Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

Rule, Britannia! rule the waves

The following Southern editorial questions why Great Britain was remaining neutral during the American Civil War because, if the American states had not broken up, the United States would have eventually overtaken Britain as the world’s leading maritime power. The … Continue reading

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“sublime Christian heroism”

150 years ago this week (January 19, 1863) President Lincoln responded to the working-men of Manchester, England, who had written him on New Year’s Eve to commend him for his Emancipation Proclamation and to encourage him to continue the work … Continue reading

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Taxing the Frogs

From The New-York Times January 22, 1863: THE INTERNAL REVENUE REPORT. We have every reason to congratulate the country on the operation post and prospective of the Internal Revenue Bureau. In another column we publish Mr. Commissioner BOUTWELL’S first official … Continue reading

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“capture the marauders”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 17, 1863: Tory Outrage in Western North Carolina. –On Thursday night, 8th inst., a band of to [?] from the mountains of East Tennessee, and Laurel, N. C., attacked the village of Marshal, Madison … Continue reading

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Yankee Go Home

Paroled Union soldiers roaming the streets, especially offensive to Confederate soldiers’ loved ones From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 17, 1863: Are the Yankees in possession of Montgomery? –The Montgomery Advertiser says: The question was quite seriously mooted yesterday and … Continue reading

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Fiat: we’ll pay the troops

President Lincoln agreed with Congress that Union soldiers and sailors had to be paid, even if that required printing up to $100 million in new currency. From THE PAPERS AND WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN (VOLUME SIX) : PRINTING MONEY MESSAGE … Continue reading

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Debt for our debts

Apparently the strongly pro-Democrat newspaper in Seneca County wasn’t exaggerating too much when it complained that troops and their families were suffering because the federal government was way behind in paying its soldiers. From The New-York Times January 13, 1863: … Continue reading

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“practically free by the mere force of circumstances”

James Fisher Robinson, governor of the border State of kentucky, opposed President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The following editorial wonders how this could be. Kentucky has lots of troops in the Union military (in fact, “In January 1863, Governor Robinson proudly … Continue reading

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Constitutional Theorizing

If States’ Rights are obsolete, why can’t we make New England one state? From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 14, 1863: New England’s rights Considered — her Undue preponderance Objected to. A New York paper, taking up a subject that … Continue reading

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High and Dry in Jamaica

1863 has been quite a year so far for John Arnett, a ship’s mate in the Union navy from Seneca Falls, New York. On New Year’s Day his ship, the Westfield, was blown up to prevent capture by the Confederates … Continue reading

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