New from University of Tennessee Press is In Memory of Self and Comrades, the memoir of Thomas Wallace Colley’s service with the First Virginia Cavalry, edited by Michael K. Shaffer. This is of particular interest to followers of Bull Runnings because Colley’s recollections include the regiment’s movements before, during, and in the aftermath of First Bull Run. It’s brief (four and a half pages), but there are also three BR1 related letters included. We don’t have a lot of first-hand 1st VA Cav accounts, and hopefully the author will grant permission for me to provide transcriptions in the Resources section here.
What you get:
- 133 pages of memoir.
- Two appendices with Regimental History and Biographical Roster Sketch from Colley’s journal and a separate journal
- Appendix with a Short Historical Sketch of Officers from the Washington Mounted Rifles (Colley’s company L, in which he served with Pvt. John. S. Mosby)
- Appendix with a selection of Colley’s wartime letters
- Appendix with an 1887 account of Colley’s wounding at Kelly’s Ford
- 30 pages of end notes
- Ten page bibliography (limited unpublished sources, but friends Ron Baumgarten and Brian Downey show up)
- Nine George Skoch maps
- 37 photos and illustrations
Michael K. Shaffer is an instructor at Kennesaw State University’s College of Continuing Education and Professional Education. He is the author of Washington County, Virginia, in the Civil War.
Bull Runnings 
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