Category Archives: The election of 1864

Uncle, can you spare a few dollars?

“I have a little favor to ask of you today.” At American Memory you can read a letter written 150 years ago yesterday to President Lincoln. I can’t make out all the words, but it seems that in a celebratory … Continue reading

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Mac’s resignation

150 years ago today President Lincoln accepted General McClellan’s Election Day resignation from the army. The Atlas & Argus of Albany New York was a Democratic party newspaper (according to the November 11, 1864 issue of The New-York Times the … Continue reading

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postal delay

150 years ago today a Democratic paper finally received soldiers’ votes for president from its correspondent in the field. The editor blamed the delay on devious Republican postmasters. From a Seneca County, New York in November 1864: Delayed Soldiers’ Votes. … Continue reading

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“four more years …”

By 150 years ago today some word of mouth news had trickled into Richmond – Abe Lincoln was re-elected. Confederates had to prepare for four more years of war. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 11, 1864: The re-election of … Continue reading

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rainy night in D.C.

On Election Day 1864 President Lincoln spent the evening at the war department reading the telegraphic good news. Here’s a bit more about Washington and Gotham on November 8th. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 14, 1864: Later from the … Continue reading

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Beast on Broadway

General Benjamin F. Butler had yet another role to play for the Union cause – help keep New York City peaceful and orderly for the November 8th election. New Yorkers could read his orders 150 years ago today. From The … Continue reading

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election day forecast

threats at home and from abroad Richmond editors shared some information they said they found in Northern papers about the upcoming Yankee presidential election: the United States government warned about a conspiracy to set fire to Northern cities on November … Continue reading

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campaign mission

Two newspapers are definitely represented in the big notebook of Civil War clippings at the Seneca Falls, New York public library: the Seneca Falls Reveille, still published with a different name today, and the Seneca County Courier, which was published … Continue reading

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“blood-bought franchise”

I’ve gone to the polls many times, but I’ve never had to be concerned about the military interfering with my vote. Apparently not so in Civil War Kentucky. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 4, 1864: Governor Bramlette, of Kentucky, … Continue reading

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October surprise?

As the 1864 presidential election neared, a Democrat paper claimed that a Union assault on the Petersburg-Richmond front was politically motivated to create good war news for President Lincoln; the administration then covered up the failed attack. From a Seneca … Continue reading

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