The Right Flanker is the only known manuscript newspaper published by Confederate prisoners confined in the North during the Civil War. The paper was written in pen and ink, and after its staff was released, copies were taken to England and printed in book form (1865).
The printed “transcript” of The Right Flanker runs 90 pages, but it unclear how faithful the printed version is to the handwritten originals.
The printed version depicts a paper devoted largely to an analysis of the war (based on New York newspaper reports), life in the prison camp, and the arrival of new prisoners. Humor or light features are infrequent.
Bibliography: “Fort-La-Fayette Life, 1863-1864: In extracts from the ‘Right Flanker,’ a manuscript sheet circulating among the Southern Prisoners in Fort-La-Fayette,” The Magazine of History, Extra No. 13, 197-246.
The extant manuscript the Chicago Public Library Collection was restored at the Document Conservation Center, Atlanta, in 1976.
Locations: Grand Army Hall and Memorial Association Collection, Chicago Public Library.
Editor/Publisher: J.W. Hibbs, Capt. 13th Va. Inf.was the publisher. Proprietors and editors were George S. Thomas, Capt. 6thGa., Div. 24; W.H. Bennett, Capt. & A.C.S., Div. 24; and A. Harris, Lt. 3rdFla., Div. 28.
Locations: Prison Times, Misc. Fort Delaware: NYUGB12021269-A, New York Historical Society, with images of four pages; Prison Times, MS 638, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia; and Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY; and Prison Times in Paul Agalus McMichael (1820-1869), correspondence and diary, 1861-1865 (1073.00), South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, SC.
The paper’s primary goal was to relieve the almost unbearably eventless and monotonous life of Camp Ford. Contributions commented on local news and camp issues, displayed poetry and art, and played with satire, jokes and chess problems. Advertisements, which appeared in every issue, were genuine. Most offered the services of skilled prisoners for the benefit of the others. For example, pipe makers, barbers, cigar makers, shoe shines and “job printing” (by the editor) were all available in the prison city.
The Old Flag was one of two and possibly three handwritten Civil War newspapers published at Camp Ford, a Confederate prison complex in Tyler and Hempstead, Texas. Camp Ford was the largest Confederate military prison in Texas. The prison held both officers and enlisted men from 1863 to the end of war. The prison held as many as 4,900 prisoners by July 1864. Living conditions in the tented enclosure were generally good. Fresh water, adequate shelter and plentiful food supplies made the prison a relatively healthy place; during its 21-month existence, roughly 250 soldiers died in the camp. Most soldiers were allowed to keep many of their possessions, to manufacture items for sale and to purchase food and supplies from local farmers and merchants. To facilitate these economic transactions, The Old Flag published a “REVIEW OF THE TEXAS MARKET-for the Month of February, 1864” in its March 1 edition.
Capt. William H. May, of the 23rd Connecticut Volunteers, with the assistance of other Union soldiers, published and edited at least three issues of The Old Flag between February 17 and March 13, 1864, during their 13-month confinement in the Confederate prison camp. According to J.P. Robens, one of the prisoners, the paper was published on sheets of “unruled letter paper, in imitation of print, a steel pen being employed in the absence of a Hoe Press.” The three-column, four-page paper made liberal use of large headlines and graphic elements.
The paper’s primary goal was “to contribute as far as possible towards enlivening the monotonous, and at times almost unbearably eventless life of Camp Ford–and to cultivate a mutual good feeling between all.” Contributions were solicited on matters of local news and camp issues. The Old Flag published poetry and art, and included satire, jokes and chess problems. Display advertisements appeared in every issue, and “most of them bona fide, genuine.” Most of the ads promoted the services of skilled prisoners for the benefit of the others. For example, pipe makers, barbers, cigar makers, shoe shines and “job printing” (by the editor) were all available in the prison city.
In the third number, March 15, 1864, the editor published his intentions to preserve The Old Flag after his release from Camp Ford.
We shall make it our first object on our arrival at New York City–which will probably be within a few week after our Exchange–to learn the practicability of getting the three numbers of the “Old Flag” Lithographed. Should the expense be too great to warrant our adopting this means of securing fac simile [sic] copies, we shall print with types as nearly as similar to the letter penned by us as can be procured, with heading and illustrations engraved. We shall endeavor to make the copies close imitations of the original papers. In addition we propose to publish a few accurate pictures, delineating life at Camp Ford, Camp Groce, &c, printed on sheets inserted in each number of the “Old Flag” with a Title Page, and complete List of the Officers Prisoners [sic] at this place, neatly bound.
After prisoners were released from Camp Ford, the editor published a lithographed reproduction of the handwritten.
Bibliography: Roy Alden Atwood, “Captive Audiences: Handwritten Prisoner-of-War Newspapers of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition and the War Between the States,” Annual Convention of the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), Salt Lake City, UT, Oct. 1993; F. Lee Lawrence and Robert W. Glover, Camp Ford, C.S.A.: The Story of Union Prisoners in Texas(Austin: Texas Civil War Centennial Advisory Committee, 1964), 36-37; The Old Flag (privately published, 1914).
. The date on The Old Flag, 1:3, isMarch 13, 1864, but a poem on p. 3, “To Mrs. Col R.T.P. Allen,” is dated March 14. The poem was likely a day-late insertion.
. The Old Flag, 1:3 (March 13, 1864), p. 2: “Statistic–There have been manufactured by knife in this camp, since last September, over forty setts [sic]of Chessmen, of which Lt. John Woodward has himself completed eight of the best!
. J.P. Robens, “Preface,” n.p.