William Gilham was an 1840 graduate of West Point who fought in the Seminole and Mexican wars.&nbsp; Desiring to be an educator, he joined the faculty of the Virginia Military Institute in 1846.&nbsp; At VMI, Gilham developed the departments of Chemistry and Agriculture, taught infantry tactics and served as the Commandant of Cadets.&nbsp; He served as a professor along with Thomas Johnathan Jackson, who came to VMI in 1851.&nbsp; With Gilham and Jackson, the VMI cadets were sent to Harpers Ferry, VA in 1859 to help put down the John Brown raid.&nbsp; Because of the John Brown raid, the Virginia governor, Henry Wise, ordered Gilham to write a training manual for volunteers and militia.&nbsp; The manual was finished in the fall of 1860 and was published as a “Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the United States.”&nbsp; The manual was published in Philadelphia, and with the outbreak of war became unavailable to the Southern soldiers.&nbsp; As it was an excellent training manual, it was soon published in the South as a “Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the Confederate States.”&nbsp; It was published in Richmond, VA in 1861 by West &amp; Johnston, 145 Main Street.&nbsp; It was printed by the famous printers Evans &amp; Cogswell, No. 3 Broad Street, Charleston SC.&nbsp; The manual was printed again in 1862.

Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the Confederate States PDF

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