150th Anniversary Project
« Previous Entries150 Years Ago… Crops and Negro-Poisoned Melons
Sunday, September 5th, 2010Two weeks ago, the editor of The Arkansas Toothpick likened the slave rebellions in 1860 Texas to the popular H. G. Wells radio program where Americans were tricked into believing that the Earth had been attacked by aliens. This week’s primary source related to 150 years ago shows the continued trickling paranoia still found [...]
150 Years Ago… Training Manuals and Evil Spirits
Sunday, August 29th, 2010 This week’s column “150 years ago…” features a set of articles found in the September 1, 1860 edition of the Arkansas True Democrat where the reader will be guided through a set of most-interesting and ironic passages in Arkansas history.
In 1860 Little Rock, when a new book was released and/or the local bookstore stocked [...]
150 Years Ago… War of the Worlds
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010This week’s column represents the climax of terror in the South, as bands of roaming run-away slaves reek havoc on water supplies as wells are poisoned, fires are set that destroy entire cities, and the general fear associated with the abolitionists’ war against the Southern people reaches ever-higher. This reminds the editor of the [...]
150 Years Ago… Abolitionist Terrorism
Sunday, August 15th, 2010This week’s “150 Years Ago…” column is a continuation of the column two weeks ago regarding the burning of Dallas, TX. and the general uneasiness regarding possible slave rebellions in the South. It is impossible to start a serious study of the Civil War with the shots fired at Ft. Sumter, SC, as there [...]
150 Years Ago… Yankee Buttons and Expensive Hats
Sunday, August 8th, 2010This week’s “150 Years Ago…” column features two primary sources: one from the North and one from the South. Though this week’s column does not directly affect the state of Arkansas in 1860, it does, however, give a very good indication of the state of affairs in August, 1860. The first primary source [...]
150 Years Ago… Texas Invaded!
Sunday, August 1st, 2010This week’s “150 Years Ago…” column is on a very disturbing topic, a fear that swept over the South like wildfire: the fear of a slave insurrection filled the minds of paranoid Southerners in 1860, the height of the abolitionist movement. With anti-Southern sentiment starting to hit mainstream media, the division in the country [...]
Toothpick Update August 2010
Sunday, August 1st, 2010Greetings from the desk of the Arkansas Toothpick, Arkansas’ number one source of historical information and goings-on in the Civil War community for twenty-five years running. July was a very eventful month for historical preservation and August looks to be even busier.
The Arkansas Toothpick turns 25 years old this year. Began as a [...]
150 Years Ago… a [sic] poem
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010This week’s “150 Years Ago…” column again reminds the reader that newspapers served many purposes in 1860. As noted in earlier columns, 1860 newspapers were a source of education, news, and entertainment, to only name a few.
Before reading this week’s primary source, the reader must be informed that America had yet to [...]
150 Years Ago… Pre Civil War Camels?
Sunday, July 18th, 2010As temperatures keep rising throughout the summer months in 1860, Southerners kept trying to find better means of transportation. Though the traditional horses and mules come to mind as being the main source of animal-powered transportation, the argument must be made whether camels would make a good substitute in the arid climates of the [...]
150 Years Ago… Hot Hot Hot
Sunday, July 11th, 2010When we think of the summer, regardless of the century throughout history, we think of rising temperatures and the harsh living conditions that the summer has become known for. 1860 Arkansas was no exception, as this week’s “150 Years Ago” column features an article written in Fayetteville, Arkansas showing the temperatures’ unwavering rise in [...]
« Previous Entries