Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

[OlszowyTM]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

I haven't seen anything to say what did happen, so I'm asking: how did the Patent Office conduct business when much of the building was in use as a field hospital? I've seen many accounts of the wounded laid out in the corridors; is it safe to assume the office were not used for hospital space, and that business went on in relative normalcy with the doors closed?

Becky-
Several of the sites I hit for the Patent Office, including one dedicated to Walt Whitman, indicated one wing was used for a hospital from 1861-63. One site identified a specific area-

“.... Wounded soldiers lay on cots in third-floor galleries, among glass cases holding models of inventions that had been submitted with patent applications.”

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/medtour/patent.html

Just for interest I did a search of the USPO site and here is the total number of patents by year:

1860 Results of Search in US Patent Collection = 4813 patents.

1861 Results of Search in US Patent Collection = 3316 patents.

1862 Results of Search in US Patent Collection = 3524 patents.

1863 Results of Search in US Patent Collection = 4175 patents.

1864 Results of Search in US Patent Collection = 5015 patents.

1865 Results of Search in US Patent Collection = 6605 patents.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Ah, thank you. I should have thought of looking at Walt Whitman's memoirs again. The third floor makes much more sense, since the men wouldn't be disturbed by all the comings and goings downstairs, nor the office workers by the hospital.

[DougCooper]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

The mills in the south had a tough row to hoe at times indeed. The wollen mill near Monticello in northern Florida was told by the governor to retain a large amount of goods for the people of the state and he was constantly butting heads with the Richmond authorities on output for the army, etc. He never had a riot to deal with - good move.

[David Fox]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Comrade Donaldson's post featuring light, horse-drawn agricultural impliments reminds me of Cyrus McCormick, who was pumping out his labour-saving reapers at a record clip in Chicago during the War. One student was alleged to have answered a test question on the Great Man thusly, "Cyrus McCormick: he invented the mechanical raper which put a lot of men out of work"(!)

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

During my second semester of TAing in grad school, I had a student tell me on an exam that Groucho Marx invented communism. We all know that Harpo was the iron-fisted tyrant.

It does lead to varying discussions on the political nature of labor in the wake of the industrial revolution. While Marx is writing about the nature of capital and labor in London during the 1860s, Southern social theorist George Fitzhugh of Virginia wrote Cannibals All in the 1850s, declaring that slavery was the natural answer to all labor questions evoked by the rise of the factory system and rampant commercialism in the North. In order to avoid the social unrest and poverty as evidenced in England, America needed to enslave the entirety of the working class and care for them in the same manner as the South cared for its labor force. His book is only slightly tongue in cheek.

Link

[Monte5364]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

This is pretty timely in that I myself have been doing research in the same area. I would say newspapers are a great source of finding information of daily life on the home front. I recomend using The New York Times website. They have articles going back to 1851 which you might find interesting. The other day I was looking up the regiment my group portrays and found out that they went to Washington with a nickname. When I looked up the nickname it turned out that there was more information refering to the regiment with the nickname then with their numerals. So I guess what I'm trying to say is read newspapers frm the time period. You could find information that could change your whole impression.


Thomas Montefinise
119th NYSV Co. H

[Danny]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

What was the reason the Pony Express went down? Not profitable? Just not needed because __________ ?

Dan Wykes

[Spinster]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

What was the reason the Pony Express went down? Not profitable? Just not needed because __________ ?

Dan Wykes

Don't know if it was the real answer, but the answer in my school book was "telegraph lines"


One of my favorite obscure bits of period happenings is a detailed article in a women's magazine about the construction of an 'unsinkable ship' in a English shipyard.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Hm, I hadn't realized it was the sesquicentennial and events are coming up the first weekend in April:

http://www.ponyexpress.org/

They mention the Pacific Telegraph line too, as well as the founders' bankruptcy.

[AndrewGrim]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Out in California over $100,000,000 dollars in gold was shipped out of San Francisco.
The Central Pacific Railroad began laying tracks east.
The Comstock Load was discovered in Virginia City, Nevada in 1862.
After turning back the Confederate advance in Arizona the California Colum began campaigns against the Apaches and Navajo. The Lakota also had an uprising in Minnesota.
John “Doc” Holiday’s family moved to the southern part of Georgia to escape the war. In much of the North and parts of the South life went on.

[DougCooper]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

The Pony Express only operated from April 1860 to October 1861 along nearly 2000 miles. There is a very cool national historic trail that if I get the time I will drive some day, from St Joseph, MO to San Francisco. Even has it began, the wires were already being strung to replace the brave riders and horses that made history. It was emblatic of the wild west and the riders were accorded hero status, thanks to the papers and magazines.

[Danny]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Doug, and Mrs. Lawson -

I doubt telegraph was the reason, they needed mail delivery, right?

Dan Wykes

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

The Pony Express wasn't the primary mail carrier to the West, it was an express company meant to delivery at a quicker pace than the conventional mail service. The primary means of conventional mail delivery was still via ship, either around South America or across the Isthmus.

[AndrewGrim]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Mail was delivered to California via the Butterfield Stage lines, starting in 1858, but was also delivered by ship. The Pony Express was for small express letters (nothing bigger than ½ an ounce), and was very expensive. The company was bankrupt or close to it when it went out of business. The telegraph was faster and cheaper.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Things still happening in America in the early 1860's

Telegraph lines were not the only contributing factor, but yes, Mr Wykes, the extension of reliable telegraphy across the continent did lessen the need for express riders quite a lot.

Maintaining telegraphy lines was also more cost-effective than maintaining riders, horses, and way-stations/horse stations (roughly every ten miles across 2000 miles, through some very brutal terrain). Express riders had tight regulations (couldn't weigh more than 125 pounds, for one), but earned pretty high pay for the time--up to $25 a week, and sometimes more, depending on which legs of the trip they rode, and the relative dangers. Compare that with other "unskilled" labor making $1 a week! Add in horses, the room and board riders received along with pay, the staff required to run the way stations and care for the stock... running a rider express company was expensive.

The endeavor never was profitable--in 18 months, it's estimated the Pony Express spent close to $300,000, but only grossed $90,000 in receipts. Being $200,000 in debt after short an operating stretch, and the telegraph close on it's heels? The company closed two days after the transcontinental telegraph reached Salt Lake City, which connected Sacramento, CA with lines in Nebraska, and eastward from there. They'd have had to close eventually, anyway. The Federal government never paid the parent company for services rendered during the Utah "war" in the late 1850s, and the additional debt from operation of the Express was insurmountable. But yes, the telegraph lines did put a significant nail in the coffin. Thinking in terms of instant communication, it's the same sort of coffin nail the internet has become for family correspondence. When it's cheaper and faster to email, who spends money and time for stamps? Telegraphs were the internet of the 1840s, 50s, and 60s.

There are quite a few good books on the history telegraphy, trains, the Pony Express in the west, and what other freighting and mail options were out there, so the local library is a great spot to start for context on communication options in the West during the war years.