Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1885 to December 31, 1886: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Barrels, Boycotts, and Labor... Oh My
    date December 30, 1885map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Politics, Race-Relations

    "We take great pleasure in stating to you that from this date we will buy no more convict-made barrels, relying on you to remove the boycott from us and our customers. We will be pleased to know that the unpleasant matter is settled."

    On December 30, 1885, Phillip Haxall, President of the Haxall-Crenshaw Company, penned the preceding sentences in a letter to Chairman William H. Mullen of...

  2. Land Allegation Dispute in Alabama
    date December 27, 1885map BALDWIN, Alabamatags Economy, Government, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Alabama's Attorney General, while celebrating the Christmas season in his Gulf Coast home, received notice that he would need to institute a test suit as soon as possible in order to determine the title of government grated lands. In 1885, both timber businessmen and railroad executives repetitively brought cases to the Secretary of the Interior concerning the cutting of timber in certain areas...

  3. Three Vessels Arrive with Railroad Iron for Wilmington and Weldon RR Co
    date January 6, 1886map NEW HANOVER, North Carolinatags Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Three vessels arrived in the Wilmington port with cargoes of railroad iron for the Wilmington & Weldon R.R. Co. to build the line from Wilson to Fayetteville, known as the Short-cut. Track had already been laid from Contentnea Creek to Smithfield in Johnston County and the work of laying the iron resumed with the cargo in port. They built iron bridges across Cape Fear and the Neusse River. At the...

  4. The filing of a discrimination suit against the Norfolk and Portsmouth Ferry Company by two African-American preachers
    date November 23, 1885map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    Two black preachers from Baltimore , Rev. Harvey Johnston, of the Union Baptist Church, and Rev. P.H.A. Braxton, of the Calvary Church , filed suit against the Norfolk and Portsmouth Ferry Company in the Fourth Circuit of the Eastern District of Virginia. They did so after being accosted and, eventually, arrested for resisting the orders of the ferry's personnel to remove themselves from the...

  5. The Publication of a series of letters by Benjamin Ryan Tillman in the News and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina
    date November 19, 1885map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy, Education

    Benjamin Ryan Tillman was a relatively affluent farmer from Edgefield County whose family lost much of its property during the Civil War. Benjamin, however, was able to regain much of his prosperity in the ensuing years. Determined to , in his own words , “overthrow an aristocracy which had come down to us from colonial days', he mounted a campaign in the 1880s to foment discontent amongst...

  6. Labor Disputes and Modernization in Newberry County, South Carolina
    date February 22, 1886 to February 23, 1886map NEWBERRY, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy

    On the 22 of February, 1886, the Newberry County Club of Farmers met to debate the issue of labor. President R.T.C. Hunter oversaw the meeting as Mr. J.C. S. Brown discussed the necessary control of labor; he laid stress on the fact that no matter the situation, whether it was the tenant, the cropper, or the hiring system, the farmer was conned out of the most profit. As the President called for...

  7. Methodist Episcopal Church, South Conference
    date March 14, 1886 to March 16, 1886map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, War

    During mid-March 1886, The Methodist Episcopal Church, South hosted their conference in Staunton, Virginia. During the conference, the church had different ministers primarily speak on the state of the church and other business matters. Theological matters had a strong presence, also. The church was active in giving money to the Foreign Missionary Society and had increased the amount given each...

  8. P.B.S. Pinchback (Governor of Louisiana) admitted to the bar 1886.
    date April 10, 1886map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans

    After only a year in Straight University's law school, the son of a mulatto slave who was manumitted and a wealthy white plantation owner was admitted to the bar on April 10, 1886. His experience in politics, high intelligence, and knowledge of Louisiana law led to his early admittance. Percy Bysshe Shelly Pinchback became known as one of the most brilliant politicians of his era. His father...

  9. The Powerful Influence of Politics
    date May 3, 1886map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Government, Law, Politics

    On May 3, 1886, Samuel B. Woods wrote a letter to the Rector of the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia about reapplying to the Commissionership of Accounts. A year earlier in June 1885, Woods, an attorney from Charlottesville, was appointed and was "in sympathy with the political tenets of the majority of the board...and recommended by some of the professors." Now, he was worried...

  10. Hurricane
    date August 25, 1885map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Economy

    A Category 3 Hurricane with 125 mph winds besieged the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Beginning at about 5 AM, the cyclone ripped through the city for about eight hours, climaxing at roughly 8 AM. It was at this point that the velocity of the winds dramatically increased, incurring within fifty minutes more damage in Charleston, according to the News and Courier, “than has been known...

  11. Debating Prohibition
    date August, 1885map MC LENNAN, Texastags Politics, Women

    Dr. J.B. Cranfill, a resident of Texas, an ardent supporter of temperance and prohibition, packed his bag, headed for Crawford, Texas, and prepared to defend prohibition in what would be a heated debate in August of 1885. His opponent was to be Roger Q. Mills, a man formerly an advocate of prohibition but whom since had taken the side of whiskey men. Cranfill compared the encounter to that of David...

  12. Truly Religious or Putting on a Show?
    date May 30, 1886map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Economy, Education, Women

    As the women gathered together, they sat down to receive the discourse to be given by Mr. Philip Slaughter at Pohick Church in Fairfax, VA. The day was pleasantly warm, and the room was crowded with women. As the chatter and rustling all settled down, Mr. Slaughter began his speech. From great distances these women of the Mt. Vernon Association of the Union had traveled to hear this discourse in...

  13. Graduation Day
    date May 28, 1886 to June 1, 1886map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Economy, Education, Migration/Transportation, Women

    For four days, the Augusta Female Seminary, under the leadership of Mary Julia Baldwin, held commencement exercises for the class of 1886. Miss Baldwin reported that the school enrollment was at capacity and there was even a wait-list. There were many delicate pupils whose parents sent them to Staunton because of the healthful climate and atmosphere. The school's students hailed from 23 states....

  14. The Grand State Farmers' Alliance Convention
    date August 4, 1885map JOHNSON, Texastags Agriculture, Economy

    Formed in response to rapidly declining commodity prices and monetary deflation, the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, or the Southern Farmers' Alliance, was first formed in September of 1877 in Lampasas County, Texas, to address the economic plight of the farmers in the region. An outgrowth of the Grange Movement, the Alliance endeavored to solve the economic woes of the...

  15. A Convict Jumps Ship
    date July 15, 1885map WEST BATON ROUG, Louisianatags Crime/Violence, Government, Politics

    In November of 1885, the British ship Rebecca J. Morton was lying in port. A fight occurred between some of the sailors, and one man was severely injured while another was killed. Charles Furlong, one of the men who intervened in the quarrel in an attempt to stop the men from fighting, was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment and was sent to the Baton Rouge Penitentiary...

  16. Passing of a Temperance Bill in Georgia
    date July 13, 1885map FULTON, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Politics, Women

    On July 13, 1885, the Women's Christian Temperance Union met in Atlanta, Georgia to oversee the passing of a law to promote temperance in Georgia. The women recorded how they sat at the courthouse for many hours in very hot temperatures just to see the bill that they supported pass through the legislators. They sent flowers down to the representatives who were supportive of temperance and prayed...

  17. The 1885 Florida Constitutional Convention
    date June 9, 1885 to August 3, 1885map LEON, Floridatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    Assembled for the purpose of reforming the “Carpetbag' Constitution of 1868, the Florida Constitutional Convention opened in Tallahassee on June 9, 1885. Hon. Samuel Pasco, the long-time chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, was elected to be President of the convention unanimously. Because Florida was a relatively new state at the time, many of its delegates were not native-born....

  18. The Education of African Americans After the Civil War
    date 1886map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Education, Health/Death, Law, Politics, Race-Relations

    "Our crops are poor on account of too much wet in the summer which prevented us from working with them," John McClure, a resident of Albemarle County, wrote to his aunt and uncle. He went on to explain that "with what little (crops) we have to sell won't bring enough to pay for the expense of raising it." Other such maladies that McClure noted were that the livestock was not selling for a...

  19. African Americans in the Seminole Hotel
    date 1886map ORANGE, Floridatags Economy, Race Relations, african americans

    Observing the history of Winter Park, the Seminole Hotel which was built in 1886 is one location that is significant in many ways to the American Life, especially for African Americans. The Seminole Hotel was a grand resort in Lake Osceola and it was a vacation destination which attracted many wealthy northerners who were escaping the unpleasant weather from their home towns. While it is evident...

  20. State of Liberty and Immigrants: First Days
    date 1886map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Statue of Liberty, Immigrants

    The Statue of Liberty is an icon of today, just as it was for immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th Century.  The inauguration of the Statue of LIberty took place on Thursday, October 23, 1886.  The day started with a military, naval and civil parade in New York City.  After the parade, a signal was given for steamers in the bay to move in a particular and pre-calculated order towards the...

  21. The founding of the Women's Exchange for Women's Work in Charleston
    date 1885map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Women

    The Women's Exchange for Women's Work was founded in Charleston in 1885 with the intention of helping the “educated poor' become self-sufficient. Numerous goods were sold there, including foods, flowers, and various crafts. So that it would not be a “humiliating charity,' they placed a 10% surcharge on the goods. A similar exchange was soon opened in New Orleans. These...

  22. The Double Hip “Ironsides” Corset shapes American Women
    date 1885map NEW YORK, New Yorktags fashion, corsets, women's rights

    Victorian women liked their corsets tight.  If a person looked up and down any busy street in the late nineteenth century, they saw townswomen that struck dramatic silhouettes.  The corset, a tight fitting, boned garment, restricted movement and reshaped the natural position of organs inside a women's body.  A trade card from 1885 featured a corset typical of the period dubbed the Double Hip...

  23. Whitman mourns for the fallen star of the Union
    date 1885map COLUMBIA, New Yorktags Politics, Health/Death, assassination, Murder

    Walt Whitman, one of the major American writers of the Civil War, wrote When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd after the assassination of the very charismatic leader of the Union during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. This poem mourned the death of the powerful, western fallen star which was now hidden by blackness, leaving only desperation and bitterness behind. The poem followed...

  24. Convict Standoff
    date July 13, 1886 to July 14, 1886map DADE, Georgiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Government, Law, Race-Relations

    It was already hot. As the Superintendent lined the convicts up to march back to the Dade County coal mines for another day of exhausting labor, one group refused to move. At the head of a long line of men chained together, the leader of the rebellion spoke up to Colonel Tower. He said that he and all the rest of the men from his stockade refused to work another day in the heat at their awful work....

  25. In Memory of Patriotism and Valor
    date July 31, 1886map NORTHUMBERLAND, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation, War

    The camp ground at Marvin Grove was the site for this year's Annual Reunion of Confederate Veterans on the Northern Neck peninsula. The Northern Neck News widely advertised the event, hoping that the Reunion would receive ... the favor and patronage it justly merit[ed], especially because the proceeds went to the construction of a Methodist Church. While men stabled their horses, they recognized...