Browse Items (75 total)

The Writ of Summons for the Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson Signed by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase notified the President of his impending impeachment proceedings - giving him both the date of the trial and the reasons for being accused;…

Civil War hospital in Washington D.C. This hospital was cleaner and more organized than hospitals developed at the start of the Civil War.

USS Miami ca. 1864. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.

Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform with shotgun sitting next to dog

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was oil on the fires of the anti-slavery movement. On June 5, 1851, the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin appeared in the Washington anti-slavery paper, The National Era. At first there appeared to be little…

Thomas D. Rice was the man who became the most famous for the creation of Jim Crow.

The third national flag of the Confederate States of America, known as "the Blood Stained Banner" has been used since March 4th, 1865.

This is a cartoon that represents the emotions the public felt after the failed attempt to impeach President Andrew Johnson. President Johnson is compared to an old rotting horse whose foul stench exudes the Radical Republicans failed attempt to…

(Collection of the New-York Historical Society, Neg. #ac03149)

KKK recruitment pamphlet stating goals and ideals as well as requirements for joining.

Army setting up telegraph wire

The members of the United States Supreme Court in 1896-1897. Under Chief Justice Melville Fuller, the Court established the separate but equal rule following the pivotal Plessy v Ferguson Case.

This cartoon is mocking the Southerners’ character and questioning their battlefield prowess. In the forefront are two Confederate soldiers, one pointing with a knife and another holding a musket in the back. Both appear less than gentlemanly as…

Soldier Samuel Decker, standing next to the artificial arms he designed for himself after losing both of his arms.

The official roll call vote from Johnson’s Senate impeachment campaign - an invaluable primary source. The vote tally shows how close the vote was for Johnson - he merely won by one vote.

These combined posters represent primary sources from the Civil Rights Movement.

Field hospital at Savage Station, Virginia. This was taken in 1862, and shows how disorganized early hospitals were. We can see how easy it was for disease to spread.

Photograph shows Pvt. William M. Smith, Co. D, 8th Kentucky Vols. at U.S. General Hospital, Div. No. 1, Annapolis, Maryland, June 1, 1864. Source: U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, 2013.

Four versions of the flag of the Confederate States of America are shown on this print from 1896. Standing at the center are Stonewall Jackson, P. G. T. Beauregard, and Robert E. Lee, surrounded by bust portraits of Jefferson Davis and Confederate…

Citizens were required to pay a poll tax to register to vote. These fees restricted poor African Americans from voting. This receipt is from Birmingham, Alabama in 1896. The poll tax was for the entire year.

Photograph of Union Major General Benjamin Butler. Military governor of occupied New Orleans, American Civil War.

Photograph of Oliver Wendell Holmes, eventual lieutenant of the 20th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, found in "Touched with Fire: Civil War Letters and Diaries of Wendell Holmes Jr, 1861-1864" edited by Mark De Wolfe Howe.

Morton McMichael declines to state whether or not he is in support of allowing freed slaves to ride in the City passenger railway cars. Daniel M. Fox states that he is in opposition of such privileges.

This is an article seen in the New York Times summarizing President Johnson's reasoning for dismissing Secretary of State Edwin M. Stanton. Within this article it chronicles President Johnson’s emotions and attitudes toward Stanton. It also…