(ABOLITION.) Early Southern printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, in an issue of "The New South." Volume 1, no. 8. 4 pages, 12½ x 8¾ inches, on one folding sheet of tan "necessity paper"; minor wear, minor soiling to front page. Port Royal, SC, 4 October 1862
"The Decree of Emancipation" dated 22 September 1862 fills much of this Union newspaper's final page, and is signed in type by President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward. The New South was a Union newspaper published in Union-held Port Royal, SC, home to a large population of liberated former slaves. We don't recall seeing any other early printings of the Proclamation in the south.
Also featured is a long editorial celebrating the Proclamation; the selection of land "near the Drayton Plantation for a Negro Village"; and "A Proposition for Employing the Negroes," suggesting their incorporation into the Army. On page 2 the editors apologize for the paper used in this issue, as a planned shipment of white paper had been delayed.
