Category Archives: Confederate States of America

patriotic rags

and earn a good (Confederate) dollar 150 years ago this week a Richmond newspaper was offering top dollar for the material necessary for its publication. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 22, 1863: Rags! Rags!! Rags!!! –The highest market price … Continue reading

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granular analysis

In a message to the state legislature South Carolina governor Milledge Luke Bonham identified several reasons for food shortages in his state: the law prohibiting liquor production was not being obeyed or enforced; the law limiting cotton production to three … Continue reading

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Our barns should be bulging

Hope springs eternal? Food was scarce throughout the Confederacy in the spring of 1863. “In a dozen or more cities and hamlets from Richmond to Mobile, desperate women raided shops or supply depots for food.” A week after the Richmond … Continue reading

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A Benevolent Union in Richmond?

Five days after the Richmond Bread Riot the following report was published in the Richmond Daily Dispatch of April 7, 1863: Relief for the poor. –For the purpose of relieving the wants and necessities of the wives and families of … Continue reading

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Poles are to Russia …

… like Southerners are to the United States A Richmond editorial ridiculed Yankee vanity and found common cause with Polish rebels fighting Russian despotism. European recognition and/or intervention is pretty much a lost cause. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April … Continue reading

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Abundant Virginia

Scarcity in the army only due to transportation issues and poorly executed impressments Two days after the Richmond Bread Riot(squelched by the press to conform to the Secretary of Defense’s wishes) a Richmond paper reproduced an editorial squelching the rumor … Continue reading

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supply side Sleight of hand

“Supply and Demand” an “old standard” James Seddon, the Confederate Secretary of War pleaded with newspapers not to publish accounts of the April 2, 1863 Richmond Bread Riot. Nevertheless, 150 years ago today a Richmond paper was able to continue … Continue reading

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Let them read papers

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 2, 1863: Give your child a Newspaper. –A child beginning to read becomes delighted with a newspapers, because he reads of names and things which are very familiar, and will make progress accordingly. A … Continue reading

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anger management

Sometimes when I reproduce racist articles I feel like me and 150 years are ganging up on the people in the story – I have no idea what my thoughts and actions would be like if I lived so long … Continue reading

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A lynching in Montgomery

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch March 23, 1863: A Spy Hung. –Saturday morning last the Vigilance Committee resumed the examination of Dan’l S. E. Starr, who was charged with having written an Abolition book, which we believe, was found in … Continue reading

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