Civil War

Albany’s Daniel Manning: Newspaperman & Secretary of the Treasury

October 4, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Daniel Manning was born in Albany, NY, on August 16, 1831, the second son of John and Eleanor Manning. The Mannings were of Irish, English, and Dutch descent.

Daniel was six at the time of the Panic of 1837 when his father died, causing financial strain on the politically connected family. When Daniel was ten he was appointed a page in the New York State Assembly where he served for two years. During the second year, he also got a job distributing the Albany Atlas newspaper. [Read more…] about Albany’s Daniel Manning: Newspaperman & Secretary of the Treasury

1888: The First National Monument to Unknown Soldiers

September 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

From the winter 1812 “Camp Saranac” (Pike’s Cantonment) to the fortifications built for the defense and protection of the village of Plattsburgh and the important military stores in 1814 (Forts Brown, Moreau, and Scott, the wooden barracks and two additional forts – Forts Gaines and Tompkins – in 1815), the Plattsburgh Stone Barracks in 1838, the brick “brownstones” of the 1890s, to the establishment of the Army’s “Plattsburgh Barracks” in 1945 and the “new base” of the Air Force in the 1950s, the military presence in Plattsburgh have had a long and interesting past. [Read more…] about 1888: The First National Monument to Unknown Soldiers

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson: ‘America’s Civil War Joan of Arc’

September 21, 2023 by Helen Allen Nerska 1 Comment

On a cold, snowy January evening in 1874, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson became one of the first women of national prominence to speak on women’s suffrage in Clinton County, NY. Those gathering to hear her at the Palmer Hall, located upstairs at 60 Margaret Street in downtown Plattsburgh, were described as the most intellectual and cultivated in the community.

The crowd that night would have known her reputation. [Read more…] about Anna Elizabeth Dickinson: ‘America’s Civil War Joan of Arc’

Slavery & Race: Mary Mildred Botts Williams, 1847–1921

September 12, 2023 by Editorial Staff 5 Comments

Mary Mildred Botts Williams (1847–1921) was a light-skinned Black child born into enslavement in Virginia. She became identified in the popular imagination with the character Ida May, the fictional kidnapped white child in Mary Hayden Pike’s novel, Ida May: A Story of Things Actual and Possible (1854). Mary was used as an example of a “white slave” in the years before the Civil War. [Read more…] about Slavery & Race: Mary Mildred Botts Williams, 1847–1921

The 115th New York: The Iron Hearted Regiment During The Civil War

August 27, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the Civil War, Colonel Simeon Sammons received authority to recruit a regiment in the counties of Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, and Saratoga, with headquarters at Fonda. On August 26, 1862, it mustered into the service of the United States for three years as the 115th New York Infantry Regiment, known as the “Iron-Hearted Regiment.” [Read more…] about The 115th New York: The Iron Hearted Regiment During The Civil War

Sigmund Freud, Adirondack High Peaks and American Colitis

August 17, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

The modern era has produced a number of great speeches that have withstood the test of time. Amongst them are Winston Churchill’s “Fight on the Beaches” (June 1940), John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner”(June 1963) and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” (August 1963), but the speech that may have had the biggest impact in the history of political thought was Abe Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (November 1860). [Read more…] about Sigmund Freud, Adirondack High Peaks and American Colitis

New York’s Zouave Regiments: The Romance of War

July 3, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Warriors from the Zouaoua Berbers who inhabited the coastal mountain Djurdjura region of North Africa had served the Dey (ruler) of Algeria for centuries. In 1830, the French army under command of Marshal Louis de Bourmont conquered Algiers. The latter recruited local Berber fighters for support in the conquest of the rest of the country.

These colonial troops were called Zouaves. [Read more…] about New York’s Zouave Regiments: The Romance of War

Juneteenth Resources and Information

June 15, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Juneteenth is the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. The origins of the commemoration date back to June 19, 1865, when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, first heard that the Civil War had ended and they were free. [Read more…] about Juneteenth Resources and Information

Edwin Forbes: Civil War Artist & Starting Gate Inventor

June 13, 2023 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

American artists and illustrators have documented events through the nation’s history, producing a vital visual record of collective experiences. One illustrator, who can still be called upon to look back through time, is Edwin Forbes, who lived in the Long Island village of Flatbush, before it was annexed into Brooklyn, and eventually New York City. He was a noted illustrator of the Civil War and also an inventor of the horse racing starting gate. [Read more…] about Edwin Forbes: Civil War Artist & Starting Gate Inventor

Women and Children in the Civil War

June 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, over two million soldiers served in either the United States or Confederate States armies. It’s estimated that 250,000–420,000 boys under the age of 18 and as young as 12 were involved on both sides and about 100,000 United States Army soldiers were 15 years of age or younger. Women who disguised themselves as men also served in combat, with conservative estimates putting the number between 400 and 750. [Read more…] about Women and Children in the Civil War