CONFEDERATE BROADSIDE CALLING ALL MEN TO ARMS UNDER THREAT OF MARTIAL LAW

“A man who will deliberately refuse to defend his home, wife and children for a few days ought to be forced into the ranks. IF KILLED THE LOSS IS TRIFLING.”

Head Q’rs, Staunton, May 31st, 1864. The Genl. Commanding this District... Letterpress broadside on paper. Staunton, Virginia, dated 31 May 1864. Signed in type by Beverly Randolph, Major Commanding. Approx. 15 5/8 x 19 5/8 in. Crandall 657; Parrish & Willingham 1220. 

An urgent Confederate district proclamation issued at a critical moment in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. Dated 31 May 1864, just days before Union General David Hunter advanced toward the Valley, the broadside records an emergency order from district headquarters in Staunton demanding that “every man who can fire a Gun is urgently required” to report to Mt. Crawford. The language, attributed to the commanding general, is uncompromising: magistrates and constables are instructed that they must “fight for their homes,” and any man claiming exemption should be “ashamed.” The proclamation escalates further, threatening the declaration of martial law and compulsory service should voluntary compliance fail.

Particularly striking is the concluding admonition, set in emphatic type, “IF KILLED THE LOSS IS TRIFLING.” Such rhetoric encapsulates the mounting desperation within Confederate civil and military administration as Union forces pressed deeper into Virginia in the late spring of 1864. Staunton, a vital rail and supply hub in the Valley, stood at the crossroads of Confederate logistics, and the call reflects both the strategic importance of the region and the thinning manpower reserves available to defend it.

Broadsides of this nature were intended for immediate public display and rapid dissemination, posted in towns and crossroads to mobilize local militia and civilian men. Their survival is uncommon.

A powerful artifact of the 1864 Valley crisis and the Confederacy’s escalating resort to emergency authority.

VERY RARE. OCLC locates only one copy, held at the University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Parrish & Willingham note one additional copy held in the private collection of Hugh Trout of Roanoke, Virginia. We trace no copies that have ever sold at auction. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers]