Harper's Weekly

A Journal Of Civilization

New York, Saturday, August 6, 1864

16 pages in total.

about 11.25" x 16" ( rough at the edges )

An original issue of Harper's Weekly,  over 160 years old.

Much Civil War content in this issue.

This issue includes :

Front cover : 

Civil War Poem 

"The Mower In Ohio " 

( A poem by John James Piatt ; a graying farmer in his hay field pauses his mowing to think about his three sons, which he sent to fight in the Civil War. His eldest son, Joseph, is still alive and is a soldier fighting in Virginia under General U. S. Grant , but his two younger sons will never work the farm again. Middle son John is buried at a battlefield in Tennessee and the farmer's youngest, William, came home to the Ohio farm , from Gettysburg , in July - in a coffin wrapped in a United States flag. The farmer hangs on to hope that his eldest son will come back to him when the war is over. The poem concludes with the farmer getting back to the work which, always, must be done.  )

Various news articles and essays, including :

" The Peace Blondins at Niagara "

(" The latest Peace performance at Niagara Falls was not very mysterious. It was simply a movement of the rebels yo help their friends the copperheads. It was a notification...that if the Government of the United States were handed over to the friends of the rebels, then the rebels would lay down their arms. It was a confession that the rebel leaders are sorely pinched, that they foresee disaster...." etc., etc. )

" Liberty and Union "

(" The war proves the central antagonism between Slavery and national peace ... without freedom of speech and of the press a free popular government is impossible. The people of the United States , therefore , in their Constitution have forbidden Congress to abridge either of these rights , and what they would not suffer their supreme legislature to do, they will not permit to any local assembly. But nothing is plainer - if Slavery exists, freedom of speech and of the press must be forbidden. .... The Revised Statutes of Louisiana of 1852 enact that if any white person be convicted of saying or printing any thing with the intent to diminish the respect which is commanded by law to free people of color for the whites, he shall be imprisoned not less than six months....the code of Virginia of 1849 provides that if a free person maintain by speaking or writing that owners have no right of property in slaves he shall be imprisoned or fined. Such laws are necessary wherever Slavery exists." etc., etc. )

" The New Call "

(" In calling for 500,000 more men the President ( Abraham Lincoln ) neither betrays doubt nor apprehension, nor need any loyal man give way to either emotion. The whole force of the rebellion is in the field and desperately fighting."  etc., etc. )

" Just Where He Is Wanted "

(" General Joe Johnston of the rebel service is a candidate for commiseration. For eighty days he has been decoying General Sherman further and further from his base. He has lured him on to mountain gorges and fortresses before which he has enticed him to draw up in battle array , while he is befooled into flank movements, and then sly Johnston has quietly withdrawn, leaving poor Sherman nothing to do but to push further on and occupy one town and fortification after another. Sometimes, to entrap his victim more completely, Johnston has made a stand, and when Sherman came on, has fought him, and after going through the form of a defeat has slipped alluringly away.... there was no end of the astuteness with which he drew the hapless Sherman on to Chattanooga and to Chattahoochee ..." etc., etc. )

" Photographs of the Virginia Campaign "

(" Mr. ( Matthew ) Brady , the photographer , has lately returned from the army in Virginia with a series of views of the campaign , which are now exhibited at his galleries at 785 Broadway ( New York ). The series includes the most interesting scenes of operations at Cold Harbor , the Wilderness , Petersburg , etc., as well as portraits of all the most noted generals ." etc., etc. )

" Domestic Intelligence "

( The Military Situation [ General Ulysses S. Grant etc.], Expedition of General Rousseau , Movement of Slocum from Vicksburg , the defeat of Forrest , etc. )

" Interesting Items "

( various small items, including military , an anecdote of a brave negro soldier , discoveries at Pompeii ( Italy ), etc. )

Plus various additional text pieces.

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Large Illustrations : 

1. General Sherman's Advance ( full-page )

Views of Kenesaw Mountain , Little Kenesaw on July 3, 1864 , View of the Public Square at Marietta Georgia

( 3 sketches by Theodore R. Davis )

2. Sherman's Advance ( full-page )

Action of Colonel Walcot's Brigade  on June 15, 1864  and View of Atlanta from the Signal Station

( 2 sketches by Theodore R. Davis )

3. " General Grant's Campaign - In the Trenches before Petersburg "

( double-page series of sketches by A. R. Waud , with a column of explanatory text on the previous page )

" A Gopher Hole "

" Commanding Position held by the Rebels in front of 6th Massachusetts Battery with Captain Martin in the foreground "

" Officer's Quarters at the front "

" Sharpshooters , 18th Corps "

" Soldier's Wells "

" 5th Corps bivouaced in the Rifle Pits " 

" Aiming a Mortar in Jackson's CT Battery "

" Making Parallells " ( digging )

" Battery of Mortars and Light Twelves , 1st CT Heavy Artillery , Lt. Jackson 18th Corps " 

( " CT " = Connecticut )

4.  " General Grant's Campaign - Return of Kautz 's Cavalry Expedition from its Raid in Virginia "

( full-page , sketched by William Waud , soldiers on horseback , negros on foot [one black is carrying a rifle ], etc. )

5.  " Rebel Privateers : The Anglo - Rebel Pirates , the ' Florida ' and ' Rappahannock ' "

( a pair of Confederate sail / steam ships )

( CSS Florida was a sloop-of-war in the service of the Confederate States Navy which served as a commerce raider during the American Civil War before being sunk in 1864.  )

( CSS Rappahannock was a steam sloop-of-war, built in England. An agent of the Confederate States Government purchased her ostensibly for the China trade, but British authorities suspected she was destined to be a Confederate commerce raider and ordered her detention. Nevertheless, she succeeded in escaping from Sheerness, England, on November 24, 1863, with workmen still on board and only a token crew. Her Confederate States Navy officers joined in the English Channel.

Commander Matthew F. Maury intended Rappahannock to replace the cruiser CSS Georgia and planned to transfer CSS Georgia's guns to her. She was commissioned a Confederate man-of-war underway, but while passing out of the Thames Estuary her bearings burned out and she had to be taken across to Calais for repairs. There Lieutenant C. M. Fauntleroy, CSN , was placed in command. 

The ship was detained on various pretexts by the French Government and Rappahannock never got to sea. She was turned over to the United States at the close of the war. )

6.  Portraits :

" Rebel Captain of the ' Florida ', C. M. Morris "

" Late Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart "

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Poem : " To The Soldier "

(" Do you think that we forget you, That our hearts to self are sealed, Seeking comfort, pleasure and riches, While you waste in camp and field? " etc., etc. )

Advertising :   The American Watch Company , Improved Ridgewood Smoking Case , Books published by Harper & Brothers , " Quack " Medicines , National Revolver ( with illustration of the handgun ; George A. Hickox , NY ), Guns Pistols and Military Goods for sale by Schuyler Hartley and Graham ( New York Paris and Birmingham England ), Pollak & Son Manufacturers of Meerschaum Smoking Pipes , Vineland Farm Lands for sale south of Philadelphia , Remington Army and Navy Revolver , Metallic Artificial Legs " Weight only Four Pounds ", etc.

Cartoon : " The Reason Why "

[ a cartoon on hoarding Pennies ]

(" Customer : Your Papa says he hain't no Pennies to make change with. You seem to have lots of 'em"

Grocer's Son : Guess I have ; and Pop's got six Barrels full ( of pennies ) down in the cellar. He's waitin' for 'em to rise.")

[ Historical Note : Pennies and all forms of small change were extremely scarce during the Civil War. Due to economic uncertainty, people hoarded copper and nickel cents, causing legitimate, government-issued pennies to disappear from circulation. This shortage led to the widespread private production of unauthorized copper tokens - often called " Civil War tokens " and used as one-cent substitutes.

Interestingly, now that new pennies are no longer being produced by the U. S. Mint , pennies are again becoming more scarce. ]

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Over 160 years old and with great Civil War illustrations and content.

Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer.