Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

last step in Connecticut?

Posted on May 29, 2015 by SUMPTER

From the May 29, 1865 issue of The Chicago Times. (at the Library of Congress): The legislature of Connecticut, now in session, has before it a proposition to amend the state constitution so as to give the right of voting … Continue reading →

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Loyalty in New York

Posted on May 27, 2015 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1865: What New York has Done. What New York has done in contributions of men and money to sustain the cause of the Union has never been fully and fairly stated. The … Continue reading →

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free to vote?

Posted on May 25, 2015 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today President Johnson reportedly opined that the question of whether blacks should be allowed to vote in the South should be decided by loyal whites in the South. From The New-York Times May 26, 1865: The President … Continue reading →

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furlough!

Posted on May 25, 2015 by SUMPTER

Congratulations to Allen Gathman at Seven Score and Ten for over 1750 consecutive daily posts and for a very well-deserved vacation! Thanks to his example and support I found a niche and got somewhat close to filling it – most … Continue reading →

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“A bark canoe in a tempest on mid-ocean”

Posted on May 23, 2015 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this week the Utica Morning Herald & Daily Gazette (at the Library of Congress) devoted its front page to a reprint of an article that assessed Abraham Lincoln’s historical significance. The president did not seem up to … Continue reading →

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exhumation impracticable

Posted on May 22, 2015 by SUMPTER

Family and friends weren’t allowed to exhume the remains of soldiers in Virginia, especially if they had been dead less than a year. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1865: The Removal of Dead Soldiers from Virginia. Colonal … Continue reading →

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what’s next?

Posted on May 18, 2015 by SUMPTER

President Lincoln wasn’t afraid to swap horses midstream of the rebel invasion back in 1863. Thankfully for the Union cause, George Gordon Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sure knew how to play defense against the … Continue reading →

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quiet kanawha

Posted on May 15, 2015 by SUMPTER

It had been real quiet for the New York First Veteran Cavalry in the Kanawha Valley, but our SENECA correspondent was able to report the April surrender of a small rebel force at Lewisburg on Appomattox terms. The veterans in … Continue reading →

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just another rebel?

Posted on May 13, 2015 by SUMPTER

If it turned out that Jefferson Davis was not implicated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, why should he be punished any more severely than all the other rebels who fought the United States for over four long years? From … Continue reading →

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lashless society

Posted on May 12, 2015 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today: “President Andrew Johnson appoints General Oliver O. Howard to head the Freedman’s Bureau.” A May 12th editorial argued that, just as the conduct of black soldiers upset preconceived Southern notions of African-American competence, free black labor … Continue reading →

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