Carrier’s address to the patrons of the Bridgeton Chronicle, January 1, 1864. Bridgeton, NJ: James M. Seymour & Matthew Newell, 1863.
This carrier’s address came to AAS with a large group of New Jersey newspapers. Written at the end of 1863, the central poem, topped by a cut of a U.S. Mail train, focuses on the nation’s weariness with the Civil War, calling America “our troubled country” and “our dear, blood-washed land.” Much of the poem takes the form of a prayer to God, asking Him to “cause war’s rude alarms to cease, and wrap the trembling earth in robes of peace.” With the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg behind them, the writers of the address must have hoped the end of the war was close. It would be sixteen more long months to the surrender at Appomattox.
