In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
Spotswood Rice was a black Missouri soldier in the Union army in 1864. During the time of Rice's military service, he had two daughters that were still slaves in Glasgow, Missouri. While spending time in Benton Barracks Hospital, which was in St. Louis, Missouri, Rice wrote letters to his daughters, as well as the master of the two girls. In the letter to his daughters, Rice assured them...
Twenty-four year old Thomas Nast made known his support for incumbent President Lincoln in a work in the September edition of Harper's Weekly. The cartoon entitled "Compromise With the South" was one of his most powerful and effective cartoons, and one of his personal favorites that he dedicated to the Democratic Chicago Convention in particular. Harper's Weekly, the first periodical to...
During the Summer of 1864 in Washington and Philadelphia, Abraham Lincoln can be seen doing one of the things that he did best; playing domestic politics. When it came to political maneuvering and deal making, there were few to rival his adroit handling of the political landscape. For some, seeing Lincoln as a working politician reduces the lofty pedestal we have placed him on, but political...
Written prior to the opening of the 1864-65 session at the University of Virginia, this letter from Chairman of the Faculty, Socrates Maupin, outlines the costs for matriculation, tuition, rent, and board at the southern institution. While the matriculation, tuition, and rent fees remained at pre-Civil War levels, one should not be surprised to find that “board has regularly advanced in price...
When the Civil War broke out, Texan Charles William Trueheart was at the University of Virginia studying medicine. Despite initial reservations about secession, he joined the multitudes of southerners who rushed to enlist. At first an artilleryman, by 1864 Trueheart had finished studying medicine and was an assistant surgeon in the 8th Alabama Infantry of the Army of Northern Virginia....
The battle of Petersburg is remembered as one of the most destructive of the war.
Petersburg can be considered the last stand of the Army of Northern Virginia. After months of maneuvering and fighting, Grant had finally forced Lee into defending Richmond itself. Before this the campaign had consisted of Lee moving to block Grant’s advances, trading ground for time. Now there was no more...
In early August, 1864, a Union Naval fleet, under the control of Rear Admiral David Farragut commanding the flagship U.S.S. Hartford, neared Mobile Bay, Alabama. The goal was to take over the strategic location which consisted of three confederate forts and a plethora of underwater mines. The two main forts were Forts Morgan and Gaines aided by a few Confederate ships mainly the C.S.S....
In his official report, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants of the 48th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers wrote that the mine dug under the Confederate trenches outside Petersburg exploded at sixteen minutes to five, on the morning of July 30, 1864. The Quartermaster sergeant of the 48th Pennsylvania, Joseph Gould, wrote his history of the regiment, "It [the explosion] was a magnificent...
Having been tried and convicted by a court marshal, Sergeant George W. McDonald was executed by a firing line on the parade grounds of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. McDonald was sentenced to death for deserting the Maryland Volunteer Cavalry and for discharging a deadly weapon with the intent to kill three members of the United States Army while resisting arrest. Interestingly, McDonald,...