Fort Wagner Blunder Drenches Parapets With Blood
The article recounts the July 1863 assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island during the Civil War. It details Gilmore's rash bombardment by ironclads and the ill-fated infantry assaults led by divisions including Seventh Connecticut and colored troops, resulting in heavy Union losses and a bloody, but celebrated, defense by Confederate garrison and improvised Confederate obstinacy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Phebe Carey
Gilmore
Fort Sumter
M. Quad
Detroit Free Press
Morris Island
Charleston
Fort Wagner
Wagner
Pennsylvania
Maine
Connecticut
General Strong
Panera Strong
Owieg
Seventh Connecticut
Strong
Wen
Sumter
Admiral Dahlgren
Ihea
Deen
New Hampshire
New York
Massachusetts
Shaw
Burnside
Petersburg
Cummings’ Point
Igie
Redan
Ohio
Sheeree
Barber Near Cooper Institute Echoes Liberty Debate
A New York barber near the Cooper Institute argues with a reporter about crime and civic duty in a rambling monologue. He insists the shop door is kept closed to prevent disorder while lamenting the social controls enforcing Sunday labor and policed streets amid a crowd of locals and reporters.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cooper Institute
New York S
America
Dot
Polconmen
Rhine Riffer
Europe
Dignity versus progress in a worldly view
A quoted exchange discusses Colonel Ingersoll and Josh Billings on dignity and intellect. The piece mocks the idea that a dignified posture guarantees success, urging active effort to advance humanity and practical achievement over empty prestige. It ends with a fragmented note on perseverance and progress despite awkward handling.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Laramie
Ingersoll
Omaha
Josh Billings
Evolution of the Nose in Literature and Race
A satirical essay tracing nose evolution from a primordial mouth to nostrils, discussing racial nose types, cultural pride, and Shakespearean references. It highlights caricature, literary mentions from Sterne to Shakespeare, and the idea that noses reveal character while noting playful anecdotes about long and red noses.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
San Francisco Violet Club
Disraeli
Sterne
Tristram Shandy
Shakespeare
Mary Cowden Clarke
Remark on Human Physiology and Nose Length Belief
A terse remark dismisses multiple causes of bodily variation and attributes differences in nose length to divine will. The speaker argues there is one reason for such physical differences, restating that God wills the variation.
Presentiments of Death Across The Hudson And Beyond
A feature recounts famous presentiments linked to deaths in arts and industry. Examples include a Hudson River actress who foretold her end aboard the Oregon, an actor crushed by a brass armor wound later fatal, and prior warnings from a tight rope dancer burned on stage. The piece traces uncanny foresight among performers, a miner’s grim caution, and a Staffordshire collier’s fatal premonition before his death.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Albany
New York
Oregon
Sid
West Point
Gotham
Chapman
Mlle. Louisette
Volks Theatre
Sheppard
National Theatre
Miladelphia
Tyburn Tree
Hennie
Staffordshire
Edmund Kean Hid From Mob in Providence Flight 1825
Edmund Kean, famed London actor, sought refuge in Providence after a Boston mob rioted over his 1825 appearance as Richard. Two Providence citizens and theater managers aided his escape via a private door to George Clark's dwelling, then to Exchange Coffee House before moving on toward Worcester. He never returned to Providence.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Providence Star
Providence
London
Edmund Kean
Boston
Kean
Richard I
America
Richard
Southworth
Samel J. Smith
George Clark
Theatre Alley
Exchange Coffee House
Thomas Perkins
Collamore
Worcester
Ware
Do Angels Wear Feathers in Heaven and Other Tales
A reflective essay by James Appleton Morgan on heaven, angels, and earthly memories. It muses whether angels resemble human bodies and emotions, recalls a life of compassion, and envisions heaven as a continuation of love, sacrifice, and human ideals rather than a feathered, distant realm. The piece weaves personal anecdotes with broader questions about memory, loss, and virtue.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Papa
Heaven
Cambronne
Cardigan
Gehennna
Sam
Mecca
Fifth Avenue
Murray Hill
Greenwood
London Prophet Predicts Weather and War for 1883
An English astrologer Raphael, the Prophetic Messenger, issues an almanac for 1883 detailing monthly weather forecasts, wars, accidents, and social upheavals. Highlights include heavy frosts in January, wet months later, a possible Turkish tension, Irish unrest, and potential political changes in England with a possible general election.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Raphael
Washington
St. Patrick’s Day
Turkey
Franthitis
Taras
Ireland
Ors
Central America
United States
London
Mars
Leo
France
Germany
Austria
Carlyle on Washington George and Cromwell
Miss Mitford recounts a Fields Carlyle exchange about Washington George as a bore needing downing. Carlyle calls George without ambition religion or good qualities, likening him to Oliver Cromwell with the juice squeezed out in a witty historical aside.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Carlyle
George
Miss Mitford
Mr. Fields
Washington George
Mr. Carlyle
Cromwell
Washington
Oliver
Experienced Georgia patriarch with nine marriages and wide family ties
An elderly Simmons Gap resident in Georgia is described as having vast domestic experience. He is said to be the ninth and current husband, with fifty three people entitled to call him papa and over three hundred descendants gathered at a recent family event.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Simmons’ Gap
Georgia
Augustus 11
Poland
Nirscore
Tender Glow Worms In Hair Stirs Modern Literary Debate
A critic challenges an authoress for having her heroine adorn hair with glow-worms to charm a lover. The notion is seen as a relic of German middle-class sentimentality, echoing Werther era tone. The fragment cites Herder's wife Mile Flachsland and a moonlit wood moment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Werther
Herder
Flachsland
Perils of the Railroad Careers in the Nineteenth Century
The author argues novelists should portray brakemen as heroes of danger not lovers leaving for war. He notes brakemen face higher mortality than knights in stories, estimating ten U S brakemen killed daily and many more maimed, with many injuries uncounted.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Knights of Ola
United States
Mexico’s Flower Market Charity of the Tropic Realm
The piece extols Mexico as the world’s greatest flower market with gardens yielding blooms year round. It portrays Mexicans as deeply fond of flowers, a trait praised across generations from pre colonial times through the era of Spanish rule, viewing this love as an innate national passion.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mexico
The Progress of American Journalism History Card
The record traces milestones in U S journalism from 1589 printing to 1859 with listed firsts. It notes first printing office in 1589, first newspaper in 1690, first political paper in 1783, first libel suit in 1735, first daily in 1784, religious news by Bede pr 14, agricultural news in 1818, current events penny press, 22 dollars, first independent paper, first illustrated paper in 1858, and first comics paper in 1859.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bede
Epigrams and verse fragments from the academy scene
A mosaic of playful and pointed verses and prose bits. It includes reflections on sorrow and beauty, a puzzled note on wedding speeches, and a stark satirical piece about bigotry recasting a nursery rhyme into a grim countdown.
Dollar Bill & Co Drummer Misadventure
Wall Street News recounts a Dollar Bill & Co traveler who claimed to uphold the firm’s honor but went on a Boston spree. He boasted he could outdrink any hyena connected with the house and admitted the spree lasted days before returning home. He then said he would head West rather than face treacherous bluffers.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wall Street
Dollar Bill & Co
Pyracuse
Boston
Golden hair and eyes of blue poem note
The Century prints a verse on the dangers of beauty with exaggerated lines about hair, lips, and eyes, warning youth of the lure and mischief tied to feminine charm and the peril of glances and sighs.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dow Ward
Nick
Thane
Laddie
Han
Kelly
A Wee Bit Wifey The Wise Man’s Lament
A quirky doggerel about aging, longing, and the pull of marriage. A man reflects on life without a wife, the comforts a wife provides, and the humor of seeking companionship as clouds gather and years advance. The piece wryly urges finding a wife as life’s earthly boon.
The Rock on Which Affection Split
A dramatic scene unfolds at Brierton Villa as a storm rages. George W. Simpson demands reasons why his marriage to Girlygirl cannot proceed despite deep affection and her pleas she cannot marry him. The dialogue reveals heartbreak and strained commitments amid the blizzard.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Tribune
Brierton Villa
Papa
George W. Simpson
Brierto Villa
George
Also Mentioned on This Page
Charles
Fort
Coon
DER
Benal Gode
Bill Nye
Cocles
San Francisco Chronicle
Tennyson
Roscoe Conkling
Mac
Beth
Naples
New World
Bays Hamet
Min Vihains
Britain
Cowper
Ric
Chaucer
Mas Carleton
Slop
Toby
James Appleton Morgan
Apollo Belvidere
Chrotteler
Chicago
Milwaukee
Oamel
Earth
Epigrams
the Academy
Puck
Darwin
Bob Ingersoll
Mount Davidson
Comstock
Zephyr
Pepan
Comstocker
Apa
Lerand
Wallace Dunbar
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!