Category Archives: 150 Years Ago This Month

Fall River Fire

On September 19, 1874 a very destructive fire at a mill in Fall River, Massachusetts killed or injured many of the employees. In its October 10, 1874 issue Harper’s Weekly analyzed the fire and highlighted the heroism of a young … Continue reading

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GAR reunion

Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson founded the Grand Army of the Republic on April 6, 1866 in Decatur Illinois. The GAR was a fraternal organization for Union soldiers, sailors, and marines who served during the Civil War. Its guiding principles were … Continue reading

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house still divided?

150 years ago Harper’s Weekly published a brief bio of a member of the 43rd Congress. From its February 14, 1874 issue of : THE HON. ROBERT B. ELLIOTT. The South Carolina district that for many years sent JOHN C. … Continue reading

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four more

President Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated for his second term on March 4, 1873. From the March 22, 1873 issue of Harper’s Weekly: THE SECOND INAUGURATION. THE second inauguration of ULYSSES S. GRANT as President of the United States was … Continue reading

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with counsel like that

From the January 27, 1872 issue of Harper’s Weekly: THE KU-KLUX. WE give on this page an illustration, engraved from a photograph from life, showing three members of a band of Mississippi Ku-Klux, who are now under indictment in that … Continue reading

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prison break

From the August 18, 1871 edition of The New-York Times: SING SING AGAIN. __________ Daring Escape of Twelve Convicts from the Prison. __________ They are Carried off in a Tug, by Preconcerted Arrangement — The Engineer Suspected — One Arrrest … Continue reading

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‘demi-deity’ in bronze

Apparently some people politicized public monuments 150 years ago. From the October 8, 1870 issue of Punchinello (at Project Gutenberg): “SOLEMN SILENCE.” Perhaps very few persons—and especially very few members of the Republican party—are aware that a monument to ABRAHAM … Continue reading

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peanut prophecy

From the July 16, 1870 issue of Harper’s Weekly: PEA-NUTS. OUR illustration on this page represents a scene which is perfectly familiar to those who have visited our Southern cities; and we dare say some of our readers who have … Continue reading

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Old Pap gone

I first knew of him as “The Rock of Chickamauga.” In September 1863 Union General George H. Thomas and his men held off the Confederate Army of Tennessee while about a third of the Union Army of the Cumberland was … Continue reading

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ebony and ivory

According to Wikipedia, Mississippi “was readmitted to the Union on January 11, 1870, and its representatives and senators were seated in Congress on February 23, 1870.”[*the dates are questionable] Although both new senators were Republicans and non-native Mississipians, one was … Continue reading

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