In a war fought over southern slavery, the “peculiar institution” is not absent from Union soil. Maryland, a border state, is yet home to many African slaves. At the present, however, Maryland slaveholders are none too happy. Well aware that the war is a referendum on the future of slavery – although officially U.S. President…
The village of Stoughton, Massachusetts contributes many of its men as volunteers in the Union Army. So strong is sentiment for the Union that on April 22 at a town meeting, the community votes to make certain that the future needs of soldiers’ families are met: That it is the sense of this meeting…
In the southern city of Richmond, Virginia, an ordinance outlawing the sale of liquor on Sundays is enacted. Any establishment selling alcoholic beverages is now forced to close at 10 PM and not allowed to open on Sundays. In the decades prior to the war, led by women – particularly religious women, and especially in…