The Association Of The Graduates Of The United States Military Academy, Annual Reunion, June 17, 1871-1880.

MULTIPLE COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN

Publication: Various Publishers, 1871-1880, New York (Most)

First Editions. Cloth. Ten separate sections: 79pp.--64pp.--106pp.--51pp.--85pp.--96pp.--75pp.--66pp.--128pp.--116pp. This volume is comprised of a compilation of the publications made each year for the annual reunion of graduates of West Point. Ten consecutive years from 1871 through 1880. Each provides a list of all graduates in attendance, listed by class. The majority of each year's publication is comprised of "Necrology of Graduates", a listing of each graduate who died that year, providing a detailed biography for each, including their military career, and also providing their class year, their number in their class, as well as their age , date, and location of death. They vary from half-page to several pages in length. Each include all deaths, whether killed in action, death by disease, or of old age. Reports the killed-in-action deaths of several officers killed in the Indian Wars of this time period, including Custer and 4 other officers at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the infamous killing of General Edward R. S. Canby by the Modocs during peace negotiations, and the death of Major Thomas T. Thornburgh fighting Ute Indians in Colorado shortly after the Meeker Massacre. The various biographies are interesting; many giving details of their service during the Mexican War and/or the Civil War, and/or Indian Wars. We have never seen a single year of these publications before, and certainly have never seen a compilation of multiple annuals before. The detailed information in each is supplemented in the 1873 annual, as it presents a Register of Graduates from 1802-1873, 51 pages in length, listing 2508 graduates. It also is the only annual with an illustration, with a full-page engraved plate of West Point, as seen from the North, from the river, at the end of the Civil War. We believe this to be a unique and important record, as most of the Necrology reports of the deaths of many Civil War veterans and officers of the Indian Wars. A fine, tight, attractive binding, in black cloth with title in gilt on spine.

Inventory Number: 51502