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Washington, D.C. –A Proclamation.
Whereas, The laws of the United States have been, for some time past, and are now, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by...
April 17, 1861 – Wednesday.
Harrisburg –
When Andrew Curtin returned to the state capital on Wednesday, April 17, no one person was happier about it than his beleaguered Secretary of the Commonwealth, Eli Slifer. During the governor’s absence, Slifer stood...
April 18, 1861 – Thursday.
The Washington Artillery’s overnight stay at Harrisburg amounted to a two-hour nap in straw, heaped on the floor of a meeting hall. Worn by a long day of travel and a night of drill practice,...
April 21, 1861 – Sunday.Military Department of Washington –
The matter of reinforcing Washington became infinitely more complicated on the afternoon of April 19.
After a day long delay, Militia General William F. Small started forward from Philadelphia in the evening...
April 23, 1861 – Tuesday.Harrisburg –
Mayor William H. Kepner could not recall a time when Harrisburg was gripped by greater excitement. The city’s transformation from a peaceful seat of government into an armed camp had been rapid and fitful...
April 25, 1861, Thursday.Military Department of Washington –
Ten full days after calling for 75,000 volunteers, Abraham Lincoln grew despondent over the future of his presidency. To date, the Pennsylvania battalion and the Sixth Massachusetts’ represented the only accession of...
April 26, 1861, Friday.Philadelphia
Friday morning marked one week, to the day, since Robert Patterson assumed command of the Military Department of Washington. His watch had been an exercise in anxiety and frustration, as taxing to the spirit as it...
Harrisburg –
When Andrew Curtin sent out orders on Tuesday, commanding all militia units that had not yet set out for Harrisburg to stand down, it was, probably, with the expectation that a short season of relative calm would follow.
It...
April 30, 1861 -- Tuesday.Harrisburg –
The frantic scramble to prop up the first Republican Party government by force of arms succeeded. The military presence at Washington grew stronger each day until the capital was, for the moment, presumed to...
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