1863 Ordnance Bureau Manual Identified to William A. Barker – 4th Maine Volunteer Infantry / SOLD

Description

1863 Ordnance Bureau Manual 

Identified to William A. Barker – 4th Maine Volunteer Infantry 

 

An original 1863 Government Printing Office publication titled Instructions for Making Quarterly Returns of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, prepared at the Ordnance Bureau for officers accountable for military property. The volume remains in its original brown cloth binding, the cover bearing the gilt Ordnance Department device of crossed cannon surmounted by a flaming shell, a classic wartime emblem. The title page confirms publication in Washington in 1863 at the height of the Civil War. 

 

The book is identified in period ink to William A. Barker, noted as connected with the 4th Maine Volunteers, one of the most battle-hardened regiments of the Army of the Potomac. The 4th Maine, organized in 1861, served in the III Corps and later the II Corps, and earned a distinguished record through some of the most severe fighting of the war. The regiment was engaged at First Bull Run, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and throughout the Peninsula Campaign. It saw brutal action at Second Manassas and Fredericksburg before marching north in the summer of 1863. 

 

At Gettysburg, the 4th Maine fought prominently on July 2 in the fierce fighting along the Emmitsburg Road and in the Wheatfield sector, where the III Corps endured staggering casualties. The regiment’s experience at Gettysburg cemented its reputation for steadiness under fire. As an officer accountable for ordnance stores, Barker would have borne responsibility not only for tactical leadership but also for the critical administrative duties that sustained a regiment in active campaign—accounting for muskets, ammunition, accoutrements, and battlefield losses. Manuals such as this were essential tools in maintaining the logistical backbone of a fighting regiment, particularly in an army engaged in continuous operations from the Peninsula through Gettysburg and beyond. 

 

The 4th Maine continued its hard service through the Overland Campaign, including the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and later the siege of Petersburg before final operations in 1865. An identified Ordnance Bureau manual tied to an officer of such a regiment represents a tangible link to both the battlefield and the administrative machinery that kept the Army of the Potomac supplied and operational. 

 

This is a scarce, identified wartime ordnance manual with a strong Army of the Potomac and Gettysburg association, combining official War Department publication with personal regimental history. 

 

Inventory Number: HIS 301