History of America 1864

President Lincoln elected to second term. Washington Nov. 8, 1864
President Lincoln was re-elected today, soundly beating General George B. McClellan, the man he relieved of his army command earlier in the war. Lincoln carried 22 states with 212 electoral votes while McClellan won just Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was elected Vice-President on Lincoln’s ticket. Lincoln was noticeably relieved by the outcome. Often , in recent months, he had expressed concern over a possible defeat. At one point in his campaign, he mused that it is not wise to swap horses while crossing a stream adding; “I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it in trying to swap.

James Brothers tied to Centralia killings .Missouri Sept. 27, 1864.
Pro-Confederate guerrillas under ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson attacked and robbed the Centralia railroad station today. When they finally rode out of town, at least 24 people lay dead. It is reported that the murderous band included the James Brothers, Frank and Jesse. It is not known whether the Anderson group is connected with “Quantrill’s Raiders”, who sacked and burned Lawrence, Kansas, last year. But observers say it is likely that the James brothers are associated with, perhaps working hand in hand with both groups.

Richmond occupied by Union troops. Virginia Apr. 5, 1865
The victorious Union army with bands loudly playing The Girl I left behind me and Dixie, marched into this capital of the Confederacy two days ago. Today, the city is still a smouldering ruin. As regiments of Negro soldiers entered the city, crowds of former slaves came out to greet them, cheering wildly. The first troops to enter Richmond were combat patrols, followed almost immediately by fire brigades, which went about saving as much of the burning city as they could.

Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox. Virginia Apr 9, 1865.
General Robert E. Lee met with General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse today and surrendered the Army of north Virginia, thus effectively ending the American Civil War.
Following the fall of Richmond, Lee and his army fought their way west with hopes of reaching Lynchburgh and its railroad, which could have transported the army south to unite with General Johnston in North Carolina. On April 8 however, Lee found his way blocked by General Phil Sheridan and his cavalry and 50,000 men under General Meade. Behind him were Grant and another large well-fed Union army. Lee’s 27,000 men were entirely surrounded and starving.

Ravages of Civil War: Half of nation in tatters. Washington 1865.
After four long years, the Civil War has left American society with deep scars that may perhaps never heal. The war has carried “mourning into almost every home” President Lincoln said, until “it can almost be said that the heavens are hung in black.”.
No indisputable figures exist, but it is believed the fighting claimed 360,000 Union and 258,000 Confederate casualties. Even the heroes were scarred by their accomplishments. By 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant’s war of attrition had earned him the name “butcher”.

President Lincoln shot attending Ford’s Theatre. Washington Apr. 15, 1865
A freezing drizzle enveloped Washington this morning as the dreaded announcement was made. President Lincoln, the target of an assassin’s bullet died at 7.22 am. Secretary of State William Seward, who was stabbed several times in a separate incident, is in critical condition. Vice President Andrew Johnson has assumed the powers of the Presidency. A massive manhunt has been mounted to find the killer who is believed to be John Wilkes booth, a 26-year-old actor. The nation, long divided by war, is now united in grief.
The assassination was apparently well planned, but it was a closely guarded secret. Booth, who is the son of the well-known actor Junius Brutus Booth, did refer indirectly to this odious plan while at a bar earlier in the evening when a man yelled out “You’ll never be the actor your father was.” Booth smiled and replied, “When I leave the stage, I will be the most famous man in America;”

Booth caught and killed. Port Royal, Virginia Apr. 27, 1865.
John Wilkes Booth the accused assassin of President Lincoln, was shot dead in a barn near this small town by federal cavalrymen early this morning. Another conspirator, David Herold, was taken into custody. The federal force commanded by Lt. L.B. Baker and Col. E.J. Conger, say they tried to take Booth alive, but the actor, who had vowed earlier that he had “too great a soul to die like a criminal,” refused to surrender. Booth plead for fairness in the last minutes of his life and asked the soldiers to drop back and fight like men. When they refused he yelled out “well then my brave boys, prepare a stretcher for me.” The soldiers set fire to the barn. A few moments passed than a shot rang out. Five hours later, at 7 pm, Booth died of the wound

Eight are convicted in President’s Assassination. Four hanged. Washington July 8, 1865.
Four of the conspirators convicted in the assassination of President Lincoln were hanged today. Mary Surratt, Lewis Payne, David Herold and George Atzerodt, allwalked to the gallows. It was Paine who stabbed Secretary of State Seward. Herold was with John Wilkes Booth when he was shot. Three other conspirators, Samuel Arnold, Samuel Mudd and Michael O’Laughlin, are serving life terms in prison. Three months have passed since the assassination, and wild rumours about it abound. Some people even suggest that Booth is still on the lose.

Anti-Negro Klan organised in South. Tennessee Dec. 1865.
A secret society formed this year in central Tennessee, with its members riding at night in hooded white robes, has alarmed some observers, who fear it may be used against freed Negroes. “Ku Klux Klan” the name is taken from the Greek word “kuklos” or circle. The founders are said to assert that the KKK is a harmless fraternity but many fear it stands against reconstruction in the Confederacy.

Ku Klux Klan spreads throughout South. Tennessee Autumn 1866.
The head of the Ku Klux Klan reports that the organisation has received an enthusiastic welcome from Tennessee to Texas and across the old Confederacy. Former General Nathan B. Forest, one of Robert. E. Lee’s foremost cavalrymen during the war, founded the Klan last year in the town of Pulaski. While Forest says the Klan is nothing more than a congenial club of former Confederate veterans, many government officials argue that the group is committed to the denial of Negro Rights.

American Ship starts mail service to China. San Francisco Dec. 31, 1866.
At noon tomorrow, the red paddle wheels of the steamship Colorado will splash into San Francisco Bay on the Pacific Mail’s first voyage to China. The 340-ft, 3,728 ton crafts black wooden hull and brass are shined up for the occasion. The steamer is due in Yokohama, Japan, by January 24. Tonight, 250 businessmen and dignitaries, including three Chinese, attended the “Grand China Mail Dinner.” presided over by Governor Fredrick F. Low

Injured Mary Baker Patterson cures herself. Lynn, Massachusetts, Feb. 5, 1866.
Mrs. Mary B Patterson appears to have made a miraculous recovery from injuries sustained in a fall. Mrs. Patterson, a lecturer in the theories of the late Phineas Quimby that illness exists only in the mind, now seems to be proof of those beliefs. Mrs. Patterson, always a sickly woman, was ‘cured’ by Quimby in 1862. Her fall on the ice last Thursday seemed to end this cure. But she astounded her doctor, who thought she should be bedridden for months, by getting up yesterday, just three days after her accident. She attributes this to reading Matthew 9:2, where Jesus heals a man stricken with palsy.

Sioux ambush and kill 80 near Idaho fort. Dec. 21, 1866.
Striking back at white encroachment on lands that have been reserved for them by treaty, a war party of Ouglala Sioux led by Chief Red Cloud today ambushed and wiped out military force of 80 men stationed at Fort Phil Kearney. The fort, which was recently constructed on Piney Creek near the Powder River to protect the Bozeman Trail to the Western Goldfields, had already been a target of Sioux hostilities when word arrived that a pack train bringing wood and other supplies had been attacked. The leader of the US force Captain W Fetterman, was lured by a small Indian party into an ambush by a much larger force and no one survived.

U.S. Purchases Alaska for $7 million. Washington Apr. 9, 1867
It was a close shave. The former Russian colony of Alaska is now a territory of the United States, but it became so by just a single congressional vote to spare. After an impassioned three hour speech by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, the vote to transfer Alaska from Russian hands to the U.S. Was approved by a vote of 27 to 12 with six legislators absent. The total in favour of buying was one vote more than the two thirds that is required for ratification.

Nebraska becomes nations 37th State. March 1, 1867.
Nebraska the land that one explorer called “the Great American Desert” has become the 37th state in the union. In 1820, Major Stephen Long of the United States Army led an expedition to this region and declared it “wholly unfit for farming.” Farmers disagreed. Drawn by the promise of free land under the Homestead Act of 1862, thousands flocked to these prairies and began building sod houses.

Reconstruction is enforced in the South. Washington July 19, 1867.
With the passage by Congress today of the third Reconstruction Act, the machinery is now in place to impose drastic social and political reforms on the states of the defeated Confederacy. The new act which authorises military governors to decide on voter eligibility, comes on the heels of earlier laws that divide the South, except for Tennessee, into five regions; placed a major general in charge of each region and empowered these governors to organise constitutional conventions, remove local officials, impose martial law and require the states to pass laws that guarantee Negro freedmen the right to vote.

“Caged eagle” is released from jail. Richmond, Virginia May 11, 1867.
Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis walked out of a federal courtroom a fre man today after 2 years in prison. He still faces charges of treason and in involvement in the assassination of President Lincoln. Northern newspapers campaigning for Davis’s release and criticising his harsh treatment in jail called him “the caged eagle”.

Britain makes Canada a dominion. London March 29, 1867.
A stroke of the pen gave Canada self-governing status as a dominion under the British crown today. Parliament enacted the British North America Act, providing for the union of its former colonies of new Brunswick and Nova Scotia with Quebec and Ontario, which had been joined earlier as the Province of Canada East and West. Two of Britain’s other colonies in the Atlantic region, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, were participants in the confederation talks but chose to remain separate. Sir John A Macdonald was appointed first Prime Minister.

Impeached, Johnson wins in Senate. Washington May 26, 1868.
One of the most dramatic trials in American history ended today when the Senate acquitted President Johnson of all the articles of impeachment that were brought against him earlier by the House of Representatives.
The long ordeal for the President began on February 24, when the House of Representatives voted 126 to 47 to impeach him for “high crimes and misdemeanours.” One of the counts involved his efforts to dismiss Secretary for War Edwin M Stanton, in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The Act seeking to keep a tight rein on the president, forbade him to remove from office, without the consent of Senate, any person who had been subject to Senate confirmation.

Elevator paves way for skyscraper. New York City 1868
Ever since Elisha Otis demonstrated his safety elevator in 1854, engineers have dreamed of buildings that could reach toward the sky. At a towering 130 feet, the new Equitable Life association building will certainly realise that goal. Built by Arthur Gilman, Edward Kendal and George post, it is the first building designed around Otis’s device. When completed in 1870, the buildings two steam-powered elevators will hoist passengers a full five stories.

Survey shows 373 freed slaves slain. Washington June 1868.
The Congressional Committee on Lawlessness and Violence, has released statistics showing that, in the last two years, 373 freed slaves have been killed by whites, and that 10 whites have been killed by freedmen. Apart from these figures, it is widely believed that since the Civil War, ended a group calling themselves the Ku Klux Klan has killed thousands.

Grant, Civil War General, is President. Washington Nov. 3, 1868.
General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President of the United States today, easily defeating the Democrat Horatio Seymour of Indiana. Grant, a Republican, carried 26 states with 214 electoral votes; Seymour won 8 states and 80 electoral votes. The 46-year-old President-elect, a native of Ohio, was ultimately in command of all Union armies during the Civil War. That war effectively ended when General Robert E Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox under terms laid down by Grant.

Custer’s Seventh Cavalry wipes out Indians at Washita. Indian Territory Nov. 27, 1868.
With bugles sounding “charge” and the regimental band blaring out the legendary “Garryowen” the 800-man Seventh Cavalry Regiment under Lt. Col. George A Custer today struck a combined force of Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians led by Chief Black Kettle on the Washita River. The battle took place on the plains of the Western Indian Territory, just east of the Texas Panhandle. At the time the charge was sounded the ground was covered by 12 inches of snow; by the time the battle was over the blood of more than 100 Indians including Black Kettle and his wife stained the snow.

Kit Carson nemesis of Indians - dead. Colorado May 24, 1868
Brigadier General Christopher “Kit” Carson is dead at 59. Considered by many Americans to be a national treasure, he passed away today at Boggsville. An original “mountain man,” he was a friend and long time companion of both Ji Bridger and “the Pathfinder” General John Fremont. Known as the “Eyes of the Cavalry” in the Navajo War, Carson captured more than 10,000 Indians. Considering himself a “Trapper” to the end, he was married to an heiress from New Mexico, where he owned vast lands.

Golden Rail spike joins East to West. Utah May 10.1869
Above the thin hiss of steam engines facing across a final connecting track today, crowds in the arid valley here read a solemn prayer for the railroad that links the nation from coast to coast.
Then President Leyland Stanford of the Central Pacific Railroad stepped between the locomotives, the C.P.‘S Jupiter and the Union Pacific’s 119. To the East, 1,086 miles of U.P. Track. To the west 690 for the C.P. Stanford paused, then swung a silver hammer at a last golden spike - and missed. Amid much hilarity, vice-president Thomas Durant of Union Pacific tried. He missed. Finally, U.P.‘S chief engineer Grenville Dodge, slammed it home, and telegraphers sped the joyous message “The Pacific railroad is done”

First Pro-Team pays short-stop $1,400. Cincinnati Apr. 7, 1869.
Those innovative Red Stockings from Cincinnati have become the first salaried team in baseball. The captain-shortstop, George Wright, contracted for a salary of $1400 for the season, which began March 15 and will end November 15. Asa Brainard, the pitcher, will receive £1200. The Red Stockings, while playing amateur ball last year, were the first club to perform in uniforms that featured shortened pants known as knickerbockers. While this seemed to amuse many of the teams fans, now other clubs are reportedly considering adopting the new baseball fashion.

Woman’s sufferage advocates split in two. Wyoming territory Dec. 10, 1869.
Two decades ago the Wyoming Territory’s Governor witnessed one of the first women’s rights conventions ever held. He never forgot it, and today he signed a law making the territory the first place to give women the vote. Yet American suffragists, who should be encouraged and cheering about this victory, find themselves dangerously divided on the question of whether this is the women’s ‘moment’ or just the Negroes “hour”. Back in January the Equal Rights Association, which had fought for both Negro and women’s suffrage, voted to support the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which allows male Negroes the vote. The Negro rights leader Frederick Douglass, who was once an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage, defended the move, insisting that “he government of this country loves women, but the Negro is loathed”.

Gold Traders cause panic. New York,
Sept. 24, 1869.
A daring effort by two speculators, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, to corner the gold market failed today when the government stepped in at the last minute. Dozens of all Street houses would have faced bankruptcy if the Treasury had not intervened by making gold available to them, ending the panic.
Gould and Fisk have made their fortunes by sometimes unscrupulous speculation in railroads. They recently have been involved in a major struggle with J. Pierpoint Morgan for control of the Albany and Susquehanna Railway. In this latest effort, they turned their attention to the pen market for gold as quoted in greenbacks on Wall Street.

Robert E. Lee wins Mississippi Boat Race St. Louis July 4, 1870
The banks of the Mississippi resounded with cannons and cheers as the Robert E Lee docked here at 11.24am, winning the great riverboat race with the Natchez. The powerful boat had completed a 1,100 mile trip up the Mississippi from New Orleans in three days, 18 hours and 14 minutes. The Natchez arrived just before 6 pm. To the not-quite-so-enthusiastic cheers of its backers. The Robert E Lee’s owner and captain, John W Cannon said on arrival that his engines with 40 inch cylinders are the “best in the world.” The Natchez with slightly less powerful engines, had been close, but lagging in the race since it left new Orleans June 30. The vessels captain, the legendary Thomas P Leathers of Natchez, claimed he would have come first had he not been delayed in fog above Devil’s Island. Leather’s Natchez came in fully six and a half hours behind Robert E Lee.
Thev historic race has galvanised the people of the Mississippi Valley. Hundreds of thousands lined the river banks from New Orleans all the way to St. Louis.

First Train from West arrives in New York. July 24, 1870
The first through train arrived from San Francisco today, completing a trans-continental route across the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines and into the vast Eastern railway network to New York, a city served by rail links carrying 50,000 people daily. Alternate routes to the Far West are being planned. The Denver, Pacific and Kansas Pacific have linked Missouri and Colorado; the companies now aim for Santa Fe. Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific and Aitchison, Topeka and Santa Fe routes.

“Boss” Tweed’s corruption exposed; frauds total millions. New York July 8, 1871.
The New York Times published a scathing expose this morning, charging William “Boss” Tweed with raiding the city’s treasury and lining his pockets with millions of tax dollars. Cartoonist Thomas Nash has long made the bloated face and torso of Tweed his target of caricature and ridicule in the pages of Harper’s Weekly. Now The Times says it has the cold hard facts on Tweed and his Tammany Ring. If the newspaper and editor George Jones are correct it is surprising that new York has any money left to pay its bills.

Professionals form a baseball league. New York 1871
The Philadelphia Athletics were perched atop the new league as the first season of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players drew to a close. The Athletics won the championship with a record of 22 victories and seven losses followed by Chicago. Boston was favoured to win it all, but injuries destroyed its chances. Other clubs in the league are the Chicago White Stockings, the New York Mutuals, the Cleveland Forest Citys, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas, The Rockford city Citys, the Washington Nationals and the Washington Olympics.
The league was formed amid the noise and drinking of St. Patrick’s Day at Colliers Cafe in downtown New York.

Death toll is soaring in Chicago Fire. Oct 8, 1871.
As midnight approaches, one of America’s greatest cities is shrouded in flames. Chicago has been afire for two and a half hours, and the conflagration grows fiercer by the minute. Already 100 people have been killed and 1000 are homeless. Damage so far is in the millions.
No one is sure how the fire started but it is believed to have begun on the West Side of town at about 9.30am. It headed north east, and only moments ago it jumped the river at Adams Street. Flames are now driving out the inhabitants of Conley’s :Patch, a disreputable part of town. Gamblers and prostitutes are fleeing their places of business.

Brigham Young arrested for bigamy. Utah Oct 2, 1871.
Federal officials today arrested the Mormon leader Brigham Young for “lewd and lascivious cohabitation” with 16 of his wives. Following his appearance before a federal judge, the 70 year old Young was allowed to return home to await his trial. The arrest of Young seems to be part of an attempt by some of the federal authorities in the territory to destroy the power of the Latter Day Saints, as the Mormons call themselves. Several other Mormon leaders also were recently arrested for polygamy. Till others have been charged with murder as a result of the killings that occurred during the Mormon War of 1857.

James Gang robs bank in Kentucky. Colombia, Kentucky, Apr. 29, 1872.
The James Gang has struck again! Witnesses say that a small group of bandits led by Jesse and Frank James robbed the Deposit Bank here today. They say that five gunmen rode into town and met at the town square. Three went into the bank while the other two stood watch outside. Cashier R.A. Martin was shot to death. Unable to open the safe, the gang escaped on horseback with £200 found in the cash drawer.

Bribery is exposed in Grant’s regime. New York Sept. 4, 1872.
Allegations of bribery rocked the re-election campaign of President Grant today, but it is unlikely that the charges of seedy financial manipulation will prevent the solldier politician from serving another term in the White House. The damaging charges were published in Charles Anderson Dana’s “New York Sun.” The paper reveals that top officials of the Union Pacific railroad firm have tried to head off a congressional investigation by paying off members of the Grant administration and Congress. The bribery scheme is outlined in a series of letters written by Oakes Ames, one of the founders of Credit Mobilier of America, to an associate, Henry McComb The letters, obtained and published by the Sun reveal that Ames planned to make stock available to certain Congressmen at par, even though it was worth twice as much. In one of the letters, Ames wrote that giving stock to the congressmen made sense because that is “where it will produce the most good for us”.

Grant re-elected, beating Horace Greeley. Washington Nov. 5, 1872.
President Grant was elected to a second term today, defeating Horace Greeley, the noted but eccentric editor of the New York Tribune, as well; as several lesser known candidates. While the President’s first four years in office were marked by corruption on the part of some appointees, and Black Friday, in which an attempt by some financiers to corner the gold market ended in ruin for many investors, he scored a solid victory today. Supporters of the major candidates exchanged heated barbs, during the campaign. The Greeley partisans nicknamed Ulysses S. Grant “Useless Grant”

Rockefeller corners Ohio oil refining. Cleveland 1872
John D. Rockefeller at 33, is sitting atop he nation’s oil refining industry. His Standard Oil of Ohio now controls nearly all of the refineries here in the oil capital of the nation. Not content with easy access to Lake Erie shipping, however, Rockfeller is using the size of his firm to elicit rebates from railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad this year, reportedly signed a secret contract

Tweed is jailed for fraud. New York Nov 19, 1872.
After a lengthy and controversial trial, William “Boss” Tweed as sentenced this morning on charges of graft and corruption. The jury found the former Grand Aachem of Tamamany Hall guilty on 204 of 220 misdemeanour counts. Judge Davis ordered Tweed to serve 13 years and pay a fine of $12,500. The one-time democratic boss winced and his face turned ashen when the foreman read out the verdict.