Description

These are the type of pocket Testaments we have searched far and wide for over 50+ yrs of collecting, whether with or without identification. Shows real wear and character from constant use. (Praise God!) This example is inscribed to “Willie H. Bull Presented by his friend Heath(?) Drinnell”. Attributed by family tradition as given to him shortly after his enlistment and carried during the war. William H. Bull, known to family as “Willie, enlisted August 3, 1862 as a private in Paris, Ill. In September he mustered into Co. E 12th Illinois Infantry. He died, apparently still in service, on July 31, 1864, but with no specific cause given in the data base. The 12th Illinois spent half Bull’s service engaged in Tennessee, including Corinth and the rest on the Atlanta Campaign. They experienced significant combat and casualties. Raised originally in 1861, they were reenlisted as Veteran Volunteers in 1864, just after he died.

The Testament is a New York Bible Society publication of 1862. Wonderful patina and wear but still sound. Staining, likely from weather, or even perspiration whilst carried in the pocket. There is a further inscription from Drinnell which reads:

“From a friend you do receive,

from a friend to you is given,

to teach us how we should live,

that we may meet in Heaven.”

In the back, from an unknown later family owner, is also an inscribed chronicle of his/her faithful reading of the Testament and also the reading of the Old Testament from a different source, a total of six times between 1877 and 1880.

This a is great piece for any collection – especially the one which wishes to feature a soldier’s character and honest field use. It is getting very difficult to find any good well used Civil War era Testaments, quite rare to locate the identified ones. (CWPG $250.00)