appomattox Court House three days later. 

After the war, Scott resumed his legal practice and pursued a political career. He represented Fauquier County at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868, became Mayor of Warrenton in 1870, and in 1881 was elected to the Virginia General Assembly. In 1889, he was elected Attorney General of Virginia and was re-elected twice. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Books, Bibles, Soldier's Bibles, Prayer Books, Ephemera, Pamphlets, Publications, Booklets]

Gatherings separated in both books. "New Testament" half title page separated in Bible.