Fort Wayne city directories start in 1858 with business and city resident addresses. Public domain copies before 1923 are listed on the City Directories page and embeded within the Timeline pages.
1860, April 3 - the first Pony Express riders left St. Joseph, Missouri, bound for California.
1860, June 1 - the census enumerator, started recording the 8th U.S. Federal Census in Washington Township.
1860, October 2 - Presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas running against Abraham Lincoln came to Fort Wayne. Formerly found on From 148 Years Ago Today… by Stephen Parker posted on October 2, 2008 on the Around Fort Wayne blog.
Stephen A. Douglas and the Presidential Campaign of 1860 in Fort Wayne published on October 25, 2018 on YouTube
Presented by the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library This talk will discuss the presidential election of 1860 particularly as it relates to Fort Wayne, Indiana. It will focus especially on the appearance of Stephen Douglas in Fort Wayne on October 2, 1860, and the racial hatred that was expressed during that visit as well as the social divide that existed in the community at that time.
1861-1865 - the Civil War with the massive loss of 750,000 lives, whether killed in battle or death from disease were often buried in unknown locations, was the stimulus for realizing the need for government veteran cemeteries and keeping better government records.
1860-1865: Despite deep disagreements over slavery and the Civil War, Allen County sends 4,103 men to the Union Army, losing 489. Soldiers are mustered and trained at Camp Allen, on the northwest bank of the St. Marys River just south of Main Street. Copied from 1000 TO 1900 Millennium milestones in Fort Wayne in the archives of
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
A onetime tinsmith, Gilbert C. Van Camp finally found his calling in 1861 when he opened a small grocery store in Indianapolis, Indiana.
With the help of his wife Hester, he soon added his own line of canned goods to the usual fresh meats and produce. As the Civil War dragged on, the Union Army struggled to find a way to feed their ever swelling ranks.
The problem was compounded by the many and varied regional foods favored by its soldiers.
There just wasn't any cuisine common in a nation of immigrants. Van Camp was first commissioned to provide canned pork, but soon added beans. It proved to be a combination propular with nearly all the troops.
Soon the small grocery expanded into a food packaging operation with a large plant in nearby Plainfield, Indiana. After the war, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the company became part of a massive multi-national food processing company. But Van Cap's Pork & Beans are still one of the best selling canned beans in the country.
1861, April 15 - Governor Oliver P. Morton called for volunteers to join the Union Army. In a telegram to President Lincoln Governor Oliver offered to send 10,000 Indiana soldiers to help enforce the laws of the United States at the beginning of the Civil War. Posted April 15, 2016 on Twitter by Indiana Bicentennial Commission on Facebook.
1861, May 7 - Thomas Hubler, born in Fort Wayne, a Civil War Union Soldier was the youngest Civil War soldier to serve the longest amount of time in the Union army. He enlisted, at the age of 9, on as a drummer in the 12th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He later re-enlisted for three more years. At the end of his service young Tommy was not yet 14 years old.
1861, July 21 - First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas in Prince William County, Virginia near the city of Manassas was the first major battle of the Civil War.
1861, October 24 - Transcontinental telegraph was completed. Three years later in 1864 a young Thomas Edison was a telegraph operator for a railroad in Fort Wayne!
On This Day in History > October 24, 1861
Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line
"On October 24, 1861, workers of the Western Union Telegraph Company link the eastern and western telegraph networks of the nation at Salt Lake City, Utah, completing a transcontinental line that for the first time allows instantaneous communication between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Stephen J. Field, chief justice of California, sent the first transcontinental telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, predicting that the new communication link would help ensure the loyalty of the western states to the Union during the Civil War.
The push to create a transcontinental telegraph line had begun only a little more than year before when Congress authorized a subsidy of $40,000 a year to any company building a telegraph line that would join the eastern and western networks. The Western Union Telegraph Company, as its name suggests, took up the challenge, and the company immediately began work on the critical link that would span the territory between the western edge of Missouri and Salt Lake City.
The obstacles to building the line over the sparsely populated and isolated western plains and mountains were huge. Wire and glass insulators had to be shipped by sea to San Francisco and carried eastward by horse-drawn wagons over the Sierra Nevada. Supplying the thousands of telegraph poles needed was an equally daunting challenge in the largely treeless Plains country, and these too had to be shipped from the western mountains. Indians also proved a problem. In the summer of 1861, a party of Sioux warriors cut part of the line that had been completed and took a long section of wire for making bracelets. Later, however, some of the Sioux wearing the telegraph-wire bracelets became sick, and a Sioux medicine man convinced them that the great spirit of the “talking wire” had avenged its desecration. Thereafter, the Sioux left the line alone, and the Western Union was able to connect the East and West Coasts of the nation much earlier than anyone had expected and a full eight years before the transcontinental railroad would be completed."
The Transcontinental Telegraph and the End of the Pony Express On October 24, 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph system was completed by Western Union, making it possible to transmit messages rapidly (by mid-nineteenth-century standards) from coast to coast. This technological advance, pioneered by inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, heralded the end of the Pony Express. Only two days later, on October 26, the horseback mail service that had previously provided the fastest means of communication between the eastern and western United States officially closed. Copied from Today in History - October 24 at The Library of Congress.
[Three years later in 1864 a young Thomas Edison was a telegraph operator for a railroad in Fort Wayne!]
1862
No separate city directory is a combined 1861-1862 volume.
1862 military taps written for funerals - need more information.
1862 - the Bureau of Internal Revenue, later renamed the Internal Revenue Service, was created to record tax assessments.
ON THIS DAY // On February 22, 1862, the first group of Confederate soldiers arrived at Camp Morton prison in Indianapolis, Indiana. The camp was located in the area bordered by 19th and 22nd Streets and Talbott Street and Central Avenue. You can learn more about the history of this Civil War prison by reading:
#OTD in 1862, railroad cars carrying Confederate soldiers captured during the Battle of Fort Donelson arrived in...
#OTD in 1862, railroad cars carrying Confederate soldiers captured during the Battle of Fort Donelson arrived in Indianapolis. The prisoners disembarked and marched under guard to Camp Morton. The location was originally the state’s fairgrounds before becoming a mobilization point for Indiana recruits for the Union Army. The anti-Republican Daily State Sentinel described the Confederate POWs as follows: “Some looked sorry, some looked sick, some looked as if they didn’t care and others appeared in good humor. . . They had gone through a battle and had traveled hundreds of miles . . . We noticed a great majority of them were young men, many of them in fact mere boys.” The camp reportedly could take 3,000 prisoners, but 3,700 arrived instead. Many prisoners died that first winter. Over 1,700 soldiers died at the camp before the last prisoners were paroled in 1865.
Pictured are prisoners at Camp Morton circa 1863, courtesy of the Indiana State Archives.
1862, February 25 - Congress passed the Legal Tender Act making paper money the means of paying the government's considerable Civil War bills with something other than gold or silver. Greenbacks then became a means of exchange for all private transactions. Since 1690 paper money was promissory notes from some governing body to repay the value promised.
1862, March 10 - first issue of U.S. government paper money with $5, $10, and $20 bills. From March 10, 2015 Tweet by Ancestry.com.
1862, April 6
On April 6, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh began. The 44th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, comprised of soldiers from Steuben,...
On April 6, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh began. The 44th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, comprised of soldiers from Steuben, Allen, Kosciusko, Noble, Whitley, DeKalb, LaGrange, and Elkhart counties, suffered the highest number of casualties among Indiana regiments in the two day battle. Of 478 men engaged, the regiment suffered 212 casualties including thirty-four killed, 177 wounded, and one missing. The regiment earned the nickname the “Iron Forty-four” as it engaged Confederates in some of the deadliest areas of the battlefield, including the Hornet’s Nest, the Peach Orchard, and the Bloody Pond.
1862, April 22 - Congress establishes the U.S. Mint in Denver, Colorado. Why Denver? That's where private companies already were minting gold coins and ingots out of the gold dust brought by miners during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. From WhatWasThere April 22, 2013 on Facebook.
1862, May 6 - poet Henry David Thoreau died at the age of 44.
1862, May 20
President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862. The law provided for settlers to claim 160 acres of...
President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862. The law provided for settlers to claim 160 acres of public land, and, if they lived on the property for five years and improved the land, they could own the property for a filing fee. Such a policy had been discussed in Congress for the preceding decade, but southern slaveholding states opposed the idea on the grounds that it would mean the eventual admission of additional free states into the Union. With the secession of slave states in 1861, Republicans in Congress were able to pass the bill.
1862, June 19 - Slavery is outlawed in U.S. territories.
1862, July 17
On October 3, 1864, antiwar draft protesters murdered Daviess County draft officer Captain Eli McCarty. Five men were...
On October 3, 1864, antiwar draft protesters murdered Daviess County draft officer Captain Eli McCarty. Five men were convicted of his murder and reportedly several other men involved fled west. The testimony of John McAvoy, printed in the Indianapolis Daily Journal in 1865 provided the following motive: “These men gave as a reason for killing McCarty that, if he was killed they would not then be drafted into the abolition army. There was no other reason for killing him.”
The first draft law for the Civil War was passed by Congress on July 17, 1862. In Indiana, white men 18 to 45 years of age were subjected to the draft, however, those who could afford to pay a $200 commutation fee could get out of service. According to the Indiana Magazine of History, drafted men would be considered physically unfit for service under the following circumstances: "Loss or imperfect vision of the right eye. Loss of all the front teeth and enough of the molars to render mastication imperfect. Large or frequent attacks of hemorrhoids [sic]; or chronic diarrhea. Deformitites [sic] which impair free motion of the limbs. Loss of more than one finger of the right or more than two fingers of the left hand. Large varicose veins above the knee. Large or irreducible hernia. All organic or functional diseases causing marked debility - heart disease, or organic diseases of the lungs."
In 3 drafts between 1862 and 1865, 44,161 Hoosiers were drafted into the army. After all exemptions, deserters, and substitutes, 10,822 men were sent to the war front as a result of these drafts. In comparison, the total number of Hoosiers who served in the Civil War was 208,348, meaning that 91.5 percent of Hoosiers who served volunteered for service.
On July 18, 1862, Confederate Brigadier General Adam R. "Stovepipe" Johnson led a band of men across the Ohio River from Kentucky to Newburgh, Indiana. The raid, resulting in the seizure of Union weapons and the release of Confederate POWs, shocked Hoosiers. Disappointed with the performance of his militia, Governor Oliver Morton returned to Indianapolis and devoted much time to improving militia equipment and training, and extending the telegraph network along the exposed Ohio River.
Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling was a medical doctor but better known for inventing planting machines which greatly increased crop yields. In 1861, while living in Indianapolis, Gatling invented the first practical machine gun based on his wheat drill. One year later it was patented on November 4, 1862
Later, he would say his motivation was to save lives, "It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which that could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease...".
But his invention was met with distrust due to his suspected Southern sympathies since he was born and raised in North Carolina. As a result, the weapon, now known as the Gatling Gun, saw very limited action during the Civil War and wasn't formally adopted by the U.S. military until 1866 - a year after the war's end.
In 1876, fearing the Gatling Gun would slow him down, George Custer left his behind at the Battle of Little Big Horn. He lost. In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders used the Gatling Gun at the Battle of San Juan Hill. They won!
May is National Inventors Month! One invention that took place in Indiana is the Gatling Gun. Dr. Richard J. Gatling...
May is National Inventors Month! One invention that took place in Indiana is the Gatling Gun. Dr. Richard J. Gatling invented this revolutionary weapon for warfare in the Civil War. Pictured here is an Artillery Group with a Gatling Gun circa 1890.
1862, December 31 - President Lincoln officially signed the bill into law that West Virginia was to be created as a state.
Starting today, the Emancipation Proclamation will be on display until Tuesday, January 1, at the National Archives. www.EP150.com
But the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all the slaves.
On April 25, 1864, Annie Davis, an enslaved woman living in Maryland, wrote a brief but touching letter to President Abraham Lincoln, asking if she was free.
"Mr. President It is my Desire to be free. to go to see my people on the eastern shore. my mistress wont let me you will please let me know if we are free. and what I can do. I write to you for advice. please send me word this[?] week. or as soon as possible. and oblidge. Annie Davis"Despite the expansive wording of the proclamation, which stated ”that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious areas ”are, and henceforward shall be free,” the Emancipation Proclamation was limited. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union and it excused parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most importantly, the freedom it promised depended upon a Union military victory.
The Emancipation Proclamation also failed to apply to the slave-holding border states that had remained loyal to the Union, such as Maryland.
No reply from the President has been located. The answer to Davis’s question, however, would have been ”no.” Since Maryland was a border state loyal to the Union, slavery existed there until November 1, 1864.
The following year, however, the 13th Amendment finished the work of freeing the slaves by abolishing slavery.
"Emancipation," starring Will Smith, arrives in theaters today. The film was inspired by a story published in Harper's Weekly magazine in 1863, the same year the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
The article featured illustrations (based on photographs) of a man identified as Gordon, who was said to have reached a Union Army encampment in Baton Rouge in March 1863 after escaping the custody of his enslaver in Mississippi and running for days on end. "In order to foil the scent of the bloodhounds who were chasing him he took from his plantation onions, which he carried in his pockets," the article states. "After crossing each creek or swamp he rubbed his body freely with these onions, and thus, no doubt frequently threw the dogs off the scent."
The most widely circulated of these images, which shows the scarring on Gordon's back from being whipped, helped illustrate the brutality of slavery to the masses, which historians say fueled a growing public opposition to it. The article goes on to say that Gordon (sometimes referred to as Peter, Smith's character's name in the new film) later joined the Union Army himself. The film follows Peter's journey from his escape to his enlistment.
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
The original Emancipation Proclamation is part of the holdings of the National Archives. The document was originally kept in a volume of proclamations and transferred in 1936 from the Department of State.
The proclamation had its national public debut in 1947 when it was included in the Freedom Train exhibit, which traveled across the United States from September 1947 until January 1949.
The Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states and expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most importantly, the freedom it promised depended upon the Union’s military victory.
But as a milestone along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation will be on permanent display in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building soon.
The Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January 1, 1863, freed all enslaved persons in southern rebelling states. However, it did not officially add the measure to the Constitution nor free those held in slavery in loyal states. December 6, 1865, marked the ratification of the 13th Amendment. This constitutional amendment officially abolished slavery “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
The bill was initially passed in the Senate in April of 1864 but was not passed in the House. During his 1864 presidential campaign, Lincoln insisted on the passage of the 13th Amendment being added to the Republican platform. He won the election, and that following January, the bill passed through both houses of Congress. Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution with Congress sending the amendment to the state legislatures where ¾ was required to ratify the bill. The 13th Amendment was the first of three critical civil rights amendments added to the Constitution between 1865 and 1870.
1863, May 2 - The Journal Gazette newspaper was founded to support Abraham Lincoln and oppose slavery. 150 years later in 2013 The Journal Gazette newspaper celebrated 150 Years of News with historic front pages and a special pull-out section of the newspaper.
1863, June 20 - West Virginia is admitted to the Union as the 35th state after splitting off from Virginia during the Civil War.
1863, July 1 - the Battle of Gettysburg commenced and lasted 3 days. More than 165,000 Union and Confederate troops fought on that ground, and by July 3rd more than 50,000 of them were casualties, including as many as 9,000 dead. The Union victory at Gettysburg reinvigorated the North’s war effort, and the Confederate defeat demoralized the South. Copied from a July 2, 2013 post and similar November 19, 2022 post by the Lincoln Collection on Facebook.
The Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 was the largest landmark battle fought in the Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee hoped to change Northern politics by moving his troops out of war-ravaged Virginia into bountiful Pennsylvania farm country. As a countermeasure, Union General George Meade commanded a 90,000-man army to prevent Lee's troops from entering Washington, D.C. Anticipating Confederate movements, Union troops set up hasty lines of defense northwest of Gettysburg, but retreated south after intense assaults broke out July 1st. They regrouped on July 2nd with a fuller army and held their defensive line through a series of bitter confrontations with Confederate forces. On July 3rd, after weathering a 150-gun bombardment, Union troops repulsed a charge of 12,500 Confederate infantrymen. Union victory forced Lee to retreat back into Virginia, but the victory was costly. With 8,000 deaths and 46,000 to 51,000 casualties, the Battle of Gettysburg became the deadliest battle in U.S. history.
For three hot days, from July 1 to July 3, 1863, more than 150,000 soldiers from the armies of the United States of America and the Confederate States of America slashed at each other in the hills and through the fields around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
When the battered armies limped out of town after the brutal battle, they left scattered behind them more than seven thousand corpses in a town with fewer than 2500 inhabitants. With the heat of a summer sun beating down, the townspeople had to get the dead soldiers into the ground as quickly as they possibly could, marking the hasty graves with nothing more than pencil on wooden boards.
A local lawyer, David Wills, who had huddled in his cellar with his family and their neighbors during the battle, called for the creation of a national cemetery in the town, where the bodies of the United States soldiers who had died in the battle could be interred with dignity. Officials agreed, and Wills and an organizing committee planned an elaborate dedication ceremony to be held a few weeks after workers began moving remains into the new national cemetery. Partial copy from a longer November 19, 2022 post by political historican Heather Cox Richardson on Facebook.
#OTD in 1863, the bloody three-day Battle of Gettysburg ended, effectively halting Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North. The Iron Brigade, originally composed of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiments, suffered such massive casualties that army command was forced to brigade other regiments with these veterans to make up for their severe lack of numbers. These new regiments were composed of easterners from Pennsylvania and New York, and the Iron Brigade’s western identity was no more. The brigade’s original regiments continued to fight through the end of the conflict in 1865, and their reputation remained intact. Learn more through the National Park Service: UNION INDIANA VOLUNTEERS 19th Regiment, Indiana Infantry
1863, July 9 - over 2,000 Confederate soldiers under command of John Hunt Morgan attacked about 400 Indiana militia and citizen volunteers outside Corydon, Indiana. The "Battle of Corydon" was the only Civil War clash on Indiana soil. Morgan and his raiders were captured July 26 near Salineville, Ohio. Held in the Ohio Penitentiary, Morgan and six of his officers escaped in late November, and he was killed by Union troops in 1864 in Tennessee. See newspaper article posted July 9, 2017 and following days on Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebookwith links to July 11, 1863 Jasper Weekly Courier newspaper in Hoosier State Chronicles and Margrette Boyer's article Morgan's Raid in Indiana in Volume 8 Issue 4 of the December 1912 Indiana Magazine of History. July 10, 1863 raid through Salem as reported by the Evansville Daily Journal in Hoosier State Chronicles. July 11, 1863 the Jasper Weekly Courier newspaper in Hoosier State Chronicles about a raid at Vernon. July 12, 1863 300 militamen were captured at Vincennes reported in the Indiana Daily State Sentinel in Hoosier State Chronicles.
1863, July 16 - woman tarred and feathered near Leo from Dawson's Daily Times and Union newspaper.
Sarah J. Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." Before this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times. Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale's request immediately, making the last Thursday in November a day of Thanksgiving and Praise. Happy Thanksgiving from the Lincoln Collection!
President Lincoln Proclaimed Thanksgiving a National Holiday on October 3rd, 1863. The proclamation stated that the fourth Thursday in November "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of "Thanksgiving." Enjoy this day wherever you are and give “Thanks”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pages 776-777 of Volume 8 of the Harper's Weekly at Archive.org
This is also online as Harper's weekly. v.8 18 at HathiTrust.org. This image was posted November 24, 2022 by the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection where they stated: We here at the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Did you know that Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until 1863, meaning that there wasn’t a set date for the observance? Each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday on different dates, especially those in New England and the Northern States. Lincoln was not the first president to declare a day of Thanksgiving. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving, which was issued on October 3, exactly 74 years before Lincoln declared his own proclamation. Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November was to be “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” By selecting a determined day and month, Lincoln hoped that this would be an opportunity to normalize the differences across states, especially during the time of war and chaos. Lincoln had hoped that this would be a wholly united day of thanks.
The Myth of Thanksgiving: Native American Perspectives on The Pilgrims | Past Forward by American Experience | PBS Streamed live on Nov 18, 2020 on YouTube Inspired by the 2015 film The Pilgrims, American Experience presents a special discussion sharing Native American perspectives on the arrival of European settlers in New England 400 years ago. The conversation will examine the experiences of Native populations at the time of the settlers’ arrival, what is actually known about the first Thanksgiving, and how native tribes see themselves in today’s construction of the United States.
The discussion will be moderated by Yvonne Russo, a filmmaker and member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribal Nation.
Featuring:
Linda Coombs, Aquinnah Wampanoag, historian and independent scholar
Cassius Spears, a Knowledge Keeper and Narragansett Tribal Member.
74 years earlier, in 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation designating November 26 of that year as a national day of thanksgiving to recognize the role of providence in creating the new United States and the new federal Constitution. From Thanksgiving on George Washington's Mount Vernon.
November 17, 2022 a long post with several photos by Input Fort Wayne on Facebook begins with: As Thanksgiving approaches, some Americans might have mixed feelings about the holiday. While it can be an occasion to gather and reflect with family and friends, some find themselves grappling with inaccurate and harmful folklore of “pilgrims and Indians,” masking the harsh reality of U.S. history. referencing the Rethinging article above.
November 24, 2022 post by Myaamia Center on Facebook: · nahi wiihsiniko pileewa akiišikomi, ‘eat well on Turkey Day!’ The staff at the Myaamia Center hopes everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend. Check out this post on Aacimotaatiiyankwi to learn terms for talking about Turkey Day in Myaamiaataweenki, the ‘Miami language’ and access additional resources about the Thanksgiving holiday.pileewa akiišikomi (Turkey’s Day) posted by George Ironstrack on November 25, 2015 at Aacimotaatiiyankwi. For more see Indians - Native Americans of Allen County, Indiana.
Certain turkeys are native to this country, but the holiday bird commonly eaten today is typically American in a way many people don't suspect—it's descended from immigrants.
Did you know that Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until 1863, meaning there wasn’t a set date for the observance? Each state scheduled its Thanksgiving holiday on different dates, especially New England and the Northern States. Lincoln was not the first president to declare a day of Thanksgiving. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving, issued on October 3, 74 years before Lincoln declared his own proclamation.
This month marks the 161st anniversary of the first National Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on Thursday, November 26, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln’s October 8 proclamation established the day as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” In 1864, Thanksgiving Day fell on November 24, and in the weeks leading up to that day, special appeals were made across the North to provide Thanksgiving meals for those fighting for the Union.
1863, December 12 - beginning of the Fort Wayne Police Department. Fort Wayne's police force was first organized when Conrad Penn was appointed over a night watch of three men. They patrolled from sundown to dawn. At this time the population was 12,000. The The Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel commended the Night Watch on December 12, 1863 when it stated, "Well done thou good and faithful servants for their fine work in the community." From Department History - Fort Wayne Police Department.
Did you know Thomas Edison lived in Fort Wayne? He lived on the Landing at Columbia and Calhoun streets in 1864 when he was 17 years old while working as a telegraph operator for the railroad. That building was torn down in 1980.
Lincoln promoted the idea of the absentee ballot and realized the necessity of allowing the men in the field to vote. Democrats liked the absentee ballot measure because they believed they would win the soldiers' vote. However, not all states permitted soldiers to cast their ballots while serving out of state, such as Indiana. This field ticket is an example of a ticket a soldier would use to vote in the field. It is illustrated with an eagle clutching arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other, bearing a striped shield around its neck.
Lincoln had been worried about the soldiers' estimation of him, but he shouldn't have been. Veterans and soldiers throughout the Union Army cast their ballots against McClellan in overwhelming majorities, voting for the war to go on. Of the roughly 150,000 votes cast by troops in the field, over 116,000 of them were for Lincoln. This election tally from an unidentified corps lists Lincoln's majority (416) over Gen. McClellan—he won 764 to 348.
1864, April 22 - Congress passed The Coinage Act of 1864, a United States federal law, changing the composition of coins and adding the phrase In God We Trust. Read the story Liberty – In God We Trust on Coins on the Accessible Archives blog April 22, 2013 by JD THOMAS.
In June 1864, a new military burial ground opened on the grounds of Robert E. Lee's estate in Arlington. Today, some 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.Arlington National Cemetery opens - June 1864from Newspapers.com.
#OTD in 1864, Civil War Major General Henry Ware Lawton commanded Company A of the 30th Indiana Infantry during the Battle of Atlanta. He was awarded a Medal of Honor for leading a “charge of skirmishers against enemy rifle pits and… successfully resisted two determined attacks of the enemy to retake the works.” After the Civil War, Lawton continued serving in the US military until his death in 1899 during the Philippine-American War.
Pictured below is General Lawton, courtesy of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
1864, September 19 - President Lincoln wrote a letter to Gen. William T. Sherman requesting the temporary release of Indiana soldiers so that the men could return home to vote in the upcoming state election on the 11th of October, which Lincoln believed was crucial to the war effort. See the letter posted September 19, 2018 by Lincoln Collection on Facebook.
1865
No separate city directory was a combined 1864-1865 directory
1865: The Kekiongas baseball team is organized. By 1871, it has become state champion and begun playing in the National League. City residents are said to have gone baseball crazy. Copied from 1000 TO 1900 Millennium milestones in Fort Wayne in the archives of
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
1865 - The Indiana State Fair was held on the north bank of the St. Marys in Lawton Park, and for many years, the Allen County Fair was also held on this river just west of downtown in what is now Swinney Park. Copied from September 24, 2018 Tweet by Riverfront Fort Wayne. After the Civil War ended in 1865 into the 1870's Fort Wayne was home to sixty saloons which thought to be the root of the growth of a criminal underworld in the city. One big player in that criminal underworld was Ed Ryan. Ryan and his gang set up shop at a saloon situated on Railroad Street. From this saloon, the gang members would prey upon the unsuspecting travelers who were new to the city. Read the rest of the story copied from an April 25, 2017 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook. Read more in Crime and Crinoline by Bessie K. Roberts published in Volume 41, Issue 4, December 1945 Indiana Magazine of History published online by the Indiana University Department of History.
1865, March 5 - Indiana accepted the provisions of the Morrill Land Act, which turned public lands over to any state that agreed to use the land sale proceeds to maintain a college teaching agriculture and the "mechanic arts." Read more posted March 5, 2015 on Indiana Bicentennial Commission on Facebook.
1865, March 6 - President Abraham Lincoln nominated Hugh McCulloch of Fort Wayne to become secretary of the Treasury. He continued to serve in the cabinet after Lincoln's assassination and throughout President Andrew Johnson’s administration. As secretary, McCulloch "maintained a policy of reducing the federal war debt and the careful reintroduction of federal taxation in the South" (according to the U.S. Treasury Dept.). McCulloch also fought a losing battle to conquer Reconstruction era inflation by returning U.S. currency to the gold standard. In 1884, President Chester Arthur tapped McCulloch again to serve as secretary for the final four months of his administration. Copied from the March 6, 2018 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook
On April 14, 1865, around 9 p.m., President Lincoln, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris, arrived at Ford’s Theatre to watch the play Our American Cousin. The presidential box was supposed to be guarded by John Parker, a Washington, D.C., police officer, but he left his post to watch the play.
At 10 p.m. Booth rushed into the presidential box and shot the President in the back of the head. Booth then jumped onto the stage and shouted, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” meaning “thus always to tyrants,” before fleeing from the theatre.
Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House and at 7:22 a.m. the next day, President Lincoln was pronounced dead. Friends, politicians, and doctors attended him throughout the night while Mary was inconsolable in an adjoining room. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton remarked, “Now he belongs to the ages.”
On this day in history, April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 am in the Petersen House. At his bedside, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton remarks, "Now he belongs to the ages."
SIGNIFICANCE
The Petersen House was built by William A. Petersen in 1849. The home was the scene of President Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865. Lincoln was brought to a small bedroom on the first floor after being shot by John Wilkes Booth while across the street at Ford's theater. The U.S. Government purchased the house in 1896 and placed it under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service thirty years later. Today it is known as the House Where Lincoln Died.
1865, April 15 - Fort Wayne Mayor Franklin P. Randall and city leaders gathered together to draft a series of resolutions and plans to honor President Lincoln and his family. Photos April 15, 2015, 150 years after the date, posted on Facebook by The History Center.
1864, April 20 - a Gazette-Extra in the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette newspaper stated President Lincoln's Remains to stop at Fort Wayne. It said the remains were going to pass through Fort Wayne on their way to Springfield, Illinois via the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad that cannot stop only for a few minutes. Fort Wayne was to be the only prominent town in this State that was thus honored. From an August 15, 2022 post showing an original newspaper item titled: President Lincoln's Remains to Stop at Fort Wayne at the
Lincoln Collection at the
Allen County Public Library. Apparently the plan changed as the Lincoln Funeral Train did not go through Fort Wayne, but did go through Indianapolis on April 30, 1865 as discussed in The Lincoln Funeral Train in Indiana article by Jill Weiss Simins posted April 30, 2016 and remembered with a 2009 historical marker in Indianapolis titled The Lincoln Funeral Train both posted on the Indiana History Blog by the Indiana Historical Bureau of the Indiana State Library.
1865, April 26 - John Wilkes Booth was killed when Union soldiers track him down at the Garrett farm in Virginia, 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater, Washington, DC. and a 12 day manhunt for Linoln's assassin came to an end when John Wilkes Booth refused to surrender and was shot by Sgt. Boston Corbett. Booth didn't die immediately from his wound and suffered an agonizing death. Davey Herold surrendered to authorities a moment before Booth was shot. See drawing and some of this information posted April 27, 2013 by the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society on Facebook.
1865, April 27
On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a wooden steam transport contracted by the U.S. Government, burned and sank on the...
On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a wooden steam transport contracted by the U.S. Government, burned and sank on the Mississippi River after its faulty steam boiler exploded several miles north of Memphis, Tennessee.
The ship with a passenger capacity of 376, was overladen with 2,300 people, many of whom were malnourished and traumatized Union soldiers who were anxious to return home after being recently released from Confederate prisons like Andersonville and Cahaba. Over 1,700 passengers perished during the Sultana disaster, which was the worst maritime disaster in American history.
According to recent estimates, 198 of the dead were Hoosiers, with another 30 Hoosiers missing. Of the 179 Indiana natives who survived the disaster, many suffered severe burns or other trauma as a result.
1865, June 19 - Union troops under General Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that the war was over and that slaves were free as a result of The Emancipation Proclamation that freed all enslaved people in the states and areas still active in the Confederacy as of January 1, 1863. Is now celebrated as Juneteenth. See History of Juneteenth on Juneteenth.com.
Though the Emancipation Proclamation officially freed all those enslaved in rebel states, several acts of legislation...
Though the Emancipation Proclamation officially freed all those enslaved in rebel states, several acts of legislation were passed to attack the issue before the 1863 document. One such act was the “Act to Secure Freedom to All Persons Within the Territories of the United States,” enacted on June 19th, 1862. This act went directly against the ruling of “Dred Scott v. Sandford,” where Chief Justice Roger B. Taney stated that Congress had no authority to end slavery in the territories.
Three years later on June 19th of 1865, the last people enslaved in Texas would be officially freed. The state was the final Confederate zone where Union General Gordon Granger enforced the Emancipation Proclamation. The date of June 19th would become known as Juneteenth and would also be known as the country’s second independence day. While the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which officially freed those held in slavery within the entire U.S., didn’t become ratified until December of 1865, today, Juneteenth is celebrated as the end of slavery within the U.S.
#OTD in 1865, 150 African American delegates, representing most Indiana counties, met at the African Methodist Church in Indianapolis to form the State Convention of the Colored People of Indiana. Their goal was to advance Black rights in the antebellum period. Convention delegates formed a Committee on Business and a Committee on Resolutions which pledged to “do all in our limited power to secure that intellectual and moral worth necessary to sustain a republican form of government, and for the encouragement of our race. We will petition the Legislature of this State, at its next session, to grant us access to the public school funds, and that we be permitted, with other men of other races, to testify in all cases before the courts of justice in this State."
Learn more about Black organizing and statewide conventions before and after the Civil War in Indiana: Colored Conventions Project
The Harper’s Weekly illustration is courtesy of the Indiana State Museum.
1866, June 13 - Honorable Judge Samuel Hanna’s funeral was held in Fort Wayne in the Hanna Homestead. The funeral was one of the largest ever seen in the region and was estimated by the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette to be attended by 4,000 people. Following the funeral, 1,200 people proceeded from the home to the family burial plot at Lindenwood Cemetery. Copied from a June 13, 2022 post with photos by The History Center on Facebook.
1867
1867, January 23 - Indiana ratifies the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” including former slaves recently freed. It passed Congress June 13, 1866, and was ratified July 9, 1868. See 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution a Library of Congress Web Guide and read XIV Amendment on Archive.gov. Stephen Neal of Boone County, Indiana is given credit for writing the original draft of the document. Read Stephen Neal AUTHOR OF THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF THE 14TH AMENDMENT by Indiana Department of Administration on in.gov.
1867, March 30 - Secretary of State William Seward signed the Alaska Treaty buying Alaska for $7.2 million or 2 cents per acres. The 3rd of three big land grabs by the young United States, following the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Adams–Onís Treaty (1819). See Purchase of Alaska at U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian.
1867, May 18- Harper's Weekly shows first Decoration Day now called Memorial Day
Just weeks after the Civil War ended in 1865, per reports in the Library’s @ChronAmLOC historic newspaper archive, hundreds of Black citizens visited & decorated the graves of ~250 Union soldiers in Charleston, S.C. Some recognize this as the first observation of Memorial Day. 🧵
May 24, 2024The first national observation of Memorial Day, which was called Decoration Day at that time, took place in 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery. But the practice of communities decorating the graves of Civil War soldiers and holding ceremonies predated the national holiday.
Just weeks after the Civil War ended in 1865, per reports in the Library’s Chronicling America historic newspaper archive, hundreds of Black citizens visited this place, the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club in Charleston, South Carolina, and decorated the graves of about 250 Union soldiers who were buried there. Some recognize this as the first observation of Memorial Day.
The first *national* observation of Memorial Day, which was called Decoration Day at that time, took place in 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery. But the practice of communities decorating the graves of Civil War soldiers and holding ceremonies predated the national holiday.
In Charleston in 1865, “the graves were covered two or three feet deep with roses,” one newspaper reported. Because the Confederate men had used the race course as a POW camp, a sign reading “Martyrs of the Race Course” was erected. Songs were sung and prayers were said.
While there is little evidence of this “First Memorial Day” left at the site, there is a City of Charleston historical marker detailing the events.
Images: Charleston, South Carolina. Club house at the race course where Federal officers were confined. Photographed by George Barnard, April 1865. Civil war photographs, 1861-1865. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
May 10, 1865 article from The Daily Spy (Worcester, Mass.) detailing the events of what some call the first Memorial Day observation in Charleston, S.C.
Images of the “First Memorial Day” historical marker erected by the City of Charleston.
During the Civil War, some women began decorating soldiers' graves with flowers. Cities in both northern and southern...
During the Civil War, some women began decorating soldiers' graves with flowers. Cities in both northern and southern states claim to have been the birthplace of the Decoration Day tradition that led to today's Memorial Day. More: You asked, we answered: Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?
This postcard is from 1908.
1867, June 3 - House Committee on the Judiciary, by a vote of 5 to 4, refused to send impeachment articles against President Andrew Johnson to the full House. Radical Republicans in the 40th Congress (1867–1869) were pitted in a power struggle with President Johnson over the shape of Reconstruction policy in the South. Copied from Impeachment efforts against President Andrew Johnson Historical Highlights on History, Art & Archives United States House of Representatives blog.
1867, October 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 - Indiana State Fair at Terre Haute
TREASURES AT THE STATE ARCHIVES // The Indiana State Archives holds records produced by the Indiana State Fair Commission as well as ephemera about the fair collected through the years. This full page print and accompanying article in Harper’s Weekly features the 1867 Indiana State Fair.
Harper’s Weekly, was an American political magazine based in NYC and known as “"A journal of civilization.”
The print features views of the fair, held in October in Terre Haute, Indiana, which was “the most successful ever held in that State,” with the Board of Agriculture clearing over $6,000, according to the article. Additionally, “real live Hoosiers” are pictured in the print.
The Harper’s staff attendance at the fair and complimentary article was prompted by the public response to a previous Harper’s Weekly issue that contained a caricature of Hoosiers received poorly: “Many were the indignant letters which we received from Hoosierdom…The real live Hoosier is a gentleman of taste, and culture, and refinement, and the women are beautiful and charming beyond description…”
1868, May 30 - first observance of Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day in memory of those killed during the Civil War. Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land." The first national celebration of the holiday took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery, where both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried. See Today in History - May 30 at The Library of Congress. You asked, we answered: Why do we celebrate Memorial Day? by Ryan Lintelman, publlished May 24, 2013 on National Museum of American History blog a Smithsonian Institution. We know you're curious. A Civil War military history researcher explains where Memorial Day celebrations came from. Memorial Day on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Originally known as "Decoration Day," Memorial Day went into affect after 1865. General John A. Logan called for a national day of remembrance for all the lives that the Civil War had claimed. The original date, May 30, was selected because it wasn't the anniversary of any particular battle. In 1971, Memorial Day was recognized as a federal holiday.
Memorial Day, now a federal holiday observed on the final Monday of May, used to be known as Decoration Day, and was observed on May 30.
The tradition of gathering in cemeteries to decorate the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags began in the years following the Civil War, with many communities doing so independently of each other.
The first national observation of the holiday took place on May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery. At the turn of the century, it was designated as Memorial Day. In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended the honor to all soldiers who died in American wars. Today in History - May 30
Image: Daisies gathered for Decoration Day, May 30, 1899. Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The GAR established Decoration Day in 1868 (though local celebrations were held earlier). Maj. Gen. John Logan chose May 30th because flowers were blooming across the country. The first large observance was held at Arlington National Cemetery. This Memorial Day weekend, we honor all Americans who gave their lives in sacrifice for our nation. (Photo from Arlington Cemetery in 1929).
On this Memorial Day, we remember and honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. 🇺🇸
1868, June 23 - the typewriter was patented, by Christopher Sholes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1873, he sold the patent to the Remington Arms Co., a famous gun maker, for $12,000. The first commercial typewriter based on Sholes' design went on the market in 1874. For more information read Treasures of American History Industrial Change (page 2 of 2) on the Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog.
1868 July 9 or July 28 - 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratfied extending equal protection to all citizens including full citizenship to African Americans. See Wikipedia
1868, August 1 - the United States buys Alaska from Russia.
1869
There was no 1869 directory, it was a combined 1868-1869 directory
1869, May 6 - the Indiana General Assembly, under the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 for the creation of land-grant colleges accepted land and money from John Purdue to establish a school for the study of science, technology, and agriculture now known as Purdue University.
1869, May 10 - completion of the Transcontinental Railroad - four ceremonial gold and silver spikes were driven into a laurel wood railroad tie at Promontory Summit, northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. See History of the Transcontinental RailroadThis act joined 1,776 miles of rail belonging to the Union and Central Pacific railroads from The Golden Spike in the Transcontinental Railroad by Stephanie published June 20, 2013 on the The National Archivesblog.
1869, May 11 - Six years after the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Governor Conrad Baker ... approved a law proclaiming all children of proper age, without regard to race or color, could attend segregated public schools. Laws of Indiana (special session), 1869, 41. from page 4 of African-American Education in Indiana State of Indiana by Researcher: John Taylor. Originally from a May 11, 2014 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.
1869, May 13
On May 13, 1869, at a special session called by Governor Conrad Baker, and after much deliberation the Indiana General...
On May 13, 1869, at a special session called by Governor Conrad Baker, and after much deliberation the Indiana General Assembly approved a law that admitted African American children to public schools. In a 1912 article for the Indiana Magazine of History, Professor Abram C. Shortridge noted that around 1862 the Indiana State Teachers' Association began to lobby for "colored schools," but lawmakers failed to take on the issue until 1867.
Shortridge lamented that until the 1869 special session it looked as if “the black children were doomed to run the streets for another term of two years while their fathers and mothers continued to pay their taxes, by the aid of which the children of the more favored race were kept in school ten months of the year." He noted that shortly after the amendment passed, Indianapolis prepared to accommodate these students and reported, "[S]ome of the buildings already abandoned were repaired and refurnished; others were rented, properly seated and made quite comfortable. By the first of September we were ready for all who might apply."
The photo below shows the restored Division Street School in New Albany, which was built in 1885, courtesy of New Albany Floyd County Public Library.
1869, May 14
On May 14, 1869, after several months of political resistance, the Indiana General Assembly ratified the 15th Amendment,...
On May 14, 1869, after several months of political resistance, the Indiana General Assembly ratified the 15th Amendment, which prohibited the denial of voting rights of men based "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." When the legislation was first introduced in the state legislature the previous spring, fifty-four Democratic state senators and representatives submitted their resignations in an attempt to block voting on the law. Governor Conrad Baker ordered a special election to fill the vacancies caused by the mass resignations, but most of the protesting lawmakers reclaimed their seats.
When the state senate again tried to vote on the amendment in May, many of the same legislators tried to pull the same stunt. However, the Republican leadership quickly called a quorum and held a vote, which passed. The House Republicans afterwards followed suit, although there was disagreement over if they actually had enough lawmakers present for a quorum.
This all called into question whether or not the 15th Amendment was ever truly ratified in Indiana, an issue hotly contested then but has faded away since. Despite the ratification of the 15th Amendment, poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses kept its promise from being fully realized. While those particular tactics are a thing of the past, Americans still debate whether things like gerrymandering, ID laws, and automatic voter purges are being used to the same ends.
The lithograph below, representing the results of the 15th Amendment, is courtesy of Digital Maryland.
1869, June 7 - Ives McGaffey patents the vacuum cleaner, a "sweeping machine." Sales of vacuum cleaners did not take off until the economic boom that followed the decade after the First World War (1914-1918). Read more and see a photo of a Hoover vacuum model 700A 1927 model at Vacuum on the Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog.
Happy Eclipse Day! Did you know that the last total solar eclipse in Indiana occurred on August 7, 1869?
On that day, the Daily Wabash Express of Terre Haute reported that "the city will be full of people to-day to see the eclipse." It was expected to last nearly two hours, with the time of total obscuration to start at 5:15 pm and last a little over two minutes. Like today, they were a bit worried about the weather, fearing that "a naughty cloud should interfere and spoil the whole arrangement." The gas company decided not to illuminate street lamps during the eclipse. The top of the Normal School was suggested as an excellent vantage point for watching the effects on the landscape's colors.
A column of hints advised observers to use smoked glass, ruby-colored filters, or glass coated with asphaltum varnish for safe viewing. W. H. Sage, a local confectioner, even offered stained glass pieces for this purpose. It was suggested that viewers should look for bright stars visible during the darkness and also observe unusual animal behaviors. Indiana newspapers after the eclipse reported that during the time of darkness the temperature dropped, night insects were chirping, and confused cows started making their way to the barns. [ See 1970 or 2024 eclipse ]
Enjoy this rare spectacle, everyone! Check out the graphic in the comments for a chart of historic years of the total solar eclipse in Indiana. The next one visible in the U.S. will be on August 23, 2044. Following that, we'll have to wait until September 14, 2099 for the next opportunity to witness a total eclipse in Indiana.
This is the only photo of an eclipse in the Indiana Album archive. A lender shared this carte de visite photo taken by professional photographer Charles Eppert. It was probably taken in Terre Haute, the site of his studio, but unfortunately Eppert didn't record the details on the back. Is this a lunar or solar eclipse? Based on the format, it dates from about 1865-1878 or so.
1869, October 4 - Fort Wayne Maennerchor/Damenchorthe first German male chorus, established by German immigrants, was organized in Fort Wayne under the name of the Fort Wayne Sangerbund. Since its origin the chorus has been dedicated to the preservation and promotion of their German heritage as expressed in choral music. Read more of their History on their Website: https://fortwaynemaennerchor.us/
