Civil War

Dissolution is Inevitable—Is a Reconstruction Possible?

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January 4, 1861, Richmond Enquirer The rush of events is fast hurrying the final dissolution of the Confederacy; the excitement increases as despatch after despatch is made public, and subsides into deeper resentment and more determined resistance. Men ─ who a few months ago were Union men ─ soon become cooperationists, and are now the [...]

Civil War

The News

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January 4, 1861, The New York Herald The reports from the South are again of a startling character. It is announced from Georgia that the Governor of that State has seized and garrisoned with militia the forts in the harbor of Savannah, and there is reason to believe that a plan has been matured by [...]

Civil War

Excitement

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January 4, 1861, Richmond Enquirer This city was never before within our recollection, in such a state of excitement. The all-absorbing topic of conversation is the action of South Carolina, and on every man’s lips there is an eager cry of ‘What’s the news?’- and bulletin boards are watched for each new message, with intense [...]

Civil War

Posts of Duty—Which?

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January 3, 1861, The Charleston Mercury In the military enthusiasm now pervading our city, it is difficult to keep young men who have responsible posts of business, in which the public are concerned, at their work. The rage for volunteering or active service is so great, that we, in the MERCURY office, have had the [...]

Civil War

The Progress of the Revolution

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January 3, 1861, The Charleston Mercury Every effort of the General Government to avert its dissolution, only hastens on its fate. Major ANDERSON abandons Fort Moultrie and garrisons Fort Sumter. The President approves and the Northern press praises the achievement. The New York EVENING POST even declares that this step to coercion raises the price [...]

Civil War

The Work Goes Bravely On

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January 3, 1861, The Charleston Mercury We learn that 150 able bodied free colored men, of Charleston, yesterday offered their services gratuitously to the Governor, to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts wherever needed along our coast.

Civil War

The Crisis

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January 2, 1861, The New York Herald WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 1861. The President’s reply to the Commissioners of South Carolina has just been communicated. They demanded, as a preliminary step to the initiation of negotiations, that the troops be withdrawn from the forts in Charleston harbor. The President positively refuses to do this, and reiterates [...]

Civil War

Resignation of the Secretary of War.

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January 1, 1861, The Charleston Mercury Our readers will perceive, from our telegraphic despatches, that Governor FLOYD has resigned his seat in the Cabinet as Secretary of War, and that General SCOTT has been appointed, as interim, in his place, or Mr. HOYT, who is equally in favor of coercion; and that the war steamer, [...]

Civil War

Resignation of the Secretary of War

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January 1, 1861 Richmond Enquirer The resignation of Secretary Floyd, which was tendered on Saturday night last, will be deeply regretted by the people of Virginia. Under the circumstances, Secretary Floyd has done only what every high toned gentleman would have done. The Administration had given an unqualified pledge, to the Representatives from South Carolina, [...]

Civil War, Richmond Enquirer

Secession Ordinance

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Charleston Mercury  broadside, December 20, 1860 We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the twenty-third day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and eighty [...]

Civil War, Miscellaneous document sources, News of the Day

Go it while you’re young.

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? Young America Rising at the Ballot Box and Strangling the Serpents Disunion and Secession Columbia: “Well done, Sonny! ‘Go it while you’re young, for when you’re old you can’t.'” The potential for secession and disunion because of the issue of slavery was part of the contentious election campaigns of 1860. The quoted phrase in [...]

Civil War, Harper’s Weekly

The Republican Party Going to The Right House.

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The Republican Party Going to the Right House—Currier & Ives lithograph (1860) Lithograph print on wove paper From Library of Congress: Abraham Lincoln’s supporters are portrayed as radicals and eccentrics of various stripes. The satire is loosely based on an anti-Fremont cartoon from the previous presidential race, “The Great Republican Reform Party” (no. 1856-22), also [...]

Civil War

Ranaway

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Wilmington Journal, Wilmington, North Carolina, August 2, 1860 $10 REWARD. RANAWAY from the subscriber on the 12th instant, a negro woman named ORRY. Said negro is about 5 feet high. She is a mulatto, with nearly straight hair, and about 27 years old. I will give the above reward for her delivery to me, or [...]

Civil War

Lord Brougham’s Apology.

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The New York Times, August 3, 1860 In the session of the Statistical Congress, held in London on the 18th ult., Lord Brougham called upon Judge Jervis to read the report from the United States. In doing so he said: “I exceedingly regret that the observations I made on the first day have been interpreted [...]

Civil War

The Railsplitter

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“The Railsplitter” Cincinnati, August 1, 1860. Lincoln campaign newspaper mast-head. (Reproduction) From Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, Lincoln: The Image

Civil War

Letter from Hon. Jefferson Davis

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The New York Times, August 1, 1860 Hon. Jefferson Davis wrote the following letter in reply to an invitation to address a Breckinridge ratification meeting at Vicksburgh, Mississippi: (To William B. Sloan) Washington, D.C., July 8, 1860. My Dear Sir—It gives me pleasure to acknowledge yours of the 2d inst., informing me that the Democrats [...]

Civil War

The Modern Pyramus and Thisbe

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Harp Week, Cartoons, 1860 Presidential Election, Stephen Douglas and the Democrats Cartoonist: Henry Louis Stephens Source: Vanity Fair Date: July 31, 1860, p. 43 Complete HarpWeek Explanation: Based on a Babylonian folk tale of two lovers who suffer a tragic end, the Roman poet Ovid retold the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe in his Metamorphoses. [...]

Civil War

More Kidnapping In Kansas

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The New York Times, July 27, 1860 The Leavenworth Times, 21st, says: “We are again called upon to record a case of kidnapping in this vicinity. Two free negro men have resided for the last six months in the South part of this county, with Mrs. SAMPSON, a colored woman, near the Delaware Mission. They [...]

Civil War

One Hundred Negroes Liberated

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The New York Times, July 27, 1860 The Iredell Express (N.C.) states that the case of SOLOMON HALL’s will occupied the Supreme Court of that county eight days, and was finally compromised after the Jury had retired. Mr. HALL had made a will leaving one hundred negroes and other property to his only child, a [...]

Civil War

The Presidential Canvass the Real Peril to the Union

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The New York Times, July 25, 1860 The political contest is assuming a curious shape. The shattered condition of the Democratic Party has destroyed everything like an organized opposition to the Republicans, based upon principle, and converted the whole campaign into a desperate struggle not to get into power themselves, but to keep their opponents [...]

Civil War

John L. Scripps to Abraham Lincoln

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John Locke Scripps, author of the first biography of Lincoln.

Chicago, July 17th 1860 My Dear Sir, I send you by this day’s mail a copy of the Campaign Biography. You understand some of the difficulties under which it has been prepared. First, I labored two weeks after my return from Springfield upon the plan of making a pamphlet of 96 pages. Then Medill made [...]

Civil War

$150 Reward

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Runaway slave broadside from Charles County, dated July 15, 1860. Public domain; Wikimedia Commons    

Civil War