Author Archives: SUMPTER

boxing day thanks

Posted on December 26, 2014 by SUMPTER

In didn’t take President Lincoln long to get to his Christmas thank you notes in 1864. Of course, when someone gives you an entire city, it’s probably not a bad idea to make sure you show your gratitude. From The … Continue reading →

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dinner plans changed

Posted on December 25, 2014 by SUMPTER

Two big war events 150 years ago this week were the capture of Savannah and the attempt to capture Fort Fisher. It took a while for the news to make its way up to upstate New York. Here’s an article … Continue reading →

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‘vacant chair’ Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 24, 1864: Saturday morning….December 24, 1864. Christmas. Christmas has come again, and though shorn of some of its old accessories of feasts and frolics, it is Christmas still in all that constitutes its essential … Continue reading →

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shaming the abolitionists?

Posted on December 23, 2014 by SUMPTER

A Democrat publication wondered why, if over two million adult men voted for President Lincoln’s re-election, the President had to threaten a draft to come up with 300,000 more soldiers. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1864 or … Continue reading →

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Hardee not Lincoln

Posted on December 22, 2014 by SUMPTER

When a Richmond paper heard the news about the fall of Savannah, it spun it positive – unlike American forces in Charleston during the Revolutionary War, General Hardee’s army escaped. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 29, 1864: Thursday morning…December … Continue reading →

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reconstruction bill

Posted on December 20, 2014 by SUMPTER

Four years to the day after South Carolina officially seceded from the United States, Richmond citizens could read about a bill in the Yankee Congress to manage the return of the rebel states: slavery would be forever abolished; provisional governors … Continue reading →

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2 + 2

Posted on December 19, 2014 by SUMPTER

As Democrat paper in the Finger Lakes region of New York State absorbed a couple of the significant events that occurred 150 years this week – the Union victory at Nashville and President Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more volunteers – … Continue reading →

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exterminate them!

Posted on December 18, 2014 by SUMPTER

A Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1864 said it was skeptical about reports of the horrible conditions in Southern prison camps – until it spoke with a couple native sons who had survived the experience: RETURNED PRISONERS. Lieut. CORT. … Continue reading →

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prison necrology

Posted on December 17, 2014 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times December 17 1864: THE PRISON PENS IN THE SOUTH; Necrology of the Union Captives. The Dead at Savannah, at Florence and at Andersonville. Leaves from a Diary Kept at Florence, South Carolina. Glimpses of Life in … Continue reading →

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unrepentant

Posted on December 16, 2014 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in December 1864: A DESERTER named “French Bill” was hung at Harper’s Ferry a short time ago. The gallows was one of the old fashioned kind, with trap-door, &c. Three thousand soldiers witnessed … Continue reading →

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