The Southern Illustrated News - Richmond, Virginia 1863

SOUTHERN ILLUSTRATED NEWS. Richmond, Saturday, July 25, 1863. Vol. II - No. 3. Pages 17-21. The lead article concerns the life of Gen. William Loring with and illustration of him. Certainly the prime content in this issue is the terrific account of the Battle of Gettysburg from the Confederate perspective, which provides much bias in favor of the actions of Lee and his army. Portions of that article include "On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (1st, 2nd and 3d of July) was fought the great battle of Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, between the forces of Gen. Lee and the Yankee army under the command of Gen. Meade, who succeeds Hooker, superseded for incompetency....For the first two days our troops drove those of the enemy before them... Gen. Lee renewed the attack on the enemy and drove him to some strong entrenchments...These entrenchments were stormed after severe fighting & victory remained with us. But Gen. Lee...fell slowly back. He had taken a large number of prisoners & to secure them he fell back to Hagerstown. The Yankees had already retreated before he did, but he was not aware of the fact. Had he been so, we might have pressed them, in all probability, until they had become entirely demoralized. As it was, finding that he also had begun to fall back, the Yankees returned to the field & raised a shot of victory. The most astounding lies were telegraphed to the cities...Lee's army, according to them, had been completely routed & disorganized...The terrible Yankee cavalry were in pursuit... In the meantime a telegram announcing a great victory & capture of 40,000 Yankees had been received in Richmond & the people were jubilant. Suddenly their joy was cut short by the arrival of the flag of truce boat with the Yankee papers. Something very like a panic succeeded. The people seemed to take the Yankee lies for gospel...Before the end of the week the truth with regard to Lee began to come out. He had gained a great victory & captured thousands of prisoners. He had fallen back to Hagerstown at his leisure & in the most perfect order. The Yankees had not dared to pursue him..." A great account of arguably the most famous and crucial battle of the Civil War from the Confederate's perspective. Even toning to paper, dbd, overall a very nice copy of a scarce newspaper and account of the Battle of Gettysburg.