Lights and Shadows of Army Life highlights
An illustrated extract from George F. Williams on military discipline and etiquette in the Civil War. It recounts marching orders, officer elections, salutes, and lessons in respect between officers and soldiers, with anecdotes from Magruder Dix and McClellan, plus camp life and Army newsboys.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
George F. Williams
Magruder
Tom Wyncote
Tom
Louisiana Guards
George Weatherly
New Orleans
Frank Peyton
Federal Hill
Baltimore
Warren
Dix
Fort McHenry
Zouave
Yorktown
McClellan
Bearn
Wartime Field Life: Music, Reading, Snowball Wars
Soldiers built a lively culture in winter quarters with violin and brass bands, al fresco concerts, and large fires. Readers shared Bulwer, Scott, and Dickens when books were scarce, while snowball battles and strategic play kept units active and bonded.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Anvil
Bulwer
Scott
Dickens
Reine
Thrilling tale of a Spanish diver and a giant shark
A Spanish diver Alfetto describes a near fatal encounter with a large man eating shark while examining a wreck. The creature attacked, biting through his copper breastplate and snapping his air tube, leaving him unconscious as his comrades hauled him aboard.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Saturday Journal
Alfetto
Havier
Maggie
Night of a London Street: a quirky diary of a noisy September
A correspondent in Notting Hill records a sultry September night in 1884 with barrel organs, cats debating Egyptian policy, music from street corners, a drunken quarrel, and a prediction that the inventor of a chicken muzzle would deserve national thanks. The piece blends vivid nocturnal impressions and humorous observations of ordinary urban life.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London Globe
Nottinghill
Gladstone
Stephanie Gavotte
Harmonius Blacksmith
Dorkins
Chanticleer
An Author’s Peculiar Regime Revealed in London World
The piece describesStepniak’s irregular working pattern, contrasting his fitsful, nocturnal bursts with a strict literary regime. He works from midnight to noon, rests three hours, then resumes, consuming large quantities of tea and coffee while drafting and revising chapters, seeking polish and accuracy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London
Stepniak
Anthony Trollope
Neo
Russia
The Professional Story Teller in Japan
A San Francisco Chronicle letter describes storytellers in Japan who entertain crowds beneath trees with vivid legends. The roaming performer uses voice gesture and song, prompting audience participation, and receives tips in coins. The writer admires the storyteller’s influence and happy life, even more than nobles or samurai.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Japan
San Francisco Chronicle
Lempos
Life in St Petersburg Winter Life and Outdoor Amusements
A vivid portrait of life in Russia’s capital during winter. The piece describes city life, architecture, saints in homes, and indoor warmth, then outdoor pleasures like sleighing, skating on the Neva, sledges, ice hills, and encounters with the Sumoldes reindeer people. It notes double windows, vast reception rooms, and social customs around meals and greetings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Star
St. Petersburg
Tsarskoe Selo
Peterhoff
Strelna
Neva
Palace Quay
Nevsky Prospect
Western
Europe
Moscow
Suisse
Palace
Russia
Turkey
Persia
Walter
Peterhoff Road
Sumoldes
Esprit
Showmen Rivalry Turns City Into Bill Posters Frolic
In Indianapolis era tale both circus agents battled for space posting across town. Each erected signs on houses, fences, courthouses, and churches sparking public interest. A mass turnout finally merged crowds and a drunken scene after both circuses opened.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Indianapolis
Illinois
Fhan
Court House
Ralroad
A Modern Highwayman on the Palace Car Porter
Detroit Free Press describes a rail era highwayman as a palace car porter who extorts a 25 to 26 cent fare. The tale traces his dusting routine and relentless pressure as passengers are shaved for quarters, with a dramatic final demand: Porter, please.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Macduff
TIDES OF ACADIA Yarns of Bull Pup Tide Adventure
A Philadelphia Times letter from Falmouth Nova Scotia recounts elder sailors Captain John and Captain Steve describing the sixty foot Fundy tide and the Bull Pup voyage in Minas Basin. They explain how the Saxby Tide and Fundy geometry create towering waves seen near Windsor and Minas.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Falmouth
N. S
Philadelphia Times
Fundy
Steve
John
Moncton
Grand Pre
Minas
Steve ¢An
Weill
Portsmouth
N. A
Minas Basin
Darling Wirke and Mrs Vandyke Letter Exchange
A fragmentary romance scene shows Darling Wirke and Mrs Vandyke in New York and San Francisco, with playful dialogue about visits and a husband’s faithfulness. The letters reveal affectionate exchanges, plans to visit Aunt Jane, and a warning not to stay away too long.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Darling Wirke
Delighrul
New York
Mra. Vandyke
Aunt
Record of Extraordinary Tides Across Regions
The piece compares tides from the Amazon, Tsientang in China, Fundy, and other locations. It notes height variations from thirty to sixty feet depending on conditions, with sun moon alignment and wind boosting tides. It cites Moncton Sackville Quaco Parrsboro as examples and remarks on ships once docked now beneath water.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fundy
Fundy Bay
Atlantic
New England
Bay of Fundy
Minas Basin
Evangeline
Avon River
Windsor
Avon
St. Croix
Despond
Schuylkill
Nnd
Boe
Ani
Amazon
Tsientang
China
Moncton
Sackville
Quaco
Parrsboro
Cape Blomidon
Bill Nye and the Cyclone in a Denver Opinion
Bill Nye recounts his tumultuous encounter with a cyclone in Wisconsin. He defends the storm as a force of purification and humorously describes its destructive path, the danger to life, and his own near-miss. He hints at a presidential bid and closes with a location and date.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Army
Harper's Ferry
Shenandoah Valley
Sheridan
Mosby
Charlestown
Lis
Mmun
Army of the Potomac
Washington Journal
Bill Nye
Denver
Heaven
Wisconsin
Penitentary
Hudson, Wis
The Type Writer and the Female Clerk in Brooklyn
The essay observes female type writers replacing stenographers arguing they finish work at once. It notes rituals before typing, pauses for mirrors, purses, erasers and fruit, and asserts the machine causes most errors. The writer humorously claims a female type writer never errs, only the machine.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Supreme Court
Law Office
Multicolumn Verses and Short Tales in a 19th Century Page
A collage of poems and brief prose items from various papers. The text blends quips on love and loyalty with humorous vignettes and sentimental verses, including a fable about an acorn and a man, a hunter of rat snakes, and a nameless lost letter motif.
Picket Duty and Watermelon Countersign Tale
An amateur sentinel aboard Santa Rosa finds humor in a near miss with a private marching in with watermelons. The officer learns the password was mispronounced as water melon and passes the man, reflecting a light Civil War tone from the San Francisco Post.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
San Francisco
Santa Rosa
Perkins
Elopement Rumor Shakes Detroit Street Readers
A 16 year old girl on Howard Street explains her father suppresses the daily papers to hide elopement stories. She buys papers every morning and reads them aloud, saying her father is kind but will stop presses to shield her from sensational details.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Howard Street
Also Mentioned on This Page
Lee
Tides OF
Acadia
Mount Arrat
Loppy
Mer
Brooklyn Eagle
Pittsburg
T Rehoboth Sunday Herald
South
Philadelphia
Theophile Gautier
Paris
T. B. Aldrich
Italy
Bohemia
Preciosa
Maine
Roxbury
The
Academy
Brooks
Lfework
Glory
Burlington Free Press
City
God
Pansy
Clinton Scollard
Marié Antoinette
Bob Burdette
J. Burdette
Moura
Sol
Adam
Clouisville
Eden
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!