Category Archives: Confederate States of America

martyr on the home front

Posted on April 11, 2014 by SUMPTER

For well over a year General P. G. T. Beauregard had been in command of the successful defense of Charleston and Fort Sumter from Union assault. 150 years ago today people in Richmond could read his impassioned letter in response … Continue reading →

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angel arguments

Posted on April 8, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today the first Constitutional step was taken to amend the Constitution regarding slavery. The United States Senate passed a resolution to make the Constitution explicitly forbid slavery throughout the United States. The Thirteenth Amendment would eventually become … Continue reading →

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just deserts

Posted on April 7, 2014 by SUMPTER

“Tell all my friends to come out of the woods” Regardless of how factual the following letter may have been, it would certainly seem to have had propaganda value as Confederate armies prepared for the upcoming spring campaigns. The Dispatch … Continue reading →

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get out the calculators

Posted on April 3, 2014 by SUMPTER

As part of the Confederate Currency Reform Act of 1864 began new money began to circulate 150 years ago this month. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 2, 1864: The New issue. –The new Treasury notes will be ready for … Continue reading →

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Maple Leaf down

Posted on April 1, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today: “The Federal army transport Maple Leaf strikes a Confederate torpedo in the St. John’s River, Florida, and sinks off Mandarin Point” Here’s how folks in Richmond got the news. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 6, … Continue reading →

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rebel strength

Posted on March 28, 2014 by SUMPTER

As the undoubted spring campaign approached, a northern journalist tried to ascertain the rebel strength. He came up with numbers in all the southern armies and suggested that “Anaconda” might be squeezing the South into much greater self-reliance. From a … Continue reading →

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civil war

Posted on March 26, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today a Southern newspaper looked to the American Revolutionary War to find a general who knew the polite way to wage a war of subjugation. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch March 26, 1864: Two extracts from revolutionary … Continue reading →

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diggin’ for the CSA

Posted on March 24, 2014 by SUMPTER

This notice has been running in the Dispatch most of the month. The Confederate Niter and Mining Bureau was tasked with supplying necessary minerals and metals to the South’s military. As white men continued to get killed and wounded and … Continue reading →

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snowball’s chance in Dalton?

Posted on March 22, 2014 by SUMPTER

Pretty good in March 1864: It is written: “On rare occasions it snowed and like children released from school, the troops treated any snowfall as an occasion for play. On March 22 dawn revealed a fresh 5 inches of new … Continue reading →

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pledge passive allegiance?

Posted on March 21, 2014 by SUMPTER

After endorsing B.F. Butler for the United States presidency because he was the biggest thief among the candidates, the Richmond Daily Dispatch of March 21, 1864 published the following exchange of letters between General Butler and a Virginia schoolteacher: Butler … Continue reading →

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