Printed booklet in plain cream wrappers, wire-stitched at the gutter, approximately 9 x 6 inches, at least 21 pages. Title page reads HEADQUARTERS / TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT / United Confederate Veterans, with printer's ornament, above ATLANTA REUNION / OCT. 7-10-1919. Running heads carry TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT on the versos and UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS on the rectos.

The text opens with departmental staff listings, including a roster of Honorary Guests of Staff — Lieut.-Col. Henry S. Hale, Consolidated 3rd and 7th Ky. Mounted Infantry, of Mayfield, Ky.; Capt. Felix G. Terry, Co. G, 8th Ky. Mounted Infantry, of Cadiz, Ky.; Capt. Frank B. Gurley, Co. C, 4th Ala. Cavalry, of Gurley, Ala.; Dr. John A. Wyeth, Private, Co. I, 4th Ala. Cavalry, of New York City; and Jacob L. McCollum, Major, 6th Ala. Infantry, of Atlanta.

There follows a "Synopsis of the Brilliant Campaigns of Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate States Army" — a compressed campaign chronology running from the capture of Streight's command at Turkey Town in May 1863 through Okolona, the Paducah raid and Fort Pillow, Brice's Cross Roads, the fighting against A. J. Smith at Pontotoc, Harrisburg, Tupelo and Old Town Creek, the Memphis raid of August 1864, the Tennessee River operations closing at Johnsonville, Hood's Nashville campaign and retreat, and the Selma campaign ending in the capitulation at Gainesville, Alabama, on May 10, 1865.

The balance of the text is given over to "Efforts of the South for Peace," reprinted from the Confederate Veteran of June 1916 — an extended Lost Cause argument on the sectional character of Lincoln's election, the Confederate peace commissioners and their treatment by Seward, the Virginia peace conference, Fort Sumter, and the "Aims and Results" of the Republican leadership, closing with an appeal for co-operation between Confederates and Federals. Practical matter follows at the rear: Railroad Identification Tickets, noting Director General Hines's instruction that all railroads grant a special one-cent-per-mile rate to veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans, members of the U.D.C. and the Confederated Southern Memorial Association, with certificates obtainable through N. B. Forrest, Adjutant-in-Chief, S.C.V., Atlanta; and Lodging Outside of Hotels, with the Housing Committee under chairman H. C. Heinz preparing contract cards for rooms from a dollar a day.

HISTORICAL NOTE

The 1919 Atlanta gathering was among the last of the great United Confederate Veterans reunions to draw substantial numbers of the men themselves; the ranks thinned quickly through the 1920s. Departmental headquarters booklets of this kind were issued in small numbers for the use of staff and delegates rather than for general distribution, and survive far less often than the mass-produced reunion programs and souvenirs.

Two names on the honorary staff list carry weight beyond the roster. Dr. John Allan Wyeth, entered here as a private of the 4th Alabama Cavalry, was by 1919 a celebrated New York surgeon and the author of the 1899 Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the standard biography of its era — which lends an obvious connection to the Forrest synopsis printed a few lines below his name. Frank B. Gurley, of the same regiment, was the officer held responsible for the death of Union Brig. Gen. Robert L. McCook in Alabama in August 1862, tried by military commission and under sentence of death before his eventual release. The railroad notice is likewise of its moment: the nation's railroads were still under federal control following the war in Europe, and the special rate came down through Director General Walker D. Hines of the United States Railroad Administration.

CONDITION

Text block clean and bright with light overall toning, heavier at the margins. Wrappers with edge wear, light soiling and corner creasing. Stitching sound, hinges intact, pages supple. Text fully legible throughout. No ownership marks noted.   [ss][ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!