109

Autobiography of Major William C. Shaw.

[Chicago, circa 1904]
19 typescript or carbon pages, 10½ x 8 inches, bound at top with brads, signed on final page; minor wear, heavily edited in pencil.

William Cookman Shaw (1844-1922) joined the 38th Indiana Infantry as a sergeant in September 1861, re-enlisted, and survived numerous battles as he rose to the rank of major by the end of the war. 

Here he recounts working in Kentucky as a young telegraph operator when Confederates began recruiting in his area. He fled home to New Albany, Indiana to join a Zouave regiment. On page 3, he describes being summoned to meet the intimidating General Sherman "with my heart in my mouth," but Sherman only wanted to draw upon his telegraphic expertise, and then sent him back to camp with "two great slabs of buttered home-made bread, having thick cuts of ham inside, and two big red apples," saying "there, Sergt., that will put some fat on your ribs." He shares personal anecdotes from the battles of Perryville and Chickamauga, and Sherman's Atlanta campaign. 

After the war, Shaw wrote the first regimental history of the 38th, settled in Chicago as an agent selling bank punches, and also became an "expert on handwriting, forgeries, and changes in written instruments." Sounds like our kind of guy. Indiana Historical Society holds a small collection of his letters, but this memoir appears to be unknown and unpublished. 

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