THE BATTLES OF CHANCELLORSVILLE AND GETTYSBURG, by CAPT. A. H. NELSON [Captain Alanson H. Nelson], 57th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Self Published / Capt. A. H. Nelson, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1899. First Edition.

SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY. Signed & Inscribed by Captain Nelson to Captain Jack Wendell on the page facing the title page: "Minneapolis Minn. / May 7th, 1920 / Compliments of the Author / Captain A. H. Nelson / To his comrade / Captain Jack Wendell." At the bottom of this page are two ink stamps of "A. C. Wendell" (perhaps a son of Captain Jack Wendell?). One of the ink stamps states "A. C. Wendell / P.O. Clerk / Minneapolis"; the other: "Comrade A. C. Wendell / Co. K, 39th & Co. D, 46th Wis. Infantry / Minneapolis, Minn."

Hardcovers, cloth covered boards, gilt titling to the front cover (the titling on the spine is almost completely rubbed away / gone), 5x7 inches, 183 pages. Errata slip pasted on the blank area of an early page.

Illustrated with six full page line-maps, plus an illustration of Nelson's broken sword captioned: "Capt. A.H. Nelson's Sword / Shot away by a fragment of shell - Sunday, May 3rd, 1863 - at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va."

EX-LIBRARY with a shelving number on the front cover, "Atascadero Elementary School" stamps on the endpapers and title page, and a card pocket and return date slip on the rear endpapers. Ex-lib aside, the covers are worn but solid, the front cover gilt titling is bright, the spine titling has been rubbed away and is barely visible; internally, the pages are toned as normal, the inner hinge is cracked at a number of places but holding with the sewn binding.

Just as Capt. A. H. Nelson survived the Civil War, this book survived an early burial. Laid-in at the rear is a slip of paper that reads: "George found this book in the Atascadero dump along with many others discarded by Atascadero School. It is Autographed by its Author, Captain A. H. Nelson". Thank goodness for book collecting dumpster divers!

Though the book can be found with an unsigned "Compliments of the Author" inscription, the actual SIGNATURE, INSCRIPTION and PRESENTATION by Civil War CAPTAIN ALANSON H. NELSON makes this book quite exceptional.

About CAPT. ALANSON H. NELSON (from the Find A Grave website):

******Alanson H. Nelson, b.1828 d.1921. His father, William Nelson, enlisted in the Regular Army and was killed in the Seminole war. On August 1, 1861, A.H. Nelson enlisted in the Fifty-Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, leaving his wife and seven small children. He and Capt. Chase organized Company K to the number of thirty men and he was made a First Lieutenant. When the Company arrived in Harrisburg, Penn., A.H. Nelson was ordered make up the remainder of the Company, which he did, enlisting fifty-five more men. The company was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. At the death of Capt. Chase on June 17, 1862, A.H. Nelson was promoted to Commander. He led his Company through seventeen hard fought and historic battles of the Virginia campaigns. In the absence of the field officers Capt. Nelson, being the senior Captain, took command of the regiment for a period of eighteen months. He received his discharge in November, 1864.******

About CAPT. A. H. NELSON (from an Internet Civil War site):

******Captain Alanson H. Nelson, Company E, 57th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

The 57th Pennsylvania was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Peter Sides, who was wounded on July 2. Captain Alanson H. Nelson then took command. The 57th brought 207 men to the field, losing 11 men killed, 46 wounded and 58 missing.

The 57th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment served in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War from December of 1861 until June of 1865. It lost 12 officers and 149 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 217 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. There is a monument to the 57th Pennsylvania on the Gettysburg battlefield.******