Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1855 to December 31, 1870: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Battle of Murfreesboro
    date December 30, 1862 to January 3, 1863map RUTHERFORD, Tennesseetags War

    The Battle of Murfreesboro, also known as the Battle of Stones River, boosted the North's morale after a decisive defeat at Fredericksburg. The Confederate army was strengthened by their recent victories. The Union army advanced towards Cumberland Gap, but the Confederates viewed the Appalachian Mountains as an insurmountable barrier for the Union army to traverse to reach Tennessee. In addition...

  2. Emancipation Proclamation issued
    date January 1, 1863map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation through his Secretary of State, William Seward. The proclamation decreed that slaves in the rebellious counties of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia were to be set free. Those territories excepted were those over which the Union army had seized control during the Civil War....

  3. Wyatt's Imprisonment
    date January 5, 1863map NELSON, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The common practice of hiring out one's slaves ensured that even when work was less plentiful on the plantation, a master's investment in a slave would still be lucrative. A slave in this position identified only as Wyatt landed himself in jail after attempting repeatedly to be sold back to the plantation where his family resided. The current owners who had been trying to sell him wrote...

  4. Jefferson Davis Addresses Free States
    date January 5, 1863map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    The people of the Union heard from a defiant Jefferson Davis on January 5, 1863. Northern leaders had degraded you and themselves, he criticized, by inviting the co-operation of the black race with Abraham Lincoln's proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederacy and inviting them into the North's army and navy. Just before, the Union had been condemning the South for seeking the intervention...

  5. Southern Wartime Humor Concerning President Lincoln
    date January 7, 1863map WAKE, North Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Government, Politics, Slavery, War

    On January 7, 1863 the Raleigh Register published a song by Smith Webb mocking President Lincoln and his ability to keep the Union together. The song contained seven verses that used sarcastic remarks and comparisons to criticize the President's actions. The song began using sarcasm after deriding the President by stating, "Fifty Yanks it is said won't make one good Confed; would a million...

  6. Jefferson Davis Speaks In Raleigh
    date January 7, 1863map WAKE, North Carolinatags Government, Politics

    Jefferson Davis, called "This Man of the Age, whose name will stand on the scroll of Fame as second only to that of the Father of his Country" by The Raleigh Register, had a lot of support among Confederate citizens, including the citizens of North Carolina. In January 1863, on his way from Charlotte to Richmond, Davis stopped in Raleigh to deliver a speech. In his speech, Davis mentioned...

  7. Zillah's Sacrifice
    date January 9, 1863map SUMTER, Alabamatags Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, War, Women

    Zillah Haynie Brandon, wife of a plantation owner in Sumter, Alabama, relied on her devout Christian beliefs to see her through life's trials and tragedies. As the proud mother of two Confederate soldiers, James and Hines, Zillah found strength in her Bible. In her diary, Zillah wrote of her fear for her sons' safety and her pride in their dedication to the Confederate struggle for independence,...

  8. The Court Martial of Fitz John Porter
    date December 4, 1862 to January 10, 1863map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Fitz John Porter, Second Bull Run, Court Martial

    Major General Fitz John Porter of the Volunteers of the United States received a court martial in an attempt to cover up a Union General’s mistakes at the Second Battle of Bull Run.  The Second Battle of Bull Run was a devastating loss for the Union.  That also led to the demotion of Major General John Pope.

    Major General Pope earned criticizism for his actions and decisions at the Battle. ...

  9. Call to Raise Money for Confederate Soldiers
    date December 12, 1862 to 1862map HALIFAX, Virginiatags Economy, Government, War

    James C. Bruce paid to place an advertisement in the Richmond Whig newspaper on December 12, 1862. The advertisement was a call for people of the county of Halifax to meet for the benefit of their Confederate soldiers. The ad called for the raising of money and clothing for our soldiers in the field. James C. Bruce paid 3 for the ad.

    James C. Bruce's call for war donations gives insight...

  10. Preserving the Union
    date January 9, 1863 to January 14, 1863map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Government, War

    In January 1863, Horatio Nelson Taft wrote in his daily diary of an increasing desire to see the terrible Civil War ended "Negro or no Negro, Slavery or no Slavery." Taft, a Unionist, felt that the underlying ideology of the preservation of the Union was the main reason to fight. He said, "we can do to hold our own and hope for success without bringing Slavery into the question." The people of...

  11. Remembering Our Gallant Dead
    date January 14, 1863map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags highdeath toll, Civil War

    Dealing with death is as unavoidable as death itself.  Grief that weighs on the hearts of those who have lost someone dear to them is a great burden to bear.  Imagine then the amount of sorrow and mourning in the Confederate States at the height of the American Civil War.  Ways of thinking about and dealing with the amount of loss of life during the Civil War were diverse.  William C. Davis...

  12. Calvin Shedd Reports Confederate Lynching in Southern Florida
    date January 16, 1863map DADE, Floridatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Education, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Calvin Shedd struggled to make sense of his surroundings while stationed at Fort Jefferson, a Union garrison in Key West, Florida, the southernmost city in the United States. He saw little or no action in the war for his first eighteen months of service, but he heard reports from members of his regiment who scouted the movement of the Confederate army. He was taken aback when he heard that Confederates...

  13. Burnside Rationalizes his moves at Fredericksburg
    date December 17, 1862map SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginiatags War, Crime/Violence, Politics

    General Ambrose E. Burnside, the newly appointed Commander of the Army of the Potomac, was regarded by General O. O. Howard as distrusting himself with the position, but was eventually persuaded to accept it. Along with the position came the responsibility for a plan of action that would differ from the failed plans of General George B. McLellan. It turned out that Burnside's plan of campaign...

  14. General Braggs Carries Out Execution of Kentucky Youth
    date December 4, 1862 to December 26, 1862map RUTHERFORD, Tennesseetags Military, Civil War, Confederacy

    At eleven o’clock on the morning following Christmas Day, 1862, General Braxton Bragg of the Confederate Army forced his Company E, 6th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (part of the commonly denoted “Orphan Brigade”) to stand round their fellow soldier, Asa Lewis, who awaited execution. Exactly one hour later the firing squad of twelve men carried out the young soldier’s sentence. As...

  15. Grant Issues Order No. 11
    date January 18, 1863map MC CRACKEN, Kentuckytags Government, Politics, Race-Relations, Church/Religious-Activity, Economy

    In January of 1863 Union General Ulysses S. Grant issued an order that excluded anyone from the Jewish descent from his military department. Order eleven read, “The Jews, as a class, violating every trade regulation established by the Treasury Department, also Department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.”  The order then...

  16. The Irish March on Fredericksburg
    date December 11, 1862 to December 15, 1862map SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginiatags Irish Immigration, Civil War

    On the eve of battle, war cries echoed throughout the valleys surrounding Fredericksburg Virginia in Spotsylvania County. Among the nearly 200,000 men preparing to engage in battle, just under two thousand were Irish Americans. These men, new to the land, had been conscripted into service almost as soon as setting dry-foot upon US soil. Despite the Irish immingrants' recent arrival, they were more...

  17. Blocking the Altamaha River
    date December 2, 1862map TATTNALL, Georgiatags Migration/Transportation, War

    In the autumn of 1862, in a strategic defensive move, Confederate forces in southern Georgia obstructed the Altamaha River to keep boats from passing up or down the waterway. Confederate Captain John Howard, under the instruction of Captain John McGrady completed the obstruction of the Altamaha near Lake Bluff, Georgia in late November ? successfully preventing future nautical passage in either...

  18. Samuel Langhorne Clemens adopts pseudonym Mark Twain
    date February 3, 1863map MARION, Missouritags Arts/Leisure

    In 1863, Samuel Clemens was writing for Territorial Enterprise, when he wrote a humorous account of his travels, signing his piece with the pseudonym Mark Twain, the call he used as a riverboat pilot to signal that the water was two fathoms deep, safe for a boat's passage. This name he would continue to use when publishing in the future. At the time he was writing humorous columns reporting...

  19. Action on the Mississippi
    date January 24, 1863 to February 24, 1863map LAUDERDALE, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    Walter Guion wrote a letter dated Saturday, January 24, 1863, to Miss. Bessie Guion, his sister, in Adams County, Mississippi, describing his experiences as a Confederate soldier and relaying some of his emotions about the war. In the letter, Walter spoke of a fight that broke out on the fourteenth of January against a Yankee gunboat near Lauderdale, Tennessee. The Confederate gunboat that Walter...

  20. Sickness In the South
    date February 9, 1863map ROCKBRIDGE, Virginiatags Health/Death, War

    In the common way of the times during the Civil War one brother would often write to another informing him of events occurring at home while the other brother would write back with news from the battle line. This is what happened in the Bowman family. In one letter dated February 9, 186[3] one brother wrote from home telling his brother about the illness spreading through town. Andy is better but...

  21. Courageous Irish Brigade
    date November 18, 1862map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Race Relations: Irish, Civil War

           Their eager face showed no doubt or fear. Their hearts pumped full of excitement and pride. As the Irish Brigade took to the streets of New York City, the citizens of the metropolis rose up to cheer them on. The New York Times described in detail the farewell march of the 69th New York Volunteers’ otherwise known as the “Irish Brigade”. The Irish Brigade was...

  22. A Union Soldier Celebrates a Victory
    date February, 1863map ASCENSION, Louisianatags Arts/Leisure, War

    Union troops had finally secured Fort Butler in Donaldsville. Excitement was everywhere. George Smith was one of the proud soldiers who witnessed the raising of the Union flag. The soldiers had worked relentlessly to secure the fort and the moment was very emotional. By late morning the regiment was ready to celebrate. Cannons sounded. The Star Spangled Banner rang loud from the band. Miss Weber...

  23. A Soldier Complains of the Army Life
    date February 16, 1863map STAFFORD, Virginiatags Health/Death, Government, Politics, War, Crime/Violence

    On February 16, 1863, a Union soldier from Huntingdon County Pennsylvania wrote home to describe the war as he saw it.  “Here we are yet stuck in the mud, crushing the rebellion, over the left, and enjoying our hard tack as usual.”  The soldier described the boring life that the Army of the Potomac went through as they were in camp.  The man known as “TIMBER DOODLE” in his writings was...

  24. One women's reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation
    date November 8, 1862map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Politics, Slavery, Women

    Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation, even among the common folk, was mixed and often violent. A letter to the Editor of the Harper's Weekly and published in the November 8, 1862 edition describes one reader's personal experience with such a reaction from a neighbor.

    Charity Grimes writes that her neighbor, Sarah Blue, and she do not always agree but on this one occasion...

  25. Conscription Act
    date March 3, 1863map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy, War

    An act was passed by Congress and signed by the President providing for the mandatory enlistment of Union citizens. It subjected all able-bodied men between the ages of 20 and 45 to military conscription. The guidelines were later clarified so that even those “of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath his intention to become a citizen of the United States' would be subject to conscription.<br...