Category Archives: Postbellum Society

let the good time roll

Are you ready for some jollification? President Ulysses S. Grant’s sixth Thanksgiving Day proclamation (from Pilgrim Hall Museum): THANKSGIVING DAY 1874 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PROCLAMATION We are reminded by the changing seasons … Continue reading

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Dedicated

After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated his body was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. 150 years ago today a large monument at the Lincoln grave site was dedicated. In its October 24, 1874 issue Harper’s Weekly described the … Continue reading

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Battle in New Orleans

According to Eric Foner in Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, every election in Louisiana “between 1868 and 1876 was marked by rampant violence and pervasive fraud.” The results of the 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election were highly disputed. Both carpetbagger Republican … Continue reading

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Columbia’s champs

Columbia College was in the news 150 years ago this summer as its varsity rowing team won its race at an intercollegiate regatta on Saratoga Lake in New York state. The race had to be postponed twice because of choppy … Continue reading

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Laurels to the Chief

The Panic of 1873 led to a long-lasting depression in Europe and North America. In early 1874 Congress passed a bill that would expand the supply of paper currency not redeemable in gold. On April 22, 1874 President Ulysses. S. … Continue reading

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no foolin’

Libby Prison was one of the places in Richmond. Virginia where the Confederate government housed Yankee prisoners. Last year I was surprised while glancing through a newspaper at the Library of Congress. I noticed what seemed to be an advertisement … 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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tea time

150 years ago this week people commemorated the centennial of the Boston Tea Party. According to the January 3, 1874 issue of Harper’s Weekly, one of the celebrations incorporated a contemporary political issue – women’s rights: THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. On … Continue reading

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gradual recovery

President Ulysses S. Grant’s fifth presidential Thanksgiving proclamation per Pilgrim Hall Museum: BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PROCLAMATION The approaching close of another year brings with it the occasion for renewed thanksgiving and acknowledgment … Continue reading

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muted celebration?

Recently National Review compared and contrasted The United States and Britain: “Every nation needs a mythic anchor. Ours is our revolutionary self-founding. Britain is its longer, slower maturation.” Eight years after the Civil War ended a Southern newspaper didn’t feel … Continue reading

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