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1883 Opening of Coaching Season

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 Opening of the Coaching Season 1883 Harpers Weekly


Early African American Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - Off to Ohio

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Jarena Lee was the first woman to preach under the auspices of the AME church. The child of free black parents, Lee was born in New Jersey in 1783, & worked as a servant in the home of a white family, 60 miles from her home. Strongly affected when she went to hear Richard Allen preach, Lee determined to preach herself. At first rebuffed by Allen, who said that women could not preach at the Methodist Church, Lee persisted; & 8 years after his initial refusal, Allen allowed her access to the pulpit after hearing her spontaneous exhoration during a sermon at Bethel AME Church. Lee traveled all over the United States preaching her gospel of freedom, even venturing into the South to preach to slaves.  The following is a segment of her journey written in her own words.

Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee - Off to Ohio

While I was in Buffalo, a journey to the West was shewed to me so plain that I could not stop in the city of Philadelphia but five weeks only, then left for the western country. I started in a mail stage, and stopped first at Westtown and spoke in our own connexion Church, and then at West Chester in the old Methodist Episcopal white connexion. We had a large congregation of quiet hearers. I felt liberty but no great displays of God's power. I had several meetings in different places, visiting the sick. Having discharged my duty I left there and proceeded on to Old Lancaster and spent some days. We have a good Church there, and great meetings - the word of the Lord grew and was multiplied. God poured out his spirit upon us, and we had a shout in the camp.

I then started for Columbia, Pa. The people are much divided, and it looked very gloomy, but God directed me and he commanded his disciple to be a sheep among wolves, and harmless as doves, notwithstanding the darkness, God aided me in speaking to the people, and aided them in hearing, and his name was praised. The people united, temptations and clouds were vanished away. Then we sung, prayed, spake, and shouted in the spirit, this is true Methodism. I led class, visited the sick and was much favoured with the presence of the Lord. Our faith was increased, our hopes confirmed. The preachers were kind and treated me well, and by their help I travelled on my journey to Harrisburg. Feeling thankful for the visit I had paid it seemed gloomy here, but I spoke there next day.

I took stage and rode to Chambersburg, and spent some days there, and proceeded on to Fredericktown, Maryland, and, spoke there from there to Hagerstown, Macallansburg, and I must confess, It do not remember of ever seeing such a people, for, it seemed strong drink had been their ruin. The circuit minister was there, and we had some signs and wonders to follow after the preaching of the cross of Christ, and I trust to meet some of them on the banks of deliverance, and help to swell the notes of redeeming love.

After the preacher left me I took stage for Pittsburgh, at eight in the evening, rode all night until eight in the morning. I was kindly treated, there were other persons in the stage, four of them gentlemen, as I thought there was one who talked a great deal, wise in his own conceit, about religion, and from that he displayed a quantity of degraded principle, with disgusting language, at which I made several sharp replies, and in my way, reprimanded him and the other gentlemen looked on him with silent contempt, at which he got ashamed, and afterwards treated me with great politeness, and I was comfortable and arrived in Pittsburgh at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. I went to Church that night and heard a sermon from one of my brothers. I met with six or seven ministers, very friendly, and treated me like Christians. I remained in Pittsburgh six weeks, there had been one or two revivals previous to my visit, especially the winter before I arrived, last day of August, 1820. My labors commenced - the field was large - but the Lord was with us - this gaves me much encouragement, I was not ashamed of the Gospel - it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believes, both Jew or Gentile. We had very good meetings, the Elder and preachers, all received me with one accord - thanks to God for his divine goodness.

I felt moved by the Lord to pay Wheeling a visit although we had no society there, I arrived and found but a small class of coloured people with the whites, an old gentleman of color with the elder in charge granted me the Church - the elder being a great preacher of college order. We had a large congregation; I spoke for them once, and gave an exhortation at another time, and felt no difficulty on that head, and after that they could not treat me well enough. And, on the ensuring Sabbath, I helped to lead class; and we all enjoyed ourselves, and on Tuesday I left for Washington, according as I had promised our elder before I left him.

On my arrival there I met kind friends, and a large congregation of coloured people. On Lords day I met the class; the people spoke with humility - it was a melting down time - in the Spirit of God I preached several sermons, visited the sick, and, in this spirit strove to uphold the aged. Feeling a discharge of my duty I left for Steubensville, Ohio, and met a small society - some try Christians there; no Church there; the Baptists granted their Church; we had meetings there, and the Lord was with us - quiet congregations - and the word had effect in the hearts of sinners - and believers were established. I stopped a few days and left in the name of the Lord.

I proceeded on to Mt. Pleasant, and arrived on seventh day evening, and the trustee gave me an appointment on Sabbath morning. At 11 o'clock I was feeble in both body and mind, but the lord was with us according to promise, think not what ye shall say, but open thy mouth and I will fill it saith the Lord, he caused a shaking among the dry bones, that morning. I think if any creature has a right to praise God I have, and that in thankfulness, and I love him because he first loved me. Bless his name. I preached several sermons to large gatherings, but revivals not so manifest as at other places. I had some difficulty in that journey, but only what is common among us; for many times deceitful persons will set the Church on fire but can't burn it up.

Moses saw it as a bush in a flame, yet not consumed. We have to be tried as gold in the fire. After my visit was out a brother (leader in the Church) conveyed me ten miles on my way, I stopped at Sinclairsville; there was an appointment published on the next evening. At 7 o'clock I spoke in the Court house to a large concourse of well behaved and respectable citizens. I felt at liberty and left in peace of mind which makes the work sweet.

I was aided on to Cap-teen, a settlement of coloured people; some from the lower counties; but they are industrious, and have a Church of their own, and were about to send their children to school, I held several meetings and there was some very respectable people of colour - and the Lord was with us - I stopped with an aged family, very respectable, they treated me very kind, and between 2 and 3 weeks,

I left in peace with God and man, and went to Barnsborough and spoke in the white Methodist Episcopal Church, from thence to Zanesville, at which place I felt much discouraged from the appearance of things. I did not think of tarrying there, but at the first appointment I chose the words "I am not ashamed of the Gospel." - Paul. The room was very small for the number of people, after which an old man well scented with ardent spirits, tried to give an exhortation. I was astonished at the scene, the people laughed I got up and went out. I tried to labor again at night and exhort the young ladies to the evil consequences of ill-behavior in the Church of God; after which we had better order, and the old gentleman was discovered to be intoxicated with spirituous liquor, and was disowned from the Church, after which there was a great revival took place among the white Methodists, both rich and poor.

Mrs. Dillin, who once was a Friend, and now a member of the Church, spoke to the Trustees and Ministers, and they opened the Church and I spoke twice in that Church, and after that I spoke in west Zanesville, back of that place, and I still remained among my colored friends, and they seemed much revived; after which they formed a Resolution to build themselves a Meeting House. A Quaker Friend, so called, presented them with a piece of ground to build one on, which they did. Glory to God, for his glory stood over the doors of the Tabernacle.

Many were convicted, and converted, and many added to the old Methodist Church and I left there on New-years day for New-Lancaster, where we had a haunch, standing on a frame of a house for three or four years, and had not been used to preach in; but the Lord opened the way, and a great revival took place among the people, and their eyes being opened, they with willing minds commenced and built a new Church, and god blessed their labors. I preached several Sermons and led class, &&;c. My common way is to visit the sick and afflicted in whatsoever city I may stop in, that I may get my spiritual strength renewed in the Lord. Although I preached the Gospel through the Commission of my Lord, yet I have nothing to boast of.

I opened a Love-Feast in the said Church in New Lancaster. We held Prayer Meetings. I spoke in the White's Church also. The people were very friendly. I met them in Class, and after the lapse of eleven days, I left for Columbus. The Preachers generally were very kind to me. Both white and colored. A worthy brother conducted me on further. It snow'd, and I was very cold, but the Lord was with us, and my mind was free'd. But notwithstanding, I met an antagonist, who was ready to destroy my character, and the principles of the work that God saw good to make me instrumental of doing in his name, which caused me to open the case to the Trustees and Preaches, who were much astonished at him to be preaching four or five years with malice in his heart. I was favored to see him in the morning before he went away, that was the first time he had spoke to me anything like a Christian in that time. He knew from the first period I went to him to satisfy his mind. But his heart was bitter. I felt his spirit like a viper. But the word of the Lord was verified at that time also. "When the Tempter raise a flood against you, I will set up a standard against him." He told me he had sent a letter to Pittsburg to stop me, although I had my Licence from the Bishop, with his own signature. I told him he was a worse enemy to me than I was aware of, and I was ashamed of him, professing to be a Preacher in charge, and setting such an example in a strange laud, and begged him to throw away his prejudices, or he would never obtain the Kingdom of Heaven. He left me in a flash, and I saw him no more until conference.

I wrote a letter to bishop Allen to let him know of my grievances, as I was innocent of any crime. I felt under no obligation to bear the reproaches of progressing Preachers; and I wanted it settled at Conference. But it was looked upon with little effect by the Preachers and Leaders. I laid it before the Conference, and it was settled. But I tarried all winter. Preached, led Class, visited the sick, &&;c., with great success. I bless God for the witness of a good conscience. Old sinners were awakened, and constrained to come trembling, and enquiring the way to Zion.

L. W., a respectable brother from Chillicothe, had never heard a woman preach, and was much opposed to it. An appointment was given me, and when I went into the desk and commenced reading the hymn to commence the worship, he looked at me a while, then got up and went out and stood until I had nearly got through the hymn, and then he came in, when I asked him to pray for us but he refused. I prayed myself, after which I took my text, and felt much liberty in speaking in the spirit indeed. And after meeting he came and shook hands with me in the spirit of a Christian, and next day he came and confessed to me his prejudices had been so great, so much like his father, that he could not unite with me, but now he believed that God, was no respecter of persons, and that a woman as well as a man, when called of God, had a right to preach. He afterwards became a licensed preacher, and we parted in peace.

I took the stage and left for Chillicothe, but there was but one house that would open for me in the city, although I had my recommendation with me. As soon as that friend heard of me she met me in christian bonds, and her house was my home, her husband being a man of christian qualifications, and I went of my mission doing my Father's will. I spoke once in the week and on Sabbath afternoon, to crowded houses; it was like a camp-meeting, and twenty-one lay upon the power of God at one time; after preaching, we called them to be prayed for; some got religion that day and some on the next Sabbath, and the father L. W. became one of my best friends, and a doer of the work. There was large fields of labor open to my view, and I visited both colored and white, and many were concerned about sanctification. I was with them about six weeks, during which time I had an interview with a lady, who informed me she had a call to preach the everlasting gospel of Christ. She was a Presbyterian by profession, and she told me she feared the church government. But the greatest objection, was her husband was a Deist by profession; she also told me of her experience she passed through; it was a broken heart and a contrite spirit. God answers the prayers of such a supplicant, but she could not enjoy that sweet fulness of religion in that situation of life, although very rich as regards this world's goods; also knowing that gold and silver should vanish away, but the word of God should endure forever. And some feel their labors a long time before it comes to perfection. Out Methodist sisters established a prayer meeting, and the people worked in the unity of the spirit, and much good was done in the name of the Holy child. Glory to God for what my heart feels while I use my pen in hand.

I felt peace of conscience and left Chilicothe for Hillsborough to meet a quarterly meeting of W.C., he being Elder at that place; the Governor and his family residing there, six in number, were all Methodists, and one sone a preacher; they had the spirit of christians. The trustee of the Methodist church opened their doors and gave us liberty to hold our quarterly meeting and love feast in their small donation, which was very thankful; after which I left there for Cincinnati, where I spoke to a large congregation.

I stop't at Williamsport and spoke in the white Methodist church to a respectable congregation. I felt liberty in the spirit of God, and we left there about daybreak in the morning. All nature seemed in silence (except the chirping notes of a little bird.) A few rods from us a Panther screamed very loud and sudden, but we could not see him, it being a dense thicket on either side of the road, but the unseen arm of God sheltered us from harm; one of the gentlemen seemed quite used to hearing them.

We arrived safe in Cincinnati about 11 o'clock; the Elder W.C. was very liberal in giving me appointments, and the friends were very affectionate to me, and largest congregations attended. I remained there some time, feeling to be blessed in my weak endeavors to a great extent. The next day after I arrived there, one of our sisters fell sick and I had the pleasure of visiting her on her death-bed and in her last hour she told me in presence of others, her peace was made, and raised her hands toward heaven and told us she was going. This is the end of sister Crosby; who can doubt this faithful saying; by grace ye are saved. A month or more previous, she had buried a daughter, who was a member of our church; before she left the world, she called her young companions and caused them to promise to meet her in heaven, and then closed her eyes triumphing in death. Brother Crosby laid the heavy task on me to preach their funeral sermons, which I did, as feeble a worm as I am, on Sabbath morning. Words of my choice were found in 2d Ephe. 8th v. - "For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Which of itself is a semon to all that believe - glory to God, Christ has overcome the world. And while laboring many tears were shed both in joy and sorrow. But it's better to be one day in the house of the Lord than a thousand in the tents of the wicked.

Another circumstance worthy of notice, was a young man whose heart was in the world and in worldly affairs, or the pursuits of nature, and diverted much of his time on Sabbath days on the Mississippi River, fighting against all impressions of the Spirit of grace, until God stopped him by the heavy hand of his power, in a death-bed affliction. After some time he began to inquire the way to Zion. His mother was also a stranger to the blood of Jesus, but wished me to come and see her son; being conducted to the house, I found him looking like an anatomy. I asked him if he believed in Christ and his prayers with him and all sufficiency to save; is answer was in the affirmatives. We had prayers with him and there was a display of God's power; a white woman screamed and nearly felt to the floor, but strove hard to keep from it. And on that day he acknowledged his Saviour to be reconciled to his poor soul. Praise God! my soul replied. Afterwards he wished me to hold a meeting with as many persons as the room would contain with him, which I accepted; one day and night after, he departed this life, and requested me to preach his funeral sermon at the house before the procession moved to the ground. I spoke from the 14th chap. 13 v., and we had a solemn time; you may anticipate the weight of that important task, but we had joy in the midst of sorrow, and this was the last of James Thompson. I also left his sisters in the last stage of consumption, and she confessed to be in favour with the Lord.

Having finished my visit, I left in steamboat for Dayton. I spoke three times, and tried to preach the whole salvation, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The members of the New-light church deny the divinity of Christ. Once I spoke in a large dwelling of Dr. Esley, after which himself and wife went on a journey to Indiana and wished me to go with them, but I was deprived by a previous engagement, having to attend a camp meeting at Cap-teen.

After my return to Urbanna, Ohio, I took stage for Springfield, and from there to Columbus, and spoke several times. The Elder's class consisted of about twenty; a young man and myself led the class in 1829. The Elder W.C. ordered a camp-meeting for the Cincinnati people, and the brother at Cap-teen and Rev. Bishop Brown, held a conference, and we had a very large camp-meeting, and manifestations of great good, and at the close of the Love-feast, there were thirty-two or three testified that they experienced the love of God. The people of color came out forcibly, and the preachers preached in power. My health was much destroyed by speaking so often and laboring so very hard, having a heavy fever preying upon my system. I was called upon to speak at a camp-meeting, I could scarcely accomplish the task, and I was obliged to take my bed (having also lost my appetite) as soon as my sermon was over.

After a while my particular friends conveyed me to Mount Pleasant in a carriage; the day was pleasant, but in the woods at night we were overtaken by a dreadful storm of thunder, wind and rain, but through the will of Providence I escaped the inclemency of the weather and stopped at brother and sister Hance's; after being medically renovated, I fulfilled an appointment, and commenced to visit the sick in that place, but was arrested by a heavy fever... When I was able to travel, one of the preacher's wives and a kind brother conducted me on to Washington, from which I took stage for Mount Pleasant; labored for them, enjoyed a love-feast with them, and in a few days left for St. Clairsville and the next successive place; then took stage for Zanesville, continuing to labor around the circuit, and then went to Columbus.

I was invited to attend a quarterly meeting at Urbana; we had quite a profitable waiting upon the Lord; it makes me glad when they say let us go up to the house of the Lord. After trying to rest myself four or five weeks, a brother preacher, in company with brother Steward's widow and myself, visited the Indians, she having lived nine years in Sandusky. We heard them preach in their own language, but I could only understand when he said Jesus Christ of God, and the interpreter had gone to conference. I spoke to them in English, was entertained in an Indian family, and that very kindly after which I shook the dust off my feet and left them in peace. Thank the Lord for Urbana. The Elder appointed a camp meetings at Hillsborough; it was nothing to boast off; after which I turned towards Philadelphia. Brother Rains paid my stage fare on to Springfield; from thence endeavored to speak to a small and very quiet congregation; from thence to Columbus and paid seven dollars and a half, and left for Wheeling.
From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

Off to Japan - Japonisme Parasols Painted By American Artists

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.Here are a few parasols reflecting the Japonisme trend.

Alberta Binford McCloskey (1863 – 1911) Eleanor, the Artist's Daughter

Edward Horace Nicholson (1901 – 1966) Lady with Umbrella

Ethel Mars (1876 – 1956) Nice

Ethel Mars (1876 – 1956) Umbrella

Guy Rose (1867 – 1925) The Model

Hamilton Hamilton (1847 – 1928) A Gust of Wind

Hamilton Hamilton (1847 – 1928) Lady with a Parasol

Hamilton Hamilton (1847 – 1928) Stroll through the Garden

Jean Mannheim (1861 – 1945) Lonely Tea Party

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) In Repose

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Red Headed Girl with a Parasol

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Under the Parasol

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Young Lady with Her Sunshade under the Trees

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Young Woman with Parasol

Lillian Mathilde Genth (1876 – 1953) Summer Morning

Lucy Drake Marlow (1890 – 1978) Parasol

Marguerite Stuber Pearson (1898 – 1978) The Red Parasol

Susan Ricker Knox (1874 – 1959) In Lilac Time

William John Hennessy (1839 – 1917) The Japanese Parasol

Sarah Pierce 1767-1852 of The Litchfield Female Academy of Connecticut

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A History of the Litchfield Female Academy

Sarah Pierce, born in 1767, was the 5th child and 4th daughter of Litchfield, Connecticut, farmer and potter John Pierce and his wife Mary Paterson. Sarah’s mother died in 1770, and 2 years later her father remarried and had 3 more children.
Sarah Pierce 1767-1852  Her father died in 1783, leaving her brother John Pierce, responsible for his step-mother and 7 younger siblings. During the Revolutionary War, Pierce became the Assistant Paymaster of the army; and after the war, he was named Commissioner of the Army, responsible for settling the army’s debts.

As he prepared to marry, Pierce sent his younger sisters Mary and Sarah to New York City schools specifically to train to become teachers, so that they could help support their step-mother and younger half-siblings. Returning to Litchfield, Sarah Pierce brought a few students with her from New York and established her school. It was a commercial family undertaking. Her sister Mary handled the boarders and the school accounts, while her sister Susan’s husband, James Brace, also taught in the school.

The Litchfield Female Academy was one of a small group of early schools that played a critical role in shaping later educational, social and economic opportunities for women. Over 3000 young ladies attended the school over its 41 year history. From 1792-1833, the Litchfield Female Academy attracted students from 15 states and territories, Canada, Ireland and the West Indies.

In 1792, the school differed little from the large number of small female academies opening throughout the country, especially in the northeastern states. Pierce first offered a limited curriculum of a smattering of English, ancient and European history, geography, arithmetic and composition. Pierce continuously improved and expanded her academic curriculum, offering many subjects rarely available to women, including logic, chemistry, botany, and mathematics.

At the same time, Pierce experimented with innovative ways to unite the academic and ornamental subjects. Students drew and painted maps and made charts of historical events to reinforce geography and history lessons. Students also illustrated poetry, literature, and mythological and biblical readings with elaborate embroideries and detailed watercolor paintings. Botany and natural history lessons were often illustrated with watercolor drawings.

Although primarily interested in a strong academic curriculum, Sarah Pierce knew that teaching the ornamental subjects was critical to the success of her school. In the 18th century, most wealthy parents were willing to invest in a son’s education, because it increased his chances of pursuing a profitable career. For young women, advanced educational opportunities were few, and the ability of their families to pay the high cost of an education became a symbol of wealth.

The decorative paintings and needleworks made by the girls at female academies were hung in their parents' formal parlors as proof of family prosperity. Learning dancing, music, foreign languages, art and other ornamental subjects was also important for those students who wanted to become teachers, start their own academies, or marry well.

Sarah Pierce encouraged her students to become involved in benevolent and charitable societies. The Litchfield Female Academy students organized to support local missionary, bible and tract societies and raised money for the training of ministers.

Two of her students, sisters Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote books; others became teachers.
Sarah Pierce 1767-1852  Piece never married and died at the age of 83 years old. The Litchfield Enquirer newspaper published an obituary on January 22, 1852 which read "We regret the necessity which compels us to announce the departure from this life of one who has perhaps been more extensively known for a period of sixty years than any other lady in New England. Miss Sarah Pierce died at her residence in this village on Monday morning, the 19th last, at the advanced age of 83 years. In 1792, Miss Pierce established a Female Seminary in this place which, as it was the first institution of the kind in this part of the country required great celebrity and pupils resorted to it from distant States as well as from various parts of our own State. This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut under the name of the 'Litchfield Female Academy.' Miss Pierce retired from the institution several years ago and has since lived in quiet enjoyment of an ample fortune, universally respected for her constant piety, systematic benevolence and cheerful hospitality."

Entrepreneurial Slaves at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello 1805-1808

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Anne Cary Randolph’s Household Accounts of Monticello, 1805-1808


The Library of Congress tells usthat the household and kitchen accounts maintained by Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter, Anne Cary Randolph (1791-1826), at Monticello from August 1805 to October 1808 illustrate the vitality of the undirected activities and the entrepreneurial spirit of the slaves on Jefferson's plantations in Albemarle County, Virginia. These accounts of provisions purchased from Jefferson's slaves, other slaves in the neighborhood, and local free whites also offer a rare view of the interaction of plantation mistresses, slaves, and free white women.
Between 1805 and 1808 Thomas and Martha Jefferson’s teenaged granddaughter kept her household accounts in the blank pages of a notebook previously used by her grandparents. This essay reveals and contextualizes Randolph’s practice of trading with Monticello’s slaves.
Students of slavery in the United States have begun to explore the significance of slaves' personal land plots and crops in the Southern plantation system. Plantation owners and managers were sharply divided on the subject. Should slaves be allowed to raise their own crops? What animals and crops should they be allowed to raise? Should they be allowed to sell or trade these crops? And to whom? Four years of accounts from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello suggest how these questions were answered in one of America's most notable plantation communities.
Scattered evidence exists to suggest that plantation owners purchased food and even money crops, such as tobacco, from their slaves. For example, James Barbour, a neighbor of James Madison, routinely purchased chickens, eggs, and brooms from his slaves in the 1820s and 1830s, according to information in the Barbour Papers at the University of Virginia. Household accounts were normally kept by the plantation mistress or her daughter, and unfortunately women's records of this kind were seldom saved for posterity. However, Anne Cary Randolph's accounts are an exceptionally coherent, detailed, and lengthy record for a plantation as large and important as Monticello. Their survival is undoubtedly due to their location in the same memorandum book in which Jefferson had maintained a record of legal cases tried in Virginia.
Anne Cary Randolph, the child of Martha Jefferson Randolph, Jefferson's oldest daughter, and her husband, Thomas Mann Randolph, repurposed the blank pages of a volume previously used by both her grandparents. She turned the volume over and entered the accounts so that would be read in the opposite direction (and would appear upside down) from the text in the rest of the volume. This practice was not uncommon in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when paper was scarce or expensive. When this volume was microfilmed, Anne Cary Randolph's accounts were filmed first, and the remaining pages were rotated and filmed in reverse order.   This online presentation restores the pages to a sequence that more closely matches the original volume.
The accounts begin in 1805, when Anne Cary Randolph was fourteen years old, and cover a four-year period. They reflect what was in essence an apprenticeship preparing Anne Cary Randolph for marriage and the occupation of plantation mistress. The accounts end in October 1808, following Anne's September 19 wedding to Charles Lewis Bankhead and shortly before the couple's departure for the Bankhead family homestead in Port Royal, Virginia. The Bankheads soon settled at Carlton, a plantation on the west side of Monticello mountain, where Anne Cary Randolph Bankhead was able to use the training she had received as a teenager at Monticello.
Anne Cary Randolph carefully recorded the transactions of purchases from Jefferson's slaves, other slaves in the neighborhood, and local free whites for the use of the kitchen at Monticello. It is not clear from the records whether all of the items purchased were used solely for the white residents and visitors at Monticello or whether some of the goods were shared with the slave and free white staff. Anne Cary Randolph noted the date of purchase, the name of the seller, the name and number of items purchased, and the amount of money in pounds, shillings, and pence paid or credited to each person.
These records contain material important to the study of slave communities and the plantation economy, such as the occupations of slaves and free whites, products sold and not sold by slaves, the amount of money and credit given for various items, and information about the rhythm of plantation life. They also contain information vital to genealogists and descendants of those people mentioned in the accounts, locating slaves at Monticello and neighboring plantations by name in time and space.
These records suggest answers to many, though not all, of the basic questions about the importance of slave land plots and crops. Did a few slaves dominate the trade with the plantation mistress? In fact, the accounts do reveal that only five of the seventy-one active traders had ten or more transactions. Wormley (1781-aft.1851), a gardener at Monticello, sold food items to Miss Randolph on forty-three occasions over four years to become the leading slave purveyor of foodstuffs to the Monticello kitchen. The accounts reveal that slaves never sold products of cattle, sheep, or hogs to the Monticello kitchen. Were slaves not allowed to own these animals? Apparently not. The accounts show that the overseers' wives and slaves competed in sales of some provisions, such as chickens, eggs, and honey, but not in the sale of butter or tallow. They show that some individuals, such as Ursula (1787-aft.1824) and John Hemings (1775-aft.1830), routinely collected the money due to other slaves. Chickens, eggs, and vegetables were the items most often sold by slaves to the Monticello kitchen, according to these accounts, and the slaves received money and credit for their goods.
Unfortunately there are no corresponding accounts to show what the slaves did with their money. No records exist to reveal what they purchased or whether they purchased items from each other, from stores in nearby Charlottesville or Milton, from itinerant peddlers, or from neighboring free whites. No records show whether Jefferson or his overseers maintained a store for "sundries" or simply sold the slaves additional pork or corn. Indeed, no records reveal whether the slaves saved their money to purchase their own or a relative's freedom.
The accounts also raise questions vital to interpreting the interrelationships of slaves and white women in the plantation setting. For example, what were the economic relationships of white women and slaves, women and children, slaves and overseers' wives, and among enslaved men and women? They raise equally important questions about the spirit and ethos of the slave community in a large plantation setting. One thing is clear. The pattern of human interaction on the plantation was exceedingly complex and blacks and whites were joined by more than simply a master-slave relationship.
When Anne Cary Randolph was keeping these records, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was the third president of the United States, a position he held from 1801 to 1809. He was also the owner of a large plantation complex including holdings in the Virginia counties of Albemarle, Goochland, James City, Cumberland, Amherst, Rockbridge, and Bedford. Altogether Jefferson's properties comprised more than ten thousand acres manned by nearly two hundred slaves and free whites. The overseers and most of the artisans and foremen were white, while the laborers, apprentices, and artisan's assistants were generally slaves either owned or rented by Jefferson and his wife Martha, his daughters Martha and Mary and their husbands Thomas Mann Randolph and John Wayles Eppes, or his grandchildren and their spouses.
While he was president, Jefferson failed to maintain detailed rolls of his slaves in his "farm book," or plantation record. The only existing roll for this period is that for his Bedford properties in 1805, which lists seventy-one slaves of all ages. Consequently, the household accounts kept by Anne Cary Randolph are additionally valuable as a contemporary record of Jefferson's Albemarle County slaves. They list seventy-nine residents of Albemarle, including seventy-one slaves. In 1810 Jefferson's rolls listed 126 slaves of all ages at the Albemarle plantations and eighty-six on his Bedford properties.

Women Giving 4th of July Orations & Presentations in Early 19C America

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For the first 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Indpendence on the 4th of July, American women would present their appreciation of the nation's hard-won liberty as handiwork in the form of banners, flags, or standards to groups of soldiers of the United States military. The presentation ceremony would allow the women to speak about what the new nation & its defenders meant to them, even though they would not be allowed to vote until 1920.

Their speeches usually were not specifically about the signing of the document or about the founding fathers, the more immediate goal was to praise & inspire the local defenders of freedom who were alive and present at the moment.

 John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Members of the City Troup and other Philadelphia Soldiery

1805 Eunice Quinby of Kennebunk, Maine


Standand presented to the Stoudwater Light-Infantry Company, Kennebunk, Maine, July 4, 1805. After a parade by the Stoudwater Light-Infantry Company, they were joined by the Falmouth Cavalry, Capt. William Brackett, and all marched to Capt. John Quinby’s “where were assembled the ladies of the village and its vicinity, who displayed their patriotism by presenting the Light-Infantry with an elegant standard," accompanied by the following address by Miss Eunice Quinby:  The martial ardor which actuates the Stroudwater Light Infantry, affords a pleasing satisfaction, while the celerity, with which, from a state of ignorance, it has obtained an extensive knowledge of military discipline, is matter of surprise to every beholder. You have begun the career of glory; and we trust that that honor which is the Soldiers sole reward, will amply compensate you, in whose breasts are implanted the love of liberty, of virtue and of your country, for all the toil, anxiety, and danger, to which you are liable. Ours is the land of Liberty, and of happiness; we peculiarly enjoy the blessings of peace and prosperity; but these advantages are to be preserved only by the smiles of an over ruling Providence, and the virtue and watchfulness of our citizens. On those of the military capacity we depend for protection from foreign invasion and domestic usurpation; to effect which, unremitted vigilance, patience of discipline and scorn of danger, are absolutely necessary. Being sensible that you are deeply impressed with the truth of this observation, I have the honor, in the name of the Ladies of Falmouth, to offer this standard to your protection; let it ever by the signal of Liberty; May that which is now intrusted to your heroism and magnanimity, never be deserted; may the motto which is inscribed thereon, be indelibly imprinted on all your hearts; and may that spark of ambition, which at first warmed your breasts, and which is now kindled into a flame, never, never, by extinguished.“Party at Maj. Webster’s,” Kennebunk Gazette, 17 July 1805, 2.


1807 Miss Archer of Salem, Massachusetts


On July 4, 1807, in Salem, Massachusetts, "The Mechanic Light Infantry, a new Company commanded by Capt. Perley Putnam, made their first appearance in uniform on this day, and received an elegant Standard in the morning from Col. Archer, which was delivered by the Colonel's daughter, of eleven years of age, with the following pertinent Address: To the Mechanic Light Infantry" Gentlemen, I am directed by my father, who has the honour of commanding the Salem regiment, to request the Mechanic Light Infantry Company to accept this Standard, with his most sincere wishes, for their prosperity and honour. It will be easily conceive[d], with what pleasure I obey the command, when the respectable and martial appearance of the corps is a satisfactory pledge that it will not dishonour the gift. My parent views with pleasure the ardour and emulation which inspire the citizen soldiers who compose this regiment, and feels the greatest confidence they will never forfeit that proud title by the violation of the laws of honour, of humanity, of their country, and their God. The elegant and valuable corps which is now united to this regiment, affords a lively satisfaction and well grounded hope, that the spirit, harmony, discipline, and love of order, by which it has hitherto distinquished itself, will still continue to assign it a high rank in the militia of this Commonwealth. The Mechanic Light Infantry may rest assured, that the alacrity, with which they have organized and equipped themselves, and the perseverance by which they have attained to the honourable state of proficiency which we now view, has not passed unnoticed by the commander of the regiment, nor by their fellow citizens in general. It is a maxim of our father Washington (heaven be praised that his memory, is still dear to us!) that to preserve peace, we must be prepared for war. Peace is our aim, and preparation is our security. This glorious anniversary can testify, that a nation of freemen, possessing the hearts, can never want the means, of defending their country. The American Eagle shall never wing his way to spoil the peace of other nations; but, hovering over our heads, he will animate us to victory, in defence of our wives, our children, and our firesides. Gentlemen of the Mechanic Light Infantry Company! I need not remind you of the protection which my sex, and tender years like mine, claim from the soldier. Accept this Standard, with our entire confidence in your worthyness, your patriotism, your valour and conduct; and in the name of Washington, and our common country, accept our warmest wishes for your happiness and glory. Salem Register, 9 July 1807, 3.

1839 The Cleveland Ohio Grays in the Public Square by Joseph Parker

1814 Francis Warren Fraser, of New York


In New York, to New York Independent Veteran Corps of Artillery, under command of Capt. Chapman. "At the quarters of their Captain,” Mrs. Fraser gave the following address:  Gentlemen, I congratulate you on the 38th Anniversary of American Independence—a blessing which cost you the privation, toils, and perils of a seven years arduous contest. With heartfelt pleasure do I view the warworn Veteran, claiming no exemption for age or infirmity, again draw his sword in his country’s cause. As a feeble testimony of my respect, permit me to present your honourable corps a Standard, consisting of Thirteen Stripes, the number of our Revolutionary States; Blue, predominating, is emblematic of the fidelity of our immortal Washington, and his brave comrades of the revolution; Red, indicative of that precious blood shed in obtaining our Independence; and White, studded with golden flowers, representing the blessing which accompany an honourable peace; the Pointed Cannon, in a field of white, surmounted with your appropriate motto (Pro Deo Et Patria) will forcibly remind you of the purposes and obligations of your association. Veterans! Accept this Standard! May you always display it in your country’s cause and furl it with honour!  National Advocate, 7 July 1814, 2.


1815 Mrs. Ingalls of Bridgton, Maine


In Bridgton, Maine, “a numerous and respectable collection of the Ladies of Bridgeton assembled and presented to the Bridgeton Light Infantry, a most elegant stand of new colors accompanied by the following address by Mrs. Ingalls, who was deputed by the Ladies for that purpose”  Sir--The Ladies of Bridgeton, have deputed me to present to you on their behalf these colors in token of their high regard for the institutions of the militia in general, and for the Bridgeton Light Infantry, in particular. National liberty and independence are the design and end of the militia establishment of our highly favored republic. War is a casual duty, but should not be suffered to become a distinct profession in a free state. the protection of your wives, your children, your mothers and sisters, and the sacrifice of life in the defence of the rights & independence of your beloved country are duties (we doubt not) considered by the members of the Bridgeton Light Infantry company much too sacred to be intrusted to mercenary hands. Under these banners, the consecrated emblems of our national liberty and independence, we have the highest confidence that the Bridgton Light Infantry will ever in the hour of danger be found doing their duty. Permit me gr [sic], through you, to tender to each individual of your associates as well as yourself, the salutations of the high respect and consideration of the Ladies of Bridgeton.

“American Independence. Bridgeton Celebration,” Eastern Argus, 19 July 1815, 1.

1815 Nancy Prescott, of New Sharon, Maine


On Tuesday, 4th inst. the republicans of New Sharon and a large number from the neighboring towns, met to celebrate the anniversary of independence. About 70 ladies dressed in white uniform, presented a beautiful set of colors to the Light Infantry company commanded by Capt. Baker; the Company, ladies and a large assemblage of spectators forming a hollow square, the following address on presenting the colors was made by Miss Nancy Prescott.

"Accept, Sir, this Standard from the Ladies of New Sharon as an indication of their high respect for the New Sharon Light Infantry. Feeling at the same time the strongest assurance that this Emblem of National Honor will never be tarnished in the hands of Gentlemen who have shown such an uniform attachment to virtue and sound principles; and what is of equal consequence, to the constituted authorities of their country. I therefore congratulate you upon the peace you now possess; may you ever be mindful of the privileges you enjoy. Should an offensive war be waged against your peace and tranquility, and you called to render a more active service to your country, may the God of Israel direct you; may he lead you valiantly to the fight, illuminate your path, conduct you through all difficulties which may be found in your way, until you shall have fully and honorably redressed your country's wrongs.""Celebration at New Sharon," American Advocate and Kennebec Advertiser, 15 July 1815, 3.
James Goodwyn Clonney (American genre artist, 1812–1867) Militia Training 1841

1819 Jane Wade of Belleville, New Jersey


On July 5, 1819, a Fourth of July celebration in Belleville, New Jersey, citizens assembled in front of Capt. Ezekiel Wade's establishment. A group of young ladies were there dressed in white, to present a flag to Capt. Dow's Company of Belleville Washington Volunteers. Miss Jane Wade, escorted by two other ladies, unfurled the banner and presented it to Capt. Dow. Wade spoke on the occasion:  Sir--In behalf of the young ladies of Belleville, I have the honor to present to you for the use of your Company of Belleville Washington Volunteers, a Standard of Colours. These you will please to accept as an expression of their high satisfaction in noticing the expeditious manner in which this corps have been organized, and the martial appearance which they exhibit; and they cannot but indulge the hope that in the defence and support of this Standard, the Belleville Washington Volunteers will be influenced by the same spirit of magnanimity and heroism which so highly distinguished the illustrious Chief, whose name they have assumed.  "Anniversary Celebration," Centinel of Freedom,20 July 1819, 2.


1821 Jane E. Holmes of New York


An elegant Standard, painted by that celebrated artist, Childs, of New York, was, on 4th of July, presented by Miss Jane E. Holmes, to the Federalist Artillery Company of this city. The execution of the flag, was equal to the beauty and symmetry of the design; both contributing to display, in the most striking and forceable manner, the objects for which it was intended. Miss Holmes, on presenting the Standard, delivered a very tasteful and appropriate address to the company, which was responded to by Lieut. Foster Burnet, the officer who received the colours, in terms of feeling and patriotism, peculiarly adapted to the occasion. The following is the address and response:  Gentlemen of the Federalist artillery, I present you with this banner--I am sure it will never be disgraced in your hands. Should the fate of war wrest it from you, it will not be until your cannon will have ceased to roar, and your lifeless forms have slept on the bosom of your parent earth. The Star-Spangled Flag of America, has been the pillow in death, of Pike and Lawrence; but such untoward events of battle, will, I trust and hope, never be able to sever from your hands, the Standard which I have now the honor of presenting you.  City Gazette and Daily Advertiser [Charleston, SC], 6 July 1821, 2.


1821 Eletia Hubball of Alexandria, Virginia


On July 4, 1821, in Alexandria, Virginia, Eletia Hubball, "a young lady who had been elected by her associates to present the standard, made her appearance, accompanied by six of her female friends, and bearing the most beautiful flag we have seen for many days." The women presented the flag to the Company of Light Infantry, commanded by Capt. Nicholas Blasdell, at a "place appointed for the ceremony," probably near the market square. Miss Hubball "was received with 'presented arms,' and an enlivening air from the band."She then responded with the following:  Citizen Soldiers, You have associated in celebrating the birth day of your independence. In compliance with a request of my female associates, I am about to present you a standard in manifestation of our confidence, & as a tribute of respect to the company of Independent Volunteers. Though the order of society, our daily habits and physical powers, restrict us to less active duties and forbid us a participation in your social, and convivial pleasures, and manly exercises of the day; yet we feel with you a glow of satisfaction. To us as to you, it recalls to our mental view events which inspire us with veneration for the memories of our Fathers of the Revolution, & excite in us, a lively interest for the honor of our common country. May this day be ever dear to the descendants of free men: Our fathers dared to will to be free, and were free: may their sons ever will it. Our motives in addressing you on this occasion are not to excite in you a sense of noble daring, or a just appreciation of your rights as freemen. The songs of freemen want no incentives to action: Liberty and honor are inate principles, fostered by paternal care. They have nobly will'd and bravely dared. The historic page records the noble achievements, and gallant actions in their country's cause; on the ocean and on the land their prowess stands pre-eminent; the haughty foe has struck his proud flag to our brave and hardy tars, and bent his proud crest to the strong arm of your brothers in arms. From pole to pole, the goddess of liberty has proclaimed the merited applause of her sons.The sons of freedom assuming the manly and dignified attitude of Citizen Soldiers, and emulating each other in the acquirements of military discipline, to enable them in the hour of danger to defend their country, maintain their liberty and protect us from licentious and daring invaders, must ever possess in our hearts an influence superior to the ordinary impressions created by social intercourse. Receive then your flag, and defend it worthy of yourselves and fathers, and we fervently trust that in your pursuit of discipline and military glory, it will never by tarnished with vice or immorality prove to the world that morality and virtue are the concomitants of the Citizen Soldier. Should the tocsin of war be again sounded, and our happy country be invaded by the enemies of liberty, while you bravely march to chide them for their presumption we will offer up to the god of battles our prayers for your protection, relying, that you will ever hold in dear remembrance, your motto, "Columbia, Fortitude and Freedom."  (Alexandria Gazette, 7 July 1821, 2)

Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884) Making Ammunition 1855

1821 Miss Sheppard of Baltimore, Maryland


The forty-fifth anniversary of our national jubilee was celebrated by this corps Fell's Point Columbian Blues of Baltimore, Maryland, in a manner peculiarly grateful and flattering to its members. Early in the morning, they were presented with an elegant standard by the elder daughers of Col. Thos. Sheppard, who "with great complaissance and at the sacrifice of much time had worked the flag--the embroidery displays a correctness of design, and neatness of execution, highly honorable to the ladies."  The volunteers having paraded at the quarters of the captain, were marched with an excellent band of music to the dwelling of Col. Sheppard, where were assembled Brig. Gen M'Donald, and his aids Messrs. Davis and Van Wyck, with several officers and soldiers of our revolutionary stuggle. Miss Sheppard in offering the flag, addressed Capt. Brays in nearly the following words:  Sir--We feel much pleasure in presenting this ensign to a corps so ancient and respectable as the Fell's Point Columbian Blues. In the discharge of this task, we will not betray a doubt of the patriotism and valour of the company under your command, by recommending the standard to their martial care. The volunteers of this land are the natural guardians of their natal soil. Standing armies are regarded with a jealous eye by the genius of our republic, and in their absence the country must rely for protection and support upon her free-born citizen soldiers. A well organized body of this description, honest in its views, undaunted in its conduct, and actuated by the sacred fire of liberty, will forever oppose an impregnable barrier to the invading foe. 

Allow us to express a hope, that the God of Battles may protect you in the hour of danger; that the recollections of your wives and chldren may nerve your arms in the day of trail; and that returning with your laurels to the sympathies of home, you may evince to the world, that like Cincinnatus of old, or the departed Father of our American union, you can blend the intrepidity of heroes with the civic virtues of private men.  Baltimore Patriot,7 July 1821, 2.

1822 Sylvia Borden of Fall River Massachusetts


At Fall River, Mass. On July 4, 1822, Miss Sylvia Borden presented an “elegant standard” purchased by the “ladies of the village” to Ensign Thomas D. Chaloner, on behalf of the Fall River Light Infantry. The event took place on the grounds in front of Col. Durfee’s Hotel.  Gentlemen of the Fall River Infantry, On the day an altar was erected to liberty in this Western Hemisphere; and the blessings of Heaven hallowed the offering. May the same principles, which, in your fathers, produced our Independence, long exist in you, to defend it.” “Ensign Chaloner, The ladies of this village have the honor to present, through you, this Standard to the Fall-River Light Infantry. Accept it, sir, as a pledge of their esteem, both for your virtues and your valor—Happy, if they can furnish one motive to the brave, or contribute one ray to the glow of patriotic ardor which this day enkindles. Should our country again be invaded, and you called upon to unfurl this banner in defence of its liberties, we are confident you will preserve it untarnished and pure. You will yield to none but the hand of time, to whose alone, it can be gracefully surrendered. The temples of your God, the tombs of your fathers, and the firesides of your families, your virtues as citizens, and your courage as soldiers, will gallantly defend. But may the courage on which we so confidently rely, glow only in your bosoms—may the sound of war and the clash of arms never call it into action; and the peace and liberty of our country, like the smooth surface of the ocean, appear still more sublime, when we know her greatness in the tempest.  Rhode-Island Republican, 17 July 1822, 2.


1826 Mary Felt of New Ipswich, New Hampshire


At New Ipswich, New Hampshire, July 4, 1826, "a large and brilliant procession of ladies, who had procured a very superb standard" which was presented to the company of Grenadiers by Miss Mary Felt on the grounds of the meeting house, accompanied with the following address, In a world where it is our lot to be surrounded with dangers, and perpetually exposed to the rude attacks of the lawless and abandoned of our own species, to guard ourselves against the possible evils that may assail us, is the plain dictate of reason and prudence. To us, who are by nature weak and defenceless, belong not the daring spirit, the manly courage, and the heroic valor, to which we must be forever indebted, for the security of those inestimable rights and privileges, which, under a free government, we so abundantly enjoy. These distinguishing qualities are the peculiar attributes of those, to whom alone we can look for support and protection. But if we are dependent upon others for these invaluable blessings, we would not be unmindful of our own duty. Although, Sir, the labor, the difficulty and the danger devolve upon your sex; it is for us in the peaceful retirement of domestic life to practise those virtues and cherish those principles, which will dignify and adorn our own characters, and at the same time have a salutary and permanent influence upon the life and conduct of the guardians and protectors of our dearest rights. Desirous of offering a small tribute of gratitude, for the mentorious exertions you have made to prepare yourselves for the arduous duties of citizens and soldiers, the Ladies of New-Ipswich have procured this Standard, and in their behalf I would present it, earnestly requesting that you would accept it, with their warmest wishes for your success. Should it, in the happy times of peace, have a tendency to stimulat you to acquire a more correct and perfect discipline, and, in times of peril, should it animate you to more vigorous exertion in defence of your country, our highest anticipations will be realized. Should the gloomy shade of war, ever again in portentous darkness, hang over our peaceful horizon, may this Standard, on which are displayed the arms of our country, forever be an incentive to noble deeds and generous achievements.  "Fourth of July," Farmers' Cabinet, 22 July 1826, 3.


1827 Jane Hobbs of Pelham, New Hampshire


Jane Hobbs and a group of ladies presented a flag to the assembled Rifle Company of Pelham, New Hampshire, commanded by Capt. Enoch Marsh, on July 4, 1827. Miss Hobbs addressed the members of the Rifle Company:  Permit me, gentlemen officers of the Rifle company, in behalf of a number of respectable ladies of this place, to address you, and the brave soldiers under your command. More than half a century has passed away since this memorable fourth of July became an epoch in the history of these United States. Ill would it become me on any other occasion than the present, to call your attention by an allusion of mine, to the inestimable privileges we enjoy, which cost nothing less than the blood of the hero and the patriot. Our nation is the wonder and astonishment of the civilized world; it is the freest, the happiest and most prosperous nation under the sun; its civil and religious institutions are based on the broad principles of the rights of men. None is molested or made affraid [sic], but all may rest under his own vine; everything of a temporal nature is ours; even the tiger is led as it were to flowery bands by a child. This Canaan of happiness was won by our fathers. Yes, the patriotic and gallant sons of Columbia, led on by the beloved Washington, made the purchase, endured privations, hardships, toils and fatigues, unknown to us, and for little or no reward but the gratitude of a grateful country. Most of them have passed away as the current of time passes, and have mingled their dust with its kindred dust; and we indulge the fond hope that their immortal spirits have ascended on high and entered that kingdom where their peace and joy shall be lasting as an eternity. When our political fathers fearlessly sounded the trumpet of freedom, every patriotic heart thrilled with hope and fear. The day was momentous. The threatening vengance [sic] of a tyrannic foe, like some dark terriffic [sic] cloud obscured its bright effulgence which hope painted in vivid colours. The storm of war lowers--it passes away, the scene ended and we realize every thing anticipated. These United States are looked upon as a pattern of political consistency by the civilized world; nor is their philanthropy and patriotism less regarded, nor should it be, since their brave sons so courageously presented their breasts to the shafts of battle in defence of their rights; and sprinkled the alter of their independence with their blood. And since patriots and heroes bled for this rich inheritance of ours, hold it sacred and inviolate; and as a pledge you will do so, be pleased to receive this standard from this association of ladies in this town, impressed with a simile of the freedom of our country. Be assured that we entertan the high opinion of a true patriot and soldier, which they justly merit, and shall at all times cheerfully lend our aid in any thing that may add to their happiness, or mitigate their sorrows and toils. This standard, a symbol of our dear bought rights, suffer not to be dishonoured or invaded by any. Tarnish not the achieved glory of an American soldier. and we sincerely hope that the time will soon come when the standard of the cross will supersede a standard like this, and render it useless. When the habiliments of war and the instruments of death shall be no more used in this our fallen world. When our brothers shall learn war no more. When no more garments shall be rolled in blood. When the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and nation shall not lift up sword against nation. This will be the happy case when all nations shall gather around the standard of the cross, and the gospel shall have its effect upon the hearts of men; for wars and fightings come from the depravity of man. Trust not in sword and spear, nor in a coat of mail, but in Him who holds the destinies of the nations in his hands, and then should the enemy come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them.  "Communication. Fourth of July, at Pelham," Farmers' Cabinet, 21 July 1827, 2.


1830 Anstiss W. Bradford of New Boston, New Hampshire


A flag presentation at New Boston, New Hampshire, on July 4, 1830, included "about 90 young ladies under the direction of Pearly Dodge and Waterman Burr." At the town square, "a new and elegant Standard (a present from the ladies of New-Boston to the Company of Artillery)" was presented in a ceremony. Miss Anstiss W. Bradford "in behalf of the company of ladies made the following address,  Sir,--While the sons of our great and happy Republic are reminded by the return of another, anniversary of her Independence, of the unequalled blessings which Divine Priovidence has bestowed on their country, her daughters are not insensible to those distinguished favors. Nor are they ignorant of the great importance of an intelligent, virtuous and patriotic Militia, as a mean of preserving the privileges instrumentally obtained by the wisdom of our progenitors in council, and their valor in the field of battle. Actuated by these sentiments, the Ladies in New-Boston, wish on this occasion, to give a substantial token of their attachment to the interests of their country. They have accordingly directed me to request you, Sir, as the representative of the Company of Matross, here assembled, to accept this Standard. Permit me to express their confident expectation, that should the threatened liberties of our Republic call you to their defence, you will promptly rally around this banner, and display that courage, magnanimity and perseverance that will do honor to your flag. (Farmers' Cabinet, 10 July 1830, 3; "American Independence," New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette, 19 July 1830, 2.)


1832 Cecilia F. Poor of Methuen, Massachusetts


Another flag presentation occurred in Methuen, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1832, when a group of females presented a standard to the Methuen Light Infantry. Miss Cecilia F. Poor was chosen among the 65 women present to give the address to the soldiers assembled for the celebration:  Citizen soldiers: We are assembled together on this day to commemorate the birth of our national independence--a day of jubilee--to celebrate with joy the emanicipation of our country from the yoke of bondage and oppression. Dear to the recollection of every son and daughter of America, is that period when the master spirits of our revolution proclaimed to the nations of the earth, that we "were and of right ought to be free and independent.

We hail with pleasure the return of this our natal day sacred to the birth of American liberty; we raise our eyes to heaven with gratitude that we are this day permitted to enjoy the high privileges for which our fathers fought and bled. And it is to you, citizen soldiers, sons of sires so noble--that our hopes are now directed to protect those rights, and that liberty purchased at a price so dear.
Reposing implicit confidence in your patriotism and integrity, permit me in behalf of the ladies of Methuen to present to you this standard--may its folds never be unfurled but in the glorious cause of liberty and freedom. Should hostile foes invade our shores, should the clarion of war echo over these now peaceful hills, may the recollection of this event inspire your hearts with patriotism, and nerve your arm to protect your homes and your fire sides. Around this banner, should your country call you to the field, make you rally, and when once the glittering steel has left its scabbard, drawn in defence of trampled rights, let it never return again to rest till success shall crown your arms with victory and the olive branch of peace return again to our peaceful vallies.
Essex Gazette, 14 July 1832, 3.

1839 Mrs. Elijah Boyden of Marlborough, New Hampshire


The ladies of Marlborough having procured a military standard for the Marlborough Cadet Company, deemed the 4th instant [1839] an appropriate day for the presentment. For this purpose the company paraded on that day, under the command of Capt. N. Converse, and proceeded to the grounds of the house of Charles Holman, Jr., where the ladies were assembled. At 11 o'clock, A.M. the standard was presented to the company by Mrs. Elijah Boyden, with the following address:  Cadets,-- The ladies of Marlborough have procured this standard, which they have directed me to present to your company. One motive we have in making you a present of this military ensign, is to testify our respect for the company, and our approbation of the gentlemanly and soldierlike conduct of the members since its organization. But we are prompted to this act by another, a higher, and as we think, a nobler motive. As women, we appreciate the high privileges we enjoy in this happy, this blessed country. When we contrast our own condition with that of our sex in some other parts of the world at the present day; when we reflect that by the institutions and laws of this country, our rights and privileges are duly protected, and that woman rises to her proper elevation in society, --we cannot but feel gratitude to God, and the soldiers of freedom, for the high privileges conferred upon us. Upon you, Cadets, devolves the duty, in part, of defending the country from foreign aggession, and its institutions and laws from the perils of domestic insurrection. Accept this standard, and let it at all times incite you to the conduct of good citizens and good soldiers.  "Proceedings at Marlborough on the Fourth," New Hampshire Sentinel, 17 July 1839, 1.


1853 Catharine Sinclair of California


Another flag presentation by a woman occurred in California on July 4, 1853, when Mrs. Catharine Sinclair presented a banner, accompanied by a speech, to the First California Battalion. Mrs. Sinclair said to the militia assembled in the outdoor heat:  I tender you this flag. It tolls of the energy and sublime courage of the men who established your independence. . . .Take it from the hands of a woman. Be true to it and to the principles it represents, and all women will bless you. Take it, not only of the flag of California, but as the flag of the Union --as the flag of Mankind! Daily Alta California, 6 July 1853, 2.


For much, much more on July 4th celebrations, see
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl of North Carolina - The New Master & Mistress

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1894 Harriet Jacobs 1813-1894

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL. WRITTEN BY HERSELF. WOMAN OF NORTH CAROLINA.  Harriet Ann Jacobs 1813-1897

EDITED BY L. MARIA CHILD. BOSTON: PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1861
1861.  Lydia Maria Francis Child 1802-1880

From the Documenting the American South project of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


THE NEW MASTER AND MISTRESS.

DR. FLINT, a physician in the neighborhood, had married the sister of my mistress, and I was now the property of their little daughter. It was not without murmuring that I prepared for my new home; and what added to my unhappiness, was the fact that my brother William was purchased by the same family. My father, by his nature, as well as by the habit of transacting business as a skilful mechanic, had more of the feelings of a freeman than is common among slaves. My brother was a spirited boy; and being brought up under such influences, he early detested the name of master and mistress. One day, when his father and his mistress both happened to call him at the same time, he hesitated between the two; being perplexed to know which had the strongest claim upon his obedience. He finally concluded to go to his mistress. When my father reproved him for it, he said, "You both called me, and I didn't know which I ought to go to first."

"You are my child," replied our father, "and when I call you, you should come immediately, if you have to pass through fire and water."

Poor Willie! He was now to learn his first lesson of obedience to a master. Grandmother tried to cheer us with hopeful words, and they found an echo in the credulous hearts of youth.

When we entered our new home we encountered cold looks, cold words, and cold treatment. We were glad when the night came. On my narrow bed I moaned and wept, I felt so desolate and alone.

I had been there nearly a year, when a dear little friend of mine was buried. I heard her mother sob, as the clods fell on the coffin of her only child, and I turned away from the grave, feeling thankful that I still had something left to love. I met my grandmother, who said, "Come with me, Linda;" and from her tone I knew that something sad had happened. She led me apart from the people, and then said, "My child, your father is dead." Dead! How could I believe it? He had died so suddenly I had not even heard that he was sick. I went home with my grandmother. My heart rebelled against God, who had taken from me mother, father, mistress, and friend. The good grandmother tried to comfort me. "Who knows the ways of God?" said she. "Perhaps they have been kindly taken from the evil days to come." Years afterwards I often thought of this. She promised to be a mother to her grandchildren, so far as she might be permitted to do so; and strengthened by her love, I returned to my master's. I thought I should be allowed to go to my father's house the next morning; but I was ordered to go for flowers, that my mistress's house might be decorated for an evening party. I spent the day gathering flowers and weaving them into festoons, while the dead body of my father was lying within a mile of me. What cared my owners for that? he was merely a piece of property. Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings.

This was blasphemous doctrine for a slave to teach; presumptuous in him, and dangerous to the masters.
The next day I followed his remains to a humble grave beside that of my dear mother. There were those who knew my father's worth, and respected his memory.

My home now seemed more dreary than ever. The laugh of the little slave-children sounded harsh and cruel. It was selfish to feel so about the joy of others. My brother moved about with a very grave face. I tried to comfort him, by saying, "Take courage, Willie; brighter days will come by and by."

"You don't know any thing about it, Linda," he replied. "We shall have to stay here all our days; we shall never be free."

I argued that we were growing older and stronger, and that perhaps we might, before long, be allowed to hire our own time, and then we could earn money to buy our freedom. William declared this was much easier to say than to do; moreover, he did not intend to buy his freedom. We held daily controversies upon this subject.

Little attention was paid to the slaves' meals in Dr. Flint's house. If they could catch a bit of food while it was going, well and good. I gave myself no trouble on that score, for on my various errands I passed my grandmother's house, where there was always something to spare for me. I was frequently threatened with punishment if I stopped there; and my grandmother, to avoid detaining me, often stood at the gate with something for my breakfast or dinner. I was indebted to her for all my comforts, spiritual or temporal.

It was her labor that supplied my scanty wardrobe. I have a vivid recollection of the linsey-woolsey dress given me every winter by Mrs. Flint. How I hated it! It was one of the badges of slavery.

While my grandmother was thus helping to support me from her hard earnings, the three hundred dollars she had lent her mistress were never repaid. When her mistress died, her son-in-law, Dr. Flint, was appointed executor. When grandmother applied to him for payment, he said the estate was insolvent, and the law prohibited payment. It did not, however, prohibit him from retaining the silver candelabra, which had been purchased with that money. I presume they will be handed down in the family, from generation to generation.

My grandmother's mistress had always promised her that, at her death, she should be free; and it was said that in her will she made good the promise. But when the estate was settled, Dr. Flint told the faithful old servant that, under existing circumstances, it was necessary she should be sold.

On the appointed day, the customary advertisement was posted up, proclaiming that there would be "a public sale of negroes, horses, &c." Dr. Flint called to tell my grandmother that he was unwilling to wound her feelings by putting her up at auction, and that he would prefer to dispose of her at private sale. My grandmother saw through his hypocrisy; she understood very well that he was ashamed of the job. She was a very spirited woman, and if he was base enough to sell her, when her mistress intended she should be free, she was determined the public should know it. She had for a long time supplied many families with crackers and preserves; consequently, "Aunt Marthy," as she was called, was generally known, and every body who knew her respected her intelligence and good character. Her long and faithful service in the family was also well known, and the intention of her mistress to leave her free. When the day of sale came, she took her place among the chattels, and at the first call she sprang upon the auction-block. Many voices called out, "Shame! Shame! Who is going to sell you, aunt Marthy? Don't stand there! That is no place for you." Without saying a word, she quietly awaited her fate. No one bid for her. At last, a feeble voice said, "Fifty dollars." It came from a maiden lady, seventy years old, the sister of my grandmother's deceased mistress. She had lived forty years under the same roof with my grandmother; she knew how faithfully she had served her owners, and how cruelly she had been defrauded of her rights; and she resolved to protect her. The auctioneer waited for a higher bid; but her wishes were respected; no one bid above her. She could neither read nor write; and when the bill of sale was made out, she signed it with a cross. But what consequence was that, when she had a big heart overflowing with human kindness? She gave the old servant her freedom.

At that time, my grandmother was just fifty years old. Laborious years had passed since then; and now my brother and I were slaves to the man who had defrauded her of her money, and tried to defraud her of her freedom. One of my mother's sisters, called Aunt Nancy, was also a slave in his family. She was a kind, good aunt to me; and supplied the place of both housekeeper and waiting maid to her mistress. She was, in fact, at the beginning and end of every thing.

Mrs. Flint, like many southern women, was totally deficient in energy. She had not strength to superintend her household affairs; but her nerves were so strong, that she could sit in her easy chair and see a woman whipped, till the blood trickled from every stroke of the lash. She was a member of the church; but partaking of the Lord's supper did not seem to put her in a Christian frame of mind. If dinner was not served at the exact time on that particular Sunday, she would station herself in the kitchen, and wait till it was dished, and then spit in all the kettles and pans that had been used for cooking. She did this to prevent the cook and her children from eking out their meagre fare with the remains of the gravy and other scrapings. The slaves could get nothing to eat except what she chose to give them. Provisions were weighed out by the pound and ounce, three times a day. I can assure you she gave them no chance to eat wheat bread from her flour barrel. She knew how many biscuits a quart of flour would make, and exactly what size they ought to be.

Dr. Flint was an epicure. The cook never sent a dinner to his table without fear and trembling; for if there happened to be a dish not to his liking, he would either order her to be whipped, or compel her to eat every mouthful of it in his presence. The poor, hungry creature might not have objected to eating it; but she did object to having her master cram it down her throat till she choked.

They had a pet dog, that was a nuisance in the house. The cook was ordered to make some Indian mush for him. He refused to eat, and when his head was held over it, the froth flowed from his mouth into the basin. He died a few minutes after. When Dr. Flint came in, he said the mush had not been well cooked, and that was the reason the animal would not eat it. He sent for the cook, and compelled her to eat it. He thought that the woman's stomach was stronger than the dog's; but her sufferings afterwards proved that he was mistaken. This poor woman endured many cruelties from her master and mistress; sometimes she was locked up, away from her nursing baby, for a whole day and night.

When I had been in the family a few weeks, one of the plantation slaves was brought to town, by order of his master. It was near night when he arrived, and Dr. Flint ordered him to be taken to the work house, and tied up to the joist, so that his feet would just escape the ground. In that situation he was to wait till the doctor had taken his tea. I shall never forget that night. Never before, in my life, had I heard hundreds of blows fall, in succession, on a human being. His piteous groans, and his "O, pray don't, massa," rang in my ear for months afterwards. There were many conjectures as to the cause of this terrible punishment. Some said master accused him of stealing corn; others said the slave had quarrelled with his wife, in presence of the overseer, and had accused his master of being the father of her child. They were both black, and the child was very fair.

I went into the work house next morning, and saw the cowhide still wet with blood, and the boards all covered with gore. The poor man lived, and continued to quarrel with his wife. A few months afterwards Dr. Flint handed them both over to a slave-trader. The guilty man put their value into his pocket, and had the satisfaction of knowing that they were out of sight and hearing. When the mother was delivered into the trader's hands, she said, "You promised to treat me well." To which he replied, "You have let your tongue run too far; damn you!" She had forgotten that it was a crime for a slave to tell who was the father of her child.

From others than the master persecution also comes in such cases. I once saw a young slave girl dying soon after the birth of a child nearly white. In her agony she cried out, "O Lord, come and take me!" Her mistress stood by, and mocked at her like an incarnate fiend. "You suffer, do you?" she exclaimed. "I am glad of it. You deserve it all, and more too."

The girl's mother said, "The baby is dead, thank God; and I hope my poor child will soon be in heaven, too."

"Heaven!" retorted the mistress. "There is no such place for the like of her and her bastard."

The poor mother turned away, sobbing. Her dying daughter called her, feebly, and as she bent over her, I heard her say, "Don't grieve so, mother; God knows all about it; and HE will have mercy upon me."

Her sufferings, afterwards, became so intense, that her mistress felt unable to stay; but when she left the room, the scornful smile was still on her lips. Seven children called her mother. The poor black woman had but the one child, whose eyes she saw closing in death, while she thanked God for taking her away from the greater bitterness of life.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl of North Carolina - Brother Ben

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1894 Harriet Jacobs 1813-1894

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL. WRITTEN BY HERSELF. WOMAN OF NORTH CAROLINA.  Harriet Ann Jacobs 1813-1897

EDITED BY L. MARIA CHILD. BOSTON: PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1861
1861.  Lydia Maria Francis Child 1802-1880

From the Documenting the American South project of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

THE SLAVE WHO DARED TO FEEL LIKE A MAN.

TWO years had passed since I entered Dr. Flint's family, and those years had brought much of the knowledge that comes from experience, though they had afforded little opportunity for any other kinds of knowledge.

My grandmother had, as much as possible, been a mother to her orphan grandchildren. By perseverance and unwearied industry, she was now mistress of a snug little home, surrounded with the necessaries of life. She would have been happy could her children have shared them with her. There remained but three children and two grandchildren, all slaves. Most earnestly did she strive to make us feel that it was the will of God: that He had seen fit to place us under such circumstances; and though it seemed hard, we ought to pray for contentment.

It was a beautiful faith, coming from a mother who could not call her children her own. But I, and Benjamin, her youngest boy, condemned it. We reasoned that it was much more the will of God that we should be situated as she was. We longed for a home like hers. There we always found sweet balsam for our troubles. She was so loving, so sympathizing! She always met us with a smile, and listened with patience to all our sorrows. She spoke so hopefully, that unconsciously the clouds gave place to sunshine. There was a grand big oven there, too, that baked bread and nice things for the town, and we knew there was always a choice bit in store for us.

But, alas! even the charms of the old oven failed to reconcile us to our hard lot. Benjamin was now a tall, handsome lad, strongly and gracefully made, and with a spirit too bold and daring for a slave. My brother William, now twelve years old, had the same aversion to the word master that he had when he was an urchin of seven years. I was his confidant. He came to me with all his troubles. I remember one instance in particular. It was on a lovely spring morning, and when I marked the sunlight dancing here and there, its beauty seemed to mock my sadness. For my master, whose restless, craving, vicious nature roved about day and night, seeking whom to devour, had just left me, with stinging, scorching words; words that scathed ear and brain like fire. O, how I despised him! I thought how glad I should be, if some day when he walked the earth, it would open and swallow him up, and disencumber the world of a plague.

When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong.

So deeply was I absorbed in painful reflections afterwards, that I neither saw nor heard the entrance of any one, till the voice of William sounded close beside me. "Linda," said he, "what makes you look so sad? I love you. O, Linda, isn't this a bad world? Every body seems so cross and unhappy. I wish I had died when poor father did."

I told him that every body was not cross, or unhappy; that those who had pleasant homes, and kind friends, and who were not afraid to love them, were happy. But we, who were slave-children, without father or mother, could not expect to be happy. We must be good; perhaps that would bring us contentment.

"Yes," he said, "I try to be good; but what's the use? They are all the time troubling me." Then he proceeded to relate his afternoon's difficulty with young master Nicholas. It seemed that the brother of master Nicholas had pleased himself with making up stories about William. Master Nicholas said he should be flogged, and he would do it. Whereupon he went to work; but William fought bravely, and the young master, finding he was getting the better of him, undertook to tie his hands behind him. He failed in that likewise. By dint of kicking and fisting, William came out of the skirmish none the worse for a few scratches.

He continued to discourse on his young master's meanness; how he whipped the little boys, but was a perfect coward when a tussle ensued between him and white boys of his own size. On such occasions he always took to his legs. William had other charges to make against him. One was his rubbing up pennies with quicksilver, and passing them off for quarters of a dollar on an old man who kept a fruit stall. William was often sent to buy fruit, and he earnestly inquired of me what he ought to do under such circumstances. I told him it was certainly wrong to deceive the old man, and that it was his duty to tell him of the impositions practised by his young master. I assured him the old man would not be slow to comprehend the whole, and there the matter would end. William thought it might with the old man, but not with him. He said he did not mind the smart of the whip, but he did not like the idea of being whipped.

While I advised him to be good and forgiving I was not unconscious of the beam in my own eye. It was the very knowledge of my own shortcomings that urged me to retain, if possible, some sparks of my brother's God-given nature. I had not lived fourteen years in slavery for nothing. I had felt, seen, and heard enough, to read the characters, and question the motives, of those around me. The war of my life had begun; and though one of God's most powerless creatures, I resolved never to be conquered. Alas, for me!

If there was one pure, sunny spot for me, I believed it to be in Benjamin's heart, and in another's, whom I loved with all the ardor of a girl's first love. My owner knew of it, and sought in every way to render me miserable. He did not resort to corporal punishment, but to all the petty, tyrannical ways that human ingenuity could devise.

I remember the first time I was punished. It was in the month of February. My grandmother had taken my old shoes, and replaced them with a new pair. I needed them; for several inches of snow had fallen, and it still continued to fall. When I walked through Mrs. Flint's room, their creaking grated harshly on her refined nerves. She called me to her, and asked what I had about me that made such a horrid noise. I told her it was my new shoes. "Take them off," said she; "and if you put them on again, I'll throw them into the fire."

I took them off, and my stockings also. She then sent me a long distance, on an errand. As I went through the snow, my bare feet tingled. That night I was very hoarse; and I went to bed thinking the next day would find me sick, perhaps dead. What was my grief on waking to find myself quite well!

I had imagined if I died, or was laid up for some time, that my mistress would feel a twinge of remorse that she had so hated "the little imp," as she styled me. It was my ignorance of that mistress that gave rise to such extravagant imaginings.

Dr. Flint occasionally had high prices offered for me; but he always said, "She don't belong to me. She is my daughter's property, and I have no right to sell her." Good, honest man! My young mistress was still a child, and I could look for no protection from her. I loved her, and she returned my affection. I once heard her father allude to her attachment to me; and his wife promptly replied that it proceeded from fear. This put unpleasant doubts into my mind. Did the child feign what she did not feel? or was her mother jealous of the mite of love she bestowed on me? I concluded it must be the latter. I said to myself, "Surely, little children are true."

One afternoon I sat at my sewing, feeling unusual depression of spirits. My mistress had been accusing me of an offence, of which I assured her I was perfectly innocent; but I saw, by the contemptuous curl of her lip, that she believed I was telling a lie.

I wondered for what wise purpose God was leading me through such thorny paths, and whether still darker days were in store for me. As I sat musing thus, the door opened softly, and William came in. "Well, brother," said I, "what is the matter this time?"

"O Linda, Ben and his master have had a dreadful time!" said he.

My first thought was that Benjamin was killed. "Don't be frightened, Linda," said William; "I will tell you all about it."

It appeared that Benjamin's master had sent for him, and he did not immediately obey the summons. When he did, his master was angry, and began to whip him. He resisted. Master and slave fought, and finally the master was thrown. Benjamin had cause to tremble; for he had thrown to the ground his master—one of the richest men in town. I anxiously awaited the result.

That night I stole to my grandmother's house, and Benjamin also stole thither from his master's. My grandmother had gone to spend a day or two with an old friend living in the country.

"I have come," said Benjamin, "to tell you good by. I am going away."

I inquired where.

"To the north," he replied.

I looked at him to see whether he was in earnest. I saw it all in his firm, set mouth. I implored him not to go, but he paid no heed to my words. He said he was no longer a boy, and every day made his yoke more galling. He had raised his hand against his master, and was to be publicly whipped for the offence. I reminded him of the poverty and hardships he must encounter among strangers. I told him he might be caught and brought back; and that was terrible to think of.

He grew vexed, and asked if poverty and hardships with freedom, were not preferable to our treatment in slavery. "Linda," he continued, "we are dogs here; foot-balls, cattle, every thing that's mean. No, I will not stay. Let them bring me back. We don't die but once."

He was right; but it was hard to give him up. "Go," said I, "and break your mother's heart."

I repented of my words ere they were out.

"Linda," said he, speaking as I had not heard him speak that evening, "how could you say that? Poor mother! be kind to her, Linda; and you, too, cousin Fanny."

Cousin Fanny was a friend who had lived some years with us.

Farewells were exchanged, and the bright, kind boy, endeared to us by so many acts of love, vanished from our sight.

It is not necessary to state how he made his escape. Suffice it to say, he was on his way to New York when a violent storm overtook the vessel. The captain said he must put into the nearest port. This alarmed Benjamin, who was aware that he would be advertised in every port near his own town. His embarrassment was noticed by the captain. To port they went. There the advertisement met the captain's eye. Benjamin so exactly answered its description, that the captain laid hold on him, and bound him in chains. The storm passed, and they proceeded to New York. Before reaching that port Benjamin managed to get off his chains and throw them overboard. He escaped from the vessel, but was pursued, captured, and carried back to his master.

When my grandmother returned home and found her youngest child had fled, great was her sorrow; but, with characteristic piety, she said, "God's will be done." Each morning, she inquired if any news had been heard from her boy. Yes, news was heard. The master was rejoicing over a letter, announcing the capture of his human chattel.

That day seems but as yesterday, so well do I remember it. I saw him led through the streets in chains, to jail. His face was ghastly pale, yet full of determination. He had begged one of the sailors to go to his mother's house and ask her not to meet him. He said the sight of her distress would take from him all self-control. She yearned to see him, and she went; but she screened herself in the crowd, that it might be as her child had said.

We were not allowed to visit him; but we had known the jailer for years, and he was a kind-hearted man. At midnight he opened the jail door for my grandmother and myself to enter, in disguise. When we entered the cell not a sound broke the stillness. "Benjamin, Benjamin!" whispered my grandmother. No answer. "Benjamin!" she again faltered. There was a jingle of chains. The moon had just risen, and cast an uncertain light through the bars of the window. We knelt down and took Benjamin's cold hands in ours. We did not speak. Sobs were heard, and Benjamin's lips were unsealed; for his mother was weeping on his neck. How vividly does memory bring back that sad night! Mother and son talked together. He had asked her pardon for the suffering he had caused her. She said she had nothing to forgive; she could not blame his desire for freedom. He told her that when he was captured, he broke away, and was about casting himself into the river, when thoughts of her came over him, and he desisted. She asked if he did not also think of God. I fancied I saw his face grow fierce in the moonlight. He answered, "No, I did not think of him. When a man is hunted like a wild beast he forgets there is a God, a heaven. He forgets every thing in his struggle to get beyond the reach of the bloodhounds."

"Don't talk so, Benjamin," said she. "Put your trust in God. Be humble, my child, and your master will forgive you."

"Forgive me for what, mother? For not letting him treat me like a dog? No! I will never humble myself to him. I have worked for him for nothing all my life, and I am repaid with stripes and imprisonment. Here I will stay till I die, or till he sells me."

The poor mother shuddered at his words. I think he felt it; for when he next spoke, his voice was calmer. "Don't fret about me, mother. I ain't worth it," said he. "I wish I had some of your goodness. You bear every thing patiently, just as though you thought it was all right. I wish I could."

She told him she had not always been so; once, she was like him; but when sore troubles came upon her, and she had no arm to lean upon, she learned to call on God, and he lightened her burdens. She besought him to do likewise.

We overstaid our time, and were obliged to hurry from the jail.

Benjamin had been imprisoned three weeks, when my grandmother went to intercede for him with his master. He was immovable. He said Benjamin should serve as an example to the rest of his slaves; he should be kept in jail till he was subdued, or be sold if he got but one dollar for him. However, he afterwards relented in some degree. The chains were taken off, and we were allowed to visit him.

As his food was of the coarsest kind, we carried him as often as possible a warm supper, accompanied with some little luxury for the jailer.

Three months elapsed, and there was no prospect of release or of a purchaser. One day he was heard to sing and laugh. This piece of indecorum was told to his master, and the overseer was ordered to re-chain him. He was now confined in an apartment with other prisoners, who were covered with filthy rags. Benjamin was chained near them, and was soon covered with vermin. He worked at his chains till he succeeded in getting out of them. He passed them through the bars of the window, with a request that they should be taken to his master, and he should be informed that he was covered with vermin.

This audacity was punished with heavier chains, and prohibition of our visits. My grandmother continued to send him fresh changes of clothes. The old ones were burned up. The last night we saw him in jail his mother still begged him to send for his master, and beg his pardon. Neither persuasion nor argument could turn him from his purpose. He calmly answered, "I am waiting his time." Those chains were mournful to hear.

Another three months passed, and Benjamin left his prison walls. We that loved him waited to bid him a long and last farewell. A slave trader had bought him. You remember, I told you what price he brought when ten years of age. Now he was more than twenty years old, and sold for three hundred dollars. The master had been blind to his own interest. Long confinement had made his face too pale, his form too thin; moreover, the trader had heard something of his character, and it did not strike him as suitable for a slave. He said he would give any price if the handsome lad was a girl. We thanked God that he was not.

Could you have seen that mother clinging to her child, when they fastened the irons upon his wrists; could you have heard her heart-rending groans, and seen her bloodshot eyes wander wildly from face to face, vainly pleading for mercy; could you have witnessed that scene as I saw it, you would exclaim, Slavery is damnable!

Benjamin, her youngest, her pet, was forever gone! She could not realize it. She had had an interview with the trader for the purpose of ascertaining if Benjamin could be purchased. She was told it was impossible, as he had given bonds not to sell him till he was out of the state. He promised that he would not sell him till he reached New Orleans.

With a strong arm and unvaried trust, my grandmother began her work of love. Benjamin must be free. If she succeeded, she knew they would still be separated; but the sacrifice was not too great. Day and night she labored. The trader's price would treble that he gave; but she was not discouraged.

She employed a lawyer to write to a gentleman, whom she knew, in New Orleans. She begged him to interest himself for Benjamin, and he willingly favored her request. When he saw Benjamin, and stated his business, he thanked him; but said he preferred to wait a while before making the trader an offer. He knew he had tried to obtain a high price for him, and had invariably failed. This encouraged him to make another effort for freedom. So one morning, long before day, Benjamin was missing. He was riding over the blue billows, bound for Baltimore.

For once his white face did him a kindly service. They had no suspicion that it belonged to a slave; otherwise, the law would have been followed out to the letter, and the thing rendered back to slavery. The brightest skies are often overshadowed by the darkest clouds. Benjamin was taken sick, and compelled to remain in Baltimore three weeks. His strength was slow in returning; and his desire to continue his journey seemed to retard his recovery. How could he get strength without air and exercise? He resolved to venture on a short walk. A by-street was selected, where he thought himself secure of not being met by any one that knew him; but a voice called out, "Halloo, Ben, my boy! what are you doing here?"

His first impulse was to run; but his legs trembled so that he could not stir. He turned to confront his antagonist, and behold, there stood his old master's next door neighbor! He thought it was all over with him now; but it proved otherwise. That man was a miracle. He possessed a goodly number of slaves, and yet was not quite deaf to that mystic clock, whose ticking is rarely heard in the slaveholder's breast.

"Ben, you are sick," said he. "Why, you look like a ghost. I guess I gave you something of a start. Never mind, Ben, I am not going to touch you. You had a pretty tough time of it, and you may go on your way rejoicing for all me. But I would advise you to get out of this place plaguy quick, for there are several gentlemen here from our town." He described the nearest and safest route to New York, and added, "I shall be glad to tell your mother I have seen you. Good by, Ben."

Benjamin turned away, filled with gratitude, and surprised that the town he hated contained such a gem—a gem worthy of a purer setting. This gentleman was a Northerner by birth, and had married a southern lady. On his return, he told my grandmother that he had seen her son, and of the service he had rendered him.

Benjamin reached New York safely, and concluded to stop there until he had gained strength enough to proceed further. It happened that my grandmother's only remaining son had sailed for the same city on business for his mistress. Through God's providence, the brothers met. You may be sure it was a happy meeting. "O Phil," exclaimed Benjamin, "I am here at last." Then he told him how near he came to dying, almost in sight of free land, and how he prayed that he might live to get one breath of free air. He said life was worth something now, and it would be hard to die. In the old jail he had not valued it; once, he was tempted to destroy it; but something, he did not know what, had prevented him; perhaps it was fear. He had heard those who profess to be religious declare there was no heaven for self-murderers; and as his life had been pretty hot here, he did not desire a continuation of the same in another world. "If I die now," he exclaimed, "thank God, I shall die a freeman!"

He begged my uncle Phillip not to return south; but stay and work with him, till they earned enough to buy those at home. His brother told him it would kill their mother if he deserted her in her trouble. She had pledged her house, and with difficulty had raised money to buy him. Would he be bought?

"No, never!" he replied. "Do you suppose, Phil, when I have got so far out of their clutches, I will give them one red cent? No! And do you suppose I would turn mother out of her home in her old age? That I would let her pay all those hard-earned dollars for me, and never to see me? For you know she will stay south as long as her other children are slaves. What a good mother! Tell her to buy you, Phil. You have been a comfort to her, and I have been a trouble. And Linda, poor Linda; what'll become of her? Phil, you don't know what a life they lead her. She has told me something about it, and I wish old Flint was dead, or a better man. When I was in jail, he asked her if she didn't want him to ask my master to forgive me, and take me home again. She told him, No; that I didn't want to go back. He got mad, and said we were all alike. I never despised my own master half as much as I do that man. There is many a worse slaveholder than my master; but for all that I would not be his slave."

While Benjamin was sick, he had parted with nearly all his clothes to pay necessary expenses. But he did not part with a little pin I fastened in his bosom when we parted. It was the most valuable thing I owned, and I thought none more worthy to wear it. He had it still.

His brother furnished him with clothes, and gave him what money he had.

They parted with moistened eyes; and as Benjamin turned away, he said, "Phil, I part with all my kindred." And so it proved. We never heard from him again.

Uncle Phillip came home; and the first words he uttered when he entered the house were, "Mother, Ben is free! I have seen him in New York." She stood looking at him with a bewildered air. "Mother, don't you believe it?" he said, laying his hand softly upon her shoulder. She raised her hands, and exclaimed, "God be praised! Let us thank him." She dropped on her knees, and poured forth her heart in prayer. Then Phillip must sit down and repeat to her every word Benjamin had said. He told her all; only he forbore to mention how sick and pale her darling looked. Why should he distress her when she could do him no good?

The brave old woman still toiled on, hoping to rescue some of her other children. After a while she succeeded in buying Phillip. She paid eight hundred dollars, and came home with the precious document that secured his freedom. The happy mother and son sat together by the old hearthstone that night, telling how proud they were of each other, and how they would prove to the world that they could take care of themselves, as they had long taken care of others. We all concluded by saying, "He that is willing to be a slave, let him be a slave."

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl of North Carolina - The Master & Sex

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1894 Harriet Jacobs 1813-1894

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL. WRITTEN BY HERSELF. WOMAN OF NORTH CAROLINA.  Harriet Ann Jacobs 1813-1897

EDITED BY L. MARIA CHILD. BOSTON: PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1861
1861.  Lydia Maria Francis Child 1802-1880

From the Documenting the American South project of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

THE TRIALS OF GIRLHOOD.


DURING the first years of my service in Dr. Flint's family, I was accustomed to share some indulgences with the children of my mistress. Though this seemed to me no more than right, I was grateful for it, and tried to merit the kindness by the faithful discharge of my duties. But I now entered on my fifteenth year—a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to whisper foul words in my ear.

Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import. I tried to treat them with indifference or contempt. The master's age, my extreme youth, and the fear that his conduct would be reported to my grandmother, made him bear this treatment for many months. He was a crafty man, and resorted to many means to accomplish his purposes. Sometimes he had stormy, terrific ways, that made his victims tremble; sometimes he assumed a gentleness that he thought must surely subdue. Of the two, I preferred his stormy moods, although they left me trembling. He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principles my grandmother had instilled. He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and hatred. But he was my master. I was compelled to live under the same roof with him—where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments
of nature.

He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things. My soul revolted against the mean tyranny. But where could I turn for protection? No matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress. In either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death; all these are inflicted by fiends who bear the shape of men. The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage. The degradation, the wrongs, the vices, that grow out of slavery, are more than I can describe. They are greater than you would willingly believe. Surely, if you credited one half the truths that are told you concerning the helpless millions suffering in this cruel bondage, you at the north would not help to tighten the yoke. You surely would refuse to do for the master, on your own soil, the mean and cruel work which trained bloodhounds and the lowest class of whites do for him at the south.

Every where the years bring to all enough of sin and sorrow; but in slavery the very dawn of life is darkened by these shadows. Even the little child, who is accustomed to wait on her mistress and her children, will learn, before she is twelve years old, why it is that her mistress hates such and such a one among the slaves. Perhaps the child's own mother is among those hated ones. She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave. I know that some are too much brutalized by slavery to feel the humiliation of their position; but many slaves feel it most acutely, and shrink from the memory of it.

I cannot tell how much I suffered in the presence of these wrongs, nor how I am still pained by the retrospect. My master met me at every turn, reminding me that I belonged to him, and swearing by heaven and earth that he would compel me to submit to him. If I went out for a breath of fresh air, after a day of unwearied toil, his footsteps dogged me. If I knelt by my mother's grave, his dark shadow fell on me even there. The light heart which nature had given me became heavy with sad forebodings. The other slaves in my master's house noticed the change. Many of them pitied me; but none dared to ask the cause. They had no need to inquire. They knew too well the guilty practices under that roof; and they were aware that to speak of them was an offence that never went unpunished.

I longed for some one to confide in. I would have given the world to have laid my head on my grandmother's faithful bosom, and told her all my troubles. But Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave. Then, although my grandmother was all in all to me, I feared her as well as loved her. I had been accustomed to look up to her with a respect bordering upon awe. I was very young, and felt shamefaced about telling her such impure things, especially as I knew her to be very strict on such subjects. Moreover, she was a woman of a high spirit. She was usually very quiet in her demeanor; but if her indignation was once roused, it was not very easily quelled. I had been told that she once chased a white gentleman with a loaded pistol, because he insulted one of her daughters.

I dreaded the consequences of a violent outbreak; and both pride and fear kept me silent. But though I did not confide in my grandmother, and even evaded her vigilant watchfulness and inquiry, her presence in the neighborhood was some protection to me. Though she had been a slave, Dr. Flint was afraid of her. He dreaded her scorching rebukes. Moreover, she was known and patronized by many people; and he did not wish to have his villany made public. It was lucky for me that I did not live on a distant plantation, but in a town not so large that the inhabitants were ignorant of each other's affairs. Bad as are the laws and customs in a slaveholding community, the doctor, as a professional man, deemed it prudent to keep up some outward show of decency.

O, what days and nights of fear and sorrow that man caused me! Reader, it is not to awaken sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I suffered in slavery. I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in your hearts for my sisters who are still in bondage, suffering as I once suffered.

I once saw two beautiful children playing together. One was a fair white child; the other was her slave, and also her sister. When I saw them embracing each other, and heard their joyous laughter, I turned sadly away from the lovely sight. I foresaw the inevitable blight that would fall on the little slave's heart. I knew how soon her laughter would be changed to sighs. The fair child grew up to be a still fairer woman. From childhood to womanhood her pathway was blooming with flowers, and overarched by a sunny sky. Scarcely one day of her life had been clouded when the sun rose on her happy bridal morning.

How had those years dealt with her slave sister, the little playmate of her childhood? She, also, was very beautiful; but the flowers and sunshine of love were not for her. She drank the cup of sin, and shame, and misery, whereof her persecuted race are compelled to drink.

In view of these things, why are ye silent, ye free men and women of the north? Why do your tongues falter in maintenance of the right? Would that I had more ability! But my heart is so full, and my pen is so weak! There are noble men and women who plead for us, striving to help those who cannot help themselves. God bless them! God give them strength and courage to go on! God bless those, every where, who are laboring to advance the cause of humanity!

Chronological listing of Books by Women Authors: 1820-1829

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Chronological listing of Books by Women Authors: 1820-1829

1820

Brooks, Maria Gowen. Judith, Esther, and Other Poems.

Cheney, Harriet Vaughan Foster. The Sunday School, or Village Sketches.

Huntington, Susan Mansfield. Little Lucy, or, The Careless Child Reformed.

Robbins, Eliza. American Popular Lessons.

Savage, Sarah. Filial Affection, orThe Clergyman's granddaughter.

1821

Savage, Sarah. James Talbot.

Thayer, Caroline Matilda Warren. Letter to Members of the Methodist Episcipal Church of the City of New York.
_____, compiler. Muzzy, Harriet. Poems, Moral and Sentimental [includes poems by Thayer].
Willard, Emma Hart and William C. Woodbridge. Rudiments of Geography, on a new plan.

1822

Rowson, Susanna Haswell. Biblical Dialogues Between a Father and His Family.

Sedgwick, Catherine Maria. Mary Hollis.

_____. A New England Tale.

Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Traits of the Aborigines of America.

Willard, Emma Hart and William C. Woodbridge. Ancient Geography.

1823

Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The Genius of Oblivion and Other Original Poems.

Morton, Sarah Wentworth Apthorp. My Mind and Its Thoughts in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays.

Rowson, Susanna Haswell. "America and Liberty" [song].
_____. "America, Commerce and Freedom" [song].
Savage, Sarah. Advice to a young woman at service.

Thayer, Caroline Matilda Warren. First Lessons in the History of the U.S.

1824

Adams, Hannah. Letters on the Gospels.

Cheney, Harriet Vaughan Foster. A Peep at the Pilgrims.

Child, Lydia Maria Francis. Hobomok.

_____. Evenings in New England.

Cushing, Eliza Lanesford Foster. Saratoga: A Tale of the Revolution.

Dix, Dorothea Lynde. Conversations on Common Things.

Livermore, Harriet. Scriptural evidence in favor of female testimony in meetings for Christian worship in letters to a friend.

Savage, Sarah. The Badge.

Sedgwick, Catherine Maria. Redwood.

Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.

Smith, Margaret Bayard. A Winter in Washington.

Willard, Emma Hart and William C. Woodbridge. Universal Geography.

1825

Brooks, Maria Gowen. Zophiel, a Poem.

Child, Lydia Maria Francis. The Rebels.

Dix, Dorothea Lynde. Hymns for Children.

_____. Evening Hours.

Evans, Sarah Ann. Resignation: an American Novel.

Sedgwick, Catherine Maria. The Travellers.

1826

Cushing, Eliza Lanesford Foster. Yorktown: An Historical Romance.

Livermore, Harriet. An epistle of love, addressed to the youth and children of Germantown, Pa.

_____. A narration of religious experience.

Royall, Anne Newport. Sketches of History.

Sedgwick, Catherine Maria. The Deformed Boy.

Smith, Sarah Pogson. Daughters of Eve.

Willard, Emma Hart. Geography for Beginners.

1827

Cheney, Harriet Vaughan Foster. The Rivals of Acadia.

Child, Lydia Maria Francis. Emily Parker, or Impulse, not Principle.

Dix, Dorothea Lynde. John Williams, or The Sailor Boy.

_____. Marrion Wilder.

_____. The Prize: or Three Half Crowns.

Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. The Well-Spent Hour, No. I-XII. . (1827-1828)
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Northwood: A Tale of New England.

Hart, Jannette M. Nahant: or, "The Floure of Souvenance."

Leslie, Eliza. Seventy-five Recipes for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats.

Robbins, Eliza. Sequel to American Popular Lessons.

Royall, Anne Newport. The Tennessean.

Savage, Sarah. Life of Philip, the Indian Chief.

Sedgwick, Catherine Maria. Hope Leslie.

Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Poems.

Tuthill, Louisa Caroline Huggins. James Somers: The Pilgrim's Son.

Wood, Sarah (Sally) Sayward Barrell Keating. Tales of the Night.

1828

Child, Lydia Maria Francis. Biographical Sketches of Great and Good Men..

_____, ed. Moral Lesson in Verse.

_____. The First Settlers of New England; or, Conquest of the Pequots, Narragansetts, and Pokanokets.

Dix, Dorothea Lynde. Meditations for Private Hours.

_____. Robert Woodward.

_____. The Storm.

_____. Sequel to Marrion Wilder.

_____. George Mills, or, The Little Boy Who Did Not Love His Books.

Embury, Emma Catherine Manley. Guido: A Tale; Sketches from History and Other Poems.

Hale, Sarah Preston Everett. Boston Reading Lessons for Primary Schools.

Hart, Jannette M. Cora; or The Genius of America.

Leslie, Eliza. The Mirror.

_____, translator. Eugene and Lolotte.

Robbins, Eliza, ed. Poetry for Schools.

_____. Primary dictionary, or Rational Vocabulary.

Rowson, Susanna Haswell. Charlotte's Daughter.

Royall, Anne Newport. The Cabinet, a play.

_____. The Black Book. (1828-1829)
Sanders, Elizabeth Elkins. Conversations.

Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. A short essay to do good.

Sedgwick, Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight. The Beatitudes.

Smith, Margaret Bayard. What is Gentility?

Tuthill, Louisa Caroline Huggins. Love of Admiration, or Mary's Visit to Boston.

Willard, Emma Hart. History of the U.S.

1829

Beecher, Catherine Esther. Suggestions Respecting Improvements in Education.

Child, Lydia Maria Frances. The Frugal Housewife.

Davidson, Lucretia Maria. Amir Khan and Other Poems.

Dix, Dorothea Lynde, ed. The Garland of Flora.

_____. The Pearl, or Affection's Gift[no known extant copy]
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. The Warning.

_____, ed. Selections from Fenelon.

Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Sketches of American Character.

Leslie, Eliza. Stories for Emma.

_____. Stories for Adelaide.

_____. The Young Americans.

Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. Familiar Lectures on Botany.
Reed, Anna C. The Life of George Washington.

Robbins, Eliza. Tales from American History; containing the principal facts in the life of Christopher Columbus.

Royall, Anne Newport. Mrs. Royall's Pennsylvania.

Savage, Sarah. Sunday School Conversations.

Sedgwick, Susan Anne Livingston Ridley. The Morals of Pleasure.

Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Female Biography.

Smith, Sarah Louisa P. Poems.

Williams, Catherine Read Arnold. Religion at Home.

Bibliography compiled for Dr. Judith Fetterley by Lois Dellert Raskin. 

Chronological listing of Books by Women Authors: 1830-1835

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Chronological listing of Books by Women Authors:  1830-1835

1830

Bullard, Anne Tuttle Jones. The Stanwood Family; or, The History of the American Tract Society.
Farrar, Eliza Ware Rotch. The Children's Robinson Crusoe.
Gould, Hannah Flagg. Mary Dow, and the Little Beggar Girl.
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Conversations on the Burman Mission.
_____. Poems for our children: designed for families, Sabbath schools, and infant schools. Part I.
Hinckley, Mary. The Seymour Family; or, Domestic Scenes.
_____. Sequel to the Seymour Family; or, Domestic Scenes.
Larned, Mrs L. The Sanfords; or, Home Scenes.
_____. Grace Seymour.
Robbins, Eliza. Elements of mythology.
Royall, Anne Newport. Letters from Alabama, 1817-1822.
_____. Mrs Royall's Southern Tour; or, Second Series of The Black Book. 3 vols.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Clarence; or, A tale of our own times.
Sedgwick, Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight. A Spanish Conquest of America. Designed for the use of children. Boston: Leonard C.Bowles, 1830.
Sedgwick, Susan Ann Livingston Ridley. The children's week.
_____. The young emigrants: A tale designed for young persons.
Talbot, Mary Elizabeth. Rurality: Original Desultory Tales.
Wells, Anna Maria Foster. Poems and juvenile sketches.
Willard, Emma Hart. A series of maps to Willard's History of the United States, or Republic of America.
Williams, Catherine Read Arnold. Tales: National and Revolutionary.
_____. Original Poems on Various Subjects.

1831

Bacon, Delia Salter. Tales of the Puritans. The regicides. The fair pilgrim. Castine.
Beecher, Catharine Esther. The elements of moral and mental philosophy, founded on experience, reason and the Bible.
Bullard, Anne Tuttle Jones.
Louisa Ralston; or what can I do for the heathen?
Child, Lydia Maria. The mother's book.
_____. The coronal; a collection of miscellaneous pieces, written at various times.
Embury, Emma Catherine Manley. (1806-1863) An address on female education, read at the anniversary of the Brooklyn Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies, by Fanning c. Tucker. Written for the occasion by Mrs. Emma C. Embury.
Farrar, Eliza Ware Rotch. The story of the Life of Lafayette, as told by a father to his children.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. Hymns, songs and fables for children.
Griffith, Mary. Our Neighborhood; or, Letters on Horticultural and Natural Phenomena, Interspersed with Opinions on Domestic and Moral Economy.
Larned, Mrs. L. The Fairy Tale.
_____. Sarah and her cousins.
Leslie, Eliza. American Girl's book; or, Occupation for play hours.
Livermore, Harriet. A wreath from jessamine lawn; or, Free grace the flower that never fades.
_____. Millenial tidings no. 1.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln.
_____, ed. Vauquelin, Louis Nicolas. Dictionary of chemistry.
Robbins, Eliza. Introduction to Popular lessons, for the use of small children in schools.
Willard, Emma Hart. Abridgement of the History of the United States; or, Republic of America.

1832

Adams, Hannah. A Memoir of Miss Hannah Adams, written by herself. With Additional Notices by a Friend [ Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee].
Beecher, Catharine Esther. Arithmetic simplified: prepared for the use of primary schools, female seminaries, and high schools: in three parts.
Bullard, Anne Tuttle Jones. The Reformation; a True Tale of the Sixteenth Century.
Child, Lydia Maria. The biographies of Lady Russell and Madame Guyon.
_____. The biographies of Madame de Stael and Madame Roland.
Cushing, Caroline Elizabeth Wilde. Letters descriptive of public monuments, scenery and manners in France and Spain. 2 vols.
Dix, Dorothea Lynde. American moral tales for young persons.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. Sequel to the well-spent hour, or The Birthday.
Gould, Hannah Flagg. Poems.
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Flora's Interpreter; or, The American Book of Flowers and Sentiments.
Leslie, Eliza. Wonderful travels; being the narratives of Munchhausen, Gulliver,and Sinbad abridged from the original works with numerous alterations and original designs.
_____, ed. and trans. Domestic French cookery, chiefly translated from Sulpice Barue.
Packard, Hannah James (1815-1831) The choice: a tragedy; with miscellaneous poems.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. First Steps to the study of history: Being part first of a key to history
_____, trans. Self-education; or, The means and art of moral progress.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln, ed. The child's geology by Samuel Griswold Goodrich.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Pleasant Sundays.
Stewart, Maria W. Miller. Meditations from the pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart. Presented to the First African Baptist Church and Society, in the city of Boston.
_____. "Why sit ye here and die." Lecture delivered at Franklin Hall, Boston, reprinted in The Liberator, 21 September 1832.
Willard, Emma Hart. Ancient atlas: to accompany the universal geography by William C. Woodbridge and Willard.
Williams, Catherine Read Arnold. Aristocracy; or, The Holbey Family.

1833

Beecher, Catharine Esther. Primary geography for children, on an improved plan.
Bullard, Anne Tuttle Jones. Little Aimee, the persecuted child: to which is added The frightful story.
Child, Lydia Maria. An appeal in favor of that class of Americans called Africans.
_____. Good wives.
_____. The girl's own book.
_____. Authentic anecdotes of American slavery. No. 1, 2. 1833-1835.
Farrar, Eliza Ware Rotch. John Howard.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. Little Songs for little boys and girls.
Hall, Sarah Ewing Selections from the writings of Mrs. Sarah Hall, author of Conversations on the Bible, with a memoir of her life. Ed. By Harrison Hall.
Hentz, Caroline Lee Whiting. Lovell's Folly
Holley, Mary Austin. Texas; observations, geographical and descriptive.
Leslie, Eliza. Atlantic Tales; or, Pictures of youth.
_____. Pencil Sketches; or, Outlines of character and manners.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. The Hebrews.
_____.The Greeks; part three of a key to history.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. Botany for beginners: an introduction to Mrs. Lincoln's Lectures on botany.
_____. Address on the subject of female education in Greece, and general extension of Christian intercourse among females.
_____. Caroline Westerley; or, The Young Traveller from Ohio.
Robbins, Eliza. Grecian History; Adapted to the Use of Schools and Young Persons.
_____. Classic Tales; designed for the instruction and amusement of young persons.
Savage, Sarah. Blind Miriam Restored to Sight.
Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Biography of pious persons; abridged for youth.
____. Letters to young ladies.
_____. How to be happy.
_____. The farmer and the soldier.
_____. Memoir of Phoebe P. Hammond, a pupil in the American asylum at Hartford.

1834

Child, Lydia Maria. The oasis.
Day, Martha. Literary remains of Martha Day, with the Rev. Dr. Fitch's address at her funeral, and sketches of her character.
Ellet, Elizabeth Fries Lummis. trans. Euphemio of Messina. By Silvio Pellico.
Farrar, Eliza Ware Rotch. The Youth's Letter Writer; or, The Epistolary Art Made Plain and Easy to Beginners, through the example of Henry Moreton.
Fox, Mary L. The ruined deacon: a true story.
Gilman, Caroline Howard. Recollections of a housekeeper [by Mrs. Clarissa Packard, pseud.]
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, ed. The school song book.
Leslie, Eliza. Laura Lovel; a sketch for ladies only.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. Chemistry for beginners.
Robbins, Eliza. English History; Adapted to the Use of Schools and Young Persons.
Scott, Julia H. Kinney. The Sacrifice: A Clergyman's Story.
Sedgwick, Susan Ann Livingston Ridley. Allen Prescott; or, The fortunes of a New England Boy.
Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Sketches.
_____. The children in the wood: to which is added: My mother's grave, a pathetic story.
_____. Poems.
_____. Lays from the West.
Taggert, Cynthia. Poems.
Wheatley, Phillis. Memoir and poems of Phillis Wheatley, a native African and a slave: Dedicated to the friends of the Africans.

1835

Beecher, Catharine Esther. An essay on the education of female teachers, American Lyceum and communicated at their annual meeting, New York, May 8th, 1835.
Bullard, Anne Tuttle Jones. The wife for a missionary.
Child, Lydia Maria. The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations. 2 vols.
Ellet, Elizabeth Fries Lummis. Poems, translated and original, incl. Teresa Contarini.
Farrar, Eliza Ware Rotch. The adventures of Congo in search of his master:an American tale.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. The Skeptic.
Fox, Mary Anna. George Allen, the Only Son.
Gould, Hannah Flagg. Esther: a scripture narrative; together with an original poem.
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Traits of American Life.
Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer. The Backslider.
Leslie, Eliza, ed. The violet: a Christmas and New Year's gift, or birthday present for 1836.
Livermore, Harriet. The hero of Israel to meet the loud echo of the wilds of America.
Paul, Susan. Memoir of James Jackson, the attentive and obedient scholar, who died in Boston, October 31, 1833, aged six years and eleven months.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. Record of a school; exemplifying the principles of spiritual culture.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln and Emma Willard, trans. Madame Necker de Saussure. Progressive education, commencing with the infant.
Savage, Sarah. Trial and Self-Discipline.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Tales and sketches.
_____. Home.
_____. The Linwoods; or, "Sixty years since" in America.
Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Tales and Essays for children.
_____. A book for boys; consisting of original articles in prose and poetry.
_____. Memoir of Margaret and Henrietta Flower.
_____. Margaret and Henrietta..
_____. Zinzedorff, and Other Poems.
Stewart, Maria W. Miller. Productions of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart, presented to the First African Baptist Church and Society, in the city of Boston.
Warfield, Susanna. Illorar de Courcy: An Auto-biographical novel. By Josiah Templeton, Esq. [Pseud.].
Willard, Emma Hart. A system of universal history, in perspective: accompanied by an atlas, exhibiting chronology in a picture of nations,and progressive geography in a series of maps.

1836

Beecher, Catharine Esther. Letters on the difficulty of religion.
Brown, Phoebe Hinsdale. The tree and its fruits; or, Narratives from Real Life.
___. The village school, to which is added Jenny; or The conversion of a child, a narrative.
Chandler, Elizabeth Margaret. Essays, philanthropic and moral, principally relating to the abolition of slavery in America.
_____. The poetical works of Elizabeth Margaret Chandler.
Chapman, Maria Weston. Songs of the free and hymns of Christian freedom.
Child, Lydia Maria. Anti-slavery catechism.
_____. The evils of slavery, and the cure of slavery.
_____. Philothea; a romance
Griffith, Mary. Camperdown; or, News from our Neighborhood.
_____. Three hundred years hence.
____. Discoveries in light and vision: with a short memoir containing Discoveries in the mental faculties.
Grimké, Angelina Emily Weld. Appeal to the Christian women of the South.
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The Book of Flowers.
Hall, Louisa Jane Park. Alfred [and the Better part].
Larned, Mrs. L. The American Nun; or, The Effect of Romance.
Lee, Jarena The life and religious experience of Jarena Lee, a coloured lady, giving an account of her call to preach the gospel.
Morgan, Susan Rigby Dallam. The Swiss heiress; or, The bride of destiny. 2 vols.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. (1778-1853) Holiness; or, The legend of St. George. A tale from Spencer's (!)Faerie Queen.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. (1804-1894) Method of spiritual culture: being an explanatory preface to the second edition of record of a school.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. The female student; or, Lectures to young ladies on female education.
Ritchie, Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt. Pelayo; or, The Cavern of Covadonga.
Robbins, Eliza. Biography for schools.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. The poor rich man and the rich poor man.
Signourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Poems for children.
_____. History of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome.
_____. Olive Buds.
_____. Stories for youth; founded on fact.
Stephens, Ann Sophia Winterbotham, ed. The Portland Sketch Book.
Willard, Emma Hart. Atlas, to accompany a system of universal history.

1837

Beecher, Catharine Esther. An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, with Reference to the Duty of American Females.
Child, Lydia Maria. The family nurse; or, Companion of the frugal housewife.
Downer, Sarah A. The contrast; or, Which is the Christian?
_____. The triumph of truth. A Tale.
Farrar, Eliza Ware Rotch. The Young Lady's Friend.
Gilman, Caroline Howard. The lady's annual register, and housewife's memorandum book for 1838.
Grimké, Angelina Emily Weld. An appeal to the women of the nominally free states.
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, ed. The Ladies' Wreath; a selection from the female poetic writers from England and America.
Hall, Louisa Jane Park. Miriam; a dramatic poem.
Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer. Three Experiments of Living: living within the means; living up to the means; living beyond the means.
_____. Fourth experiment of living: living without means.
_____. Living on other people's means; or, The history of Simon Silver.
_____. The Contrast; or, Modes of Education.
_____. The Harcourts: Illustrating the Benifit of Retrenchment and Reform.
_____. Rich Enough. A Tale of the Times.
_____. Elinor Fulton; sequel to Three experiments of living.
Leslie, Eliza. Directions for cookery; being a system of the art, in its various branches.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. Familiar lectures on natural philosophy, for the use of schools.
Ritchie, Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt. Reviewers reviewed: A Satire.
Sedgwick, Catharine. Live and let live; or, Domestic Service Illustrated
_____. A love token for children.
Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. A book for girls, in prose and poetry.
Williams, Catherine Read Arnold. Fall River. An Authentic Narrative.

1838

Barnes, Charlotte Mary Sanford. The Night of the Coronation. Written on reading the account of the coronation of Victoria I.
Embury, Emma Catherine Manley. Constance Latimer, or, The Blind Girl; with other tales.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. Sketches of a married life.
Gilman, Caroline Howard. The lady's annual register, and housewife's memorandum book for 1839.
_____. Recollections of a Southern Matron.
_____. The poetry of travelling in the United States.
Grimké, Angelina Emily Weld. Letters to Catherine E. Beecher, in reply to an essay on slavery and abolitionism, addressed to A.E. Grimké.
Grimké, Sarah Moore.Letters on the equality of the sexes,and the condition of woman.
Hall, Fanny W. Rambles in Europe; or, a Tour through France, Italy, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Ireland, in 1836.
Hall, Louisa Jane Park. Joanna of Naples.
Lee, Eliza Buckminster. Sketches of a New England Village in the Last Century.
Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer. Worth a Million.
Leslie, Eliza. Althea Vernon; or, The Embroidered Handkerchief. To which is added Henrietta Harrison, or The Blue Cotton Umbrella.
_____. The tell-tale; and, the week of idleness.
Livermore, Harriet. A letter to John Ross: the principal chief of the Cherokee nation.
Mayo, Sarah Carter Edgarton. Ellen Clifford; or, The genius of reform.
_____. The Palfreys: A Tale.
Osgood, Frances Sargeant Locke. A wreath of wild flowers from New England.
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. Familiar lectures on chemistry; for schools, families, and private students.
Robbins, Eliza. The first book; or, Primary lessons for public and private schools.
Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley. Letters to mothers.
Smith, Elizabeth Oakes Prince. Riches without wings; or, The Cleveland Family.

1839

Allen, Hannah Bowen. Farmer Housten and the Speculator: A New England Tale.
Bacon, Delia Salter. The Bride of Fort Edward, founded on an incident of the revolution.
Cunningham, Virginia. Maid of Florence; or, A woman's vengeance, a psuedo-historical tragedy in five acts.
Davis, Mary Elizabeth Morague. The British Partizan: A Tale of the Times of Old.
Ellet, Elizabeth Fries Lummis. The characters of Schiller.
Embury, Emma Catherine Manley. Pictures of early life; or, Sketches of youth.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. Nursery Songs.
_____. Poems.
_____. Sacred Songs for Sunday Schools, original and selected.
Fuller, Margaret, trans. Conversation with Goethe in the last years of his life.
Gilman, Caroline Howard Tales and Ballads.
_____, ed. Letters of Eliza Wilkinson, during the invasion and possession of Charlestown, S.C., by the British in the Revolutionary War.
_____. Verses of a life Time. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Co., [AAS date 1839] [OCLC date 1849].
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The good housekeeper or the way to live well and to be well while we live containing directions for choosing and preparing food in regard to health, economy, and taste.
Hall, Louisa Jane Park. Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet and judge of Israel. A sacred drama.
_____. The New Year's Day.
Kirkland, Caroline. A new home - who'll follow? Or, Glimpses of Western Life.
Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer. Rosanna; or, Scenes in Boston..
_____. The life and times of Martin Luther.
Osgood, Frances Sargeant Locke. The casket of fate
Phelps, Almira Hart Lincoln. Essay on female education, and prospectus of the Rahway Institute
Robbins, Eliza. The school friend, or Lessons in prose and verse.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Means and ends, or Self-training.
Sherburne, George Ann Humphreys. Imogine; or, The Pirate's Treasure. The Demon's Cave.
Stephens, Ann Sophia Winterbotham. The queen of a week.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. The gift, a Christmas and New Year's present for 1840.
Williams, Catherine Read Arnold. Biography of revolutionary heroes, containing the life of Brigadier Gen. William Barton & Captain Stephen Olney.

Bibliography compiled for Dr. Judith Fetterley by Lois Dellert Raskin. 

President Abraham Lincoln's July 4, 1864 celebration of African American groups & his relationship with the Jews

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On July 4, 1864, Abraham Lincoln attended a fundraiser for African American schools & religious groups in the District of Columbia. He allowed the group to hold a festival on the south grounds of the White House. A great crowd attended, & Lincoln accompanied by members of his cabinet appeared at the event hoping to set an example for the country. On June 28, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, had signed the charter for the YMCA of the City of Washington.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 1861-1865

"Abraham Lincoln – America’s “Great Emancipator”– never liberated any Jewish people. But in death, America’s Jews compared him reverentially to Moses. Like the prophet and lawgiver from Exodus, Lincoln had led people from bondage, yet did not live to see the Promised Land. As Rabbi M. R. Deleeuw put it in his eulogy at Congregation B’nai Israel in New York on April 19, 1865, Lincoln “had brought this nation within reach of the great boon he sought to attain,” but “was not destined to taste the sweets of the peace he had so zealously labored to establish.” The analogy was not lost on the nation’s small but vocal Jewish community. On a more practical level, Lincoln had not only befriended Jewish people throughout his life but made several major presidential decisions that benefited American Jewry.

"This is not to suggest that American Jews had an easy time during the Civil War era.  They were a tiny and often oppressed minority of the population: 150,000 out of about 32 million – just half of one percent – although the country did boast vibrant centers of Jewish life in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. Some 6,000 Jews served in the American military, a number that included twelve generals, many surgeons, and six Medal of Honor winners.

"But it was not a monolithic group:  Northern Jews remained loyal to the Union, Southern Jews mainly to the Confederacy and to slavery. In fact, Southern society may have in some ways been more hospitable to Jews than that of the North. In an era in which Jews filled no major roles in the Lincoln administration, Judah P. Benjamin became Secretary of State of the Confederacy. Yet Benjamin’s elevation did not eliminate bigotry there. According to one Southern diarist in 1861: The Jews are at work.  Having no nationality, all wars are harvests for them.  It has been so from the day of their dispersion.  Now they are scouring the country in all directions, buying all the goods they can find in distant cities, and even from the country stores.  These they will keep, until the prices of consumption shall raise a greedy demand for all descriptions of merchandise.

"Perhaps it should come as no surprise that in this atmosphere, one county in Georgia was actually consumed by an uprising aimed at driving out Jews.  Things could be just as dangerous, however, in the supposedly enlightened North. In New York, the same city where the “Jews’ Hospital” changed its longtime admissions policy so it could treat wounded soldiers of all faiths (today the once-modest institution is known as Mount Sinai Medical Center), draft rioters attacked and pillaged Jewish stores just a few days after the Battle of Gettysburg. When the Union Treasury began issuing paper money, one Confederate newspaper taunted, “Why are Lincoln’s green-backs like the Jews? Because they come from Abraham and have no redeemer.” Against that backdrop of discrimination stood a modern Abraham: Abraham Lincoln.

"A New York rabbi named Morris Raphall came to the White House early in the war to ask Lincoln to promote his son to the rank of lieutenant in the Union Army. Lincoln had declared that day a national prayer and fast day, and after he listened to the rabbi’s plea, he asked, “As God’s minister, is it not your duty to be home today to pray with your people for the success of our armies, as is being done in every loyal church throughout the North?”

"Taken aback, the rabbi managed to explain that his assistant was doing so in his place.  “Ah,” Lincoln replied, “That is different.” Then he wrote out the promotion, handed it to Raphall, and said, “Now, doctor, you can go home and do your own praying.”

"Raphall was not the first Jew Lincoln ever encountered, but it is fair to say that Lincoln probably never saw one until he was about 30 years old, when he first met a fellow Illinois lawyer named Abraham Jonas. Jonas became an enthusiastic political supporter, whom Lincoln would call one of his “most valued friends.” He later appointed Jonas a postmaster, a position he held until his death, when Lincoln quietly transferred the plum job to his widow (at a time when he was reluctant to name his own female relatives to such coveted patronage posts). Lincoln even paroled Jonas’s son, a captured Rebel, to visit his father on his deathbed. The sins of the son were not visited on the loyal father.

"Lincoln counted other Jews among his friends and allies:  Julius Hammerslough, one of his hometown Springfield merchants, who attended his inauguration and later helped raise funds to build his tomb; and Henry Rice, a clothing retailer who sold Lincoln “duds,” as his famous customer referred to them, on the Illinois prairie. Photographer Samuel Alschuler lent Lincoln a velvet-trimmed coat to wear in a photograph taken in Urbana, Illinois, in 1858. Two years later, and now relocated to Chicago, Alschuler took another portrait of Lincoln, now President-elect. It turned out to be the first ever made of him with a beard.

"Bavarian-born Chicago merchant Abraham Kohn, president of Congregation Anshe Maariv (Men of the West), was another staunch Republican supporter. Just before Lincoln left Illinois for the White House, Kohn sent the president-elect a flag emblazoned with Hebrew writing from Deuteronomy 31: “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

"A few days later, as Lincoln left his Springfield home for Washington, he gave a farewell speech to his neighbors offering words clearly inspired by Kohn. That day, Lincoln declared his trust in a God who can “go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good.” Here was an Old Testament inspiration, direct from a Jewish friend. Later witnesses remembered seeing Kohn’s flag on display at the White House.

"But the most fascinating – and influential – of Lincoln’s Jewish acquaintances was undoubtedly his Jewish chiropodist, Isachar Zacharie. A New York newspaper described him as having “a splendid Roman nose, fashionable whiskers, an eloquent tongue, a dazzling diamond breastpin,” and, most important of all for treating a patient with chronically aching feet, “great skill in his profession.”  In 1862, Lincoln heard that Zacharie could boast in his résumé of having had feet of Clay – Henry Clay, that is, Lincoln’s personal and political hero. So the President sent for him to see if the chiropodist could alleviate his aching corns. One newspaper joked, “It would seem . . . that all of our past troubles have originated not so much with the head [of the nation] but with the feet of the nation. Dr. Zacharie has shown us precisely where the shoe pinches.”

"Jokes aside, Zacharie worked wonders with Lincoln.  As the President put it, in an endorsement of his skill, “Dr. Zacharie has operated on my feet with great success and considerable addition to my comfort.” Not everyone who met the chiropodist was able to overcome prejudice. One general assessed Zacharie“the lowest and vulgarest form of Jew Peddlars,” adding, “It is enough to condemn Mr. Lincoln that he can make a friend of such an odious creature.”  Lincoln was not swayed by such prejudice. He not only retained Zacharie as his physician, bit he also found other ways for him to serve the Union as an unofficial envoy to Jewish communities in the South with an eye toward rebuilding their ties to the Union. The doctor turned up in New Orleans, for example, supposedly to arrange financial aid for that city to ease it back under federal authority. Later, Lincoln twice sent him to Richmond on mysterious missions. In return, Zacharie peppered Lincoln with boastful letters and gifts like fresh pineapples, bananas, and hominy grits.

"Zacharie worked hard for Lincoln’s re-election in 1864, writing to assure the President during the campaign: The Isrelites [sic] with but few exceptions they will vote for you.  I understand them well.... I have secured good and trustworthy men to attend to them on Election day. My men have been all the week seeing that their masses are proparly [sic] registered—so that all will be right. Zacharie’s efforts predictably aroused a stir among – who else? – his fellow Jews, some of whom took issue with Zacharie’s claim that he could “deliver” the Jewish vote as a bloc.  “There is no ‘Jewish vote,’” the editor of the Jewish Messenger, Meyer Isaacs, wrote angrily to Lincoln, “and if there were it could not be bought.” The fracas threatened to erupt into a political crisis until Lincoln ordered an aide to write a letter assuring Jewish leaders that no one had ever pledged the Jewish vote to the President, and he in turn had offered no inducements to secure it.

"The fact that Lincoln utilized a character like Zacharie remains surprising. The doctor was rather full of himself. In 1863 he talked about “the great responsibility resting upon me,” words Lincoln had more appropriately employed to describe the burdens on him! A week before Election Day 1864, Zacharie bragged that he had accomplished “one of the Largest things that has been done in the campaign.” Then he complained to the exhausted President that he was tired.  “I wish to God all was over,” he wrote, “for I am used up, but 3 years ago, I promised I would elect you, and if you are not it shall not be my fault.” Notwithstanding such boasting, Lincoln saw something in his doctor that historians have never quite understood.  Lincoln was an excellent judge of character, so it’s difficult not to conclude that somehow, Zacharie did serve him beneficially – and not just medically.

"Critics point to an odd memorandum Lincoln wrote during the war that began, “About Jews,” and went on to offer instructions on seemingly unrelated matters: issuing to “Dr. Zacharie a pass to go to Savannah,” and providing some kind of hearing to a Mr. “Blumberg, at Baltimore.” In a way, the memo suggests that Lincoln tended to think of Jews as a nation within the nation, perhaps not as truly assimilated as American Jews thought themselves to be. On the other hand, the memo also sent a signal to the bureaucracy that the President believed that Jews, at least these particular Jews, should be treated decently by the government.

"There were two real tests of Lincoln’s tolerance during the Civil War.  A year into the war, there was still not one Jewish chaplain in the armed services.  Federal law required that all chaplains be “regularly ordained ministers of some Christian denomination.”  
Jews wanted their own.  They had a champion in Ohio Congressman Clement L. Valandigham, who took to the House floor to demand equal chaplaincy rights for Jews. Unfortunately, they could not have recruited a more counterproductive ally. Valandigham was a so-called “Copperhead,” an anti-war Democrat. “Valiant Val” later would be arrested for treason and expelled from the Union. His support guaranteed defeat for expanding chaplaincy rights.

"The issue might have died there had it not been for the so-called “Allen incident.” Michael Allen was a rabbinical student elected chaplain of a largely Jewish regiment headed by a Colonel Max Freedman. When the army found out about him, they pressured him into quitting, arguing that he was not yet fully ordained. Colonel Freedman promptly named a fully ordained New York rabbi named Arnold Fischel to take his place. But the U. S. Sanitary Commission, the charity that attended to the soldiers’ medical and moral needs, turned him down, too, citing the law that required all chaplains to be Christians.  Frustrated, Jewish leaders went public. They wrote editorials for Jewish periodicals, got liberal newspapers to support them, and finally sent a delegation to the White House. There, Dr. Fischel begged Lincoln to recognize “the principle of religious liberty . . . the constitutional rights of the Jewish community, and the welfare of Jewish volunteers” who were dying in battle without access to spiritual support.

"Lincoln swiftly pledged, “I shall try to have a new law broad enough to cover what is desired by you in behalf of the Israelites.” The following summer, the law was duly amended to include all “regularly ordained ministers of some denomination.” The word “Christian” was expunged. That September, Lincoln named Rabbi Jacob Frankel of Philadelphia the first Jewish chaplain in American military history. The Jews, under Lincoln, had reversed four score years of institutionalized discrimination within the army.

"Another crisis followed, a result of an action by one of the war’s greatest heroes, Ulysses S. Grant. After his triumph at the Battle of Shiloh, the general inexplicably began imagining Jews infiltrating his encampments en masse, speculating, profiteering, and conducting other wicked business unchecked. Grant was determined to root them out. In July 1862, he ordered his commanders to inspect all visitors’ baggage and confiscate contraband, noting, “Jews should receive special attention.” That November he advised another officer, “Refuse all permits ... the Isrealites [sic] especially should be kept out.” A day later he repeated, “No Jews are to be permitted to travel on the Rail Road southward from any point. They are such an intolerable nuisance, that the department must be purged of them.” Weeks afterward, he was still railing about “the total disregard and evasion of orders by the Jews,” admitting, “my policy is to exclude them as far as practicable.” A camp newspaper not surprisingly echoed the popular general:  The Jews were “sharks, feeding upon the soldiers.”  Then, Grant’s own father turned up in camp, hand-in-hand with some Jewish cotton brokers eager for profit, though no greedier for money than the elder Mr. Grant. Perhaps believing his father had been duped, the general let his hostility run wild. On December 17, 1862, he issued his infamous General Orders Number 11, declaring in part:  The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade ... are hereby expelled from the department within 24 hours. ... Post commanders will see that all of this class of people be ... required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement.

"Reaction was swift. A Jewish captain named Philip Trounstine promptly resigned his commission, complaining of “taunts and malice.” Respected Northern rabbis unleashed a firestorm of criticism from the pulpit and in the press. Even Grant’s greatest Washington champion, Illinois Congressman Elihu Washburne, admitted, “Your order touching the Jews has kicked up quite a dust among the Israelites. They came here in crowds. ...”  Some of the crowds went directly to the President, who might easily have ignored the outcry for fear of humiliating one of his most valuable military assets. To Lincoln’s credit, he did not excuse or cover up. He came to the rescue. When a delegation led by Cesar Kaskel visited him to lodge a formal protest, the President supposedly said, “So the children of Israel were forced out of the happy land of Canaan?”

"A clever delegate shot back, “Yes, and that is why we have come unto Father Abraham’s bosom asking protection.” Replied Lincoln, “That protection you shall have.” Another group headed by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise soon followed, and Lincoln told them, “I don't like to see a class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.” Wise remembered, “The President fully convinced us that he knew of no distinction between Jews and Gentiles and that he feels none against any nationality and especially against Israelites.”

"In one of the rare occasions in which he ever overruled his prize general, Abraham Lincoln made sure that General Orders Number 11 was rescinded a few weeks after its publication. He did not mind expelling peddlers, Lincoln explained privately. But, as he put it, Grant had “proscribed a whole class, some of whom are fighting in our ranks.” This was unacceptable. Another threat to the legal standing of Jewish citizens had been recognized and corrected. Whether it inspired Jews to vote as a bloc for Lincoln’s re-election the following fall remains impossible to know, but the positive impact on Lincoln’s reputation was incontestable.

"History books note the irony of the fact that like Jesus, Lincoln was slain on Good Friday. It is seldom observed that the 1865 calamity also occurred during Passover weekend.  Seders that season were dedicated in part to Lincoln’s memory.  Synagogues across the North draped themselves in black and devoted Sabbath and holiday sermons, as one Jewish newspaper reported, “to the grief that sorrowed the hearts of the people.” Jews took an active part in the Lincoln funeral in Washington. At the public ceremonies in New York, a rabbi was even asked to recite a prayer. One young local Jewish shopkeeper named Abraham Abraham was so moved that he bought a bust of Lincoln, draped it in black, and displayed it in his window. The shop later became the department store of Abraham & Strauss. In Chicago, a special canopy was provided by the city’s Jews, inscribed with the Hebrew lament:  “The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places.”

"Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who had earlier called Lincoln a “primitive,” now praised “the spirit and principles of the man.” At Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan the mourners’ Kaddish was recited for the first time in memory of a non-Jew, inspiring a protest from some outraged Orthodox Jews but praise from most congregants. If Lincoln could break precedent by opening up the army to Jewish chaplaincy, then synagogues could say Kaddish for their gentile champion. Even in the South, Jewish leaders acknowledged a special bond between Lincoln and the Jews and a special sorrow at his loss. It was attributable mainly to Lincoln’s acts of compassion and justice, but perhaps, also, to the fact that his religious beliefs seemed so universal.

"Lincoln had once summed up his faith:  “When I do good I feel good, and when I do bad I feel bad, and that’s my religion.” Perhaps it is no accident that the sentiment is remarkably close to what Hillel urged in his teachings:  “To forbear doing unto others what would displease us.”  That deceptively simple but poignant philosophy made Lincoln seem to Jews of his day like God’s child and America’s father at one and the same time. When Lincoln died, many Jews really did feel “the beauty of Israel was slain upon the high places.” But as Rabbi Samuel Adler put it at Temple Emanu-el in New York City on April 19, 1865: “Abraham Lincoln has not fallen. He is lost to us but he is as Light ... and remains with us in memory and adoration and will so remain for ever.” Rabbi Adler called him “Father Abraham” that day, a rare tribute from the pulpit echoed at synagogues throughout the nation during that Passover of mourning. “Fear not, Abraham,” Rabbi Samuel Meyer Isaacs declared, quoting the Bible, from the pulpit of the Broadway synagogue, “I am thy shield; thy reward shall be exceedingly great.”

A version of this article appeared in Lincoln and the Jews: The Last Best Hope of Earth (Chicago: The Skirball Cultural Center, 2002) written by Harold Holzer.

4th of July Celebrations in 19C America

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This chronolgy offers a glimpse at how the 4th of July was celebrated in good times and bad in 19th-century America.

1800- In New York, the first local advertisements for fireworks appear and at the Mount Vernon Garden there a display of "a model of Mount Vernon, 20 feet long by 24 feet high, illuminated by several hundred lamps" is presented; in Philadelphia, the U.S. Marine Band, directed by Col. William Ward Burrows, provides music for the Society of the Cincinnati celebration held at the City Tavern; in Hanover, N.H., Dartmouth College student Daniel Webster gives his first Fourth of July oration in the town's meeting house; Henry Clay gives an oration at the Lexington, Kentucky, Court House

1801- The first public Fourth of July reception at the White House occurs; in Marblehead, Mass., an oration is given by Joseph Story at the New Meeting House; in Boston, the frigates U.S.S. Constitution and U.S.S. Boston and the French corvette Berceau fire artillery salutes

1802- The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is formally opened

1803- An Italian band of musicians perform for President Jefferson at the Executive Mansion

1804- The first Fourth of July celebration west of the Mississippi occurs at Independence Creek and is celebrated by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

1805- In Charleston, S.C., the American Revolution Society and the Society of the Cincinnati meet at St. Philips Church

1806- Two Revolutionary officers march in a parade in Bennington, Vt.

1807- In Richmond, Skelton Jones delivers a funeral oration over the men of the U.S. Chesapeake who lost their lives due to an attack by the British warship Leopard, two weeks earlier; in Petersburg, Va., people march through the streets with an "effigy of George III on a pole" and later burn the effigy on Centre Hill; the eagle which crowns the gate of the Navy Yard in Washington City is unveiled to the sound of a federal salute and music.

1808- Citizens of Richmond, Va., resolve that only liquor produced in this country will be drunk on the Fourth of July

1810- An entertainment, "Columbia's Independence," is presented at the Washington Theatre in Washington City; in New Haven, Conn., the citizens there have a "plowing match"

1814- The Fourth is celebrated in Honolulu, Hawaii, with a dinner, and artillery salutes are fired from ships in the harbor there; Uri K. Hill sings an "Ode" written especially for the occasion in New York while Commodore Stephen Decatur, an honorary member of the State Society of the Cincinnati, dines with that association in Tontine Coffee House there; the Declaration of Independence is printed in the 4 July edition of the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser; in Ashburton, England, American prisoners there celebrate the Fourth of July and drink 18 toasts

1815- The cornerstone for Baltimore's Washington Monument is set; Richard Bland Lee reads the Declaration of Independence in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the Capitol; in New York, officers from the French frigate Hermione sit on reviewing stands in front of City Hall in order to review parading troops while a group of "patriotic tars" tries to "haul down the British colors" but they are dispersed by the police; in New York harbor, a "steam vessel of war" complete with cannons is tested successfully

1816- The Declaration of Independence is read by W.S. Radcliff in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the Capitol; John Binns of Philadelphia proposes publishing a separate edition of the Declaration of Independence at $13 a copy

1817- Near Rome, New York, a ground breaking ceremony occurs for the construction of the Erie Canal; only four original signers of the Declaration of Independence are alive on this anniversary: Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia; John Adams, of Massachusetts; Charles Carroll, of Maryland; William Ellery, of Rhode Island

1818- A banquet celebration takes place in Paris at the Restaurant Banclin with guests former Senator James Brown of Louisiana, the American Minister to Paris, and Gen. Lafayette in attendance; a separately published facsimile edition (price $5) of the Declaration of Independence, issued by printer Benjamin O. Tyler, occurs in Washington City immediately prior to the Fourth for use on that holiday; at Fell's Point in Baltimore, the steamboat United States is launched from the shipyard of Flannigan and Beachem

1819- An early and rare example of an Independence Day oration presented (to a group of women) by a woman ("Mrs. Mead") occurs on July 3 at Mossy Spring in Kentucky; The first Fourth of July celebration in Medina, Ohio, takes place.

1820- Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins attends ceremonies in New York and the Constellation is decorated with numerous national and foreign flags in New York harbor; Charles Carroll attends the celebration at Howard's Park in Baltimore with his copy of the Declaration of Independence in hand; the Georgetown Metropolitan issues an editorial criticizing President Monroe for closing the Executive Mansion on Independence Day

1821- President Monroe is ill and the Executive Mansion is closed to the public; John Quincy Adams reads an original copy of the Declaration of Independence at a ceremony held at the Capitol; in Philadelphia, 90-year-old Timothy Matlack, who "wrote the first commission" for General George Washington, reads the Declaration of Independence

1822- At Mount Vernon, Judge Bushrod Washington announces that he will no longer allow "Steam-boat parties" and "eating, drinking, and dancing parties" on the grounds there; in Saratoga County, New York, 5000 citizens and 52 soldiers of the Revolution assemble there to celebrate the Fourth on the field where Gen. Burgoyne surrendered (October 17, 1777); in Nashville, Tennessee, the state's governor, William Carroll, presents a sword to General Andrew Jackson and both give speeches

1823- An elaborate ceremony takes place at Mount Vernon with Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins in attendance;  First July Fourth celebration in Pike County, Illinois is held in Atlas, and included an oration and reading of the Declaration of Independence.

1824- A ballet performance titled the "Patriotic Volunteer" is performed at the new theater at Chatham Garden, in New York; in Poultney, Vermont, 200 men celebrate the day by repairing a road, after which the "ladies of the neighborhood" serve them a "plenteons repast"; Fort Atkinson (Nebraska) celebrates the Fourth of July with artillery salutes, a military parade, and a dinner replete with toasts and music.

1825- President John Q. Adams marches to the Capitol from the White House in a parade that includes a stage mounted on wheels, representing 24 states; in Boston, members of the military share breakfast at the Exchange Coffee House; in Brooklyn, New York, the cornerstone for the Apprentices' Library is laid and Lafayette is in attendance

1826- 50th anniversary ( referred to as the "Jubilee of Freedom" event) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and two signers of the document, Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, die; in Providence, R.I., four men who participated in the capture of the British armed schooner Gaspeduring the Revolutionary War ride in a parade; in New York, 4 gold medals are struck by the Common Council: 3 are sent to the surviving signers of the Declaration, and the 4th is given to the son of Robert Fulton, in honor of the "genius in the application of steam"; in Lynchburg, Va., among the "aged patriots of '76" at the celebration there are General John Smith and Captain George Blakenmore; in Newport, R.I., Major John Handy reads the Declaration of Independence, "on the identical spot which he did 50 years ago," and was accompanied by Isaac Barker of Middletown, "who was at his side in the same place fifty years before."; in Worcester, Mass., at the South Meeting House, Isaiah Thomas stands on the spot where he originally read the Declaration of Independence in 1776; the Frederick-Town Herald of Frederick, Md., decides to no longer publish dinner toasts which they believe are "generally dull, insipid affairs, about which few feel any interest"; in Salem, N.C., the Moravian Male Academy is dedicated; in Quincy, Mass., Miss Caroline Whitney gives an address on the occasion of the presentation of a flag to the Quincy Light Infantry; in Arlington, Va., Washington's tent, the same which the General used at the heights of Dorchester in 1775, is erected near the banks of the Potomac and is used for a celebration

1827- The State of New York emancipates its slaves; the play "The Indian Prophecy: A National Drama in Two Acts," by George Washington Parke Custis, has its Philadelphia premiere at the Chestnut Street Theater; the Ohio Canal opens in Cleveland with Governor Allen Trimble arriving there on the first boat, State of Ohio

1828- Charles Carroll, last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, participates in a Baltimore celebration and assists in the laying of the "first stone" of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the frigate Constitution arrives at Boston returning from a cruise and fires "a salute in honor of the day"; the ground-breaking ceremony of the C & O Canal, north of Georgetown, takes place with President John Quincy Adams officiating

1829- In Augusta, Maine, the corner stone of the "New State House" is laid; the cornerstone of one of the Eastern locks of the C & O Canal (near Georgetown) scheduled to take place is cancelled due to rain; the embankments at the summit of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal are opened and water fills the canal, with large crowds and the Mayor of Philadelphia Benjamin W. Richards in attendance; in Cincinnati, an illuminated balloon, 15 feet in diameter, is sent aloft; in Washington, D.C., General Van Ness, on behalf of the Board of Aldermen and Common Council there, presents a written statement of confidence to President Andrew Jackson, who is experiencing some unpopularity in the city

1830- Columbia, S.C. celebrates the Fourth (occuring on the sabbath) on 3 July; Vice President John C. Calhoun is in Pendleton, S.C., at the Anniversary celebration there and proposes a toast ("consolidation and disunion" are "two extremes of our system") that stirs controversy

1831- Former President James Monroe dies on 4 July: "It is stated that when the noise of firing began at midnight, he opened his eyes inquiringly; and when the cause was communicated to him, a look of intelligence indicated that he understood what the occasion was," and President Jackson directs that at all military posts, "officers wear crape on their left arm for six months"; in Washington, two separate politically partisan ceremonies are held: the "National Republican Celebration," for the friends of Henry Clay, and "The Administration Celebration," for the friends for the re-election of President Jackson; in Washington, Francis Scott Key gives an oration in the Rotunda of the Capitol; in Washington, Jacob Gideon, Sr., "who had officiated during the Revolutionary War as trumpeter to the commander-in-chief, and had acted in that capacity at the surrender at York Town" sounds "a revolutionary blast" at a dinner of the Association of Mechanics and other Working Men; in Alexandria, Va., a ground breaking ceremony for the Alexandria branch of the C&O Canal occurs, with G.W.P. Custis and town mayor John Roberts providing the speeches; in Georgetown, a " beautiful new packet boat, called the George Washington," commences her first run on the C&O Canal; in Charleston, S.C., citizens march in a parade carrying banners "on which were inscribed the names of battles fought in the Revolution, and in the late War"; John Quincy Adams delivers a Fourth of July oration at Quincy, Mass.; the tribe of Pequoad indians celebrate the Fourth of July with a wardance at their wigwam, south of Alexandria, Va.

1832- New York has a subdued Fourth of July celebration due to a cholera epidemic occurring there; in Washington, Henry Clay attends the National Republican Celebration that's held on the bank of the Potomac River

1833- In Philadelphia, the cornerstone of the Girard College for Orphans is laid; the National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.) publishes the text of the Constitution; First celebration in Grand Rapids, Michigan--a casual affair with the ladies enjoying tea.

1834- A man who was at Lexington and Bunker Hill attends ceremonies in New Haven, Conn., wearing the original coat he had worn then; in New York, an "Anti-Slavery Society" meeting is held at the "Chatham street Chapel," and is attended by both blacks and whites; at the Hermitage Inn in Philadelphia, David Crockett gives a traditional Fourth of July address; in Washington, D.C., the first Trades Union celebration occurs

1835- In Boston, George Robert Twelves Hewes, shoemaker, is honored at a celebration as the last survivor of the Boston Tea Party; the National Intelligencer prints the text of "Washington's Farewell Address."

1837- Oberlin College students celebrate by holding anti-slavery meetings
1837 Cartoon of a 4th of July celebration

1838- In Providence, Rhode Island, 29 veterans of the revolution take part in the procession there; the White House is closed to the public, "the President has lately lost, by death, a near relative"; in Charlottesville, Va., the Declaration of Independence is read from an "original draft, in the handwriting of Mr. Jefferson"; at Fort Madison, Iowa, the well-known Native American Black Hawk gives a Fourth of July speech

1839- In Hagerstown, Md., the only 2 surviving soldiers of the Revolutionary War there ride in a carriage pulled by white horses; on Stanten Island in New York, between 20,000-30,000 children gather to celebrate the Sunday School Scholars National Jubilee there, while in the New York harbor, 1000 ships converge, "all gaily dressed in honor of the day"; in Boston, 1500 men gather at Faneuil Hall in support of a Temperance Reformation; in Norwich, Connecticut, at a sabbath school celebration there, one of the students reads excerpts from the Declaration of Independence wearing "the identical cap" worn by William Williams (of that state) at the time the latter signed the Declaration; the McMinnville Gazette (Tenn.) publishes a Declaration of Independence for an "Independant Treasury" and the text is reprinted in the D.C. Globe; at Norfolk, an elephant "attached to the menagerie" there swims across the harbor from Town Point to the Portsmouth side and back

1840- At Cherry Valley, N.Y., William H. Seward delivers a centennial anniversary oration on the anniversary of that town's settlement; in Congress, in the House of Representatives, Congressman Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts presents a proposal that the House decides on claims by Revolutionary soldiers for their relief; in Portsmouth, N.H., a large pavilion erected in the form of an amphitheatre collapses throwing nearly a thousand people to the ground, but no one is killed; in Providence, R.I., a "Clam Bake" is held and 220 bushes of clams are eaten; Oshkosh, Wisconsin, celebrates its first Fourth of July

1841- In New York, the steamship Fulton is anchored off the Battery and displays fireworks and "glittering lamps" in honor of the day; Charles Wilkes, U.S. naval officer and explorer, gives the first Fourth of July celebration west of the Missouri River in 1841 at a site near Sequalitchew Lake (now Pierce County), Washington

1842- In New York harbor, the U.S. North Carolina, the frigate Columbia, and the English frigate Warspite exchange artillery salutes, and in the harbor as well, Sam Colt's "sub-marine experiment" for blowing up enemy ships is tested successfully; in Washington, D.C., the "History of the Declaration of Independence," by William Bacon Stevens is published in the National Intelligencer, (4 July 1842, 1-4) and the "Grand Total Abstinence Celebration," made up of several temperance societies, takes place there; at Parrott's Woods, near Georgetown (D.C.), the speaker's platform collapses, throwing D.C. Mayor William W. Seaton, G.W.P. Custis, and others to the ground, but no one is injured

1843- The beginning of the annual tradition of lighting the Spring Park with candles in the Moravian community of Lititz, Pa., begins; in Boston, Charles Francis Adams, son of President John Quincy Adams, gives an oration in Faneuil Hall, and is the first celebration in this building; in Washington, D.C., the laying of the cornerstone of the Temperance Hall takes place; in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a church burns to the ground as a result of a firecracker "carelessly thrown by a boy"

1844- In Charleston, S.C., the faculty and trustees of Charleston College march in a city-wide "Festival of the Teachers and Scholars" parade; "Liberty Pole Raisings" and flag raisings in support of the Whigs political party take place in Louisville, Ky., Wheeling and Harper's Ferry, W.V., and Montrose, Pa.

1845- In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of Jackson Hall is laid, and on the grounds south of the Executive Mansion, twelve rockets are accidentally fired into the crowd, killing James Knowles and Georgiana Ferguson and injuring several others; in Ithaca, N.Y., three persons are killed by an exploding cannon; ex-president John Tyler gives a speech at William and Mary College; in Nashville, Tennessee, the corner-stone of the State House is laid

1846- The earliest recorded Fourth of July in San Antonio, Texas, takes place; La Crosse, Wisconsin, celebrates the Fourth of July for the first time

1847- The first celebration of the Fourth in California takes place at Fort Hill, near Los Angeles

1848- In Washington, the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument takes place with the President of the United States, Dolley Madison, and other persons of distinction in attendance; Hon. Josiah Quincy presents a speech in Boston (he was the orator of the day there 50 years before on 4 July 1798)

1849- The first Fourth of July celebration ever in Sacramento, California, takes place

1850- The laying of a block of marble by the "Corporation" in the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia takes place; Newburgh, N.Y., dedicates "Old Hasbrouck House," where George Washington had his Revolutionary War headquarters, as a national monument; San Jose & Shasta, California, celebrate the Fourth of July

1851- In Washington, President Fillmore assists in the laying of the "cornerstone of the new Capitol edifice" while Daniel Webster gives his last Fourth of July oration there; in Trappe, Pa., a monument to the memory of Francis R. Shunk, late Governor of Pennsylvania, is unveiled and George W. Woodward presents an address there; Greenville, S.C., holds an anti- secession celebration with 4,000 persons in attendance

1852- In Rochester, N.Y., on 5 July, Frederick Douglass presents his famous speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"; Marblehead, Mass., celebrates the Fourth on July 3

1853- At a celebration dinner at Washington Hall in Springfield, Mass., Rev. Jonathan Smith, a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army, is cheered; in Abbington, Mass., a "Know Nothing Anti-Slavery celebration" takes place; in Norwalk, Conn., showman P.T. Barnum opens the ceremony there with an address before a crowd of 10,000; in Philadelphia, at the Chestnut Street Theatre, the comedietta, "My Uncle Sam," is performed, and the cornerstone of the West Philadelphia Institute is laid, while some 10,000 persons visit Independence Hall, especially opened to the public on this occasion, and each person attempts to sit in the chair of John Hancock; in New York, 95-year-old Daniel Spencer, "an old patriot of the Revolution, hailing from Canajoharie, N.Y.," participates in the celebration; Williamsburg, Va., fires off a national salute of 32 guns by Captain Taft's Company of Light Artillery; 500 residents of Baltimore go on an excursion to Annapolis, Md., and while there, some of them fight with a group of Annapolitans resulting in 2 persons killed, and several injured; in Providence, R.I., the original carriage used by George Washington when he was in Providence is used in a parade there; The first Fourth of July celebration in Hartford, Wisconsin takes place. Those assembled sang the "Star Spangled Banner, and "My Country 'tis of Thee"; In Cowlitz, Washington, a liberty pole is raised and the crowd there is addressed in French by "Dr. Pasquirer" who reminds them to thank "Lafayette for aid in our struggle for independence."

1854- Henry David Thoreau gives a "Slavery in Massachusetts" oration at Framingham Grove, near Boston; in Farmingham, Mass., 600 abolitionists meet and watch William Lloyd Garrison burn printings of the Constitution of the U.S. and Fugitive Slave Law, "amid applause and cries of shame"; the mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, is mobbed by a group of citizens after putting City Council member Joshua S. Valentine in jail for setting off firecrackers

1855- In Worcester, Mass., citizens demonstrate against the city officials there who refuse to fund the town's Fourth of July celebration; in Columbus, Ohio, a parade of firemen, Turners and other societies, turns into a riot, resulting in one dead and several injured; Lawrence, Kansas, holds one of the largest celebrations in that part of the country, with a crowd of over 1,500 persons

1856- The "inauguration" of an equestrian statue (29 feet high) made by Henry K. Brown of George Washington is dedicated in New York; The first Fourth of July celebration "west of the Big Woods" in Minnesota occurred and consisted of a bear hunt by several hunters.

1857- In Milwaukee, the Declaration of Independence is read publicly in German by Edward Saloman; in Boston at the Navy Yard, the frigate Vermont is set on fire when "a wad" from an artillery salute "was blown on board of the hull"; near Lexington, Kentucky, a corner stone of a national monument to the memory of Henry Clay is laid

1858- Illinois Central Railroad workers attempt to launch a "monster balloon" called the "Spirit of '76" in Chicago; in Brooklyn, N.Y., the corner-stone of the Armory is laid; Oliver Wendell Holmes gives a speech in Boston; at Niagara Falls, N.Y., at the celebration of the opening of the hydraulic canal, the dam gives way, but no one is injured; Jefferson Davis gives a 4th of July speech on board a steamer bound from Baltimore to Boston and declares "this great country will continue united"

1859- In Grahamville, S.C., Robert Barnwell Rhett gives a speech proposing the creation of a Southern nation; in Washington, a convicted murderer publicly reads the Declaration of Independence at the prison there; Denver celebrates its First Fourth of July at a grove near the mouth of Cherry Creek. Dr. Fox readthe Declaration of Independence, Jas. R. Shaffer delivered the orations, and music was provided by the Council Bluffs Band.
Alfred Cornelius Howland (American painter, 1838-1909) Fourth of July Parade

1860- The Alexandria Gazette publishes a chronology of that Virginia town's notable 4th of July events from 1800-1860; in Jamestown, N.Y., the Museum Society, made up of children between the ages of ten and fifteen, take charge of the celebration there, because most of the adults are not in town, but in Randolph, N.Y., celebrating

1861- President Lincoln sends an address to both houses of Congress regarding the suspension of Federal government functions by secessionists in the South; Galusha A. Grow is the only Speaker of the House of Representatives ever to be elected and take office on the 4th of July; an artillery salute of 15 guns is fired at Camp Jackson near Pigs Point, Va., in honor of the Southern States that have declared and are declaring their independence; in Baltimore, the citizens there present a "splendid silk national flag, regimental size," to the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment; in Washington, D.C., 29 New York regiments are reviewed by the President at the White House; Gov. John A. Andrew of Massachusetts celebrates the 4th with the 1st Massachusetts Regiment at Camp Banks near Georgetown, D.C.

1862- A pyrotechnic depiction of the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac takes place in New York

1863- In Concord, N.H., former president Franklin Pierce addresses 25,000 persons at the "Democratic Mass Meeting" held there; in Buffalo, N.Y., 17 veterans of the War of 1812 march in a parade there; at Annapolis, a "flag of truce" boat filled with Secessionist women from Philadelphia and elsewhere leaves on July 3rd and travels south; in Gettysburg, Pa., as the Rebel troops are making their escape from the great battle just fought there, someone throws firecrackers among their ambulances carrying the wounded and causes a stampede of the horses and panic among the troops; in Columbus, Ohio, Randal and Aston's store has 8,500 American flags to sell for the holiday; in Newport, Rhode Island, the Fourth of July celebration is repeated on Tuesday, July 7, due to the news regarding the Union victory at Vicksburg; Gov. Zebulon B. Vance of North Carolina gives a speech in Granville county, urging "the people to continue their assistance in prosecuting the war until the independence of the Confederate States was established"

1864- Gov. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee addresses the citizens of Nashville; in Washington, D.C., Secretary William Seward, riding in a carriage, narrowly avoids serious injury when a rocket, set off by a young boy, strikes him above his eye

1865- One of the first "Freedmen" celebrations occurs, in Raleigh, N.C.; Lincoln's "Emanicipation Proclamation" is publicly read in Warren, Ohio, and Belpassi, Oregon; the National Monument Association lays the cornerstone of the Soldier's Monument in Gettysburg; in Boston, a statue of Horace Mann is "inaugurated"; the Huntsville Advocate (Alabama) prints news about celebrations in Gettysburg and New York; the celebration by the Colored People's Educational Monument Association in memory of Abraham Lincoln occurs in Washington, D.C. and is the first national celebration by African-Americans in the U.S.; in Albany, N.Y., 100 "tattered" Civil War battle flags are presented to the state and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant is in attendance; in Savannah, Ga., Governor James Johnson addresses the citizens there telling them that slavery is dead and that they should renew their allegiance to the Government; at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., J.C. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, reads the Emancipation Proclamation; Union General William Tecumseh Sherman participates in a 4th of July civic celebration in Louisville, Ky., and witnesses a balloon ascension there; in Hopewell, New Jersey, a monument to the memory of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is dedicated and New Jersey Governor Joel Parker delivers an oration; Helena, Montana celebrates its first Fourth of July, at Owyece Park, with an oration by George M. Pinney.

1866- General George G. Meade watches 10,000 war veterans parade in Philadelphia; General William T. Sherman gives an address in Salem, Ill.; the Nashville Banner, in an editorial, urges its citizens not to celebrate the Fourth; one of the worst fires ever to occur on Independence Day takes place in Portland, Maine, the blame placed on an errant firecracker
Uncle Sam

1867- The cornerstone of the new Tammany Hall is laid in New York while the cornerstone for a monument to George Washington is laid at Washington's Rock, N.J.; the "Emanicipation Proclamation" is read in Portland, Maine; the Illinois State Association celebrates on the grounds of the Civil War battle field at Bull Run in Virginia; in Washington, two members of the House of Representatives are arrested for violating a city ordinance prohibiting the setting off of firecrackers in the public streets; Friends of Universal Suffrage meet in South Salem, Mass., and Susan B. Anthony reads the Declaration of the Mothers of 1848; a freight train carrying a "large quantity of fireworks" on route to a celebration in Springfield, Mass. derails near Charleston and the train is completely wrecked

1868- President Andrew Johnson issues his Third Amnesty Proclamation in Washington, D.C. directed to those who participated in the Civil War; the Declaration of Independence is read in both English and Spanish at a public celebration in Santa Fe, New Mexico; in Richmond, some black "societies" parade, "but there is no public celebration by the whites"; in Groton, Mass., the Lawrence Academy, is destroyed by fire due to a firecracker "thrown on the piazza by a boy"; in Buffalo, St. John's Episcopal Church burns to the ground due to a rocket that exploded in its spire

1869- A monument dedicated to George Washington is unveiled in Philadelphia; in New York, 350 Cuban "patriot" residents parade "to evoke sympathy for the Cuban revolutionary cause" and the Army of the Potomac Society meets to establish itself as a permanent organization; blacks celebrate the Fourth on July 3rd in Columbia, S.C.; the Declaration of Independence is read in English and German at a public celebration at Diamond Square in Pittsburgh

1870- President Ulysses S. Grant participates in Fourth of July opening exercises in Woodstock, Conn.; in Newark, N.J., 13 young ladies dressed to represent the 13 original states, proceed in a carriage; in Marysville, Pa., at a picnic held by black military companies, a riot ensues with several persons shot

1871- The New Saenger Hall is dedicated in Toledo, Ohio; in Vienna, American Minister Hon. John Jay gives a Fourth dinner hosting the ambassadors of the Vienna Court; the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on the grounds of Mount Vernon takes place, the reader is John Carroll Brent, a member of D.C.'s Oldest Inhabitants Association; at Framingham Grove, Mass., the Massachusetts Woman's Suffrage Association holds a mass meeting and activist Lucy Stone and others give speeches there

1872- A monument representing an infantry soldier of the Civil War is unveiled in White Plains, N.Y.; Richmond, Va., publicly celebrates the Fourth, the first time in 12 years; Ella Wheeler (Wilcox), a poet, is presented a badge of the Army of Tennessee Society at its meeting in Madison, Wisconsin; in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Vice President Schuyler Colfax gives an oration

1873- In Philadelphia, the transfer of Fairmount Park for use by the Centennial Commission in preparation for the International Exhibition and Centennial Celebration in 1876 takes place; in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mme. Anna Bishop Troupe performs in the Tabernacle before a crowd of 6,000, including Brigham Young and "U.S. officials"; in Buffalo, N.Y., a "large delegation" of native Americans and Canadians attend a ceremony there; Mark Twain gives a Fourth of July address in London
Fourth of July celebration, Snohomish, Washington, c 1874

1874- In Saybrook, Conn., the Thomas C. Acton Library is dedicated; the New York Times publishes an editorial acknowledging the increased interest in the South for celebrating the Fourth and encourages Southern towns to do just that; in Lancaster, Pa., the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Penn Square is dedicated; Modesto, California, holds its first Fourth of July celebration and music was provided by the Modesto Brass Band

1875- In Augusta, Georgia, the white military celebrates the Fourth, the first time in that town since the Civil War; several blacks and possibly one white are killed when a fray erupts at a Fourth of July celebration held at the Court House in Vicksburg, Miss.; on the Centennial Grounds in Philadelphia, the Order of B'nai B'rith hold "exercises" incident to the breaking of the ground for their proposed statue to religious liberty; at Atoka, "Indian Territory," a celebration of the Fourth by Native Americans takes place with 3,000 persons participating; Homer, Louisiana, celebrates the holiday on Saturday, July 3
1 Grand Army of the Republic in Parade

1876- Centennial celebrations (many are three-day celebrations, 3-5 July) occur throughout the United States and abroad; in Philadelphia at Fairmount Park, two separate celebrations include the German societies unveiling a statue of Baron Alexander von Humboldt and the dedication, including an address provided by John Lee Carroll, Governor of Maryland, of the Catholic Temperance Fountain; also in Philadelphia, Bayard Taylor's "National Ode, July 4, 1876," is read at Independence Square while Susan B. Anthony and others belonging to the National Woman's Suffrage Association present and read their Declaration of Rights for Women at the Centennial Celebration; in Philadelphia as well, General Sherman reviews the troops as they parade; in Washington, D.C., at the First Congregational Church, the poem "Centennial Bells," by Bayard Taylor is read by the poet; the long-standing tradition of Navy vessels participating in July 4th celebrations in Bristol, R.I., begins with the presence there of the U.S. sloop Juniata; in Washington, 11 couples celebrate the Fourth by getting married, Congress appoints a committee of 13 to attend the celebration of the Oldest Inhabitants Association there, and 300 artillery blasts are fired, 100 at sunrise, 100 at noon, 100 at sunset; in Richmond, Va., the U.S. and Virginia flags are raised on the Capitol for the first time on the Fourth in 16 years and the Richmond Grays (an African-American regiment) are in Washington celebrating; in New York, on the eve of the Fourth, an Irish couple name their newborn child American Centenniel Maloney, in honor of the day; in New Orleans, Louisiana, the monitor Canonicus fires a salute from the Mississippi River; in Hamburg, South Carolina, an incident that results in a massacre of African-Americans occurs; in Montgomery, Alabama, the Declaration of Independence is read by Neil Blue, the oldest citizen of Montgomery, and the only survivor of those who voted for delegates to the territorial convention which adopted the Constitution under which Alabama was admitted into the union in 1819; in Joliet, in Quincy, Illinois, the cornerstone of the new Court House is laid; in San Francisco, a mock engagement with the iron-clad Monitor occurs and there is a parade there that is over 4 miles long, with 10,000 participants; in Chicago, at the Turners and Socialists celebration, a revised Declaration of Independence from the socialist's standpoint is distributed; in Freeport, Illinois and Chicago, the Declaration of Independence is read in both English and German; in Evanston, Illinois, a centennial poem "The Girls of the Period" is publicly read by Mrs. Emily H. Miller; in Wilmette, Illinois, a woman (Miss Aunie Gedney) reads the Declaration of Independence; in Savannah, Georgia, a centennial tree is planted, accompanied by appropriate speeches; in Utica, New York, 30 veterans of the War of 1812 join in a parade along with two of Napoleon's soldiers
Confederate Fife & Drum Corps

1877- In Woodstock, Conn., Roseland Park is dedicated and Oliver Wendell Homes reads his poem, "The ship of state, above her skies are blue"; in New York, at a ceremony held at the Sturtevant House, 89-year old Daniel Lopez, who fought on board the frigate Constitution, dances a jig

1879- Frederick Douglass addresses the citizens of Frederick, Md.; at Sunbury, Pa., Gov. Hoyt unveils a statue of Col. Cameron; in Charleston, S.C., the Lafayette Artillery, "a white militia company," fires an artillery salute, the first since 1860; in Montgomery, Ala., a letter from Jefferson Davis is read at the public celebration there; at Lake Walden, Mass., a "grand temperance" celebration is held, with Henry Ward Beecher, speaker

1880- Gen. James A. Garfield, is guest speaker at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument in Painesville, Ohio; in Boston, a statue of Revolutionary War patriot Samuel Adams is unveiled; in San Francisco the first daytime fireworks ever exhibited in the country takes place at Woodward's Gardens; the first Fourth of July celebration held in Uintah County, Utah, occurs and "only eight men and women [were] present"
4th of July parade float in Huntsville, Alabama

1881- In Washington, D.C., the Chief of Police issues an order banning all fireworks in respect to the shooting of President Garfield while, at the same time, prayer meetings for the President's recovery are held in lieu of Fourth celebrations throughout the country

1882- Buffalo, N.Y., celebrates its 50th anniversary as the laying of a cornerstone for a soldiers' monument takes place there; the chapel of Dutch Neck Church in Princeton Junction, N.J. is dedicated

1883- The Declaration of Independence is read in Swedish at a celebration at Bergquist Park in Moorhead, Minn.; seven hundred Yankton and Sautee Sioux participate in a Fourth celebration in Yankton, S.D.; a monument to George Cleaves and Richard Tucker, "the first settlers of Portland," is unveiled in Portland, Maine; in Woodstock, Conn., John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, "Our Country," is read at the public celebration there; Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens at North Platte, Neb.; former President Rutherford B. Hayes is in Woodstock, Conn., attending the ceremony and giving a speech; in Plainfield, N.J., a Revolutionary cannon (dating to 1780), known as the "one-horn cannon," is fired
 May 15, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Agricultural Act that established the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1884- The formal presentation of the Statue of Liberty takes place in the Gauthier workshop in Paris; General George B. McClellan is honored at a celebration in Woodstock, Conn.; Samuel Bayard Stafford attends the Veterans of the War of 1812 as a visitor and carries the old flag of the Bon Homme Richard and the boarding cutlace of Paul Jones and Bloodgood H. Cutter; Cambridge, Md., celebrates its 200th anniversary of its founding; in Swan City, Colorado, miners blow up the town's Post Office because they are not supplied with fireworks

1885- Gen. Abraham Dally, 89-year old veteran of the War of 1812 raises the flag at the Battery in New York while the French man-of-war La Flore, decorated with flags and bunting, holds a public reception on board in New York harbor; in Jamestown, N.Y., a mock Civil War battle is fought; municipal officials in Salt Lake City and heads of the Mormon Church there order all American flags flown at half-mast in the city to emphasize their religious freedoms, and Californians are angered by the act
4th of July float on the brick streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma

1886- Portland, Maine, celebrates its 100th anniversary of the town's incorporation

1887- First Fourth of July celebration in Yellowstone National Park takes place; the New York Times issues a call for a new Declaration of Independence for commercial freedom in the world markets; in Providence, R.I., a statue of Union Army General Ambrose Burnside is unveiled

1888- A commemoration of Francis Scott Key and dedication of the first monument of him in the West is unveiled in San Francisco; in Amesbury, Mass., a statue of Josiah Bartlett, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, is unveiled
  Deadwood, South Dakota 1888

1889- President Harrison gives a speech in Woodstock, Conn. and is the third President to be in Woodstock on July 4th

1890- In Chattanooga, Tenn., 2,000 Confederate veterans march in a parade, without Confederate flags, while four generals (Gen. George B. Gordon, La.; Gen. W.S. Cabell, Tex.; Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Tenn.; Gen. "Tige" Anderson, Georgia) give speeches there; in Portland, Maine, General Sherman and other generals attend the Army of the Potomac celebration there
Grange float 4th of July parade in Evansville, Indiana

1891- A Tioga County, N.Y., soldier's monument is unveiled in Owego, N.Y. and a speech by Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy, Secretary of the Navy, is given there; in Plainfield, N.J., a cannon used in the War of 1812 is fired; in Newark, N.J., at Caledonian Park, 5,000 German Saengerbunders, accompanied by an orchestra of 200 pieces, sing the "Star-Spangled Banner"; on this day, Cheraw, S.C., is the first town in that state to celebrate the Fourth in over 30 years; the Seventy-Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers from Philadelphia dedicates a bronze monument in Gettysburg; in Buffalo, N.Y., the Society of Veterans parade in honor of the Army of the Potomac; the cornerstone of the new schoolhouse of St. Paul's Parish in New York is laid

1892- In New York, the City Hall and Federal Building inadvertently fly American flags of 42 stars and 35 stars, respectively, not the new flags of 44 stars representing the full number of states; in New York, ground is broken for the statue of Columbus, a gift from Italy to the city; in New York harbor, the Brazilian cruiser Almirante Barroso is gayly decorated with a 40-foot American flag; Quincy, Mass. celebrates its 100th anniversary
Calaveras County, California 4th of July parade

1893- The World's Fair continues in Chicago as a new liberty bell is rung there; Auburn, N.Y., celebrates its Centennial anniversary of its settlement in tandem with the Fourth; Julia Ward Howe reads poetry at a Woodstock, Conn. celebration; in Cape May, N.J., ex- President Harrison gives a patriotic speech on the rights and duties of citizenship; in the Battery in New York, a gunner is put under arrest for inaccurate counting of a 21-gun national salute in which 23 rounds were fired; a bronze statue made by Thomas Ball of P.T. Barnum is unveiled in Bridgeport, Conn.
Deadwood, South Dakota 1890s

1894- In Huntington, N.Y., a memorial to Captain Nathan Hale is unveiled; in Highlands, N.J., a white-bordered flag denoting universal liberty and peace waves for the first time; Vice President Stevenson gives a speech on the historic battlefield of Guilford Court House in Greensboro, N.C.; in Cleveland, the dedication of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument takes place and Gov. William McKinley gives a speech at the ceremony; at the state fair of Illinois, the corner stone of the exposition building is laid; in Montevideo, Minnesota, the Camp Release Monument, commemorating the Dakota Conflict of 1862, is dedicated

1895- At Chautauqua, N.Y., women are dressed in yellow as the first "woman's day" is celebrated in tandem with Independence Day; Katharine Lee Bates' poem "America" is first published on this day in the Boston Congregationalist, a weekly church publication
4th of July parade in Minnesota

1896- In Brooklyn, N.Y., a bronze statue of Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Kemble Warren, commander of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, is unveiled; Palm Springs, California, celebrates its first Fourth of July

1897- The New York Times prints a facsimile edition of the Declaration of Independence in its issue of 4 July 1897; American newspaper correspondents are barred from attending a Fourth celebration at the U.S. Consulate in Havana, Cuba; in Avondale, Ohio, Thomas C. McGrath unveils a statue of Thomas Jefferson "on the lawn in front of his beautiful residence on Rockdale and Wilson Avenues"; the U.S. flag flies over the White House on July 5, despite the President's absence (for years the flag which flies over the White House had been hauled down each time the President left the White House; President McKinley is in Canton, Ohio.
Westward Expansion float

1898- At Washington Grove, Md., a few miles outside of Washington, D.C., Mrs. J. Ellen Foster is the orator of the day and gives a traditional Fourth of July address; in Auburn, Calif., the Placer County Courthouse is dedicated; in Waynesburg, Pa., the cornerstone for the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument for Civil War veterans of Greene County is laid
1900 Fourth of July Parade in Salida, Chaffee County, Colorado

1899- "Horseless-carriages" take part in a Fourth celebration in Dyersville, Iowa; in Helena, Montana, the cornerstone of the new State Capitol is laid; Gov. Theodore Roosevelt gives speech at his home town, Oyster Bay, N.Y., as other speakers predict he will be the next President; in Plymouth, England, all the British warships there are decorated with flags and a 21-gun salute is fired; in London, Mark Twain addresses the American Society at their dinner there.
4th of July parade at the turn of the century in Indiana

For much, much more on July 4th celebrations, see:
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)

July 4th Postcard

19C Presidents Celebrate the 4th of July in while in Office

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This chronology offers us a glimpse at how America's 19th-century presidents celebrated the 4th of July, while they were in office.


Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)    1801-1809

1801- Jefferson hosts the first public Fourth of July Executive Mansion reception.

1802- The President is in Washington receiving guests.

1803- The President holds a reception at the Executive Mansion between the hours of 12 and 2 p.m. for the various heads of departments, foreign ministers, military officers, and others. He also reviews a military parade.

1804- The President hosts a reception with refreshments at the Executive Mansion and reviews a military parade.

1805- The President holds a reception at the Executive Mansion to the sounds of "a powerful band of music, playing patriotic airs at short intervals."

1806- Jefferson hosts a reception at the Executive Mansion.

1807- The President "standing in the north portico" of the Executive Mansion reviews a military parade and thereafter receives the officers, and opens the Mansion for guests.

1808- The President hosts a reception at the Executive Mansion and reviews a military parade.


James Madison (1751-1836)    1809-1817

1809- Madison is in the Executive Mansion entertaining guests, including various "Heads of Departments."

1810- The President attends the ceremony in the Baptist Meeting House in Washington and hears an oration given by Robert Polk there. Following, the President entertains the assemblage at the Executive Mansion.

1811- Madison attends a church on F street, reviews a military parade, and entertains guests in the Executive Mansion.

1812- The President attends a ceremony held in the Capitol and then returns to the Executive Mansion to review a military parade and to entertain guests.

1813- Madison is ill and the "President's Mansion" is closed to the public for entertainments (the Fourth fall on the sabbath and the official holiday is celebrated on Monday, July 5).

1814- The President is in the Executive Mansion and receives guests, including "the Mayor, aldermen and Common Council of the city."

1815- Madison attends a ceremony held at the Capitol and later entertains the assemblage at the Octagon House.

1816- The White House is being rebuilt.


James Monroe (1758-1831)    1817-1825

1817- The White House is not yet ready for receptions, so Monroe, on tour in New England, is in Boston with various government officials and naval commodores and participates in the ceremony there by giving a speech. He visits the ship-of-the-line Independence 74, Fort Warren, and stops off at the Exchange Coffee House. From there he visits the Governor of Massachusetts in Medford.

1818- Monroe is in Washington and issues a proclamation that the trade in "Plaster of Paris" is no longer to be exported to the "Province of New-Brunswick."

1819- The President is in Lexington, Kentucky, in the company of General Andrew Jackson, and visiting the Lexington Athenaeum and attending a ceremony at Dunlap's Hotel there.

1821- The President is ill in the Executive Mansion which is closed to the public.

1822- The President is at his farm in Virginia.

1823- The President attends a ceremony held at the Capitol where he hears the Declaration of Independence read by Richard Bland Lee. Back at the Executive Mansion, because members of his family are ill, he does not receive visitors.

1824- The President rides in a carriage in a procession to the Capitol, attends a ceremony there, and later holds a reception at the Executive Mansion.


John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)    1825-1829

1825- Adams is at the White House where he hears the Marine Band perform; at 10 a.m. he and various Secretaries review several volunteer companies. He then goes to the Capitol to hear the Declaration read. Following that, he returns to the White House to receive numerous guests.

1826- The President, accompanied by the Vice President and others, joins a procession that marches to the Capitol and later returns to the Executive Mansion to receive guests.

1827- The President attends services held in Washington at "the Church of Dr. Laurie," and later holds a public reception at the Executive Mansion.

1828-John Quincy Adams attends ground-breaking ceremony for the excavation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Little Falls located just above Georgetown, and gives an address, with music supplied by the U.S. Marine Band.


Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)    1829-1837

1829- The President hold a public reception at the White House at 1 p.m. and at 3 p.m. is supposed to participate in a ceremony for the laying of a cornerstone of one of the "Eastern locks of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, near the mouth of Rock Creek," but a driving rain forces the cancellation of the ceremony

1830- The President is on his way to his residence in Tennessee, with arrival expected on July 6.

1831- Jackson is at Fortress Monroe in Norfolk and turns down an invitation to a public dinner there. Later, he returns to the Executive Mansion in the steamboat
Potomac.

1832- The President is at the White House examining a bill to extend and modify the Charter of the Bank of the United States. He vetoes the bill.

1833- Jackson returns to the White House on July 4 from his tour of New England and is ill on this day.

1834- The President is in Washington and plans to leave for the Hermitage in a few days.

1835- The President is in Washington and leaves the Executive Mansion on July 6 in the steamboat Columbia for Fort Calhoun in Virginia.


Martin Van Buren (1782-1862)    1837-1841

1837- The President reviews a military parade in Washington.

1839- Van Buren is in New York attending a festival and sabbath school celebration with thousands of children participating.


John Tyler (1790-1862)    1841-1845

1841- Tyler is in the Executive Mansion receiving guests.

1842- The President is in the White House receiving "an unusually large number of citizens. President Tyler, dressed in a full suit of black silk, from the manufactory of Mr. Rapp, of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, received them with his accustomed frank courtesy, and all seemed in the highest spirits." In the morning, the President received the Sunday Schools, listened to two addresses made to him by children, and the "temperance people made a desent upon the White House, too, and the President made a capital speech to them."

1844- The President is in the White House.


James K. Polk (1795-1849)    1845-1849

1845- Polk and the First Lady entertain guests at the White House, including Rev. John C. Smith and the Sunday School of the Fourth Presbyterian Church.

1846- Polk is in the White House and briefly addresses about 200 young students.

1847- From Polk's Diary: "Spent the day in Portland [Maine] and attended a Unitarian church in the morning, in company with the Hon. John Anderson; and a congregational church in the afternoon, in company with the Mayor."

1848- The President receives guests in the Executive Mansion, attends the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument and also reviews a military parade.


Zachary Taylor (1784-1850)    1849-1850

1849- Taylor receives guests in the White House, including the E Street Baptist School children, and Master R.W. Wilcox.

1850- Taylor attends a ceremony at the Washington Monument, eats a bowl of cherries and milk, gets sick, and dies a few days later.


Millard Fillmore (1800-1874)   1850-1853

1850- Vice-President Fillmore attends a ceremony held at the Washington Monument and takes over as President on July 9 upon the death of Zachary Taylor.

1851- The President has a busy day attenting a ceremony at the Washington Monument in the company of various military officials and other dignitaries, then joins in a procession from City Hall to the Capitol where he ceremonially participates in the laying of the "cornerstone of the new Capitol edifice."


Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)    1853-1857

1853- Pierce is in the White House, but walks over to the Post Office to see about having an employee there reinstated after his firing. He writes a letter of acceptance that he will attend the opening of the new Crystal Palace in New York on July 15.

1854- The "Chief Magistrate" is in the Executive Mansion and receives guests, including members of the Western Presbyterian Sabbath School. Pierce later views the fireworks set off on Monument Square.

1855- The President and First Lady are in Cape May, N.J. vacationing and they return to the White House on 7 July.


James Buchanan (1791-1868)    1857-1861

1858- Buchanan is in the White House entertaining guests.

1859- The President is in the White House.


Abraham Lincoln  (1809-1865)   1861-1865

1861- Lincoln calls an "extraordinary" session of Congress and presents an address regarding the suspension of Federal government functions by seccessionists in the South; the President also reviews 29 New York military regiments in front of the White House and also raises the stars and stripes (the flag presented to the city of Washington by the Union Committee of New York) on a 100-foot high flagstaff located at the south front of the Treasury Department.

1862- Lincoln is in the White House and receives the "Soldiers of the War of 1812"; "Mr. Lincoln replied appropriately, thanking them for the call."

1863- The President issues an address to the people honoring the Army of the Potomac and "for the many gallant fallen." There was a ceremony on the grounds of the Executive Mansion. Upon hearing of the news of the surrender of Vicksburg, the President gives a "Fourth of July" speech on July 7 from the upper window of the White House to an "immense" crowd.

1864- The President is at the White House reviewing the Reconstruction Bill and meeting with various officials.


Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)    1865-1869

1865- Due to illness Johnson cancels a trip to Gettysburg where he is to honor the return of peace by consecrating a national monument. He remains in the Executive Mansion.

1866- Johnson is in the White House entertaining guests, including members of the Survivors of the Associated Soldiers of the War of 1812.

1868- Johnson issues a Third Amnesty Proclamation to all participants in the
Confederate rebellion. Papers of Andrew Johnson, Paul H. Bergeron, ed.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989, 14:317-18).


Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)    1869-1877

1869- July 4th falls on Sunday and the official celebration occurs on the 5th. The President is at the White House having declined to attend the reunion meeting in New York of the Army of the Potomac.

1870- Grant is on the Presidential train in New England on his way to Woodstock, Conn. He stops in several towns along the way where he is received by cheering crowds. In Woodstock, he participates in that town's celebration and hears speeches by several persons, including one given by Henry Ward Beecher.

1871- The President issues a proclamation in Washington regardng the "Treaty of Washington" between the U.S. and Great Britain regarding the settling of certain "cases of difference."

1872- Grant is at Long Branch, N.J., amidst canons firing, bells ringing, and fireworks going off.

1873- The President has his proclamation read in Philadelphia announcing the future Cenntennial which is to be held there. Grant does not attend the Philadelphia ceremony, due to the recent death of his father Jesse R. Grant on 29 June. President Grant is in Covington, Kentucky, at the funeral.

1875- Grant visits Heightstown, N.J., and returns to the "President's Cottage" at Long Branch later that evening.

1876- The President is in the Executive Mansion where Mr. Cadwallader, Acting Secretary of State, introduces a Mr. Schlozer, the German Minister, who delivers an autograph letter of congratulations from the Emperor of Germany to the President.


Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893)    1877-1881

1878- Hayes is in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., being entertained by friends

1879- Early on the Fourth, Hayes is at Fortress Monroe in Virginia with Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Navy, the Attorney-General, and others, and witnesses test firing of bombs and large guns. Later that afternoon, he spends two or three hours on the U.S. steamboat Tallapoosacruising around in the ocean. The evening is spent viewing fireworks.

1880- Hayes celebrates the fourth on 5 July when he returns to Washington from a trip to New Haven, Conn.


James A. Garfield (1831-1881)    1881

1881- Garfield lays gravely ill in Washington, D.C. as a result of an assassin's bullet there.


Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886)  1881-1885 

1884- Arthur spends the Fourth in his office from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. signing bills and receiving calls.


Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)    1885-1889 & 1893-1897

1885- Cleveland is at the White House with no callers admitted. In the early evening, he receives a cable dispatch from Cyrus W. Field in London which announces the celebration of the Fourth there. The President ends the evening with a drive around Washington which lasts about two hours.

1887- Cleveland declines an invitation to attend a meeting of the Tammany Society in New York, but his letter (June 25) declining the offer is read at the July 4th ceremony there.

1888- Cleveland declines an invitation to attend a meeting of the Tammany Society in New York, but his letter (June 29) to them is read at the July 4th ceremony there.


Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901)    1889-1893

1889- Harrison is in Woodstock, Conn., giving a traditional Fourth of July speech

1891- Harrison is in Cape May, N.J., vacationing

1892- Harrison spends "a very quiet and uneventful day [in Washington]. In the morning he drives to the Monument Grounds with Secretary Halford to witness the celebration there, returning to the Executive Mansion about 11 o'clock. He occupied his time until the luncheon hour arrived by looking over his mail and going through some official papers. In the afternoon he took a drive with Mrs. Harrison out into the country, away from the noise and din of the city."


William McKinley (1843-1901)    1897-1901

1897- McKinley spends the day with his mother in Canton, Ohio, and attends services at the First M.E. Church.

1898- McKinley is in the White House receiving hundreds of telegrams congratulating him on the progress of the war with Spain

1899- McKinley is in the White House

1900- McKinley is in Canton, Ohio, reviewing a parade.

1901- The President is in the White House.

For much more about the 4th of July, see
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)

4th of July - 1st Celebration at the White House

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The First Fourth of July Celebration at the President’s House

Thomas Jefferson by Charles Peale Polk

Although John Adams was the first president to occupy the executive mansion, it was Thomas Jefferson who established the traditions of a July 4th celebration at the White House or President’s House as it was called in his time. Jefferson opened the house and greeted the people along with diplomats, civil and military officers, and Cherokee chiefs in the center of the oval saloon under Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of George Washington. Jefferson also added music to the celebration. The Marine Band, already "The President’s Own," played in the Entrance Hall performing "The President’s March" and other "patriotic airs."

The north grounds of the President’s Park—the "common"—came alive at daybreak with the raising of tents and booths, soon followed by crowds of people. A festival took place just for the day. Food and drink and cottage goods of all types were sold. There were horse races and cockfights and parades of the Washington Militia and other military companies. A bare headed Jefferson with his "grey locks waving in the air" watched from the steps of the White House. Then he invited everyone in to partake of his hospitality and his thanksgiving for the preservation of independence.

An Account of July Fourth at the President’s House, 1801, from a letter from Mrs. Smith to her sister Mary Ann Smith:

"About 12 o'clock yesterday, the citizens of Washington and Geo. Town waited upon the President to make their devoirs. I accompanied Mr. Sumpter (?). We found about 20 persons present in a room where sat Mr. J. surrounded by the five Cherokee chiefs. After a conversation of a few minutes, he invited his company into the usual dining room, whose four large sideboards were covered with refreshments, such as cakes of various kinds, wine, punch, &c. Every citizen was invited to partake, as his taste dictated, of them, and the invitation was most cheerfully accepted, and the consequent duties discharged with alacrity. The company soon increased to near a hundred, including all the public officers and most of the respectable citizens, and strangers of distinction. Martial music soon announced the approach of the marine corps of Capt. Burrows, who in due military form saluted the President, accompanied by the President's March played by an excellent hand attached to the corps. After undergoing various military evolutions, the company returned to the dining room, and the hand from an adjacent room played a succession of fine patriotic airs. All appeared to be cheerful, all happy. Mr. Jefferson mingled promiscuously with the citizens."

Source: Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society, ed. Galliard Hunt (New York: Scribner’s, 1906), 30.

White House Receptions for the 19C General Public each July 4th

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White House Receptions -

Thomas Jefferson began the tradition of receiving citizens at the White House, which was called The President's House before 1812, to celebrate the Fourth of July in 1801. The mansion was opened to all people. Tables pushed against the walls of the State Dining Room were filled with bowls of punch and plates of sweets. Presidents held these receptions until just after the Civil War.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) 1801-1809

President Thomas Jefferson held an open house for his 2nd inaugural in 1805, & many of the people at his swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol followed him home, where he greeted them in the Blue Room. Those open houses sometimes became rowdy: in 1829, President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel, when roughly 20,000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House. His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice & whiskey. Even so, the practice continued until 1885, when newly elected Grover Cleveland arranged for a presidential review of the troops from a grandstand in front of the White House instead of the traditional open house. 

Jefferson also permitted public tours of the President's House, which have continued ever since, except during wartime, & began the tradition of annual receptions on New Year's Day & on the Fourth of July. Those receptions ended in the early 1930s, although President Bill Clinton would briefly revive the New Year's Day open house in his 1st term.

President John Tyler & Turtle Soup on the 4th of July

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Turtle Soup -

William Henry Harrison died only a month after his inauguration in 1841, and John Tyler, who succeeded him, held a Fourth of July dinner that year that included turtle soup. A giant 300 pound turtle from Key West had been given to the president as a gift and ended up on the dinner table. After dinner, Tyler and his guests walked out onto Lafayette Square to enjoy a fireworks display.


John Tyler (1790-1862) 1841-1845


Turtle Soup was popular at Fourth of July celebrations prior to the Civil War. Turtle soup was a favorite of Philadelphians, Charlestonians, New Yorkers, and Washingtonians. In New York, in 1828, for example, "Flushing Bay Clam and Turtle soup . . . [was] served up in the usual style, at the Flushing Hotel," while "green turtle soup" was available at the Washington Hall dinner (New-York Enquirer, 4 July 1828, 2-3). In Washington turtle soup was served at two different places: at Lepreux & Kervand's "near the 7 buildings," from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., and at Burckhart & Koemig, at the Columbia Garden, near the Centre Market at 12 noon. Both vendors provided carry out service (National Intelligencer, 3 July 1820, 3 and 4 July 1820, 3, respectively).



A menu for an 1825 Fourth of July dinner in the collections of The New-York Historical Society lists 51 main dishes—spread over two courses—along with 12 desserts and an additional 15 fruits and ices. After green turtle and lobster soups, the guests moved on to fish (blackfish, sheepheads, trout); haunches of beef, lamb, and venison; a range of poultry from duck to capon to turkey, lobster patties, as well as sweetbreads, eel, and pigeon pies. The cooks combed the market for delicacies—ragoûts and stews of "Gallipagos [sic]," green, and snapping turtles; woodcock, partridges, and wild pigeons; lamb, veal and pigs feet; galantines and smoked tongue. For dessert, they tucked into puddings, fruit tarts, cheesecakes, trifles and syllabubs, and an array of fresh fruits, ices, and ice creams.



A Turtle Soup recipe from Virginian Mary Randolph's (1762-1828) book, The Virginia Housewife: or, Methodical Cook.

"TO DRESS TURTLE. 
KILL it at night in winter, and in the morning in summer. Hang it up by the hind fins, cut off the head and let it bleed well. Separate the bottom shell from the top, with great care, lest the gall bladder be broken, which must be cautiously taken out and thrown away. Put the liver in a bowl of water. Empty the guts and lay them in water; if there be eggs, put them also in water. It is proper to have a separate bowl of water for each article. Cut all the flesh from the bottom shell, and lay it in water; then break the shell in two, put it in a pot after having washed it clean; pour on as much water as will cover it entirely, add one pound of middling, or flitch of bacon, with four onions chopped, and set it on the fire to boil. Open the guts, cleanse them perfectly; take off the inside skin, and put them in the pot with the shell; let them boil steadily for three hours, and if the water boils away too much, add more. Wash the top shell nicely after taking out the flesh, cover it, and set it by. Parboil the fins, clean them nicely- taking off all the black skin, and put them in water; cut the flesh taken from the bottom and top shell, in small pieces; cut the fins in two, lay them with the flesh in a dish; sprinkle some salt over, and cover them up. When the shell, &c. is done, take out the bacon, scrape the shell clean, and strain the liquor; about one quart of which must be put back in the pot; reserve the rest for soup; pick out the guts, and cut them in small pieces; take all the nice bits that were strained out, put them with the guts into the gravy; lay in the fins cut in pieces with them, and as much of the flesh as will be sufficient to fill the upper shell; add to it (if a large turtle,) one bottle of white wine;cayenne pepper, and salt, to your taste, one gill of mushroom catsup, one gill of lemon pickle,mace,nutmegs and cloves, pounded, to season it high. Mix two large spoonsful of flour in one pound and a quarter of butter; put it in with thyme, parsley, marjoram and savory, tied in bunches; stew all these together, till the flesh and fins are tender; wash out the top shell, put a puff paste around the brim; sprinkle over the shell pepper and salt, then take the herbs out of the stew; if the gravy is not thick enough, add a little more flour, and fill the shell; should there be no eggs in the turtle, boil six new laid ones for ten minutes, put them in cold water a short time, peel them, cut them in two, and place them on the turtle; make a rich forcemeat, (see receipt for forcemeat,) fry the balls nicely, and put them also in the shell; set it in a dripping pan, with something under the sides to keep it steady; have the oven heated as for bread, and let it remain in it till nicely browned. Fry the liver and send it in hot.

"FOR THE SOUP. 
AT an early hour in the morning, put on eight pounds of coarse beef, some bacon,onions,sweet herbs,pepper and salt. Make a rich soup, strain it and thicken with a bit of butter, and brown flour; add to it the water left from boiling the bottom shell; season it very high with wine,catsup,spice and cayenne; put in the flesh you reserved, and if that is not enough, add the nicest parts of a well boiled calf's head; but do not use the eyes or tongue; let it boil till tender, and serve it up with fried forcemeat balls in it. If you have curry powder, (see receipt for it,) it will give a higher flavour to both soup and turtle, than spice. Should you not want soup, the remaining flesh may be fried, and served with a rich gravy."



And an earlier recipe from American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life. By Amelia Simmons.  Hartford: Printed for Simeon Butler, Northampton, (1798)

"To Dress a Turtle. 
Fill a boiler or kettle, with a quantity of water sufficient to scald the callapach and Callapee, the fins, &c. and about 9 o'clock hang up your Turtle by the hind fins, cut off the head and save the blood, take a sharp pointed knife and seperate the callapach from the callapee, or the back from the belly part, down to the shoulders, so as to come to the entrails which take out, and clean them, as you would those of any other animal, and throw them into a tub of clean water, taking great care not to break the gall, but to cut it off from the liver and throw it away, then seperate each distinctly and put the guts in another vessel, open them with a small pen-knife end to end, wash them clean, and draw them through a woolen cloth, in warm water, to clear away the slime and then put them in clean cold water till they are used with the other parts of the entrails, which must be cut up small to be mixed in the baking dishes with the meat; this done, separate the back and belly pieces, entirely cutting away the fore fins by the upper joint, which scald; peal off the loose skin and cut them into small pieces, laying them by themselves, either in another vessel, or on the table, ready to be seasoned; then cut off the meat from the belly part, and clean the back from the lungs, kidneys, &c. and that meat cut into pieces as small as a walnut, laying it likewise by itself; after this you are to scald the back and belly pieces, pulling off the shell from the back, and the yellow skin from the belly, when all will be white and clean, and with the kitchen cleaver cut those up likewise into pieces about the bigness or breadth of a card; put those pieces into clean cold water, wash them and place them in a heap on the table, so that each part may lay by itself; the meat being thus prepared and laid seperate for seasoning; mix two thirds part of salt or rather more, and one third part of cayenne pepper, black pepper, and a nutmeg, and mace pounded fine, and mixt altogether; the quantity to be proportioned to the size of the Turtle, so that in each dish there may be about three spoonfuls of seasoning to evey twelve pound of meat; your meat being thus seasoned, get some sweet herbs, such as thyme, savory, &c. let them be dryed and rub'd fine, and having provived some deep dishes to bake it in, which should be of the common brown ware, put in the coarsest part of the meat, put a quarter pound of butter at the bottom of each dish, and then put some of each of the several parcels of meat, so that the dishes may be all alike and have equal portions of the different parts of the Turtle, and between each laying of meat strew a little of the mixture of sweet herbs, fill your dishes within an inch an half, or two inches of the top; boil the blood of the Turtle, and put into it, then lay on forcemeat balls made of veal, highly seasoned with the same seasoning as the Turtle; put in each dish a gill of Madeira Wine, and as much water as it will conveniently hold, then break over it five or six eggs to keep the meat from scorching at the top, and over that shake a handful of shread parsley, to make it look green, when done put your dishes into an oven made hot enough to bake bread, and in an hour and half, or two hours (according to the size of the dishes) it will be sufficiently done."

President Zachary Taylor's 4th of July fatal tragedy

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A Fatal Fourth -

After participating in July 4 ceremonies at the Washington Monument in 1850, Zachary Taylor fell ill. He drank freely of ice water during the event and after reaching the White House gorged on cherries with iced milk. Within five days he was dead. It was believed he contracted cholera. Waterborne diseases, including cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery, were not uncommon in Washington, D.C. before the advent of modern plumbing and sewerage and water chlorination.
Zachary Taylor (1784-1850)    1849-1850

Crowds mobbed Grover Cleveland & his very young bride Frances Folsom on July 4, 1886

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The Marine Band performed weekend summer concerts on the south grounds of the White House from June to September for many years. In 1886, Grover Cleveland and his new bride Frances Folsom made an appearance on the South Portico at a Fourth of July concert. The crowd rushed to get a view of the new, very young first lady. As the president saw the huge crowd approaching, he waved to them with his straw hat and hurried Mrs. Cleveland indoors. The crowd then flocked back to the concert.

The early Cleveland White House had been a bachelor’s household; the president worked long hours and rarely entertained. Rose Cleveland, the president’s sister, acted as first lady, managed the affairs of the residence, and spent much of her time studying.

No sooner did the public become accustomed to the image of a lonely White House, than did the picture change. President Cleveland had been secretly courting Frances “Frank” Folsom, the daughter of Oscar Folsom, his late law partner. When Folsom was killed in a carriage accident, Cleveland became the administrator of his estate and the ward of then 12-year old Frances, devoting himself to the welfare of the girl and her mother.

Intimates of the Clevelands and Folsoms knew that the attachment between the president and Frank was more than friendship. A year before he went to the White House, he obtained permission from Mrs. Folsom to correspond with her daughter.

A graduate of Wells College at Aurora, New York, Frances was bright, had an animated wit, unaffected nature, and natural beauty that left the president smitten. Their courtship was conducted largely by mail and the president included his proposal of marriage in a letter.

On May 28, 1886, after Frances and her mother returned from a nine-month tour of Europe, the formal announcement of the engagement was made; five days later, the 49-year old bachelor married 21-year old Frances Folsom in a small White House ceremony. The public was captivated.

On Wednesday, June 2, 1886, at 6:30 in the evening, cabinet members and their wives, selected government officials and close family friends were ushered into the Blue Room. The state floor was decorated with a profusion of palms, ferns, and flowers from the White House greenhouses. At the east end of the grand Cross Hall, the Marine Band, led by John Philip Sousa, played the Wedding March.


Cleveland and his bride, with no attendants, descended the stairs, crossed the hall and stood beneath the flower-laden chandelier in the Blue Room. Presbyterian minister, Reverend Byron Sunderlund performed a specially written rite of marriage. The couple then led their guests through the Green Room into the East Room, where they promenaded in the shimmering light of the gas chandeliers.



The new Mrs. Cleveland wore an elegant wedding gown of heavy corded satin draped in frail, pearl white, India silk, edged in real orange blossoms. A pair of silk scarves criss-crossed the front of the dress covering the low Parisian neckline. Her long silk veil was held in place with orange blossoms and seed pearls; attached to the bodice was a 15-foot silk train.

After about a half an hour had passed in promenade, the doors of the Cross Hall were opened and the bride and groom led the guests to the State Dining Room for a seated, candlelit dinner. A three-masted ship made of flowers and christened the Hymen dominated the table.

After dinner the bride and groom disappeared to change into street clothes for traveling and left the White House by way of the Blue Room where a coach awaited at the foot of the South Portico stairs. Canvas screens blocked the public’s view.

Escorted by mounted police, coachman Albert Hawkins drove the carriage through a cheering crowd down Pennsylvania Avenue. The Clevelands traveled by private railroad car to Deer Park Resort in the mountains of western Maryland for their honeymoon.

See The White House Historical Association's website for more information.
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