Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

Hardee not Lincoln

Posted on December 22, 2014 by SUMPTER

When a Richmond paper heard the news about the fall of Savannah, it spun it positive – unlike American forces in Charleston during the Revolutionary War, General Hardee’s army escaped. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 29, 1864: Thursday morning…December … Continue reading →

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reconstruction bill

Posted on December 20, 2014 by SUMPTER

Four years to the day after South Carolina officially seceded from the United States, Richmond citizens could read about a bill in the Yankee Congress to manage the return of the rebel states: slavery would be forever abolished; provisional governors … Continue reading →

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2 + 2

Posted on December 19, 2014 by SUMPTER

As Democrat paper in the Finger Lakes region of New York State absorbed a couple of the significant events that occurred 150 years this week – the Union victory at Nashville and President Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more volunteers – … Continue reading →

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prison necrology

Posted on December 17, 2014 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times December 17 1864: THE PRISON PENS IN THE SOUTH; Necrology of the Union Captives. The Dead at Savannah, at Florence and at Andersonville. Leaves from a Diary Kept at Florence, South Carolina. Glimpses of Life in … Continue reading →

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“Yankee exploding ball”

Posted on December 15, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 15, 1864: Accident from fire-arms. –Yesterday afternoon, a little free negro boy, named Lewis Harris, was seriously injured in one of his hands by the explosion of a Yankee exploding ball, in the Second … Continue reading →

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no relief

Posted on December 12, 2014 by SUMPTER

Secretary of State William H. Seward was not going to let the British distribute aid to rebels in Union prison camps. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 12, 1864: The British Relief Fund for Confederate prisoners — Seward Refuses to … Continue reading →

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“true olive branch”

Posted on December 10, 2014 by SUMPTER

The December 10, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly (at Son of the South was impressed by General Sherman’s operations in Georgia. Here’s an excerpt: SHERMAN’S MARCH. THE campaign of General SHERMAN is striking and daring, but not more so than … Continue reading →

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behavioral economics

Posted on December 6, 2014 by SUMPTER

And General Sherman (hey, it’s December 1864). On the same day that President Lincoln nominated Salmon P. Chase to serve as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court he presented Congress with his annual message. You can read about Mr. … Continue reading →

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capital shells?

Posted on December 5, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today editors in Richmond mentioned that the Union army might be sending some incendiary shells their way in the near future. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 5, 1864: The preparations for shelling Richmond — experiments with … Continue reading →

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“We usually take five at a load”

Posted on December 4, 2014 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times December 4, 1864: HOSPITAL SCENES.; How the Soldiers Are Buried How Their Remains May be Recovered. Correspondence of the New-York Times. UNITED STATES GENERAL HOSPITAL, FORTRESS MONROE, Va., Thursday, Nov. 17, 1864. BURYING THE DEAD. EXHUMING … Continue reading →

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