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1862 Broadside Soldier's Relief Society Lectures,

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 200.00 USD
1862 Broadside Soldier's Relief Society Lectures,
<B>1862 Broadside Soldier's Relief Society Lectures, Haverhill, Massachusetts</B></I> During the years of the Civil War, hundreds of local groups sprang up to aid the brave soldiers in the field. This led to the formation of the United States Sanitary Commission in June of 1861, actually <I>before</B></I> the first major battle of the war. Its purpose was to promote clean and healthy conditions in the Union Army camps. It staffed field hospitals, raised money, provided supplies, and worked to educate the military and government on matters of health and sanitation. Here is a rare broadside from Haverhill, Massachusetts, dated in December, 1862 and printed by the <I>Essex Banner,</B></I> a local paper. It advertises a series of lectures in order to raise funds to "Aid the Soldier's Cause!" There were to be six speakers in the series, starting with the Rev. L. D. Barrows and to include Josiah Gilbert Holland (Timothy Titcomb), Mrs. DeMortia (a Quadroon lady of culture and talent), Wendell Phillips and (in part): "Frederick Douglas will speak on the evening of Dec. 31, occupying the last hours of the legal existence of slavery in the rebellious states... in its expiring moments on the scaffold of its beheading, by the great War Guillotine, the Proclamation of the President... God bless Abraham Lincoln." It appears they were having an Emancipation "watch night" party. The proclamation mentioned is, of course, the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862 and scheduled to go into effect January 1, 1863. Light foxing, else excellent condition. Lot:251