Category Archives: Reconstruction

riled in Richmond

From The New-York Times May 13, 1867: More Trouble with the Negroes in Richmond – Arrest of a Speaker at a Freedmen’s Meeting. RICHMOND, Sunday, May 12. Another riot occurred in the lower portion of the city last night. The … Continue reading

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southern radical Republicans

Mobilized in Mobile From The New-York Times May 4, 1867: Colored Convention in Mobile. MOBILE, Ala., Friday, May 3. A colored mass convention of the State has been in session here for two days, and adjourned to day. The delegates … Continue reading

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Sickles’ salient

After the war General Daniel Sickles commanded the army in South Carolina area. On March 11, 1867 he was appointed commander of the second military district (North and South Carolina) under Congress’s Reconstruction Acts. 150 years ago today he halted … Continue reading

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mega ice cube

Are you kidding? I’m kind of sitting here dumbfounded, double-checking the calendar, but it doesn’t seem to be April 1st yet. I mean, we paid how many U.S. (1867) dollars for what? A whole bunch of remote ice, they say. … Continue reading

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deposed by the feds

In mid-March 1867 General Philip Sheridan was appointed to command one of the five military districts that Congress created in the South. His Fifth District was made up of Texas and Louisiana. By the end of the month he had … Continue reading

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more ping-pong

On March 19, 1867 Congress passed a law to supplement the initial Reconstruction Act of March 2nd. The new law’s purpose was to to set up the machinery for beginning Congressional Reconstruction. It provided “for the registration of perspective voters … Continue reading

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the five commandants

Pursuant to the first Reconstruction Act enacted in early March 1867, President Andrew Johnson was required to appoint a district commander for each of the five military districts that divided up the South. On March 11th the president appointed Generals … Continue reading

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Pottsville people power

It wasn’t just well-known radicals in and out of Congress. According to documentation at the Library of Congress, on March 11, 1867 some people in Pottsville, Pennsylvania promulgated a series of resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. … Continue reading

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“it is our country”

On March 7, 1867 the Southern Famine Relief Commission published a fact sheet about the severe destitution in the South, especially in Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. General O.O. Howard wrote that although his Freedmen’s Bureau was for the most … Continue reading

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Wade in waiting?

150 years ago today the 39th U.S. Congress ended and the 40th convened. This was an unusual move, but Congress wasn’t taking any chances. In the last days of the 39th, Congress enacted measures that curtailed President Johnson’s policies and … Continue reading

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