On June 5, 1854, the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad held what would become known as "The Great Excursion of 1854." The two owners, Henry Furnam and Joseph Sheffield, invited many well known and successful politicians, artists, writers, clergy members, and academics, including former President Millard Fillmore, who met in Chicago for the June 5th departure. A New York Times correspondent...
In 1854, the central portion of Mississippi was still rural, and the road systems were
definitely sparse. The Mississippi Central Rail-Road Company convened at their annual meeting
to discuss the undertaking of a plan to connect central Mississippi with its neighbor to the north,
Tennessee.
These entrepreneurs and capitalists had a vision for the city of Holly Springs,
Mississippi,...
To the residents of Fauquier County, and those living in many parts of Virginia, agriculture was a way of life. And if that livelihood was threatened, the residents knew that they would have to work together to protect it. As the New York Times reported on July 21, 1854, farmers held a convention in Warrenton, Va, entitled The Joint-Worm Convention, in an effort to stop the destruction...
During the years leading up to the Civil War, the North and South both used the annexation of territories as a strategic device to gain political power. In 1854, with both sides looking to add land, one journalist predicted that the Russian territories in North America, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands), and Cuba would all be U.S. territory within one year. The anonymous author of the article...
When the Holston Baptist Association convened in 1854, the reverends of the association discussed the education of women. While 38 churches in attendance wanted to sustain denominational schools already in place, Reverend N. Baldwin, representing Abingdon, Virginia had a different suggestion. Baldwin's address began by accusing Europeans of being destroyers of Christian values. He argued that...
In the nineteenth century, politicians and political parties owned the newspapers, and
utilized them for their own personal agendas. Newspapers played an important role in the
advertisement and propaganda leading up to an election, no matter its size. Politicians were
scared of the newspapers and what they could do to their chances of election, if the opposing
party...
On October 16, 1854, an unidentified slave was caught stealing a boat from the Franklin on his way to Bath, Maine. The slave managed to hide in Gray Head for a few days before Deputy Sheriff Lambert received a warrant for the slave’s arrest for larceny. Sheriff Lambert searched all day for the slave but to no avail. He had not been informed that the slave could have been in the swamp...
By November 1854, Virginia's economic output had slipped behind the other Southern states' production. Improvements were necessary in order to bring the Old Dominion back to its previous dominance. In an essay entitled Views on the Internal Improvement System of Virginia, an author under the name One of her sons described the dismal state of Virginia's economy, and stressed the need...
n the day of the murder, Ben Small kept watch in the yard for Isidore. Isidore knew that Mrs. Henry would never let Small in the house, so he had to commit the crime. After the murder, one of the men set fire to the house. Ben worried about the children who were asleep in the house at the time.
This won't do, the children will be burned; let us wake them or put the fire out, Small reportedly...
Due to warm and stable weather, Texas proved unique in that crops could be planted throughout the year. In fact, the work never ended because plowing would start in January, planting of corn and cotton in February and March, hoeing in June, shucking of corn in June and July, picking of cotton from August to December, and then preparation for the new growing season again in January.
Many...