J. WATTS DePEYSTER LOT OF 3 BOOKS: - J. Watts DePeyster, Union Brigadier General, New York State Militia, Adjutant General of New York State – - PRACTICAL STRATEGY, AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE AUSTRIAN FIELD MARSHAL TRAUN, by De Peyster, J. Watts Catskill: Joseph Joesbury Book. Good. Soft cover. 1863, 64pp, short bibliography and errata. Wrps. Covers very lightly soiled, contents VG. Inscribed (but not signed): To the Library of the Minnesota Historical Society from the author. Embossed seal of the historical society on the front cover. - Lionel Lincoln; or, The Leaguer of Boston by Cooper, J. Fenimore, New York: W. A. Townsend and Company, 1859. Hardcover. VG- (Has light aging overall, with some foxing on and around title page and tissue guard at two opening engravings; otherwise, surfaces are clean; WARMLY INSCRIBED BY JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER SR on page after tp; book includes pastedown bio of De Peyster inside front cover.). Brown stamped cloth, gilt letters on spine, gilt decoration on front cover, beveled edges, 463 pp., 2 BW illus. Text on spine: Coopers Novels, illustrated by Darley, Lionel Lincoln. A first edition single volume of James Fenimore Cooper's novel, after its publication in serial form. Illustrated with two opening drawings rendered by American illustrator F. O. C. (Felix Octavius Carr) Darley (1822-1888). This copy is WARMLY INSCRIBED to a William Massonea BY JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER SR (1821-1907). A printed bio of De Peyster appears inside the front cover. One book marking several interests. - The New-York Annual Register for the Year of Our Lord 1836 by Williams, Edwin, 2mo. [3], 519pp., [8]pp advertisements. Repaired. Original publishers illustrated boards. Newer red spine with gilt stamped title. New white front and rear end sheets. This copy was presented by J. Watts DePeyster with his hand written inscription on the front blank end sheet. His inscription is difficult to transcribe - Presented to the Philosopher Society of M?? Institute of ?? by J. Watts DePeyster. A printed, cut sheet (approx. 4.5 x 3.5 inches) of a short biography of J. Watts DePeyster is pasted down on the verso of the title page. John Watts De Peyster, (1821-1907), born in New York City, was a soldier and biographer. He entered military service in 1845, rising to the rank of brigadier-general, but his health prevented him from serving physically in the field. His inheritance allowed him time to pursue and write about his varied interests, but his overwhelming passion was for the military. He wrote several volumes relating to the Civil War, one of which was a biography of his cousin, General Philip Kearny. In this present book, he writes about Field Marshal Traun, apparently a brilliant military leader, who seems to be admired by the author, not only for his strategical achievements in battle, but for his ability to achieve those ends without sacrificing the lives of so many of his men, in contrast to the carnage that was so prevalent during the American Civil War. From Wikipedia: Already a brigadier general of the state militia at the onset of the Civil War, he met with what he perceived (and declared) to be prejudiced resistance from Abraham Lincoln when he attempted to raise regiments for the Union Army. In 1861, de Peyster traveled to Washington, D.C., to solicit a commission as a brigadier general of the Regular Army and offered to raise two regiments of artillery, which he felt best suited his expertise and physical condition. He was met with little interest after New York had already filled its national recruitment quota of 75,000 men. Each of his three sons served in the conflict in the Union Army. The eldest, John Watts de Peyster Jr., performed duty as an aide-de-camp and artillery commander with the Army of the Potomac and mustered out as a brevet brigadier general; Frederic de Peyster III, was a colonel and surgeon; while the youngest, Johnston de Peyster, was a second lieutenant in charge of a battery of artillery credited with hoisting the first Union flag over the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia, after its fall. The career militia officer had always suffered from poor health, and turned down a commission as a colonel of cavalry offered to him by New York Senator Ira Harris in June 1863 on behalf of Generals Joseph Hooker and Alfred Pleasanton, who may have had an eye towards de Peyster's social connections. Other notable figures with limited field experience who were promoted to brigadier general by Pleasanton at that time were Elon J. Farnsworth, son of a Congressman, Wesley Merritt, and George Armstrong Custer. His treatise New American Tactics was a series of articles published in The Army and Navy Journal that advocated making the skirmish line the new line of battle, which was considered revolutionary at the time. These contributions were translated and copied into foreign military journals, including Correards renowned Biographie des célébrités militaires des armees de terre et de mer. Such tactics were put into practice by generals including John Buford and were later adopted worldwide. He was appointed a brevet major general in the New York Militia, April 9, 1866, by a special act of the state legislature. His elevation to major general was the first such honor bestowed by the State of New York, or any other State in the Union. He was a close friend of Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, commander of the Union III Corps. General de Peyster wrote biographies of III Corps Generals Andrew A. Humphreys and Gershom Mott during the war, and wrote highly of Buford's celebrated usage of light cavalry. After the Civil War, de Peyster was elected as a 3rd Class Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in recognition of his efforts to support the Union during the war.