The Civil War… 150 years ago today… August 17, 1861

August 17, 2011 by  
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We continue our weekly feature of reflecting upon the appropriate 150 year old issue of “Harper’s Weekly” from the perspective of a subscriber in 1861:

This week’s edition (for August 17, 1861) has more prints of some  leading officers in the war, including Generals McDowell & Mansfield, and Flag Officer Stringham and Col. Blair. Sometimes war-related prints include prints of famous places I’ve never seen, such as the print of Boston soldiers marching off to war, in front of the famous Faneuil Hall. There are some follow-up prints concerning the Battle of Bull Run, including a print of “A Fire Zouave Relating His Experience of the Battle of Bull Run in the Street at Washington.” Their uniforms are fascinating.

Speaking of uniforms the doublepage centerfold is a great display of 23 different types of uniforms worn by the Confederate Army–an interesting array of costumes! There is an interesting full page print of a: “Stampede of Slaves From Hampton to Fortress Monroe”, but the most sickening print I’ve seen this far is a full page of: “The Rebels Bayoneting Our Wounded on the Battlefield at Bull Run”. Such brutality!

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Filed under: Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Yankee
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