The Civil War… 150 years ago today… July 13, 1861

July 13, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

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:

The front page (of the July 13, 1861 issue of my Harper’s Weekly) has a scene from: “The Battle of Boonville, Missouri”. So much gunfire & smoke! Inside has a nice print of “Fort McHenry, Baltimore”, a famous fortress from the War of 1812. There is also a nice full page print showing: “The Cabinet at Washington. It is great to put a face to so many names read in the newspapers, including Abraham Lincoln, William Seward, Simon Cameron, Gideon Welles, Salmon Chase among others.

Showing a “softer” side of the war is a full page print with 4 scenes of: “Hot Coffee Free For Volunteers Passing Through Philadelphia. Another page has a dramatic full page print of “Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army” at 75 years old! (and he looks it). Also a full page print of “Major-General Scott at 41”.

Certainly the most dramatic print is the full page showing: “A Slave Auction at the South”. The whole process is incredibly inhuman and is part of what this war is all about.

There is another full page print of: “Major General John C. Fremont in His Prairie Costume”, just one of many different uniforms worn by soldiers in this war. He looks as though he stepped round of the wilds of the West.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Civil War, Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Winslow Homer, Yankee
Tagged: , , , , , ,

The Traveler… times at odds… three shots, but not dead…

July 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

Today I decided to travel back a little further than I have been of recent. Within the “The Post Boy” dated July 10, 1711, I found that it seemed that most of Europe was at odds with each other. The news from Paris, Lisbon, Genoa, Turin, Milan, Warsaw, Vienna and Hague all were dealing in some type of army and/or war activity.

A correspondence from Dover is of which a Privateer “had 3 small Shots in his Body, but was not dead; that only 3 of the Privateers engag’d him, and a great many are kill’d on both sides, the 3 Privateers had 300 Men each.”

Even with all that is occurring in our lives today, I’m thankful that we don’t live in the 18th century…

~The Traveler

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: The 1500's - 1700's, The Hobby, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
Tagged: , , ,

Gen. John H. Morgan’s revenge…

July 9, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

The following item from “The Crisis” newspaper from Columbus, Ohio, March 2, 1864, notes a curious revenge by General Morgan for having his whiskers shaved when in the Ohio penitentiary…

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Civil War, Confederate, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
Tagged: , , ,

The Civil War… 150 years ago today… July 6, 1861

July 6, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

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:

The July 6, 1861 issue has on page 4 a very nice view of: “Jefferson City, Missouri” along the river. I always look forward to finding city views in Harper’s as they offer a perspective of the cities mentioned in battle reports which, without illustrations, are difficult to comprehend in terms of size, geography & location to rivers, etc. And in the Missouri River which runs along Jefferson City are two large paddle wheelers. It would be great to ride on one someday.

Another page is taken up with a large map showing portions of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Jefferson City to New Orleans, and also including Florida and much of the Southeast United States. Principal cities and other rivers are noted–a terrific overview of the theater of so much military action. “Scenes of Camp and Army Life…” has 9 scenes showing just some of what soldiers do when they are not fighting.

The doublepage centerfold is very impressive, showing a “Grand Review of General McDowell’s Corps…On the South Side of the Potomac” showing simply hundreds & hundreds of soldiers at attention. And why are so many women & children in the foreground? There are several more military scenes as well, including a very nice view of “Harper’s Ferry as Evacuated by the Confederate Troops”. The Potomac runs along some very steep cliffs in this portion of Virginia.


If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

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

Rhode Island’s first newspapers…

July 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

This history of Rhode Island’s European settlements goes back to roger Williams in 1604 but it was no until well over 100 years later that Rhode Island got its first newspaper. It was on Sept. 27, 1732 when James Franklin begin the “Rhode Island Gazette“, but it lasted for  only 20 issues. James Franklin also started the “New England Courant“, one of the first newspapers in Boston, and is perhaps most famous for creating an apprenticeship for his younger brother, Benjamin, who would go on to be a very successful newspaper publisher (among many other accomplishments) in Philadelphia.

It would be another 25 years before the next newspapers would be founded in Rhode Island, it being the “Newport Mercury” begun in that coastal town in 1758. Providence would have its first newspaper, “The Providence Gazette“, in 1762.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Colonial, Common Questions, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Noteworthy Issues, The 1500's - 1700's
Tagged: , ,

Reporting a non-event…

July 2, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

It must have been a very slow news day as the “Boston American” of April 11, 1912 has a  bold headline (see below) proclaiming a non-event (see). Ironically, this was also the day after the Titanic set sail for its maiden voyage. Four days later the headline would be extremely significant.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: The 20th & 21st Centuries, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
Tagged: , , ,

The Civil War… 150 years ago today… June 29, 1861

June 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

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:

With the summer months upon us I can imagine that havelocks are a necessity on the battlefield. The front page print (of my June 29, 1861 issue) shows a woman making them for the soldiers.

Not surprisingly there are many war-related prints on the inside pages, including a nice view of Camp Slifer & another showing troops marching from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  Movements of rebel troops are particularly interesting, and one of the prints shows rebel troops arriving & departing from Martinsburg, Virginia.

There is much drama in two full page battle scenes, both of the battle of Great Bethel but one showing the Zouaves soldier charging in their unusual uniforms. Another print shows the moat around Fortress Monroe–it is massive and must have been difficult to cross in the heat of battle.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Civil War, Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Winslow Homer, Yankee
Tagged: , , , ,

From long before he would become famous…

June 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

The “SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN” issue of  November 5, 1892 includes an extremely inconspicuous item that would never be noticed for what it is. Near the back of the issue the editor would answer various questions of writers, and this issue includes response to five inquiries from a nine year old boy by the name of Walter P. Chrysler. Yes, this is the same Mr. Chrysler who would found the car company some years later. Obviously he was a bright & inquisitive young boy destined for great things in life. See the hyperlink for the reference from the book “Life Of An American Workman” which verifies the mentioned questions were from him…

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Food for Thought, Noteworthy Issues, Post Civil War
Tagged: , ,

What to do with Adolf…

June 25, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

With an historical perspective of the hunting of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden it is interesting to read this piece in the “Stars And Stripes” military newspaper of April 6, 1945, less than one month before the death of Adolf Hitler. They wonder what to do with him once captured…

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: The 20th & 21st Centuries, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
Tagged: , , , ,

The Civil War… 150 years ago today… June 22, 1861

June 22, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

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:

Page 3 of today’s paper (June 22, 1861 issue of Harper’s Weekly) has a comic design “for a new coin for the C.S.A.”, noted at the top: “Owe Ever – Pay Never”. One of the prints shows soldiers in the Zouaves uniforms, taken from the soldiers of Algeria in Northern Africa. They seem to be a strange sight in our Yankee army. The centerfold print actually has ten prints, one showing a wagon with lager beer, another showing soldiers putting up telegraph wires, and another showing Arlington House, which is the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Another print shows a huge crowd at divine services at Camp Dennison in Ohio, and another has a partial view of the Pensacola Navy Yard in Florida. Two other prints show the action at Fortress Monroe in Chesapeake Bay, apparently a strategic location to protect this important harbor.

The back page cartoons–when they appear–are always interesting. This issue has one showing: “The American Eagle surprising Jeff Davis in his attempt to rob her next.”

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Civil War, Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, The Rare Newspapers Community, Yankee
Tagged: , , ,

« Previous Page — Next Page »