Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Month

the five commandants

Pursuant to the first Reconstruction Act enacted in early March 1867, President Andrew Johnson was required to appoint a district commander for each of the five military districts that divided up the South. On March 11th the president appointed Generals … Continue reading

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cotton-picking wages

Almost two years after the Civil War ended Alfred R. Waud was still providing illustrations from the front for Harper’s Weekly. Back in January his drawings of a rice plantation in Georgia were published. The February 2, 1867 issue of … Continue reading

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hilltop experience

In its New Year’s piece 150 year ago today The New-York Times changed up the Janus imagery a little bit: … New Year’s Day is like a hill upon which a traveler pauses to rest, to look back over the … Continue reading

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firewall

150 years ago this month an article about Reconstruction by Frederick Douglass was published in The Atlantic Monthly. In the first section Mr. Douglass asserted that the only way to protect the rights of ex-slaves in the South without creating … Continue reading

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“arrested development”

150 years ago a Boston journal reacted to Andrew Johnson’s Swing Around the Circle with a 6,000 word attack on the president and his policies. Here are the first three paragraphs from The Atlantic Monthly, VOL. XVIII.—NOVEMBER, 1866.—NO. CIX: THE … Continue reading

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no more rebels to fight

So far I haven’t noticed a letter from General William T. Sherman endorsing President Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction policy being published just before the 1866 elections in New York for its bombshell affect, but according to reports the general openly supported … Continue reading

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October surprise?

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1866: Gen. Sherman Endorses the President. The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, speaks of this distinguished General: “I am informed that General Sherman has made a second surrender to … Continue reading

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winter wheat

I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and … Continue reading

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2,111 unknown

150 years ago this month the Civil War Unknowns Monument was sealed at Arlington National Cemetery. Although Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs intended the monument to honor Union soldiers, Confederate soldiers were probably also included because all the skeletons were … Continue reading

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crater surprise

__________________________________ From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in September 1866: BODY OF A WHITE FEMALE SOLDIER FOUND IN THE CRATER AT PETERSBURG. – The Petersburg Index says that the grave diggers at the crater have unearthed, a short distance … Continue reading

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