(CIVIL WAR RHODE ISLAND) Founding membership roll of the Lo

Sale 2432 - Lot 138

Price Realized: $ 500

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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(CIVIL WAR--RHODE ISLAND.) Founding membership roll of the Loyal League of Providence, RI. Manuscript document, 2 pages on 2 conjoined sheets, 22 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches, with 161 signatures, docketed on verso "Pledge and the original roll call of the League"; separations at folds, the topmost portion of the sheet apparently missing. [Providence, RI, circa 1864]

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Loyal Leagues (also often known as Union Leagues) sprung up across the United States over the course of the Civil War. Their goal was to maintain patriotic morale and to raise charitable funds for the troops. This membership roll begins with a pledge: "We, the members of the Loyal League, do hereby pledge ourselves, by words and acts, whenever practicable, to use our influence in support of the government in all its measures for the suppression of the present unholy rebellion; and we will use our influence to discountenance and oppose all efforts in opposition to the government and the Union." A sampling of the names on the petition checked against the 1865 Rhode Island census suggests that many or most of the signers were very young men from Providence, RI, born between 1844 and 1849. The first signer was Lewis G. Janes (1844-1910), the young son of prominent abolitionist Alphonso Janes. William E. Cushing (1844-1880) became an architect and designed the city's baseball stadium in 1878.