August 2012 Auction Ends Thursday, August 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/30/2012
The last ever edition of Vicksburg, Mississippi's wallpaper newspaper ''The Daily Citizen'', printed 2 July 1863 and then updated on 4 July after Union forces took control of the city and its printing press. In Vicksburg, after Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered, Union forces commandeered publisher J.M. Swords' abandoned press and printed this edition, the content of which had been slated for a 2 July edition, save for the 4 July note added to the end of the last column. In a distinctly different voice than the rest of the paper, the note reads in full: ''Two days bring about great changes, the banner of the Union floats over Vicksburg. Gen. Grant has 'caught the rabbit'; [an allusion to the last article in Column 2] he has dined in Vicksburg and he did bring his dinner with him. [Food was scarce due to war] The 'Citizen' lives to see it. For the last time it appears on 'Wall-paper'. No more will it eulogize the luxury of mule-meat and fricassed kitten - urge southern warriors to such diet nevermore. This is the last wall-paper edition, and is, excepting this note from the types as we toned them. It will be valuable hereafter as a curiousity.'' The other articles all reflect the Confederate cause; one, referencing Lee's campaign at Gettysburg (before the results of the battle were known), reads in part: ''...Today the mongrel administration of Lincoln...are in search of a father - for their old Abe has departed for parts unknown...Lee's brilliant and successful on-slaught upon the abolition border...To-day Maryland is ours, to-morrow Pennsylvania will be, and the next day Ohio...'' This paper contains all points identified by the Library of Congress: 6 periods and comma, ''secossion'', ''them as would'', ''Yankee News'' and ''tremity''. The ''Citizen'' headline is spelled correctly, indicating this is not one of the handful first printed. Complete single-page paper printed on wallpaper (due to paper shortage) measures 11.5'' x 19.5''. Light toning, creasing and staining. Tiny tears to right edge and pinholes along vertical crease ending in an inch of separation to the fold line at the bottom edge. Overall very good, complete and intact. A scarce piece from the Civil War, at its most pivotal point of early July 1863.
From 2-4 July 1863, the Highly Collectible ''Vicksburg Daily Citizen'' Newspaper Printed on Wallpaper -- the Last Edition of the Confederate Paper Before Union Forces Took the City & Printing Press
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