celebration preparation

Posted on March 1, 2026 by SUMPTER

In its February 19, 1876 issue Harper’s Weekly published some artist’s sketches from the grounds of the U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia as the May 10th opening approached:

at the workste

CENTENNIAL SKETCHES.

We give on page 149 a few choice sketches from our artist’s portfolio — notes, as it were, of a day’s ramble through the Centennial Exhibition grounds, The “Swedish School-House,” situated quite near the main Exhibition building, and almost joining the Judges’ Pavilion, is destined to be an attraction to many visitors, who will see in the simple but exquisite little structure a model for the future school for their little ones. A short walk, during which you cross, by rustic bridges, a quiet brook, brings you to the Horticultural Building, which is in itself an exhibition worth quite a journey to see. In architectural features it is Moorish. The exterior is rich in color and ornament; the interior is even more florid in effect. The corridors formed by columns and arches of variously colored brick; the iron truss brightened with brilliant tints. Great carved heads of lions for drinking fountains attract attention for the moment; next you gaze through glass into the forcing-house, upon orange-trees the branches of which are filled with fruit, and the tropical verdure surrounding seems out of place as you turn and look at the workmen in overcoats bringing in the few last loads of rich earth with which to complete the great garden of the main building. These beds are to be heated by numerous steampipes, as will be seen by the sketch, and within a month are to be ready for the reception of plants permanently arranged for the Exhibition.

In your walk from Horticultural Hall to the Agricultural Building you pass the nearly finished American Restaurant, picturesquely located in a grove of oaks, within which are groups of dark fir. The workmen are clustered about the small fires which, if carefully guarded, they are permitted to build for comfort during their noon hour. While warming numbed hands at one of these chip comforts, our artist’s attention is invited to “the way the boss will make them nagurs git when the whistle blows; he wants that car unloaded ter wonster, Sir.” Suffice to say that car-load of lumber for the Agricultural Building was unloaded by ten minutes after one by “colored help.” Work upon the main building is nearly complete, but as many as fifty structures, additions, etc., are yet to be finished, and all of this by the 10th of next May.

The National Centennial Bulletin of America, 1776-1876 (at the Library of Congress) showed a couple of the buildings that Harper’s Weekly mentioned above.

Horticulture Building

Agriculture Building

George Washington would have been 294 this past February 22nd. I was sorry I missed it, but I hadn’t organized my time right. Anyway, here’s part of David McCullough’s conclusion to 1776:
“… Above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake and he never gave up.
“Again and again, in letters to Congress and to his officers, and in his general orders, he had called for perseverance – for ‘perseverance and spirit,’ for ‘patience and perseverance,’ for ‘unremitting courage and perseverance.’ Soon after the victories of Trenton and Princeton, he had written, ‘A people unused to restraint must be led, they will not be drove.” Without Washington’s leadership and unrelenting perseverance, the revolution almost certainly would have failed. As Nathanael Greene foresaw as the war went on, ‘He will be the deliverer of his own country.'”[1]

George Washington’s centennial

“he never gave up”

thanks to George Washington and others

According to 1776 the Washington quote is from a letter to Lord Stirling fromThe Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series , VII,110; the Nathanael Greene quote is from a letter to James Varnum from The papers of Nathanael Greene, X,36.
You can see Harper’s Weekly for 1876 at Hathi Trust.
From the Library of Congress: Centennial Bulletin, the whole thing is 48 pages; the image of a Philadelphia commemoration of the centennial George Washington’s birth – “The event shown in this lithograph is the civic procession held in Philadelphia on February 22, 1832, in honor of the centennial anniversary of George Washington’s birth. Onlookers cheer the participants in front of the Second Bank on Chestnut Street, between 4th and 5th Streets. City officials and other prominent people of Philadelphia lead the parade, followed by tradesmen, volunteer fire companies, and the military. The top-hatted artisans (the artificers of the title, who struck special commemorative medals for the event) are led by a mounted parade marshal, their craft represented on a float carrying men operating a coin press. The print is by Manneville Elihu Dearing Brown (1810-96), a premier early Philadelphia lithographer and painter who received some early training in Boston. Several years after producing this work, he moved to Upstate New York, where he concentrated on portrait painting.”; Washington portrait, c.1876; Centennial shield – Print shows a stars and stripes shield with a bust portrait of George Washington, facing right, within a wreath, an eagle perched on the top of the shield, and the American flag with several other flags representing other countries. A ribbon on the shield states “E Pluribus Unum.”;

souvenir’s holding up great after 150 years

  1. [1]McCullough David, 1776. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2006. Pages 293 – 294. ↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, American History, American Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

donations appreciated … and needed

Posted on February 7, 2026 by SUMPTER

On the first day of 1776 John Morgan, the chief medical officer with the American army at Boston sent out a public letter thanking people in Massachusetts for donating hospital supplies to the army. He then went on to request similar donations from people in other colonies. Here’s Doctor Morgan’s letter from the January 29, 1776 issue of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, The General Advertiser from Philadelphia (page 2):

Dr. John Morgan

General Hospital at Cambridge, January 1, l776
TO THE P U B L I C.

IMPRESSED with a lively sense of the spirit of patriotism which so eminently adorns the good people of this country, the subscriber, who is appointed to the chief direction of the sick and wounded, thinks it incumbent on him to make known the seasonable aid he has lately received from the towns of Concord, Bedford, first and second parishes of Sudbury, Acton, Marlborough, Stow and Lincoln. The Hospital having, for some time past, been in great want of old linen for bandages, compresses and lint; of fine tow for dressings; sadlers or sole leather, and web or gartering for tourniquets; of tape, thread, needles, pins, and other articles of a like nature; application was made to the inhabitants of the above-named places for a supply, at such prices as they themselves should think reasonable. No sooner were our wants thus made known to them, than with an alacrity and zeal truly characteristic of the people, the business of collecting those things was immediately undertaken by some of their Select-Men, and other proper persons. The Clergy in particular of the several congregations engaged warmly in the work. To their pious and animated exhortations, from the sacred desk, may be ascribed much of that Christian charity, and those laudable effusions of philanthropy which were manifested on this occasion, and which cannot fail to secure to them the esteem of the public, and to reflect a lasting honour on their attachment to the cause of liberty, and the rights of human nature. What they could, they furnished with an unsparing hand: Offer of pay they nobly rejected, preferring the conscious pleasure that arises from deeds of charity to every selfish, sordid gratification that interest inspires: An instance of benevolence worthy of admiration! Neither is its importance limitted by the intrinsic value of the donation: It holds up a bright example of imitation to others.

Ever since the first establishment of a military hospital among us, there has been too great a scarcity of those essential articles; and though the present supply is truly liberal in respect to the numbers who furnished it, yet its salutary influence cannot be lasting, unless it is still continued from other quarters. May we not therefore expect that a spirit of emulation will be kindled in every humane breast, and an affectionate concern to yield all possible assistance to the wants and distresses of the sick soldiery. Men who chearfully [sic] and hourly expose their lives for their country’s welfare; and who, amidst the destructive rage of battle, willingly encounter danger in all shapes, for its defence, may surely challenge the compassion of those who reap the advantage of their courage, without any of that risk which is inseparable from it. Can it be once doubted, then, whether the inhabitants of other places will be backward to contribute what need to cost them so little, towards laying in a sufficient store of those articles to secure against all future apprehensions of further scarcity or want of them? But whilst they are of a low price in themselves, yet money cannot always purchase them, and from their exceeding utility, in cases of need, they become of inestimable value.

As it is impracticable for the subscriber to make personal application to people at a distance to furnish a supply of what is wanted of this sort for the patients in the hospital, he hopes all printers of the public news will be pleased to give this address a place in their papers: He alto flatters himself the Committees established in different places, especially in all large towns, will be pleased to set on foot a further collection of such of the articles already enumerated, as may be most easy for them to procure, especially of old sheets and soft worn linen; and to forward the same to the Camp with all possible dispatch. The expence of conveyance, if any, will be cheerfully paid, and the generous donors may rest assured their contributions will be managed with the strictest care to prevent waste, and meet with due acknowledgment from their humble servant, JOHN MORGAN,
Director General of the Continental Hospital,
and Chief Physician to the Army.

N. B. Blankets are greatly wanted for the Hospital; for which a suitable price will be given, if sent to Cambridge. Any persons having blankets to dispose of, who live at a distance, if they will be to kind as to send notice thereof by the post, mentioning the quality and price of them, shall have an immediate answer.

Philadelphia from New Jersey, 1768

The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six, mentions Dr. Morgan in a section on “Health, Hospitals and Medicine.” Like the American Civil War, more soldiers died from disease than from battlefield wounds. The large number of deaths from disease was due to the general condition of medicine in the 18th century (“more medieval than modern”) and the specifics of the American situation. For the most part American soldiers were healthy but America had few well-trained doctors, almost hospitals, “and a desperate want of medicines, surgical instruments, bandages, bedding and other necessities.” Congress did not adequately address the medical issues. It did not provide enough funds for reasonable medical wages, and “arrangements for hospitals, food. clothing, bedding and medicines were likewise niggardly.”
Dr. Morgan replaced Benjamin Church as director-general. Morgan studied medicine at Edinburgh and on the continent and helped found the Philadelphia College of Medicine. Although he “was generally regarded as the first doctor of the country … within a year Dr. Morgan had fallen victim to a combination of professional jealousy and impossible conditions of work, and was cavalierly dismissed” [1]
You can read more about John Morgan at University of Pennsylvania.
In the last post I mentioned that Common Sense was published on January 9, 1776. When I glanced through the January 29, 1776 issue of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, The General Advertiser, I noticed that by January 29th a second edition was already being sold, although there was a dispute with the author about what was being printed. I also noticed some other advertisements. Slavery was legal in Pennsylvania in 1776. Also, a couple ads that reminded me of high school social studies so long ago – indentured servants and the three-way trade between Britain, the Caribbean, and the English colonies in North America (“West-India rum Jamaica spirits”).
According to the National Park Service, “In 1780 the Pennsylvania Assembly passed the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery into law. It was the first of several legislative enactments to abolish slavery in the United States between 1780 and 1804. The act did not free anyone immediately …” Apparently, Triangular trade was more complicated than I remember being taught.

for sale

flying off the presses

it’s Common Sense

As of February 7, 2026 this issue of the newspaper was available at the Library of Congress.
From the Library of Congress: the January 29, 1775 issue of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, The General Advertiser from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; portrait of Thomas Paine.
From Wikipedia: Angelica Kaufman’s 1764 portrait of John Morgan.
From the National Archives: the image of Philadelphia (“Taken by George Heap from the Jersey shore, under the direction of Nicholas Scull, surveyor general of the province of Pennsylvania. Engraved and published according to an act of Parliament by T. Jeffreys, near Charing Cross.”)

the newspaper

  1. [1]Commager, Henry Steele and Morris, Richard B. (eds). The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six. Edison New Jersey: Castle Books 2002, pages 815-816] ↩
Posted in 250 years ago, American History, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

declaration recommendation

Posted on January 19, 2026 by SUMPTER

250 years ago American rebel forces were besieging Boston and the British Redcoats holed up in it. One of the American commanders Nathanael Greene wrote a letter to fellow Rhode Islander Samuel Ward, a member of the Second Continental Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. In his fourth paragraph General Greene recommended a “declaration of independence”.

From American Archives, Fourth Series, at Internet Archive:

General Nathanael Greene

GENERAL GREENE TO SAMUEL WARD.

Camp on Prospect-Hill, January 4, 1776.

Dear Sir : Your kind favour of the 23d last, is now before me. I am extremely happy to find your views so affectionately extended to the combined interests of the United Colonies. Your apprehensions that George III, is determined, at all hazards to carry his plan of despotism into execution, is fully confirmed by his late gracious speech to both Houses of Parliament. In that, you will find, he breathes revenge, and threatens us with destruction. Indeed, it is no more than common sense must have foreseen long since, had we not been blinded by a too fond attachment to the parent state. We have consulted our wishes, rather than our reason, in indulging the idea of accommodation. Heaven has decreed that tottering empire to irretrievable ruin, and, thanks to God, since Providence has so determined it, America must raise an empire of permanent duration, supported upon the grand pillars of truth, freedom, and religion, based upon justice, and defended by her own patriotick sons.

No doubt a large army must be raised in addition to the forces upon the present establishment. You are acquainted with my sentiments upon that head already. How they must be divided, and where stationed, is a matter at present problematical. However, one thing is certain, the grand body must be superior in number to any force the enemy can send. All the forces in America should be under one commander, raised and appointed by the same authority, subjected to the same regulations, and ready to be detached wherever occasion may require. Your observation with regard to the Canadians has often struck me ; that their attachment to the one party or the other will greatly depend upon the superiority of force. To prevent which in some measure, and fix them to the common interest, let us raise one or more regiments of Canadians to serve in New-England, and send an equal number into Canada from the Colonies, in addition to what you have proposed. With regard to the scanty measure dealt out to the Army upon the new establishment, we are not altogether different in sentiment ; yet I am convinced the regiments will fill to their full complement. I believe they are more, upon an average, than half full already. Undoubtedly, the detaining of arms, being private property, is repugnant to many principles of civil and natural law, and hath disgusted many. But the great law of necessity must justify the expedient, till we can be otherwise furnished. The pay of the soldiers is certainly generous, and the officers likewise, except the field officers, whose pay is much below that of any others, considering their rank and experience, and it will operate to excite an opinion derogatory to their merit.

Samuel Ward

My dear, sir, I am now to open my mind a little more freely. It hath been said that Canada, in the late war, was conquered in Germany. Who knows but that Britain may be, in the present controversy! I take it for granted, that France and Spain have made overtures to the Congress. Let us embrace them as brothers. We want not their land force in America; their navy we do. Their commerce will be mutually beneficial; they will doubtless pay the expense of their fleet, as it will be employed in protecting their own trade. Their military stores we want amazingly. Those will be articles of commerce. The Elector of Hanover has ordered his German troops to relieve the garrisons of Gibraltar and Port-Mahon; France will, of consequence, attack and subdue Hanover with little trouble. This will bring on a very severe war in Germany, and turn Great Britain’s attention that way. This may prevent immense expense, and innumerable calamities in America.

Permit me, then, to recommend from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country’s cause, a declaration of independence; and call upon the world, and the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, propriety, and rectitude thereof.

My worthy friend, the interests of mankind hang upon that truly worthy body of which you are a member. You stand the representatives, not of America only, but of the whole world; the friends of liberty, and the supporters of the rights of human nature.

How will posterity, millions yet unborn, bless the memory of those brave patriots who are now hastening the consummation of freedom, truth, and religion! But want of decision renders wisdom in council insignificant, as want of power hath prevented us here from destroying the mercenary troops now in Boston. Frugality, a most amiable domestick virtue, becomes a vice, of the most enormous kind, when opposed to the common good. The tyrant, by his last speech, has convinced us, that to be free or not, depends upon ourselves. Nothing, therefore, but the most vigorous exertions on our part, can shelter us from the evils intended us. How can we, then, startle at the idea of expense, when our whole property, our dearest connexions, our liberty, nay! life itself is at stake; let us, therefore, act like men inspired with a resolution that nothing but the frowns of Heaven shall conquer us. It is no time for deliberation; the hour is swiftly rolling on when the plains of America will be deluged with human blood. Resolves, declarations, and all the parade of heroism in words, will not obtain a victory. Arms and ammunition are as necessary as men, and must be had at the expense of every thing short of Britain’s claims.

Siege of Boston with Prospect Hill

An army unequipped, will ever feel the want of spirit and courage ; but properly furnished, fighting in the best of causes, will bid defiance to the united force of men and devils. When a finishing period will be put to the present dispute, God only knows. We have just experienced the inconveniences of disbanding an army within cannon shot of the enemy, and forming a new one in its stead. An instance never before known. Had the enemy been fully acquainted with our situation, I cannot pretend to say what might have been the consequence. A large body of troops will probably be wanted for a considerable time. It will be infinitely safer, and not more expensive in the end, for the Continent to give a large bounty to any number of troops in addition to what may be ordered on the present establishment, that will engage during the war, than to inlist them from year to year without a bounty. And should the present regiments be inclined to engage for the same term, let them receive the same encouragement. There is not the least prospect of our being able to disband and form a new army again, without the enemy’s availing himself of the advantage.

I have taken the liberty to show your last letter to General Lee, whose knowledge of Europe, and American genius and learning, enable him to give you the advice you want. He has written you fully on the subject ; it would be mere arrogance in me to say any thing upon the subject, after he has taken up the pen.

I this day manned the lines upon this hill, and feel a degree of pleasure that I have not felt for several days. Our situation has been critical. We have no part of the militia here, and the night after the old troops went away, I could not have mustered seven hundred men, notwithstanding the returns of the new inlisted troops amounted to nineteen hundred and upwards. I am now strong enough to defend myself against all the force in Boston. God bless you and preserve you. Adieu, &c.

David McCullough began 1776 in 1775. On October 26, 1775 British King George III rode to the Palace of Westminster to deliver a speech to Parliament. The king wanted to put down the rebellion in America. “he was committing land and sea forces – as well unnamed foreign mercenaries – sufficient to put an end to that rebellion, and he had denounced the leaders of the uprising for having American independence as their true objective, something those leaders themselves had not as yet openly declared.” After George III left Parliament both Houses heatedly debated the king’s proposal; both Houses voted to support the king.[1]
On January 1, 1776 the American troops at Boston first saw copies of George III’s October speech. “The reaction among the army was rage and indignation.” Soldiers burned the speech in public. With the new year the speech marked a turning point – no more possibility of reconciliation. In a letter General Washington referred to “a tyrant and his diabolical ministry,” and wrote ” we were determined to shake off all connections with state so unjust and unnatural.” January 1st was also the day many volunteers went home and new recruits took their places. Washington declared a new army with a continental point of view, even though most of the soldiers were still from New England. A 13-gun salute introduced the raising of a new flag – thirteen red and white stripes with the British colors in an upper corner. [2]

probably raised on Prospect Hill on January 1, 1776

Happy Fourth … of May!

Rhode Island’s declaration

Excerpts from Nathanael Greene’s letter to Samuel Ward appear in The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six in a section called “The Turn of the Tide.” Also in the section: Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter in November 1775 suggesting that separation was probably imminent (Greene’s and Jefferson’s expressions for independence “could be matched in every colony”); excerpts from Common Sense, published on January 9, 1776, “Doubtless the most important single influence in bringing about a change in popular sentiment” in favor of separation; opposition to Common Sense by Virginian Landon Carter.[3]
Samuel Ward died in March 1776 of smallpox, so he didn’t have the opportunity to vote for independence and sign the declaration. He’s a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. According to George Washington Greene, Nathanael Greene’s grandson and another Member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, Samuel Ward also didn’t live to see the colony of Rhode Island declare its own independence on May 4, 1776. From Greene’s A Short History of Rhode Island (1877; at Project Gutenberg, page 228):
While these events, so grievous in the present, so full of a glorious future, were passing, Samuel Ward, who had so nobly represented the highest conscience and culture of Rhode Island in the Continental Congress, was dying of small-pox in Philadelphia—the advanced post of civil heroism. An upright and conscientious man, who had drawn from books and men those lessons which make men wise in judgment and firm in principle and bold in action. Had he lived a few weeks longer his name would have been foremost among the signers. A marble monument was voted him by Congress, “in testimony of the respect due to his memory, and in grateful remembrance of his public services.”
The last Colonial Assembly of Rhode Island met on the 1st of May. On the 4th, two months before the Congressional Declaration of Independence, it solemnly renounced its allegiance to the British crown, no longer closing its session with “God save the King,” but taking in its stead as expressive of their new relations, “God save the United Colonies.”
You can read more about Prospect Hill at the National Park Service. Most scholars think the flag raised on January 1, 1776 was indeed the Grand Union Flag, but there is some disagreement. “During the 1860s, Civil War regiments used the land as a training field and campsite.”
The portrait of Nathanael Greene is from the National Park Service. I got the Samuel Ward portrait at Free-Images, along with the image of the stamp depicting the Grand Union Flag, the flag probably raised on January 1, 1776 by the American army at Boston.
From the Library of Congress: the map showing American and British troop dispositions during the Siege of Boston (after March 5, 1776 when American troops under General John Thomas took control of Dorchester Heights, according to 1776 page 90); calendar showing and describing Henry Knox and the transport of cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to the American lines at Boston. It seems the artillery arrived in late January -this was very important for the American plan to get the British out of Boston – the artillery was in use when the Americans occupied Dorchester Heights; the portrait of Henry Knox – you can read more about him at the U.S. Army, According to 1776 Knox arrived back in Cambridge on January 18, 1776, the cannon were still at Farmingham but would soon follow; leaflet commemorating the Rhode Island declaration of independence on May 4, 1776, which still referred to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations as an English colony – one of the songs for the 1909 commemoration was “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written by Julia Ward Howe, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Ward, Greene’s correspondent in the letter above.

Knox and Ticonderoga cannon arrive at siege

frigid mission

Henry Knox

_________________

[January 20, 2026] I should have mentioned that David McCullough began Chapter Two of 1776 with a description of Nathanael Greene. Born a Quaker and mostly self-educated, he worked a a foundryman until the war. He was only 33 in January 1776. “But Nathanael Greene was no ordinary man. He had a quick, inquiring mind and uncommon resolve. He was extremely hardworking, forthright, good-natured, and a born leader. His commitment to the Glorious Cause of America, as it was called, was total. And if his youth was obvious, the Glorious Cause was to a large degree a young man’s cause … [for example, Washington, Hancock, John Adams, Jefferson] … Washington had quickly judged Nathanael Greene to be ‘an object of confidence.'” [1776 pages 20-21]. Unsurprisingly, Nathanael Greene is also a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
  1. [1]McCullough David, 1776. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2006. Pages 12 -18. ↩
  2. [2]ibid Pages 67-69↩
  3. [3]Commager, Henry Steele and Morris, Richard B. (eds). The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six. Edison New Jersey: Castle Books 2002, pages 282-292] ↩
Posted in 250 years ago, American History | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

fake news?

Posted on January 1, 2026 by SUMPTER

maybe Christmas next year?

I admit I’ve been sitting on this story. When I was reading newspapers a few weeks ago at the Library of Congress, I was quite shocked by an article that seemed to contradict a rock-solid assumption I’ve held for over six decades. I just couldn’t credit it. I’ve never had any doubt that every Christmas Eve Santa Claus loads up his sleigh and, with the help of eight or nine reindeer, personally delivers gifts to all the good boys and girls throughout the world (and lumps of coal for others of us). But the newspaper article from 150 years ago reported that Santa Claus sloughed off at least part of his typical gift-delivering duties to people he called his coadjutors. That was hard for me to take, but I tried to think it through logically. According to the article, Santa attended a reception that America’s Brother Jonathan was hosting at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. That seemed possible because 1) 1876 would be the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, proclaimed by the Continental Congress that was meeting in what became known as Independence Hall 2) It wouldn’t surprise me if Santa Claus was a history buff since he has lived through so many centuries of history 3) possibly he realized he couldn’t attend the Independence commemoration in July 1876 because at that time he’d need to be up at the North Pole in his workshop leading and managing the large elfin workforce, ensuring enough toys got made for Christmas 1876.

So, while I didn’t like it, I thought it was at least possible; it wasn’t necessarily April’s Fools Day on Christmas Day, so I started to get the story ready. From the December 25, 1875 issue of The New York Herald (page 3):

The New York Herald December 25, 1875

letter from Santa

Wait for my coadjutor, Johnnie

______________________

For the first time in many years – perhaps for the first time in history – Santa Claus changed his plans last night, and instead of travelling all over Christendom, as was his wont, he left the giving of good gifts to children to others, as appears from the following circular letter which he issued some time ago: –

TO MY COADJUTORS ALL OVER THE WORLD:

I am under special engagement with Brother Jonathan to attend his levée at Independence Hall, in the city of Philadelphia (America), on Christmas Eve. I therefore call upon all my friends and the friends of the little ones to relieve me as far as possible from my ordinary Christmas duties; especially do I command my coadjutors who have wrought with me so well in the past not to forget the poor children to whom Christmas is the brightest day of the year when a little forethought is employed to make them happy.

SANTA CLAUS

A copy of this letter was sent to the HERALD in order to give us notice of Brother Jonathan’s levée and enable us to send a reporter to witness and report the scene. When the HERALD representative arrived at the Old State House in Philadelphia he found everything in the building exactly as it was 100 years ago, while it was occupied by the Continental Congress. It was impossible to look at the old building standing now nearly as it stood in 1775, and not feel with the poet –

This is the sacred lane wherein assembled
The fearless champions on the side of Right;
Men at whose declaration empires trembled,
Moved by the truth’s immortal might.

Brother Jonathan straddles the U.S.

The Hall of Independence was opened for the mystic celebration and the reception of the mystic guests. The changes which man and time have wrought are few, but as we said before, even these wore restored, and the Independence Hall of which we speak was the Independence Hall of 1776. In this venerated chamber, sacred to memory and patriotism, sat Santa Claus and Brother Jonathan, conversing of the past, the present and the future. Surrounded by a hundred relics of the Revolution and even seated in John Hancock’s chair, Jonathan’s complacency was only equalled by his volubility. Bringing down his huge fists upon the arms of the old chair, he said, “Hancock was always a great favorite with me, Mr. Claus. Hancock was a gentleman; If you don’t think so all you have to do is to look at bis handwriting. Nobody but a gentleman could sign his name as John Hancock signed his to the Declaration of Independence.” …

This as a very long article so when I got to this point I looked ahead, way ahead, to the end. And “what to my wondering eyes did appear”? It turns out that the whole story was the reporter’s dream! At the end of the festivities Mr. Claus was enjoying his pipe and a glass of grog, then

As the smoke cleared away the images all disappeared, and it was found that Santa Claus, too, was gone. And, to crown all, the reporter found himself quietly snoring in his own bed, like the majority of Christian men on Christmas morning, with a headache.

levée venue

The reporter’s dream included some contemporary politics. Mr. Clause was strongly opposed to President Grant seeking a third term:
In the chatter between the two every possible subject was discussed, even the question of a third term for General Grant, and it was remarked that Santa Claus was even more hostile to the idea than Brother Jonathan himself.”It would would be a strange thing, Mr. Jonathan,” he said, “if you and Uncle Sam should consent to give away the liberties of your people after what we have seen tonight. What good were your Washington and Adamses, and Jefferson and Jackson and the long line of your Presidents, if at last you are weak enough to forgot the traditions and glories we have seen pictured here? Should you consent to such a sacrifice this old hall would not be true to itself or to its name unless it crumbled to pieces before your very eyes. And that magnificent palace which you are building on the Schuylkill would be the badge of American degradation and shame, instead of the evidence of the freedom and prosperity of a great country. General Grant is not a bad sort of man in his way; the people owe him a debt of gratitude for his services during the late war which they can never repay; but he is much like some of the children I meet in my annual tours -unable to refuse anything and always wishing for something more. The people do not owe him another term and they will make fools of themselves if they give him one.” …

Santa says, elect #19 in 1876

Santa on phone in workshop, about 1906

From the Library of Congress: Currier and Ives’ c1876 Brother Jonathan, Library says, “A cartoon celebrating the centennial of the United States. The figure of Brother Jonathan, a precursor of Uncle Sam, straddles the towers of the main building at the Philadelphia World’s Fair of 1876. Between his feet the North American continent, crossed by a railroad, appears on a half globe. Hot-air balloons labeled “1776” and “1876” rise toward the top of the print on either side.”; Independence Hall, c1875; 1876 print of first eighteen U.S. presidents; Santa on phone in workshop, 1906; Currier & Ives’ c1876 Happy New Year lithograph;
The image of Santa Claus out in the snow with the little boy is from James Whitcomb Riley’s A Defective Santa Claus at Project Gutenberg, where you can also find the pictureof Santa Claus and reindeer.
By the way, I’m quite thankful for the various lumps of coal I’ve received in my life. Sometimes “no” is the kindest word.
Happy new year (New York : Published by Currier & Ives, c1876.; LOC: https://www.loc.gov/item/2002695831/)

USA 250!

Posted in 150 Years Ago, American History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

war story

Posted on December 24, 2025 by SUMPTER

According to the December 25, 1575 issue of Harper’s Weekly, Americans were using evergreen garlands and wreaths more to decorate their homes for Christmas. The decorations might have been changing, but people still yearned to go home for Christmas.

looking a lot like Christmas

Harper’s Weekly December 25, 1875

Harper’s Weekly December 25, 2025

not only in dreams

Ira D. Sankey was a well-known and outstanding 19th century Gospel singer. He spent much of his career providing the inspirational music to complement D.L. Moody’s preaching at Evangelical meetings and church services. According to Anna Talbott McPherson, on relatively balmy Christmas Eve in 1875 Mr. Sankey was a passenger on a Delaware River steamboat. One of his fellow passengers recognized him and asked if he would sing a song. Sankey assumed he would sing a Christmas song, but after a prayer decided on “Savior, like a shepherd lead us.” After the song a man approached the singer and asked if Sankey had ever served in the Union Army and done picket duty on a bright moonlit night. Sankey remembered several bright nights. The other man said that he had been a Confederate soldier and saw Sankey on picket duty on a bright night. The Confederate thought to himself that the picket was done for and took aim with his musket. At that moment Sankey raised his eyes to heaven and began to sing “Savior, like a shepherd lead us.” The music touched the rebel soldier, so he took his finger off the trigger and decided to let the doomed Yankee finish his song before his certain death. When the rebel heard the words,
“We are Thine, do Thou befriend us;
Be the Guardian of our way.”
he recalled his mother singing those words to him many times. After the song the Confederate found it impossible to take aim again. He thought to himself, “The Lord who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and mighty.” On that night in 1875 the former rebel soldier asked Sankey to help him cure his spiritual sickness. It is said that Sankey helped him find Jesus.[1]
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the story. It’s out there on the internet in many places, but I haven’t found a primary source and some of the facts don’t really line up. Some say the Christmas Eve was in 1876 instead of 1875. Anna Talbott McPherson’s book has Sankey in the Union Army in the spring of 1860, but the war didn’t start until 1861. According to The American Evangelists, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey Moody and Sankey were conducting meetings in Philadelphia from late November 1875 until early January, so Sankey would have been close to the Delaware River. It is written at the Moody Bible Institute that Sankey volunteered for the 22nd Pennsylvania Regiment Infantry, which was a three month regiment from April 23, 1861. You can read a PDF of the story at Scriptural Truths.

Christmas Eve

I got the Harper’s Weekly 1875 material from HathiTrust.
From the Library of Congress: Andrew Melrose’s Christmas Eve; Currier & Ives’ 1876 greeting.
Merry Christmas (New York : Published by Currier & Ives, 125 Nassau St., [1876])

to you and yours

  1. [1]McPherson, Anna Talbott, They Dared to be Different. Chicago: Moody Press, 1967. Pages 22-24. ↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, American Culture | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“the people’s Thanksgiving”

Posted on November 27, 2025 by SUMPTER

“practice at once wise and beautiful”

President Grant’s seventh Thanksgiving Proclamation (from Pilgrim Hall Museum):

THANKSGIVING DAY 1875
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PROCLAMATION
In accordance with a practice at once wise and beautiful, we have been accustomed, as the year is drawing to a close, to devote an occasion to the humble expression of our thanks to Almighty God for the ceaseless and distinguished benefits bestowed upon us as a nation and for His mercies and protection during the closing year.

Amid the rich and free enjoyment of all our advantages, we should not forget the source from whence they are derived and the extent of our obligation to the Father of All Mercies. We have full reason to renew our thanks to Almighty God for favors bestowed upon us during the past year.

By His continuing mercy civil and religious liberty have been maintained, peace has reigned within our borders, labor and enterprise have produced their merited rewards; and to His watchful providence we are indebted for security from pestilence and other national calamity.

Apart from national blessings, each individual among us has occasion to thoughtfully recall and devoutly recognize the favors and protection which he has enjoyed.

Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do recommend that on
Thursday, the 25th day of November, the people of the United States, abstaining from all secular pursuits and from their accustomed avocations, do assemble in their respective places of worship, and, in such form as may seem most appropriate in their own hearts, offer to Almighty God their acknowledgments and thanks for all His mercies and their humble prayers for a continuance of His divine favor.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 27th day of October, A.D. 1875, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundredth.
U.S. GRANT

A Chicago newspaper’s Thanksgiving editorial 150 years ago stressed the importance of Thanksgiving as a day for families to get together (much like the New York Herald the year before). I don’t understand everything on the paper’s list of reasons to be thankful, but I can understand why Chicagoans would be happy that there weren’t any major fires in 1875 and that the river didn’t stink. The editorial ended by quoting another publication on making the day a people’s Thanksgiving – don’t let the preacher’s have all the fun. From the November 25, 1875 issue of The Chicago Daily Tribune (page 4):

LET US GIVE THANKS.

The day for the annual giving of thanks has arrived, and all of our readers who are not ungrateful wretches will take this occasion to display their gratitude for the mercies which have been vouchsafed them during the year. The motive for the Puritanic observance of this day was the exhibition of the plenty which had crowned the year and the pouring out of blessings from its cornucopia, their purpose was to be of good cheer, and our grim old ancestors never failed to exhibit that good cheer, — if not in an uproarious, at least in a substantial manner. Out of this purpose has grown the custom, which still exists, of filling the larder to overflowing and of making the Thanksgiving table groan with its wealth of turkey and chicken, of vegetables and game, of pies and puddings, and the cheer that comes in bottles. On other days the Puritan was naturally abstemious; on Thanksgiving Day he was cheerful. Since his time the country has progressed. His descendant, even on ordinary days, is disposed to be cheerful in the culinary sense; on Thanksgiving Day, to express his gratitude by gormandizing. In the ordinary course of things, therefore, it must eventuate that all over this land to-morrow the physicians will be busy in correcting the effects of the surplus of gratitude which will afflict the average American to-day.

Whatever may be the purposes or effects of Thanksgiving, whether people have reason to be thankful or not, and without regard to prospective dyspepsia and doctors’ bills, there is one episode of Thanksgiving Day which should endear it to all. It is the occasion for family reunions under the old roof-tree. The currents of American life are so diversified, and flow in so many divergent channels, that it is only on some such occasion as this that the scattered members of families can get together and renew those ties of affection which may have been weakened by distance and absence. For this reason, if for no other, should Thanksgiving Day be sacredly observed. It cannot but make every man better.

Dwight L. Moody

Ira D. Sankey

Chicago overview

______________

In making a retrospect of the year, there is great reason for thankfulness. First of all, let us be thankful for all of God’s blessings, for in every year, if we should stop to make the calculation, we should find that tho average of mercies exceeds that of misfortunes. Let us be thankful that Brother MOODY and the melodious SANKEY are overwhelming, one after the other, the strongholds of sin, and are bringing hardened sinners to a realizing sense of their condition, and that they have disinfected Brooklyn of the odors of the BEECHER business. Let us be thankful for an abundant harvest, and that all the crops have yielded richly to the husbandman, filling his garners with future wealth. Let us be thankful that the country is blessed with good health, and that no plague or pestilence prevails within our borders. Let us be thankful that we have largely recovered from the effects of the financial panic which grow [grew?] out of the War of the Rebellion, and that we are beginning to realize tho importance of national economy. Let us be thankful that, the people in November voted to be honest, and expressed themselves in favor of the money made by the Almighty rather than the rags of the paper-mill and printing-press. Let us be thankful that in our own city the people shivered an infamous Ring, defeated tho gamblers and thieves, and redeemed tho county from their clutches. Let us be thankful for our exemption from fire and flood and great catastrophes. Let us be thankful for the city’s growth in all the elements of greatness. Let us be thankful that the Mayor’s term is so nearly expired; that fire insurance is so cheap; that there is a gleam of hope that the City and County Architects may agree upon some uniform plan for a City Hall; that the taxes have not eaten up all our property; that the river does not smell bad; that we are not wicked as St. Louis; that HERRING [?] is not County Treasurer; that our churches are getting along without scandal; that pull-backs are still the fashion; that the South Side Street Railroad is to have conductors; that the Sunday Lecture Society meets but once a week; that oysters and other winter vegetables are plenty; that book-peddlers and life-insurance men are not so plenty; that building material is cheap; that we have an inexhaustible supply of good water; that none of our ministers have fallen from grace; that HARRIS didn’t drive his swamp-elm piles; that the man at the Crib is well and happy; that HICKEY threatens the bunko men; that the doctors have so little to do; that the South Side Company’s gas gives any light at all; that we are not down among the dead men; and that the Plymouth Church cornet is a thing of the past. For all these and numerous other blessings, including to-day’s dinner, let us all be thankful. And in the midst of all our thankfulness let us not forget the worthy poor who have so little cause to be thankful. Let us relieve them from our own bounteous store and make them happy.

With this prelude we commend the day to each reader, and, in the language of a correspondent of the Congregationalist, we say: “Has anyone found grace to repent and seek the Lord; has any found grace to reform; has any one received the present of a cord of wood, a pair of shoes, a new coat, a cow? Has any one recovered from sickness, or met with a narrow escape; have people been kind to you in trouble? has your farm produced well; have your cows done well; have you good neighbors? this is a good place and time to thank God. Make it a glad day. Let some songs be sung wherein all the house shall sing. Never mind discords. Sing. Pray. ‘Break your drumstick.’ Make a loud noise. Have no sermon in the way. Don’t go to telling how we ought to be thankful, but be thankful. Express gratitude. Make it the people’s Thanksgiving, not the minister’s alone.

According to documentation at the Library of Congress, one minister who did deliver a sermon (or discourse) on Thanksgiving Day in 1875 was Reverend Alexander Crummell, who spoke at St. Mary’s Chapel in Washington, D.C. Rev. Crummell expanded on a few points for the published version of his discourse. Crummell began his talk with reasons to be thankful, then spent most of his address explaining how black Americans should use God’s blessings to improve themselves and their situation. Here’s his beginning:

Reverend Crummell

MORE than a month has passed away since we received the proclamation of the Chief Magistrate of this nation, appointing the 25th of November a day of public thanksgiving to Almighty God. And, in accordance with this pious custom, we, in common with millions of our fellow-citizens throughout the republic, have met together this morning, to offer up our tribute of praise and thankfulness to our common Parent in heaven, for all the gifts, favors, blessings and benefactions; civil, domestic, religious, and educational, which have been bestowed upon us during the year: — for the blessings of heaven above; for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun; for the precious things of the earth and the fulness [sic] thereof; for the golden harvests of peace, unstained by blood, and unbroken by strife; for the constant stream of health which has flowed through our veins and households, untainted by plagues or pestilence; for the babes whom the Lord has laid upon your arms and given to your hearts; for the plentiful supply of food which has been granted us from the fields, and which has laden our boards; for the goodly instruction which trains the mind and corrects the hearts of our children, and prepares them for responsibility, for duty and, eternity; for the civil privileges and the national freedom, in which we are permitted to participate; for the measure of success which God has given His Gospel, and for the hope that is ours that the Cross shall yet conquer everywhere beneath the sun, and that Jesus shall rule and reign through all the world. For these and all other gifts and blessings we render our tribute of praise and gratitude to the Lord, our maker, preserver and benefactor, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord!

Grateful as is this theme of gratitude, and inviting as it is for thought and further expression, it is not my purpose to pursue it to-day. I feel that we should turn the occasion into an opportunity for improvement and progress. Indeed all the gifts and benefactions of the Almighty are, and are designed to be, so many agencies and incentives for man to rise to higher degrees, and lotfier [loftier] positions of growth, of expansion, and of principle. We have been blessed during the year in many various and signal ways. But the end which God has had in view, in our blessings, has been, that we might secure a propulsive power, in and by His blessings, to carry us on to a nobler manhood, and a superior plane of being. And hence, while it is indeed well for us, ever and anon, and especially on an occasion like the present, to sit down and count over our mercies, it is equally well to ponder and reflect upon the end for which these blessings have been given us; and to study out the means by which we can use our mercies aright; and cause our talents to bring forth abundantly for human good and the Divine glory.

St. Mary’s Chapel (while still at Kalorama Hospital)

More especially is this the duty of a people situated as we are in this country; cut loose, blessed be God, for evermore, from the dark moorings of servitude and oppression; but not fully arrived at — only drifting towards the deep, quiet waters of fullest freedom and equality. Few, comparatively, in numbers; limited in resources; the inheritors of prodigious disasters; the heirs of ancestral woes and sorrows; burdened with most manifest duties and destinies; anxious for our children; thoughtful for our race; culpability and guilt of the deepest dye will be ours, if we do not most seriously consider the means and instruments by which we shall be enabled to go forward, and to rise upward. It is peculiarly a duty at this time when there is evidently an ebb-tide of indifference in the country, with regard to our race; and when the anxiety for union, neutralizes the interest in the black man.

The agencies to the high ends I have referred to The agencies to the high ends I have referred to are various; but the text I have chosen, suggests a train of thought, in a distinct and peculiar line. It gives us an insight into that spirit of unity which the world exhibits, when it would fain accomplish its great, commanding ends. …

Reverend Crummell’s text was Isaiah 41: 6,7: “They helped every one his neighbor, and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with
nails that it should not be moved.”
According to Foggy Bottom Association, St. Mary’s Chapel is now St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. In 1865 African Americans sought an Episcopalian Church where they could worship without discrimination. An Episcopalian “donated land in Foggy Bottom as a location for the church. Epiphany parishioner and President Lincoln’s Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton was able to relocate a chapel attached to Kalorama Hospital to the Foggy Bottom site. This frame chapel was opened for the first Divine Service on the second Sunday in June 1867.” “In 1873, the Rev. Dr. Alexander Crummell became the church’s first full time rector,” but he eventually left the church because of land title disputes. You can read more of the history and see a picture of the Kalorama Hospital chapel at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church’s website

.

To get back to The Chicago Daily Tribune editorial, D.L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey worked as an Evangelical team for much of the second half of the 19th century. Mr. Moody focused on the preaching, Mr. Sankey the music – he was a talented musician with an excellent voice. At the Moody Bible Institute you can read bios about Moody and Sankey. Another bio is The American Evangelists, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey. Both men served during the Civil War. In the spring of 1861 Sankey enlisted in the 22nd Pennsylvania Infantry, a three month regiment. Moody ministered to the Union soldiers at Camp Douglas in 1861. According to The American Evangelists, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, Moody ministered to the sick and wounded at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Murfreesboro. Moody’s church was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. For two years beginning in 1873 Moody and Sankey preached and sang in The United kingdom and Ireland. By fall 1875 they were back in the States and held services in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving.
I have many, many reasons to be thankful. For example, recently, thanks to Father James Kubicki, S.J., I learned about Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who was imprisoned for thirteen years after the fall of Saigon in 1975. According to Father Kubicki, during this time Bishop Van Thuan still found reasons to be thankful: “… the morning dew on the grass, the light of the sun, the heat of the day, sparkling water from a fountain, the freshness of the wind, the warbling of a bird. Have I ever thought of giving thanks for all of this? I enjoy all these gifts without having paid a penny. If I keep my eyes open and my spirit alert, I will live in continual thanksgiving. …” Also, Bishop Van Thuan thanked God for being his child and for Mother Mary. “Thank you for so many brothers and sisters who sustain me. Thank you for the people who place obstacles in my path and cause me trouble; they help me to become holy. I should sing your praise my whole life long for just one of these gifts. …”[1]

Thanks to the “Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information photograph collection” at the Library of Congress we can see an example of what “the people’s Thanksgiving” was like in 1942 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Earle Landis in Neffsville, Pennsylvania.

turning over turkey

getting pies

freezing ice cream

It looks like the only missing was some football on the TV, but I read that TV wasn’t widely available in the United States until the 1950s. Also, according to AI Overview, the NFL suspended games on Thanksgiving, even though there was a regular season of games played the first fall after Pear Harbor.

walking off the big meal

The Thanksgiving greeting comes from ClipSafari. From the Library of Congress: The first American thanksgiving; the portrait of Rev. Alexander Crummell is from an 1898 address in memoriam of Reverend Crummell delivered in 1898 by Rev. Henry L. Phillips to the American Negro Historical Society of Philadelphia; the photo of St. Mary’s Chapel at Kalorama Hospital, which “shows the Anthony Holmead House (“Kalorama”) after the Christmas Eve fire of 1865″ and before the chapel was moved to Foggy Bottom; if you search for “Earle Landis” at the Library of Congress you can see the photos that Marjory Collins took of the Thanksgiving celebration at the Landis house in 1942; the pictures of Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey are from The American Evangelists, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey –

  1. [1]Kubicki, S.J. James, A Year of Daily Offerings Giving Your Life to God One Day at a Time. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2024. Page 350. ↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, American Culture, Postbellum Society, The Grant Administration | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Death of a Union Man

Posted on October 26, 2025 by SUMPTER

Early on the morning of July 31, 1875 former president and U.S. Senator Andrew Johnson died at his daughter Mary’s home after suffering a couple strokes. An editorial in the August 1, 1875 issue of The Chicago Daily Tribune (Page 4) found some good and some bad in the man:

Senator Johnson, March 1875

ANDREW JOHNSON DEAD.

Ex-President ANDREW JOHNSON died yesterday in Tennessee, from the effect of a paralysis with which he had been stricken on Friday. He was born Dec. 29, 1808, and was in the 66th year of his age. His public record is a remarkable one. At 10 years of age he was apprenticed to a tailor, and worked at that in Raleigh, N. C., until he was 18, —teaching himself to read. With his widowed mother, he moved to Greenville, in East Tennessee, where he worked at his trade and married. At 20 years he was elected an Alderman of the town; was Mayor from 23 to 26; a member of the Legislature from 27 to 31; canvassed the State as Presidential Elector at 32; elected to State Senate at 33; to Congress at 35; and, during ten years’ continuous service, took an important and conspicuous part in legislation; served four years (until 1857) as Governor of Tennessee; was then elected United States Senator for six years; arrayed himself on the side of the Union and against Rebellion; was appointed Military Governor of Tennessee from 1862 to 1865; was elected Vice-President November, 1864; inaugurated March 4,1865; succeeded as President of the United States April 15 in the same year; retired March 4, 1869; and in February, 1875, was elected United States Senator, taking his seat on the 4th of March. From his election as Village Aldermen in 1820 to the time of his death he was continuously in elective office, except during the time he served as Military Governor, and the six years following the expiration of his term as President.

ANDREW JOHNSON was no ordinary man. Indeed, he was an extraordinary character. His success was due to no advantages of wealth, family, or education. He was poor at the outset, and remained comparatively poor to the end. He was thrifty and sparing in his expenditures. He was a man of great natural abilities, which made themselves conspicuous despite his illiteracy and want of education; they enabled him to surmount obstacles that were fatal to others. He enjoyed the personal confidence of his immediate neighbors, and of the people of his State, and that confidence had even a wider constituency among the American people.

tailor shop in Greenville, Tenn

There was one particular in his character that should never be forgotten, and which should serve as an incentive to all classes, and especially to men holding public station, and that was his inflexible personal honesty. No suspicion of any official turpitude ever existed of ANDREW JOHNSON; and it was to the public faith in his integrity that he owed the victories which he gained in his contests in his own State.

ANDREW JOHNSON’S public career, of course, reached its zenith in the Presidency. The extraordinary events of his Presidency are fresh in the memory of the public. He succeeded Mr. Lincoln under the awful and unprecedented circumstances of assassination. He succeeded at the close of a long bloody civil war, when the Government had to deal with even the more difficult question of the reconstruction of twelve millions of people, four millions of whom had been elevated from the personal condition of slavery to that of freedom and political citizenship. Between the two races, the line which separated the superior from the inferior had been broad and impassable for a century; it had been intensified by the comparative ignorance of the one race and the cultivation of the other; and the problem which met the Administration of Johnson was how to create, upon an enduring basis, Governments for these people in which there should be no distinctions of race or color, and where the master and slave were to be on a common level of right, of freedom, and political equality.

“unbending pertinacity or
obstinacy”

One of the peculiar traits of ANDREW JOHNSON’S character was inordinate egotism, — his complete confidence in himself and in the unbending pertinacity or obstinacy with which he adhered to his own ignorant convictions. Before the meeting of Congress he had marked out his “policy” of negro serfdom, and sought to so commit the Government thereto that Congress would have to acquiesce. But Congress refused, and for three years there was a constant and bitter struggle between the Executive and Legislative Departments. The President vetoed all the measures of Reconstruction, and, so far as he was able, used his authority to nullify and defeat them. Congress, on the other hand, resorted to legislation having for its practical effect to deprive the President of the power to remove and appoint the civil officers of the Government, including even the members of his own Cabinet. The President was not amiable under the controversy. He was defiant and aggressive, and was especially abusive in his speech. The Congress, fortified by an overwhelming verdict of the people, at last resorted to the extreme measure of impeachment, and a formal conviction and deposition failed only by a single vote in the Senate. We do not think it extravagant to say that the general action of Congress in the matter of Reconstruction, as opposed to that of ANDREW JOHNSON, was sustained by five-sixths of the American people; and the actual reconstruction of the ex-Rebel States was only accomplished in spite of and against the unrelenting opposition of the President. This is hardly the occasion to discuss the opposing policies of the President and of Congress in the matter of Reconstruction. Reconstruction is now completed, and the excitements and passions and vindictive feelings that prevailed in 1865 – ‘8 had so far relaxed and faded away that the people of the North, of all parties, generally were gratified when the Legislature of Tennessee, last winter, elected the ex-President to the United States Senate. His election was a personal triumph. He defeated the caucus, through the voluntary demands of the common people of the State that he be elected.

Military Governor of Tennessee

ANDREW JOHNSON, however, by his conduct in 1861, in opposing Secession and Rebellion in Tennessee, gained a place in his country’s history which even a subsequent successful impeachment could not have wholly obscured. He faced Disunion, Treason, Secession, and Rebellion on the soil where these flourished, and where it required courage and patriotism of the highest order to do so.

ANDREW JOHNSON could, however, have hardly adopted any other course. He had bean a living protest against the aristocracy which was founded upon Slavery. He was a man of the common people. Ha had no ancestry or lineage to refer to; he was not a descendant of a family rich in lands or slaves; he was a laborer, living upon the wages which his own hands earned; his appearance as a leader in politics was resented as an encroachment upon the domain of those born to rule; he might be tolerated as a useful retainer, but as a Captain never! Every office he obtained he forced from the “upper class” of his party. At last he reached Congress, and for ten years he was content to represent his immediate neighbors and friends. His party refused to recognize him further. In the Presidential election of 1852 the State had voted for the Whig candidate, and, in 1853, ANDREW JOHNSON was essential to the success of the party, and thus he forced the old nullifiers, abstractionists, secessionists, and aristocrats to take the Tailor of Greenville and make him Governor of the State. Two years later he was again called upon to meet Knownothingism, and succeeded. He made war on the aristocratic wing of the party, and so strong had he become that Tennessee was one of the strongest Union States at the South. It refused to secede in 1861, and, in the end, was declared to have seceded, by fraud and swindling upon the part of its executive officers.

monument at the grave of Andrew and Eliza Johnson in Greenville Tennessee

ANDREW JOHNSON had his faults, personal and political. He had many very wild political vagaries, which, however, despite their absurdity, he honestly believed in. He was excessively dogmatic. He was intolerant in his opinions, and always extreme. Owing to his deficient education, and his residence among a people who at that time were hardly as well improved as himself, and the personal antagonisms he had to encounter because of his humble origin and his mechanical occupation, he in early life had to resort to language in his popular addresses which was far more forcible than elegant. In the vituperation common on the stump in Tennessee he had but one rival, and that was the Whig Parson BROWNLOW, and for nearly fifty years these men led a life of bitter denunciation. JOHNSON was perfectly at home in such a strife, and there were few men, in Tennessee or out of it, who would venture a second time into that kind of discussion with him. In after life, when in more elevated positions, he could not get rid of this rude style altogether. It followed him to the last, attracting more unfavorable comment in his exalted positions than in his earlier days.

He lived to an advanced age, and has gone down to the grave bearing many honors. His own intense combativeness provoked a counter warfare on him. The country will hear of his death with no revival of unkindness. Though condemned by the nation, and at times regarded as a dangerous man, nevertheless, at the grave of the Village Alderman, Mayor, legislator, Congressman, Governor, Senator, Vice-President, and President, all his faults and errors will be overlooked in the brightnes [sic] of the epitaph, — “In the day of treason, he was an American patriot.”

death of an “American patriot”

From the Wikipedia article about Andrew Johnson – the March 1875 photo; the photo the Johnson’s monument is from the National Park Service. From the Library of Congress: 1865 photo of the Johnson tailor shop in Greenville, Tennessee; Andy Veto sheet music from 1866; military governor; Currier & Ives’ 1875 portrayal of Andrew Johnson’s death.
Posted in 150 Years Ago, Impeachment, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

twists of fate

Posted on September 22, 2025 by SUMPTER

teacher vs. student

General Beauregard

It’s been about fifteen years since the American Civil War sesquicentennial began with the 1860 election campaign. After Abraham Lincoln was elected U.S. president, southern states began to secede and by April 1861 rebel forces were threatening Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. General P.G.T. Beauregard commanded the Confederates and opposed his West Point artillery instructor Major Robert Anderson in charge at the fort. As the above National Park Service brochures says, Beauregard was “determined to evict the Federal troops from Fort Sumter, [but] did not welcome the prospect of firing on his old friend and former instructor.” But Beauregard did fire; Anderson surrendered after a 34 hour shelling. Ten years later Mr. Beauregard was reportedly working and living a peaceful civilian life in New Orleans. From the September 18, 1875 issue of the Public Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee – page 1):

Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard

Pierre Gregoire Tousaint Beauregard is now a resident of New Orleans and daily wanders through the haunts of men one of the most quiet and unobtrusive of gentlemen. He is now fifty-eight years of age, but such is his careful and rigid system of living that he looks to be only fifty and promises to live to a ripe old four-score or more. Since he doffed the gray and yielded to the fate of war, Beauregard has philosophically accepted the situation, and has made it a ruling principle of his later life to shun as a plague political discussions, and sternly frown upon the slightest incident dealing in even the remotest degree with the reawakening of the dead issues of the war. I have said that he is a quiet gentleman. I may add that he is intensely so. To look at him he gives you the impression that he loves not the society of mankind and prefers to keep himself to himself. Although exceedingly wealthy at the outbreak of the war, he suffered the reverses of fortune incident to so many thousand Southrons during that epoch, and now enjoys but a moderate competence derived from his services as President of a street railway company, and the rental of the remnant of his once vast property. His daily life is a quiet one, and leads him but little within the scope of public observation; he is simple and unostentatious in manner, and appears rather to avoid than to court popular notice, moving along in the even tenor of his way, contented to pursue his peaceful and modest mission in life undisturbed by useless regrets over the past, or longing ambitions for the future.

According to Wikipedia, Beauregard was involved in politics after the war. In 1872 he helped found the Reform Party of Louisiana, which wanted to “replace the Democratic party and sought to end Radical Republican taxation.” In 1873 he was involved with the Reform Party’s effort to create the Louisiana Unification Movement, which supported less discrimination and more rights for blacks in exchange for black support for some political goals the white members hoped to achieve. “The chant of the Unification movement was ‘Equal Rights! One Flag! One Country! One People!'” The Unification Movement invited fifty white and fifty black leaders to attend a meeting held in New Orleans on June 16, 1873. The blacks were “Creoles of color, who were well-off and had been free before the war.” Beauregard, as chairman of the resolutions committee, submitted the Unification Movement’s resolutions at the meeting. The New Orleans Republican reported on the meeting and the resolutions in its June 18, 1873 issue (page 3). Among other policies, the resolutions supported the end to discrimination in public places and an equal division of state political offices between whites and blacks.

On July 1, 1873 a letter from General Beauregard was published to his “fellow citizens.” The letter responded to criticism of the Unification Movement and its proposals after the movement’s resolutions were made public. It’s a long letter. Here are the last few paragraphs:

I take it that nothing but malice or stupidity could find anything either in the letter or spirit of the unification resolutions which contemplates any interference or dictation in the private social relations of the people. These lie entirely outside the domain of legislation and politics. It would not be denied that, in traveling, and at places of public resort, we often share these privileges in common with thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and others who have worse sins to answer for than the accident of color; but no one ever supposed that we thereby assented to the social equality of these people with ourselves. I therefore say that participation in these public privileges involves no question of social equality. By the enjoyment in common of such-privileges, neither whites nor blacks assert, or assent to, social equality, either with each other or even between individuals of the same race.

I have not proposed to myself any advantages from the resolutions referred to. I do not seek or desire office or emoluments. I have in view but the restoration of Louisiana to the place of honor from which she has fallen.

I surrender no principle, nor do I separate from any friends. I unite with those who, upon a candid consideration of the circumstances they do not control, have to extract from them the greatest amount of good that they allow of.

If there be any who can propose other and better means, I shall not be backward in adopting them. But it is very clear to my mind that the strength of a State consists in the harmonious, cordial, contented union of all the good men of the community in honest efforts for the improvement and progress of the whole. It is equally clear that strife, discord, disunion and distracted efforts and pursuits will produce nothing but weakness and disappointment. The base, selfish, unscrupulous and mercenary always profit from confusion, disorder and the disintegration of society.

This is a full, candid, and to my mind, accurate view of the situation, and I shall regulate my conduct accordingly, so as to free ourselves from ‘“ carpet-bag” rule, and the improper interference of the Federal Government in our State affairs.

G. T. BEAUREGARD
NEW ORLEANS, July 1, 1875.

Note — By“ carpet-baggers” I refer to those corrupt and unscrup viduals [unscrupulous individuals] who come here only to occupy office and despoil our peo [people]

This is General Beauregard’s letter from the Library of Congress:

In 1873 Republican “carpet-bagger” William Pitt Kellogg was Louisiana governor. In its July 5, 1873 issue Harper’s Weekly was skeptical of the Unification Movement’s sincerity and stated that black and white Louisiana Republicans would still want federal protection until the proposed reforms were actually carried out.

New Orleans Republican June 18, 1873 from page 3

Harper’s Weekly July 5, 1873 (page 570)

Harper’s Weekly July 5, 1873 (con’t)

___________________

mass meeting
New Orleans Republican July 15, 1873 page 2

A 1962 thesis by Vincent Marsala (downloadable at LSU) provides a great deal of information about the Unification Movement. Although many people in New Orleans favored Unification, there was little support for Unification in the rest of Louisiana. A mass meeting was held in New Orleans on July 15th for “public ratification” of the Unification platform. A black leader “ridiculed and scolded the whites.” Also, a letter signed by black leaders stated that blacks would work with whites to get rid of carpetbagger rule after the whites demonstrated their support for black political and civil rights. This sine qua non did not go over well at the meeting. The meeting effectively ended the movement for unification. G.T. Beauregard and another white leader were not at this July 15th meeting. Mr. Marsala believed it probable that Beauregard realized the movement would never achieve statewide support and didn’t want to be embarrassed at the meeting. In his conclusion Mr. Marsala described Louisiana’s dire economic situation during Reconstruction. White businessmen and planters wanted to use the Unification Movement to help alleviate the extremely high tax rates made possible by freemen voting for Republicans. General Beauregard and other businessmen thought they could control the black votes after the freemen left the Republican party. The white motivation for unification was economic and not primarily concerned with guaranteeing equal rights for blacks. The movement failed because of a lack of white and black support and a lack of political expertise. [1]

Eric Foner wrote that the Unification Movement failed “since most freedmen distrusted the motives of its white organizers, while its genuine concessions to blacks alienated the bulk of the white electorate.” Democrats reverted to the “open racism” for the 1874 elections. In Louisiana the White League violently worked for white supremacy and fought the Battle of Liberty Place, which caused a strong federal intervention. Mr. Foner quoted one of whites involved in the Unification movement who, by 1874, supported the white supremacy tactics: In 1873 the unifiers humbled themselves to gain black cooperation for better government; that effort failed, but there was no way blacks would rule the whites. [2]
Possibly the failure of the unification movement along with White League violence and Governor Kellogg’s reelection caused Beauregard to seem non-political by the time of the 1875 article on top, which I’m pretty sure got Mr. Beauregard’s second name wrong. According to Walter L. Fleming’s The Sequel of Appomattox (1919, page 147-148, at Project Gutenberg), General Beauregard had a pretty consistent view of blacks between 1867 and 1873. Discussing the federal military administration in the post-war South, Mr. Fleming wrote:
The military administration was thorough, and, as a whole honest and efficient. With fewer than ten thousand soldiers the generals maintained 147 order and carried on the reconstruction of the South. The whites made no attempt at resistance, though they were irritated by military rule and resented the loss of self-government. But most Southerners preferred the rule of the army to the alternative reign of the carpetbagger, scalawag, and negro. The extreme radicals at the North, on the other hand, were disgusted at the conservative policy of the generals. The apathy of the whites at the beginning of the military reconstruction excited surprise on all sides. Not only was there no violent opposition, but for a few weeks there was no opposition at all. The civil officials were openly unsympathetic, and the newspapers voiced dissent not untouched with disgust; others simply could not take the situation seriously because it seemed so absurd; many leaders were indifferent, while others—among them, Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Longstreet, and Governor Patton—without approving the policy, advised the whites to coöperate with the military authorities and save all they could out of the situation. General Beauregard, for instance, wrote in 1867: “If the suffrage of the negro is properly handled and directed we shall defeat our adversaries with their own weapons. The negro 148 is Southern born. With education and property qualifications he can be made to take an interest in the affairs of the South and in its prosperity. He will side with the whites.”
From the Wikipedia article: Beauregard was appointed Superintendent of U.S. Military Academy on January 23, 1861. “However, when Louisiana seceded from the Union, the Federal Government immediately revoked his orders and he subsequently relinquished his office after only five days.” After his work as president of the street railway company, Beauregard worked as a supervisor of the Louisiana State Lottery Company and as adjutant general for the Louisiana state militia. “An equestrian monument by Alexander Doyle in New Orleans depicted him. The monument was removed on May 17, 2017” in the aftermath of the Charleston church shooting.
The Reconstruction topic at 64 Parishes has a very instructive one paragraph summary of the Unification Movement. The paragraph is under “The Kellogg Era, 1873–1877” – the movement’s resolutions represented advanced thinking on race and were very similar to Civil Rights Act of 1964.

c1896: Jackson, Beauregard, and Lee

1917: same heroes, different flag

c1941: Camp Beauregard in Louisiana

Beauregard house at 1113 Chartres St., New Orleans

Courtyard of Beauregard’s home in New Orleans

General Beauregard’s old uniform

The statue of General Beauregard on horseback is from Wikipedia: Infrogmation of New Orleans’ October 2008 image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Also from Wikimedia: Matysik’s August 30, 2014 image of the “uniform worn by Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (CSA), Confederate Memorial Hall museum in New Orleans, Louisiana” – it is licensed under ” Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication”
From the Library of Congress: NPS Fort Sumter brochure from 2006; a Matthew Brady photo of the general; P.G.T. Beauregard between 1860 and 1870; Confederate heroes and flags about 30 years after the Civil War; sheet music from World War I – the Confederate generals were fighting for liberty just like the later doughboys; Camp Beauregard around 1941 – camp originally used for World War I training; Carol M. Highsmith’s photo of the Beauregard courtyard in New Orleans; front view of Beauregard house at 1113 Chartres St., New Orleans (1937-1938); the mass meeting announcement from the July 15, 1873 issue of the New Orleans Republican – the next day’s issue (page 1) described the meeting, it headlined “The Manifesto Ratified” and closed with “After Colonel Lewis sat down there were loud calls for General Beauregard and others, but none of them appearing, a motion to adjourn was made, put and carried.” – I was surprised that the manifesto was ratified but not that Beauregard didn’t appear
Harper’s Weekly 1873 is available at HathiTrust

1915–2017: Beauregard statue in New Orleans

  1. [1]Marsala, Vincent, “The Louisiana Unification Movement Of 1873” (1962). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 8275. https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/8275↩
  2. [2]Foner Eric, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: HarperPerenial ModernClassics, 2014. Page 547-551. ↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago, 150 Years Ago This Week, Postbellum Society, Southern Society, Veterans | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Channel swim

Posted on August 25, 2025 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this morning Englishman Matthew Webb became the first known human to swim across the English Channel without artificial aids. He landed near Calais after about 22 hours in the salt water. From the October 2, 1875 issue of Harper’s Weekly (page 796):

CAPTAIN WEBB’S GREAT SWIM.

Harper’s Weekly October 2, 1875

The hero whose portrait accompanies this sketch has fairly earned the title of champion swimmer of the world, having accomplished the marvelous feat of swimming from England to France without touching any support from the time he dived off the Admiralty Pier at Dover until he landed himself on the sands at Calais. This unparalleled effort occupied just twenty-one hours and three quarters.

Captain WEBB has an interesting history. He was born at Dawley, in Shropshire, England, in 1848, and is therefore only twenty-seven years of age. His father is a surgeon, and has had a family of twelve children, of whom MATTHEW is the eldest but one. After spending some time at school, young MATTHEW entered the training ship Conway, lying in the Mersey. He had learned to swim when seven years old, and his first life-saving feat was achieved while he was on board the Conway, when he and the companions who formed the crew of his boat received each a silver pencil-case for rescuing a comrade who had fallen overboard. He was subsequently apprenticed on board an India and China merchantman, and when his indentures were expired he served first as second officer and afterward as chief officer on board various ships in the Calcutta trade, and while taking a vessel through the Suez Canal he dived and cleared away a hawser that had fouled her. In April, 1873, having shipped before the mast in the CUNARD steamer Russia, he jumped overboard in a gale of wind to save the life of a man who had fallen into the sea from the yard-arm. The Russia was going fifteen knots an hour at the time, and though the life-boat was immediately lowered, it was thirty-five minutes before he was with difficulty picked up, having failed in his noble endeavor to save the life of his shipmate, who had probably been stunned and sank at once. For this deed of gallantry he received the medal of the Liverpool Humane Society, as well as the silver medal and the gold STANHOPE medal of the Royal Humane Society, which latter were presented to him by the Duke of Edinburgh, and a present of £100, subscribed by the passengers of the Russia. Since then he has made several voyages as chief officer of the Ballina and as captain of the Emerald, and in June last, hearing of Captain BOYTON’S feat, the idea occurred to him to outdo it by swimming from England to France without any artificial aids. He made one or two experimental excursions, swimming from Blackwall to Gravesend, from Dover to the Varne Light, and from Dover to Ramsgate. A few days before his successful attempt he started for Calais, but was compelled to turn back on account of the weather

an example of Stanhope Medal

According to Mr. G. TOMS, who piloted him across, Captain WEBB must have swum between fifty and sixty miles; in fact, he was as near the land at 3 A.M. as he was five hours afterward, but the tide carried him past Cape Gris-Nez, and into a bay. He had to swim through four tides, getting two whole ones and a portion of each of the others. He describes the last three hours of his swim as cruel work. He was excessively drowsy, and the water got into his eyes till he was almost blinded. However, to use his own words, he went into the water resolved either to reach the other side or sink. At one time he was stung by a jelly-fish, and felt very faint for some minutes, but the effect soon wore off. The only refreshment he took was an occasional sup of brandy or coffee; once, cod-liver oil was administered, but it did not agree with him. On landing he went straight off to bed, slept three hours, then ate some fish, and went to sleep again. Next day he was “all right,” and returned to England in the Castalia, dined with the garrison and the yacht club at Dover, and when he walked out could scarcely move for the crowds of people who wanted to shake hands with him. On Saturday he went home to see his father, and was féted in his native county, and on Tuesday came back to London, and was enthusiastically cheered wherever he was recognized. Subscriptions have been started in London, Liverpool and other places, and a national testimonial is proposed, to which the working-men are to be invited to contribute. The only inconvenience which Captain WEBB appears to have suffered in consequence of his exploit is a stiffness and soreness of the neck, caused by his long exposure to seawater. He is five feet eight inches in height, and measures forty-three inches round his capacious chest. Our engraving of the arrival at Calais is from a sketch by a resident there, taken from the end of the West Pier. To the extreme left is the old and disused light-house, next is the picturesque belfry of the Town-hall, and a little beyond the Établissement des Bains. On the right is Cape Blanc-nez, and about midway between it and the établissement is the village of Sandgatte, concealed by sand hills, where the Channel Tunnel will come will come out on the French shore.

Harper’s Weekly October 2, 1875

According to Wikipedia, Paul Boyton crossed the English Channel from France to England on May 28-29, 1875 in 23.5 hours. He wore a rubber immersion suit and paddled himself feet first. He might have had a sail attached to his suit, which aided him in his failed first attempt to cross the Channel from England to France. Boyton was born in Ireland and grew up in Pennsylvania. Boyton won the only race vs. Webb that had a clear winner. Wikipedia lists has occupation as “Showman.”
Matthew Webb died on July 23, 1883 during an attempt to swim the Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara Falls. His body was found four days later and buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls, New York. “The autopsy revealed that he died from paralysis caused by water pressure, leading to respiratory failure.” You can read more about Captain Webb at Royal Museums Greenwich

Paul Boyton suited-up

Whirpool Rapids

Richmond’s Daily Dispatch August 26, 1875

From Wikipedia: Stanhope Medal The picture of Whirlpool Rapids is from Project Gutenberg’s The New Book of Niagara: Scenes in Summer and Winter (c.1901) – “The Whirlpool Rapids begin within sight of the Falls. The gorge narrows to 300 feet and the current rushes onward at a speed of 40 miles an hour and the foam-crested waters are entrancingly beautiful.”
From the Library of Congress: Paul Boyton from an 1887 cigarette card in the Champions of Games and Sports card set; a clipping from the August 26, 1875 issue of Richmond’s Daily Dispatch (page 1).
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public–private partnership

Posted on August 7, 2025 by SUMPTER

We seem to like anniversaries, counting the years with our trusty calendars. I’m pretty sure I was vainly proud to graduate from school the year of the United States bicentennial, and I know I was very enthusiastic about the Civil War sesquicentennial. 150 years ago Americans began to celebrate the U.S. centennial with commemorations at Lexington-Concord and Bunker Hill. 1875 also marked 50 years since the “Wedding of the Waters,” the official opening of the Erie Canal, but people weren’t exactly celebrating. In 1875 the New York State canal system was an example of public-private corruption. Harper’s Weekly covered New York Governor Samuel Tilden’s initiative to end the ongoing “Canal Ring” fraud. From the August 28, 1875 issue of Harper’s Weekly (page 694):

THE NEW YORK CANAL FRAUDS.

THE first report of the commission of investigation into the New York canal frauds is devoted to a thorough examination of the noted DENISON contract, and sets forth in the plainest way the elaborate and ingenious system of swindling practiced by the Canal Ring. The commission has evidently been diligent and intelligent. It has sought the truth sagaciously, and has found it. The DENISON contractors, leading members of the Canal Ring, which the report states appears to be the only permanent political power in the State, influencing and controlling the State officers, have appealed to the courts not to be forced to testify, and Judge LEARNED has decided in their favor. He says that the law which authorizes the commission “to issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers,” and even to bring witnesses before it by force, does not empower it to compel them to testify. The learned judge rules that the Legislature has given the commission every power but that which is indispensable, and he has thus invited those who know the essential facts and are interested to conceal them to say nothing. The commission has, of course, appealed, and, pending the decision of the higher court, it reports what it has already ascertained.

The report itself must be read to understand how in the work upon the canals every requirement of law is perverted or evaded, and how thousands of dollars are stolen from the State Treasury by means of official falsehood. If the reader should be depressed by the reflection that so important a branch of the public business is corrupt, he may be consoled by two other reflections — one, that it ought not to be the public business, for the government ought neither to own nor to manage the canals; and the other, that if the corruption is deep and systematic, the honest purpose and intelligence to expose and abolish it are not less evident. It will help the reader to some apprehension of the system and of the amount of the frauds if we state that the DENISON contract covered a space of canal repairs less than eight miles in length, and that DENISON agreed to do the work for $74,183.40, and that when it was about two thirds done he had received $491,260. This enormous sum was made up by false measurement and computation; by charging the State twice for work not done, as by pretending to make excavations that were never made, and putting back the same rock and earth as embankment, although they had not been disturbed. Fully one third of the whole amount paid by the State upon this contract, $150,337 02, is for work which has not been done. It is a sheer theft from the Treasury. The surveys, maps, and estimates which the law requires were never made. The Canal Commissioners certified that they had seen maps and plans and estimates which did not exist. The Canal Board resolved that these imaginary documents should be adopted. The contract was advertised and let without any authority having the knowledge of the work and the materials which the law requires. A large percentage of the money paid upon the contract was paid with a full knowledge that the work had not been done. Not a single yard of the work done corresponds to the specifications. No assistant has been removed or rebuked for making false measurements and estimates, or for accepting dishonest work. Yet had the laws of the State and the regulations of the Canal Board been enforced, the work could have been already done for the sum originally appropriated. The commission concludes that the false and fraudulent measures, estimates, and allowances were only possible through the culpable neglect or connivance of the Canal Commissioners, O. BASCOM and JOHN D. FAY, the engineers, and the inspectors in charge.

no “mere political trick”

All good citizens are indebted to the gentlemen of the commission for their fidelity and efficiency in investigating and exposing these frauds, and to Governor TILDEN for calling the attention of the Legislature and of the State to them, for recommending the inquiry, and for instructing the Attorney General to bring suit, which he has done. Orders of arrest have been issued, with the bail fixed at $200,000. Those who say that the Governor’s action is a mere political trick, and that he means nothing, evidently forget that they are speaking of the man who, when he once took hold of the TWEED prosecution, joined in pushing it relentlessly to the end. The war upon the Canal Ring is not a party question, and only the merest party spirit would decry it. What ever honest men may think of the character and tendencies of parties, they are agreed upon the necessity of punishing corruption. The accomplices in the canal frauds are men of all parties, for it is only by such a union that the system is made permanent. And if either party gains an advantage when in power by vigorously prosecuting and punishing evil-doers and by promoting public honesty, it will not be deplored by any honorable adversary, who will gladly see that it will compel his own party to be even more vigilant in the same direction. When party contests have become only competitions for honest and economical administration, we shall be approaching the millennium.

Which millennium is that?
Governor Samuel Tilden made taking on the “Canal Ring” one of his administration’s major projects. Harper’s Weekly published a lot of information about the Canal Ring throughout 1875. In its April 17, 1875 issue the newspaper questioned whether the state should even be in the business of running the canals. The governor said he was not planning on selling the canals, just cleaning up the abuses. The newspaper’s November 13, 1875 Supplement explained how the Canal Ring worked – contractors undercut other bidders for a canal project, then the state legislature would direct the canal board to increase the prices paid to the contractors. Civil War veteran and New York State Attorney General (January 1, 1872 – December 31, 1873) Francis C. Barlow courageously confronted the Canal Ring. Barlow also prosecuted the Boss Tweed Ring.

HW 4-17-1875 -sell the canals?

HW 4-17-1875 state ownership: “prolific of abuses and
corruption.”

HW supplement 11-13-1875 – how Canal Ring evaded state constitution

In 1871 as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Samuel Tilden investigated the Tweed Ring corruption and won election to the state assembly as an anti-Tammany Democrat. As governor his most notable achievement was destroying the Canal Ring:

The Canal Ring was a bipartisan alliance whose members illegally pocketed a share of the money appropriated for repairs on the Erie Canal and its feeders. By assuring a few favored firms of canal work at prices far beyond cost and a reasonable profit, the Ring was able to obtain from the contractors a percentage of the funds paid by the state for canal repairs. Tilden alluded to the Canal Ring in his first message as governor, but as in his attack on the Tweed Ring, he refused to take the offensive until he had obtained enough evidence to ensure convictions in court. By March 1875, when he had completed his research, he delivered to the legislature a detailed account of the machinations of the Canal Ring. Despite the opposition of the Ring’s adherents in both the Senate and Assembly, the legislature authorized the governor to appoint a commission of investigation. Under the chairmanship of John Bigelow, the commission in its three-thousand-page report of February 1876 substantiated all of Tilden’s charges. Suits were immediately instituted against the Ring’s leaders and their accomplices. Although some of the guilty managed to escape jail, Tilden succeeded in smashing the Canal Ring and saved the taxpayers millions of dollars. Perhaps even more significant in an age of extreme partisanship was the fact that all but two of the men indicted for canal frauds were Democrats. [1]

Samuel J. Tilden

Francis C. Barlow

Harper’s Weekly October 16, 1875 – but the Rings were smashed

You can read more about Francis C. Barlow at the Library of Congress and the National Park Service.

During the Civil War, John Bigelow served as diplomat to France and worked with Charles Francis Adams (U.S. minister to the U.K.) to prevent France and Britain intervening in the war to help the Confederacy.
Maybe the Harper’s editorial was talking about Millennialism, a concern with the final 1000 earthly years: “He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be let out for a little while. — Revelation 20:2–3”.
Harper’s Weekly for 1875 is at HathiTrust. The top image of a canal boat comes from U.S. History Images. From the Library of Congress: Tilden campaign song and chorus; postcard of Erie Canal Boat float from the 1909 Hudson–Fulton Celebration (speaking of historical anniversaries); Samuel J. Tilden; the photo of Francis C. Barlow; the group picture of Generals Barlow, Birney, Gibbon, & Hancock, USA

age of innocents?

“metropolis of the New World”

Harper’s Weekly June 5, 1875 p464 – corrupt times

General Barlow on the left

_______________

  1. [1]Ellis, David M., James A. Frost, Harold C. Syrett, and Harry J. Carman. A Short History of New York State. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1957. Print. page 362-363.↩
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