EXCEEDINGLY RARE MANUAL FOR COLORED TROOPS
388
●
(MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.)
U.S. Infantry Tactics for the Instruction and
Maneuvers of the Soldier, a Company, Line of Skirmishers, and Battalion, for
the Use of Colored Troops.
370 pages; [63] plates, many folding, plus engraved music.
Some fading to the once purple cloth with a few spots on the upper cover,
STILL AN
EXCEPTIONAL COPY
.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1863.
[4,000/6,000]
FIRST EDITION
,
RARE
.
NO COPY AT AUCTION IN THE LAST TWENTY
-
FIVE YEARS
.
The
pagination of this thick little pocket manual is a little unusual. Following the 370 pages of text
and engraved music — 48 pages of drum-beats and bugle-calls — there follow 63 engraved
plates, numbered separately for “school of the soldier,” “School of the Battalion” etc. This is the
first and only such manual, printed and bound specially for the use of Colored Troops. The rea-
son that this volume is so scarce might be due to the fact that, aside from its binding, title-page
and the short notice by Edwin M Stanton, following the title-page, it is virtually identical to
the manual issued in 1861. It is entirely possible that only a small number were bound thus to
please the advocates of the use of colored troops. Otherwise, the 1861 manual could have served
as well and very possibly did. Stanton’s notice, dated March 8, 1863 states: “This system of
United States Infantry Tactics, prepared under the direction of the War Department for the use
of the colored troops of the United States Infantry, having been approved by the President, is
adopted for the instruction of such troops. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary War.”
