SUBMITTED BY: Robert Jones
This Battle of Roanoke Island, NC Broadside also features an 1862 Battle engraving, Naval and Army commanders’ engravings, and clipped signatures of General Burnside and Admiral Goldsborough.
The first part of the broadside is an order issued by Lincoln thanking Burnside and Goldsborough and the land and naval forces under their respective commands for their gallant achievements at the Battle of Roanoke Island. The order is signed in print by Secretary of War Edwin M Stanton and Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles.
Also, within the broadside is a proclamation issued under the joint command of Burnside and Goldsborough to the People of North Carolina, signed in print by both officers. It reads in part: “Roanoke Island N.C., Feb. 18, 1862 – The mission of our joint expedition is not to invade any of your rights but to assert the authority of the U.S., and to close with you the desolating war brought upon your state by comparatively a few bad men in your midst ….
They are still urging you astray to gratify their unholy purposes. They impose upon your credulity by telling you of wicked and even diabolical intentions on our part, of our desires to destroy your freedom, demolish your property, liberate your slaves, injure your women, and such like enormities all of which, we assure you, is not only ridiculous, but utterly and willfully false.
We are Christians as well as yourselves, and we profess to know full well, and to feel profoundly, the sacred obligations of character. We shall inflict no injury, unless forced to do so by your own acts, and upon this you may confidently rely. Those men are your worst enemies. They, in truth, have drawn you into your present condition, and are the real disturbers of your peace and the happiness of your firesides. We invite you, in the name of the Constitution, to separate yourselves from these malign influences…”
This is a field-press broadside and when I acquired it over 30 years ago was informed that it was the only remaining example (I myself never came across another). It is all original and has been professionally framed and matted to museum standards. (Click to enlarge.)
