Category Archives: Postbellum Society

nickname serendipity

In February 1866 President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Freedmen Bureau extension bill. His insensitive and demeaning remarks in a Washington’s Birthday talk angered Republicans in Congress, which in early April overrode the president’s veto of the Civil Rights bill. 150 … Continue reading

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graves matter

On May 5, 1866 residents of Waterloo, New York dedicated the day to honoring their Civil War dead: … all businesses were closed, and the village was decorated with flags at half-mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black. The women … Continue reading

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Memphis riots

According to The Freedmen’s Bureau Report on the Memphis Race Riots of 1866 the immediate cause of the Memphis riots of 1866 was an altercation between white policemen and blacks on the evening of April 30, 1866. The following afternoon … Continue reading

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guards

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in April 1866: ORGANIZING A MILITARY COMPANY. – We understand Maj. H.B. Compson, of Tyre, is authorized to organize a military company in this town and Tyre, for Col. Steele’s regiment of National … Continue reading

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emancipation celebration

[I forgot to publish this yesterday morning. The celebration occurred April 19, 1866. Sorry] 150 years ago today Washington, D.C. celebrated the April 16, 1862 abolition of slavery in the nation’s capital. Thanks to Google and the University of Tennessee … Continue reading

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“Treason and Slavery” did it

To commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President Johnson ordered public offices closed. The House of Representatives met to adjourn – and Congressman James Garfield from Ohio spoke some words of tribute. From The Works of … Continue reading

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historic “cause of irritation”

April 9, 1866 marked the first anniversary of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. On that same day the United States House of Representatives overrode President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. In conjunction with the Senate’s … Continue reading

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this just in

On April 2, 1866 President Andrew Johnson proclaimed the American Civil War officially ended, finished, no more. You read the document at the Library of Congress and at The American Presidency Project. Here’s a bit of it: … Whereas there … Continue reading

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nay-a-gainsayer

In February 1866 President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau extension act. On March 27th he vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Here’s an 1896 summary from The Struggle between President Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction by Charles Ernest … Continue reading

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“large hearts and corresponding purses”

[I missed this last month.] During the war many fairs were held to benefit the Sanitary Commission. On February 22 and 23, 1866 the Young Ladies’ Aid Society of a small town on one of the Finger Lakes in New … Continue reading

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