The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2015) was the revised edition of my first book, The Petersburg Campaign: The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad, Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern and Reams Station, August 14-25, 1864 (H. E. Howard, 1991).
The Howard book was part of The Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders Series. It had the generic dust jacket of the series, the book's title and the shield of the state of Virginia, both in gold on a white background.
Ted Savas, the publisher of the Savas Beatie book, deserves credit for the dust jacket on that edition. The image on the cover of the Savas Beatie book comes from a Keith Rocco painting, which depicted the charge of the 39th Illinois Veteran Volunteers ("Yates Phalanx") against Confederate fortifications near Fussell's Mill, around 10 miles southeast of Richmond, Virginia. The painting focused on Pvt. Henry Hardenbergh, the color bearer of the 39th. Wounded in the charge, which broke through the Confederate lines. he picked himself up and earned a Medal of Honor by capturing the colors of an Alabama regiment.
The book covered the battle of Fussell's Mill, but that is not what got the painting on the cover of the revised edition. What got the painting on the dust jacket was that Hardenbergh and part of his company (G, The Preacher's Company) had enlisted in the 39th in Tinley Park, Illinois, where I have my principal law office.
There was also a significant coincidence. As the revised edition proceeded toward publication. Keith Rocco produced a painting of the 39th's charge for the Village of Tinley Park. As I recall, publisher Ted Savas encouraged me to approach Keith about obtaining the rights to the picture for the dust jacket of the revised edition. At the presentation of the painting to the village, a deal was struck and the rest is history.
