On this second anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, freedmen North and South celebrate, praising God and giving thanks to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln for leading them out of captivity. For the Confederacy, the storyline of the war has turned into a nightmare. The Southern economy, resting on the free labor of slaves, is in tatters.…
As the year draws to a close, Sherman eyes the Carolinas, the Confederacy prays for a miracle, and newly freed blacks in Georgia celebrate the miracle of their freedom. General William T. Sherman, having successfully captured Savannah, contemplates marching on nearby Charleston, the city that more than any other fostered Southern secession and then led…
On what is a rather quiet winter’s day in terms of military activity, far to the west of the theaters of war the Legislative Assembly of Montana Territory incorporates Virginia City, creating the first municipal government in the territory that had itself only recently been incorporated the preceding May 26. The first clergyman to preach…