This little volume looks very much like the small pocket testaments of the period but this one is titled “THE BOOK OF PRIVATE DEVOTION: A SERIES OF PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS; WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON PRAYER” by Hannah Moore and published by Clark, Austin, Maynard & Co of New York in 1861.

Book is a hardcover wrapped in brown cloth with geometric type decoration on the front. Covers show chips and wear throughout. Front cover is weak and beginning to separate along the bottom third.

Binding is tight. Interior shows surface dirt and yellowed pages from age.

Item meas. approx. 3.00 x 4.75 and runs 252 pages.

Inside front cover has a period ink inscription that reads “JAMES J. FISHER, CO. H 104 REG PV - 1^ST BRIGADE PECKS DEVISHEN - GLOUCESTER POINT.”

James Johnson Fisher was born March 21, 1846. He enlisted as a musician in Company H, 104^th Pennsylvania Infantry on September 22, 1861 and was discharged on September 30, 1864. While Fisher was with the 104^th they were engaged on the Peninsula fighting in the Seven Days Battles and then spent the fall at Gloucester Point where Fisher inscribed this devotions book. They next saw action on Morris Island, Fort Wagner, Fort Putnam and John’s Island.

Records from the National Archives show that Fisher was present with his regiment throughout his service. Also in the records is a July 1864 letter from Fisher’s Company commander asking for a furlough for Fisher and stating that in a raid on St. John’s Island he volunteered to carry a musket in the ranks.

After the war Fisher worked for the railroad. He was killed July 23, 1877 in a skirmish with Pennsylvania state militia during a railroad strike. He was shot in the leg and the bullet hit an artery causing Fisher to bleed to death on the corner of Penn and Seventh St in Reading, Pennsylvania. He left behind a wife and four children. He is buried in Mount Penn’s Aulenbach’s Cemetery. (see photo above) [ad][ph:L]

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