Episodes Nearest to November 15, 1859: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Erastus Brown Encounters Indians on His Way to Texas
    date November 15, 1859map MONTGOMERY, Missouritags Agriculture, Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Race-Relations

    Like many young, adventurous men in the nineteenth century, Erastus Brown decided to explore the new frontier of the United States. Upon returning home from a trip to Texas, he wrote a letter to his sister, Millie, asking her to accompany him on his next trip. In discussing his trip to Texas, Erastus described his encounter with the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw Indian Nations. He described the Cherokee...

  2. A University of Virginia Student Responds to John Brown's Raid
    date November 3, 1859map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence

    E.M. Healy, a student at the University of Virginia in the years surrounding 1859, wrote a letter to his brother in Urbanna, Virginia on November 3. He was eager to explain to his family an event that had occurred a short distance from where he was in Albemarle County, Virginia. On the morning of October 16, 1959, John Brown, a radical abolitionist, and 17 white men and five African Americans...

  3. John Brown Gives his Last Speech to the Court
    date November 2, 1859map JEFFERSON, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Law, Anti-slavery

    John Brown, noted abolitionist, was arrested after his raid on Harper’s Ferry in early October 1859. He was taken to Charles Town, in present day West Virginia to be tried. Early in the trial, a surprise telegraph arrived that placed Brown’s sanity in question, but the court eventually disregarded the insanity plea largely aided by Brown himself who pronounced that he of all people, should know...

  4. John Brown found guilty and sentenced
    date October 30, 1859map KANAWHA, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Less than two weeks after he attempted to initiate a slave uprising in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (currently West Virginia), John Brown was found “guilty of treason, and conspiring and advising with slaves and others to rebel, and murder in the first degree' (Life, Trial, and Execution, p. 93). This verdict was delivered on the fifth day of his trial, during which Brown had been confined...

  5. The Female Dunker Preacher
    date October 30, 1859map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Women

    In a letter to her friend Sally Ann, M.L. Moore described many elements of her day-to-day life. She includes information on her family, including the recent death of her mother, and other incidents in her community. Additionally, she wrote of trips into Washington and the sites that greeted her eyes on her excursions. Basically, she discussed affairs that you would expect a young woman to relate...

  6. John Brown executed
    date December 2, 1859map KANAWHA, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    A month and a half after his arrest for leading an abolitionist raid in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, John Brown was hanged in Charles Towne. The governor, Henry Wise, received at least seventeen affidavits from Brown's friends, family, and fellow abolitionists. They all claimed that Brown was insane, and that insanity ran throughout his family history. Despite these letters, Wise allowed...

  7. The episode is about John brown and the raid at Harper's Ferry, virginia
    date October 26, 1859map JEFFERSON, Virginiatags Harper's Ferry Raid, Insurrection of Old Brown

    On October 26,1859, The Valley Spirit, the local newspaper of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, reported a story on John Brown and the raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.  John Brown was a quiet man.  He was known to appear and disappear so no one knew quite how to locate him. He worked as a farmer, wool merchant, tanner, and land speculator; he never was a financially successful man. His...

  8. John Brown and his fellow insurgents are captured
    date October 17, 1859 to October 18, 1859map JEFFERSON, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    John Brown had started a raid against Harper's Ferry, Virginia (currently West Virginia) on October 16, 1859. The next evening, “the Monday night train, with Baltimore military and marines, arrived at Sandy Hook, where they waited for the arrival of Colonel Lee, deputized by the War Department to take the command' (Life, Trial, and Execution, p. 34). When the troops, with Colonel...

  9. The Southern Response to Harper's Ferry
    date October 18, 1859map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Slavery, War

    In October of 1859, with tensions already running high, Americans were stunned to read of the violent raid being conducted by abolitionist John Brown, in the sleepy Virginia rail junction of Harpers Ferry.News traveled slowly, and there was a great deal of speculation about the details and severity of the raid.On the morning of October 18, Richmonders were relying on an editorial in The Richmond...

  10. John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry
    date October 16, 1859 to October 18, 1859map JEFFERSON, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    John Brown, a notorious trouble-maker and abolitionist from Kansas, launched an offensive against Harper's Ferry, Virginia (currently West Virginia). Brown, who was known as “Old Brown,' “Fighting Brown,' and “Ossawatomie Brown,' first came to public attention in 1855 in Lykins County, Kansas. In Harper's Ferry in 1859, he initiated his final public appearance,...

  11. Honoring the Revolutionary Soldiers
    date October 4, 1859 to October 7, 1859map PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, SUFFOLK, Massachusetts, HARTFORD, Connecticuttags Historical Reenactment, Putnam Phalanx, Militia, Revolutionary War

    In the years right before the Civil War, a group of men formed a military organization to honor an idol and hero of the American people.  These men formed the organization not only to honor current heroes, but the heroes of the past. In particular, the regiment was named after the great General Israel Putnam.  These men displayed a respect for their forefathers that brought about national pride. ...

  12. Southern Medicine
    date January 9, 1860map ADAMS, Mississippitags Health/Death, Education, War

    On January 6, 1860, Benjamin Leonard Covington Wailes, a white planter in Washington, Adams County, Mississippi, wrote a diary entry describing his son's experiences at a northern medical school. According to Wailes, his son, who attended an unspecified medical school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resisted all efforts and persuasions used to get him to go off from the medical college with the...

  13. Cape Lookout Lighthouse
    date September 19, 1859map CARTERET, North Carolinatags Economy, Science/Technology

    "Official information has been received at this office from Captain W. H. C. Whiting, corps of engineers United States army, that the new lighthouse at Cape Lookout has been completed." The new lighthouse had the shape of a cone made of brick, with an iron lantern as the light. The tower rose 156 feet above sea level. The light was a "fixed" light that could be seen up to 22 nautical miles during...

  14. Congregation of African Americans
    date January 19, 1860map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Bishop Clark basked in the serene melodies and felt his heart rise with the crescendo of the chorus. Absorbing the scene around him, he noticed how the music held the audience members in rapt attention until everyone began swaying in perfect rhythm. It was as if everyone became gradually magnetized by the harmony, he later recalled.

    Clark soon delivered his sermon, and at its conclusion asked...

  15. Railroad Proposal from Richmond to Raleigh
    date January 27, 1860map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture, Migration/Transportation

    Citizens of Richmond put together a proposal for constructing a railroad that connected Richmond, Virginia to Raleigh, North Carolina. In this proposal they laid out future profits that could be reaped if someone would finance the project. Richmond citizens were hoping to build this line to increase the inflow of crops and merchandise to both cities. They pointed out that one of the favored crops...

  16. Cotton in the South
    date February 11, 1860map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy

    Cotton was one of the largest cash crops in the majority of southern states, but especially dominant in South Carolina. Newspapers ran daily reports on the cotton market locally, regionally, and in other states. Prices were reported, along with a report on how this related to past days' sales. The Charleston Tri-Weekly Courier reported that “prices generally strengthened under the combined...

  17. Episode is the on New York Court of Appeals case called The People of The State of New York against Jonathan Lemmon. The case was commonly known as the “Lemmon Slave Case”.
    date January, 1860 to March, 1860map NEW YORK, New Yorktags habeas corpus, Slavery, Lemmon Case

    On January 25, 1860, the New York Times reported on an important case before the New York Court of Appeals called The People of The State of New York against Jonathan Lemmon. The case was commonly known as the “Lemmon Slave Case”. The events that led to this appeal dated back to 1850. The court case brought up hard questions about slavery within the United States of America and challenged...

  18. The 1859 Greenville Baptist Female College Commencement: Debunking the Myth of Male Intellectual Superiority
    date August 10, 1859map GREENVILLE, South Carolinatags Woman's College, Greenville, SC, Women's colleges, Greenville Female College

    On August 10, 1859, The Charleston Mercury printed a letter from a young man traveling in and around Greenville, South Carolina, who, during his travels, attended the commencement ceremony of the Greenville Baptist Female College. When he arrived, he found a hall overflowing with attendees and was forced to push his way into the room, along the way enduring several “such tight squeezes...

  19. Mississippian Secession
    date January 21, 1860 to April 24, 1860map ADAMS, Mississippitags Politics, Slavery, War

    Benjamin Leonard Covington Wailes, a wealthy plantation owner in Washington, Adams County, Mississippi, wrote a diary entry on January 21, 1860, describing the happenings of the Mississippi Senate, which he was a member of. According to Wailes, General Starkle, another Senate member, proposed to send a commission to the legislature of Virginia to discuss the state of federal relations and to procure...

  20. The Woman Voter
    date March 15, 1860map ALEXANDRIA CITY, Virginiatags Politics, Women

    When a woman in 1860, in Alexandria, Virginia, discovered that her husband was too sick to vote in the election, she tried to exercise what the Tribune called 'Woman's rights' by casting his vote for him. When she wasn't allowed to vote she became agitated and used a bat to move people from the area. Eventually, she was subdued and removed from the polls. Although this is perhaps...

  21. Elick's Escape Plan
    date March 11, 1860 to March 21, 1860map CLAIBORNE, Mississippitags African-Americans, Agriculture, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Alden Spooner Forbes, a planter and merchant in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi, wrote in his diary on March 11, 1860, that this was the night that he first discovered his slave Elick's plan of running away. He realized Elick's plan when he could not find him at night and immediately, the following day, March 12, put Elick in jail for safekeeping and to ensure he could not escape....

  22. Escaped Prisoner
    date July 5, 1859 to July 23, 1859map WILLIAMSON, Tennesseetags Crime/Violence, Law

    J. Bell Reddick fled from the Nashville Jail July 7, 1859. The bowlegged white man shot Charles H. Conger just two days previous. Tennessee officials convicted him of malicious shooting and put him in prison. Nobody knew how he escaped. Even as of July 23, almost three weeks after his getaway, no one could find Reddick. The warden of the jail posted in the Nashville Union a 50 Reward to anyone who...

  23. A Private Army in Virginia
    date 1859map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Government, War

    In the writings of his autobiography, TJ Macon recorded with great pride,that in 1859, he joined the First Company Richmond Howitzers,a militia artillery unit that drilled in the city and was composed of volunteers from the surrounding area. Macon was also quick to state that he later served in combat with this unit during the war between the states.Serving in such a unit was special to Macon because...

  24. Paternalism and American Slavery
    date 1859map MOBILE, Alabamatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    While on her honeymoon, Mary Norcott Bryan traveled throughout the South with her new husband. On vacation she went to Mobile, Alabama where she met up with her friend Edith Whitfield. Whitfield lived on the plantation of her father, General Nathan Whitfield. In writing about her experience, Bryan described the nearly 900 slaves on the plantation. In her observations, Bryan decided that the slaves...

  25. Toy Advocates Colonization of Liberia
    date 1859map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Before the American Civil War a movement sprang up in abolitionist circles around the nation that to many represented an ideal solution that would end slavery without introducing millions of freed blacks into American Society. Colonization, as the name implies, had the goal of colonizing slaves in Africa in a country called Liberia. As such, there were numerous attempts to convince Africans to willingly...