A REPLY TO MR. CHARLES INGERSOLL'S "LETTER TO A FRIEND IN A SLAVE STATE

Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son, Printers, 1862. 26 pages. Original printed wraps. 24 x 15 cm. Multiple chips to the wraps, not affecting printed matter; spine worn and split for 3 cm at top and 6 cm at base, but wraps holding well. Wraps also show a few creases, toning, and several small spots. Small chip to base of gutter of title page and to upper corner of the same; other corners slightly worn; a few marginal creases and minuscule edge tears. Excepting a minor spot on the final page, the text is clean. Good only. FIRST EDITION. Charles Ingersoll was a former Pennsylvania Congressman who had long been critical of abolitionism. His "Letter to a Friend in a Slave State," published in 1862, criticized the Union war effort and called for compromise and reconciliation with the South. In this pamphlet, Russell argues against Ingersoll and insists that the country will only be reunified after the military defeat of the Confederacy. Though raised in Virginia, Martin Russell Thayer (1819-1906), spent all of his adult life in the North. Educated at Amherst and the University of Pennsylvania, he practiced law in Philadelphia, served as a Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania (1863-1867), and was afterward a judge in Philadelphia.