Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

sunday the thirteenth

Posted on September 13, 2013 by admin

150 years ago today “a rather unsporting raid by Confederate cavalry nets 20 crew members of the USS Rattler as they attend church services at Rodney, Mississippi.” Apparently the ship’s comander was also captured in church, but the USS Rattler … Continue reading →

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gettin’ what’s comin’ to ’em

Posted on September 12, 2013 by admin

more uncivilized warfare? You can read a sarcastic editorial about General Beauregard’s protest against General Quincy Gillmore’s use of Greek Fire during the bombardment of Charleston in the September 12, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly published at Son of the … Continue reading →

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mendicants no more

Posted on September 9, 2013 by SUMPTER

Here is an editorial praising the Invalid Corps (later the Veteran Reserve Corps) as a way for slightly disabled volunteers to earn their pension benefit and as a way to free up healthier soldiers for front line duty. From The … Continue reading →

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“whiskey-drinking odor about it”

Posted on September 7, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today The New-York Times praised Abraham Lincoln’s letter to James Conkling defending his Emancipation Proclamation and the use of black troops to fight the rebellion. Mr. Conkling read the letter to a pro-Union mass meeting in Springfield, … Continue reading →

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four hundred pound supper

Posted on September 5, 2013 by SUMPTER

It might not be a coincidence that that the same issue of the Richmond Daily Dispatch that praised the Confederate armies also published a letter written by George Washington that expressed his concern with the seeming apathy of Americans not … Continue reading →

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“The Southern army is … the Southern people”

Posted on September 4, 2013 by SUMPTER

[I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it said that General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia became the Confederacy’s most important national institution. And, of course, I’m paraphrasing] From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 4, 1863: The spirit of the army. –Every … Continue reading →

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Springfield speech

Posted on September 3, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today a “mass meeting of unconditional Union men” was held in Springfield, Illinois. President Lincoln had been invited to speak at his pre-presidency hometown but couldn’t leave Washington “because Rosecrans had finally begun his long-awaited campaign to … Continue reading →

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just a blip?

Posted on September 2, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this week Gothamites could read about the Union prison at Fort Delaware. One of correspondent “C.B.”‘s first impressions was of the stench of “ten thousand idle and dirty men.” The southern prisoners are seen as mostly listless, … Continue reading →

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“the most perfect stagnation”

Posted on August 31, 2013 by SUMPTER

It’s been quiet along the major Eastern front. The Army of Northern Virginia is keeping busy with drills and reviews, the latter attended by women spectators. The soldiers seem to be well-fed and desertions are down, thanks to General Lee’s … Continue reading →

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Jeff’s Emancipation Proclamation?

Posted on August 30, 2013 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times August 30, 1863: VERY IMPORTANT NEWS.; The Last Rebel Card Played by Jeff. Davis. Call for Five Hundred Thousand Negro Troops. Their Freedom and Fifty Acres of Land Promised to Them. Four Rebel War Vessels Run … Continue reading →

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