Port Hudson rifle pits and personal combat amid 1863 siege
In May and June 1863 at Port Hudson the 114th Regiment, under General Banks, endured five weeks in rifle pits facing fierce Confederate sharpshooters. Officers shed rank, uniforms, and faced deadly close-quarters fire as Grover's division and others endured constant artillery and rifle fire. The narrative details muddy ravines, improvised pits, and the brutal daily toll, with medical tolls and a vivid account of Chappell's moonlit injury and the relentless, perilous life before the fortitude and ultimate fall of Port Hudson.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
J. Franklin Fitts
Mississippi
Port Hudson
Grover
War Department
Richmond
Port Huudson
Gardner
Banks
Arkansas
Louisiana
114Th
Jake Emerick
Peece
Chappell
Cat Harmonicon fiasco shocks Cincinnati boatmen crowd
Curtis in Western Row devised a grand cat concert using six dozen cats and an organ built with tail keys. The show collapsed when the leather wind supply failed, sparking a riot, water cannon, and a city mayoral summons for Curtis, who promised not to repeat the stunt.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Curtis
Johnson
Toms
Seata
Curtin
Columbia
Clar de Kitchen
Liberty No. 2
Akin
Jolly Boatmen
The
Ohio
Modern Martyr Praises Gothic Prison Life Theme
A Brooklyn Eagle piece portrays a notorious murderer as a pampered inmate amid flowers, silver trays, and exotic fare. The dialogue mocks prison luxury and the inmate’s inflated self-image as he hectically orders oddities and balks at ordinary food, exposing sensationalized crime lore.
Where Six Generals Fell Hood s Charge at Franklin Plain
The Philadelphia Times recounts Hood s force attacking the Harpeth Bank in a brutal Franklin battle. It describes a coordinated assault across open ground, heavy Confederate losses, and a furious defense with officers and men falling. Six generals and over a hundred field officers killed or wounded. The Federal line held, though at tremendous cost.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hood
Franklin Plain
Harpeth Bank
Philadelphia Times
Loweing
Harpeth
Cleburne
Brown
Bates
Adams
Gordon
Stahl
Ghist
Carter
Granberry
Stah
Franklin
Nose Slashed In Crimea Leader Sticks On
Army and Navy Journal recounts Lieutenant Elliot of the Fifth Dragoon Guards wounded in the Crimea amid a heavy brigade action. While his face was injured, he stands by a looking glass and jokes about his appearance, saying he is "sticking on my nose" after the brutal melee.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Delmonico’s
Delmonico
Army and Navy
Elliot
Fifth Dragoon Guards
Scarlett
Crimea
Hallo
Eliot
Castle Remains Guard Zapata County Corner Posts
In Carrizo the county seat of Zapata County sixty five miles from Laredo stands an old castle built by an Englishman named Redmond. Its port-holes and cannon pieces were repurposed as corner posts while the knight errant and his remijledrom the prowling savacas await further attention.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Galveston News
Carrizo
Zapata County
Laredo
Redmond
Specimen Texas Romanes Rail Line See-Saw Incident
In Brenham Independent’s Texan piece a mountain railroad with lines on opposite mountain crests saw a long passenger train gain momentum after a broken wire cable released it into the valley and up the other slope. A book agent aided by applying brakes, while ladies cried. prayers rose as the train swayed for hours before gravity halted its run.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Brenham
Farmer's Son Admitted After Severe Injuries
A Marbawchurch farmer's son is admitted to Stratton Hospital with serious injuries believed to have been inflicted in an attack. The incident is under police review as details remain unclear and a formal statement is awaited.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pall Mall Gazette
Marbawchurch
Stratton Hospital
Owls attack farmer and sons after fledglings captured
A pair of owls nesting in an elm attacked a farmer’s son who held a young owl. The boy was seriously wounded, his sight destroyed. The father killed the two fledglings, and both he and another son were wounded as the owl then attacked. The bird escaped when the farmer retrieved his gun.
Myrtle and George Share Moonlit Promises at Castle McMurtry
On a June night at Castle McMurtry Myrtle and George W Simpson confess love under a radiant moon. The moment turns playful and tense as he prompts and she replies with a witty line about money, before guiding her toward an ice cream lair.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
George
Castle McMurtry
George W. Simpson
Myrtle
Calumet Avenue
Indiana Weather and Farming Drollery
A humorous exchange about rainfall and crop prospects in Indiana with farmers noting waterlogged fields and flooded potatoes. A separate item reports two white men viewing a coal-burning mountain on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, claimed to have burned for centuries.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Navajo Reservation
Arizona
Enormous snake egg and serpent lore at New York Star
A 300 pound python eggs sparked a feature on serpents. Mr. G B Bunnell supplied the snake and nest, with experts and witnesses detailing eating snakes and the dangers of handling, plus anecdotes from Senor Jose Dece and others about rattlesnakes as food and remarkable serpent tales.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Star
Star Office
G. O. Starr
Mr. Starr
G. B. Bunnell
Snke
Central America
Guatemala
Senor Jose Dece
Mexico
Senor
Actresses At Home in New York Private Lives Revealed
A sketch of actresses private lives in New York shows Maude Harrison and Rose Coghlan keeping homes on Twenty-third and Sixth avenues with families, maids, and fashion. It lists homes, spouses, and children, noting Agnes Booths illness and Gertie Granvilles illness after a car incident.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Tribune
New York
Maude Harrison
Twenty-third Street
Mme, Ponisi
Wallack's
Sam Wallis
Sam
Fifty-second Street
Riley
Sarah Jewett
Thirtieth Street
Broadway
Palmer
Selfrey-Lewis
West Tenth Street
Catherine
Marry in haste to repent at leisure lampooned
A Harvard Lampoon line parodies the proverb. The verse contrasts hastened marriage with prudent regret, then mocks the cycle of lovers likened to beads on a string. The Sea is referenced as a thematic backdrop or metaphor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lowell Citazen
Harvard Lampoon
Brooklyn Eagle
South Sea Island
New England
Auctioning Sheets Raises Funds for Clear Lake Church
In Clear Lake Iowa a Congregationalist church uses a lottery style auction to raise funds. Young men bid on sheeted girls perceived under folds, producing laughter and surprise as bidders learn identities. The piece endorses the method as harmless and financially productive, calling for broader adoption.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Les Moines Register
Clear Lake
Iowa
Artemus Ward
Wonder of Nature Hand Resembles Amputated Limb
Cincinnati Commercial reports a freak of nature near Ports mouth Ohio. Workman Simeon Snyder lost his hand after amputation on the 20th of last month performed by Cotton and Gibson. The chopped hand was discarded in shrubbery and a day later a fungus growth appeared exactly resembling the hand. Medical observers affirm the likeness is precise including color, nails, joints, veins and lines. The incident has caused much sensational talk as Snyder remains unwell.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cincinnati
Simeon Snyder
Portsmouth
Cotton
Gibson
Snyder
Also Mentioned on This Page
Eral
Lower
Pita
Wickebure
Portudson
Creat
Gulf
Confederacy
Puss
Porkopolis
Aecall
Grand Vooual
St. Petersburg
Cyrus W. Field
Chicago
Wall Street
Indiana
W. A. Conkling
Central Park
Regulus
Rome
Mr. Conkling
Robert Ker Porter
Zoological Gardens
London
Hiaden
Bunnell
Professor Hutchings
Mr. Hutchings
Gilbert’s Museum
Market Street
Second
San Francisco
Cal
Reynolds
Mountaineer
New Haven
Pyramids
Egypt
Brazil
Chili
Pennsylvania
Livingston
Africa
South America
Catherine Lewis
Arfwedson
Stella Boniface
Wallack’s
Laura Don
Forty-second Street
Kate Rogers
Philadelphia
Helen Tracey
Thirty-fourth Street
Agnes Booth
Esmeralda
James Lewis
Miss Jewett
Sixteenth Street
Union Square
Gertie Granville
Theatre Comique
John Chamberlain
Washington
Emily Jordan
Rose Coghlan
John Raymond
Courtney Barnes
John Irving Raymond
St. James
John Nvien
Long Branch
Newport
Cape May
Anastatius Gran
Sprini
Texas
Austin
Massey
Brooklyn
Boston Girl
Eliot Ryder
Boston
Milwaukee
Kalamazoo
Board of Public Works
Aphrodite
Mose Schaumburg
Austin Avenue
Mose
Ij. W. Riley
Palestine
Vivian McCarthy
Vivian
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!