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James Gulick Jr. (left) donates nine books on the Civil War to James I. Robertson Jr. of Virginia Tech, an expert on that conflict. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
Sunday, May 24, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
A King’s Grant resident on Saturday donated a set of nine books about the Civil War to an expert on the conflict.
James W. Gulick presented the books to James I. Robertson Jr., director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech. Robertson, who formerly lived in Danville, came to Bassett on Saturday night to give a speech about the war, and he collected the books from Gulick that afternoon.
Robertson said he will put the donated books in the Virginia Tech Civil War book collection.
Gulick, 98, who has lived at King’s Grant since 1993, said the books originally belonged to his father. He found the books about two years ago, he said, while he and his wife, Liz, were moving into new living quarters at the retirement center off Kings Mountain Road near Collinsville.
The books are old but in good condition. One of the books, “Surry of Eagle’s Nest,” a novel by John Esten Cooke about Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson, was published in 1866, information on the Internet shows.
The collection includes seven other books by Cooke, who served in the Civil War under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. The books include “Mohun,” “Fairfax,” “Col. Ross of Piedmont,” “Hammer and Rapier,” “Out of the Foam,” “Captain Ralph” and “Hilt to Hilt.”
“The Story of the Confederacy” by Robert Selph Henry also is in the set.
“I know very little about” the books, Gulick admitted. He added that he is not keeping them because he does not have room for them in his apartment.
Becky Farrar, senior marketing director at King’s Grant, said plans originally were to sell the books at auction or give them to a charitable organization, but they opted instead to give them to Robertson.
A World War II veteran who was born in Newport News, Gulick is a retired civil servant who spent about 40 years working for the federal government. During that time, he held many posts, including serving as a congressional secretary for 11 years.
Before he retired in 1969, he also maintained the National Defense Reserve Fleet of merchant ships for operation during emergency wartime situations.
He wrote a book about his life, “Born By The River,” published in 1996.
Despite his decision to give the books to Robertson, Gulick is interested in the Civil War. He said he thinks, based on what he learned in college, that if the war had not been fought, the United States today would be “a bunch of small countries” instead of a large nation that is a major world power.
“We would have been European in our sizes and views,” he said of states, adding that smaller nations are limited in their capabilities due to their size.
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