Blue and Gray Weekly, No. 16

# Museum Catalog Note

This issue of Blue and Gray, a weekly devoted to Civil War stories, contains the serialized tale "Leading the Line: The Boys in Gray's Best Work," credited to Lieut. Harry Lee. Set in June 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign, the narrative follows young Richmond officer Will Prentiss, son of Colonel Jeff Prentiss, and his company of Confederate cavalry through the battles along the Chickahominy River. The story begins as McClellan's retreating Army of the Potomac falls back toward the James River following Confederate victories at Fair Oaks and Gaines' Mill.

The central plot concerns a mysterious scout named William Floyd who approaches Prentiss with intelligence of a Confederate traitor—Lieutenant Chet Winton of the Fourth Georgia—allegedly meeting Yankee officers in a white oak grove to discuss a planned Union attack. Floyd persuades the skeptical but intrigued Prentiss to accompany him to spy on the midnight meeting. The issue also catalogs Frank Tousey's extensive line of instructional handbooks on subjects including magic tricks, mesmerism, hypnotism, fortune-telling, athletics, letter-writing, and mechanical arts.