Warren Wilkinson, Mother, May You Never See the Sights I have Seen, 1st ed., Signed

Description

Warren Wilkinson wrote Mother, May You Never See the Sights I Have Seen in part to trace the experiences of his ancestor, but ended up writing a remarkable account of a regiment with a tragic story, and providing an excellent model for the writing of a modern unit history.

The 57th Massachusetts was organized in the Spring of 1864 from the last of the recruits the Bay State had to send to the field. Commanded by the already renowned and oft-wounded William F. Bartlett, the regiment went into the 1864 Overland Campaign as a green regiment fully recruited and were within weeks virtually annihilated. From The Wilderness to Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and the Crater, the 57th rarely missed a fight and were usually in the worst of it.

Wilkinson’s writing sears with intensity and makes the account painful and sobering to any reader accustomed to post-war hero worship.

Some underlining in pencil; else very good; dust jacket. Inscribed and signed. 

Wilkinson, Warren. Mother, May You Never See the Sights I Have Seen: The Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers in the Army of the Potomac 1864-1865. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. 1st edition, 665p., frontispiece, illustrations, maps, roster.