A FORGED AND SATIRIC LETTER, PURPORTEDLY FROM SOUTHERN GENERAL P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, CELEBRATING "NEGRO EQUALITY" IN MARYLAND. ALLEGEDLY WRITTEN 7 NOVEMBER 1863 AT CHARLESTON, S. C.
[Maryland? 1863?]. Single leaf, written in ink script on recto only. An obvious forgery: Beauregard was a passionate advocate of Negro Slavery, a general in the Confederate Army, and an adherent to the Southern Cause. The handwriting does not match that of Beauregard. Very Good.
This forgery, purportedly written only two months after President Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, reads as follows:
"Take notice
"Dear Rebs
"I take this method of informing you that the 'Southern Chivalry' of Anne Arundel Co. inaugurated negro equality in the late election (Nov 3. 63) by casting seventy votes in one election district for a free negro named Bishop of Annapolis for the office of Land Commissioner in opposition to the Seabrook Unconditional Union.
"Three cheers for negro equality in Md.
Three cheers for Bishop
Three cheers for the chivalry of A A County
Yours
Beauregard
Charleston SC Nov. 7th 1863"
Radical Republican editor William Seabrook was the actual pro-Union candidate for State Land Commissioner in Maryland, winning the election without opposition. We could not confirm that William Bishop, who was indeed a wealthy Free Negro in Annapolis, was a candidate for Land Commissioner, or that he opposed Seabrook. Item #42386
Price: $450.00