In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
In 1876 the New York Times published an article describing the murder trial of John P. Jones , a mine boss of the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company. It was widely believed that Jones murderers were members of the secretive and violent Irish labor union called the Molly Maguires. During this time stories of the Mollies murdering mine bosses that crossed the group were very common.
A very...
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...
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...