Aug

Civil War Political Cartoons

Posted by sailerd Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Images

While previous posts have discussed political cartoons from American publications like Harpers Weekly, Punch was a popular periodical in England. Art Historian Allan T. Kohl works at Minneapolis College of Art & Design and has put together an interesting collection of Punch’s “principal cartoons” related to the Civil War. Weekly editions “featured a principal cartoon, […]

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Aug

The Complicated Partisan Realities of 1860

Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic Periodicals

One hundred and fifty years ago today, the Charles Town, Virgina (there wasn’t a West Virginia yet)Free Press commented on reports that the state’s Breckinridge Democrats had abandoned a plank from their “national” party platform by repudiating support for the Pacific Railroad. This one little piece of fewer than 200 words illustrates how complicated the […]

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Aug

Rupp House – Mechanicsburg, PA

Posted by sailerd Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Places to Visit

The Rupp House in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania served as the headquarters for Confederate General Albert G. Jenkins’ brigade during the Gettysburg campaign in late June 1863. On June 28 Jenkins’ troops captured Mechanicsburg without encountering any resistance. Two days later, however, Jenkins received General Robert E. Lee’s order to regroup at Gettysburg. As Jenkins’ brigade left […]

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Aug

Refreshment Saloons in Civil War Philadelphia

Posted by mckelveb Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Images, Recent Scholarship

House Divided is in the process of adding interactive essays to the database as a part of its Journal Divided project. I created an essay on the Philadelphia refreshment saloons that specifically focused on the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and its contribution to the city’s home front relief efforts during the Civil War. The Cooper Shop […]

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Aug

Union Soldiers – Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

Posted by sailerd Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Letters & Diaries, Recent Scholarship

The House Divided project received permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society to post articles that explore topics related to the Civil War era in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. These essays originally appeared in the Cumberland County History Journal. Right click on the links below and select “save as” to download the article as a PDF […]

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Aug

Battle of Sporting Hill – June 30, 1863

Posted by sailerd Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Letters & Diaries

The Battle of Sporting Hill, which was part of the Gettysburg Campaign, took place on June 30, 1863 in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania between elements of the 16th Virginia Calvary Regiment and two New York Militia Regiments. The Confederate forces at Sporting Hill served as a rearguard for General Albert G. Jenkins, whose brigade was stationed […]

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Aug

Election of 1860 – Hinton Rowan Helper

Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic Periodicals, Rare Books

Even though Hinton Rowan Helper published The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It in 1857, the book was still a factor in the election of 1860. While Helper was born in North Carolina to a family that owned more than 200 slaves, he used the Impending Crisis to call for the South […]

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Aug

A Battle of the Bands

Posted by hardyr Published in Civil War (1861-1865)

This weekend, Northfield, Minnesota, has been host to the 2010 Vintage Band Festival. The four-day festival draws brass bands from as far away as Helsinki, Finland. One of the highlights of the weekend was a reenactment of a Civil War “battle of the bands,” with two bands in historical costume facing off across the Cannon […]

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Aug

A Greek Professor in the Civil War

Posted by hardyr Published in 19th Century (1840-1880)

“The war was a good time for the study of the conflict between Athens and Sparta,” Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (1831-1924) wrote in 1897. “It was a great time for reading and re-reading classical literature in general, for the South was blockaded against new books as effectively, almost, as Megara was blockaded against garlic and salt… […]

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