Tag Archives: Seneca County New York

“new thinning out”

September 1864 was another draft month in the North. Here’s some sarcasm, first from a paper in central New York State and then from the Richmond Dispatch as it reported on Ohio Governor John Brough’s warning against draft resistance. From … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Military Matters, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“annihilated by their own stomachs”

Captain James H. McDonald of the 50th New York Engineers has already served in the war for over three years. He recovered from being wounded in the arm at Fredericksburg. In this recruiting letter he promoted the Engineers as being … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Military Matters, Siege of Petersburg, The election of 1864 | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Waterloo exemptions

According to James M. McPherson’s discussion of conscription in the North, “If a man’s name was drawn in this [draft] lottery, one of several things would happen to him next – the least likely of which was induction into the … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Lincoln Administration, Military Matters, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The rides’s on US

In compliance with the 1863 Conscription Act men in Seneca County have been enrolled and drafted. The next step is for the drafted men to appear before the Board of Enrollment to be examined for their fitness to serve. Here … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Military Matters, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

North by Key West

I missed this as I was combing through the Seneca County, New York newspaper clippings from 1863: We are rejoiced to learn of the safety of our young friend John Arnett, who was known to have been on board the … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Naval Matters | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

boom! boom!

Get the gun out! On November 4, 1862, election day in many states, the Democrat party enjoyed good results in New York state, most notably with the election of Horatio Seymour as governor. Here’s a couple clippings from one or … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobilizing the base

November 4, 1862 was election day in New York State. Here a Democrat-oriented newspaper is firing up its readers for the final few days of the campaign. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1862: Onward! Right Onward! FELLOW … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Northern Politics During War | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“Three cheers for the hope of America”

President Lincoln stopped in Frederick, Maryland on his way back to the nation’s capital after vising General McClellan and the Army of the Potomac at Antietam. Our correspondent saw the brief storm that hit Frederick during the president’s visit as … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Maryland Campaign 1862, Military Matters | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hey Junius

A Democrat newspaper found a graphic way of illustrating Democrat support for the Civil War by using a table of enlistment results – its majority Democrat county easily reached its quota of volunteers under the federal administration’s call for 600,000 … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, 150 Years Ago This Week, Military Matters, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Quota for “imperishable honor”

Here’s a local take on the call for Union troops during the summer of 1862. The numbers for the county and its towns are precise. The stigma of possibly needing to resort to a draft to supply the quota is … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Northern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment