MEMORIAL OF THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. BY GEO. COSGROVE, 7TH ILLS. INF.
Letterpress broadside, 11-1/4" x 6-1/2" on thin paper. Text 10-stanza text, each stanza in four lines, surrounded by decorative border. Some light wrinkling [no text obscured], a couple of margin chips and a couple of fox spots, untrimmed. Good+.
Born in Ireland, Cosgrove (1841-1912) enlisted at Vandalia in the 7th Illinois Infantry as a private, and spent his final years as a Kentucky farmer. This ten-stanza recounting of Shiloh is his only known publication. "With furious numbers the foes dare assault us / And close press upon us on both flank and rear."
"But Grant not discouraged, his hosts again rallied,/ And forth again sallied the victory to gain;/ While Buel's brave men went in with a will,/ And made the foe give, in deluges of rain."
Our diligent search has failed to discover another copy, leading us to suspect that ours may be unique.
Not in Bartlett, Wolf, LCP, Sabin, Dornbusch, Nevins, or online sites of OCLC, AAS, Newberry, Boston Athenaeum, U IL, U Chicago as of November 2020. Item #37145
Price: $2,000.00