Episodes Nearest to November 4, 1861 to November 8, 1861: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Obtaining a Pass to Face Suffering Soldiers
    date November 4, 1861 to November 8, 1861map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Health/Death, War

    While residing in his hometown of Washington, DC, a Doctor Snyder was summoned by the Head Quarters City Guard to tend to the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac who were currently stationed in Virginia.However, in order to reach the Army in Virginia, where he was to spend four days, he had to first obtain a pass For Civilians from the Provost Marshal's Office in Washington.The pass was of great...

  2. Unionists Burn Bridges in Eastern Tennessee
    date November 8, 1861map KNOX, Tennesseetags Migration/Transportation, War

    On November 8, 1861, a group of East Tennessee Unionists led by William Blount Carter burned five bridges to hamper Confederate troop movements. Carter, a Presbyterian minister, had spoken with Lincoln about a plan to burn eleven key bridges between Alabama and Virginia. Many iron furnaces were located in Alabama, producing confederate cannon. Carter's hope was for Union troops to attack...

  3. Kansas “Jayhawkers' Loot Western Missouri
    date October 30, 1861map JACKSON, Missouritags Crime/Violence, War

    Kansas militia led by Jim Lane and Doc Jennison rode into Western Missouri in the Summer and Fall of 1861, claiming they intended to protect the railroads. Instead, they gained a reputation for vicious looting; they were essentially bandits. According to the Charleston Mercury on October 30, 1861, “Even the St. Louis Republican, a fierce Abolition sheet, is ashamed of the brutalities of the...

  4. Land Trade for more Slaves
    date August 25, 1861 to 1861map HOUSTON, Texastags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Slavery

    Texas land was ideal for slaveholders. There was seemingly no end to the vast land territory, there were long growing seasons, and they could grow multiple crops throughout the year. Although slavery arrived late to Texas, it soon became as powerful as an institution as elsewhere in the South.

    One example of the desire to attain slaves to work the land is evident in the slave trade offer...

  5. Harriet Jacobs comes forward to tell her story of escaping slavery and fighting for emancipation.
    date November, 1861 to 1861map ALBANY, New Yorktags Emancipation, Escaping slavery

    “Far better to have been one of the starving poor of Ireland whose bones had to bleach on the highways than to have been a slave with the curse of slavery stamped upon yourself and children…” These powerful words come from the fugitive slave Harriet Jacobs. First hesitant to tell her story, later Jacob’s was convinced through the suggestion of a friend to indeed tell her story to others...

  6. Ambush of Round Mountain
    date November 19, 1861map Unorganized, Oklahomatags Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Many Indians disagreed to Secession, but not necessarily agree to abolition, either. Families owned slaves and continued to throughout the Civil War. Opoethleyohola, a Muscogee Creek Chief also known as Gouge, wished to remain neutral. Many other neutral Creeks followed him North of Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma.

    Colonel Douglas H. Cooper had been persuaded that 'Gouge'...

  7. Feeding Prisoners on a Pittance
    date November 20, 1861map BARNWELL, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Government

    When S. N. Stallings signed up for service in the army of the Confederate States of America, he sought glory and excitement in the defense of his home and values. By 1861, Stallings' dreams had faded. Rather than fighting against invading hordes of Yankees, he was guarding prisoners of war at the courthouse in Barnwell County, South Carolina.

    Worse, the Confederate government had little...

  8. "The Slow Dead March of Camp-Disease": Death in the American Civil War
    date November 25, 1861map PRINCE WILLIAM, Virginiatags Charles Manning Furman, Typhoid fever, Disease, Civil War

    Charles Furman had known Fannie Garden for only 13 days before he asked her to marry him. In all, they spent less than a month together before the Confederate government ordered him northward to fight the “soulless soldiers” of the “despised Yankee Nation." The letters they wrote in the years that followed captured both their own deepening love and the chaos and carnage of the American Civil...

  9. Beginnings of Pharmacology
    date August, 1861 to 1861map HENRICO, Virginiatags Health/Death, Education

    Medical care in major cities such as New York and Philadelphia was far more advanced due to increased access to education and technology; however, this was not true for many rural areas of the country. During the antebellum period, the practices of medical doctors were not always well regulated. Doctors were considered quite knowledgeable but most of their remedies were local in nature and chosen...

  10. Fayetteville Presbytery Succeeds From Union
    date October 11, 1861map CUMBERLAND, North Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity

    In May 1861, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America decided by a near unanimous vote to endorse the Republican Administration. Consequently, the national church breached the fundamental law of Presbyterianism, by making themselves party to sectional agitations. These resolutions passed by the national church require its members to maintain their allegiance...

  11. Winston County Unionists
    date December 3, 1861map WINSTON, Alabamatags Winston County, Alabama, Civil War

    Dr. A. Kaiser of Winston County passionately wrote down the concerns of his fellow Confederate supporters at the meeting conducted on November 30, 1861 in Alabama.  Winston County is a small, rural county in the upper northwest corner of Alabama.  The county was a pro-Union county that was creating a disturbance in the Confederate state.  In Dr. Kaiser’s letter, he emphasizes the wishes of...

  12. Union Troops Seize Fort Massachusetts
    date December 4, 1861map HARRISON, Mississippitags Economy, War

    Union forces gained control of an evacuated fort that was being constructed on Ship Island by the Confederates on December 4, 1861. Located along one of the major shipping lanes into New Orleans, the fort controlled the movement of ships in the area and tightened the blockade on New Orleans. New Orleans is located at the mouth of Mississippi by controlling New Orleans, the Union forces were able...

  13. Unionist Sentiments in Alabama
    date December 7, 1861map WINSTON, Alabamatags Unionists in Alabama, Civil War

    P.C. Winn’s letter disturbed Governor John Gill Shorter of Alabama.  Winn dictates the contents of a letter given to himself by Dr. A. Kaiser of Winston County.  Winn elaborates on his personal visit to the county in the Great State of Alabama.  He details the accounts of a meeting that Dr. K had alluded to and states that he was charged with the writing of the Preamble and Resolutions passed...

  14. Fire in Charleston
    date December 11, 1861 to December 12, 1861map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    A huge fire broke out in the city of Charleston on December 11, 1861. It continued to burn into the next day. Charleston was historically one of the wealthiest cities in the South because of its role as a leading port. The fire attracted national attention, as the New York Times compiled what information it could from various Southern papers: A reprint from the Charleston Courier estimated the...

  15. South Carolina Executive Council Created by Secession Convention
    date December 14, 1861map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags War

    In response to Union military action in South Carolina, including the fall of Port Royal, David F. Jamison President of the Secession Convention gathered members of the Secession Convention. The Convention, created an Executive Council on December 14, 1861 to rule the state, partly because there was little confidence in the governor. Governor Pickens was a scapegoat for the fall of Port Royal,...

  16. A Family Divided By War
    date September 15, 1861 to September 16, 1861map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Government, War, Women

    On September 15, 1961, Sue Carter wrote a letter to her dear cousin Mary A. Heirs. She addressed familial concern which drastically shaped her opinion of the war in general. Carter exclaimed that writing to her cousin is a most exquisite pleasure, yet the letter contained only heartache and anger over uncertainty and separation. Carter expressed her anger towards secession, that our once prosperous...

  17. Religion on the Battlefield
    date September 16, 1861map NANSEMOND, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, War

    In an unsigned letter dated September 16, 1861, a Confederate soldier wrote to his family to tell of his first few weeks marching to war. His letter began with mundane details of the dates and names of towns his regiment marched through and speculations of when and where he would meet the enemy, but most of the letter is filled with religious tones and rhetoric.

    The anonymous Confederate...

  18. What Are You Fighting For?
    date January 1, 1862map FREDERICK, Virginiatags War

    The message was clear; those fighting for the Confederate Army were "destroy[ing] the government of [their] fathers." In an advertisement in 1862 in Winchester, Virginia, the government established by the "the patriot statesmen and warriors of the revolution" asked that the confederate soldiers "throw down [their] arms" and come rejoin the Union. The ad insisted that the "bad men" of the confederacy...

  19. CSA General Wreaks Havoc in Missouri Town
    date January 1, 1862map CHRISTIAN, Missouritags Sterling Price

    Dissent, the one word that is able to break apart any organization. One particular instance of dissent took place in 1862 in Springfield, Missouri. The citizens of Springfield became thoroughly displeased with the practices of the confederate soldiers in their town. These practices, undertaken by General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army, became the focusing point of controversy for the citizens...

  20. Expressions of Anger Toward Secrecy and Censorship in the Union
    date January 1, 1862map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Seceded States

    Censorship and secrecy became the motto of the Union Army in the beginning of 1862. By this point, the war had only been going on for one year and civilians already had begun to grow weary of its costs. Union citizens came to be weary of the issue surrounding government censorship of communication devices such as the newspapers and mail. One of the complaints concerning this matter appeared in

  21. Call The Cavalry
    date November 1, 1861 to March 11, 1862map QUEENS, New Yorktags War

    A man sits astride a slick-coated war-horse at the forefront of battle. Uniform pressed, cap settled heavily atop his head of thick hair, hand wrapped around the hilt of his saber while his revolver sits at his hip, he demonstrates the epitome of order and ruthlessness on the battlefield. While a man on foot could be outfitted in the same manner as a cavalryman, he would never be able to compare...

  22. Sovereign Convention of South Carolina
    date January 9, 1862map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags War

    On January 9, 1862, the Sovereign Convention of the People of South Carolina met sitting in Columbia, South Carolina [the state capital] and enacted several highly important ordinances concerning the state. A first order was to strengthen the hands of the executive branch by the creation of a Council to whom [in conjunction with the Governor] plenary powers were entrusted. This new Council's...

  23. Happy Times in Centerville Camp as the Confederate High Command Sing the South's Favorite Songs
    date January 12, 1862map ACCOMACK, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Song

    Confederate leader Robert E Lee once said, "I don't believe we can have an army without music," and reflecting this attitude, the high command of the Confederate forces joined in the jovial times of the 1862 Southern lifestyle. Observed by the future Brigadier General Moxley Sorrel, the then Captain and Chief-of-Staff to General Longstreet recounted a banquet put on by Longstreet and the many...

  24. Irish Brigade Holds Fast
    date January 11, 1862 to January 13, 1862map SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginiatags War, Thomas Meagher

    The Irish Brigade, under the command of General Thomas F. Meagher, displayed exceptional bravery at the battle of Fredericksburg. In an after- action battle report, Meagher commended the bravery of his men under a horrendous fire of artillery and aimed muskets while attempting to seize Mayre's Heights from its Confederate defenders in their breastworks. He stated they were "unbroken and...

  25. Martial Law Declared in Missouri
    date August 30, 1861map ST LOUIS, Missouritags War

    General Fr?mont, sent to expel rebel forces from Missouri, declared martial law on August 30, 1861. He assumed entire control over the government of the state and began to issue sweeping and controversial mandates. Any armed person found within Union lines was to be shot, and any person rebelling against the Union would have his property seized and his slaves freed. Upon hearing this news, Lincoln...