Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

+ Burnside

Posted on May 1, 2014 by SUMPTER

The rebels are realizing General Grant is going to have even more troops as the inevitable campaign soon begins. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch May 2, 1864: From Northern Virginia. Orange C. H.April 30. –Our scouts report that Burnside has … Continue reading →

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guano gone

Posted on April 25, 2014 by SUMPTER

The CSS Alabama is still at work disrupting commerce on the high seas. Here’s how Raphael Semmes, the ship’s commander, remembered the pursuit and capture of a boat full of fertilizer 150 years ago this week. From Memoirs of Service … Continue reading →

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Sunday drive

Posted on April 24, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today General Meade provided another balanced assessment of his new boss. From The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade … (page 191): HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, April 24, 1864. Cram and John Cadwalader arrived yesterday … Continue reading →

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lookout

Posted on April 23, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 23 1864: From Northern Virginia. Orange C. H., April 23d. –Observations from Clark’s Mountain disclose no change in the Yankee camps. It is reported that the enemy will begin to-day moving up their rear, … Continue reading →

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Flanders … again?

Posted on April 22, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this week a Northern paper expressed surprise that General Grant would focus his attention on the worn-out Virginia theater. After all, the new Commander-in-Chief of all the Union armies was from out west, where most the momentum … Continue reading →

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“attracted a great crowd”

Posted on April 21, 2014 by SUMPTER

The dates in the following articles don’t seem to match up just right, but it does seem that by 150 years ago tonight a Yankee female surgeon was locked up in Castle Thunder. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 22, … Continue reading →

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banning “the wolf’s dictionary”?

Posted on April 18, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago Sanitary Fairs were held throughout the North to support the work of the United States Sanitary Commission. President Lincoln spoke a few words when Baltimore opened its version on April 18th. There might never be an authoritative, … Continue reading →

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carnival

Posted on April 17, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 16, 1864: A picture of the condition of Yankeedom. The New York Herald, of Monday last, in an editorial article, draws the following picture of the drunken war carnival in the United States: What … Continue reading →

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“one change of under-clothing”

Posted on April 16, 2014 by SUMPTER

In preparation for spring campaigning New York’s First Veteran Cavalry is severely reducing its baggage. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper: From the First Veterans. CAMP QUITS, MARTINSBURG, VA. April 16th, 1864. FRIEND STOWELL: – The 1st Veterans having … Continue reading →

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farm administration

Posted on April 14, 2014 by SUMPTER

Bureaucracy: Interpret, Enforce, Modify In February 1864 the Confederate Congress passed a 35 page Law In Regard To Taxes, Currency and Conscription. The Bureau of Conscription apparently changed the rules for farm exemptions a month or so afterwards. Contiguous small … Continue reading →

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