Senator Beaten By Southern Congressman
Tensions on Capitol Hill never became more inflamed than in May of 1856, when the central issue in America, slavery, was being debated in the U.S. Senate. After a fiery speech by a Massachusetts senator who opposed the spread of slavery into western territories, a South Carolina congressman committed a shocking act of violence.
On May 22, 1856, Congressman Preston Brooks, wielding a walking stick, strode into the U.S. Senate chamber. Seated at his desk, answering routine correspondence, was Senator Charles Sumner, whose oration earlier that week had energized anti-slavery activists in the North.
The South Carolinian strode to Sumner's desk and struck the senator across the head with his cane. As Sumner, dazed and bleeding, struggled to get to his feet, Brooks continued to rain blows upon him for about a minute, until his wooden cane shattered.
Sumner was stitched up by a doctor, but took years to fully recover. Brooks was arrested and released on bail, and was considered a hero throughout the South. People sent him canes to replace the one he had broken beating Sumner.
The startling act of violence, the literal spilling of blood on the floor of the Senate, galvanized factions on both sides of the slavery debate. And with the violence in the Capitol, the nation moved closer to Civil War.
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Illustration: Congressman Preston Brooks attacking Senator Charles Sumner/Getty Images
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Newspaper Sunday: May 20, 2012
In the 1850s the central issue in America was slavery, and the debates over it played out in the country's newspapers. And, it should be noted, those debates often turned violent.
In this week's Newspaper Sunday feature, I invite you to take a look at some articles from the 1850s:
- The New York Tribune, May 20, 1856: Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave an impassioned anti-slavery speech in the Senate, which was well received in some quarters.
- New York Tribune, May 23, 1856: Senator Sumner's speech so offended southerners that he was beaten with a cane by a South Carolina congressman. The New York Tribune broke the news and expressed shock.
- Fayetteville, Observer, August 7, 1856: In the South, Congressman Brooks was often regarded as a hero who had "justly chastised" Senator Sumner.
- The Anti-Slavery Bugle, October 29, 1859: An abolitionist newspaper in Ohio reported the first news of John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
I encourage you to explore the newspapers at the Library of Congress's Chronicling America site. The site is unfortunately quite slow at times, so it may require some patience, but the material you can discover is fascinating.
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Illustration: Scene in a Richmond Barbershop, circa 1850s/Library of Congress
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The 150th Anniversary of "Taps"
Arlington National Cemetery was the site of a remarkable observance earlier today: nearly 200 buglers from across America assembled to commemorate the 150th anniversary of "Taps," the mournful bugle call associated with military funerals.
The story of "Taps" began in the hot Virginia summer of 1862, when the Union Army was stalled in its attempt to advance on the Confederate capital of Richmond. General Daniel Butterfield, who was constantly coming up with improvements for Army life, got the idea of devising a new bugle call to mark the end of day.
With the help of his brigade's bugler, Butterfield came up with "Taps." No one is sure of the exact date the 24-note call was composed, but we do know the bugler, Private Oliver Willcox Norton of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, played it that evening.
"The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our brigade," Norton later wrote.
This afternoon the buglers at Arlington played "Taps" as a large ensemble, and then they fanned out through the enormous cemetery, playing the call at particular tombstones.
According to a story at CNN, 13-year-old Alan Tolbert of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, chose to play "Taps" at the grave of Johnny Clem, a legendary drummer boy of the Civil War.
The Washington Post also covered the event at Arlington National Cemetery.
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More: A General, a Private, and the Story of "Taps"
Photograph: General Daniel Butterfield, composer of "Taps"/Library of Congress
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Visiting Fort McHenry
I recently visited Maryland to see how the state is preparing for the War of 1812 Bicentennial, and a highlight was a visit to Baltimore's Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key, of course, wrote lyrics, which would become known as "The Star-Spangled Banner," after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in September 1814.
Fort McHenry these days is a busy place. Every morning the National Park Service raises the distinctive 15-star, 15-stripe American flag over the fort. On the morning I visited, a school field trip was getting a taste of history by helping to raise the flag and then meeting a reenactor who told a vivid tale of witnessing the 1814 battle.
The fort itself has been carefully preserved, and a new visitor center displays an array of artifacts related to the defense of the fort in 1814 as well as the enduring legend of the fort's iconic flag.
If you're planning to mark the War of 1812 Bicentennial in some way in the next few years, a visit to Fort McHenry is a good place to put on your list.
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Photograph: Raising the 15-star, 15-stripe American flag at Fort McHenry/Photo by Robert McNamara
Image gallery: Baltimore's Fort McHenry
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Newspaper Sunday
I've become a fan of Chronicling America, the truly amazing collection of old newspapers at the Library of Congress. When the site was recently shut down for about a week for maintenance, and I found myself missing the New York Tribune, I realized just how much I had come to enjoy it.
I began using the site for research, as seeing how an event had been reported at the time provides invaluable information and atmosphere. And what I've discovered is that exploring very old newspapers can be extraordinary entertainment. I will often come across odd or interesting items which never quite make it into content for this site, but which add to my understanding of the 19th century.
I thought it would be fun to publish an occasional blog feature devoted to articles from the 19th century. I'll begin with a few links:
- New York Tribune, May 22, 1851: The legendary editor Horace Greeley attended the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, and sent a dispatch to his newspaper, the New York Tribune.
- The Boon's Lick Times, April 24, 1841: You realize insulting presidents is nothing new when you read this brief item describing a man's behavior following the death of President William Henry Harrison.
- New York Tribune, May 7, 1851: Volunteer fire companies in New York City sometimes rumbled like gangs, and this report is headlined "Rioting Among the Firemen."
- The Hannibal Journal, July 15, 1852: The citizens of Hannibal, Missouri were planning a picnic for the town's children, and were also planning to assemble to publicly mourn "The Nation's Pride," Henry Clay.
In case you're wondering, the Hannibal Journal was owned and operated by Orion Clemens. And his younger brother Sam, who would later become known as Mark Twain, may have set the type for that article printed in 1852.
Note: After clicking the links to see the articles, you can click the "persistent link" to access the entire page of the newspaper. And I'd encourage you to really explore the newspapers, they are endlessly entertaining if you love history.
Illustration: Newspaper printer and typesetter, circa 1850/Getty Images
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Today's "Lincoln Invented Facebook" Hoax
Twitter seems to have gone crazy this afternoon over a blog posting about how Abraham Lincoln invented Facebook, or something very similar to it, in 1845.
The blog item, which apparently has already been taken down after quickly going viral, was an entertaining account of a visit to the Lincoln museum in Springfield, Illinois. The blogger said he was doing some research that involved whether Lincoln had ever written anything about P.T. Barnum.
When a researcher retrieved the "Springfield Gazette," it turned out to be, instead of a newspaper one might expect, a prototype of a social networking concept Lincoln had devised. An excerpt from the blog:
"The whole Springfield Gazette was one sheet of paper, and it was all about Lincoln. Only him. Other people only came into the document in conjunction with how he experienced life at that moment."
In other words, Lincoln, more than 150 years before the Winklevoss twins, had come up with the idea for Facebook updates. Yet, sadly for Lincoln, his patent application was denied.
It's a fun "Lincoln was ahead of his time" story, but of course it's a hoax. The blogger included a photo of the "Springfield Gazette," the proto-Facebook. The image immediately raises eyebrows, as it shows a photograph (actually a well-known Daguerreotype of Lincoln) printed on newsprint decades before that was possible. And the staff at the Lincoln Library, when contacted by reporters, declared the whole thing to be a hoax.
And it's perhaps pertinent that the blogger perpetrating the hoax had mentioned Phineas T. Barnum. The "Prince of Humbug" was acquainted with Lincoln, and he would have been amused.
Update: The original blog item seems to still be online, but may be hard to reach at times as traffic swarms it.
Photograph: Daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln, who did not try to patent Facebook/Library of Congress
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The Battle of Baltimore
Late in the summer of 1814 British forces humiliated the United States by torching the Capitol and the White House, and it looked like something even worse was about to happen. A large fleet of the Royal Navy was expected to sail to Baltimore and attempt to capture the city.
An aggressive British general, Sir Robert Ross, openly boasted that he would make Baltimore his winter quarters.
The busy seaport of Baltimore in the hands of the British would have changed the War of 1812 profoundly. With the ability to land troops and resupply them, the British could support a major invasion force smack in the middle of America's East Coast.
The citizens of Baltimore, who had been expecting an unpleasant visit from the British for some time, had been preparing. And when the Royal Navy appeared off Baltimore, the city braced itself for action.
The bombardment of Fort McHenry was immortalized in the poem written by Francis Scott Key when he saw an enormous American flag hoisted above the fort the following morning.
And while the defenders of Fort McHenry held off the Royal Navy, the land invasion led by General Ross was thwarted at the Battle of North Point. American volunteers positioned in earthworks hastily constructed by the citizens of Baltimore forced the retreat of veteran British regiments which had fought against Napoleon in Europe.
The British fleet sailed away. And aboard HMS Royal Oak, preserved inside a hogshead of rum, was the body of General Ross. He had been mortally wounded by an American rifleman while riding toward Baltimore.
Illustration: Death of Sir Robert Ross near Baltimore/Library of Congress
More: The Battle of Baltimore
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The Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Riot broke out when a peaceful outdoor union meeting in Chicago on May 4, 1886 turned chaotic when a bomb was thrown into the crowd. The police opened fire, setting off a chain of events that would deal a severe blow to the growing American labor movement.
Seven policemen and four civilians died in the mayhem in Haymarket Square. More than 100 people were injured. Anarchists were blamed for building and throwing the bomb, and arrests and trials of suspected conspirators became a sensation in newspapers across the country.
Four anarchists were eventually hanged. A governor of Illinois years later granted clemency to some who were convicted, citing the unfairness of their trial. But by that time the violence in Haymarket Square had been used to discredit efforts to organize American workers.
Illustration: Bombing and police gunfire in the Haymarket Riot/Getty Images
Full article: The Haymarket Riot
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Causes of the War of 1812
The War of 1812 Bicentennial will be upon us soon — you'll know it's here when you start seeing tall ships arriving in East Coast cities this summer — and it's a good time to go back to the basics: why did the Americans declare war in June of 1812?
The reason everyone remembers would be impressment of sailors. Britain's Royal Navy would board American ships and seize sailors, essentially kidnapping them and declaring them to be English sailors.
And underlying the tension, which could escalate to cannon fire, over impressment was the general feeling that Britain simply had very little respect for the young American nation.
With the War Hawks in Congress spoiling for a fight, and openly talking about invading and seizing Canada, President James Madison was pushed toward war. Madison finally stated his reasons, and the Congress, though bitterly divided, voted to fight the most powerful nation on earth.
Many thought the idea of going to war was a horrible idea. Yet if you put yourself into the minds of some Americans 200 years ago right now, fighting Britain, on the high seas and in the Canadian woods, did made sense.
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Illustration: The American frigate USS Chesapeake flew a banner proclaiming "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights" from the top of its mast/Library of Congress
Full article: Causes of the War of 1812
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The Founder of the Modern Olympics
As the world prepares for the Olympics in London, it's hard to believe the enormous international spectacle grew from the idea of one eccentric character in the late 1800s.
Pierre de Coubertin, a French nobleman, became interested in the idea of physical education. Why? He believed his country could have avoided humiliation at the hands of the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian War had the French been in better shape.
Baron de Coubertin began traveling to study how athletics had become popular in the United States, and he came up with the idea of an international athletic competition based on the Olympic festivals of ancient Greece.
In the early 1890s the first International Olympic Committee was formed, and the first modern Olympic games were held in Athens in 1896.
Photograph: Baron de Coubertin/Library of Congress
Full article: Pierre de Coubertin
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