The life and works of Irving Carson, the first journalist killed in the Civil War (and a bit of Han Solo-type).
Tag: civil war
Kathryn Evans: Witness to History at Rosehill Cemetery
On a recent walk through Rosehill Cemetery, looking for new stories to tell on tours, I came upon the gravestone of Albert H. Dainty, whose epitaph read “Until the day breaks and the shadows flee.” This was a line from The Song of Solomon in the Bible. Translations vary, but the full line is something…
“Rigged!” The Chicago Times and the Election of 1864
The Democratic National Convention of 1864 was by most accounts a disaster. Meeting in Chicago to nominate General McClellan to oppose Lincoln, the party struggled with an unhealed rift between delegats who wanted to crush the Confederacy in one big blow and those who wanted to quit fighting and just let the South go. The Tribune’s…
My New Favorite Vintage Ad
So, last month I was finishing up a book on Abraham Lincoln ghostlore, and found myself in the old familiar microfilm room at the Harold Washington library, digging through old issues of the Chicago Times, the Copperhead anti-Lincoln paper whose editor, Wilbur F. Storey, would have made a great cable news loudmouth. While combing through…
Lincoln’s Phantom Funeral Train described in 1872
I’m finishing up the draft of my new book on Lincoln ghostlore for Llewellyn Worldwide – it’s been fun tracing all the stories back to their origins! Here’s one find that I should really wait on, but I got so excited by it that I just had to post it. The Lincoln Funeral Train is…
Are Bodies Buried Beneath Comiskey Park?
An 1886 map of the area It’s commonly said around the south side that Comiskey Park (either the old one or the new one, depending on who you ask) was built over an old cemetery, and that the bodies are still there. Sometimes it’s specifically specified that it’s the bodies of Civil War soldiers. I’ve…
“The Battle Cry of Freedom” Premieres in Chicago, 7/27/1862
In my process of researching a book on Abe Lincoln ghostlore, I’ve dug up lots of fun Civil War stuff. While watching the drama unfolding in Texas on June 25-6, which left me just a few hours of sleep before watching the Supreme Court’s gay marriage rulings, I kept getting “The Battle Cry of Freedom”…
Abraham Lincoln in Chicago: Ebenezer Peck’s House
In 1860, just after the election, President-elect Abraham Lincoln came to Chicago, where he’d been a regular visitor for years, to meet Hannibal Hamlin, his running mate, for the first time. They met up at the Tremont House, the hotel at Dearborn and Lake where, a couple of years before, Lincoln had made a version…