Category Archives: Postbellum Society

Sedgwick statue dedicated

According to Harper’s Weekly, 150 years ago today a statue of Union General John Sedgwick was dedicated at West Point. At least as of 2008 the monument was still standing. ________________________ John Sedgwick was killed at Spotsylvania on May 9, … Continue reading

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not in their backyard

In its September 22, 1868 issue the The New-York Times published a report of political violence in southeastern Georgia that occurred on September 19th. A couple of Republican politicians traveled to Camilla for a rally. As they neared the town … Continue reading

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late summer of ’68

Some headlines from early September 1868. Statewide elections in Vermont resulted in large Republican majorities. The Georgia legislature expelled twenty-five black representatives (New York Times September 4, 1868). After a conference at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Union General William … Continue reading

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dragon visit

In 1861 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Anson Burlingame as minister to the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1912. “Burlingame worked for a cooperative policy rather than the imperialistic policies of force which had been used during the … Continue reading

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R.I.I.P.

I wished that I were the owner of every southern slave, that I might cast off the shackles from their limbs, and witness the rapture which would excite them in the first dance of their freedom. – Thaddeus Stevens, 1837 … Continue reading

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Lost in Lexington

According to documentation at the Library of Congress, Washington College in Lexington, Virginia held commencement exercises on June 18, 1868. A northern newspaper was disgruntled by a report from an unnamed source about some activities (toasts) during an alumni supper … Continue reading

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death down south

In early June 1868 two black men fought a duel in South Carolina; one of the men was mortally wounded. A northern editorial thought that duels in general were absurd, tragic, and barbaric, but saw this particular duel as a … Continue reading

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decorating the mounds

Civil War general John A. Logan has been in the news a lot lately. As a Representative from Illinois he was one of seven House managers during the Impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. The U.S. Senate eventually acquitted the … Continue reading

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fictional preservation?

An editorial in the April 25, 1868 issue of Harper’s Weekly lamented all the historic Revolutionary War era structures that were being left to deteriorate and hoped that three other “sacred” buildings could be preserved. One of those structures related … Continue reading

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the long march

April 14, 1865 was something of a banner day in Washington, D.C. Gilbert Bates, who had served as a sergeant in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery during the war, arrived on foot in the nation’s capital carrying the Stars and … Continue reading

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