One hundred and fifty-five days ago yesterday Abraham Lincoln signed a bill “An Act For the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia” which freed all the slaves in the District of Columbia. This marked the first time the Federal Government freed any slaves, and the only time the […]
Last week, we looked at Gilbert Vanderwerken and his Omnibus, the first truly viable form of public transportation in the District of Columbia. Today, we will finish up the story. While it is unclear what Vanderwerken did about “loose hanging fat” being transported in his omnibuses, the latter half of the 1850s were a bit […]
Public transportation is a subject that I return to again and again. Today, I will look at one of the earliest ways you could get to the Navy Yard from the rest of Washington. In the early days in Washington, the only form of public transportation was a stagecoach that went from the Capitol to […]
Part three of the Jarboe saga has a great twist. Good morning, Capitol Hill!
Last week we learned about the death of John R. Nally at the hands of Daniel W. Jarboe. Both men worked at the Washington Navy Yard; Jarboe was incensed at Nally for refusing to marry Jarboe’s sister. Jarboe was duly incarcerated and put on trial. Two days after the Daily American Organ had outed Jarboe as a […]