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 7 
 
 A HISTORY 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER 
 
 From the Discovery of America in 
 1492 TO THE YEAR 1885, 
 
 INCLUDING NOTICES OF MANUFACTURES AS THEY 
 WERE INTRODUCED; OF OTHER INDUSTRIES; OF 
 RAILROADS, CANALS, TELEGRAPHS, AND 
 OTHER IMPROVEMENTS ; OF IN 
 VENTIONS, IMPORTANT 
 EVENTS, ETC. 
 
 BY 
 
 .EMERY E. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 BAKER & TAYLOE. 
 
 1886. 
 
/T4 
 
 
 COPYTtTGHT, 1885, 
 
 BY EMERY E. CHILDS. 
 
 M. H. GREEN, 
 
 PRINTER, ELECTROTYPKB AND BINDER, 
 
 324-330 Pearl Street, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 1492 CHRISTOPHEB COLUMBUS, in the service of Ferdinand and Isa 
 bella, King and Queen of Spain, sailed from Palos with the de 
 sign of finding a passage to Asia by the western ocean. On the 
 12th of October he discovered one of the West India islands, 
 which he named San Salvador. Continuing his voyage he saw 
 several islands, and touched at three of the largest of them, 
 which he named St. Mary of the Conception, Fernandina, and 
 Isabella. On the 27th of October he discovered the island of 
 Cuba, where he remained more than a month. Sailing from 
 Cuba on the 5th of December, he arrived the next day. at 
 an island called by the natives Hayti, which he named Hispa- 
 niola. Here he erected a fort, and, leaving it in charge of three 
 of his officers and thirty-eight men, prepared to return to Spain. 
 Having the opinion that these islands belonged to the regions of 
 Asia comprehended under the name of India, he gave them 
 the name of the West Indies. 
 
 1493 On the 25th of September Columbus sailed from Cadiz on 
 his second voyage to the New World. He discovered numerous 
 other islands, and in December laid the foundation of a town 
 on the island of Hayti, which, hi honor of the queen, he named 
 Isabella. 
 
 1494 On the 5th of May Columbus discovered the island of 
 Jamaica. 
 
 1496 While Columbus was successfully establishing the founda 
 tions of Spanish power in the New World, his enemies were 
 assiduously laboring to deprive him of his merited honor and 
 emoluments. Resolved to return to Spain to vindicate himself 
 from those false charges which had been made against him to 
 the Spanish Court, he intrusted the government of the islands 
 to his brother, and on the 10th of March set sail for Spain. 
 After his departure his brother removed the colony from Isa 
 bella to the south part of the island, and began a settlement 
 there, which he named Santo Domingo. 
 
 The discoveries of Columbus excited great attention in Eng 
 land, and John Cabot sought and obtained a commission from 
 King Henry VII., for himself and his three sons, to prosecute 
 discoveries in the New World, and to occupy and possess such 
 places as they could subdue. 
 
2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 1497 In May John Cabot and his son Sebastian, with three hun 
 dred men and two vessels, commenced their voyage. On the 
 24th of June they discovered land, which is supposed to have 
 been a part of Labrador, and soon afterwards returned to Eng 
 land. 
 
 1498 Sebastian Cabot sailed from England on another voyage of 
 discovery. He first saw land at some point north of Newfound 
 land, and thence coasted along the shores of the continent in a 
 southerly direction as far as, or near to, Albemarle Sound, 
 whence he returned to England. 
 
 Columbus sailed on his third voyage, and on the 31st of 
 July discovered an island which he named Trinidad. On the 
 next day he first saw the southern continent. 
 
 1499 Alonzo de Ojeda sailed from Spain on the 20th of May, on 
 a voyage of discovery, and ranged the coasts of South and 
 Central America a considerable distance beyond where Colum 
 bus had voyaged. Accompanying this expedition was Amerigo 
 Vespucci, a Florentine, eminently skilled in all the sciences per 
 taining to navigation. By the publication of his account of the 
 voyage it is supposed that his name came to be given to the 
 New World. 
 
 1500 Gaspar de Cortereal, a Portuguese, explored several hundred 
 miles of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. 
 
 1508 Thomas Aubert made a voyage from Dieppe to Newfound 
 land, and, proceeding thence to the river St. Lawrence, was 
 the first to sail up that river to Canada. On his return he car 
 ried to Paris some of the natives. 
 
 1512 Up to this time the explorations of the Spaniards had been 
 confined to the West India islands and the coasts and islands 
 of Southern and Central America. On the 2d of April of this 
 year Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the North American con 
 tinent, in 30 degrees 8 minutes north latitude, to which he gave 
 the name of Florida. The Spaniards claimed Florida from 
 this discovery, and the English the whole continent from the 
 prior discoveries of the Cabots. 
 
 1524 John de Yerazzano, on a voyage of discovery in the service 
 of Francis I., King of France, coasted along the shores of 
 North America between the 28th and 50th degrees of north lati 
 tude, and called the country New France. 
 
 1535 Jacques Cartier, under a commission from the King of 
 France, entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence upon the day of that 
 saint, from which circumstance the name was given to it. Pro 
 ceeding thence into the great river emptying into the gulf, he 
 ascended and explored it for three hundred leagues, and, tak 
 ing possession of the country in the name of his king, called it 
 New France. He gave the name of Montreal to a large Indian 
 settlement which he visited. 
 
 By this time the Spaniards had discovered and conquered 
 Mexico, Peru, and other southern countries. 
 
 1537 California was discovered by the Spaniards under Cortez. 
 
 1539 Ferdinand de Soto, Governor of Cuba, sailed on an expedi 
 tion to Florida, to explore the country and conquer the natives. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 3 
 
 1541 Ferdinand de Soto, having spent nearly two years in his 
 wanderings in the wilderness, encountering many hardships 
 and disasters, arrived on the first of May on the banks of the 
 Mississippi, near the site of the present city of Memphis, and 
 was the first discoverer of that great river. 
 
 1562 A considerable number of French Protestants, in an expedi 
 tion under the command of John Ribault, commenced a settle 
 ment on the island of Port Royal, in the present State of South 
 Carolina, but their supplies being reduced, they were forced 
 to abandon the country. 
 
 1584 A French expedition, under the command of Rene Laudon- 
 niere, arrived in Florida on the 25th of June, and built a fort 
 at the mouth of the river St. John s, which they called Fort 
 Caroline. This fort was captured by the Spaniards in the 
 following year, and nearly all the French were massacred. 
 
 1565 Don Pedro Melendez was sent by the King of Spain to drive 
 out the French from Florida. He arrived there in August, 
 and on the 8th of September commenced to lay the foundation 
 of a town, which he named St. Augustine, from having seen 
 land on the anniversary of that saint. This is the oldest town 
 in the United States. 
 
 John Ribault sailed on a second vovage, to found a colony 
 of French Protestants in America. Arriving off the coast of 
 Florida, his vessels were wrecked on the rocks, and himself and 
 his men were massacred by the Spaniards. 
 
 1568 Dominique de Gourges, commanding an expedition of three 
 ships, sailed from France for Florida to take revenge against 
 the Spaniards for the massacre of his countrymen. He arrived 
 there in April, assaulted and took the Spanish forts, and mur 
 dered large numbers of the garrisons. 
 
 1580 New Mexico was discovered by Augustin Ruys, a Spanish 
 missionary. 
 
 1584 An English expedition, sailing under a patent granted to Sir 
 Walter Raleigh by Queen Elizabeth, visited the southern parts 
 of North America, north of the Spanish possessions. Upon the 
 return home of the adventurers the queen gave to the country 
 they had explored the name of Virginia. 
 
 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh sent another expedition to America, and 
 planted the first English colony in the Western World. The 
 settlement was made in Carolina, on the island of Roanoke, but 
 it was abandoned the next year. 
 
 1587 Raleigh again attempted to found a colony in America. He 
 sent out one hundred and fifty men and women in three vessels, 
 with a governor and council for the government of the colony; 
 and the company arrived on the coast of North Carolina in 
 July. On the 18th of August a daughter of the governor gave 
 birth to a child, which was the first English child born hi 
 America. This colony had but a short existence, and what 
 became the fate of the colonists was never known. 
 
 1602 Cape Cod, Martha s Vineyard, and other places on the New 
 England coast were explored by an English expedition under 
 the command of Bartholomew Gosnold. 
 
4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 1606 King James of England granted patents to two corporations 
 to colonize that part of America which lies between the 34th 
 and 45th degrees of north latitude. The southern half of that 
 territory he granted to the London Company; the northern, to 
 the Plymouth Company. The supreme government of the 
 colonies that were to be settled, was vested in a council resi 
 dent in England, to be named by the king, according to such 
 laws and ordinances as should be given under his sign-man 
 ual; and the subordinate jurisdiction was committed to a 
 council resident in America, which was also to be nominated 
 by the king and to act conformably to his instructions. 
 
 1607 The first permanent English settlement in America was this 
 year established in Virginia by the London Company, and in 
 honor of the king was named Jamestown. 
 
 The Plymouth Company sent out a small colony, w r hich 
 commenced a settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec River. 
 The settlers, however, abandoned the country in the following 
 year and returned to England. 
 
 1609 Hendrick Hudson, in the service of the East India Company 
 of Holland, sailing on an expedition to discover a western 
 passage to the East Indies, discovered and entered the river 
 which bears his name. The next year the Dutch sent six ships 
 to trade with the natives occupying the shores of that river. 
 
 In September, Jamestown contained between fifty and sixty 
 bouses. In that place and the surrounding country there were 
 about five hundred colonists, who were well supplied with 
 tools, arms, and ammunition. They commenced the manufac 
 ture of glass, so as to furnish beads and other trinkets for traffic 
 with the Indians. 
 
 The French under Champlain explored the country south of 
 Montreal, and discovered the lake which now bears his name. 
 
 1612 The first bricks manufactured in America were made by the 
 Virginia colonists. 
 
 1614 The Dutch built a fort on the extremity of the island where 
 the city of New York now stands, and another at or near the 
 site of the present city of Albany, and called their possessions 
 in America New Netherlands. 
 
 Captain John Smith of Virginia ranged the coasts from 
 Cape Cod to the Penobscot, and gave to that part of the coun 
 try the name of New England. 
 
 1616 Tobacco about this time began to be cultivated in Virginia 
 by the English. 
 
 1618 A number of Danes emigrated to this country about this 
 time, and made a settlement at the mouth of the Hudson River, 
 to which they gave the name of Bergen. This was the first 
 settlement in New Jersey. 
 
 1619 The people in Virginia were now so numerous that they 
 established a provincial assembly. 
 
 Thomas Dormer, who had been sent out from England, on a 
 fishing voyage coasted from Kennebec to Virginia, sailing be 
 tween the main-land and Long Island, and was the first person 
 who ascertained that to be an island. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 
 
 1620 The first permanent settlement in New England was com 
 menced this year. A large number of the English Congrega 
 tion at Leyden, formed of Puritans who had been driven out 
 of England by persecution, sailed from Holland in July to 
 found a community in America. After a long and boisterous 
 voyage, they anchored in the harbor of Cape Cod on the llth 
 of November. Before landing, all the men signed an instru 
 ment, by which they combined themselves into a body-politic, 
 to be governed by the will of the majority, thereby establishing 
 a republican form of government the first of its kind formed 
 in America. This contract was signed by forty-one men, who 
 with their families constituted one hundred and one persons 
 the whole colony that arrived in New England. After explor 
 ing the coast, they agreed upon a place of settlement, and landed, 
 on the 22d of December, on the rock which posterity has marked 
 in commemoration of the Pilgrims. To this settlement they 
 gave the name of Plymouth, in memory of the hospitalities 
 which the company had received at the English port where 
 they stopped on their passage over from Holland. 
 
 Ninety young women were sent from England to Virginia 
 by the London Company, and a price was fixed for each, as a 
 charge for their transportation, of one hundred and twenty 
 pounds of tobacco, to be paid by the person taking any one of 
 them for a wife. Sixty more were sent over in the next year. 
 
 The first negro slaves imported into the country were landed 
 at Jamestown from a Dutch vessel and sold. 
 
 1621 Fiftv-five thousand pounds of tobacco were exported from 
 Virginia this year. 
 
 1623 The first settlements in New Hampshire were made at this 
 time, at several places on the Piscataqua River, under a patent 
 granted John Mason and others. 
 
 The Dutch commenced laying out a town on Manhattan 
 Island, to which they gave the name of New Amsterdam ; 
 and the building of a fort on the Delaware River, which they 
 called Fort Nassau. 
 
 1624 Dissensions among the members of the London Company, 
 and other reasons, led the king to seek a dissolution of its 
 charter. Legal proceedings were therefore instituted to that 
 end, and the charter was declared vacated and the Company 
 dissolved. 
 
 1625 Three ships and a yacht arrived at Manhattan Island from 
 Holland, bringing a number of settlers, and one hundred head 
 of cattle. 
 
 1626 On the 4th of May Peter Minuit arrived at Manhattan, in 
 the capacity of Director-General of New Netherlands. He or 
 ganized a provisional government, and purchased Manhattan 
 island from the Indians. 
 
 1627 The use of wampum as a currency was introduced by the 
 Plymouth colonists. 
 
 A company was formed in Sweden to encourage colonization 
 in America; and a number of Swedes and Finns were sent over. 
 They first landed at Cape Henlopen, and some time after pur- 
 
6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 chased from the natives the^land from that cape to the Falls 
 of Delaware, and obtained peaceable possession. 
 
 The colonists of Plymouth purchased from the Plymouth 
 Company all the lands and interests of that corporation in 
 America for 1800, in nine equal annual payments. 
 
 1628 The foundation of the colony of Massachusetts was laid this 
 year. The Council for New England on the 19th of March 
 sold to six gentlemen, residents of Dorchester in England, a 
 belt of land stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, extend 
 ing three miles south of the river Charles and the Massachusetts 
 Bay, and three miles north of every part of the Merrimac River. 
 A few people under the government of John Endicot were 
 first sent over to prepare for settling a colony. Endicot on his 
 arrival laid the foundation of Salem, the first permanent town 
 in Massachusetts. 
 
 1629 The Massachusetts Company on the 4th of March obtained a 
 charter from King Charles I. , by which the company was in 
 corporated by the name of " The Governor and Company of 
 the Massachusetts Bay in New England ;" to have perpetual 
 succession ; empowered to elect forever out of the freemen of 
 the company a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen assist 
 ants, to be newly chosen on the last Wednesday in Easter term 
 yearly, by a majority of the company ; and to make laws not 
 repugnant to those of England. The company soon after 
 met in London and settled a form of government for the 
 new colony, and elected John Endicot governor for the first 
 year. It was also agreed that every member who had ad 
 vanced 50 should have two hundred acres of land assigned 
 him, and that fifty acres apiece should be allowed the colonists 
 who emigrated at their own charge. Several persons of con 
 siderable importance in England joined the company, who, 
 for the unmolested enjoyment of their religion, resolved to re 
 move to Massachusetts. In May, three ships sailed from the 
 Isle of Wight, carrying about two hundred persons; and in 
 June arrived at Salem. Some of the colonists being dissatisfied 
 with that place, removed and laid the foundation of a town, 
 which they named Charlestown. They laid out the town in 
 two-acre lots, one of which was assigned to each inhabitant. 
 The people at Salem commenced at once the manufacture of 
 brick, and built the first brick-kiln established in New England. 
 
 To encourage the co-operation of capitalists in the settlement 
 of New Netherlands, the Dutch West India Company offered 
 to any of its members who should plant a colony of fifty adults 
 in any part of New Netherlands, excepting on Manhattan 
 Island, certain exclusive privileges, coupled with certain condi 
 tions, and he should be acknowledged as the feudal chief or 
 patroon of such colony. 
 
 John Mason procured a new patent, which granted to him 
 the territory between the Merrimac and Piscataqua rivers, which 
 tract was afterward called New Hampshire. 
 
 1630 The Massachusetts Colony was augmented by the arrival of 
 large numbers of colonists, many of whom were of consid- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 
 
 erable standing. Settlements were now made at and named 
 Boston, Watertown, Dorchester, and Roxbury. On the 23d 
 day of August the first court of assistants met since the arrival 
 of the colonists, and voted that houses should be built, and sala 
 ries raised for the ministers at the common charge. 
 
 1631 The settlement of Portsmouth in New Hampshire, and of 
 Newtown, afterward called Cambridge, in Massachusetts, was 
 commenced. 
 
 The Earl of Warwick having in the year before obtained a 
 grant of the tract of land since formed into and known as 
 the Connecticut Colony, assigned it over on the 19th of March 
 to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brooke, John Hampden, and 
 others. 
 
 1632 The erection of the first church in Boston was com 
 menced. 
 
 King Charles I. granted a patent to Lord Baltimore of the 
 tract of land in America bounded by the ocean, the fortieth 
 degree of latitude, the meridian of the western head of the Po 
 tomac, the river itself from its source to its mouth, and a line 
 drawn due east from Watkins Point to the Atlantic, and gave 
 that territory the name of Maryland, in honor of the queen. 
 
 1633 A few emigrants from the Plymouth Colony made a settle 
 ment on the Connecticut River, at the place since called Wind 
 sor. Upon ascending the river their passage was unsuccess 
 fully opposed by the Dutch, who had established a fort on the 
 site of the present city of Hartford. At Windsor the settlers 
 immediately commenced the erection of a house from materials 
 brought with them from Plymouth. This was the first house 
 built in Connecticut. 
 
 The first church on Manhattan Island was erected this year, 
 on the site of the present Pearl Street, between Broad and 
 Whitehall streets. 
 
 1634 The first market, tavern, and store established in Boston 
 were set up this year. 
 
 The custom of preaching election-day sermons, which pre 
 vailed in New England more than two hundred years, started, 
 and continued, upon the commencement of the practice by the 
 Rev. Mr. Cotton in Massachusetts upon the general election for 
 magistrates held on the 24th of May. 
 
 Lord Baltimore sent about two hundred Roman Catholic 
 colonists to Maryland to found a settlement. Upon their ar 
 rival, they purchased an Indian town, to which they gave the 
 name of St. Mary s. 
 
 1635 On the 20th of October, about sixty men, women, and chil 
 dren, with their horses, cattle, and swine, commenced a re 
 moval from Massachusetts through the wilderness to the 
 Connecticut River. Some of these settled at Windsor; others 
 at the place afterward called Hartford; and others began a set 
 tlement which they called Wethersfield. 
 
 Men, ordnance, ammunition, and 2000 sterling were sent 
 over from England to build and fortify a fort at the mouth of 
 the Connecticut River. This fort was given the name of Say- 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 brook Fort, in honor of Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brooke, 
 two of the proprietors of the Connecticut patent. 
 
 The authorities of Massachusetts enacted a law that musket 
 bullets should be used as currency. 
 
 1636 The ministers of Newtown in Massachusetts, Hooker and 
 Stone, with their entire congregation, removed to the settlement 
 on Connecticut River, which the next year received the 
 name of Hartford. They purchased the land from the Indians, 
 and commenced to lay out a town. 
 
 Springfield was settled early in the year by William Pynchon 
 and others from Roxbury. 
 
 Roger Williams, having been banished from Massachusetts 
 on account of religious differences, and, refused an asylum in 
 the Plymouth Colony, travelled southward with some fol 
 lowers, and planted a settlement which he named Providence. 
 
 1637 The Pequot Indians having murdered some of the colonists 
 and committed some depredations, the colonists of the three 
 towns on the Connecticut River organized a body of troops who, 
 with about five hundred friendly Indians, marched into the 
 Pequot country and attacked one of their forts. In this con 
 flict about seventy wigwams were burned and between five 
 and seven hundred of the enemy perished, either by the sword 
 or flames. Other expeditions against the unfriendly tribe 
 were instituted, and by their success hostilities ceased for a 
 time. 
 
 1638 John Davenport, a celebrated minister of London, accom 
 panied by Theophilus Eaton and Edward Hopkins, merchants 
 of that city, with several other respectable persons, arrived at 
 Boston in the preceding year. Some of their number were sent 
 to Connecticut to explore the coast to discover a suitable place 
 for settlement, which they found at Quinnipiack. Here they 
 erected a hut, in which a few men remained through the winter. 
 The way being prepared, the company sailed from Boston on 
 the 30th -of March, and in about two weeks arrived at their 
 destination. They purchased two large tracts of land from the 
 Indians, and near the bay of Quinnipiack laid out a town in 
 squares, and called it New Haven. 
 
 Eighteen emigrants from Massachusetts purchased an island 
 in Narragansett Bay from the natives, formed themselves into a 
 body-politic and commenced the settlement of Newport. 
 
 Harvard College was founded at Newtown, and the name of 
 that place changed to Cambridge. 
 
 The town of Exeter in New Hampshire was founded. 
 
 1639 The members of the Connecticut Colony adopted a constitu 
 tion of government, and chose John Haynes governor. The 
 New Haven Colony was similarly constituted, and Theophilus 
 Eaton chosen governor. Settlers from the New Haven 
 Colony founded the towns of Milford, Guilford, Stratford, and 
 Fairneld. 
 
 George Fenwick, a gentleman of considerable wealth, founded 
 the town of Saybrook. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 
 
 The first printing-press in North America was set up this 
 year by Stephen Day, at Cambridge in Massachusetts. 
 
 General assemblies in Plymouth and in Maryland con 
 vened this year for the first time. 
 
 1640 About forty families from Lynn, Massachusetts, emigrated 
 to Long Island, and founded the town of Southampton. 
 
 Settlements under the jurisdiction of the New Haven Colony 
 were made on both sides of Delaware River and Bay; also on 
 Long Island, where the settlers founded the town of Southold. 
 
 The first book printed on the continent north of Mexico was 
 published this year at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was 
 titled " The Bay Psalms Book." 
 
 The first distillation of brandy in the colonies was com 
 menced by the Dutch on Staten Island. 
 
 1641 The manufacture of rope was commenced in Boston. Here 
 tofore it was only obtained from England. 
 
 1642 New England at this time contained about fifty towns and 
 villages. 
 
 A settlement on the island of Martha s Vineyard was com 
 menced by Thomas Mayhew. 
 
 A stone chuich and a stone tavern were erected at New 
 Amsterdam. The tavern was built on the East River near the 
 present Coenties Slip, and was afterward converted by the 
 Dutch into a City Hall. 
 
 1643 The colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, and 
 Connecticut united in a confederation for amity, offence and 
 defence, and mutual advice and assistance, under the , title of 
 The United Colonies of New England. 
 
 The English Parliament passed an ordinance appointing the 
 Earl of Warwick governor-in-chief and lord high admiral of 
 the American colonies, with a council of five peers and twelve 
 commoners. It empowered him, in conjunction with his as 
 sociates, to examine the state of their affairs, to send for papers 
 and persons, to remove governors and officers and appoint 
 others in their places, and to assign over to these such part of the 
 powers that were now granted as he should think proper. 
 
 The colonists in New Netherlands suffered from the ravages 
 and depredations of the Indians in this and the next year. 
 
 1644 Roger Williams obtained from the Earl of Warwick a patent 
 for the incorporation of the towns of Providence, Newport, and 
 Portsmouth. 
 
 A terrible massacre was committed upon the English in 
 Virginia by the Indians, who had confederated to exterminate 
 the colonists. The massacre began in the out-parts of the 
 colony, and continued two days. Three hundred of the English 
 were killed. 
 
 The settlement of Hempstead,on Long Island, was commenced 
 by some emigrants from England. 
 
 1645 In the colony of Connecticut there were now eight towns: 
 Hartford, W indsor > Wethersfield, Stratford, Fairneld, Say- 
 brook, Farmington, and Southampton on Long Island. In the 
 colony of New Haven there were six: New Haven, Milford, 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Guilford, Stamford, Branford, and Southold on Long Is 
 land. 
 
 Massachusetts passed the first law in New England for estab 
 lishing public schools. 
 
 William Clayborn and Richard Ingle raised a rebellion in 
 Maryland, seized the administration, and compelled Governor 
 Calvert to flee to Virginia. The rebels exercised the govern 
 ment of the province more than a year, and distinguished the 
 period of their dominion by disorder and misrule. 
 
 John Winthrop, Jr., with some associates, obtained from the 
 town of Boston three thousand acres of the common lands at 
 Braintree, for an encouragement or bounty for setting up iron 
 works, and a monopoly of that business for twenty-one years. 
 
 1646 John Eliot, a minister of Roxbury, Massachusetts, com 
 menced his labors among the Indians, which procured for him 
 the title of " The Indian Apostle." 
 
 A settlement on Long Island, on the site of the present city of 
 Brooklyn, was already commenced, and now it received a village 
 charter under the name of " Breuckelen," from the ancient 
 village of the same name in Holland. The settlement was es 
 tablished on the present Fulton Avenue near Hoyt and Smith 
 streets. There were a few houses at the water s edge near the 
 present Fulton Ferry. This hamlet was known as The Ferry. " 
 
 1647 The freemen of the several settlements on Rhode Island con 
 vened for the first time in general assembly, and established a 
 code of laws. 
 
 1648 The first instance of capital punishment for witchcraft occur 
 ring in colonial history was this year, in Massachusetts. 
 
 The settlement of New London, in Connecticut, was com 
 menced. 
 1650 Negro slaves were introduced into New Netherlands about 
 
 this time. 
 
 1652 The Swedes attacked and took a fort which the Dutch had 
 established on the Delaware in the preceding year. 
 
 A mint for coining money was erected in Massachusetts. 
 The money coined was in shillings, sixpences, and threepences. 
 
 The settlement of Newtown and Flatbush, on Long Island, 
 was commenced under patents of the Dutch governor. 
 
 The first iron forge in America was established this year in 
 Raynham, a town of the Plymouth Colony. 
 
 1654 The inhabitants of Flatbush erected a church, which was 
 the first one built on Long Island. 
 
 1655 The Dutch, under Governor Stuyvesant, sailed from New 
 Amsterdam on an expedition against the Swedes on the Dela 
 ware. The Swedish forts were all taken, and the garrisons sur 
 rendered. Some of the Swedes took the oath of allegiance to 
 the Dutch Government. The rest returned to Sweden. 
 
 A conflict took place between the Catholics and Protestants 
 in Maryland, and several were killed. 
 
 1656 The first Quakers that appeared in New England arrived this 
 year in Massachusetts, and were banished the colony. 
 
 At this period New Amsterdam contained seventeen streets, 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 11 
 
 one hundred and twenty houses, and about one thousand inhab 
 itants. 
 
 1658 The settlement of Stonington, in Connecticut, was com 
 menced. The place was first called Southerton. 
 
 Stone pavements were now laid in New Amsterdam. The 
 street first paved still retains the name of " Stone street." 
 
 1659 Two Quakers who returned to Massachusetts after banishment 
 were executed. Another one, a woman, was convicted and sen 
 tenced to die, but was reprieved on condition of her departure 
 from the jurisdiction within forty-eight hours. The woman 
 returned again, and was also executed in the next year. 
 
 Thomas Macy, with his family, removed from Massachusetts, 
 and commenced the first settlement on Nantucket. 
 
 The manufacture of bricks was now commenced at New 
 Amsterdam, and brick buildings from this time began to 
 be erected, Before this bricks had been imported from Hol 
 land, and used only for chimneys and ovens. 
 
 1660 New England contained at this time about thirty-eight thou 
 sand inhabitants, Maryland twelve thousand, and Virginia 
 thirty thousand. 
 
 1681 The translation ^ of the New Testament into the Indian lan 
 guage by John Eliot was printed this year. 
 
 1662 Connecticut obtained a charter from King Charles II., under 
 which the colony was granted many important privileges. 
 
 The Virginia Legislature passed stringent laws against Quak 
 ers, and sectarians of every denomination. 
 
 Two licensers of the press were appointed in Massachusetts. 
 
 A few French Protestant refugees were granted leave by the 
 authorities of Massachusetts to reside in that colony. 
 
 Maryland passed an Act to establish a mint. 
 
 1663 King Charles II. granted a charter to the Earl of Clarendon 
 and associates for colonizing and for the government of the coun 
 try lying between the 31st and 36th degrees north latitude. 
 The name of Carolina was given to the new province. 
 
 King Charles II. conferred a charter on Rhode Island and 
 Providence Plantations. 
 
 An Act of Parliament was passed to monopolize the colonial 
 trade for England. All goods purchased in Europe by the colo 
 nists must pass through the British ports. 
 
 On the 7th of June the Dutch settlement of Esopus, since 
 called Kingston, was attacked by the Indians. Twenty one of 
 the inhabitants were massacred and forty-five carried away 
 captive. A new settlement near by, called the "Rondout," 
 was almost annihilated by the savages. 
 
 The translation of the Bible into the Indian language, by 
 John Eliot, was printed this year. 
 
 1664 King Charles II. granted a patent to his brother, the Duke 
 of York and Albany, for several tracts of land in America, a 
 part of which territory was subsequently reconveyed to Lord 
 Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, under the name of New Jer 
 sey. 
 
 An expedition was fitted out in England, under the command 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Richard Nichols, for the conquest of the Dutch in America, 
 Nichols appeared in the harbor of New Amsterdam in August, 
 and demanded the surrender of the town and fort from Gov 
 ernor Stuyvesant. Letters and messages were exchanged, and 
 at length the Dutch governor agreed to capitulate. Articles to 
 that end were signed on the 27th of August. By the terms 
 of the surrender the Dutch were to continue free denizens, 
 to retain their estates, to enjoy their ancient customs with 
 regard to inheritances, to enjoy their modes of worship and 
 church discipline, and they were allowed a freedom of trade to 
 Holland. In honor of the Duke of York, New Amsterdam 
 now took the name of New York. On the 24th of September 
 the Dutch garrison and settlement at Fort Orange surrendered 
 to the English, and in honor of the Duke the place was called 
 Albany. On the 1st of October the Dutch and Swedes on 
 the Delaware capitulated. The English now exercised domin 
 ion over all New Netherlands. 
 
 The settlement of Newark, Middletown, Shrewsbury, and 
 Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, was commenced by removals 
 from New England and Long Island. 
 
 The Legislature of Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting 
 the establishment of any printing-press, excepting in the town of 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Nichols made a treaty with the Indians of the Five Nations, 
 by which they ceded their lands and submitted to the King of 
 England. 
 
 1665 The colonies of New Haven and Connecticut formed a union, 
 uniting into one colony under the name of the latter. There 
 were now nineteen towns in the united colonies. The town of 
 Branford dissented from this union, and most of the inhabi 
 tants removed to Newark, in New Jersey. 
 
 The city of New York was incorporated, and a mayor, five 
 aldermen, and a sheriff were chosen. 
 
 t Emigrants from Barbadoes commenced a settlement in Caro 
 lina under the leadership of John Yeamans, who was appointed 
 Governor of the County of Clarendon, which had lately been 
 laid out by the proprietors of the province. 
 
 St. Augustine, in Florida, was sacked and plundered by 
 John Davis, a pirate. 
 
 1666 Connecticut established four counties : Hartford, New Haven, 
 New London, and Fairfield, with a court in each county. 
 
 The first church built in Brooklyn was erected this year, on 
 the site of Fulton Avenue, near Lawrence Street. 
 1668 The province of Maine, upon application of some of its in 
 habitants, was put under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 
 
 The Legislature of Massachusetts granted to Daniel Gookin 
 and others a township of land eight miles square, by the name 
 of Worcester. 
 
 The first permanent settlement within the limits of the pres 
 ent State of Michigan was made this year, by Father Mar- 
 quette, a French missionary, who established a mission at 
 Sault Ste. Marie. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 
 
 1669 The Old South Church in Boston was erected this year. 
 This was the third church built in Boston. 
 
 1670 A colony of settlers arrived in Carolina from England, and 
 commenced a settlement on the neck of land between the Ash 
 ley and Cooper rivers, where in the next year they founded 
 a town, which they called Charlestown. 
 
 1671 Virginia, at this period, contained about forty thousand in 
 habitants, of whom two thousand were slaves. 
 
 The Assembly of Maryland passed an act encouraging the im 
 portation of negro slaves. 
 
 1672 The English Parliament passed an act imposing customs upon 
 the colonies, to be collected by revenue-officers to be appointed 
 by the crown. 
 
 The whale-fishery business was commenced at Nantucket. 
 
 1673 A war having broken out between England and Holland, the 
 Dutch sent an expedition to destroy the commerce of the Eng 
 lish colonies in America. After ravaging the coast of Virginia, 
 learning the defenceless condition of New York, the Dutch 
 proceeded to that city and forced its surrender, and soon after 
 compelled all New Netherlands to submission. This conquest 
 extended to the whole province of New Jersey. Upon the exe 
 cution of a treaty of peace between the two nations in the fol 
 lowing year these possessions were restored to the English. 
 
 New England, it was estimated, contained at this time about 
 one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, of whom fifteen 
 hundred families resided in Boston. 
 
 The first mail between Boston and New York was established 
 this year, for a more speedy intelligence and despatch of af 
 fairs." The letters were to be carried by a messenger, who was 
 directed to go and return once a month. 
 
 The Mississippi River was explored for a considerable por 
 tion of its length by Father Marquette, a French missionary, 
 and Joliet, a citizen of Quebec. 
 
 1674 The authorities in Massachusetts granted to John Foster the 
 privilege of setting up a printing-press in Boston. 
 
 1675 A war commenced between Philip, a king of one of the In 
 dian tribes in New England, and the colonists, which soon ex 
 tended to other tribes, and lasted more than a year. The 
 colonists experienced great cruelties and suffering, and lost 
 about six hundred, who were either massacred or taken captive. 
 Twelve or thirteen towns were destroyed. 
 
 1676 A rebellion broke out in Virginia under the leadership of 
 Nathaniel Bacon, which cost the colony 100,000. The prin 
 cipal causes of this rebellion are supposed to have been the ex 
 tremely low price of tobacco, and the ill-treatment of the plant 
 ers in the exchange of goods for it ; the splitting of the colony 
 into proprietaries, contrary to the original charters, and the ex 
 travagant taxes to which they were subjected to relieve them 
 selves from those grants ; the heavy restraints and burdens laid 
 upon their trade by act of parliament ; and the disturbance 
 given by the Indians. 
 
 New Jersey was now divided into two parts, called East 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Jersey and West Jersey. East Jersey was governed by Carte- 
 ret, and West Jersey became a dependency of New York. 
 
 1677 The province of Maine was purchased of its proprietor by 
 an agent of the Massachusetts Colony in England. From this 
 time Maine formed a part of Massachusetts. 
 
 Burlington, in West Jersey, was laid out and soon settled by 
 English emigrants. 
 
 A collector of customs was sent from England to Carolina, 
 who rendered himself obnoxious to the people. An insurrec 
 tion broke out, and the insurgents overturned the government, 
 which they exercised for two years with all the authority of an 
 independent State. 
 
 The authorities of Massachusetts passed a new law for the 
 apprehension and punishment of every person found in attend 
 ance at a Quaker meeting. 
 
 A postal system was inaugurated in Massachusetts to insure 
 regularity in the delivery of mail. Heretofore it had been the 
 custom to deposit letters at the Town House, to be taken and 
 forwarded at the pleasure of those who visited the place. 
 
 1678 The province of New York contained at this time about 
 twenty-four towns and villages. There were three hundred 
 and forty -three houses in the city of New York. 
 
 1679 A collector of royal customs for New England was now ap 
 pointed, and Edward Randolph was sent over in that capacity. 
 Upon his arrival at Boston he was considered as an enemy and 
 opposed by the people, who considered their chartered privi 
 leges invaded. 
 
 A conflagration broke out in Boston about midnight on the 
 8th of August, and destroyed above eighty dwellings, seventy 
 warehouses, and a large amount of property. The loss was 
 computed to be 200,000. 
 
 La Salle built a ship on Niagara Eiver, above the Falls, and 
 sailed into Lake Erie. This was the first vessel ever seen on 
 the great lakes. In this vessel La Salle sailed across Lake Erie 
 and through the strait and lake which he named St. Clair, and 
 through Lake Huron into Lake Michigan, where he constructed 
 a trading house at Mackinaw. Thence he proceeded to Green 
 Bay. From that place he sent his vessel back with a cargo of 
 rich furs, and he proceeded with a part of his company in 
 canoes, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest French settle 
 ment, into the Illinois country, where he erected a fort near 
 Lake Peoria. 
 
 1680 By orders from England, New Hampshire was now set apart 
 from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and erected into a sepa 
 rate province, against the will of the inhabitants. The first pro 
 vincial assembly convened at Portsmouth on the 16th of March. 
 
 Connecticut contained at this time twenty-six towns, and 
 Rhode Island nine. 
 
 The foundation of a new town in Carolina was laid, and 
 called Charlestown. The inhabitants of the old town called 
 by that name removed to the new place, and it was made the 
 seat of government. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 
 
 The upper part of the Mississippi River was explored this 
 year by Father Hennepin. He discovered the falls which he 
 named the " Falls of St. Anthony of Padua." 
 
 1681 William Penn received on the 4th of March from King 
 Charles II. a charter and grant of the lands in America lying 
 between Delaware Bay and River and the province of Maryland, 
 to which territory was given the name of Pennsylvania, Ad 
 vertising this fact, many single persons and families, chiefly of 
 the Quaker denomination, prepared to remove from England 
 to the new province. A number of merchants formed an associ 
 ation and purchased from Penn twenty thousand acres for 400. 
 On the llth of July Penn entered into certain articles with the 
 purchasers and adventurers, which were entitled "Conditions 
 and Concessions." The preliminaries being settled, a colony 
 was sent over during the year, and upon its arrival commenced 
 a settlement above the confluence of the Schuylkill and the 
 Delaware. 
 
 1682 William Penn published a frame of government for the new 
 province, with a body of laws agreed upon in England between 
 himself and the purchasers. To prevent all future pretence of 
 claim to the province by the Duke of York, he obtained from 
 him a deed of release for it. In the month of August, Penn, 
 accompanied by about one hundred colonists, chiefly Quakers, 
 embarked for America, and landed at Newcastle on the 24th of 
 October. On the 4th of December he called an assembly of the 
 people at the place since called Chester, and instituted laws for 
 the government of the province. He then entered into a treaty 
 with the Indians, and made purchases of some of their lands. 
 Penn next proceeded to lay out a place for a proposed city, to 
 \vhich he had already assigned the name of Philadelphia. The 
 city was immediately begun, and within less than a year eighty 
 houses and cottages were built. 
 
 Newark, in East Jersey, contained at this time about one 
 hundred families. Settlements were commenced this year on 
 the Jersey shore of the Delaware by three hundred and sixty 
 emigrants from Europe. 
 
 At this period New Hampshire contained about four thousand 
 inhabitants. 
 
 M. de la Salle descended the Illinois into the Mississippi, and 
 down that riv^r to the sea, and formally taking possession of 
 all the country watered by that river for the King of France, 
 named it, in his honor, Louisiana. 
 
 The first English settlements west of the Alleghanies were 
 now made on the east side of the Mississippi, near the site of 
 the present city of Alton, in Illinois. 
 
 1683 About twenty families from Germany arrived in Pennsyl 
 vania, and commenced a settlement about seven miles from 
 Philadelphia, which they called Germantown. 
 
 On the 17th of October, the inhabitants of the province of 
 New York convened for the first time in general assembly at 
 the city of New York, and passed several important laws. 
 
 A controversy having arisen between Massachusetts and tlic 
 
16 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 crown, principally concerning the collection of royal customs 
 at Boston, an order of council was passed on the 26th of July 
 for issuing a quo warranto against the charter of Massachusetts, 
 with a declaration from the king that if the colony before 
 prosecution would make full submission and resignation to his 
 pleasure, he would regulate their charter for his service and 
 their good, and with no further alterations than should be 
 necessary for the support of his government there. The propo 
 sition of the king divided the Massachusetts Legislature. The 
 .governor and a majority of the assistants voted not to contend 
 in law, but to submit to the king s pleasure. The representa 
 tives, after a fortnight s consideration, refused their concurrence 
 in this vote, and a letter of attorney was sent to an agent in 
 England to appear and answer in behalf of the colony. 
 
 The first printing-press set up in the colonies south of Bos 
 ton was introduced about this time into Virginia, and immedi 
 ately suppressed by the governor. This action was approved 
 by the king, and he sent positive instructions that no printing- 
 press should be allowed in Virginia. 
 
 1684 On the 18th of June the High Court of Chancery, in Eng 
 land, gave judgment for the king against the colony of Massa 
 chusetts ; their charter was declared forfeited, and the liberties 
 of the colonists seized into the hands of the king. 
 
 The Indians composing the Five Nations made a treaty of 
 peace with the English, at a grand convention held at Albany 
 on the 3d of August. 
 
 Philadelphia now contained three hundred houses and about 
 two thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The French erected a fort at the falls of Niagara. 
 
 1685 King Charles II. died, and was succeeded by his brother 
 under the title of James II. The new king caused a quo war 
 ranto to be issued against the charters of Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut. A collector of royal customs was established in 
 Carolina at the port of Charlestown. 
 
 The first printing-press established in Pennsylvania was set 
 up this year, near Philadelphia, by William Bradford. The 
 first publication was an almanac. 
 
 1686 The attorney-general of England was ordered to prosecute 
 writs of quo warranto against" East and West Jersey. King 
 James, designing to establish an arbitrary government for New 
 York, deprived that province of its immunities. He also or 
 dered that no printing-press should be established there. 
 
 Sir Edmund Andros arrived at Boston on the 20th of De 
 cember, with a commission from the king for the government 
 of New England. Among his instructions was one that no 
 printing-press should be allowed. He was also instructed to 
 give universal toleration in religion but encouragement to the 
 Church of England; to execute the laws of trade, and prevent 
 frauds in customs. To support his authority, two companies 
 of soldiers were sent over from England. Immediately after 
 his arrival Andros proceeded to Rhode Island, dissolved the 
 government, and assumed the administration. 
 
IIISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 
 
 Under the encouragement of the new administration an 
 Episcopal society was organized in Boston, which was the first 
 in that place. 
 
 1687 Andros introduced the Episcopal service in the Old South 
 Church in Boston, against the will of its proprietors. In Oc 
 tober Andros went to Hartford, accompanied by his troops, 
 where the general assembly was in session, and, demanding the 
 surrender of the Connecticut charter, declared the government 
 under it to be dissolved. The charter, however, was preserved, 
 through the zeal of Captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, who se 
 creted it in the hollow of an oak-tree. That tree, known in 
 history as the Charter Oak, was held in veneration until it was 
 blown down by a storm more than one hundred and fifty years 
 afterward. 
 
 1688 The administration of the government by Andros was so op 
 pressive to the inhabitants of Massachusetts, they despatched 
 an agent to England to represent their grievances to the king. 
 
 The first Episcopal church edifice in Massachusetts was built 
 in Boston and called the King s Chapel. 
 
 1689 The news of the abdication of King James and of the acces 
 sion of William and Mary to the throne arrived in Boston in 
 May. In April, before the news of the revolution in England 
 had reached America, the people of Boston and the surround 
 ing country rose in arms, seized and confined Andros, and such 
 of the council as had been most active, together with several of 
 the inhabitants who had made themselves obnoxious, and re 
 instated the old magistrates in power. 
 
 The freemen of Rhode Island, on hearing of the imprison 
 ment of Andros, met at Newport on the first of May, and 
 voted to resume their charter; and replaced all the general offi- 
 cers who had been displaced three years before. 
 
 The government of Connecticut was re-established by the 
 freemen of that colony in May, and the laws which had been 
 suspended were declared to have the same force as they had 
 before. 
 
 Information of the accession of William and Mary to the 
 throne was received in New York with great satisfaction. 
 About fifty of the inhabitants seized the garrison, formed them 
 selves into a committee of safety to hold and rule the province 
 until the government should be established by the new king. 
 A bitter strife and feud were now inaugurated between two con 
 tending factions of the citizens for the temporary control of the 
 government. 
 
 New Rochelle, in New York, was settled this year by a 
 colony of French Huguenots. The French language was 
 chiefly spoken there for at least two generations. 
 
 1690 The French in Canada organized three expeditions, com 
 posed of French and Indians, to devastate the English colonies. 
 One party entered the village of Schenectadv on the night of 
 the eighth of February, surprised the inhabitants when 
 asleep, and set the town on fire. Sixty men, women, and 
 children were massacred, and twenty-seven carried away pris- 
 
18 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 oners; the rest fled, nearly naked, towards Albany. Another 
 party surprised Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, on the 18th 
 of March. The place was pillaged and burned; about thirty of 
 the inhabitants were killed, and fifty -four made prisoners. On 
 the 17th of May the fort and settlement of Casco were attacked 
 and destroyed. These depredations alarmed the country, and 
 preparations were soon made to make an attack on the French 
 settlements in Nova Scotia. A fleet of eight vessels, earrying 
 nearly eight hundred men, was despatched under the command 
 of Sir William Phips to attack Port Royal. Upon the arrival 
 there of the expedition, the place, being in no condition to 
 stand a siege, surrendered with little or no resistance. Sir 
 William Phips now took possession of all the coast from Port 
 Royal to the English settlements. An expedition was soon 
 after organized to subjugate Canada, and on the 5th of October 
 it arrived at Quebec. On learning the strength of the place, 
 the invaders abandoned their project and returned to Boston. 
 Success had been so confidently expected, that adequate pro 
 vision had not been made for the payment of the troops. In 
 this emergency the government of Massachusetts issued bills 
 of credit as a substitute for money, and these were the first 
 that were issued in the American colonies. 
 
 A large number of French Protestant refugees emigrated to 
 America this year, and settled in Carolina and Virginia. 
 
 The whale-fishery at Nantucket was commenced on a large 
 scale at this time. 
 
 The first newspaper published in America was issued at 
 Boston on the 25th of September, and was called Public 
 Occurrences. Before the second number appeared the legis 
 lature suppressed its publication. 
 
 The first paper-mill in America was established this year, by 
 William Bradford, near Philadelphia. 
 
 1692 King William granted to Connecticut and Rhode Island the 
 right to resume their old charters, and he gave to Massachusetts 
 a new charter. Under this the colony of Plymouth was united 
 with that of Massachusetts. The jurisdiction of Massachusetts 
 extended over the provinces of Maine, Nova Scotia, and other 
 territory. 
 
 Twenty persons were put to death this year in Massachusetts, 
 upon their conviction of the charge of practising witchcraft. 
 
 A party of French and Indians surprised and nearly de 
 stroyed the whole town of York, in Maine, on the 25th of 
 January, massacring about seventy-five of the inhabitants and 
 carrying away captive about the same number. 
 
 A charter was obtained from the crown for a college to be 
 established in Virginia under the name of "The College of 
 Willliam and Mary in Virginia. " 
 
 A whipping-post , pillory, and ducking-stool were established 
 in the city of New York. 
 
 1693 William Bradford was appointed printer to the government 
 of New York, and set up the first press in that province. 
 
 1694 A body of Indians commanded by a French officer attacked 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 
 
 a village on Oyster river in New Hampshire, burned twenty 
 houses and massacred and took captive in all about one hun 
 dred of the inhabitants. 
 
 1695 The planting of rice in Carolina was commenced this year. 
 A brigantine from Madagascar touching at Carolina on her way 
 to Great Britain, anchored off Sullivan s Island. The captain 
 of the vessel presented a bag of seed-rice to one of the colonists, 
 and gave him directions how it should be planted, with infor 
 mation of its growth in Eastern countries, and of its incredible 
 increase. The rice was distributed among several of the inhabi 
 tants, who made the experiment of planting it in different soils. 
 The success fully equalled their expectations, and from this small 
 beginning arose the staple commodity of Carolina, which soon 
 became the great source of its opulence. 
 
 The first Episcopal church in Pennsylvania was erected this 
 year in Philadelphia. 
 
 1696 At this period, New England had about one hundred thou 
 sand inhabitants and one hundred and thirty churches. 
 
 The city of New York contained five hundred and ninety-four 
 houses and six thousand inhabitants. The Reformed Protestant 
 Dutch Church, at New York, received a charter of incorporation. 
 
 The Spaniards built a church, a fort, and some dwelling 
 houses at Pensacola. 
 
 A cargo of negro slaves direct from Africa arrived in Rhode 
 Island. Some were sold there and the remainder in Boston. 
 
 1697 Trinity Church in New York was completed, and opened for 
 worship on the 6th of February. 
 
 Paper was commenced to be manufactured at German town, 
 Penna. 
 
 The streets of New York were now ordered to be lighted oy 
 the Common Council. The lighting was to be done in a 
 lantern suspended from a pole stretched out from the win 
 dow of every seventh house. A night-watch was also insti 
 tuted. 
 
 1698 A town was laid out in Virginia, and called Williamsburg in 
 honor of the king. The seat of government was removed 
 there from Jamestown. 
 
 There were at this time about four thousand Indians in 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Louis XIV. of France projected the settlement of a colony in 
 ijouisiana, and sent over two vessels to visit the country and 
 gather information in regard to it. 
 
 1699 The seat of government for Maryland was removed from St. 
 Mary s to Annapolis. 
 
 William Kidd, the noted pirate, was apprehended in Boston, 
 committed to prison, and sent to England for trial, where he was 
 afterward condemned and executed. Kidd was formerly known 
 as one of the boldest and most successful shipmasters that 
 sailed from New York. In May, 1691, the Common Council 
 of New York awarded him 150 for service to the colony. 
 Receiving from King William a commission as captain of a 
 galley of thirty guns for the suppression of piracy, he sailed 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 from England in 1696, but turning pirate himself, returned in 
 1698 with a large booty to New York 
 
 1700 The authorities of New York and Massachusetts passed acts 
 for the banishment of all Popish priests and Jesuits from those 
 provinces. 
 
 At this period Boston contained about 7000 inhabitants and 
 about 1000 houses. There were about 5500 whites in Carolina. 
 
 The first public library instituted in America was this year 
 founded in New York. This library was subsequently merged 
 with the Society Library, which was founded in 1754. 
 
 1701 Yale College was founded this year. It was chartered by 
 the Assembly, and its trustees appointed Saybrook for its loca 
 tion. 
 
 The number of the inhabitants in the American colonies at 
 this period was estimated at 262,000. 
 
 The first permanent settlement in Michigan was founded this 
 year by the French. Sieur de la Motte Cadillac, accompanied 
 with one hundred men, departed from Quebec on the 8th of 
 March, and arrived on the site of the present city of Detroit 
 on the 24th of June. He at once erected a fort, a palisaded 
 structure, near the present Jefferson Avenue, Shelby and 
 Woodbridge streets. 
 
 1702 King William died on the 8th of March, and was succeeded 
 by Queen Anne. 
 
 A rupture having taken place between England and Spain, 
 the Governor of Carolina organized an expedition against St. 
 Augustine. The enterprise was unsuccessful, and entailed a 
 debt of 6000 on the colony ; to pay this, the provincial assembly 
 of Carolina passed an act for the issue of bills of credit. This 
 was the first paper money issued in Carolina. 
 
 East and West Jersey were now united under one government 
 by Queen Anne, and received the name of New Jersey. The 
 first Episcopal society in that province was organized. 
 
 The erection of the first Episcopal church at Newport was 
 commenced. 
 
 The Episcopal was made the established Church in Maryland, 
 and all the citizens were required to be taxed for its mainte 
 nance. 
 
 A pestilent fever brought from the West Indies to New York 
 ravaged that city, and carried off one tenth of the population. 
 
 1703 Virginia contained at this time about 6000 inhabitants. 
 Several settlements in Maine were attacked by the French and 
 
 Indians, and about one hundred and fifty of the inhabitants 
 were massacred or taken away captive. 
 
 The " King s Farm " in the city of New York was granted 
 to Trinity Church by Queen Anne. This gift laid the founda 
 tion of the vast revenues of that society. 
 
 1704 The Legislature of Maryland passed an act to prevent the 
 growth of Popery in that province. 
 
 A party of French and Indians set fire to the town of Deer- 
 field, in Massachusetts, massacred forty-seven of the inhabit 
 ants, and took away one hundred and twelve as captives. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 
 
 The Church of England was made the established church in 
 Carolina. 
 
 The first newspaper published in America (excepting the 
 single issue in 1690) was issued on the 24th of April, at 
 Boston, and called The Boston News Letter. It was published 
 weekly, and was printed on a half sheet twelve inches by 
 eight. 
 
 The first Episcopal church built in New Jersey was erected 
 at Burlington. 
 
 1706 A large force of French and Spaniards sailed into the harbor 
 of Charleston, in Carolina, to assault that place, but they were 
 repulsed by the colonists, with a loss of three hundred men. 
 
 1707 Two regiments embarked from Nantasket, Mass., in May, to 
 proceed against the French at Port Royal. They made an at 
 tempt to bombard the fort and failed, and the enterprise was 
 abandoned. 
 
 The first Episcopal society in Connecticut was formed at 
 Stratford. 
 
 1708 A body of French and Indians attacked the town of Haver- 
 hill, in New Hampshire, burned several houses, and plundered 
 the rest. Nearly forty persons were massacred, and many car 
 ried away as prisoners. 
 
 1709 An extensive plan was determined on by the colonies of New 
 York, New Jersey, and New England, to subdue the French in 
 Canada, Arcadia, and Newfoundland. Five regiments of regu 
 lar troops were to be sent from England to join in the enterprise. 
 Affairs on the Continent obliged England to abandon sending 
 her troops to America, and the project was thereby frustrated. 
 To defray the expenses of this projected expedition, the colonies 
 of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut issued bills of 
 credit for the first time. 
 
 The first printing-press established in Connecticut was set up 
 this year in New London. 
 
 A slave-market was established in the city of New York. 
 
 1710 An expedition set sail from Boston, on the 18th of September, 
 against the French fort at Port Royal. On the 3d of October 
 the place capitulated, and its name changed to that of Annapo 
 lis, in honor of Queen Anne. 
 
 A post-office establishment for the colonies in America was 
 created by an act of Parliament. The chief office was made at 
 New York, and sub-offices at such other places as the Postmas 
 ter-General might direct. 
 
 1711 A large expedition, consisting of an armament from England 
 and a large body of colonial troops, sailed from Boston on the 
 30th of July, to attack the French in Canada. In proceeding 
 up the St. Lawrence River the fleet struck upon the rocks, and 
 eight or nine of the transports were wrecked, and about one 
 thousand lives lost. Upon this disaster the design was relin 
 quished and the fleet turned about, and the English vessels 
 returned directly to England. Another large expedition, in 
 tended to act in concert with the other, left Albany on the 28th 
 of August, and commenced a march toward Canada, but bear- 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ing of the failure of the Boston expedition the whole enterprise 
 was abandoned, and the forces returned home. 
 
 A conflagration in Boston, in October, destroyed the Town 
 Hall and about one hundred other buildings. 
 
 A regular weekly mail was established between "Boston and 
 Maine, and a bi-weekly mail between Boston and New York. 
 
 1712 A war between the colonists of Carolina and the Indians 
 broke out, in which a large number of the inhabitants were 
 massacred. The Indians were conquered, and nearly all of them 
 in the northern part of that colony extirpated. 
 
 At this period the settlers in Louisiana numbered twenty- 
 eight families. 
 
 The negroes in the city of New York formed a plot to set 
 fire to the city, and in its execution killed several of the 
 inhabitants. Nineteen of the negroes were convicted and ex 
 ecuted. 
 
 Albany contained at this time about four thousand inhabi 
 tants. 
 
 1713 At this period there were forty-five towns in Connecticut. 
 The settlement of Worcester, in Massachusetts, was com 
 menced. 
 
 1715 About four hundred of the inhabitants of South Carolina 
 were killed this year in a war with the Indians in the central 
 and southern parts of the province. 
 
 The manufacture of pig and bar iron was commenced in 
 Virginia. 
 
 1717 The college heretofore instituted at Say brook was removed 
 this year to New Haven, and in honor of Governor Yale, its 
 great benefactor, was named Yale College. 
 
 New Orleans was founded by the French. 
 
 1718 Emigrants to the number of eight hundred arrived in Louisi 
 ana, and most of them settled at New Orleans and Natchez. 
 
 1719 The first newspaper published in America, outside of Boston, 
 was issued in Philadelphia, and called The American Weekly 
 Mercury. 
 
 The first Presbyterian church built in New York was erected 
 this year on Wall Street. 
 Tea began to be used in New England for the first time. 
 
 1720 About this time clocks were first introduced into America. 
 Heretofore time was marked by the hour-glass. 
 
 The manufacture of iron was commenced in Pennsylvania, 
 about this time, by a settler named Nutt, who erected a forge in 
 Coventry. 
 
 1721 The small-pox devastated Boston and vicinity, attacking 
 nearly six thousand people. Inoculation for that disease was 
 now first introduced into New England, and met with violent 
 opposition. 
 
 1722 Massachusetts contained at this period about ninety-four 
 thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The first manufacture of hemp-duck in America was com 
 menced about this time, in Rhode Island. 
 
 1723 The Province of Pennsylvania for the first time issued paper 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 
 
 money. In March it emitted 15,000, and 30,000 in the latter 
 part of the year. 
 
 The Episcopal society in Stratford, Conn., completed a 
 church this year. This was the first Episcopal church erected 
 in Connecticut. 
 
 1725 The first newspaper published in the province of New York 
 was issued on the 16th of October by William Bradford, in the 
 city of New York, and called the New York Gazette. 
 
 1726 The first printing-press in Maryland was set up at Annapolis. 
 The printing for that province was done before this in Phila 
 delphia. A prin ting- press was also set up in Virginia about this 
 time. 
 
 1727 The first newspaper printed in Maryland was published at 
 Annapolis, and called the Maryland Gazette. 
 
 Fredericksburg, in Virginia, was founded by an act of the 
 assembly. 
 
 1729 The province of Carolina was divided this year, and two dis 
 tinct governments instituted. North Carolina and South Caro 
 lina were the names given the respective divisions of the terri 
 tory. 
 
 The Indians attacked the French settlement of Natchez, and 
 killed about two hundred of the inhabitants. Of all the peo 
 ple residing there, not more than twenty whites and six negroes 
 escaped. One hundred and fifty children, eighty women, and 
 nearly as many negroes were carried awav as prisoners. 
 
 Baltimore was incorporated by the Legislature of Maryland, 
 and laid out into town-lots. 
 
 1730 Rhode Island contained at this time about 18,000 inhabitants, 
 3800 of whom resided in Newport and 3700 in Providence. 
 
 At this period there were 28,000 negroes in South Carolina. 
 
 The Governor of Louisiana dispatched an expedition against 
 the Indians, in revenge for their massacre of the French at 
 Natchez, which succeeded in capturing nearly the whole tribe. 
 The prisoners were transported as slaves to St. Domingo. 
 
 The first printing-press established in either of the colonies of 
 Carolina was set up at Charleston. 
 
 The first paper-mill established in New England was erected 
 at Milton, in Massachusetts; the proprietor receiving as encour 
 agement from the legislature certain privileges for ten years. 
 
 A line of stages was established between New York and 
 Philadelphia to make bi-monthly trips. 
 
 The small pox again ravaged Boston, and carried off about 
 five hundred of the inhabitants. 
 
 1731 At this period Massachusetts contained about 120,000 inhab 
 itants; Philadelphia, 12,000 and 2400 houses; and Charleston, 
 in South Carolina, between 500 and 600 houses. 
 
 The first newspaper published in South Carolina was issued 
 on the 8th of January at Charleston, and called the South 
 Carolina Gazette. 
 
 The first fire-engines used in New York arrived from Eng 
 land. A fire department for the city was at once instituted. 
 
 1732 The yellow-fever raged at Charleston, S. C., four or five 
 
Y 
 
 24 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 months, carrying off large numbers of the population. Busi 
 ness was almost entirely suspended. 
 
 The province of New York contained a population of about 
 65,000; Pennsylvania, about 30,000; and Virginia, about 60,000. 
 
 The town of Salem, in Massachusetts, contained 520 houses, 
 and about five thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The first Episcopal church erected in New Hampshire was 
 completed at Portsmouth. 
 
 The first printing-press set up in Rhode Island was estab 
 lished at Newport; and the first newspaper published in that 
 colony was issued from that press, this year, and called the 
 Ehode Island Gazette. 
 
 A corporation was formed in England, and received a char 
 ter from King George II. , for the colonization of the large un 
 occupied tract of country lying between South Carolina and 
 Florida, to which, in honor of the king, was given the name of 
 Georgia. That province completed the number of English 
 colonies in America that afterward constituted the original 
 thirteen United States. 
 
 1733 James Oglethorpe, one of the trustees named in the charter 
 for Georgia, arrived in that province in February with one 
 hundred and sixteen colonists, and commenced building a fort 
 and laying out a town, which he called Savannah, from the 
 Indian name of the river which ran by it. He called a con 
 vention of the Indians inhabiting the province, at which fifty 
 chieftains attended, and concluded with them a treaty of amity 
 and peace. 
 
 The first lodge of Free Masons in America was opened at 
 Boston on the 30th of July. 
 
 Maryland now contained a population of 36,000. 
 
 The first Catholic church erected in the colonies north of 
 Maryland, and the only one previous to the Revolution, was built 
 this year in Philadelphia. 
 
 1734 The second Masonic lodge in America was established in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 1735 The first newspaper in America printed in a foreign tongue 
 was issued at Germantown, in Pennsylvania, in the German 
 language. 
 
 Boston at this time had about 16,000 inhabitants. 
 
 1736 About four hundred emigrants, mostly Scotch and Germans, 
 arrived in Georgia this year. 
 
 Oglethorpe built a fort on the Savannah River at a place 
 called Augusta ; a fort and town called Frederica, on an island 
 near the mouth of the river ; and another fort, called Cumber 
 land, on an island nearer the sea. The Parliament of Eng 
 land voted 10,000 to defray the expenses of these public works. 
 
 A large body of French and friendly Indians were defeated 
 in a battle with the Chickasaws in Louisiana. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Virginia was issued on the 
 6th of August, at Williamsburg, and called The Virginia 
 
 A regular line of stages was established between Boston and 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 
 
 Newport, and exclusive privileges were granted it for a num 
 ber of years by the Legislature of Rhode Island. 
 173S Through Spanish influence an insurrection of the negroes in 
 South Carolina broke out, and spread desolation over a large 
 district. The negroes were subjugated and the leaders put to 
 death. There were at this time about forty thousand negroes 
 in the province. 
 
 A college was founded at Princeton in New Jersey, and called 
 Nassau Hall. 
 
 At this period New Jersey contained a population of 43,388 
 whites and 3981 slaves. 
 
 Brooklyn, L. I., at this time had 721 inhabitants, of which 
 number 184 were blacks. 
 
 739 The celebrated Methodist preacher George Whitefield ar 
 rived at Philadelphia from England in September, and preached 
 to multitudes in various parts of the colonies in this and the 
 following year. 
 
 The first church in Baltimore was erected, and occupied by 
 the Episcopalians. 
 
 1740 Oglethorpe, with a force of two thousand men, made an un 
 successful attack on St. Augustine. 
 
 A conflagration broke out in Charleston, South Carolina, 
 and destroyed three hundred of the best buildings in the town, 
 besides other property of great value. The English Parliament 
 voted 20,000 in aid of the sufferers. 
 
 The Legislature of South Carolina passed an act to prohibit 
 the teaching of negroes to write. 
 
 1741 A conspiracy of negroes and others was f ormed in New York 
 to burn the city. Twenty-two of the incendiaries were exe 
 cuted, thirty burned to death, and great numbers transported. 
 
 The first literary journal published in the country was issued 
 by Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia, and called The Gen 
 eral Magazine and Historical Chronicle. 
 
 1742 Faneuil Hall, in Boston, was erected by Peter Faneuil, and 
 presented to the town. 
 
 The first public library in Pennsylvania was instituted, 
 through the exertions of Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 Richmond, in Virginia, was established by an act of the leg 
 islature. 
 
 1743 A German edition of the Bible was published at German- 
 town, in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The cultivation of indigo was introduced into South Carolina 
 at this time. A year or more before this date, Mr. Lucas, 
 Governor of Antigua, sent some indigo seed to his daughter in 
 South Carolina, to plant for her amusement. Learning its 
 success, he sent over from Montserrat a man accustomed to 
 making indigo, who built vats on Wappoe Creek, and there 
 made the first indigo that was produced in America. Very soon 
 afterward the planting of indigo in South Carolina became 
 common, and in a year or two it became an article of export. 
 1745 An expedition of four thousand men sailed from Massachu 
 setts against the French town and fort at Louisburg, on the 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 island of Cape Breton. The place was captured, and prizes 
 valued at upwards of 600,000 taken. 
 The census of New Jersey showed a population of 61,403. 
 
 1746 The first iron rolling and slitting mill in Pennsylvania was 
 established in Thornbury Township. 
 
 1747 The first public library in Rhode Island was established at 
 Newport. 
 
 1749 Several persons in Virginia and England associated them 
 selves together into a company called the Ohio Company, anii 
 obtained from the king a grant of 600,000 acres of lands about 
 the Ohio River, in territory claimed by the French. This 
 transaction was one of the causes which led to the ensuing war 
 between France and England. 
 
 There were at this "period 2076 houses in Philadelphia. 
 Rhode Island contained about 31,500 inhabitants, of whom 
 about 3000 were negroes. 
 
 1750 The English Parliament, to protect the iron industry in Eng 
 land, passed an act prohibiting the erection of any iron rolling 
 or slitting mill, or any forge, in the American colonies. 
 
 An amateur theatrical performance was played in Boston, 
 which led the Legislature of Massachusetts to pass an act for 
 bidding theatrical entertainments in the province. 
 
 Pennsylvania received this year immigrations of 4317 Ger 
 mans and 1000 English and Irish. 
 
 The population of New England was now about 354,000, 
 and of South Carolina, 64,000. 
 
 An Academy was instituted in Philadelphia from which the 
 University of Pennyslvania afterward originated. 
 
 The first theatre established in New York was opened on 
 Nassau Street, on the 5th of March, with the play of Shake- 
 peare s tragedy of King Richard III. Regular performances 
 were continued for more than fifteen months. 
 
 1751 Philadelphia at this time contained a population of about 
 17,000 people, of whom 6000 were negroes. 
 
 The first printing-press in New Jersey was set up at Wood- 
 bridge. 
 
 1752 Heretofore in all the British dominions the new year com 
 menced on the 25th of March. By an act of parliament it was 
 made to date hereafter on the first day of January. 
 
 The small-pox visited Boston this year, of which disease 
 about 550 died. The town contained at this time 17,574 inhab 
 itants. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin made his grand electrical discoveries this 
 year. 
 
 The first theatre established in Virginia was opened at Wil- 
 liamsburg on the 5th of September. The performers came 
 from London, and the first play acted was " The Merchant of 
 Venice." 
 
 1754 The encroachments of the French in the territory west of the 
 Alleghanies impelled the Legislature of Virginia to send an ex 
 pedition against the invaders. The colonial troops were 
 attacked by an overwhelming force of the enemy, and surren- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 
 
 dered. By the terms of the capitulation the English were re 
 leased upon the condition that they would return to the inhab 
 ited parts of Virginia. George Washington was one of the 
 officers of the Virginia troops engaged in this enterprise. 
 
 The colonists, anticipating a war between France and Eng 
 land, held a convention at Albany to take measures of defence. 
 A treaty was concluded with the Indians composing the Six 
 Nations, and a plan was proposed to form a union of all the 
 colonies under one central government. All the delegates, ex 
 cept those from Connecticut, voted for that measure, but it 
 was rejected by the different colonial legislatures to whom the 
 plan was referred for ratification. 
 
 The Legislature of New York granted a charter for the incor 
 poration of a college to be called "The Governors of the Col 
 lege of the Province of New York, in the City of New York, 
 in America." The president of the college was ever to be of 
 the Episcopalian denomination. 
 
 1755 The British Government sent a body of troops to America, 
 under the command of General Braddock, to aid the colonists 
 in driving out the French from territory claimed by the 
 English. Upon Braddock s arrival a convention of the colo 
 nial governors assembled, and determined that three expeditions 
 against the French should be organized. The first under Gen 
 eral Braddock, with his British troops, was to attack the French 
 fort called Fort du Quesne at the junction of the Alleghany 
 and Monongahela rivers; the second, under Governor Shirley 
 with American regulars and friendly Indians, to attack the 
 French fort at Niagara; the third, composed of militia from 
 the northern colonies, to attack Crown Point on Lake Cham- 
 plain. While preparations for these enterprises were in prog 
 ress a force of three thousand men sailed from Boston to at 
 tack the French forts in Nova Scotia. This expedition was 
 successful, and for the purpose of extirpating the French from 
 that territory seven thousand of the inhabitants were carried 
 away and dispersed among tha American colonies. On the 
 10th of June General Braddock with 2200 men started on his 
 .expedition into the wilderness. Pushing forward with 1200 
 troops in advance, he fell into an ambuscade of French and 
 Indians, who routed his army with great slaughter. Braddock 
 and sixty- four other officers and one half of the privates were 
 killed or wounded. Braddock soon after died from his 
 wounds. George Washington was aide-de-camp to the com- 
 mander-in-chief , and won distinction by his valor. 
 
 The second expedition under Governor Shirley advanced as 
 far as Oswego, but the season getting late, it was postponed 
 until the next year. 
 
 The third expedition under General Johnson met and de 
 feated a large French and Indian force at Lake George. In the 
 engagement Baron Dieskau, the French commander, was mor 
 tally wounded. The English established a fort called Fort 
 Edward, and another at the south end of Lake George called 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 
 
 Fort William Henry. The French took possession of Ticon 
 deroga and fortified it. 
 
 The Governor of South Carolina made a treaty with the 
 Cherokees, by which they ceded a large tract of territory to the 
 King of Great Britain, and agreed to move further inland away 
 from the English settlements. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Connecticut was issued at 
 New Haven, and called the Connecticut Gazette. 
 
 The first newspaper issued in North Carolina was published 
 in December at Newburn, and called the North Carolina, 
 Gazette. 
 
 At this period New England contained a population of about 
 four hundred and thirty-five thousand. 
 
 1756 The French under General Montcalm captured the English 
 forts at and near Oswego, with 1400 men as prisoners. 
 
 The first newspaper published in New Hampshire was issued 
 on the 7th of October at Portsmouth, and called The New 
 Hampshire Gazette. 
 
 The first permanent settlement in the territory since formed 
 into the State of Tennesee was made this year on the Tenne- 
 see River, about thirty miles from the site of Knoxville. 
 
 1757 f A French army of 9000 men laid siege to Fort William Henry, 
 in New York, and compelled its surrender, with between 2006 
 and 8000 of the garrison as prisoners. 
 
 At this time the French in Louisiana numbered about ten 
 thousand. 
 
 The city of New York contained about 12,000 inhabitants, 
 and Philadelphia about 13,000. 
 
 1758 The English formed an expedition against the French fortress 
 of Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton. The place capitu 
 lated, and 5600 men were taken prisoners and carried away ta 
 England. 
 
 The English under General Abercrombie, in an expedition 
 against the French at Ticonderoga, were defeated, with a loss 
 of nearly two thousand men killed and wounded. 
 
 The English under Colonel Bradstreet captured the French 
 fort Frontenac, with a large amount of provisions and military 
 stores. 
 
 An English army under General Forbes attacked the French 
 fort Du Quesne and captured it. He changed its name to Fort 
 Pitt. 
 
 Virginia exported this year 70,000 hogsheads of tobacco. 
 
 1759 The English under General Amhcrst captured the French 
 forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and under General 
 Johnson, the French fort at Niagara. 
 
 t An English army of 8000 men under General Wolfe laid 
 siege to Quebec, captured the place, killed one thousand of the 
 enemy, and took as many prisoners. General Wolfe was mort 
 ally wounded, and about 600 of his men were killed or wounded. 
 
 1760 A large army under the command of General Amherst, com 
 bined with the army from Quebec, compelled the capitulation 
 of all Canada to the King of England. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 29 
 
 Georgia issued 7410 in paper money this year. 
 
 A conflagration destroyed about one tenth part of the town 
 of Boston on the 20th of March. 
 
 A war with the Cherokees broke out in Carolina and Georgia, 
 and continued until the next year, when the Indians were com 
 pletely subjugated. 
 
 1761 At this time there were about six hundred and fifty slaves in 
 Newport, R. I. 
 
 The first newspaper issued in Delaware was published at 
 Wilmington, and titled TJie Wilmington Gazette. 
 
 In Massachusetts disputes arose between the people and the 
 the royal authorities concerning a proposed arbitrary method 
 of collecting customs, which increased the bitter feelings exist 
 ing against the government. 
 
 1762 The first newspaper published in Providence was issued this 
 year, under the name of The Providence Gazette. 
 
 The first printing-press in Georgia was set up in Savannah. 
 
 1763 A treaty of peace between France, Spain, and England was 
 signed at Paris on the 10th of February. By this treaty, Ca 
 nada, Nova Scotia, and the island of Cape Breton were to be 
 long to Great Britain ; France relinquished her claims to all 
 territory east of the Mississippi, and was confirmed in her right 
 to the country west of that river ; Spain ceded to Great Britain 
 Florida and all its title to territory east of the Mississippi. 
 
 The Georgia Gazette issued its first number at Savannah on 
 the 17th of April. This was the first and only newspaper pub 
 lished in Georgia before the Revolution. 
 
 A ferry was now established between New York and Paulus 
 Hook, since called Jersey City. 
 
 1764 The English House of Commons voted that the government 
 had the right to tax the American colonists without their being 
 represented in parliament; and passed an act imposing certain 
 duties in America, with severe penalties attached for non-pay 
 ment. The sentiment expressed in this act caused great dis 
 satisfaction in America, and protests against it were forwarded 
 to England. 
 
 The Legislature of South Carolina offered large bounties in 
 land as an encouragement to settlers; and, in consequence, 
 large numbers of Germans, French Protestants, and poor peo 
 ple from England and Scotland emigrated to that province. 
 
 By a treaty concluded between Spain and France, all of 
 Louisiana was ceded to Spain. 
 
 St. Louis was laid out hi town-lots, and its settlement com 
 menced. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Hartford, and the fourth in 
 Connecticut, was issued on the 29th of October, and called the 
 Connecticut Courant. 
 
 1765 In the beginning of this year the English Parliament passed 
 an act for raising a revenue, by a general stamp-duty, through 
 out all the American colonies. The Legislature of Virginia 
 was in session when intelligence of the passage of that act was 
 received, and it passed several spirited resolutions, asserting 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 colonial rights, and denying the right of taxation in America 
 by parliament. The Legislature of Massachusetts passed simi 
 lar resolutions, and proposed that a general congress of all the 
 colonies should be convened. In pursuance of that resolution 
 delegates from nearly all the colonies assembled at the city of 
 New York on the 7th of October. This congress declared 
 that the colonies had the exclusive power of taxation in their 
 territories, and resolved to petition the king, and send a me 
 morial on the subject to each of the houses of parliament, and 
 recommended the several colonies to appoint special agents to 
 present their grievances to the king. About the 1st of No 
 vember, on which day the Stamp Act was to go into operation, 
 tumults occurred in Boston, and great excitement prevailed 
 throughout the colonies, and, in some, associations were formed, 
 styled " Sons of Liberty," for mutual support and resistance. 
 
 Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, was laid out, and its settlement 
 commenced. 
 
 1766 The decided opposition of the American colonies to the 
 Stamp Act, and the eloquent appeals of their advocates in the 
 House of Commons, induced parliament to repeal the obnox 
 ious measure. News of the repeal excited great satisfaction in 
 America, where it was celebrated by the ringing of bells, fire 
 works, and festivals. 
 
 Louisiana contained at this time a population of five thousand 
 five hundred whites and five thousand nine hundred negroes. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Society in the United States had its 
 origin in a society founded by Philip Embury, this year, in his 
 own house at New York. 
 
 1767 The project of taxing the colonies was resumed by the English 
 Government. Parliament passed an act, imposing a duty to be 
 paid by the colonists on paper, glass, painters colors, and teas 
 imported into the colonies. This act met similar opposition hi 
 America to that of the Stamp Act. It called forth resolves, 
 petitions, addresses, and remonstrances from the inhabitants. 
 
 The Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post Boy appeared 
 at New Haven in October. The last part of the name was 
 dropped in 1775. 
 
 1768 In August the Boston merchants and traders generally sub 
 scribed a paper, in which they engaged not to import nor to 
 purchase any kind of goods or merchandise imported from 
 Great Britain during the whole of the next year, excepting a 
 few enumerated articles. The merchants of Salem, Connecti 
 cut, and New York entered into similar agreements. 
 
 In the latter part of September a large number of British 
 soldiers arrived at Boston to protect the revenue officers in the 
 collection of duties, which gave the place every appearance of 
 a garrisoned town. 
 
 The first paper-mill established in Connecticut was erected at 
 Norwich. 
 
 Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, was incorporated. 
 
 Philadelphia contained at this time 4474 houses. 
 
 The settlement of Bangor, in Maine, was commenced. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 
 
 The second theatre in New York was opened, on Beekman 
 Street, near Nassau Street. The street since named in honor of 
 Robert Fulton was at this time known as Beekman Street. 
 
 1770 On the 5th of March, some British soldiers, being insulted by 
 the populace in the streets of Boston, fired into the crowd, killed 
 three persons, and dangerously wounded five others, causing 
 great commotion and indignation in the community. 
 
 The Massachusetts Spy appeared in Boston in July. It was 
 removed temporarily to Worcester in 1775. 
 
 The New York Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1768, 
 was incorporated by the legislature. 
 
 The first manufacture of tinware in this country was com 
 menced about this time in Berlin, Connecticut. 
 
 1771 The first newspaper published in Albany was issued in 
 November, under the title of The Albany Gazette. 
 
 Some of the inhabitants of North Carolina, complaining of 
 oppressions practised in the law and by the judicial court, rose 
 in arms, to the number of about fifteen hundred, under the 
 name of regulators, for the purpose of shutting up the courts 
 of justice, opposing the officers of government and all lawyers, 
 and of prostrating government itself. The governor marched 
 against them with about one thousand militia, and in a battle on 
 the 16th of May totally defeated them. Three hundred of the 
 regulators were killed on the field, twelve more of the in 
 surgents were tried and condemned for high treason, and six 
 of them were executed. 
 
 1772 Umbrellas were now first introduced into this country. They 
 were imported from India and landed at Baltimore, and at first 
 were scouted as an effeminacy. 
 
 The colonists of Rhode Island made a daring resistance of 
 encroachments. The Gaspee, an armed schooner which had been 
 stationed at Providence, excited much resentment by firing 
 at the packets to oblige their masters to haul down their colors 
 as a salute, and upon their refusal chasing the vessels into the 
 docks. A packet coming up to Providence with passengers, 
 refusing to pay that tribute of respect, was fired at by the 
 Gaspee, and chased. The packet led the Gaspee into low-water, 
 where that vessel was grounded, and the packet proceeded on 
 her way to Providence, where a plan was laid to destroy the 
 obnoxious vessel. Several whale-boats were manned with 
 armed men in the night, and proceeded to the vessel. The 
 commander and his crew, with their personal effects, were put 
 ashore, and the Gaspee with all her stores was burned. A large 
 reward was offered by the government for the detection of the 
 perpetrators of the deed, but they could not be discovered. 
 
 1773 The British Government, being unable to obtain any revenue 
 from duties on tea shipped to America, because it could not be 
 sold, resolved to accomplish by policy what was found to be 
 impracticable from restraint. It effected an arrangement with 
 the East India Company, whose warehouses were overstocked 
 with that article for want of a market, by which shipments of 
 tea could be sold to the colonists at prices with the duties less 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 than had been charged before duties were imposed. The 
 colonists, however, continued in their determination- to firmly 
 adhere to their principles, and not be taxed in any manner 
 whatsoever without their own consent. It was the prevailing 
 sentiment throughout the country, that this new plan of the 
 government was a direct attack on the liberties of the people, 
 which was the duty of all to oppose. The East India Com 
 pany, confident of finding a market for their tea, reduced as it 
 now was in price, freighted several ships to America with that 
 commodity, and appointed agents for the disposal of it. Cargoes 
 were sent to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charles 
 ton, S. C. The* inhabitants of New York and Philadelphia 
 sent them back to London. The tea at Charleston was stored 
 in cellars, where it could not be used, and where it finally 
 perished. In Boston, a number of armed men disguised as 
 Indians boarded the ships and threw their whole cargoes into 
 the sea. 
 
 The settlement of the territory afterward comprised within 
 the State of Kentucky, was commenced, by the emigration there 
 of Daniel Boone accompanied with several families. 
 
 The English settlements on the east side of the Mississippi 
 River, in the Natchez country, were increased by emigrations in 
 June and July of about four hundred families. 
 
 About three hundred families of Germans removed from 
 Maine, and settled in the south-western part of South Carolina. 
 Within one year six thousand negro slaves were imported 
 into South Carolina. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Baltimore was issued on 
 the 20th of August, under the title of The Maryland Journal 
 and Baltimore Advertiser. 
 
 The first steam engine constructed in America was built at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 1774 Intelligence of the destruction of the tea at Boston was officially 
 declared to parliament by the king, and he represented in his 
 communication that the conduct of the colonists was not merely 
 an obstruction to the commerce of Great Britain, but as subver 
 sive of the British constitution. In accordance with that senti 
 ment, parliament passed an act by which the port of Boston was 
 declared to be legally closed, and another act by which the 
 charter of Massachusetts was altered so as to essentially abridge 
 the liberties of the people. In the apprehension that in the exe 
 cution of these acts riots would take place, and that trials for 
 murders committed in suppressing them would be partially de 
 cided by the colonial courts, another act was passed declar 
 ing that if any person were indicted for any capital offence 
 committed in aiding magistracy in Massachusetts, the governor 
 might "send the person so indicted to Nova Scotia or to Great 
 Britain for trial. General Gage was appointed governor of 
 Massachusetts as the most proper person to see to the execution 
 of the laws respecting that colony and its capital, and he arrived 
 at Boston on the 13th of May. On the 1st of June, the dav 
 designated when the Port Bill should go into operation, busi- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 
 
 ness was closed in that city, and the harbor shut up against all 
 vessels. In sympathy with the inhabitants of that city, the day 
 was observed in many of the colonies as a day of fasting and 
 mourning, and subscriptions were set on foot for such poor in 
 habitants as should be deprived of the means of subsistence by 
 the operation of the act. 
 
 The necessity of a General Congress was now perceived 
 throughout the colonies, and that measure was adopted by every 
 colony from New Hampshire to South Carolina. On the 4th 
 of September delegates from eleven colonies appeared at Phila 
 delphia, and the next day, having formed themselves into a 
 congress, chose Peyton Randolph president, and Charles 
 Thompson secretary. A declaration of rights was soon agreed 
 on, the several acts infringing and violating those rights recited, 
 end the repeal of them resolved to be essentially necessary to 
 the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and the colo 
 nies. A non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation 
 agreement was adopted. On the 14th of September deputies 
 from North Carolina arrived and joined the congress. In Octo 
 ber an address was prepared to the king and the people of 
 Great Britain, and forwarded to the colonial agents established 
 there. 
 
 In the mean time the people of Boston were further incensed 
 by the arrival there of numerous British troops and proceedings 
 instituted by General Gage. 
 
 Toward the close of the year news arrived of a proclamation 
 of the king prohibiting the exportation of military stores to 
 America. The people of Rhode Island immediately secured 
 to themselves from the public battery about forty cannon, and 
 the legislature passed resolutions for obtaining arms and mili 
 tary stores and for arming the inhabitants. In New Hampshire 
 the colonists took forcible possession of the fort at the entrance 
 of Portsmouth harbor, and carried away upwards of one hun 
 dred barrels of powder. 
 
 Parliament voted to dismiss Benjamin Franklin from his 
 office of deputy postmaster-general in America, because of his 
 sympathy with the measures of the colonists. 
 
 The Creek and Cherokee Indians ceded to the King of Great 
 Britain several millions of acres of land in Georgia. 
 
 The Indians on the Ohio having become hostile, the Gov 
 ernor of Virginia sent about fourteen hundred troops into that 
 country. In a battle which took place on the 10th of October 
 the troops were defeated, with a loss of four hundred killed and 
 one hundred wounded. 
 
 At this time there were 6464 negroes in Connecticut and 
 3761 in Rhode Island. 
 
 The streets of Boston for the first time were lighted with 
 lamps. 
 
 The first dwelling-house in Kentucky was erected this year, 
 on or near the site of the town of Harrodsburg. 
 1775 The British Government continued its coercive measures 
 against the American colonies, notwithstanding the opposition 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of some of the most eminent members of parliament. The 
 petition from congress to the king had been referred by him 
 to the House of Commons, which body refused to hear and 
 discuss it by a large majority. Bills were passed restraining 
 the trade of New England, and to prohibit the colonists from 
 engaging in fishery on the banks of Newfoundland. Acts were 
 passed soon after restraining trade and commerce in some of 
 the Middle and Southern colonies. 
 
 In the colonies preparations for defence in case of hostilities 
 were made in all parts. In Massachusetts a rupture was im 
 minent at any time, and the people of Boston were so exasper 
 ated that they were ready for open war. The occasion soon 
 arrived. A quantity of military stores were stored at Concord, a 
 place about eighteen miles inland from Boston. General Gage 
 on the 19th of April sent about eight hundred British troops to 
 destroy them. On the arrival of the soldiers at Lexington, 
 they met about seventy armed colonists, who were ordered to 
 disperse by the British officer. Upon their not obeying this 
 order instantly, he directed his troops to fire upon them. This 
 order was obeyed, and eight of the colonists were killed and 
 several wounded ; the rest dispersed. The firing continued 
 after the dispersion, and the fugitives stopped and returned the 
 fire. The British detachment proceeded to Concord. The in 
 habitants of that town having received the alarm, drew up in 
 order for defence, but observing the number of the British 
 troops, they retired and waited for reinforcements. A party of 
 light infantry followed them, while the main body proceeded to 
 execute their commission. They disabled cannon, threw five 
 hundred pounds of ball into the river and wells, and broke in 
 pieces about sixty barrels of flour. In the mean time a skir 
 mish ensued between the colonists and the light infantry, and 
 the British troops were forced to retreat with some loss. They 
 were soon joined by the main body, and the detachment re 
 treated w r ith precipitancy. All the people of the adjacent 
 country were by this time in arms, and they attacked the re 
 treating troops in every direction until they drew near to Bos 
 ton. The battle at Lexington was a signal of war. The forts, 
 magazines, and arsenals throughout the colonies were instantly 
 secured by the people. Regular forces were raised, and 
 money issued for their support. An army of twenty thousand 
 men appeared in the environs of Boston, and formed an em- 
 campment from Roxbury to the Mystic River. This army was 
 soon increased by a large body of troops from Connecticut ; 
 and by these collective forces the king s troops were closely 
 blocked up in the peninsula of Boston. 
 
 It was soon perceived by the colonists that the possession of 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point would be of great importance. 
 An expedition consisting of about two hundred and thirty men 
 from New Hampshire Grants under Colonel Ethan Allen, 
 joined with a small body of Connecticut militia under Colonel 
 Benedict Arnold, proceeded on that enterprise. On the 10th of 
 May they surprised the fort at Ticonderoga garrisoned by 
 
HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 35 
 
 British soldiers, and compelled its surrender, with many valu 
 able stores. Crown Point was taken soon afterward, and the 
 command of Lakes George and Champlain secured by the 
 colonists. 
 
 Toward the end of May a considerable force of British troops 
 arrived at Boston from England, and about the same time 
 Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton, who had gained con 
 siderable reputation in preceding wars. The movements of the 
 British army excited an apprehension that General Gage in 
 tended to penetrate into the country. It was therefore ordered 
 by congress that measures should be taken for the defence of 
 Dorchester Neck, and to occupy Bunker Hill. This hill, which 
 is high and commanding, stands at the entrance of the peninsula 
 of Charlestown. Orders were accordingly issued on the 16th 
 of June for a detachment of one thousand men to take posses 
 sion of that eminence, but by some mistake Breed s Hill was 
 marked out instead of Bunker Hill for the projected intrench- 
 metits. About nine in the evening the detachment moved from 
 Cambridge, and passing silently over Charlestown Neck, 
 ascended Breed s Hill and reached the top without being ob 
 served. The Americans immediately commenced their work, 
 and labored with such diligence that by dawn of day they had 
 thrown up a redoubt about eight rods square. At break of 
 day the work was discovered in Boston, and General Gage de 
 spatched thirty companies of troops with artillery to dislodge 
 the Americans, but they perceiving that the hill was well forti 
 fied concluded to await reinforcements from Boston. Mean 
 while the Americans were reinforced, and they awaited the as 
 sault. The battle soon commenced. The British were twice 
 repulsed with great loss, and driven back in confusion. Upon 
 a third attack the ammunition of the Americans gave out and 
 a retreat was ordered, after an obstinate resistance with their 
 bayonets. Meanwhile the British set fire to the village of 
 Charlestown and destroyed about four hundred houses. In the 
 engagement the British employed about three thousand men, 
 and lost in killed and wounded 1054; the number of Americans 
 engaged was about fifteen hundred, and their loss was 453. 
 
 On the 10th of May a second Continental Congress met at 
 Philadelphia, and voted that 20,000 men should be immediately 
 raised and equipped, and unanimously chose George Washing 
 ton, who was then a delegate from Virginia, to be commander- 
 in-chief of all the continental forces. It was also voted to 
 issue bills of credit to the amount of three millions of Spanish 
 dollars to help defray the expenses of the war. On the 3d of 
 July General Washington arrived at Cambridge and took com 
 mand of the American army. 
 
 Two expeditions against the British in Canada were organ 
 ized: one under General Montgomery captured Montreal, took 
 a large number as prisoners, and secured considerable valuable 
 property, and thence proceeded to Quebec. The other expedi 
 tion under the command of Benedict Arnold marched through 
 the wilderness of Maine and Canada, and joined the forces of 
 
36 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Montgomery before Quebec. On the last day of the year an 
 assault was made on that place, in which General Montgomery 
 was killed. 
 
 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut each armed 
 and equipped two vessels to operate against the enemy. Con 
 gress also resolved to equip an armament of thirteen vessels. 
 On the 29th of November an American privateer captured 
 three ships from London, Glasgow, and Liverpool, containing 
 military stores for the British army. 
 
 Congress voted that a line of posts should be established 
 from Maine to Georgia, and appointed Benjamin Franklin 
 Postmaster- General . 
 
 Colonel Moultrie, of the South Carolina militia, took posses 
 sion of Fort Johnson, on St. James Island, in September. 
 
 A British ship, with other armed cruisers, sailed into the har 
 bor of Bristol, R. L, on the 7th of October, and fired upon the 
 town, doing great damage to the place. On the 10th of De 
 cember they destroyed the buildings on Conanicut Island. 
 
 In July a great number of the chiefs and warriors of the Six 
 Confederate Nations assembled in Montreal, and agreed to sup 
 port the cause of the king. 
 
 In the autumn General Gage sailed for England, and the 
 command of the British army devolved upon Sir William 
 Howe. 
 
 The first anti-slavery society in America was formed in Phil 
 adelphia on the 14th of April, and was composed mostly of 
 Quakers. 
 
 1776 The measures of the British Government accelerated an event 
 which, if anticipated and wished for by a few of the colonists, 
 had not hitherto been generally desired. Independence was 
 not the object of the controversy on the part of the colonies, 
 but constitutional liberty. During the last session of parlia 
 ment the ultimate plan for reducing the colonies was fixed. 
 The Americans were declared out of the royal protection, and 
 seventeen thousand foreign mercenaries were to be employed to 
 aid in their subjugation. On the 7th of June a motion was 
 made in congress for declaring the colonies free and independ 
 ent. After a full discussion, on the 4th of July the measure 
 was approved by nearly an unanimous vote. The Declaration 
 of Independence concluded with these words: "We, there 
 fore, the representatives of the United States of America, in 
 General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge 
 of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the 
 name and by authority of the good people of these colonies, 
 solemnly declare that these United Colonies are, and of right 
 ought to be, FKEE AKD INDEPENDENT STATES; that they 
 are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and 
 that all political connection between them and the State of 
 Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as 
 free and independent States they have full power to levy war, 
 conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to 
 do all other acts and things which independent States ought to- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 37 
 
 do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reli 
 ance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually 
 pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
 honor." 
 
 Since the arrival of General Washington at Cambridge, his 
 time had been principally engaged in organizing an army out of 
 new recruits, and in efforts to provide them with ammunition 
 and suitable clothing. The time of the first volunteers had ex 
 pired, and the army had disbanded. The effective regular 
 force of the Americans in February was a little over fourteen 
 thousand men; in addition to which about six thousand of the 
 militia of Massachusetts were at the disposal of the Comman- 
 der-in-Chief . With these troops he determined to take posses 
 sion of Dorchester Heights, whence it would be in his power 
 greatly to annoy the enemy s ships in the harbor and the troops 
 in the town. To conceal his design and to divert the attention 
 of the garrison, a heavy bombardment of the town and lines of 
 the enemy was begun on the evening of the 3d of March, and 
 repeated the two succeeding nights. On the night of the 
 4th, immediately after the firing began, he directed a considera 
 ble detachment to take possession of the Heights. This was 
 silently accomplished, and by working all night, works were 
 constructed that would protect them in a measure from the 
 shot of the enemy. When the British at daybreak discovered 
 this undertaking, they became aware that they must either dis 
 lodge the Americans or evacuate Boston. They chose the lat 
 ter alternative. A fortnight elapsed before that measure was 
 effected. On the 17th of March the last of the British em 
 barked in their ships and sailed away; and General Washington 
 marched into the town, where he was joyfully received as a de 
 liverer. 
 
 General Arnold continued the blockade of Quebec, but in a 
 council of war it was unanimously determined that the troops 
 were in no condition to make an assault, and the army was re 
 moved to a more defensible position. The Canadians at this 
 juncture receiving considerable reinforcements, the Americans 
 were compelled to relinquish one post after another, until by 
 the 18th of June they evacuated Canada altogether. 
 
 The British, in their projected campaign of this year, pro 
 posed two objects : one to make an attack on some of the south 
 ern colonies ; the other was to take possession of New York. 
 The execution of the first was committed to General Clinton 
 and Sir Peter Parker ; that of the latter to Sir William Howe 
 and his brother, Admiral Lord Howe. On the 28th of June 
 the British forces made an attack on the fort on Sullivan s 
 Island in the harbor of Charleston, S. C. The bombardment 
 continued upward of ten hours, when the enterprise was aban 
 doned. The British lost more than two hundred men in killed 
 and wounded ; the Americans, thirty-two. In honor of the 
 commander of the fort, its name was now changed to Fort 
 Moultrie. 
 
 General Washington, assuming that the British would make 
 
38 H1STOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 an attempt upon New York, removed the greater part of his 
 army to that city soon after the evacuation of Boston by the 
 enemy. General Howe, with the force which he had com 
 manded in Boston, arrived at Sandy Hook on the 25th of June, 
 and in less than three weeks was joined by his brother, the Ad 
 miral, with reinforcements from England. Soon afterward 
 the British forces were augmented by the arrival of General 
 Clinton and his troops from Charleston, and another reinforce 
 ment from England of Hessian and other foreign soldiers. The 
 number of the British forces then amounted to about twenty- 
 four thousand men. The British commanders, having resolved 
 to make their first attempt on Long Island, landed their forces 
 on the 22d of August at Gravesend Bay. The Americans, to 
 the amount of fifteen thousand men, under General Sullivan, 
 were posted on a peninsula of Long Island opposite New York. 
 Here they had erected strong fortifications and a line of in- 
 trenchments inclosing a large tract of ground near the village 
 of Brooklyn, within which stood the American camp. On the 
 27th of August an engagement took place between portions of 
 the armies, in which the Americans were defeated, and the 
 enemy encamped within six hundred yards of the American 
 lines. On the 30th, as the American army appeared to be in 
 a critical position, and the British fleet indicated an intention 
 to force a passage into the East River, it was determined to re 
 treat from Long Island, and cross to New York. This difficult 
 movement was accomplished with success. It was now deemed 
 prudent, in a council of war called by General Washington, that 
 the army should evacuate the city. This was accomplished, 
 although all the heavy artillery and a large portion of the bag 
 gage and military stores were unavoidably left behind and 
 abandoned to the enemy. General Washington now retreated 
 to the upper part of New York island, the British having en 
 tered and taken possession of the city. A demonstration was 
 soon made by the enemy to get in the rear of the Americans, 
 who thereupon retreated into Westchester ; General Washing 
 ton first assigning about three thousand men for the defence of 
 Fort Washington, near the junction of Hudson and Harlem 
 rivers. At White Plains a battle was fought on the 28th of 
 October, with the loss of several hundred men on each side ; 
 and soon afterwards the Americans retreated to the heights of 
 North Castle, about five miles beyond White Plains. Here 
 they were in so strong a position, General Howe decided to 
 change the plan of his operations. General Washington, leav 
 ing about seventy-five hundred men at North Castle under Gen 
 eral Lee, crossed over to New Jersey with the remainder of his 
 troops, and encamped in the neighborhood of Fort Lee. Sir 
 William Howe now determined upon the reduction of Fort 
 Washington, where he shortly appeared and made an attack, 
 and on the 16th of November compelled its surrender with all 
 the garrison. Soon afterward, the British crossed the river to 
 attack Fort Lee, which they took without assault, the Ameri 
 cans evacuating the place upon their approach. They im- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 3& 
 
 mediately started in pursuit of General Washington, who re 
 treated from place to place in New Jersey, and crossed the 
 Delaware into Pennsylvania, opposite Trenton. 
 
 On the day of General Washington s retreat across the Dela 
 ware a portion of the British forces made a descent on Rhode 
 Island, and took possession of the bay, blocking up the ports of 
 that State. 
 
 Fearing that Philadelphia and its neighborhood would now 
 become the seat of war, congress removed from that place and 
 established itself at Baltimore. 
 
 The American army having been reinforced, General Wash 
 ington resolved to recross the Delaware and surprise the British 
 at Trenton. On the night of the 25th of December he accom 
 plished that purpose, and on the next day routed the enemy and 
 took about one thousand prisoners, together with a large amount 
 of arms and military stores. 
 
 After the retreat of the Americans from Long Island, Nathan 
 Hale, a captain in the American army, passed in disguise to 
 that island, examined every part of the British army stationed 
 there, and obtained intelligence of its situation and intended 
 operations. Upon returning his purposes were discovered, and 
 he was apprehended and executed as a spy. 
 
 On the first day of this year a British fleet attacked the town 
 of Norfolk, in Virginia, and destroyed the place. 
 
 On the 27th of February a large party of Americans in North 
 Carolina attached to the royal cause were defeated in an en 
 gagement with the militia, and lost a large amount of ammuni 
 tion and military stores. This defeat prevented further efforts 
 on the part of the royalists in that State. 
 
 On the llth of October there was a severe naval engagement 
 on Lake Champlain, which lasted four hours; one of the Ameri 
 can vessels was destroyed, and the others retired to Crown 
 Point. 
 
 The Cherokee Indians commenced a war in South Carolina in 
 July, which lasted three months. The Indians were defeated, 
 and all their settlements destroyed east of the mountains. 
 
 A conflagration occurred in New York on the 21st of Sep 
 tember, and destroyed four hundred and ninety-three buildings, 
 including Trinity Church. 
 
 In the spring of this year New York was supplied with 
 water conveyed through pipes in the streets. A reservoir was 
 constructed on the east side of Broadway, near Pearl Street, 
 into which water was raised by pumping from wells sunk on 
 the premises and from the Collect pond. 
 
 The first permanent settlement in California, was made this 
 year by Catholic missionaries, near the site of San Francisco. 
 Soon afterward a few houses were erected on the site of the 
 city, and this settlement was called Yerba Buena. 
 1777 The Americans had hitherto been very deficient in arms and 
 ammunition, but in the spring of this year a ship arrived at 
 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from France, with upward of 
 eleven thousand stand of arms and one thousand barrels of gun- 
 
40 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 powder, and about the same time ten thousand stand of arms 
 arrived at anotherport. 
 
 The operations of the army under General Washington 
 during this year were confined to New Jersey and Pennsylva 
 nia. The British were driven out of New Jersey, and they 
 then formed the plan of taking possession of Philadelphia, by 
 an approach by the way of Chesapeake Bay. In August, Sir 
 William Howe sailed from the harbor of New York, with six 
 teen thousand men, and arrived on the 24th at the head of Elk 
 River, in Maryland, near the borders of Delaware. Thence the 
 army marched in tw T o columns toward Philadelphia. On the 
 llth of September, the British approached the American army, 
 which was posted on the Braudywine River, and in an engage 
 ment defeated them with considerable loss, and compelled them 
 to retreat. On the next day General "Washington entered Phila 
 delphia. On the 19th, the Americans crossed the Schuylkill, 
 and encamped on the eastern bank of that river, while detach 
 ments of the army were posted at the several fords over which 
 the enemy would probably attempt a passage. In the night of 
 the 20th, General "Wayne, who with fifteen hundred Americans 
 had concealed himself in the woods with the intention of har 
 assing the rear of the British army, was surprised by the enemy 
 and lost about three hundred men. On the 23d, Sir William 
 Howe, having secured the command of the Schuylkill, crossed 
 it with his whole army, and on the 26th he advanced to Ger- 
 mantown, and on the succeeding day took peaceable possession 
 of Philadelphia. The American army being reinforced, now 
 amounting to about eleven thousand men, took a position on 
 the east side of the ScLuylkill and about sixteen miles from 
 Germantown. At this last place lay the main body of the Brit 
 ish army. While General Howe was occupied in reducing the 
 forts on the Delaware so as to secure a safe passage for the Brit 
 ish fleet, General Washington f ormed a plan to surprise his army 
 at Germantown. This attempt was unsuccessful) and the 
 Americans suffered in a battle that took place a loss of about 
 twelve hundred men. The campaign in Pennsylvania ended 
 for the season soon afterward, and General Washington retired 
 to winter quarters at Valley Forge and the British to Phila 
 delphia. 
 
 While General Washington was conducting the war in New 
 Jersey and Pennsylvania, events of great importance transpired 
 in the North. A principal object of the British in the cam 
 paign of this year was to open a free communication between 
 New York and Canada, with the hope that by affecting that 
 object, New England might be severed from the other States 
 and compelled to submission. In prosecution of this design, 
 an army of British and German troops, amounting to a little 
 over seven thousand men, exclusive of a corps of artillery, 
 was put under the command of General Burgoyne, who was to 
 advance from Canada by the way of Lake Champlain, and 
 force his way to Albany, or so far as to effect a junction with 
 the royal troops which were to advance from the city of New 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 
 
 York. Another body of British troops under the command of 
 Col. St. Leger, with a large force of Indians and a regiment of 
 New York loyalists, were to ascend the St. Lawrence to Lake 
 Ontario, and from that quarter to penetrate towards Albany by 
 the way of the Mohawk River. Before the campaign was 
 opened, the British dispatched two expeditions for the destruc 
 tion of military stores deposited by the Americans at Peekskill 
 and Danbury. At Peekskill they captured a large amount of 
 provisions, forage, and other valuable property. At Danbury, 
 the British destroyed eighteen houses, 800 barrels of pork and 
 beef, 800 barrels of flour, 2000 bushels of grain, and 1700 tents. 
 These predatory excursions were not long after retaliated. On 
 the 23d of May a body of Connecticut troops crossed the Sound 
 and surprised the town of Sag Harbor, on Long Island, and 
 burned a large amount of forage which had been collected 
 there for the British army. Tw r el ve vessels were also destroyed. 
 General Burgoyne proceeded up Lake Champlain on the 20th 
 of June and landed near Crown Point, where he was reinforced 
 by a large number of Indians. Upon the approach of the 
 British, the Americans evacuated Fort Ticonderoga, and the 
 enemy took possession. A few days afterward a considerable 
 detachment of the British army met and defeated an inferior 
 force of the Americans, who suifered a loss of about one thou 
 sand men in the engagement. On the 30th of July General 
 Burgoyne reached Fort Edward, and the American army under 
 General Schuyler crossed the Hudson and took position at 
 Saratoga. Meanwhile the army under St. Leger had ascended 
 the St. Lawrence and arrived at Lake Ontario, and with an 
 army of about eighteen hundred men, on the 3d of August 
 invested Fort Schuyler, at the head of the Mohawk River. 
 This fortress was garrisoned by about six hundred American 
 troops. On the first approach of the British troops, General 
 Herkimer, who commanded the American militia in that 
 neighborhood, assembled them in considerable force for the 
 relief of the garrison. St. Leger receiving information of his 
 approach, sent out a strong detachment of regulars and Indians, 
 to waylay him on the road by which he was to march. Herkimer 
 fell into this ambuscade, and his men were defeated with great 
 slaughter. His loss was estimated at about four hundred men. 
 General Arnold was now dispatched with a brigade of troops 
 to attack St. Leger ; but his force being inferior to the British, 
 he resolved to accomplish by strategy what he could not expect 
 to do by force. He sent a spy into the British camp to spread 
 the news of an exaggerated account of the size of his army. 
 The stratagem was successful ; the Indians fled, and St. Leger 
 decamped in confusion and returned to Montreal, leaving be 
 hind him his tents and most of his artillery and stores. About 
 the same time General Burgoyne dispatched about six hun 
 dred of his German troops, and soon afterwards another body of 
 five hundred men, to Bennington, a town in the New Hamp 
 shire Grants, for the purpose of seizing a large depot of pro 
 visions and carriages stored there for the northern army. On 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the 16th of August these forces were attacked by General 
 Stark, who was on his march with about sixteen hundred men, 
 to join the northern army. The British were defeated, and 
 suffered a loss of more than one half their forces, besides a large 
 amount of arms. General Burgoyne having collected about 
 thirty days provisions and thrown a bridge of boats across the 
 Hudson, crossed that river on the 13th and 14th of September, 
 and encamped on the heights and plains of Saratoga. General 
 Gates, who had recently taken the chief command of the north 
 ern department of the American army, advanced towards the 
 enemy and encamped three miles above Stillwater. On the 
 night of the 17th General Burgoyne encamped within four 
 miles of the American army, and on the 19th advanced in full 
 force against it. An engagement took place, in which a consid 
 erable portion of the armies took part. Each side suffered a 
 loss of about six hundred men. Both armies lay for some 
 time in sight of each other, the British being daily reduced by 
 desertions of the Indians, and the American army continually 
 augmented by reinforcements. To aggravate his distress, no 
 intelligence had yet been received of any diversion in his 
 favor from the army at New York. In this emergency 
 General Burgoyne made preparations to effect a retreat to the 
 lakes by dislodging the Americans from their posts on the left. 
 In this attempt he met with defeat and a loss of several hun 
 dred men, including some of his most valuable officers ; also a 
 loss of nine pieces of artillery, and the encampment of a Ger 
 man brigade with all their equipage. General Gates now 
 posted fifteen hundred men on the heights opposite the ford in 
 Saratoga, two thousand in the rear to prevent a retreat to Fort 
 Edward, and fifteen hundred at a ford higher up. The British 
 were now almost encircled ; the Americans, already superior in 
 numbers, were daily reinforced, and there seemed to be no 
 avenue for Burgoyne to escape. In this dilemma the British 
 commander called a council of war, in which it was unani 
 mously resolved to enter into a convention with General Gates. 
 Preliminaries were soon settled, and the royal army surrendered 
 prisoners of war. The whole number that surrendered were 
 5752. Besides these, there were left 528 of sick and wounded in 
 the British camp when Burgoyne began his retreat. At the 
 same time there were taken 39 brass cannon, 5000 stand of 
 arms, 400 sets of harness, and a considerable amount of other 
 military property. The British lost between the 6th of July 
 and the 16th of October, in killed, wounded, and desertions, 
 nearly three thousand men. Soon afterward the British aban 
 doned Ticonderoga, which post was then immediately occupied 
 l>y the Americans. 
 
 Although Sir Henry Clinton afforded no relief to General 
 Burgoyne, he succeeded in capturing Forts Clinton and Mont 
 gomery on the Hudson River in October, which if done earlier 
 might possibly have had that effect. 
 
 On the 15th of November the thirteen States by their repre 
 sentatives in congress entered into Articles of Confederation. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 
 
 By these articles the style of the confederacy was to be " The 
 United States of America," and each State was to retain its 
 sovereignty and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, 
 and right which was not expressly delegated to the confedera. 
 tion. A firm league was entered into, by which the States were 
 to be united for the common defence and for securing their 
 liberties and mutual and general welfare. These articles were 
 to be submitted to the legislatures of the several States for their 
 approval and ratification. 
 
 Congress resolved that the flag of the confederacy should be 
 of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and that the Union 
 be thirteen white stars in a blue field. 
 
 Congress resolved to appoint the Marquis de la Fayette, who 
 offered his services to the cause, to the rank of major-general 
 in the army of the United States. 
 
 The first newspaper published in New Jersey was issued at 
 Burlington on the 3d of December, and called the New Jersey 
 Gazette. 
 
 Cold-cut iron nails were now manufactured at Cumberland, 
 R. I., and it is said these were the first made in this or any 
 other country. 
 
 1778 The success of the Americans in the northern campaign of 
 the last year rendered it less difficult to secure foreign aid and 
 influence. A plan of treaty to be proposed to foreign powers 
 had been formed by congress, and commissioners were sent 
 to Paris to solicit its acceptance by the King of France. For 
 more than a year they were kept in a state of uncertainty. 
 They received private encouragement, but could obtain no 
 public acknowledgment. The capture of Burgoyne fixed the 
 wavering policy of the French court, and on the 6th of Febru 
 ary the King of France entered into a treaty of alliance with 
 the United States, in which it was declared that if war should 
 break out between France and England during the existence of 
 that with the United States, it should be made a common cause, 
 and that neither of the contracting parties should conclude 
 either truce or peace with Great Britain without first obtaining 
 the formal consent of the other; and they mutually agreed not 
 to lay down their arms until the independence of the United 
 States should be formally or tacitly assured by the treaty or 
 treaties that should terminate the war. 
 
 On the alliance of America with France it was resolved in 
 Great Britain immediately to evacuate Philadelphia, and to con 
 centrate the royal force in the harbor and city of New York. 
 In pursuance with this resolution, the British army on the 18th 
 of June passed over the Delaware into New Jersey and com 
 menced its march to New York. At Monmouth they were at 
 tacked by the Americans, and a battle ensued in which both 
 sides claimed the victory, although the British loss was much 
 greater than their opponents. Soon after the evacuation con 
 gress removed to Philadelphia. 
 
 In July a French fleet with about four thousand troops 
 under the command of Count D Estaing, arrived on the coast 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Virginia. Failing in his object of surprising the British 
 fleet in the Delaware, he proceeded towards New York for the 
 purpose of attacking them there; but rinding that to be imprac 
 ticable, he sailed for Newport upon the advice of General 
 Washington, to act in conjunction with the Americans in an at 
 tempt on Rhode Island, where he arrived on the 25th of July. 
 Soon afterward a British fleet appeared for the relief of New 
 port, and the two fleets sailed out to sea. After manojuvring 
 for two days without coming to action, they were separated 
 by a violent storm, and the French fleet sailed to Boston to 
 refit. 
 
 The year was drawing to a close, and no important advance 
 had been made by the British. The commander-in-chief there 
 fore resolved to make a demonstration upon the Southern 
 States. A project was formed to invade Georgia from the 
 north and south. On the 27th of November a fleet sailed from 
 New York with about two thousand men, to act in concert with 
 the British troops stationed in East Florida. On the 29th of 
 December an attack was made upon the Americans who were 
 defending Savannah. The British were victorious, killing 
 about one hundred of the Americans and taking prisoners 
 thirty-eight officers and four hundred and fifteen privates. The 
 town and port of Savannah were captured, with forty eight 
 cannon, twenty-three mortars, all the ammunition and stores, 
 the shipping in the river, and a large quantity of provisions. 
 
 A horrible massacre w r as committed at the village of Wyom 
 ing, in Pennsylvania, by a body of Tories and Indians. More 
 than two hundred of the inhabitants were slaughtered, and 
 nearly all the houses and property in the place destroyed. 
 
 On the 6th of August, M. Gerard, the minister appointed 
 from France for the United States, arrived at Philadelphia. 
 
 On the 14th of September Congress appointed Benjamin 
 Franklin Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the 
 Court of France. 
 
 The number of American prisoners confined in the jails of 
 Great Britain, early in the year, was computed to be 924. A 
 meeting in London was convened to relieve their distresses, and 
 subscriptions were raised there and in the country of nearly 
 twenty thousand dollars for that purpose. 
 
 Vermont was constituted a State on the 13th of March. 
 
 In August a fire in New York consumed about three hun 
 dred houses on the eastern side of the city. 
 
 1779 The campaign of this year was barren in important events. 
 At the North a few enterprises were inaugurated by small de 
 tachments of the opposing armies. In July a predatory expe 
 dition was undertaken by the British against the towns on the 
 Connecticut coast. About twenty-six hundred men, under 
 Governor Tryon, accompanied by a fleet of armed vessels, 
 sailed from New York and anchored at West Haven. A de 
 tachment of the troops marched into New Haven, and for 
 about seven hours ravaged and plundered the town. Thence 
 they successively plundered and burned the towns of Fairfield, 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 
 
 Green Farms, and Norwalk. In the same month the Americans 
 made an assault on the fort at Stony Point, on the Hudson 
 River, and captured it, taking about five hundred and fifty 
 prisoners, and a considerable quantity of military stores. 
 
 An expedition, composed of a large force, sailed from Boston 
 in July to dislodge the British at Penobscot, hi Maine, where 
 they had erected strong fortifications. The fleet consisted of 
 twenty-four transports and about twenty armed vessels and 
 privateers. The enterprise was unsuccessful; the vessels were 
 all taken or destroyed by the British. The greater portion of 
 the sailors and troops, however, escaped, and returned home on 
 foot, exploring their way through a trackless wilderness. 
 
 A more fortunate expedition was undertaken against the In 
 dians belonging to the Six Nations, in New York, under the 
 command of General Sullivan. The Indians, on hearing of 
 the projected attack, collected their strength, took possession of 
 a favorable location for defence, and strongly fortified it. Gen 
 eral Sullivan attacked them in their works more than two 
 hours, when they fled with precipitation. The victorious 
 army, penetrating into the heart of their country, destroyed 
 their villages, and laid their fields and gardens desolate. 
 
 In March, in an engagement on the Savannah River, a body 
 of about fifteen hundred North Carolina militia and sixty Con 
 tinental troops were defeated. The greater part of the militia 
 threw down their arms, and fled in confusion. About three 
 hundred men were killed or taken prisoners. 
 
 In May, a large British force appeared at Charleston, S. C., 
 and summoned the town to surrender. The demand not being 
 complied with, the enemy, having intelligence that a considera 
 ble reinforcement of American troops were on the way, re 
 solved to retreat, and they departed at night without inflicting 
 any injury upon the town. 
 
 In the latter part of September an expedition composed of 
 a part of the Southern army, and the French fleet under 
 Count D Estaing, consisting of eleven frigates and twenty sail 
 of the line, made an attack on the fort and town of Savannah. 
 It being at length ascertained that considerable time would be 
 necessary to reduce the place by regular approaches, it was de 
 termined to make an assault. The assailants, composed of 
 about thirty-five hundred French troops and one thousand 
 Americans, were repeatedly driven back in confusion by the 
 enemy s batteries; and after sustaining their fire for an hour, 
 were ordered to retreat. About nine hundred French and 
 American soldiers were killed or wounded. Immediately after 
 this unsuccessful assault, the American militia, discouraged, 
 retired to their homes, and the French fleet left the country. 
 
 In May, a British land and naval force made a descent on the 
 coast of Virginia. They took possession of Portsmouth and 
 Norfolk ; destroyed the houses, naval stores, and a large maga 
 zine of provisions at Suffolk ; made a similar destruction at 
 Kemp s Landing, Shepherd s, Gosport, Tanner s Creek, and 
 other places in the vicinity ; and after setting fire to the houses 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and other public buildings in the dockyard at Gosport, em 
 barked with their booty for New York. 
 
 The seat for the government of Virginia was removed from 
 Williamsburg to Richmond by act of the assembly. At this 
 time Richmond was so insignificant as scarcely able to afford 
 accommodations for the officers of the government. 
 1780 No sooner did Sir Henry Clinton receive certain information 
 that the French fleet had left America, than he set forward an 
 expedition, consisting of large land and naval forces, against 
 South Carolina. In April he had accomplished the investment 
 of Charleston by sea and land, and on the 6th of May com 
 pelled the garrison of Fort Moultrie to surrender. The capi 
 tulation of the city soon followed, and the British took posses 
 sion of the place, securing above five thousand surrendered 
 prisoners of war, besides upwards of four hundred pieces of 
 artillery. Sir Henry Clinton, leaving about four thousand men 
 under the command of General Cornwallis for the southern ser 
 vice, embarked early in June for New York. On the 16th of 
 August a battle took place near Camden, in South Carolina, in 
 which the Americans were defeated with severe loss. During 
 the year several engagements and skirmishes took place at the 
 South with varying successes and defeats. 
 
 The most flagrant instance of treachery during the war oc 
 curred this year. For the defence of the Hudson River a strong 
 and impregnable fortress had "been built at West Point, and this 
 had been intrusted to the command of General Benedict Ar 
 nold. A negotiation with Sir Henry Clinton had been begun 
 by Arnold, and was afterward concluded ; by which, for a cer 
 tain remuneration in money and rank in the enemy s service, 
 he agreed to make such a disposition of his garrison as would 
 enable the British general effectually to surprise and capture 
 that stronghold. The agent employed by Sir Henry Clinton in 
 the negotiations was Major Andre, adjutant-general of the Brit 
 ish army. To favor the communications, the Vulture, a Brit 
 ish sloop of war, had been stationed in the river, as near Arn 
 old s post as could be without exciting suspicion. On the night 
 of the 21st of September, Arnold sent a boat from the shore to 
 the vessel to fetch Major Andre, and they met on the beach to 
 discuss their plans. Their business not being finished, until it 
 was too near morning for Andre to return to the Vulture un 
 observed, it was necessary that he should remain on shore in con 
 cealment until night time. Meanwhile, the vessel having at 
 tracted the suspicious attention of people on the shore, sailed 
 farther away, and the boatman who remained to carry Andre 
 back refused, against all remonstrances, to do so. There was, 
 therefore, no way for Andre to return to New York except by 
 land. This he hesitatingly concluded to do. Changing his 
 uniform for citizen s clothes, and mounted on a good horse, ac 
 companied with a guide and a negro servant, and having a pass 
 port signed by Arnold, he crossed the river at Verplanck s Point 
 early in the morning, and proceeded toward White Plains. When 
 they reached, as they supposed, neutral ground beyond the 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 47 
 
 American lines, the guide and servant turned back, and Andre 
 rode on alone towards New York. When near Tarrytown, he was 
 stopped and questioned by three armed militiamen whom he 
 met on the road. Not being satisfied, even when shown Arnold s 
 pass, they insisted upon searching him, and discovered, con 
 cealed between his stockings and feet, the papers given him by 
 Arnold. Andre now offered his captors tempting bribes to be 
 allowed to pass on, but these were rejected with indignation, 
 and he was escorted to the nearest American quarters, and de 
 livered up. General Washington referred the case of Andre to 
 the examination and decision of a board consisting of fourteen 
 officers, who, without examining a single witness, founded their 
 report on his own confession. They adjudged that he ought to be 
 considered a spy, and that, agreeably to the laws and usages of 
 nations, he should suffer death. He was accordingly hung on 
 the 3d of October at Tappan, at the age of twenty-nine years. 
 His youth, accomplishments, and manners endeared him to 
 all, and his fate was deeply regretted on both sides of the At 
 lantic. His king caused a mural monument to be erected to 
 his memory in Westminster Abbey, and in 1831 his remains 
 were taken to London, where they have since rested among 
 those of many heroes and poets of England. Arnold received 
 intelligence of Andre s capture very soon after that occurrence, 
 and he immediately abandoned everything, and fled on board 
 the Vulture, which took him to New York. The traitor, al 
 though unsuccessful, received 10,000 guineas from the British 
 treasury, and the commission of a brigadier from the king. He 
 died in obscurity in London, in 1801. 
 
 Henry Laurens, late president of congress, while on his pas 
 sage to Holland, to which country he had been appointed minis 
 ter from the United States, was captured by a British frigate 
 off Newfoundland. He was taken to England, where he was 
 examined by the privy council, and committed close prisoner to 
 the Tower, on an accusation of high-treason. He remained 
 there a prisoner for more than fourteen months. 
 
 The first regular glass factory established in the United 
 States was erected this year in the town of Temple, New 
 Hampshire. The works were operated by Hessians and Wai- 
 deckers, deserters from the British army. 
 
 In August, the first buildings on the site of Cincinnati were 
 erected. They were two block-houses, built by a detachment 
 of American troops. 
 
 Virginia ceded to the United States all its right and title to 
 the vast territory lying north of the Ohio. 
 
 Louisville, Ky., was founded and settled by about six hun 
 dred people, who emigrated there in the spring of this year. In 
 May, the Legislature of Virginia passed an act incorporating the 
 town. 
 
 1781 The military movements of the year were confined princi 
 pally to the Southern States. The British were defeated in two 
 important and several minor engagements in South Carolina, 
 which closed the war in that State. In Virginia a large British 
 
48 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 army surrendered, which decided the result of the Revolution 
 ary war. 
 
 The principal engagements in South Carolina were at the 
 Cowpens and at Eutaw Springs. At the former place up 
 wards of three hundred of the British were killed or wounded, 
 and five hundred taken prisoners. A large amount of arms 
 and other military property were taken by the Americans. In 
 the battle at Eutaw Springs, the British lost, in killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners, upwards of eleven hundred men. 
 
 Virginia was intended by the British commander-in-chief to 
 be the principal seat of operations in his plan of the campaign 
 for this year. To carry out that object, Lord Cornwallis 
 marched northwardly from South Carolina, and arrived with 
 his army at Petersburg on the 29th of May. Here he formed a 
 junction with the British troops stationed in that neighbor 
 hood, and he found himself in command of an army number 
 ing upwards of seven thousand men. The British fleet stationed 
 on the coast was intended to be reinforced by their navy in the 
 West Indies. That design was frustrated by the arrival in the 
 Chesapeake of a French fleet of twenty-eight sail of the line, 
 commanded by Count de Grasse, and soon afterwards of another 
 squadron from Rhode Island under Count de Barras. In Sep 
 tember Lord Cornwallis transferred his army to Yorktown, and 
 Gloucester opposite, and strongly fortified those places. At 
 this time the American forces under the command of Lafayette, 
 Steubcn, and Wayne were not sufficient to attack the British 
 in their new position with any prospect of success. While the 
 operations in Virginia were in that condition, French troops 
 under Count de Rochambeau, which had arrived in Rhode 
 Island from France in the preceding year, joined General 
 Washington on the Hudson, and the allied armies, eluding the 
 vigilance of Sir Henry Clinton at New York, marched to 
 Virginia. They rendezvoused at Williamsburg, twelve miles 
 above Yorktown, and on the morning of the 28th of September 
 marched in two divisions by separate roads to invest the British. 
 They were occupied in preparations for the siege until the 9th 
 of October, when a general discharge of cannon commenced 
 upon the British works. Perceiving his peril, Cornwallis at 
 tempted to escape to Gloucester, and thence flee northward to 
 New York. With that purpose he embarked a large number 
 of his troops on the vessels on York River, when a fierce tornado 
 arose and made the passage of the river too perilous for the 
 consummation of that plan. Despairing of either victory or 
 escape, or of aid from the navy with French ships of war 
 guarding the mouth of the York, Cornwallis made overtures for 
 capitulation. The arrangements were concluded, and on the 
 19th of October the articles were signed, by which the British 
 forces surrendered prisoners of war. The army, with the 
 artillery, arms, accoutrements, military chest and all public 
 stores, were surrendered to General Washington, the ships and 
 seamen to the Count de Grasse. The prisoners, exclusive of 
 seamen, amounted to 7073. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 
 
 Early in the year, Benedict Arnold, now a British officer, 
 with about fifteen hundred men, made a descent on the un 
 protected coasts of Virginia, and committed extensive ravages. 
 
 While the allied armies were advancing to the siege of 
 Yorktown, Arnold conducted an expedition against New 
 London, in Connecticut. He took Fort Trumbull, and Fort 
 Griswold on the opposite shore of the Thames, and reduced to 
 ashes the town of New London and the stores contained in it. 
 
 On the 1st of March the State of New York ceded to the 
 United States all its lands in the country north of the Ohio. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Vermont was issued in 
 February, at Westminster under the name of The Vermont 
 Gazette or Green Mountain Post Boy. In 1783 the paper was 
 removed to Windsor. 
 
 The first bank established in the United States was incorpo 
 rated by Congress, under the name of " The President, Direc 
 tors, and Company of the Bank of North America." Its loca 
 tion was at Philadelphia. 
 
 1782 The capture of a second British army in America rendered 
 the war unpopular in Great Britain. Commissioners for nego 
 tiating peace were appointed by both nations, and on the 30th 
 of November they agreed on provisional articles, which were to 
 be inserted in a future treaty of peace to be finally concluded 
 between the parties when peace should take place between. 
 Great Britain and France. 
 
 The United Provinces of Holland acknowledged the inde 
 pendence of the United States on the 19th of April. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Brooklyn, L. I., was issued 
 on the 8th of June, and called The Brooklyn Hall Super-Extra, 
 Gazette. 
 
 The first manufacture of fustians and jeans in this country 
 was commenced at Philadelphia. 
 
 1783 On the 20th of January an agreement was entered into be 
 tween the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States and 
 the Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, relative to a ces 
 sation of hostilities. On the llth of April, Congress issued a 
 proclamation declaring the cessation of arms on land and sea, 
 and enjoined its observance. The definite Treaty of Peace be 
 tween Great Britain and the United States was signed at Paris 
 on the 3d of September. At the same time a treaty was con 
 cluded between Great Britain and Spain, by which the former 
 nation ceded to the latter East and West Florida. 
 
 The independence of the United States was acknowledged 
 by Sweden on the 5th of February, by Denmark on the 25th of 
 February, by Spain on the 24th of March, and by Russia in 
 July. 
 
 A ship from Massachusetts arrived at Riga, in Russia, on the 
 1st of June, and was the first American vessel that ever visited 
 any Russian port. 
 
 Before the dissolution of the army, the American officers in 
 stituted a society, denominated " The Society of the Cincinnati." 
 Its objects were to perpetuate the remembrance of the Ameri- 
 
Y 
 
 50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 can revolution, as well as a cordial affection among die officers, 
 and to extend acts of beneficence to those officers and their 
 families whose situation might require assistance. 
 
 Congress issued a proclamation on the 18th of October, that 
 the army should be disbanded on the 3d of November. 
 
 On the 25th of November the British army evacuated the 
 city of New York, and the Americans took possession of the 
 city the same day. 
 
 Charlestown, the capital of South Carolina, was incorporated 
 by the legislature of that State by the name of "The City of 
 Charleston." 
 
 " The American Spelling Book," by Noah Webster, was first 
 published this year, and was the first book of the kind printed 
 in America. 
 
 The lighting of the streets of Baltimore and a day police were 
 established by the town authorities. 
 
 1784 The Legislature of Connecticut passed a law for the gradual 
 abolition of slavery in that State. The towns of Hartford, New 
 Haven, New London, Norwich, and Middletown were incorpo 
 rated as cities. 
 
 The second bank in the United States went into operation in 
 Boston, and was called the Massachusetts Bank. 
 
 The New York Chamber of Commerce, instituted by the colo 
 nial government, was continued a corporation by the State legis 
 lature, with enlarged privileges. 
 
 The Empress of China, of Boston, sailed from New York for 
 Canton in February, and returned in the next year. This was 
 the first voyage from the United States to China. 
 
 The census taken in Massachusetts showed a population of 
 353,133 whites and 4377 negroes. 
 
 The territory north and west of the Ohio was provided with 
 a temporary government by act of congress. 
 
 The first daily newspaper published in America was estab 
 lished at Philadelphia. It was until this time issued as a 
 weekly under the title of The Pennsylvania Packet or the General 
 Advertiser. 
 
 The Massachusetts Centinel and tJie Republican Journal issued 
 its first number at Boston on the 24th of March. In the year 
 1840 it was merged in the Boston Daily Advertiser. 
 
 Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, was laid out into town lots and 
 its settlement commenced. The town of Hudson, in New York, 
 was founded, and Burlington and New Brunswick, in New 
 Jersey, incorporated as cities. 
 
 1785 An organ was set up in the First Church in Boston. This 
 was the first instance of the introduction of instrumental music 
 into a Congregational church in New England. 
 
 Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania, was laid out into town lots. 
 
 The first daily newspaper published in New York, and the 
 second in this country,, was issued this year under the name of 
 The New York Daily Advertiser. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Maine was issued on the 
 first of January, and called The Falmouth Gazette. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 51 
 
 The introduction of the Lombardy poplar into America was 
 made this year by Michaux, who was sent over by the King of 
 France to collect trees and shrubs for his establishment at Ram - 
 bouillet. 
 
 The regular exportation of cotton first commenced this year ; 
 one bag was sent from Charleston to Liverpool, twelve from 
 Philadelphia, and one from New York. 
 
 The first Philadelphia Directory was issued, and was the first 
 city directory published in the United States. 
 
 1786 An insurrection broke out in Massachusetts, and Daniel Shays, 
 a captain in the Revolution, was chosen leader of the insurgents. 
 They complained that the governor s salary was too high, the 
 senate aristocratic, the lawyers extortionate, and taxes too bur 
 densome to bear, and they demanded an issue of paper money. 
 Bodies of armed men interrupted the sessions of the courts in 
 a number of counties, and in December, Shays, with a large 
 force, prevented the holding of courts at Worcester and Spring 
 field. In the following month he marched with about two 
 thousand men to capture the arsenal at Springfield, but being 
 fired upon by the militia the insurgents fled, the leaders making 
 their way to New Hampshire. Shays remained in Vermont 
 about a year and was afterwards pardoned. 
 
 Portland, in Maine, was incorporated. The place was here 
 tofore known as Falmouth. 
 
 The State of New York contained at this time 220,000 white 
 population and about 19,000 negroes. 
 
 The first Roman Catholic church erected in New York was 
 built this year on Barclay Street, and called St. Peter s. 
 
 The first Sunday School in the United States was opened by 
 Bishop Asbury, of Virginia. 
 
 The first newspaper published west of the Alleghanies was 
 issued on the 29th of July at Pittsburg, and called The Pitts- 
 burg Gazette. 
 
 That part of the country known subsequently as Tennessee 
 formed at this period a part of North Carolina. The inhabit 
 ants of that section being dissatisfied with the government, met 
 in convention at Jonesborough, and voted to secede from North 
 Carolina and form an independent State, to which they gave 
 the name of Falkland. A violent contest soon arose between 
 the conflicting authorities, which was prevented from growing 
 into a civil war only by the interposition of the United States 
 Government. 
 
 1787 In May, delegates from all the States excepting Rhode Island 
 assembled at Philadelphia to adopt a more perfect and stronger 
 Union. The form of confederation answered the purposes of 
 the government during the war ; but no sooner had that period 
 elapsed than the total inefficiency of the federal government was 
 perceived. An enormous debt had been contracted, and public 
 credit was in the lowest state of depreciation. Congress had 
 devised a system of revenue, with a provision for discharging 
 the existing debts. This system was transmitted to the several 
 State legislatures, with an address strongly recommending its 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 adoption; but from the various and interfering interests of the 
 different States it was but partially adopted, and never put into 
 operation. In some States the treaties with foreign powers 
 were disregarded or openly violated. Other defects in the ex 
 isting constitution were clearly evident. In this state of affairs 
 it was the opinion of the wisest citizens that an energetic sys 
 tem of national government only could revive the ruined state 
 of commerce, restore public and private credit, give a national 
 character to the States, secure the faith of public treaties, and 
 prevent the evils of anarchy and civil war. On the 17th of Sep 
 tember the delegates unanimously agreed on a Federal Consti 
 tution, and the articles soon afterward were transmitted to the 
 legislatures of the several States, in order that they might be 
 submitted to conventions of the people for ratification. There 
 was a struggle in the convention touching the basis of rep 
 resentation in congress, in which the question of slavery min- 
 led. It originated in a strife between the larger and smaller 
 tates, the latter contending for an equal and the former for a 
 proportional representation. The resolution, however, was 
 passed, incorporating into the Constitution a provision that the 
 base of representation should be on free inhabitants and three 
 fifths of all other persons. By this vote the half a million of slaves 
 in the Southern States and their increase in coming years were 
 to be counted in the basis of representation in the national House 
 of Representatives and in the Electoral College, so that an 
 owner of slaves would be entitled not only to his own vote, but 
 three votes more for every five slaves he possessed. This meas 
 ure placed large powers in the hands of the slaveholding class 
 in the subsequent political struggles in national politics. The 
 convention also passed a resolution providing for the rendition 
 of slaves escaping from one State into another. 
 
 Connecticut ceded to the United States all its lands west of 
 Pennsylvania, excepting about 4,000,000 acres. Of this 
 reserve, 500,000 acres were granted to the inhabitants of New 
 London, Fairfield, and Norwalk, whose property had been 
 destroyed by the British troops in the Revolutionary war. 
 
 Congress passed an act for establishing a government for the 
 vast territory bounded by the lakes, the State of Pennsylvania, 
 and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was provided in the 
 ordinance that slavery and involuntary servitude, except in pun 
 ishment of crimes, should be forever prohibited in that district. 
 
 The State of South Carolina passed an act for the cession of 
 its western territory to the United States. 
 
 Columbia College of New York was incorporated, and the 
 College of Physicians at Philadelphia was founded. 
 
 About one hundred houses were consumed by fire in Boston, 
 on the 24th of April. 
 
 At this period Baltimore contained 1959 dwelling-houses, 
 nine churches, and one hundred and sixty -four warehouses and 
 stores. 
 
 The first newspaper issued in Kentucky was published in 
 August at Lexington, under the title of The Lexington Gazette. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 
 
 The first cotton-mill in the United States went into operation 
 this year at Beverly, Mass. From its imperfect machinery it 
 soon closed. It manufactured corduroys and bed-ticks. 
 
 The settlement of Binghamton and of Syracuse, in New 
 York, was commenced. The manufacture of salt was com 
 menced about this time near Syracuse. 
 
 1788 The new Federal Constitution proposed the last year to the 
 people of the United States by the several conventions was 
 adopted in all the States, excepting Rhode Island and North 
 Carolina. 
 
 Mass was performed for the first time in Boston. 
 
 John Greenwood, a dentist, established an office in New 
 York. This was the first one of the kind in the United States. 
 
 The settlement of Marietta was commenced on the 7th of 
 April. This was the first permanent settlement in Ohio. 
 
 In this and the preceding year, twenty thousand persons emi 
 grated to the Northwestern Territory. 
 
 1789 The first Congress under the Constitution of the United States, 
 assembled at New York on the 4th of March. Delegates soon 
 arrived from all the States, excepting Rhode Island and North 
 Carolina. On opening the votes of the electors chosen by the 
 several States, it was ascertained that George Washington 
 was unanimously elected President, and John Adams, hav 
 ing the next highest number of votes, Vice-President. On 
 the 23d of April, the President-elect arrived at New York, 
 where he was received by the Governor of the State, and con 
 ducted with military honors through an immense concourse of 
 people to the apartments provided for him. Here he received 
 the salutations of foreign ministers, public bodies, and private 
 citizens of distinction. On the 30th of April the President was 
 inaugurated. After a laborious session, Congress adjourned on 
 the 29th of September, to meet on the first Monday in January. 
 The national government encountered from its formation a 
 powerful opposition. The friends of the Constitution were de 
 nominated Federalists, while those who had opposed its adop 
 tion were called Anti- Federalists. In the first congress, there 
 was but a small majority of Federalists, and these were in favor 
 of the measures recommended by the administration. 
 
 In November, North Carolina adopted the Constitution, and 
 was admitted into the Union. 
 
 The first Episcopal convention in America convened at Phil 
 adelphia, and settled a constitution for the " Protestant Epis 
 copal Church in the United States of America." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Carrol of Maryland was consecrated bishop of 
 the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first one consecrated 
 in the United States. 
 
 The first Roman Catholic church in New England was founded 
 in Boston. 
 
 The seat of the government for South Carolina was removed 
 from Charleston to Columbia. 
 
 Cincinnati was laid out as a town in the beginning of the 
 
 year ; a few months later, a log-cabin was erec 
 
 >egmning 01 me 
 ted, and the set- 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tlement of the town commenced. The settlement of Knoxville, 
 in Tennessee, was commenced. 
 
 The first successful crop of Sea Island cotton was gathered 
 in South Carolina. 
 
 The first geography of the United States was published by 
 Jedediah Morse. 
 
 1790 Congress passed an act for the assumption of the debts of the 
 several States, incurred in the prosecution of the Revolutionary 
 war, and for funding this national debt. At the same time, an 
 act was passed fixing the location of the capital of the United 
 States on the Potomac. There had been a wrangle among the 
 members of congress relating to the permanent location of the 
 national capital ; the Southern members contending for the 
 Potomac ; those from the North, for a place in Pennsylvania, 
 on the Susquehanna, called Wright s Ferry. At the same time, 
 there was a disagreement among them concerning the policy 
 proposed in the assumption by the national government of the 
 several State debts : the Southern members opposed it ; the 
 Northern advocated it. At length, a compromise was effected, 
 whereby the South gained the capital, and the North assump 
 tion. The removal to the Potomac was designated to take 
 place in the year 1800 ; in the mean time, the seat of govern 
 ment was to be established at Philadelphia. Accordingly, the 
 transfer to that city from New York was made in the autumn 
 of this year. 
 
 The vast tract of country south of the Ohio was organized 
 under a territorial government. 
 
 The District of Columbia, by act of congress passed on the 
 16th of July, was located and surveyed for the seat of the na 
 tional government. About sixty square miles of this territory 
 on the north side of the Potomac was ceded to the United 
 States by Maryland, and forty square miles on the south side 
 of that river by Virginia. This latter portion was reconveyed 
 to Virginia in 1846. 
 
 The Salem Gazette, at Salem, Mass., made its first appearance. 
 It succeeded the Essex. Gazette, established in the year 1768. 
 
 The District of Kentucky, at this time a part of Virginia, 
 was detached from that State by consent, and made application 
 to be admitted into the Union. 
 
 The State of Rhode Island, represented in a convention at 
 Newport, adopted and ratified the Constitution of the United 
 States, and was subsequently admitted into the Union. 
 
 By the census, the population of the United States at this 
 period was 3,929,326, of which number 695,655 were slaves. 
 
 Congress passed an act accepting the cession by North Caro 
 lina to the United States of its western territory. This cession 
 was subsequently formed into the State of Tennessee. This 
 cession was made in accordance with an act passed by the legis 
 lature of North Carolina, in the preceding year, which provided 
 the condition, that no regulation made or to be made by Cong 
 ress should tend to the emancipation of slaves in the ceded ter 
 ritory. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 55- 
 
 The first manufacture in this country, of brooms from broom 
 corn, was commenced at Philadelphia. 
 
 The first voyage of an American vessel around the world, 
 was commenced by the ship Columbia, from Boston, on the 
 30th of September, 1787, and was completed this year. It de 
 parted for the north-west coast of America, thence, freighted 
 with furs, sailed to China, and from there returned home by 
 the way of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 On the 5th of June a boat with twelve oars, propelled by 
 steam, invented by John Fitch, made her first trip as a passen 
 ger and freight boat on the Delaware, between Philadelphia 
 and Trenton, running eighty miles within thirteen hours against 
 the tide and a strong wind. This was the most successful 
 experiment of a steamboat in this or any country. The 
 boat continued to perform regularly advertised trips for four 
 months, running about three thousand miles during the season. 
 1791 Vermont was admitted into the Union on the 18th of Febru 
 ary. 
 
 Congress appointed General St. Clair Governor of the 
 Northwestern Territory, and instructed him to destroy the In 
 dian villages on the Miami River, to expel the savages from 
 that district, and to connect that part of the country with the 
 Ohio by a chain of military posts. In commencing to carry 
 out those instructions St. Clair met Tvith an engagement with 
 the Indians in November, in which he was defeated, with a loss 
 of about six hundred and fifty men. 
 
 The Legislature of North Carolina passed an act to lay out a 
 new town to be called Raleigh, for the seat of the government. 
 
 The United States Bank, with a capital of ten millions of 
 dollars, went into operation at Philadelphia. It was chartered 
 on the 25th of February by congress to aid the operations of 
 the government. By its charter it was established for twenty 
 years, with the privilege of creating branches in any of the 
 States. The national government was authorized to subscribe 
 for two millions of the stock, and private individuals the re 
 mainder. 
 
 The first successful cotton factory established in America 
 went into operation by Samuel Slater at Pawtucket, in Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 The nrst bank established in New York was incorporated 
 under the title of the Bank of New York. 
 
 The first American whaling-ship to the Pacific sailed from 
 Nantucket this year. 
 
 The first daily newspaper published in Baltimore was issued 
 on the 24th of October, and called the Baltimore Daily Re 
 pository. The first newspaper in Harrisburg, Pa., appeared un 
 der the name of the Oracle of Dauphin. 
 
 The first furnace in Kentucky was erected by government 
 troops on Slate Creek, a branch of the Licking River. It was 
 worked until the year 1838. 
 
 The existence of anthracite coal, in Carbon and the adjacent 
 counties in Pennsylvania, was accidentally discovered this year 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 by a hunter named Ginther. Ginther took a piece to Colonel 
 Jacob Weiss, who lived near the site of Mauch Chunk, and he 
 carried the specimen to Philadelphia, where, after having been 
 examined by several mineralogists, it finally came into the hands 
 of Mr. Charles Cist, a printer. Cist was the first person who 
 appreciated its merit, and insisted that arrangements should be 
 immediately undertaken to secure the lands where the discov 
 ery was made. Accordingly, Weiss obtained several thousands 
 of acres from the Land Office, and formed an association to de 
 velop the mines, under the name of the Lehigh Coal Mine 
 Company, composed of several enterprising and wealthy capi 
 talists. The company, however, failed to find purchasers for 
 the coal, and suspended operations, and it was not until the 
 year 1820 that success was attained. 
 
 1792 There were two great political parties at this tune, of about 
 equal strength, and which united only on the name of Wash 
 ington. The Federalists supported the measures of the gov 
 ernment; the Anti- Federalists, to whom was now given the 
 name of Republicans, opposed the financial measures of Ham 
 ilton and other acts of the administration. The French Revo 
 lution also had an important influence on the politics of the 
 United States at this time. Mr. Jefferson and his Republican 
 friends sympathized with the French nation in their struggles 
 for liberty and their contests with other nations, while Hamil 
 ton and his friends, of the Federal party, considered it important 
 to the interests of the United States to maintain friendly rela 
 tions with Great Britain, which power was at this period at war 
 with France, and they were unwilling to sacrifice either the 
 peace or the interests of the nation to any sympathies they 
 might have in favor of the revolutionists of France. In this 
 state of public opinion the Presidential election of this year 
 took place. Notwithstanding the high party feeling among 
 the people, Washington received the unanimous votes of the 
 electors to serve a second term as President. John Adams re 
 ceived seventy -seven votes, and was re-elected Vice-President. 
 George Clinton, the candidate of the Republican party, re 
 ceived fifty votes, and five votes were given to other persons. 
 The total number of electors at this time was one hundred and 
 thirty-two. 
 
 In accordance with an act of Congress a mint was established 
 in Philadelphia. Bullion was to be assayed and coined free or 
 exchanged for coin at a reduction of one half per cent. Horse 
 power was used for coining until 1815, when a steam-engine 
 was procured. The mint was ready for operation on the 7th of 
 September. 
 
 Kentucky was admitted into the Union on the 1st of June. 
 
 The Stmth Carolina Bank, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the 
 Bank of New Hampshire, and the Bank of Albany were estab 
 lished. The latter bank was the second one founded in the 
 State of New York. The Union Bank of Boston received a 
 charter. 
 
 The Columbia River, in Oregon, was discovered and entered 
 
HISTOBY OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 
 
 by Captain Gray on the 7th of May; and he gave it the name of 
 his ship, which name has since been retained. 
 
 Congress passed an act fixing the rates for postage, which 
 rates were not changed until the year 1815. The rate for 
 single letters for a distance of thirty miles was six and one 
 quarter cents; beyond that the rate increased with the distance. 
 1793 George Washington and John Adams were inaugurated for 
 a second term of office as President and Vice-President, respec 
 tively. 
 
 In April Citizen Genet arrived in this country as minister 
 from the French Republic. It having been expected in France 
 that the United States would engage on its side against Eng 
 land and other nations, Genet, on his arrival, issued commis 
 sions to vessels of war to sail from American ports and cruise 
 against the enemies of France. Whereupon the President is 
 sued a proclamation, declaring the policy of this government to 
 be that of pursuing a conduct of friendship and impartiality 
 toward the belligerent powers; and that whosoever of the citi 
 zens of the United States should render himself liable to pun 
 ishment or forfeiture under the law of nations, by committing, 
 aiding, or abetting hostilities against any of the said powers, or 
 by carrying to any of them those articles which were deemed 
 contraband by the modern usage of nations, would not receive 
 the protection of the United States against such forfeiture and 
 punishment. The President also gave instructions that prose 
 cutions would be instituted against all persons who should, 
 within the cognizance of the courts of the United States, vio 
 late the laws of nations with respect to the powers at war, 
 or any of them. Mr. Genet, after this, threatened to ap 
 peal to the people; but finally, after many controversies with 
 him, the President demanded his recall by the French Govern 
 ment, which demand was acceded to. Genet is said to have in 
 troduced into this country the idea of "democratic societies," 
 in imitation of the Jacobin clubs of Paris. On the 30th of 
 May one was instituted at Philadelphia. Others were formed 
 in other cities, and from their name the term Democrat first 
 came to be used in the politics of this country. 
 
 Congress passed an act by which slave-masters and their 
 agents were given summary power to seize, hold, and return to 
 slavery their fugitive bondsmen escaping from one State into 
 another. 
 
 The yellow-fever devastated Philadelphia, and more than 
 one half the houses in the city were deserted by people who 
 fled the place. 
 
 The first printing-press in Tennessee was set up at Knoxville, 
 and the first newspaper issued called the Knoxville Gazette. 
 
 The first newspaper published north of the Ohio vas issued 
 at Cincinnati on the 9th of November, and called The Sentinel 
 of the Northwestern Territory. 
 
 The first Sunday-school opened in New England was estab 
 lished at Pawtucket by Samuel Slater. 
 
 This year is marked by the invention by Eli Whitney of the 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 cotton-gin. Up to this time the cleaning of cotton from the 
 seed was done by hand, one laborer accomplishing about six 
 pounds a day. By this invention about one thousand pounds 
 of cotton could be cleaned in the same time. 
 
 The city of Washington was founded, and the corner-stone 
 of the Capitol laid by President Washington, on the 18th of 
 September. 
 
 The first mill in the United States for the manufacture of 
 cotton-yarns wi - erected by Samuel Slater at North Provi 
 dence. 
 
 The first manufacture of clocks as a business in America was 
 started by Eli Terry, at Plymouth, Conn. 
 
 1794 At this time the western forts on Lake Erie were still occu 
 pied by the British, contrary to the treaty of 1783. American 
 vessels were seized by vessels of that nation on their way to 
 Trench ports and American seamen were impressed. In view 
 of those facts, the President, after many remonstrances with the 
 British Government, fearing that the United States might get 
 involved in war with England, sent John Jay as a special envoy 
 to London, to endeavor to avert that calamity by negotiation. 
 In November a treaty with Great Britain was signed, and was 
 afterward ratified by the United States Senate. As this treaty 
 was considered favorable to Great Britain, the publication of it 
 in this country tended to heighten the asperity of political par 
 ties, and to increase the feelings of hostility toward England 
 which were entertained by the opposition to the administration. 
 
 An insurrection broke out in Pennsylvania caused by the pas 
 sage by congress of acts imposing duties upon spirits distilled, 
 and upon stills. From the commencement of the operation of 
 those laws, combinations of distillers were formed in the four 
 western counties of Pennsylvania to defeat them, and violence 
 was repeatedly committed. In July about one hundred armed 
 men attacked the house of an inspector of the revenue and 
 wounded several persons. They seized the marshal of that 
 district, and compelled him to enter into stipulations to forbear 
 the execution of his office. Both the inspector and the marshal 
 were obliged to flee from that part of the country. These and 
 many other outrages induced President Washington to issue a 
 proclamation commanding the insurgents to disperse. In Octo 
 ber the President proceeded to Bedford at the head of a body 
 of militia, where he gave out instructions to Governor Lee of 
 Maryland, whom he appointed to command the forces for the 
 suppression of the rebellion, now supported by several thousand 
 men. Governor Lee with fifteen thousand troops marched into 
 Pennsylvania, and compelled the insurgents to lay down their 
 arms and solicit the clemency of the government. 
 
 General St. Clair having resigned the command of the army 
 since his defeat, General Wayne w r as appointed to succeed him. 
 On the 20th of August General Wayne had a battle with a large 
 body of Indians at the rapids of the Miami, in which he defeated 
 them; he then desolated their country, and erected forts in the 
 heart of their settlements. 
 
HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 
 
 The foreign and domestic debts of the United States on the 
 1st of January were a little more than seventy-four millions of 
 dollars. As an offset, there were about twenty-six millions appli 
 cable to the sinking-fund. 
 
 The Insurance Company of North America, in Philadelphia, 
 and the Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, were incorpo 
 rated. 
 
 The first turnpike road in the United States was completed 
 by a private company, and connected Lancaster with Philadel 
 phia, a distance of sixty-two miles. 
 
 The first cotton sewing-thread manufactured in the United 
 States was made this year at Pawtucket. 
 
 Samuel Morey built a steamboat with a stern-wheel, and navi 
 gated it from Hartford to New York. 
 
 Dayton, in Ohio, was laid out into a town and the lots dis 
 posed of by lottery. 
 
 The first newspaper published west of the Mississippi was is 
 sued at New Orleans under the name of The Moniteur. 
 
 The first theatre established in Boston was opened on the 4th 
 of February, under the name of The Federal Street Theatre. 
 The law forbidding theatrical performances had been repealed 
 in the preceding year. 
 
 By an act of congress the addition of two stars and two stripes 
 was made to the national flag. 
 
 On the 27th of March congress authorized the construction 
 of six frigates as the foundation of a navy. The vessels of the 
 Revolutionary war were disposed of at the end of that con 
 test. 
 
 1795 The reserve lands belonging to the State of Connecticut were 
 sold, for twelve hundred thousand dollars, and the proceeds of 
 the sale were appropriated for the support of schools in the 
 State. 
 
 The exports of the United States for this year amounted to 
 more than forty-seven millions of dollars. 
 
 The Massachusetts Fire Insurance Company of Boston was 
 incorporated. 
 
 The yellow-fever attacked the city of New York, and more 
 than seven hundred persons died from it. 
 
 The first newspaper established in the United States exclu 
 sively for commercial topics was issued at Boston on the 5th of 
 September, under the title of The Boston Prices- Current and 
 Marine Intelligencer, Commercial and Mercantile. 
 
 1796 The third presidential election took place this year. Wash 
 ington was earnestly solicited to be a candidate for re-election, 
 but he positively declined. John Adams and Thomas Pinck- 
 ney were supported by the Federalists as President and Vice- 
 President. The Republicans were unanimously in favor of 
 Thomas Jefferson for President, but were not united on the 
 subject of Vice-President. At the election, of the electoral votes 
 John Adams received 71; Thomas Jefferson, 68; Thomas Pinck- 
 ney, 59; Aaron Burr, 30; Samuel Adams, 15; Oliver Ellsworth, 
 11; George Clinton, 7; John Jay, 5; James Iredell, 3; George 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Washington, 2; J. Henry, 2; S. Johnson, 2; and Charles C, 
 Pinckney, 1. By the constitution as it stood at this period, the 
 person receiving the highest number of electoral votes was 
 elected President, the next highest Vice-President, Accordingly 
 John Adams was the successful candidate for President, and 
 Thomas Jefferson became the Vice-President elect. 
 
 Tennessee was formed under a State government and admit 
 ted into the Union. Knoxville was made the capital until the 
 year 1802. 
 
 The census of Albany showed a population of 6021. 
 
 The first Methodist Church established in Boston was opened 
 this year. 
 
 On the 20th of June a conflagration at Charleston, S. C., con 
 sumed three hundred houses ; and one at Savannah on the 25th 
 of November destroyed three hundred and fifty. 
 
 There was a large emigration to Ohio of people from the East 
 ern States. At this period Cincinnati contained about six hun 
 dred inhabitants. 
 
 At this time there were four daily stages between New York 
 and Philadelphia, and one between Philadelphia and Baltimore. 
 
 The first successful manufacture of sugar from cane was 
 made at a plantation a few miles above New Orleans. 
 
 Cleveland, in Ohio, was founded, and Baltimore incorpora 
 ted with a city charier. The first directory in Baltimore was 
 published. 
 
 A conflagration in Savannah destroyed property valued at one 
 million of dollars. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Washington was issued on 
 the llth of June, and called The Washington Gazette. 
 
 The first daily newspaper established in Boston appeared on 
 the 6th of October, under the name of The Polar Star and-Bos- 
 ion Daily Advertiser. 
 
 The first manufacture of morocco leather in the United States 
 was started at Lynn, Mass. 
 
 1797 John Adams was inaugurated President, and Thomas Jeffer 
 son took the oath of office as Vice-President, on the 4th of March. 
 
 There were at this period four hundred and eighty post-offices 
 in the United States. 
 
 Detroit at this time contained three hundred houses. 
 
 The first American vessel on Lake Erie was launched near 
 Erie, Pa. 
 
 Western New York received a large emigration from the East 
 this year. 
 
 The introduction of cast-iron ploughs commenced at this time, 
 and soon superseded wooden ploughs, which were heretofore ex 
 clusively used. At first there was a prejudice against the new 
 plough it being stated that cast-iron poisoned the land and spoiled 
 the crop. 
 
 The first scientific periodical in America was established in 
 New York, and called The Medical Repository. 
 
 1798 Congress passed an act in March establishing the Mississippi 
 Territory. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 61 
 
 In May, Harper s Ferry, in Virginia, was designated as the 
 site for a government armory and manufactory. 
 
 "Hail Columbia" made its first appearance and was a great 
 success. It was composed by Joseph Hopkinson, of Philadel 
 phia, and was adapted to the air called "The President s 
 March." 
 
 The yellow-fever raged with violence in Philadelphia and 
 New York. In the first 3645 persons died of the disease ; in 
 the last 2086. It appeared as an epidemic in Boston for the 
 first time, where 145 died of it. 
 
 The new State-House in Boston was completed. 
 
 The manufacture of straw-braid for hats and bonnets was 
 originated at this time in Dedham, Mass. 
 
 The first American vessel on Lake Ontario was launched at 
 Hanford s Landing, near Rochester. 
 
 1799 Although there was no declaration of war either on the part 
 of France or the United States, hostilities actually commenced 
 on the ocean between the two nations. The United States fri 
 gate Constellation, of thirty-eight guns, on the 9th of February 
 fell in with and captured the French frigate L Insurgente, of 
 forty guns. This action took place in the West India seas, and 
 lasted about an hour. 
 
 The American navy consisted at this period of forty-two ves 
 sels, carrying nine hundred and fifty guns. 
 
 The Legislature of Pennsylvania established the seat of gov 
 ernment at Lancaster. 
 
 1800 The north wing of the Capitol was finished this year, and 
 the seat of government for the United States was removed to 
 Washington. Congress met there for the first time on the 22d 
 of November. 
 
 A treaty was concluded between Spain and France, by which 
 the sovereignty and property of Louisiana were conveyed to 
 France. 
 
 The Mississippi Territory was organized; and Indiana Terri 
 tory formed, with St. Vincennes as its capital. 
 
 By the second census the population of the United States was 
 found to be 5,305,482, of whom 896,849 were slaves. The 
 population of the city of New York was 60,489 ; of Philadel 
 phia, about 40,000 ; Baltimore, 23,971 ; Boston, 24,937 ; Wash 
 ington, 3210 ; Providence, 7614 ; and Charleston, 18,712. 
 
 The first Roman Catholic church in Philadelphia was erected. 
 
 More than one thousand of the inhabitants of Baltimore 
 died from the yellow-fever. 
 
 The United States frigate Constellation met the French 
 frigate Le Vengeance at sea on the 1st of February, and in an 
 action which took place for five hours, silenced the French 
 ship. A squall enabled her to escape, with the loss of one 
 hundred and sixty men killed and wounded. 
 
 At the presidential election thisyear,the Republican candidates 
 were Thomas Jefferson, who received seventy -three electoral 
 votes ; and Aaron Burr, who received the same number. The 
 Federalists gave John Adams sixty -five votes, Charles C. Pinck- 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. . 
 
 ney sixty-four, and John Jay one. The votes for Mr. Jeffer 
 son and Mr. Burr being equal, by the terms of the Constitution 
 which prevailed at this period, there was no choice, and the 
 election was thrown into the House of Representatives, to be 
 decided which should be President, Jefferson or Burr. After 
 a contest of seven days, on the thirty-sixth ballot Thomas 
 Jefferson was elected President, and Aaron Burr was made 
 Vice-President. The name of the Republican party now began 
 to be changed to the Democratic. 
 
 Water was first introduced into Boston, by a private corpo 
 ration, from Jamaica Pond, about eight miles distant. 
 
 1801 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr commenced their terms of 
 office as President and Vice-President, respectively, on the 4th 
 of March. 
 
 The President despatched a small squadron to the Mediter 
 ranean, to protect American commerce from the depredations of 
 the cruisers of Tripoli. 
 
 The exports this year from South Carolina were 65,000 
 barrels of rice ; 8,000,000 Ibs. of cotton ; 8,500 barrels of 
 indigo, and 5,996 hogsheads of tobacco. 
 
 There were at this time two hundred newspapers published 
 in the United States, of which number seventeen were dailies. 
 
 The compound blowpipe was invented by Professor Robert 
 Hare of Philadelphia. 
 
 Congress established a navy-yard at Brooklyn, L. I. 
 
 Buffalo was laid out into town-lots. There were at that 
 place at this time one tavern, five dwellings, and one store, all 
 built of logs. 
 
 Philadelphia commenced, on the 27th of June, to be supplied 
 with water conveyed through pipes laid in the streets. 
 
 The Evening Post issued its first number, at New York, on 
 the 16th of November. It was edited by William Coleman, and 
 supported the Federal party. 
 
 The pillory was used for the last time in Boston on the 22d 
 of November. 
 
 1802 Ohio was authorized by congress to be erected into a State, 
 and admitted into the Union. The admission was consummated 
 the next year. The number of its white inhabitants was esti 
 mated at about 75,000. 
 
 Georgia ceded to the United States all her western territory 
 upon condition that congress should not prohibit slavery in 
 tfcat district. 
 
 A manufactory of sheet-copper was started in Massachusetts, 
 which was the only one of the kind in the United States. 
 
 Congress established a military academy at West Point. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Mississippi was issued at 
 Natchez, and called The Natchez Gazette. 
 
 1803 The United States purchased from France all of Louisiana, 
 for the sum of fifteen millions of dollars. This purchase em 
 braced all the country west of the Mississippi River and east of 
 tbe Rocky Mountains, and from the Mexican dominions on the 
 south to Canada on the north. Governor Claiborne, of Missis- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 
 
 sippi Territory, and General Wilkinson were appointed com 
 missioners by congress to receive formal possession of the 
 territory. Upon their arrival at New Orleans, the Commissary 
 of France, acting in behalf of the French Government, formally 
 delivered the country over to the United States commissioners, 
 and vested Governor Claiborne with the powers before exercised 
 by the French governor. 
 
 Commodore Preble, commanding an American fleet, bom 
 barded the town and forts of Tripoli, on the Mediterranean. The 
 frigate Philadelphia, commanded by Captain Bainbridge, 
 struck on a rock in the harbor of Tripoli on the 81st of October, 
 and his officers and crew, numbering three hundred men, were 
 taken prisoners. The officers were well treated, but the men 
 were reduced to slavery. 
 
 The tribe of Kankasia Indians ceded to the United States all 
 the territory in its possession extending along the Mississippi 
 River, from the Illinois to and up the Ohio. 
 
 The first bank in Cincinnati was opened, and called The 
 Miami Exporting Company. 
 
 The first cotton-mill in New Hampshire was erected at New 
 Ipswich. 
 
 1804 A proposed amendment to the Constitution was ratified by 
 the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, and became 
 a part of the Constitution. This amendment concerned the 
 manner of electing the President and Vice-President so as to 
 designate which person was voted for as President, and which 
 as Vice-President ; instead of the original article in the Consti 
 tution which required the electors to vote for two persons for 
 these offices, of whom the one who had the highest number of 
 votes was to be President, and the next highest, Vice-President. 
 
 In the presidential election this year the Democratic party 
 nominated Mr. Jefferson for re-election as President, and George 
 Clinton as Vice-President. The Federalists nominated Charles 
 C. Pinckney for President, and Rufus King for Vice-President. 
 The Democratic candidates secured all the one hundred and 
 seventy-six electoral votes, excepting fourteen. 
 
 The Legislature of New Jersey passed an act on the 15th of 
 February for the gradual abolition of slavery in that State. It 
 made all persons free that should be,born after the fourth day of 
 the following July. The children of slaves to become free 
 males at twenty-five years of age, and females at twenty-one. 
 
 Congress passed an act separating the district purchased from 
 France into two territories, divided by a line drawn along the 
 thirty-third parallel of north latitude. That on the south of 
 this line was called the Territory of Orleans ; that on the north 
 The District of Louisiana. Orleans contained at this time 
 about fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom more than one half 
 were slaves. The principal town in that territory was New 
 Orleans, which contained a population of about eight thousand. 
 St. Louis was the chief settlement in the District of Louisiana. 
 
 The Delaware Indians ceded to the United States their title 
 to an extensive territory east of the Mississippi. This tract 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 contained all the country between the Wabash and the Ohio, 
 south of and including the road from the Rapids to Vincennes. 
 
 Tripoli was bombarded a second time in August. 
 
 About this time Sunday-schools began to be established in 
 different sections of the country, and their introduction gradu 
 ally increased from this period. 
 
 Fort Dearborn, on the site of the present city of Chicago, was 
 established, and garrisoned by a company of about fifty men. 
 
 The Middlesex canal, connecting Boston harbor with Concord 
 River, was completed, and was the first canal in the United 
 States opened for the transportation of passengers and mer 
 chandise. 
 
 A conflagration in New York destroyed property valued at 
 two millions of dollars. 
 
 The Richmond Enquirer issued its first number on the 9th of 
 May, at Richmond, Va. 
 
 On the llth of July, Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the 
 Treasury under Washington, was fatally wounded by Aaron 
 Burr, Vice-President of the United States, in a duel fought at 
 Weehawken, in New Jersey, opposite the city of New York. 
 This event caused intense excitement throughout the country, 
 and was deeply deplored. 
 
 1805 Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated President of the United 
 States, on the 4th of March, and George Clinton took the oath of 
 office as Vice President. 
 
 Large purchases of lands were made from different tribes of 
 Indians in the western and also in the southern territories. 
 
 A treaty of peace was concluded with Tripoli on the 3d of June. 
 
 Michigan Territory was formed by act of congress from a 
 portion of Indiana on the llth of January. 
 
 The first dry -goods commission house established in the 
 United States was opened at Philadelphia, for the sale of cot 
 ton yarns and threads manufactured in Providence. 
 
 The first cargo of ice exported from this country was shipped 
 this year from Boston to Martinique, and consisted of one hun 
 dred and thirty tons. 
 
 1806 England being at war with France, declared the whole coast 
 of the continent of Europe, from Brest to the Elbe, in a state of 
 blockade. France retaliated by declaring the British isles 
 under blockade, and forbade the introduction into France of 
 the products of Great Britain and her colonies, whether in her 
 ow r n ships or those of other nations. These edicts inflicted 
 great damage upon American commerce, which before their 
 passage had been seriously interrupted by acts of the British 
 Government. At last great feeling was excited throughout the 
 country, and most of "the principal towns memorialized con 
 gress or the executive on the subject. The continued impress 
 ment of American seamen afforded a further cause of com 
 plaint. On the 15th of April congress passed an act prohi 
 biting the importation of specific articles of British growth or 
 manufacture, to take effect on the llth of November. 
 
 The President sent an expedition consisting of twenty-eight 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 65 
 
 men, under the command of Captains Lewis and Clarke, in the 
 year 1804, to explore the Missouri, and to find the best com 
 munication from that river to the Pacific, and they returned 
 this year. They ascended the river more than three thousand 
 miles, traced it nearly to its source, crossed the Rocky Moun 
 tains, and descended the Columbia River to the ocean. In this 
 and the following year Lieutenant Pike ascended the Missis 
 sippi to its source, and ascertained the geography of that coun 
 try, which was not heretofore known. 
 
 .1807 The frigate Chesapeake, commanded by Commodore Bar- 
 ron, sailing from Hampton Roads on a cruise to the Mediterra 
 nean, was come up with by the British ship of war Leopard, 
 one of a squadron then at anchor within the waters of the 
 United States. An officer was sent from the Leopard to the 
 Chesapeake, with a note from the captain respecting some de 
 serters from some of his Britannic majesty s ships, supposed to be 
 serving as part ot the crew of the Chesapeake, and required per 
 mission to search for them. Commodore Barren sent answer 
 that he knew of no such men as described ; that the recruiting 
 officers of the Chesapeake had been particularly instructed by 
 the government not to enter any deserters from English ships, 
 and that he had been instructed never to permit the crew of any 
 ship under his command to be mustered by any officers but his 
 own. The Leopard, shortly after this answer was sent, ranged 
 alongside of the Chesapeake, and commenced a heavy fire upon 
 her. The Chesapeake, unprepared for action, made no resist 
 ance, when, having suffered much damage, and lost three men 
 killed and eighteen wounded, the commodore ordered his 
 colors to be struck, and sent an officer on board the Leopard to 
 surrender his vessel. The commander of the British ship then 
 took possession of the Chesapeake, mustered her crew, and, 
 carrying off four or five of the men, abandoned the ship. 
 Commodore Barron at once returned to Hampton Roads and 
 reported the occurrence to the government. On receiving the 
 information of this outrage, the President, by proclamation, 
 interdicted the harbors and waters of the United States to all 
 armed British vessels, and forbade intercourse with them. A 
 United States vessel was dispatched with instructions to the 
 American minister to London to call on the British Govern 
 ment for the satisfaction and security which the outrage 
 required. 
 
 In November, the English ministr} issued new orders in 
 council, proclaiming a blockade of pretty much all Europe, 
 and forbidding any trade in neutral vessels, unless they had 
 first gone into some British port and paid duties on their car 
 goes. In December, France proclaimed a new decree, by which 
 it was declared that any ship was lawful prize that had any 
 thing to do with Great Britain, that should pay it tribute, that 
 should carry its merchandise, or that should be bound either to 
 or from any of its ports. On the 22d of December, congress 
 passed an act laying an embargo on all shipping in the ports of 
 the United States. The depariure of any vessel from any port 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of the United States bound to any foreign port was forbidden, 
 except by the express commission of the President. Foreign 
 armed vessels with public commissions, and foreign merchant- 
 ships in ballast, or only with such cargo as they had when 
 notified of the act, were excepted. Coasting-vessels were to give 
 bonds in double the value of their cargoes, to reland the same 
 in the United States. 
 
 Aaron Burr was arrested on the charge of prosecuting a 
 scheme for the separation of the western country from the 
 Union, and the subjugation of New Orleans, but after a pro 
 tracted trial, no overt act of treason being proved against him, 
 he was released. 
 
 The practicability and advantages of propelling boats by 
 steam-power was for the first time demonstrated to the satis 
 faction of the public this year, by Kobert Fulton. In the 
 spring his steamboat, called the Clermont, was launched, and 
 an engine procured from England put in her. On the 1st of 
 August the first trip was commenced, and the boat ran from 
 New York to Albany, a distance of one hundred and fifty 
 miles, against the current, in thirty-two hours. The boat soon 
 after ran regular trips between those places, and proved a 
 success. 
 
 A log- cabin was erected on the site of the city of Rochester, 
 which was the first house built there. 
 
 1808 The operations of the embargo law, although the measure 
 was sustained by a majority of the American people, was the 
 occasion of great distress, particularly among the commercial 
 community throughout the United States. Dependent as we 
 were on foreign markets for the sale of our redundant products, 
 now that we were not permitted to export them, they fell to 
 half their wonted price, and even less. To many of the pro 
 ducers they did not repay the cost of production. The supply 
 of foreign merchandise, too, which habit had made necessary, 
 and of which there was no domestic supply or an insufficient one, 
 being cut off, its price rose proportionally high, and thus the 
 expenses of the agricultural classes increased in the same pro 
 portion that their means of defraying them diminished. It 
 bore still harder on the sailors and ship-owners, who were 
 thrown entirely out of employment, and here the pressure was 
 most severely felt in the States that were most addicted to navi 
 gation. It operated as a bounty on manufactures, but this, at 
 first, benefited but a small proportion of the community^. 
 
 In Boston and in Portland soup-kitchens were established in 
 aid of the suffering. 
 
 At the presidential election held this year, the candidates of 
 the Democratic party were elected. James Madison received 
 one hundred and twenty-two electoral votes for President, and 
 George Clinton one hundred and thirteen for Vice-President. 
 The Federalists nominated Charles C. Pinckney for President, 
 and Ruf us King for Vice-President, and each received forty-seven 
 votes. Of the Democratic votes, six were given to George 
 Clinton for President. The States which supported tlie Fed- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 67 
 
 eral nominations were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
 Island, Connecticut, and Delaware. 
 
 The Choctaws ceded to the United States their lands which 
 formed the southern part of Mississippi. A large part of 
 Michigan was purchased from the Ottawas, Chippeways, 
 Wyandots, and Pottowatomies. 
 
 By a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, it appeared 
 that a great number of roads were built in the Eastern and Mid 
 dle States, while few had been constructed south of the Poto 
 mac. The roads were chiefly turnpikes, varying in cost from 
 less than a thousand dollars a mile to fourteen thousand. The 
 toll collected paid au interest on the investment, in some 
 instances less than three per cent, in others as high as eleven. 
 Connecticut since 1803 had incorporated fifty turnpike com 
 panies. In New York, in less than seven years, sixty-seven 
 companies for building roads had been incorporated, and 
 twenty-one more to build toll- bridges. It was recommended 
 that the National Government should spend two millions of 
 dollars yearly for ten years in improving the communication 
 between different parts of the Union. 
 
 The importation of negro slaves into the United States was 
 prohibited by act of congress in 1806, to take effect on the 1st 
 of January of this year. 
 
 The steamboat Phoenix, built by John Stevens, ran from 
 Hoboken, on the Hudson, to Philadelphia. This was prob 
 ably the first steam-vessel ever navigated on the ocean. 
 
 The first book printed west of the Mississippi was published, 
 containing the laws of Louisiana Territory. 
 
 The first newspaper published in St. Louis was issued in 
 July, and named The Missouri Gazette. The first one in 
 Indiana was published at Vincennes. 
 
 The first settlement in Oregon was made by the Missouri 
 Fur Company, by the establishment of a trading-post on the 
 Lewis River. 
 
 The first Temperance Society recorded, established in this 
 country, was formed in March by forty-three members resid 
 ing in Saratoga County, N. Y. 
 
 The first church edifice erected in Williamsburg was com 
 pleted for the Methodists. 
 
 1809 James Madison was inaugurated President of the United 
 States, and George Clinton took the oath of office as Vice- 
 President. 
 
 Congress, in March, repealed the embargo law as to all 
 nations excepting Great Britain and France ; and as to those 
 nations all commercial intercourse with them was interdicted, 
 whether by exporting or importing, either directly or circuit- 
 ously. An act was also passed for increasing the army and navy. 
 
 On the 23d of April, Mr. Erskine, minister from Great 
 Britain to the United States, pledged his court to repeal its 
 anti-neutral decrees by the 10th of June ; whereupon the Presi 
 dent proclaimed that commercial intercourse would be renewed 
 on that day. The king refused to ratify the arrangement made 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 by Mr. Erskine, and recalled him. The President therefore 
 issued a second proclamation, reviving the non-intercourse law. 
 Mr. Jackson succeeded Mr. Erskine, and he soon giving 
 offence to the American Government, the President refused 
 all intercourse with him, and he was also recalled. 
 
 Illinois Territory was formed and established by act of con 
 gress, on the 3d of February. It embraced the present States of 
 Illinois and Wisconsin. 
 
 Sails were about this time made in Boston, from the first 
 cotton-duck manufactured in this, if not in any other country. 
 
 The first church Sunday-school formed in the United States 
 was established at Pittsburg. From this period began the 
 transfer of the control of Sunday-schools from individuals to 
 churches, and the change made from paid to voluntary teach 
 ers, and from secular to religious instruction. 
 
 1810 The Rambouillet decree, alleged to be designed to retaliate 
 the act of congress which forbade French vessels to enter the 
 ports of the United States, was issued by the French Govern 
 ment on the 23d of March. By this decree all American ves 
 sels and cargoes arriving in the ports of France, or of countries 
 occupied by French troops, were ordered to be seized and con 
 demned. On the 1st of May congress passed an act exclud 
 ing British and French armed vessels from the waters of the 
 United States ; but providing that if either of those nations 
 should modify its edicts before the 3d of March ensuing, so that 
 they should cease to violate neutral commerce, of which fact 
 the President was to give notice by proclamation, and the other 
 nation should not within three months after pursue a similar 
 step, commercial intercourse with the first might be renewed, 
 but not with the other. On the 2d of November the President 
 issued his proclamation declaring that the French decrees were 
 revoked, and that intercourse between the United States and 
 France might be renewed. England, however, continued her 
 restrictions on American commerce, and the better to enforce 
 them, stationed ships of war before the principal ports of the 
 United States, to intercept communication. On the 10th of the 
 same month a proclamation was issued interdicting commer 
 cial intercourse with Great Britain. 
 
 At this period the number of paper-mills in the United 
 States was one hundred and eighty. The importation of rags 
 was now commenced. 
 
 The first agricultural exhibition held in this country was 
 opened at Georgetown, D. C. 
 
 The first lot of cotton goods printed from engraved rollers 
 was put on the market from a factory near Philadelphia, on 
 the 6th of October. The cylinder machine was imported from 
 England, and the new process now began to supersede that of 
 block-printing, previously in use. 
 
 Astoria, in Oregon, was founded by the Pacific Fur Com 
 pany of Oregon, of which John Jacob Astor was the chief pro 
 prietor. 
 
 The first foreign missionary society founded in the United 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 6& 
 
 States was formed under the title of the " American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions." 
 
 1811 Reparation was made by the Government of Great Britain for 
 the attack of the Leopard upon the Chesapeake. 
 
 On the 16th of May there was a fight between the American 
 frigate President, of forty-four guns, and the English sloop of 
 war Little Belt, of eighteen guns. This vessel belonged to the 
 British squadron which was ordered to the American coast to 
 break up the trade from the United States to France, and the 
 President was one of the few ships the government had for the 
 protection of her commerce. The ships met a few miles south 
 of Sandy Hook, chased each other in turn, then fired into each 
 other without any reasonable pretext for the first shot, which 
 each accused the other of having fired. The loss on board the 
 English ship, in an encounter which lasted only a few minutes, 
 was over thirty in killed and wounded, while only a single man 
 was slightly wounded on board the President. The affair cre 
 ated great excitement, and a court of inquiry was instituted, 
 which found that the first shot was fired by the Little Belt. 
 
 Hostilities with Great Britain being apprehended, congress 
 passed an act for raising an additional force of twenty -five 
 thousand men. 
 
 A theatre in Richmond, Va., was burned on the evening of 
 the 26th of December, when more than six hundred persons 
 were present. Nearly seventy lives were lost on the occasion, 
 and many more died afterward from injuries received. A fire 
 occurred in New York on the 19th of May, destroying about 
 one hundred buildings ; and at Newburyport on the 31st, con 
 suming more than two hundred buildings and other property, 
 valued at six hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The frontier settlers being seriously alarmed by hostile indi 
 cations on the part of the Indians, General Harrison, early in 
 November, commanded an expedition for demanding satisfaction 
 of the savages, and to put a stop to their threatened hostilities. 
 On the 7th of November his camp was surprised about four 
 o clock in the morning by the enemy, and a bloody and doubt 
 ful contest ensued. The Indians were finally repulsed with 
 considerable loss. General Harrison then destroyed their prin 
 cipal settlement, called Tippecanoe, and established forts in 
 their country. 
 
 The first steamboat which ran on the Western waters left 
 Pittsburg on the 29th of October, bound for New Orleans, where 
 it was intended to ply between that city and Natchez. Five 
 steamboats were running between New York and Albany at 
 this period, and one between New York and New Brunswick, 
 N. J. The first ferry-boat propelled by steam in this, and 
 probably in any other country, commenced to ply between New 
 York and Hoboken. 
 
 At this period there was but one dry-goods store in Brook 
 lyn. Mails passed through Long Island but once a week. 
 
 The manufacture of chemicals, the first of its kind in New 
 England, was commenced at Salem, Mass. 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The charter of the United States Bank, incorporated in the 
 year 1791, expired this year, and its renewal was defeated in 
 congress, principally through the influence of those who desired 
 to establish smaller banks for themselves. 
 
 1812 Congress passed an act, on the 3d of April, establishing an 
 embargo for the period of ninety days on all vessels in and ar 
 riving in port ; and soon afterwards an act to prohibit the ex 
 portation of specie, goods, wares, and merchandise during the 
 continuance of the embargo. In June, congress passed a bill 
 declaring war with Great Britain, which was signed by the 
 President on the 18th. The reasons given for this action were 
 the impressment of American seamen by the British ; the seiz 
 ure of persons as British subjects on the high seas, sailing un 
 der the American flag ; the violation of the rights and the peace 
 of our coasts by British cruisers ; the blockading of their ene 
 mies ports without an adequate force ; and the orders in 
 council affecting neutral rights. At the same time a suspicion 
 was suggested that the Indians had been incited to hostile acts 
 by British agents. 
 
 The declaration of war found many opponents throughout 
 the country, who strongly expressed their disapprobation of the 
 policy of the government. At the same time a majority of 
 the people were exasperated by the aggressive conduct of Eng 
 land, and supported the measures of congress to sustain the dig 
 nity of the nation. In Baltimore the contending parties were 
 particularly aggressive. The editors of the Federal Republican, 
 a newspaper printed in that city, having published strictures on 
 the declaration of war, a mob assembled at night, tore down 
 their office, and destroyed their printing materials. The paper 
 was afterwards established at Georgetown, and a house was 
 engaged in Baltimore from which the papers were -to be dis 
 tributed. One of the editors, with General Henry Lee, General 
 Lingan, and many others, having provided arms and ammuni 
 tion, they determined, if attacked, to defend themselves in the 
 exercise of their rights. In the evening of the 27th of July a 
 mob collected, and assailed the house with stones. While they 
 were forcing the door several muskets were fired, by which 
 two persons were killed and several wounded. On the arrival 
 of the military a compromise was effected. The persons within 
 the house surrendered on a promise of safety in the prison. On 
 the following night the mob reassembled, broke open the jail, 
 killed General Lingan, bruised and mangled eleven others, eight 
 of whom, supposed to be dead, were thrown in a heap in front 
 of the jail. Some of the ringleaders were tried, but they es 
 caped punishment. The funeral obsequies of General Lingan 
 were attended at Georgetown by three thousand persons. 
 
 The prosecution of the war commenced on the Canadian 
 borders. The programme for the campaign was the invasion 
 of Canada at three points, namely, Detroit, and Niagara and 
 St. Lawrence rivers. General William Hull, Governor of 
 Michigan Territory, commenced crossing the river at Detroit to 
 the Canadian shore on the 12th of July, w r ith a considerable 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 71 
 
 force, with the intention of capturing Port Maiden, about 
 eighteen miles below. After spending nearly a month in in 
 action, Hull received intelligence of an advance of a British 
 army under General Brock for the relief of the fort, and he im 
 mediately ordered his forces to abandon Canada and return to 
 Detroit, much to the disappointment and indignation of his 
 officers and men. Soon afterward the British projected a siege 
 of Detroit; but scarcely had it commenced when Hull, on the 
 16th of August, displayed a white flag from the fort and soon 
 made its surrender, without having fired a shot or made any 
 effort to stay the course of the enemy. By the terms of the 
 capitulation all of Michigan Territory was surrendered to the 
 British, a large amount of arms, ammunition, and provisions, 
 and three thousand men as prisoners of war. General Hull 
 was soon exchanged, and in the year 1814 was tried and con 
 demned by court-martial for cowardice and sentenced to be 
 shot, but he was pardoned by the President on account of his 
 services in the Revolutionary war. 
 
 An American force under the command of General Van Rens- 
 selaer crossed the Niagara River on the 13th of October, and made 
 an attack on the British stationed on Queenstown Heights. At 
 first the Americans were successful, but later on were totally 
 defeated, with a loss of about two hundred killed and wounded, 
 and upwards of one thousand surrendered as prisoners of war. 
 In the battle General Brock, the British commander in-chief , 
 was slain. 
 
 A naval engagement occurred on the 19th of August off the 
 American coast between the United States vessel Constitution, 
 commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, and the British frigate 
 Guerriere. After a severe action at close quarters of about half 
 an hour the enemy s vessel surrendered, but was found to be so 
 much injured she was burned. The enemy s loss was fifteen 
 killed, sixty-four wounded, and twenty-one missing; of the 
 Constitution, fourteen killed and wounded. On the 18th of 
 October the Wasp, a United States schooner under the com 
 mand of Captain Jones, fell in with a squadron of British 
 merchantmen, convoyed by the British sloop of war Frolic, off 
 the coast of North Carolina. A severe engagement ensued, in 
 which the American vessel was victorious. The sea was very 
 rough, and it required much nautical skill to manage the ves 
 sels. At one time they were so near that they touched each 
 other, and the destruction wrought by their guns was terrible. 
 At length the Americans boarded the enemy, but they found 
 no man to oppose them. The decks were covered by the dead 
 and wounded, and every man who was able had gone below, 
 except the seaman at the wheel. Very soon after the victory 
 was secured the Poictiers, a British seventy-four gun ship, ap 
 peared, and captured both the Wasp and her prize. 
 
 On the 25th of October Captain Decatur, of the frigate 
 United States, captured the British frigate Macedonian, after 
 an action of an hour and a half. The loss of the enemy was 
 thirty -six killed and sixty-eight wounded; of the Americans, 
 twelve killed and wounded. 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 On the 29th of December the Constitution, commanded by 
 Commodore Bainbridge, had an engagement with the British 
 frigate Java which lasted three hours, in which the latter was 
 captured by the Americans. In the course of the action the 
 Java was reduced to a wreck. She was entirely dismasted, a 
 large number of her guns were disabled , her hull was much shat 
 tered, and her bowsprit was shot away, while the Constitution 
 did not lose a spar. The Java was bound to the East Indies 
 and had on board upward of one hundred officers and men des 
 tined for service in the East. Her officers and crew numbered 
 over four hundred, and of these twenty-two were killed and 
 one hundred and two wounded. The Constitution lost nine 
 killed and twenty-five wounded. 
 
 Congress passed an act admitting the Territory of Orleans 
 into the Union as a State under the name of Louisiana, and 
 changed the name of the territory lying north of it from that 
 of the District of Louisiana to the Missouri Territory. 
 
 At the presidential election this year the Democratic candi 
 dates were successful, and the war policy of the government 
 was sustained, which was the most important issue between the 
 two parties. James Madison, the nominee of the Democrats for 
 President, received one hundred and twenty-eight electoral 
 votes, and Elbriclge Gerry one hundred and thirty-one votes for 
 Vice-President. The Democratic party, however, in the State 
 of New York nominated De Witt Clinton against Mr. Madison, 
 and Jared Ingersoll against Mr. Gerry. Those nominations 
 were also supported by the Federalists throughout the country, 
 Clinton receiving eighty-nine and Ingersoll eighty-six electoral 
 votes. 
 
 Columbus in Ohio was laid out and made the capital of the 
 State. The seat of government for Pennsylvania was removed 
 from Lancaster to Harrisburg. Rochester in New York was 
 surveyed into lots, and a post-office and store were established 
 there. 
 
 The scarcity of Virginia bituminous coal, which, up to this 
 time, was that principally in use, incited further experiments 
 in introducing anthracite. Nine wagons loaded with that coal 
 were hauled to Philadelphia from a distance of one hundred 
 and six miles, two of which w r ere sold at the cost of transporta 
 tion and the remainder given away, and difficulty was experi 
 enced in finding persons who would accept it. The owner of 
 the coal narrowly escaped prosecution for swindling by those 
 who had made unsuccessful trials to burn the " stone," as it 
 was called. 
 
 The first manufacture of pins in this countiy was commenced 
 at New York by some English workmen, who brought with 
 them to this country the necessary implements. The business 
 was encouraged by the high price of pins, which had advanced 
 to one dollar per paper; but it was abandoned at the close of 
 the war, and the article then continued to be imported as before. 
 
 The first cotton-mill at Fall River, Mass., was erected and 
 put into operation. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 
 
 The first steam-ferry between New York and Jersey City was 
 established in August, and about the same time one went into 
 operation between Philadelphia and Camden. 
 
 The first rolling-mill established in Pittsburg was erected 
 this year. 
 
 1813 James Madison was inaugurated President of the United 
 States, and Elbridge Gerry took the oath of office as Vice- 
 President. 
 
 The scene of military operations this year continued princi 
 pally on the Canadian frontier. 
 
 On the 22d of January, Brigadier-General Winchester of 
 the United States army, and nearly five hundred officers and 
 men, were made prisoners at Frenchtown, in Canada, by a di 
 vision of the British army from Detroit. 
 
 General Dearborn embarked on the 25th of April, with a force 
 of seventeen hundred men, at Sackett s Harbor, for the purpose 
 of capturing the British stores at York now Toronto. The 
 landing was successfully effected, in spite of the enemy s re 
 sistance, and an assault conducted under General Pike, when, 
 during the advancing movement, the magazine blew up, kill 
 ing and wounding several hundred men, and among the latter 
 the commanding officer, who did not long survive. The Amer 
 ican troops, however, soon rallied and carried the place, and 
 captured seven hundred and fifty prisoners, together with a 
 large amount of baggage and public property; the British gen 
 eral and the remainder of his forces escaping with much diffi 
 culty. The American squadron returned to Sackett s Harbor, 
 and soon after set sail for the Niagara frontier. The British, 
 taking advantage of this movement, proceeded to Sackett s 
 Harbor, and landed a force of one thousand men under Sir 
 George Prevost. The small body of American regulars left to 
 defend the place made an effectual resistance to the enemy s 
 approach; and General Brown meanwhile rallied the militia, 
 which at first had given way, and inarched them towards the 
 landing. Sir George, apprehending this movement as designed 
 to cut off his retreat, withdrew in great haste to his boats and 
 sailed away. 
 
 On the same day that the British were repulsed at Sackett s 
 Harbor, the American expedition made an attack on Fort St. 
 George, on the Niagara frontier, and captured it, taking above 
 seven hundred and fifty prisoners. 
 
 On the 2d of May the British attempted to capture, by as- 
 .sault, Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky, but were repulsed 
 with a loss of about one hundred and fifty men. 
 
 A movement was commenced in September by a large body 
 of soldiers under General Harrison against the British and 
 their Indian allies at Detroit and Maiden. On the 27th the 
 troops embarked on the fleet, and were transported to Maiden; 
 but on their approach the British destroyed the fort and public 
 stores, and retreated along the river Thames, where they were 
 pursued by the Americans. On the 5th of October, a severe 
 battle was fought between the two armies, in which the Amcri- 
 
7*4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 cans were victorious. In this battle the famous chief Tecum- 
 seh was killed, and the Indians fled. The British loss was 
 about six hundred and seventy in killed, wounded, and prison 
 ers. On the 29th of September the Americans took possession 
 of Detroit, which, on the approach of Harrison s army, had 
 been abandoned by the British, and General Harrison issued a 
 proclamation re-establishing the government of Michigan. 
 
 A body of Americans were defeated in a battle at Williams- 
 burg, Upper Canada, with a loss of about three hundred and 
 fifty men. 
 
 Fort Niagara was surprised by the British on the 19th of 
 December, and of the three hundred men composing the garri 
 son, no more than twenty escaped. 
 
 On the 30th of the same month the British proceeded to Buf 
 falo and burned the entire village. 
 
 On the 10th of September, Commodore Perry, with a fleet of 
 three brigs, a ship, and five schooners, carrying fifty four guns, 
 made an attack on a British squadron of six vessels, carrying 
 sixty-three guns, on Lake Erie, and captured the entire fleet. 
 
 On the 13th of June three British frigates entered Hampton 
 Roads. Two days afterwards they were reinforced by thirteen 
 vessels. On the 22d an action took place in Chesapeake Bay, 
 between a detachment of the British fleet and an American 
 naval force, manned by four hundred and eighty Virginia 
 militia and one hundred and fifty sailors, in which the British 
 lost in killed, wounded, and drowned about twelve hundred men. 
 
 On the 1st of June Captain James Lawrence, commanding 
 the United States frigate Chesapeake, sailed out of Boston har 
 bor, and engaged the British frigate Shannon. The Chesa 
 peake was captured in an action of eleven minutes, and Cap 
 tain Lawrence mortally wounded. 
 
 The United States sloop of war Argus was captured by the 
 British sloop of war Pelican, in St. George s Channel, on the 
 14th of August; and on the 5th of September the British brig 
 Rover was captured by the United States brig Enterprise, off 
 Portland. The British sloop of war Peacock was taken by the 
 American sloop of war Hornet, but was retaken by the British 
 ship Poictiers. 
 
 The British under Admiral Cockburn took possession of 
 Havre de Grace, in Maryland, on the 3d of May, and plun 
 dered and burned the town. 
 
 A conflagration occurred at Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, 
 on the 22d of November, and destroyed upwards of three 
 hundred buildings. 
 
 The first stereotyping in America was done by Mr. Bruce at 
 New York; also by Mr. Watts, who printed a catechism, which, 
 it is believed, was the first book issued from stereotype-plates in 
 this country. 
 
 The Albany Argus issued its first number on the 13th of Janu 
 ary at Albany, N. Y. The first successful daily paper pub 
 lished in Boston was called the Daily Advertiser, and issued its- 
 first number on the 3d of March, 
 
HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 75 
 
 The first steam ferry-boat between New York and Brooklyn 
 commenced running on the 10th of May. 
 
 1814 The war continued on the northern frontier. On the 3d of 
 July, the American forces, consisting of about three thousand 
 men, under the command of Generals Scott and Ripley, crossed 
 the Niagara River, and took possession of Fort Niagara with 
 out opposition. On the 4th, General Brown with two thousand 
 men advanced to the village of Chippewa, to attack the British 
 force there intrenched under General Riall. On the 5th the 
 British general drew out his troops and offered battle, but was 
 compelled to retire with a loss of five hundred men. On the 
 25th the advance of the two armies again encountered at Lun- 
 dy s Lane, not far from the Falls. The battle was obstinately 
 fought by the advance on each side till the main body came up. 
 The battle lasted from four in the afternoon until midnight. 
 The loss of the British was upwards of eight hundred in killed 
 and wounded, besides two hundred men and twenty officers as 
 prisoners. The British general was wounded and taken prisoner. 
 
 On the 15th of August a large British force made an assault 
 on Fort Erie, and were repulsed with great loss. 
 
 On the llth of September an American fleet on Lake Cham- 
 plain, under Captain Macdonough, in an action with a British 
 squadron of superior force, lasting about two hours and a half, 
 sunk or captured the entire fleet of the enemy. The British 
 commander was killed, and nearly nine hundred of his men ta 
 ken prisoners. 
 
 It was the declared intention of the British to lay waste \ 
 the whole American coast, from Maine to Georgia. Their first 
 attack, as a part of this plan, was made early in April on a part / 
 of Saybrook, called Pettipauge, near the mouth of the Con- J 
 necticut River, where they destroyed twenty -five vessels. 
 
 About the middle of August a British squadron of between 
 fifty and sixty sail arrived in the Chesapeake, with troops des 
 tined for the attack on Washington, the capital of the United 
 States. A body of five thousand of them having landed, an ac 
 tion was fought at Bladensburg, six miles from Washington, in 
 which the Americans were repulsed, and the British advanced 
 towards the capital. Upon their approach the President and 
 heads of departments fled from the town. The British took 
 possession of Washington, burned the Capitol, the President s 
 house, the public offices, the arsenal, the navy -yard, and the 
 bridge over the Potomac. On the 29th the city of Alexandria 
 capitulated to the British. On the llth of September the 
 British admiral appeared at the mouth of the Patapsco, four 
 teen miles from Baltimore, with a fleet of fifty sail. The next 
 day six thousand land forces were disembarked at North Point, 
 and commenced their march towards the city. On the 12th a 
 battle was fought, in which the Americans were compelled to 
 retreat. The British, however, were repulsed in an attack on 
 Fort McHenry, and abandoned the attempt to get possession of 
 the city. They retired to their shipping on the 14th, and soon 
 after left the Chesapeake, 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 , 
 
 On the llth of July, a British fleet took the town of East- 
 port, in Maine ; on August 9th, they bombarded Stonington, in 
 Connecticut ; on the 1st of September they took possession of 
 Castine, in Maine. 
 
 The naval operations at sea were continued with various suc 
 cess. On the 28th of March, the United States frigate Essex, 
 after a desperate action, was captured in the Bay of Valparaiso, 
 in South America, by a British frigate and a sloop of war. On 
 the 29th of April, the United States sloop of war Peacock cap 
 tured the British brig Epervier off Canaveral, Florida, after an 
 action of forty-five minutes. 
 
 The Indians continued their hostilities at the South which 
 they had commenced in the preceding year. In January, Gen 
 eral Andrew Jackson made an excursion into their country, and 
 defeated them in several engagements. 
 
 On the 24th of December, a treaty of peace was signed at 
 Ghent between the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and the 
 United States. 
 
 Delegates appointed by the legislatures of the several States 
 in New England met at Hartford in convention on the 15th of 
 December. The proceedings took place with closed doors, but 
 the journal was afterwards made public. The convention em 
 bodied their views in a report, which was immediately made 
 public and extensively circulated. It was a statement of griev 
 ances, many of which were real, but which necessarily arose 
 out of a state of war, and a recommendation of several amend 
 ments to the Constitution. As the news of peace arrived soon 
 after the convention adjourned, the causes of disquiet were re 
 moved ; but as the delegates were all of the Federal party, the 
 convention, before and after their meeting, was denounced in 
 the severest terms by the administration, as being treasonable 
 to the general government, and the name of the " Hartford 
 Convention" became with the Democratic party a term of re 
 proach. 
 
 Congress passed an act on the 23d of December, establishing 
 new rates of postage after the 1st of the following February. 
 The rates on letters were to be as follows, viz. , for any distance 
 not exceeding forty miles, twelve cents ; between forty and 
 ninety miles, fifteen cents ; between ninety and one hundred 
 and fifty miles, eighteen and three quarters cents ; between one 
 hundred and fifty and three hundred miles, twenty-five cents ; 
 between three hundred and five hundred miles, thirty cents ; 
 and over five hundred miles, thirty-seven and one half cents. 
 Double letters to be double price. 
 
 Suspension of specie payments was declared by the banks in 
 New Orleans, in April ; in Philadelphia and the District of 
 Columbia, in August ; and in September by nearly all in the 
 Middle and Southern States. 
 
 The " Star-Spangled Banner" was first sung at the Holliday 
 Street Theatre, in Baltimore, in October. 
 
 The first newspaper in Illinois was published about this time, 
 at Kankaskia, and called The Illinois Intelligencer. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 
 
 The first religious newspaper published in America was- 
 issued at Chillicothe, Ohio, and called The Recorder. 
 
 The manufacture of carriages was commenced at Albany and 
 at New Haven. 
 
 The town of Williamsburg, L. I., contained at this period 
 seven hundred and fifty-nine inhabitants. 
 
 1815 The last battle of the war took place before New Orleans, on 
 the 8th of January, between the British troops, consisting of 
 twelve thousand men, commanded by General Packenham,, 
 and the Americans, amounting to six thousand, under General 
 Jackson. About two weeks before, a large British force landed! 
 about six miles below New Orleans for the purpose of attack 
 ing that city. A few days after landing, General Jackson 
 ordered a movement to check the advance of the enemy, and 
 defeated them in a battle with severe loss. On the 1st of Jan 
 uary, the British attacked General Jackson s line of defence 
 and were repulsed. Upon another attack on the 8th, they were 
 defeated with great slaughter, and retreated to their landing- 
 place, where they embarked and sailed away. 
 
 The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United 
 States, concluded at Ghent, was ratified by the President on the 
 17th of February. 
 
 War was declared in March by the United States against 
 Algiers. The causes for this step were, that the Dey of Al 
 giers had violently and without just cause obliged the consul 
 of the United States and. all American citizens in Algiers to 
 leave that place in violation of the treaty subsisting between 
 the two nations ; that he had exacted from the consul a large 
 sum of money, to which he had no just claim ; and that these 
 acts of violence and outrage had been followed by the capture 
 of, at least, one American vessel and her crew, and by the seiz 
 ure of an American citizen on board of a neutral vessel ; that 
 the captured persons were yet held in captivity ; that efforts to 
 obtain their release had proved abortive ; and that there was 
 some reason to believe they were held by the Dey as means 
 by which he calculated to extort from the United States a de 
 grading treaty. An expedition was accordingly ordered to the 
 Mediterranean, under the command of Commodore Bainbridge. 
 Before its arrival, a squadron under the command of Commo 
 dore Decatur captured an Algerine brig of war and an Alger- 
 ine frigate of forty-four guns and six hundred men. Decatur 
 then hastened to the port of Algiers, where he readily obtained 
 a treaty of peace, by the terms of which the claims and de 
 mands of the United States were wholly satisfied. He also ob 
 tained indemnity from Tunis and Tripoli, and procured the 
 release of captives held by those powers. 
 
 The water-works at Fairmount, for supplying Philadelphia 
 with water, were completed. 
 
 Cincinnati contained at this period about eleven hundred 
 buildings and six thousand inhabitants. 
 
 1816 Treaties were concluded with several tribes of Indians at the 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 South, by which they ceded large tracts of land to the United 
 States. 
 
 The second religious newspaper published in the United 
 States was issued at Boston, on the 3d of January, under the 
 name of The Eecorder. 
 
 Indiana was admitted as a State into the Union. 
 
 Upwards of seven thousand emigrants arrived at New York } 
 this year. 
 
 Congress passed an act establishing a National Bank for 
 twenty years, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars ; 
 the main office to be at Philadelphia, with branch-offices at 
 such places as might be designated by the board of directors. 
 The United States Government was to take seven millions of dol 
 lars of the stock. 
 
 At the presidential election of this year, James Monroe 
 for President, and Daniel D. Tonipkins for Vice-President, 
 were the candidates of the Democratic party, and they re 
 ceived one hundred and eighty-three electoral votes. The Fed 
 eralists nominated Rufus King for President, who received 
 thirty-four votes. Their votes for Vice-President were divided 
 among several persons. 
 
 The first Episcopal church erected in Louisiana, was 
 opened on the 14th of April, at New Orleans. 
 
 The first steamboat which appeared at Charleston, S. C., ar 
 rived there from Savannah, on the 23d of June. 
 
 Travelling between New York and Philadelphia, at this time, 
 was accomplished between sunrise and sunset. 
 
 The common council of New York forbade chimney-sweep 
 ers from crying their trade in the streets. 
 
 The first savings-banks established in the United States were 
 formed this year. The Savings Fund Society of Philadelphia 
 was opened for business on the 2d of December ; and the Provi 
 dent Institution for Savings, at Boston, on the 13th of the same 
 month. The Bank of Savings was founded at New York, at 
 a public meeting, held on the 25th of November, but did not go 
 into operation until the 3d of July, 1819. 
 
 The lighting of streets with gas was first established in the 
 United States at the city of Baltimore. At Philadelphia, a 
 theatre was thus lighted on the 25th of November, and it was 
 the first place of amusement in America illuminated iu that 
 manner. The common council of the city of New York dis 
 cussed measures for its introduction there. 
 
 1817 James Monroe was inaugurated President on the 4th of 
 March; and Daniel D. Tompkins took the oath of office as 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Mississippi was divided; the eastern portion being erected 
 into the Territory of Alabama, and the western portion admit 
 ted into the Union as a State, on the 10th of December. 
 
 On account of the increasing display of hostile intentions by 
 the Seminole Indians, the government on the 26th of December 
 directed General Jackson to repair to Fort Scott, and assume 
 the immediate command of the forces in that quarter of the 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 79 
 
 southern department. The regular forces there at this time 
 .were about eight hundred, and one thousand more were added 
 from the militia of Georgia. The strength of the Indians was 
 estimated at twenty-seven hundred. 
 
 The Hartford Ttmtff made its first appearance at Hartford, 
 Conn. 
 
 "Work commenced in building the Erie Canal on the 4th of July. 
 
 Property valued at one million of dollars was destroyed by a 
 flood in the Kentucky River. 
 
 The first bank established in Vermont was incorporated by 
 the legislature, to be located at Windsor. The State exacted a 
 bonus from the institution. 
 
 The first steamboat which was seen at St. Louis arrived there 
 from Louisville on the 2d of August. 
 
 The first regular line of packet ships between New York and 
 Liverpool was established, and called the "Black Ball Line." 
 It consisted at first of four ships of four hundred to five hun 
 dred tons each. 
 
 The first institution in the United States for the instruction 
 of the deaf and dumb went into operation at Hartford, Conn., 
 on the 17th of April, with a class of seven pupils. 
 
 1818 Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State on the 3d of 
 December, and the seat of government was removed from Kas- 
 kaskia to Vandalia, where it remained until its removal to 
 Springfield in the year 1839. All the territory lying north of 
 Illinois and Indiana was annexed to Michigan. 
 
 Congress enacted that the national flag should consist of 
 thirteen stripes with twenty white stars on a blue field, and 
 that a star should be added, from time to time, au additional 
 States should be admitted into the Union. 
 
 The Indians of Ohio ceded by treaties all their lands in that 
 State to the government. The Chickasaws also ceded all the 
 land lying between the Mississippi and the northern course of 
 the Tennessee. 
 
 The remains of General Montgomery, the hero of Quebec, 
 were transferred, at the expense of the State of New York, 
 from their resting-place in Canada, and were deposited, with 
 military honors, on the 8th of July, beneath the mural tomb in 
 front of St. Paul s Church, in the city of New York. 
 
 The first steamboat on Lake Erie was launched near Buffalo, 
 and commenced its first trip to Detroit on the 23d of August. 
 
 The first religious newspaper in the United States devoted to 
 the Methodist Society was established at Boston. 
 
 Shoe-pegs became introduced about this time. 
 
 On the 19th of March a powder-mill near Wilmington, Del., 
 blew up killing thirty-five persons. The shock was felt forty 
 miles distant. 
 
 The principal part of Table Rock, at Niagara Falls, broke 
 off by its own weight, and fell into the gulf below, 
 
 The first savings-bank in Baltimore was established. 
 
 1819 A treaty for the cession of the Floridas to the United States 
 by Spain was signed at Washington on the 23d of February, 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and ratified by the United States ; but in August the King of 
 Spain refused to ratify it. It was ratified, however, in 1821. 
 By the terms arranged, the United States Government was to 
 pay the sum of five millions of dollars, and cede to Spain its 
 disputed title to the undefined territory of Texas. 
 
 Treaties were concluded with the Kickapoo and Chippewa 
 tribes of Indians, by which they ceded large tracts of land in 
 Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois to the United States. 
 
 Alabama was admitted into the Union on the 14th of Decem 
 ber as a State. That part of the Missouri Territory lying south 
 of the latitude of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes was erected 
 into a separate district called the Arkansas Territory, and was 
 organized under a territorial government. 
 
 The settlement of Indianapolis was commenced. At the end 
 of the year there were fifteen families in the place. 
 
 A case relating to Dartmouth College, the adjudication of 
 which was considered of great importance as affecting other 
 corporations, was decided by the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. Its opinion was that the charter granted by the British 
 crown to the trustees of Dartmouth College in the year 1769 
 was a contract within the meaning of that clause of the Consti 
 tution of the United States, which declares that no State shall 
 make any law impairing the obligations of contracts ; that the 
 charter was not dissolved by the Revolution ; and that an act of 
 the legislature of the State of New Hampshire altering the 
 charter without the consent of the corporation was unconstitu 
 tional and void. 
 
 The first periodical published in the United States devoted to 
 agriculture commenced its issue on the 2d of April, at Balti 
 more, under the name of the American Farmer. 
 
 The first religious newspaper devoted to the Baptist denomi 
 nation appeared at Boston, in May, under the title of the 
 Watchman and Reflector. 
 
 f The Anakctic Magazine, for July, contained the first pub 
 lished specimen of American lithographic printing, an art but a 
 short time before introduced from Germany into England. 
 The stone was procured from Munich. 
 
 Up to this time forty steamboats had been built on the west 
 ern waters, seven of which had been wrecked and abandoned. 
 
 On the 19th of May, the first steamboat which navigated on 
 the Missouri River arrived there from St. Louis on a passage of 
 seven days sailing. The first steamboat on Lake Huron ap 
 peared there in June. 
 
 A conflagration at Wilmington, N. C., destroyed more than 
 one hundred and fifty dwellings and stores, which, with other 
 property consumed, were valued at one million of dollars. 
 
 A fire raged for about three weeks in the forests near Spring 
 field, N. J., consuming as estimated about three thousand acres 
 of timber. 
 
 The yellow-fever appeared in many of the Southern cities this 
 year. ^ In New Orleans, upwards of twelve hundred died during 
 a period of sixty days ; in Natchez, business was suspended, and 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 81 
 
 those that were able fled the city. In Mobile, Savannah, 
 Charleston, and Baltimore large numbers died from the disease. 
 
 The introduction of the secret society of Odd Fellows was 
 instituted in this country on the 26th of April by five members 
 at Baltimore, who organized a lodge under the name of Wash 
 ington Lodge, No. 1, of Odd Fellows. A charter was soon 
 afterwards obtained from the "Manchester Unity," of England, 
 for the Washington Lodge, as the Grand Lodge of Maryland 
 and the United States. 
 
 The first specimen of patent or japanned leather produced in 
 this country was made as an experiment by Seth Boyden of 
 Newark, N. J. In 1822 he commenced its manufacture on a 
 small scale, and about the year 1826 established a large fac 
 tory for its production. 
 
 The first steamship which ever crossed the Atlantic sailed 
 from Savannah about the 24th of May, and arrived at Liver 
 pool on the 20th of June. All its coal was consumed within 
 ten or twelve days, and the remainder of the voyage was made 
 under sail. The steamer was built in New York for some citi 
 zens of Savannah ; was of about three hundred and eighty tons, 
 and named the Savannah. The experiment did not demon 
 strate the utility of steam for transatlantic voyages. 
 1820 The district of Maine was separated from Masachusetts in 
 the preceding year, formed into a separate State, and admitted 
 into the Union on the 3d of March. 
 
 Congress passed an act prohibiting any citizen of the United 
 States from engaging in the slave-trade under the penalty of 
 death. 
 
 At the presidential election held this year, James Monroe was 
 re-elected President, and received all the electoral votes except 
 ing one. Daniel D. Tompkins received all the electoral votes 
 excepting fourteen, for a second term as Vice-President. The 
 former distinctions of party had at this time almost if not quite 
 disappeared, and new questions of great national interest arose 
 to divide public sentiment. Among the most prominent of the 
 subjects agitated were additional protection to American manu 
 factures, internal improvements by the general government, and 
 the acknowledgment of the independence of the South Ameri 
 can republics. 
 
 At this period there was great pecuniary distress throughout 
 the country. There had been heavy importations of foreign 
 merchandise, which tended to depress prices and to ruin those 
 engaged in manufactures in the United States. The currency 
 was also in a deranged state ; a spirit for banking companies 
 prevailed, and an unusually large number of those institutions 
 were authorized in many of the States of the Union. The coun 
 try was flooded with paper-money issued by these banks, many 
 of which were unable to redeem their bills when presented, and 
 the most disastrous results soon followed. The outstanding pa 
 per currency, which in 1815 and 1816 was estimated to be one 
 hundred and ten millions, had been reduced to about forty -five 
 millions by the contraction of bank discounts. Flour, which 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 was selling from ten to fifteen dollars a barrel in 1817, was now 
 five to six. The prices of other staples were equally reduced ; 
 all manufacturing interests suffered severely, factories and work 
 shops were closed, and the workmen thrown out of employ 
 ment. 
 
 Little Rock was laid out, and established as the seat of govern 
 ment for Arkansas Territory. Memphis, in Tennessee, was also 
 laid out. 
 
 At this period the city of New York contained a population 
 of 123,706; Philadelphia, 108,116; Baltimore, 62,738 ; New 
 Orleans, 21,176 ; Charleston, 24,780 ; Boston, 43,298 ; Wash 
 ington, 13,247 ; Cincinnati, 9732 ; Albany, 12,630 ; Providence, 
 11,761 ; and Brooklyn, 5210. 
 
 A conflagration at Savannah destroyed one half the town on 
 the llth of January. Four hundred and sixty -three buildings 
 were consumed, valued, with their contents, at four millions of 
 dollars. On the 20th of June, one hundred and twenty of the 
 best buildings in Troy, N. Y., were destroyed by fire, involving 
 a loss of nearly one million of dollars. 
 
 The first steamboat on the Arkansas River ascended to the 
 village of Arkansas in May. The first steamboat on Lake Michi 
 gan made its first appearance there in July; it sailed from De 
 troit to Green Bay, carrying two hundred passengers and a large 
 cargo. 
 
 The first steamship line established between New York and 
 New Orleans commenced running in June. 
 
 The yellow-fever raged in Savannah during the summer and 
 autumn, carrying off about seven hundred of the inhabitants. 
 Many of the people fled, leaving three hundred and forty-three 
 houses unoccupied. 
 
 The first newspaper published in Arkansas appeared at Ar 
 kansas village under the title of The Arkansas Gazette. The 
 New York Observer made its first appearance this year. 
 
 About this time portable and, so-called, fire proof safes were 
 introduced for sale into New York. They were imported from 
 France, and constructed of iron and wood. 
 
 The first manufacture of carpenter s steel squares in the Unit 
 ed States was commenced at North Bennington, Vt. 
 
 The great national road, the work of the general government, 
 extending from Cumberland to Wheeling, was completed this 
 year. It was fourteen years in process of construction, and cost 
 seventeen hundred thousand dollars. The intention originally 
 was to extend the road to the Mississippi. 
 
 The first regular commencement of the anthracite- coal trade 
 was made this year by the Lehigh Coal Company, an organiza 
 tion formed in July, 1818. The improvement of the navigation of 
 the Lehigh River, by which shipments could be made to tide-wa 
 ter at small expense, and proper means of lighting the coal having 
 been discovered, removed some of the difficulties heretofore en 
 countered in attempting its introduction. About three hundred 
 and sixty five tons were shipped to Philadelphia during the year, 
 but much difficulty was experienced in disposing of so large a 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 
 
 quantity. The first experiment of manufacturing iron by the 
 use of anthracite coal was made at this time by some of the 
 members of the Lehigh Coal Company. 
 
 Daily mails were established between New York, Brooklyn, 
 and Jamaica. 
 
 The whale-fishery business commenced about this time at 
 New London. 
 
 1821 James Monroe was inaugurated President of the United States 
 on the 4th of March, and Daniel D. Tompkins took the oath of 
 office as Vice-President. 
 
 The treaty for the cession of the Floridas, concluded at Wash 
 ington on the 22d of February, 1819, between Spain and the 
 United States, having been ratified on the one part by the King 
 of Spain and by the President of the United States on the other 
 part, possession was taken of those provinces according to treaty. 
 On the 1st of July, General Andrew Jackson, who had been ap 
 pointed governor of the Floridas, issued a proclamation declar 
 ing that the government heretofore exercised over the said 
 provinces under the authority of Spain had ceased, and that of 
 the United States was established over the same; that the inhabi 
 tants thereof would be incorporated in the union of the United 
 States as soon as it might be consistent with the Federal Con 
 stitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the privileges, 
 rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States; that 
 in the mean time they w r ould be maintained and protected in the 
 free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion they 
 professed, and that all laws and municipal regulations which 
 were in existence at the cessation of the late government would 
 remain in full force. 
 
 Missouri was admitted into the Union as a State, after a vio 
 lent contest in Congress and intense excitement throughout the 
 country upon the subject whether it should or should not be 
 admitted with a constitution giving its inhabitants the right to 
 hold slaves. A compromise was at length effected between the 
 opposing parties in Congress, by which slavery was permitted 
 in Missouri, but forever prohibited in the territory of the United 
 States, excepting Missouri, lying north of thirty-six degrees thirty 
 minutes north latitude. 
 
 The American Colonization Society secured from the African 
 authorities of Cape Mesurado, by purchase, a tract of territory 
 in that country for the establishment there of colonies of free 
 blacks from the United States. A foundation of a settlement 
 was laid near Mesurado River, to which was given the name of 
 Liberia, and a new town was commenced and called Monrovia. 
 
 Indianapolis was laid out as a town for the seat of govern 
 ment for Indiana, and given its present name. 
 
 Lowell, in Massachusetts, was founded by a company which 
 was subsequently organized under the name of the Merrimac 
 Manufacturing Company, which purchased four hundred acres 
 of land at that location for manufacturing purposes. The first 
 mill was started in September, 1823. 
 
 The remains of Major Andre were removed from their rest- 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ing-place at Tappan in August, and placed on board a British 
 frigate, to be transferred to England for interment in West 
 minster Abbey. 
 
 The city council of Charlestown, S. C., passed an ordinance 
 to prohibit the opening of night and Sunday schools for the in 
 struction of negro slaves. 
 
 Severely cold weather was experienced in New York the 
 latter part of January. The North River from Cortlandt Street 
 to Jersey City was crossed on the ice by loaded sleighs. 
 
 The first religious newspaper published in the United States 
 devoted to the Unitarians, was issued at Boston on the 20th of 
 April, and called The Christian Register. 
 
 The receipts of anthracite coal at Philadelphia were ten 
 hundred and seventy -three tons, all of which was mined by the 
 Lehigh Company. 
 
 1822 A conspiracy of negroes in Charleston, S. C., was discovered 
 in June, and on trial seventy-two were convicted, thirty-five of 
 whom were executed and the remainder sentenced to banish 
 ment. 
 
 The Lehigh mines shipped twenty -four hundred and forty 
 tons of coal to Philadelphia during this year. 
 
 The first strictly commercial newspaper published in the 
 United States south of Boston, was issued at New Orleans on 
 the 27th of July, under the title of The New Orleans Prices- 
 Current. 
 
 The first newspaper established in Indianapolis was pub 
 lished on the 28th of May. Owing to the irregularity -of the 
 mails, the paper was issued without established dates. 
 
 At this period there was but one copper-rolling mill in the 
 United States, and that was operated near Baltimore. 
 
 The first Brooklyn Directory was issued in May. In 1796 
 there was a publication called " The New York and Brooklyn 
 Directory and Register for 1796," but which contained the 
 names only of those residing on two or three Brooklyn streets. 
 
 Boston was organized under a city charter, and its first mayor 
 elected. Gas as a means of illumination was adopted. 
 
 The cotton-culture in Texas was commenced this year. 
 
 The manufacture of cotton duck was begun at Patcrson, N. J. 
 
 The first regular steamship line between New York and Nor 
 folk commenced running in the autumn. 
 
 1823 In October, the Erie Canal was finished between Rochester 
 and Albany, and the first passage of boats was made on the 8th. 
 
 The yellow -fever appeared at Natchez, and out of its popu 
 lation of three thousand, all, excepting between three and four 
 hundred, fled the place. 
 
 The first steam-power printing-press in the United States was 
 put in operation in New York in June, printing an abridgment 
 of Murray s English Grammar the first work "done. 
 
 The manufacture of wine was commenced about this time in 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 The first three-story house erected in Brooklyn was built this 
 year. The first paving of streets was commenced on Sands 
 
HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 85 
 
 Street, and houses were first given numbers. Henry Street 
 was opened, the Apprentices Library organized, and the first 
 bonded warehouse in the town erected. At this time its popu 
 lation was about seven thousand. 
 
 The New York Gas Light Company was incorporated, but 
 did not begin successful works until the year 1827. 
 1824 By a treaty concluded between the United States and 
 Russia, the southern boundary-line of their possessions on the 
 Pacific was fixed at fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of 
 north latitude. 
 
 On the 13th of March a treaty was concluded between the 
 United States and Great Britain for the suppression of the 
 slave-trade. By the terms of the treaty, vessels were to be em 
 ployed by each of the nations to cruise on the coasts of Africa, 
 of the West Indies, and of America, and their commanders 
 were to be authorized under certain restrictions to detain, ex 
 amine, capture, and deliver over for trial and adjudication by 
 some competent tribunal any ship or vessel concerned in the 
 illicit traffic of slaves, and carrying the flag of the other. 
 
 General Lafayette having received an invitation from Con 
 gress to visit the United States, resolved to accept it. He ar 
 rived in the harbor of New York on the 15th of August, and 
 proceeded to Staten Island, where he was received as a guest 
 at the residence of the Vice-President. A committee of the 
 corporation of the city of New York and a great number of 
 distinguished citizens proceeded to Staten Island to give him 
 welcome. An escort of steamboats, decorated with the flags of 
 all nations, and bearing thousands of the citizens, brought him to 
 the view of the assembled multitudes at New York, who mani 
 fested their delight at seeing him by shouts and cheers. At 
 the City Hall the officers of the city and many citzens were 
 presented to him, and he was welcomed by an address from 
 the mayor. While he was at New York deputations from 
 many of the principal cities arrived with invitations for him to 
 visit them. After remaining a few days at New York, he pro 
 ceeded to Boston, where he met with the same cordial recep 
 tion. Soon afterwards he returned to New York, visited Al 
 bany and the towns on the North River, and afterwards 
 passed through the intermediate towns to Virginia, where he 
 visited the tomb of Washington. He returned to Washington 
 during the session of Congress, and remained there several 
 weeks. 
 
 The custom of making nominations for President and Vice- 
 President by caucuses of the members of Congress, which pre 
 vailed heretofore, became unpopular, and was broken up at 
 this period. The result of the election this year showed that 
 no choice for President had been made by the electoral colleges, 
 and according to the provisions of the Constitution, the decision 
 was referred to the House of Representatives, which body was 
 required to make a choice in such an exigency from the three 
 names who had received the highest number of votes. John 
 C. Calhoun received one hundred and eighty two votes for 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Vice-President against seventy-eight for all others, and was 
 elected. For President, Andrew Jackson received ninety-nine 
 votes, John Quincy Adams eighty- four; William H. Crawford, 
 forty -one; and Henry Clay thirty-seven. The result in the 
 House was the election of John Quincy Adams. 
 
 Tallahassee was laid out, a settlement of the place commenced, 
 and made the capital of Florida. 
 
 The first bank in Brooklyn, called the Long Island Bank, 
 and the first insurance company, called the Brooklyn Fire 
 Insurance Company, were established. 
 
 A conflagration took place in the forests of Suffolk County, 
 Long Island, extending over nearly twenty thousand acres, and 
 consumed, as estimated, as much timber as would have made 
 from seventy to eighty thousand cords of wood. 
 
 The Boston Courier appeared in Boston, on the 2d of March. 
 
 Anthracite coal was first introduced at New York, this year. 
 There was such prejudice against its use, that families were 
 offered grates free of charge, and in some instances some coal 
 besides, as inducements to try it. 
 
 The yellow-fever raged at New Orleans with more violence 
 than ever before, and compelled almost a complete suspension 
 of business. 
 
 The manufacture of flannel by water-power was commenced 
 at Amesbury, Mass., and a piece was exhibited at a Fair which 
 is said to have been the first flannel produced in this or any 
 other country, excepting that made by hand. 
 
 The introduction of marble as a building material in New 
 York was commenced, and the first building erected with a 
 marble front, excepting the City Hall, was the American 
 Museum, on the corner of Broadway and Ann Street. Such 
 was the prejudice of builders against its use, that they would 
 not undertake its introduction, and a convict at Sing Sing was 
 pardoned for the express purpose of superintending the work. 
 1825 John Quincy Adams on the 4th of March was inaugurated 
 President of the United States, and John C. Calhoun took 
 the oath of office as Yice-President. 
 
 Congress voted two hundred thousand dollars in money and 
 twenty -four thousand acres of fertile land in Florida, to 
 Lafayette, as a reward and remuneration for his services to this 
 country during the Revolutionary war. It was shown that in the 
 six years from the year 1777 to 1783, Lafayette had expended 
 for the American service, from his personal resources, the sum 
 of one hundred and forty thousand dollars, and that he had 
 left the enjoyments of rank and fortune to .come and serve the 
 American cause, and without pay. He equipped and armed a 
 regiment, and freighted a vessel with arms and ammunition, 
 for the United States service. It was not until the year 1794, 
 when almost ruined by the French Revolution, that he would 
 accept the naked pay, without interest, of a general officer for 
 the time he had served. He was entitled to land as one of the 
 officers of the Revolution, and eleven thousand five hundred 
 acres had been granted to him, to be located on any of the public 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 87 
 
 lands of the United States. His agent located one thousand 
 acres adjoining the city of New Orleans, and Congress after 
 wards, not being informed of that circumstance, granted the 
 same ground to that city. His location was valid, and he was 
 so informed ; but he refused to adhere to it, saying that he 
 would have no contest with any portion of the American 
 people. Lafayette made an extensive tour through the South 
 ern and Western States, and on the 15th of June he, on his 
 return, reached Boston. On the 17th he assisted at the cere 
 monies attendant upon laying the corner-stone of Bunker Hill 
 monument, and then visited the principal places in New Eng 
 land. On the 8th of September he bade adieu to the shores of 
 America, and started on his return voyage to France. 
 
 A treaty was concluded with the Creek Indians, by which 
 they agreed to accept lands westward of the Mississippi, in 
 exchange for an equal number of acres in the State of Georgia 
 to which they claimed the title. They also agreed to remove 
 from Georgia to the new territory assigned to them. Treaties 
 were also made with the Osages and Kansas tribes, by which 
 they ceded vast territories to the United States. 
 
 The first newspaper for Sunday sale and circulation in the 
 city of New York was issued, under the name of The Sun 
 day Courier, early in the year, but was soon discontinued for 
 want of patronage. 
 
 The Erie Canal was completed its entire length in October, 
 and early in November the event was celebrated w r ith great 
 enthusiasm. On the 26th of October, the Erie Champlain and 
 Hudson Canal was completed. 
 
 The Italian Opera was introduced into the United States, the 
 first performance of which came off at the Park Theatre, in 
 New York, on the 29th of November. 
 
 The homeopathic practice of medicine was first introduced 
 into this country, by a physician who removed to the city of 
 New York from Copenhagen, Denmark, where he had practised 
 that system. 
 
 The manufacture of Queensware, the first of its kind in the 
 United States, was commenced at Philadelphia. 
 
 The tinder-box, flint and steel, which up to this time were the 
 usual means by which fire was struck, were now being super 
 seded by a new and better invention, consisting of a bottle filled 
 with an acid and cotton surmounted with phosphorized pine- 
 sticks. 
 
 By a report of the Comptroller of the State of New York, it 
 appears that nearly ninety thousand dollars were paid out of the 
 treasury during the preceding ten years for the destruction of 
 wolves in that State. 
 
 An article appeared in a newspaper published in New York 
 in October which stated that a lot on the Bowery two hundred 
 feet in front and the same depth had been sold for one hundred 
 and five thousand dollars, the purchaser intending to erect a 
 theatre upon the plot. 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 1826 The seat of government for Tennessee was changed from 
 Murfreesborough to Nashville. 
 
 An event occurred this year of a singular character, from 
 which a powerful political combination grew into existence. A 
 roan named William Morgan, a member of the Masonic frater 
 nity residing in the western part of the State of New York, was 
 reported to be engaged in a publication exposing the secrets of 
 that society. The Masons in the vicinity were angry, and re 
 solved to prevent" the publication, and made several forcible but 
 ineffective attempts for that purpose. Morgan was soon missing, 
 and the unsuccessful search for him excited an interest in the 
 public mind which increased to a high degree of agitation. A 
 committee was appointed at a public meeting to ascertain all 
 the facts, and to bring to justice any criminals that might be 
 found. It was discovered that he had been twice arrested on 
 false charges, that he was taken from the Canandaigua jail in 
 the evening about nine o clock, gagged and bound, thrown into 
 a carriage, and hurried off to Rochester. By relays of horses 
 and by different hands he was borne along until he was lodged 
 in the magazine at Fort Niagara, where he was put to death. 
 A great crime had apparently been committed, and investiga 
 tion showed that Masons only were implicated in it. Arrests 
 were made, but it was impossible to secure conviction where 
 judges, sheriffs, juries, and witnesses were Masons. The excite 
 ment soon became political. It was alleged .that Masonry held 
 itself superior to the laws, and that Masons were more loyal to 
 their Masonic oaths than to their duty as citizens. Masonry, 
 therefore, was held to be a fatal foe to the government and to 
 the country, which must be destroyed ; and in several town 
 meetings in Genesce and Monroe counties, Masons, as such, were 
 excluded from office. At the next general election the Anti- 
 masons nominated a separate ticket, and they carried five 
 counties against both the great parties. A State organization 
 followed, and in the election of 1830 the Anti-Masonic candidate 
 was supported by the National Republicans, and secured within 
 eight thousand votes enough to insure an election. From a 
 State organization the Anti-Masons became a national party, 
 and in 1832 nominated a presidential candidate, who was also 
 supported by the National Republicans, and the union be 
 came the Whig party, which so triumphantly elected its presi 
 dential candidate in 1840. 
 
 A railroad was put into operation on the 7th of October at 
 Quincy, Mass., for the purpose of transporting stone from the 
 granite quarries at that place to tide-water, a distance of about 
 three miles. Granite sleepers were used, upon which timbers 
 were placed, and on those flat bars of iron were spiked. 
 The cars were drawn by horses. The novelty and advantages 
 of this invention excited great attention. It has been stated 
 through mistake that this railroad was the first one in America. 
 There was a small road built before this one in the Lehigh coal 
 district in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The first daily newspaper published in Cincinnati appeared 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 89 
 
 this year, under the title of The Commercial Register. The 
 first daily newspaper established at Rochester, N. Y., was 
 issued on the 25th of October, and called The Rochester Daily 
 Advertiser. The Richmond Whig appeared in Richmond, Va., 
 and the New Orleans Bee at New Orleans. 
 
 Earthen sewer-pipes were exhibited at a Fair held in Balti 
 more, in November, and that article soon became generally 
 introduced from this time. 
 
 The manufacture of palm-leaf hats in this country was com 
 menced in Massachusetts, the material having been imported 
 from Cuba. 
 
 The first manufacture of axes and other edge tools was com 
 menced this year, at Hartford, Conn. 
 
 The manufacture of school-slates, the first of its kind in the 
 United States, was established in Pennsylvania, near the Dela 
 ware River. 
 
 The introduction of the mulberry-tree into the United States 
 was made for a nursery at Flushing, L. I. The tree was im 
 ported from France. 
 
 The English tragedian Macready made his first appearance 
 on the American stage on the 3d of October, at the Park Thea 
 tre, in New York. 
 
 1827 The era for the commencement of the construction of rail 
 roads in the United States dates from this year. The success 
 of the small railroad at Quincy, Mass., demonstrated the fact 
 that much heavier loads could be drawn, and more easily with 
 the same power, in cars with wheels running on iron rails than 
 in wagons upon common roads, even when those roads were in 
 the most passable condition. News of the success of railroads 
 in England had just reached the United States, and had at 
 tracted much attention here, where the necessity for improved 
 highways was felt to be more imperative. At this period 
 locomotives had not been used, even in England, and the first 
 railroads there, as well as here, were intended for horse power 
 only. As an evidence of the public sentiment of the time con 
 cerning railroads, the following extract from Niles Register, of 
 the 3d of January, 1829, is quoted, viz.: " The public mind is 
 every day more and more settling into a belief that railroads will 
 .supersede canals, or at least be preferred, unless when the latter 
 can be made under peculiarly favorable circumstances, for 
 certain reasons, best fitted for some particular business. It is 
 believed that railroads are much less expensive than canals as 
 to their construction or repair, and transportation on them is 
 far less liable to interruption on various accounts, and may be 
 continued throughout the whole year. The ascent of consid 
 erable heights over which railroads shall pass, will possibly be 
 assisted by stationary engines, or the use of additional horse 
 power ; but we rather think that from improvements now pre 
 sented, locomotive engines will never come into general use, 
 the power necessary for the transportation of ponderous com 
 modities being so reduced as to become unworthy of much 
 consideration compared with the work performed," The ad- 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 vantages of railroads worked by horse-power over other known 
 means of land transportation were generally appreciated by the 
 public. A charter was granted by the Legislature of Maryland, 
 for the construction of a railroad to connect Baltimore with 
 Wheeling, and books for subscriptions to the stock were 
 opened at Baltimore on the 20th of March of this year. The 
 city made a subscription of five hundred thousand dollars, and 
 fifteen hundred thousand dollars more were solicited. Upon 
 closing the subscription-book on the 31st of March, it was 
 found that offers were made for a considerable amount more 
 than twice that required. The projectors of the road in ask 
 ing for a charter, stated to the members of the legislature that 
 the whole distance between Baltimore and Wheeling could be 
 travelled at an average rate of four miles an hour. The en 
 thusiasm on the railroad question was not confined to Balti 
 more. The Legislature of Massachusetts by a large majority, 
 authorized the appointment of commissioners and an engineer 
 for the purpose of determining a proper line of railroad be 
 tween the city of Boston and the Hudson River. In May a 
 railroad was completed at Mauch Chunk, in Pennsylvania, for 
 the transportation of coal from the Summit mines to the land 
 ing on the Lehigh. The cars ran down by gravity, and were 
 drawn back by mules. 
 
 At this period, Indianapolis contained twenty-five brick, 
 sixty frame, and about eighty hewn-log houses ; a court-house, 
 jail, and three churches. 
 
 The population of Hartford was at this time six thousand 
 nine hundred; of New Haven, seven thousand one hundred ; of 
 Newark, N. J., six thousand five hundred; and of New Bruns 
 wick, six thousand seven hundred. 
 
 The manufacture of fire-bricks was commenced at Baltimore, 
 Before this they were obtained only from England. The gen 
 eral use of grates and furnaces was established about this 
 time. 
 
 The first lithographic establishment in the United States was 
 started this year at Boston. The artists and materials were im 
 ported from England. 
 
 About this date the first store in this country for the sale of 
 American hardware was opened at Philadelphia, by Amasa 
 Goodyear and his son, of india-rubber celebrity. 
 
 The Journal of Commerce issued its first number at New 
 York on the 1st of September. It was aided in starting by 
 Arthur Tappan, and was established in the interests of Aboli 
 tionism. Eventually it came into the possession of David 
 Hale and Gerard Hallock, and became a conservative organ. 
 The Morning Enquirer was started at New York in May ; and 
 these two papers were rivals for the mercantile advertisements 
 of the city, and tried to surpass each other in size, whence the 
 term "blanket-sheets" was given them. To get the commer 
 cial news they established swift schooners and pony-expresses. 
 In 1829 the Morning Courier w r as united to the Enquirer, and 
 in 1861 merged in the New York World. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 91 
 
 1828 At the presidential election this year John Quincy Adams 
 was the candidate of the National Republican party, which ad 
 vocated a high protective tariff, and the aid of the government 
 to be given in carrying out a system of internal improvements. 
 General Andrew Jackson was the nominee of the Democratic 
 party, which opposed those measures. After a spirited contest, 
 in which much personal abuse was mingled, General Jackson 
 was elected, receiving one hundred and seventy-eight of the 
 two hundred and sixty -one electoral votes. The question of a 
 protective tariff was now one of the main issues in party strife ; 
 and a tariff act passed by Congress in May was an event which 
 commenced a serious division between the North and South. 
 In the early years of Federal legislation the duties imposed 
 were all moderate, and the Southern States were as ready as 
 any part of the Union in extending protection to home indus 
 try, and some of their statesmen were among the foremost in 
 promoting that policy. As late as 1816 some of the Southern 
 statesmen were still in favor of protection. After that year the 
 tariff bills took a sectional aspect : the Southern States, with 
 the exception of the sugar-planting interests in Louisiana, 
 against them ; the New England States also against them ; and 
 the Middle and Western States in their favor. After the year 
 1824 the South alone was against that policy. 
 
 A newspaper, printed partly in English and partly in the 
 Cherokee language, named The Phcenix, was published at New 
 Echota. The types used were furnished by the United States 
 Government. 
 
 A three-story brick house, on a lot twenty-nine feet in front 
 and one hundred and fifty feet in depth, with a brick stable in 
 the rear, on Park Place, in New York, was sold at public auc 
 tion on the 25th of October for twenty-eight thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty dollars A lot on Wall Street, twenty-five 
 feet in front and one hundred and twelve in depth, was sold at 
 private sale at about the same time, for thirty-five thousand four 
 hundred dollars. The improvements upon it were of little 
 value. 
 
 An antiquarian book-store was established in Boston, and it 
 was the first one of the kind opened in this country. 
 
 The first damask table-linen manufactured in the United 
 States was made this year at Pittsburg. 
 
 The city of New York purchased from James Blackwell the 
 island in the East River bearing his name, for the sum of thirty- 
 two thousand dollars. The city afterwards was obliged to pay 
 an additional sum of twenty thousand dollars for the release of 
 a dower interest which was unexpectedly discovered to be a 
 lien upon the property. 
 
 The first edition of Webster s Dictionary was published. It 
 was issued in two volumes, quarto. 
 
 The first periodical devoted to agriculture, published south 
 of Baltimore, was issued at the city of Charleston, under the 
 title of the Southern Agriculturist. 
 
 The first periodical exclusively designed for the tastes of 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ladies, issued in the United States, was established at Boston, and 
 called the Ladies Magazine. It was united with Godey s Ladies 
 Book in Philadelphia in 1837. 
 
 The first steamboat belonging in Boston commenced making 
 excursion-trips in the harbor. It was called the Benjamin 
 Franklin. 
 
 A premium was awarded by the Franklin Institute in Phila 
 delphia, in October, for an exhibition of an assortment of malle 
 able-iron castings made by Seth Boyden of Newark, N. J. It 
 was the first attempt in this country, known to the committee, 
 to anneal cast-iron for general purposes. 
 
 The first manufacture of varnish, except for individual use, 
 was commenced at New York. 
 
 The first manufacture, in this country, of paper from straw 
 and hay was commenced at Meadville, Pa. The paper w r as of 
 a yellow color, strong and smooth, and an edition of the New 
 Testament is said to have been printed upon it, which cost only 
 five cents a copy. Three hundred reams of the paper were 
 shipped to Pittsburg on the 30th of November. 
 
 The celebrated planing-machine patented by William Wood- 
 worth was introduced, and acquired an extensive sale. 
 
 The first trip of a locomotive upon a railroad in America was 
 made upon the Carbondale and Honesdale Railroad in Penn 
 sylvania. The engine was made in England, and was run by 
 Mr. Horatio Allen, under whose direction it had been built. 
 This trip was made about one year before the first steam rail 
 road in England was opened. 
 
 On the 4th of July the corner-stone of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad was laid at Baltimore w r ith imposing ceremonies. 
 This road, as well as all other of the early roads constructed in 
 this country, was built of longitudinal wooden rails pinned 
 down to cross-ties of stone or wood imbedded in the ground, 
 with fiat bars of iron fastened with spikes placed on top of the 
 wooden rails. This method of construction was soon found to 
 involve great danger, and consequent expense ; the ends Of the 
 iron bars becoming loose and starting up, were occasionally 
 caught by the wheels and thrust up through the bottom of the 
 car. 
 
 A boat passed in October for the first time through the entire 
 length of the Blackstone Canal, connecting Worcester with Prov 
 idence. The canal w r as commenced in 1826, and is forty-five 
 miles in length. 
 
 One ton of coal was brought to Lowell from Boston in a 
 wagon. It was the first anthracite coal seen in the place, and 
 was considered a sufficient supply for the Lowell market for a 
 whole year. 
 
 1829 Andrew Jackson as President, and John C. Calhoun as Vice- 
 President, commenced their terms of office on the 4th of March. 
 
 After the adjournment of the Senate, the President made one 
 hundred and seventy-six appointments for office among his po 
 litical adherents, principally in consequence of a general re 
 moval of his political opponents. Never before had so total a 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 
 
 change been made in the public offices, and the conduct of the 
 executive was subjected to severe animadversions. During 
 General Washington s administration of eight years there were 
 but nine removals ; in John Adams of four years, only ten ; in 
 Jefferson s of eight years, but thirty-nine ; in Madison s of eight 
 years, but five ; in Monroe s of eight years, but nine ; and in 
 John Quincy Adams of four years, only two. 
 
 A conflagration at Augusta, Georgia, on the 3d of April, de 
 stroyed upwards of three hundred buildings. On the 10th of 
 the same month, one hundred buildings, with a large amount of 
 rice and other products, were consumed by fire at Savannah ;, 
 and on the same day the Lafayette Theatre in New York, to 
 gether with a large number of other buildings, were burned. 
 The boiler of the steam-frigate Fulton, a receiving-ship sta 
 tioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, blew up on the 4th of 
 June, killing upwards of thirty persons and dangerously wound 
 ing twenty-three others. 
 
 The first asylum for the blind in the United States was 
 founded in Boston, and incorporated under the name of the 
 New England Asylum for the Blind. 
 
 " Sam Patch," famous for his jumps at the falls of the 
 Passaic at Paterson, and later at Niagara, was killed on the 
 13th of November, in jumping from the Genesee Falls at 
 Rochester. Many thousand persons were collected to witness 
 his feats. 
 
 The first public school in Baltimore was opened on the 21st 
 of September. The first one in Louisville, Ky., was also estab 
 lished this year. 
 
 The first daily newspaper published in Portland, Me., was 
 issued on the 13th of October, under the title of the Daily 
 Courier. 
 
 The following-named canals were completed this year: The 
 Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, connecting the Delaware 
 River with Chesapeake Bay; the Cumberland and Oxford, in 
 Maine; the Farmington, in Connecticut; the Oswego, con 
 necting Lake Ontario with the Erie Canal at Salina; and the 
 Delaware and Hudson Canal, one hundred and eight miles in 
 length, extending from Honesdale, Pa., to the Hudson River. 
 
 The United States Mint at Philadelphia was completed. 
 
 The first figured muslin woven on a power-loom in this and, 
 probably, in any other country, was made, in the summer of 
 this year, at Central Falls, R. I. 
 
 The use of Turkey-red in calico-printing, which had for a 
 long time given the French an advantage over English and 
 American prints, was this year successfully introduced by 
 manufacturers at Lowell. 
 
 The manufacture of penknives and pocket-knives, articles 
 hitherto exclusively imported, was commenced at Worcester, 
 
 The first manufacture of sewing-silk by machinery was 
 commenced at Mansfield, Conn. 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The first manufacture of bricks by machinery was com 
 menced at the city of New York. 
 
 Large establishments for the manufacture of fire-bricks were 
 erected about this time, and soon afterwards the importation 
 of those articles was wholly stopped. 
 
 Galvanized iron was invented, at this time, by John W. 
 Revere, M.D., of New York, and on the 27th of March the 
 result of his experiments was laid before the Lyceum of Natural 
 History, in that city. 
 
 1830 Mormonism was founded this year, and Joseph Smith, the 
 originator of that sect, published his book entitled " The Book 
 of Mormon, an Account written by the Hand of Mormon, upon 
 Plates taken from the Plates of Nephi." Smith professed to 
 have translated this English version from the original plates, 
 discovered to him by angels. This " divine revelation " was 
 found to be a corrupt version of a religious romance, called 
 "The Manuscript Found," written, in the year 1809, by 
 Solomon Spaulding. A Mormon church was organized by 
 Smith at Manchester, in Western New York, on the 6th of 
 April; and at the first conference held in June about thirty 
 converts attended. In the following year the Mormons re 
 moved to Kirtland, Ohio. 
 
 A severe storm was experienced in some parts of Tennessee, 
 on the 31st of May. The town of Carthage was a heap of 
 ruins; almost every house in the place was destroyed or greatly 
 damaged. At another town fifty-three buildings were blown 
 dow r n, killing five persons and injuring many others. In July, 
 a heavy storm swept both sides of Lake Champlain, continuing 
 for three days. The streams emptying into the lake were so 
 swollen that mill-dams and mills, iron-works and other factories, 
 bridges and crops, were almost universally destroyed. 
 
 Chicago was surveyed and laid out as a town, and the map 
 recorded on the 4th of August. The first sale of lots took 
 place in the autumn. 
 
 It was estimated there were at this period thirteen hundred 
 and forty-three miles of canal in the United States completed, 
 eighteen hundred miles more in progress, and four hundred 
 and eight miles projected. 
 
 The first arrival at Oswego of a vessel from Lake Erie 
 occurred on the 3d of August, by the Welland Canal, now just 
 completed. 
 
 The first steam-railroad that went into operation in America, 
 designed for the transportation of both passengers and merchan 
 dise, was the South Carolina road, laid out to connect Charles 
 ton with Hamburg, on the Savannah River, opposite the city 
 of Savannah. Six miles of the road were completed in the 
 summer of this year, and a locomotive was run on it. This 
 locomotive was constructed in New York, and was the first one 
 built in this country. It was a small four-wheeled engine, with 
 upright boiler and the flues close to the bottom, the flames 
 circulating around them. It is a noteworthy fact that this road 
 was designed and wholly constructed, for the use of locomo- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 
 
 tives, upon the advice of Mr. Horatio Allen, before they were 
 known in this country, or established in Great Britain. The 
 road was built upon piles, and some of the swamps and rivers 
 were crossed at an elevation of fifty feet. 
 
 The Hudson and Mohawk Railroad, connecting Albany with 
 Schenectady, was commenced. 
 
 On the 24th of May, fourteen miles of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad were completed and opened for use. 
 
 The first telescope used in this country for astronomical 
 purposes was set up at Yale College. 
 
 Charles Kean, the celebrated actor, arrived in this country, 
 and commenced his first engagement at the Park Theatre, in 
 New York, on the 1st of September. 
 
 The first penny paper published in Philadelphia was issued 
 under the title of The Cent. It had but a brief existence. 
 
 The Christian Intelligencer, an organ of the Dutch Reformed 
 Church, made its first appearance at New York. The Boston 
 Transcript appeared at Boston, in July, and the Globe at 
 Washington, in December. The Albany Evening Journal was 
 also established this year. 
 
 The first omnibus in New York commenced running this 
 year. It had the word "Omnibus" painted in large letters on 
 both sides, and was a puzzle to most pedestrians, who pro 
 nounced it variously. The name was generally supposed to be 
 that of the owner. 
 
 The first Fourdrinier machine, used in the manufacture of 
 paper, made in this country was built at Windham, Conn. 
 Very few were afterwards imported. 
 
 1831 A negro insurrection broke out in Virginia, near the North 
 Carolina border. It started with a party of three white men 
 and four slaves, who commenced killing several families, and 
 impressing into their service all slaves on their route, until 
 a force of nearly two hundred accumulated, spreading desola 
 tion everywhere in their path. Fifty-five white persons were 
 murdered before the insurrection was quelled. Troops were 
 called out by the authorities of Virginia and North Carolina, 
 who succeeded in killing or capturing all the insurgents. Fear 
 ing that this outbreak was but a part of a grand conspiracy of 
 the negroes generally, martial law was proclaimed in many 
 places, and every negro who could not give a satisfactory ac 
 count of himself was arrested. In South Carolina the " Vigi 
 lance Association of Columbia" offered a reward of one thou 
 sand dollars for the apprehension and conviction of any person 
 who should be detected in distributing or circulating in that 
 State the abolition paper called the Liberator, published in Bos 
 ton, or the pamphlet called " Walker s Pamphlet," or any other 
 publication of a seditious tendency. 
 
 Chloroform was discovered this year by Dr. Samuel Guthrie 
 of Sackett s Harbor, N. Y. It was at first used only as a medi 
 cine, and its valuable qualities were not perceived until some 
 time later. 
 
 A conflagration destroyed the town of Fayetteville, N. C., 
 
96 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 on the 29th of May; only a few buildings on the outskirts es 
 caped. All the public buildings, and about six hundred pri 
 vate houses, were consumed, with their contents. 
 
 Groton monument, on Groton Heights, opposite New Lon 
 don, was completed. 
 
 A three-story house and lot, on the corner of Pine and Wil 
 liam streets, in New York, was sold for twenty -two thousand 
 dollars, in October. The lot was twenty-eight feet on Pine 
 and sixty-eight on William Street. 
 
 The first sporting paper published in the United States was 
 issued at New York, and called The Spirit of the Times, 
 
 The Louisville Journal appeared in Louisville, Ky. ; and on 
 the 9th of November the Daily Morning Post, at Boston. 
 
 The first passage of boats on the Morris Canal, between New 
 ark, N. J. , and the Delaware River, was made in November. 
 
 The great Pennsylvania line of improvements, connecting 
 Philadelphia with Pittsburg, commenced in 1826, \vas com 
 pleted in March. This line comprised eighty-two miles of rail 
 road from Philadelphia to Columbia; one hundred and seventy- 
 two miles of canal from Columbia to Hollidaysburg; thirty-six 
 miles of railroad over the Alleghany Mountains to Johnstown; 
 and one hundred and five miles of canal thence to Pittsburg. 
 The line of railroad over the mountains consisted of a series of 
 inclined planes, and was worked by stationary engines. These 
 improvements were built by the State, and cost upwards of 
 twelve millions of dollars. 
 
 The Hudson and Mohawk Railroad, between Albany and 
 Schenectady, was opened for travel on the 1st of September. 
 This road was first designed to be worked by horse-power, with 
 the exception of two inclined planes, where stationary engines 
 were to be employed. Before its completion it was decided to 
 substitute steam-power, and a locomotive was ordered to be 
 built for it at New York, which was used on the first trip at 
 the opening of the road, and ran the distance of sixteen miles 
 in forty-six minutes. Pine wood was used for fuel. 
 
 The first railroad built in Virginia was opened. It was con 
 structed for the transportation of coal from the mines near 
 James River to Manchester, opposite Richmond, a distance of 
 thirteen miles. The first railroad in Louisiana was opened on 
 the 23d of April, and connected New Orleans with Lake Ppn- 
 chartrain, a distance of four and a half miles. Its construction 
 across the swamp was considered a great feat of engineering. 
 
 Six miles of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad were 
 completed and opened on the 4th of July. The cars were 
 drawn by horses. In the next year sixteen miles were opened, 
 at which time steam-power was adopted. 
 
 The construction of the Harlem and the Ithaca and Owego 
 railroads in the State of New York, and of the Lexington and 
 Ohio in Kentucky, was commenced. 
 
 The important arrangement of four-wheeled trucks for cars 
 was introduced on the South Carolina Railroad, and were the 
 first car-trucks used in this or any other country. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 97 
 
 1832 Upon the passage of a tariff bill by Congress in July, the 
 representatives of South Carolina issued an address to the peo 
 ple of that State, asserting that, by the act passed, the burden 
 of government was thrown exclusively on the Southern States, 
 and meetings were held in South Carolina, denouncing the 
 tariff, and pledging the persons attending to support the State 
 government in any measures it might adopt to resist it. In De 
 cember the Legislature of South Carolina passed acts prohibit 
 ing the enforcement of the United States revenue laws within 
 the State, and authorizing the governor to call the militia into 
 service to resist any attempt of the national government to en 
 force them. Ten thousand stand of arms, and the requisite 
 quantity of military munitions, were ordered to be purchased. 
 At this crisis the President determined to enforce the revenue 
 acts, with an entire disregard to the pretended rights of sover 
 eignty which were assumed by the State of South Carolina, 
 and he, accordingly, ordered all the disposable military force 
 to assemble at Charleston, and a sloop of war to be scut to that 
 port to protect the revenue officers, in case of necessity, in the 
 execution of their duty. On the 10th of December, the Presi 
 dent issued a proclamation, in which he plainly and forcibly 
 stated the nature of the American government, and the supre 
 macy of the Federal authorities in all matters intrusted to their 
 care, and exhorted the citizens of South Carolina not to persist 
 in a course which must bring upon their State the force of the 
 confederacy, and expose the Union to the hazard of dissolu 
 tion. The revenue laws under the protection of the United 
 States forces were carried into effect without any opposition by 
 violence, and, at a meeting of the leading milliners at Charles 
 ton, it was resolved that all collision between the State and 
 Federal authorities should be avoided, in the hope that the con 
 troversy might be satisfactorily adjusted in Congress by the 
 passage of bills modifying the tariff. That hope was realized, 
 and the tariff controversy in South Carolina ended. 
 
 At the presidential election of this year the Democratic party 
 voted for General Andrew Jackson for re-election as President, 
 and Martin Van Buren for Vice-President , and those candidates 
 were successful; General Jackson receiving two hundred and 
 nineteen electoral votes, and Mr. Van Buren one hundred and 
 eighty-nine. At this time an Anti-Masonic party had been in 
 stituted, which nominated William Wirt for President and 
 Amos Ellmaker for Vice-President, and they received seven 
 electoral votes. The old Federal party had gone out of exist 
 ence, and the opponents of the administration were now de 
 nominated National Republicans. That party nominated Henry 
 Clay for President, and John Sergeant for Vice-President, and 
 
 they each received forty-nine votes. The State of South Caro 
 lina gave its eleven electoral votes to John Floyd for President 
 and Henry Lee for Vice-President. 
 
 A war broke out in Illinois between the Indians and the 
 whites. In the year 1830, some Indians of the tribe of the Sacs 
 and Foxes two tribes united in one made some depredations 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 
 
 on the white settlers near the mouth of Rock River. In conse 
 quence the United States Government made a treaty with Keo- 
 kuk, the chief of that tribe, by which he agreed to remove with 
 his Indians across the Mississippi. Black Hawk, a noted war 
 rior, however, refused to recognize the authority of Keokuk to 
 make that treaty, and, with many of the Indians, declined to re 
 move from Illinois. He gathered about him all the restless 
 spirits of the tribe, set himself up as their chief, and commenced 
 depredations on the white settlements. Troops were called out 
 by the governor, and the United States Government sent de 
 tachments of the army to assist in breaking up the war. Suc 
 cessive engagements were fought, with various success, and 
 many atrocities committed by the savages. On the 2d of Au 
 gust, a battle took place with the main body of the Indians, 
 which closed hostilities. The Indians were defeated with 
 great loss, and Black Hawk, with his two sons and seven other 
 warriors, were captured, and sent prisoners to Fortress Mon 
 roe, Va. 
 
 The source of the Mississippi was discovered on the 13th of 
 July by an exploring expedition under the command of Henry 
 R. Schoolcraft. 
 
 The Asiatic cholera, which had been devastating Montreal 
 and Quebec for some time, made its first appearance in the 
 United States at the city of New York -on the 21st of June. 
 The disease spread in various directions, reaching Philadelphia, 
 Albany, and Rochester in July, and Boston, Baltimore, and 
 Washington in August. In October it reached New Orleans, 
 having previously appeared at Cincinnati and the intermediate 
 cities. In Quebec, Montreal, New York, and Philadelphia, alone, 
 there were eighteen thousand cases and eight thousand deaths. 
 
 A disastrous flood swept the valley of the Ohio in February. 
 The water continued to rise from the 7th to the 19th, when it 
 attained the height of sixty-three feet above low-water mark at 
 Cincinnati. The towns and villages along the banks of the 
 river were submerged in some instances so deeply as to force 
 the inhabitants to take refuge on the neighboring hills. It was 
 impossible to make any accurate estimate of the value of the 
 property destroyed. 
 
 The steamboat Brandywine took fire on the evening of 
 the 9th of April, on the Mississippi River, near Memphis, 
 and of about two hundred persons on board all but seventy- 
 five perished in the flames or by drowning. 
 
 The first instance of chloroform being used by inhalation 
 was at New Haven in January. 
 
 The renowned gymnasCs and pantomimists, the Ravel family, 
 made their first appearance in America, at the Park Theatre in 
 New York, on the 16th of July. The popularity of this troupe 
 continued undiminished for more than thirty years. 
 
 Charles Kemble, the celebrated comedian, and Fanny Kem- 
 ble, equally celebrated as an actress, made their first appear 
 ance in America, at the Park Theatre in New York, on the 17th 
 of September. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 99 
 
 The manufacture of hosiery by steam or water power was 
 first commenced in this country in October, at Cohoes, N. Y. 
 
 The first steamboat seen at Chicago arrived there on the 10th 
 of July, having on board General Winfield Scott and United 
 States troops destined for the scene of the Black Hawk war. 
 
 The first house built in Iowa was erected this year near the 
 site of the city of Davenport. 
 
 The Paterson and Jersey City Railroad, the Schenectady and 
 Saratoga, the West Chester in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia, 
 Germantown and Norristown, and the Louisville and Bards- 
 town railroads were all completed this year. On the 15th of 
 November, Philadelphia and Harrisburg were connected by a 
 continuous line of railroad. Operations were commenced on 
 the Boston and Worcester Railroad in August. 
 
 The first street railroad in America was completed between 
 the City Hall and Fourteenth Street in New York, and opened 
 for travel in November. The road was built by the Harlem 
 Railroad Company, and some tune afterwards was extended up 
 Fourth Avenue. 
 
 1833 Andrew Jackson, as President, and Martin Van Buren, Vice- 
 President, commenced their terms of office on the 4th of March. 
 
 There ensued great commercial distress throughout the 
 country this year, caused by a general system of retrenchment 
 that the directors of the United States Bank were obliged to 
 institute, with a view to safety on account of an evident existing 
 hostility to that corporation. The President of the United 
 States was particularly opposed to the bank, and he caused all 
 the public deposits, amounting to nearly ten millions of dollars, 
 to be withdrawn from it, the greater part of which within a 
 period of four months. Almost simultaneously with this step 
 an attempt was made to destroy the credit of the bank, by sud 
 denly presenting for payment at one of the distant branches a 
 large amount of circulating notes which had been secretly 
 accumulated. 
 
 Emigrations were made to Iowa this year. From this time 
 the progress and extension of settlements in that district were 
 rapid, and the population increased with far greater rapidity 
 than in any new Territory heretofore. 
 
 The town of Chicago was incorporated on the 10th of Au 
 gust. At that time there were one hundred and seventy -five 
 houses and five hundred and fifty inhabitants. The first news 
 paper published in the place was issued on the 26th of Novem 
 ber, under the name of The Democrat. The first church organ 
 ized was formed on the 26th of June, by the Presbyterians 
 belonging to the garrison of Fort Dearborn. On the 19th of 
 October, a Baptist society was formed. 
 
 Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania passed laws for 
 the suppression of lotteries. 
 
 The United States Treasury building at Washington was 
 consumed by fire on the 31st of March. Nearly all the valu 
 able papers contained in it were saved. 
 
 On the 30th of April, a fire broke out in the extensive stables 
 
100 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Kipp & Brown on Hudson and Bank streets, in New York, 
 and spread until over one hundred and thirty buildings were 
 consumed. It was estimated that three hundred families were 
 thereby rendered homeless. 
 
 The city of Boston contracted for sperm-oil for street-lamps, 
 ninety cents per gallon for summer oil and one dollar for 
 winter. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn., was supplied with water conveyed hi pipes 
 through the streets. 
 
 The first theatre erected in the United States expressly for 
 operatic performances was opened on the 18th of November. 
 It was built on the corner of Church and Leonard streets, in 
 New York; but the enterprise proved a failure, and the building 
 was used for theatrical purposes until it was destroyed by fire 
 in the year 1841. 
 
 Millerism, as it was called, commenced making converts at 
 this time. William Miller began to lecture upon the subjects 
 of the millennium and the early destruction of the world, which 
 he at first stated would take place in 1843. He secured disci 
 ples, who were called Millerites, to the number, as estimated, of 
 nearly fifty thousand. After the failure of his predictions, 
 several years and days were successively designated for the 
 destruction of the world, and the sect existed for many years. 
 
 The first exportation of American ice to the East Indies was 
 made by Mr. Frederick Tudor, of Boston. It was sent in 
 May, and delivered at Calcutta in the autumn. In the follow 
 ing year he sent the first cargo to Brazil. 
 
 At this time there were seventy -six omnibuses running in the 
 streets of New York, one hundred and ninety-four licensed 
 hackney-coaches, twenty-four hundred and fifty-nine carts, and 
 one hundred and fifty -seven porters with either barrows or 
 hand-carts. 
 
 On the 5th of October, one hundred and fifty-one lots, each 
 twenty-five feet front and one hundred in depth, on Prospect 
 Hill in Brooklyn, L. I., three miles from Fulton Ferry, were 
 sold at an average price of one hundred and twenty-five dollars 
 -apiece. 
 
 The first public trial of reaping-machines took place on the 
 2d of July, before the Hamilton County Agricultural Society 
 in Ohio. The exhibition was of the machine patented by Mr. 
 Obed Hussey. 
 
 The first newspaper issued in Wisconsin was published at 
 Navarino on the llth of December, and called The Green Bay 
 Intelligencer. The Boston Daily Journal made its first appear 
 ance this year. The first successful penny paper established in 
 the United States issued its first number on the 8th of Septem 
 ber at New York, and was called The New York Sun. 
 
 The progress of enterprise in American journalism took a step 
 forward this year. The New Yoi*k Journal of Commerce estab 
 lished a horse express from Philadelphia to New York, with 
 relays of horses, by which the paper was enabled to publish 
 Congressional news one day in advance of its contemporaries in 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 101 
 
 New York. This example was soon followed by other papers, 
 until the government itself established an express between those 
 cities, whereupon the Journal of Commerce extended its relays 
 to Washington. 
 
 The constitution of Massachusetts was amended, making the 
 individual contributions for the support of the ministry volun 
 tary, instead of obligatory as they had always been for about 
 two hundred years. 
 
 The Ohio Canal, connecting the Ohio River at Portsmouth 
 with Lake Erie at Cleveland, a distance of three hundred and 
 seven miles, was completed and opened for navigation. 
 
 The South Carolina Railroad between Charleston and the 
 Savannah River, one hundred and thirty- six miles in length, 
 was entirely completed. This was the first railroad upon which 
 the United States mails were carried, and the longest continuous 
 line yet completed in this or any other country. The Camden 
 and Amboy Railroad, between Am boy and Bordentown, N. J., 
 was opened for travel in September. The Petersburg and Ro- 
 anoke Railroad in Virginia, about sixty miles in length,, was 
 also completed. The ceremony of breaking ground for the 
 commencement of the Providence and Stonington Railroad took 
 place at Stonington on the 14th of August. 
 
 1834 An unusual excitement and tumult took place in New York, 
 ending in a riot, at the city election held on the 8th, 9th, and 
 10th days of April, caused by a bitter feeling existing between 
 the Jackson men and their political opponents, who at this time 
 were called by the new party name of " whigs." Great confusion 
 and violence ensued; political meetings were disturbed and brok 
 en up, and in the Sixth and Eleventh wards proceedings were so 
 riotous that the military were called out to quell the disturbances. 
 Many of the citizens were dangerously injured, and several of the 
 rioters were arrested and imprisoned. Citizens remained under 
 arms all night, fearing that the banks would be sacked, as an at 
 tack on them was loudly threatened. Business was almost entire 
 ly suspended in Wall and other down-town streets. The election 
 resulted in favor of the " whigs," and the victory was celebrat 
 ed by that party in many sections of the country. Salutes were 
 fired, and other demonstrations of rejoicing were manifested. 
 In Philadelphia, a grand barbecue was instituted, and fifty 
 thousand people attended, as estimated. 
 
 A meeting of the American Anti- Slavery Society held in New 
 York on the 4th of July was broken up by a mob. A few 
 days afterwards another mob sacked the house of Lewis Tap- 
 pan, a noted abolitionist, and then assaulted and damaged 
 several churches, school -houses, and homes of colored families. 
 The anti-abolition excitement spread to other places. At New 
 ark, N. J., on the evening of the llth of July, a minister 
 introduced a colored man into his pulpit, against the previously 
 ascertained will of his people. When the populace found it 
 out, they assembled in great, numbers, took the colored man 
 forcibly from the pulpit, conveyed him to jail, and threatened to 
 tear it down unless the jailer received him. They then re- 
 
102 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 turned to the church, broke the windows, tore down the pulpit, 
 and reduced the edifice to a shell. In Norwich, Conn., a mob, 
 headed by a band of music, entered a church where a lecture 
 was being delivered by an abolitionist, forcibly took the lecturer 
 from the pulpit, and forced him to march before them, at the 
 same time playing the Rogue s March, till they drummed him out 
 of the town. In Philadelphia, a riot commenced on the even 
 ing of the 13th of August, and continued for three nights. 
 Forty -four houses inhabited by blacks were assaulted, damaged, 
 and many of them destroyed. Other similar demonstrations 
 occurred in several places in different sections of the country. 
 
 A report having been circulated in Boston that a girl was 
 confined against her will in a convent of Ursuline nuns at 
 Charlestown, great excitement was manifested in the city, and 
 soon prevailed in the neighboring tow r ns. On the night of the 
 llth of August, a large number of persons, disguise din fantas 
 tic costumes, assembled before the convent, and after waking 
 and warning the inmates to make their escape, made an assault 
 on the house. The doors and windows were forced open, the 
 furniture broken, and the building set on fire and destroyed ; 
 other buildings belonging to the convent were also burned. 
 The cemetery was then visited and the graves w r ere desecrated. 
 The next day a large meeting of the citizens of Boston was held 
 in Faneuil Hall to express their indignation at the outrage, and 
 prompt measures were instituted to discover the perpetrators. 
 Several persons were arrested, but were released for want of 
 proof, and only one suffered conviction. 
 
 Congress passed an act to establish branch mints at New Or 
 leans, Dahlonega, Ga., and at Charlotte, N. C. 
 
 The earliest emigrations of settlers to Oregon commenced at 
 this period. 
 
 The streets of New Orleans were lighted with gas for the first 
 time. 
 
 At this period but one mail a week arrived at Chicago from 
 the East, and that was brought from Niles, Mich., on horse 
 back. 
 
 Brooklyn, L. I. , was incorporated as a city, and the first mayor 
 and other city officers elected. Rochester was also incorporated, 
 and Burlington in Iowa laid out as a town. 
 
 The wholesale clothing business in the United States was 
 first commenced in the city of New York at this time. 
 
 The first steam-power printing-press set up at the West was 
 established at Cincinnati, for the publication of the Gazette. 
 
 The first gun rifled in the United States was accomplished at 
 South Boston, Mass. 
 
 Hammered-brass kettles began at this time to be manufactured 
 in this country at Wolcottville, Conn. 
 
 Wood- screws, for the first time manufactured by machinery, 
 were made at Providence. 
 
 The first table cutlery of American manufacture was made 
 in January, at Greenfield, Mass. 
 
 The New Jersey Railroad, from Jersey City to New Brims- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 103 
 
 wick, was completed. The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad 
 was opened for travel on the 1st of November. 
 1835 Riotous demonstrations continued to be exhibited in various 
 sections of the Northern States against the blacks and the abo 
 litionists; churches and public halls were assaulted, and anti- 
 slavery speakers rudely handled. Great excitement prevailed 
 at the South, in consequence of the circulation there of papers 
 and pamphlets sent by the different antislavery societies at the 
 North. On the 29th of July, the post-office at Charleston was 
 forced by a mob, the mails rifled, and all autislavery publi 
 cations destroyed. 
 
 Great attention was excited throughout the country by publi 
 cations in the newspapers of interesting discoveries concerning 
 the moon, made by means of a newly invented telescope, 
 which, when the facts became known, were designated as the 
 "Moon Hoax." Richard Adams Locke, the editor of the 
 New York Sun, wrote an article in that paper which purported 
 to be an account of discoveries made by Sir John F. W. Her- 
 schel at the Cape of Good Hope, and pretended to be taken 
 from a late number of an Edinburgh journal, in which the 
 author proceeded to delineate the geographical features and the 
 inhabitants of the moon with graphic power and such show of 
 probability, that the gravest journals accepted the account as 
 actual fact. The papers throughout the country copied the ar 
 ticle, and commented upon the wonderful discoveries, which, 
 for the time, created much speculation and wonder. The dis 
 covery of the hoax excited general merriment, and more so 
 against those journals which, hoping to gain credit for enter 
 prise, had pretended to have copied the article themselves from 
 the Edinburgh journal. 
 
 The President, in his Message, announced the extinguishment 
 of the national debt. The duties on imports and the sale of 
 the public lands had produced the money for that purpose. 
 
 The resources of the State of Ohio had been greatly devel 
 oped within the preceding five years. The State, at this time, 
 contained a population of about one million. One hundred 
 and twenty-five newspapers were established in sixty-five 
 towns. Cincinnati was seven days distant from Pittsburg, 
 fourteen from New York, and twenty-one from New Or 
 leans. 
 
 Miss Charlotte Cushman made her first appearance on the 
 stage at the Tremont Theatre in Boston, on the 8th of April, 
 in the character of the " Countess" in the marriage of Figaro. 
 She made a great success, and her popularity as an actress con 
 tinued more than forty years. 
 
 The first house at Yerba Buena, the germ of San Francisco, 
 was built. 
 
 At this period the residents of Harlem and Yorkville, at the 
 upper portion of New York Island, could reach the city by 
 public conveyance only, uufrequently, by using a stage-coach 
 plying between New York and Danbury, Conn. An hourly 
 stage between the city and Harlem was established this year, at 
 
104 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 a charge to Yorkvttle of eighteen and three quarter cents, and 
 to Harlem of twenty-five. 
 
 The New York Herald issued its first number on the 6th of 
 May, from its office of publication in the cellar of No. 20 Wall 
 street. The editor, Mr. Bennett, was his own reporter of the 
 police news, of the city items, and of the money market. 
 This latter department was the first of the kind published in 
 America. 
 
 The manufacture of mineral teeth for the market was first 
 established in the United States about this time, by D. W. 
 Stockton of Philadelphia. 
 
 The manufacture of horse-shoes by machinery was estab 
 lished at Troy. Up to this date they were made only by hand. 
 At this period there were but two manufactories of hair-cloth 
 in the country. One of these, the first in New England, was 
 but recently started at Deerfield, Mass. 
 
 The first manufacture of pins by machinery was commenced 
 at New York in December, by a company called the Howe 
 Manufacturing Company, from the name of the inventor of 
 the machines. 
 
 About this period an improvement was made in the manu 
 facture of hosiery, which, with the introduction of the 
 power-loom, in 1832, gave rise to the establishment of that 
 business on an extensive scale in this country. This new in 
 vention consisted in knitting the goods in one continuous circu 
 lar web. Heretofore they were knit in strips, cut up into 
 proper lengths, and the circle formed by sewing the web 
 lengthwise. 
 
 The first tiles for draining purposes are said to have been 
 made this year, near Geneva, N. Y. 
 
 Samuel Colt secured a patent for the famous revolving pis 
 tol bearing his name. 
 
 A fire-department was organized at Chicago on the 19th of 
 September, and two fire-engines and one thousand feet of hose 
 ordered. In December, the first bank in the place went into 
 operation. The first fire-engine in Indianapolis arrived there 
 in September from Philadelphia. 
 
 A conflagration occurred on the night of the 16th of December 
 at New r York, in the business part of the city devoted principally 
 to the wholesale dry-goods trade, destroying about seven hundred 
 buildings, and involving a loss of, as estimated, seventeen mil 
 lions of dollars. All insurance companies failed, excepting 
 two, that insured in that district, the loss absorbing their entire 
 assets, inflicting distress upon a class of people owning the 
 stocks who relied upon the dividends for support, such as 
 widows and orphans, which increased the extent of the catas 
 trophe. The burned district covered an area of about fifty 
 acres, in which only one store escaped entire. It embraced the 
 blocks from Coffee House Slip along South Street to Coenties 
 Slip, thence to near Broad Street, along William to Wall, and 
 down the south side of that street to the East River. 
 A rage on the subject of silk-culture was developed in many 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 105 
 
 sections of the country at this time, particularly in New Eng 
 land. Congress and several of the State legislatures, within 
 the past few years, had promoted the growing interest n that 
 business by means of publications, bounties, and other meas 
 ures. Large profits were realized by some in the sale of young 
 mulberry- trees, and large numbers of persons were induced to 
 
 fo into the business of raising silk. The speculative fever 
 isted several years, and many fortunes were made and lost in 
 the business. 
 
 The Boston and Providence Railroad was opened for travel 
 on the 2d of June ; the Boston and Lowell, on the 27th of 
 June ; the Boston and Worcester, on the 6th of July ; and the 
 Baltimore and Washington, on the 25th of August. The New 
 York and Erie was commenced on the 7th of November. 
 il836 The presidential election, this year, was warmly contested. 
 The Democratic party nominated Martin Van Buren for Presi 
 dent, and Richard M. Johnson for Vice-President. The oppo 
 sition party now took the name of Whig. There were different 
 sections of this combination, and although they were unable to 
 unite upon a single candidate, they were in hopes of defeating 
 the election of Mr. Van Buren by throwing the final choice in 
 to the House of Representatives. The result of the election 
 was as follows : For President, Martin Van Buren, who re 
 ceived one hundred and seventy electoral votes ; William H. 
 Harrison, seventy -three ; Hugh L. White, twenty-six ; Daniel 
 Webster, fourteen ; and W. P. Mangum, eleven. For Vice- 
 President, Richard M. Johnson received one hundred and forty- 
 seven votes ; Francis Granger, seventy-seven ; John Tyler, 
 forty-seven ; and William Smith, twenty-three. Martin Van 
 Buren received a sufficient number of electoral votes for elec 
 tion ; but by the terms of the Constitution, there was no choice 
 of Vice President, in which case the Senate of the United States 
 was designated to make it. By the vote in that body Richard 
 M. Johnson was elected, he receiving thirty-three votes against 
 sixteen given Mr. Granger. 
 
 Arkansas was admitted into the Union on the 15th of June, 
 with a constitution permitting slavery within the State. 
 
 Texas rebelled against the Mexican authorities, and, on the 
 2d of March, proclaimed her independence and adopted a re 
 publican form of government. 
 
 Wisconsin was organized under a territorial government, 
 with jurisdiction over the " District of Iowa." The latter Ter 
 ritory, at this time, had a population of ten thousand five hun- 
 dred. Madison was made the capital of Wisconsin, and was 
 situated in the midst of a wilderness. The settlement of Janes- 
 ville in Wisconsin, and of Davenport in Iowa, was com 
 menced. 
 
 The office of The Philanthropist, an abolition paper published 
 in Cincinnati, was attacked by a mob, on the 29th of July, en 
 tered and pillaged, the types scattered, and the press broken 
 ^and thrown into the river. 
 
 On the 9th of June, the Seminole Indians, under Osceola, 
 
106 HIStOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 were repulsed in an attack on the United States fortified post at 
 Micanopy, Fla. On the 12th of August they were victorious 
 at Fort Doane. 
 
 On the 15th of December, the United States Patent Office, 
 with all its contents, occupying a portion of the General Post- 
 office Building, in Washington, was destroyed by fire. 
 
 The first astronomical observatory built in the United States 
 was erected at Williamstown, Mass. 
 
 New Orleans was supplied with water pumped from the Mis- 
 sissipi into a reservoir, and thence conveyed to the houses by 
 means of pipes. 
 
 The city of Philadelphia was lighted with gas, for the first 
 time, on the 10th of February. 
 
 Miss Ellen Tree made her first appearance in America on the 
 12th of December, at the Park Theatre, in New York, and 
 proved to be the most popular actress, excepting Fanny Kem- 
 ble, known to the New York stage. 
 
 The first penny newspaper in Baltimore issued its first num 
 ber on the 10th of March, under the title of The Baltimore 
 Transcript. The Neic York Express commenced publication 
 on the 20th of June, and the Public Ledger, at Philadelphia, on 
 25th of March. 
 
 The first manufacture in this country of wrought-iron tubing 
 and fittings for gas, water, and steam pipes was commenced at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 The manufacture of fine-cut chewing tobacco was com 
 menced at Centreville, Mich., and, until the year 1847, was 
 made at no other place west of Detroit. 
 
 Felt cloth was first successfully manufactured at Norwalk, 
 Conn. 
 
 The first exportation of varnishes was made this year. The 
 manufacturers of New York shipped a considerable quantity 
 to South America and Mexico. 
 
 Heretofore, railroad cars were pulled up heavy grades by 
 means of stationary engines. On the 10th of July, on the Phil 
 adelphia and Columbia Railroad, it was for the first time dem 
 onstrated that ascents could be made by locomotives, without 
 the aid of stationary engines and ropes, which fact resulted in 
 the adoption of a new principle in the construction of railroads, 
 and the saving of great expense. It was also demonstrated, by 
 an experiment on the Beaver Meadow Railroad in Pennsylva 
 nia, that anthracite coal was a better fuel than wood for loco 
 motives. 
 
 The Utica and Schenectady Railroad, seventy-eight miles in 
 length, was opened for travel on the 1st of August. The 
 Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad was completed on the 18th 
 of April, and ground broken for its continuation throughout the 
 whole length of Long Island. 
 
 1837 Martin Van Bureri, as President, and Richard M. Johnson, 
 as Vice- President, commenced their official terms on the 4th of 
 March. 
 
 This year is marked by a remarkable pressure in the money 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 
 
 market, and great commercial distress resulting therefrom. 
 Numerous banks had been chartered in the preceding year by 
 the different State legislatures, to supply a supposed want of 
 banking capital consequent upon the refusal of Congress to 
 prolong the existence of the United States Bank, the charter of 
 which was about to expire. These new banks being without 
 any check to prevent excessive issues of paper circulation, the 
 facilities of bank accommodations occasioned a scene of specu 
 lation which extended far and wide over the whole Union, and 
 all classes of citizens were more or less entangled in the opera 
 tions which ensued. Extensive purchases of the public lands, 
 by individuals and companies, were among the schemes of the 
 day, for the employment of the abundance of bank paper. At 
 length, the government required all payments for the public 
 lands to be made in specie, which sometimes produced large 
 drafts on the banks for that commodity, and not only prevent 
 ed them from extending their lines of discount, but compelled 
 them to commence calling in their circulating notes. An order 
 had also been issued directing the surplus funds of the govern 
 ment to be distributed among the several States, and, from the 
 mode in which that was managed, contributed to the derange 
 ment of the currency, Another cause of pecuniary embarrass 
 ment and pressure was an excessive importation of merchan 
 dise from abroad, beyond the wants and abilities of the coun 
 try ; payments for which falling due, and American credit be 
 ing impaired in London, occasioned a large exportation of spe 
 cie to Europe. On the 10th of May, all the banks in the city 
 of New York, by common consent, suspended specie payments; 
 the banks of Boston, Providence, Hartford, Albany, Philadel 
 phia, and Baltimore, and others in every quarter, adopted the 
 same course. During the preceding two months, unprecedent 
 ed embarrassments and difficulties were experienced among the 
 mercantile classes, and were felt in all the commercial towns 
 in the United States, especially in New York and New Orleans. 
 The number of large failures which took place in New York in 
 a short time was about three hundred, their liabilities amounting 
 to many millions. In two days, houses in New Orleans stopped 
 payment, owing an aggregate of twenty-seven millions of dol 
 lars. In Boston, one hundred and sixty-eight failures took 
 place in six months. 
 
 Michigan was admitted into the Union on the 26th of Janu 
 ary. 
 
 t Osceola, the Seminole chief, was captured near St. Augus 
 tine. His capture ended the Seminole war. He had come un 
 der a flag of truce, to hold a conference with the American 
 general, and by the general s orders was detained. He was sent 
 as a prisoner to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, where he 
 was kept until the next year, when he died. 
 
 A mob attacked and fired a building in Alton, 111., on the 
 7th of November, in which was printed an abolition newspaper 
 published by Rev. E. P. Lovejoy. The editor was murdered, 
 and the press broken and thrown into the river. 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Chicago was incorporated as a city on the 4th of March. On 
 the 1st of July its population was forty -one hundred and sev 
 enty, and the number of buildings in the place about five hun 
 dred. 
 
 On the 8th of May, the large Louisville and New Orleans 
 packet Ben Sherrpd, while ascending the Mississippi and when 
 about fourteen miles above Fort Adams, caught fire about one 
 o clock at night, and the passengers, about three hundred in 
 number, had no alternative but to jump into the river without 
 having time to save even their clothes. More than two hun 
 dred lives were lost by this catastrophe. The boat was engaged 
 in a race at.the time, and the firemen, to raise more steam, used 
 pine-knots for fuel and sprinkled resin on the coal. 
 
 About fifty lives were lost on the night of the 27th of Decem 
 ber, on the Mississippi, by the explosion of the boiler belonging 
 to the steamboat Black Hawk as it was near the Red River. 
 
 The Baltimore Sun appeared on the 17th of May, and the 
 New Orleans Picayune on the 25th of January. 
 
 The first successful introduction of the screw in steam-navi 
 gation was made this year, on the steamer Thames, by Captains 
 Ericsson and F. P. Smith. 
 
 The dynamometer, an invention for ascertaining the power 
 used in driving machinery, was first put to use this year. 
 
 The invention of one-day clocks with brass movements was 
 introduced at this time in Connecticut, and resulted in a com 
 plete revolution of the clock business. The manufacture of 
 clocks with wooden movements was immediately stopped. 
 
 The first establishment erected for the exclusive manufacture 
 of machinists tools was opened at Nashua, N. H. 
 
 A man was publicly whipped on the court-house parade in 
 Providence, on the 14th of July, for horse-stealing. This 
 method of punishment had never been legally abolished, though 
 it had been discontinued for a long time. The law was soon 
 after repealed. 
 
 The railroad between Richmond and Fredericksburg, in 
 Virginia, was completed; the Michigan Central, from Detroit to 
 Ypsilanti, a distance of thirty miles, was opened for travel ; the 
 road from Baltimore to Wilmington, also, on the 19th of July; 
 and the Providence and Stonington, on the 10th of November. 
 On the 26th of October, the tunnel between Thirty -fourth and 
 Forty second streets, in New York, was completed by the 
 Harlem Railroad Company. 
 
 The Chenango Canal, connecting the Susquehanna at Bing- 
 hamton with the Erie Canal at Utica, was completed. 
 1838 The Mormons expelled from Missouri by persecution, whither 
 they had emigrated from Ohio, established themselves in 
 Hancock County, Illinois, and commenced building a town, 
 which they called Nauvoo. They numbered at this time about 
 twelve thousand. 
 
 The Atlantic Ocean was crossed for the first time by vessels 
 exclusively propelled by steam-power. There were two steamers, 
 called the Sirius and the. Great Western, which arrived at 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 100 
 
 New York in the summer, within a few hours of each other, 
 TheSirius started from London, and was seventeen days on her 
 passage; the Great Western, from Bristol, fifteen days. From 
 this period regular passages across the Atlantic were established. 
 
 A legacy amounting to over five hundred thousand dollars., 
 left the United States by Mr. James Smithson of England, ar 
 rived in August from London. The money was bequeathed by 
 Smithson for the advancement of knowledge, and was used for 
 the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 
 
 The first manufacture of gold thimbles and spectacles was 
 commenced at Long Meadow, Mass. 
 
 The first solid-headed pins made in the United States were 
 manufactured at Birmingham, Conn., by the Ho we Pin Company 
 which had removed to that town from New York. This new 
 style of manufacture soon superseded the spun-headed pins 
 heretofore used. 
 
 The first zinc manufactured in the United States w r as made 
 at the arsenal at Washington, from the red oxide of New 
 Jersey. It was used in the brass designed for the standard 
 weights and measures ordered by Congress. The expense of 
 its manufacture was so great, that for a long time any further 
 attempts to use this ore were abandoned. 
 
 The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad in Virginia, the 
 Nashua and Lowell, and a portion of the Mad River Railroad 
 in Ohio, were completed and opened for travel. 
 
 On the 27th of April, a destructive conflagration occurred at 
 Charleston, S. C. Eleven hundred and fifty-eight buildings 
 were destroyed, and nearly one half the city was desolated. 
 Property valued at three millions of dollars was lost. On the 
 afternoon of the 25th of April,* the steamboat Moselle, bound 
 for St. Louis, left her landing at Cincinnati, with an unusually 
 large number of passengers on board, supposed to be nearly 
 three hundred. The boat proceeded about a mile up the river, 
 to take on some German emigrants, and just as it was moving 
 from shore at that point her four boilers exploded simultaneously, 
 blowing the upper part of the vessel to atoms. The remainder, 
 after floating a short distance, sank in the river. About one 
 hundred and thirty persons lost their lives, and several others 
 were badly injured. 
 
 1839 On the 10th of October, the United States Bank failed, 
 and closed its doors, on account of ruinous speculations in 
 cotton. During the preceding year it bought cotton for a rise, 
 and for a time it advanced to sixteen cents a pound, but soon 
 declined in price, causing great loss to the bank. It made great 
 exertions to sustain itself by the sale of bonds in Europe, and 
 by issuing post-notes, which were sold in Boston and New York 
 at a discount of eighteen to twenty-four per cent. This failure 
 and cotton speculations caused a large number of bank suspen 
 sions, principally at the South and West. Three hundred and 
 forty- three banks closed business entirely, and sixty-two 
 partially. The government lost two millions of dollars in. 
 deposits by these failures. 
 
110 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The seat of Government for Illinois was removed from Van- 
 dalia to Springfield. 
 
 Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, was incorporated on the 
 llth of April, and in October lots were first offered for sale. 
 
 The first printing-press established west of the Rocky Moun 
 tains was set up at Walla Walla, in Oregon, a place founded by 
 *ome Presbyterian missionaries. 
 
 The first Normal School in America was opened on the 3d 
 of July, at Lexington, Mass. 
 
 The first successfully constructed screw-propeller was built 
 this year by Captain Ericsson, in England, and navigated to 
 this country. It demonstrated the value of screws over pad- 
 dles for boats used for certain purposes. 
 
 The first carpets woven by a power-loom, in this or any other 
 country, were produced this year at Lowell. 
 
 The first successful attempt to use anthracite coal in the 
 manufacture of iron was made at a furnace in Pottsville, Pa. 
 The proprietor was rewarded with a present of five thousand 
 dollars, subscribed by citizens of the State. 
 
 The first white settlement on the site of Sacramento was 
 made by J. A. gutter. 
 
 The express business in this country originated on the 4th of 
 March, when Mr. W. F. Harnden of Boston, according to 
 previous advertisement, made a trip from that city to New York 
 as a public messenger. He had in charge a few books and 
 some Southern and Western bank notes for delivery. His route 
 was by railroad from Boston to Stonington, thence by steam 
 boat to New York. He proposed also to take charge of freight 
 and attend to its early delivery, he having made a contract with 
 the railroad and steamboajt line on that route for that purpose. 
 
 Charles Goodyear obtained his first patent for vulcanized 
 india-rubber in February. 
 
 The Western Railroad, between Worcester and Springfield, 
 was opened for travel on the 1st of October. The Syracuse and 
 Utica, and the Syracuse and Auburn, railroads, were also com 
 pleted this year. 
 
 1840 Congress established the Independent Treasury. The new 
 system proposed to separate the government entirely from any 
 dependence upon the banks in its fiscal operations, the collec 
 tion, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursements of the public 
 money to be performed by agents of the government alone, 
 and only specie to be used in all transactions of the govern 
 ment. This act was repealed during the administration of Mr. 
 Tyler. 
 
 The result of the presidential election this year, after a cam 
 paign more than usually exciting, was successful for the candi 
 dates of the Whig party. These were William H. Harrison, 
 for President, who received two hundred and thirty-four elec 
 toral votes, and John Tyler for Vice-President, who received 
 the same number. Martin Van Buren was the nominee for 
 President of the Democratic party, and he received sixty votes. 
 For Vice-President, Richard M. Johnson received forty-eight 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill 
 
 votes, L. W. Tazewcll eleven, and James K. Polk one. A 
 third party, in favor of the abolition of slavery, had been or 
 ganized for some time, and this year nominated James G. Bir- 
 ney for President, who received some scattering votes in the 
 Northern States, but not sufficient in any one to give him a 
 single electoral vote. 
 
 The census of Iowa showed a population of forty-three thous 
 and ; and of Wisconsin, of thirty-one thousand. 
 
 The town of Scranton, Pa., was founded. 
 
 Water was supplied to the city of Chicago by a private cor 
 poration. It was pumped from the lake into a reservoir about 
 twenty-five feet square and eight feet deep, and thence con 
 veyed to the citizens by means of pipes made of logs. 
 
 This year, Mr. P. B. Burke and Mr. Alvan Adams com 
 menced to take charge of freight, and packages of money and 
 goods, and attend to their delivery, between Boston and New 
 York, by the way of Springfield, in competition with Mr. 
 Harnden, who had established the business in the preceding 
 year by the Stonington route. This enterprise was the founda 
 tion of the Adams Express Company. 
 
 The first manufacture of gold pens in this country was com 
 menced at New York. 
 
 The first iron-front building in America was erected on 
 Washington Street, in Boston, this year, upon the guarantee of 
 the builder that it should be taken down at his own expense if 
 it proved a failure. 
 
 The first successful daguerreotype portraits were made at the 
 New York University, by Dr. Draper. The process, invented 
 by Daguerre, in France, was purchased by the French Govern 
 ment, and was never used in copying landscapes and likenesses, 
 and was only adapted to statuary and architecture. When the 
 news of Dr. Draper s discovery reached London, its success 
 was ascribed to the peculiar brilliancy of the American sun 
 light. 
 
 A tornado visited the city of Natchez, on the 7th of May, 
 occasioning an immense destruction of property and loss of 
 life. Several steamboats were destroyed at the wharves, and 
 many persons who had embarked in them were drowned. A 
 large number of flat-boats were wrecked by the gale, and a 
 number of boatmen, estimated at upwards of two hundred, 
 perished. The wreck of one steamboat was afterwards found 
 at Baton Rouge, with fifty-one dead bodies on it. Of one 
 hundred and twenty flat-boats at the landing, all but four were 
 lost. The water in the river was agitated to that degree 
 that the best swimmers could not save themselves. Many 
 houses were blown down and several unroofed. 
 
 The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was completed from 
 Georgetown, D. C., to Cumberland, Pa., a distance of one 
 hundred and ninety-one miles, at a cost of about sixteen mil 
 lions of dollars. 
 
 The Housatonic Railroad, in Connecticut, was completed 
 from Bridgeport to New Milford on the 12th of February; 
 
112 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Raleigh and Gaston, and the Wilmington and Roanoke, in 
 North Carolina, in April; and the New Bedford and Taunton, 
 in Massachusetts, on the 1st of July. 
 
 Mdlle. Fanny Elssler, the celebrated danseuse, made her first 
 appearance in America at the Park Theatre, New York. Her 
 engagement was a great success, and a tour through the coun 
 try was one of unabated triumph. 
 
 1841 William Henry Harrison was inaugurated President on the 
 4th of March, and died exactly one month afterwards, when he 
 was succeeded by John Tyler, the Yice-President. 
 
 On the 7th of November, a brig from Richmond, Ya., sailed 
 for New Orleans with one hundred and thirty-five slaves on 
 board. When near the Bahama Islands, nineteen of the slaves 
 arose and took possession of the vessel to secure their liberty. 
 In the struggle which ensued, a slave-vender was killed, and 
 the captain, first mate, and ten of the crew were severely 
 wounded. The vessel was then sailed to Nassau, and being on 
 English soil, the slaves retained their liberty. 
 
 A riot took place at Cincinnati in September, lasting two 
 days, incited by the mob against the abolitionists and blacks. 
 Bands of armed men patrolled the streets in search of negroes ; 
 a colored meeting-house and several houses were demolished. 
 
 The first exportation of American clocks was made this year. 
 They were sent to England, and the invoice appeared to be so- 
 ridiculously low to the custom-house authorities at Liverpool 
 that they were at first seized for under-valuation. This ven 
 ture proving successful, the business was continued, and devel 
 oped into one of large dimensions; and clocks were sent to the 
 different countries of Europe, to Asia, and South America. 
 Before the use of brass movements, shipments were not made 
 across the ocean, as the old wooden clocks then in use would 
 be ruined, because exposure to the humidity of the sea caused 
 the movements of the clocks to swell and ruin them. 
 
 The grain-drill for planting wheat was patented in March, 
 and its introduction among \he farmers attempted, but was 
 only after the lapse of years that its value was recognized and 
 acknowledged. 
 
 The first steam fire-engine in this country was completed 
 and put to use in New York, under a contract made with the 
 associated insurance companies. It was, however, afterwards 
 sold and converted to other purposes, its great weight proving 
 to be a fatal objection to its use. 
 
 The express business continued to make progress. It was 
 continued this year as far south as Philadelphia, and west to 
 Albany. 
 
 The New York Tribune issued its first number on the 10th of 
 April, edited by Horace Greeley. It was about one third its 
 present size, and commenced with about six hundred subscrib 
 ers, procured by the exertions of a few of the editor s personal 
 and political friends. The expenses of the first week of its 
 existence were five hundred and twenty-five dollars ; and the 
 receipts, ninety-two dollars. 
 
HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 113 
 
 The Western Railroad was completed on the 21st of Decem 
 ber, and communication was opened by railroad between Bos 
 ton and the Hudson, opposite Albany. The railroad between 
 Auburn and Rochester was also completed, thus making a con 
 tinuous railroad between Boston and Rochester, excepting the 
 ferry at Albany. 
 
 1842 It was provided in a treaty executed between Great Britain 
 and the United States, that the latter nation should keep a force 
 of one thousand men and eighty guns on the coast of Africa to 
 assist in suppressing the slave-trade. 
 
 On the 1st of August, the colored people in Philadelphia at 
 tempted a celebration in commemoration of West India eman 
 cipation. Their procession w r as assailed by a mob, who exe 
 cuted many deeds of violence and bloodshed. A public hall 
 and a church were burned, and several private houses de 
 molished. Disturbances of like nature occurred at New Bed 
 ford, Nantucket, and other places. Anti-slavery meetings 
 were broken up, halls damaged, and people assaulted. 
 
 Pennsylvania and Maryland this year made default in the 
 payment of interest on their State debts. 
 
 A government expedition, consisting of twenty -eight Cana 
 dians and Creoles who were accustomed to prairie life, com 
 manded by John C. Fremont and accompanied by the cele 
 brated Kit Carson as a guide, left Choteau s trading-house, on 
 the Missouri River, for the purpose of exploring the country 
 between the frontier of Missouri and the South Pass in the 
 Rocky Mountains, on the line of the Great Platte and Kansas 
 Rivers. On the 14th of July they reached Fort Laramie, on 
 Laramie River, a post belonging to the American Fur Com 
 pany, and inhabited by a motley collection of traders, with their 
 Indian wives and parti-colored children. In August they came 
 to their destination, and Fremont ascended the loftiest peak in 
 that range of the mountains, about one hundred miles south of 
 Oregon. This peak is thirteen thousand five hundred and 
 seventy feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. On one 
 side of the mountain could be seen innumerable lakes and 
 streams and the springs of the Colorado, and on the other the 
 Wind River Valley, where were the sources of the Yellowstone 
 branch of the Missouri. Soon after the party set out on their 
 return, and on the 17th of October arrived at St. Louis. 
 
 The Bunker Hill Monument was entirely completed on the 
 23d of July. The obelisk is thirty feet square at the base, fif 
 teen feet square at the top, and two hundred and twenty-one 
 feet high. It is built of Quincy granite. 
 
 Rhode Island was agitated this year by "Dorr s rebellion," 
 as it was called. The old charter was and always had been the 
 basis of the organic law for the State, and allowed the right of 
 suffrage only to owners of a certain amount of real estate, and 
 to their eldest sons. Mr. Dorr for several years, while a member 
 of the assembly, exerted himself without avail to procure the 
 substitution of a liberal constitution in place of the old charter. 
 He then resorted to popular agitation, and organized a suffrage 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 party in opposition to the charter party. The suffrage parly, 
 after holding several large mass conventions, called a delegate 
 State convention to frame a new constitution, which was sub 
 mitted for ratification to the popular vote. It received fourteen 
 thousand votes, a clear majority of the citizens of the State. 
 The charter party, however, contended that a large proportion 
 of the votes were fraudulent. Mr. Dorr and his party assumed 
 that the new constitution was the fundamental law of the State, 
 and proceeded in accordance with it to hold an election for 
 State officers. Mr. Dorr was chosen governor, and a legislature, 
 composed exclusively of his supporters, was elected. The 
 charter party also held an election, polling fifty-seven hundred 
 votes, while the suffrage party claimed to have polled seventy- 
 three hundred. On the 3d of May, Mr. Dorr s party attempted 
 to organize at Providence. The other party formed a State 
 government on the same day at Newport, with Samuel W. 
 King as governor. Governor King proclaimed the State under 
 martial law, called out the militia, and asked and obtained the 
 aid of the United States troops to suppress the movements of 
 Dorr and his party. On the 18th of May a portion of the suf 
 frage party assembled at Providence under arms, and attempted 
 to seize the arsenal, but dispersed on the approach of Gov 
 ernor King with a military force. They assembled again at a 
 place about ten miles from Providence, but being attacked by 
 the State troops they dispersed without resistance. Mr. Dorr 
 took refuge in Connecticut and afterward in New Hampshire. 
 A reward of four thousand dollars was offered for his appre 
 hension by the authorities of Rhode Island. He soon returned 
 to the State, was arrested, tried, and convicted of high treason 
 and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was subsequently- 
 pardoned and restored to his civil rights, and the record of his 
 sentence expunged. He lived to see his State under a liberal 
 constitution, and his party in legal possession of the govern 
 ment. 
 
 The Croton Aqueduct, for supplying water to the citizens of 
 New York, was completed, and on the 14th of October the 
 event was celebrated. Its length is about forty miles, and cost 
 about twelve and a half millions of dollars. 
 
 The city of Dubuque, in Iowa, was incorporated. It is the 
 oldest town in the State, it having been settled by the French 
 in 1788. 
 
 The first manufacture of piano and damask table-covers by 
 power-looms was commenced in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The first submarine telegraph in this country was laid on 
 the 18th of October, between Governor s Island in the harbor 
 of the city of New York, and the Battery in that city. It was 
 invented by Professor Morse, and consisted of a copper wire 
 insulated by means of a hempen strand coated with tar, pitch, 
 and India-rubber. The next morning communications were 
 beginning to be received through it, when the wire was caught 
 by an anchor upon being hauled up, and a large portion of it 
 destroyed. This disturbance of the experiment led Professor 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 115 
 
 Morse to invent the method of transmitting the current across 
 a body of water, by means of extending the wires a distance 
 proportionate to the width along the banks on each side, and 
 causing the poles to terminate each pair opposite each other 
 in large metallic plates in the water. 
 
 The first introduction of wire-ropes was made by Mr. John 
 A. Boebling, who manufactured them for use on the inclined 
 planes of the Alleghany Portage Railroad, crossing the moun 
 tains and connecting the eastern and western divisions of the 
 Pennsylvania Canal. Hemp-ropes had been heretofore used 
 upon that railroad, at an annual expense of about twenty thou 
 sand dollars. 
 
 On the 21st of September, George Vandenhoff , who afterwards 
 made himself universally popular as a dramatic reader, made his 
 first appearance in America, at the Park Theatre in New York. 
 On the 4th of October, Mr. John Brougham appeared for the first 
 time in this country at the same place. 
 
 The railroad froin Rochester to Buffalo, the last link in the 
 line from Boston to Lake Erie; and the Philadelphia and Read 
 ing Railroad, were completed this year. The Concord and 
 Nashua Railroad was opened for travel on the 1st of Septem 
 ber. 
 
 On the 15th of April, the steamboat Medora, belonging to 
 the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, when about starting 
 from Baltimore on a trial trip, exploded her boiler, killing 
 twenty-seven persons and scalding and seriously injuring forty 
 others. 
 
 1843 About one thousand men, women, and children assembled at 
 Westport, on the Missouri frontier, in June, and commenced an 
 emigration to Oregon, where they arrived, after a laborious and 
 fatiguing journey of more than two thousand miles, in October. 
 Other emigrations soon followed, and before the close of the 
 year over three thousand settlers were in Oregon. 
 
 A second exploring expedition, commanded by John C. Fre 
 mont, consisting of thirty-nine men, Americans, Creoles, and 
 Canadians, left the town of Kansas, on the Missouri frontier, on 
 the 29th of May, for Oregon and California. On the llth of 
 July, they came in sight of Pike s Peak, having passed numer 
 ous trams of emigrant wagons on their way, and on the 13th of 
 August they crossed the Rocky Mountains at South Pass, which 
 is about half-way between the Mississippi River and the Pacific 
 Ocean. In September they visited the Great Salt Lake, and on 
 the 25th of October they reached the Columbia River. On the 
 4th of November, they proceeded in boats to Fort Vancouver, 
 on the Columbia, about one hundred miles from its mouth, and 
 on the 25th, started on their return journey by a southern route. 
 
 A submarine telegraph cable was laid between Coney Island 
 and Fire Island and the city of New York, by Mr. Samuel 
 Colt, and operated with success. The cable was insulated by 
 l)eing covered with a combination of cotton yarn, asphaltum, 
 and beeswax, and the whole inclosed in a lead pipe, gutta-percha 
 l)eing unknown at this time. 
 
116 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Cincinnati was lighted with gas for the first time on the 14th 
 of January. 
 
 The express business was extended from Philadelphia to Bal 
 timore, under a partnership company called Adams & Com 
 pany. 
 
 The first lake-propeller was launched at Cleveland. It used 
 the screw of Ericsson s patent. 
 
 The Miami Canal, connecting the Ohio at Cincinnati with 
 Lake Erie at Toledo, a distance of two hundred and fifteen 
 miles, was completed. The work was formally commenced on 
 the 4th of July, 1825. 
 
 The Georgia Railroad, one hundred and seventy-one miles in 
 length, connecting Augusta with Atlanta ; the Georgia Central, 
 one hundred and ninety-one miles, between Savannah and Ma- 
 con ; and the Boston and Maine, between Boston and Berwick, 
 were all opened for travel this year. 
 
 The renowned violinist Ole Bull made his first appearance 
 in America on the 25th of November, at the Park Theatre in 
 New York. Charles Walcott, for many years considered 
 among the best light and eccentric comedians on the stage, made 
 his debut at the Olympic Theatre in New York. 
 1844 The candidates of the Democratic party this year were James 
 K. Polk for President, and George M. Dallas for Vice-President. 
 The Whig candidates were Henry Clay^and Theodore M. Fre- 
 linghuysen. The most important issue in the election contest 
 was the question of the immediate annexation of Texas to the 
 United States, the former party advocating it, the latter oppos 
 ing. Some opposed the scheme because they feared the exten 
 sion of slave territory, others that the United States would be 
 involved in war with Mexico. The result of the election was 
 successful to the Democratic candidates, Mr. Polk and Mr. 
 Dallas each receiving one hundred and seventy electoral votes, 
 and Clay and Frelinghuysen one hundred and five. Mr. Bir- 
 ney was again nominated by the Abolitionists for President, 
 and received of the popular vote nearly sixty-five thousand. 
 
 The people of Illinois, in the neighborhood of Nauvoo, felt 
 scandalized at the doctrines and practices of the Mormons. A 
 newspaper was started to agitate the question of their expulsion 
 from the locality. By the orders of Smith the Prophet, the 
 obnoxious press was destroyed, the printing materials dispersed, 
 and the editors were obliged to flee for their lives. At Carthage, 
 warrants were prepared for the arrest of Smith, his brother, and 
 sixteen others, accused of being accessories in the destruction 
 of the printing-office. The constables sent to arrest them were 
 expelled from Nauvoo. The people of the county were re 
 solved to vindicate their laws, and the militia were ordered out. 
 The Mormons fortified their city, and the governor of the State 
 took the field in person. To avoid bloodshed, he parleyed with 
 the Mormon leaders, and persuaded Smith and his brother to 
 surrender themselves to the civil authority, with the assurance 
 that they would receive protection and .justice. The fiercest 
 animosity existed between the people of Hancock County and 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Mormons. The idea prevailed that at the connivance of the 
 governor the Mormon leaders would be allowed to escape. To 
 prevent this, a mob with blackened faces assembled on the even 
 ing of the 27th of June, fell upon and dispersed the guard at 
 Carthage jail, and rushed into the prison where the two Smiths 
 were confined. Smith was mortally wounded while attempting 
 to jump from the window, and his brother was shot dead in the 
 cell. The murderers were never identified. Upon the death 
 of Smith, the choice of a new head for the sect fell upon Brig- 
 ham Young. Disturbances occurred from time to time after 
 this, until in the year 1846 the Mormons resolved to remove 
 beyond the limits of civilization. 
 
 The Fremont Exploring Expedition returned to Kansas, its 
 starting-point, on the 31st of July, having visited this year the 
 southern end of the Great Salt Lake; the Pass in the Sierra Ne 
 vada, a point within two degrees of the Pacific Ocean, far south 
 of the latitude of Monterey; and a portion of New Mexico. On 
 their return they crossed the Rocky Mountains about one hun 
 dred and ninety miles south of the South Pass. 
 
 This year is marked by the introduction, by Professor Morse, 
 of the magnetic telegraph, and vulcanized India-rubber invented 
 by Charles Goodyear. As to the first, Professor Morse had in 
 terested Congress in his invention, and secured an appropriation 
 of thirty thousand dollars for the construction of an experi 
 mental line between Washington and Baltimore. The con 
 ducting wires were first put into tubes placed in the ground, 
 but that system soon proved to be impracticable, and then they 
 were strung above on poles. The wires were covered with rope- 
 yarn and tar, to protect them against the weather. By the 
 month of May, the whole line was laid, and magnets and re 
 cording instruments were attached to the ends of the wires at 
 Mount Clare Depot, Baltimore, and at the Supreme Court Cham 
 ber in the Capitol at Washington, and messages were success 
 fully transmitted. Mr. Morse then sought further government 
 patronage, which was declined upon the advice of the Post 
 master General, who, in his report upon the subject, declared 
 his belief that the telegraph, although an interesting experi 
 ment, could never become of practical value, and consequently 
 a very moderate offer made by Professor Morse for the sale of 
 his entire invention to the government was declined. An appeal 
 to the enterprise was then made to the business men of the 
 country. In order to bring the invention to their attention, Mr. 
 Ezra Cornell, who had superintended the erection of the ex 
 perimental line, opened for exhibition a short line of telegraph 
 in Boston. Finding but little encouragement in that city, the 
 exhibition Avas soon abandoned there and transferred to New 
 York, where an experimental line was opened in the autumn, 
 between No. 112 Broadway to a point just above the present 
 Metropolitan Hotel. So little attention did the invention then 
 receive, that Mr. Cornell and his assistant found it extremely 
 difficult to maintain themselves in the most humble manner 
 upon the admission-fee of one shilling per head, charged to view 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the exhibition. Early in the next year Mr. Amos Kendall, who 
 had been selected by Mr. Morse as his agent for the purpose, 
 made exertions with the public to secure capital for a line of tele 
 graph from New York to Baltimore and Washington. Meeting 
 with little favor, he thought best to attempt its construction first 
 between New York and Philadelphia, and to limit the request for 
 capital to the probable cost of that section. The estimated cost 
 of a line from Philadelphia to Hudson River was fifteen thou 
 sand dollars, which sum was with difficulty secured, chiefly 
 outside of New York. Mr. Corcoran of Washington was the 
 first to contribute. It was provided in the original subscription 
 that the payment of fifty dollars should entitle the subscriber 
 to two shares of fifty dollars each. A payment of fifteen thou 
 sand dollars, therefore, required an issue of thirty thousand 
 dollars stock. To the patentees were issued an additional thirty 
 thousand dollars of stock, or half the capital, as the consider 
 ation of the patent. The capital stock was therefore fixed at 
 sixty thousand dollars. Meanwhile an act of incorporation was 
 granted by the Legislature of Maryland the first telegraphic 
 charter issued in the United States/ The name of the company 
 
 mn ten years, 
 
 years after he had discovered the secret of 
 vulcanization, succeeded in conducting his process with abso 
 lute certainty. It was in 1820 that a pair of rubber shoes was 
 seen for the first time in the United States. They were covered 
 with gilding, and resembled in shape the shoes of a Chinaman. 
 They were handed about in Boston only as a curiosity. Two 
 or three years after, a ship from South America brought to Bos 
 ton five hundred pairs of shoes, thick, heavy, and ill-shaped, 
 which sold so readily as to invite further importations. In 
 1830, vast quantities of the raw gum reached the United States, 
 covered with hides, in masses, of w r hich no use could be made, 
 and it remained unsold, or was sent to England. The raw 
 rubber could then be bought in Boston at five cents a pound, 
 and the idea of finding some means of utilizing it was suggested 
 to Mr. E. M. Chaffee, a foreman of a Boston patent-leather fac 
 tory. He experimented with the article, and succeeded, as he 
 supposed, in making an invention of great value. He made 
 some specimens of cloth spread with rubber, which, after being 
 dried in the sun, presented a surface firm and smooth, that 
 appeared to possess the good qualities of patent-leather, with 
 the additional one of being water-proof. A number of capi 
 talists were convinced of the value of his invention, and they 
 formed a company in 1833 at Roxbury, with thirty thousand 
 dollars capital. The success of the enterprise was astonishing, 
 and within a year the capital was increased to one hundred and 
 forty thousand dollars. Before another year expired this was 
 increased to three hundred thousand, and in the year following 
 to four hundred thousand. The company manufactured many 
 articles of cloth covered with rubber, such as coats, caps, wagon 
 curtains, coverings, and shoes of pure rubber without cloth. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 119 
 
 The goods sold more rapidly than they could be manufactured. 
 The prosperity of the Roxbury company called into existence 
 similar establishments in other towns. Manufactories were 
 started at Boston, Framingham, Salem, Lynn, Chelsea, Troy, 
 and Staten Island, with capitals ranging from one hundred 
 thousand dollars to half a million, and all of them appeared to 
 prosper. It was in 1834, when the business was most flourish 
 ing, that Mr. Goodyear s attention was called to a rubber life- 
 preserver, and he thought he could make an improvement in 
 the inflating apparatus. He explained his contrivance to the 
 agent of the Roxbury company, and offered to sell it. The 
 agent, struck with the ingenuity displayed in the invention, 
 took Mr. Goodyear into his confidence, and suggested his aid in 
 overcoming a difficulty that threatened the company with ruin. 
 He told him that the prosperity of the rubber companies was 
 fallacious. Vast quantities of shoes and fabrics had been sold 
 by his company at high prices in the cool months, but during 
 the following summer the greater part of them had melted. 
 Twenty thousand dollars worth had been returned, reduced to 
 the consistency of common gum, and emitting an odor so offen 
 sive that they had been obliged to bury it. Experiments made 
 to overcome the difficulty had proved unsuccessful. Goods 
 would become sticky in the sun and rigid in the cold. The 
 agent urged Goodyear not to waste time upon minor improve 
 ments, but to direct all his efforts to finding out the secret of 
 successfully working the material itself. This chance conver 
 sation with the agent led Goodyear to investigate the subject, 
 and to continue his experiments year after year, against almost 
 overwhelming discouragements and adversities. Meanwhile 
 the business of all the rubber companies began to decline, and 
 before the close of 1836 ceased altogether, resulting in a loss of 
 about two millions of dollars. 
 
 The first operations in copper-mining in the Lake Superior 
 region were commenced this year. 
 
 The second attempt in the United States to establish a theatre 
 for operatic performances exclusively w r as made in New York 
 by Ferdinand Palmo, who erected a building for the purpose 
 on Chambers Street, in the rear of the City Hall. The enter 
 prise was a failure, and the building was subsequently sold to 
 William E. Burton, who used it for light comedy. 
 
 A treaty was made between the United States and China, by 
 which the citizens of this country were permitted to frequent, 
 trade, and to reside at the ports of Kwang-chow, Amoy, Fu- 
 chow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. 
 
 In June occurred a rise of the Missouri and the middle sec 
 tion of the Mississippi rivers, which far exceeded all former 
 floods of those rivers ever known, destroying an immense 
 amount of property. 
 
 The steamboat Shepherdess, while ascending the Mississippi, 
 about eleven o clock on the night of the 2d of January, struck 
 a snag when about three miles south of St. Louis. In less than 
 two minutes after the water rose to the lower deck, where many 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of the passengers were sleeping. Upwards of forty lives were 
 lost by this catastrophe. On the 25th of October, three of the 
 boilers of the steamboat Lucy Walker burst, the boat caught 
 fire, and over fifty lives were destroyed, besides several persons 
 injured. This calamity took place on the Ohio, near New Al 
 bany, Indiana. More than eighty persons lost their lives by a 
 collision between two steamboats on the Mississippi on the 1st 
 of March. The concussion was so violent as to sink one of the 
 boats in five minutes. 
 
 The first American newspaper established on the Pacific 
 coast was issued at Oregon City, and called the Flumgudgeon 
 Gazette, or Bumble Bee Budget. The Evening Journal was 
 established at Chicago. 
 
 The Polka dance was introduced this year into this country; 
 and a piece entitled " Polka Mania" was played at a theatre in 
 New York, where the dance, from its novelty, attracted great 
 crowds to witness the performance. 
 
 1845 On the 4th of March, James K. Polk and George M. Dallas 
 commenced their terms of office as President and Vice-President 
 of the United States. 
 
 Congress passed a bill for the annexation of Texas to the 
 United States, wbich was signed by President Tyler on the 3d 
 of March. The debate upon this subject had been long and 
 violent. On the 16th of June, the Texan Congress accepted the 
 terms of annexation, and on the 4th of July it was made com 
 plete. In December, Texas was admitted into the Union as a 
 State, with a constitution permitting slavery within her limits. 
 The Convention of Texas having authorized and requested the 
 President of the United States to occupy and establish posts 
 without delay upon the frontier and exposed positions of that 
 republic, and to introduce such forces as were deemed necessary 
 for the defence of the territory and people of Texas, an " army 
 of occupation" was despatched from the United States, under 
 the command of General Taylor, and on the 26th of July a 
 body of United States troops landed from steam-vessels, at 
 Aransas Bay, on which day the American flag was first planted 
 in Texas, upon the south end Of St. Joseph s Island. This 
 movement and the measures of annexation agreed upon by 
 the United States and Texas, were looked upon by the Mexican 
 Government as acts of hostility towards Mexico, and prepara 
 tions were made by the republic for an appeal to arms. 
 
 Congress passed acts admitting Florida and Iowa into the 
 Union. 
 
 Congress reduced the rate of postage, making it five cents on 
 single letters not exceeding three hundred miles, and ten cents 
 over that distance. 
 
 Congress passed an act fixing the Tuesday after the first 
 Monday in November as the day of the presidential election in 
 all the States. Heretofore the election was held at different 
 times in the different States, and frequently its result was finally 
 influenced by the votes in the States which held the first 
 elections. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 
 
 The first Express business established west of Buffalo went 
 into operation in April, under the name of Wells & Company. 
 
 Petroleum was obtained in boring for salt near Tarentum. on 
 the Allegheny, thirty-live miles above Pittsburg. Before this, 
 the Seneca Indians gathered supplies of it, and it was known 
 as Seneca oil, or Genesee oil, from its being found also near the 
 head of the Gencscc River. 
 
 Atlanta, Ga., was laid out as a town. 
 
 Improvements in the manufacture of carpets were introduced, 
 by the invention of machinery for making Brussels and 
 tapestry goods, by which eighteen to twenty yards of those 
 carpets could be manufactured in a day, against four or five 
 heretofore made by hand. By the improved method of pro 
 ducing figures, they would match, which operation when done 
 by hand would match only imperfectly. 
 
 A conflagration occurred at Pittsburg, on the 10th of April, 
 by which a large portion of the city was laid waste, and a greater 
 number of houses destroyed than by all the fires which had 
 previously visited the city. Twenty squares, containing about 
 eleven hundred buildings, with their contents, were destroyed, 
 involving a loss, as estimated, of ten millions of dollars. A 
 conflagration occurred at New York on the 19th of July, de 
 stroying property of the estimated value of over five millions 
 of dollars, including three hundred and forty -five buildings. 
 The burned district embraced New, Broad, Beaver, Market- 
 field, Stone, and Whitehall streets, Exchange Place, and lower 
 Broadway. 
 
 As the steamboat Marquette was leaving her wharf at New 
 Orleans, on the 1st of July, all her boilers exploded simul 
 taneously, killing about fifty persons. On the night of the 
 8th of January, the steamboat Belle Zane, while on her way 
 from Zanesville, Ohio, to New Orleans, struck a snag in the 
 Mississippi, and immediately capsized. Of the ninety persons 
 on board, only fifty escaped drowning, and many of those who 
 succeeded in reaching the shore were afterwards frozen to 
 death. Others suffered amputation of their limbs, which were 
 badly frozen. 
 
 Mrs. Anna Cora Mo watt, a very popular actress, made her 
 debut at the Park Theatre, in New York, on the 13th of Jane. 
 1846 The northern boundary of Oregon was settled by treaty 
 between the British Government and the United States, on the 
 15th of June, to be on the forty-ninth degree of north latitude. 
 By this treaty the last remaining subject of controversy between 
 the two nations was removed, and the relations of the United 
 States and Great Britain were thus placed on the most firm and 
 amicable footing. 
 
 Congress declared war against Mexico on the 13th of May, 
 and soon passed other acts for carrying it on with vigor. The 
 army under General Taylor arrived at the left bank of the 
 Rio Grande about the last of March, and occupied a position 
 opposite Matamoras. The Mexican generals commanding their 
 troops on the Rio Grande declared that the advance of the 
 
122 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 American army was a hostile movement, and commenced 
 hostilities by capturing a detachment of American troops which 
 were out on a reconnoitring expedition. The Mexican Govern 
 ment claimed that the boundary of Texas was the river IS ueces, 
 while the Americans claimed that the territory of Texas ex 
 tended to the Rio Grande. On the 8th of May, General Taylor 
 encountered the Mexicans in considerable force at Palo Alto, 
 where an action ensued, and the Mexicans were defeated. 
 On the next day the hostile forces again met seven miles in 
 advance, when the Americans were again victorious, and the 
 Mexicans retreated, with great loss, across the Rio Grande. 
 During General Taylor s absence, Fort Brown, opposite Mata- 
 moras, was bombarded by the Mexican batteries from the 4th 
 to the 9th of May. After establishing his base of opperations 
 on the Rio Grande, General Taylor, on the 18th of May, took 
 military possession of the city of Matamoras, and then moved 
 into the enemy s country in the direction of Monterey. Another 
 portion of the army under General Wool was concentrated at 
 San Antonio de Bexar for a movement upon Chihuahua. The 
 army under General Taylor arrived before Monterey, on the 
 19th of September, and commenced the attack on that strongly 
 fortified city on the 21st, the battle continuing through that 
 and the two succeeding days. The Americans attacked the 
 enemy in his fortified position, captured his batteries and 
 various fortresses, when the place capitulated. General Wool 
 penetrated the Department of Coahuila, to Monclova, and 
 afterwards formed a junction with the forces under General 
 Taylor at Saltillo. Another army under the command of Gene 
 ral Kearney, moved from Fort Leaveuworth upon Santa Fe,. 
 where it arrived, after a march of eight hundred and seventy- 
 three miles, on the 18th of August, and took military possession 
 of New Mexico without resistance. After establishing a civil 
 government for that territory, General Kearney departed with a 
 portion of his forces for California. On his route thither he met 
 an express sent by Commodore Stockton and Captain Fremont, 
 who reported that they were already in possession of California. 
 On receiving this intelligence, General Kearney sent back a 
 portion of his troops and continued his march to California, 
 where he arrived in December. After various actions and 
 skirmishes with the enemy, the American forces remained in 
 possession of the Californias. 
 
 Commodore Stockton, in conjunction with Captain Fremont, 
 who was in command of a third United States exploring ex 
 pedition, conquered California after a few skirmishes with the 
 Mexicans, and established a civil government for that country. 
 
 An expedition, consisting of two ships under the command of 
 Commodore Biddle, was despatched to Japan by the United 
 States to open negotiations for commerce with that empire. 
 The expedition reached the Bay of Jeddo in July, but being 
 imperatively refused in its requests, after remaining there ten 
 days it sailed away on its return to America, without accom 
 plishing the object of the voyage. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 123 
 
 The Mormons having been persecuted by the citizens of 
 Illinois, and having found that they could not practise their 
 religion and customs in that State without continual war with 
 the inhabitants, resolved upon removing to the distant wilder 
 ness. In February, a portion of the sect, consisting of sixteen 
 hundred men, women, and children, crossed the Mississippi on 
 the ice, and travelling with ox- teams and on foot, penetrated the 
 country to the Indian Territory, near Council Bluffs, on the 
 Missouri, which they reached, under the guidance of President 
 Brigham Young, at the opening of summer. From that place 
 they journeyed on until the following spring, when they settled 
 upon the Great Prairie inhabited by the Omahaws. Here they 
 built a city of seven hundred houses, a tabernacle, constructed 
 mills and workshops, and established a newspaper. They sent 
 missionaries to Oregon, California, the Sandwich Islands, and 
 even to Australia, to secure converts. Some were sent to fix a 
 home still farther away from civilization, and they selected the 
 valley of the Great Salt Lake for a permanent habitation. In 
 1848, a general migration of the Mormons set in for that local 
 ity. The New Jerusalem was laid out within an area of four 
 square miles, with broad streets and spacious sidewalks. The 
 work of building a city went on rapidly. A spacious house 
 was built for Brigham Young and his council, and in less than 
 two years after the advent of the pioneers in the valley, a 
 convention was called at Great Salt Lake City to organize a civil 
 government. A free and independent government, by the name 
 of the State of Deseret, was ordained, and a constitution was 
 adopted, designed to remain in force only until the Congress of 
 the United States should erect the settlement into a Territory. 
 A Territorial government was established in 1850, and Brigham 
 Young was appointed governor by the President of the United 
 States. 
 
 The seat of government for Alabama was removed from 
 Tuscaloosa to Montgomery. 
 
 A patent for a sewing-machine was granted Elias Howe, Jr., 
 on the 10th of September. This was the first complete sewing- 
 machine designed for domestic and general use. From this 
 invention started the immense sewing-machine business of this 
 country. At first Howe met with disappointment in establish 
 ing its introduction, and he went to England, where he met the 
 same scepticism as to its merit and utility. Returning to the 
 United States, he found that his machine was imitated and in 
 troduced, and he became involved in law-suits, which continued 
 until 1854. when the principal infringers acknowledged his 
 rights, and arranged to manufacture sewing-machines under 
 licenses from him. 
 
 The discovery that sulphuric ether, when inhaled, produced 
 insensibility to pain, was made this year. 
 
 The Magnetic Telegraph Company completed the line of 
 telegraph between Philadelphia and Fort Lee, on the New Jersey 
 side of the Hudson, opposite Audubon s, on the upper end of 
 New York Island, and from the latter place into the city on the 
 
124 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 20th of January. Communication between Fort Lee and Audu- 
 bon s was first established by means of a cotton- covered copper 
 wire saturated with pitch and enclosed in a lead-pipe laid on the 
 bottom of the river; but that plan soon proving to be a failure, 
 messages were conveyed between the tw r o points by boatmen. 
 Soon afterwards the New Jersey termination was changed to 
 Jersey City, and messages were taken across the river by ferry 
 at frequent intervals, and delivered in New York. Soon after 
 the completion of the New r York and Philadelphia line, the 
 capital of the company was enlarged sufficiently to pay the 
 expense of its continuation to Baltimore, which line was com 
 pleted on the 5th of June. The cash receipts of the business of 
 the company during this year W 7 ere forty-two hundred and 
 twenty-eight dollars. In September, a telegraph line was com 
 pleted between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, and on the 29th 
 of December it was extended to Pittsburg, and opened for 
 business. On the 3d of July, telegraphic communication was 
 opened between Boston and Buffalo, and between New York 
 and Albany on the 9th of September. The line between Boston 
 and New York was completed on the 27th of June. 
 
 The lower section of the Northern Railroad in New Hamp 
 shire was opened this year, and the whole road completed in 
 the next year. 
 
 1847 On the 22d of February was fought the battle of Buena 
 Vista, near Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila, by the American 
 troops under General Taylor, and the Mexican army under 
 General Santa Anna. The latter consisted of twenty thousand 
 men, while the American forces were less than one fourth that 
 number, not five hundred of whom were regulars. The action 
 continued two days, after which the Americans were left in 
 possession of the field, and the Mexicans retreated to San Luis 
 Potosi. The loss on both sides was severe that of the Mexicans 
 over fifteen hundred, and of the Americans about seven hun 
 dred and fifty, in killed and wounded. 
 
 During the month of February an American land and naval 
 force was concentrated on the Gulf of Mexico, the military 
 being under the command of Major-General Scott, and the naval 
 forces under Commodore Connor, who was afterwards relieved 
 by Commodore Perry. On the 9th of March, the troops were 
 debarked at Vera Cruz, and on the following clay a rapid fire of 
 shot and shells was opened from the city and castle, upon the 
 position occupied by the American army. The landing of the 
 mortars and guns for the American batteries was delayed for a 
 few days; consequently the arrangements for a bombardment 
 were not completed until the 22d of March, when General Scott 
 summoned the city to surrender, which demand was refused by 
 the Mexican governor. Orders were then given to fire upon 
 the city, and a continued fire from the American batteries was 
 kept up with terrible effect until the 26th of March, when the 
 batteries ceased playing, and articles of capitulation were signed 
 on the following day. The surrender of the city took place on 
 the morning of the 29th, when the Mexican soldiers marched 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 125 
 
 out to a plain one mile outside of the town, where the Ameri 
 cans were drawn up to receive them. The Mexicans laid down 
 their arms and departed for the interior. A succession of 
 tattles with uniform success was fought by the army under 
 General Scott, on their march from Vera Cruz to the city of 
 Mexico. On the 18th of April, they fought a battle at Cerro 
 Cordo with a Mexican army of twelve thousand men, com 
 manded by Santa Anna, in which the Mexicans were defeated 
 with a loss of one thousand in killed and wounded left on the 
 field, and three thousand prisoners. General Scott s force con 
 sisted of eighty-five hundred men, and his loss was four hun 
 dred and thirty. In August the American army, recruited to 
 the number of about eleven thousand men, advanced upon the 
 city of Mexico. On the 20th one of the fortresses defending 
 that city was assaulted and taken, with about one thousand 
 prisoners, the Mexicans losing about fifteen hundred men in 
 killed and wounded. On the same day the battle of Churu- 
 busco was fought, in which a Mexican army of about thirty 
 thousand men was engaged, and they were again defeated, leav 
 ing the city at the mercy of the Americans. In this battle the 
 Mexicans lost ten thousand men, one fourth of whom were 
 prisoners, the rest killed and wounded. An armistice was 
 soon concluded with Santa Anna for the purpose of negotiating 
 a peace. In September hostilities commenced again, each 
 party accusing the other of violating the armistice. On the 8th 
 the Americans stormed and carried the fortified works of 
 Molino del Rey, the Mexicans losing about twenty-eight hun 
 dred men, the Americans eight hundred. On the 13th Chapul- 
 tepec was assaulted and carried, and the Mexicans defeated with 
 great loss. On the 14th, the Americans entered and took pos 
 session of the city of Mexico, and hostilities ceased from this 
 time. 
 
 On the 29th of November, a party of Indians attacked the 
 fortified post at Walla Walla, in Oregon, murdered fifteen 
 Americans, and carried away captive sixty -one prisoners. Upon 
 the receipt of the news in the Willamette settlements, troops 
 were raised and an expedition sent against the Indians, who 
 were defeated in three battles, and their villages and crops de 
 stroyed. 
 
 The first American school in Minnesota was established this 
 year at St. Paul. 
 
 The city of Indianapolis was chartered, and, on the 1st of 
 May, organized under a city government. At this period the 
 place contained a population of about six thousand. The first 
 wholesale dry-goods house was established. 
 
 The first theatre in Chicago was opened on the 28th of June. 
 The Chicago Tribune issued its first number. 
 
 The first importation of gutta percha into the United States 
 was made; Twenty- five thousand pounds arrived direct from 
 Singapore. 
 
 The zinc-mines in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, were dis 
 covered this year. 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The first successful type-revolving press in this or any other 
 -country was made by R. Hoe & Col, in New York. 
 
 Several lines of telegraph were completed this year, in differ 
 ent sections of the country, and from this time they continued 
 to spread in every direction. 
 
 On the 19th of November, two steamboats came in collision 
 on the Mississippi, near Cape Girardeau. One of the boats sunk, 
 drowning more than fifty persons. Two days afterwards, in 
 the morning before daylight, the steamer Phrenix, on Lake Mich 
 igan, near Sheboygan, caught fire, and more than one hundred 
 and sixty persons, principally emigrants from Holland, were 
 burned to death or drowned. On the 29th of December, the 
 steamboat A. N. Johnson exploded her boiler, on the Ohio, 
 about twelve miles above Maysville, Ky., killing from sixty to 
 eighty persons, and injuring many others. 
 
 1848 A treaty of peace was signed on the 2<1 of February, at the 
 city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, between the Mexican commission 
 ers and Mr. Trist on the part of the United States. By this 
 treaty the Rio Grande was acknowledged as one of the bounda 
 ries between the United States and Mexico, thus confirming the 
 claims of the United States to Texas, and the territory between 
 the river Nueces and the Rio Grande. New Mexico and Cali 
 fornia were ceded to the United States, in consideration of 
 which the United States agreed to pay to Mexico the sum of 
 fifteen millions of dollars; and to assume the claims due her citi 
 zens, to an amount not exceeding three and one fourth millions 
 of dollars. The treaty was duly ratified by the Mexican Con 
 gress and the United States Senate. 
 
 Oregon was erected into a Territory, and Wisconsin admitted 
 into the Union. 
 
 At the presidential election this year, the Democratic party 
 voted for Lewis Cass for President, and William O. Butler 
 for Vice-President. The candidates of the Whig parly were 
 General Zachary Taylor for President, and Millard Fillmpre 
 for Vice-President. The agitation of the question of restrict 
 ing or prohibiting slavery in the territory acquired from Mexi 
 co by the United States, caused the formation of a third party, 
 called the Free-Soil party, merging in its ranks most of those 
 who had been organized as abolitionists, and drawing addition 
 al strength from both the Whig and Democratic parties in the 
 Northern States. This party nominated Martin Van Buren for 
 President, and Charles Francis Adams for Vice-President. 
 The election resulted in the choice of the Whig candidates, each 
 of whom received one hundred and sixty-three electoral votes. 
 The Democratic candidates received, each, one hundred and 
 twenty-seven. The Free- Soil candidates obtained no electoral 
 votes, but polled over two hundred and ninety thousand of the 
 popular vote. 
 
 Gold was discovered in the Sacramento Valley, California, 
 early in the year. This fact got noised abroad, and in about 
 three months upwards of four thousand persons were at work 
 there, digging for gold and achieving remarkable success. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 127 
 
 Further explorations showed that deposits of gold extended 
 over a vast extent of country. This discovery at once changed 
 the character of California. Its people, before engaged in cul 
 tivating small patches of ground and guarding their herds of 
 cattle and horses, flocked to the mines, and the fever of getting 
 suddenly rich raged among and pervaded the entire commun 
 ity. 
 
 The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was incorporated. 
 
 The manufacture of gutta-percha was commenced in this 
 country this year. The first submarine cable, in this or any 
 other country, insulated with gutta-percha, was laid across the 
 Passaic and Hudson rivers for the telegraph line between Phil 
 adelphia and New York. 
 
 The Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting Lake Michigan 
 with the Illinois River, at La Salle, was completed in the 
 spring. 
 
 The suspension bridge across the Ohio at Wheeling was 
 completed. Its span was ten hundred and ten feet. 
 
 The corner-stone of the monument to General Washington, 
 was laid at the city of Washington, on the 4th of July. 
 
 The first importation of guano into this country was made 
 this year. One thousand pounds were received. 
 
 The first satisfactory experiment of recording time from a 
 clock stationed at a distance was made on the 17th of Novem 
 ber. A delicate clock was especially contrived and wires were 
 put up for the purpose, at the expense of the United States 
 Coast Survey, between Cincinnati and Pittsburg. a distance of 
 four hundred miles. The clock placed in the electric circuit 
 recorded its beats at all the offices along the line upon a gradu 
 ated fillet of paper, on the plan of the Morse apparatus. 
 
 St. Louis and Brooklyn were both lighted with gas this year, 
 for the first time. 
 
 A conflagration in Brooklyn on the 9th of September de 
 stroyed about three hundred buildings and property valued at 
 one and one half millions of dollars. The blocks bounded by 
 Fulton, Henry, and Orange streets, and Fulton, Sands, Wash 
 ington, and Concord streets, were laid waste. 
 
 The Cochituate water was introduced into Boston on the 25th 
 of October. 
 
 The phenomena at Rochester, N. Y., called "Rochester 
 Knocking^," appeared this year, which soon caused not only 
 great excitement at that place, but was a subject of wonder and 
 newspaper comment throughout the country. Mysterious rap- 
 pings occurred in the houses of "mediums," as they were called, 
 which appeared to answer questions put by visitors. Much 
 excitement was manifested in several places in the country, 
 and, many people believing the communications and the phe 
 nomena proceeded from spirits, they began to be designated 
 as Spiritualists. 
 
 A fourth exploring expedition under John C. Fremont left 
 the Upper Pueblo Fort, near the head of Arkansas River, on 
 the 25th of November. The previous expeditions of Fremont 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 were for the benefit of the government, but this one was a pri 
 vate enterprise, with a principal object in view of discovering 
 a proper highway connecting the Mississippi River with the 
 Pacific Ocean. 
 
 A terrible catastrophe attended an excursion on the Poto 
 mac, on the 28th of February, of the United States steamer 
 Princeton, by the explosion of a gun, the power of which was 
 being exhibited. Mr. Upshur, the Secretary of State, and Mr. 
 Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy, were killed, and several dis 
 tinguished persons seriously injured. On the 27th of May, the 
 steamer Clarksville, a regular packet-boat plying between New 
 Orleans and Memphis, was destroyed by fire near Ozark Island, 
 by which disaster thirty passengers ana nearly all the crew lost 
 their lives. On the 9th of August, a flue on the steamer Ed 
 ward Bates collapsed on the Mississippi, near Hamburg, 111., 
 causing the death of fifty-three persons, and wounding forty 
 others. Twenty eight persons were killed and several wounded 
 by the bursting of the boilers of the steamer Concordia at 
 Plaqueminc, La., on the 16th of September. 
 
 1849 On the 5th of March, Zachary Taylor, as President, and 
 Millard Fillmore, as Vice-President, took the oaths of office. 
 
 On the 3d of March, Congress passed an act for organizing 
 Minnesota under a Territorial government. St. Paul, con 
 taining at this time but a few log-huts, was made the seat of 
 government. 
 
 The United States ship Preble, forming a part of the Ameri 
 can fleet in the China seas, sailed for Japan in February to res 
 cue sixteen American seamen, who had been shipwrecked on 
 the coasts of some of the Japanese islands, and had there 
 been detained and imprisoned. As the ship approached the 
 coast of Japan, an unsuccessful attempt was made to oppose 
 her progress, and the object of her visit was attained only after 
 threats of violent measures if the demand were further refused. 
 
 The cholera visited America again this year. The disease 
 prevailed at New Orleans nearly eight months, carrying off 
 about thirty-five hundred persons. Almost every vessel which 
 left the city had cases on board, which spread the disease over 
 different sections of the country. The deaths from cholera in 
 Memphis were 290; Nashville, 805; St. Louis, 4557; Chicago, 
 678; Buffalo, 858; Sandusky, 285; Albany, 334; Boston, 611; 
 New York, 5071; and Philadelphia, 1022. 
 
 Information of the gold discoveries in California spread in 
 every direction, and adventurers flocked there from all quar 
 ters; from the Pacific coast of Mexico and South America, the 
 Sandwich Islands, and China. The American emigration 
 commenced to arrive there by sea in July and August, and by 
 overland in September. It was estimated there were fifteen 
 thousand foreigners there in July. At a place called Sonorian 
 Camp it was supposed there were ten thousand Mexicans alone. 
 They had quite a city of booths, tents, and log-cabins, hotels, 
 stores, and shops of all descriptions. An enclosure made of the 
 trunks of trees, and lined with cotton-cloth, served as an am 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 129 
 
 phitheatre for bull- fights and other amusements. The foreign 
 ers resorted principally to the southern mines, the Americans 
 to the northern. The first season the laborers averaged about 
 one ounce of gold per day. It was estimated that during this 
 and the preceding year gold to the value of about forty mil 
 lions of dollars was collected, one half of which was taken 
 out of the country by foreigners. The first regular banking- 
 house established in California was started at San Francisco on 
 the 9th of January. In January, the first frame house on the 
 banks of the Sacramento was erected at Sutter s Fort. Some 
 few months later, the settlers at that place removed to the site 
 of the present city of Sacramento. 
 
 In June, Rev. Theobald Mathew, commonly called "Father 
 Mathew," arrived in New York, whence he visited many of 
 the important cities of the Union, and delivered lectures upon 
 temperance to immense audiences. 
 
 Edwin Booth, the celebrated tragedian, at this time not 
 quite sixteen years of age, made his first appearance on the 
 stage at the Boston Museum, on the 10th of September. 
 
 The first degree of " M.D." given in the United States to a 
 woman was received by Elizabeth Blackwell from the Medical 
 School of Geneva, N. Y., after she had made unsuccessful ap 
 plications at the schools of Philadelphia, New York, and 
 Boston. 
 
 The first newspaper in St. Paul was established there on the 
 28th of April, under the name of the Pioneer. 
 
 The New York Associated Press Association was formed. It 
 was composed of the Journal of Commerce, Courier and En 
 quirer, Tribune, Herald, Sun, and Express. 
 
 In the month of May, occurred at New York what has been 
 known as the Astor Place Riot. In consequence of an un 
 friendliness of long standing between Mr. Edwin Forrest and 
 Macready, the celebrated English tragedian, the friends of the 
 former actor threatened to prevent the appearance, as an 
 nounced, of Mr. Macready in New York. On the night of the 
 7th, when he appeared as " Macbeth" at the Opera House in As 
 tor Place, such was the confusion prevailing in all parts of the 
 house, the manager was obliged to drop the curtain before the 
 termination of the performance. Mr. Macready was thereupon 
 inclined to cancel his engagement; but upon the publication of 
 a card signed by many citizens, requesting him to continue, 
 and promising to protect him in the discharge of his duties, he 
 consented to perform on the evening of the 10th. On that oc 
 casion, owing to the precautions taken to preserve order in the 
 house, he succeeded in acting his part, and at the end of the 
 play was called out by the audience, whom he thanked for his 
 protection and support. Outside the theatre, the friends of 
 Forrest, after vainly endeavoring to effect an entrance, com 
 menced an attack on the building with stones and missiles. 
 The police being unable to restrain the mob, which was in 
 creasing in numbers and violence, and the reading of the riot 
 act proving ineffectual, the military were called out and were 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 obliged to discharge several volleys of musketry to quell the 
 disturbance. Twenty-two persons were killed and thirty -six 
 wounded. Mr. Macready escaped in disguise, and, making no 
 further attempt to perform in New York, he soon left the 
 country. 
 
 A fire on the 17th of May destroyed a large part of the busi 
 ness portion of the city of St. Louis, involving a loss, as esti 
 mated, of three millions of dollars. 
 
 In March, a flood devastated the city of New Orleans 
 which was the most destructive that ever visited that place. 
 Many of the streets were ten feet under water, and a large 
 amount of merchandise was destroyed. The plantations above 
 were overflowed, and the rush of water over the fields in some 
 places was irresistible, carrying away everything which op 
 posed the current, which was believed to move at the rate of 
 sixty miles an hour. The damage sustained by planters and 
 others was estimated at sixty millions of dollars. 
 1850 On the 9th of July, President Taylor died, and Millard Fill- 
 more succeeded him in office. 
 
 In September, Congress passed bills, after a vehement and 
 protracted struggle upon the slavery question, for the admis 
 sion of California into the Union as a State ; for providing 
 Territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico ; for the 
 suppression of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia ; and 
 a fugitive-slave bill. The bill authorizing the admission of 
 California into the Union recognized the constitution of that 
 State as framed by a convention >f the people which prohi 
 bited slavery within her borders. The fugitive-slave bill im 
 posed a fine of one thousand dollars, and six months imprison 
 ment on any person harboring fugitive slaves, or aiding them 
 to escape. It was estimated that there were more than twenty 
 thousand fugitive slaves residing in the free States, a large 
 number of whom had intermarried with free persons, and the 
 passage of this bill struck terror upon the whole colored popu 
 lation and their sympathizing friends. Public meetings were 
 held in different sections of the Northern States in condemna 
 tion of the bill. Eight days after the passage of the act, an 
 agent armed with the power of attorney from a slave-owner in 
 Maryland, appeared in New York in search of one James 
 Hamlit, a husband and father, a member of the Methodist 
 church, and a resident in the city three years. He was seized 
 while at work, hurried into a retired room, tried in haste, 
 delivered to the agent, handcuffed, taken away without an 
 opportunity to bid farewell to his family, and put into prison 
 in Baltimore. A few days afterwards, a similar scene was en 
 acted in Philadelphia. In Detroit an attempt to arrest a fugi 
 tive excited a popular resistance, to suppress which it was 
 necessary to invoke the aid of the military. 
 
 Congress passed an act donating the right of way and a grant 
 of land to the States of Illinois, Mississippi, and Alabama, in 
 aid of the construction of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile. 
 
 Popular interest was excited this year by an invasion of Cuba 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 131 
 
 from the American shores. An expedition of three hundred 
 men, under the command of General Lopez, sailed from New 
 Orleans on the 25th of April and the 2d of May, and landed 
 at Cardenas on the 19th of May. A brief struggle ensued be 
 tween the invaders and the Cuban troops, in which the latter 
 were repulsed; an attack was then made on the governor s 
 palace, which was plundered, a large amount of money seized, 
 and the governor taken prisoner. The invaders had counted 
 upon accessions to their ranks from the Spanish army and from 
 the disaffected inhabitants. In this, however, they were en 
 tirely disappointed, and Lopez re-embarked with a few of his 
 companions, and made his escape to New Orleans, leaving the 
 great body of his followers behind. These were taken prison 
 ers by the Cuban authorities, but were subsequently released 
 upon a demand of the United States Government. Lopez was 
 arrested upon his arrival in the United States on a charge of 
 having violated the neutrality laws. 
 
 An expedition fitted out by the government, at the expense of 
 Mr. Henry Grinnell of New York, sailed from that city on the 
 24th of May, for the arctic regions, in search of Sir John 
 Franklin. It consisted of two ships under the command of 
 Captain De Haven, and returned in October of the next year 
 without accomplishing the object of the voyage. 
 
 The number of inhabitants in Williamsburg, L. I., was 
 estimated at thirty-one thousand. The first directory was pub 
 lished and a gas company organized. 
 
 The cities of Nashville, Chicago, and Lowell were lighted 
 with gas. In Chicago a Board of Trade was established. 
 
 The first establishment west of the Alleghanies for the manu 
 facture of copper and brass was started near Pittsburg. This 
 was the first factory in the United States projected for work 
 ing American copper exclusively. 
 
 F. B. Conway made his first appearance in America, at the 
 Broadway Theatre in New York, on the 19th of August ; and 
 at the same place, Madame Ponisi appeared in this country for 
 the first time, on the llth of November. On the 4th of the same 
 month, Signorina Teresa Parodi commenced an engagement 
 at the Astor Place Opera House, in the same city. 
 
 Jenny Lind arrived at New York on the 1st of September, 
 amid great enthusiasm of the people, and demonstrations of 
 welcome far exceeding any which had ever before greeted the 
 arrival in America of any foreign songstress or actor. On the 
 evening of her arrival she was serenaded by The New York 
 Musical Fund Society, numbering on that occasion two hun 
 dred musicians. On the llth she made her first appearance on 
 the stage in America at Castle Garden, and this concert was fol 
 lowed by five others. The number of persons present on each 
 occasion exceeded seven thousand. The receipts on the first 
 night were about thirty thousand dollars, and Jenny Lind im 
 mediately bestowed ten thousand upon several of the worthiest 
 charities of the city. During the next nine months she gave 
 ninety-three concerts in the principal cities of the Union and 
 
132 HISTOEY OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 at Havana, -which produced receipts, as it was stated, of up 
 wards of seven hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was completed 
 from Chicago to Elgin, 111., a distance forty-two miles. This 
 was the first road built from Chicago running in any direction, 
 and the first one in the State. It was chartered in 1836, but 
 its construction was not commenced, on account of the finan 
 cial situation of the country, until the year 1847, at which time 
 the first rail was laid. 
 
 A fire occurred in Philadelphia on the 9th of July, destroy 
 ing property exceeding one million of dollars in value, 
 causing a loss of thirty -five lives, and injuring about one hun 
 dred more persons. The area swept by the fire was one of the 
 most densely populated in the city, occupied principally by 
 poor people, who suffered greatly by the calamity. A fire 
 destroyed about three hundred buildings and much valuable 
 property in San Francisco, on the 14th of June. 
 
 A new steamer, called the Anglo-Norman, left New Orleans 
 on the 14th of December, on an experimental trip, having on 
 board a large pleasure-party, consisting of two hundred and 
 ten persons. Soon after starting, all her boilers exploded, kill 
 ing and wounding nearly half the people on board. 
 1851 Congress passed an act fixing the rates of postage on letters at 
 three cents on single letters if prepaid, and five cents if not pre 
 paid, on all distances under three thousand miles, and double 
 those rates over that distance. 
 
 An act was passed authorizing the President to send a gov 
 ernment vessel to the Mediterranean to bring Kossuth, the Hun 
 garian general, and other exiles among his countrymen, to the 
 United States. In September, the United States steamship 
 Mississippi sailed from Constantinople through the Dardanelles 
 to Kutaya, where Kossuth and his comrades embarked. The 
 ship proceeded to Marseilles, but being refused a passage 
 through France by the French Government, Kossuth remained 
 on board the steamer until she reached Gibraltar. Having de 
 termined to make a hasty visit to England, he left the Ameri 
 can ship, and proceeded to Southampton in an English steamer. 
 Having received a cordial welcome from the people of several 
 parts of England, Kossuth embarked for the United States in 
 the steamer Humboldt, and arrived in the harbor of New York 
 on the 5th of December. He remained in that city for some 
 days as its guest, receiving great demonstrations of respect and 
 sympathy. His entry into the city was celebrated by a grand 
 military and civic procession, amid a vast concourse of people 
 assembled to welcome him. His address on the occasion was 
 remarkable for its bold and dignified sentiments, and for the 
 highest order of eloquence. On the llth a banquet was given 
 him by the city council, and afterwards various other enter 
 tainments were given him in the city, and deputations of 
 citizens of different classes, and from various parts of the 
 United States, waited on him with their welcome. From New 
 York Kossuth proceeded to Washington, stopping on his way 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 133 
 
 at Philadelphia and Baltimore, where he was welcomed as in 
 New York. On the 31st he was presented to the President of 
 the United States, on which occasion he expressed his gratitude 
 for himself, his associates, and his country, and for the encourage 
 ment and sympathy shown by our government for the Hunga 
 rian cause. Kossuth visited various sections of the Union, and 
 was received everywhere with demonstrations of welcome and 
 enthusiasm for himself and his cause. Kossuth at length re 
 turned to New York, whence he embarked for England, in 
 July, 1852. 
 
 Another invasion of Cuba, by four hundred and eighty men 
 under General Lopez, took place on the llth of August. Many 
 of his followers were killed, and others taken prisoners and 
 shot. Lopez himself was taken captive, and executed on the 
 1st of September. 
 
 Several attempts were made in the Northern States by agents 
 of Southern slave-owners to seize their fugitive slaves. Some 
 of the fugitives were rescued by force and others by subscrip 
 tions raised and paid for their freedom. 
 
 Davenport, Iowa, was incorporated under a city charter. It 
 Contained, at this period, a population of about two thousand. 
 
 The Hudson River Railroad was completed between New 
 York and Albany, and opened for travel on the 8th of October. 
 The New York and Erie Railroad was completed in April, 
 from Dunkirk, on Lake Erie, to Piermont, on the Hudson 
 River. The formal celebration of the opening of the road took 
 place on the 14th of May, and among the distinguished guests 
 who attended were the President of the United States and 
 some members of his Cabinet. 
 
 The Wabash and Erie Canal, connecting the Ohio River at 
 Evansville, Ind., with Lake Erie, at Toledo, a distance of four 
 hundred and sixty-seven miles, was completed. 
 
 The first iron-front building in Indianapolis was erected. 
 
 The first number of the New York Times appeared on the 
 18th of September. The first newspaper published in Minne 
 sota, outside of St. Paul, was issued during the last week in 
 May, and called The St. Antfwny Express. 
 
 Lola Montes, the famous danseuse, made her first appearance 
 on the stage in the United States, at the Broadway Theatre, in 
 New York, on the 29th of December. Her world-renowned 
 adventures had given her name a celebrity, which attracted 
 great crowds in New York and the principal cities of the coun 
 try where she visited. 
 
 Crimes against property and the person had become so fre 
 quent in San Francisco, that numbers of the citizens formed 
 themselves into a Vigilance Committee, and adopted measures 
 for the punishment of crime more sure and summary than 
 those furnished by the administration of law. 
 
 A conflagration in San Francisco, on the 3d of May, destroyed 
 a large part of the business portion of the city. Twenty -five 
 hundred buildings were consumed, involving a loss of three and 
 a half millions of dollars. The custom-house, seven hotels, 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and the post-office were among those burned. On the 22d of 
 June another tire occurred at the same place, which destroyed 
 five hundred buildings, involving a loss of three millions of 
 dollars. 
 
 In Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, and along the whole course 
 of the Upper Mississippi, great damage was done, in June, by 
 an unusual and long- continued flood of that river. Many 
 towns of considerable size were quite overflowed. At St. Louis, 
 during the greater part of that month, the levee was entirely 
 submerged, and all the stores on Front Street filled with wa 
 ter to the depth of several feet. For a vast extent along the 
 Mississippi, Missouri, and their tributaries, the bottom-lands 
 were submerged for so long a time as to destroy the growing 
 crops. 
 
 A sad accident occurred in New York on the 27th of No 
 vember. In a large public school in the Ninth Ward one of 
 the teachers was seized with paralysis. The circumstance 
 alarmed her pupils, and their screams created a sudden panic 
 throughout the whole school. Immense numbers rushed to 
 the stairs, the banisters of which gave way, and the children 
 fell one upon another, upon the stone floor below. Forty-three 
 were killed by the catastrophe. 
 
 The steamer John Adams struck a snag on the Ohio, on the 
 27th of January, and sunk immediately, causing a loss of one 
 hundred and twenty-three lives, mostly emigrants. Upwards 
 of ninety persons lost their lives by a boiler explosion on the 
 steamer Brilliant, on the Mississippi, near Bayou Goula. About 
 sixty persons were killed, scalded, or mutilated, by a boiler ex 
 plosion on the steamboat Oregon, near Island No. 82, on the 
 Mississippi, on the 2d of March. 
 
 1852 At the presidential election this year the candidates of the 
 Democratic party w r ere Franklin Pierce for President, and 
 William R. King for Vice-President, each of whom received 
 two hundred and fifty-four electoral votes, and were elected. 
 The Whig party nominated General Winfield Scott for Presi 
 dent, and William A. Graham for Vice-President, and they re 
 ceived forty -two electoral votes those of four States only, viz., 
 Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The Free- 
 Soil, or Anti-Slavery party, nominated John P. Hale for Presi 
 dent, and George W. Julian for Vice-President. A portion of 
 the abolitionists nominated as candidates William Goodell for 
 President, and S. M. Piper for Vice-President. The slavery 
 question was now growing into an important issue in national 
 politics, and divisions existed in the two great political parties 
 of the country upon that subject. While Democrats of the 
 Northern States were willing to consider the question of the 
 extension of slavery as settled, those of the South were divided 
 into what were called "Union men" and "Southern-rights 
 men" the latter holding the doctrine of the right of a sove 
 reign State to secede from the Union whenever the rights of 
 the State were violated by the action of the general govern 
 ment. This Southern-rights section comprised a large majority 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 135 
 
 of the Democratic party in most of the slave-holding States. 
 On the other hand, the great body of the Whigs at the South 
 were Union men, and satisfied with the measures of the last 
 Congress. But, in the Northern States general!} 7 , the largest 
 portion of the Whig party were dissatisfied with some of the 
 compromise measures of Congress, although acquiescing in the 
 same, and had on all suitable occasions, through their repre 
 sentatives in Congress and otherwise, opposed the extension of 
 slavery in the Territories of the United States. The abolitionists, 
 so called, were a distinct organization on the subject of anti- 
 slavery, and composed of persons drawn from both the Demo 
 cratic and Whig parties. 
 
 The number of the emigrants to Oregon, this year, was esti 
 mated at ten thousand. 
 
 The East River between New York and Brooklyn was frozen 
 over on the 20th of January, and a stream of travellers crossed 
 from one city to the other for a few hours in the forenoon. 
 
 Williamsburg, L. I., organized under a city charter, on the 
 1st of January. A ferry was established between Greenpoint 
 and New York. Manchester, N. H., was first lighted with gas 
 in September, and Easton, Pa., in November. 
 
 A system of telegraphic fire-alarms was devised in Boston, 
 and adopted in that^city. 
 
 The manufacture of galvanized iron was first commenced in 
 this country at Philadelphia, this year. 
 
 The first working model of Wellman s self top-card stripper 
 was exhibited, and in the next year patented. It is stated that 
 the average cost of stripping by hand was three hundred dollars 
 per annum, all of which was saved by this invention, which 
 also saved from one eighth to one quarter of a cent per pound 
 on the raw cotton. 
 
 The lens system of illuminating the lighthouses on the Ameri 
 can coast was commenced, and it soon superseded the reflectors 
 which had been used exclusively since their introduction in 
 1812. 
 
 Signora Alboni, considered the most distinguished contralto 
 singer of this century, arrived in the United States in June, and 
 for upwards of a year sang in operas, concerts, and oratorios in 
 the principal cities with great success. 
 
 The Michigan Southern Railroad from Monroe, Michigan, to 
 Chicago, was completed and opened for travel on the 20th of 
 February. This was the first road from the East that entered 
 that city. The Michigan Central followed, and was opened 
 the whole distance between Detroit and Chicago on the 21st of 
 May. The Chicago and Rock Island Railroad was opened for 
 travel between Chicago and Joliet, a distance of forty miles, on 
 the 18th of October. 
 
 About three fourths of the city of Sacramento were destroyed 
 by fire on the 2d of November. About forty blocks were 
 burned over, consuming about twenty-five hundred buildings, 
 and depriving of shelter nearly one half the inhabitants of the 
 
136 HISTOEY OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 city. Several lives were lost, and the value of the property 
 destroyed was estimated at over five millions of dollars. 
 
 An unusual number of accidents occurred on the western 
 waters this year. On the 3d of April, the steamboat Glencoe, 
 from New Orleans, arrived at St. Louis, and had just been 
 moored at the levee when three of her boilers burst, causing the 
 death of more than eighty persons. The houses for several squares 
 around appeared to reel under the force of the concussion. On 
 the 2d of the same month, more than twenty persons were 
 killed on the steamboat Bedstone, by the explosion of its 
 boilers, while on the Ohio River, near Carollton. On the 9th 
 of April, the steamer Saluda, bound for Council Bluffs, burst 
 her boilers near Lexington, Mo., killing nearly one hundred 
 persons, most of whom were women on their way to the Great 
 Salt Lake. On the 5th of July, the steamboat St. James ex 
 ploded her boilers on Lake Ponchartrain, near New Orleans, 
 while carrying a large number of passengers returning from 
 the celebration of the previous day. More than forty lives 
 were lost by this disaster. A flue of the steamboat Franklin 
 collapsed when near St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi, on the 
 22d of August, causing the loss of thirty-two persons. A 
 catastrophe occurred on Lake Erie, before daylight, on the 
 morning of the 20th of August, from a collision which oc 
 curred between the steam-propeller Ogdensburg and the 
 steamer Atlantic. More than one hundred lives were lost by 
 this disaster, the greater portion of them being Norwegian emi 
 grants, who were unable through their ignorance of the English 
 language to avail themselves of the means of safety suggested. 
 
 The burning of the steamboat Henry Clay, which occurred on 
 the Hudson River on the 27th of July, probably caused greater 
 excitement throughout the community than any other disaster 
 of the year, partly because of the criminal recklessness dis 
 played by the officers of the boat. The steamer left Albany in 
 the morning with a large number of passengers for New York. 
 During the greater part of her way down she ran a race with 
 a rival boat, carrying an extraordinaiy head of steam, and be 
 coming so intensely heated by the large fires kept up that it be 
 came difficult to pass from one end of the steamer to the other. 
 The passengers remonstrated with the officers, but without 
 effect. In the afternoon, when opposite Yonkers, the boat took 
 fire, was run ashore, and it burned to the water s edge. Over 
 seventy lives were lost by drowning and the flames. Another 
 accident occurred on the Hudson River about forty miles below 
 Albany, on the 4th of September. The connection pipes of the 
 steamer Reindeer burst, killing twenty- seven persons and seri 
 ously injuring fifty more. 
 
 1853 Franklin Pierce was inaugurated President of the United 
 States on the 4th of March, and William R. King took the oath 
 of office as Vice-President. 
 
 Congress passed an act erecting a new territory out of the 
 northern part of Oregon, with the name of Washington Terri 
 tory. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 137 
 
 A treaty was concluded between the United States and Mexi 
 co, by which a purchase was concluded by the former govern 
 ment of that part of New Mexico called Arizona. 
 
 Congress, in March, passed an act appropriating one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars to defray the expenses of the neces 
 sary surveys and explorations of different routes to determine 
 the most practicable line for a railroad to the Pacific. In ac 
 cordance with the act, four different parties were organized 
 and sent out to make surveys of as many different routes. 
 These parties were fitted out in the most complete manner, with 
 a view to collect all possible information relative to the physical 
 characteristics of the region traversed, including its topography, 
 its elevation above the sea, its climate, its geology, its botany, 
 and its natural history, as well as all details bearing upon 
 the actual construction of the road. In the next year Congress 
 made additional appropriations, and three more exploring par 
 ties were organized for the same purposes. 
 
 An expedition, consisting of four vessels and a supply-ship, 
 under the command of Captain Ringgold, sailed from Norfolk, 
 Va., in June, to make a thorough exploration of proper routes 
 to be pursued by our vessels between San Francisco and China, 
 and of the whaling-grounds of the Sea of Okhotsk and Behring s 
 Straits. 
 
 An expedition, fitted out at the joint expense of the govern 
 ment and Mr. Henry Grinnell of New York, to continue the 
 search for Sir John Franklin in the Arctic regions, sailed from 
 that city on the 31st of May. It consisted of a single vessel, 
 named the Advance, with a company of seventeen persons, un 
 der the command of Dr. Kane, and with provisions sufficient 
 for two years, independent of what might be gained by hunt 
 ing. 
 
 The New York Crystal Palace, erected by private enter 
 prise for a universal industrial exhibition, on Reservoir Square, 
 at Sixth Avenue and Forty-second Street, in the city of New 
 York, was formally opened on the 14th of July. The occasion 
 was marked by the presence of the President of the United 
 States and some of his Cabinet officers. 
 
 The yellow-fever devastated New Orleans during the sum 
 mer months, and large contributions of money were raised in 
 many of the Northern cities in aid of those rendered destitute by 
 the scourge in that city. The mortality at times exceeded two 
 hundred and fifty a day, and the total number of deaths from 
 the disease was about seventy-two hundred. The disease also 
 raged in other Southern cities. One sixth of the total popula 
 tion of Vicksburg died of it, and about twelve hundred in Mo 
 bile. 
 
 The Middlesex Canal, in Massachusetts, was abandoned, and 
 its banks were soon afterward levelled, and parts of the channel 
 filled up. The introduction of railroads ruined its business, 
 
 Madame Sontag, one of the most renowned singers of Europe, 
 made her first appearance on the stage in America at Niblo s 
 Garden, in New York, on the 10th of January. She afterwards 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sang in the principal cities of this country, and then went to 
 Mexico. Upon her return trip from that country she was at 
 tacked with cholera, and died at Vera Cruz in the next year. 
 
 The celebrated Irish exile, John Mitchel, made his escape 
 from Van Diemen s Land, and reached New York, by way of 
 San Francisco, on the 29th of November. He attended a pub 
 lic banquet on the 8th of December, given in his honor by the 
 authorities of Brooklyn, and on the 19th was complimented by 
 another from citizens of New York. 
 
 The zinc-works at Bethlehem, Pa., went into operation on 
 the 12th of October. 
 
 The first locomotive constructed in Chicago was built this 
 year. A company was also formed at that city for making 
 cars. 
 
 The first successful steam fire-engine constructed in this coun 
 try was completed early in the year at Cincinnati. A paid fire- 
 company was organized in that city, and it was the first one es 
 tablished in this or any other country. 
 
 The New York Clearing House, an association of fifty -two 
 banks of the city of New York, went into operation on the llth 
 of October. 
 
 The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, from Chicago to 
 Freeport, 111., was completed its whole length, a distance of 
 one hundred and twenty-one miles, and opened for travel on the 
 4th of September. This road was subsequently absorbed in the 
 Chicago and Northwestern Railroad system. The entire line 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and that of the Boston, 
 Concord and Montreal, and of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence, 
 connecting Portland with Montreal, were completed this year. 
 The New York and Erie Railroad made its eastern terminus at 
 Jersey City in November, instead of Piermont. The Albany 
 and Schenectady, the Utica and Schenectady, the Syracuse ancl 
 Utica, tb.e Auburn and Syracuse, the Auburn and Rochester, 
 the Tonawanda, and the Attica and Buffalo railroads, were all 
 consolidated into one corporation, called The New York Cen 
 tral Railroad Company. 
 
 The first telegraph-line in California was completed on the 
 22d of September. It extended from San Francisco, eight 
 miles, to a point nearer the sea, and was built to give early in 
 formation of shipping arrivals. A telegraph-line between San 
 Francisco and Marysville, a distance of two hundred and six 
 miles, went into operation on the 24th of October. 
 
 The Brooklyn City Railroad Company, of Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 was incorporated on the 17th of December. Cars commenced 
 running for the first time on the 3d of July of the next year. 
 
 A fire occurred on the 10th of December, in the building 
 occupied by Harper Brothers, in New York, and destroyed 
 property valued at over one million of dollars. All their build 
 ings, the machinery, and stereotype plates, excepting those 
 stored in vaults under the sidewalks, were ruined. 
 
 A collision took place between two trains at the crossing of 
 the Michigan Central and Northern Indiana railroads, near 
 
HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 139 
 
 Chicago, on the 23d of April, by which about twenty persons 
 were killed outright and a large number injured. A sad disas 
 ter occurred on the New York and New Haven Railroad on the 
 6th of May. A drawbridge of sixty feet in width, across the 
 Norwalk River, was opened to admit the passage of a vessel. 
 A train advancing at unusual speed, in broad daylight, rushed 
 into the opening and was plunged into the water. Over fifty 
 persons were killed, many of whom were physicians returning 
 from a convention held at New York. 
 
 Public attention was engrossed at that time upon receiving 
 intelligence of the loss of the steamship San Francisco, which 
 was wrecked off the coast of South Carolina, in the latter part 
 of December. The vessel was new, and was on her first voy 
 age at the time of the disaster. She sailed from New York on 
 the 22d of December, with seven hundred persons on board, 
 nearly five hundred and fifty of whom were United States troops 
 bound for California. On her third day out the ship encoun 
 tered a violent gale, and it soon became so fierce and the sea so 
 heavy that the starboard paddle-box was stripped, her smoke 
 stacks carried away, and about one hundred and fifty of the 
 troops and officers were washed overboard. The ship became 
 utterly unmanageable, and drifted from day to day, until she 
 came near the latitude of Boston, where the survivors were res 
 cued by passing vessels. Nearly two hundred lives were lost 
 by the disaster. The steamer Independence was lost on the 
 island of Margitu, off the coast of Lower California, on the 16th 
 of February. She struck on a hidden rock, and received so 
 much damage that it was found necessary to run her ashore ; 
 in doing this the vessel took fire, and the passengers and crew 
 were driven overboard into the surf. One hundred and twenty- 
 nine persons were lost. On the llth of April, thirty-one per 
 sons were killed by the bursting of a steam-pipe on the steam 
 ship Jenny Lind, while the vessel was on her passage from 
 Alviso to San Francisco. Thirty-eight persons lost their lives 
 by the burning of the steamer Ocean Wave, on Lake Ontario, 
 the 20th of April. 
 
 1854 In January, a bill was introduced in Congress which provided 
 for the establishment of two Territories, one to be called Nebras 
 ka and the other Kansas, to consist of the vast tract of country 
 stretching from the western borders of Missouri, Iowa, and 
 Minnesota, to the Territories on the Pacific, and from the Brit 
 ish possessions on the north to the thirty-seventh parallel of 
 north latitude on the south almost twice as large in area as the 
 thirteen original States. By the bill, it was provided that the 
 people in those new Territories were left free to decide the ques 
 tion for themselves, whether they would allow or prohibit sla 
 very within their domain ; by which provision, if passed, the 
 Compromise Act of 1820-21, which provided that the institu 
 tion of slavery should be allowed in Missouri and be prohibited 
 in all territory north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes 
 north latitude, would be effectually repealed. The bill was 
 finally passed after a protracted and violent debate of about four 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 months, during which period the slavery question was aroused 
 in all its strength and vigor in Congress and the country at 
 large. The whole North became violently excited ; public 
 meetings were held by men of all parties, and petitions and re 
 monstrances against the measure were poured into Congress 
 while the debate on the subject was progressing. One of these 
 petitions was signed by three thousand clergymen of New Eng 
 land. As soon as the bill became a law, there commenced a 
 desperate struggle between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery peo- 
 
 Ele of the country for an immediate and complete supremacy 
 i Kansas, the most southerly of the two territories, which lay 
 directly west of Missouri, and for future domain in all the States 
 that might be formed from it. To this end, emigration to Kan 
 sas from the free States was at once urged by the opponents of 
 slavery, and on the 24th of July, an emigrant-aid society was 
 formed in Boston. This movement excited the friends of sla 
 very to vigorous action, and in Missouri combinations were at 
 once formed to counteract it. Very soon great numbers com 
 menced flowing into Kansas from the free States, and by Octo 
 ber several towns were founded by them. The Missourians 
 also went into the Territory and founded towns on the Missouri 
 River. In October, Alexander H. Reeder, who had been ap 
 pointed governor by the President, arrived in Kansas. During 
 the rest of the year much ill-feeling was engendered by disputes, 
 boasts, and threats between the opposing parties hi the Terri 
 tory. 
 
 An event occurred at a region of Nicaragua, on the Caribbean 
 Sea, known as the Mosquito coast, which came near menacing 
 the friendly relations existing between the British Government 
 and the United States. The chief town on the coast was San. 
 Juan or Greytown. In the spring property belonging to Ameri 
 can citizens in the vicinity, it was alleged, had been stolen and 
 conveyed within the town. A demand was made on the au 
 thorities for its restoration ; it was refused, and the United States 
 frigate Cyane having been sent there, bombarded, the town on 
 the 13th of July. The commander of the British ship Bermuda, 
 lying there, protested against the bombardment, and claimed that 
 the place was under British protection. The act was denounced 
 by the English press as an insult to Great Britain, but the gov 
 ernment did not consider the question of sufficient gravity to 
 justify a disturbance of the friendly feelings of the two nations. 
 
 Congress passed an act granting to a private company the 
 right to establish telegraphic communication between the Mis 
 sissippi River and the Pacific Ocean, with a grant of a right 
 of way two hundred feet in width. 
 
 In May, the feelings of the people of Boston were greatly 
 agitated at the rendition in that city of a fugitive-slave named 
 Anthony Burns, who was conducted to the ship that was to 
 carry him back into slavery, under the guard of a large police 
 and military force to prevent his rescue. Public meetings were 
 held by the indignant inhabitants, and many of them draped 
 their houses and stores in mourning. 
 
HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 141 
 
 A copv of a treaty with Japan arrived at Washington by the 
 way of Honolulu, San Francisco, and Panama, on the 12th of 
 July, and was promptly ratified by the Senate. A certified 
 copy of the ratified instrument was at once despatched to Japan 
 by special messenger. The treaty was secured by Commodore 
 Perry, who had been instructed by the United States Govern 
 ment to proceed to Japan with a large squadron which would 
 command the respect of that empire, and he was invested with 
 extraordinary rxwers, diplomatic as well as naval, to procure it. 
 By its terms admission to Japan was allowed American citizens 
 for purposes of trade, and depots of coal were permitted to be 
 established there for our steamers crossing the Pacific. Com 
 modore Perry took his departure from Norfolk, Va., on this 
 expedition the 24th of November, 1852, in the United States 
 steamer Mississippi, and was followed soon afterward by other 
 ships, and their number was augmented by more vessels sta 
 tioned in Asiatic waters which joined the squadron on its arri 
 val there. 
 
 The cholera visited Chicago and caused the death of over 
 nine hundred of the inhabitants, in the month of July. There 
 were six hundred and fifty of the inhabitants of Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., who died of that disease during the summer. 
 
 Much excitement prevailed in San Francisco upon the dis 
 covery of forgeries of the city comptroller s warrants of more 
 than one million of dollars which had been committed by Henry 
 Meigs, who had absconded the country. 
 
 In February the water-works constructed by the city of 
 Chicago were completed, and consisted of a timber crib built 
 out into the lake six hundred feet from the shore, through 
 which the water ran into a well, whence it was pumped up to 
 the top of a cast-iron column one hundred and forty feet high, 
 and thence conducted to reservoirs, capable of holding a night s 
 supply, established in each of the three divisions of the city. 
 Water was also supplied this year to the inhabitants of Jersey 
 City, and of Nashua, N. H. 
 
 Sacramento was made the capital of California by an act of 
 the State Legislature. 
 
 The first spelter made from Lehigh ores was produced this 
 year at Bethlehem, Pa. - 
 
 Guilia Grisi and Signer Mario commenced a season of oper 
 atic performances at Castle Garden, in New York, on the 4th 
 of September. On the 2d of October, the New York Academy 
 of Music on Fourteenth Street was first opened to the public, 
 on which occasion Grisi and Mario appeared there in the opera 
 of Norma. 
 
 The Great Western Railroad of Canada was completed and 
 opened for travel on the 17th of January, affording communica 
 tion between Detroit and Niagara Falls. In February the 
 Chicago and Rock Island Railroad was completed from Chicago 
 to the Mississippi, a distance of one hundred and eighy-two 
 miles. The Illinois Central Railroad, extending from Cairo, at 
 the mouth of the Ohio River, to Dunleith, in the extreme north- 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 western corner of the State, and from Centralia, one hundred 
 and twelve miles above Cairo, to Chicago, a total length of road 
 of seven hundred and four miles, was also completed. The con 
 struction of this road was undertaken prior to the financial 
 crisis of 1837, and about three and one half millions of dollars 
 spent on it ; but then bankruptcy prostrated the State, and work 
 on the road was stopped. The road remained in that condition 
 until the year 1851, when, with the aid of a valuable land- 
 grant, it was pushed on to completion. 
 
 The initial steps i i transatlantic telegraphic communica 
 tion were made this year. Mr. Cyrus "W. Field, of New York, 
 having been applied to for aid to complete a telegraphic lino 
 between St. John s and Cape Ray, across the Gulf of St. Law 
 rence, which had been commenced, while investigating the sub 
 ject considered the practicability of establishing telegraphic 
 communication between Europe and America by a submarine 
 cable stretching from Newfoundland to Ireland. Believing in 
 the success of the project, he obtained in the early part of this 
 year a charter from the Legislature of Newfoundland, granting 
 an exclusive right for fifty years to establish a telegraph from the 
 continent of America to Newfoundland, and thence to Europe. 
 He now looked about him for coadjutors in the work. The first 
 interested was Mr. Peter Cooper, the next Mr. Moses Taylor, 
 and then Mr. Marshall O. Roberts and Chandler White, all 
 wealthy capitalists of New York. On the 8th of May, these 
 five gentlemen met and organized a company under the name of 
 the "New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Com 
 pany," and subscribed a million and a half of dollars with 
 which to begin the undertaking. Mr. Field thenceforth devoted 
 himself almost exclusively to the execution of this project. 
 
 The steamer Arctic, during her return voyage from Liverpool, 
 was struck by the Yesta, an iron propeller, on the 27th of Sep 
 tember, about sixty -five miles from Cape Race, a few feet for 
 ward of her paddle-boxes, and was so seriously injured that in 
 about three hours she filled with water and went down stern fore 
 most, engulfing in her ruin all her passengers but about twenty- 
 five and some of her crew. She was running through a dense fog 
 at the time, and when the collision first occurred the shock was 
 so slight that any serious injury to her hull was not appre 
 hended. Of the more than four hundred persons who left 
 Liverpool, many of w r hom were returning from a European 
 tour of pleasure, less than fifty were saved. 
 
 A terrific tornado struck Louisville on the 27th of August, 
 causing great damage. A church was demolished while the 
 congregation were at worship, and twenty-five persons were 
 killed and sixty-seven injured, many seriously. 
 
 There were throughout the country this year, one hundred 
 and ninety-three railroad accidents, killing one hundred and 
 eighty- six persons and wounding five hundred and eighty -nine; 
 there were forty-eight steamboat accidents, in which five hun 
 dred and eighty-seven persons were killed, and two hundred 
 and twenty-five wounded. There were also one hundred and 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 143 
 
 seventy lives lost by means of eighty-three fires, and the total 
 loss of property by fire was twenty-five millions of dollars. 
 1855 Confusion and anarchy still prevailed in Kansas. Early in 
 the autumn, and while the exasperation of both parties in that 
 Territory was at its height, the Free-State men held a convention, 
 and nominated Governor Reeder, who had been removed from 
 office in July, as a delegate to Congress, in place of General 
 Whitefield, who, it was alleged, had been chosen at a previous 
 election, not by the votes of actual settlers, but by those of 
 people from Missouri. Reeder was elected in October, and 
 when in February following Whitfield was admitted provision 
 ally to a seat in the House of Representatives, he contested it 
 with him. In the mean while violence reigned in Kansas. On 
 the 1st of December, Governor Shannon telegraphed the Presi 
 dent for United States forces to preserve the peace of the terri 
 tory ; stating that an armed force of one thousand insurgents 
 was at Leavenworth ; that a prisoner had been rescued from 
 the sheriff, houses burned, and the lives of citizens were threat 
 ened. 
 
 About this time public attention was largely directed to an 
 emigrating expedition to a portion of the territory of the Mos 
 quito coast. Two British subjects claimed to have obtained a 
 grant of that territory from the king of the Mosquito Indians, and 
 tinder that grant Colonel H. L. Kinney fitted out an expedi 
 tion to settle upon and improve the lands. As the Government 
 of Nicaragua claimed jurisdiction over the whole Mosquito 
 country, it protested against this emigration scheme as a viola 
 tion of the neutrality laws of the United States. The President 
 of the United States being convinced that this movement in 
 volved more than emigration for settlements, caused the arrest in 
 June of Colonel Kinney on a charge of violating the neutrality 
 laws. He was admitted to bail, and proceeding secretly to Nicara 
 gua with a few followers, he soon after published a card, calling 
 upon those who had enlisted to join him as soon as possible, by 
 whatever conveyance they might obtain. In the mean while 
 the Government of Nicaragua had issued a decree prohibiting 
 Kinney and his companions from entering the territory, and 
 directing them to be immediately seized and conducted to the 
 seat of government. Another phase of the emigration scheme 
 was now developed. Colonel William Walker, who with a 
 few followers had invaded Sonora from California the year 
 before, was invited by Kinney to join him in improving his 
 grant on Lake Nicaragua. Walker left San Francisco in 
 August, with three hundred armed men, ostensibly to join 
 Kinney, but really to invade Nicaragua. Taking advantage of 
 revolutionary movements in that distracted State, he was suc 
 cessful, and in October marched upon and captured Granada, 
 its capital. He established a Nicaraguan as President, and pro 
 ceeded to strengthen his government, which was recognized by 
 the British consul, and favorably regarded by the resident min 
 ister of the United States. The new government asserted its 
 claim to the Mosquito territory, and Colonel Kinney, who had 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 been elected its governor by the white inhabitants, was arrested 
 on a charge of treasonable practices, and ordered to leave the 
 country. 
 
 The settlers in Oregon and Washington Territory were much 
 disturbed by depredations of the Indians, and many of the in 
 habitants were murdered. Major Haller, while on an explor 
 ing expedition, was, with his company, surrounded by a body of 
 Indians, in Y akima County, Oregon, and kept without food or 
 water for several days. Reinforcements were sent to his aid, 
 but before they reached him, as his position was becoming des 
 perate, his troops fought for fifty hours against an overwhelm 
 ing force of savages. They then charged through the horde, 
 sustaining a loss of one fifth of the company, and all the 
 animals, provisions, and camp equipage belonging to the expe 
 dition. A general uprising of the Indians now took place; 
 whole families were massacred, and the utmost consternation 
 was felt in unprotected parts of the country. General Wool 
 was dispatched from San Francisco to Oregon to organize a 
 movement against the savages. 
 
 General Kearney attacked a camp of Sioux Indians in Ne 
 braska, and killed eighty-six, and captured seventy of them. 
 
 An expedition, consisting of the bark Release, and the steam 
 propeller Arctic, under the command of Lieutenant Hartstein 
 of the United States Navy, set sail on the 31st of May, in search 
 of Dr. Kane and his associates, who were supposed to be ice 
 bound in the Northern seas. On the llth of October the ex 
 pedition returned, bringing Dr. Kane and the entire party, with 
 the exception of three, who had died. Dr. Kane sailed from 
 New York on the 31st of May, 1853. On the 12th of September 
 his party were frozen in on the coast of Greenland at the most 
 northerly point ever reached. Here they passed the winter. 
 The next summer was spent in exploring the shores, their vessel 
 remaining all the while fast in the ice. The winter of 1854-55, 
 was of unexampled severity, and their stock of fuel was ex 
 hausted. In May, it was decided to abandon the vessel and 
 return home. They set out in open boats, and reached the 
 Danish settlements on the 6th of August, having performed a 
 journey of thirteen hundred miles in eighty-one days. Here 
 they were on the point of taking passage for England, when 
 they were fallen in with by the expedition sent for their 
 
 The winter of this year was one of great distress among the 
 poor of New York. Work was scarce and laborers were 
 plenty. Thousands of suffering men gathered in the City Hall 
 Park and elsewhere, and proclaimed their destitution, or pa 
 raded the streets with banners and mottoes appealing for aid. 
 Measures for relieving the needy were devised both by private 
 individuals and the municipal authorities ; relief associations 
 were formed ; soup-kitchens were established, and a system of 
 visitation was organized. In one ward of the city and in one 
 day in the month of January, nine thousand persons were fed 
 by public charity. 
 
HISTORY: OF THE UNITED STATES. 145 
 
 The yellow-fever ravaged the cities of Norfolk and Ports 
 mouth, Va. , in the summer. Soon after its arrival at Norfolk 
 a panic seized the citizens, and as many took refuge in flight as 
 were able to do so. The population of sixteen thousand was 
 reduced within a short time to five thousand, and that of Ports 
 mouth from eleven to four thousand. Portsmouth was speedi 
 ly almost deserted. Whole streets had only two or three fami 
 lies remaining. Hotels and stores, and even drug-shops, were 
 closed; the great thoroughfares were empty; grass grew up be 
 tween the bricks, and weeds over the roadside. The entire 
 duration of the epidemic was one hundred and thirty -seven 
 days, during which period the mortality in the two cities was 
 about four thousand almost one half the number of those who 
 had not fled. 
 
 The cholera attacked the passengers on the Pacific steamer 
 Uncle Sam, while on her passage from San Juan to San Fran 
 cisco, in the early part of September, destroying one hundred 
 and eleven persons, besides those who died in hospital after 
 their arrival in port. The same disease appeared on the steamer 
 Sierra Nevada of the Nicaragua line, which left New York on 
 the 5th of September, and carried off ninety-five of her pas 
 sengers. 
 
 A financial revulsion occurred in San Francisco, creating a 
 panic, and causing the failure, among others, of two of the 
 most eminent of the banking houses largely engaged in the 
 transaction of business between San Francisco and the Atlantic 
 States. 
 
 Castle Garden, in New York, ceased as a theatre, and was 
 transformed into a depot for the reception of emigrants. It 
 was formerly named Castle Clinton, and was granted to the 
 city of New York in 1790. After the war of 1812, it being no 
 longer needed for military purposes, it was used as a place of 
 amusement, and continued as such until this period, when it be 
 came too distant from the resident part of the city from the 
 continual removal of families to up-town streets. 
 
 Mdlle. Rachel, the eminent tragedienne, made her first ap 
 pearance on the stage in this country, on the 3d of September, 
 at the Metropolitan Theatre, in New York. The operatic com 
 pany, ^ composed in part of the popular singers Brignoli, 
 Amodio, Rocco, Quinto, and Signorinas Vestvali and Steffone, 
 appeared at the New York Academy of Music. 
 
 The banks of Boston established a Clearing-house Association 
 similar to the one formed in New York in 1853. 
 
 The first bridge of any kind erected across the Mississippi 
 River was completed in January, at Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 The suspension-bridge across the Niagara River, two miles 
 below the Falls, was completed in March. Operations were 
 commenced in its construction in 1852, and in 1854 the lower 
 floor was opened for travel. 
 
 The first Hebrew temple in the Mississippi Valley was con 
 secrated at St. Louis on the 7th of September. 
 
 On January 1st, the cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburg, 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and the township of Bushwick, were consolidated under the 
 name of Brooklyn, with a population of two hundred and five 
 thousand inhabitants. The first city directory of Indianapolis 
 was issued this year, and the system of numbering the houses 
 commenced. 
 
 An attempt made in August to lay the submarine cable 
 across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a distance of sixty miles, as 
 the initiatory step in ocean-telegraph enterprise, resulted in 
 failure. The cable was made in England, and on the 24th of 
 August, one end of it was fastened on the shore at Cape Ray, 
 and a steamer towed the bark which had the cable on board out 
 to sea. The labor of paying it out was successfully prosecuted 
 for over thirty hours, but at the end of that time a very heavy 
 gale arose, which threatened the vessel with destruction, broke 
 two of the three copper wires of which the cable was com 
 posed, and rendered the situation of the vessel so exceedingly 
 hazardous that no alternative was left but to cut the cable and 
 abandon the undertaking. This was accordingly done, and 
 forty miles of the cable were sunk in the sea. 
 
 An excursion train consisting of eleven cars left St. Louis on 
 the 1st of November, to celebrate the opening of the Pacific 
 Railroad of Missouri, at Jefferson City. While the train was 
 crossing a bridge, about one hundred miles from St. Louis, the 
 structure fell, precipitating the cars a distance of thirty feet 
 into the w r ater, by which disaster twenty persons were killed 
 and forty badly wounded. Twenty-one persons were killed 
 and a still larger number injured by a train being thrown from 
 the track on the Camden and Amboy Railroad, on the 29th of 
 August. Thirty -five persons lost their lives by the explosion 
 of the boilers belonging to the steamboat Lexington, on the 
 Ohio River, about ninety miles below Louisville. 
 1856 Violence and bloodshed continued to prevail in Kansas. On 
 the llth of February the President issued a proclamation, 
 stating that combinations w r ithin the Territory had been formed 
 to resist the laws, and that persons without the Territory con 
 templated armed intervention in its affairs, and declaring that 
 the execution of such plans from within would constitute insur 
 rection, and from without invasion. He concluded by ordering 
 all such persons to disperse immediately. The accounts from 
 Kansas continuing to be alarming and very contradictory, the 
 House of Representatives, on the 19th of March, appointed a 
 committee to proceed thither to investigate the whole matter, 
 and report. They returned to Washington in June, and on the 
 1st of July the majority of the committee presented their re 
 port, in which was stated that each election in the Territory had 
 been carried by organized invasions from the State of Missouri, 
 by which the people of the Territory had been prevented from 
 exercising the rights secured to them by the organic law; that 
 the alleged Territorial legislature was an illegally constituted 
 body, and had no power to pass valid laws, and their enact 
 ments were therefore null and void; that those laws had 
 not, as a general thing, been used to protect persons and 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 147 
 
 property, and to punish wrong, but for unlawful purposes; 
 that the election of General Whitefield to a seat in Congress 
 was not held in pursuance of any valid law; that the election 
 of the contesting delegate, Mr. Reeder, was also invalid; 
 that in the existing condition of the Territory a fair elec 
 tion could not be held without a new census, a stringent and 
 well-guarded election law, the selection of impartial judges, 
 and the presence of United States troops at every place of elec 
 tion. A minority report of the committee declared the state 
 ments of the majority to be in many cases untrue; and so, after 
 a long investigation, both political parties in the Territory and 
 throughout the country were dissatisfied with the result. 
 
 Kansas affairs not only claimed the direct action of Congress, 
 but were the exciting cause of warm debates. On one of these 
 occasions an event occurred which created a profound sensation 
 throughout the Union and attracted attention and remark 
 abroad. In the Senate, on the 20th of May, Mr. Sumner of 
 Massachusetts, in the course of a long speech on the subject of 
 Kansas affairs, commented with much asperity upon the course 
 pursued by Senator Butler of South Carolina, and others. 
 After the adjournment of the Senate, on the 22d, Mr. Sumner 
 remained at his desk engaged in writing. While so engaged, 
 Preston S. Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives, 
 and a nephew of Senator Butler, accosted Mr. Sumner and com 
 menced beating him with a heavy cane. Mr. Sumner was so 
 much injured, that for many days his life was in great peril, 
 and he was not able to attend to his duties in the Senate during 
 that and the succeeding session, and it was four years before he 
 was pronounced convalescent. The House of Representatives 
 voted on a motion to expel Mr. Brooks, but not receiving the 
 requisite two-thirds majority, it failed to pass. Mr. Brooks im 
 mediately resigned his seat, but was soon re-elected by his con 
 stituents without opposition. 
 
 At the presidential election of this year, the question of the 
 extension of slavery into Territories already free, assumed a 
 form and dimensions sufficient to overshadow all other national 
 topics, and under its influence new political organizations had 
 grown up. For more than a year previous to the election, a 
 new party, composed of men of all political creeds, united in 
 opposition to the extension of slavery, had been gathering force 
 and bulk, and assumed great proportions when the election oc 
 curred. This was named the Republican party. Another and 
 much older organization, at first secret in its operations, and 
 known as the American, or Know-No thing party, had become 
 a great political power in the country, its chief bond of union 
 being opposition to foreign influence and interference in our 
 domestic concerns, and the domination of Roman Catholicism 
 in our political affairs. The old Democratic party, dating its 
 organization at the election of President Jackson, in 1828, still 
 possessed its prestige and power, but had become divided and 
 weakened by internal feuds and outside pressure, while the old 
 Whig party was virtually annihilated as a distinct organization 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 having vitality. The candidates of the Democratic party were 
 James Buchanan for President, and John C. Breckinridge for 
 Vice-President, and they were elected, each receiving one hun 
 dred and seventy-four electoral votes. John C. Fremont for 
 President, and William L. Dayton for Vice-President, received 
 one hundred and fourteen electoral votes from the Republicans. 
 The American party nominated Millard Fillmore for President, 
 and Andrew J. Donelson for Vice-President, and carried the 
 electoral vote of Maryland. 
 
 Congress made grants of public lands in Florida, Alabama, 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, to aid in con 
 structing railroads in those States. Each alternate section, six 
 sections wide, on each side of the roads, were granted, and the 
 remaining sections belonging to the United States were not to 
 be sold for less than double the usual price, and before being 
 sold to individuals they should be offered for sale at public 
 auction at the enhanced price. 
 
 Indian hostilities continued in Oregon and Washington Ter 
 ritory. On the 25th of March, about eight hundred Indians 
 attacked Cascades, in Oregon, and burned every building in 
 the town, and killed numbers of the citizens; they also de 
 stroyed the steamer Mary. In the neighborhood of Vancouver 
 they burned and laid waste the whole country. A fight took 
 place in Washington Territory, on the 10th of March, between 
 the volunteers and the Indians, in which more than twenty-five 
 of the savages were killed. 
 
 The schemes of Walker in Nicaragua continued to attract 
 public attention in this country. During the winter, an alli 
 ance of the Central American States was formed against Walk 
 er, and hostilities were instituted, w r hich lasted all this year and 
 until the following spring, when he was compelled to abandon 
 the country. 
 
 Baltimore was subjected to riot and lawlessness in the au 
 tumn. On the 12th of September the 17th Ward House, on 
 Light Street, was attacked by the " Rip-Rap" and " Wampan- 
 vag" clubs, and, in the affray which ensued, one man was 
 killed and some twenty men badly wounded. The streets 
 where the contest took place presented the appearance as if 
 oart-loads of bricks had been strewed about. On the 8th of 
 October, a desperate struggle took place between the " Rip- 
 Rap" club and the New Market Fire Company, which was a 
 bloody and protracted battle. A great many persons were 
 wounded and carried from the ground, and the drug-shops near 
 the scene of action were filled with the wounded and dying. 
 At the election, on the 4th of November, a prolonged and des 
 perate fight took place between some Democrats and Know- 
 nothings. Armed and organized associations belonging to both 
 political parties resorted to fire-arms, with which they were liber 
 ally provided. Individual combats and minor affrays occurred at 
 a number of polls, but the most serious took place in the vicin 
 ity of the Second and Eighth wards, where eight persons 
 were killed and about one hundred and fifty wounded. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 149^ 
 
 Very serious disturbances took place in the month of May, in 
 San Francisco. The immediate occasion was the murder of 
 James King, the editor of the San Francisco Bulletin, by James 
 P. Casey, editor of the Sunday Times. Casey, who had been 
 an inmate of the State Prison at Sing Sing, N. Y., became 
 somewhat prominent as a politician on his arrival in Califor 
 nia. Mr. King in his paper referred to this, and charged Ca 
 sey with having fraudulently procured his election to office. 
 On the 14th of May, Casey shot Mr. King in the street ; an in 
 tense excitement was at once aroused, which resulted in the or 
 ganization of a Vigilance Committee. Thousands of the leading 
 citizens armed and enrolled themselves on this Committee. In 
 two or three days the organization was complete, when they 
 proceeded to the prison where Casey was confined and com 
 pelled the officers to surrender him, together with a notorious 
 gambler and murderer, who had escaped punishment by a disa 
 greement of the jury who tried him. The two malefactors 
 were tried \)j the Committee, found guilty, and executed on the 
 open street. The Committee now determined to deal with the 
 desperadoes and bullies who infested the city, and had acquired 
 a controlling influence in the elections. Some were warned 
 to leave and others arrested and confined for trial. The oppo 
 nents of the Committee held a mass-meeting on the 2d of 
 June, but the sentiment of the community appeared to be ad 
 verse to them. The Governor of the State issued a proclama 
 tion calling out the militia to suppress the illegal action of the 
 Committee, but it was faintly responded to, while the forces at 
 the disposal of the Committee were largely increased. Their 
 rooms were converted into a fortress, and a regular system of 
 vigilance was established. They finally succeeded in their ef 
 forts for establishing peace and justice in the city, and disband 
 ed on the 18th of August, on which occasion more than five 
 thousand of their adherents marched in parade in celebration of 
 the event. 
 
 The cold weather was very severe at New York early in Feb 
 ruary, and on the 10th the East River was bridged over by ice 
 and streams of people crossed over. 
 
 The community was startled early in the year by the discov 
 ery of forgeries to an immense amount, committed by Charles 
 B. Huntington, of New York. The forged paper was used 
 mainly as collateral security for the purpose of raising money, 
 and was fora considerable time redeemed before maturity. The 
 counsel of the forger, on the trial, in his defence set up the plea 
 of moral insanity, and stated that the aggregate amount of the 
 forgeries was fifteen to twenty millions of dollars. 
 
 The railroad bridge, fifteen hundred and eighty-two feet in 
 length, crossing the Mississippi at Rock Island, 111., was com 
 pleted this year. 
 
 The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, extending 
 from Chicago to the Mississippi ; The Chicago and Fort 
 Wayne, from Chicago to Fort Wayne ; the extension in Iowa 
 of the Chicago and Rock Island, from the Mississippi to Iowa 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 City ; the Penobscot and Kennebec, between Bangor and Wa- 
 tervillc were all completed this year. The first railroad in 
 California, that from Sacramento to Folsom, twenty-two and a 
 half miles in length, was opened for travel on the 22d of Feb 
 ruary. 
 
 The first street-railway in New England was the Cam 
 bridge Railroad, constructed in the streets of Boston and Cam 
 bridge, and it was opened for travel on the 26th of March. 
 Street-railways, at this period, were considered so much of an 
 experiment, that the originators of this road experienced great 
 difficulty in obtaining subscriptions to its stock and bonds, and 
 the contractors themselves were obliged to take nearly the 
 whole amount. 
 
 The first passage of a vessel to Europe, through the great 
 lakes, was this year made direct from Milwaukee by means of 
 the Welland Canal and the St. Lawrence River. 
 
 On the 17th of March, Miss Adelaide Phillips made her de 
 but in opera at the Academy of Music, New York, in the char 
 acter of Azucena, in "II Trovatore." 
 
 The introduction of sorghum or Chinese sugar-cane, into the 
 United States, was made this year. The Patent-office Depart 
 ment at Washington obtained some seeds from France, and 
 Mr. Orange Judd imported one thousand barrels of the seed 
 for distribution among the patrons of his newspaper. 
 
 The first manufacture of condensed milk, in this country, 
 was commenced in Litchfield County, Conn. 
 
 The first experiments with the Bessemer process for the pro 
 duction of steel, were made at the Phillipsburg furnace, in War 
 ren County, N. J. The iron used was obtained from a mine 
 in Sussex County, which was opened before the Revolu 
 tion, and during it was taken possession of by the government, 
 the owners being principally Tories. After the war the mine 
 was abandoned until the year 1847. 
 
 The first wooden pavement in Chicago was laid on Wells 
 Street, of about eight hundred square yards, and proved a suc 
 cess. 
 
 The old and memorable Charter Oak, at Hartford, was 
 blown down early in the morning of the 21st of August. 
 Crowds of citizens visited the place, and carried away memen 
 toes of the venerable tree. A dirge was played at noon, and 
 the bells of the city were tolled at sundown. 
 
 A submarine cable from the mainland to Nantucket was suc 
 cessfully laid on the 21st of August. 
 
 The passengers who left New York, in April, for California, 
 by the way of Nicaragua, suffered severely in the passage. 
 They found the transit across the Isthmus closed, but about 
 three hundred of them determined to push on. At Granada 
 they were detained a month, during which time seventy-nine 
 died. Proceeding, at length, across the lake, a number more 
 perished. The survivors reached San Juan del Sur, and em 
 barked on board the steamer for San Francisco. Sickness 
 
HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 151 
 
 broke out among them, and thirty-three died on the passage. 
 Nearly one half died between Granada and San Francisco. 
 
 Last Island, a summer resort in the Gulf of Mexico, was 
 struck by a terrific storm in August, which raged three days. 
 The island was entirely submerged, and every house destroyed, 
 involving the loss of about three hundred persons, who were 
 drowned. 
 
 The French steamer Le Lyonnais, which left New York on 
 the 30th of October, was run into by a sailing-vessel on the 
 night of the 2d of November, and foundered. The sailing- ves 
 sel was lost sight of at once, and it was supposed she sunk. The 
 passengers and crew, numbering one hundred and thirty-two 
 persons, betook themselves to the boats and a raft which was 
 hastily constructed. One of the boats was picked up four days 
 after ; it had contained eighteen persons, but two of them froze 
 to death. Vessels were at once despatched for the missing boats 
 and raft, but without success, and it was presumed all their pas 
 sengers were lost. 
 
 The Atlantic steamer Pacific left Liverpool for New York 
 on the 23d of January, with forty-five passengers and one hun 
 dred and forty-one officers and crew, and she was never heard 
 from. The American ship Ocean Wave, on her voyage from 
 Rotterdam to New York, came in collision with a British vessel 
 and sunk in a few minutes, carrying down seventy-seven per 
 sons, mostly German emigrants. On the 20th of February, the 
 packet -ship John Kutledge was struck by an iceberg and went 
 down. The passengers and crew numbered one hundred and 
 fifty-six persons, who took to the boats. One of these was picked 
 up on the 28th, but of the thirteen persons who went on board 
 the only survivor was a young sailor ; the others had died under 
 their privations and sufferings. The other boats were never 
 heard from. There was a large number of railroad and other 
 disasters in the month of July, by which one hundred and sev 
 enty persons were killed, and as many more seriously injured. 
 A wharf at the foot of Reed Street, Philadelphia, gave way on 
 the 7th, and more than a hundred persons were precipitated into 
 the water, between twenty and thirty of whom were drowned. 
 An excursion-train, filled with the scholars and teachers of St. 
 Michael s Church, left Philadelphia by the North Pennsylvania 
 Railroad on the 16th, and came in collision with a regular down 
 train, both running at great speed. Five cars of the excursion- 
 train were shivered into fragments, and were set on fire from 
 the engines. Many of those who were imprisoned by the wreck 
 were burned to death, and still a larger number were killed out 
 right or dreadfully wounded by the collision. The total loss of 
 life was not less than sixty. On the 17th, the Lake Erie steamer 
 Northern Indiana caught fire while on her passage from Buffalo 
 to Toledo, and in a few moments was burned to the water s edge. 
 In attempting to launch the life-boat, which was filled with pas 
 sengers, the cranes gave way and all the occupants were plunged 
 into the water. A large number of the passengers who had 
 leaped into the water to escape the flames were drowned ; the 
 
152 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 total loss of life was about forty. The gales in the autumn upon 
 the great lakes were unusually severe, occasioning great loss of 
 life and destruction of property. Forty-nine vessels, of which 
 seventeen were steamers, were wrecked, involving a loss of 
 more than two hundred lives. The most disastrous of these 
 casualties w r as that of the steamer Superior, which went on 
 shore near the Pictured Rocks, on Lake Superior. Out of fifty 
 persons on board only sixteen were saved. On the 24th of Sep 
 tember, the steamboat Niagara was burned on Lake Michigan, 
 and from fifty to sixty lives were lost. The steam ferry-boat 
 New Jersey, while running from Philadelphia to Camden on 
 the 15th of March, took fire and became unmanageable ; about 
 fifty lives were lost by the disaster. 
 
 1857 James Buchanan was inaugurated President on the 4th of 
 March, and Vice-President John C. Breckinridge took the oath 
 of office. 
 
 Congress passed an act entitled the Atlantic Telegraph Bill, 
 in aid of a company formed for the purpose of establishing a 
 telegraphic communication between our continent and Great 
 Britain. It provided that the sum of seventy thousand dollars 
 per annum might be paid to the company for the transmission 
 of government messages, until the net profits reached six per 
 cent per annum, after which it should not exceed fifty thousand 
 dollars, the tariff of prices to be fixed by the Secretary of the 
 Treasury and the British Government. The bill also provided 
 that the*citizens and the Government of the United States should 
 be put on an equal footing with those of Great Britain, and that 
 Congress might at the expiration of ten years terminate the con 
 tract by giving one year s notice. 
 
 Congress passed a bill in February, directing that Spanish 
 quarters, eighths, and sixteenths of a dollar should only be re 
 ceived by public officers at the rate of twenty, ten, and five 
 cents, and that they should not be paid out, but sent to 
 the Mint. The object was to drive those worn-out coins from 
 circulation. Provision was also made for the coinage of a new 
 cent, much smaller than the one in use, to be composed of 
 eighty parts of copper and twelve of nickel. 
 
 A case which had attracted great interest throughout the 
 country was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States 
 in March. A slave named Dred Scott, who was taken by his 
 master from Missouri to Illinois, where he remained two years, 
 and then taken back to Missouri, sued for his freedom, on the 
 ground that since Illinois by its constitution prohibited slavery, 
 by his being domiciled in that State he became free ; and if he 
 became free in that State he continued free, since there was no 
 law in force to remand him to slavery. The majority of the 
 court decided that every person, and every class and description 
 of persons, who were at the time of the adoption of the consti 
 tution recognized as the citizens of the several States, became 
 also citizens of the new political body, but none other ; it was 
 formed by them and for them and their posterity, but for no 
 one else ; the legislation and histories of the times, and the Ian- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 153 
 
 guage used in the Declaration of Independence, showed that 
 neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, 
 nor their descendants, whether they became free or not, were 
 then acknowledged as a part of the people nor intended to be 
 included in the general words used in that memorable instru 
 ment ; that they had for more than a century been regarded as 
 beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with 
 the white race, either in moral or political relations ; and so far 
 inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound 
 to respect ; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be 
 reduced to slavery for his benefit. Two of the judges dissented 
 from that opinion. 
 
 In September, an emigrant party arrived at Mountain Mead 
 ow, about three hundred miles south-east of Salt Lake City in 
 Utah, and camped at the south end of the valley. They had 
 thirty wagons and several hundred head of cattle. For several 
 days they were attacked by whites and Indians, until a treaty 
 was made by which they were permitted to return to Cedar City, 
 but were compelled to give up their property. After the latter 
 had been complied with the treaty was basely broken, and of 
 the emigrants, one hundred and twenty men, women, and 
 children were massacred. 
 
 Early in January, the Mormon dignitaries went to the offices 
 of one of the United States Judges at Salt Lake City, seized 
 all the books, papers, and documents belonging to the court, 
 and burned them, upon the plea that as Congress would not 
 admit Utah into the Union, they would not allow the officers 
 of the government to remain in the Territory. For that 
 circumstance, and for the reason that numerous depredations 
 and outrages had been committed upon travellers in Utah said 
 to have been instigated by the Mormons, and that persons 
 arrested for crime could not be convicted by Mormon juries, the 
 President despatched about six thousand United States troops 
 to Utah to compel the Mormons to respect the laws of the 
 Government. Upon receiving intelligence of this, Brigham 
 Young prepared to resist, and issued a proclamation forbidding 
 all bodies of armed men from entering the Territory under any 
 pretext whatever. Meanwhile the grand jury of the United 
 States Court brought in bills of indictment for high-treason 
 against Brigham Young, and nineteen others specifically named, 
 besides a great number of persons whose names were not known 
 to the jury. The difficulties were, however, settled in the next 
 year without bloodshed, the Mormons consenting to the de 
 mands of the government, and their leaders were pardoned. 
 
 The first attempt to lay the Atlantic cable was made in 
 August. Four vessels composed the expedition, two of them 
 the Niagara and the Agamemnon, containing the cable. It was 
 determined to lay down the wire in a continuous line from 
 Yalentia Bay, in Ireland, to Newfoundland, the Niagara tak 
 ing the first half to the middle of the ocean, and the cable from, 
 the Agamemnon being joined on, that vessel to lay the remain- 
 der. Everything being ready, the ships sailed from the Irish. 
 
154 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 coast on the evening of the 7th, and the operation of paying 
 cut the cable worked satisfactorily. Early in the morning of 
 the 10th, the water began very suddenly to grow deeper. In 
 the course of eight miles its depth increased from five hundred 
 and fifty fathoms to seventeen hundred and fifty, and soon 
 afterward it reached two thousand fathoms. This occasioned 
 an additional strain upon the cable, causing it to run out at a 
 greater speed than that of the vessel. The retarding force of 
 the brakes was accordingly increased to prevent the too rapid 
 pay-out of the cable, which still, however, continued to run out 
 much faster than the vessel advanced. At this time there was 
 a strong wind and heavy sea. At a quarter before four in the 
 morning of the llth, the engineer of the company, who had 
 personally superintended the working of the machinery, was 
 obliged to go to another part of the vessel, leaving the breaks in 
 charge of another person. In a few moments he heard the 
 machine stop, and when he returned he found that the cable had 
 parted at some distance from the ship. Of the cable three hun 
 dred ani thirty-five miles had been paid out, being fully one 
 hundred miles more than the ship had run. The vessels at once 
 returned. 
 
 An extraordinary, violent, and destructive financial panic 
 occurred late in the summer and autumn. The first actual shock 
 was the failure, on the 24th of August, of the Ohio Life and 
 Trust Company, which had borrowed largely on -call in New 
 York, and loaned the funds where they were not immediately 
 available. The liabilities were about seven millions. The 
 credit of this institution had been very high, and its failure not 
 only shook public confidence, but involved many corporations 
 and individuals in serious loss. Several stock and money dealers 
 failed in New York, and the daily meetings of the Board of 
 Brokers were characterized by intense excitement. Every in 
 dividual misfortune was announced on the news bulletins in 
 large letters, and attracted curious crowds, which were con 
 tinually fed by the passing throngs. The N. Y. Clearing 
 House report for the 29th of August showed a reduction of 
 four millions of dollars in the bank loans during the previous 
 week. The most substantial securities of the market fell rapidly 
 in price at public sale. Doubts of the safety of bank-notes in 
 circulation were generally entertained. One of the Associated 
 Banks of New York fell into default, at the end of August, 
 and a fraud of seventy thousand dollars by the paying teller 
 roused suspicion of similar misconduct in other institutions. 
 The regular discount of bills by the banks was mostly suspended, 
 and the street rates for money, even on unquestionable securi 
 ties, arose to three, four, and five per cent a month ; on the 
 ordinary securities of merchants, such as promissory notes and 
 bills of exchange, money was not to be had at any rate. House 
 after house of high commercial repute succumbed to the panic, 
 and several heavy banking houses were soon added to the list 
 of failures. The statement of the New York banks for the 
 week ending September 5th showed a further reduction in loans 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 155 
 
 of more than four millions of dollars. Commercial embarrass 
 ments became the chief staple of news in all the papers of town 
 or country. The purchase and transportation of produce almost 
 entirely ceased. From this period there was nothing wanting 
 to aggravate the common distress for money. Toward the 
 close of September, three of the leading banks of Philadelphia 
 failed, and the remainder resolved upon a temporary suspension 
 of specie payments. This was followed by a similar step on 
 the part of the banks in Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District 
 of Columbia, and New Jersey. Early in October there was a 
 decided increase in the stringency of the money market, and a 
 consequent accession to the number of mercantile failures. 
 Houses whose assets exceeded their liabilities by hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars were unable to meet engagements of com 
 paratively small amounts. Domestic exchanges became so un 
 settled that it was utterly impossible to remit funds from dis 
 tant points. A steady demand for specie set in upon the New 
 York banks, which was promptly met until the morning of the 
 18th, when a universal panic prevailed. By noon, the run upon 
 the banks was general; Wall Street was choked by thousands of 
 people endeavoring to force their way into banking-houses 
 to demand specie for notes and checks. Before the close of 
 business hours eighteen city banks were forced to close their 
 doors, and announce that they had suspended specie payments. 
 During the evening a meeting was held of representatives from 
 the other banks. It was found that the specie in their vaults 
 had been reduced from eleven millions four hundred and 
 seventy-six thousand dollars to five millions five hundred 
 thousand dollars. It was then unanimously resolved that all 
 the banks should temporarily suspend the payment of specie. 
 This was done with but one exception. The example of sus 
 pension was at once followed throughout the country. The im 
 mediate effect of the suspension" was that the notes of New 
 York, New England, and other solvent banks were at once 
 received and paid out as usual in all business transactions, and a 
 feeling of relief began to be experienced. The pressure passed 
 away in the course of the winter. The liquidation was rapid, 
 and by spring business was again in motion. The New York 
 banks resumed on the 12th of December, and others followed 
 gradually arid informally. The effect of the panic upon busi 
 ness was disastrous, and it was almost annihilated. The same 
 may be said of the industries of the country. Almost all the 
 large manufacturing establishments either suspended opera 
 tions or worked upon short time. In New York City alone it 
 was estimated that thirty or forty thousand mechanics and 
 workmen were thrown out of employment. 
 
 All the old books, papers, drafts, checks, and letters which 
 had been preserved in the United States Bank in the long 
 course of its immense business were sold at Philadelphia to a 
 paper manufacturer. The whole mass weighed over forty 
 tons. Ten tons of it consisted of autograph letters of the first 
 statesmen, politicians, and financiers ofthis and other countries. 
 
156 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The conductors and others having charge of the freight- 
 trains on the first and second divisions of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad stopped work on the 29th of April, and re 
 fused to do duty. For several days of the following month, 
 these men molested the different freight-trains running into the 
 city, and on two occasions a desperate fight ensued between 
 the rioters and police who had been sent to guard the cars. At 
 last the Governor of the State issued a proclamation, warning 
 all persons to keep away from the neighborhood of the disturb 
 ances, and dispatched the military to the ground. A desper 
 ate fight took place between the troops and the rioters, in which 
 many were killed and wounded before the disturbances were 
 quelled. 
 
 By an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, the 
 control of the Police Department of the city of New York was 
 transferred from the municipal authorities to those of the 
 State, and a police district was created, comprising the coun 
 ties of New York, Kings, Westchester, and Richmond. Upon 
 this a contest arose between the Mayor of the city and the new 
 ftoard of Police Commissioners for the control of the Police, 
 the Mayor having resolved to retain his power until he could 
 test the constitutionality of the act in the courts. During the 
 progress of the conflict between the two different authorities 
 the Police Department became disorganized, and mob-law and 
 crime increased in the city to a fearful extent. On the evening 
 of the 3d of July, a disturbance commenced between two 
 gangs of rowdies, which was continued on the following day. 
 Sticks, stones, and knives were freely used, and men, women, 
 and children were wounded. A few policemen were dis 
 patched to the spot, but they were driven off with several 
 wounded, and the riot continued. The rioters tore up paving- 
 stones, and seized drays, trucks, and whatever came to hand, 
 wherewith to erect barricades. The greatest consternation 
 prevailed throughout the city ; several regiments of soldiers 
 were called out, but the disturbance was not quelled before six 
 men had been killed and over a hundred wounded. On the 
 13th another outbreak occurred, lasting two days, but which 
 was finally put down by the police without military aid. 
 
 From the 23d to the 25th of January, a severe term of cold 
 weather prevailed throughout New England, the mercury 
 ranging from twelve to twenty-four degrees below zero. Rail 
 roads were obstructed by drifting snow, and Boston harbor 
 was frozen over. 
 
 William Walker was driven out of Nicaragua and escaped 
 to the United States, where he determined to organize another 
 filibustering expedition against the former country. On the 
 10th of November, he was arrested at New Orleans on a charge 
 of violating the neutrality laws. Being liberated upon giving 
 bail, he departed for Mobile and there embarked on a packet, 
 from which he was transferred to a steamer which had set out 
 with three or four hundred men, as previously arranged, for 
 another expedition to Nicaragua. On the 24th of November, 
 
HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 157 
 
 Walker arrived at the mouth of the Colorado, a branch of the 
 San Juan, in Nicaragua, where a detachment of about fifty 
 men was landed, who proceeded up the river. The steamer 
 then proceeded to Greytpwn, where a landing was quietly ef 
 fected, although the United States sloop of war Saratoga lay 
 in the harbor. Intrenchments were thrown up, and the mili 
 tary character of the expedition became apparent. On the 6th* 
 of December, the United States frigate Wabash, Commodore 
 Paulding, arrived. The American vessels took up a position 
 commanding the camp of the filibusters, who were summoned 
 to surrender. They complied with the demand, and the men 
 were shipped on board to be brought home. Walker, upon 
 giving his word of honor to surrender himself on his arrival at 
 New York, was permitted to return by the regular steamer 
 from Aspinwall. He surrendered himself to the United States 
 marshal upon reaching that city, whence he was taken to 
 Washington, where he was discharged by the government. 
 
 The making of watches by machinery, which was commenced 
 in 1850, and subsequently continued with only partial success, 
 was perfected about this time. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, on the 25th of June, 
 purchased from the State for the sum of seven millions five 
 hundred thousand dollars, its line of canals and railroads 
 completed in 1830, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, a dis 
 tance of three hundred and fifty-three miles. When the com 
 pany took possession, the canals were in a dilapidated condi 
 tion, and the railroads out of repair. The canals were now 
 soon abandoned, and the two cities connected by one line of 
 continuous rail. 
 
 The Chicago and St. Louis Railroad was completed this year; 
 the Milwaukee and Mississippi, between Milwaukee and Prairie 
 du Chien, was opened for travel on the 15th of April; the 
 Memphis and Charleston, in May; direct railroad communica 
 tion was established between Baltimore and St. Louis, early in 
 June; and during the year, between Detroit and Toledo. The 
 Parkersburg branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was 
 completed on the 1st of May; and some time during the year the 
 Virginia Central, one hundred and ninety-five miles in length, 
 between Richmond and Jackson s River, was also finished. 
 
 The California steamer Central America left Havana on the 
 8th of September, for New York, having on board about six 
 hundred persons, passengers and crew. A storm arose during 
 the night of the 9th, which increased till the morning of the 
 llth, when it was discovered that the vessel was leaking badly. 
 The pumps were immediately put in operation, but the water 
 gained rapidly, overflowing the coal-bunkers, cutting off the 
 supply of the fuel, and finally putting out the fires in ^the 
 furnace. The passengers and crew were then formed into 
 gangs for bailing; but in spite of their efforts the water con 
 tinued to rise. The steamer was soon entirely helpless, and 
 labored violently. On the afternoon of the 12th a vessel ap 
 peared in sight, and upon a signal of distress being given bore 
 
158 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 towards the steamer. The vessel undertook to lie by, and take 
 off as many of the passengers as possible. One of the steamer s 
 boats had been swept away the previous night, and two more 
 were stove in and disabled in launching; the remaining three 
 were successfully launched. Into these three, more than a 
 hundred passengers were lowered, including all the women 
 and children, and safely conveyed on board the vessel, which 
 had now drifted off two or three miles. The bailing was still 
 kept up on board the steamer, and though the water continued 
 to increase there was no general apprehension of immediate 
 danger, until nearly eight o clock in the evening, when the 
 -water swept over the deck. The steamer then made a sudden 
 plunge, and went down in an instant, carrying with her all on 
 board. A few who had secured refuge on fragments of the 
 wreck were picked up by passing vessels, but the total number 
 -of persons lost was estimated to exceed four hundred. There 
 was also a large amount of treasure lost, which, including that 
 in the possession of passengers, is supposed to amount to more 
 than two millions of dollars. 
 
 1858 A second attempt was made to lay the Atlantic cable, in 
 June. It was determined that the cable should be transported 
 to mid ocean, one half of it by the Niagara, the other by the 
 Agamemnon; it was then to be spliced; the Niagara to proceed 
 in paying it out towards America, the Agamemnon to pay out 
 at the same time and return to the landing-place in Ireland. 
 The expedition sailed from Plymouth, England, on the 10th 
 of June, and when three days out encountered a heavy gale, 
 which continued without interruption for nine days. The 
 ships kept together for seven days of this weather, when they 
 were compelled to part company. They rejoined at the ap 
 pointed place in mid- ocean, on the 26th. The cable was then 
 spliced, but before five miles had been paid out, it parted on 
 board the Niagara. The ships came together again, a new 
 splice was made, and when each vessel had paid out about 
 forty miles, the electric communication ceased. It was sup 
 posed on each vessel that the separation had taken place on board 
 the other. But when the rendezvous was reached, it was found 
 that the fracture had taken place at some distance from each 
 ship, and apparently at the bottom of the ocean. The vessels 
 came together, and the cable was once more joined. On the 
 evening of the 28th, the third attempt was begun. All worked 
 well on board the Niagara until nine o clock of the evening of the 
 29th. Something more than a hundred miles had been sailed, 
 and nearly a hundred and fifty miles of the cable had been 
 given out, when the communication suddenly ceased, and it 
 became evident that the cable had parted, and, as was inferred 
 from scientific tests, at or near the Agamemnon. It was then 
 determined to test the strength of the cable. It was blowing 
 freshly, and the immense vessel was allowed to swing by the 
 cable, which endured the strain more than an hour; then a 
 heavy sea snapped it, and the Niagara bore away for Queens, 
 town, where she arrived on the 5th of July. On the 12th the 
 
HISTORY OF THE TJXITED STATES. 159 
 
 Agamemnon arrived there also. By its report of the breaking 
 of the cable, it appeared that at the time the sea was perfectly 
 calm, the strain upon the cable, as indicated by the dynamo 
 meter, being about twenty-one hundred pounds only one third 
 what it was warranted to bear when all] at once, without the 
 least apparent cause, it parted close by the stern of the steamer. 
 As there was still, notwithstanding the loss of four hundred 
 miles of cable, a considerable surplus over the quantity sup 
 posed to be required, the Directors determined to make another 
 trial. On the 17th of July, everything had been prepared, and 
 the expedition left Queenstown, on the third attempt. The 
 Niagara reached mid-ocean on the 23d, the Agamemnon on 
 the 28th. On the following day the cable was joined, and the 
 steamers proceeded towards their several destinations. The 
 Niagara reached Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, on the morning 
 of the 5th of August, and the Agamemnon, Valentia, in Ireland, 
 on the same day. The two vessels had performed their task 
 almost within the same hour of absolute time, and the cable 
 was successfully laid without a break. The distance between 
 the two termini was sixteen hundred and ninety-five geo 
 graphical miles; of this the Niagara had accomplished eight 
 hundred and sixty-two miles, with an expenditure of ten hun 
 dred and thirty miles of cable ; and the Agamemnon, eight 
 hundred and thirteen miles, expending ten hundred and twenty 
 miles of cable, each vessel having left a surplus of eighty 
 miles. Before night, on the 5th of August, intelligence of the 
 successful laying of the cable was telegraphed throughout the 
 country. Signals were sent over the cable, but the telegraphic 
 apparatus not being arranged for some days, messages could 
 not be transmitted. It had been previously determined that 
 the first dispatches sent over the line should be a message from 
 the Queen of England to the President of the United States, 
 and the President s reply. The necessary arrangements were 
 not completed until the 16th of August, on which clay the 
 messages were transmitted, as arranged. The line was then 
 for some time devoted exclusively to experiments on the part 
 of the electricians; no general dispatches being sent over it 
 until the 25th, when a message dated at Valentia on that day, 
 was published in the New York papers of the following day. 
 The next day a dispatch appeared in the New York afternoon 
 papers dated at London on the morning of the same day. The 
 intelligence of the successful laying of the cable was received 
 everywhere with enthusiasm, and was celebrated by public 
 demonstrations in almost every considerable town. On the 17th 
 of August a hundred guns were fired in the New York City 
 Hall Park, at daybreak, in honor of the event, and the salute 
 was repeated at noon. Flags were raised on all the public 
 buildings, the bells were rung, and at night the city was bril 
 liantly illuminated. The 1st of September was set apart for a 
 public ovation, by the municipal authorities, to Mr. Field and 
 the officers of the expedition. The celebration surpassed every 
 thing of the kind ever witnessed in the city. But these rejoic- 
 
160 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ings were premature : the cable proved a failure from some 
 imperfections in its manufacture, so that it could not be used ; 
 and it was only after several years of labor that the projectors 
 of the enterprise finally established success in the undertaking. 
 
 Minnesota was admitted into the Union on the llth of May. 
 
 Gold was discovered this year, at Pike s Peak, Colorado. 
 Upon the intelligence of this discovery being noised about, 
 there at once set in a stream of adventurers to the locality, from 
 all sections of the country. Within two years, it is stated, 
 one hundred and seventy- five quartz-mills were in operation in 
 the Territory. 
 
 A project was set on foot by Walker for another expedition 
 to Nicaragua, and he advertised in the newspapers his inten 
 tions, and asked the co-operation of American citizens and for 
 emigrants to join him, designating Mobile as the place of ren 
 dezvous and departure. Thereupon the President issued a 
 proclamation denouncing the project, and enjoining all officers 
 of the government, civil and military, in their respective spheres, 
 to be vigilant, active, and faithful in suppressing those illegal 
 enterprises. A portion of the filibusters who had assembled 
 at Mobile applied to the collector of the port for clearance, and 
 were refused. On the 6th of December, they sailed secretly 
 from Mobile, in the Susan, a coasting vessel. They were stopped 
 by a revenue-cutter, but pretending to be engaged in a 
 coasting voyage, were suffered to proceed. The vessel was 
 driven by adverse winds on the coast of Honduras and wrecked. 
 With much difficulty the men made their way to Belize, where 
 they found themselves unable to procure a vessel to carry 
 them to their place of destination. The governor at length offer 
 ed to send them back to the United States in a British armed 
 vessel. He w r ould not inquire into their original intentions, 
 but as they had violated no law of England, would consider 
 them simply as shipwrecked Americans. The offer was ac 
 cepted, and the filibusters were landed at Mobile on the first of 
 the following month. 
 
 Mount Vernon, the home and burial-place of Washington, 
 was purchased by the " Ladies Mount Vernon Association," 
 who designed to hold it in perpetuity as a place of public 
 resort and pilgrimage. 
 
 The commencement of the work of constructing the Central 
 Park, in New York, was made this year. 
 
 The first overland mail from California arrived at St. Louis 
 on the 9th of October, having been conveyed from San Fran 
 cisco in twenty-three days and four hours. 
 
 Mdlle. Piccolomini made her first appearance on the stage in 
 America, on the 20th of September, at the New York Academy 
 of Music. 
 
 The first steam fire engine used in Baltimore arrived in that 
 city on the 18th of May. In June the police and fire-alarm 
 telegraph was established. In September a paid fire-depart 
 ment went into operation. 
 
 In November, water was first introduced through street-pipes 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 161 
 
 into the city of Brooklyn, and on the 17th of December it was 
 first used in extinguishing a fire. 
 
 Staten Island became the scene of a riot, growing out of the 
 increased hostility of the inhabitants to the establishment of 
 quarantine on their shores. The State authorities had pur 
 chased in 1798 thirty acres in the town of Castleton, on the island, 
 for quarantine purposes, and subsequently hospitals were 
 erected thereon for fever and small-pox patients. As Staten. 
 Island became thickly settled, the removal of the quarantine 
 was asked for, but nothing was done. In 1856 there were 
 seven hundred and sixty-nine cases of yellow-fever on Staten 
 Island, the adjoining shore of Long Island, and in South 
 Brooklyn. In the following year the legislature authorized the 
 removal of quarantine, and land was bought at Seguin s Point, 
 seven miles farther from New York, but still on the island. 
 Five days after the transfer, a mob burned all the buildings. 
 New ones were put up, but they also were burned, and the site 
 was thenceforward abandoned, and the quarantine remained in 
 the old place. The hostility to the establishment increased in 
 strength ; the Castleton Board of Health declared it a nuisance, 
 and on the night of September 1st the place was attacked by 
 a mob, the sick were carried from the hospitals and laid upon 
 mattresses in the field, the officers and physicians were driven 
 off, and all the buildings, save the woman s hospital, were de 
 stroyed by fire ; the next night the remaining hospital was 
 similarly destroyed. The governor declared the island in re 
 bellion, and sent troops there; but no further trouble occurred. 
 Thirty-two buildings in all were burned. A number of the 
 patients died in consequence of the exposure occasioned by 
 their removal. 
 
 Floods in the rivers of the west and southwest were unusually 
 destructive this year. The loss was especially great upon the 
 Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and Ohio. Early in 
 May the levees about New Orleans gave way, causing the over 
 flow of an immense tract of sugar and cotton country. A month 
 later ^ series of inundations took place in the Upper Mississippi 
 and its northern tributaries. On the 12th of June, the levee 
 above Cairo, in Illinois yielded, and the entire town was sub 
 merged, causing much damage. The western railroads suffered 
 severely by the destruction of tracks, bridges, and station houses. 
 The total loss occasioned by these freshets was estimated at 
 more than thirty millions of dollars, of which nearly one-half 
 fell upon the cotton crop, and one-third upon the grain crop. 
 
 The iron steamer Austria, plying between New York and 
 Hamburg, was burned at sea on the 13th of September. She 
 left Hamburg on the 3d, with five hundred and thirty-eight 
 souls on board, of whom four hundred and twenty-five were 
 passengers, the remainder being officers and crew. Additional 
 passengers were taken on beard at Southampton. On the after 
 noon of the 13th, when within three or four days of port, the 
 boatswain was ordered to fumigate the steerage by immersing a 
 hot iron hi a bucket of tar. The tar became ignited and the 
 
162 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 flames spread with great rapidity, rushing through the gang 
 ways and hatchways at the entrance of the cabins, cutting off 
 all retreat to those below. Most of those who succeeded in gain 
 ing the deck were on the after-part of the vessel, and her head 
 being to the wind, the flames were driven back upon them, com 
 pelling them to leap overboard. Attempts were made to launch 
 the boats, but of those that were loosed all except one were 
 swamped. As the engines ceased working, the vessel s head 
 swung round, and the flames were driven forward, forcing the 
 people out upon the bowsprit, from which many flung them 
 selves into the sea; some of whom sunk, while others supported 
 themselves upon fragments of the ship. Two vessels were just 
 in sight when the fire took place. By these, ninety-nine persons 
 were saved, some from the water, the others from the wreck. 
 It was supposed all the remainder were lost. 
 
 The Crystal Palace, erected in New York for an Industrial 
 Exhibition, caught fire on the 5th of October, and was con 
 sumed with the contents, involving a loss exceeding a million 
 of dollars. The Fair of the American Institute had just been 
 opened in the palace, which was filled with objects for exhibi 
 tion, some of which were of considerable value. 
 1859 An organized attempt to excite an insurrection of the slaves 
 in Virginia was set on foot, which startled and profoundly 
 stirred the nation. On the night of the 16th of October, John 
 Brown, ananlislavery enthusiast, with twenty-two armed men, 
 made a descent upon the town of Harper s Ferry, in Virginia, 
 where was located a United States arsenal, containing a large 
 amount of arms. The purpose of the capture was to hold the 
 place as a refuge for the fugitive slaves who might gain their 
 liberty upon the success of the plans that Brown had formed. 
 The insurgents took possession of the government buildings 
 that were left unguarded, and then some of them proceeded to 
 the residences of two wealthy farmers in the vicinity, made them 
 prisoners with such slaves as they could secure, and brought 
 them to the arsenal. In the morning, as the laborers belonging 
 to the arsenal came one by one to their work they were also 
 made prisoners. As the day advanced, an alarm was given, 
 and military companies from the neighborhood arrived upon 
 the scene. During the day shots were fired on both sides by 
 which several lives were lost. Late at night some United States 
 marines appeared and invested the arsenal until morning, at 
 which time that building was carried by assault and Brown and 
 those remaining of his party were captured. Fourteen of the 
 insurgents had been killed in the strife; of the citizens and sol 
 diers, seven were killed, including the Mayor of the town, and a 
 number wounded. Brown and his accomplices were promptly 
 tried, convicted, and executed. 
 
 Oregon was admitted into the Union as a State on the 14th of 
 February, with a Constitution prohibiting slavery within its 
 borders. 
 
 During the year the hostilities of the Indian tribes on our 
 northwestern frontier were unusually frequent. A report from 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 163 
 
 the War Department gives in detail official accounts of nineteen 
 separate actions between September 20, 1858, and October 19, 
 1859. In these engagements, between three and four hundred 
 Indians were killed, wounded, or captured; between fifty and 
 one hundred of our troops were killed and wounded; and a 
 large number of animals of various kinds were taken from 
 the Indians. 
 
 The interviewing" feature of journalism had its origin this* 
 year. Among those stated to be implicated in the raid of John 
 Brown on Harper s Ferry was Gerrit Smith, a noted anti- 
 slavery advocate. One of the special reporters of the New York 
 Herald was despatched to his residence at Peterboro , N. Y., 
 where he had a long interview with that distinguished philan- 
 tropist. This was published in full, in conversational style, 
 and produced a sensation. From this period that style of re 
 porting was adopted in all parts of the country. 
 
 Four aeronauts ascended in a balloon from St. Louis, on the 
 first of July, and, after travelling a distance of eleven hundred 
 and fifty miles in nineteen hours and fifteen minutes, landed in 
 Jefferson County, in the State of New York. On the 22d of 
 September, two of the aeronauts ascended in a balloon from 
 Watertown, N. Y., and after travelling four hours, landed in 
 Canada at a place about three hundred miles distant. 
 
 Mdlle. Adelina Patti made her first appearance on any stage 
 as a dramatic vocalist, at the New York Academy of Music, on 
 the 24th of November. At this time she had not attained her 
 seventeenth year. 
 
 The art of photo-lithography was first introduced this year, in 
 preparing the maps published in the first volume of " Palfrey s 
 History of New England," issued at Boston; and in Leslie s 
 "Iron Manufacturers Guide," at New York. 
 
 The Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad Company 
 was formed by the consolidation of the Ohio and Pennsylvania, 
 the Ohio and Indiana, and the Fort Wayne and Chicago rail 
 roads, making one continuous line between Pittsburg and Chi 
 cago, a distance of four hundred and seventy-one miles. 
 
 Street railways were opened for travel this year, for the first 
 time, in Chicago and Baltimore. 
 
 1860 The success of the Republican party, in the presidential elec 
 tion of this year, organized to fight the extension of slavery 
 into newly-formed States and Territories, was the culmination 
 of a long quarrel between the Southern States, where slavery 
 was a " peculiar institution," and the Northern States, where, 
 slavery having long before been given up, a sentiment hostile 
 to it in other sections had been steadily growing for two or 
 three generations. The election of Lincoln as President, in 
 November, was the determining circumstance which led to the 
 civil war that soon followed. Differences of opinion as to the 
 power to regulate the domestic affairs of the States and Terri 
 tories was the political issue involved; the protection and de 
 velopment of the institution on which the prosperity of the South 
 .almost exclusively depended negro slavery was the material 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 interest really at stake. Congress was the scene in which the 
 controversy was principally waged. Orators like Wendell 
 Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison raised their voices against 
 slavery in the rostrum; newspapers published earnest articles 
 on the same subject; books were written to picture the oper 
 ations of the system, one of them being Harriet Beecher Stowe s 
 "Uncle Tom s Cabin." Dickens, the English novelist, added 
 his satire to the agitation by his " American Notes." But the 
 vehicle for the feeling thus aroused w r as the Federal Legis 
 lature. Hither numerously-signed petitions came from the 
 North, asking for the abolition of slavery; and hither came 
 verbal and written protests from the South against interference 
 with what was considered a local matter purely, and an in 
 vasion of State rights. Congress itself was a battle-field as early 
 as 1820. When Missouri was admitted to the Union, a pro 
 tracted discussion was had, which resulted, in allowing that 
 State to have slaves but prohibiting the institution in new 
 States and Territories north of latitude 36 30 , or west thereof. 
 Arkansas, which came in later, gave the slave power still 
 greater political influence in the national councils. This was 
 increased further in 1845 by the admission of Texas, which 
 had seceded from Mexico; and a prospect was afforded of more 
 slave States to be erected out of Mexican territory, taken in 
 the war which followed, and extending up north into what is 
 now Colorado. California, also annexed by this war, was ad 
 mitted as a free State in 1850; but only after prolonged debate, 
 and the adoption of a law facilitating the return, to their own 
 ers, of fugitive slaves. New Mexico and Utah were erected 
 into Territories with scarcely less contention. Oregon had been 
 constituted a Territory in 1849 w r ith some such discussion, too. 
 The fiercest struggle between the slavery and abolition parties 
 was for the control of the region next w y est of Missouri and 
 Iowa. In 1854 it was divided into Kansas and Nebraska. The 
 Whigs and Republicans in Congress held, in this controversy, 
 that, by the terms of the Missouri Compromise, these Territories 
 were to exclude slavery. The Democrats, the majority of 
 whom came from the South, insisted, on the other hand, that 
 this understanding had been abrogated by^ certain laws of 1850. 
 Finally, the principle of popular sovereignty, or home rule, 
 expounded by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, was 
 adopted regarding Kansas and Nebraska, and the people of 
 those Territories were left free to allow or forbid slavery by 
 their own constitutions, whenever they came into the Union. 
 Thereupon a race ensued between Northern and Southern 
 settlers to fill up and control Kansas. Nebraska was not con 
 tested. For nearly six years the disputed Territory was the 
 scene of much disorder, the colonizers engaging in many 
 bloody affrays. Two constitutions were adopted by different 
 assemblies. One, framed at Lecompton, allowed slavery, but 
 at a popular election it was voted down. Another, adopted 
 at Wyandot in 1859, prohibited slavery; and with this, in 1861, 
 Kansas finally came into the Union. So determined had this 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 165 
 
 struggle over slavery been that William H. Seward, as early as 
 1848, wanted the issue made the chief one in the presidential 
 campaign. Several years later, in the Senate, he spoke of the 
 controversy as an "irrepressible conflict." The more radical 
 Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, in his unsuccessful campaign for 
 the Senatorship in 1858, declared solemnly his belief that the 
 " Union could not permanently endure, half slave and half free. " 
 The Southern people, irritated by what they looked upon as 
 impertinent meddling, threatened the lives of such abolitionists 
 as visited their cities; and sympathizers with the South made it 
 uncomfortable for these agitators even in the North. Two 
 events which greatly embittered feeling between the two sec 
 tions, were the assault on Senator Sumner, in the Senate cham 
 ber, and John Brown s raid into Virginia. The strife in Kansas 
 also agitated the public mind, both at the North and South, 
 increasing the growing animosity between the extremists of 
 both sides, and converting to the ranks of the Republican party 
 large numbers of Northern Democrats, among whom were the 
 names of many eminent men. When Congress met for its 
 winter session of 1859-60, the triumph of the Free State party 
 in Kansas was already achieved, and the would-be State stood 
 knocking at the door of the Union for admission. The Southern 
 party, finding that the scheme of leaving the people of a State 
 to decide this slavery question for themselves had not worked 
 as they expected, took the position that the Federal Govern 
 ment was bound to protect, in the Territories, any citizens of 
 other States who might go there with slaves, and protect them 
 in their possession, too; in short, that no restriction upon the 
 extension of slavery was constitutional. _ The foremost cham 
 pion of this principle was Jefferson Davis, senator from Missis 
 sippi, who presented a series of resolutions embodying the idea, 
 and, after long debate, they were adopted by the Senate on the 
 24th of May. This doctrine that the Federal Government must 
 protect slaveholders in their " rights " when they settled in a 
 new free State was the central issue of the presidential election 
 in this year. One wing of the Democratic party, noi willing 
 to squarely affirm it, ignored it, and nominated for President 
 the great advocate of popular sovereignty, " the Little Giant," 
 as he was called, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. Herschel V. 
 Johnson, of Georgia, was named for Vice-President on this 
 ticket. The more determined factions of the Democracy 
 (Southerners) reiterated Mr. Davis s proposition, and on that 
 platform nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for 
 President, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon (now a State), for Vice- 
 President. The Constitutional Union, or American, or " Know- 
 Nothing " party, took no decided ground on the slavery 
 question. It nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward 
 Everett, of Massachusetts, as its national candidates. As in 
 1856, so now, the Republicans emphasized the gospel of the 
 Declaration of Independence that " all men are created equal," 
 and denounced as dangerous heresy this new dogma of the 
 Southerners, and deprecated the threats of disunion which were 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thrown out by the slaveholders. The Democratic split pre 
 vented Mr. Douglas from carrying a single State, left Mr. Bell 
 in the ascendancy in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, thus 
 robbing Mr. Breckinridge of part of even the slave States, and 
 defeated him. Lincoln carried every Northern State except 
 New Jersey, which was divided between three candidates. His 
 election quickly brought about secession. The right of a State 
 to withdraw from the Union had been affirmed and debated in 
 Congress and out of Congress for at least three decades. One 
 of the most emphatic assertions of it was made in the tariff con 
 troversy by South Carolina in 1832. Some concessions were 
 made in Congress, however, in tariff legislation the next Feb 
 ruary; and the chief milliners decided to recede from the posi 
 tion they had taken. John C.Calhoun, senator from that State, 
 reaffirmed the doctrine in his speeches, however, repeatedly, 
 and denied the right of the national government to "coerce" a 
 State. The possibility of secession came up for discussion after 
 wards, repeatedly, in connection with slavery, and threats of 
 withdrawal were continually being made by Southern Congress 
 men. It was this association of two ideas that led Daniel 
 Webster, in combating them both, to raise the historic demand 
 for "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Insepar 
 able." Not merely the notion of secession, but practical meas 
 ures looking to it were considered. Toward the close of the 
 presidential campaign of 1856, a secret council of Southern 
 governors was held in Raleigh, N. C., upon the suggestion of 
 Governor Wise, of Virginia "to lay out a programme for action 
 in case Fremont should be elected. Again, in this year, dur 
 ing the presidential campaign, the idea of secession as a result 
 of Lincoln s election was discussed, openly and secretly, at 
 various meetings at the South. More than once it had been 
 proposed in Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Co 
 lumbia. Should the Republicans gain control of the national 
 government, there was no reason why they should not carry 
 out that scheme, but follow it up elsewhere so the Southerners 
 argued. Not only would the extension of slavery into new 
 States be prevented, and the development of enough Free States 
 be accomplished to overbalance the South, but actual aggression 
 against slavery, where it already existed, might be begun; and 
 the Northern fanatics would not stop until they had completely 
 destroyed the slave system of the South. But this slave system 
 was that by which the chief industry of the South cotton and 
 sugar culture was conducted. Abolition would paralyze all 
 business, ruin agriculture, and, since the millions of slaves were 
 each worth several hundred dollars to their owners, the actual 
 wealth of the whole section would be tremendously diminished 
 by declaring the blacks to be no longer any one s property. 
 Steps to accomplish secession were promptly taken. The South 
 Carolina Legislature was in session in November, when Lincoln 
 was elected. That body immediately considered resolutions 
 declaring this event a menace to the peace and safety of the 
 South, providing for arming the State, and calling a State con- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 167 
 
 vention to consider secession measures. There was some vigor 
 ous opposition to these schemes, but they were carried through. 
 The convention met on December 17, and, three days later, 
 adopted an ordinance of secession without dissent. This in 
 strument formally declared the relations between that State 
 and the others dissolved. A dele gate had been sent to Georgia, 
 whose legislature was in session, to advise similar action. In 
 formal but equally strenuous persuasion was exercised in other 
 States also. Special sessions of State legislatures, governors 
 messages, ardent debates, popular oratory, and other like 
 agencies, were now brought to bear in all the slave States, to 
 secure imitation of South Carolina s example. Much objection 
 was offered to the movement that had now set in. In Georgia, 
 Alexander H. Stephens, a prominent Congressman, took the 
 ground that while the State had the right to secede, it would 
 be inexpedient for her to do so. Nearly all the slave States 
 seceded in the following month. 
 
 The petroleum oil business was started this year, develop 
 ing intense excitement throughout the country, and an era of 
 wild speculation surpassing any heretofore witnessed in the 
 United States in any line of business. The existence of petro 
 leum about the head-waters of the Alleghany River, in New 
 York and Pennsylvania, was known to the early settlers of that 
 region, but it was collected only in small quantities from the 
 surface of the water as it stood in pools below the springs, and 
 was used only as a medicine. No suspicion appears to have 
 been entertained that the supplies could be increased by sinking 
 deep wells through the sand- stones and shales that underlay the 
 valley; and it was not known that by distillation and chemical 
 treatment the quality of the petroleum could be greatly im 
 proved. The progress of experiments made upon the dis 
 tillation of the oil, and their success, began to direct attention 
 to the localities where petroleum was produced. The first 
 movement in its development was made in 1854, when two men 
 from the city of New York secured the right to the Upper 
 Spring on Oil Creek, Pa. No progress, however, was made 
 until the winter of 1859, when Col. E. L. Drake, of New 
 Haven, completed arrangements for boring a well at Titusville, 
 on Oil Creek. On the 26th of August of that year, at a depth 
 of seventy-one feet, oil was struck, and it rose within a few feet 
 of the surface. This well was the first well ever sunk for oil, 
 and the first petroleum ever obtained by boring. Upon apply 
 ing a large pump, a supply of one thousand barrels per day 
 was produced. This success gave a value to every spot where 
 oil had ever been found, or where it was likely to be. The 
 matter became noised about, and soon attracted a large number 
 of visitors and speculators from the surrounding country. The 
 news had become so wide-spread at the commencement of this 
 year that a scene of excitement beyond description was inau 
 gurated. The Drake well was thronged with visitors arriving 
 from different sections of the country, thousands pouring in 
 from the neighboring States. Everybody was eager to purchase 
 
168 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 or lease oil lands at any price demanded. Almost in a night 
 a wilderness of derricks sprang up and covered the entire bot 
 tom lands of Oil Creek. Oil Creek below Titusville, the valley 
 of the Alleghany River from below Franklin into Warren 
 County, Pa., and other places were soon explored by wells, 
 and around the most successful of these, formerly the most re 
 tired portions of the State, villages began to spring up and 
 rapidly increase in population. It has been estimated that be 
 fore the close of this year, the number of wells in that part of 
 Pennsylvania was two thousand. 
 
 The Prince of Wales, the heir apparent of the English throne, 
 arrived at St. Johns, Newfoundland, on the 23d of July. 
 After completing his tour through the British Provinces, he ar 
 rived at Detroit, on the 21st of September, and thence pro 
 ceeded, by the way of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and 
 Baltimore, to Washington, where he arrived on the 3d of Octo 
 ber. He remained the guest of the President until the 7th, visit 
 ing Mount Vernon in the interval. He then visited Richmond, 
 thence proceeded to New York, stopping at Philadelphia on 
 his way. Everywhere in the United States he was most cor 
 dially received. He reached New York on the llth, and was 
 welcomed by a grand military and civic display. On the fol 
 lowing day he attended a grand ball given him in his honor by 
 a committee of four hundred prominent citizens. On the 
 evening of the 13th, a torchlight procession of firemen paraded 
 in his honor. On the 15th he visited the Military Academy at 
 West Point, thence proceeded to Albany, where he was enter 
 tained by the Governor of the State. From Albany he went 
 to Boston, where he was welcomed by a procession and a ball. 
 He then travelled to Portland, where he arrived on the 20th. 
 After a brief interview with the city officials, he proceeded on 
 board the vessel which was awaiting him, and set out on his 
 homeward voyage. 
 
 The United States steamer Powhatan arrived at San Fran 
 cisco on the 27th of March, bringing a Japanese embassy to 
 this country. This embassy consisted of two principal ambas 
 sadors, princes of the highest rank in the empire, with two 
 associates of nearly equal rank. Accompanying these were ten 
 officials, two interpreters, two physicians, and fifty-three servants. 
 At San Francisco they were treated with the highest respect 
 and as guests of the city, which appropriated twenty thousand 
 dollars for their entertainment. The Governor of the State, 
 the officers of the corporation, members of the legislature, and 
 many private citizens visited them, and on the 2d of April a 
 
 Eublic reception, attended by the United States officers, the 
 Dreign consuls, and State authorities, was accorded to them. 
 They brought one hundred thousand dollars to defray their ex 
 penses, and many boxes of presents to the members of our gov 
 ernment, though invited to come as the guests of our country, 
 and at its sole expense. From San Francisco they went to 
 New York, where they arrived in the United States steamer 
 Roanoke on the 9th of May. The embassy did not stop at 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 169 
 
 New York, but proceeded in the same vessel to Washington. 
 There the strangers were received with great distinction as 
 guests of the nation, and the treaty which they bore was for 
 mally ratified. From Washington they proceeded to New 
 York, stopping at Philadelphia on their way, arriving there, as 
 the guests of the city, on the 16th of June. They received a 
 similar reception in New York to that in San Francisco, and 
 remained until the 29th, when they embarked on board the 
 United States steamer Niagara, which had been put in readi 
 ness to take them to their homes. 
 
 The mammoth steamer Great Eastern left England on the 
 17th of June, and arrived at New York on the 28th, where for 
 several days she was visited by large numbers of spectators. 
 
 The United States steamers Mohawk and Wyandot, cruising 
 off the coast of Cuba, captured several slavers, and brought their 
 cargoes to Key West. One of these slavers had on board five 
 hundred and ten native Africans brought from Congo River ; 
 another had five hundred and sixty who had been purchased 
 at Whydah, of the King of Dahomey. In all there were seven 
 teen hundred captured slaves gathered at Key West, among 
 whom great mortality occurred. Provision was made by Con 
 gress for sending these Africans to Liberia. Another slaver, 
 owned in New York, was captured near the African coast by 
 the United States steamer Mohican, with nearly nine hundred 
 slaves on board, and eight hundred and sixty of them were 
 landed in Liberia, the remainder having died on the way. 
 
 William Walker, the filibuster, quietly left New Orleans, in 
 June, on another expedition to Nicaragua. Making a descent 
 upon Honduras, he attacked the town of Truxillo, and cap 
 tured it without any difficulty. In a proclamation to the peo 
 ple of Honduras he informed them that he was making war, 
 not on them, but on their government. In August, the Presi 
 dent of Honduras with seven hundred men approached Tru 
 xillo, and the commander of an English man-of-war in the 
 harbor demanded that Walker should give up the town, on the 
 ground that the British Government had claims upon the re 
 ceipts of the custom-house. Walker then abandoned Truxillo, 
 leaving his sick behind, and with eighty men retired down the 
 coast, followed by a body of native troops, whose attacks 
 were repulsed. In September, he was overtaken by Gen 
 eral Alvarez at the head of a considerable force. He, with 
 his men, surrendered without resistance. Walker and his 
 second in command were delivered to the authorities of Hon 
 duras, but the remainder of the party were sent back to the 
 United States. Walker was brought to trial, condemned, and 
 shot. His partner was sentenced to four years imprisonment. 
 
 The first steam fire-engine used in Indianapolis was received 
 there on the 30th of March. 
 
 The New York World made its first appearance in June. 
 
 During this year work upon the Central Park at New York 
 was sufficiently advanced for it to be opened to the public. 
 
 In January were completed the last two links hi the great 
 
170 HISTORY -OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 chain of railways from Maine to Louisiana; the first, the last 
 twenty-five miles on the Mississippi Central, and the second of 
 sixty -one miles between Lynchburg and Charlottesville, on the 
 Orange and Alexandria Railroad. By the completion of these 
 roads, a continuous line of railway , about two thousand miles 
 in length, was formed between Bangor and New Orleans, with 
 the exception of four short ferries, two of which were soon 
 after bridged over. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 10th of January, a serious disaster 
 occurred at Lawrence, Mass. The main building of the Pem- 
 berton Cotton Mills, one of the largest structures of the kind in 
 the country, while the machinery was in motion suddenly fell 
 without warning, burying in the ruins several hundreds of the 
 operatives. Strenuous efforts were made to secure the victims, 
 and many were saved ; but at nine o clock in the evening the 
 ruins took fire from the accidental breaking of a lantern used by 
 one of those engaged in the work of aiding the sufferers. The 
 flames spread with such rapidity as to render it impossible to 
 save those who were shut up among the fallen timbers and 
 machinery, and large numbers were burned to death, in addi 
 tion to those who were killed by the fallen building. Accord 
 ing to a careful canvas of the city made a week after the disaster, 
 the number known to be dead was one hundred and seventeen ; 
 there were eighty-nine missing, most of whom were supposed 
 to be buried in the ruins; one hundred and twelve were severely, 
 and two hundred slightly injured. 
 
 A dreadful tornado passed over a portion of Illinois and 
 Iowa, on the 3d of June, occasioning a loss of over one hun 
 dred and fifty lives. The tornado travelled ninety miles in 
 Iowa, and seventy in Illinois, causing an immense destruction 
 of property. 
 
 The steamer Hungarian, on her voyage from Liverpool to 
 Portland, Me., was wrecked on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. It 
 was believed that every person on board perished over two 
 luindred, crew and passengers. 
 
 On the night of the 7th of September, the steamer Lady 
 Elgin, plying on Lakes Michigan and Superior, was run into 
 by a schooner, and sunk in a few minutes. Of about four 
 hundred persons on board, less than one hundred were saved. 
 1861 Abraham Lincoln assumed the duties of President of the 
 United States, and Hannibal Hamlin as Vice-President, on the 
 4th of March. 
 
 The Legislatures of the Southern States passed ordinances of 
 secession from the Union this year, in the following order: 
 Mississippi, January 9th ; Florida, January 10th : Alabama, 
 January llth ; Georgia, January 19th ; Louisiana, January 
 26th ; North Carolina, January 30th ; Texas, February 1st ; 
 Virginia, April 17th ; Arkansas, May 6th. The Legislature of 
 North Carolina voted to submit the question to the people; but 
 reassembling on the 20th of May, accepted it, without doing 
 so. That of Texas voted to submit it to the people, and 
 on March 4th that State was declared by proclamation to 
 
HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 171 
 
 be out of the Union. The Legislature of Virginia refused, 
 April 4th, to submit the question to the people ; but afterwards 
 voted to do so, and a vote for secession was cast on the 25th 
 of June. The Legislature of Arkansas, April 14th, voted to 
 submit it to the people, but reassembling, passed it on the 6th 
 of May. On the 20th of May, Governor Magoffin proclaimed 
 Kentucky neutral. The Legislature of Missouri assumed a 
 similar position. On June 12th, the Governor of Missouri 
 issued a proclamation for fifty thousand militia " to repel in 
 vasion," and fled to the South. The Legislature of Tennessee 
 passed a declaration of independence, to be submitted to the 
 people; and on the 24th of June, the governor proclaimed her 
 out of the Union. On the 21st of June however, a Union con 
 vention was held at Greenville, which issued a declaration of 
 grievances. 
 
 Seven of the "Free and Independent Sovereignties," as they 
 considered themselves, which had already left the old Union, 
 quickly formed a new one. Their delegates met at Montgom 
 ery February 4th, and by the 8th had organized " The Confed 
 erate States of America," with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi 
 for President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia for Vice- 
 President. Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennes 
 see joined the Confederacy upon declaring themselves out of 
 the Union. These additions to the Confederacy made eleven 
 members in all, The other four States, Missouri, Kentucky, 
 Maryland, and Delaware, either voted to remain neutral, or 
 failed to pass an ordinance of secession; but part of their terri 
 tory was debatable ground during military operations; and 
 among their citizens were many earnest and active sympathizers 
 with the South. 
 
 The South was not allowed to go without some attempt to 
 compromise the difficulty. Andrew Jackson treated nullifica 
 tion as treason. He denied that the Union was a mere league 
 from which any member might withdraw at will. He insisted 
 that the States did surrender part of their sovereignty to the 
 national government when they formed the Union, and that se 
 cession was not a constitutional privilege. An attempt to 
 secede, therefore, he held to be an act of violence and a threat 
 of ruin to the Union, to be resisted and punished. So, now, a. 
 large element in the North held that no compromise should be 
 assented to; but that vigorous measures should be adopted, in 
 order to bring the Southern States back to their allegiance. 
 The attitude of the South was well expressed in the remark of 
 one of her statesmen: "All we want is to be let alone." But 
 many Republicans, taking Jackson s view of secession, did not 
 propose to let the South alone, but to treat her as in rebellion. 
 Others doubted the wisdom of employing force. Some, dazed 
 by what was going on, and uninformed as to Lincoln s pur 
 poses, had no views at all. Others would have let them go in 
 peace. Still others were for friendly overtures and pacifying 
 persuasion. All the winter of 1860-61 Congress and the press 
 .discussed these issues, the right of secession, the right of the 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Federal government to coerce a State, and the expediency of 
 concessions. Two peace schemes were conspicuous among sev 
 eral under consideration. One was the Crittenden Compro 
 mise. The Senator from Kentucky, whose name it bore, intro 
 duced it. The essential idea of it was a proposed amendment 
 to the Constitution, fixing the old Missouri compromise line, 
 latitude 36 30 , as the division between free and slavery 
 territory in the West, prohibiting Congress from abolish 
 ing slavery in the District of Columbia, or any State, and 
 providing for a more effectual enforcement of the fugitive- 
 slave law. The other project was submitted to Congress 
 by a peace convention made up of delegates from the vari 
 ous States, called by Governor Wise of Virginia. This 
 body met in February. It adopted a plan forbidding interfer 
 ence with slavery wherever it existed, and allowing new States 
 to decide for themselves whether they would allow slavery, and 
 forbidding the annexation of new territory to the United 
 States without the consent of the South. Neither of these 
 measures was adopted by Congress. Mr. Seward, who, as 
 Lincoln s chief rival in the nominating convention, was looked 
 upon as probable Secretary of State and spokesman for the in 
 coming administration, met them with a third project to call a 
 national convention to consider what amendments were neces 
 sary; but this was rejected also. Without waiting for these top 
 ics to be disposed of, the Senators and Congressmen from the 
 eleven States which had then seceded withdrew from the Na 
 tional Legislature in Washington. South Carolina s senators 
 resigned in November. Most of the withdrawals were in Jan 
 uary, and a few of them were prefaced by short formal 
 speeches. Jefferson Davis was one of those to indulge in this 
 ceremony. This reduction of the Democratic strength made it 
 practicable to admit Kansas, the thirty-fourth State, to the 
 Union in February. The Morrill Tariff Act, which Southern 
 free-traders would have antagonized, was also passed; and only 
 the ordinary appropriations, amounting to seventy millions of 
 dollars, were made for the coming year. 
 
 Long before the actual outbreak of the war the local State mili 
 tia had taken possession of nearly every fort, arsenal, navy -yard, 
 revenue- cutter, mint, sub-treasury, custom-house, post-office, 
 and other Federal posts in the South. Anticipating this, Major 
 Eobert Anderson, at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, re 
 moved his little garrison of United States troops to Fort Sum- 
 ter by night in December. Fortress Monroe, at Hampton 
 Roads, Ya., was also in Federal hands; Fort Pickens, near 
 Pensacola, and works at Key West and Tortugas, Fla., also; 
 and this was all that was saved. Some thirty forts, hundreds 
 of cannon, and munitions valued at twenty millions of dollars, 
 fell into Southern hands. John B. Floyd, Buchanan s Secre 
 tary of War, who afterwards became a Confederate general, 
 was accused of stocking the forts and arsenals in the South 
 quite fully, with the view of thus aiding the cause of secession. 
 The way in which the navy was dispatched to foreign waters 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 173 
 
 during the winter was also thought to be dictated by a desire 
 to help the Confederacy by disabling, for a time, Lincoln s ad 
 ministration. Mr. Buchanan believed that he had no authority 
 to check secession, and pursued a passive policy, aiming, how 
 ever, to preserve peace until his successor should come m. In 
 deed, he practically pledged himself, by a commissioner se 
 cretly sent South, to remain neutral. 
 
 The first shot fired at the Stars and Stripes in this contest, 
 perhaps, was that aimed at the steamer Star of the West, sent 
 down to Fort Sumter with provisions, in January. She left 
 New York on the 4th, and reached Charleston harbor on the 
 9th. As she came up the bay that morning, a cannon-ball was 
 sent into her from Fort Moultrie. This was the act of the 
 South Carolina militia. As yet but one State had seceded 
 There was no Confederacy. Without trying to communicate 
 with Major Anderson the steamer turned about and left the 
 harbor. This was the signal for a rapid occupation of other 
 fortifications by Southern forces. The first decided act of war 
 came three months later. On the llth of April, General G. T. 
 Beauregard demanded of Major Anderson the surrender of 
 Fort Sumter to the Confederate forces, and this being refused, 
 he began a thirty-four hours bombardment next day. The 
 fort was badly damaged, and Anderson s rations were ex 
 hausted, with no prospect of relief. He therefore surrendered. 
 The news of this aggression thrilled the country. Lincoln im 
 mediately called for seventy-five thousand volunteers for 
 three months service in suppressing the rebellion; and May 3d, 
 for eighty-three thousand, including seamen, for " three years 
 or the war." Massachusetts and Pennsylvania soldiers were 
 attacked by a mob while passing through Baltimore April 19th, 
 and, one being killed, fired on the rioters, killing eleven. Gen 
 eral B. F. Butler commanding Fortress Monroe, at the mouth 
 of James River, attempted, June 10th, to take Bethel Church, 
 near by, without success. General T. A. Morris, with Indiana 
 and Ohio troops, invaded Virginia from Parkersburg, and won 
 a slight victory at Philippi. General George B. McClellan, 
 taking command in Western Virginia, followed this up with 
 another more decisive, at Rich Mountain, July llth. Another 
 battle, September 14th, won by General W. S. Rosecrans, 
 practically secured to the Union the region now included in 
 West Virginia. Colonel Lew Wallace drove a small Confederate 
 force from Romney, west of the Blue Ridge, June llth. Gen 
 eral Robert Patterson was thus enabled to safely invade the Shen- 
 andoah Valley from the north. He occupied Winchester, and 
 was instructed to keep General Joseph E. Johnston s Confed 
 erate troops from going eastward to Manassas, where now the 
 chief battle of the year was to be fought. The main Union 
 army under General Irwin McDowell, advanced westward in 
 July from Alexandria, Va. A skirmish with Beauregard s 
 troops occurred near Bull Run, the 18th; and a battle ensued 
 the 21st, at Manassas. The invaders seemed victorious at first; 
 but after noon six thousand of Johnston s soldiers arrived, 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and the Union troops fell back in great disorder to Washing 
 ton. The Confederate loss was two thousand and fifty; Union, 
 about three thousand. The disaster disheartened the North. 
 Lieutenant-General Scott, commander-in-chief, then resigned. 
 McDowell was promptly superseded by McClellan; and Patter 
 son, for not restraining Johnston, was replaced by General N. 
 P. Banks. McClellan threw two thousand troops across the 
 Potomac at Ball s Bluff in October; but on the 21st, before 
 they could be supported, they were attacked and routed. 
 
 Missouri was invaded by Confederates from Texas and 
 Arkansas in the spring. They were defeated by General Na 
 thaniel Lyon at Booneville, June 17th; by General Franz Sigel 
 at Carthage, July 5th ; and at Wilson s Creek, August 10th. 
 Lyon was killed there, after apparent victory; and Sigel with 
 drew. The Confederates took Ler ngton, which General John 
 C. Fremont recovered October 16th. General David Hunter, 
 and then General H. W. Halleck, succeeded to command 
 in Missouri that fall. Before the year closed the Union forces 
 practically controlled the State. 
 
 The Confederates had occupied Columbus, Ky. , in the autumn, 
 and Belmont, in Missouri, opposite. General U. S. Grant tried 
 to dislodge them from the latter place, November 7th, but 
 was driven out again by General Folk s men from Columbus. 
 
 The Union navy blockaded most of the Southern seaports 
 this year, capturing many inward-bound vessels with war-muni 
 tions, and outward-bound vessels with cotton, and helped troops 
 get a foothold along the coast. Commodore Stringham and 
 General Butler took the forts at Hatteras Inlet, N. C., August 
 29th, and Commodore Pupont and General Thomas W. Sher 
 man captured those at Port Royal, S. C., November 7th. Next 
 day, Captain Wilkes of the San Jacinto stopped the British 
 merchant-steamer Trent, from Havana to England, and cap 
 tured Jflmes M. Mason and John Slidell, Confederate commis 
 sioners, bound on a diplomatic errand to London. The Eng 
 lish people sympathized with the Confederacy strongly. The 
 British Government resented the act, and a declaration of war 
 seemed imminent. But Lincoln s Secretary of State, Seward, 
 having first secured from England an important admission of 
 the sacredness of neutral flags in time of war, the prisoners 
 were surrendered. 
 
 In Congress, practically nothing was done, during the close 
 of Buchanan s administration, having any reference to the war, 
 as the war was not then a certainty. After the attack on Fort 
 Sumter, however, and President Lincoln had called out the 
 troops, suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the insurrection 
 ary districts, declared a blockade of the Southern ports, and 
 taken other measures which he thought the emergency required, 
 he felt the necessity of moral and pecuniary support from Con 
 gress, especially as the military operations in May and June 
 began to indicate the seriousness of the conflict already in 
 augurated. He therefore called an extra session of Congress 
 to meet on the 4th of July. Accordingly it convened on that 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 175 
 
 date, and, after passing measures recommended by the Presi 
 dent, adjourned on the 6th of August. 
 
 On the 17th of July, Congress passed an act authorizing a 
 national loan for two hundred and fifty millions of dollars. 
 For the loan, coupon or registered bonds, or treasury notes, were 
 to be issued the bonds to bear seven per cent interest, and 
 the treasury notes, of not less than fifty dollars each, interest at 
 the rate of seven and three tenths per cent; or the Treasury 
 might issue notes of less amount than fifty dollars, bearing no 
 interest, or notes bearing three and sixty-five hundredths per 
 cent; provided that no such note should be for less than ten dol 
 lars, and that the amount so issued should not exceed fifty mil 
 lions of dollars. On the 5th of August, Congress passed a 
 supplemental act, authorizing the issue of Treasury notes of 
 a denomination of not less than five dollars, and such notes 
 payable on demand, without interest, not exceeding fifty mil 
 lions of dollars, and that they should be received in payment 
 of public dues. 
 
 In August, Congress passed an act for confiscating property 
 in transit, or provided for transit, to or from insurrectionary 
 States, or used for the promotion of insurrection. On the 16th 
 the President issued a Proclamation declaring the seceding- 
 States to be in a state of insurrection, prohibiting all commer 
 cial intercourse between them and the other parts of the Union 
 without special permission from the Government, under the 
 penalty of the confiscation of all goods or vehicles conveying 
 them; and declaring that all vessels belonging wholly or in 
 part to any citizen of the insurgent States found at sea, or in a 
 part of the United States, after fifteen days from the date of the 
 proclamation, to be forfeited to the United States. 
 
 Postal communication with the Confederate States was ordered 
 to be closed on the first of June, and letters directed there to be 
 sent to the dead-letter office. 
 
 At this period there were about sixteen hundred banks in the 
 United States. Their circulation, on the 1st of January, was 
 estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury at two hundred 
 and two millions of dollars; of this circulation, about one 
 hundred and fifty millions were in the loyal States. 
 
 Kansas was admitted into the Union on the 30th of January, 
 with a constitution prohibiting slavery within her limits. On 
 the 3d of March, Colorado, Nevada, and Dakota were formed 
 into Territories. 
 
 The Pacific telegraph-line between St. Louis and San Fran 
 cisco was completed on the 25th of October. For the eastern 
 part of the line the materials and tools were taken to Omaha, 
 at which point everything was gathered in readiness to start 
 westward. For that part of the line were employed four hun 
 dred men, fitted out for a hard campaign, with a rifle and a 
 navy revolver for each man, and with the necessary provisions, 
 including one hundred head of cattle for beef, to be driven with 
 the train and killed as needed. For the transportation of the 
 material and the supplies for this army of workmen, five hun- 
 
176 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 dred oxen and mules, and over one hundred wagons were 
 purchased by the company ; and these not proving sufficient, 
 other transportation was hired, making the total number of 
 beasts of burden seven hundred oxen and one hundred pair of 
 mules. The first pole was set up on the 4th of July, and the 
 work to Salt Lake City proceeded to completion at the rate of 
 about ten miles per day. At the same time that the work was 
 progressing between Omaha and Salt Lake City, another party 
 was building the western half of the line between the latter 
 place and San Francisco, and the two divisions were completed 
 about the same time. 
 
 California was visited during the autumn and early winter 
 by a disastrous flood. The streams, swollen by continued rains, 
 flooded the valleys, inundated towns, swept away mills, dams, 
 houses, and destroyed property to the estimated value of ten 
 millions of dollars. The rains commenced early in November, 
 and continued to fall without scarcely any cessation for four 
 weeks. 
 
 On the 14th of November, a destructive fire occurred at Con 
 cord, N. H. , which laid a large part of the business portion of 
 the city in ashes. A conflagration at Charleston, on the llth of 
 December, destroyed property in the business portion of the city, 
 of the value, as reported, of upwards of five millions of dollars. 
 
 A submarine cable was successfully laid between Baltimore 
 and Fortress Monroe, after a third trial. 
 
 The feat of telegraphing from an aerial station was accom 
 plished, for the first time, by the aeronaut Mr. Lowe, who 
 ascended in a balloon from the city of Washington, to the 
 elevation of about six hundred feet. On the 10th of August, the 
 aeronaut, Mr. La Montaine, ascended in a balloon from a tug 
 boat in Hampton Roads, to the height of three thousand feet, 
 and successfully observed the position of the Confederate forces 
 beyond Newport News and at Sewall s Point. On the 4th of 
 October, Mr. La Montaine made another ascent in the service 
 of the Union army on the Potomac. He rose to the height of 
 one and a half miles, and was carried directly over the lines of 
 the Confederate army, where, after making satisfactory observa 
 tions, he threw put ballast and rose to the height of three miles, 
 at which elevation he struck a current of air which passed the 
 balloon over Washington, and finally it descended in the State 
 of Maryland. 
 
 The first steel guns manufactured in this country were made 
 at Trenton, and were ready for service on the 1st of July. 
 
 The banks of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston sus 
 pended specie payments in December, in consequence of the 
 withdrawal of large amounts of gold by depositors for the 
 purpose of selling it at a premium. 
 
 The market price per pound of Middling Uplands cotton in 
 the New York market on the 1st of January was eleven and 
 one half cents ; on the 1st of April, twelve and five eighths ; on 
 the 1st of July, fourteen and five-eighths ; and on the first of 
 October, twenty-one to twenty-one and a half cents. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 17? 
 
 1862 Military operations in the West and Southwest commenced 
 early in the year. Col. J. A. Garfield won a slight victory at 
 Big Sandy River, in Eastern Kentucky, on the 9th of January. 
 Ten days later, Gen. George H. Thomas secured one more 
 decisive at Mill Spring, in the same region. The Confederate 
 general Zollicoffer was killed there. Further operations in 
 that locality were suspended by the commander of that depart 
 ment, Gen. Buell, to await the result of those directed by 
 Gen. Halleck farther west. The latter sent Gen. Grant 
 against Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, at the southern 
 border of Kentucky ; the post was evacuated on the 6th of 
 February, its garrison going to Fort Donelson, on the Cumber 
 land, in Northern Tennessee. Grant pursued with 80,000 men, 
 and Commodore Foote co-operated with his gun-boats. Foote 
 was wounded in an engagement the 14th ; a hard battle ensued 
 the 15th; and on the 16th, Gen. Buckner, commander, sur 
 rendered the fort, with 10,000 men as prisoners of war. 
 This was by far the most brilliant and useful victory yet won 
 by Union arms. It practically dislodged the Confederates from 
 Kentucky and Tennessee without another stroke. Federal 
 troops under Grant then occupied Pittsburg Landing, on the 
 Tennessee, near Northwestern Mississippi. Here they were 
 fiercely assaulted, April 6th, by a Confederate army under Gen. 
 Albert Sidney Johnston, and nearly routed, though Johnston 
 was killed. Buell s supporting column, advancing from Nash 
 ville, arrived that night, and next day Grant was able to repel 
 the enemy, who renewed the attack under Beauregard. The 
 losses on each side, the two days, were about 10,000 much the 
 heaviest yet witnessed in this war. Upon withdrawing from 
 Columbus, Ky., the Confederates had fortified at Island No. 10, 
 in the Mississippi. Beset by Gen. John Pope, who had taken 
 New Madrid, on the west bank, and by Commodore Foote s 
 fleet, they surrendered April 7, after twenty-three days bom 
 bardment. Union gun-boats were now able to go down to 
 Memphis, Tenn., which city was peaceably occupied June 6th. 
 While these operations were being conducted in Kentucky 
 and Tennessee, Union troops led by Gen. Curtis crossed into 
 Arkansas from Southwestern Missouri in March. He was 
 vigorously attacked on the 6th and 7th at Pea Ridge, and held 
 his ground. The enemy lost two generals, Mclntosh and Mc- 
 Culloch, but in men the Union losses were heaviest, and 
 Curtis s victory had no practical result. On the 19th of Sep 
 tember, Grant, assisted by Rosecrans, defeated Gen. Sterling 
 Price at luka, Northeastern Mississippi. Grant, with part of 
 his troops, withdrew to La Grange, Tenn., leaving Rosecrans 
 to occupy Corinth, Miss., which Price evacuated. Price and 
 Van Dorn attacked Rosecrans here, with superior numbers, 
 October 3d and 4th ; but, after a stubborn fight, they fell back 
 defeated. In December, Gen. Wm. Tecumseh Sherman moved 
 down from Memphis to Chickasaw Bayou, on the Yazoo River, 
 to threaten Vicksburg, Miss.; and Grant, from La Grange, 
 further east, pushed into Mississippi to support the movement. 
 
178 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The latter s communications were cut at Holly Springs by Van 
 Dora, the 20th, and he was obliged to retreat, Sherman was 
 badly defeated on the 29th, and precipitately took transports on 
 the Mississippi Kiver for Memphis. 
 
 Tennessee and Kentucky were again contested this year. 
 Gen. Kirby Smith led one Confederate force rapidly northward 
 in August, taking Richmond, Ky., the 30th, and then Lexing 
 ton, and the State capital, Frankfort. Gen. Bragg, with an 
 other, advanced from Chattanooga, captured four thousand 
 five hundred Union troops at Mumfordsville, Tenn., September 
 17th, and then tried to join Smith and reach Louisville, Ky. 
 Cincinnati was saved by the exertions of Gen. Lew Wallace ; 
 and Buell, coming up from Nashville, headed Bragg off, forc 
 ing him to retire. A severe but rather indecisive engage 
 ment ensued at Perryyille, Ky., October 8th. Bragg then con 
 tinued his retreat, taking four thousand wagon-loads of spoils 
 from the State. Rosecrans now succeeded Buell in command 
 at Nashville. Bragg was thirty-two miles southeastward, at Mur- 
 freesboro, near which, at Stone River, severe battles were 
 fought, December 31st and January 2d (1863). Bragg was 
 obliged to retire to Tullahoma for the winter. The losses at 
 Stone River were ten thousand or twelve thousand on each 
 side. Rosecrans received hearty official praise for his success. 
 
 In the Shenandoah Valley, in March, General Banks had ad 
 vanced as far southward as Harrisonburg; but Stonewall Jack 
 son, entering the valley from the eastward at Front Royal, 
 obliged him to hurry back to the Potomac. Fremont, bv a 
 similar manoeuvre, tried to force Jackson to retreat, but in vain. 
 
 The Union blockading fleet in Hampton Roads, Va., was 
 attacked March 8th by a strange-looking monster, fitted out at 
 Norfolk. It was the iron-clad ram Virginia, constructed from 
 the hull of the old war-ship Merrimac. The frigates Congress 
 and Cumberland were sunk by it. The event created a panic 
 in Northern seaports. The next day, however, the Virginia 
 was met by a small new war-rvessel called the Monitor, in 
 vented by John Ericsson, which arrived in the night from the 
 North. It was iron-clad, and had only a revolving turret, con 
 taining heavy guns above deck. This craft, after a five hours 
 contest, put the Virginia to flight. This brilliant event revolu 
 tionized naval architecture, and opened a new route to Rich 
 mond for the Union army. 
 
 McClellan had designed advancing upon the Confederate 
 capital from the north; and in March began pushing forward 
 from the vicinity of Washington, with 200,000 men. He haa 
 reached the Rappahanock River without serious resistance, when 
 the War Department compelled him to change his plans. Leav 
 ing Pope in command on the Rappahannock, he took 120,000 
 troops by water around to Fortress Monroe, whence, April 4th, 
 he pushed northeastward. A siege reduced Yorktown May 4th, 
 and opened most of the peninsula between the James and York 
 rivers to him. Victories at Williamsburg and West Point en 
 abled him to reach the Chickahominy River before the close of 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 179 
 
 the month. Having crossed it, he pressed on to Fair Oaks (or 
 Seven Pines), within seven miles of Richmond, where the enemy 
 gave battle the 31st and June 1st. After a hard and bloody 
 struggle the Confederates gave way. Their commander, John 
 ston, was badly wounded. General Robert E. Lee succeeded him, 
 and retained the chief leadership through the rest of the war. 
 McClellan, instead of following up the enemy, now paused to 
 build bridges and roads, and to shift his base from the York to 
 the James River. General Wood had facilitated this by occupy 
 ing Norfolk, from Fortress Monroe. McClellan asked for rein 
 forcements at Washington at this juncture, but did not get them. 
 Lee, at this time, had but 25,000 men near Richmond, although 
 his force was estimated at much more. He summoned Stone 
 wall Jackson s force from the Shenandoah Valley, and, thus 
 recruited, assumed the offensive. At Oak Grove, June 25th, he 
 gave battle, without result; renewed the attack, next day, at 
 Mechanicsville, and was repulsed; delivered another blow the 
 27th, at Gaines s Mill, forcing Fitz-John Porter to give way; did 
 little fighting the 28th; struck the Union forces, both at Savage 
 Station, where Sumner s corps held its ground firmly, and at 
 White Oak Swamp the 29th. Hostilities were less fierce next 
 day. Meantime, McClellan was retreating toward James River. 
 Here, at Malvern Hill, twelve miles below Richmond, came 
 the most terrible battle of the Peninsular campaign the last 
 of the Seven Days Fight. Lee charged the concentrated Union 
 army July 1st, repeatedly and desperately, but could not dis 
 lodge it. Ten days later, General H. W. Halleck was made 
 general-in-chief at Washington. He soon directed McClellan 
 to bring back his army, by water, to the Potomac. The trans 
 fer was gradually effected late in August. 
 
 Lee continued the aggressive, and startled the North. Banks 
 was first defeated, and prevented from helping Pope. The lat 
 ter was flanked by Stonewall Jackson, who occupied Manassas, 
 capturing valuable stores. Here Pope, who had fallen back 
 from the Rappahannock, attacked him, August 28th and 29th, 
 hoping to rout him before Lee could come up. The neglect of 
 Fitz-John Porter to support Pope, as directed, made this scheme 
 a failure, and the second battle of Manassas, like the first (in 
 1861), was a Union disaster. Porter was tried by court-martial, 
 and dismissed from the service. At Chantilly, the Union troops 
 were again defeated, and Generals Kearney and Stevens were 
 killed. Pope and his shattered force having retreated to 
 Washington, Lee advanced without resistance through Freder 
 ick and Hagerstown, Md., captured Harper s Ferry, and 
 threatened the national capital. McClellan, whose magnetism 
 had made him the idol of the Army of the Potomac, and who had 
 shown great mastery of military art in organizing the raw, un 
 disciplined troops which had been given him, had planned a 
 campaign against Richmond early in the year, from the north. 
 With great reluctance he yielded to the command from Wash 
 ington to abandon it and to undertake the Peninsular campaign. 
 This opened with great promise, but ended in disaster. The 
 
180 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 result, he felt, was due to the refusal of the War Department to 
 give him needed reinforcements. The North, however, not 
 knowing the merits of the case, but greatly disappointed in the 
 apparent results, judged him severely. When Hal leek, sum 
 moned in July from St. Louis to Washington to direct all the 
 military operations of the country, ordered McClellan up from 
 the Peninsula to Acquia Creek, on the lower Potomac, the latter 
 was left there inactive, in disgrace. But when Pope was routed 
 at Bull Run, and Maryland was invaded, the hero of Fair Oaks 
 promptly interposed the Army of the Potomac between Wash 
 ington and the enemy, and reached out to the westward, feeling 
 for the latter. He was fortunate enough to capture a general 
 order of Lee s, September 12th, which revealed the whole Con 
 federate plan. Harper s Perry was the principal objective point; 
 and the force thrown out towards Washington was a rear-guard 
 for the rest of the Confederate army. On the 14th, this body 
 was attacked by Generals Hatch and Doubleday on South Moun 
 tain, and defeated with considerable loss. Franklin also won a 
 victory at another gap in the same ridge. The enemy fell back 
 on Sharpsburg, but meantime continued the movement against 
 Harper s Ferry, which fell next day. Just west of South 
 Mountain, Antietam Creek runs southwardly into the Potomac. 
 Along this stream McClellan now formed his forces for a deci 
 sive conflict. On the 16th, Hooker crossed the stream, got 
 around to the northward of Lee, and secured an advantageous 
 position. Next day the two armies came together at Antietam 
 Creek. Hooker began the battle on the right, and Burnside on 
 the left. Porter, near the centre, was kept in reserve until late 
 in the day Mansfield, Sumner, and Franklin were to support 
 Hooker. One of the most bitterly contested spots on the field 
 was a cornfield in Hooker s front. Before night it was literally 
 soaked with blood. Ricketts and Meade s divisions first drove 
 Stonewall Jackson s division across this tract into the woods, 
 with great loss on both sides. Hood coming to Jackson s aid, 
 sent them back with equal carnage. Mansfield now reinforced 
 the Union line, but was struck down, fatally wounded. Hooker 
 rallied the combined corps, but was driven from the field by a 
 painful wound in the foot. Sumner now took command, and 
 brought up fresh troops. Sedgwick now regained the corn 
 field. He, too, was wounded thrice, and forced personally to 
 retire, and his division at length came back over the bloody soil. 
 Franklin s corps now came up, and Smith s division for a third 
 time took the cornfield, with terrible losses on both sides. Good 
 work was done near the centre now by French and Richardson 
 Burnside had pushed out toward Sharpsburg, in the morning; 
 but Lee was reinforced by his troops at Harper s Ferry, and 
 drove the Union left back in confusion. General Rodman, 
 while rallying his division, fell mortally wounded, and McClel 
 lan claimed the result of the day s conflict as a Union victory, 
 although his lines had been advanced but little. The losses 
 were not far from 10,000 on each side. The next day, McClel 
 lan prepared for another advance on the 19th-, but when the 
 
HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 181 
 
 second day dawned, Lee had disappeared from his front, and 
 was back in Virginia. Pursuit was given cautiously, but not 
 another blow was struck. A Confederate cavalry force under 
 General J. E. B. Stuart made a complete circuit around the 
 Army of the Potomac about this time, and returned to Virginia 
 in safety. McClellan s failure to attack soon after the battle of 
 Autietam excited fresh unfavorable criticism, and, in Novem 
 ber, while his line was extended along the Rappahannock, he 
 was replaced in command by General Burnside. This officer, 
 before sharing in the battle of Antietam, had co-operated with 
 Commodore Goldsboro in the capture of Roanoke Island. This 
 he had followed up by occupying Newberne and Beaufort, 
 1ST. C. The new commander of the Army of the Potomac 
 threw his force across the Rappahannock in December. Lee 
 waited until the work was done. Then, the 13th, he terribly 
 assailed the Union Hues. He was bravely but ineffectually met. 
 Two nights later Burnside quietly withdrew. 
 
 General Gillmore, April llth, captured Fort Pulaski, at the 
 mouth of the Savannah River. Admiral Farragut, after a week 
 of hard fighting on the Mississippi, took the forts below New- 
 Orleans, and landed General Butler s troops in that city, April 
 25th. 
 
 In February, Congress passed an act for the additional issue 
 of Treasury notes. By it ten millions of dollars in notes for a 
 less denomination than five dollars were authorized to be issued, in 
 addition to the fifty millions previously authorized . These issues 
 were to be receivable for all payments, including customs, that 
 might be due to the government. On the 25th of February, the 
 President approved what was called the Legal Tender Act, 
 passed by Congress. By it, the Secretary of the Treasury was 
 authorized to issue notes to the amount of one hundred and fifty 
 millions of dollars, not bearing interest, payable in Washington 
 and New York, none to be less than five dollars, but fifty 
 millions of dollars of these to be in lieu of the same amount of 
 Treasury notes issued under the act of July 17, 1861, which 
 were to be taken up as soon as practicable. These notes were 
 to be a legal tender for all debts, public and private, and to be 
 received and paid out by the government for all purposes except 
 ing duties on imports and interest on the public debt; those 
 were to be paid in gold. The bill also authorized the issue of 
 Treasury bonds to the amount of five hundred millions of dol 
 lars, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent, payable semi- 
 annually, redeemable at the pleasure of the government after 
 twenty years from date. These bonds, and all other securities 
 of the United States, to be exempt from taxation by any State 
 or county. In July another bill was passed authorizing another 
 issue of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars of Treasury 
 notes. 
 
 By an act of Congress passed in April, slavery was abolished 
 in the District of Columbia. The act provided, for a commis 
 sion to remunerate loyal owners. Not over three hundred 
 dollars a slave were to be paid, and one million of dollars were 
 
182 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 appropriated for the purpose. One hundred thousand dollars 
 were also appropriated for their colonization. An act was also 
 passed abolishing slavery in the "Territories of the United 
 States now existing, or which may at any time hereafter be 
 formed or acquired by the United States." 
 
 In July, Congress passed an act to collect an internal revenue. 
 A tax was to be imposed upon domestic manufactures, trades, 
 and occupations, and it provided a system of stamps, licenses, 
 income, and other duties. A tax averaging three per cent on 
 manufactured articles was imposed, most of which were enu 
 merated; of those enumerated, distilled spirits were to pay 
 twenty cents per gallon; ales, one dollar per barrel. Licenses, 
 varying from five to two hundred dollars, were imposed upon 
 almost every profession; stamps, from three cents to one dollar 
 upon the paper used for bills of exchange, and from one to twenty 
 dollars upon conveyances of real estate. The income-tax to be 
 three per cent on the excess over six hundred dollars of all in 
 comes up to ten thousand dollars, and five per cent on those 
 greater. 
 
 On the 1st of July the President approved an act of Congress 
 granting aid for the construction of a line of railroad from 
 the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The act granted a 
 subsidy of sixteen thousand dollars in government bonds, per 
 mile, for that portion of the line between the Missouri River and 
 the base of the Rocky Mountains; forty-eight thousand dollars 
 per mile for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles through 
 the mountain range ; thirty-two thousand dollars per mile between 
 the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada range; forty-eight 
 thousand dollars per mile across that range, a distance of one 
 hundred and fifty miles; and thirty-two thousand dollars per 
 mile for the California section. This subsidy was to be a first 
 lien upon the railroad. By subsequent legislation, that sub 
 sidy was made a second mortgage, and gave the railroad com 
 pany a right to issue a first mortgage to secure its own bonds 
 for an amount equal to those of the government issue. The 
 act also granted to the company a right of way, four hundred 
 feet in width, for the whole distance, and a grant of twelve 
 thousand eight hundred acres of land, on the line of the road, 
 for each mile of the railway constructed. 
 
 The President, on the 17th of July, approved an act of 
 Congress confiscating the property and emancipating the slaves 
 of all rebels in arms after sixty days, if they did not submit; 
 and on the 25th, he issued a proclamation warning all such per 
 sons to return to their allegiance, under pain of the penalties 
 provided for in the act. The bill provided that any person that 
 should be convicted of treason would be punished by death, 
 or, at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment for not less 
 than five years, and a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars; 
 his slaves in either case to be set free. Any person engaging 
 in or aiding rebellion to be punished by imprisonment not ex 
 ceeding ten years, or a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or 
 both; his slaves to be set free. Persons found to be guilty of 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 183 
 
 treason to be incapable of holding any office under the United 
 States. It also provided for the seizure of the property of per 
 sons holding certain specified civil, naval, or military offices un 
 der the Southern Confederacy. Slaves of any person engaged 
 in rebellion, coming in any way into the power of the United 
 States forces, were to be considered prisoners of war, and not 
 again held as slaves. No fugitive slave should be given up, 
 unless the claimant made oath that he had not been engaged in re 
 bellion. By the act, the President was authorized to employ 
 persons of African descent for the suppression of the rebellion, 
 and he might make provision for the colonization of such freed 
 slaves as he should deem expedient. 
 
 In July, Congress passed an act increasing duties on imports; 
 also a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish 
 postage and other stamps to the depositories of the United 
 States, to be exchanged for notes, and forbade the issue by any 
 one of tokens, or of checks for less than a dollar, to circulate 
 as money. 
 
 On the 1st of July the President, in response to the official 
 request of the Governors of eighteen States, issued a call for 
 three hundred thousand additional men for the army. On the 
 4th of August an order was issued from the War Department, 
 directing that a draft of three hundred thousand more men 
 should be called into the service of the United States, to serve 
 for nine months, unless previously discharged; and also direct 
 ing that if any State should not, by the 15th of August, furnish 
 its quota of the three hundred thousand volunteers previously de 
 manded, and authorized by law, the deficiency would also be 
 made up by a special draft from the militia. The six hundred 
 thousand men directed to be furnished by these orders would 
 bring the effective force in the field up to fully a million. It 
 was expected that the special bounties for enlistments which 
 were being offered by the different States would probably 
 furnish all the three hundred thousand volunteers without the 
 necessity of recourse to drafting. 
 
 On the 8th of August, the writ of habeas corpus was ordered 
 to be suspended. Orders were also issued for the arrest of all 
 persons who discouraged enlistments. Another order prohibited 
 the issuance of passports, and newspaper correspondents were 
 not to be allowed with the armies. 
 
 On the 22d of September, President Lincoln issued a procla 
 mation abolishing slavery in the Southern States, unless they re 
 turned to the Union before the 1st of January following. On 
 the 24th he issued another proclamation suspending the habeas 
 corpus in respect to persons held by military authority. This 
 was done to prevent the release of military and state prisoners. 
 
 On the 22d of November, a general order was issued by the 
 government for the release of all state prisoners. 
 
 On the 31st of December, an act passed by Congress for the 
 admission of West Virginia, as a State, into the Union, was 
 approved by the President. 
 
 The water- works at New Haven were completed on the 1st 
 
184 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of January, and the inhabitants supplied with water from Mill 
 River. 
 
 Late in the summer the State of Minnesota was the scene of 
 Indian cruelties and atrocities, so much so as to compel the 
 Governor of the State to call an extra session of the legislature 
 for means to be adopted to stop them. United States troops 
 under General Pope were also despatched in the emergency. 
 In September, a large body of the Indians was overtaken at 
 Wood Lake and, after a sharp battle, about five hundred of 
 the savages were taken prisoners, and after being tried by court- 
 martial, three hundred of them were sentenced to be hung, but 
 the President directed that but thirty-eight of them should be 
 executed, and the remainder placed in confinement. By this 
 insurrection it was estimated that not less than three hundred 
 whites were killed, and two and a half millions of dollars in 
 property destroyed. For some months between six and seven 
 thousand persons, mostly women and children, were dependent 
 upon charity. 
 
 On the 10th of May, a conflagration destroyed property at 
 Troy valued at three millions of dollars, including six hundred 
 and seventy -one buildings, among which were the Union Rail 
 road depot and several churches. Seven lives were lost. The 
 steamer Golden Gate, which left San Francisco on the 
 21st of July, was destroyed by fire on the 27th, off the Mexican 
 coast, near Manzanilla. The passengers and crew, numbering 
 about two hundred persons, were mostly lost. The treasure on 
 board, amounting to nearly a million and a half of dollars, was 
 also lost. On the night of the 13th of August, the steamer 
 West Point, having on board many sick soldiers, came in col 
 lision with another steamer, on James River, Va., and was 
 sunk, carrying down with her about seventy-five persons. 
 
 The price of printing paper, of ordinary news quality, was 
 advanced in the autumn from nine cents a pound to twenty- 
 two. Early in the year the price of fine writing papers was ad 
 vanced from thirteen and fourteen cents per pound to seventeen 
 cents for flat cap, and from fifteen to twenty -five cents for letter 
 and note paper. 
 
 The price of cotton having advanced to an enormous price, 
 the manufacture of twine from paper was commenced. 
 
 The price of Middling Uplands cotton in the New York 
 market, on the 1st of January, was thirty-five and a half cents 
 per pound; on the 1st of April, twenty-eight; on the 1st of 
 July, thirty-eight and a half; and on the 1st of October, fifty- 
 seven. 
 
 Gold was first quoted at a premium on the 12th of April. 
 On the 1st of October it was 123. 
 
 1863 General Banks, who succeeded Butler at New Orleans, ex 
 tended his lines, early in the year, into Southern and Central 
 Louisiana. He also advanced to Baton Rouge and, in May, 
 laid siege to Port Hudson, a stronghold on the Mississippi 
 River. Severe but unsuccessful assaults were made on the 
 town, the bombardment being partly conducted by Farragut s 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 185 
 
 gunboats. In September, Banks made an unsuccessful at 
 tempt to get into Texas, by water, at Sabine Pass. That State 
 remained in Confederate hands through the war. In January, 
 Sherman sent McClernand, with Porter s fleet, up the Arkansas 
 River. On the 10th, they took Arkansas Post and five thou 
 sand prisoners, after a hard battle. Two days before, Confede 
 rates, under Generals Marmaduke and Price, attacked Spring 
 field, Mo., and were repulsed; they had a similar fate at 
 Hartsville, Mo., on the llth, and at Cape Girardeau, April 26th. 
 A Confederate raiding party, led by Quantrell, burned Law 
 rence, Kansas, August 13th. General Steele led a Union force 
 into Little Rock, September 10th, and thereafter Arkansas re 
 mained in his control. 
 
 Early in the year, for three months, Grant operated against 
 Vicksburg, from the region just north of it, trying to cut a canal 
 across the neck of land where it stands, to let the gunboats past. 
 This enterprise failed Accordingly Porter decided to run the 
 batteries, which he did at night, April 16th, without serious 
 damage. The seen a was terrible and magnificent, however. 
 Six ironclads, one wooden gunboat, and three transports, 
 dropped down the stream quietly, under cover of darkness. 
 But the watchful Confederate picket discovered their approach, 
 and in a few minutes a whole row of batteries along the bluff 
 was flashing and quaking with thunderous discharge. The 
 fleet returned the fire, and silenced a few of the enemy s guns. 
 The roar was deafening, and startled the town of Vicksburg as 
 it had never been startled before. One of the transports was 
 struck and disabled, but towed off by a gunboat. Another 
 got by unscathed. The third was set afire by a shell striking 
 cotton bales piled up for defence on board of her, and she was 
 abandoned. Five more transports then ran down safely, but a 
 sixth was rendered helpless and sunk. Grant now moved his 
 land forces across to the west bank and marched them down 
 stream. On the 29th the fleet opened a fearful cannonade on 
 Grand Gulf, below Vicksburg, to capture the place that Grant 
 might return here to Mississippi. The Confederate position 
 was too strong and too well defended for this attempt to suc 
 ceed. The next day, however, the Army of the Tennessee was 
 brought over, a little lower down, to Bruinsburg. Here a 
 brilliant campaign against Vicksburg was begun. In rapid 
 succession he won victories at Port Gibson, forcing the evacua 
 tion of Grand Gulf, at Raymond, and then at Jackson, the 
 capital city. This last ended Johnston s effort to reinforce 
 General Pemberton in the beleaguered city. Pemberton made a 
 rally, but was defeated at Champion Hills, May 16th. Grant 
 won another victory at Black River bridge next day. On the 
 19th and 22d, heavy assaults on the town were repulsed with 
 great carnage. Grant now settled down to a siege, Porter as 
 sisting by a heavy bombardment. Starved out, Pemberton 
 surrendered July 4th. Learning of this event, General Gard 
 ner yielded Port Hudson to Banks on the 8th. The whole 
 Mississippi River was now open. During the operations against 
 
186 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Vicksburg, Grierson s Illinois cavalry made a dash from Ten 
 nessee, east of Jackson, to Baton Rouge, destroying railroads 
 and other property. Colonel Streight attempted a like raid into 
 Georgia, but was captured by the Confederates under Forrest. 
 General John Morgan, a daring Southern cavalryman, in the 
 summer pushed up through Kentucky, crossed into Indiana, 
 passing thence to Ohio, where he was caught. 
 
 General Joseph Hooker, who had done effective service at 
 Antietam, succeeded Burnside in command of the Army of the 
 Potomac after the disaster at Fredericksburg. In the spring 
 he crossed the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. Just south 
 of the latter, at Chancellorsville, May 3d, his army received an 
 attack of terrible fury. In this battle Stonewall Jackson was 
 fatally wounded by a volley from his own men. Lee renewed 
 the assault next day. Hooker held his ground for the time, 
 but retreated on the 5th. His loss was seventeen thousand; the 
 Confederates lost five thousand. Just before this event, Gen 
 eral Stoneinan took his cavalry (Union) across the Rappahan 
 nock, dashed down within sight of Richmond, cut Lee s com 
 munications, and returned in safety, May 8th. 
 
 Lee now gave the North another great fright. He pushed 
 up across the Potomac, reached Chambersburg, Pa., June 
 22d, and threatened Washington, Baltimore, and Harrisburg. 
 Hooker, whose flank had been turned, followed rapidly. The 
 two armies concentrated at Gettysburg, Pa., for a momentous 
 battle. Here Hooker, at his own request, was relieved of 
 his command. General George Meade succeeded him. The 
 initial contest occurred July 1st. Meade was considerably 
 south of the town, looking for advantageous ground on 
 which to receive Lee. But Buford s troopers and Wads- 
 worth s division of Reynolds s corps, in pushing forward 
 to Seminary Ridge, just west of Gettysburg, came in collision 
 with part of the Confederate corps under Hill. After an 
 engagement was begun, Reynolds brought up his other divi 
 sion, but was himself killed by a sharp-shooter. General 
 Doubleday then took command until Howard arrived with an 
 other corps. But Hill was reinforced by Ewell ; and after a 
 brave resistance the Union line was driven back. The advan 
 tage Avas not followed up, except that the Confederates entered 
 the town without opposition. Howard took a position to the 
 southward, on Cemetery Hill, where General Sickles, coming 
 up with his corps at night, joined him. Meade, then at Taney- 
 town, sent Hancock forward to take command, leaving Gibbons 
 to bring that general s corps to the front. Hancock disposed 
 the troops in a horse-shoe shaped line, Cemetery Hill, nearest 
 Gettysburg, being the toe, Round Top the western heel, and 
 Wolf Hill the eastern heel or right wing. Next day the rest of 
 the Union army was brought up ; and Lee was congregating 
 north and west of Gettysburg. Sedgwick was posted on the 
 extreme left on Round Top ; Sickles came next a little farther 
 north ; Hancock had the centre on Cemetery Hill, looking 
 northward ; Slocum was on the right. Lee was again the ag- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 187 
 
 gressor, July 3d, although not much was done but to assail 
 Sickles s corps, which had exposed itself by advancing from 
 the position Meade had designed it to occupy. To that ground 
 it was driven back with heavy loss. Slocum received a slight 
 attack that day, but with no material result. The great battle 
 came on the morrow. During the forenoon Lee got his artillery 
 into position for a terrible concentrated fire on Cemetery Hill, 
 the chief point of attack ; and shortly after noon these one 
 hundred and fifteen pieces began belching forth their torrent of 
 fire and iron. The Union artillery replied, but the guns be 
 coming heated, their activity abated. Lee now threw forward 
 a solid line of infantry, nearly three miles long, charging not 
 only the Union front on Cemetery Hill, but the left wing 
 around on Round Top. These advances were made with 
 wonderful nerve and force. They were repelled with awful 
 carnage, and renewed with appalling coolness and courage. 
 The desperate struggle lasted for three hours. Each time 
 the enemy came on, the Union line would recede slightly 
 until the Confederates caught the enfilading fire of Meade s 
 guns ; and then the flower of Lee s army would be mown down 
 like grass. The assault failed, and the invader had no resort 
 but to return to Virginia, and on July 4th, while Pemberton 
 was surrendering Vicksburg to Grant, the demoralized rebel 
 horde was hurrying back to a place of safety. The losses in 
 this battle were twenty-three thousand on the Union side, and 
 even more on the other. Sickles lost a leg, and Hancock also 
 was wounded at Gettysburg. Lee made another effort to get 
 north in October, but was checked at Centreville. 
 
 Rosecrans remained inactive in Tennessee for six months 
 after his victory at Stone River. Late in June he began a series 
 of flank movements, which crowded Bragg southeastward into 
 Georgia, and occupied Chattanooga. The Confederates, out 
 numbering him seventy thousand to fifty-five thousand, turned 
 and struck him severely at Chickamauga Creek, Sept. 19th and 
 20th. General Thomas s corps withstood the attack firmly, 
 and saved the Union army from utter rout. The other corps 
 were driven back in disorder. Thomas finally withdrew to 
 the Tennessee River into Chattanooga, where the Army of the 
 Cumberland was strongly intrenched. This triumph of Bragg 
 gave new joy to the South, and caused much anxiety in Wash 
 ington, as there was some uncertainty whether even Chatta 
 nooga could now be held. During his Vicksburg campaign, 
 Grant had advised demonstrations by Rosecrans earlier than 
 July, so as either to call off such of Bragg s troops as had been 
 sent into Mississippi to help Johnston, or to invade Georgia 
 while Bragg was himself weakened. But Bragg was able to 
 strengthen himself by recovering his forces from the west be 
 fore his attack at Chickamauga ; for this was two months and 
 a half after Vicksburg fell. He was still further recruited by 
 Longstreet s corps from Virginia. 
 
 In October, the authorities at Washington created "the 
 Division of the Central Mississippi," embracing the Depart- 
 
188 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ment of the Tennessee, whose army had done the work 
 about Vicksburg, the Department of the Cumberland, com 
 manded by Rosecrans, and the Department of the Ohio, 
 then under Burnside, who was at Knoxville, Tenn. The 
 whole was committed to Grant, the hero of Vicksburg. Grant 
 recognized the great strategic value of Chattanooga, and be 
 fore reaching that point in person, telegraphed to Thomas, 
 who succeeded Rosecrans in command of the Army of the 
 Cumberland, to hold the place at all hazards. Burnside, at 
 Knoxville, was in considerable peril at this time ; but Grant 
 decided that he could best relieve him by defeating Bragg at 
 Chattanooga ; and all efforts were devoted to this work. The 
 little town on the Tennessee, close to the border of Georgia, 
 was now the centre of all interest. Hooker, whose great valor 
 and impetuosity had won him the pseudonym of "Fighting 
 Joe Hooker," was sent from the Army of the Potomac with 
 parts of two corps into Tennessee. Grant had ordered Sher 
 man, who succeeded him in command of the Army of the 
 Tennessee, to repair the railroads in Northern Mississippi and 
 Alabama, and in Western and Southern Tennessee, so as to 
 improve the facilities for sending supplies to Chattanooga and 
 Knoxville. But after considerable work had been done, Grant 
 grew impatient to strike a blow at Chattanooga. As Bragg had 
 detached Longstreet s corps and had sent it eastward of Chatta 
 nooga up to Knoxville, it seemed possible that Burnside, who 
 was making a heroic and skilful resistance, might be overcome 
 before Grant could assist him. Accordingly Sherman was 
 ordered to drop work on the railroads and come with his troops 
 to the scene of action. Meantime such dispositions of troops 
 had been made around Chattanooga as to open up the way for 
 rations ; and the starving, ragged army of Thomas was again 
 well fed, well clothed, cheerful, and courageous. Just south of 
 the Tennessee River is a long narrow hill known as Missionary 
 Ridge. Off to the eastward is Chickamauga Creek, running 
 northward into the Tennessee. West of the ridge is Chatta 
 nooga Creek, also northward bound ; and across the valley rises 
 Lookout Mountain, another loftier range, which, like Mission 
 ary Ridge, trends away to the southwestward. In October, 
 Hooker had been thrown across the river from the north, west 
 of Lookout Mountain, and, after some fighting, he gained a 
 good foothold there. One of the amusing incidents of that 
 task was the alarm given to a force of Confederates, in a night 
 engagement, by the rattling harness of mules which frightened 
 Union teamsters had cut from their wagons, but which stam 
 peded toward the enemy s camp. Hooker held the right of 
 Grant s line. Thomas was at the centre in Chattanooga, on the 
 south bank of the river, just west of the head of Missionary 
 Ridge. To the east and north of that mountain, on Grant s 
 left, Sherman was to operate when he came up. This was not 
 until late in November. On the morning of the 24th, long 
 before daybreak, part of Sherman s men were brought down 
 into their position, on pontoons from up stream, off to the 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 189 
 
 northeastward, having come around in Grant s rear. They 
 built bridges quickly, north of Missionary Ridge, and got 
 artillery, Sheridan s cavalry, and the rest of the infantry across. 
 An advance was then made upon the enemy s works at the foot 
 of the hill, and, after some desperate fighting, an advantageous 
 position was secured. Grant stood on top of an eminence 
 called Orchard Knob, watching operations with a glass. Con 
 siderable cloudiness obscured the view through the forenoon ; 
 but he could get occasional glimpses of what was going on, 
 and had better hints from the noise of musketry and artillery. 
 Thomas, whose army Grant was not ready to use, stood beside 
 him much of the time. Hooker, off to the westward, achieved 
 the principal conquest of the day. His movements were con 
 cealed from Bragg s watchmen on Lookout Mountain by the 
 low clouds. But when, in force, he approached that ridge on 
 its western flank, the enemy s pickets discovered him, and 
 resistance was promptly offered. The slope was steep, broken, 
 and wooded, and difficult to climb even if no foe were there. 
 But such enthusiasm pervaded the Union ranks that they 
 charged up the mountain until, at 2 p.m., its very summit was 
 reached. This action has been called "The Battle above the 
 Clouds." Next day (Nov. 25th), the Union advance was re 
 newed. Hooker came eastward across the valley to Missionary 
 Ridge, but was so long delayed by the enemy s destruction of 
 bridges over Chattanooga Creek, that his co-operation was not 
 of much assistance. Grant was again on Orchard Knob watch 
 ing the scene. The day was clear. Thomas was beside him, 
 his army still waiting for the order to strike. Grant did not 
 intend to give this until Sherman had turned Bragg s right as 
 Hooker had turned the left. Part of Sherman s force was on 
 the eastern flank of Missionary Ridge, near the head, and part 
 on the western. Both soon carried some positions in their 
 front. Bra^g concentrated his troops at this point, massing 
 heavily against Sherman. Such was the latter s peril, that 
 Grant sent Sheridan s and Wood s divisions to the scene, with 
 material effect. Sherman now carried the ridge gallantly, and 
 sent Bragg flying. Sheridan, continuing pursuit, dashed off to 
 the southeastward, near Chickamauga Creek, intercepted part 
 of the retreating army, and took a lot of prisoners and stores. 
 The Union loss in the two days fight was five thousand six 
 hundred men. Bragg lost more heavily, but chiefly in prison 
 ers. The victory gave great relief to the anxious North, espe 
 cially to the authorities in Washington. The fruits of past 
 victories were secure ; the enemy were driven still further south, 
 into the Gulf States ; and an important step had been gained 
 in encircling what was left of the Confederacy. The campaign 
 had been one of the most difficult and skilfully planned which 
 the Union forces had waged ; andjts result inspired increased 
 confidence " 
 year 
 
 it led to Grant s promotion 
 armies three months later. Burnside, who had. been sadly 
 
190 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 beleaguered, but had held out successfully, was easily relieved 
 after the victories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. 
 Sherman was sent to his assistance ; but before help arrived 
 Longstreet was retreating into Virginia. 
 
 The Confederate cruiser Nashville was sunk by a Union iron 
 clad, while running the blockade at the mouth of the Savannah 
 River in March. Another, the Georgia, was captured at sea 
 by the Niagara, Captain Craven, August llth. Many other 
 captures, less conspicuous, were made by the fleet. Dupont 
 tried to take Charleston, in April, with a naval expedition, but 
 failed. In June, General Gillmore and Admiral Dahlgren laid 
 siege to the forts in that harbor, in June, from Morris and 
 Folly Islands. Fort Wagner was vainly stormed, July 18th. 
 That work and Fort Gregg were evacuated September 6th. 
 Monitors then came up and bombarded Fort Sumter. 
 
 On the 1st of January, the President issued an Emancipation 
 Proclamation. It specified Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (cer 
 tain parishes excepted), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
 South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (West Virginia 
 and other portions excepted), as the rebellious States to which 
 the proclamation applied. The excepted parts were "for the 
 present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued." 
 It then declared as follows: " Aiid by virtue of the power and 
 for the purpose aforesaid. I do order and declare that all per 
 sons held as slaves within said States or parts of States are and 
 henceforth shall be FREE, and that the executive government 
 of the United States, including the military and naval authori 
 ties thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said 
 persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared 
 free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self- 
 defence; and I recommend to them that in all cases, when al 
 lowed, they labor for reasonable wages. And I further 
 declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condi 
 tion, will be received into the armed service of the United 
 States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, 
 and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this 
 act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice warranted by the 
 Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the consid 
 erate judgment of mankind and favor of Almighty God." The 
 number of slaves declared free by this proclamation was about 
 three millions and one hundred and twenty thousand; the num 
 ber excepted by it, about eight hundred and thirty thousand. 
 Partly by way of anticipating this proclamation, Mr. Davis, 
 as President of the Confederate States, issued a proclamation 
 on the 22d of December, in which, among other orders, he 
 directed that negro slaves captured in arms should be delivered 
 over to the authorities of the States to which they belong, to be 
 dealt with according to the laws of those States; and all com 
 missioned officers of the United States, when found serving in 
 company with insurgent slaves, should be treated hi the same 
 manner. As the laws of all the slaveholding States punished 
 by death insurgent slaves and those who aided, them, this order 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 191 
 
 was equivalent to threatening capital punishment to all slaves 
 in arms and the white officers commanding them. 
 
 On the 3d of March, the President approved a financial 
 bill passed by Congress. The first section of the act author 
 ized a loan of three hundred millions for the current fiscal 
 year, and six hundred millions for the ensuing fiscal year, for 
 which bonds should be issued, to be payable at such times as 
 the Secretary of the Treasury might elect, not less than ten nor 
 more than fortj r years. The second section authorized the 
 issue of Treasury notes to the amount of four hundred mil 
 lions, to run not more than three years, and bear interest at the 
 rate of six per cent, and to be legal tender. The third section, 
 authorized the Secretary to issue one hundred and fifty millions 
 of Treasury notes without interest. The bill also authorized 
 the issue of fractional currency to the amount of fifty millions. 
 To help a market for the bonds, another act was passed author 
 izing the creation of National Banks. By it, banking associa 
 tions could be formed by any number of persons not less than 
 five. Not less than one third of the capital of the banks paid 
 in should be invested in United States bonds, for which circu 
 lating notes to the value of ninety per cent of the current value 
 of such bonds might be issued to the banks, the government to 
 hold the bonds in trust, as security for those issues, the total 
 amount of the bank-notes not to exceed three hundred millions; 
 and they were made lawful money for all purposes excepting 
 custom duties and interest on the public debt. The banks were 
 to pay the government semi-annually one per cent on the cir 
 culating notes to pay the expenses of making them. 
 
 Congress passed another act, commonly called the " Con 
 scription Act." By it, it was provided that all able-bodied 
 male citizens, and persons of foreign birth who had declared 
 their intention of becoming citizens, and who had voted be 
 tween the ages of twenty and forty-five, were liable to be called 
 into service, unless specially excepted. The exceptions were 
 those who were physically or mentally incapable, a few speci 
 fied officers of the National and State Governments, and the 
 following classes of persons: the only son of a widow or of 
 aged or infirm parents, dependent on his labor for support ; 
 when there were two or more sons of aged or infirm parents, 
 dependent upon them for support, the father, or if he be dead 
 the mother, might select one who should be exempt; the only 
 brother of children without father or mother, under twelve 
 years of age, dependent upon him for support; the father 
 of motherless children under twelve years of age, dependent 
 upon his labor for support; where of the same family and 
 household a father and one or more sons in the military service 
 of the United States, two of the same family and household 
 are to be exempt. Those persons liable to conscription were 
 to be divided into two classes ; the first class comprising all 
 below thirty-five years of age, and all unmarried persons be 
 tween thirty-five and forty-five years of age. The second class 
 comprised married persons between thirty-five and forty-five, 
 
192 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and were not to be called into service until the first class had 
 been exhausted. It was also provided that any person actually 
 drafted might be discharged from draft by furnishing an ac 
 ceptable substitute, or by paying a sum not exceeding three 
 hundred dollars, to be fixed by the Secretary of War. The 
 entire population of the loyal States, at the breaking out of the 
 war, liable to enrolment under the Conscription law, after 
 deducting all exemptions, was fully four millions. Another 
 act empowered the President to issue letters of marque and 
 reprisal. 
 
 On the 15th of June, the President issued a call for one hun 
 dred thousand volunteers to repel the invasion by the Confed 
 erates. On the 15th of October, the President made a call for 
 three hundred thousand men, those raised to be deducted from 
 the quotas set for the next draft. The deficiencies to be made 
 .good by the States by a new draft to be made on January 5, 
 1864. 
 
 The President in December accompanied his message to 
 Congress with a proclamation of amnesty to the Confederates, 
 stating his purpose to be to present the States wherein the 
 national authority had been suspended, and loyal State Govern 
 ments had been subverted, a mode in and by which the national 
 authority and loyal State Governments might be reinstated. 
 Specified exceptions to the amnesty proclamation were stated. 
 
 On the 3d of June, a " peace meeting" was held in New 
 York, instituted by leading Democrats. One of the resolutions 
 passed, declared it was recommended by the meeting, that 
 there should be a suspension of hostilities between the contend 
 ing armies of the divided sections of the country, and that a 
 convention of the States composing the Confederate States, and 
 a separate convention of the loyal States, be held to finally 
 settle and determine in what manner and by what mode the 
 contending sections should be reconciled. 
 
 A serious riot broke out in New York on the morning of the 
 13th of July. At the outset it was a demonstration against the 
 draft, which was then in progress in the ninth district, inhab 
 ited mainly by laborers, a great proportion of whom were of 
 foreign birth. They had been wrought to exasperation against 
 the clause in the bill which allowed a person whose name was 
 drawn to purchase exemption by the payment of three hundred 
 dollars. When the drawing commenced on the 13th, a sudden 
 attack was made by an armed mob upon the office. The 
 wheel was destroyed, the lists scattered, and the building set 
 on fire. The excitement spread throughout the city, crowds 
 gathered everywhere, with no apparent object ; but during 
 the day the movement seemed to be controlled by leaders in 
 two general directions. The first was an attack upon the 
 negroes; the second an assault upon every one who was sup 
 posed to be-in any way concerned in the draft, or prominently 
 identified with the Republican party. The militia regiments 
 who had always been relied upon to uphold public order in 
 case of emergency, had been sent to Pennsylvania to withstand 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 193 
 
 the Confederate invasion; and the only guardians left for the 
 public peace were the regular police and a few hundred sol 
 diers who garrisoned the forts. These were too few to protect 
 the dozen miles between the extremities of the city. The mob, 
 dispersed in one quarter, would reassemble at another, and for 
 four days the city seemed given up to their control. The out 
 rages committed during this time were numerous and aggra 
 vated. Negroes were assaulted, beaten to death, mutilated, and 
 hanged; building after building was sacked and burned; gangs 
 of desperadoes patrolled the streets, levying contributions, and 
 ordering places of business to be closed. A Colored Orphan 
 Asylum, sheltering some hundreds of children, was sacked and 
 burned. After the first day, the riot, which was at first directed 
 against the draft, took a new turn. The entire mass of 
 scoundrelism in the city seemed to have been let loose for in 
 discriminate plunder. Women, half-grown boys, and children 
 were foremost in the work of robbery, and no man felt safe 
 from attack. Gradually the bands of rioters were dispersed, 
 and the peace of the city was restored. Fully a hundred per 
 sons were killed, and property to an immense amount was 
 destroyed. 
 
 Arizona and Idaho were organized under Territorial govern 
 ments. 
 
 The free letter-carrier system went into effect in July. 
 
 Five Russian vessels of war arrived at the harbor of New 
 York, the first which ever visited our ports. The officers, on 
 the 1st of October, were publicly welcomed by the city 
 authorities. 
 
 The price of Middling Uplands cotton in the New York 
 market, on the 1st of January, was sixty-seven cents ; on the 
 1st of April, seventy-two to seventy -four cents ; on the 1st of 
 July, seventy-three to seventy-four cents ; and on the 1st of 
 October, eighty- one to eighty- three cents per pound. 
 
 The market price of gold on the 1st of January was 133f to 
 133|; on the 1st of April, 156 to 156f ; on the 1st of July, 
 144| to 144f ; and on the 1st of October, 140| to 142f . 
 1864 Banks, with Porter s gun-boats co-operating, went up Red 
 River, in Louisiana, early this year. He took Natchitoches 
 March 19th, but was defeated at Mansfield April 8th, and 
 Pleasant Hill the 9th. He then abandoned the campaign. 
 General Canby succeeded him in command. From Vicksburg 
 Sherman sent out one force into Eastern Mississippi to cut rail 
 roads and burn cotton, in February ; and General A. J. Smith 
 led another thither from Tennessee. -Forrest made an incur 
 sion into Kentucky from the South, unsuccessfully attacking 
 Paducah in March, withdrawing to Tennessee, taking Fort 
 Pillow by storm, slaughtering the garrison, half negroes, and 
 then retreating. 
 
 Second in importance only to the advance on Richmond, 
 and first, perhaps, in practical results this year, was the work 
 accomplished by William Tecumseh Sherman. When, in 
 March, Grant was transferred to the supreme command of the 
 
194 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Union armies, the hero of Missionary Ridge was promoted from 
 his charge of the Army of the Tennessee to that of the division 
 of the Central Mississippi, which now included not only his old 
 command and the armies of the Cumberland and the Ohio, but 
 also that of the Arkansas. Sherman was in Memphis at this 
 time. He went East to confer with the lieutenant-general about 
 their future operations, and then proceeded to Chattanooga to 
 lay out his work. He began his march southward early in May, 
 with nearly one hundred thousand men; this number diminished 
 through casualties, and the posting of forces to guard his line of 
 communications. Johnston, in his front with Hardee s, Hood s, 
 and Folk s corps, mustered between fifty thousand and sixty 
 thousand at the outset, but increased those figures somewhat as 
 he fell back. Bragg after his defeat the previous November, 
 had been retired from command in Georgia. Atlanta, an im 
 portant railroad centre in the heart of that State, and the site 
 of valuable manufactories and machine-shops, was Sherman s 
 objective point. In his advance of one hundred and twenty 
 miles or more he had several severe engagements. There 
 was considerable fighting before Dalton May 7th, but by 
 a flank movement the retirement of Johnston was forced three 
 or four days later. On the 15th a lively contest occurred 
 near Resaca, to which the Confederates had withdrawn. 
 They were finally driven from the town, and the Union 
 advance entered next day. Manoeuvring and fighting near 
 Dallas occupied the next fortnight, at the end of which John 
 ston was again forced, by being flanked, to retreat. The next 
 stand was made near Kenesaw Mountain and its neighbors, Lost 
 and Pine mountains, twenty miles from Atlanta. The Confed 
 erates had here a strong position. Sherman crowded them 
 from the 14th to the 27th of June. On the first day, Polk, the 
 Louisiana bishop and general, was killed by a cannon-ball 
 while making observations with Johnston and Hardee. On 
 the last, Sherman made an attack, which was repulsed with 
 much slaughter. He now resorted to his favorite tactics. A 
 flanking column was thrown onward to the Chattahoochee next 
 day, and at nightfall it compelled an evacuation of the much- 
 contested Kenesaw. Johnston held the stream until July 10th, 
 and then withdrew inside his formidable intrenchments around 
 Atlanta. He was here deprived of his command for a time by 
 Jefferson Davia, who did not esteem him as highly as others 
 did ; and Hood was assigned to the defence of the Gate City. 
 While the Union troops were making another advance, on the 
 30th, they were repulsed, and General McPherson, commanding 
 one of Sherman s corps, was killed. General John A. Logan 
 succeeded to the command. Sherman again tried to force the 
 enemy on the 22d, and met with another hard blow, though 
 before night he had changed his defeat into victory. His loss, 
 however, was nearly four thousand, while Hood suffered to an 
 even greater extent. Raids for the destruction of railroads were 
 now planned and executed by Sherman. A cavalry expedition to 
 Macon, with a view to liberate Union prisoners at Andersonville, 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 195 
 
 was also undertaken by Stoneman, but with disastrous results. 
 On the 27th a flanking force was pushed forward on the Union 
 right, under Howard, now commanding the Army of the 
 Tennessee. Logan s corps caught the worst of the sudden 
 charge with which Hood retaliated. Again and again the Con 
 federates came up, but they were mown down murderously. At 
 length, after a loss estimated at five thousand, Hood ceased to 
 strike, and Howard held his ground. Nearly a month later, 
 after various cavalry raids, Sherman broke camp in front of 
 Atlanta, moved rapidly around by the westward to the south 
 of the city. On the last night of August, the Confederates 
 blew up their magazines, burned their stores, destroyed their 
 machine-shops and foundries, and abandoned the place to 
 Sherman. During the next few weeks, by aggressive raids to 
 the northward, Hood threatened most of the Union posts all the 
 way up to Resaca, but Sherman reinforced and saved them. 
 He would not, however, allow himself to be drawn out of the 
 State. Hood at length withdrew into Northern Alabama. 
 
 Mobile was a point of great interest this season. The city is 
 at the head of a bay thirty miles or more long and from ten to 
 twenty miles wide. Long sand-bars nearly close the entrance, 
 with an opening between them not more than two miles across. 
 This was guarded by Fort Gaines on the west and Fort Morgan 
 on the right. Before this gateway Admiral Farragut, who had 
 conducted the conquest of New Orleans two years before, 
 appeared on August 4th. He had a fleet of fourteen men-of- 
 war, besides four iron-clads. The wooden vessels were fastened 
 together in couples, and Farragut was lashed to the masthead 
 of the flag-ship Hartford more easily to superintend the action. 
 Next day the fleet ran the gauntlet of the forts, and encounter 
 ed the fire of several Confederate vessels inside the bay, return 
 ing the attack with great spirit. The engagement was furious, 
 and the air was filled with cannon-balls. One Federal iron-clad, 
 the Tecumseh, was sunk by a torpedo ; but a rebel gun-boat was 
 driven ashore, and another put to flight up the bay. The rebel 
 ram Tennessee, however, proved a formidable antagonist, and 
 only after several wooden vessels had damaged themselves by 
 butting her, and the iron-clads had come to the rescue, was she 
 forced to surrender. Farragut now devoted himself to the 
 land forces. On the 9th he compelled Fort Gaines to surrender, 
 and on the 22d Fort Morgan followed. No attempt was made 
 at this time to capture the city of Mobile, although Sherman 
 had hoped it would be done, and a. supporting column thrown 
 out to co-operate with him in Georgia. But an important port 
 into which blockade-runners were bringing supplies was 
 effectually closed up, and Farragut added to his laurels. 
 
 In November, Sherman began his famous " March to the Sea," 
 a movement of singular boldness. Having sent his sick back 
 to Chattanooga, and reinforced Thomas at Nashville, he de 
 stroyed the remaining ironworks in Atlanta, tore up all the 
 neighboring railroads, cut the telegraph-wire which had taken 
 his messages to Washington, and, on the 14th, started southeast- 
 
196 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ward. He formed two columns, under Generals Howard and 
 Blair, with cavalry out on the wings, and advanced without 
 meeting much resistance. He rendered all railroads useless, 
 and subsisted on the country through which he passed. By 
 spreading out over a broad region, he concealed his strength 
 and position, and misled the enemy as to his plans. No great 
 concentration against him was therefore practicable. Finally, 
 on December 10th, he reached the rear of Savannah. Already 
 Union troops held Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of Savannah 
 River. The town was now in peril, and on the 20th Hardee 
 abandoned it and moved up to Charleston. Sherman took 
 possession two days later. This result of the mysterious and 
 risky disappearance from Atlanta awakened great enthusiasm 
 in the North. 
 
 As had been anticipated, Hood, in Northern Alabama, or 
 ganized a campaign against Nashville even before Sherman 
 started for the sea. But Thomas was amply warned and well 
 supported. Sherman had perfect confidence in his lieutenant, 
 and this was justified by the event. Hood, first crushing 
 Schofield at Franklin, advanced to tbe capital of Tennessee. 
 Here, falling upon him December 15th, Thomas routed him 
 completely, taking twenty -five thousand prisoners. Bragg, 
 with a mere handful of men, escaped to Alabama. 
 
 Grant was made lieutenant-general March 2d, and placed in 
 command of all the Union armies. Having laid out Sherman s 
 campaign, as nearly as he could in advance, he took the offen 
 sive himself in Virginia in May. Accompanying Meade s vet 
 erans of the Army of the Potomac, he advanced from Culpepper 
 on the 3d. Just south of the Rapidan, in the Wilderness, not 
 far from the battlefield of Chancellorsville, he met Lee on the 
 5th, and for three days, with stubborn energy and awful 
 slaughter, he fought the Confederates there, but could not drive 
 them from their intrenchments. Not discouraged by their re 
 sistance, nor by any possible criticism of his sacrifice of life, he 
 declared that he meant to " fight it out on this line if it took all 
 summer." He now moved to the left, and, beginning again on 
 the 9th, he renewed the attack at Spottsylvania Court-House, 
 fighting for four days. Here Hancock took four thousand 
 prisoners one day. Advancing further to the left, Grant re 
 newed the struggle at Cold Harbor, June 1st, and continued it 
 three days. Up to date he had lost sixty thousand men, and 
 Lee thirty-five thousand. Unable to turn Lee s flank and get 
 at Richmond from the north, he decided to push on and attack 
 from the south. At Bermuda Hundred, June 15th, he joined 
 Butler, who, with the Army of the James, had pushed up 
 from Fortress Monroe, and approached Petersburg. Lee came 
 to its defence before a severe blow had been struck. Sheridan s 
 cavalry carefully examined the whole Confederate line from 
 north of Richmond to south of Petersburg to find a weak spot 
 without avail. Near the latter town, July 30, under a Confed 
 erate fort, a mine was exploded, and colored troops were then 
 pushed into the gap to break the line, but without success. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 197 
 
 Warren was sent out on the Weldon road to cut Southern con 
 nections, and some other minor blows were struck, without 
 much result. Meade s and Butler s losses in this campaign 
 were one hundred thousand. Lee was too much occupied to 
 make another northward movement. 
 
 The Shenandoah Valley was the scene of more contests dur 
 ing the w r hole war, perhaps, than any other region of its size ; 
 and some of the most brilliant exploits of the opposing forces 
 there were performed this year. Early, the daring and skilful 
 Confederate commander there, defeated first Sigel and then 
 Hunter in May and June, and then made a bold raid on Wash 
 ington. He had no such force at his command as that which 
 McClellan turned back from Antietam in 1862, or Meade re 
 pulsed at Gettysburg the following summer ; but it was a 
 startling movement, nevertheless. It came early in July, just 
 after Grant had forced Lee down near Richmond, and when 
 few troops were left near the Federal capital. Early s advance 
 came within seven miles of the latter city. Checked at 
 Monocacy, on the 9th, by Lew Wallace, he was subsequently 
 driven back into Virginia by Wright s corps, which oppor 
 tunely arrived. To put an end to this distracting business, Grant 
 sent Sheridan, whom he had come to value highly after the 
 latter s service in the Chattanooga campaign, to take command 
 in the valley. The bold young commander quietly waited, a 
 little south of Harper s Ferry, until he got word from his su 
 perior officer to " Go in I" A vigorous attack was made on 
 Early at Winchester, September 19th, and, after a hard-fought 
 battle, in which the cavalry gave material help, Sheridan forced 
 the enemy through and out of the town, and chased him up 
 the valley. Resistance was again encountered and overcome ; 
 and the Union advance did not stop until Harrisonburg was 
 reached. To preclude any more trouble from a Confeder 
 ate force in the valley, Sheridan now destroyed the means 
 of subsistence. The autumn crops were harvested, and these 
 were destroyed along the whole line where they could not 
 be carried off. Then Sheridan fell back, and, leaving his 
 army intrenched at Cedar Creek, ran up to Washington to con 
 fer with the authorities. Early had followed the invaders 
 down the valley, however, and discovered their commander s 
 absence. This chance was improved with a well-planned at 
 tack. The Union soldiers were surprised in their camps before 
 breakfast, October 19th, by a flank movement, and the left 
 and centre of their line driven in. General Wright, ranking 
 officer, whose corps was on the right, stayed the retreat two or 
 three miles back, and tried to reorganize the shattered army. 
 Meantime Sheridan was on his way back from Washington. 
 He had slept in Winchester over-night, twenty miles away. One 
 of the first sounds that greeted his ears as he started on his south 
 ward way in the morning was artillery, and he quickly divined 
 that a battle was in progress. Alert and fiery, he put spurs to 
 Ms steed, and rode furiously on. In an hour or two he began 
 to meet the fugitives always to be seen in the rear of such a 
 
198 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 battle as Cedar Creek, and, his zeal and anxiety increasing, he 
 urged his horse to the top of its speed. The outlook at the 
 front was gloomy enough when the Union commander came 
 up. On the way he had reproved and encouraged the fright 
 ened stragglers, and persuaded many of them to return. But 
 when he finally dashed on to the hesitating, imperfectly-restored 
 line which Wright had formed, a wonderful change came over 
 his command. He was a man of such magnetism and so idol 
 ized by his men that, as he rode down past them, shouting that 
 he was going to take them back to their abandoned camps that 
 night, his own enthusiasm and courage was imparted to the 
 whole army. Long after noon, the formation beinj at last com 
 pleted, he began his advance. Back to Cedar Creek the Union 
 line now swept, carrying everything before it, and working 
 w r orse disaster upon the apparently victorious Confederates than 
 they had accomplished in the morning. So badly demoralized 
 was Early s army by this defeat that it never again tried to 
 reoccupy the valley. " Sheridan s Ride," that so brilliantly 
 turned the tide of battle on this occasion, has been celebrated in 
 a well-known poem. 
 
 The most destructive of the rebel cruisers, several of which 
 were built in British ports, was the Alabama. She captured 
 sixty-six prizes, worth $10,000,000, in her short career. Ra 
 phael Semmes commanded her. She encountered the Union 
 frigate Kearsarge, Captain Winslow, near Cherbourg, France, 
 June 19th, and was sent to the bottom. Her officers and crew 
 were picked up by the friendly English yacht Deerhound, 
 which came out to see the fight. Another Confederate cruiser, 
 the Florida, was taken at Bahia, Brazil, by the Wachusett, 
 Captain Collins. 
 
 A daring and useful feat was performed by a boat s crew 
 commanded by Lieutenant Gushing of the Navy, October 27th. 
 The rebel ram Albemarle, in the sound of that name, had been 
 making destructive raids upon Union shipping down on the 
 coast, and it was a formidable obstacle to any invasion of that 
 region. Approaching stealthily, by night, Lieutenant Gushing 
 planted a huge torpedo under her, and blew her up. 
 
 Congress, in February, passed an act modifying the existing 
 Enrolment bill in some particulars. It authorized the Presi 
 dent to call for as many men into service as the necessity might 
 require, and drafts to be ordered if the quotas were not filled. 
 Substitutes might be furnished by those enrolled ; all persons 
 under forty-five to be enrolled ; drafted persons could furnish 
 substitutes ; commuters exempted only from the special draft ; 
 all male persons of African descent, between twenty and forty- 
 five, whether citizens or not, to be enrolled ; and colored troops 
 not to be assigned as State troops, but to be mustered into regi 
 ments or companies as United States volunteers. 
 
 Congress, in March, passed an act establishing a Bureau of 
 Freedmen s Affairs. By it all questions relating to persons of 
 African descent were to be determined, with authority to make 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 199 
 
 regulations for their employment and treatment on abandoned 
 plantations. 
 
 Congress passed a bill reviving the grade of lieutenant-gen 
 eral, which was approved by the President, who at once ap 
 pointed General Grant to the position, and, on the 9th of March, 
 gave him, in person, his commission. Subsequently, the Presi 
 dent approved a bill creating the rank of vice-admiral, of equal 
 grade with that of lieutenant-general in the army. Admiral 
 Farragut was given the position. 
 
 Authority was given the Secretary of the Treasury to issue 
 bonds not exceeding two hundred millions of dollars, payable 
 in five or forty years in coin, and bearing interest not exceeding 
 six per cent, payable in coin. Subsequently, another bill was 
 passed authorizing the issue of four hundred millions of bonds 
 of like tenor; or, in lieu of an equal amount of bonds, the Sec 
 retary of the Treasury might issue two hundred millions in 
 Treasury notes, in denomination of not less than ten dollars, 
 payable in three years, and bearing interest at the rate of seven 
 and three tenths per cent per annum, payable "in lawful 
 money," and to be a legal tender to the same extent as United 
 States notes. 
 
 An act was approved by the President, on the 3d of June, 
 amending the National Bank Act, by which the entire issue of 
 notes for circulation under the act was confined to three hun 
 dred millions ; the banks to be allowed to charge seven per 
 cent interest on loans; and no bank established under the act 
 to have a capital less than one hundred thousand dollars, and, 
 if located in a city of more than fifty thousand inhabitants, not 
 less than two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The Fugitive Slave Acts of Congress, passed in the years 
 1793 and 1850, were repealed by act of Congress approved by 
 the President on the 28th of June. 
 
 A new Tariff Act went into effect on the 4th of July. Among 
 the articles specified, teas were to be charged a duty of 25 
 cents per pound; sugar, according to grade, 3 to 5 cents; bran 
 dies, $2. 50 per gallon; other spirits, $2 per gallon; champagnes, 
 not less than $6 a dozen for quarts; spirituous liquors not enu 
 merated, 100 per cent upon the value; ales, porter, and beer in 
 bottles, 35 cents; not bottled, 20 cents per gallon; cigars, from 
 75 cents to $3 per pound, besides from 20 to 60 per cent, ad va 
 lorem; tobacco, 35 to 50 cents per pound; iron, various rates, 
 but none less than 33 per cent on the value; coal, from 40 to 
 125 cents a ton; lead, on an average, 2 cents a pound; gems, 
 unset, 10 per cent; wools, from 3 to 10 cents, according to 
 grade, with 10 per cent additional ad valorem; woollen goods, 
 various specified rates, none less than 50 per cent on the value, 
 and many more than this; cotton, 2 cents per pound; cotton 
 manufactures, from 5 to 7^ cents per square yard, besides 
 from 10 to 35 per cent ad valorem; linens, 35 to 40 per cent; 
 silk, 25 to 40 per cent; silk goods, generally, 60 per cent; china 
 and earthenware, 40 to 45 per cent; books, 25 per cent; fancy 
 
200 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 soaps, 10 cents a pound, and 25 per cent ad valorem; and plain 
 soaps 1 cent a pound and 30 per cent ad valorem. 
 
 An Internal Revenue Law was passed, imposing licenses 
 upon every trade and profession, varying from the presumed 
 amount of business; discrimination being made against liquor- 
 dealers, shows, lotteries, gift enterprises, and the like. Ev 
 ery person whose profession was not specially enumerated 
 was to pay a license of ten dollars if his business should bring 
 an income of one thousand dollars. Every possible legal docu 
 ment, to be valid, was required to be stamped; all patent medi 
 cines and similar preparations were made subject to excise, the 
 general principle being to impose one cent for every twenty-five 
 cents of the price of the article; almost every article of manu 
 facture was noted with a special tax, amounting as nearly as 
 possible to five per cent on the value; railroads, express com 
 panies, and similar branches of business, to pay from two to 
 five per cent of their gross receipts, and a special tax was im 
 posed upon many articles of show and luxury. 
 
 An act was passed guaranteeing to certain States, whose gov 
 ernments had been overthrown or usurped, a republican form 
 of government, and authorizing the President to appoint a Pro 
 visional Governor for such States until a regular State Govern 
 ment should be established. 
 
 On the 1st of February, the President ordered a draft of five 
 hundred thousand men, to begin on the 10th of March, to serve 
 for three years or the war. On the 15th of March, he made a 
 call for two hundred thousand volunteers; on the 18th of July, 
 for five hundred thousand more; and on the 20th of December, 
 for three hundred thousand. 
 
 The Territory of Montana was authorized to be organized, 
 and Nevada was admitted to the Union as a State. 
 
 On the 19th of October, the town of St. Albans, in Vermont, 
 about fifteen miles from the Canadian frontier, was subjected 
 to a raid, accompanied by bloodshed, by armed Confederates 
 entering the State from Canada. They overpowered the em 
 ployes of three banks, seized over two hundred thousand dol 
 lars in money, and, stealing all the horses they could in the 
 streets and livery -stables, escaped into Canada. 
 
 The city of Detroit was thrown into great excitement, on the 
 30th of October, by a report that a raid on the city was to be 
 made during the night by armed parties of the enemy from 
 Canada. Soldiers were called out; artillery was brought from 
 the barracks and posted in the streets; the steam fire-engines 
 were made ready for sudden use, and the depots and public 
 buildings guarded. No enemy, however, appeared. 
 
 The money- order system 01 the post-office department went 
 into operation in November. The postal-car service the as 
 sorting of mail -matter while in transit commenced on the 
 Iowa division of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, on 
 the 28th of August. It next went into operation between New 
 York and "Washington, and subsequently on other prominent 
 railroad routes. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 201 
 
 Street-railway cars commenced running for the first time in 
 the cities of Indianapolis and Lowell. 
 
 The "Colt Armory," at Hartford, was partially destroyed 
 by fire on the 8th of February, destroying property valued at a 
 million of dollars, and throwing about nine hundred men out 
 of employment. On the night of the 22d of December, the 
 steamship North America, which left New Orleans on the 16th, 
 sunk at sea. Of those on board, nearly two hundred persons 
 were lost, most of whom were sick soldiers. 
 
 At the presidential election held in November, the Republi 
 can candidates were Abraham Lincoln, for re-election as Presi 
 dent, and Andrew Johnson for Vice-Prcsident, and they were 
 elected, receiving the electoral votes of tw T enty-two States, two 
 hundred and thirteen in all. The Democratic party nominated 
 General George B. McClellan for President, and George H. 
 Pendleton for Vice-President, and secured the electoral votes 
 of the States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky, only 
 twenty- one in all. The platform adopted by the Democratic 
 party, with other less important resolutions, declared, " That 
 this Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the 
 American people, that after four years of failure to restore the 
 Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pre 
 tence of a military necessity or war power higher than the 
 Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in 
 every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden 
 down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially 
 impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare 
 demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hos 
 tilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States, 
 or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practi 
 cable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the federal 
 union of all the States." The platform of the Republican 
 party resolved that the rebellion should be suppressed without 
 compromise, and that slavery should be abolished by Constitu 
 tional amendment. 
 
 On the 18th of May, the Journal of Commerce and the World, 
 New York City newspapers, were suppressed by order of the 
 President, and their editors directed to be arrested. A forged 
 proclamation, purporting to be issued by the President, calling 
 for half a million more troops, was distributed to all the 
 city papers the night before, and was published in these 
 two only, its character having been suspected. The ar 
 rest of the editors was subsequently vacated by the Presi 
 dent s order. The forgers were discovered and imprisoned. 
 
 Several attempts to fire the city of New York caused great 
 excitement, in the belief that they were made by the Confede 
 rates, and an order was issued that all persons residing in the 
 city should register themselves or be treated as spies. One per 
 son was arrested for setting fire to several hotels; he confessed 
 his crime, and was executed. 
 
 The New York quotations of gold were, on the 1st of Janu- 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ary, 152; on the 1st of April, 166^; on the 1st of July, 245; and 
 on the 1st of October, 19H to 193^. 
 
 The market price of Middling Uplands cotton in New York, 
 on the 1st of January of this year, was 81 to 82 cents; on the 
 1st of April, 76 cents; on the 1st of July, 150 to 152; and on 
 the 1st of October, 115 to 120 cents. 
 
 1865 Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President, for a second 
 term of office, on the 4th of March, and Andrew Johnson took 
 the oath of office as Vice-President. 
 
 The military operations, early in the year, brought the war 
 to a speedy conclusion. Grant began operations late in the 
 winter. With the idea of cutting Lee off completely, he pro 
 posed that Sheridan should push southward from the Shenan- 
 doah Valley to Lynchburg, in Southwestern Virginia, and con 
 nect with the Union lines extending westward, south of Peters 
 burg. In February this was undertaken. Sheridan advanced 
 with such rapidity as to annihilate Early s force at Waynes- 
 boro, and the Confederate commander barely escaped in person. 
 Lee was too well prepared, however, for the consummation of 
 Sheridan s plan, and the proposed junction west of Petersburg 
 could not be effected. The Army of the Shenandoah was 
 therefore brought around, north of Richmond, in March, to 
 assist the armies of the Potomac and the James in their opera 
 tions, not, however, until he had destroyed manufactories, 
 stores, and bridges at Charlottesville and the vicinity. Lee did 
 not wait for Grant to begin, but himself assumed the offensive 
 early in the spring. One of the principal Union works east of 
 Petersburg, Fort Steedman, was suddenly charged by an in 
 fantry force, commanded by General Gordon, March 25th, and 
 taken without much resistance. The captors turned the guns, 
 which were now in their hands, upon Fort Haskell, and upon 
 the latter another charge was made. A cut in Grant s line was 
 imminent. The demonstration promised to call to this point 
 Union troops that were threatening Lee s right and rear, south 
 of Petersburg, and thus enable the Confederate commander to 
 regain the Weldon road which Meade had seized in the winter. 
 But the assault on Fort Haskell failed, and two thousand of 
 the assailants were captured. Meade improved this chance to 
 make an attack himself, off to the Union left, and gained some 
 ground that day. Warren and Humphreys, each with a corps, 
 were sent out to the southwest of Petersburg, with Sheridan 
 and his ten thousand cavalry still further to the south, to turn 
 Lee s right, if possible. The possibility of the Confederate 
 army withdrawing into North Carolina and helping Johnston 
 deliver a crushing blow to Sherman was perceived by Grant, 
 who also realized that Lee s supplies must come from that 
 quarter. Hence this movement. Warren encountered consid 
 erable opposition March 29th, but advanced beyond Hatcher s 
 Run. Sheridan sent out a force next day from Dinwiddie to 
 Five Forks; where Lee s right was strongly intrenched. No 
 attempt to drive it in was made, however. On the 31st Lee 
 tried to crowd Warren back, but without success. Sheridan 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 203 
 
 meantime took Five Forks. From this position his cavalry 
 were driven, however, before night. Next morning Sheridan 
 advanced again from Dinwiddie to Five Forks, regaining his 
 lost ground. The final stroke there was not delivered until 
 nightfall, when Warren s troops, which were put at Sheridan s 
 disposal, were hurled against the enemy in a fearful charge. 
 Over five thousand prisoners were taken, and Lee s right wing 
 was badly damaged. That very night Grant s artillery before 
 Petersburg began a terrific bombardment of the town; and the 
 slowly closing grasp of the besieging army was contracted still 
 further next day by a series of vigorous charges. Wright, 
 Parke, Humphreys, and Ord drove the stubborn Confederates 
 from their intrench ments at several points, while Sheridan 
 crowded in a little more to the southwest. When night fell, 
 Lee s lines were broken in three places, and Petersburg was at 
 Grant s mercy. The next day, April 3d, was Sunday. Jefferson 
 Davis sat in his pew in church when, at 11 A.M., a messenger 
 brought him a dispatch from Lee, revealing the situation. 
 The downfall of Petersburg, now practically assured, meant 
 the downfall of Richmond. Acting on this intelligence, Mr. 
 Davis and the leading officers of the Confederacy prepared for 
 rapid departure, which was effected that night south westward 
 by the Danville Railroad. Great confusion prevailed in the 
 Confederate capital, where the utmost effort was made by those 
 who could to escape and remove their worldly goods. That 
 night the few troops left there were withdrawn, and the city 
 set on fire at several points. General Weitzel, commanding the 
 Union troops in front of the city, suspected what was taking 
 place from the sound of explosions and from the distant lights. 
 Captured rebel pickets and deserters revealed the truth before 
 dawn, and by 6 A.M. Weitzel rode into Richmond, over which 
 the Stars and Stripes were soon floating. A few days later 
 President Lincoln came down there in person for a brief visit, 
 and then returned to his tragic fate in Washington. Peters 
 burg was also evacuated, silently, on the 2d of April, and 
 on the 3d was occupied by the forces immediately in its 
 front. But Grant was massing off to the southwestward, with 
 Griffin s (formerly Warren s) corps at Sutherland s, ten miles 
 west of the town, and Sheridan ten miles further in the same 
 direction. Lee, forced out of his splendid earthworks, with a 
 starving, much disjointed army, was now trying to save his 
 men by pushing westward or southward. If he could, he 
 wanted to go down the Danville road toward North Carolina, 
 or at best move westward along the Appommattox River. 
 Awaiting supplies, he concentrated at Amelia Court-House, 
 while Sheridan, pushing on, seized the Danville road at Jeters- 
 ville, where nearly the whole Union army was gathered on the 
 6th. The previous night Lee had pushed on to the westward, 
 trying to find a point where he could get down to the south 
 ward; but Sheridan outstripped him, and two or three wagon 
 trains and some prisoners were taken. Swell s corps was cut 
 off from the Confederate army and captured after a plucky re- 
 
204 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sistance, and Ewell and four other generals were taken. Re 
 duced by starvation, as well as strategy and superior force, Lee 
 was now virtually overcome. Grant demanded his surrender, 
 on the 7th, to avoid further bloodshed, and Sheridan empha 
 sized it by capturing valuable supply-trains coming to Lee s 
 relief, and then swinging around in Lee s front at Appomattox 
 Court- House. This was the final stroke. Next day Lee re 
 plied to Grant by proposing a conference on the 9th. This was 
 held underneath an apple-tree, and the surrender was there ar 
 ranged. Lee and his officers were to retain their swords, and 
 the Confederate soldiers were to keep their horses. " You will 
 need them for your spring ploughing," Grant said. And the 
 vanquished army was allowed to disperse and go home, unmo 
 lested so long as its men refrained from further hostility to the 
 Federal government. 
 
 General Terry led an expedition, in January, against Fort 
 Fisher, near Wilmington, N. C., and carried the work by storm 
 the 15th. General Butler had tried it in the preceding month, 
 and failed. Fugitive Confederates now blew up their cruisers 
 Tallahassee and Chickamauga, to prevent their capture. Both 
 were British built, less than a year old, and had ravaged the ship 
 ping on the Atlantic coast. The Chickamauga destroyed thirty- 
 three vessels during her short career, causing a loss of five hundred 
 thousand dollars. The blockading fleet, during this winter, as- 
 through previous years, had been vigilant and successful at the 
 rapidly diminishing number of Confederate ports, and had made 
 numerous valuable captures. During the war no less than one 
 hundred and fifty blockade-runners, inward-bound, laden with 
 arms, ammunition, clothing, railroad iron, and other useful 
 products for the conduct of the Confederate campaigns, or out 
 ward-bound, with cargoes of cotton worth nearly or quite a 
 dollar a pound, were caught, and sent North to be sold. A 
 large share of the proceeds went as prize-money to the captors. 
 Most of the commerce thus broken up was with England, and 
 the losses fell largely on the people of that country. 
 
 Sherman started northward from Savannah in February. 
 He occupied Columbia, S. C., the 17th. The town was de 
 stroyed that night by fire, started, it was said, by smouldering 
 tufts blown about from cotton which Wade Hampton burned 
 on evacuating. Hardee evacuated Charleston the same day, 
 and on the 18th the Union forces in the harbor occupied it. As 
 Sherman advanced, Union troops from Wilmington, Newberne, 
 and other points near the coast, joined him. A Union cavalry 
 raid from Eastern Tennessee into North Carolina, by Stone- 
 man, also facilitated his progress. After meeting occasional 
 resistance from Johnston, he occupied Kaleigh, April 13th. 
 Negotiations for surrender were begun, but delayed by con 
 sideration of civil as well as military matters. The former 
 were finally ruled out, and the last Confederate army laid down 
 its arms April 26th. 
 
 Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was taken 
 prisoner while fleeing through Georgia, in May, and sent to 
 
HISTORY CP THE UNITED STATES. 205 
 
 Fortress Monroe for confinement, where he remained as prisoner 
 two years, when he was released on bail. In 1868 he was in 
 cluded in the general amnesty. 
 
 The leading event of the year, taking precedence of all others, 
 even military, was the assassination of President Lincoln by J. 
 Wilkes Booth, an actor by profession, on the evening of the 
 14th of April, at Ford s Theatre in Washington. Mr. Lincoln, ac 
 companied by his wife, Major Rathbone, and Miss Morris, oc 
 cupied a box at the theatre, that evening. The door of the box 
 opened inward, and was approached by a narrow passage. The 
 box was about twelve feet above the stage, looking directly 
 upon it. Booth, being well known in the theatre, had free ac 
 cess to all parts of the building at any hour, and was perfectly 
 acquainted with all its arrangements and the ways of entrance 
 and exit. His arrangements were carefully made: a small hole 
 had been bored in the door opening from the passage into the 
 box, through which could be had a complete view of the ul 
 terior of the box. Outside of the theatre, near the private en 
 trance to the stage, he had a horse in waiting, and close by was 
 an accomplice, mounted, and ready to accompany him after his 
 escape from the theatre. Abouthalf-past nine, Booth silently, and 
 unperceived by the occupants, entered the box and fastened the 
 door behind him. At this time, as Booth knew, the action of the 
 piece required the stage to be vacant for a moment. All eyes were 
 turned to the stage, waiting for the entrance of the next actor. 
 At that instant the report of a pistol was heard, and Rathbone 
 turning saw through the smoke a man between the door and 
 the President. He sprang up and grappled him; but the man 
 making a thrust with a large knife and inflicting a severe wound 
 wrested himself away and rushed to the front of the box. 
 Rathbone endeavored to seize him again, but only caught hold 
 of his clothes as he leaped over the railing upon the stage. His 
 spur caught in the folds of a flag, and was torn off, and he fell 
 nearly prostrate, receiving a severe injury. Not withstanding this, 
 he sprung to his feet, brandished his knife, shouted " Sic semper 
 tyrannis," and rushed through the coulisses, by passages well 
 known to him, to the rear exit of the stage, before the specta- 
 tators were aware of what had occurred. The man, however, 
 was identified as Booth by several actors who saw him on the 
 stage. The interval between the shot and the leap of Booth to 
 the stage was hardly thirty seconds. The ball entered just be 
 hind the President s left ear, driving fragments of bone before 
 it, and lodged in the brain. The President was carried to a 
 private house opposite the theatre. He was unconscious from 
 the moment of the shot, and died early the next morning. Just 
 about the time when the President was assassinated, a man 
 presented himself at the residence of Mr. Seward, the Secretary 
 of State, who was lying in his bedroom in a critical state from 
 injuries received from having been thrown from his carriage. 
 Pushing abruptly past the servant, who hesitated to admit 
 him, the man made his way toward the sick-room. Before 
 reaching the room the slight disturbance had aroused several 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 persons in the house. Foremost of these was a son of the Sec 
 retary. He received a blow from a heavy pistol, which frac 
 tured his skull and left him insensible. The man then reached 
 the door of Mr. Seward s room. Within were a daughter of 
 the Secretary, and George Robinson, a soldier, who was attend 
 ing the invalid. Robinson, hearing the disturbance, opened the 
 door and received a passing stab from the assassin, who rushed 
 to the bedside of Mr. Seward and endeavored to strike him with 
 a knife. Robinson grappled with him, and a severe struggle en 
 sued. The assailant, a very powerful man, seemed bent upon 
 reaching Mr. Seward. He succeeded in striking him slightly 
 two or three times; but the wounded man managed to roll from 
 the bed to the floor. The struggle had now aroused the house; 
 and the assassin broke away, rushed downstairs, mounted a 
 horse at the door, and made his escape. The whole detective 
 force of the government was at once called into requisition 
 to arrest the assassins. Various circumstances led to the belief 
 that the assailant of Mr. Seward was John Surratt, whose 
 mother, a resident of Washington, had made her house a ren 
 dezvous for disloyalists. Her house was seized. Before day 
 light on the morning of the 18th a man dressed as a laborer came 
 to the door and was arrested. He said his name was Payne; 
 that he was a common laborer, born in Virginia, and had been 
 engaged to repair a gutter of the house. His statements were 
 unsatisfactory and contradictory. He was found to be in dis 
 guise, his light hair dyed black. He was in the end fully iden 
 tified as the man who attacked Mr. Seward. Meanwhile the 
 energies of the government w r ere directed to the arrest of 
 Booth. It was discovered that he rode some thirty miles into 
 a part of Maryland where the inhabitants were notoriously dis 
 loyal. His wounded leg was dressed by a physician, who fur 
 nished him with a crutch. Crippled as he was, Booth worked 
 his way for ten days, hiding in swamps by the way, and more 
 than once narrowly escaping discovery, accompanied all the 
 while by a companion named Hen-old. The pair at length 
 got across the Potomac into Virginia. By means of infor 
 mation volunteered by blacks, and extorted from whites, the 
 fugitives were traced to a house near Bowling Green. The 
 pursuers, twenty-seven in number, were led by Colonel Con 
 ger. Among them was Boston Corbitt, a sergeant in the cav 
 alry. Booth and Herrold were hidden in a barn. They were 
 called upon to surrender. A long parley ensued, for the pur 
 suers wished to take the fugitives alive. Herrold gave himself 
 up and came out; Booth refused; fire was set to the dry straw 
 in the barn. Booth, brought to bay, wished to sell his life dear 
 ly. Leaning on his crutch, he was in the act of aiming at one 
 of his pursuers, when his fire w r as anticipated by a pistol-shot 
 from Corbitt, who had watched his movements through an 
 opening in the boarding. Booth died after suffering intensely 
 for four hours. The murder of the President aroused a feeling 
 of regret deeper than was ever before known in our history. 
 Men and papers who had opposed his policy and vilified him 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 207 
 
 personally, now vied with bis adherents in lauding the rare 
 wisdom and goodness which marked his conduct and character. 
 It was decided that his body should be interred at his home, in 
 Springfield, 111. The long journey was one great funeral pro 
 cession, lasting from the 21st of April, when the embalmed 
 body left Washington, till the 4th of May, when it was entombed 
 at Springfield. The ceremonies at New York, on the 25th of 
 April, were by far the most imposing ever known in that city. 
 It was estimated that sixty thousand people marched in the pro 
 cession. By the death of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, elected 
 as Vice-President, became the President of the United States, 
 taking the oath of office on the 15th of April. Of those found 
 upon trial as having been the accomplices of Booth, and abet 
 tors in his escape, four were hung on the 7th of July, three were 
 sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for life, and one for 
 six years. 
 
 An act was passed by Congress chartering the Freedmen s 
 Savings and Trust Company at Washington. The last war- 
 loan of $600,000,000, to be exempt from taxation, was author 
 ized in March, just before Lee s surrender. 
 
 The civil war being ended in April, measures were necessary 
 to brin the seceded States back into their proper relation with 
 the Union, and protect the emancipated colored people therein 
 from possible violence. President Johnson framed a plan of 
 Reconstruction, which resembled that which Lincoln had con 
 templated. It w r as to appoint provisional governors in the 
 Southern States, who were to call conventions of the people, 
 which in turn were to order elections of complete State govern 
 ments. The conventions were required to declare the acts of 
 secession null and void; to declare slavery forever abolished; to 
 repudiate the State debts incurred in aid of the rebellion, and 
 to provide that the State officers elected should be safe and 
 loyal men. If the reorganization failed, troops were to be on 
 hand in every State to maintain order and authority. To aid 
 this plan, April 29th, the President by proclamation opened 
 the Southern ports to trade, except in arms, uniforms, and rail 
 road and telegraph material, these restrictions being all re 
 moved subsequently. May 29th, a proclamation was issued 
 granting " amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all rights of 
 property, except as to slaves" and lawful confiscations, to all 
 the Southern people, except to specified classes of the leaders 
 and officials of the rebellion. In May, June, and July the 
 provisional governors were appointed, except in Tennessee, 
 Louisiana, Virginia, and Arkansas, where the existing State 
 governments were accepted as satisfactory. The plan of reor 
 ganization as outlined above was carried out at once, and be 
 fore the end of the year State governments w r ere in operation 
 in every State. In a few months time the social and commer 
 cial relations of the South with the rest of the country were 
 thus re-established. The political conventions of both the Re 
 publican and Democratic parties in the North this year ap 
 proved this plan. Some Republicans, however, were dissatis- 
 
208 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 fied with it, deeming that it inadequately guaranteed protec 
 tion to the freedmen. 
 
 A resolution submitted by Congress to the several States for 
 approval in March, as an amendment to the Constitution, abol 
 ishing slavery in the United States, was ratified by three fourths 
 as required, and went into effect in December. The proposed 
 amendment was rejected by Delaware, Kentucky, and New 
 Jersey. 
 
 At the beginning of this year negroes were excluded from 
 voting in all the States, excepting Maine, Vermont, New 
 Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In Massachu 
 setts, all voters, white or black, were required to be able to 
 read and write their names. In Rhode Island the ballot was 
 only given to every male citizen, white or black, who owned 
 real estate worth one hundred and thirty- four dollars, or rent of 
 seven dollars a year, or, if a native of the State, who paid an 
 annual tax of one dollar. Proposed amendments to the con 
 stitutions of the States of Connecticut, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
 and Colorado, by which the right to vote would be given to 
 negroes, were voted upon in the fall by conventions of the peo 
 ple of those States, and were rejected in all. 
 
 The total debt of the United States on the 31st of October 
 was $2,804,549,437.50. The circulation outstanding was $704,- 
 000,000, of which a little over $428,000,000 were in green 
 backs, $185,000,000 in national-bank notes, $65,000,000 in 
 State-bank notes, and the remainder was in fractional cur 
 rency. 
 
 Another attempt to lay the Atlantic Telegraph Cable was 
 made in July, and was unsuccessful. The cable, stored on the 
 mammoth steamship Great Eastern, left Valencia Bay on the 
 23d, the heavy shore-end twenty-six miles long having been 
 successfully laid on the preceding day, and spliced to the 
 cable on board the steamer. On the 2d of August, when the 
 steamer was ten hundred and sixty -two miles from Valencia, 
 and thirteen hundred and twelve miles of cable had been 
 paid out, the cable chafed against the projecting rims of the 
 hawse-holes, and finally broke, the end flying overboard, and 
 in a few moments was lost in the ocean. About one half "the 
 entire length of the cable was overboard. Still it was hoped 
 that it might be recovered, although the depth of water was 
 twenty-five hundred fathoms. The Great Eastern steamed 
 back a dozen miles and threw over a grapple attached to a 
 wire-rope, capable of supporting a strain of ten tons; and the 
 vessel steamed back and forth across the line in w T hich the 
 cable must lie. At 4 A.M. on the 3d of August, it was evident 
 that the grapple had caught the cable, and the rope was hauled 
 in. The strain of course increased with every foot of the ca 
 ble that was raised. In six hours eleven hundred and fifty 
 fathoms had been brought on board, when the rope parted, 
 and cable and grapple and rope sunk again to the bottom. 
 But the experiment showed that it was possible to fish up the 
 cable from the bottom of the ocean. During the next four 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 209 
 
 days the weather was unfavorable, and nothing was accom 
 plished. Just before noon of the 7th another grapple was 
 flung over, and after dragging until six P.M. the cable was 
 again caught, and at eight the hauling in was begun. The 
 next morning one thousand fathoms had been brought in when 
 the rope broke. The 9th and 10th were spent in unavailing at 
 tempts to grapple the cable. In the afternoon of the llth, it 
 was again caught by the grapple, which was now attached to a 
 rope composed of sixteen hundred fathoms of wire, the re 
 mainder of hemp. In three hours, when seven hundred and 
 sixty fathoms had been hauled in, the rope broke, leaving 
 seventeen hundred and fifty fathoms overboard. The Great 
 Eastern, having no more rope on board for grappling, returned 
 to England. 
 
 Wall Street in August was startled by the failure of one of 
 the wealthiest banking-houses of New York, and the discovery 
 of forgeries to a large amount committed by Edward B. 
 Ketchum, a junior partner of the firm. In addition, securities 
 had been abstracted from the vaults to the amount of three 
 millions of dollars or more. The forgeries were about one 
 half that sum, and consisted of forged gold certificates pur 
 porting to be signed by wealthy houses, which were negotiated 
 at the banks as security for loans. 
 
 The first sheet-zinc manufactured in the United States was 
 made at Bethlehem, Pa., in March. 
 
 Barnum s Museum, at the corner of Ann Street and Broad 
 way, in New York, was destroyed by fire, with the contents, 
 on the 13th of July. 
 
 About twenty persons were burned to death, and half a mil 
 lion dollars worth of property destroyed, at a fire in Philadel 
 phia on the 8th of February. 
 
 On the 31st of March, the steam-transport General Lyon, 
 from Wilmington for Fortress Monroe, having on board be 
 tween five and six hundred persons, caught fire when off Cape 
 Hatteras, and was entirely consumed, and nearly all of those 
 on board perished. 
 
 The following was the published scale of prices for paper in 
 New York, in January: For note-paper, first-class, 55 to 60 
 cents per pound; good, 50 to 55 cents; common, 45 to 50 cents; 
 for letter and foolscap, five cents per pound less than note- 
 paper; for news, rag, 22 to 25 cents; for news, straw, 20 to 22 
 cents; for manilla wrapping paper, 18 to 20 cents. 
 
 The price for Middling Uplands cotton in the New York 
 market on the 1st of January, of this year, per pound, was 
 118 to 120 cents; on the 1st of April, 45 to 48 cents; on the 1st 
 of July, 43 cents, and on the 1st of October, 45 to 45^ cents. 
 
 The price for gold per dollar was quoted in the New York 
 market on the 1st of January, at 227f cents; on the 1st of 
 April, 154 cents; on the 1st of July, 136| to 138 cents, and on 
 the 1st of October, at 143 to 144 cents. 
 
 1866 Hostility to President Johnson s policy in relation to the 
 Southern States showed in Congress, and led to the appointment 
 
210 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of a Joint Committee of Fifteen to consider Reconstruction ques 
 tions, soon after the opening of Congress in December, 1865. 
 This action was the beginning of a disagreement between Con 
 gress and the President. At the instance of this committee, the 
 Civil Rights Bill on the 9th of April was passed, and an act en 
 larging the scope of the Freedmen s Bureau. These acts were 
 vetoed by the President, and passed over his vetoes The Civil 
 Rights Bill ordained that all persons born in the United States, 
 and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not 
 taxed, were to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, 
 of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition 
 of slavery and involuntary service, except as a punishment 
 for crime, whereof the party should have been duly convicted, 
 should have the same right in every State and Territory to make 
 and enforce contracts, to sue, to be sued, be parties and give 
 evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real 
 and personal 
 laws and pi 
 are enjoyed 
 
 punishment, pains and penalties, and to none other; any law, 
 statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary not 
 withstanding. President Johnson s objections were that the 
 act was inexpedient, and that the subjects embraced in the 
 numeration of rights contained in the bill, had been considered 
 as belonging exclusively to the States. On the 18th of June, 
 the Committee on Reconstruction made a long report to Con 
 gress, declaring that none of the Southern States had yet placed 
 itself in a position to secure satisfactory relations to the Union, 
 or representatives in Congress, and advised new legislation. On 
 the 8th of July, Congress adopted a resolution proposing the 
 Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, establishing the 
 citizenship of all natives of tLis country, imposing legal disabili 
 ties on the Confederate leaders, and prohibiting the payment of 
 the rebel debt or pensions. 
 
 On the 25th of July, Congress passed an act reviving the 
 grade of general in the army, and creating the grades of admiral 
 and vice-admiral in the navy. The title of general was bestowed 
 upon Grant, and lieutenant-general upon Sherman, while those 
 of -admiral and vice-admiral were conferred upon Farragut and 
 D. D. Porter. 
 
 There were two or more expeditions organized by the Fenians in 
 the United States for an invasion of Canada and New Brunswick. 
 One, numbering about five hundred men, quietly gathered 
 in April, at Eastport, in Maine ; with an intention of making a 
 descent upon the island of Campobello, belonging to New 
 Brunswick. After a delay of several days, which were spent 
 in holding meetings and parading the streets of Eastport, a 
 schooner arrived from Portland with seven hundred and fifty 
 stand of arms from the Fenian sympathizers in that city. The 
 British consul at that port complained, and the arms were 
 seized by the United States Government. A British war-steamer 
 anchored off Campobello, and troops were summoned to prevent 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 211 
 
 the invasion of the Province, and a detachment of United States 
 troops were sent from Portland to Calais, at which point many 
 of the Fenians had congregated. General Meade arrived on 
 the 19th of April, and assumed the command of the United 
 States troops. A few days later, the Fenians, discouraged at 
 the lack of support from their friends in New York, abandoned 
 the enterprise and returned home. On the 19th of May, twelve 
 hundred stand of arms were seized by the United States author 
 ities, at Rouse s Point, in New York, near the Canadian frontier. 
 On the 30th of the same month, the Fenians, coming from dif 
 ferent parts of the country, assembled in secret convention at 
 Buffalo. On the same day, twelve hundred stand of arms were 
 seized at St. Albans by the United States authorities. Canada 
 was thoroughly aroused at the prospect of an invasion, and 
 companies of troops were moving to the threatened points. On 
 the 1st of June, a force of twelve to fifteen hundred Fenians 
 crossed the Niagara River at Buffalo, in canal-boats, and took 
 possession of Fort Erie, an old work then unoccupied. On the 
 3d, a skirmish occurred between some Fenians and Canadian 
 volunteers, in which some of the latter were reported killed and 
 a large number wounded. On the night of the same day, the 
 Fenians being without supplies, artillery, or reinforcements, at 
 tempted to retreat into the United States, but they were inter 
 cepted by a United States gun-boat, and about seven hundred of 
 their number arrested. General Barry, then in command of 
 the United States forces in that vicinity, accepted a parole 
 from over thirteen hundred of the Fenians, who promised to 
 abandon the enterprise. The officers were relieved by giving 
 bail that they would appear when required for trial for an in 
 fraction of the neutrality laws. Fenians, however, continued 
 to arrive from various parts of the country, but were ordered 
 home by their commanding officers. Simultaneously with the 
 movement from Buffalo, Fenians were reported to be assem 
 bling on the border in Vermont, and Malone, N. Y., and General 
 Meade, commanding the United States troops, proceeded to 
 Ogdensburg to commence operations for preventing the invasion. 
 On the 7th of June, the Fenians, numbering over one thousand, 
 crossed the frontier and took possession of St. Armand, which 
 had been evacuated by the Canadians. On the same day one 
 of the chief officers of the Fenian organization in the United 
 States was arrested at St. Albans, Vt., another at New York, 
 and several other leaders at Buffalo. On the 9th, upon the ad 
 vance of the Canadian troops at St. Armand, the Fenians re 
 tired and recrossed the frontier. General Meade arrested large 
 numbers of the Fenians, accepted their parole, and provided 
 them means of transportation, for all who required it, to their 
 homes. 
 
 A severe hail-storm passed over Baltimore, on the night of 
 May 1st. Many of the hailstones measured from three to four 
 inches in circumference. The destruction of window-glass was 
 very great, the amount being computed at twenty thousand 
 panes. On the southern and eastern sides of the city, where 
 
212 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the storm spent its fury, there was hardly a window facing 
 north that was not shattered. The churches, public buildings, 
 and buildings with sky-lights suffered severely 
 
 On the 4th of July, a conflagration in Portland, Me., de 
 stroyed fully a third part of the city, including almost the en 
 tire business portion and a great part of the churches and public 
 buildings. Fully a quarter of the population were rendered 
 homeless. The entire loss was estimated at ten millions of dol 
 lars, endured by a population of forty thousand. 
 
 The Atlantic telegraph-cable was safely laid, and was put 
 in successful operation in the month of July. The work was 
 begun on the 6th by landing the shore end at Valencia, in Ire 
 land. On the 13th the deep-sea line was spliced to the shore 
 end, and the Great Eastern, with the cable on board, accom 
 panied by three consorts, set out on the voyage. Not a single 
 misadventure occurred, and on the 28th the vessels reached 
 Newfoundland. The whole distance sailed by the fleet was 
 sixteen hundred and eighty -six nautical miles, and the length 
 of cable paid out eighteen hundred and sixty- six miles. The 
 rate of sailing w r as singularly uniform, the least distance made 
 in a single day being one hundred and five miles, the greatest 
 one hundred and twenty-eight. 
 
 The price of Middling Uplands cotton in the New York 
 market, on the 1st of January this year, was 52 to 53 cents; on 
 the 1st of April, 40 to 42 cents; on the 1st of July, 36 to 38 
 cents; and on the 1st of October, 40 to 42 cents. 
 
 The price of gold per dollar, as quoted, in New York on the 
 1st of January, of this year, was 144f cents; on the 1st of April, 
 127f to 128i; on the 1st of July, 151 to 153|; and on the 1st 
 of October, 145 to 146. 
 
 1867 Congress passed several bills relative to the elective franchise 
 which the President vetoed, and it then passed them over his 
 veto. In March, it passed a law declaring no legal govern 
 ments existed in the South, and ordering that region to be 
 divided into five military districts, with military governors, the 
 existing governments to be deemed provisional until the States 
 were admitted to Congress. This bill was also vetoed, and 
 passed over the veto. On the 23d of March, a law was passed 
 for a registration of the votes of the South under the direction 
 of the military governors. The President carried out these 
 laws, but came into conflict with Mr. Stenton, Secretary of 
 War, as to details, and on the 5th of August called for his resig 
 nation. It was refused the same day. On the 12th of August 
 he suspended Stanton and appointed General Grant as Acting 
 Secretary, and Grant had charge of the office until the next 
 January, Early in the next session of Congress the impeach 
 ment of the President was proposed in the House of Represen 
 tatives, but was disagreed to. 
 
 On the 7th of September, the President proclaimed amnesty 
 to all but a few of the Southern officials. 
 
 Jefferson Davis, on a writ of habeas corpus, was taken from 
 Fortress Monroe, arraigned for high-treason, and released 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 213 
 
 on bail. The trial was set for November, but postponed until 
 the following March. It never came off. 
 
 By act of Congress, Nebraska was admitted into the Union as 
 a State. 
 
 On the 30th of March a treaty was signed by the plenipo 
 tentiary of the Emperor of Russia and the President of the 
 United States, the ratifications of which by the respective pow 
 ers were exchanged on the 20th of June following, whereby 
 the tract of land in America known as Russian America was 
 ceded to the United States, for the consideration of the sum of 
 seven millions two hundred thousand dollars. The formal 
 transfer was made on the 9th of October, General Rosecrans, 
 on behalf of the United States Government, taking possession at 
 New Archangel, on the island of Sitka. The area of this new 
 territory, which subsequently was named Alaska, is estimated 
 at five hundred thousand square miles, with a coast-line greater 
 than that of the United States on the Atlantic Ocean and the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The first gold and stock telegraph company organized in 
 this country was incorporated hi New York, on the 16th of 
 August. The purpose of the company was the instantaneous 
 and simultaneous supply of quotations of the sales of stocks, 
 gold, and other values made at the Stock, Gold, and other 
 Exchanges. 
 
 The Cincinnati Suspension Bridge across the Ohio River, 
 and connecting Covington, Ky., with Cincinnati, was com 
 pleted and opened for travel, this year. The Hudson River 
 Bridge at Albany, forming a connecting link between the New 
 York Central Railroad on the west with the Boston and Al 
 bany on the east, was completed and opened for travel. 
 
 In the summer and autumn the yellow-fever raged at New 
 Orleans and other places in the Southwest. About twenty-five 
 hundred died from the disease in that city. In Galveston and 
 throughout the coast portions of Texas it was still more 
 severe. There were many cases in Mobile, Natchez, Vicks- 
 burg, and other towns on the Mississippi River. At Quaran 
 tine, New York, there were three hundred and ninety cases, 
 of which one hundred and twelve were fatal. 
 
 On the 23d of January, the East River between Brooklyn 
 and New York was bridged over with ice, and five thousand 
 persons crossed, as estimated. 
 
 Towards the close of this year the price of news paper was 
 reduced to sixteen cents a pound. 
 
 The price of gold this year ranged between 133 and 143, 
 without much fluctuation. 
 
 1868 The disagreement between Congress and the President in 
 creased. On the 13th of January, the Senate refused to concur 
 in Stanton s suspension. Grant promptly vacated the office. 
 On the 21st of February the President ordered Stanton s re 
 moval, and directed Adjutant- General Thomas to take charge 
 as Secretary ad interim. Stanton refused to vacate, and had 
 Thomas temporarily arrested on the 22d. The same day the 
 
214 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 House voted to impeach the President for his conduct in this 
 matter. On the 2d and 3d of March the indictment was per 
 fected, and included certain threats and speeches of the Presi 
 dent against Congress. The case came to trial before the 
 Senate, March 23d, and lasted until May 26th, there being 
 thirty-two days in all of the actual trial. The vote was thirty- 
 five for " Guilty" and nineteen for " Not Guilty," but convic 
 tion was lost for lack of a constitutional majority. Therefore 
 the Chief Justice entered a verdict of acquittal. 
 
 In June, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana were admitted to representa 
 tion in Congress, and reconstruction in their cases was thus 
 completed. 
 
 At the presidential election of this year the candidates of the 
 Republican party were General U. S. Grant for President, 
 and Schuyler Colfax for Vice-President. Those of the Demo 
 cratic party were Horatio Seymour for President, and Frank 
 P. Blair for Vice-President. The platform adopted by the 
 Republicans at their national convention sustained the meas 
 ures of Congress and denounced those of the President, while 
 that of the Democrats sustained the principles advocated by 
 the President and opposed the measures of Congress. The 
 Republican candidates received the electoral votes of twenty-six 
 States, two hundred and nine in all; the Democratic, those of 
 eight States, casting eighty-five electoral votes. 
 
 Congress authorized the formation of Wyoming into a Terri 
 tory, and extended the laws of the United States to Alaska, and 
 formed that Territory into one collection-district. The Presi 
 dent was given power to regulate the importation of arms, am 
 munition, and spirits into Alaska, and the Secretary of the 
 Treasury to regulate the fur-trade and seal-hunting there. 
 
 The Secretary of State, on the 20th of July, officially an 
 nounced that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution 
 had been accepted by three fourths of the States, thereby be 
 coming a part of the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 On the 25th of December, the President issued a proclama 
 tion granting amnesty to all, without exception, who had par 
 ticipated in the late rebellion. 
 
 A calamitous earthquake occurred on the Pacific coast on the 
 21st of October. The first shock, which was the heaviest, was 
 felt a little before eight o clock in the morning, at San Fran 
 cisco. The worst consequences were experienced on the made 
 ground and the flats, where the foundations of the buildings 
 were unstable. Few structures in that part of the city escaped 
 damage. In one place the ground sunk for a foot or two; in 
 another, the cobble-stones in the street sunk away from the curb 
 stone to the depth of a foot, and the asphaltum sidewalks were 
 twisted and torn out of shape. The walls of the City Hall 
 were split, and several stones in the front wall fell out. Owing 
 to the shattered condition of the custom-house, the business 
 was removed to other places. The post-office was also dam 
 aged, and many stores and dwellings were so badly injured 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 215 
 
 that it was found necessary to take them down entirely. Five 
 persons were killed by falling chimneys. In other places in 
 California the earthquake was severely felt, lives were lost, and 
 much property damaged. 
 
 The Patapsco River, in Maryland, was flooded in July, and 
 almost destroyed Ellicott City, causing considerable loss of life. 
 In Baltimore, several streets were overflowed, with great dam 
 age, which, in and about the city, was estimated at three mil 
 lions of dollars. 
 
 The most destructive fire that ever visited Chicago, up to this 
 period, occurred there on the 28th of January, burning one en 
 tire block, and buildings elsewhere from falling cinders, with 
 a loss of about three millions of dollars. 
 
 Fort Lafayette, in New York harbor, was destroyed by fire 
 on the 1st of December. 
 
 The bridge across the Mississippi River at Quincy, 111., was 
 opened for travel on the 7th of November. 
 
 1869 Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Coif ax commenced their 
 terms of office on the 4th of March, as President and Vice- 
 President. 
 
 Congress, in February, adopted a resolution proposing a Fif 
 teenth Amendment to the Constitution, giving the colored peo 
 ple the elective franchise. 
 
 The right of suffrage was granted to women by the legisla 
 tures of the Territories of Wyoming and Utah. Women were 
 also ordained as deacons in the First Presbyterian Church hi 
 Philadelphia, and were allowed to practise law in Kansas by 
 an act of the legislature. 
 
 Prominent in the annals of Wall Street were the events which 
 occurred on Friday, the 24th of September a day which has 
 since been designated as "Black Friday." For some time be 
 fore a feeling prevailed that speculating in gold, which had 
 been extensively engaged in throughout the war, was rapidly 
 drawing to a close, and that the country would soon return to 
 specie payments. In the spring of this year gold fell to 131, at 
 which price a clique of speculators in New York purchased 
 several millions, and then, inducing several newspapers to mag 
 nify the probability that difficulties would arise from the Ala 
 bama claims, a European war, the Cuban insurrection, and vari 
 ous other matters, they pushed up the price to 145, and gathered 
 a rich harvest. The price again fell to 131, and there was a gen 
 eral belief that it would soon drop to 120. It was at this time 
 that a conspiracy was formed among several speculators to con 
 trol an immense amount of gold, and advance the price. The 
 financial policy of the government, requiring the payment of 
 duties in gold, continuously created an imperative and legiti 
 mate demand for it. By the operations of that clique the price 
 was advanced to 141 by Wednesday, the 22d of September. 
 Stocks, always sympathizing with a marked change in the 
 value of specie, on that day greatly fluctuated in price, amidst 
 great excitement on the Stock Exchange, causing more surprise 
 than the advance in gold. New York Central fell twenty-two- 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 per cent in about as many minutes, and then fluctuated on a 
 range of eight or ten per cent through tne remainder of the 
 day. Hudson River fell thirteen points, and other stocks sym 
 pathized in the fall, placing dealers in great straits. Brokers 
 called on their customers to increase their margins, which the 
 day had wiped out. The money market became very tight, 
 and high rates were paid so that balances could be carried 
 over until the next day. When the dealings of Thursday 
 morning opened it was at once made evident that the clique 
 was in the ascendant, for gold continued to advance. The 
 margins that had been increased with great difficulty the night 
 before were again swept away, and there was a new call for 
 their increase. This was beyond the power of all but the 
 strongest operators. All the small and medium speculators 
 failed, or settled their obligations on the best terms they could. 
 The wealthy dealers only defied the clique. This was a day of 
 excitement, of rushing, and of alternating hope and fear, such 
 as had rarely, if ever, been witnessed, even in the times of the 
 war. The day closed with gold at 144. On the morning of 
 the eventful 24th, New Street, and every passage leading to the 
 Gold Room, was completely blocked up by one dense mass of 
 humanity, all under the greatest state of excitement. At the 
 opening of the Board the price of gold was 150 an advance of 
 six per cent on that of the highest of the day before. It was 
 now well known that the clique themselves held in gold and 
 contracts for delivery something like one hundred and twenty 
 millions, while all the current gold in New York could be 
 scarcely more than twenty millions. The government alone 
 could break the corner by the sale of gold in the sub-treasury, 
 but the deaf ear which had been turned to appeals to Washing 
 ton, if it did not confirm the boast of the clique that members 
 of the government were in league with them, at least destroyed 
 all hope of relief from that quarter. At eleven o clock the 
 price was 155; at half-past eleven 160, and then, 162 and 164. 
 In the midst of the wildest excitement, when the price was 
 vibrating at the highest points, a messenger arrived in the Gold 
 Room with the news that the government would sell gold, and 
 upon the amount being known, the price instantly fell to 135. 
 The power of the clique was at once broken, and the most dar 
 ing plot ever known was defeated, and the great crisis was at 
 an end; but so large had been the dealings that the .Gold Ex 
 change Bank, which was the agent to settle the clearings, had 
 not yet been able to foot up and settle the transactions of the 
 preceding day, so there was still doubt and uncertainty, and 
 the shadow of disaster continued to darken Wall Street and its 
 ramifications. The calamity to the business community which 
 the clique had spread was now felt, and so great was the indig- 
 dation against its members that they were obliged to conceal 
 themselves for safety. The most persistent efforts were made 
 to implicate the President in their transactions, and Congress 
 appointed a committee to investigate the charge, but they 
 proved to be entirely without foundation. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 217 
 
 One of the most, if not the most, remarkable contests in rail 
 way strife known in this or any other country, took place 
 over the possesssion of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, 
 connecting Albany with the Erie at Binghamton. After 
 seventeen years of desperate struggle for existence, through re 
 peated discouragements and many suspensions of work upon 
 its construction, the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad was 
 finally completed in January of this year. It had been pro 
 jected and built, as a purely local enterprise, to benefit the 
 towns through which it ran, and for this reason had received 
 some aid from the State, and the towns along the line had sub 
 scribed for some of its stock ; but, as soon as all the difficulties 
 were surmounted, and the road was finished, it was found to 
 be of greater value than for local use. If run in connection 
 with the Erie road, it formed the necessary connecting link to 
 render that road a rival of the New York Central for the through 
 business between New England and the West. It was of still 
 greater value in affording the anthracite-coal regions of North 
 eastern Pennsylvania a more direct communication with New 
 England and the country north of Albany, and, as such, was 
 destined to destroy a very profitable part of the business of the 
 branch of the Erie road running to Newburgh. In view of 
 these facts, the managers of the Erie determined to secure the 
 control of the Albany and Susquehanna, by procuring the elec 
 tion of its officers among their friends at the coming election- 
 day, in September. For that purpose, they set out to procure 
 the control, by purchase and otherwise, of a majority of the 
 stock. The president of the Albany and Susquehanna Rail 
 road, Mr. Ramsey, together with his friends, who were opposed 
 to the measures of the Erie managers, were determined to resist 
 them, and retain the control of the road in their own interests. 
 On the 3d of August the treasurer refused to transfer some 
 stock, offered for that purpose by the Erie party, on the ground 
 that it was illegally procured. A war of injunctions followed, 
 the Erie party having a pliant judge at New York who issued 
 anything asked for. At length an angry assertion of con 
 flicting rights prevailed at the offices of the company at Al 
 bany, and became so serious that the police had to be called in 
 to preserve order. Opposing injunctions still continued, and 
 rival receivers of the road were appointed. The Ramsey re 
 ceiver held possession of the Albany end of the road, and the 
 Erie receiver of that at Binghamton. An Erie superintendent 
 was put in charge at that place, and a train standing at the 
 station ready to start was not permitted to proceed till an Erie 
 engine had been substituted, an Erie conductor placed in 
 charge, and an Erie sheriff placed on board to distribute Erie 
 injunctions and writs of assistance, and replace all employes 
 by Erie sympathizers wherever the train stopped. The doings 
 of the Erie men had been telegraphed to Albany, and the 
 Ramsey party had become fully roused, and determined on the 
 most decisive measures. The trains of the two contending 
 parties were closely approaching each other, when the Erie 
 
218 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 train, while nearing Bainbridge station, was hostilely switched 
 on to a side-track, and the Albany train passed on the 
 main line behind the other, stopped, and then made the Erie 
 party prisoners. The Ramsey party, on the following morn 
 ing, started again towards Binghamton. They removed the 
 Erie men placed in charge of that part of the line, and restored 
 the former employes. All went smoothly till they reached a 
 tunnel, about two hundred feet in length, about fifteen miles 
 from Binghamton. At this point they received news of 
 a new Erie train that had come up from Einghamton with 
 several hundred men to give them battle. The Erie party num 
 bered about eight hundred ; the Ramsey about half that num 
 ber. The Erie men put together the heaviest train they could 
 make up, filled it with men, and started through the tunnel. 
 They found a single rail removed by their opponents. This 
 was replaced, and once more they moved forward, having now 
 a down grade. The Ramsey train moved too, and as the Erie 
 train turned a sharp corner, it became suddenly aware of the 
 approach of their enemy, under full headway, with the mani 
 fest intention of a collision. The collision happened, and the 
 shock and panic to Erie was complete. The men leaped from 
 the train, and, without stopping to see what had happened, 
 ran for the Binghamton side of the tunnel with their utmost 
 speed, some running through the tunnel, and others over the 
 hill above it. They were pursued, with shouts, by the Ramsey 
 men, who threw at them sticks, stones, and other missiles. 
 Matters soon assumed such a serious aspect that the civil 
 authorities of Broome County called upon the military for as 
 sistance, and a regiment was sent to the scene of the riot, and 
 soon the disturbance was quelled. At length the governor of 
 the State was summoned from a pleasure-excursion to effect the 
 safe running of trains, and to adopt measures that the courts 
 had failed to accomplish. Finding that he could not induce 
 harmony between the rival factions, he took possession of the 
 road in the name of the State, and appointed two members of 
 his staff to run it until the difficulties could be settled judicially. 
 The courts finally decided in favor of the Ramsey party, and 
 mulcted the Erie managers in a large amount, to indemnify the 
 road for damages. 
 
 The laying of a submarine telegraphic cable from Brest, 
 (France) to the island of St. Pierre, near the Gulf of St. Law 
 rence, and thence to Duxbury, on the coast of Massachusetts, 
 was successfully accomplished in July. The length of the line 
 is about 3047 miles, and was laid by a company chartered by 
 the French Government. 
 
 The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads were 
 completed on the 10th of May, the last rail being laid on that 
 day, when a continuous line of rail was formed across the con 
 tinent. On the 15th trains commenced running regularly over 
 the line. The construction of the roads was commenced in 
 1863, but no considerable amount of work was accomplished 
 till 1865. In that year over one hundred miles were graded 
 
HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 219 
 
 and bridged on the Union Pacific, and rails laid upon forty 
 miles. In 1866, two hundred and sixty-five miles of road were 
 completed ; in 1867, two hundred and forty-five; and in 1868, 
 three hundred and fifty miles. The route for the eastern por 
 tion of the Union Pacific is up the valley of the Platte River, 
 which has a course nearly due east from the base of the moun 
 tains. The slope of the valley is very nearly uniform towards 
 the Missouri, at the rate of about ten feet to the mile. Cheyenne, 
 at the base of the mountains, is elevated 6063 feet above the 
 sea, and 5093 above Omaha. From Cheyenne to the summit 
 of the mountains, which is eight thousand two hundred and 
 forty-three feet above the sea, the distance is thirty- two miles. 
 After crossing the eastern crest of the mountains, the line tra 
 verses an elevated table-land for about four hundred miles to 
 the western crest of the mountains, at an elevation of seven 
 thousand five hundred and fifty feet above the sea. Upon 
 this elevated table -land is a succession of extensive plains, 
 which afforded great facilities for the construction of the road. 
 The Central Pacific Railroad Company was organized under 
 the general railroad law of California, with authority to con 
 struct a railroad from Sacramento to the eastern boundary of 
 that State. By act of Congress, July 1, 1862, it was author 
 ized to construct the western portion of the Pacific Railroad, in 
 the government territory, to a junction with the Union Pacific, 
 and the same provision for government aid was made in its 
 favor as in the case of that road. The crossing of the Sierra 
 Nevada mountains, at an elevation of 7050 feet above the level 
 of the sea, in a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, was 
 considered a great achievement in civil-engineering. The work 
 of construction was commenced in February, 1863. The road 
 from Sacramento to Coif ax is one hundred and sixty-five 
 miles in length, and was completed in September, 1865. It 
 was continued to Cisco, ninety-four miles, by November, 1866 ; 
 to the summit of the Sierra Nevada, one hundred and five miles 
 farther, in July, 1867 ; to the Nevada line, one hundred and 
 thirty-eight miles more, in January, 1868 ; to Monument Point, 
 six hundred and sixty-seven miles, in April of this year; and to 
 a junction with the Union Pacific, eight hundred and eighty- 
 one miles in all, on the 10th of May. 
 
 On the 6th of September, a disaster occurred in the Avondale 
 coal-mine, in Luzerne County, Pa., resulting in the loss of one 
 hundred and eight lives. While the miners were engaged at 
 work in the mine, the shaft, constructed chiefly of combustible 
 material, took fire, and soon the only entrance to the mine was 
 filled with burning timbers, fire, and smoke. No assistance 
 could be rendered the sufferers from without, and, there being 
 no means of escape, all of the unfortunate inmates perished. 
 
 A disastrous flood occurred in portions of Texas, in July, in 
 consequence of heavy rains of three days continuance. The 
 Ouadalupe, Cormal, Nevada, San Marcos, and Colorado rivers, 
 and Peach Creek, rose to the height of forty-seven feet above 
 their ordinary level, which was never before known. The 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 lands on each side, to the distance, in many places, of ten 
 miles and more, were completely submerged., the crops and 
 stores destroyed, and not only all the bridges and mills on the 
 banks were swept away, but the cabins of the negroes and 
 farm-houses far inland were overturned and carried off. The 
 city of San Antonio and the town of La Grange suffered 
 severely, and many of the inhabitants were lost. The loss of 
 property was immense, the damage on the Colorado alone being 
 estimated at three millions of dollars. 
 
 1870 Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas were admitted to 
 representation in Congress. On the 30th of March the Secretary 
 of State issued a proclamation announcing the ratification of 
 the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Reconstruction, 
 in form, was now finished, although further legislation to en 
 force the new amendment and authorizing the use of troops at 
 the polls followed. 
 
 Congress, in May, passed a bill chartering the Northern 
 Pacific Railroad Company. In June, an act was passed re 
 ducing the tax on incomes to two and a half per cent, and in 
 creasing the exemption to two thousand dollars, An act was 
 also passed providing for the redemption of the three-per-cent 
 loan certificates, and for an increase of the national -bank notes; 
 also a bill to authorize the refunding of the national debt, at 
 lower rates of interest. 
 
 The Kansas Pacific Railroad, extending from Kansas City, 
 Mo., to Denver, in Colorado, was completed on the 15th of 
 August. 
 
 On the 20th of October, the shock of an earthquake was felt 
 in Northeastern America, from New Brunswick to Iowa, and 
 from the river St. Lawrence to Cincinnati and Richmond. 
 The occurrence was so rare in that region the phenomenon ex 
 cited more than ordinary attention ; in cities, where there are 
 many tall buildings, the earthquake was particularly notice 
 able. In New York, the upper floors of some buildings were so 
 shaken that the workmen engaged in their occupations fled to tne 
 street in alarm; at a public school in Fourteenth Street, where 
 there were twelve hundred children, it caused a panic among 
 them, and it was with difficulty the teachers prevented a catas 
 trophe in the rush to the street. The severest effects of the 
 earthquake were felt in Scranton, Pa. ; Cooperstown, Rondout, 
 Hudson, and Troy, in New York; Montpelier, Yt.; Boston, and 
 New Haven. 
 
 In the latter part of September, the valleys of the James and 
 Shenandoah rivers in Virginia, were visited by a sudden and 
 disastrous flood, such as had not occurred before during the 
 century. In less than two days the water in the James River 
 rose about twenty -four feet; a large portion of the city of 
 Richmond was flooded, and great damage was done to 
 property. The rise in the Shenandoah River was nearly twice 
 that of the James. The destruction of property in the counties 
 of Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page, Warren, Clarke, and Jef 
 ferson was very great, including the entire crops of corn and 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 221 
 
 hay, with the unthreshed crops of wheat, rye, and oats, along 
 the river bottoms. So sudden was the rise of water, the people 
 in the lowlands had no time to preserve their property. Dwell 
 ings, mills, bridges, fences, barns, and manufacturing estab 
 lishments were swept away, and hundreds of laborers were 
 deprived of employment. At Harper s Ferry a large part of 
 the town was submerged, many substantial buildings were de 
 stroyed, and forty lives lost. The loss of property by the flood 
 was estimated at not less than three millions of dollars. 
 
 A calamity occurred at Richmond, Va., on the 29th of April, 
 by which about sixty persons were killed and more than twice 
 that number injured. A case which had excited unusual in 
 terest in the community was to be decided on that day in the 
 Court of Appeals, and an immense crowd of people, including 
 many ladies, gathered in the gallery of the court-room, which 
 was in the second story of the capitol. Suddenly the over 
 weighted gallery fell on to the floor, which then broke through, 
 and the whole mass of human beings, and debris, were precipi 
 tated into the hall of the House of Delegates below. 
 1871 In March, Congress passed an Appropriation Bill and, by a 
 clause in it, the President was authorized to prescribe such rules 
 and regulations for the admission of persons into the civil ser 
 vice of the United States as would best promote its efficiency, 
 and ascertain the fitness of each candidate in respect to age, 
 health, character, knowledge, and ability for the service into 
 which he might seek to enter. The President, accordingly, 
 appointed six persons as commissioners to devise a plan where 
 by the reform could best be carried out, and they made their 
 report in November. 
 
 In July, disclosures were made to the public, by means of the 
 newspaper press, of a conspiracy of some of the officials of the 
 city of New York, which revealed a plot to rob that city to a 
 very large amount, and which proved to be one of the most 
 colossal frauds ever achieved upon any community, the col 
 lective perpetrators of which being subsequently denominated 
 as the "Tweed Ring." In the summer of 1868 a plot was 
 formed in the city to carry the State, in the coming election, 
 for the Democratic party. When the polls closed on election 
 day, the result in the several counties was telegraphed to Wil 
 liam M. Tweed, chairman of the General Committee of Tam 
 many Hall. The count in New York City was delayed, and 
 Democratic votes were returned as having been cast in the city 
 in sufficient number to carry the State. The scheme thus car 
 ried out gave Mr. Tweed great power in both the State Govern 
 ment and that of New York City. In the city he was virtually 
 political dictator. The affairs of the city had been corruptly 
 managed for several years, and a plan was now formed to en 
 rich Tweed and his immediate friends by robbing the city treas 
 ury. The construction of a new County Court -House was 
 arranged for, the estimated cost which w r as two hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars, but the real cost of which might be made 
 to reach several millions. In the following year, the building 
 
222 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 was begun. The contractors for labor, materials, and supplies 
 were required to increase their bills. The bills were passed by 
 the Board of Supervisors at the dictation of Tweed, who was 
 a member of the Board. They were audited by Auditor Wat 
 son, his tool. The contractors received the amount due them, 
 and from fifteen to sixty-five per cent of the total bills was di 
 vided by Tweed and his friends amongst themselves. Tweed s 
 share was usually twenty-five per cent. In 1870, for the first 
 time in seventeen years, the Democrats, led by Tweed, now 
 had complete control of the State Government of New 
 York. The city government of New York was solidly Demo 
 cratic. In the early part of the year, by the free use of money, 
 Tweed, who was a State Senator as well as Commissioner of 
 Public Works in the city, secured the passage of a new city 
 charter. The power of auditing bills was taken from the Board 
 of Supervisors, and placed in the hands of a board of audit, 
 composed of A. Oakey Hall, Mayor; Richard B. Connolly, 
 , Comptroller; William M. Tweed, Commissioner of Public 
 Works; and Peter B. Sweeney, Commissioner of Parks. The 
 contractors on the new Court-House were required to make out 
 claims for imaginary services, and these bills, to the amount of 
 six millions of dollars, were passed at one meeting. Auditor 
 Watson was then authorized to certify all subsequent bills, the 
 members of the Board signing them separately. More than 
 half the amount of these bills passed into the pockets of the 
 Ring. Over one million of the six millions, before referred to, 
 was traced to Tweed. Before the end of that year, the fraudu 
 lent expenditures on the Court House had reached over eight 
 millions of dollars. To silence criticism, Tweed filled the pay 
 rolls of the city government with multitudes of men, drawing 
 large salaries, who never performed any work, and gave profit 
 able contracts to others at enormous figures. Checks were given 
 for salaries larger than Governors . Police Justices were given 
 larger compensation than the Chief Justice of the United States. 
 The expenses of the city reached twenty -four millions of dol 
 lars a year, or nearly as much as under the entire civil list of 
 the United States Government. The politics of the city were 
 completely debauched. Every influential thief, gambler, and 
 ward politician rolled in money, and shone in diamonds and 
 costly chains. A carnival of vice reigned in every quarter of 
 the city. In two years, Tweed bought one million three hun 
 dred and forty -six thousand eight hundred and seventy -five dol 
 lars of real estate, and, in partnership with Sweeney, Connolly, 
 and others, five hundred thousand dollars more. During that 
 year a rebellion broke out against Tweed, in which ex-Sheriff 
 James O Brien and State Senator Harry Genet were prominent. 
 It was the belief that some of the disaffected ones merely had 
 in view a larger share of the plunder, but O Brien made his op 
 position effectual by giving to The New York Times the facts 
 about the robberies by the Ring, After several significant hints, 
 as early as May of this year, that newspaper, in July, disclosed 
 the operations of the Ring. People were slow to believe. On 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 223 
 
 the 4th of September, a mass meeting of citizens was held at 
 Cooper Institute, and a Committee of Seventy was appointed to 
 investigate and punish. Governor Hoffman delegated his powers 
 in the premises to Charles O Conor, an eminent lawyer. The 
 Comptrollerwaspromptly enjoined frompaying any more claims. 
 Soon afterwards, the Comptroller resigned; he was arrested, re 
 leased on five hundred thousand dollars bail, and fled from 
 the country, In the next year (1872) a number of suits were 
 brought against Tweed. A. Oakey Hall was tried in March, 
 but a juror died and the trial was interrupted. He was tried 
 again, when the jury disagreed. In 1873, Tweed was tried 
 from January 6th to the 31st; the jury disagreed. A second 
 trial, lasting from November 5th to 19th, resulted in conviction 
 on every one of the fifty- one counts in the indictment. Tweed 
 wassentenced to twelvey ears imprisonment onBlackwell sIsland 
 and to pay a heavy fine. In April, 1875, a civil suit was begun 
 in the Supreme Court against Tweed to recover six million one 
 hundred and ninety-eight thousand nine hundred and fifty dol 
 lars. In the January following, the Court of Appeals decided 
 that Tweed could be no longer imprisoned, because he had been 
 confined on a cumulative sentence. He was discharged on 
 June 22, 1875, but rearrested on an old indictment. He was 
 held to find fifteen thousand dollars bail in the criminal charge, 
 and three million dollars bail in the civil suit. December 4th, 
 while on a visit from Ludlow Street Jail to his house, in cus 
 tody of officers, he escaped, and made his way to sea in a yacht. 
 In 1876, Tweed was recaptured at Vigo, Spain, and brought 
 back to New York in November. On January 13th of the 
 same year, the civil suit against him was brought to trial, and 
 on March 8th a verdict was obtained for six million five hun 
 dred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and seventeen dol 
 lars and thirty-eight cents, of which one million eight hundred 
 and seventeen thousand one hundred and seventy-seven dollars 
 and three cents was for interest. He was, after his recapture, 
 sent back to prison on Blackwell s Island. On the 12th of 
 April, 1878, Tweed died in arison. The Ring had by that time 
 been completely scattered and crushed; but the city never re 
 covered more than a small prt of its stolen millions. 
 
 Serious troubles between the operators and miners in the 
 anthracite coal region in Pennsylvania, commencing in the pre 
 ceding fall, were continued and increased until their culmina 
 tion in the summer of this year. It began in the upper 
 Wyoming region, where the wages of miners, as announced, 
 would be reduced. A strike was ordered by the Working 
 Men s Benevolent Association, a united and compact organiza 
 tion, chartered by the Legislature, and embracing nearly all the 
 entire laboring population of the coal country, and formed with 
 the contemplated object of securing employment to its mem 
 bers, and preventing a reduction of wages. In January, by 
 order of this Association, the strike was continued throughout 
 the Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Lower Wyoming districts. In the 
 early part of April, serious disturbances occurred in the section 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 about Scranton, between members of the Association and the 
 non-union men, and their employment was stopped at the 
 mines, the strikers having torn up the track, demolished the 
 cars, and otherwise damaging the works. The operators and 
 miners throughout the coal region at last came to a compromise, 
 and work was resumed. 
 
 Water was brought into Providence by aqueduct, and on the 
 30th of November the event was celebrated. 
 
 A series of earthquakes, computed at over seven thousand 
 different shocks, occurred during a space of two weeks in 
 February, in California, at several points. In Napa County, 
 in Cram Valley, and in the region of Owen s Lake and River, 
 they were felt more severely, and particularly at the latter 
 point. Huge fissures were rent in the earth, and for several 
 miles an embankment of earth was raised where previously it 
 had been a plain. The water of the river and lake ebbed almost 
 to dryness, and then returned in great volume and overflowed 
 the adjacent country. Thirty to forty persons were killed by 
 the earthquake. 
 
 On the 7th of October, a large fire occurred at Chicago, 
 which involved a loss of one million of dollars, and it was 
 succeeded by the most disastrous conflagration ever before 
 witnessed in the annals of this country. This last great fire 
 commenced on Sunday evening, October 8th, and continued 
 to rage on the forenoon of the following day. The estimated 
 number of lives lost was two hundred and fifty ; of persons 
 rendered homeless, ninety-eighty thousand five hundred ; of 
 buildings consumed, seventeen thousand five hundred ; and the 
 value of the property destroyed, one hundred and ninety- 
 two millions of dollars. It included the business and the best 
 built portion of the city. The total area burned over, including 
 ;streets, the pavements of which were generally rendered worth 
 less, was two thousand acres. The fire did its work so com 
 pletely, that in not more than a dozen cases were the chimneys 
 or fire-walls of the great blocks or any of the buildings left 
 standing. It was possible, standing on the ground, to see across 
 the burned district for two or three miles without anything to 
 obstruct the vision, where, before the fire, were standing huge 
 blocks of buildings of stone and brick. 
 
 In October, extensive fires raged in the timber districts of 
 Wisconsin, Central Minnesota, and Michigan, sweeping away 
 towns and villages in their path; and in three counties of Wis 
 consin the country was so desolated as to leave no vestige of 
 property remaining to its owners but the bare land. On the 
 cast shore of Lake Michigan, the towns of Manistee and Hol 
 land were almost entirely destroyed. Fires prevailed through 
 out all the pine country bordering on Lake Michigan, Green 
 Bay, and the southern shore of Lake Huron. It was estimated 
 that fifteen thousand people in Michigan lost homes, clothing, 
 crops, farm-stock, and other possessions, by the fire. 
 
 A serious riot occurred in New York on the 12th of July, 
 arising out of a feud existing between the Irish Protestants, or 
 
HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 225 
 
 Orangemen, and the Roman Catholics. The Orangemen pro 
 posed to parade the streets on that day in celebration of the 
 Battle of the Boyne, and threats of an attack upon their proces 
 sion were made. To prevent a disturbance, the police authorities 
 issued an order forbidding the parade, but which upon the re 
 quest of the Governor of the State was revoked. A large body 
 of the police and several regiments were put under orders to 
 protect the procession. At one point an assault was made by 
 the crowd, which was repulsed by the military, and in the 
 affray that ensued, over one hundred persons were killed or 
 wounded. 
 
 On the 27th of January, the steamer H. R. Arthur left 
 Louisville for New Orleans, and when about fourteen miles 
 above Memphis, her boilers exploded, the boat took fire, de 
 stroying by the catastrophe eighty-seven lives. On the 30th of 
 July, the boiler of a Staten Island ferry-boat exploded as it was 
 just starting put of its slip in New York, crowded with pas 
 sengers, injuring two hundred persons, more than half fatally. 
 1872 The work of reducing taxation continued. The tariff on tea, 
 coffee, and some other articles was abolished ; that on some 
 other imports reduced, and internal revenue was modified. By 
 the law of 1870 most of the stamp tax had been abolished 
 already, and the income tax expired with 1871. 
 
 The "Alabama" claims of the United States against Great Brit 
 ain, springing out of damage to American shipping by Confed 
 erate cruisers during the war, were arbitrated. Several of these 
 cruisers had been built and equipped in British ports, in vio 
 lation of treaties, and had been the subject of dispute for years. 
 By agreement the matter was submitted to five commissioners 
 from Italy, Brazil, Switzerland, the United States, and England. 
 For the acts of the Alabama, Florida, and Shenandoah, Great 
 Britain was held liable, and $15,500,000 damages were award 
 ed to this country by the tribunal, which met at Geneva, 
 Switzerland. Subsequently, Congress established a court of 
 Alabama claims to distribute the money among the losers 
 through the piracy in question. 
 
 Extensive strikes occurred among the carpenters, bricklayers, 
 and other workmen employed in building in New York City, 
 beginning in April. From 40,000 to 50,000 were thus engaged. 
 The several trades combined against the employers, and the 
 latter combined in self-defence. Most of the laborers surrender 
 ed in June, having lost in the aggregate wages amounting to 
 $1,400,000. The contractors and builders lost $1,100,000. 
 General business was indirectly hurt to the extent of 
 $5,760,000. The strike was not fairly under way until the 
 middle of May. Then a mass meeting was held to discuss the 
 grievances of the workingmen. A number of allied trades, 
 such as painters, upholsterers, cabinet-makers, sewing-machine 
 makers, iron-founders and piano-makers, followed. There were 
 strikes in other cities in the country at the same time, but none 
 of great account. A crowd of strikers forcibly effected an en 
 trance into the Steinway piano factory, June 15th, to persuade 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 or force the remaining workmen there to leave. The police 
 ejected the invaders, but only after a violent struggle. This 
 event and the shooting of a non-striking carpenter were the 
 most serious acts of violence attending the strike. Serious 
 trouble, however, was feared at one time, and the State militia 
 were gotten in readiness to assist the police. Soon afterwards 
 the workmen and employers came to an understanding. 
 
 At the presidential election of this year Grant was re-elected 
 President by 760,000 majority, the largest ever given at any 
 national election in this country. He carried all but seven 
 States. His associate on the Republican ticket was Henry 
 Wilson, of Massachusetts. The Democrats ratified as candidate 
 for President and Vice-President Horace Greeley, of New York, 
 and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, who had first been nomi 
 nated by the Liberal Republicans. These men had formerly 
 acted with the Republican party, but in this year withdrew, 
 criticising the use of troops in the South by the Federal Gov 
 ernment as an invasion of State rights, and demanding a re 
 form in the civil service. The Labor party nominated Charles 
 O Conor for President, with no candidate for Vice-President. 
 
 During the year $200,000,000 of national bonds, drawing 6 
 per cent interest, were exchanged for the same quantity of a 
 new loan drawing only 5 per cent, and a year later $100,- 
 000,000 more of the debt was similarly converted, a saving of 
 $3,000,000 in interest annually being thereby effected. Subse 
 quently, a large portion of the national debt was converted into 
 4 and 4i per cent bonds. 
 
 On the 27th of February, Congress passed a bill setting apart 
 the Yellowstone Valley, in Montana and Wyoming Terri 
 tories, as a national park. 
 
 The American District Telegraph Company was organized 
 in New York for the purpose of connecting private residences 
 with central telegraph stations. 
 
 Up to July 1st the quantity of South Carolina phosphate 
 shipped from Charleston was 242,415 tons, in the crude state, 
 and 90,000 tons of manufactured. The first shipment was made 
 in 1867. 
 
 A remarkable epidemic among horses prevailed in many parts 
 of the country this year. It had been terribly severe in Canada, 
 and early in October was reported in Boston, Buffalo, Rochester, 
 and Syracuse, and it soon spread to other places. In some of 
 the large cities it almost put an absolute stop to traffic, and in 
 some cases the horse-railroads ceased running entirely for a 
 time. 
 
 A destructive conflagration began in Boston on the evening 
 of the 9th of November, lasting twenty-four hours, and result 
 ing in the destruction of the very heart of the wholesale trade. 
 From Summer Street north nearly to State Street, and from 
 Washington Street east to the water s edge, with two or three 
 small exceptions, there was nothing but rubbish remaining of 
 the many hundreds of granite and iron structures in which the 
 dry goods merchants, wool merchants, and leather merchants 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 227 
 
 of many blocks, carried on trade. Not many public buildings 
 were lost, but the warehouses covering the site of the birthplace 
 of Franklin and the homes of Webster and Everett perished. 
 The loss in buildings and merchandise was estimated at seventy- 
 five millions of dollars, and fifty millions of insurance capital 
 were wiped out. The fire spread over an area of sixty acres. 
 
 The Metis, a propeller, collided with a schooner on Long 
 Island Sound on the 30th of August, and caused the loss of 
 fiftv lives. 
 
 About seven hundred miners were killed during the preced 
 ing three years, and seventeen hundred maimed, in the an 
 thracite coal region in Pennsylvania. 
 
 1873 Ulysses S. Grant and Henry Wilson took the oaths of office 
 as President and Vice-President on the 4th of March. 
 
 The Credit Mobilier scandal was ventilated by congressional 
 inquiry early in the year. James G. Elaine, Speaker of the House 
 of Representatives, had offered a resolution calling for such in 
 vestigation in December, 1872, upon the meeting of Congress. 
 The facts brought out were as follows : No private contractors 
 could be engaged to build the Union Pacific Railroad, which 
 Congress chartered in 1862. A corporation was formed, there 
 fore, called the Credit Mobilier, of which the stockholders were 
 mostly stockholders of the railroad company. This new or 
 ganization agreed to build the road in consideration of certain 
 land grants and government bonds issued originally to the rail 
 road company to assist in its construction. The capital stock 
 of the ^ Credit Mobilier was $2,500,000, but by subsequent 
 legislation this was increased 50 per cent, the addition being 
 taken by the holders of the original stock. The Credit Mobilier 
 then went ahead and built the road. The profits derived from 
 this contract were so great that in the winter of 1867-8 the 
 stock was estimated to have a value of $380 or $400 per share 
 of $100. It was not placed on the general market, however, 
 All sales were private, and the character of the scheme was not 
 generally known. In June, 1868, a dividend of $60 a share 
 was declared. This was the largest dividend received by the 
 holders. It appeared subsequently that during this same winter 
 Oakes Ames, a congressman from Massachusetts, had approach 
 ed various congressmen and senators with quiet offers of Credit 
 Mobilier stock at the low price of $100 a share, Some of them, 
 including Schuyler Col fax, then Speaker of the House, and 
 James Brooks, of New York, a government director of the 
 Pacific Railroad, purchased a greater or less quantity, most of 
 them, however, taking only a few shares. Several did not pay 
 cash, but gave personal notes. They afterwards alleged that 
 they saw no impropriety in the purchase, any more than in any 
 other investment, and Ames, in "letting them in on the ground- 
 floor," was apparently doing them only a personal favor. Upon 
 inquiry, it appeared that the Pacific Railroad and Credit Mo 
 bilier companies would not ask for any further legislation from 
 Congress, and so most of the purchasers, if troubled with con 
 scientious scruples, concluded that they might honorably retain 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the stock. Some of them, however, growing suspicious, re 
 turned it to Mr. Ames and took up their notes. But, while the 
 corporations did not intend to ask for positive legislation, they 
 were threatened by adverse legislation, against which they 
 wished to sway as many members as possible. There was some 
 popular dissatisfaction with the high rates of transportation 
 charged by the Union Pacific, and in December, 1867, Mr. 
 "Washburne, of Wisconsin, introduced a bill into Congress to 
 provide for their reduction. This had been anticipated, and 
 was known as " the Wash burne movement." An inkling of 
 the profits enjoyed by the Credit Mobilier having been obtain 
 ed in certain quarters, too, there was talk of depriving the 
 Union Pacific of some of its land-grants. This project, how 
 ever, though anticipated by the managers of the Credit Mo 
 bilier, was not carried into effect. But the two schemes afford 
 ed sufficient motive for what, upon exposure, was looked upon 
 as bribery by Mr. Ames. These facts having been reported 
 by the investigating committee to Congress in February of this 
 year, Mr. Ames was expelled from the House of Representatives 
 for his conduct, and Mr. Brooks for accepting bribes. It was 
 also proposed to impeach Mr. Coif ax, who at this time was Vice- 
 President, but after careful consideration the judiciary com 
 mittee advised against it, since the offence of accepting the stock 
 was not committed during the term of office he was now finish 
 ing. Mild censure was passed upon some other congressmen. 
 The scandal attracted wide attention all over the country, and 
 was occasionally referred to, afterwards, in national politics. 
 
 Modoc Indians, numbering about two hundred, attracted 
 much attention by their stubborn resistance to Federal troops, 
 which were sent to capture them on the southern boundary of 
 Oregon, and to remove them to a reservation. Late in 1872, 
 peaceful overtures were made to them which they haughtily 
 rejected. A fight with troops sent to give moral support to 
 the negotiations followed. Thereupon the Modocs, led by 
 Captain Jack and Scar-faced Charlie, withdrew to some lava 
 beds, just over the frontier in Northern California. Aside 
 from this particular band, the other Indians of the Modoc 
 tribe, together with numerous Klamath Indians in Northern 
 California, were quietly removed to the reservation. The 
 Klamaths were a peaceful class, and had been serving the 
 whites as herdsmen, and in other similar capacities. But cer 
 tain agitators raised the cry that they were rivals of white 
 workmen ; and thus arose the crusade against them. These 
 facts becoming known, during the winter and spring of this 
 year, some opposition was made in the East to the war against 
 the hostile Modocs. But an event occurred in April which 
 robbed them of popular sympathy. A commission had been 
 sent to treat with them again. A meeting under a flag of truce 
 was arranged, and a conference was in progress, the llth, 
 when, without warning, a murderous assault was made upon 
 the government s representatives by the savages. General 
 Canby and Mr. Thomas were killed outright, and General 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 229 
 
 Meacham, the third commissioner, was seriously wounded. 
 War against the treacherous redskins was now waged with great 
 bitterness. The nature of the stronghold, which they had oc 
 cupied, was such that their capture was exceedingly difficult. 
 The Federal soldiers were less familiar with the lava beds than 
 the Indians were, and were repulsed with considerable slaughter 
 almost every time they made an attack ; while the Indians 
 suffered but little loss. But the affair had reached a stage 
 where the government was obliged to go ahead, and the siege 
 was pressed, at great expense, for several months. The Indians 
 were finally captured, and the ringleaders put on trial for their 
 murderous assault on the Federal commissioners. Seven of 
 them were convicted and sentenced to be hanged. In the case 
 of four this sentence was commuted. The others were hanged 
 Oct. 3d. What was left of the warrior band, a mere handful, 
 was now removed to a reservation in Dakota. 
 
 Profound sensation was created by the seizure of a sailing 
 vessel known as the Virginius, carrying the American flag, by 
 the Spanish war steamer Tornado, Oct. 31st, on the suspicion 
 that the former was carrying munitions of war to the Cuban 
 insurgents contrary to international law. Many Americans 
 were in favor of resenting the insult to the flag by declaring 
 war ; and vigorous correspondence over the affair was had be 
 tween the United States and Spanish governments. The Vir 
 ginius was finally surrendered to the United States, Dec. 16th. 
 A demand was made that, in addition, the Spanish authorities 
 should salute the flag, but Secretary Fish consented to waive 
 this, if the Madrid government could establish the fact that the 
 Virginius was not entitled to carry the Stars and Stripes. This 
 was done to his satisfaction, and the salute was not required. 
 
 The one-cent postal card was first used in this country this 
 year. 
 
 Congress abolished the franking privilege hitherto enjoyed 
 by congressmen. Subsequently they were authorized to send 
 public documents free, but not letters. 
 
 A memorable financial panic, from the effects of which the 
 country did not entirely recover for several years, occurred in 
 the fall. A number of causes contributed to it. One of them 
 was the heavy balance of trade against this country. In the 
 flush of prosperity which had followed since the war, people 
 had gotten into the way of buying articles of luxury imported 
 from foreign countries; and the quantity of merchandise 
 brought into the United States, from other lands, so far exceeded 
 our exports that sixty-three millions of dollars of gold coin had to 
 be sent out of the country to square the account. During 1872 
 the export of coin was sixty-eight millions of dollars. This heavy 
 drainage made gold somewhat scarce, and caused a feeling of 
 insecurity in business matters. A more fruitful cause of dis 
 aster was the immense quantity of bonds issued by towns, 
 cities, states, and corporations, in support of railroad enter 
 prises. Instead of building with capital actually subscribed, 
 localities along the routes were induced to assist by contribu- 
 
230 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tions in the form of bonds. It was an era of great activity in 
 railroad construction. Not only were vast enterprises, like the 
 Northern Pacific, being pressed with much vigor, but countless 
 lesser schemes were also under way. Scarcely a State in the 
 Union, especially in the North, escaped the fever. In the more 
 thickly settled East the proposed roads were mostly local ; in 
 the less heavily populated West the lines were extensive. In 
 the five years ending with 1873 the enormous sum of one 
 billion seven hundred millions of dollars was spent in building 
 railroads in the United States. Many mining companies, not 
 all of them on a sound basis, were also borrowing money on 
 bonds ; and manufacturing concerns did likewise. A large 
 part of this indebtedness was incurred abroad, especially at 
 first. When the foreigners had taken all of these bonds that 
 they could be induced to buy, the brokers began to place them 
 at home. Savings-banks, trustees of estates, private investors 
 and speculators, upon attractive representations as to the value 
 of the schemes thus engaged in borrowing, took the securities, 
 until finally the country was overloaded. The export of gold 
 made financiers uneasy. Greenbacks were hoarded. The 
 stringency thus created caused increased nervousness. The 
 United States Government was appealed to, to relieve the money 
 market by buying its own bonds, and thus throwing more paper 
 into circulation. It did so, to the extent of fourteen millions of 
 dollars ; but the eagerness of investors to convert even Federal 
 securities into ready money was so great that the sale had to 
 be stopped. Before this point was reached the creditors of 
 some of the banking houses that had most heavily invested in 
 railroad bonds began to make demands which the banks could 
 not meet; and several failures ensued. This precipitated a 
 panic in September. A run was started on numerous savings- 
 banks. The credit system in business was abruptly suspended. 
 Debtors were hard pressed by creditors. Investors became anx 
 ious to realize on their securities, and there was a general desire 
 to sell. Stocks, bonds, and commercial paper rapidly depre 
 ciated. Real estate, manufactures, and all kinds of property 
 suffered similarly. The worst part of the panic was confined 
 to ten days, beginning Sept. 20th, during which the New York 
 Clearing House suspended. The bankers at the metropolis 
 then agreed to pool their greenbacks, to pay only checks certi 
 fied as good through the Clearing House, and to issue ten mil 
 lions of dollars in loan certificates. The savings-banks took ad 
 vantage of the thirty-day notice privilege. And at length the 
 excitement was stayed. Depreciation and stagnation followed. 
 United States bonds suffered less than other securities, falling 
 off only 5 or 10 per cent. Railroad stocks declined anywhere 
 from 10 to 30 per cent, and some even 40 per cent. Factories 
 now found themselves bothered with a surplus of unsalable 
 products. Some of them curtailed their output by running on 
 short time. Others suspended altogether. Thousands of work- 
 ingmen were thrown out of employment, or put on reduced 
 wages. No class of society escaped suffering. The income of 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 231 
 
 the rich was greatly diminished. They economized accordingly, 
 especially on imported goods. Trade was dull, and the mer 
 chants could hardly make a living. The credit system was 
 suspended. Failures occurred everywhere ; and a period of 
 financial depression and industrial prostration followed, which 
 extended through the following year or two. From some of 
 the shrinkage in values property never recovered. 
 
 The work of building the East River Bridge, connecting the 
 cities of New York and Brooklyn, was commenced. 
 
 The steamship Atlantic, of the White Star line, on her pas 
 sage from Liverpool to New York, while putting into Halifax 
 for a fresh supply of coal, ran into a rock, on the 1st of April, 
 and in a few minutes became a total wreck. Of nine hundred 
 and fifty -seven persons on board, five hundred and thirty-five 
 were drowned. 
 
 The steamer Wawasset, of Washington, D. C., was burned 
 off Aquia Creek, on the 8th of August, causing a loss of seventy- 
 five lives. 
 
 A conflagration occurred in Boston on the 30th of May, 
 destroying property valued at thirteen hundred thousand dollars. 
 One in Baltimore, on the 25th of July, destroyed property 
 valued at a little over one million of dollars. On the 2d of 
 August, a fire in Portland, Oregon, destroyed twenty-three 
 blocks of buildings, valued, with other property lost, at one and 
 a half millions of dollars. 
 
 1874 A prominent feature of national politics was the movement 
 to secure, by legislation, the issue of a larger quantity of gov 
 ernment paper currency. The Treasury notes, or " greenbacks," 
 had been designed, at first, only as a temporary expedient, and 
 were an outgrowth of the necessities of the war period. Their 
 constitutionality had been seriously questioned, though after 
 wards affirmed by the Supreme Court. But now there was a 
 demand that the government issue paper as a permanent peace 
 currency. The doctrine was enunciated vigorously that intrinsic 
 value was unnecessary in a currency. The government s fiat 
 made it money, though the material was worthless. This 
 inflation movement, which was stimulated by the hard times, 
 which ran for five or six years in politics, and which led to the 
 election of several Governors and Congressmen, was smothered 
 at the outset by the passage of a bill this year considerably in 
 creasing the greenback circulation. This, in April, President 
 Grant vetoed. Another law was then enacted so regulating 
 Treasury administration as gradually to contract the currency, 
 although it was several months before this effect was discov 
 ered. 
 
 Louisiana was the scene of a violent struggle between rival 
 claimants of the State government. The trouble began as far 
 back as December, 1871, when two different factions each tried 
 to capture the legislature by unseating members of the oppo 
 site party. In January following, Federal troops had been 
 called upon to preserve peace. Again in December, 1872, an 
 other controvery arose as to the result of the election for gov- 
 
232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ernor and legislators, the Returning Board having split, one 
 part declaring William P. Kellogg governor, and the other 
 John McEnery. The United States District Court, however, 
 enjoined McEnery from acting, on the ground that the return 
 ing board which had proclaimed him elected had done so 
 in defiance of its order. Both claimants were inaugurated; 
 and Federal troops were used to break up the McEnery admin 
 istration, Kellogg being recognized at Washington as the law 
 ful governor. Late in the summer of 1874, McEnery again 
 laid claim to the governorship. Party feeling now ran very 
 high, on account of various fatal affrays between the blacks 
 and whites in Louisiana and elsewhere. September 14th, in 
 McEnery s absence, D. B. Penn, claiming to be lieutenant- 
 governor, organized a militia force and sent it to the State- 
 house to drive Kellogg put. It succeeded, a fight in the streets 
 having first occurred, in which the police and other militia 
 offered resistance. Twenty-six persons were killed and about 
 forty wounded in this conflict. Kellogg appealed to the Presi 
 dent for aid, under the provisions of the Constitution requiring 
 the Federal authorities to guarantee to each State a republican 
 form of government. General Emory, acting under orders 
 from Washington, compelled McEnery, who had now re 
 turned, superseding Penn, to surrender. The trouble broke 
 out again in January, 1875, when, owin^ to a dispute about 
 the election of several members, the legislature divided into 
 two bodies, each claiming to be the legal legislature. Violence 
 attended the split; and Federal troops were again employed to 
 preserve peace and maintain Kellogg. A Congressional com 
 mittee, headed by George F. Hoar, thereupon visited New Or 
 leans, and, after weeks of negotiation, adjusted the contro 
 versy. The dual legislatures combined, a majority of the 
 members being hostile to Kellogg, who was recognized as gov 
 ernor. 
 
 For the first time since Lincoln was elected in 1860, the 
 Lower House of Congress, by the elections of 1874, was given 
 to the Democrats. Among the newly chosen members were 
 many ex-Confederate generals, and Alexander H. Stephens, 
 Vice-President of the late Confederacy. 
 
 A magnificent steel railway bridge over the Mississippi River, 
 near St. Louis, was opened to traffic. It was begun in 1867, 
 and composed of three spans, two of them five hundred and 
 twenty feet long, and one five hundred and fifteen. The 
 arches were sixty feet above the water. 
 
 King Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands visited the United 
 States, reaching Washington on the 12th of December. He 
 was formally presented to the President on the 15th, and wel 
 comed by Congress on the 18th. 
 
 A great calamity visited the people of Northwestern Minne 
 sota early in the summer. The locusts devoured every kind of 
 crop, and left the country perfectly bare. Many thousands of 
 persons suffered for food. 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1873, an election took place in the 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 233 
 
 several suburban municipalities of Boston, which resulted in a 
 decision to merge them under one city government the first day 
 of this year. Charlestown, Brighton, and West Roxbury voted 
 aye, and Brookline in the negative. The consolidated city of 
 Boston contained at that time 292,486 inhabitants. The annexa 
 tion of West Farms, Morrisania, and King s Bridge to New 
 York City was also effected, giving a population to the latter 
 of 1,021,000. m 
 
 The Mill River Reservoir, covering a tract of one hundred 
 acres at Williamsburg, Mass., gave way on the 16th of May, 
 precipitating the vast mass of water it contained down a steep 
 and narrow valley into the village of Williamsburg, and thence 
 further down the valley through the villages of Haydenville, 
 Leeds, and Florence into the ^Northampton meadows. Manu 
 facturing establishments and dwellings representing over a 
 million dollars worth of property were swept away, and about 
 one hundred and fifty people were drowned. 
 
 On the 14th of July a conflagration occurred in Chicago, de 
 stroying three hundred and forty-six buildings and other prop 
 erty, of the total value, as estimated, of four millions of dollars. 
 
 A destructive deluge destroyed about one hundred lives and 
 an immense amount of property at Pittsburg on the 26th of 
 July. The steamboat Pat Rogers took fire on the Ohio River, 
 below Aurora, on the 5th of August, and fifty lives were lost 
 by the disaster. 
 
 1875 The Civil Rights bill passed Congress. It provided that all 
 citizens, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of 
 servitude, should have equal privileges at inns, theatres, and 
 schools, and on railroad, steamboat, and other transportation 
 lines. This was to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
 Amendments to the Constitution, its projectors claimed. 
 Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, was conspicuous in pressing 
 the measure in Congress. It was extensively debated the pre 
 vious year, but left in the hands of a committee. The law was 
 provoked by discriminations, chiefly in the late slave States, 
 against the freedmen in travelling and at places of entertain 
 ment. Bitter opposition to the measure was offered to the en 
 actment by Southern Congressmen, principally on the ground 
 that it was an invasion of State rights not warranted by the 
 Constitution. Some parts of the bill were declared unconsti 
 tutional a few years afterward by the United States Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 The President, on the 14th of January, approved an act of 
 Congress to provide for the resumption of specie payments. It 
 required the coinage of silver coins to replace the fractional 
 currency; provided for the formation of other national banks, 
 and for every hundred dollars they issued, as a circulation, 
 eighty dollars of greenbacks to be withdrawn, until the green 
 backs in circulation should not exceed three hundred millions 
 of dollars; also that on and after January 1, 1879, the green 
 backs be redeemed hi coin, and to prepare for so doing by sell 
 ing the bonds of the United States. 
 
234 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In March, Congress authorized Captain James B. Eads to, 
 open the South Pass of the Mississippi at an expense of five 
 millions two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The first cardinal in the United States was appointed 
 Archbishop John McCloskey of New York. 
 
 The United States Direct Cable was completed June 10th. 
 This ocean telegraph scheme was the first successful one or 
 ganized in opposition to the old Anglo-American line, though 
 afterwards it entered into combination with it. It was pro 
 jected by capitalists working in connection with land lines that 
 were rivals of the "Western Union, the Atlantic and Pacific, 
 and the Franklin Telegraph companies; and it was to be op 
 erated in co-operation with those lines. The work of laying 
 this began in the summer of 1874. A short section from Rye 
 Beach to Torbay, Newfoundland, measuring about six hun 
 dred miles, was laid by the steamer Faraday; and then the 
 long section from the Irish coast Ballinskelligs Bay to 
 America was begun. Late in the season, when the Faraday 
 was nearly through her work, she was overtaken by a series of 
 severe storms, which compelled her to cut the cable and buoy 
 the end in mid-ocean, and at length to abandon it. Badly 
 leaking, she slowly made her way back to England. Grave 
 fears for her safety were entertained, but she got through all 
 right. In April of this year she left England to complete the 
 work. The cable was picked up and spliced to that portion on 
 board. When the Faraday was within twenty miles of 
 America she was obliged to abandon the work again, and come 
 into Cape Breton for coal. After these and other delays the 
 enterprise was finally consummated in June. Cable rates, 
 which had once been ten dollars a word, had recently fallen to 
 fifty cents a word ; and now another drop to twenty-five cents 
 resulted. 
 
 The first train passed through the Hoosac Tunnel, Massa 
 chusetts, on the 9th of February. The tunnel is four and 
 three-quarter miles long, twenty-five feet high, and twenty- 
 seven feet wide. 
 
 The system of fast trains for the delivery of the mails went 
 into operation on the 16th of September. 
 
 This year there were sixteen clearing-houses in operation hi 
 as many cities, and three hundred and thirty-four banks were 
 associated in their support for the purpose of effecting their ex 
 changes. 
 
 The Gulf of Mexico was visited by a violent cyclone from 
 the 16th to the 19th of September. In Galveston, the water 
 was driven across the island alternately from gulf to bay. 
 Houses were removed, the railroad damaged, and numerous 
 vessels driven ashore. In Indianola over one hundred lives 
 were lost. The place was flooded eight feet deep, and houses, 
 stores, wharves, and the light-house were swept away. Nine- 
 tenths of the houses in the place were destroyed. 
 
 On the 28th of April, a square mile of the city of Oshkosh, 
 Wis., was destroyed by fire, involving a loss of property val- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 235 
 
 ued at two millions of dollars. The same amount of property 
 was destroyed by fire in the town of Osceola, Pa. Two hun 
 dred and fifty houses were consumed. A fire broke out in the 
 French Catholic church at Holyoke, Mass., on the 27th of 
 May, during a celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi, and 
 seventy-five lives were lost by the disaster. On the 26th of Oc 
 tober, a conflagration at Virginia City, Col., destroyed the en 
 tire business portion of the place, with a loss of four millons of 
 dollars in property. 
 
 On the 4th of November, the steamship Pacific, on her pas 
 sage between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, foundered, 
 engulfing and destroying two hundred lives. Nearly seventy 
 lives were lost by the burning of the steamship City of Waco, 
 off Galveston bar, on the 9th of November. 
 
 .1876 Colorado was admitted as the thirty-eighth State to the 
 Union. 
 
 The centennial of American Independence was celebrated by 
 an international exposition held at Fairmount Park, Philadel 
 phia, under the management of a commission made up of mem 
 bers from each State in the Union. Gen. Joseph R. Hawley was 
 president. Congress appropriated $2,000,000, the city of Phila 
 delphia $1,500,000, and the State of Pennsylvania $1,000,000 to 
 the project, which was also sustained by the issue of $10,000,- 
 000 stock to subscribers. A tract of 236 acres was enclosed for 
 the exhibition. The city of Philadelphia spent a great deal of 
 money improving the avenues in the direction of the park, and 
 the railroad companies extended their tracks to the fair-ground, 
 to facilitate the delivery of exhibits. The five principal exhi 
 bition buildings were erected at a cost of $4,500,000. The main 
 edifice was 1880 feet (or more than a third of a mile) in length 
 and 464 feet in width, giving an area of 872,320 square feet for 
 the use of exhibition. This building was used for the display 
 of manufactured articles, and was filled to its utmost capacity, 
 suitable aisles being left for the proper access of spectators. 
 An electric railway made a complete circuit of the building, 
 outside, for the convenience of visitors. All the civilized na 
 tions of the globe had been invited to participate in this exhi 
 bition, and the response was general and hearty. Many years 
 had elapsed since America had had any such fair, and the 
 centennial associations led to this one being made more of a 
 demonstration than might otherwise have been expected. The 
 manufacturing resources of this country were revealed to a 
 wonderful degree, the products of inventive genius, artistic 
 taste, and mechanical skill being represented on a guand scale. 
 Great Britain s contributions were largely textile fabrics, with 
 some pottery. India and Canada also took part. France had 
 a fine display of bronze, lace, porcelain, and other pottery, in 
 cluding the choicest Sevres china, Palissy vases, and faience. 
 Her display of jewelry, also, was excellent. Holland sent ma 
 terials for drainage, model houses, school books and apparatus, 
 and other specimens of industry and progress. Switzerland 
 was principally represented by watches. Sweden surprised 
 
236 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 most visitors by a large variety of iron and its manufactures, 
 other metals, porcelain, military exhibits, and peasant folk in 
 native dress. Denmark s furs, terra-cptta figures, and silver 
 ware attracted much attention. Russia s exhibits were some 
 what in the same line, but supplemented by art-drawings and 
 casts. The display from Italy was not large, but was fine. 
 Wood -carving and mosaics were a prominent feature of it. 
 Portugal sent like goods, and silver filigree work, porcelain, 
 and terra-cotta figures. From Spain came tapestries, glass, and 
 pottery; from Turkey rugs and other Oriental merchandise; 
 and from Egypt much old Saracenic art, steel, gold, silk, and 
 ivory. A particularly elegant and copious contribution was 
 made by Japan, whose bronze, lacquer work, porcelain, and 
 other decorative products, costly, beautiful, and grotesque, pro 
 voked unceasing admiration. China did not rival this exhibit, 
 though well represented. Mexico, Brazil, and other Central 
 and South American countries also participated, as did some 
 of the minor African States. The next largest building was 
 Machinery Hall, measuring 1402x360 feet. As the name indi 
 cates, this was the rendezvous for an immense variety of ma 
 chines, for which motive power was furnished by a steam-en 
 gine of 1400 horse-power, manufactured by George H. Corliss, 
 of Providence, R. I. This colossal motor subsequently went 
 to the city of Pullman, near Chicago, to run the famous car- 
 shops at that place. Great Britain occupied one-third of the 
 space in this building. In the United States building a display 
 was made of apparatus and collections of the several depart 
 ments of the National Government: army materials, naval 
 equipment, coinage and currency, postal equipment, models of 
 inventions, minerals, Indian costumes and weapons, school 
 books and furniture, and so on. In Horticultural and Agri 
 cultural halls fine exhibits were made. A careful and exten 
 sive collection of the products of female industry was made at 
 the Women s Pavilion. There was also an art-gallery, con 
 taining paintings from both Europe and America. No less 
 than twenty-six States had separate buildings for special dis 
 plays and headquarters; and there were thirty erected by pri 
 vate business concerns to advertise their wares. Some foreign 
 countries had their own little edifices, the Turkish bazaar and 
 cafe being a popular one. The exhibition opened on May 10th, 
 and continued six months, Sundays excepted. The attendance 
 in this time was about ten millions. It came mostly from the 
 north and east, and gave the railroads centring at Philadel 
 phia, and many contributing transportation lines, a heavy busi 
 ness all summer. Foreigners attended in large numbers, too, 
 improving this occasion to visit America. The stimulus given 
 to all kinds of trade, by the advertisement gained at the exhibi 
 tion, was decided and quickly perceptible. 
 
 Hallett s Reef, a dangerous obstruction to the navigation of 
 Hell Gate, where East River emerges into Loner Island Sound, 
 was blown up by General Newton, United States engineer, 
 after over seven years excavation. As early as 1866 work of 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 237 
 
 this kind had been proposed. An appropriation was secured 
 in 1868 from Congress, and practical work begun next year. 
 Several smaller but very dangerous rocks Ways Reef, Shell- 
 drake, and Pot Rock were lowered by drilling holes into them 
 and firing high explosives therein. Hallett s Reef was operated 
 upon differently. Its great extent, and the swiftness of the 
 current, led to the fixing of a coffer-dam upon the ledge, and 
 the sinking of a shaft, from which ten horizontal radiating tun 
 nels were made in the stone at a level thirty-three feet under 
 low-water mark. These tunnels ranged from fifty-one to one 
 hundred and twenty-six feet in length, according to the shape 
 of the reef. Into the rock, along the passages, three thousand 
 six hundred and eighty holes were bored, and charged with 
 dynamite and various blasting-powders. Of the former twenty- 
 eight thousand pounds were used; of the latter twenty-four 
 thousand. This work being completed, the mine was filled 
 with water, to tamp the explosives, and these were fired, all at 
 once, by a single shock of electricity, on the 24th of September 
 of this year. Dredging removed the crumbled rock in a few 
 months. Operations at Hallett s Reef were immediately fol 
 lowed up by similar ones at Flood Rock, much the largest ob 
 struction hi the strait. Hallett s Reef projected northeast 
 wardly from Long Island. Flood Rock rose in the middle of 
 the narrow channel. But a small portion of it rose above wa 
 ter; but the section at a level twenty-six feet below low tide was 
 one thousand two hundred feet long, and from three hundred 
 to six hundred and thirty -five feet wide. A shaft had been 
 sunk, and excavation begun in 1875; and, before the final ex 
 plosion, October 10, 1885, all this portion had been under 
 mined, leaving only a shell, with four hundred and sixty -seven 
 pillars holding it up. These were perforated with thirteen 
 thousand two hundred and eighty-six holes, nine feet deep and 
 three inches across. Dynamite and powder weighing two hun 
 dred and eighty-five thousand pounds were employed in the 
 final blast, the tremor from which was felt as far away as Bos 
 ton. In details, this work was done in the same manner as that 
 at Hallett s Reef. 
 
 The presidential election this year was followed by an ex 
 ceptional and alarming controversy. The Republicans had 
 nominated for President Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, who 
 the previous year had defeated William .AJlen in a contest 
 for gubernatorial honors, on a hard-money platform. For 
 Vice-President, William A. Wheeler of New York, who 
 had been instrumental hi adjusting the Louisiana troubles 
 peaceably, was chosen. A third term for General Grant had 
 been proposed, but was not received favorably, as a departure 
 from all precedent in America. James G. Blaine came very 
 near being nominated, but failed. The Democrats nominated 
 Samuel J. Tilden, then governor of New York, and Thomas 
 A. Hendricks of Indiana. Their platform condemned the use 
 of troops in the South, and favored a reduction of the tariff. 
 The Greenback party named Peter Cooper of New York and 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Samuel F. Gary of Ohio as its candidates. The other parties 
 favored hard money. The Greenback ticket polled over three 
 hundred thousand votes in the country, but carried no State. 
 For several days after the election in November the result re 
 mained in great doubt. Four States were fiercely disputed. 
 The returning board in Louisiana gave the Hayes ticket a 
 majority of about four thousand, but secured that result by 
 throwing out the vote from several parishes, on account of in 
 timidation of voters. The Democrats claimed that these re 
 turns should also be counted, which would give Tilden the 
 State. In South Carolina the returns were canvassed by the 
 legislature. Two bodies claiming to be such were organized. 
 One found a plurality of about eight hundred for the Repub 
 lican ticket ; the other a smaller one for the Democratic ticket. 
 In Florida a similar dispute arose, the majorities claimed by 
 both sides being scarcely over one hundred. Finally, in Oregon, 
 which gave an unquestioned Republican majority, one candi 
 date for presidential elector on the winning ticket was said by 
 Ms enemies to be ineligible on account of his having been post 
 master when nominated. Governor Grover therefore proposed 
 to give certificates of election to his two Republican colleagues, 
 but to a Democrat, Cronin, in his stead. This situation derived 
 the greater importance from the facts that the Democrats had 
 one hundred and eighty -four electoral votes in the country un 
 questioned, while the utmost claims of the Republicans gave 
 them only one hundred and eighty-five. The change of a 
 single vote, therefore, would elect Tilden. When this situa 
 tion was discovered, partisan spirit reached a high pitch. The 
 Tilden party shouted " fraud," and seemed to believe that their 
 honestly won prize was being stolen; while the Hayes party 
 claimed that their returning boards had acted legally and 
 honestly, and that the Oregon Democrats were practising 
 wicked and dangerous games. The complication was increased 
 by the fact that one party controlled each house in Congress ; 
 and as the electoral vote must be counted at a joint session of 
 the two, and double sets of returns would come from four 
 States, a quarrel was sure to arise in Congress which threatened 
 to end disastrously. Impetuous Democrats talked of marching 
 an army of volunteers to instal Tilden as President at all haz 
 ards. Revolution and civil war appeared imminent. The 
 electoral dispute was considered by Congress when it met in 
 December, and, after a few weeks, a bill was passed constitut 
 ing a special tribunal to decide the mooted points when the 
 court began in February. This tribunal consisted of 5 
 Senators appointed by the Vice-President (3 Republicans and 2 
 Democrats), 5 Representatives appointed by the Speaker (3 
 Democrats and 2 Republicans), and 5 Judges of the Supreme 
 Court. The Electoral Commission decided that the Louisiana 
 returning board had only exercised powers clearly accorded by 
 the State law, and that Congress could not go behind the re 
 turns to inquire whether that board had performed its duty 
 honestly or not. South Carolina and Florida were similarly 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 239 
 
 disposed of; and all three States were counted for Hayes. The 
 ineligibility of Watts in Oregon was not recognized, and the 
 way in which his electoral vote was cast for Hayes was declared 
 legal. The count, therefore, when completed, gave Hayes one 
 hundred and eighty-five, and Tilden one hundred and eighty- 
 four; but it was not finished until two days before the time for 
 inauguration. Revised returns gave the three disputed South 
 ern States to the Democrats on the State tickets, and restored 
 to that party a " Solid South." 
 
 An unprecedented number of railway mortgages were fore 
 closed this year, A total amount of nine hundred millions of 
 dollars of indebtedness was represented by the companies 
 foreclosed, in stocks, bonds, and other evidences of debt. 
 
 The United States troops in Montana, on the 25th of June, 
 under General Ouster, were overpowered in a conflict with the 
 Indians, and the commander and two hundred and sixty-one 
 troops were killed and fifty-one wounded. 
 
 On the 8th of February, a fire on Broadway, in New York, 
 destroyed property valued at three millions of dollars. 
 
 On the evening of the 6th of December, the Brooklyn Thea 
 tre, in Brooklyn, N. Y., caught fire during the performance of 
 a play. A panic ensued, and nearly three hundred persons 
 lost their lives by suffocation or the flames. 
 
 A passenger train on the Lake Shore road, on the 29th of 
 December, fell through the iron bridge spanning the Ashtabula 
 Creek, a distance of seventy-five feet, into the water below. 
 The wrecked cars took fire and more than seventy persons 
 perished by the disaster. 
 
 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler commenced 
 their terms of office, on the 4th of March, as President and 
 Vice-President. 
 
 The first telephone for business purposes was erected and 
 leased to a regular patron the first ^week in April. This was 
 from the house of Charles Williams in Somerville to his business 
 office in Boston, three miles away. The instruments attached 
 were invented by Alexander Graham Bell of Boston. This gentle 
 man had been studying the subject of conveying sound over an 
 electric wire ever since 1867, when he received hints from the 
 work of German investigators. Up to 1874 Mr. Bell experiment 
 ed to produce musical instruments that would respond to each 
 other over a wire, being operated by the voice. In that year 
 he changed his plan, and substituted a membrane like that of the 
 ear as the vibrating receiver and transmitter. Continuing his 
 studies, tests, and invention, he had so far perfected his instru 
 ment in 1876 as to exhibit two of them at the Centennial Exhibi 
 tion. Before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
 which met in Boston that year, he read a paper regarding his 
 invention May 10th. In August he tried it at bis own home, 
 talking audibly over ten miles of wire. The matter was dis 
 cussed before the British Association for the Advancement of 
 Science, at Glasgow, in the autumn. During the winter and 
 spring of this year he made further partially public tests, In 
 
240 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 one of these, two Japanese used the instrument, conversing in 
 telligibly in their own language. Another attended a lecture 
 which he gave in Salem, February 12th. A telephone was set 
 up in the hall, connecting with another in Boston, eighteen 
 miles away. Talk between the two cities was carried on that 
 evening; and the singing in Boston of "Hold the Fort" and 
 other songs was made audible to the Salem audience. A 
 newspaper despatch, the first ever thus transmitted, was sent 
 that evening from Salem to a Boston newspaper, recounting 
 the event. In April, as already stated, the first business tele 
 phone was put in operation. Next month, the Cambridge 
 Water Board ordered one. Then the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 called for another, to be put in at Altoona. Professor Bell 
 lectured in New York in May, first to a limited number of 
 telegraphic experts, and then to a general audience. And his 
 business now gradually but very slowly extended. Thomas 
 A. Edison now began to experiment with telephones, and invent 
 ed one slightly different from the Bell instrument. His patent 
 was bought up, and a number of his instruments put into use 
 in New York City by a corporation closely related to the West 
 ern Union. Elisha Gray of Chicago began studying the subject 
 about the same time as Bell; and he filed a caveat at Washing 
 ton just three hours after the latter applied for a patent. Gray 
 sold his claims to the Western Union; but none of his instru 
 ments were ever made for general business. The Western 
 Union rapidly developed the use of telephones, and, it is said, 
 was the first to organize exchanges with which subscribers were 
 all connected. Bell, having organized a company to take hold 
 of his invention in Boston, brought a suit against the New York 
 concern for infringement of his patent. After considerable ligi ta- 
 tion, beginning in 1878, he achieved a victory. A consolida 
 tion of interests then followed; and the business of the Ameri 
 can Bell Telephone Company then rapidly developed. The busi 
 ness in New York City was sublet to the newly organized 
 Metropolitan Telephone Company in 1880, and in the fall of 
 that year two hundred and seventy-five towns in the country 
 liad telephone exchanges. Daniel Drawbaugh, living near 
 Harrisburg, Pa., obtained a patent for a telephone in July, 
 1880; and a company to utilize it was formed. But it was sub 
 sequently compelled by the courts to surrender to its rival. 
 Other companies with still other devices, were formed still later 
 in the south, and were likewise sued. The cases are still pend 
 ing. By the close of 1884 the number of telephones in use in 
 this country was three hundred thousand or more, mostly owned 
 and controlled by the American Bell Telephone Company. 
 Various improvements were made in Bell s instrument after 
 1877, the most important being the Blake transmitter. But 
 the essential principle of his invention is still used in all the 
 electric telephones in the world. 
 
 The most serious and extensive labor strikes in the history of 
 the country occurred this summer. A reduction of ten per 
 cent in the wages of employees on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 241 
 
 road was followed July 14th by a strike on the several branches 
 of this road. A few days later the workmen of the Pennsyl 
 vania, Erie, and New York Central, and their Western connec 
 tions, including the Missouri Pacific and a few other shorter 
 lines west of the Mississippi, also struck, either because of some 
 less recent reduction of pay or other grievance. The opera 
 tives were aware that the railway managers were hostile to 
 trades-unions, which may have aggravated the trouble. The 
 rich and influential Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
 numbering fifty thousand members in the United States, and 
 holding several millions of dollars in its treasuries, took the initia 
 tive in this strike; but the firemen, brakemen, and other railroad 
 hands, and miners and iron-workers employed by the railroad 
 companies, also participated. The refusal of the men to w r ork, 
 or to allow others to work in their places, stopped all operations 
 on the roads. Freight rapidly accumulated, and there was a 
 general blockade. Shipping agents were obliged to decline 
 freight that was offered for transportation. The employers 
 called upon the various State authorities for militia to protect 
 new employees in moving trains ; but in most cases the inex 
 perience or f aint-heartedness of the militia made it necessary to 
 call for United States troops. A detachment of two hundred 
 or three hundred of these went to Martinsburg, W. Va., on 
 the 19th to assist the local authorities in opening traffic. ^ The 
 President in the mean time ordered those persons combining to 
 interfere with lawful business to disperse. In Baltimore the 
 strikers resisted an effort to clear them from the streets, and a 
 riot ensued July 20th, in which nine were killed and more 
 than twenty wounded. The situation was even worse in Pitts- 
 burg, where the strikers offered violent resistance to an effort 
 to start a train under military protection. As the soldiers ap 
 peared in the streets on the 21st, a vast mob waylaid them and 
 began flinging stones and other missiles at them. Several 
 volleys of musketry were now fired into the crowd with fatal 
 effect, but only to increase the rage and opposition of the 
 throng. The military were obliged to take refuge in a round 
 house of the railroad company; there they were besieged. Oil 
 cars were lighted and rolled up against the building. When 
 the firemen arrived they were not allowed to extinguish the 
 flame. Indeed, the incendiary torch was now applied to 
 machine-shops and other buildings ; and two thousand freight 
 cars were either pillaged or burned. The wildest excesses were 
 indulged in by the frenzied rioters. Barrels of liquor were 
 stolen from the cars, and broached for the crowd; clothing, 
 furniture, and all sorts of goods were stolen from the blockaded 
 shipments, and taken to thousands of houses in town. Women 
 shared in this general thievery. This work was largely Con 
 ducted and incited by a lawless, communistic element entirely 
 distinct from the genuine labor classes. The losses involved in 
 this affair were estimated at nearly or quite ten millions of dollars. 
 Order was finally restored by the assistance of Federal troops. 
 In Buffalo, Columbus, Ohio, and elsewhere, there were other 
 
242 HISTOKT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 disturbances ; in Reading, Pa., thirteen were killed, and 
 forty-three wounded by a collision between the military and a 
 mob. Another riot in Chicago, Juty 26th, resulted in the kill 
 ing of nineteen persons. Here the police were assisted by United 
 States cavalry in charging the crowd. Inflammatory harangues 
 were being made all this time at labor and socialist meetings in 
 various parts of the country. In Tompkins Square, New 
 York, on the 25th, John Swinton and other prominent com 
 munists addressed a vast assemblage. At the height of the 
 strike, six thousand or seven thousand miles of railroad in the 
 country between New England and the Missouri River were 
 kept from being operated ; and over one hundred thousand 
 laborers took part in the movement. The utmost alarm pre 
 vailed over the whole country, and no one knew to what ex 
 tent the outbreak might yet go. The worst of it was over, 
 however, before the close of the month. A reaction set in about 
 the 27th, when many of the laborers returned to work ; and by 
 the 30th nearly all of the roads, especially east of Buffalo, 
 were in operation again. Considerable political excitement 
 grew out of these events ; and various agitators tried to make 
 capital and votes out of the feeling thus aroused. 
 
 The prominent features of Hayes s administration this year 
 were the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South, and an 
 order forbidding office-holders to participate in the organiza 
 tion and conduct of party work. 
 
 A fire broke out in Broadway, in New York, on the 6th of 
 March, and destroyed property valued at over one and a half 
 millions of dollars. On the 24ir of November the United 
 States sloop of war Huron struck the rocks near Oregon Inlet, 
 North Carolina, by which disaster nearly one hundred lives 
 were lost. 
 
 1878 Congress passed a bill requiring the coinage of two mil 
 lions of dollars in silver dollars, of 41 2| grains each, monthly. 
 This was the culmination of a movement that had been in 
 progress for three or four years. When the inflationists found 
 themselves unable to get a law for unlimited paper money they 
 began to agitate for silver money. The silver dollars had been 
 out of circulation during the war ; and in 1873 a law was passed 
 making gold the exclusive currency standard. Owing, how 
 ever, to the depreciation of silver, the amount of the metal 
 which formerly went into a dollar was now worth only about 
 ninety cents in gold. Remonetization of silver was therefore 
 opposed by the old hard-money class as a blow at the public 
 credit, and President Hayes vetoed the silver bill when it was 
 first enacted ; but Congress passed it over the veto promptly. 
 
 Two important sections of the elevated railway in New York 
 were opened for travel this year. An elevated railroad was 
 originally projected as early as 1868, as an experiment, in 
 Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue, charging no fares. By 
 February, 1869, it was extended to Thirty-first Street. It was a 
 single track road, supported on a single row of iron pillars, and 
 was jocularly called the " one-legged " railroad. It was at first 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 243 
 
 operated by a cable moved by stationary engines; but in 1871 
 dummy locomotive engines were substituted. There were 
 several slight extensions to this first line in the next year or so. 
 The line was sold out under a foreclosure in 1871. In 1872 two 
 new companies were formed, the New York Elevated and the 
 Metropolitan Elevated. These subsequently leased all their 
 lines to the Manhattan Railway Company, which now operates 
 them. Neither of them did much until 1876, when construction 
 began in earnest. The Sixth Avenue line, from Morris Street 
 to Fifty -ninth Street, was opened June 5th, this year, and on 
 August 26th the Third Avenue line, from South Ferry to Forty- 
 second Street, with a branch to Fourth Avenue at the latter 
 point, was also opened. By the close of the year the Third 
 Avenue line was in operation to One Hundred and Twenty- 
 ninth Street, in Harlem, eight and one-half miles from South 
 Ferry. The Sixth A.venue line was extended the following 
 year, through Fifty third Street to Ninth Avenue, and through 
 that thoroughfare and Eighth Avenue to One Hundred and 
 Fifty-fifth Street. The southern extension, from Morris 
 Street across Battery Park to South Ferry, was completed No 
 vember 1, 1881. The original single track road had extended 
 up Ninth Avenue to Fifty-ninth Street in 1876. It was entirely 
 rebuilt by its new owners, and opened May 2, 1880. Mean 
 time various short branches were constructed at several points. 
 The fourth of the great parallel lines, that through Second 
 Avenue, starting from Chatham Square, was opened to Sixty- 
 seventh Street March 1, 1880, and to One Hundred and 
 Twenty-ninth Street the following August. These roads are 
 built on iron pillars about eighteen feet high, set thirteen feet 
 apart lengthwise of the road. On some lines the cross-ties of 
 each track are supported by a separate row of posts, the two 
 being tied together part of the way by cross-braces. On other 
 lines the two rows of pillars, forty feet apart, support regular 
 girders on which the up-track and down-track rest, near each 
 other, and considerably between the pillars. Each of these 
 upright supports is bolted to huge stone and iron foundations 
 set in a mass of cement six feet square. Trains of four cars are 
 run, at a speed of about twelve miles an hour, by fifteen-ton 
 engines. At the busy hours of the day, trains run a minute 
 and a half apart. The stations occur at intervals of one-quarter 
 mile in the lower part of the city, and about one half mile 
 further up town. By 1884 there were two hundred and fifty 
 engines and eight hundred cars running; one hundred and 
 seventy-five stations in use; three thousand five hundred or four 
 thousand employes required; the same number of trains run, 
 daily; a mileage, counting the up and down tracks separately, of 
 sixty-four miles; and over three hundred thousand passengers 
 were carried daily, or about one hundred and three millions a 
 year. During three hours, in the early morning, and three, in 
 the late afternoon, the fare is five cents, at other times ten 
 cents. In October, 1884, the rate on Sunday at all hours was 
 reduced to five cents. The Brooklyn Elevated Road, the first 
 
244 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 one in Brooklyn, the first five-mile section of which was put in 
 operation May 13, 1885, is constructed on much the same 
 plan as the New York lines. The fare is uniformly five cents. 
 
 Gold and paper money were of equal value, for the first time 
 in seventeen years, on the 18th of December, of this year. 
 
 Electric lighting became a success in America this year. 
 The first hint of the invention came from Europe. But, as 
 long ago as 1845, Mr. King, an American inventor, patented 
 boih in the United States and England, an incandescent electric 
 light. Into the iron wire which conducted the current of 
 electricity was inserted a piece of carbon or platinum wire, and 
 the latter enclosed in a glass globe, hermetically sealed, from 
 which the air had previously been exhausted. The principle 
 of this lamp was exactly the same as that of the one brought to 
 perfection in 1878. The experiments of Mr. King and the 
 other inventors of his time failed, commercially, because it was 
 impossible then either to produce a perfect vacuum or to gene 
 rate electricity at a low cost. In 1856 Dr. Geissler invented 
 the first mercurial air-pump, and about ten years later Spren- 
 gle perfected the pump on the dropping system/ thus making 
 it possible to secure a practically perfect vacuum. Gramme 
 and Siemens, in Europe, soon after perfected their inventions 
 for generating electricity on a large scale mechanically, by re 
 volving a piece of soft iron rapidly in front of the poles of a 
 horseshoe magnet. The subject of electric lighting revived at 
 once, for the pathway to* success had been cleared of its worst 
 obstacles. In Europe, electric lighting was confined to passing 
 a current of electricity from a large stick of carbon to another 
 stick, the ends of the two being brought very close together, 
 and both being in the open air. The current of sparks, or 
 " arc," as it was called, gave forth a brilliant and dazzling light. 
 In 1875 the attention of American inventors was drawn anew 
 to the whole general subject. In that year Charles G. Brush, 
 of Cleveland, O., an analytical chemist, proposed to George 
 W. Stockley, Vice-President of the Telegraph Supply Company 
 of that city, to invent a machine and an arc-light lamp which 
 would be commercially successful. He was encouraged to try, 
 and in two months he produced both the machine (or dynamo) 
 and the lamp. Both were a success from the start. The Tele 
 graph Supply Company entered at once on the manufacture of 
 the material required to introduce the arc-light into actual use. 
 By 1878 about twenty factories and machine shops in different 
 parts of the United States were using the Brush light for night 
 work. The lamps had been employed to illuminate Niagara 
 Falls at night for the enjoyment of visitors. And a beginning 
 had been made in various inland cities and at Coney Island, 
 New York harbor, in lighting the public streets and prome 
 nades at night. While Mr. Brush was experimenting, J. Bil 
 lings Fuller was engaged in New York City in perfecting a dy 
 namo of different construction from that of any other inventor, 
 and trying to produce both an arc and an incandescent lamp on 
 a new principle. Brush and all other inventors passed the 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 245 
 
 direct current of electricity through the lamps. Fuller s idea 
 was to pass the direct current through the centre of an inde 
 pendent coil of wire, in which latter coil an induced current 
 should be excited, the induced current in each case to light the 
 lamp. Fuller died from over-work in February, 1879, just as 
 he was on the point of attaining success. A number of other 
 men also invented special types of dynamos and of arc-lights in 
 this period of three years following 1875. The problem of 
 household lighting by electricity attracted the almost simulta 
 neous attention of another set of inventors. The arc-light was 
 too dazzling for a small room. How to subdivide the electric 
 current so as to maintain a large number of small lights on one 
 circuit was the problem. All of the experimenters recurred at 
 once to the idea of incandescence in a vacuum. Moses G. 
 Farmer, of the United States Torpedo Station at Newport, R. 
 I., was apparently the first in the field. As early as 1875 he 
 was making incandescent lights with platinum, and with plati 
 num and indium wire. In that year he conducted the current 
 from the machine through forty-two different branch wires, 
 and introduced a lamp into each branch. William E. Sawyer 
 of New York City, an electrician, took up the subject next. In 
 August and November, 1877, and June, 1878, he patented an 
 incandescent carbon lamp, and exhibited it in operation in a 
 small shop to a number of capitalists. In his first experiments, 
 he used a glass tube about nine inches long, and instead of ex 
 hausting the air and producing a vacuum he excluded the 
 oxygen by filling the tube with pure nitrogen and then sealing 
 it hermetically. The carbon was a slender pencil of the same 
 material used in the carbons of the arc-lights. A switch was 
 employed to turn the light on and off, and a regulator to pre 
 vent an excess of current. A large company was formed to 
 introduce the light by Mr. Sawyer and Albon Man of Brook 
 lyn, N. Y. The use of nitrogen was afterwards abandoned, 
 and instead of a pencil of carbon, a filament of the material 
 was used, and the long tube was changed for a small glass 
 globe. T. A. Edison, of Menlo Park, N. J. , began his experi 
 ments almost simultaneously with Mr. Sawyer. His first 
 efforts were with incandescent platinum. No regulator could 
 be perfected of sufficient delicacy to prevent f using of the metal 
 from excess of current, and the platinum wire did not present 
 sufficient resistance to insure the commercial value of the lamp. 
 Edison then began the production of filaments of carbon by 
 charring fine strips of paper, pieces of thread, and finally 
 vegetable fibres. In 1878 he had gone far enough in his whole 
 scheme to be entirely confident of final success, and he made, 
 in October his famous announcement that he had discovered 
 how to subdivide the electric current and the light indefinitely, 
 and had invented a practical system for household illumina 
 tion. The manner of the announcement, telegraphed as it was, 
 unexpectedly, to every part of the world, alarmed the stock 
 holders in gas companies, and produced a remarkable fall in 
 the value of gas stocks. In New York City and Brooklyn, 
 
246 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 where there were thirteen companies, the fall in several cases 
 ranged from 12 to 20 per cent. Edison had discovered that the 
 Sprengel mercurial air-pump, perfected by Dr. Crookes, could 
 produce a practically perfect vacuum, in which a good carbon, 
 made from vegetable fibre, would last from six hundred to one 
 thousand hours, in some cases longer. He had also proved the 
 correctness of the theory, previously advanced in England, 
 that if a main conductor be divided into any number of 
 branches, and if each of the branches be divided into branches 
 again, each of the minor wires would convey an amount of the 
 current exactly proportional to its relative resistance. A com 
 pany with large capital had been formed to enable Edison to 
 carry on his experiments. After 1878, Edison pushed his in 
 vestigations with great vigor, and the details of his system were 
 elaborated one after the other. On the night following the 
 presidential election in November, 1880, nearly three hundred 
 incandescent lamps were lighted on one circuit at Menlo Park, 
 some of them in Edison s shop and house, and the others in the 
 fields and roads surrounding the buildings. The next year 
 steps were taken for creating the plant for the practical intro 
 duction of the system in New York City. There are now, in 
 1885, in practical use in New York City, the Edison and Saw 
 yer-Man systems of incandescent lighting, and the Brush and 
 United States (Maxim) systems of arc lighting of the streets, 
 wharves, and large work-rooms. Several other lights, but all 
 on the same principles as those above, are seeking for recogni 
 tion, but thus far without success. 
 
 The steamer Metropolis, bound from Philadelphia to Brazil 
 with workmen and material for a railroad, was driven ashore 
 on the coast of North Carolina, on the 31st of January, in a 
 violent gale, and totally wrecked ; nearly one hundred lives 
 were lost. On the 2d of May, an explosion occurred in the 
 Washburne Flour Mills at Minneapolis, which building caught 
 fire, and that and other large mills were burned, by which 
 property was destroyed valued at one and a half millions of 
 dollars and seventeen lives were lost. On the 8th of October an 
 excursion train on the Old Colony Railroad, returning to Boston 
 from a boat-race, was wrecked by a misplaced switch in the 
 town of Quincy. By this disaster twenty-one persons were 
 killed outright and over one hundred and fifty more injured. 
 1879 The resumption of specie payments by the United States 
 Government was effected January 1st, in accordance with the 
 law of 1875. Secretary Sherman had, by the sale of bonds, ac 
 cumulated in the Treasury $138,000,000 of coin (mostly gold), 
 which was 40 per cent of the outstanding legal- tender notes. 
 This fact so strengthened public credit, that only $11,000,000 
 of greenbacks were offered for redemption January 1st. There 
 after, confident that they could get gold if they wanted it, and 
 rather preferring paper money as a matter of convenience, the 
 people quite generally ignored the privilege of exchanging the 
 latter for the former. During the previous four years, the 
 premium on gold had fallen pretty steadily down to nothing 
 at all in the fortnight preceding resumption. How to bring 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 247 
 
 about resumption was a problem that atttracted much attention 
 for ten years. It was effected more easily than had been an 
 ticipated. 
 
 The army appropriation bill this year contained a clause pro 
 viding that no Federal troops should be employed to do police 
 duty in the South. President Hayes, considering this an inva 
 sion of the executive prerogative, vetoed the bill. A special 
 session of Congress was called to enact a new army bill, but the 
 same clause was retained. 
 
 Congress passed the Arrears of Pensions bill, providing for 
 the admission of a large number of claims formerly ruled out. 
 The estimates of the amount it would draw from the Treasury 
 were at first between $70,000,000 and $150,000,000; but later 
 estimates put it at $300,000,000 or more. 
 
 A disastrous fire occurred on the 3d of March, in the town of 
 Reno, Nevada, consuming one million dollars worth of prop 
 erty. On the 3d of December, the steamship Borussia, of the 
 Dominion and Mississippi line, sunk at sea, losing two hundred 
 lives. 
 
 On the 30th of May, a tornado in parts of Missouri, Kansas, 
 and Nebraska, destroyed buildings, swept the fields of their 
 crops, and scooped the water from rivers and wells, involving a 
 large destruction of property, and the lives of more than forty 
 persons, besides injuring eighty more. 
 
 1880 At the presidential election this year James A. Garfield of 
 Ohio was elected President. He had been nominated by the 
 Republicans, with Chester A. Arthur of New York for Vice- 
 President. At the convention of this party, a persistent and de 
 termined effort was made to nominate Grant again; and during 
 thirty-six ballots he received the faithful support of about three 
 hundred and six delegates each time. James G. Blaine was his 
 principal rival, with John Sherman of Ohio, Secretary of the 
 Treasury, next in favor. A deadlock having been reached, 
 Blaine and Sherman combined to nominate Garfield. The 
 Democrats nominated General Winfield Scott Hancock, a prom 
 inent Union corps commander during the war, for President, 
 and William H. English of Indiana for Vice-President. Samuel 
 J. Tilden declined in advance to run. The Greenback party 
 nominated Congressman Weaver of Iowa for President, and 
 polled 307,000 votes, but carried no State. In this election the 
 the tariff and negro-suffrage issues were the chief ones. Toward 
 the close of the campaign, a forged letter, purporting to have been 
 written by Garfield, and favoring the introduction of Chinese 
 cheap labor, was printed extensively by the Democrats. Gar- 
 field denied its genuineness, but it hurt him somewhat with the 
 workingmen. Some attempt was also made to connect him 
 with the Credit Mobilier scandal. The country divided by sec 
 tions in this election, the North voting for Garfield, and the 
 South for Hancock. The electoral vote stood two hundred and 
 fourteen to one hundred and fifty-five, in favor of the former. 
 
 The intrenatipnal postal rate of five cents for foreign letters 
 was adopted this year. 
 
 On the 18th of April, a tornado swept over parts of the West- 
 
248 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ern and Southern States. The town of Marshfield, Mo., was 
 totally destroyed, and one hundred persons were killed and one 
 hundred and fifteen injured. The town of El Paso, Ark., was 
 also destroyed. On the 25th of the same month, a tornado at 
 Macon, Miss., blew down twenty-two houses, killing seventeen 
 
 persons, and injuring twenty-two others. 
 The town of Milford, Pa., i 
 
 was destroyed by fire on the 14th 
 of May, and three thousand persons were rendered homeless. 
 
 On the 23d of June, the steamboat Seawanhaka, running be 
 tween New York and Glen Cove, L. I., burned in the East 
 River, near Randall s Island, by which catastrophe about fifty 
 lives were lost. 
 
 About the middle of October, the steamer Alpena of the 
 Goodrich Line, on her way from Grand Haven to Chicago, was 
 lost with all on board, the persons numbering, it was com 
 puted, seventy or eighty. 
 
 1881 James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur commenced their 
 terms of office, as President and Vice-President, on the 4th of 
 March. 
 
 President Garfield was assassinated July 2d, by Charles J. 
 Guiteau, who shot him in the back, at the railway-station in 
 Washington, just as he was leaving town for Elberon, to see his 
 invalid wife. He had intended to go thence to Williams Col 
 lege. James G. Blaine, Secretary of State, and other friends 
 were with the President at the time. The wound did not prove 
 immediately fatal, and part of the time during the next few 
 weeks there was a prospect of the President s recovery. He 
 was removed to the White House, and Mrs. Garfield was sum 
 moned from Elberon. The popular excitement over the das 
 tardly act was much increased by the political situation. Ros- 
 coe Conkling, Senator from New York, felt that he had been 
 deceived and wronged by Garfield a few weeks before, in the 
 appointment of a friend of Secretary Blaine, Judge Robertson, 
 to the New York Custom- House. Conkling and his colleague, 
 Platt, had resigned their seats in the Senate, and were now can 
 didates for re-election, hoping to secure in this way a verdict 
 from their own State condemning the President s act. But 
 they met with decided opposition at home, and a bitter and pro 
 tracted contest was in progress, and Yicc-President Arthur was 
 at Albany using his influence for Conkling, when the assassina 
 tion occurred. One of Guiteau s utterances, when he shot 
 Garfield, was, " I want to see Arthur become President." Many 
 people in the country could not for a time avoid the suspicion 
 that Garfield had been a victim of Conkling s hatred, and that 
 Arthur, if he became President, would work a revolution in the 
 patronage and policy of the Government, in Conkling s interest. 
 Eventually these fears proved groundless, and the feeling tow 
 ard the ex-senator abated. For two months and a half the coun 
 try was kept in profound suspense by Garfield s condition. Sym 
 pathy was universally expressed, many messages coming from 
 foreign potentates and salesmen. Millions of prayers tor the 
 dying man s recovery were offered; and he was idolized as never 
 before. The malarial atmosphere about the White House prov- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 249 
 
 ing hurtful to the patient, he was removed with great care, 
 September 6th, to Francklyn Cottage, Elberon, where after 
 showing slight improvement, he died September 19th. The 
 demonstrations of grief throughout the land were unparalleled 
 since Lincoln s death, but more general than at that time, as 
 the South felt kindly toward Garfield. Many cities draped 
 their buildings in mourning; New York was fairly swathed in 
 black. The body was taken to Washington, exposed to view 
 in the Capitol, and finally removed for burial to Cleveland, 
 with an imposing military and civil escort. One of the expres 
 sions of sympathy which Mrs. Garfield received was a fund of 
 $364, 000 raised by admirers of her husband; and Congress voted 
 her his salary for the rest of his term. Vice-President Arthur 
 took the oath of office as President immediately after Garfield s 
 death. Guiteau, the assassin, was a persistent office-seeker, of 
 erratic ways and eccentric ideas. He had been trying for 
 many weeks to get a foreign appointment from the President, 
 and appears to have been exasperated by disappointment. He 
 confessed to having dogged Garfield s footsteps several days be 
 fore finally shooting him. He was promptly arrested, and barely 
 escaped being lynched on the way to jail. Indeed, September 
 13th, while confined there awaiting the result of his deed, he 
 was fired at by one of his guards, Sergeant John Mason, 
 though the shot missed its intended victim. Mason, for this 
 breach of discipline was condemned to imprisonment for a 
 year. Guiteau was arraigned in Washington in November, 
 and the trial lasted about ten weeks. His defence was insanity, 
 and a number of experts testified in the case, taking opposite 
 views as to his mental condition. The other testimony showed 
 that there was a taint of insanity in the family. His career had 
 included, among other things, a year or two of life in a free- 
 love community at Oueida, N. Y. In his own behalf, Guiteau 
 testified that he had been inspired by God to " remove Garfield," 
 in the interests of peace in the country. His manner during 
 the trial was flippant, impertinent, and irritable, and the dignity 
 of the proceedings was much impaired by his freaks. The 
 jury convicted him January 25th, 1882; and he was hanged 
 June 30th. Eventually, Mason was pardoned out of prison. 
 Most of Garfield s cabinet officers resigned, one at a time, a few 
 weeks after Mr. Arthur became President; and the latter 
 selected advisers that were more closely in sympathy with him. 
 
 The town of New Ulm, in Minnesota, was struck by a cy 
 clone on the 16th of July, and more than one hundred houses 
 were demolished, and thirty persons killed or injured. 
 
 Early in September, forest fires began in Eastern Michigan, 
 spreading over large portions of Huron, Sanilac, and Tuscola 
 counties. Three hundred persons were burned to death, and a 
 vast amount of property was destroyed. 
 
 1882 The Star Route trials this year formed one of the most noted 
 political and criminal events in the historv of the country. 
 Early in January, just as a large number of bids were to be 
 opened for postal service on what were known as Star routes, 
 the report of special inspectors was published, stating that ex- 
 
250 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tensive frauds had been discovered in that service, and advising 
 precautions against anything further of the kind. The revela 
 tions made at this time were that a large number of bonds 
 given by mail contractors for the faithful performance of duty 
 were found to be fraudulent and worthless. No less than two 
 hundred and ninety-six contracts were thus dishonestly obtained, 
 and the bonds given by the contractors exceeded eight millions of 
 dollars. Several of these contractors were arrested for perjury. 
 A few weeks later Stephen W. Dorsey, John W. Dorsey, and 
 Thomas J. Brady were indicted on more serious charges. It 
 was alleged that they were the chief conspirators in a scheme 
 to defraud the government and enrich themselves in connec 
 tion with the Star Route service. Brady had been second as 
 sistant postmaster-general, in which capacity he had the 
 privilege of " expediting" service, or making it more frequent, 
 and compensating it more largely, over Star routes ; and it was 
 charged that he abused this chance to favor the Dorseys and 
 their associates, and had shared with them the ill-gotten plunder. 
 In twelve contracts specified in the indictments, the pay had been 
 raised from thirty thousand five hundred and fifty-two dollars 
 to three hundred and five thousand one hundred and thirty- 
 eight dollars. The necessity for any such increase was denied 
 by the prosecution ; and instances were cited to show that much 
 of the actual work was sublet to other contractors for a small 
 fraction of the compensation received by the "ring." It was 
 alleged by counsel, afterwards, that the government had been 
 swindled out of five millions of dollars by this class of operations. 
 The eminence of the accused persons gave the matter special 
 importance. Stephen W. Dorsey had been a conspicuous poli 
 tician, and in the presidential campaign of 1880 was one of 
 the most efficient members of the Republican National Com 
 mittee. The cases finally came to trial, and a protracted strug 
 gle ensued. Colonel Robert L. Ingersoll, a personal friend of 
 Dorsey, and an eminent lawyer, was among the counsel for the 
 defence ; and Attorney-General Brewster employed George 
 Bliss and other high legal talent to assist the government. The 
 jury, Sept. llth, returned a verdict convicting some of the 
 minor accomplices of the alleged plot, but disagreed concerning 
 the principals, although nine or ten of the twelve jurors voted 
 for conviction. At this juncture, Foreman Dickson stated that 
 he had received overtures from the government looking 
 to a bargain for conviction, in consideration of twenty-five 
 thousand dollars. Subsequent inquiry showed that Mr. Brew 
 ster had never authorized any such negotiation. A new trial, 
 however, was had, beginning in December, and lasting six 
 months. The indictment against Rerdell, Dorsey s clerk, was 
 set aside at this trial, and he turned State s evidence, making 
 some statements concerning the business methods of the ac 
 cused persons which, at the time, were considered damaging. 
 After a six months contest in the courts, however, the jury 
 acquitted Brady and the Dorseys ; and the whole prosecution, 
 which had lasted eighteen months, and had wearied the coun 
 try, went for naught 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 251 
 
 A law was passed excluding newly immigrating Chinese 
 laborers from the country, and requiring those already here to 
 take out certificates, if they left the United States, in order to 
 prove their identity before being readmitted. A strong law of 
 this kind was enacted in 1879, but was vetoed by President 
 Hayes. At that time a strong anti-Chinese agitation had been 
 going on in the Pacific coast states ; and it continued until the 
 successful enactment of this year. 
 
 Congress passed one of the most effective anti-polygamy laws 
 yet recorded on the statute book. It disfranchised and rendered 
 ineligible to office all polygamists. Senator Edmunds, of Ver 
 mont, fathered the measure, and it was named after him. 
 
 In March there was a great overflow of the Mississippi River 
 and its tributaries, causing the loss of many lives and the 
 destruction of an immense amount of property. According to 
 a report made to the Secretary of War, eighty-five thousand 
 persons were rendered destitute by the floods. 
 
 On the 18th of June, a cyclone passed over the town of 
 Grinnell, Iowa, and destroyed half the town and killed more 
 than one hundred persons. 
 
 1883 The East River bridge between New York and Brooklyn 
 was opened for travel May 24th. The general plan of this 
 structure included a massive stone tower, 276 feet and 9 inches 
 high, on each shore, and perforated for the roadways by two 
 tall, narrow arches beginning 119 feet up from the water ; four 
 steel wire cables, 16 inches in diameter, securely fastened in a 
 mass of masonry 930 feet back from the water s edge on the 
 New York side, stretching up over the top of the tower across 
 the river to the other tower, and then down to another anchor 
 age 930 feet away, in Brooklyn, and a series of stout steel 
 bands, or " suspenders," each capable of holding up one hun 
 dred tons, attached to the cables and hanging down to support 
 the framework of the bridge. The main span is 1595 feet 6 
 inches long ; the two land spans each 930 feet ; the masonry 
 viaduct, or approach, on the Brooklyn side, 971 feet, and the 
 New York approach 1562, making a total of about six thou 
 sand feet. The approaches are about one hundred feet wide, 
 but the bridge proper is only eighty-five feet. It is divided 
 lengthwise into five passage-ways, the outermost for teams, the 
 next two for cars propelled by cables, and the innermost for 
 foot passengers. From the ends to the centre the structure 
 rises in a gentle curve, and the middle of the bridge is one hun 
 dred and thirty-five feet above water in summer, and, owing to 
 the contraction from cold, one hundred and thirty-eight in 
 winter. This enables most large ships to pass under without 
 lowering their topmasts. The bridge was designed by John A. 
 Roebling, of Trenton, N. J., builder of the first suspension 
 bridge at Niagara, and many others elsewhere ; but he died of 
 lockjaw in 1869, and his son, Washington A. Roebling, suc 
 ceeded him as chief engineer, and, being familiar with his 
 father s work, was able to carry the work to completion, 
 although he, too, was partially disabled in 1872 by certain 
 labor connected with the enterprise. The bridge scheme was 
 
252 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 incorporated by an act of the New York Legislature in 1867, 
 and Congress, as was necessary, formally approved this bridg- 
 ing of navigable waters, to which there was some objection in 
 maritime circles. It was at first intended to make the bridge 
 the work and property of a stock company, in which the cities 
 of New York and Brooklyn might be shareholders, but after 
 wards it was put in charge of a joint board of municipal 
 officers from the two cities, and the money was contributed, 
 one-third by New York and two-thirds by Brooklyn. The first 
 estimate of the total cost was seven millions of dollars, but before 
 it was finished nearly or quite sixteen millions of dollars were ex 
 pended. Operations began January 3, 1870, by the sinking 
 of a huge caisson or coffer-dam of wood in the water on the 
 site of the future Brooklyn tower. This was water-tight, and 
 workmen inside of it excavated the earth until the caisson 
 reached bed rock, forty-five feet below the river bed. Then the 
 crib-work was filled with broken stone and concrete to form the 
 foundation of the tower. When this was effected, a similar 
 caisson was sunk on the New York side. The towers having 
 been completed in 1876, preparations were begun for stretching 
 the cables. These, if made beforehand, would have been too 
 heavy to lift into place, and so they were formed by taking one 
 strand at a time across and binding them together. Each of the 
 four cables contained 5296 steel wires, lying perfectly straight, 
 not twisted. The first wire was stretched from tower to tower 
 August 14, 1876. A sailor s chair was then rigged, and in 
 this, by the wire, E. F. Farrington, master mechanic, crossed 
 the river in mid- air eleven days later. Cable-building, however, 
 did not fairly begin until the summer of 1877, and it was ended 
 in October, 1878. A slender foot-bridge was thrown across the 
 river suspended from the cables, to facilitate work, and at that 
 dizzy height a number of venturesome people crossed East 
 River before the main bridge was completed. The weight of 
 each tower above the caisson is 93,000 tons. The cables, sus 
 penders, truss work, and bed of the bridge weigh 14,684 tons. 
 During the work of construction twenty persons were killed in 
 one way or another. One of the oddest accidents was the escape 
 of one of the strands from the New York anchorage while the 
 men were building cables. The weight of it between the towers 
 drew the end quickly over the New York tower, and it fell into 
 the river. Two men were killed and three injured by its lash. 
 The opening formalities on May 24th of this year were elab 
 orate, including civic and military processions, oratory, salutes 
 by naval vessels, a general decoration of the two cities and the 
 shipping in the harbor with flags, and elaborate fireworks at 
 night. The bridge cars were not put in operation until a few 
 weeks afterwards. At first the fares were five cents by cars and 
 one cent to foot passengers, but afterwards these were reduced 
 to three cents (or ten tickets for twenty-five cents) by cars, and 
 twenty-five tickets for five cents by the promenade. 
 
 The rate of letter-postage was reduced to two cents, and the 
 transmission of money by postal note began in September. 
 
 Congress reduced the tariff, and removed nearly all of the re- 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 253 
 
 maining internal-revenue tax, except that on tobacco and 
 spirits. 
 
 The Northern Pacific Railroad was completed August 23d, 
 the last spike being driven in the presence of a large and dis 
 tinguished assemblage; many English and German capitalists 
 were present as the guests of the railroad company. The line 
 was opened to traffic September 8th. From Superior City, 
 Wis. , near Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, this road ex 
 tends one thousand six hundred and seventy-four miles to "Wal- 
 lula Junction, on the Columbia River, in Washington Territory. 
 One extension was built along the south shore of Lake Supe 
 rior, with a view to connecting it eastward with lines reaching 
 to the St. Mary s River and Canada. Another from Brainerd, 
 Minn., was built to St. Paul and Minneapolis. From Wallula 
 Junction branches were built to Kalama and Portland; others 
 were started towards Tacoma and Seattle on Pnget Sound. 
 
 On the 10th of January, the Newhall House, at Milwaukee, 
 was destroyed by fire, involving a loss of more than one hundred 
 lives. 
 
 1884 The survivors of the Greely party were rescued at Fort Con 
 ger, Lady Franklin Bay, in the Arctic regions, June 22d, by a 
 special relief expedition under Commander Schley of the United 
 States "Navy, and brought back, arriving at St. John s, New 
 foundland July 17th. In the summer of 1881 a party of sol 
 diers, commanded by Lieutenant A. W. Greely was sent to this 
 point by the Signal Service of the United States, to be one of 
 about a dozen at various circumpolar stations, established by sev 
 eral countries, for scientific observation during the next year or 
 two. All of the others were eminently successful, and eventually 
 returned without loss of life. The scheme contemplated an ex 
 pedition to Lady Franklin Ba} r in the summer of 1883 to bring 
 Greely s party back, or at least leaving provisions near enough 
 to his station to be readily found on his retreat southward. In 
 deed, a trip for the latter purpose only was made in 1882 by the 
 Neptune, which landed a quantity of stores at Cape Sabine, 
 hid them in a cache, and suitably marked the spot so that Greely 
 could find it. The relief expedition, proper, in 1883, under 
 command of Lieutenant E. A. Garlington, of the Cavalry Ser 
 vice, comprised two vessels, the steam-whaler Proteus, which 
 had taken Greely up in the first place, and the United States 
 gunboat Yantic. "While near Cape Sabine, and before she had 
 landed many of her supplies anywhere, the Proteus was crushed 
 in the ice and sunk. Garlington escaped with her crew in 
 boats, and with difficulty found his way southward to the Yan 
 tic, which was left in the rear, at Upernavik. He then returned 
 to the United States, his expedition having proved a failure. 
 Great anxiety was now felt for Greely s safety, and a new ex 
 pedition was fitted out, in the following spring, under the aus 
 pices of the Navy Department. The steam-whalers Thetis and 
 Bear were reinforced by a gift of the Arctic exploring vessel 
 Alert, from the British Government. Commander Schley set sail 
 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard with this fleet in May, and pushed 
 forward with great energy. Although much ice was encoun- 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tered in Baffin s Bay and Smith Sound he forced his way through. 
 On the 22d of June, men were sent ashore, in the steam-launch 
 of the Bear, at Brevoort Island to look for papers or other in 
 dications of Greely s whereabouts and condition. Under a pile 
 of stones was a letter locating the camp, and stating that the 
 party were nearly out of provisions. It was dated the previous 
 October. The Bear was advanced as rapidly as possible, and 
 the launch was sent out a second time that day. It succeeded 
 in finding the camp before evening. Only seven men, includ 
 ing Greely, were found alive, and two of them died soon after 
 ward. Eighteen others were already dead, from starvation, 
 most of them having expired within a few days of Commander 
 Schley s arrival. The sufferings which they had endured in- 
 the last few months had been indescribable. When found, the 
 survivors were subsisting on soup made from sealskin boots and 
 reindeer moss, with a few shrimps. Milk punch in small quan 
 tities was given to the men by the rescuing party; but as too much 
 food after such a fast would endanger their lives, they were kept 
 only partly satisfied for many days. Had the relief expedition 
 arrived a few days later, it would have found every one dead. 
 
 At the presidential election of this year Grover Cleveland was 
 elected President, for the term beginning March 4, 1885. He 
 was governor of New York State at the time, and was nominated 
 by the Democrats. Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana was their 
 candidate for Yice-President. The Republicans nominated 
 James G. Elaine of Maine and John A. Logan of Illinois. The 
 Southern issue was ignored during the campaign, the Repub 
 licans making their fight chiefly on the tariff, a repeal or re 
 duction of which was threatened by the Democrats; while the 
 latter forced the reform of the civil service forward as their 
 chief argument, Cleveland being an exponent of that idea. 
 Enough Republicans abandoned Blaine for Cleveland to give 
 the latter New York State by the slender plurality of one thou 
 sand and forty-seven, out of over one million one hundred thou 
 sand votes; and as the result depended upon New York State, 
 Cleveland was elected. He received the support of Connecti 
 cut, New Jersey, Indiana, and every Southern State, securing 
 two hundred and nineteen electoral votes. Blaine had one hun 
 dred and eighty-two. 
 
 A World s Fair was opened in New Orleans December 16th, 
 continuing nearly six months. It was to have been inaugurated 
 on the 1st of December, but the delay was caused by imperfect 
 preparations; and not until well into January was the display 
 fairly arranged. In the extent of the exhibits, especially from 
 foreign countries, and in the attendance, it was not the equal of 
 the Centennial Exposition, although a noteworthy affair. The 
 main building, however, was the largest of its kind ever erected. 
 Mexico and South and Central America were well represented. 
 The machinery was set in motion, through an electric button 
 and wire, by President Arthur in Washington. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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