Category Archives: Southern Society

no respect

It was pitiful enough to find so much idleness, but it was more pitiful to observe that it was likely to continue indefinitely. The war will not have borne proper fruit, if our peace does not speedily bring respect for … Continue reading

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“the Government of Freedmen.”

150 years ago this week New Yorkers could read about South Carolina’s enactment of a Black Code for the governance of freedmen. Eric Foner summarizes the code, which: contained provisions, such as prohibiting the expulsion of aged freedmen from plantations, … Continue reading

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Virginia freedmen

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 30, 1865: The freedmen’s Bureau of Virginia. The reader will find in this morning’s paper the purport of the report of Colonel Brown, Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau for the State of Virginia, … Continue reading

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tidings: dreadful … and glad?

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 25, 1865: Christmas. It would seem a remorseless piece of irony to extend to our people the usual greeting of “A Merry Christmas.” In the midst of a land desolated by the iron foot-prints … Continue reading

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a saint for the impecunious

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 23, 1865: The great problem of Christmas, with all who are not afflicted by the general malady of chronic impecuniousness, is what to buy for a Christmas present. The patron saint, Kriss Kringle, St. … Continue reading

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General Grant reports

150 years ago this week reports by President Johnson and General Grant on the condition of the South were published. From The New-York Times December 20, 1865: THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS; Important Message from the President on Reconstruction. He Favors the … Continue reading

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another man without a country?

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 22, 1865: The last Confederate prisoner. –The last Confederate prisoner of war has been released, on condition that he would leave the country. The Baton Rouge Gazette of the 5th says: A letter received … Continue reading

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’cause the framers punted

After an eight month hiatus, the Richmond Daily Dispatch resumed publication 150 years ago today (albeit with no runaway slave classifieds): Saturday…december 9, 1865. The past and the present. The Richmond Dispatch, which met a temporary suspension of its existence … Continue reading

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perpetual union still possible

In early December 1865 the 39th Congress convened and President Andrew Johnson sent the legislators his first annual message. A newspaper in Gotham was well-satisfied with the President’s report. From The New-York Times December 6, 1865: The President’s Message. Probably … Continue reading

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negotiating reconstruction?

It was reported that the Mississippi legislature would give freedmen the right to testify in court if President Johnson withdrew federal (mostly colored?) troops From The New-York Times November 23, 1865: FROM MISSISSIPPI.; Negroes Allowed to Testify for their Own … Continue reading

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