August 16, 2010
As Promised: Spies in the Civil War:
George Scott was an escaped slave who supplied information about troop movements and Confederate fortifications to General Benjamin F. Butler while he was in command of Fort Monroe. Fort Monroe is located at the mouth of the James River on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula. While escaping from a plantation near Yorktown, George Scott had seen Confederate preparations for an attack on the fort. Despite the threat of recapture, Scott agreed to accompany a Union officer on reconnaissance missions behind Confederate lines to confirm the Confederate Army’s plans to attack the fort.
Mary Touvestre was a freed slave working in Norfolk as a housekeeper for an engineer who was working on the Confederate ironclad, the USS Merrimack. Realizing the danger this ship would pose to Union ships currently blockading Norfolk, she stole a copy of the plans and fled North to Washington, DC where she was able to convince officers at the Department of the Navy to speed up their construction of the USS Monitor.
Robert Smalls: Intelligence about Confederate formation gathered by Robert Smalls was considered so significant that the Secretary of the Department of the Navy described it in detail to President Lincoln in the Secretary's annual report. Smalls went on to become a US Congressman, but he may be best known for his successful escape from Charlestown, South Carolina. Smalls gathered his family, and other black American crewmen, then sailed the armed Confederate coastal patrol ship, the Planter, out of Charleston harbor after the captain and two mates had gone home. Smalls posed as the Captain on May 12, 1862 and was able to provide the correct countersigns to all of the harbor defenses.
Did you know? Union Soldiers who were prisoners of war in Richmond Virginia sent coded messages by placing pin pricks beneath words in the novels they were allowed to read.
Next Post: How Treasury Warrants helped settle the West.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
As promised: Amazing Grace
It turns out that “Amazing Grace” was written by a slave ship captain who got caught in a violent storm at sea. He promised God he would quit his evil ways if he could be spared. The storm abated, his ship stayed afloat, he wrote the song, and released the enslaved aboard his ship!
Biting on a bullet?
Union Forces used approximately 10 million opium pills and nearly 3 million ounces of opium powder or tinctures. Pain-killing drugs were in wide use and commonly prescribed for such maladies as diarrhea. Opium addiction became a problem in the Union Army due to its wide use.
Confederate forces experienced severe shortages of opium, but instead of bullets, turned to homeopathic remedies such as poppy heads, nightshade and Datura Stramonium, also called Jimson Weed, Gypsum Weed, Loco Weed, Thorn Apple, Devil's Trumpet, Mad Hatter, Crazy Tea, and Zombie's Cucumber.
Exposing some myths about the Society of Friends. (Quakers)
Not every member of the Society of Friends was an abolitionist.
Slave-owning among members began to create dissention as early as 1750. The Society of Friends began disowning or shunning members by 1778. Some members simply joined the Anglican Church and continued to dress plainly, however many members felt that they answered to a higher law rather than the federal laws which made owning slaves legal. Many, but not all members aided enslaved persons seeking freedom. Strict obedience to telling the truth might prompt a member to first don a blindfold before bringing food to the runaway slaves hiding in his barn, thus being able to truthfully answer bounty hunters with, “I have not seen them.”
Did you know that the days of the week are named after Pagan Gods? Members of the Society of Friends refer to Sunday as First Day, Monday as Second Day, and so on.
Next entry: Spies in the Civil War
It turns out that “Amazing Grace” was written by a slave ship captain who got caught in a violent storm at sea. He promised God he would quit his evil ways if he could be spared. The storm abated, his ship stayed afloat, he wrote the song, and released the enslaved aboard his ship!
Biting on a bullet?
Union Forces used approximately 10 million opium pills and nearly 3 million ounces of opium powder or tinctures. Pain-killing drugs were in wide use and commonly prescribed for such maladies as diarrhea. Opium addiction became a problem in the Union Army due to its wide use.
Confederate forces experienced severe shortages of opium, but instead of bullets, turned to homeopathic remedies such as poppy heads, nightshade and Datura Stramonium, also called Jimson Weed, Gypsum Weed, Loco Weed, Thorn Apple, Devil's Trumpet, Mad Hatter, Crazy Tea, and Zombie's Cucumber.
Exposing some myths about the Society of Friends. (Quakers)
Not every member of the Society of Friends was an abolitionist.
Slave-owning among members began to create dissention as early as 1750. The Society of Friends began disowning or shunning members by 1778. Some members simply joined the Anglican Church and continued to dress plainly, however many members felt that they answered to a higher law rather than the federal laws which made owning slaves legal. Many, but not all members aided enslaved persons seeking freedom. Strict obedience to telling the truth might prompt a member to first don a blindfold before bringing food to the runaway slaves hiding in his barn, thus being able to truthfully answer bounty hunters with, “I have not seen them.”
Did you know that the days of the week are named after Pagan Gods? Members of the Society of Friends refer to Sunday as First Day, Monday as Second Day, and so on.
Next entry: Spies in the Civil War
Saturday, July 31, 2010
July 31, 2010
As promised: African American Soldiers in the Revolutionary War
In 1770, Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, became the first man to die in the American Revolution. 20 years earlier, William Brown had offered a reward for his capture and described him as a mulatto, about 27 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, with short curled hair, and being knock-kneed.
African Americans fought at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775 and again at Bunker Hill in June. These were non-segregated units, but in July of 1775 when George Washington, one of the largest Virginia slave holders assumed command of the forces, he prohibited further African American enlistment.
4 months later, in November of 1775, Lord Dunmore of Great Britain issued a proclamation offering freedom to any slaves willing to escape from their colonial owners. 6 weeks later George Washington rescinded his order banning African American enlistment and it is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 African Americans served in the Revolutionary Army, mostly in integrated units.
After the British surrender, about 14,000 African Americans returned with the British army to England. It is estimated that 100,000 African Americans used the confusion of the war to escape slavery and seek freedom elsewhere.
Next blog entry: Amazing Grace
As promised: African American Soldiers in the Revolutionary War
In 1770, Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, became the first man to die in the American Revolution. 20 years earlier, William Brown had offered a reward for his capture and described him as a mulatto, about 27 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, with short curled hair, and being knock-kneed.
African Americans fought at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775 and again at Bunker Hill in June. These were non-segregated units, but in July of 1775 when George Washington, one of the largest Virginia slave holders assumed command of the forces, he prohibited further African American enlistment.
4 months later, in November of 1775, Lord Dunmore of Great Britain issued a proclamation offering freedom to any slaves willing to escape from their colonial owners. 6 weeks later George Washington rescinded his order banning African American enlistment and it is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 African Americans served in the Revolutionary Army, mostly in integrated units.
After the British surrender, about 14,000 African Americans returned with the British army to England. It is estimated that 100,000 African Americans used the confusion of the war to escape slavery and seek freedom elsewhere.
Next blog entry: Amazing Grace
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
As Promised: John Fee
John Fee founded Berea College in 1855 on 10 acres donated by Cassius Marcellus Clay. Berea College is located in Berea, Kentucky, about 40 miles south of Lexington, or about 100 miles southeast of Louisville. Berea College was the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, 65 years before the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote, and almost 100 years before the 1954 Supreme Court’s ruling to desegregate public schools. Today, in keeping with its commitment to offer an education to those who would otherwise be unable to afford higher learning, Berea College offers a tuition-free education on a campus where everyone works.
Book Review: Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland, by J. Blaine Hudson. This is a wonderful resource. There are a lot of charts and tables with hard data for serious research, but the number of reported slave escapes can be misleading. The book is enjoyable when recounting escape attempts and is a fascinating read. Was the number of escapes under-reported to protect slave-owners’ claims that slaves were better off held in bondage?
Did you know there were African American Confederate soldiers?
Why would an African American fight for the Confederacy? For the same reason he would fight in the Revolutionary War or The War of 1812, the promise of freedom. Whether voluntarily or in bondage, African Americans served in support positions such as cooks, teamsters, stevedores, and body guards. Confederate Pension records, however, list soldiers applying for pensions as well as the previously stated occupations. In November 1864, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, suggested 40,000 slaves should be impressed into the army with the promise they would be emancipated at the end of their service. Official Rebellion Records, Series IV, Vol. III, p. 780. Journals of Congress, IV, 260.
Did you know that African American soldiers served in the Union Army as early as May, 1862?
Union General David Hunter was head of the Department of the South and authorized Sgt. Charles Trowbridge to recruit escaped slaves into the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. His actions, being before the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, forced President Abraham Lincoln to issue another type of Proclamation on May 19, 1862 declaring General Hunter’s actions to be unauthorized and void. The 1rst South Carolina Volunteers was disbanded then reorganized in November 1862 after the Emancipation Proclamation was announced. In 1864 the War Department recognized the First South Carolina and redesigned the outfit the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).
Next blog entry: African American Soldiers in the Revolutionary War?
John Fee founded Berea College in 1855 on 10 acres donated by Cassius Marcellus Clay. Berea College is located in Berea, Kentucky, about 40 miles south of Lexington, or about 100 miles southeast of Louisville. Berea College was the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, 65 years before the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote, and almost 100 years before the 1954 Supreme Court’s ruling to desegregate public schools. Today, in keeping with its commitment to offer an education to those who would otherwise be unable to afford higher learning, Berea College offers a tuition-free education on a campus where everyone works.
Book Review: Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland, by J. Blaine Hudson. This is a wonderful resource. There are a lot of charts and tables with hard data for serious research, but the number of reported slave escapes can be misleading. The book is enjoyable when recounting escape attempts and is a fascinating read. Was the number of escapes under-reported to protect slave-owners’ claims that slaves were better off held in bondage?
Did you know there were African American Confederate soldiers?
Why would an African American fight for the Confederacy? For the same reason he would fight in the Revolutionary War or The War of 1812, the promise of freedom. Whether voluntarily or in bondage, African Americans served in support positions such as cooks, teamsters, stevedores, and body guards. Confederate Pension records, however, list soldiers applying for pensions as well as the previously stated occupations. In November 1864, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, suggested 40,000 slaves should be impressed into the army with the promise they would be emancipated at the end of their service. Official Rebellion Records, Series IV, Vol. III, p. 780. Journals of Congress, IV, 260.
Did you know that African American soldiers served in the Union Army as early as May, 1862?
Union General David Hunter was head of the Department of the South and authorized Sgt. Charles Trowbridge to recruit escaped slaves into the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. His actions, being before the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, forced President Abraham Lincoln to issue another type of Proclamation on May 19, 1862 declaring General Hunter’s actions to be unauthorized and void. The 1rst South Carolina Volunteers was disbanded then reorganized in November 1862 after the Emancipation Proclamation was announced. In 1864 the War Department recognized the First South Carolina and redesigned the outfit the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).
Next blog entry: African American Soldiers in the Revolutionary War?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
July 24, 2010
Answer to the last entry’s question on the 13th Amendment: Mississippi was the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment—on March 16, 1995.
Do you recognize this amendment? …Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction…
This was the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution in December of 1860. It was never ratified. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was ratified in December of 1865 is considerably different, officially ending slavery instead of protecting it! It reads:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Do you recognize this amendment? …Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction…
This was the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution in December of 1860. It was never ratified. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was ratified in December of 1865 is considerably different, officially ending slavery instead of protecting it! It reads:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
A few things I've learned while researching the Underground Railroad
Did you realize? The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free a single Union slave. Slavery remained legal in the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland. But there were two other Union states where slavery was legal. Can you name them?
Ever heard of Drapetomania?
Elizabeth Van Lew:
Known as “Crazy Bet,” Elizabeth Van Lew lived in Richmond, Virginia while it was the capitol of the Confederate States of America. She visited Union soldiers in Richmond jails, bringing them reading material, medicine, and food. What she removed was information on troop strength and placements that the Union soldiers witnessed while being escorted from the battlefield. At first, she simply mailed the information, but her methods became more advanced as the war progressed. In honor of her actions, President Grant named her Postmistress of Richmond—a lucrative position made all the more noteworthy by the fact that she was a woman in a time when women were not usually in the work force.
Were you able to name the two Union States where slavery was legal?
Hint. One state’s license plate reads: “Wild, Wonderful ________.”
One state’s license plate reads: “The First State.”
NEXT BLOG: JOHN FEE
P.S. Answers to the Union states where slavery was legal.
Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia (ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery on February 3, 1865)
The First State, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. The Delaware state motto is “Liberty and Independence,” yet Delaware ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery on February 12, 1901!
Drapetomania was a psychiatric diagnosis explaining runaway slaves. In 1851, Dr. Samuel Cartwright introduced the “mental illness” Drapetomania as a “medical disorder that produced crazy behavior in slaves, manifesting the desire to flee.”
Can you guess which state was the last to ratify the 13th Amendment and when? (More on this next time)
Ever heard of Drapetomania?
Elizabeth Van Lew:
Known as “Crazy Bet,” Elizabeth Van Lew lived in Richmond, Virginia while it was the capitol of the Confederate States of America. She visited Union soldiers in Richmond jails, bringing them reading material, medicine, and food. What she removed was information on troop strength and placements that the Union soldiers witnessed while being escorted from the battlefield. At first, she simply mailed the information, but her methods became more advanced as the war progressed. In honor of her actions, President Grant named her Postmistress of Richmond—a lucrative position made all the more noteworthy by the fact that she was a woman in a time when women were not usually in the work force.
Were you able to name the two Union States where slavery was legal?
Hint. One state’s license plate reads: “Wild, Wonderful ________.”
One state’s license plate reads: “The First State.”
NEXT BLOG: JOHN FEE
P.S. Answers to the Union states where slavery was legal.
Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia (ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery on February 3, 1865)
The First State, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. The Delaware state motto is “Liberty and Independence,” yet Delaware ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery on February 12, 1901!
Drapetomania was a psychiatric diagnosis explaining runaway slaves. In 1851, Dr. Samuel Cartwright introduced the “mental illness” Drapetomania as a “medical disorder that produced crazy behavior in slaves, manifesting the desire to flee.”
Can you guess which state was the last to ratify the 13th Amendment and when? (More on this next time)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Did you know?
Did you know? The Federal Writers Project interviewed former slaves. “Dr. Polk and his son…when the slaves didn’t pick enough cotton for them, they would take them down to the field, and turn down their clothes, till they was naked, and beat them nearly to death.”
Did you know? Union Soldiers who were prisoners of war in Richmond Virginia sent coded messages by placing pin pricks beneath words in the novels they were allowed to read.
Did you know? Union Soldiers who were prisoners of war in Richmond Virginia sent coded messages by placing pin pricks beneath words in the novels they were allowed to read.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Together and Free
Together and Free is the Civil War-era adventure of one woman’s escape from slavery, the husband she had to leave behind, and their separate journeys to find each other in the place where they can be together and free.
Did you know most escapes were unaided? It wasn't until escaping slaves reached The North that they received help. The Underground Railroad wasn't a railroad and it wasn't underground, but it is a fascinating piece of history. Together and Free uses history and fiction to weave a story of the Underground Railroad...and more.
Rachel, fifteen, was forced to become a plantation owner’s mistress. The rapes stopped when she became pregnant; the beatings started when it became obvious that Joe, another slave, had fathered her child. Not believing the rumored Emancipation Proclamation will free them, she and Joe decide to flee. At the last minute, Joe’s courage falters. Rachel, distraught, escapes with their baby into the winter night. While dogs and bounty hunters pursue them, the baby tragically dies, but Rachel makes it to Washington DC. To survive, she becomes a maid in an upscale DC brothel. Seeing Rachel’s light-skinned beauty and learning of her hidden past, the brothel owner decides to use blackmail and the threat from a notorious bounty hunter to force Rachel’s return to the sexual slavery she escaped.
Did you know most escapes were unaided? It wasn't until escaping slaves reached The North that they received help. The Underground Railroad wasn't a railroad and it wasn't underground, but it is a fascinating piece of history. Together and Free uses history and fiction to weave a story of the Underground Railroad...and more.
Rachel, fifteen, was forced to become a plantation owner’s mistress. The rapes stopped when she became pregnant; the beatings started when it became obvious that Joe, another slave, had fathered her child. Not believing the rumored Emancipation Proclamation will free them, she and Joe decide to flee. At the last minute, Joe’s courage falters. Rachel, distraught, escapes with their baby into the winter night. While dogs and bounty hunters pursue them, the baby tragically dies, but Rachel makes it to Washington DC. To survive, she becomes a maid in an upscale DC brothel. Seeing Rachel’s light-skinned beauty and learning of her hidden past, the brothel owner decides to use blackmail and the threat from a notorious bounty hunter to force Rachel’s return to the sexual slavery she escaped.
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