Episodes Nearest to August 15, 1856: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Man Arrested for Spreading Abolitionist Material
    date August 15, 1856map LOWNDES, Mississippitags Slavery

    On August 14th, 1856 a man was arrested on the charges of disseminating incendiary material. The man, John Duberry, was caught distributing the speeches of Senators Sumner and Seward amongst slaves in Columbus, Mississippi. For committing a “crime' such as this, Duberry could have received a sentence of ten years in jail. Unfortunately though, the newspaper did not print a follow up...

  2. Blockade of Missouri River
    date August 12, 1856map MERCER, Missouritags Crime/Violence, Slavery, War

    In the summer of 1856 tensions ran high between pro slavery and free soil groups in the territory of Kansas and thus trickled into the nearby, slave state Missouri. Although allowing Kansas to be a slave state would have violated the Missouri Compromise established in 1820, pro slavery forces fought to add yet another state to “their' side. Free soil groups vehemently opposed instituting...

  3. Terrible Storm in Louisiana Kills Hundreds
    date August 10, 1856 to August 12, 1856map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Health/Death

    Last Island, Louisiana was a popular vacation spot for wealthy families in the nineteenth century. The island, located in the Gulf of Mexico, served as an ideal summer getaway because of its full exposure to southern breezes and desirable climate. Last Island was relatively small, measuring twenty five miles long and three fourths of a mile wide. The island's attractive qualities, namely...

  4. Southern Interpretation of Increasing Sectionalism
    date August 19, 1856map HENRICO, Virginiatags Slavery

    In an article written on August 19, 1856, The Daily Dispatch commented on the growing sectionalism between the North and the South in the United States. In a then recent speech by a Missouri Senator it was stated that “there existed more comity between any two foreign nations now on the face of the earth than there exists on the part of the Northern States towards the South (The Daily Dispatch,...

  5. The Arrest of a Slave
    date August 10, 1856map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Slavery

    On August 10th a slave named Henderson, the human property of Edward Gresham, was arrested and caged. Police officers caught Henderson in an illegal assembly of eleven other blacks, trespassing over private property and carrying fire arms. Henderson probably faced punishment by the law following his arrest, and then subsequently by his master once released from confinement. Slave rebellions generally...

  6. The Third Seminole War
    date August 21, 1856map ALACHUA, Floridatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, War

    The Seminole Wars were bitter fights between the white settlers of Florida and the Seminole Indians, a tribe founded in the 1700s after tribes migrated further south. The First Seminole War began in 1817 when Andrew invaded Eastern Florida, backed by the U.S. Army. While the first war only lasted a year, the Second Seminole War began in 1821 and did not end 1842, although no peace treaty was ever...

  7. Immigrants Massacred in the Meadows
    date September 7, 1856 to September 11, 1856map IRON, Utahtags Church/Religious Activity, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Crime/Violence

    A bloody massacre of immigrants on route to California by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and aided by local Native Americans occurred in Mountain Meadows, Utah. The blame for the massacre originally fell on the Native Americans. The Pittsfield Sun, a Massachusetts newspaper, provided an eyewitness account to the horrific crime and indicted the Mormons...

  8. James Buchanan Addresses the Senate
    date September 12, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    In September of 1856, during the race for the presidency, James Buchanan addressed the Senate on the subject of slavery. The issue of slavery was central to the Presidential Election of 1856. Buchanan, reticent of the fact that he needed to find middle ground on the topic in order to appeal to both pro-slavery southerners and abolitionist northerners, crafted his statements on slavery so as not...

  9. A New Bride's Suicide
    date June 5, 1856 to 1856map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Health/Death, Women

    The servants thought the new bride, Mrs. Nancy Gray, had simply laid down to rest. Though shutting up the house on a Thursday morning was an unusual step, she had felt indisposed recently and so they thought nothing of it. It was not until the middle of the day, when a serving woman came to ask about dinner, that they realized something was amiss. Nancy Gray was not asleep; she was found in a closet,...

  10. The New Kansas Bill
    date July 10, 1856 to July 11, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    In July of 1856 the Senate labored over the span of two days to come to an accord regarding the issue of slavery in Kansas. On the morning of the 11th, the Committee on Territories adopted the new Kansas bill, first introduced by Senator Toombs of Georgia. This new bill declared Kansas a slave state and was passed by a vote of thirty three to twelve. The bill only needed approval by the House...

  11. Reports of Runaway Slaves
    date July 2, 1856map HENRICO, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Slavery

    The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850. The Act pleased southerners not only because it allowed slave owners to retrieve their property from anywhere in the country, but it gave other people the power to retrieve them as well. In fact, if officials did not turn in fugitive slaves, they could be fined 1,000. This measure of the act served to directly overturn...

  12. Norfolk's New Water System
    date 1856map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Health/Death, Economy, Government, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In 1856, the city of Norfolk, Virginia asked Wade Burnett, a civil engineer, to construct a plan that would improve the city's water supply system. In his report, Burnett noted the improvements that an efficient water system could have in the community. The townspeople of Norfolk would benefit in many aspects of life- domestic use, manufactures, extinguishment of fires, shipping, public baths,...

  13. Sons of Temperance: Young Southern Men and the Temperance Movement
    date 1856map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education

    Temperance reforms in the nineteenth century were not widely known for their success in the South. In fact, Delaware was the only slaveholding state to enact prohibition laws in the 1850s. However, temperance reform victories can be seen on a smaller, yet equally effective, scale throughout the southern United States, especially among young men. The Southern temperance movement was driven...

  14. This is an example of the types of encounters within the Third Seminole War or Billy Bowlegs War
    date 1856map HILLSBOROUGH, Floridatags Seminole Revolt

    Indian Revolt

    Over the course of time as White colonists kept pushing their culture onto the Indians a lack of patients was stirring amongst the tribes. Seminoles in Florida had been involved in long lasting wars with the government and had quickly resolved to violence. A total of three Seminole wars were ignited and the last of which ended in 1858. This third Seminole war or Billy Bowlegs...

  15. Journey in the Seaboard Slave States
    date 1856map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Slavery, Slave Trade, Slave States

    "Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils," Olmstead quoted this from Benjamin Franklin. In 1856, an Englishman, Frederick Law Olmstead, wrote A journey in the seaboard slave states. It is about his long journey in the seaboard slave states of Virginia, North...

  16. Mob Violence in Missouri
    date July 1, 1856map ANDREW, Missouritags Crime/Violence, Slavery, War

    The fight over whether Kansas should be a slave or a free state raged throughout the summer of 1856 in Kansas, Missouri and other surrounding areas. The Free State militia won ground in the ongoing battle by seizing the town of Franklin, a pro slavery stronghold in August, but the Pro-Slavery men would not capitulate and they proved victorious in many clashes as well. Skirmishes continued through...

  17. Reverend Tyng Speaks Out Against Southern Hostility
    date June 29, 1856map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Church/Religious-Activity, Slavery

    Preaching to his Philadelphia congregation, Reverend Dudley A. Tyng spoke out against the violent acts committed by Southerners in attempts to have Kansas admitted to the Union as a slave state.  “The blood of a Senator has stained the floor of the Senate Chamber,” said Tyng in his June 29, 1856, sermon, and “the blood of her citizens has been poured out like water on the virgin soil of Kansas,...

  18. The Publishing of Abolitionist Literature
    date October 7, 1856map HENRICO, Virginiatags Race-Relations, Slavery

    Harriet Beecher Stowe just published Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp in 1856. In the book, Stowe posits that slavery caused the corrosion of society. Dred is the second book by Stowe that centered on the topic of slavery. Stowe's first work, Uncle Tom's Cabin which was published in 1853, also addressed the issue of slavery and highlighted the institutions' inadequacies. Raised...

  19. The Know-Nothing Riot in Baltimore
    date October 8, 1856map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Crime/Violence, War

    Xenophobic men established the Know Nothing or American Party in the late 1940s in response to the growing number of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics flooding into the United States because of the Irish Famine of 1845. They were known as the Know Nothing Party because when asked questions about the organization and their affiliation with it, members responded that they knew nothing. The...

  20. Smilin' Schuyler Rails Against The Laws of Kansas
    date June 21, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Politics, Anti-slavery

    In 1850, the Midwest remained largely undeveloped and in the eyes of many New Englanders it seemed a very profitable proposition. By 1854, the territories were created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which left these states with the ability to decide if the slave trade would be legal in their territories. Many Anti-Nebraskans, such as Indiana Representative Schuyler Colfax, remained dedicated to the...

  21. Songs in Slave Society
    date October 13, 1856map ORANGE, Floridatags Song, Slave

    The life of a slave was a grim one during the 19th century. Most slaves belonged to large plantations that required labor intensive work. Large groups of slaves would work on these plantations utilizing the resources the Americas had to offer so that their plantation owners could remain profitable. Because of this permanent life of servitude, many slaves tried to escape while dying in...

  22. Meeting of the Board of Alderman
    date October 14, 1856map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Slavery

    On October 14, 1856 the Board of Alderman held a city council meeting to discuss the climate in the city of New Orleans. In the meeting, the Mayor advocated for the increase of the police force by more than one hundred men. The call for an increased police force stemmed from his desire to protect “the persons and property of our citizens (Daily Picayune, Oct 14, pg. 4).' In other words,...

  23. Property of a Newspaper Owner
    date October 15, 1856 to October 16, 1856map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Government, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Joseph Addison Waddell was a wealthy and influential man in nineteenth-century Augusta County, Virginia. He owned the Staunton Spectator from 1856-1860. The Spectator reached many residents of Augusta County. He kept an extensive diary during his life, of which the years 1855-1865 are still preserved. On October 15, 1856, after having contemplated the hopeless Know-Nothing campaign...

  24. The Presidential Election
    date November 4, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    During the summer before the Presidential Election of 1856 slavery was on the forefront of political discourse due to the increasingly violent battles in Kansas to determine whether the territory would be slave or free. The three candidates for President, Democrat James Buchanan, Republican John Fremont and the Whig/ American Millard Fillmore were thus reticent of the fact that they would need...

  25. Republicans Run their First Presidential Candidate
    date November 4, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    The Republican Party was formed as an anti-slavery party and in the presidential election of 1856, John Fremont became the party's first candidate for president. Ironically, Fremont was the only candidate in the presidential election from the South, yet he was also the only one who spoke out against slavery. Fremont campaigned to wipe out what he felt to be the two biggest sins plaguing the...