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A Robert E. Lee Proclamation just before Antietam...
A Robert E. Lee Proclamation just before Antietam...
Item # 705972
September 18, 1862
RICHMOND ENQUIRER, Virginia, Sept. 18, 1862
* Robert E. Lee proclamation to Marylanders
* Prelude to the Battle of Antietam - Sharpsburg
* From the capital of the Confederacy
The front page has: "General Lee's Proclamation To the People of Maryland" which presents his reasons for the Confederate army being in that state. Remember that the battle of Antietam was fought just the day before, although not reported in this issue.
There is a lengthy introductory document spewing much hatred to the Yankees, including: "...The despotism which has crushed the people of Maryland is without a parallel in the annals of civilized history...a people ground into the very dust, under the heel of despotic usurpation violently established & for hostile purposes...Lincoln has proved to her worse than Czar or Sultan..." with more. The Lee Proclamation is signed by him in type: R. E. Lee. This is then followed by another proclamation to the people of Maryland.
Also on the front page are: "Coinage For the Confederate States" "The Second Virginia Cavalry" with a list of "Casualties" from near Manassas, Aug. 27-29 which is quite lengthy; "City Intelligence" and a bit more including ads & notices.
The back page has much on the war, including: "From Tennessee" "From Florida" "Gen. Huger" "Northern Politics" "Letters From Maryland" "Confederate States Congress" "Kentucky--Its Present Condition and Necessities".
A single sheet newspaper with a one column masthead.
The upper left corner is missing with loss but affecting only ads. Various water staining, foxing and wear at folds.
AI notes: On September 8, 1862, during the Maryland Campaign, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issued a proclamation to the people of Maryland shortly after his army crossed the Potomac River into Union territory. In the document, Lee portrayed his invasion not as an act of conquest but as a liberation, claiming the Confederacy had come to aid Marylanders in throwing off what he described as the “foreign yoke” of Federal military rule. He appealed to shared Southern sympathies and constitutional principles, asserting that the Confederate army respected private property, civil authority, and individual rights, and invited Maryland citizens to rise voluntarily and support the Confederate cause or join its ranks. The proclamation reflected Lee’s hope that Maryland, a slaveholding border state with divided loyalties, might be persuaded to align with the Confederacy; however, the response from the population was largely muted, and the anticipated mass uprising or enlistment failed to materialize, underscoring the limits of Confederate political appeal in the North on the eve of the Battle of Antietam.
Category: Confederate
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