Author Archives: SUMPTER

The Good Ship America

Eventually Headed for Peaceful Waters – if a Democrat at the Helm Peace Democrat James Wall has his work cut out for him in the five weeks he’s going to be in the United States Senate. From the Richmond Daily … Continue reading

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

Rule, Britannia! rule the waves

The following Southern editorial questions why Great Britain was remaining neutral during the American Civil War because, if the American states had not broken up, the United States would have eventually overtaken Britain as the world’s leading maritime power. The … Continue reading

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

“sublime Christian heroism”

150 years ago this week (January 19, 1863) President Lincoln responded to the working-men of Manchester, England, who had written him on New Year’s Eve to commend him for his Emancipation Proclamation and to encourage him to continue the work … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Foreign Relations, Lincoln Administration | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Taxing the Frogs

From The New-York Times January 22, 1863: THE INTERNAL REVENUE REPORT. We have every reason to congratulate the country on the operation post and prospective of the Internal Revenue Bureau. In another column we publish Mr. Commissioner BOUTWELL’S first official … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, American Society, Lincoln Administration, Northern Society | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Unimpressed

A southern editorial by way of Gotham criticized the Confederate government’s impressment policy for being imposed without legislative approval and for unfairly burdening property owners near the armies or near good transportation avenues. The problem might have been caused by … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Confederate States of America, Southern Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“capture the marauders”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 17, 1863: Tory Outrage in Western North Carolina. –On Thursday night, 8th inst., a band of to [?] from the mountains of East Tennessee, and Laurel, N. C., attacked the village of Marshal, Madison … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Yankee Go Home

Paroled Union soldiers roaming the streets, especially offensive to Confederate soldiers’ loved ones From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 17, 1863: Are the Yankees in possession of Montgomery? –The Montgomery Advertiser says: The question was quite seriously mooted yesterday and … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Civil War prisons, Confederate States of America, Military Matters | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Fiat: we’ll pay the troops

President Lincoln agreed with Congress that Union soldiers and sailors had to be paid, even if that required printing up to $100 million in new currency. From THE PAPERS AND WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN (VOLUME SIX) : PRINTING MONEY MESSAGE … Continue reading

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

Debt for our debts

Apparently the strongly pro-Democrat newspaper in Seneca County wasn’t exaggerating too much when it complained that troops and their families were suffering because the federal government was way behind in paying its soldiers. From The New-York Times January 13, 1863: … Continue reading

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

“destitution, insult and wrong”

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in January 1863: Our Suffering Soldiers. It is a fact that can no longer be denied, that suffering of the most aggravated character exists among the soldiers, from the neglect of Government. In … Continue reading

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