Author Archives: SUMPTER

Lots of Riding … and Writing

Posted on December 31, 2012 by SUMPTER

In the fall of 1862 the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment operated in northwest Virginia. One of its main jobs was apparently protecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from rebel raiders in the soon-to-be 35th state in the federal Union. … Continue reading →

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Licensed to Sell?

Posted on December 29, 2012 by SUMPTER

Alabama corn price controls From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 29, 1862: Cor[n] law i[n] Alabama. –The Legislature of Alabama has passed a bill requiring that no person, except the producer and miller, shall sell corn without first obtaining a … Continue reading →

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South Carolina Succession!

Posted on December 28, 2012 by SUMPTER

About two years after the secession of South Carolina from the United States the Palmetto state changed governors: Milledge Luke Bonham replaced Francis Wilkinson Pickens. It certainly wasn’t an election in the current American sense. According to Wikipedia, “On December … Continue reading →

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Christmas Thank-offering

Posted on December 26, 2012 by SUMPTER

Fredericksburg refugees caught between plundering Yankee army of he North and the spirit of extortion in the Southern Yankee businessmen. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 25, 1862: Appeal for Fredericksburg. The citizens of Fredericksburg have been great sufferers by … Continue reading →

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Pine Grove Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2012 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in January 1863: The 33d Regiment. A correspondent of the Rochester Union in the 33d regiment, thus writes of a pleasant affair which occurred at Col. TAYLOR’s head quarters on Christmas day: Col. … Continue reading →

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When?

Posted on December 24, 2012 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in December 1862: “When Shall We Have Peace.” The Portland Advertiser, the leading Republican paper in Maine, asks the important and interesting question and answers it. We commend the answer to the careful … Continue reading →

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Accidents Happen

Posted on December 22, 2012 by SUMPTER

From Project Gutenberg (Volume VI): CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, December 22, 1862. TO THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC: I have just read your general’s report of the battle of Fredericksburg. Although you were not … Continue reading →

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“needlessly, wickedly sacrificed”

Posted on December 21, 2012 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in December 1862: Again Defeated. What is to be said in this week of the nation’s agony? What word is sufficient in these days red with battle and hot with the flush of … Continue reading →

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Crestfallen?

Posted on December 19, 2012 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times December 18, 1862: GEN. BURNSIDE’S SUNDAY DISPATCH. The following is a copy of a dispatch from Gen. BURNSIDE to the President, sent and received on Sunday morning last, concerning the precise import and phraseology of which … Continue reading →

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Anaconda’s coil broken – again

Posted on December 18, 2012 by SUMPTER

Here’s some Southern rhetoric about the Confederacy’s great victory at Fredericksburg, which this editorial views as another failure of the North’s Anaconda Plan. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 18, 1862: Burnside’s Whereabouts. At the time of writing this article, … Continue reading →

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