Category Archives: Postbellum Society

Dedicated

Posted on October 15, 2024 by SUMPTER

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

Posted on September 14, 2024 by SUMPTER

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

Posted on July 20, 2024 by SUMPTER

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

Posted on May 15, 2024 by SUMPTER

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’

Posted on April 12, 2024 by SUMPTER

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?

Posted on February 12, 2024 by SUMPTER

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

Posted on December 16, 2023 by SUMPTER

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

Posted on November 30, 2023 by SUMPTER

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?

Posted on July 4, 2023 by SUMPTER

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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spreading the news

Posted on June 19, 2023 by SUMPTER

As the American Civil War ended, federal troops took control of Galveston, Texas. On June 19, 1865 General Gordon Granger used a military order to announce that more than two years earlier President Abraham freed the slaves in Texas and … Continue reading →

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