5^0 M~~U<*MW.F ; B SMO 5b4 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE WAR HISTORY OF THE MEMPHIS APPEAL BY R. A. HALLEY RKPBINTED FROM THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE FOR APRIT,, 1903. 54-0 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY: BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE WAR HISTORY OF THE MEMPHIS APPEAL. BY R. A. HALLEY. Journalism in Tennessee has presented a great many interest ing phases, but without question the most strange and remark able phase of all is that to be gleaned from half a dozen thin, travel-worn volumes that hold between their covers the war files and the war history of the Memphis Appeal. They tell the story of the days when it still kept the name of the Memphis Appeal, though printed in Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia, while casting its lot with the South to the extent of dwelling wherever the chances and changes, the fortunes or misfortunes of war demanded, in order to remain with the people whose cause it had warmly espoused from long before the inauguration of active hostilities. These files, therefore, contain the inner his tory of the war to an extent unreached by any other paper pub lished in the South. The history of the Appeal is conspicuously unique. It was the soldier s special organ, and spoke almost with the voice of authority for the Army of Tennessee, whose fortunes it followed and with which it was identified from its organization to its collapse in December, 1864. With an enter prise and pluck that met obstacles only to overcome them, its proprietors moved their types, presses, engines and boilers from place to place, and whether staying for a month or for a year were prompt in issuing a daily paper that was edited with skill and ability and was one of the greatest of the useful agencies in the life of the Confederacy. Its correspondents were found with every army in every State and its proprietors expended money freely to obtain the news from beyond the Confederate lines. It was a tower of strength to the Southern people and was indissolubly linked with their long struggle. The passing events are interwoven with the story of exile though exile among 2 A REBEI, NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. friends and altogether it makes a story unsurpassed if not un equalled, in the annals of journalism. On the morning of Friday, June 6, 1862, while the gunboat fight was raging hotly in front of the city, The Memphis Appeal, being what was termed a "rebel sheet," left Memphis and went to the pleasant little town of Grenada, Miss. The press and other machinery, its two new "dresses" of type and its working force accompanied it, and on the following Monday, June 9, 1862, The Memphis Appeal was once more issued, this time as an afternoon paper, bearing the Grenada date line. This issue con tains a full account of the evacuation of Corinth some ten days previously, and also of the fall of Memphis and the destruction of the Confederate fleet. Exchanges are requested to direct their papers to Grenada for the future, and in an address "To Our Readers," the editor says : "The occupation of Memphis by the Federal forces has con vinced us of the necessity of removing our office of publication to Grenada, Miss. In taking this step our principal motive has been to continue in a position wherein we may be able to render official service to the cause we advocate, hereafter as heretofore, and in accomplishing this, should we succeed, we will find our greatest reward. Our fate is indissolubly connected with that of the Confederacy. Our political action in the past is well understood. We cannot desert the one nor change as to the other. Our political ideas were not formed to be cast aside under any exigency that can possibly happen ; and so long as two or three states are gathered together in the name of the Confederate States, so long will we be found advocating, as zealously as ever, a continued resistance to the tyranny which a haughty foe are endeavoring to establish over us. The Appeal will not swerve from its course, come what will, no matter how great the sacri fices we may find it necessary to make. We have an abiding faith in the success of the South." And if this faith ever weakened, or doubt ever entered, not a line was there ever in the paper to show it. Through all the long struggle, with its hardships and frequent flights, with all the attendant vicissitudes and calamities, the editorial utterances breathed a hopeful spirit that the worst disasters of the war never once chilled. A REBEI, NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 3 It so happened that about this very time another victory of General Stonewall Jackson illustrated the feeling that animated the Appeal all through the war, in defeat as in triumph. "The star of the victorious Jackson," it says, "is once more in the ascendant, and he is once more pushing forward after an utterly defeated and flying foe. General Jackson s motto is the correct one fight the enemy wherever you can find him, and if he will not offer you battle, go after him and compel him to fight. Give us a little more of these tactics and the war will soon assume a much more favorable aspect. The Federals can be forced to abandon our states and cities, our people can return to their homes in peace, and the Confederacy take her place among the nations of the earth." In speaking of the Appeal during the three years that followed its departure from Memphis, it is not intended to write the history of the war, but only to sketch the scenes amid which the paper lived, by which it was necessarily affected. Its pro prietors foresaw that they could not publish their paper in Mem phis, and how truly they read the signs of the times was shown early after the surrender of the city, when papers much more guarded in expressing their opinions were suspended, censured and forced into discontinuance. Press censors were appointed for the papers that remained, and even then articles appeared that caused the publishers trouble. A bogus report brought in of the capture of Cincinnati by the Confederate troops, brought down the wrath of the authorities on two papers, and caused their suspension for several days. AFFAIRS IN MEMPHIS. Colonel M. C. Gallaway, postmaster under the Confederacy, went to Grenada with many Memphians who left at the time of the capture, and acted as postmaster for the Southern people, handling and properly looking after the mail, particularly that directed to Memphis people. In the Appeal of the early days in Grenada, a specialty was made of news from Memphis for the benefit of many hundreds of exiled citizens of the Bluff City. The Appeal of June 13 chronicles the fact that stores were be ginning to open again and business was being gradually resumed 4 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. in Memphis. The price of the Appeal was reduced one-half for all Confederate soldiers. In reference to the approach of Federal troops to Holly Springs, the Appeal of June 19 says, that "they should not be permitted to make any further approaches. . . . Let them at every advance they make, meet with a deadly volley from every thicket. . . . Every rifle and shotgun in the country should be brought into requisition, and the Federal soldiery should be taught that every step they make further South is made with hazard to themselves. Even in the absence of any army, it is within the power of the citizens of the country, by a judicious and well organized system of ambuscades and guerrilla warfare, to harass, terrify and hold the enemy at bay." This, but to show the spirit of the times. Needless to recall how the advice was followed. Such was the devotion of the people to the Southern cause that planters along the river put the torch to their own cotton, sustaining the loss rather than sell to the invader. Apropos, the Appeal remarks : "A people determined to be free will submit to any sacrifice and cannot be conquered." A SPECIMEN YANKEE CAPTURED. June 20 this fact is chronicled: "A Yankee soldier, who was captured by some citizens while he was picketing below Memphis, reached the city last evening. He gives his name as George Smith, of Captain Stuber s company, eleventh Illinois, and says he was enlisted at Peoria. If he is a fair specimen of the Federal army at Memphis, none of them can be said to occupy a very high position in the scale of animal creation." George Smith s subsequent history does not appear. Doubtless he or his widow draws a pension now. The fight had begun at Vicksburg, the enemy s vessels opening fire "at a safe distance" on the 2Oth of June. McClellan had been brought to a stand before Richmond, and the Appeal believes that "the fortunes of war have turned in our favor, and we will finally achieve our independence." The mention of Richmond recalls the fact that the special cor respondent of the Appeal at Richmond during the war was per haps the brightest of the war correspondents. His letters con- A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 5 tinue all through the fateful period of the war; being even yet interesting pictures of war days in Virginia, they must have been read when fresh from the press with the keenest interest. He wrote under the name of "Dixie," and thousands of old Confederates remember his brilliant letters. The battle around Vicksburg was recognized as the determined beginning of the contest for the undisturbed possession of the Mississippi ; across the river the people of Arkansas were pur suing the guerrilla warfare above advocated. Stonewall Jackson defeated McClellan before Richmond ; the outlook when June closes is bright. July opens with McClellan in full retreat, and the shells still flying over Vicksburg. "The Success of Our Arms" is the title of a most hopeful editorial. TROUBLOUS TIMES IN THE BLUFF CITY. The Memphis Avalanche having published an editorial entitled "Mischief Makers" in its issue of July i, General Grant notified them that the paper was being conducted "in an incendiary and treasonable spirit" and must suspend publication unless the author of the editorial withdrew from the paper. Mr. Jeptha Folkes thereupon withdrew and the paper continued, but only for a brief period ; it was a mere question of time and soon it suspended until the war was over, as did the Argus, and the latter was never revived. Times in Memphis grew more troublous. Ministers who prayed for the Southern Confederacy were suspended and other wise "effectually admonished." The constant communication be tween people in Memphis and their friends to the South of them so annoyed the Federal authorities that an order was issued, banishing from the city within five days the families of all per sons holding communications with any who had voluntarily en listed in the Confederate army; the families of all holding office or employment under the Confederate government ; of all holding state, county or municipal offices, who claimed allegiance to the Confederacy and who had gone South. The order was enforced, and brought no little hardship on the women and children of hundreds of Memphis families. All who were driven out were 6 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. invited to call at the office of the Appeal, where there were many letters addressed by friends to the exiles. Despite hard times there was still a generous spirit, and on the night of July 25, a concert given by Mrs. Richardson s music class realized $258 for the sufferers at Vicksburg. NORTHERN PAPERS IN DEMAND. It was hard to get news in those days, with the enemy beyond and interrupted communication in nearly every direction, and a request is published "that gentlemen who arrive from the United States with late papers, leave them at the editor s room, over George Lake s store, next door north of the Collins House. In these days of uncertain mail from the South and a blockade on the North, our facilities for furnishing the latest news from all quarters can be greatly increased by a little attention on the part of our friends." Sickness thinned the Federal ranks at Vicksburg, and August I, the Appeal chronicles the fact that "the infernal yankees have left for parts unknown." But it did not last long. An instance of Federal tyranny in Memphis is noted in the shooting of three white men and three negroes who refused to work on the fortifications. About this time, in response to the query, "Why is it that the South stands up sturdily against the superior resources and num bers of the loyal section of the Union" the Cincinnati Commercial answered that the South had made the war a business. "The rebellious people have lost sight of everything but war, and, bend ing all their energies to it, have accomplished wonders." The Commercial urges the people of the North to do the same, but the Appeal in copying the article, with evident enjoyment says that these appeals will have no effect ; "that the people of the North will not make war their business until they can see more dollars in following the occupation than can be found in their work shops." Each success of the Southern arms is made the text of new encouragement, and is followed by ringing hopeful editorials that must have strengthened many a weary heart and soul in the en durance of the multitudinous privations that were brought on by A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 7 the war. "Now by St. George the work goes bravely on," is the caption of an editorial following the reports of August vic tories in East Tennessee. THE COST OF LIVING. Prices fluctuated but they "fluctuated" in one direction main ly upward. From the advertisement of J. C. McAllister in the Appeal of August 8-15, 1862, an idea may be formed of the cost of living in those days. Among the articles mentioned are cotton cards, $10 per pair; black calico, $i per yard; French ginghams, $1.25 per yard ; Coats thread, 60 cents per spool, or $7 per dozen; Madras handkerchiefs, $9 per dozen. High though this appear, it is nothing to prices that later on obtained in the beleaguered Confederacy. The intense feeling shown by the Southern women, and the extent of their sacrifice to the cause of the Confederacy forms one of the most notable chapters of war history, and the story of their sacrifice is beyond writing. Many instances appear from time to time in the Appeal, one in the issue of August 12, 1862. The Yankee gunboats were at Natchez and the Southern soldiers were looking for them any day at Vicksburg. Twelve good guns were ready to receive them everything ready for action except cartridge bags for the ten-inch Columbiads. These bags must be made of flannel, and not a yard of flannel could be had at any store at the place. Messengers were sent to appeal to men to give their flannel shirts for use. The ladies heard of the appeal and of the absolute importance of the cartridge bags. In a few hours no less than five hundred cartridge bags were at the headquarters, made of the flannel petticoats of the women of Vicksburg. They were sent to the batteries and when the fleet did arrive, were used in defense of the place, throughout the bombardment. Every cartridge bag used by the ten-inch Colum biads in the bombardment was made of the flannel petticoats of the women of Vicksburg. The "latest news" was very hard to get. Telegraph service was very irregular, but under the head "Improving," the Appeal of August 14 mentions the fact that a number of dispatches from the North had arrived covering events of the 9th and only a few 8 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. hours after the papers containing the same intelligence. "Here tofore," says the editor, "the lightning has been from two to four days behind, but this effort makes some pretensions towards furnishing the very latest news." The leading item of the news here referred to was General T. J. Jackson s official report of the late battle in Virginia. SOUTHERN SUCCESSES. The North so far had been outgeneraled and public enthusiasm North was at a low ebb. The Northern press began to call for a general waking up to the importance of united action. The Appeal meets this by a call to the South to put every available man into the field, to meet the enemy at the border, and save their homes and their country from further pillage and devasta tion. Federal prospects, even to judge from the Northern papers, were by no means flattering in those days. Morgan s descent upon Gallatin and a general activity in Kentucky and Tennessee were followed by a report of the capture of Nashville by the Con federates, and this is made the text of another hopeful editorial on the cheering signs of the situation. This is followed a few days later by further successes in Middle Tennessee, and by an other editorial demonstrating that "the dark hours of the Con federacy have passed, and a day of glorious successes, promising as the most ardent friend of Southern triumph and independence could desire, has broken upon us." Then came the victories at Manassas, at Stevenson, Ala., and at Bolivar the dawn of brighter hopes and anticipations, and more roseate views of the situation. Indeed the chances of success crowning the Southern arms never looked better. The mails were irregular, and the Appeal contained frequent protests that the service could be improved and should be. The importance of clothing the Southern army for the winter is urged, and the Southern women again came to the front and loaded the mails with socks and other articles of wearing apparel. The ladies around Brooks chapel undertook to supply Price s men, and every loom and wheel and knitting needle went to work, giving "another sample as well of the patriotism as of the un conquerable spirit of our mothers and daughters." A REBEI, NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 9 THE PROSPECTS BRIGHTEN. The details of the battle of Manassas began to arrive, and throughout the Confederacy congratulations upon the situation were heard. The South took hope again, and the end of the war was confidently expected. Apropos of the suppression of the Union-Appeal, of Memphis, a paper that had occupied the Ap peal s former quarters, the Appeal expresses the hope that "the authorities will keep the premises in good order, as we confidently expect to resume our old quarters in a short time. * In a day or two the Memphis Argus was suspended for publishing a report which was imposed on it of the capture of Cincinnati by the Con federate troops. Jackson pushed on into Maryland; success in Tennessee con tinued ; the hope is entertained of driving the invader from Ten nessee, Kentucky and Missouri, the great provision states of the Confederacy. Some enthusiastic friend remembered the editor, and a para graph acknowledging the receipt of a bottle of old brandy says: "It is so old that we fear it cannot live much longer." The Federal troops were gradually closing in, and the destruc tion of Prentiss and the capture of Senatobia are made the text of an editorial urging a movement forward to drive the enemy out of the State. At an auction sale of goods in Charleston, September 17, candles brought $2.40 per pound, white shirt bosoms $95 per dozen, hoop- skirts $190 per dozen, and tea $10 per pound; higher than the prices previously obtained. Soon after this it is noted that flour is declining, extra family bringing only $34 per barrel, "owing to the determination of the people to eat corn bread rather than give enormous prices for flour." White paper is already an article of scarcity and value, and owing to temporary shortage the Appeal of September 26 and 27 contained but two seven-column pages. A MEMORY OF HOME. A memory of home, a beautiful bouquet from Memphis, was: placed on the editor s table. "These fugitive flowers," he writes, "so tastefully arranged, have served to momentarily recall our io A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. reflections from the busy and eventful scenes of strife to which the minds of all have been so long accustomed; and for this respite our friend who has placed the souvenir on our table has our thanks." The repulse of Price and Van Dorn brought affairs in Mis sissippi to a crisis, apparently, but with the indomitable courage and energy that had ever characterized the paper, the situation is reviewed but one day later and pronounced more favorable than had been supposed. But Bragg had to fall back, abandon ing Kentucky, and telegraph connection was interrupted again. Early in November the Federal authorities in Memphis re solved upon a stroke which they imagined would stop the cease less firing upon their boats. An order was, therefore, issued that for every boat fired upon by the Southern troops, ten families would be exiled from Memphis. This order was carried out and resulted in much hardship to the defenseless women and children, who were driven out and left uncared for wherever they might be sent beyond the Federal lines. In the Appeal of various dates are advertisements that "Mr. s family have been driven from Memphis by the Federals and are at - , where they may be addressed by him." Mails became more and more irregular and a real crisis was approaching for Mississippi ; the Federals planned a systematic invasion for the winter, and these plans were promptly carried out. Troops appeared in northern Mississippi ; their raids became more and more bold, and approached nearer Grenada. At this time an informal negotiation was opened with the Appeal to return to Memphis, assurances being received "that in the event of our removal of the Appeal office to that city, the publication of our paper will be permitted unmolested by the authorities, and our rights of person and property respected." The paper, however, did not return, "We have chosen our lot," .says the editor, "and we will abide the consequences." THE FEDERALS WERE AROUND. The Federals were around Grenada and the supplies cut off. Not the least interesting of these papers appear late in November, after the supply of printers ink was exhausted, common blacking A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. u being for several days used instead. And though the Appeal did rK>t return to Memphis, yet it left Grenada. After the issue of November 29, there is no other issue until the I3th of Decem ber, when it appears under the Jackson, Miss., date. In the last days of November Grenada was in rather too close proximity to the headquarters of General Grant, who was seeking to make the acquaintance of General Pemberton at Abbeville, and when the Federal cavalry were fast approaching the north bank of the Tallahatchie, after Grant had driven Pemberton from Abbeville, the Appeal "retired," taking up its abode in the capital of Mis sissippi, where it remained until the 1/j.th of May, 1863. Decem ber 13, 1862, the initial number of the Jackson issue of the Appeal appeared, with a notice of the change of location at the head of the editorial column. It is asked that all mail be sent hereafter to Jackson, and a promise is given to make up to all subscribers the interval of two weeks lost in the removal of the office. In making their bow to the citizens of Jackson, the Appeal expresses regret at having to move, and pleasure in the contemplation that "though driven from home, we are not among strangers." "The Appeal," it continues, "has ever met a generous welcome and received a cordial support at the hands of the people of Mis sissippi, and so long as we are privileged to remain within her borders, we shall feel that we are among friends and brethren. Hoping that we have been and may yet be of some service to the State, we have a desire verging upon ambition to keep our paper alive during the war. By dint of our own energy and the blessings of good fortune, we have thus far been able to keep in advance of the enemy s lines, and would fain hope that we have now made our last retrograde move. Should the enemy permit us to remain in our present location until wild war s deadly blast is blown, and until gentle peace shall have assumed her benignant sway over the land, we shall have ample cause to re joice at the sacrifices we have made in keeping our office out of the clutches of the enemy." THE OFFICE AT JACKSON. The Jackson office was on State street, a few doors below the post office and a meager exchange list for a time troubled thr 12 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. paper, as papers kept on directing to Grenada, and little of the mail matter got to Jackson until too late for use. In the issue of December 15 a paragraph is published that at an election in Oberlin, Ohio, sixty-seven negroes were allowed to vote. The names of the darkies are published and the thing "proven beyond all doubt. It is supposed that the negroes voted in other town ships, and an examination is now going on to ascertain the facts." The fiercest resistance is counseled to "the army of that people who have permitted this outrage." A scarcity of paper again caused a reduction in the size of the paper to seven, and afterwards to six columns, for more than a week, though the announcement is made that "we have an agent at the mills in Georgia, and hope, in a short time, to be enabled to greet our readers again on a sheet of our usual size." Salt is advertised at $30 a bushel. Christmas eve comes the news that Holly Springs has been captured. Not a word of the holiday season. The paper is issued on the afternoon of Christmas, but the matter is identical with that of the previous day, except something less than half a column of fresh news. Still there is not one word of the Christmas season, even an indirect reference to the festival, nor an adver tisement of Christmas goods for sale. What more pathetic ! The pinching necessities of the times left neither opportunity nor ability of observance. There was half a day of rest, and no doubt in the editor s sanctum were gathered a company of exiles who talked of the Christmas cheer of other days, but the memories were not for publication. They were but the reminiscences of gathered friends. On the 26th President Davis addressed an immense audience at Jackson. THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR. The old year passed away and 1863 dawned, but there is no observance or mention of it, except a hopeful editorial on the progress of the war, beginning "The new year breaks in upon us with cheering beams of hope and promise. Our arms are every where successful, our troops in the main in high health and spirits, while the enemy are reported as disheartened and de spondent." A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 13 On the 8th of January appears a notice that the Appeal would like to make arrangements for a supply of good, dry wood. The main question discussed at the meeting of the Southern Press Association about this time was the importance of some movement to diminish the consumption of white paper, the supply of which threatened to fail altogether. No decision was reached, however, as the problem was evidently one for which there could be no solution. In the Appeal of January 17 appears an advertisement of M. Stern & Co., indignantly denying the report that the flour sold by them was mixed with sand. These gentlemen assert that the only foundation for this damaging report was the fact that they were selling flour at $65 a barrel, for which other dealers were charg ing $80. Good coffee is advertised at $3.75 per pound. The campaign in Tennessee and Mississippi was growing more and more a center of observation, and the food question in the latter State became an important one. For the coming planting season the advice was given to plant but little cotton and much grain, thus supplying the food demand at home and depriving the Yankees of the cotton, of which they were beginning to feel the need. STIRRING TIMES AT VICKSBURG. Times began to be stirring around Vicksburg. Fifty transports and three gunboats arrived, and the siege went on. Cannonading could be heard almost daily. January 31, after having for six weeks appeared on paper of varying shapes and small sizes, the Appeal received a supply of larger paper, and resumed its eight column form, discarding the nonpareil type made necessary by the limited space, of which there had been numerous complaints from its readers. During the early part of February the capture of the Cairo, the Queen of the West, and the Indianola, three Federal vessels, did much to cheer the whole Confederacy. This disposed of all the enemy s vessels on the Mississippi between Port Hudson and Vicksburg, and added three really formidable ironclads to Con federate resources. Refugees were still arriving from Memphis, and still adver tising for missing members of their families. Mr. J. B. Elam is 14 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. notified by advertisement, March 10, that he can find his family at the Pearce House, in Canton, Miss. Rapidly increasing prices of supplies, the high cost of white paper and the increased rate for composition, forced an advance, March 12, in the price of the paper from $1.50 to $2.50 per month, and the price to news agents was at the same time raised from seven to ten cents per copy. The weekly was advanced to $4 per year, and the express condition made that no subscriptions thereafter would be received for a longer period than two months in advance. By President Davis order, March 27 was observed as a day of general fasting and prayer. The first day of April the Appeal was visited by Mr. J. S. Thrasher, general superintendent of the Press Association of the Confederate States, who was appointing correspondents and ar ranging other matters connected with a better press service. He went from Jackson to Vicksburg to arrange for full dispatches from the front. Morning and afternoon or evening editions of the Appeal were now published. LETTER PAPER AND WHISKEY HIGH. Letter paper is reported as selling at $5 per quire at Shreve- port, which occasions the editorial observation that "enough of the article ought to be impressed upon which to write the seller s passport to the other side of Jordan." A few days later is chronicled the burning of the largest paper mills in the Con federacy, in South Carolina, near Augusta, Ga. a loss to the entire South. Whiskey is quoted at $2.50 a drink in Arkansas, "and the bar keeper does the measuring." Strawberries at two dollars a quart are reported as offered for sale "forbidden fruit to us" says the editor. Vicksburg is now threatened by land and sea. Firing was heard every day, and it was recognized that the next thirty days were big with important events. Mississippi was going through with what to her was the most trying ordeal of the war. Federal forces were marauding over the State, and the Appeal calls in burning language upon every man in the State to rise and drive A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 15 out the hateful foe. May opened with a Yankee raid on the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad, interrupting com munication between Jackson and the South, and firing was heard along the Yazoo. The Confederate soldiers are pressed for food, and crying "Once more to the breach" the Appeal calls upon the women and children of every neighborhood to feed such as are camped within reach. May 4 Jackson was full of rumors and canards of the most exciting description, but the Appeal decries the existence of a panic, still, however, paying close attention to Grant s movements. The issue of May n chronicles the death of Stonewall Jackson, and follows with an editorial on the bright outlook of the coming spring. Some one having circulated the report that the Appeal was getting ready to move its office from Jackson, as the Federals came nearer and nearer, the Appeal disclaims a belief that the foe can take the capital of Mississippi, and expresses a hope that the Southern forces can drive the Federals back. "More than a week has passed, and we have every reason to be hopeful nay, confident. Entertaining these views, our friends will continue to hear from us as before, until the evening and the morning of the last day of even probable security." SHELLED OUT OF JACKSON. And the Appeal kept its word. But it was shelled out of Jack son on the 1 4th of May, when Grant made his famous move from Bruinsburg, by which he isolated Pemberton, and shut him up in Vicksburg, to be bagged thereafter on the Fourth of July. The printing press made its escape down the Southern Railroad to Meridian, and thence at its leisure to Atlanta. Generals Grant and Sherman were certain that they were about to bag the Appeal beyond peradventure, as their scouts had furnished them with a copy of that morning s issue, fresh and damp from the press but they didn t. As they came in one way the Appeal went out the other way, with full forty rounds of shot and shell making a pother over its head before it could get safely out of the way of those impatient commanders. The printing press went on to Atlanta, but with the proof press and a few cases of type, the Appeal for about a week kept getting out small extras daily at 16 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. Meridian. Then the paper moved on to the pleasant city of At lanta, thinking to be well out of the way of Grant and Sherman both. In making their debut in Atlanta and explaining that they did not move till they had to, the Appeal s editors mention with evident enjoyment the fact that one of the first acts of the enemy in Jackson was to inquire "as to our whereabouts, and they were not slow in expressing their rage at our escape. We flatter our selves, our evacuation was a masterly one and it was accom plished without loss, notwithstanding a number of shots were fired across Pearl river at our rear guard by the disappointed yankees." THE DEBUT IN ATLANTA. In casting its lot with the people of Georgia, the purpose is announced to refrain from all interference in domestic affairs and dissensions in the state. "To the Confederacy we owe our first great duty, and when we have faithfully performed that duty, we shall have accomplished the object of our highest ambition in the present unsettled condition of the country." The correspondence and reporting corps were enlarged and ar rangements made for publishing full and reliable information. All paid subscribers are notified that the time lost will be added to the time their subscriptions have still to run. A job office was also opened in connection with the newspaper, which was pro vided with all facilities and materials "suitable for the finest work." Despite all the trials and privations of war, there were many pleasant days in Atlanta. The office was located on Whitehall street, between Decatur street and the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, and was the resort of many men then or since famous in the annals of the South, as soldiers, editors, preachers, poli ticians and business men. Among their co-workers were Albert Roberts, erstwhile of the Chattanooga Rebel, which had then gone down to Marietta to be published; and Henry Watterson, both at times managing editor of the Atlanta Confederacy, and many others, many of them exiles like Colonels Dill and McClana- han, of the Appeal. There was too much life and activity to admit of dullness, and the hard and constant work left no time, A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 17 had there been any inclination for repining. The course of events was closely followed. Every victory brought exultation, and even defeat was not allowed to pass without some consola tory view of the situation. When printer s ink gave out, black ing was used to print the paper, and no doubt they were some times glad to get blacking. The sacrifices on all sides had long been too common to be made note of, men, women and children putting aside every interest except that of the common defense, and lending to that every aid in their power. Sometimes news was very hard to get. Telegraph facilities were meager at best and frequently, just when important news was expected from the front, the wires were down but what could not be remedied was most philosophically endured. "Dixie s" letters from Rich mond continued to give bright and crisp reviews of current events. "Shadow s" letters from Chattanooga, now a most im portant seat of war, kept the reader posted on occurrences and movements thereabout. The "Shadow" letters were written by two gentlemen then, and afterwards, distinguished in journalism Albert Roberts and Henry Watterson. TENNESSEE NOMINEES. About the middle of June the Tennessee state convention at Winchester nominated Caruthers for Governor, his competitors for nomination being Bate, Whitthorne and Bailey. The con gressional nominations for the several districts were Joseph B. Heiskell from the First, Wm. S. Swann from the Second, A. S. Colyar from the Third, John P. Murray from the Fourth, Henry S. Foote from the Fifth, Edwin A. Keeble from the Sixth, James McCollum from the Seventh, Thomas Menees from the Eighth, J. D. C. Atkins from the Ninth, John V. Wright from the Tenth and David McCullen from the Eleventh. When the election was held, Tennesseans throughout the Confederacy voted wherever they chanced to be, and the poll at Atlanta showed the presence of a large number of exiled citizens from the Volunteer State. The gubernatorial nominee himself was at the time of nomination and election an exile from his home, as was almost, if not quite, every man named for Congress. 1 8 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. TRIALS NEVER SUFFERED BEFORE. The emancipation proclamation had been issued, but all the same a Charleston broker and auctioneer is mentioned as having sold twenty-five negroes ranging from two to sixty years for the aggregate sum of $41,875, an average of $1,671 apiece. And yet these prices were low, compared with the prices of other articles, for among all the terrible trials that befell the Confederacy this year, trials the like of which have not happened to other people in modern days, was a currency that had become nearly worthless. The railway system was so worn as to be incapable of transport ing supplies promptly; the most fertile regions were desolated and a scarcity existed in the entire crops ; the blockade was so stringent as to practically cut off the outer world ; almost every man that could be spared was in the army ; the Federal troops invaded their towns and states, freed their slaves and enrolled them in its army; defied their retaliation, captured their strong holds, divided their territory, defeated their armies and held the constantly increasing number of prisoners without exchange ; their own territory was growing less and less, themselves un recognized among nations any other people on the face of the earth would have succumbed, would have proposed terms of peace. But the South held on. Her financial troubles came to a crisis and the short grain crops of the previous year brought almost a universal famine upon the people. In many places the starving women organized and burst open the government storehouses to obtain food. The impressment of food supplies by the govern ment was but a brief and momentary relief, and even that only in a few localities. The price per pound of some of the articles of common use were as follows: Bacon $3, lard $2.10, butter $4, coffee $10, sugar $5. And these prices of 1863 were by no means the climax. WORKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. The publishers of the Appeal had great difficulty in getting white paper and ink with which to get out their paper. Though their rates were high, they were low as compared with the prices they had to pay, and the price of subscription was advanced from $2.50 a month in June to $3 the latter part of July. In A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 19 January, 1864, it was increased to $4 a month, again in March to $5, ^and shortly afterward the notice appears that the present currency would only be received at two-thirds of the face value. Agents were supplied at 18 cents per copy, the retail price being 25 cents a copy. At the beginning of the year, in spite of numerous reverses, the military power of the Confederacy was regarded by its citi zens as able to cope very strongly with its adversary, and was far from being either shattered or broken. A hopeful aspect was presented until there came in quick succession the disaster at Gettysburg, the loss of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the falling back of General Bragg, and the success of General Gilmore at Charleston. When it became known that in spite of all that human valor and devotion could do, Vicksburg and its defenders became the prey of the enemy, it was realized that the tug of war, the political crisis had come. The Appeal sounded the absolute necessity of prompt and energetic action, with a view to self- protection, and called on every man to join in striking a decisive blow that should break the power of the invader. The late changes in Middle Tennessee had given the question a more seri ous aspect than it had hitherto borne, and particularly to the people of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. July 7 throughout the State of Georgia according to the recommendations of the Governor, business was suspended and the people of every locality met and organized for the home defense. In calling on them to take every possible step, the Appeal tersely says, "they must either drive the Yankees out of the country or be overrun and robbed by them." THE FALL OF VICKSBURG. The fall of Vicksburg, already reported and believed, was not confirmed by the Appeal s advices until the 9th of July. Then, in the face of this appalling calamity, and despite the irretrievable loss of this strategic point, the indomitable hopefulness of the Appeal shone out amid the dark and gloom, as bright as ever in the hour of victory. After taking a brief glance at the gloomy side of the question, the paper concludes that the Yankees have bought their victory at a dear price; that even with an army of one hundred thousand men and thirteen gunboats doing police 2O A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. duty, navigation of the river was but a hazardous experiment, and the people of the Northwest would soon realize the futility and absurdity of their senseless cry of "free navigation." "Free navigation is a barren privilege in the absence of commerce and trade, and these can be restored only on the return of peace. We think even the dark side of the picture has its bright spots. Come what may, we shall not despond, or despair of the Republic." Again, a few days later, in an editorial on the past, present and future of the war, the conclusion is again reached that the enorm ous cost of Vicksburg to the yankees has made it a dear victory, and that "the experience of the past year teaches the important fact that we are far more able to carry on a protracted war of defense against our enemy than they are to wage one of aggres sion upon us. Already many of their own statesmen and organs are beginning to argue and discuss the absolute necessity of the ultimate repudiation of their war debt, which cannot fail to bring upon their people and government ruin and dishonor. . . . Let us then not court despair, but summon courage, and with Nil Desperandum for our motto, and a merciful and just God to guide us, we shall evoke victory from the cannon s mouth." FURTHER SOUTHERN REVERSES. Later in July came a silence of the wires for days, "ominous of evil, we fear," followed by the news of the occupation of Jackson. A week later come letters from Jackson over two weeks in route, "too late for publication, the situation having entirely changed." Lee retreats from Pennsylvania, and under the caption, "Never Despond or Despair," there is an editorial beginning, "True manhood and heroic courage never despair, but rise superior to the calamities that befall them." Then follows a determined effort to show how many stars of hope and encouragement were still shining through the dark clouds of gloom, and the people are called on to rally once more while "the yankees are now in an admirable position to receive a severe drubbing, in the heart of our country, a long way from their gunboats and water courses." Elsewhere in the Confederacy, many were convinced that in- A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 21 dependence was unattainable, but if there were any such senti ment in Atlanta, the Appeal did not reflect it. The last day of July there is another editorial, "No Cause for Despondency, " counseling the careful husbanding of resources and declaring that the South might have ample cause to hope for ultimate suc cess, even "though much weaker than she really is. He is more than doubly armed who fights in a righteous cause and on the defensive." These hopeful extracts are given as a marked feature of the Appeal s war history. It never lost hope or faith, and who can tell the inspiriting effect of this hopefulness upon its soldier readers? Is it any wonder that the South could hardly be con quered when its people were animated by a spirit like this ? THE SLOW PROGRESS OF EVENTS. And yet the Appeal did not believe in creating a false impres sion, for more than one strong editorial is directed against those "who are humbugging themselves and others" by belittling the numbers of the enemy; "if their numbers are not more than stated, Southern arms will be disgraced if they are not whipped in thirty days. Let us no longer be humbugged. To be fore warned is to be forearmed." August was characterized by little to be mentioned here. The column of the enemy closed in, and September found Bragg still slowly backing away as the Federals advanced. Then, weeks of fighting around and south of Chattanooga. Want pinched closer and closer, and made even more rigid economy necessary. The Federal program for the subjugation of the South, it was be lieved at this time, would terminate with the capture of Atlanta, and the Appeal in publishing the information calls for a defense that will make the city a place of political historic renown. Late in November and early in December there were but vague and indefinite reports from the front, and little to claim mention here directly concerning the Appeal. December 9 Blind Tcm gave a performance for the benefit of sick and wounded soldiers. December 10 was observed throughout Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi as a day of fasting and prayer. The second Christmas in exile was marked by no particular 22 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. observance. But there is an editorial on the poor, and an appeal for remembering the numberless mothers and little boys and girls without fire, with scant clothing and naked feet." Another editorial on the day speaks of Christmas customs and reunions and concludes : "And though many of us may be absent from home, in the hospitals and elsewhere, let home, with all its images of father, or mother, or brother and sister, with its memories, its hopes, its joys, be intellectually, as though actually present; and let the reunion of heart and mind be as complete as though we are not absent in the body. And, above all, let those of us who are at home not forget those among us who are away from home, in the withholding or denial of any little attention or accustomed civility, kindness or hospitality ; for, as it is a day peculiarly of gifts, it is a day when gifts are twice blessed, blessed to him that receives, more blessed to him that gives." HELPING MORGAN S MEN. In January over $10,000 was raised in Atlanta by subscription toward mounting Morgan s men and equipping them for service again, and $2,500 was added to this amount by a concert given by the ladies of Atlanta. On the 1 9th of January the Appeal began the publication of both morning and evening editions, the fresh matter of the morn ing edition appearing on the first page, and that of the evening on the second. This change was made to reach their subscribers on the Augusta & Macon and Western roads one day earlier than heretofore. January 28, Mrs. S. C. Law passed through Atlanta, with five hundred blankets and one thousand five hundred pairs of socks, a contribution of the ladies of Columbus, Ga., to the needy soldiers of General Johnston s army. On the same day some other ladies are rebuked editorially for having made the rounds of the city soliciting contributions for putting a carpet in the parsonage of one of the churches. "In times like these," suggests the Appeal, "when numbers of our soldiers in the field are suffer ing for covering to shield them from the chilling blasts of winter, and their families at home suffering for the actual necessaries of life, it is not only not commendable, but is reprehensible. If A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 23 any of our ministers have carpets on their floors, it is their duty at once to convert them into blankets and send them to the army. Let us hope these no doubt well-intentioned ladies will think bet ter of their enterprise and give their charities a more deserving and wholesome direction." This shows the spirit of the times, that all there was in the South should be devoted to the South and to the army that was fighting its battles. We hear no more of the carpet enterprise. An item in the Appeal of February 8, shows that the price of white paper has passed $47.50 per ream, in forty ream lots. This made a newspaper an expensive thing at best, and a few days later we find a notice that the cost is being wrongly increased by newsboys who have charged a number of gentlemen fifty cents a copy, when the price was rightfully but twenty-five cents a copy. An earnest appeal is made for the planting of as large crops of breadstuffs as possible, the intention being quite evident on the Yankees part "to starve us into submission." Attention is called also to a large number of idle boys in the city who "ought to be doing something for their country, either with a musket or a plow." PRICES GO HIGHER AND HIGHER. Quinine is quoted at $200 an ounce, and people s faces have grown so long that the barbers charge a dollar for a shave. The butchers put up the price of beef to three dollars a pound, and bacon was selling at the same price. Note is made of the fact that a man who had invested $3,300, his entire savings, in one thou sand one hundred pounds of bacon, had his smokehouse broken open and his entire meat supply stolen. Incendiary fires for pur poses of robbery were daily reported. But with the approach of spring hopeful feelings returned and the Appeal declares that the gloomiest days of the Confederacy have passed. March 25 E. M. Edwardy advertises that until April I only he will sell ten pounds of granulated sugar for one hundred dollars or six and two-third pounds of coffee for the same amount. Mobile prices are said to be lower than Atlanta prices, as in Mobile corn meal is only $7 a bushel; peas, $12; potatoes, $12; pork, $4 a pound and butter $10 to $15 a pound according to quality. 24 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. Richmond quotes per pound : soap, $4 ; candles, $5.25 ; dried apples, $2.37^ and peaches, $2.50. Mobile hotel rates are said to be $15 a day, "an example well worthy of imitation in Atlanta, where the rates are outrageous." Onions may be had in bunches of one dozen small ones for $2 a bunch. "A love of a bonnet" is described which may be had at $1,000. Meantime the enemy was drawing nearer. May 9, they were at Rome, and closer and "closer they came to Atlanta. The movements are chronicled daily until June 24, when an impor tant movement, "which we cannot mention," had taken place. No press reports were received for three days, the wires all being cut by the army of siege around Atlanta. The effect was depressing on all. On the 27th and 28th firing was heard be yond the city, the battle of Kennesaw Ridge and at other near-by points. With the issue of June 30, 1864, the regular Atlanta issue of the Appeal is closed. AWAY FROM ATLANTA. Its stay in Atlanta was nearly done. Shortly before the city was entered by the conquering legions, the Appeal retired from that same Gen. Sherman who a year before had chased them out of Jackson. The Appeal, press and type, went to Montgom ery after June 30, but the paper continued issuing extra slips from a proof press until the evacuation. As General Somebody s corps marched into Atlanta on one side, the proof press and a few cases of type retained to operate it went out on a dray on the other, and so the Appeal and Gen. Sherman parted company for good. Sherman went off down into Georgia and knocked many a printing office into "pi" there and over in South Carolina. The Appeal forces went on to Montgomery, where the paper was regularly issued again, beginning the 2Oth of September, 1864, and continued to entertain and instruct the denizens of Dixie until about the 2Oth of April, 1865. MONTGOMERY EVACUATED. Then another fierce military gentleman of the Federal persua sion took it into his head to ride furiously down through Ala bama Major General Wilson, with nine thousand Spencer rifles A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 25 in the hands of picked men, who knew how to ride and how to fight. He gobbled up Selma, using it very roughly, burning foun dries, gun factories and things generally of the "C. S." brand of ownership. When it was definitely ascertained that he had fixed his eagle eye on Montgomery that is to say, about the I2th of April, 1865, the Appeal became aware of the sound policy of an immediate evacuation of the "cradle of the rebel lion," and made room for the General. The press took to itself wings and steam, and fled east of the Chattahoochee to Colum bus, Ga. Montgomery was occupied without resistance, and Columbus captured after a stout but ineffectual defense. The press and the material, except the proof press and a few cases of type, had been sent to Macon in anticipation of General Wilson s probable visit to Columbus, and were there deposited in a place of safety, and were not discovered until after the armistice and the promulgation of orders from General Sherman to stop the destruction of either public or private property. The proof press and a few cases of type left behind in Columbus were piled in the streets and destroyed by order of Major General Wilson, who had one way and another been often engaged in the pur suit of the migratory journal and the migratory journalists. The illness of Colonel Dill s wife had delayed his departure too long, and after some little search he was found by Colonel Minty and conducted to General Wilson s headquarters in the Perry House. When they came in the room, General Wilson was seated on the floor with his engineer, a large map spread out under them. Colonel Minty addressed the General with the request: "Allow me to introduce to you for a moment, sir, Colonel Dill, of the Memphis Appeal." "Jesus Christ," exclaimed General Wilson, jumping up from the floor; "have we caught the old fox at last?" At this there was a general laugh all round, followed by some old Bourbon, which Colonel Dill declared to be better than any he had tasted for two years. General Wilson gave Dill the choice of giv ing bond not to publish another paper during the continuance of the war or being held as a prisoner. Dill very promptly gave the bond, and was released. 26 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. THE RETURN FROM EXILE. But the war was now about ended, and, ironclad with am nesties and paroles, the Appeal came home from its eventful ex ile of three years. The old press came back, too, and as soon as more type could be procured, the Appeal again began its pub lication on the 5th of November, 1865. It was again, in truth, the Memphis Appeal When the war broke out and the paper went into voluntary exile it had been one of the wealthiest institutions in Memphis, and was published by McClanahan, Trousdale & Dill. McClanahan and Dill went with the paper when it started on its three years flight through Dixie, but Col. Leon Trousdale was not with it during its career "on wheels." He had previously left to become a staff officer with some general of the Confederate Army, and afterwards became identified with the Chattanooga Rebel, an other migratory journal of much reputation in those days, though not so long-lived as the Appeal. Other members of the Rebel s staff were Albert Roberts, Henry Watterson, Franc M. Paul and perhaps others of less note. Both McClanahan and Dill came back to Memphis, but before the first issue of the paper was printed in its old home, McClanahan was no more. He had been identified with the Appeal since 1847, was with it in all its migratory campaign and was a writer of eminent ability. He had been sick, and was still quite feeble. On the morning of June 29, 1865, he had opened the window of his room at the Gayoso Hotel to get the air, when he lost his balance and fell, crushing himself so cruelly as to die shortly in the greatest pain. From the Nashville Press is taken the folowing account of the tragedy, which will prove interesting in connection with this strange and eventful newspaper history. "On the morning of the 29th ult, Col. John R. McClanahan was found in the alley in the rear of the Gayoso House, Mem phis. He had sometime during the night fallen from the win dow of his room in the third story of the hotel, and was horribly mangled by the fall. Both arms and both legs were broken, the latter near the knees; his chin crushed, and he was otherwise badly bruised. He was conscious when discovered, and in the A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 27 intensity of his agony begged some one to kill him and put an end to his sufferings. He died shortly after. "Col. McClanahan was for many years editor of the Memphis Appeal, and, in 1860, a warm supporter of Mr. Douglass for the Presidency. He subsequently supported the rebellion, and, on the approach of the National troops to Memphis, removed with his office to Grenada, Miss. Both he and the Appeal be came rather notorious at a later day for the frequency of their change of base, and, lastly, for losing even their base. He was a kind, warm-hearted man, a fine scholar and an able writer. Next to the late Elbridge G. Eastman, he was the most sagacious and reliable editor connected with the Democratic press of the State of Tennessee." Mr. W. F. Dill, the other proprietor, did not long survive him. He was sick at the Gayoso Hotel when the first issue was printed, and died early the following year. When the first num ber was being printed, Major Will O. Woodson, who was con nected with the paper, and had been one of its special corre spondents during the war, seized the first printed sheet as it came from the press and rushed with it to Dill s sick room. Mrs. Dill seized the paper and kissed it passionately, as though it had been a thing of flesh and blood, and then spread it affec tionately over her pale, sick husband. To her this was an em blem of all the hopes and struggles and failures of the Con federacy. The Colonel looked at it more practically. He picked it up and began counting up the number of advertisements and hunting for typographical errors. He was able to make but one visit to the office where the paper was printed, and died a few weeks afterwards. But though neither of these two brave workers long survived the strange episode in journalism which they created, they had carried out their ambition to have their paper live throughout the war. Another worker on the Memphis Appeal of the war times is deserving of more mention than can be given him here for want of the facts. Things went by rapidly then, and men stopped not to gather the threads of each other s lives. Linebaugh, a fluent and brilliant writer, joined the force in Atlanta. He was an ex- 28 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. clergyman of the Episcopal Church, very erratic but full of fine traits of character. Loved like a brother by the exiles, he went with the Appeal on its last flight. While crossing the Alabama River he was drowned, and was thus the first of those closely allied with the Appeal to pass away. POST BELLUM CONGRATULATIONS. The Appeal s war history was a subject of considerable com ment among the gentlemen of the press after its return, and many of them wrote sketches of great or less length of the Memphis-Grenada- Jackson- Atlanta-Montgomery Appeal, as one of them termed it. Under the caption, "A Wanderer Returned," the Cincinnati Commercial said : "During the war the frequent removals of the Memphis Ap peal caused a good deal of merriment, and journalists especially kept an account of its wanderings and amused themselves at its expense. The paragraphs on the subject have been innumerable, and it is doubtful whether the proprietors of the Appeal, though they were not unappreciative of a good thing, were always able to see where the laugh came in. We received many copies of the Appeal when it was issued at Grenada, Jackson and Atlanta, and the ample extracts from its columns that may be found re produced in the Commercial, are the best testimony we can offer that we recognized it as a good newspaper. We remember well the copy of the Appeal issued at Atlanta on the morning of the battle of Peachtree Creek. It was full of fight, and we should not be surprised if the headlong valor of Hood s army that day was due, in no small degree, to the fiery appeals addressed to the men to make their fight then and there. A huge ten-column folio sheet made its appearance among our exchanges yesterday, and lo ! it was the Memphis Appeal again, and it was dated Memphis, Sunday, November 5, 1865. . . The Appeal proceeds to say that if it erred in obeying the impulse which throbbed as from one impassioned heart throughout the South, it may claim to have made some expiation in the sacrifices it has endured during the three years of its self-exile. It has no unmanly excuses to make/ nor stultifying recantations of opinions and sentiments once honestly entertained ; but admits that the stern logic of events has practically compelled their renunciation. We frankly and truly accept the interpretation which has been stamped with the red verdict of war upon the Constitution, of the indestructibility of that Union of States and people which makes us, for all time, a mighty and indivisible Republic ; we recognize and abide by A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. 29 the logical sequence of the late unhappy Civil War, in the de struction now and forever, of the institution of African slavery. The real men of the land, the true fighting soldiers of both sec tions, have decreed that there shall be a real peace and a genuine union in the great American family. Between the veteran Fed eral soldier and the unflinching Confederate soldier, who have so often met each other in the raging conflict of battle, there is a feeling of respect that affords the sure foundation on which the restored Union will rest. : So much for the other side. On this side the following may be given. It was written for the Nashville Republican Banner by Albert Roberts, himself a "traveling journalist" in those days with the Chattanooga Rebel, and afterwards with the Atlanta Confederacy, after the war at the head of the Republican Ban ner, and at the head of the American in Colonel John C. Burch s time the peer of any journalist of the time : "Do our eyes deceive us? No, it is the Memphis Appeal which stares us in the face ! The same old letter Roman bold at the head; the same antique decorations and plain captions; the very ink, and, as it were, the very paper. We stand, so to say, in our old shadow, and read it like a page of Waverly. Esto perpetual Here is the portly and impressive Dill, like a burgher of the olden time, in broad-brimmed hat and silver- headed cane, just as he used to pass from Whitehall to Peach- tree, undismayed by the shells, unmoved by the dreadful stench of saltpeter; here, hovering in the air, is the bleeding form of poor McClanahan ; and here, dripping in water and wrapped in moss, is the brilliant and ill-fated Linebaugh ! The history of this journal will be read a hundred years hence like a romance. It has had more adventures than a Knight of Malta, and has come out of the smoke and din, covered over with scars, but stronger and braver for the conflict. It has heard lions roar, and seen the sea puffed up with winds ; and its haps and chances by flood and field make matter for a ballad. Nothing in news- paperography can compare with its strange, eventful career. "Ah, that old press ! How well we remember it ! Clickity- click! Clickity-click ! Clickity-click ! Through the long night it rattled away, defiant of the roar and storm outside; and every morning how bright and fiery, unfatigued and fresh it looked like a war-horse ready for another charge. They carried the works of Peachtree street; they carried the works below Deca- tur; they carried the rifle pits which ran along the Macon road. Clickity-click! Clickity-click! the old press dashed along, heed less of danger, a living, breathing, cognizant being, cast of iron, 30 A REBEL NEWSPAPER S WAR STORY. steel and melt. Dill grew serious, Bumble s face extended and Mack s pen wandered vaguely across the page. Old Joe was down the country and Hood was playing the devil. Then Stone- man was gobbled. Clickity-click ! rattled the old press. There was a pause an ominous lull. The bloody twenty-second of July was passed, the bloody twenty-eighth was lost, and Ben Hill knew no more about Sherman than he did about Paradise. Hood, like Dill, was serious, and the boys at the front were seri ous. Hardee was off at Jonesboro. Boom! Boom! How the guns thundered! Crash! Crash! How the roofs, walls and church spires tumbled! Whiz! Whiz! How the schrapnel tore through the air ! Clickity-click ! Clickity-click ! "The city fell. Out we went, like a snuffed candle, and dark ness followed. It lasted long, unstudded with stars. Linebaugh lies at the bottom of the Alabama; McClanahan, God rest him, sleeps on the banks of the Mississippi. Day begins to break. Clickity-click! the press is going again with gallant Dill upon the flat. "It is all over now. It seems like a dream. What shadows we pursue! May our ancient friend never be shadowless, but may it bear the sun to mark its shadow. Here s your health, O, Dill! May you never move again, O, Appeal! except your readers." UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. LD 21-100m-ll, 49(B7146sl6)476 M157489 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY