Category: Reconstruction (1865-1880)

43 Baltimore Street – Carlisle, PA


Peggy Garrett, “Forty-three Baltimore Street,” Cumberland County History 13 (1996): 63-76.

Peggy Garrett tells the story of a family who lived at Forty-three Baltimore street in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for three generations. When Jonas and Mary Foulk Kee bought the property in the 1890s, they had lived in Carlisle for more than three decades. Jonas Kee, along with several other members of his extended family, served in the United States Colored Troops and moved to Carlisle after the Civil War. Garrett also examines some of the difficulties that the family faced in their new community. In addition, Garrett provides extensive information on the family’s history and highlights a number of interesting details. Researchers can access the documents and other material that Garrett used in the Johnson Family Collection at the Cumberland County Historical Society.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Frederick Douglass – Visit to Carlisle in 1872

David L. Smith, “Fredrick Douglass in Carlisle,” Cumberland County History 22 (2005): 48-60.

Frederick Douglass gave a speech in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on March 2, 1872 about his work relating to Santo Domingo. In 1871 President Ulysses S. Grant had appointed Douglass to the Commission of Inquiry for the annexation of Santo Domingo the United States of America. Douglass delivered his speech at Rheem’s Hall, which was located behind the Old Court House in Carlisle. Today that location is a parking lot. Reports about the speech did not appear in any national newspapers, but his visit created a local controversy. George Z. Bentz, who was the manager of the Bentz House and a Republican, refused to let Douglass eat his dinner in hotel dining room with the white guests. (The Bentz House stood on what is today the former Wellington Hotel on East High Street). The American Volunteer used the incident to characterize Republicans as hypocritical. “We have in this circumstance positive evidence that the Radicals are just as loath to recognize negro-equality as the Democrats,” as the American Volunteer observed. While the Herald “[found] no fault with” the manager’s decision, the editors argued that policies which denied African Americans entry into a hotel “[were] simply silly and wicked.” In addition, Historic Carlisle recently added a Wayside Maker for Douglass’ visit.

David L. Smith also discusses Douglass’ visit  in his essay “Fredrick Douglass in Carlisle” (2005). Smith provides transcripts of the newspaper articles cited in this blog post.

Location: Bentz House stood on what is today the former Wellington Hotel on East High Street ; Rheem’s Hall, which is a parking lot today, was located behind the Old Court House

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

“Fitzhugh Lee Returns, and Returns”

Fitzhugh Lee

D. W. Thompson, Fitzhugh Lee Returns, and Returns (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

D. W. Thompson’s essay discusses Confederate General Fitzhugh Lee’s connection with Carlisle, Pennsylvania. General Lee was stationed at Carlisle Barracks before the Civil War, returned as a Confederate general who shelled the town in the summer of 1863, and came back again in 1896 to speak at the Carlisle Indian School. As Thompson explains, Superintendent Richard Henry Pratt invited Lee and Union General Oliver Otis Howard “to show that North and South were united with East and West in a common life, hope, and allegiance.” Yet some Carlisle residents believed that Pratt should not have invited Lee. As an editorial in the Carlisle Herald argued, “it was a mistake not because [Lee] was a rebel but because he did a disgraceful and unsoldierly thing that can not be justified.” This essay also has several related documents, including transcripts of two letters that Lee wrote and excerpts from newspaper articles.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

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