Author Archives: SUMPTER

“From Maine to California”

Posted on November 24, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today was the day President Lincoln proclaimed as a day of Thanksgiving. The New-York Times saw it as a day that helped unite the states and parties and hoped it would remain a grand national holiday. From … Continue reading →

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shrapnel

Posted on November 22, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 22, 1864: Killed in Bed by a shell. –During Sunday night, forty-one shots were fired at the city of Charleston, and on Monday, thirty-one, up to 6 P. M. A man and wife, named … Continue reading →

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“Our pits are in an awful condition”

Posted on November 21, 2014 by SUMPTER

A young man from Seneca County enlisted for one year in August 1864. Instead of the regiment he signed up for, he was sent to the “Orange Blossoms” from downstate. He was finding picket duty in front of Petersburg pretty … Continue reading →

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between God and the people

Posted on November 20, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today The New-York Times wasn’t sure where Sherman’s army was headed, but it knew he was sweeping and destroying. It published a table of distances for possible destinations and reprinted an article from the November 18th Cincinnati … Continue reading →

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blockade: tweaking and evading

Posted on November 19, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today President Lincoln lifted the blockade of Norfolk, Fernandina and Pensacola because those ports had “for some time past been in the military possession of the United States, [and] it is deeemd advisable that they should be … Continue reading →

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flag presented

Posted on November 18, 2014 by SUMPTER

A widow gave a regiment’s flag to a local Masonic Lodge. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in November 1864: FLAG PRESENTATION. – The Observer says the beautiful Silk Flag, made and presented, fresh and new, by the ladies … Continue reading →

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Uncle, can you spare a few dollars?

Posted on November 18, 2014 by SUMPTER

“I have a little favor to ask of you today.” At American Memory you can read a letter written 150 years ago yesterday to President Lincoln. I can’t make out all the words, but it seems that in a celebratory … Continue reading →

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Andersonville North

Posted on November 15, 2014 by SUMPTER

“in a land of plenty; to die of lingering torture.” From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 16, 1864: The Treatment of Southern prisoners at the North. We find in the Washington National Intelligencer a private letter relative to the condition … Continue reading →

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Mac’s resignation

Posted on November 14, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today President Lincoln accepted General McClellan’s Election Day resignation from the army. The Atlas & Argus of Albany New York was a Democratic party newspaper (according to the November 11, 1864 issue of The New-York Times the … Continue reading →

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Georgia quiet

Posted on November 13, 2014 by SUMPTER

There hadn’t been much news from Georgia in recent days. A Richmond paper tried to guess what that meant. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 12, 1864: Saturday Morning…november 12, 1864. The War News. … Georgia. There has been no … Continue reading →

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