Confederacy's Death Certificate

 
I had not seen this image before, but found it interesting, perhaps a bit humorous, but with at least one line of truth in it.

It comes from page 210 of The Civil War Day by Day edited by John S Bowman.

 

The Epitaph reads:

Gentle stranger, drop a tear,

The C.S.A. lies buried here; 

In youth it lived and prosper'd well, 

Its body here, its soul in ___ well

E'en if I knew I wouldn't tell. 

Rest C.S.A., from every strife, 

Your death is better than your life; 

And this one line shall grace your grave - 

Your death gave freedom to the slave.

The small print at the bottom indicates it was printed by "Jas. B Rodgers, Pr 52 & 54 North Sixth St" but gives no city or state.

I found the line "Your death is better than your life" to be a hint of truth, though much more so now than when this was printed "shortly after Lee's surrender" according to this book. I wonder if some of the people in the current era who sometimes romanticize the Confederacy realize how much it struggled at times, such as with inflation. It was not always paradise.