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Extremely rare original leatherbound yearbook for the West Point Class of 1859, 11 x 11.5, containing 33 salt print portraits of the esteemed institution's cadets and faculty, each boldly signed on the mount in ink by the subject.
The book opens with a dozen members of the West Point faculty: Richard Delafield, superintendent of the United States Military Academy; William J. Hardee, commandant of cadets; Dennis Hart Mahan, professor of engineering; William H. C. Bartlett, professor of natural and experimental philosophy; Albert E. Church, professor of mathematics; Robert W. Weir, professor of drawing; Hyacinth R. Agnel, professor of French; John W. French, professor of ethics; H. L. Kendrick, professor of chemistry; Patrice de Janon, professor of Spanish; James G. Benton, instructor in ordnance and gunnery; and James C. Duane, instructor in practical engineering.
These are followed by 21 signed portraits of the Class of 1859, including: William Emory Merrill, Orlando G. Wagner, Martin D. Hardin (a brigadier general in the Union Army), Samuel H. Lockett, Eugene M. Baker, Joseph Wheeler (who earned fame as the Confederacy's 'Fighting Joe'), Francis L. Guenther, Elias B. Carling, Roderic Stone, Francis J. Crilly, John J. Upham, Edward G. Bush, Norman J. Hall (Union Army officer who defended against Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg), Moses H. Wright, Chauncey B. Reese, Henry A. F. Worth, Robert F. Beckham, Edwin H. Stoughton (Union Army officer captured while asleep by John Mosby), Allen L. Anderson, Abraham K. Arnold (recipient of the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Davenport Bridge), and John R. B. Burtwell.
Pasted to two rear pages are a few clipped images of the grounds of the United States Military Academy at West Point. In overall very good to fine condition, with wear and rubbing to the covers and spine; interior pages are generally fine, with a few tissue guards missing.
This 1859 West Point class photo album captures a pivotal moment in American history, as its graduates would soon find themselves on opposing sides of the Civil War. These young men, once bound by camaraderie and military discipline, were about to be divided by the nation’s most devastating conflict. Several would not survive: Wagner and Stone died fighting to preserve the Union, while Beckham died for the Confederate cause. The album serves as a haunting artifact of unity before the fracture, preserving the faces and signatures of those who would become leaders in both Union and Confederate armies.
