Robert Patterson, Union Major General, Department of Pennsylvania, Army of the Shenandoah

- Robert Patterson, Union Major General, Department of Pennsylvania, Army of the Shenandoah - A Narrative of the Campaign in the Valley of Shenandoah in 1861 Philadelphia: Sherman and Co., Printers, 1865. First edition of American Civil War Major General Robert Patterson's account of the Campaign in the Valley of Shenandoah. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. In very good condition. Inscribed on the half title page to Patterson’s fellow comrade in arms, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock. From Wikipedia: He was appointed major general of Pennsylvania volunteers and commanded the Department of Pennsylvania and the Army of the Shenandoah. In 1861, Winfield Scott, now General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, gave Patterson vague orders to retake Harpers Ferry. Patterson failed to immediately act on these orders, was outmaneuvered after the Battle of Hoke's Run, and a Confederate army at Winchester, Virginia, under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, was able to march without interference to reinforce the Confederates under P.G.T. Beauregard at the First Battle of Bull Run. Johnston declared that Patterson's army had largely deterred him from pursuing the shattered and disorganized Union troops as they retreated back to Washington, D.C. following the battle. Patterson, widely criticized for his failure to contain the enemy forces, was mustered out of the Army in late July 1861.