GENERAL GRANT / AND / CAPTAIN BEN HILL SCREWS. / [ornamental rule] / (New York Herald, June 29, 1876.) / IMPRUDENCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE! / BOLD EXPRESSIONS OF A DEFIANT REB. / [ornamental rule] / [followed by seven paragraphs, printing Screws' address to the President at his White House visit]

(Montgomery, AL): G.W. Beers & Co., Printers, 1876. Printed broadside, 14 1/8 x 11 inches, employing several sizes and styles of type, including nice display types in the head, on thin card, the whole enclosed within an ornamental border. In part: "We come, Sir, from the land ... of the famed Kuklux, on whose back, Mr. President, you have twice ridden into the realms of almost Imperial power ... the voice of [Alabama's] dead sons echo yet in the Halls of yon stately Capitol, built with the treasure contributed by THE COTTON FIELDS OF ALABAMA ... oppressed [Alabama] may be ... [but she will] spring up again in the light of her rising greatness, gilding and glorifying every page of her history, past, present, and to come ... beneath [her] fruitful soil there is a mine of wealth which will develop Birmingham, into one of the mightiest cities the world has ever known ... your triumphs left the blackness of ashes -- the mournful tear of the widow, and the piteous cry of the orphan, to testify of their cruelty. For your victories, you are hailed as the savior of the nation. We, for ours, claim no higher honor than to be called the saviors of Freedom and the champions of Liberty ... even in this august presence, [I] claim your respect, for although you may be President of the United States, I am President of Lomax Fire Company No. 4 of Montgomery, Ala., and am entitled to all the dignities and franchises of that exalted station ... we sympathise with you, Mr. President, in the discharge of your arduous labors, and, as much as men may, we can show no brighter record of loyalty, extend to you the assurances of our respect and esteem. As I said before, we have come to Washington to see the elephant, and having now viewed the animal in all his entirety, we are ready to hear him speak." Screws was a company commander in the 29th Alabama Infantry during the Civil War; he served as editor and publisher of the Montgomery Capital City Record during reconstruction. This "address" by Screws was made during a visit to the White House by a group of Alabama journalists. Not in Hummel. Not recorded on OCLC (Beers was active as a printer in Montgomery, 1870s-1880s). Very soiled and worn, laid down on thin card, one corner chipped into border, right edge chipped, two long tears into text through border (affecting several letters), a working copy of a rare Reconstruction-era Alabama broadside. (#5055). Item #58039

Price: $850.00