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Parker, David B.; Parker, Torrance (Editor); Hart, Albert Bushnell (Introduction) : A Chautauqua Boy: In '61 and Afterward: Reminiscences

Small, Maynard and Company, Boston, MA, 1912

Ex-library ("withdrawn") copy. Blue cloth binding with gilt lettering on front cover and spine. 5 3/4" x 8 1/2." Pages xxvi, [1] 2-388, complete. Black-and-white illustrations, complete. List of illustrations in front. Index in back. Some of the pages are loosened but binding is still strong and holding. Pages are clean and intact except for light age toning, occasional spots of foxing, at least one page in front (likely no more than a few) with a partial split along gutter, and a few ex-library attributes including two tipped-in bookplates from "Northup Library, Linfield College, Oregon" on front pastedown, a tipped-in card sleeve on back pastedown, stamp on bottom of text block, and two small stamps in bottom margins of title and dedication page. Covers are clean and intact except for slight darkening to spine, a black ink rectangle (likely from a former library shelving number) and faint rectangular stain on spine, and a few small stains on front and back. A Very Good copy. A unique account of the Civil War and years after by David Bigelow Parker (1842-1910), a Union soldier and public servant for the United States Postal Service. Parker's account is not significantly military in nature, but he does include his time in the Union Army during the Civil War. Much of his autobiography details his later career as U.S. Marshal for Virginia and Postal Inspector. Due to the nature of his employ as a postal agent, Parker had the unique opportunity to traverse many different environs and meet notable figures of his time. Included herein are some of his interactions with Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, William B. Cushing, Andrew Johnson, Horace Greeley, Chester A. Arthur, and Frederick Douglass. The Contents are titled as follows: "The War Through Gettysburg," "From Gettysburg to Richmond," "War-Time Friends," "Reconstruction of the Postal Service in Virginia," "United States Marshal for Virginia," "Postal Secret Service, Part I," "Postal Secret Service, Part II," "Some Recollections of Public Men," and "Country Life in Western New York." David B. Parker was born in Chautauqua County, New York. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and served in the 72nd New York Regiment. He was quickly assigned to mail duty and became an instrumental part of the Union mail service. During the war, he relayed soldiers' letters and essential military communications and introduced the money order system in the Union Army. After the fall of Richmond in 1865, Grant appointed Parker as Special Agent of the Post Office after which he worked as a U.S. Marshal. From 1876-1883, Parker served as Postal Inspector of the Department of Mail Depredations. In 1883, President Arthur offered Parker the position of Postmaster General, but he declined, citing that he felt he was not qualified. Parker retired in 1898 due to rheumatism and wrote this memoir in the final years of his life.. Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Hardcover

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