Author Archives: SUMPTER

pres pay reduction?

No. In its May 6, 1876 issue Harper’s Weekly lauded President Grant for vetoing a bill that would have reduced the U.S. president’s salary by 50%: THE SALARY VETO WHEN the bill reducing the salary of the President was passed … Continue reading

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disarmament

The first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War occurred on April 19, 1775 when the British sent a force from Boston to capture and destroy colonial military supplies. About eleven months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, … Continue reading

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celebration preparation

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: CENTENNIAL SKETCHES. We give on page 149 a few choice sketches from … Continue reading

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donations appreciated … and needed

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 … Continue reading

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declaration recommendation

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 … Continue reading

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fake news?

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 … Continue reading

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war story

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. Ira … Continue reading

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“the people’s Thanksgiving”

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 … Continue reading

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Death of a Union Man

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 … Continue reading

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twists of fate

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 … Continue reading

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