Home > Back to Search Results >
A Memphis newspaper from Jackson...
A Memphis newspaper from Jackson...
Item # 683048
February 20, 1863
THE MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL, Jackson, Mississippi, February 20, 1863
* Very Rare Confederate title from the "traveling" newspaper
* Memphis newspaper printed in Jackson, Mississippi
This newspaper had fascinating history as it was chased around the South. Note that this "Memphis" newspaper was published in Jackson, Mississippi. See the information below concerning its history.
The front page has: "The Battle of Fredericksburg" with terrific detail, taking nearly 3 columns with many subheads; "The Confederate Congress" "The Feeling in the Army of the Potomac--The Soldiers Disgusted--Their Grievances Related" and more.
The back page has war content as well including: "A Federal Gunboat Captured!" "Gallant Affair on Red River!" "The Situation in Arkansas" "The 37th Tennessee Regiment" and more.
Complete as a large single sheet issue, evenly toned with some foxing near the right margin, a few archival margin mends, good condition.
background: The Memphis Daily Appeal earned its legendary nickname, the "Moving Appeal," by functioning as a fugitive press that spent five crucial months in Jackson, Mississippi, starting in December 1862. Refusing to submit to Union censorship after the fall of Memphis, editors John McClanahan and Benjamin Dill operated out of the Bowman House hotel, where they utilized Jackson’s rail hub to distribute defiant Confederate propaganda and vital war news across the Deep South. This period was defined by high-stakes logistics; as General Grant’s forces tightened their grip on the region during the Vicksburg Campaign, the staff lived in a state of constant readiness. Their Jackson residency ended in a cinematic escape in May 1863, when they dismantled their heavy printing equipment and ferried it across the Pearl River on a flatboat just as General Sherman’s troops entered the city, ensuring the "voice of the Confederacy" remained uncurbed for another two years of nomadic publication.
Memphis was a Confederate stronghold up through the Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, at which time the Yankees moved in and it became a Yankee city. The "Memphis Daily Appeal", dedicated to the Southern cause rallying both civilians & soldiers, it was the most important newspaper of the region, soon famously known as the "Moving Appeal."
On June 6, 1862, the presses and plates were loaded into a boxcar and moved to Grenada, Mississippi, where it stayed for a few months, until approaching Federal troops threatened again, forcing a move in November 1862 to Jackson, Mississippi, where it published until May 1863, when Federal troops again arrived. By this time, the Appeal had gained notoriety among Union forces as a rebel sympathizer while it remained on the run. The next stop was Meridian, Mississippi, from where, one issue and two days later, the wandering journalists moved on to Mobile, Alabama, then to Montgomery, and ultimately to Atlanta, the economic heart of the Confederacy. Publication from Atlanta began in June 1863 and continued through July 1864, when it returned to Montgomery, where it published from September 1864 to April 1865. Its final move was to Columbus, Georgia, where Federal forces finally caught up with it. It resumed publication following the war in Memphis on November 5, 1865. During just a four year period this newspaper published in nine different cities. (credit: Tennessee State Library & Archives)
Category: Confederate
Available Now
$247.00
