A Slow Beginning To The End

An “Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery” in the state of New York was passed on March 29th 1799.

Governor John Jay a prominent leader in the antislavery movement, passed an emancipation law which would abolish slavery through a gradual manumission. Freedom would be granted only to the children of slaves who served their Mother’s master till the age of 25 for women and 28 for men. It made the exportation of slaves illegal. This law did not however speak of any civil rights for the freed slave. Although passed on March 29th 1799, it didn’t go into effect until July 4th of that year. New York State would not end slavery until 1827.

The High Water Mark Of The West

On the Santa Fe Trail on March 28th 1862 the end of the Confederate push happened at the Glorieta Pass.

The Glorieta Pass is to the southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico on the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. On the morning of March 26th 1862 Union Major John M Chivington led about 400 troops to the pass. At about noon they captured some advanced Confederate soldiers. This was when they learned about the 300 Texans under Confederate Major Charles Pyron. The Union force moved on the Confederates, but were pushed back by artillery fire. Chivington than split his men in half and caught the Confederates in a crossfire. Pyron pulled his men back to a narrow part of the pass and prepared a defensive line. Again the Union caught them in a crossfire, this time forcing the Confederates into a camp at Kozlowski’s Ranch.

The next day, March 27th 1862,  there was no fighting. Lieutenant Colonel William R Scurry reinforced the confederates with about 1000 troops, while the Union line saw an increase of about 900 men arriving with Colonel John P Slough. Both sides decided to attack early on March 28th 1862, and they met in the canyon at about eleven. The Confederate held their ground through out the afternoon. When the fighting ended Slough retired to the Ranch with Scurry following him thinking he had won the battle.

Chivington’s Union soldiers however had destroyed all of Scurry’s animals and supplies. This forced the Confederates to have to retreat to Santa Fe, and on back to San Antonio Texas, making this the Confederate high water mark in the west. The Battle at Glorieta Pass became the turning point of the Civil War in the New Mexico territory.

The First Civil Rights

On March 27th 1866 President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on grounds that it was unconstitutional.

As a counter measure against the Black Codes which had been enacted in the former slave states following the passage of the 13th Amendment, the Republican controlled Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Included in this act were rights that included the ability to make contracts, sue, own private property, inherit, and be witness in court. President Johnson vetoed the bill because it would “operate in favor of the colored and against the white race”, and he didn't believe blacks had the qualifications to be United States citizens. Fortunately the Republican’s had enough votes in congress to override the Presidential Veto, and the Act passed on April 9th 1866. This Civil Rights Act of 1866 was strongly undermined by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and in the end failed.

The Telegrapher's Telegrapher

One of the founders of Western Union, Anson Stager died on March 26th 1885. He was the leader of the Military Telegraph Department during the Civil War.

Anson Stager was born April 20th 1825 in Ontario County New York the son of Joseph and Elmira Stager. When he was sixteen, Stager was working as an apprentice for the “Rochester Daily Advertiser” in Rochester New York. The owner Henry O’Reilly was a printer and telegraph builder. After O’Reilly built a telegraph line from Harrisburg to Philadelphia Pennsylvania he placed Stager as an operator in Philadelphia, Lancaster and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. In 1848 he became the chief operator of a national line in Cincinnati Ohio.

When the Civil War started in 1861 Stager went into service as a quartermaster of volunteers. In February 1862 he was called to Washington DC and was given an appointment to the head of the Military Telegraph Department, which oversaw all government telegraph departments. It was here that he created a military cipher that was used through out the war. He was made Brevet Brigadier General of the volunteers for his service, and stayed with the military until September 1868.

Anson Stager moved in 1869 to Chicago, Illinois, were he was the president of Western Electric, the Chicago Telephone Company and Western Edison Company. He died in Chicago March 26th 1885. He is buried in the Lake View Cemetery.

Twin Relics of Barbarism

In Utah March 23rd 1858 Brigham Young ordered the faithful to move to Provo, Utah and prepare for their homes in Salt Lake City to be burned as part of his “Sebastopol Policy”

From 1857 to 1858 what is known as the Utah War occurred between the United States Government and the Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory. The election in 1856 between Democrat James Buchanan and Republican John C Freemont was close enough to shake the Democratic Party. The Republicans charged the Democrats during that election as being soft on the “Twin Relics of Barbarism”; polygamy and slavery. In order to stand up to the charge Buchanan had do something, he decided his only political option was to replace Brigham Young as the governor of the Utah Territory and make a stand against polygamy. Alfred Cumming was appointed the new governor and sent to Utah under an Army escort.

The first troops to march for Utah were lead by General William S Harney, but they were forced to return to Kansas. Then a detachment under Colonel Edmund Alexander got started, only to meet up with and give command to Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. The Utah militia known as the Nauvoo Legion under the command of Lot Smith harassed the federals. Johnston decided to settle for the winter in the burned out Fort Bridger.

When spring arrived the United States Army was re-supplied and reinforcements arrived. With negotiation underway Brigham Young accepted the replacement governor; bring peace back to the territory.

Bragg

In Warren County, NC Braxton Bragg was born on March 22nd 1817.

He graduated from West Point in 1837, the fifth in his class. He saw service with the US military in War with Mexico, and the Seminole war. In 1861 he was put in charge of the Army of Louisiana and was made Brigadier General in the Confederate Army in March of that year. He fought in many battles including Shiloh, and Chickamauga. Confederate President Jefferson Davis assigned him to duty in Richmond, VA in February 1864. In November of that year he was placed in command of the Department South Carolina, holding his army that winter at Wilmington, NC. He was in command of troop during the final battle with General William Tecumseh Sherman. After Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Bragg accompanied Jefferson Davis on his attempted escape.

After the war he was Chief Engineer for the state of Alabama. He died in Galveston, TX September 27th 1876 where he was working as an inspector for a railroad. US Army Fort Bragg in North Carolinian was named in his honor.

Some other information
Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat

Uncle Tom

One of the most famous American novels “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was first published in two volumes on March 20th 1852. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel sold an amazing three hundred thousand copies in the first year. It is a melodramatic tail which tells the story of runaway slaves, overseers and what slavery did to families. This book raised the number of abolitionist and enraged those who defended the practice. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” has caused a great deal of controversy over the years, with first whites feeling that the black characters in the book were to positive, than blacks criticizing that those same character were formulaic. Regardless of the controversies “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” brought issue of slavery into the homes of many Northern white Americans and made many of them into abolitionist sympathizers.

Other reading that might be of interest
The Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom Mania: Slavery, Minstrelsy, And Transatlantic Culture In The 1850s