Harper’s Weekly, November 29, 1862
When the Civil War started, Thanksgiving was not a national holiday. There seemed to be a tradition of Thanksgiving with turkey in November. Sometimes states (and possibly also localities) declared Thanksgiving Days for a variety of reasons. According to Pilgrim Hall Museum, Abraham Lincoln’s second Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863 was issued on October 3rd. It was “the first in the unbroken string of annual presidential Thanksgiving proclamations, [and] is regarded as the true beginning of the national Thanksgiving holiday. Actually, it was a resurrection and not a beginning, since there had been earlier national Thanksgivings, beginning with those proclaimed by the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War.” Here is the first national Thanksgiving proclamation in 1777 per Pilgrim Hall:
Thanksgiving Proclamation 1777
By the Continental Congress
The First National Thanksgiving Proclamation
IN CONGRESS
November 1, 1777
FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth “in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.”
And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.
Apparently Congress’s recommendation had to be agreeable to the states. According to the Library of Congress, the State of Massachusetts-Bay officially approved on November 27th:
Massachusetts-Bay agrees
I didn’t see any evidence at the Library of Congress that the State of New Hampshire agreed to the Congressional recommendation, but on November 17th New Hampshire did proclaim its own Thanksgiving Day for December 4th, two weeks before Congress’s suggestion. This is the text of New Hampshire’s proclamation per the Library of Congress:
STATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
A PROCLAMATION,
For a General Thanksgiving.
IT being the United Voice of Reason and Revelation, that Men should praise the Lord for hisGoodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men; and the Year, now drawing to a close, being distinguished by many great and signal Favours of Divine Providence, conferred on this, and the other United States of America amidst our deep Distresses, and notwithstanding our manifold and aggravated Offences; sensible that Ingratitude is the basest of Characters, which, with deep Abhorrence we should ever avoid; and in order that our great and bountiful Benefactor may have the praise and glory, due for his Mercies, in the most conspicuous and solemn Manner ascribed to him:
THE COUNCIL and Representatives of this STATE, in General Court assembled, have appointed THURSDAY, the fourth Day of December next, to be a Day of public THANKSGIVING throughout this STATE; and hereby solemnly exhort and require both Ministers and People, of every Profession, religiously to devote the said Day to the Purpose aforesaid; and with unfeigned Gratitude and Ardour address the all-gracious Jehovah with their united Ascriptions of Praise, for the essential Benignity of his Nature, and the exuberant Profusions of his Goodness—for the paternal Tenderness with whichthe Corrections of his Rod, so abundantly deserved by our Back-slidings and heinous Offences, have been managed, and the rich Mercy he hath intermixed with his Judgments; particularly that he hath so far supported the great American Cause, and defeated the Counsels and Efforts of our merciless Oppressors. That he hath smiled on our Councils and Arms, and crown’d them with signal Success, especially in the Northern Department, in turning the Advantage the Enemy seemed to have gotten against us, by possessing themselves of the Fortress of Ticonderoga, to their own Confusion—and giving one of the principal Armies of Britain wholly into our Hands, with so little Blood-shed; in which great Event, so interesting to the important Cause depending, the Arm of the LORD of Host, the GOD of the Armies of Israel, is conspicuously manifest, demanding the Power, the Glory, and the Victory to be ascribed to him, and inviting our further Hope and Confidence in his Mercy. That he hath preserved our Sea-Coasts in safety—preserv’d the inestimably precious Life of our worthy General, and Commander in Chief, and so many of our Officers and Soldiers; and that the present Campaign, pursued by our Enemies with such direful Breathings of Cruelty and Slaughter, and such sirenuous [sic – probably strenuous] Exertions on one Side and another, has not been more bloody. That he is mercifully continuing the several American States firmly united in the Common Cause; and giving us such a promising, animating Prospect, of being able (by his further Help) finally to support our Liberty and Independency against all the Power, and Policy of Britain to subject and enslave us. That he hath bless’d us with so much Health in our Camps, and in our Habitations whereby we have been able to carry on the necessary Labours of the Field, while so many were call’d off to Arms. That he hath bless’d us with a very fruitful Season, and given us, in great Plenty, the precious Productions of the Earth for Food and Cloathing, peculiarly precious at a Time when our Imports from abroad are chiefly stop’d, and, therefore, binding the Duty of Gratitude and Praise upon us with encreased Obligation.—And above all, that in the greatness of his Forbearance and long suffering, he is yet continuing to us, an unthankful, unfruitful People, the blessed Gospel of JESUS CHRIST; and our Religious Liberty and Priviledges, by which we have the happiest Advantage for glorifying our Creator and Redeemer, and securing our eternal well-being.
And, as, in present Circumstances, we have Reason to rejoice with trembling, so let the Solemnity be attended with the deepest Humiliation, before the great Sovereign, for our many crying Sins and great Unworthiness of his Favours—begging Forgiveness thro’ the all-atoneing Blood of the Cross; and the plentiful out-pouring of the Divine Spirit, for a general Reformation of Manners and Revival of Religion among us, left [sic – probably lest] being deaf to the loud, united Calls of Judgment and Mercy, we provoke the God of Heaven to forsake us, after all the great Things he hath done for us; and so our unrepented Iniquity prove our Ruin.
And all servile LABOUR is forbidden on said Day.
By Order of the COUNCIL and Assembly, EXETER, November 17th, 1777.
M. Weare, PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
E. THOMPSON, Secretary.
GOD save the United-States of AMERICA.
EXETER; Printed by Zechariah Fowle, junr. 1777.
Thanks for Saratoga
treasure in an attic
Much has changed since 1777. Back then Congress recommended that recreation be omitted on the day of Thanksgiving. Nowadays recreation/entertainment is a big part of the celebration. By the late 19th century people played and watched college football on the holiday. The games weren’t only in New York City. Here is a 1910 example from Nashville:
You can see the rest of the newspaper and read more about the game at the Library of Congress. The Library also has more general information about the Globe:
The Nashville Globe was a black-owned and operated publication launched in 1906. Richard Henry Boyd, the primary architect of the Globe, was a former slave from Texas. After teaching himself to read and write, Boyd attended Bishop College in Marshall, Texas, and spent several years organizing churches and Baptist organizations for freedmen. In 1896, Boyd moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and founded the National Baptist Publishing Board (NBPB) and in 1904 the One-Cent Savings Bank. The following year, when the city made it mandatory for all streetcars to be segregated by race, Boyd, along with his son Henry A. Boyd, Dock A. Hart, Charles A. Burrell, and Evans Tyree, formed the Globe Publishing Company. Its purpose was to publish a newspaper to promote a boycott of the city’s streetcars and to combat racial discrimination and social inequalities. The first issue of the Nashville Globe was published in January 1906.
The Republican weekly was published on Fridays at the NBPB’s facilities. Henry A. Boyd and Joseph O. Battle oversaw the editorial content, which focused on dispelling false assumptions perpetuated about African Americans by white mainstream newspapers, speaking out against racial segregation and injustice, and promoting self-help literature and middle-class deportment within the black community. …
I noticed on page 3 of the Thanksgiving Globe that “Negroes are no longer considered slow in foot ball.”
Nashville Globe November 24, 1910 page 3
opposed streetcar segregation
President Laurens
The teams that played the Thanksgiving in Nashville are historically black educational institutions (Fisk and Meharry) that are still in operation today. According to Pilgrim Hall the last general national thanksgiving day before President Lincoln’s 1863 was held in April 1815 in gratitude for the end of the War of 1812. The Presidential Proclamation is still unbroken
From the Library of Congress: Percy Moran’s c1911 painting of Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga – apparently American General Gates refused to accept General Burgoyne’s sword; the newspaper clipping is at the same link as Massachusett’s endorsement of the federal Thanksgiving day – I didn’t see any information about when and where the clipping was published – I think the clipping got a couple dates wrong, Lincoln’s proclamation and Burgoyne’s surrender; part of page 1 of the November 25, 1954 issue of The Key West Citizen – The Thanksgiving article backs up Pilgrim Hall: “In his book “History of Thanksgiving and Proclamations,” H.S.J. Sickel writes that presidential proclamations —but not state or local ones fell into disuse for nearly a half century until revived by Lincoln. …”
One of the places you can find Winslow Homer’s “Thanksgiving in Camp” is at the Internet Archive. The image was published in the November 29, 1862 issue of <Harper’s Weekly, which is available at Internet Archive. That issue also included a cartoon with two turkeys and a Thanksgiving story. I got the photo of R. H. Boyd at Wikipedia. That’s also where I got Lemuel Francis Abbott’s 1781 or 1784 painting of Henry Laurens, who was born in Charleston, South Carolina and was a slave-trader. Henry Laurens served as President of the Continental Congress from November 1, 1777-December 9, 1778. November 1, 1777 was the date of the Congressional Thanksgiving proclamation above. On November 15, 1777 the Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation.
Massachusetts Dreamin’
