“The court-room snapped in twain”
1870, April 27: One cannot read accounts of the 1870 Capitol Disaster without thinking of the late war as an …
Category Archives: War
Background and details on the Capitol Disaster
1870, April 27: Some background on the Capitol Disaster. A plaque commemorating the Capitol Disaster of 1870 is on the …
The Capitol Disaster!
1870, April 27: The “Great Capitol Disaster” occurred. The following account is from 1896, by Charles Poindexter who wrote a “Hand-Book …
Tensions building in Richmond over Mayoralty
1870, April 1: The bitterness of Virginians towards the U.S. occupation was intense in the early years after the end …
The 1870 Richmond Mayoralty Case: bloodiest election in American history
1870, March 16: On this date, Henry K. Ellyson was elected Mayor of Richmond by the City Council. That’s when …
Draper’s Raid and the Invasion of Tappahannock
June 19, 1864: As Carroll M. Garnett in 1981 wrote in the Essex County Historical Society newsletter (“Tappahannock Vol. 19, …
Ann Burwell Latane Ware writes to sister of battle south of Tappahannock
1863, March 6: Letter from Ann Elizabeth Burwell (Latane) Ware to Jannette Roane (Latane) Campbell (sisters born at Mahockney). Mahockney …
Tappahannock civilian to (briefly) occupying Yankees: “If I were able I would kill every damn one of you where you stand”
April 14, 1862: Union forces made the first of what would be for landings at Tapphannock during the war. The …
Election Day results
1860, Nov. 6: The fateful Election Day. Lincoln wasn’t even on the ballot in ten of the eleven Southern states …
Lincoln splits no rails in Essex County.
In the 1860 election, Essex County was divided. Severely. There were four men on the presidential ballot. John Bell, who …
Mahockney 