Historic Scenes in Early 1861 in Montgomery

Hanging in our upstairs hallway in the First White House of the Confederacy is a group of four framed wood engravings of historic scenes of Montgomery, Alabama, at the time of the formation of the Confederate States of America. These four wood engravings are from periodicals of the period. They are:

A view of Market Street, Montgomery, Alabama, with the True Blues marching toward the Capitol. (This was the Montgomery militia)

A view of the Exchange Hotel, Montgomery, with Jefferson Davis addressing the public from the balcony.

A view of the Senate Chamber with Mr. Cobb presiding. This view shows the famed Senate Chairs, one of which is in the First White House Collection.

A view of the Alabama State Capitol on the day of Secession.

 

Going up the steps there is a lithograph of the Inauguration of President Davis in Montgomery, 1861, published in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1887, by Horn. This lithograph was issued a generation after the fall of the Confederacy, but was copied from wood engravings of the actual scene which ha been published contemporaneously.

 

All of these were a gift from Arthur Cook.