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Fascinating Confederate newspaper, created from the ashes of the burned city of Columbia...
Fascinating Confederate newspaper, created from the ashes of the burned city of Columbia...
Item # 701896
April 08, 1865
COLUMBIA PHOENIX, South Carolina, April 8, 1865 This is one of the more intriguing newspapers from the South during the Civil War. Not only was it printed during the closing days of the Civil War, but due to the shortage of newsprint this issue was printed on short and uncommonly wide newsprint measuring just 8 3/4 inches high but over 24 inches long. As such it has an accordion fold which is unlike any other newspaper we have encountered.
Although Columbia was occupied by Union forces on February 18 and largely destroyed by fire, this newspaper literally rose from the ashes [hence the phoenix title] and became the Confederate voice for the residents. Information provided on the Library of Congress website provides further information on this fascinating title and its Confederate publisher:
"The Columbia Phoenix arose out of the charred remains of Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, in the aftermath of the Civil War to record its losses and bear witness to its gradual recovery. A triweekly newspaper, the Phoenix first appeared on Tuesday, March 21, 1865, mere weeks after fires had razed a third of the city. It struck a defiant tone, declaring, “Our city shall spring, from her ashes, and our Phoenix, we hope and trust, shall announce the glorious rising! God save the state!”
Proprietor Julian A. Selby boasted considerable experience in the newspaper business, having formerly owned the Tri-Weekly South Carolinian. In establishing the Columbia Phoenix, however, he literally started from scratch. In the weeks immediately following the city’s destruction, Selby scoured the state for paper, a press, and printing supplies. He and his assistants fashioned for themselves the things they could not find. He also secured the services of renowned Southern literary critic, novelist, and poet William Gilmore Simms as editor. Living conditions in the capital city were so desperate that, early on, the staff offered to accept food staples such as bacon, eggs, rice, and potatoes as payment in lieu of cash subscriptions. The first ten issues contained a detailed history of the burning of Columbia, which was separately published as Sack and Destruction of the City of Columbia, S.C., in October 1865 (itself edited and republished as A City Laid Waste in 2005)."
The content is great as well, being a few days after the fall of Richmond and just one day before Lee would surrender to Grant at Appomattox.
The front page has part 2 of: "Our Refugeeism" and some ads. Pages 2 and 3 are taken up with details of the: "Capture, Sack and Destruction of the City of Columbia" being chapters 30 thru 35. Half of another page is taken up with: "Evacuation of Richmond". There is also an upbeat report noting in part: "President Davis takes a right view of the results of the evacuation of Richmond. We have said elsewhere that, in our opinion, it should have been evacuated long ago & that we should not have waited till this became a military necessity. The cheerful tones of President Davis is highly becoming...so long as the armies of Lee, Johnston and others are intact, they will speak and we trust to the purpose. God still rules in heaven."
Half of another page is taken up with an editorial headed: "Address of President Davis".
A complete issue as described above, never bound nor trimmed, a small library stamp at the top, generally good condition.
Category: The Civil War
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