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- Little Giant Defends Giant Doctrine: Stephen Douglas on Popular Soverienty
1859
UNORGANIZED TERRITORY, Territory
Slavery, PoliticsSenator Stephen Douglas, the "Little Giant" from Illinois, wrote an article for Harpers Magazine in 1859 entitled "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories." Harpers and Brothers Publishers subsequently printed it in pamphlet form. In the article, Douglas defended his opinions on the much derided and disputed issue of popular sovereignty. He explained his interpretation of popular sovereignty with...
- A Liberty Party Leader Assists A Fellow Abolitionist
July 27, 1852 NEW YORK, New York Politics, Anti-slavery
Gerrit Smith was a prominent abolitionist and leader of the early Liberty Party during the 1840s and 1850s. He worked to help slaves and promote abolitionism in his lifetime, including spending his own money for the cause. In a letter to a friend, Smith described how he had posted bail on different occasions for a man named Chaplin, who was being punished for enticing slaves away from their southern...
- A Liberty Party Leader Assists A Fellow Abolitionist
July 27, 1852 NEW YORK, New York Politics, Anti-slavery
Gerrit Smith was a prominent abolitionist and leader of the early Liberty Party during the 1840s and 1850s. He worked to help slaves and promote abolitionism in his lifetime, including spending his own money for the cause. In a letter to a friend, Smith described how he had posted bail on different occasions for a man named Chaplin, who was being punished for enticing slaves away from their southern...
- Mine their Line: Pennsylvania Coal Miners Created the Crater June 24, 1864 to July 30, 1864 DINWIDDIE, Virginia, SCHUYLKILL, Pennsylvania War, Civil War
In his official report, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants of the 48th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers wrote that the mine dug under the Confederate trenches outside Petersburg exploded at sixteen minutes to five, on the morning of July 30, 1864. The Quartermaster sergeant of the 48th Pennsylvania, Joseph Gould, wrote his history of the regiment, "It [the explosion] was a magnificent spectacle;...
- Mine their Line: Pennsylvania Coal Miners Created the Crater June 24, 1864 to July 30, 1864 DINWIDDIE, Virginia, SCHUYLKILL, Pennsylvania War, Civil War
In his official report, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants of the 48th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers wrote that the mine dug under the Confederate trenches outside Petersburg exploded at sixteen minutes to five, on the morning of July 30, 1864. The Quartermaster sergeant of the 48th Pennsylvania, Joseph Gould, wrote his history of the regiment, "It [the explosion] was a magnificent spectacle;...
- "Union Soldier Writes to Enslaved Daughters" September 3, 1864 ST LOUIS, Missouri Slavery, War
Spotswood Rice was a black Missouri soldier in the Union army in 1864. During the time of Rice's military service, he had two daughters that were still slaves in Glasgow, Missouri. While spending time in Benton Barracks Hospital, which was in St. Louis, Missouri, Rice wrote letters to his daughters, as well as the master of the two girls. In the letter to his daughters, Rice assured them that the...
- "Union Soldier Writes to Enslaved Daughters" September 3, 1864 ST LOUIS, Missouri Slavery, War
Spotswood Rice was a black Missouri soldier in the Union army in 1864. During the time of Rice's military service, he had two daughters that were still slaves in Glasgow, Missouri. While spending time in Benton Barracks Hospital, which was in St. Louis, Missouri, Rice wrote letters to his daughters, as well as the master of the two girls. In the letter to his daughters, Rice assured them that the...
- Chaplain Lorenzo Barber: 'The Fighting Parson' December 9, 1864 to December 12, 1864 DINWIDDIE, Virginia Petersburg campaign, Weldon Railroad, Sharpshooters, Civil War
In his report dated December 16, 1864, Chaplain Lorenzo Barber’s brigade had just finished what he called the destruction of “one of the most important railroads in the so-called Confederacy.” But even with his reputation as “one of the best shots in the army” and the nickname of “The Fighting Parson,” Barber revealed the inner struggle he felt as a minister and a soldier when he shared...
- Matt Turner Writes Home From Shelbysville April 12, 1863 CHOCTAW, Alabama Civil War, Medicine/Health
Writing home to his mother on April 12, 1863, Assistant Surgeon to the 22nd regiment of Alabama Infantry, Matt Turner captured the sentiments of many others in the Confederate Army as he spoke of wishing to return to his home. Turner wrote his letter from a “camp near Shelbysville Tennessee,” where he was “alone except the agreeable company of the lame, the halt and the blind who all look eagerly...
- The Burning of the Culp Home July 1, 1863 to July 3, 1863 ADAMS, Pennsylvania Crime/Violence, Civil War
In an effort to take revenge on the North, the ninth regiment of Alabama volunteers burned the Culp home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the Gettysburg campaign. The reasons for this destruction are dictated by the volunteers, as after they burnt the Culp home they left a short, crudely handwritten note to the owners of the property. The note clearly indicates the intentions of the Confederate...