This Month in the War: 13th Amendment, South Carolina Secedes, Mason and Slidell Released

From the December 2022 American Battlefield Trust calendar.

DECEMBER 18, 1865

**  The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, becomes a part of the U.S. Constitution.

DECEMBER 20, 1860

**  South Carolina adopts  an Ordinance of Secession.

DECEMBER 22, 1860

**  Major Robert Anderson evacuates Fort Moultrie and goes to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

DECEMBER 26, 1861

**  The U.S. releases Mason and Sliddell, ending the Trent Affair.

DECEMBER 30, 1861

**  Banks in New York suspend specie payments.

DECEMBER 31, 1862

**  The Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee, begins.

--Old Secesh

The Rebellion: Its Authors and Causes-- Part 3: Who Had Stakes in a War?

**  What was the British stake in the Civil War?

Get back for the War of 1812

Need for Southern cotton

British banks had investments in both the North and South

**  Who wanted there to be a war?

Radical Republicans

Britain

Irish

Southern Conservatives

**  The French wanted war

They had an interest in taking over Mexico and with a war in the United States this would take away a major problem for them.

--Old Secesh

Roadtrippin' Thru History-- Part 5: A Famous Cavalry Unit and a Massacre

Spanish-American War

A famous cavalry unit

A  massacre

10-year-olds

World War I

World War II

Cold War

A weird U.S. Air Force base

A Civil War recruiting scam

A bank scam

One big-time retribution

Well, that pretty-well covers it.  Who wants to go Roadtrippin' Thru History with me?

Ready, Set, Go.  --Old Secesh

William W. Corcoran-- Part 3: America;s First Lobbyist and Peddler of Political Influence?

Today, William Corcoran is known mostly for his art gallery museum across from the White House, but he is a  very important character from American history.

He played a significant role in the transformation of the United States financial and banking systems and held a huge influence on everything that went on in Washington, D.C..  Some regard him as America's first lobbyist and peddler of political influence.

Corcoran influenced and befriended almost every U.S. president from Andrew Jackson to Rutherford B. Hayes.

He included among his friends quite a diverse group, including Edward Everett, Robert E. Lee and John Slidell.  He maintained close business and social relationships with financiers and bankers ranging from Elisha and George Riggs, George Peabody and Junius Morgan.

One day I might look up the Lincoln-Corcoran relationship during the Civil War as this man, though retired, still continued to wield a lot of clout.

--Old Secesh

William W. Corcoran, Financier and Banker-- Part 2

In 1837, he established a brokerage firm on Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street in Wasgington, D,C. and was very successful.  Corcoran entered into a partnership with George Washington Riggs as the firm of Corcoran and Riggs (taken over by PNC Bank recently).  .  In 1845, they bought the United States Bank.

With his fortune made, William retired in 1854 and devoted himself to collecting art and philanthropy.

It was around this time that Simon Sommers starting working for him, taking care of his considerable land interests out west.

Since William Corcoran was so wealthy and lived through the Civil War, I'm sure he must have had some role in it, but Wikipedia did not mention it.

--Old Secesh

William W. Corcoran, Financier and Art Collector-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

I have been writing about Simon L. Sommers, a Confederate officer who, before and after the war, worked for W.W. Corcoran and as such ended up living in Macomb, Illinois.  I'd never heard of this W.W. Corcoran, but found out that Sommers was raking care of his real estate holdings in the Macomb area which was why he went there.

WILLIAM W. CORCORAN (Dec. 27, 1798-February 24, 1888)  American banker, philanthropist and art collector.  He started the Corcoran Gallery of Art across from the White House in Washington, D.C., in 1869, one of the first art galleries in the United States.

William was the son of well-to-do parents in D.C. and eloped and married the daughter of Commodore Charles Morris who fought in the War of 1812.  (I wrote about him in my War of 1812 blog yesterday.)

He entered the business world at age 17, working for relatives and opened his own store two years later.  he then established a wholesale auction and commission business that failed in a depression in 1823.   In 1828, he took control of a large amount of real estate that had belonged to his father.  (I have to wonder how a man in Washington, D.C., could acquire large amounts of land out west?)

More to Come.  --Old Secesh