Joseph E. Shadek Civil War Sketchbook

This book is a hybrid sketchbook-scrapbook that contains many wonderfully detailed color and monotone watercolor, pen, and pencil depictions of encampment sites, battle scenes, landscapes, and buildings that were witnessed and unofficially recorded by Corporal Joseph E. Shadek during his tour of duty in the Burnside expedition through the Southeast (1861-1862). Each picture is carefully labeled with dates and place names so that the sketches themselves provide a chronicle of the Eighth Connecticut Volunteers, Company A's (8CV, Co. A) travels in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Corporal Shadek dedicated his sketchbook to his commanding officer, Captain Henry M. Hoyt of Bridgeport. The title page of Corporal Shadek's sketchbook is typewritten and pasted onto the first page in the book.