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 for obstructing...
In February of 1829, WM. F. Wickham put out a notice in the Richmond Enquirer of a twenty dollar reward for the return to him of his slave Cyrus. He described Cyrus as a dark mulatto, between 25 and 30 years of age, rather below ordinary height, prominent cheek bones... He also said that Cyrus had a large scar under one of his eyes, and that he owned a new suit of brown cloth... and a striped waistcoat,...
As a young twenty-two year old Louisiana woman, Miss Sidney Harding was completely caught off-guard when her prosperous family had to flee their plantation because of Yankee pressure and become Civil War refugees in DeSoto Parish, LA.Harding was not unlike other southern women: she faced internal and external conflicts throughout her years as a refugee.OnOctober 17, 1863, Harding commented on the...
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 together...
Judge Aylett Nicol, now no longer sitting on the bench but behind the defense council's table, breathed a sigh of relief. The court was packed with people who wanted to hear the outcome of whether their Honorable Judge would be found guilty of official misconduct in his own court. Just the day before his final judgment, Mr. William E. Liscomb said he wanted to see the Boss Tweed of Prince William...
On December 14, 1860, just six days before South Carolina seceded from the United States of America, men in Frederick County, Virginia met to discuss the possible results of secession and how to go about preventing it. Mr. Conrad delivered a speech on the subject to the meeting in which he discussed the ills inflicted on the southern states by the North such as disregard for run away slave laws and...
On December 14, a black man assaulted Kate Anderson in her home in Park City, Kentucky. While working in her home, a masked black man entered through the rear of the house. Armed with a knife, the man threatened to kill her if she did not follow his instructions. When his mask fell, he cut her throat, bit her cheek, and inflicted other injuries.The authorities arrested Bob Harper, the suspected...
Parthenia Hague loved coffee. She thought that this palatable drink, if not a real necessary of live, is almost indispensable to the enjoyment of a good meal. When the Union blockaded Southern ports during the Civil War and caused the price of coffee to skyrocket to seventy dollars a pound, Parthenia had to find a substitute for her favorite beverage. Her favorite solution was browned, mature okra...
Turner Reavis was a man of details. As a judge and a state senator, he was also a man of wealth. He kept meticulous records of the accounts for his plantation, Cedar Bluff. Reavis filled his ledger with precise descriptions of purchases and sales of cotton, food, supplies, animals, and the biggest investment of all, slaves. Reavis paid the same regard to his slaves he did the mules he sold and the...
By the end of the nineteenth century, the African American Madden family had lived in Culpeper for generations. The Maddens long tenure in the area allowed them to become involved in various aspects of the community. The family relied heavily on their farm, known as Madden Farm, for sustenance. However, during the 1890s, both Thomas Madden and his wife Landonia Stokes supplemented their meager income...