Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Week

News from 150 years ago

Valor in Defeat

Posted on May 15, 2012 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today a Union flotilla, advancing up the James River to assault Richmond, was repulsed by the Confederates at Drewry’s Bluff. The USS Galena absorbed the brunt of the rebel fire. Marine corporal John Freeman Mackie, onboard the … Continue reading →

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Big Bad Bronze John

Posted on May 14, 2012 by SUMPTER

The “intolerant” Yankees are occupying New Orleans just in time for Yellow Fever season; what’s more they are putting a hospital right in a heavily populated section of the city. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch May 14, 1862: Advance of … Continue reading →

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“with a yell that made the woods ring”

Posted on May 12, 2012 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this week members of the 33rd New York Infantry Regiment were still writing letters home about May 5th’s Battle of Williamsburg. Here’s a couple letters published in a Seneca County, New York newspaper from 1862: Letter from … Continue reading →

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Truly a Public Servant

Posted on May 10, 2012 by SUMPTER

Let the old and infirm legislate From the Richmond Daily Dispatch May 10, 1862: To the people of Chesterfield county. –On yesterday I resigned my seat as your Representative in the House of Delegates of Virginia. In thus disposing of … Continue reading →

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Bombastes Furioso Butler

Posted on May 9, 2012 by SUMPTER

The gradual, persistent constriction of Anaconda: the Yankees and General Butler have control of New Orleans 150 years ago now. The Dispatch calls names. How can that “oleaginous carcass” be running the South’s largest city? From the Richmond Daily Dispatch … Continue reading →

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Baton Rouge Surrenders to Iroquois

Posted on May 8, 2012 by SUMPTER

With Ben Butler in charge at New Orleans the Union fleet moved up the Mississippi. 150 years ago today Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital, surrendered to James Shedden Palmer, commanding the USS Iroquois: After the great victory [New Orleans] … Continue reading →

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Good Business Model?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch May 7, 1862: Camp near Yorktown, April 30, 1862. Deserted — On the 26th inst., from the camp of the 19th regiment Virginia Volunteers, one Robert Byrnes, a private of Company K, same regiment. Said … Continue reading →

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Bedding Down with the Dead and Wounded

Posted on May 5, 2012 by SUMPTER

In the rain and mud 150 years ago today the Battle of Williamsburg was fought. Here’s how the lieutenant colonel of the 33rd New York wrote home about the regiment’s role in the fight. The 33rd was in Smith’s division … Continue reading →

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Three French Princes

Posted on May 4, 2012 by SUMPTER

The rebels on the Virginia Peninsula in the spring of 1862 might have had a prince commanding a division, but the Union army had three French princes along with it. ________________________________ Thanks, Pa. In 1861, when the American Civil War … Continue reading →

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Contemplating Custer

Posted on May 3, 2012 by SUMPTER
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