1864 Harper's Weekly — Custer Front Page, USCT Color Guard, Civil War Map

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY
March 19, 1864 · New York
Complete · 16 Pages

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A complete issue of Harper's Weekly from the heart of the Civil War — March 1864, fourteen months before Appomattox. This is one of the most visually rich issues imaginable: a landmark Custer portrait, a stunning Civil War progress map, African American troops in a moment of historic pride, early astronomical photography, and battlefield scenes from the Western Theater. In 1864, Harper's Weekly was the most widely read illustrated newspaper in America. This issue shows exactly why.

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🖼️ WHAT'S INSIDE — PAGE BY PAGE
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⚔️ FRONT PAGE — BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER
The entire front page is consumed by a magnificent full-page print of Custer — sword raised, on horseback, leading a charge. He is 24 years old. He will not die at Little Bighorn for another 12 years. Right now he is one of the most dashing and controversial cavalry commanders in the Union Army, and Harper's is putting him on the cover. A related article inside provides context on his campaigns. For Custer collectors, Civil War collectors, or anyone who has ever been fascinated by this singular American figure — this is the front page.

🗺️ FULL PAGE — "MAP OF THE REBELLION AS IT WAS IN 1861 AND AS IT IS IN 1864"
A full-page display map showing exactly how much the Confederacy has shrunk in three years of war. Side by side: the Rebellion at its peak, and the Rebellion now. Union forces have taken Tennessee, most of the Mississippi River, chunks of Louisiana, Virginia's coast, and South Carolina. The map is a striking visual argument that the Union is winning — and a gorgeous display piece that stands on its own as Civil War wall art.

🎖️ FULL PAGE — BRIGADIER GENERAL JUDSON KILPATRICK
A full-page portrait of Kilpatrick, the aggressive Union cavalry general who had just led the daring Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid on Richmond the week before this issue went to press. He is news. Harper's knew it.

🏔️ FULL PAGE — WESTERN THEATER BATTLEFIELD SCENES
Two prints: "Huntsville, Alabama from General Logan's Headquarters" and "Dragging Artillery Through the Mud." The logistical reality of Sherman's campaign, rendered in vivid illustration for a civilian audience that had never seen the Tennessee mountains.

✊ FULL PAGE — THE 12TH U.S. COLORED TROOPS RECEIVING THEIR COLORS ON UNION SQUARE
This is the page that stops you. The 12th United States Colored Troops — a regiment of African American soldiers — are depicted in a formal ceremony on Union Square, New York, receiving their regimental colors before deployment. It is a proud, dignified, monumental image. The USCT regiments fought with extraordinary valor throughout the war, and this image captures the weight of that moment: free Black men, in uniform, armed, ready. For collectors of African American history, military history, or Civil War imagery, this page alone makes the issue extraordinary.

🌕 DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — THE MOON
"Facsimile of a Photograph of the Moon, Taken by Dr. Henry Draper's Telescope." A double-page spread of one of the most detailed photographic images of the moon yet produced — reproduced as an engraving for mass distribution. Henry Draper was a pioneering astrophotographer and physician; his telescope images of the moon were considered remarkable achievements of science. In the middle of the Civil War, Americans were still looking up. A unique piece for science history and astronomy collectors.

🎨 BACK PAGE — CARTOON: "A HINT FOR THE SANITARY FAIR"
The Sanitary Commission fairs were enormous fundraising events held across Northern cities in 1864 to support the U.S. Sanitary Commission — forerunner of the Red Cross — which provided medical care to Union soldiers. The cartoon engages with this civic movement in Harper's characteristic satirical voice.

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📖 ABOUT HARPER'S WEEKLY
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Founded in 1857, Harper's Weekly was the dominant illustrated newspaper of the Civil War era. It employed the finest engravers in America to render battlefield photographs and artist sketches into printed images — the photojournalism of its day. Thomas Nast's political cartoons, Winslow Homer's battlefield illustrations, and sweeping war maps reached hundreds of thousands of readers every week. A complete issue from 1864 is a genuine primary document of American history.

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📋 CONDITION
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Intake photographs of every page are included in this listing — please review all images carefully. Questions are very welcome, and I'm happy to photograph any specific page or detail on request.

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📌 DETAILS
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Publication ········ Harper's Weekly
Date ··············· March 19, 1864
City ··············· New York
Pages ·············· Complete · 16 pages
Format ············· Illustrated folio newspaper

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🔍 SEO TAGS
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