Allan, Francis D. Allan’s Lone Star ballads. A collection of Southern patriotic songs, made during Confederate times. Galveston: J.D. Sawyer, 1874.
First obtainable edition of this important Confederate and Texas songster; Allan had previous issued a much shorter compilation in 1863, now extremely rare. In his preface, Allan explains that during the Civil War he assiduously collected “a very important, but often neglected, portion of the history of those times,” the songs actually “sung in the Camp.” His plans to publish a larger compilation suffered a cruel blow in 1866 when Federal soldiers burned his property and archive “long after the war was supposed to be over.” Undaunted, he resumed collecting, here offering ca. 200 of his best finds, some with authors identified. Many were printed here for the first time, including several relating to the Texas Rangers. Of special interest are the 23 pages of local advertisements at the end, which highlight Galveston’s role in the cotton trade. The book closes with two pages of ads identifying Allan as a subscription agent and proprietor of the People’s Circulating Library.
These are cultural gems! Do we still have the melodies for these songs of just the lyrics?
When I was shooting this book when AAS got it, I noticed most of the songs are “to the tune of” a particular popularized song. 🙂