A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE EXECUTION OF THE SIX MILITIA MEN!!
[Philadelphia: John Binns, 1828]. Folio Broadside, 11" x 19." Printed in three columns, each separated by a rule. Macabre relief cuts of six black coffins within the title. Repaired horizontal and vertical closed tears on blank verso; several small holes have slight effect on several letters. Light toning. Good+ copy of a rare, dramatic broadside.
"As we soon expect to have official documents in relation to the SIX MILITIA MEN, arrested, tried, and put to death, under the orders of General Andrew Jackson, this may not be an improper time to give to the public some of the particulars of the execution..." The source of those "particulars" is the account in John Binns's 'Democratic Press.'
The primary weapon of the anti-Jackson forces was his alleged impetuous, unrestrained, martial personality, utterly unsuitable for the presidency of a democratic republic whose success required respect for constitutional checks and balances. Jackson's indefensible shooting of the six militia men after the Battle of New Orleans is described in elaborate detail. The events described occurred during the Seminole Campaign of 1815. Jackson ordered the execution of six soldiers for mutiny. The alleged mutiny consisted of a dispute over whether the soldiers were volunteers for three or six months.
American Imprints 32473 records a later issue of this broadside, the text expanded to four columns with the addition of text dated 30 January 1828. The only other three-column institutional copy that we have located is at the Boston Athenaeum.
OCLC 145506365 [1- Boston Athenaeum] as of July 2022. Four-column printing for AI 32473, OCLC 191251345 [3 locations for the four-column variant: AAS, Boston College, Middlebury]. Three-column printing not at AAS's online site. Item #38443
Price: $5,000.00