Documents in Year 1861                     

Links of Interest:

• James Buchanan, Fifteenth U.S. President

(1857-1861)

• Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth U.S. President

(1861-1865)

• Statehood

Kansas (34 of 50 States) Admitted 29 Jan 1861

• Abraham Lincoln's Crossroads Online Game

This interactive website allows the viewer to help Lincoln make decisions.

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Civil War begins 12 April 1861

• Matthew Brady, Civil War Photographer

"On the eve of the Civil War (1861-1865) there were about 4 million Black slaves and 500,000 free Blacks out of a total U.S. population of 31 million."

Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition page 146 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010

• Famous People of the Civil War Era

• Harper's Weekly Newspapers

The most popular newspaper during the Civil War. Links to the complete weekly paper.

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• Literature:

• Paul Revere’s Ride

by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published  in 1861.

• Beat! Beat! Drums!

by poet Walt Whitman published 24 September 1861.
Inspired when Walt watched the soldiers marching through town heading off to war.

• Steamboat trade came to an end due to the Civil War. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) joined the Confederate army for two weeks in June. The volunteer unit disbanded and he headed west in July on a stagecoach to Nevada and California and started panning for gold with no success.

• Biography - learn about Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

• Memory Game - test what you remember about Mark Twain

• Communication and Technology:

• The Pony Express ended October 24, 1861

when the completion of the Pacific Telegraph line ended the need for its existence.

• Pacific Telegraph Line

Overland Telegraph Company completed the telegraph line on October 24, 1861.