12 1/8 x 16 1/16 in. letterpress broadside (toning along early folds, some creasing); framed to 15 x 19 1/4 in. (not examined out of frame). Signed in type "Loyalist." Contemporary inscription reads: "To Lieut. Col. H.B. Dox - 12th Illinois Cavalry with respects of D.E.E. Braman author of Loyalist. Matagorda Texas."

UNRECORDED LATE-WAR TEXAS BROADSIDE ADDRESS SLAVERY & SECESSION.

Neither the author nor publication information is printed on the broadside, however, the inscription identifies the author as Don Egbert Erastus Braman (1814-1898) a prominent lawyer, judge, and mayor of Matagorda, Texas. Originally from Norton, Massachusetts, he came to Texas after joining the Texas Volunteers in 1837, joining the Texas Army and serving under Sam Houston in the Texas Revolution. Here he has identified himself as the author and inscribed the work to Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton Bogard Dox (1827-1903) of the 12th Illinois Cavalry. After serving with distinction in major Eastern Theater battles with the Army of the Potomac, the 12th Illinois Cavalry was transferred to the Department of the Gulf in 1864 before serving the Department of Texas from July 1865 through May 1866 in the first days of Reconstruction. The content of the text and the confluence of the two men in Texas suggests a date of 1865.

In four columns of text, Braman "treat[s] of secession and its fruits" with a particular dissection of enslavement: "The fact of it was, Southern slavery had no protection, had no guarantees for its existence, except under the Constitution and laws of the United State; it had no common law rights; the law of nations did not recognize it, and it was as much an anomaly in this country and this age." He concludes, in an effort to earn support for the reformed Union: "Therefore let UNION LEAGUES be formed in every county, town and hamlet in the State, encourage the establishment of LOYAL newspapers, and let them be sup[ported by the true friends of our whole country, and a healthy public sentiment will soon result therefrom." 

RARE: no other copies located. Not listed in Streeter.