The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas in 1861: "The Young Ones Ransacked"

From AP's This Week in the Civil War for week of December 25th. A look back 150 years ago.

The Trent Affair is still a major issue and Lincoln holds a cabinet meeting about it on Christmas Day. That evening, he presided over a Christmas party at the White House attempting some holiday cheer in the absence of his nation's "Peace on Earth."

The New York Herald-Tribune reported that churches were filled to overflowing on Christmas with lots of people out ice skating on frozen ponds and making merry.

"The little ones ransacked the repositories of Chris Kringle, shouted the elve's house with delight over treasures which the jolly old fellow had dropped on them over-night...and that after that the winged hours of the long Winter evening passed imperceptibly away, with song and dance, and jest and laugh, lightening the heart, and making each participant more happy and content with his burden, brightening the future with new hope."

Sounds Like a Good Christmas. --Old B-Runner

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