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This is a wonderful historical archive. This is the field desk of David Harshbarger. Harshbarger served in Company “K” of the 88^th Indiana Infantry. He enlisted on August 11^th 1862 as a 1^st Sergeant and rose to the rank of Captain in December of 1862. This field desk contains the immense history and personal looks at life and details of the 88^th Indiana infantry.

The desk covers information from what they were wearing, what they were armed with and the orders they were receiving. It has the paperwork from their muster-in roll of August 29th 1862 till their muster-out roll of June 7th 1865.

The 88^th was formed in Fort Wayne, Indiana on August 29^th 1862 and left the same day for Louisville. Their first heavy engagement was at the fierce battle of Perryville, Kentucky. There they received compliments of their commander, General Rousseau.

In January of 1863 they were fighting at the Battle of Stones River. It was here that the reports state they were “… severely engaged while moving with its division to the support of the right at a critical moment, the enemy’s seeming victory being met with a leaden hail before which his ranks crumbled. On the evening of January 3^rd 1863 the brigade drove the enemy from cover in the final charge, carrying his works.”

 For the next year they followed and fought General Bragg and were engaged at Hoover’s Gap, Tullahoma, Hillsboro and Elk River. Then they fought at Dug Gap, Georgia and were part of the severe loss at Chickamauga. They were part of the rear guard that gave the army a chance to withdraw from Chickamauga towards Chattanooga.

At the “Battle above the Clouds” the 88^th was with General Hooker as they were one of the first regiments to plant their flags atop Missionary Ridge.

They fought for Sherman all the way down through North Georgia and were part of the force that entered Atlanta upon the evacuation. In October of 1864 they followed Confederate General Hood for 300 miles and then returned to help Sherman take control over Savannah, Georgia.

 In the early part of 1865 they were following Sherman’s orders in South Carolina and destroying railroad tracks. They then were part of the force that went into the Carolinas. The regiment was mustered out on June 7^th 1865 in Washington, D.C.

When you looks through the documents this field desk contains you see a timeline of their campaign. The paperwork documents what they were wearing from their clothing reports. There are large muster sheets showing who was present, what they were wearing, what they lost and carried. It covers almost every aspect of a soldier’s “Footprint” while in service.

The desk itself is a wonderful handmade piece that was built for durability and functionality. It measures 23 inches by 13 inches by 25 inches in size. It has the large door on the side that lowers down to make the writing surface. The outside of the door still retains some of the original stenciling that still faintly reads “Co. “K” 88^th INDIANA”.

Inside of the desk it has the cubby holes that are all individually labeled in pencil stating what each one was to be used for. The largest one is for the “clothing receipts”. The smaller ones have labels of “Gen. Orders”, “Pay Rolls”, Effects of Deceased Soldiers” and ”Blanks”.  When we acquired this piece directly from Harshbarger’s family it still contained all of the documents you see and they were still in the cubby holes where they had been since the war. We have taken the pieces out and started separation by date and topic.

There are over 300 original military documents of the 88^th. It also includes a large stack of preprinted General Orders that cover most every topic you can imagine.

Also in the desk it contained the original inkwell and one pen. It is a special thing to hold the pencil and a document and wonder what was going on around Harshbarger when he wrote it. There is also a large combination knife.

There are a few books that were contained inside the desk as well. One of them was the family bible and another is the 1863 dated Ordnance Department Instruction manual for making reports.

 One of the books you can tell was used extensively by the condition. It is another Army manual for making out paperwork.

The last book that was included is a leather bound book that has the ink inscription on the cover that reads “Moring Report of Sick in Co. K 88^th Ind.” The book not only contains the lists of the sick and wounded but he took poems that were trimmed out of newspapers and glued them in the front pages.

ShilohRelics.com is proud to offer this fascinating archive of Civil War history in its entirety. When you break down the value of the pieces encased inside this time capsule the value far exceeds this price but we at ShilohRelics.com and the family would like to see the archive stay together.

 SOLD!