1861 CIVIL WAR BIBLE. Exceptionally Early War Presentation Bible to Ashland Ohio Sergeant.

A fine 1860 pocket bible inscribed, “Presented by the Ashland County Bible Society. April 21, 1861. Silas Gould.”

Finely preserved, and presented less than two weeks after the beginning of formal hostilities.

Of the seventy-five thousand enlisted soldiers of April 15, 1861, Ohio furnished a rather disproportionate twelve thousand three hundred and fifty-seven.  Ashland county had one company of volunteers for the three months' service.  Silas Gould was Fourth Sergeant under Captain John S. Fulton.

The company rendezvoused at Camp Jackson, near the city of Columbus, Ohio, April 23, 1861, where it was enrolled to the eighteenth day of August 1861.  On the third day of May, 1861, Captain John S. Fulton was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and Thomas J. Kenny to be captain of company B.  On the seventh of May, William B. McCarty was commissioned first lieutenant, Samuel L. Wilson, second lieutenant; William P. Wright, ensign.

The company became a part of the Sixteenth regiment, at Camp Jackson, Columbus, in May, 1861, under the command of Colonel James Irvine; John S. Fulton, of Ashland, being lieutenant colonel by promotion.  The regiment was immediately ordered to Bellaire, and thence to Grafton, West Virginia, where it met the Fourteenth, under Colonel James B. Steedman, and the Fifteenth, under Colonel Lorin Andrews, and a regiment of West Virginians under Colonel Kelley.  The Confederate forces, on the approach of these regiments, retired from Grafton in the direction of Philippi, and were pursued to that point, where a sharp skirmish ensued with Colonel Porterfield, who again retreated, and West Virginia was practically liberated.  From Bellaire to Grafton the railroad track had been greatly damaged by the Southern forces, and the Ohio regiments immediately commenced repairs, and put the road in proper condition, placing guards to prevent further injury.  To accomplish the task of restoring the road, the Sixteenth Ohio performed arduous duty.  A short time after the affair at Philippi, General McClellan made a demonstration in the direction of Laurel Hilll, but, from delays, and want of concert in movement, nothing was accomplished beyond marches and counter-marches.  The Fourteenth regiment, under Colonel Steedman, was the first to cross at Parkersburg, and the Sixteenth, under Colonel Irvine, of Bellaire.

After his regiment returned to Columbus, he enlisted as a Sergeant in Company F of the Ohio Cavalry and died from disease, May 12, 1863.

The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ: Translated Out of the Original Greek; and with Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised. New York. American Bible Society. 1860. 368pp.

The Book of Psalms; Translated Out of the Original Hebrew; and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised. 1860. 96pp.

A good + copy, bound in leather, lightly shaken, pages are a bit handled, generally bright, with some light foxing.