2nd WISCONSIN CAVALRY IDENTIFIED CAVALRY TACTICS VOLUMES

2nd WISCONSIN CAVALRY IDENTIFIED CAVALRY TACTICS VOLUMES

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Complete three-volume set of Cavalry Tactics nicely identified in ink by Major Harry Eastman of the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry, who wrote his initials on the page edges of two of the volumes and in volumes 1 and 2 boldly signed across the title page: “H. Eugene Eastman / Major 2nd Wisc Cav / Nov. 9, 1861,” which was the date of his commission. They are complete and in good condition, though showing use and wear, and with the front cover of volume 3 detached, and are the regulation early war “tactics,” i.e. instructions in formations, deployment, etc., “Printed by Order of the War Department,” intended as guides for everything from the individual trooper to the platoon, and larger organizations. Harry Eugene Eastman (1819-1898) was a lawyer, Whig party politician, and businessman dealing in real estate and running a steamboat line, who was twice elected Mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin. He received a commission as Major in the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry dating 11/9/1861, and was commander the regiment’s 2nd Battalion, which operated together with the 3rd Battalion as the regiment, the 1st being detached for separate duty until late 1864. He is found in command of those combined battalions at several points and was promoted to Lt. Colonel 4/1/64.

The regiment was organized at Milwaukee from Dec. 1861 to March 1862, was mounted and equipped at Benton Barracks, MO, from late March to May and then ordered to Springfield with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions joining Curtis at Helena, AR. They remained in Arkansas until January 1863 when they moved to Memphis, and to Snyder’s Bluff, MS, in June, where they took part in the campaign against Vicksburg. After the fall of that post they took part in Sherman’s march on Jackson in July and then returned to the Vicksburg area, being posted at Red Bone, about 12 miles south of Vicksburg, where they kept busy dealing with Confederate raiders and guerrillas and took part in numerous various expeditions against Confederate forces in the state. Eastman seems to have been respected for his fighting abilities. One online blog maintains he acquired the moniker “Fighting Harry,” at some point. In any case, he is mentioned in the caption of Frank Leslie’s illustration of the fight at Red Bone Church in September 1863, where the 2nd Wisconsin routed some of Wirt Adam’s Confederate cavalry and Eastman is presumably the Union officer at left center, charging with raised saber. And, a brief, somewhat profane encounter with General Grant’s secessionist sister in October 1863 when she refused to lend a carriage from her Mississippi plantation to transport one of his troopers, killed in a fight at Big Black River, earned him some additional newspaper coverage.

His military career ended on a less than illustrious note. In January and again in June 1864, he was court-martialed, found, “guilty upon several charges of dishonest and disreputable conduct,” and sentenced to be “dismissed from the service in disgrace.” We have not dug into the case, but expect there is some interesting material to be unearthed. To complicate matters, he had been captured on July 4, 1864, and was not paroled until about September 1. Official confirmation of that sentence was not published in General Orders until just before his release and had not made its way through the Washington bureaucracy when he applied for and drew his back pay, and he then had the additional indignity of being jailed until he repaid it since it had been withheld as part of the sentence. The effects of the courtmartial were remitted in May 1875 and his departure from service was thereafter attributed to sickness. In later years he lived in Benton Harbor, MI, where whole thing was likely less known and where he was a member of George H. Thomas Post #14 GAR.

A summary history of the unit can be found in Quiner’s Military History of Wisconsin. Dyer’s Compendium gives the following summary of the regiment’s service (the 2nd and 3rd Battalions) while Eastman was present: March to Batesville, Jacksonport and Helena, Ark., June 14-July 12, 1862, and duty there till January, 1863. Action at Yellville, Ark., June 25, 1862. Near Fayetteville July 15. Expedition from Helena to Moro August 5-8 (Detachment). Near Helena August 11. Near Helena September 19-20. Expedition against Arkansas Post November 16-21. Expedition to Yellville November 25-29. Expedition from Helena to Grenada, Miss., November 27-December 5. Oakland, Miss., December 3. LaGrange, Ark., December 30. Lick Creek, Ark., January 12, 1863. Clarendon Road, near Helena, January 15. Ordered to Memphis, Tenn., February 4, and duty there till May. Nonconah Creek, near Memphis, April 4. Expedition to Coldwater April 17-20. Horn Lake Creek May 18 (Co. "L"). Expeditions to Hernando, Miss., May 23-24, 26 and 28 (Detachments). Moved to Vicksburg, Miss., June 10-13. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., June 13-July 4. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Clinton July 8. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Canton July 12. Expedition to Yazoo City July 12-21, 1863 (Detachment). Bolton's Depot July 16. Grant's Ferry, Pearl River. July 16. Briar Creek, near Canton, July 17. Duty at Red Bone Church till April 27, 1864. Action at Red Bone Church September 25, 1863. Ingraham's Plantation, near Port Gibson, October 10. Red Bone April 21, 1864. Moved to Vicksburg April 27, and duty there till December. Salem May 29 (Detachment). Worthington's and Sunnyside Landings, Fish Bayou, June 5. Old River Lake or Lake Chicot June 6. Expedition from Vicksburg to Pearl River July 2-10. Clinton July 4.

This is a nicely identified set tactics manuals owned by an officer with an interesting history!  [sr][ph:L]

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