THE REBEL NEWSPAPER
EXTREMELY RARE! THE DAILY REBEL! TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1863!
THE DAILY REBEL. F.M. PAUL. Proprietor. Chattanooga, Tuesday, September 1, 1863
An extremely rare newspaper dating from the midst of the Chickamauga Campaign in Southeastern Tennessee and Northwestern Georgia. Initially THE DAILY REBEL was a 4 page newspaper which due to the scarcity of paper gradually decreased in size to this single page and one sided broadside. Contents included war news from various fronts, local interest, advertising, lost and found notices and rewards offered. Its printed numbers and circulation was limited by the scarcity of paper rather than the lack of demand.
On September 27, 1862, the REBEL ran an article championing the press's vital role in wartime communications. The piece was entitled "The Importance of the Press in Time of War" and was signed, "PRINTER." It strongly emphasized the importance of (the Confederate) press to both the government and military, as well as citizens. "The importance of the Press in time of war to the spirit of the army is incalculable. It is, as one of our correspondents observes, 'the only medium of organized public opinion—the only source of communication between the Government and the people, and which if silenced (as the Senate and House propose) would leave these wise bodies themselves practically as voiceless as the grave.'"
The REBEL was one of only a few Tennessee Confederate newspapers that remained in circulation throughout the war. In its attempt to stay ahead of the Union Army, the REBEL was forced to move from town to town and soon earned the nickname the "Rebel on Wheels." Over the course of the war, the paper was published in Chattanooga; Marietta and Griffin, Georgia (as the Daily Chattanooga Rebel) in 1864-65; and, finally, Selma, Alabama, (once again as the Chattanooga Daily Rebel) in 1865.
Federal troops eventually caught up with the REBEL in Selma, in early April 1865. The troops occupied the offices while the REBEL’s staff was held at the stockade. A few days later, as the troops left the town, they destroyed the REBEL's presses and type, and the building was set alight. However, a small hand press survived the destruction and a few last copies of the Rebel were published before it permanently ceased on April 27, 1865.
Taken from this issue :
1. “The crisis of the Revolution is upon us. The time for Southern pluck to prove itself is at hand. That period when the wisdom and nerve of the Confederate Government should be exercised to the fullest has arrived. Let the people of the land reinforce its armies, and let the commanders thereof mass them for the overthrow of the Federal Army of the West. Where, in God’s name, a better field, and when a better opportunity than is now presented along the Tennessee River? The main strength of the yankee force in the West is withdrawn from the Cumberland and Ohio Valleys – the very flower of the Abolition army hundreds of miles advanced from its former base of supplies. They can never get back beyond the mountains if we use our advantages quickly and well.”
2. “Quite a number of robberies have been committed in various parts of the town of late. On Saturday night the guard arrested about a dozen soldiers, most of them in the act of breaking into homes at the time of arrest. One or two such offenders, swung up by the neck, might serve as an example to other thieves in uniform. A soldier who would steal would desert on the first opportunity, and he should be shot for one offense as quick as for the other.”
Source: University of Tennessee
Complete as a single sheet broadside newspaper. 13 ½ x 10 ¾ inches, even toning, several folds with never trimmed margins. No breaks or disfigurements. Vg cond. An issue for the best of collections.