Raynors HCA 2019-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2019
A nice early manuscript history, 3pp. 8vo., outlining the origins of one of the Civil War's most popular camp songs, Lorena. The manuscript relates, in part, as follows: "The story of the Song Lorena. This was one of those charming old songs that was born in the dark days of the sixties and tells…of disappointed love. The composer…was a young Southern minister by the name of Homer Webster who…applied for and obtained a church in Pittsburg…a wealthy glass manufacturer who attended young Webster's church had a daughter by the name of Lorena who fell in love with the young minster…Lorena had many suitors among the wealthy miner's sons, but the secret vows of love had passed between herself and the young minister. They were engaged to be married, but…her father…persuaded her to marry the son of a millionaire…the young minister soon found that Pittsburg had no charm for him…when the guns of Sumter were echoed…Webster was among the first to don the gray in defense of the Stars and Bars, and tried to smother the dying embrace of a first and true love amid…the crash of gory battle, but no he could not forget and…there came to Homer Webster…a sick reservoir of love…with the divine effect of never fading love he wrote the soul inspiring song and it was sung at the camp fires of both armies…not only here but all around the World. History of the 20th Tennessee Regiment…C. S. A. by Mr. J. McMurray…". Near fine.
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