Civil War

Reckoning with Our Legacy of Slavery

October 21, 2019 by Alan J. Singer Leave a Comment

On Friday October 25, the New York City Commission on Human Rights will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans at the British Jamestown colony in 1619.

“Reckoning with Our Legacy of Slavery and Charting an Anti-Racist Future” will be at the New York County Surrogate’s Court (31 Chambers Street, New York). There is no charge to attend but you must make a reservation. Email Christelle Onwu at conwu@cchr.nyc.gov by October 22nd, 2019. [Read more…] about Reckoning with Our Legacy of Slavery

Salisbury Mills Soldiers’ Monument Gets Cleaning

October 14, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On Sunday, 6 October 2019, members of the Quassaick Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, partnered with the Salisbury Mills Fire Company, and Linda Standish, Village Historian for Washingtonville, to clean and preserve the historic Soldiers’ Monument in Salisbury Mills, Orange County, at the corner of Clove and Orrs Mills Roads. [Read more…] about Salisbury Mills Soldiers’ Monument Gets Cleaning

19th Cent Medicine: Everyone Their Own Doctor

October 13, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Seward/Mapes Homestead has announced a talk nineteenth century American health care, set for Thursday, October 24th, from 7 to 9 pm, led by Carolyn Ivanoff.

Ivanoff will examine healthcare in Victorian America, and how Americans were their own doctors and caregivers. [Read more…] about 19th Cent Medicine: Everyone Their Own Doctor

Civil War Art, Photography Program Saturday at Lincoln Depot

October 10, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Lincoln Depot Museum has announced a presentation “Art and Photography of the Civil War,” set for Saturday, October 12th, which will focus on the effects of the Civil War on American landscape and genre painting, and on the new (at the time) medium of photography. [Read more…] about Civil War Art, Photography Program Saturday at Lincoln Depot

Civil War Art, Photography Program in Peekskill

September 3, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Lincoln Depot Museum is set to host Art and Photography of the Civil War, a presentation by Cynthia Andersen, which will focus on the effects of the Civil War on American landscape and genre painting, and on the new (at the time) medium of photography, on Saturday, October 12th, at 2 pm. [Read more…] about Civil War Art, Photography Program in Peekskill

Great Civil War Beard and Hairdo Contest

August 28, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Hadley-Lake Luzerne Historical Society is set to host a Great Civil War Beard & Hairdo Contest on Saturday, September 7th, beginning at noon, as part of the Homecoming of the 118th NY Adirondack Regiment Civil War Encampment.

Attendees are encouraged to grow and trim their beard or style their hair in a Civil War era style. [Read more…] about Great Civil War Beard and Hairdo Contest

An Adirondack Regiment Civil War Enampment in Lake Luzerne

August 26, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The 118th NY Volunteer Infantry, the Adirondack Regiment, was formed in 1862 from over 1,000 men from Clinton, Essex and Warren counties. They were present at the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox.

While celebrating and memorializing the Adirondack Regiment, re-enactors are set to demonstrate various Civil War period military and civilian impressions in Lake Luzerne during events September 7-8.

Racism’s War On Equality Has A Long History

August 19, 2019 by Alan J. Singer 3 Comments

As part of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, examining the history of race and racism since slavery was introduced into British North America four hundred years ago, D’Angelo Lovell Williams argues that race and racism have long torpedoed efforts to implement universal health care in the United States.

According to Williams, federal policy, starting with the end of the Civil War in 1865, was based on the belief that “free assistance of any kind” to newly freed Blacks would “breed dependence and that when it came to black infirmity, hard labor was a better salve than white medicine.”

Those are beliefs echoed in politics and rhetoric today, but one of the worst racists in the United States Congress at that time, whose views shaped post-Civil War policy, was Samuel Sullivan Cox. During the 38th session of Congress, Cox led opposition against the formation of a Freedmen’ Bureau to assist newly emancipated Africans based on his belief that that African race was doomed to extinction by its inherent inferiority and inability to survive outside of bondage. [Read more…] about Racism’s War On Equality Has A Long History

The Influence of Alcohol on the Civil War (Podcast)

August 4, 2019 by Nick Thony Leave a Comment

The latest episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Mark Will-Weber who talked about the influence of alcohol on the Civil War and the history of presidential drinking.

Was secession fueled by alcohol, did Lincoln drink, did Grant drink too much, was FDR really a beer drinker? Weber talks about this and much more in this podcast recorded at Albany Distilling Company. [Read more…] about The Influence of Alcohol on the Civil War (Podcast)

Civil War Signal Corps Diary Talk at Old Stone Fort

August 4, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Schoharie County Historian Ted Shuart is set to tell the story and share the personal diary of Civil War United States Army Signal Corps 2nd Lieutenant William H. Hill on Thursday, August 8 at 7 pm at the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie, NY.

Lost and forgotten for decades, the diary was discovered and purchased during a general store’s going out of business sale in the town of Richmondville nearly 60 years ago. What it holds is a faithful record of the daily experiences and personal observations of one member of a very small and little known segment of the armed services. [Read more…] about Civil War Signal Corps Diary Talk at Old Stone Fort