William Williston Heartsill (1839-1916). Fourteen Hundred and 91 Days in the Confederate Army. [Marshall, Texas]: Privately printed, [1876].

8vo. Complete with 61 albumen photographs. Original black cloth recased with silver gilt spine title “Camp Life of the W.P. Lane Rangers.” Modern custom cloth clamshell case. FIRST EDITION. 

EXCEEDINGLY FINE FIRST EDITION COPY OF "ONE OF THE RAREST JOURNALS BY A CONFEDERATE COMBATANT" 

Heartsill was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Marshall, Texas in 1859, where he worked as a store clerk. When the Civil War erupted, he enlisted on 19 April 1861 as a private in Company F of the 2nd Texas Cavalry. He was captured with his regiment at Arkansas Post on 11 January 1863 and spent several months as a prisoner at Camp Butler, Illinois before his exchange in April. He and his fellow exchanged soldiers were assigned to a makeshift infantry company in Bragg's army and fought at the Battle of Chickamauga. Soon after, he abandoned his temporary unit and crossed several states in a 700-mile journey to rejoin the 2nd Texas Cavalry. He spent the remainder of the war in Arkansas and Texas. 

Throughout his enlistment, Heartsill maintained a carefully kept journal that Jenkins describes as "one of the most vivid and intimate accounts of Civil War battle-life that has survived." (Basic Texas Books 89). Beginning in 1874, he began printing his journal a page at a time on a small Octavo Novelty Press. Notably, he included 61 albumen portraits which he solicited from his comrades. Each is laid down on special sheets with typeset captions.

Al Lowman gave further commentary on the difficulty and unique nature of Heartsill's project: "the machinery was brought to a full stop for re-inking with a hand roller. The type had to be distributed after each press run in order to set the next page. The task consumed a year and a half. It is hardly surprising that Heartsill produced only one hundred copies...No two are alike. Bindings are not uniform in color or size. Page margins vary greatly in width, and some of the books lack all the pictures." (Printing Arts in Texas, p.13).

The edition consisted of only 100 copies, of which "merely a handful have survived." (Basic Texas Books 89). Harwell commented that "this book would be of considerable interest because of the homespun way in which it was produced, even if it were devoid of any other virtues." (Harwell, In Tall Cotton, 86). The result is "one of the rarest journals by a Confederate combatant" (Howes) and one of the most desirable. 

Harwell, In Tall Cotton 86; Howes H-380; Jenkins, Basic Texas Books 89; Lowman, Printing Arts in Texas; Nevins I, p. 102. 

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