Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1860 to March 31, 1860: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. 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...

  2. 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...

  3. 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...

  4. 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...

  5. 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...

  6. 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...

  7. 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....

  8. 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...

  9. Dr. Baynard Byme Praises Florida Agriculture
    date April 1, 1860map MARION, Floridatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Slavery

    In a pamphlet written to encourage colonists to visit East and South Florida, Dr. Baynard Byme highlighted the advantages of the soil, climate, and production of the relatively sparsely populated state of Florida. After describing the weather, terrain, and typical lifestyle, Dr. Byme acknowledged the differences between Florida cotton and that grown in other states but made sure to clarify the reason...

  10. A Democratic Division: Florida and the 1860 Presidential Election
    date April 9, 1860map LEON, Floridatags Politics

    With the Election of 1860 just months away, the Democratic Party in Florida began working on its strategy to defeat the Republicans. Hoping to gain momentum before the upcoming election, Florida began appointing officials to represent the Democratic Party in the late spring of 1860. Delegated wanted to insure that democratic values were integrated into the current federal government, so Florida...

  11. Indian Tension
    date April, 1860map GALVESTON, Texastags Government, Politics, Native-Americans, War

    Indians in Texas, especially during the Civil War, were unruly and often feared. In fact, they raided and looted all across Texas in response to the constant threat of losing even more territory. While Indians succeeded by burning stations and driving settlers from their homes, their actions spurred many more debates, conventions, and other attempts to deal with the Indians. One attempt to coexist...

  12. 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...

  13. African-American Population growth
    date April 30, 1860map SHELBY, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation

    In 1850, Shelby County ranked seventh in free colored population. In the ten years that followed, it grew considerably to be ranked fifth in free population and first in total population in Tennessee. The free population grew considerably because of many reasons, specifically natural birth from free African American mothers, more frequent self-purchase, and increased immigration free African-Americans...

  14. Davis Resolutions
    date May 14, 1860map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    The Davis Resolutions were a set of agreements voted on by Congress in an attempt to end the feuding over the issue of slavery in the territories. The issue had been debated for months to decide whether the people in the territory should make decisions on domestic affairs or if the government of the United States should make the decisions. Jefferson Davis was a big proponent of the people in the...

  15. 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...

  16. Charleston Mercury and Richmond Enquirer Debate the Richmond Convetion
    date May 10, 1860 to May 23, 1860map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Government, Politics, Slavery

    In May of 1860, two major Southern papers, The Charleston Mercury and The Richmond Enquirer, engaged in a fiery debate. The issue of this debate was participation in the Democratic Party National Convention at Baltimore, Maryland-where the party's Presidential nominee was to be decided. The Baltimore Convention was the second such attempt; Democrats had met earlier...

  17. 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...

  18. 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...

  19. 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...

  20. 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...

  21. 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...

  22. Newspapers used as a medium
    date June 8, 1860map LOUDOUN, Virginiatags Slavery

    Advertisements for the sale and purchase of African-Americans were found daily in local newspapers. People who were interested in buying or selling slaves placed advertisements, which appeared on the front pages of many newspapers. While many people placed their own ads in the papers, there were some large slave-owners who went through agents specialized in locating the slaves they wished to purchase....

  23. 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...

  24. 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...

  25. 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,...