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Posts Tagged ‘Washington’
Learn the incredible story of the highest-ranking African American in the Civil War! Join us at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office on February 28 at 2:00 PM as historian and re-enactor Dr. Michael A. Hill presents the story of Brevet Lt. Col. Alexander T. Augusta, M.D.: the first African American to be commissioned […]
On December 18, 1865, following the ratification of the 13th Amendment, President Andrew Johnson addressed the United States Senate. He declared: I have the honor to state that the rebellion waged by a portion of the people against the properly constituted authority of the Government of the United States has been suppressed; […]
Massachusetts has an undisputed claim on Thanksgiving. The story of the Mayflower, early America’s tough start, and the meal shared between Native Americans and Pilgrims in 1621 is part of our national identity. But Washington, D.C. deserves some credit for the holiday too. For it was here, in an attempt to lift […]
Fall brings changing leaves and, for some, an appetite for visiting graveyards. Holidays like Halloween and Day of the Dead inspire us to walk among these final resting places. Clara Barton passed away in her Glen Echo, Maryland, home on April 12, 1912. Her body was transported to North Oxford, Massachusetts, where […]
When an assassin’s bullet struck James Garfield in July 1881, the battle to save the president’s life began. In the weeks that followed, doctors argued over how to treat the stricken executive. In the end, Dr. D. Willard Bliss, a former Civil War surgeon, took control of Garfield’s recovery and controversy has […]
At the outbreak of the Civil War, the lives of two government workers in Washington, D.C., ran parallel. The two would share space and their lives nearly converge but they would never cross. One was a woman from Massachusetts, the headstrong daughter of an old army officer who had secured a job […]
The Civil War made death far more common and only deepened people’s longing for a connection with the spirit world. The archives and collections at the Surratt House Museum Research Center are full of references to these macabre practices and chilling recorded ghost stories. This talk will focus on the efforts collections […]
Healing and Teaching: Susie King Taylor’s Life in Service – Dr. Dawn Chitty Join us Saturday, September 20 at 2PM as Dr. Dawn Chitty, Director of Education at the African American Civil War Museum, explores the extraordinary life of Susie King Taylor. Taylor, a formerly enslaved woman, served as a nurse, teacher, […]
Washington, DC saw an unprecedented rise in sex work during the Civil War due to the thousands of Union soldiers who flooded into the city for training. Brothels provided income, shelter, and independence for women who, in some cases, had few other places to turn. They built businesses and turned access to […]
We know today that Clara Barton was an incredible humanitarian, but what did her neighbors think of her? Read one of their diaries to find out.
