Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1875 to January 30, 1875: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Resumption Act
    date January, 1875map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy

    The Resumption Act of 1875 was intended to shift America away from the paper currency “greenbacks' that had developed during the Civil war and to return to a gold standard. This was largely accepted except by those who promoted a silver standard as well, who felt that greenbacks were good because they could be traded for either gold or silver. This act provided for the redemption of US...

  2. Near Death at the Hands of the Ku Klux Klan
    date January 9, 1875map POWELL, Kentuckytags Law

    Race relations during and after Reconstruction were tense. Many whites had never dealt with free blacks and many free blacks had never been free. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed in an attempt to maintain the status quo that had arisen over the past two centuries. Through acts of violence and intimidation, Ku Klux members aimed to scare free blacks into adopting...

  3. Growing Dissent
    date January 27, 1875map JEFFERSON, Mississippitags Government, Law, Politics, War

    An article appeared in The Vicksburg Herald discussing the widespread outrage from military occupation in Vicksburg. The article said that lately the officers who were supposed to keep the South in line had begun to overstep their original duties and were getting involved in both civil and local matters in the city. The president had apologized for the officer?s actions and said he was unaware of...

  4. Letters By Colored Messenger
    date December 24, 1874map WARREN, Mississippitags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    A letter arrived for Jerry Hyland of Warrenton, Mississippi as the year 1875 began. The letter, from a friend Emma S., commenced with the usual pleasantries before expressing dismay that earlier correspondence had not made its way into Hyland's possession. I am surprised to learn that my last letter to you, written in November, failed to reach you- I have forgotten who mailed it for me wrote...

  5. Newspapers and Magazines close their doors
    date November, 1874 to January, 1875map HENRICO, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Economy

    As reported by the American Journalist, more than 200 magazines and newspapers closed their doors in the first weeks of 1875. This was a time of change and evolution for the print industry, as newspapers moved form admittedly opinionated and biased rumor and news mills, to objective fonts of factual stories and reliability. The industry was changing, and not all the papers could keep up as the readership...

  6. Storm Destruction
    date November 22, 1874map COLBERT, Alabamatags Health/Death

    On November 22, 1874, a giant storm rolled through Tuscumbia Alabama. 300 people were left homeless and the storm caused an estimated half a million dollars in damages. The storm came like “the sound of rushing thunder'(Atlanta Constitution), catching the town while it slept, around 8P.M. The townspeople reportedly organized quickly and appointed a leader to oversee repairs. A tornado the...

  7. Caroline Cutler Metcalf's Role in Education
    date November 11, 1874map BRISTOL, Massachusettstags Education, Women's History

    On November 11, 1874, S.C. Beach wrote a letter to Mrs. Caroline Cutler Metcalf.  Mrs. Metcalf was the first long-term principal of Wheaton Female Seminary.  Beach wrote to Mrs. Metcalf primarily to relay a message from Reverand Edward Everette Hale.  In a conversation between Beach and Hale, Hale had stated that he had never seen a paper written by a Wheaton Female Seminary student that was...

  8. Attorney General William on Enforcement Acts
    date April 2, 1875map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Government, Politics, Race-Relations, Crime/Violence, African-Americans

    The Colfax massacre of 1872, believed to be the most devastating occurrence of racial violence during Reconstruction, resulted in the death of around 150 freedmen at the hands of white supremacists. The events at Colfax resulted in only three men to convicted. However, disagreement led to the case entering the Supreme Court in the form of United States v. Cruikshank in 1876. The case brought...

  9. Schoolteacher Sees Importance of Religion in Education
    date October 27, 1874map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Women

    An Augusta County, Virginia schoolteacher named Mary Susan Gregory recognized the importance of using her devotion to God to show her students how to live their lives properly. In a diary entry dated October 1874, she noted, "as teachers we should set an example worthy of imitation, (for there is a fearful responsibility resting upon us,) and there is no better way of doing it than by showing...

  10. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Established
    date October 19, 1874map FORSYTH, North Carolinatags Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    The 1870's was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in North Carolina. North Carolina has been dubbed “Tobacco Land' because of the defining industry in the state of the manufacture of tobacco. On October 19, 1874 Richard J. Reynolds purchased a 300 ft lot of property in Winston-Salem, NC and established the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company where he began to manufacture tobacco....

  11. Peggy Stewart Centennial
    date October 10, 1874map ANNE ARUNDEL, Marylandtags Arts/Leisure

    The citizens celebrated the burning of a ship called the Peggy Stewart, a ship owned by Anthony Stewart, an Annapolis resident. The Peggy Stewart had arrived full of tea to the Annapolis harbor at a very inopportune time, because Annapolis citizens were keen on enforcing the non-importation agreement. Anthony was willing to pay the tax on the tea and to secretly bring the ship to dock, but word...

  12. Southern Democrats reduce spending of State Governments
    date April, 1875 to May, 1875map JACKSON, Mississippitags Economy

    Led by mostly straight Democrats, many southern states including Mississippi and Alabama reduced their economic cost in 1875. The point of these operations was to return the states to fiscal balance and regain power, abolishing their debts. These southern states halted the funding and economic partnership with the railroads, reducing their economic leverage. They also shrank the size and cost of...

  13. Grant Administration embroiled in Whiskey Ring Scandal
    date May 1, 1875 to May 11, 1875map ST. LOUIS, Missouritags Crime/Violence, Economy

    In May 1875 Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow struck down upon the infamous Whisky Ring, a public scandal deemed impregnable due to powerful connections, until Bristlow hired private contractors to research the fraud. After the siezure 3 million in taxes was recovered and 110 of the more then 200 persons indicted, 110 were convicted, although President Grant's private secretary Orville...

  14. Counterfeit Money in the South
    date September 24, 1874map PAGE, Virginiatags Economy, Government, Law

    On September 24, 1874 the Page Courier Newspaper reported to the citizens of Page County, Virginia that a new counterfeit 50-cent bill was in circulation. The Dangerous Counterfeit was described to readers in great detail. The news paper stated that on the back, right upper corner Act March 3d, 1863, the 6 is reversed. The colored silk line in the genuine are not in the counterfeit.

    The...

  15. Senator Morton of Indianapolis Speaks Out about Colfax Riot
    date September 23, 1874map MARION, Indianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Politics

    Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indianapolis gave a speech in Indianapolis referring to The White League and the violence that goes on in southern states. Morton said, "The White League not only exists in Louisiana, but in other Southern States." The White League or the Order of the Pale Faces was a pre-Ku Klux Klan group that terrorized freedmen and white Unionists. Morton's statement illustrates...

  16. Louisiana White League Mobs
    date September 17, 1874map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Race-Relations

    On September 14th, 1874, 3500 White Leaguers, a white supremacist group that arose after the Civil War, staged an armed demonstration demanding that the carpetbag Republican Gov. William Kellogg resign. The White Leaguers had much in common with the Ku Klux Klan, especially their desire to rid themselves from “carpetbaggers' such as Gov. Kellogg. White protestors met under the Clay statue...

  17. Contested Greenville Mayoral Election
    date September 15, 1874map GREENVILLE, South Carolinatags Elections, Politics, African-Americans

    On September 15, 1874 Luther Roe wrote a letter to his soon to be betrothed, Mary. Yet in this letter he did not just talk of his affection for her or his most recent social engagements, he wrote of something that caused the most excitement that “has been here since the war”. He was writing to Mary about the highly contested election for the Mayor of Greenville. This was something that Mary...

  18. Nashville Industrial Exposition supposed to show the New South
    date September 10, 1874map FRANKLIN, Tennesseetags Crime/Violence, Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In an Ohio newspaper, continued lynching in Tennessee overshadowed the Nashville Industrial Exposition. The Tennessee Historical Society hoped that the exposition would show the future of the South and respect or a proud military history. Local businesses shut down as a military and civic parade marched down the street. The most popular exhibit was an exotic Egyptian mummy display and a collection...

  19. Jefferson Davis Responds to the Gibson County Massacre
    date September 2, 1874map SHELBY, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    On September 2, 1874 former President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, delivered a speech in Memphis, Tennessee denouncing a massacre of sixteen black men a week prior in Trenton, TN. The massacre was committed on August 26, and as the New York Times reported, “About 400 armed, disguised, mounted men,” set upon the jail with the design of kidnapping the sixteen black occupants....

  20. The Rise of Jim Crow in Southern Education
    date April 28, 1874 to 1874map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Education, Government, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    A. Thomas McKee was an official in the Charlottesville school district in 1874. McKee handled funding both for the district's African American school and for the white school. He was puzzled to discover that the African American school received less funding in 1874 than its number of students was supposed to receive. McKee wrote D.P Powers, the local Superintendent of Schools explaining the...

  21. Judge Richard Busteed Takes a Stand against Segregation
    date August 15, 1874map MONTGOMERY, Alabamatags Race-Relations

    U.S. District Judge Busteed took side with a black man on a train during a dispute between the black man and the conductor. The conductor ordered the black man to exit the ladies car when Judge Busteed drew a pistol in defense of the black man and told him not to go. The two men then gathered twenty blacks and took over the car until two white Republicans convinced them to stand down. <br />Busteed...

  22. Arkansas Race Siege
    date August 11, 1874tags Race-Relations

    Five people arrived in Memphis, Tennessee by boat, reporting that the town of Austin, Arkansas was being held siege by “seven hundred' negroes. (Another paper mistakenly reported it as Austin, Texas-a testament to the ease with which rumors of race riots could spread) Major Horn Chalmors of Hernando was sent into Austin with about 200 men to win back the city of Austin for the whites. Both...

  23. The Great Democratic Procession
    date June 26, 1875map WARREN, Mississippitags Arts/Leisure, Politics, Women

    In the summer of 1875, Jane Pryor of Vicksburg, Mississippi wrote a warm letter to Caroline Kiger of Warren County in anticipation of the coming week's political events. Encouraging Mrs. Kiger's husband to come to Vicksburg, Pryor wrote: tell him to try and be here 24th in the Great Democratic procession at 6 o'clock in the afternoon that will be tomorrow & we will show him the elegant...

  24. The Great Democratic Procession
    date June 26, 1875map WARREN, Mississippitags Politics, Women

    In the summer of 1875, Jane Pryor of Vicksburg, Mississippi wrote a warm letter to Caroline Kiger of Warren County in anticipation of the coming week's political events. Encouraging Mrs. Kiger's husband to come to Vicksburg, Pryor wrote: tell him to try and be here 24th in the Great Democratic procession at 6 o'clock in the afternoon that will be tomorrow & we will show him the elegant...

  25. Lee Sarcophagus Moved to Lexington
    date 1875map ROCKBRIDGE, Virginiatags Education, War

    Showing great dedication and remembrance of General Robert E. Lee, who died in 1870, the administration of The Virginia Military Academy and the local government of Lexington, Virginia made a grand affair of the arrival of his sarcophagus. <br /> It seemed the trend of the year to be remembering the man, as similar action happened at Washington and Lee University, where he was buried. The...