Category Archives: Northern Society

Springfield speech

Posted on September 3, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today a “mass meeting of unconditional Union men” was held in Springfield, Illinois. President Lincoln had been invited to speak at his pre-presidency hometown but couldn’t leave Washington “because Rosecrans had finally begun his long-awaited campaign to … Continue reading →

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Jeff’s Emancipation Proclamation?

Posted on August 30, 2013 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times August 30, 1863: VERY IMPORTANT NEWS.; The Last Rebel Card Played by Jeff. Davis. Call for Five Hundred Thousand Negro Troops. Their Freedom and Fifty Acres of Land Promised to Them. Four Rebel War Vessels Run … Continue reading →

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sigh of relief

Posted on August 26, 2013 by SUMPTER

A conservative, Democrat paper reprinted an article maintaining that the black troops that fought for the North at Port Hudson were not the super warriors and/or super savages that some initial reports indicated. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper … Continue reading →

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blame game

Posted on August 22, 2013 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times August 22, 1863: The War and Its Originators. The difficulties of writing history could hardly be better exemplified than by a comparison of the versions of the origin of the war, given by Mr. DONNELL, the … Continue reading →

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Gorilla Gone from Gotham

Posted on August 20, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago yesterday the draft resumed peaceably in New York City. Army, militia, and police forces were present in large if unostentatious numbers. A reorter found “no less than seven huge columbiads on trucks in the depot of the New-Jersey … Continue reading →

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“All honor to the Flag”

Posted on August 19, 2013 by SUMPTER

Six weeks after Gettysburg, the assistant surgeon for the 126th New York Volunteer Infantry wrote home to explain that newspaper accounts had missed the extraordinary courage of the 126th’s color bearers during the battle. From a Seneca County newspaper in … Continue reading →

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not much of a theater-goer

Posted on August 17, 2013 by SUMPTER

From The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln To J. H. HACKETT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON August 17, 1863. JAMES H. HACKETT, Esq. MY DEAR SIR:—Months ago I should have acknowledged the receipt of your book and accompanying kind note; and … Continue reading →

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private no more

Posted on August 16, 2013 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times August 16, 1863: Jeff. Davis’ Private Letters. The country will be interested and amused, if not instructed, by the letters received by JEFF. DAVIS from all sections and all sorts of men during the secession Winter, … Continue reading →

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No Scrooge

Posted on August 14, 2013 by SUMPTER

I know from the schedule that 150 years ago today draftees from the Town of Tyre in Seneca County, New York appeared in Auburn for their examinations. Here’s a comment from a Democrat newspaper from Seneca County in 1863: Mr. … Continue reading →

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Waterloo exemptions

Posted on August 12, 2013 by SUMPTER

According to James M. McPherson’s discussion of conscription in the North, “If a man’s name was drawn in this [draft] lottery, one of several things would happen to him next – the least likely of which was induction into the … Continue reading →

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