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(CIVIL WAR--ILLINOIS.) Scrapbook kept by Abraham Jonas, an early Jewish settler of Quincy, IL who had sons fighting on both sides. Clippings, manuscripts, and ephemera, mounted to 63 scrapbook leaves. 4to, original 1/2 calf over marbled boards, worn, lacking most of backstrip, front board nearly detached; first leaf detached, minor wear to leaf edges, an occasional item excised. Various places, 1860-1863
This album was apparently compiled by Abraham Jonas (1804-1864), who was the first Jewish resident of Quincy, IL, served in the Illinois legislature, and became a good friend and supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Jonas arranged the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Quincy in 1858, and publicly supported his dark-horse nomination for the presidency. Six of Jonas's sons served in the Civil War--four with the Confederacy and two with the Union. His son Edward L. Jonas (1844-1918) was a lieutenant in the 50th Illinois Infantry. This scrapbook contains many highlights.
3 original telegrams. In two of them, Illinois Secretary of State Ozias M. Hatch informs Abraham Jonas of war and political developments, including a 17 February 1862 telegram reporting on the Union victory at Fort Donelson. A third telegram dated 21 October 1862 from Brigadier General Benjamin M. Prentiss reports from Chicago that "Edward [Jonas] & other Quincy boys are with me here in a.m."
A small crudely drawn pencil sketch on coated stock, 2 x 3 inches, titled "Rebel Prison, Selma, Alabama, by a Shiloh Prisoner." Several prisoners can be seen in the windows, while a guard patrols in front. The structure does not bear a close resemblance to other known images of Selma's Cahaba Prison, a.k.a. "Castle Morgan."
Manuscript map of the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers, showing the 11-13 March 1863 clash at Fort Pemberton a.k.a. Fort Greenwood near Greenwood, MS, which ended the Yazoo Pass expedition as part of the effort to take Vicksburg. It shows terrain features, the location of several Confederate vessels (some of them noted as sunk), batteries, and the site of camps just north of Greenwood.
3 field-printed orders relating to Lieutenant Edward Jonas. They include two duplicates of General Order 4 issued from the Headquarters of the District of East Arkansas in Helena, 16 February 1863, by the order of General Prentiss, and signed in type by Jonas as adjutant, requiring sutlers to have a license for the sale of intoxicating liquor to soldiers. The other is General Orders No. 158 issued from the Headquarters of the 16th Army Corps in Memphis, TN, appointing Jonas as acting aide-de-camp to Major General Hurlbut.
The clippings begin in 1860, with discussion of secession and the presidential election examined from both sides. Most of the clippings are uncited, but one is from the New Orleans Daily Delta. The western theater of war is a special focus, as might be expected. One article on the Battle of Wilson's Creek is annotated: "Battle near Springfield, Mo." Some of the clippings relate directly to the children of Abraham Jonas. A clipping of an anonymous 1860 satirical campaign song is noted in pencil "S A Jonas." Abraham's son Sidney Alroy Jonas (1838-1915) went on to serve as a major in the Confederate army for a Mississippi regiment. A published letter from Edward Jonas to his parents dated 1 April 1862 reports on his regiment's movements in an unknown newspaper. The last date noted among the clippings is 30 March 1864; Abraham Jonas died two months later on 8 June.
In the rear of the volume are 8 engraved portraits of prewar political figures by Buttre, plus one incongruous view from the Jonas family's hometown: a lithograph of the Unitarian Church of Quincy.
