Monthly Archives: October 2010

Happy Halloween!

YouTube has a lot about Civil War ghosts. Here’s one at Manassas: There’s many more ghost videos to look at. Join the debate on whether the ghosts are real. See General Lee’s ghost at Gettysburg! Gee, I think I’m getting … Continue reading

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Fire-Eater Plays Lexington

William Lowndes Yancey was a well-known Fire-Eater. Fire-Eaters were a group of Southerners who strongly supported states rights, slavery and the resumption of the slave trade, and eventually secession. On October 23, 1860 (about two weeks before the presidential election) … Continue reading

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“A Fall in the Price of Cotton and Negroes”

Recently I posted an excerpt from the October 18, 1860 issue of The New-York Times. about the Minute Men in South Carolina. In the same issue The Times published more Southern reaction to the big Republican victories  in the state … Continue reading

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Abraham Lincoln Creates Fusion

Or, Anybody but Lincoln According to the October 24, 1860 issue of The New-York Times. there was a huge Fusion demonstration in New York the night before. 25,000 supporters of Douglas, Breckenridge, and Bell-Everett marched through the city streets to … Continue reading

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The Mystery of The Little Giants

Meandering through the Seneca Fall (NY) public library recently I noticed a shelf filled with some interesting-looking notebooks (no, not laptops, actual old-fashioned three-ring binders). These binders contained archival material from the village historian. They were arranged by date from … Continue reading

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Minutemen Reprised: South Carolina 1860

With the presidential election less than three weeks away the tension in the country keeps on building: From The New-York Times., October 18, 1860: MINUTE MEN IN SOUTH CAROLINA. The Charleston Mercury thus notices a new movement in the “Carolina … Continue reading

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Election? What Election? The Prince Is in Town!

A few days ago I reviewed The New York Times The Complete Front Pages 1851-2008 for articles from 150 years ago this week. It was a bit challenging finding Civil War related articles because much of the front pages were … Continue reading

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“Useless” and the “Boy of Great Promise”

Sometimes I have a tendency to act like I can make my own omens. At any rate, I thought it would have a nice symmetry if the first book I officially read after I started this site was Lee and … Continue reading

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Shelby Foote

Many years ago in college freshman remedial English class our instructor asked us which of the books we had read during class we most enjoyed. I think, with many of my classmates, I voted for Voltaire’s Candide. It was short … Continue reading

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Wide-Awakes

Wandering through our local public library a few weeks ago I came across a big gray book with a very big title: The New York Times The Complete Front Pages 1851-2008. The pages of the book display selected front pages … Continue reading

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