Mar 10, 2020 - Sale 2533

Sale 2533 - Lot 55

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Proclamations. Springfield Battle. Letterpress broadside, 18 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches; folds, minor wear, early red pencil mark in text; early family pencil inscription in lower margin. [Glasgow, MO?], circa late August 1861

Additional Details

This broadside features four reports from the 10 August Battle of Wilson's Creek, the first battle in the Missouri theater. Missouri had been nominally neutral, but this clash between the state troops and the United States army drew it decisively into the conflict. It begins with two pieces by the Confederate general Ben McCulloch of Texas: his 12 August address to the people of Missouri, which concludes "You can no longer procrastinate. Missouri must now take her position, be it North or South!" It is followed by his General order No. 27 of the same date. Next is an address "To the People of Missouri" by Sterling Price, commander of the Missouri State Militia, who would soon be commissioned in the Confederate army. Finally, a news report headed "Springfield Battle" is headlined "Glasgow, Aug. 19." It is a summary of Price's official report of the battle, describing the casualties and actions of the Missouri state troops only. This synopsis appeared in the same setting of type in the 22 August 1861 issue of the Glasgow Weekly Times in Missouri.
This copy was preserved in the family of Capt. Charles Eppa Blackwell (1838-1861), whose name is marked where he is listed among the casualties. The note in the lower margin reads "Uncle Charles E. Blackwell, my mother's brother, was killed at the Battle of Wilson's Creek." It is signed by Blackwell's niece Willie Eads Cason (1858-1944). Parrish & Willingham 5003. One copy in OCLC and none known at auction.