Episodes Nearest to August 1, 1876 to August 31, 1876: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. A Fever Like No Other: Yellow Fever in Savannah
    date August, 1876 to 1876map CHATHAM, Georgiatags Disease in the south, urban history

    The year 1876 was a frightening time for the citizens of Savannah, Georgia because of a severe yellow fever epidemic. This disease came with terrible symptoms. The symptoms of yellow fever included fever, muscle pains, vomiting, and jaundice. Death was the common outcome for these patients. This outbreak in Savannah was noted in other rival port cities such as Galveston. This occurred in order to...

  2. Passage of the Hawaiian Treaty Bill
    date August 14, 1876map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Agriculture, Economy

    Concurrent resolutions of the Hawaiian Treaty bill passed both houses in mid-August of 1876. Much to the dismay of Southern rice and sugar plantation owners, the bill removed the import duty on rice and sugar from the Hawaiian Islands to the United States. <br />“To remove the duty from rice would be to diminish its price below the cost of production in this country and 300,000 people...

  3. The Young Men of Natchez Have Organized an Artillery Company
    date August 25, 1876map ADAMS, Mississippitags Arts/Leisure, War

    The young artillery company was pressed for funds, and the task of raising them fell to a member of their ranks named H.H. Farnham. In an August 1876 fundraising letter to Stephen Duncan, the former president of the Bank of Mississippi, Farnham, (who signed the correspondence Ch. Com. Of the Gilden Light Artillery) wrote that the young men of Natchez have organized an artillery company, known as...

  4. Meeting to Encourage Loyalty Among Democrats
    date August 25, 1876map FULTON, Georgiatags Government, Politics

    Democrats in the South after the Civil War were adamantly opposed to the Republicans who had imposed Reconstruction and ended the era of slavery. The Georgia Democrats met on August 25, 1876 to discuss their common ideals. The speakers emphasized that Georgia had always adhered to the old constitution and have continued to be patriotic to the antebellum union government. They also criticized the...

  5. Yellow Fever Epidemic in Savannah
    date August, 1876 to September, 1876map CHATHAM, Georgiatags Health/Death

    An epidemic spread quickly from Savannah's port on August 11, 1876. Yellow Fever, a frightening viral disease that causes hemorrhagic illness and sudden death in victims, struck the city's port. More than one thousand people died of the disease within two weeks, and within one month more than five thousand of the twenty-eight thousand residents evacuated the city. Among those that fled was...

  6. 1876 Conservative Resurgence in South Carolina Makes an Appeal to Black Voters
    date September 16, 1876map ABBEVILLE, South Carolinatags Electoral Campaigns, Redemption, African American Suffrage, Civil Rights, Race Relations, Politics, Crime/Violence, African-Americans

    In the 1876 election, The Democratic Party in South Carolina overthrew Republican control of state government, resulting in what was called the “Redemption” of the state.  Using every means at their disposal, the Democrats employed paramilitary “rifle clubs”, violence, intimidation, and electoral fraud to reassert white, Democratic control over the state.  At the head of the party was...

  7. Prairie Farmer Breaks News of Custer Disaster
    date July 15, 1876map BIG HORN, Montanatags Government, Native-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    "It proved a rash and disastrous venture," noted the Prairie Farmer in criticism of Lieutenant-General George Custer's effort "to divide his regiment into two detachments - one under the command of Major Reno, and the other commanded by himself - make wide detours and flank the enemy." On June 25, 1876, Custer and his 7th U.S. Cavalry came upon a village of combined Lakota, Northern...

  8. Staunton Citizens Make Excursion with Various Temperance Organizations
    date July 11, 1876map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Law, Urban-Life/Boosterism, Women

    In July 1876 the various temperance organizations of the city of Staunton, Virginia organized a day-long excursion by train involving between two and three hundred citizens, almost all of whom were organization members. The day was filled with an atmosphere of goodwill and entertainment. According to the local newspaper, The Spectator, upon arrival at the excursion's destination...

  9. A Fourth of July Celebration Gone Wrong
    date July 4, 1876 to July 16, 1876map EDGEFIELD, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations

    On July 15 and 16, 1876, the United States House of Representatives met in Washington, D.C. to debate the meaning and consequences of a racial disagreement and subsequent massacre that had taken place in the city of Hamburg, South Carolina on the fourth and fifth of July in that same year, the nation's centennial. A seat of racial tension, particularly because of an established African American...

  10. Riots at Louisiana Republican Convention
    date July 8, 1876map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Crime/Violence

    After more than a week of meetings, the Louisiana Republicans finally nominated former U.S. Marshall Stephen Packard as their candidate for governor. It appeared from the beginning of the convention that former Louisiana governor, Henry C. Warmouth, would collect the party's nomination, but President Grant declared that if Warmouth headed the ticket, not a single soldier would assist in his...

  11. Brillant Meteors on July 8, 1876
    date July 8, 1876map LAGRANGE, Indianatags Science/Technology

    A brilliant glow filled the sky over the northeast United States. Four days after the centennial celebration of our country, a meteor passed over Ohio and Michigan around 9 pm. The Chicago Tribune stated that, "The meteor was a very brilliant one. It lighted up the sky like the glare of a calcium light; the intensity being several times greater than the light of the full moon." Due...

  12. Hamburg Massacre
    date July 4, 1876 to July 5, 1876map LEXINGTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    On July 4 a Black militia gathered in Hamburg, South Carolina, a center of Reconstruction and Black power, to celebrate the nation's centennial. A white farmer arrived on the scene and ordered the militia to move aside for their carriage. Although the militia eventually opened ranks, the next day the farmer demanded to a state justice that the leader of the militia, Dock Adams, be arrested...

  13. 100-Years to Remember
    date July 3, 1876 to July 4, 1876map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags Arts/Leisure, Economy, Government, Politics

    The streets were packed and a euphoric energy filled the air as the men women and children of Louisville, Kentucky played their role in the largest county, as well as national, display of patriotism executed to date. Louisville, Kentucky put forth an immaculate display of admiration and tribute in their celebrations of the Centennial. On the night of July 3, Mayor Charles D. Jacob requested...

  14. Politics and Religion at the Centennial
    date July 4, 1876map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Government, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    The young man unfolded the newspaper tucked under his arm and read aloud: "Ah-hem, 'To-day is the Fourth of July--the Centennial Fourth--and as it comes only once in a hundred years-'"

    "That's interesting," interrupted a passerby. "What is happening here?"

    "Well," the man scanned down the page. "At sunrise some cannons were fired 38 times, one for each state... hmm. This...

  15. The Centennial (un)Celebration
    date July 4, 1876map GREENVILLE, South Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Government, Politics, Race-Relations

    July 4, 1876 should have been a day of extraordinary celebration throughout the nation as the United States of America's Centennial birthday. Strangely, the only reference to a celebration in Greenville, S.C. was a small paragraph entitled "Our Centennial Offer" in the local newspaper, The Enterprise and Mountaineer. "On the 4th of July, 1876, we will present a 60 Weed Sewing-Machine,...

  16. Atlanta Celebrates America's One-Hundredth Birthday
    date July 4, 1876map FULTON, Georgiatags Arts/Leisure, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Excitement began to spread across the country as celebrations and parties of extravagant proportions were planned and organized. A celebration of American victory and freedom, this particular Fourth of July promised to be grander than all its predecessors. The year was 1876, and America was turning one-hundred years old. Of no exception to this national excitement was the up and coming southern...

  17. Triumph of The People
    date July 1, 1876 to July 5, 1876map FRANKLIN, Kentuckytags Arts/Leisure, Economy, Government, Politics

    The skyline was illuminated with fireworks and gunfire when Kentucky got wind of the ratification of Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hendricks, on the Democratic ticket, for the presidential election of 1876. Once word of the nominations reached Frankfort county and the town of Franklin celebrations began immediately, "One Hundred guns were fired from Taylor's Hills, and bonfires and illuminations...

  18. THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS: Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad Foreclosure
    date September 30, 1876map DALLAS, Alabamatags Economy, Government, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In antebellum America, railroads were the fastest and most popular means of transportation either of goods or passengers. Railroads remained important for supplying goods to others for economic profit. However, poor track conditions often made for delayed trips and spoiled products. Train delays plagued the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad. The A&C tracks were in horrible condition following the...

  19. Evacuation: A Last Resort for Health- Seeking Citizens of Savannah
    date 1876map CHATHAM, Georgiatags Diseases in the south, urban history

    Evacuation in Savannah during the year 1876 was something that people in the city wanted to avoid at all costs. Unfortunately, in many cases there was simply no other option. Yellow fever struck Savannah in 1876. People began to move out of the city as soon as the disease began to spread. The immense amount of worry about the disease and its terrible symptoms caused citizens to flee the city. An...

  20. A Controversial Election and the Centennial
    date June 22, 1876map ROANOKE, Virginiatags Politics

    According to The Conservative in the year 1876, the Republican Party and current government were a group of corrupt and tyrant radicals. A local newspaper of Roanoke, Virginia, The Conservative had an obvious Democratic view. In an article dated June 22, 1876, the newspaper addressed the nomination of a Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes.

    Just before...

  21. Agricultural Advances
    date October 19, 1876map CULPEPER, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy, Government, Politics

    It was October and the farmers belonging to the Piedmont Agricultural Society had gathered to hear a speech from Mr. William Fullerton. This fall had presented the farmers with a difficult situation: the crop once again was not the best, and many of them were feeling the economic hardships of the times. Mr. Fullerton opened up the speech with facts the farmers knew. He stated that the lands were...

  22. Record-Setting Railroad
    date June 1, 1876 to June 4, 1876map HUDSON, New Jerseytags Government, Law, Migration/Transportation, Science/Technology

    Shrouded in a mist of smoke and steam, the train lurched into the station. Having completed its cross-country trip more than four hours ahead of schedule, the Transcontinental Express finally ground to a halt. The Friends' Intelligencer claimed that the trip, leaving from Jersey City at 1:00 A.M. on June 1, 1876 and arriving in San Francisco approximately half past nine on the morning...

  23. A Defeat So Sweet
    date November 3, 1876 to November 7, 1876map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Government, Politics

    On November 3, 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes wrote a letter to General M.F. Force. As the November 7th presidential election loomed, Hayes wrote with a melancholy tone about his prospect for victory. In the letter he tells General Force that he will find a variety of things to console him in the event of his defeat, and that there is nothing he would go back and change about his campaign if he could....

  24. “Battle of the Giants' , North Carolina Gubernatorial Election of 1876
    date November 7, 1876map WAKE, North Carolinatags Race-Relations

    The Republican Party was on the defensive for the 1876 gubernatorial election in North Carolina with the issues of reconstruction, Black domination, and white supremacy dominating the campaign. Meanwhile, the state's conservative party adopted the name, “democratic,' so they could cooperate with the national party. The North Carolina conservative-democrats nominated Zebulon B. Vance,...

  25. Mississippi Grange Party Assembles
    date December 12, 1876map HINDS, Mississippitags Agriculture, Economy

    The Mississippi Grange Party assembled in Jackson on Dec. 12th. The party began in 1867 by several farmers as a “farmer's movement,' that worked to affiliate local planters into areas called “granges,' where they would work together for political and economic advantages. The party was at the height of its power during the 1870's and won a huge political victory in Oct....