Episodes Nearest to June 21, 1871: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Horace Greeley Visits Southern States
    date June 21, 1871map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, War

    Horace Greeley, a Northerner from New York and Republican, took a tour of the American south in 1871 and then returned to New York to deliver an address of his trip to the Union Republican General Committee. Greeley said that the purpose of his trip was to vindicate the North from the popular opinion that the North was trying to oppress the South and to explain to southerners that the northerners...

  2. Centrist Pary Reaction to Ku Klux Klan Activity in Mississippi
    date 1871map HINDS, Mississippitags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    In 1871, the Governor of Mississippi, James Alcorn, was a member of the Centrist Party. The Centrist Party was a faction of the Republican Party emerging in the South at this time. The Centrists believed that it had to seize voting initiative and control the middle of the political spectrum. Centrists believed that the political disabilities imposed on former Confederates by the Reconstruction Act...

  3. Southern States Convention of Colored Men
    date 1871map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    By 1870, southern black leaders were convinced that the black vote was worthless if black life and property rights were not respected. Outraged at the Republican Party's failure to protect their civil rights and promote blacks for office, many leaders debated withdrawing from the party at the Southern States Convention of Colored Men in 1871. The Convention called on the national government...

  4. European Immmigration to the South
    date 1871map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    After the Civil War, there was a vast migration of Southerners to Northern States. Many parts of the South were ruined by the Civil War because most of the battles occurred in southern states. The population in the south decreased significantly by the end of the Civil War because of death and because many African-Americans left the south.<br />In order to raise the population, many southern...

  5. Irish Laborers on Southern Plantations
    date 1871map GLYNN, Georgiatags Agriculture

    Black laborers were not the only group employed by whites to take on grueling plantation work. The Leigh plantation on St. Simon's Island off the Georgia coast had for several years employed a gang of Irish labourers to do the banking and ditching on the Island. Francis Butler Leigh, the white matriarch of the plantation, observed that she was surprised at how the Irishmen worked well and faithfully,...

  6. Ku Klux Klan Law in Yorkville, South Carolina
    date May 20, 1871map YORK, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    In response to Ku Klux Klan activity in South Carolina, President Grant dispatched the military under the leadership of Major Merrill as Post Commandant. A group of white and black citizens in South Carolina had recently been whipped, so Major Merrill called for a conference of citizens to discuss the events and try and prevent more violence. <br />Major Merrill claimed that he had discovered...

  7. R.Fox v. The Central Railroad Passenger Company
    date May 11, 1871map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On May 11, 1871, the U.S. District Court of Appeals issued its decision in the R.Fox v. The Central Railroad Passenger Company case. The R.Fox had sued The Central Railroad Passenger Company because it denied him the right to ride on a street car. The jury determined that Negro's had the right to ride based on the enforcement of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments and common-law provisions...

  8. The Southern Cotton Industry
    date May 9, 1871map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy, War

    The cotton industry in the South in 1871 reported that the cotton crop was 4,185,000 bales, which was in excess of the cotton produced before the Civil War. The statistics were met by skeptics, and many southerners did not seem them to be reliable. The report was conducted by a New York company and many southerners saw it as a piece of propaganda by Republicans in the North. The data did not divulge...

  9. African-American Leader William Smith Arrested
    date May 1, 1871 to May 2, 1871map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Between 1870 and 1871, many non-violent demonstrations were held in Louisville, Kentucky by African-Americans in an attempt to demand protection of their civil rights. On May 1, 1871, William Smith, an African-American leader, tried to board a Market Street car in Louisville, Kentucky. Police authorities took action against Smith, and he spent the night in jail. Smith's demonstration was one...

  10. Lawlessness and terrorism in Wilson County, Tennessee
    date September 7, 1871map WILSON, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    Described as a well-liked African American in the community, Isaac Creek was attacked in his cabin in the middle of the night by a group of armed white men. Creek fatally shot Thomas Lyons after refusing to surrender to the prowlers who attempted to burn down his cabin. The Williamson County Journal's editor reacted with rage at what he viewed as intolerable lawlessness on the part of the...

  11. Ku Klux Klan Activity in South Carolina
    date March, 1871 to April, 1871map YORK, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    The Ku Klux Klan committed outrages against Republicans and their supporters throughout the South during 1870 and 1871; however, party leaders hesitated to respond. In 1868, the constitution of South Carolina was ratified and elections were held for all state offices. The Republican Party dominated the election, from governor to town councils. Robert Scott, a white Republican from Ohio was elected...

  12. Debate Over State Debt
    date March 24, 1871 to March 27, 1871map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Government, Law, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Why should Virginians have to bear the entire debt? Zephaniah Turner raised this question repeatedly before the House of Delegates in Richmond. In the eyes of Turner, West Virginians were just as responsible for payment as Virginians, seeing as how the debt had existed before dismemberment of the state. Turner blasted Virginia's political representatives for rattling on about preserving honor...

  13. The Impeachment of Governor Holden
    date March 23, 1871map WAKE, North Carolinatags Crime/Violence, Government, Law, Politics

    On March 23, 1871 Governor William Woods Holden became the first governor in American history to be impeached. The North Carolina House of Representatives convicted Holden on six out of an initial eight charges levied against him by the North Carolina Senate. Among the impeachment charges: that he had proclaimed insurrection, declared martial law, made illegal arrests of eighty-two citizens of Alamance,...

  14. Two African Americans Hung in St. James Parish, Louisiana
    date September 21, 1871map ST JAMES, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-Relations

    Led up the stars to the wooden platform, shackled and eerily subdued, two

    unnamed African American men marched solemnly to their deaths. The guards shoved them into place while the executioner waited with anticipation for his cue to drop the platforms supporting the prisoners' feet. The sheriff and jailer looked on with authoritative indifference; death for these two men was drawing...

  15. Managing Black Labor on a Southern Plantation
    date March, 1871map GLYNN, Georgiatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Race-Relations

    Francis Butler Leigh ran her plantation on St. Simon's Island off the coast of Georgia on her own. However, she was scheduled to leave for Europe to meet with her husband, and the plantation would have to continue its day-to-day activities without her supervision. Leigh wrote in her diary that she worried about leaving the place entirely in charge of the negro captains, even though her slaves...

  16. William Woods Holden, Governor of North Carolina, removed from office by impeachment
    date March 11, 1871map WAKE, North Carolinatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    William Woods Holden was the Governor of North Carolina in 1865 and from 1868-1871. As, the Civil War progressed Holden became a member of the Republican Party. During occupation, Holden was appointed Governor, but lost in the elections later that year. By 1868, however, Holden was a Republican leader, who was convinced of the value and need for railroads, and he was elected Governor. <br />In...

  17. An Augusta Reporter's Visit to Atlanta
    date March 9, 1871map FULTON, Georgiatags Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    A reporter from Augusta, Georgia traveled to Atlanta and wrote to the editors of the Milledgeville county newspaper about what he observed on his trip. He wrote about how unimpressive Atlanta was and stated that he could not gather a single item of interest about the city to write about. He was able to see a show while in the city. He observed that people in Atlanta responded well to the play because...

  18. THE RIGHT OF CHASTISEMENT: Fulgham vs. the State of Alabama
    date October 6, 1871map MONTGOMERY, Alabamatags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Law, Women

    The role of women in antebellum Alabama was ambiguous. Prior to the Civil War, women were keepers of the home. The average, middle-class women raised the children, kept the home and prepared the meals. Both before and after the Civil War, women were subservient to men and their marriages were entirely patriarchal.

    Of course, there are exceptions to every rule - George Fulgham's wife was...

  19. Establishment of the Southern Claims Commission
    date March 3, 1871map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy, War

    After the Civil War, Union men that resided in the Confederate states asked Congress for compensation of goods that were given to, or taken by, Federal forces during the occupation of the South throughout the War. Many of these Union men did not have vouchers from the army officers or the treasury department that confiscated their goods. In numerous petitions through bills introduced to Congress,...

  20. Chicago Fire
    date October 8, 1871 to October 10, 1871map COOK, Illinoistags destruction, fire, Chicago, Illinois, 1871

     

    On the evening of October 8 1871, a small bright spark quickly engulfed Chicago’s entire West Division. Elias Colbert an editor for the Chicago Tribune newspaper recounts the progress the fire made while peering through his telescope from the rooftop of the TribuneBuilding.

    Colbert attempts to gather statistical facts on the losses generated by the great conflagration...

  21. The Great Chicago Fire
    date October 8, 1871 to October 10, 1871map COOK, Illinoistags fire, Chicago

    In order for fire to die, there needs to be water, and usually, lots of it. Chicago in 1871 had a serious lack of water and a desperate need for it. It was hot and dry and Chicago was in the midst of a draught; the worst weather for a fire to occur. Early autumn was no different from the previous summer; the hot air still lingered and small fires often started. The draught was so bad that between...

  22. The Bayonet Election Law
    date February 28, 1871map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags War

    The United States Congress passed a bill called the Bayonet Election Law which placed all elections for Representatives in Congress under the control of the United States marshals and their deputies. Congress felt the need to pass the bill in order to protect the rights of citizens to vote. The bill was regarded as an intrusion of states' rights throughout the South. <br />The first section...

  23. Woman Suffrage Summarily Disposed of in Missouri
    date February 17, 1871map JEFFERSON, Missouritags Law, Politics, Women

    During the Missouri Congressional session of 1871, women suffragists from across the

    state drafted a proposal which was given to the State Senate Committee. It asked the Missouri

    State Senate Committee to push the United States' Congress to present a Sixteenth Amendment,

    giving women the right to vote, to the states. The State Senate Committee's final reported stated,...

  24. Terrible Hurricane in Arkansas
    date February 17, 1871map PHILLIPS, Arkansastags Urban-Life/Boosterism

    A hurricane on Friday February 17, 1871 damaged and/or destroyed a majority of the

    buildings in Helena, Arkansas. The city was still reeling from the recent fire that had caused

    damage to many of the buildings that ended up being destroyed by the hurricane. Two known

    fatalities were a Mrs. Stewart and her young son. The buildings and companies that suffered the

    worst...

  25. Woman Suffrage Summarily Disposed of in MissouriWoman Suffrage Summarily Disposed of in Missouri
    date February 17, 1871map JEFFERSON, Missouritags Government, Law, Politics, Women

    During the Missouri Congressional session of 1871, women suffragists from across the

    state drafted a proposal which was given to the State Senate Committee. It asked the Missouri

    State Senate Committee to push the United States' Congress to present a Sixteenth Amendment,

    giving women the right to vote, to the states. The State Senate Committee's final reported stated,...