Blue and Gray Weekly, No. 17

Museum Catalog Entry This December 2, 1904 issue of the Frank Tousey Boys' Weekly features primarily a serialized military adventure, "The Boys in Blue" by Lieutenant Harry Lee, set during the American Civil War. The narrative follows the Fairdale Blues, a company of young Union soldiers from New York who participated in the Battle of Shiloh under General Grant. Frustrated with inactivity during General Halleck's reorganization of the Army of the Tennessee, Captain Jack Clark boldly petitions headquarters for active duty. Halleck, impressed by Clark's tenacity, assigns the Blues to a dangerous scouting expedition behind Confederate lines between Corinth and Iuka, Mississippi—territory strategically positioned between enemy forces. The issue also advertises an extensive catalog of instructional booklets covering athletics, magic, fortune-telling, mechanical invention, card tricks, palmistry, and letter-writing, each sold separately or in bundles for ten cents to twenty-five cents.