enerally seen in the stockist’s lists as “Union Notepaper,” these sheets were available either hand-colored or not (the cheap-print options immortalized by Robert Louis Stevenson as “Penny Plain, Tuppence Colored”). The plain versions were probably more common in their day because of their lower price—but fewer of them have survived because, lacking the gaudy colors of the higher-priced spread, they were less likely to be collected. These folded sheets (yielding four pages per notesheet) are trimmed to the proper size and are ruled with lines of the correct width. The entire front page is filled with a handsome lithograph of “The Young Napoleon” living up to his moniker in his resplendent, if diminutive, glory. The quality of the lithography, both artistic and technical, is a fine example of the work produced by the Prince of Cheap-Print Printers, Philadelphia’s Charles Magnus. Thanks to the kindness of our old friend and comrade Mr. Michael Kraus we continue to be are able to offer these sheets with the embossed paper-maker’s mark, a detail seldom copied. 

It has always seemed to me that Little Mac has had rough treatment by Civil War historians, both living and writing varieties. His skills, it is true, were not made for the battlefield…but he will always be close to my heart, at least, for being one of the three men in American history who were capable of becoming our home-grown Caesar (the other two being George Washington and Douglas MacArthur). The fact that Little Mac did NOT cross the Rubicon of the Potomac  and march on the City of Washington has had unfathomable results for our subsequent history. A quick glance at politics below the Equator will be instructive. Be that as it may, there is no doubt that he was idolized by his soldiers, during and long after his command of the Army of the Potomac. For that reason alone, soldiers of the Eastern Theater will do well to incorporate a bit of hero worship into their impressions.