The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the Confederate States Army

Richmond: West and Johnston, 1863. 8vo. 546pp. 33 plates. Contemporary leather, upper cover tooled in gilt, rebacked.

Provenance: General William Preston (binding)

A substantial Confederate military manual, covering all aspects of ordnance, from artillery and transport to small arms and gunpowder. With distinguished provenance from Confederate General and Ambassador William Preston.

"Adopted, with some necessary changes, omissions, and alterations, from the Ordnance Manual of the United States service of 1861. ... It may be added that the labor of Ordnance officers has contributed to this new edition" (Preface). Kentucky-born William Preston (1816-1887) studied at Yale and Harvard law school, and led a regiment of Kentucky volunteers in the Mexican American war. He was a one-term U.S. Congressman and was named Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain by Buchanan in 1858. In 1861 he resigned his post and returned to the U.S. He was from a prominent Kentucky family with close ties to many Confederate officials and officers. He help organize the Confederate state government of Kentucky (which fell in December 1861). Preston joined the C.S. Army and rose to the rank of major general. In 1864, he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the Confederacy to Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico. After the Civil War, he served two terms in the Kentucky state legislature.

Parrish & Willingham 2491.