Episodes Nearest to September 1, 1845 to December 30, 1847: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. The Good Slave
    date October 28, 1846map GREENE, Alabamatags Slavery, Antebellum America, Paternalism

    Slavery is anathema, but it was not always so.  It was quite possible for well-meaning and rational people to practice and defend the “peculiar institution.”  Slaveholders sustained themselves with the firm conviction that they were doing right by the poor, benighted souls in their charge.  In this way, masters could claim they were compassionate angels of mercy--providing discipline, moral...

  2. Bad Medicine and the use of Galvanism in the Cameron Plantation letters at Stagville
    date October, 1846 to 1846map ORANGE, North Carolinatags Galvanism, slavery,, plantation, slaves

    There is numerous life situations featured in the letters of the Cameron Plantation. The focus of interest here is the life of the enslaved people as seen through the eyes of the Cameron family. Of course because of this we must interpret based on what we see in the letters. There are real human issues. These include affection, sickness, disease, travel, and home life just to name a few. The goal...

  3. A Country Wedding in 1846
    date November, 1846map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Women

    One November afternoon, Eliza Moore Chinn McHatten Ripley and her brother Dick set off for a farm not too far outside of their home in New Orleans. This short journey became a longer one as transportation troubles and creek flooding slowed them down. Eventually, Eliza and Dick found a place to stay over for a night before continuing on their way the following morning.

    They finally reached...

  4. Sam Forwood's Fatherly Advice
    date October 8, 1846map CLARKE, Alabamatags Agriculture, Health/Death, Economy, Education

    On October 8, 1846, in Clark County, Alabama, Sam Forwood wrote a letter to his sixteen-year-old son, William Stump Forwood, who was living in Maryland with his grandmother for schooling.Young William had been questioning what occupation he should pursue, and his father had several points of advice. Sam advised his son to pursue the profession of medicine. As Sam explained it, becoming a doctor...

  5. Slave Owner Uses Modern Medicine to Treat Malaria
    date September 21, 1846 to September 26, 1846map ORANGE, North Carolinatags Science/Technology, Medicine, Slavery

             In late September 1846 several slaves from the Fairntosh plantation in Durham, North Carolina fell sick with malaria. Their owner, planter Paul Cameron, tells his father Duncan how he provided medicine for his sick slaves as well as the traditional herbs and teas.

    “Since that time we have a great deal of chill and fever at the mill quarter in [unintelligible] I have made the...

  6. The 50 Dollar Reward for Harry the Runaway
    date December 12, 1846map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On December 12, 1846, Landon Harrison ran a wanted advertisement in The Nashville Daily Union. Months later, on Saturday, March 27, 1847, the Daily Union continued to run the advertisement. One of the slaves on Harrison?s plantation ran away, and Harrison entered a wanted ad in hopes of having him found and returned as soon as possible. In order to ensure the slaves safe return, master's...

  7. A Bitter Winter
    date November 4, 1846 to January, 1847map TERRITORY, Territorytags Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Women

    The winter of 1846 was physically, emotionally and mentally draining for twenty year-old Mary Ann Graves, a member of the group of emigrants now infamously known as the Donner Party. As one of the survivors of this horrible episode in history, she wrote a letter to Levi Fosdick on May 22 of the following spring recounting her experiences. Her concluding remark was "I have told the bad news, and...

  8. The Price of Slavery
    date January 2, 1847map DARLINGTON, South Carolinatags Prices, African-Americans, Slavery

    To a group of slaves about to be sold to a new owner, the future is uncertain. Their new home may promise decent food and board, or it may mean the separation from their closest family members, abusive overseers, and grueling work that drives them to the brink of death. This is what thirteen slaves faced when they were sold on January 2, 1847 by John D. McCullough to Samuel W. Evans. The document...

  9. Blood in the Streets
    date January 7, 1847map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Crime/Violence, Government, Law, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    Contrary to popular belief, the Civil War was not an instantaneous outbreak of violence. The years leading up to the affair were full of bargains, compromises, and violent encounters that transcended both racial and societal lines. On January 7, 1847, many newspapers distributed articles focusing on the ongoing war with Mexico. The dispute increased social and political unrest back east, and the...

  10. Jabez Smith hired to oversee construction of a factory along the Augusta Canal
    date January, 1847map RICHMOND, Georgiatags Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    The factory eventually constructed by Smith along the canal played a key role in both stimulating the local economy and eventually in the Civil War. The canal and rail connections found in Augusta made it ideal for wartime industry like the production of gun powder. In fact the canal attracted such a broad array of war time industries during the Civil War that the citizens of Augusta began to...

  11. Maryland's Desire to Establish a Decision
    date January 21, 1847map PRINCE GEORGES, Marylandtags Race-Relations, Slavery

    The abolitionist movement began as a peaceful movement in the eyes of Marylanders, however, as they approached the goal of emancipation, many citizens question what their respective states would be like without the admittance of slavery. The question of whether of not Maryland was truly a southern state. According to Richard Walsh and William Lloyd Fox's History of Maryland, the free...

  12. A Coming Together of the Races
    date January 22, 1847map WASHINGTON, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure, Race-Relations

    On January 22 1847, a peculiar event took place at the Jonesborough hatter shop. On this occasion, whites and blacks of the town congregated for what was known as a Negro Party. Together, members of both races cast aside racial differences in order to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Every guest, despite their race, took part in the festivities which included feasting and dancing. The merriment...

  13. John C. Calhoun aids in defeating the Ten Regiment Bill
    date February, 1847map Washington City, District of Columbiatags War

    In his run for the presidency John C. Calhoun opposed the Ten Regiment Bill proposed by the Polk administration to bolster the army to continue the fight against the Mexicans. The ten regiment bill called for increased funding to raise and outfit an additional ten regiments to fight Santa Anna's troops in the Mexican American War. Congress intended this funding to last until the end of the...

  14. A Volunteer's Story
    date July, 1846map ANNE ARUNDEL, Marylandtags Diplomacy/International, Health/Death, Politics, War

    Joseph McNeir was a volunteer soldier during the Mexican American War. McNeir had maintained correspondence with his family throughout his time in service. The letters often discussed the life that Joseph McNeir lived during his service as well as how many volunteers were there to serve. McNeir gave intimate details of how the war was going, the expected daily events, and where the soldiers were...

  15. A Woman's Dominance in Marital Relations
    date July 14, 1846map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Women

    Horatio B. Bucktrout, the preacher in charge of Norfolk's M.E. Church South, wrote to Jordan Powell of Baltimore regarding issues that arose from the death of Powell's brother. In a letter addressed July 14, 1846, Bucktrout revealed that Godfrey Powell had just died, and a woman claiming to be his wife was attempting to claim his estate. Bucktrout wanted to know if this woman truly was Powell's...

  16. Retrocession of Alexandria from Washington, D.C. to Become Part of Virginia
    date July 9, 1846map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Slavery

    On July 9 Alexandria “retroceded,' or returned as a formal part of Virginia after being ceded from the state to create a portion of Washington, D.C. in the year 1790. Alexandria was home to a flourishing slave trade at this time, and Southern congressmen wanted to protect it in the face of growing pressure from Northern abolitionists to ban slavery in the nation's capital. Upon the...

  17. African Americans Drinking during Church Service
    date 1846map CULPEPER, Virginiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The white population of Culpeper County, Virginia was dismayed when their church services were inexcusably disrupted by the boisterous activities of some African Americans. As a petition to the State Legislature, drafted by a number of the county's white citizens in 1846, states, their worshipping services are of late so interrupted by drinking, particularly by Negroes on the Sabbath, that they...

  18. A Murderous Education
    date 1846map ADAMS, Mississippitags Education, Government

    Around 1846, the students of Centenary College decided to take a stand. Fifty-three of the pupils signed a petition for the removal of a professor from their institute of higher education. In adding their names to the list, the students accused Professor Jones of, participating in ... the shooting of the boys Unfortunately, the petition gave no further explanation of the alleged incident. However,...

  19. Construction Begins on Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West, Florida
    date July 1, 1846map MONROE, Floridatags War

    The first federal building to be constructed on Key West, which is the southern-most point of the United States, Fort Taylor was begun in July of 1846. The fort was built in order to protect the natural harbor of Key West and was named for General Zachary Taylor, who was commander of American forces in the Mexican-American War which had also begun that year. Although the fort was all but destroyed...

  20. Wilmot Proviso defeated by the Senate for the final time
    date March 3, 1847map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    Passed for a second time by the House on March 3, 1847, but eventually rejected by the senate again. Despite its failure to pass, the Proviso raised serious constitutional and political questions as to the acceptability of slavery. The Wilmot Proviso, attached as an amendment to an appropriations bill, essentially aimed to prevent slavery from occurring in any territory ceded from Mexico after...

  21. New Orleans Courts report thousands of whites recently jailed for vagrancy
    date 1847 to May 2, 1847map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Crime/Violence, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    As of May 2, 1847 the New Orleans Court Recorder reported that thousands of whites had been sentenced to the workhouse for acts of vagrancy. Often times the courts handed down these sentences without proof, trial, or opportunity to appeal. The fate of these vagrants represents a common occurrence throughout the South. Around this time period in South Carolina the leadership sold vagrants into...

  22. W.B. Shapard's Very Desirable and Beautiful Farm
    date March 4, 1847map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Agriculture, Slavery

    The heading above W.B. Shapard's Richland Creek estate advertisement boldly read: That very desirable and Beautiful Farm. Shapard first ran the advertisement in Nashville on March 4, 1847, and by Saturday, March 27, 1847 it ran again in the classifieds of The Daily Union. Shapard wanted to sell his estate, and vividly described every aspect of it in his advertisement. The estate was not merely...

  23. Hundreds of Mormons in Honolulu en Route to California
    date June 20, 1846map TERRITORY, Territorytags Utah, Hawaii, Migration, Mormons

    It was June 20th, 1846, when the ship Brooklyn arrived in Honolulu, Oahu. Its passengers were hundreds of Mormon immigrants en route to California from New York led by a man named Samuel Brannan. The people of Hawaii were intrigued and confused by these new people, especially such a vast amount. The unknown elements were filled in by a history of the Mormon religion and its people.

    The...

  24. Whigs: Nationalism & Publication
    date June 1, 1846map Washington City, District of Columbia, NEW YORK, New Yorktags Political Parties, Government, Politics

    Although the Whig Party was already in trouble by the late 1840s, they remained vocal on a host of issues through print publications, such as The American Whig Review. One particular article of interest was written in June of 1846 and dealt with “Supply and demand,” which the author believed “must ever be the governing rule of prices.” The article also discussed how speculation...

  25. The Runaway Slave
    date April 14, 1847map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Law, Race-Relations, Slavery, Women

    For many enslaved people in the Deep South, slavery was the only way of life they had ever known. Regardless, stories of the North and specifically, a place referred to as Philadelphia, were incentive enough to prompt some to brave the terrifying unknown and escape the even more terrifying world in which they were already bound. At some point during the day - or perhaps it was the night - of April...