Category Archives: Southern Society

sidewalks are for white folks

And blacks can’t congregate about their churches, even on Sundays This piece made me think of the white settlers in Humboldt County, California back in April 1861. U.S. troops were fighting and killing the troublesome Indians. An editorial said the … Continue reading

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blame boy bureaucrats

According to a Richmond newspaper, “There is no wheat in market” because of the government’s “starvation plan of impressment”, or at least the way it was being implemented by “Beardless and senseless boys”. But who else was there? From the … Continue reading

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ticket to sew

Problem? A Richmond newspaper believes that soldiers’ wives were possibly not being given the preferential treatment they deserved in getting seamstress work at the Clothing Bureau. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 2, 1863: Soldiers’ wives. –Complains are frequently made … Continue reading

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trick or treat

You can read about this 1862 political carton at the Library of Congress. After being caned by Preston Brooks in the U.S. Senate in May 1856, Charles Sumner needed over three years to be able to fully recover from the … Continue reading

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Tredegar still hiring

Big surprise – the South’s war economy is still going great guns. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 28, 1863: Wanted–1,000 negroes. –We wish to hire for the year 1864, one thousand Negroes, to be employed at the Tredegar Iron … Continue reading

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satire is the best medicine

A New York paper says it is republishing an article from a Richmond newspaper, no date given, that comments on worsening conditions in the Confederacy. How do you house and feed three million people in the Southern capital? The writer … Continue reading

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black gold

Inflation in the Confederacy wasn’t just wreaking havoc on prices for basic needs like flour. Slave prices were at their highest ever in Richmond. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 24, 1863: High prices. –The highest prices yet paid for … Continue reading

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Richmond voters against maximum prices

150 years ago yesterday a referendum was held in Richmond so that voters could let their state representatives know whether or not the voters supported the “maximum bill” (price controls) that was being considered by the Virginia legislature. It didn’t … Continue reading

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Richmond referendum

As inflation was ravaging the Confederacy 150 years ago, the Virginia state legislature was mulling over a “maximum bill” to regulate prices on a variety of goods. The Richmond city council called a referendum so that Richmond legislators would know … Continue reading

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buried treasure

As the Confederate economy was increasingly squeezed Southerners had to make due with less and come up with creative product substitutes. 150 years ago today evidence was published of another way to find supplies – digging up the graves of … Continue reading

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