Newly conserved, digitized book capturing Waltham veterans’ Civil War accounts gets grand unveiling 

Waltham Public Library is set to unveil its newly conserved and digitized Grand Army of the Republic Personal War Sketches. These handwritten, first-person accounts of Waltham’s Civil War veterans are extraordinary pieces of the city’s history.

The event, honoring Memorial Day, will take place Thursday, May 22, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., in the Waltham Room and will include refreshments and live music by the Waltham American Legion Band.

In one sketch Herman P. Herrington, who enlisted as a private in the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1861, recounted that he observed the famous naval battle between the Confederacy’s Merrimack and the Union’s Monitor on March 9, 1862, near the mouth of the James River in Virginia. The battle was inconclusive but made naval history by demonstrating the use of ironclad warships.

Herrington later joined the Army of the Potomac and served under Gen. Joseph Hooker. Among his notable service achievements, he lists, “Coming out of the battles of Chancellorsville May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 1863, without having my body and limbs perforated with bullets.”

The book of war sketches belonged to Waltham’s F.P.H. Rogers Post 29 of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of Union Civil War veterans. The Post is named for Francis Patrick Henry Rogers, who attended Waltham public schools, enlisted in Company H of the 16th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and was killed in action near Richmond, Virginia, on June 18, 1862. He was buried on the battlefield by the enemy and his body was never recovered.

Dana Hamlin, Waltham Library’s archivist and organizer of this event, said that there were GAR posts all over the country, with membership reaching a peak in 1890. At that time a publisher in Philadelphia offered posts a chance to commemorate their members with War Sketches books. Someone at the post would interview members about their service, and the accounts were transcribed by hand into leather-bound books.

“Our book was in rough shape — more than 130 years old,” Hamlin said, noting that how and when the book came to the library are unknown. “Its covers had come off, the spine was falling apart, and the leather binding was flaking and peeling. It was such an amazing piece of history, but due to its condition, we weren’t able to provide access to it.”

In 2024 she received a Veterans’ Heritage Grant through the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board that covered half the cost of conserving the book, plus digitization. The library also received a generous donation from a Waltham veteran, along with funds from the city. 

“I’m so excited that the library can finally show off this amazing piece of Waltham’s history,” Hamlin said. “I only recently learned that Memorial Day (as an official federal holiday) came about due to the efforts of the GAR, so we thought now was the perfect time to honor the memory of this group of Waltham veterans.”

Other Civil War materials will also be on display at Thursday’s event.