Steele, Silas B.:

LIBERTY AND UNION FOREVER. NEW PATRIOTIC AND COMIC SONG, ON THE SINKING OF THE PIRATE ALABAMA BY THE U.S. GUNBOAT KEARSARGE, CAPTAIN WINSLOW. JUNE 19TH, 1864. WRITTEN BY SILAS S. STEELE, ESQ. TUNE, "TEDDY THE TILLER,,' [sic] OR "CANNIBAL ISLANDS."

[Philadelphia]: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by J. Magee, 316 Chestnut Street, [1864]. Single sheet, folded to 5" x 8." Printed, in red and blue inks, on verso of first page only. Caption title flanked by American flags. Old folds. Pages [2] - [4] consist of a manuscript letter from a soldier named Daniel Baker to his "Dear wife," urging her to tell his mother to "keep up good courage for this war won't last more than a thousand years longer." Very Good.

The humorous song commemorates the sinking of the CSS Alabama by the USS Kearsarge during the Battle of Cherbourg. It begins, "I sing the doom and dark career / Of the Rebel Pirate, made to steer/ And plunder our ships, both far and near, / The terrible 'Alabama! / She was built by 'NEUTRAL Johnny Bull,' / Who threatened Yankee ears to pull, / Because they dealt in nigger wool; / Tho' cotton filled his pockets full."
Not in Wolf or Bartlett. OCLC locates five copies under several accession numbers as of April 2021. Item #37504

Price: $375.00