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Annals of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry
by S.L. Gracey
Few volunteer cavalry regiments raised during the American Civil War had a more storied history than the Sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Calvalry, known as Rush's Lancers. This regiment, primarily made up of the cream of Philadelphia society, saw action in nearly every major cavalry engagement of the war, earned the respect of both friend and foe. Serving mainly with the hard-bitten United States Regular cavalry tactics, and put these lessons to good use time and time again throughout the course of the war.
Its story is one of the better early regimental histories written. Originally published in 1868 as part of a special subscription for former members of the regiment; less than 1,000 copies exist outside of public libraries today, and most of those are not in good condition. Our copy of the book is worn and quite fragile.
Our motivation in starting this publishing venture is to bring some of the fine old regimental histories and memoirs back to life and make them available to a whole new generation of Civil War students. We chose Chaplain Gracey's regimental history of the Lancers as our first book because of its storied history and Chaplain Gracey's eloquent narrative, all of which bring this story to life. We want a new generation to appreciate the accomplishments of the Lancers as much as we do. This story will be the first of a line of regimental histories this company will reprint in coming years. We hope that you enjoy it.