January 29, 1847 to March 3, 1847

  1. Jabez Smith hired to oversee construction of a factory along the Augusta Canal

    Date(s): January 1847 Location: RICHMOND, Georgia Tag(s): 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...

  2. Wilmot Proviso defeated by the Senate for the final time

    Date(s): March 3, 1847 Location: Washington City, District of Columbia Tag(s): 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...

  3. John C. Calhoun aids in defeating the Ten Regiment Bill

    Date(s): February 1847 Location: Washington City, District of Columbia Tag(s): 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...

  4. A Bitter Winter

    Date(s): November 4, 1846 to January 1847 Location: TERRITORY, Territory Tag(s): 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...

  5. A Pennsylvania soldier sails to the Mexican War

    Date(s): January 29, 1847 to March 3, 1847 Location: Outside US, CAMBRIA, Pennsylvania Tag(s): General Veazie, sea sick, small pox, Mexican War, War 

    On January 29, 1847 James Skelly and the Cambria Guards embarked on the General Veazie in New Orleans during the Mexican War.  Rainy weather had played a continuous role in delaying the men from reaching port.  According to Skelly “owing to the Rain and we were Prohibited” resulted in another delay from sailing.  Several days later the ship finally made her way into the Gulf of Mexico. ...

  6. The Shawshank Plantation, or Nowhere to Run...but Home

    Date(s): November 1844 to February 5, 1847 Location: GREENE, Alabama, ORANGE, North Carolina Tag(s): slavery, runaway, Alabama, North Carolina, Cameron family 

    In the film The Shawshank Redemption, a convict named Brooks was paroled after 50 years in prison. He was distraught at the thought of having to leave the dehumanizing Shawshank penitentiary that had been his home for so long. Brooks was released and, after a few months of trying to readjust, he gave up and hung himself. Letters written 150 years earlier from the Cameron Plantations reveal...