A fascinating work by moderate abolitionist John H. Gilmer. A Richmond attorney, he was known for handling the cases of free black and multiracial clients. Long before the Civil War, in 1842, Gilmer argued for a pardon for a free Black man convicted of aiding and advising enslaved people to escape. Richardson D. Smith, the free Black man charged, faced thirteen years in the penitentiary while his white counterpart only served two years. Gilmer was vocally opposed to this injustice and finally succeeded in obtaining a pardon for Smith but only succeeded two years before the completion of Smith’s thirteen year sentence. 

That said, he felt the bombast of language and calls to military behavior and extreme speech embodied by William Lloyd-Garrison, John Brown, and the author who most inspired radical abolitionism, H. R. Helper, was unhelpful to the cause. He felt their methods were what led to the Civil War, and that, if continued, would only lead to another race war of a similar kind.

A fascinating call to moderate, intentional activity toward racial and national reconciliation during Reconstruction. None in the trade. Last offered at auction in 1992. 

Gilmer, John H. War of Races. By Whom it is Sought to be Brought About. Considered in Two Letters, with Copious Extracts from the Recent Work of Hilton R. Helper. Richmond. 1867. 16pp.

A fair copy only, bound in wraps, shaken, with light foxing, handles pages, and toned throughout. Ex library.