Alcohol and Congress have gotten along just fine since the earliest days on the Hill, when the preferred meeting places for one and all were the local taverns. For some, heading across the street was apparently too much of a hassle, and thus they wanted more convenient places to tipple. They did not want anyone […]
I have previously written about scientific equipment built on Capitol Hill, as well as how the shops of the Navy Yard were used for non-Naval purposes. What I did not realize –until I came across an article in the Washington Evening Star of March 29, 1854– was that these two things had come together at […]
Last week, we looked at the aftermath of a raid on a young enslaved African-American. Despite having almost bought himself free, he was taken away from Mrs. Sprigg’s boarding house and sold. Joshua Giddings, Abraham Lincoln’s messmate at Mrs. Sprigg’s, attempted to rescue the young man from a slave pen, but was thwarted because Henry Wilson had […]
In trying to look at all the places that Abraham Lincoln lived and worked in Washington D.C. over the years, it becomes clear how much the city has changed over the last 150 years. It’s also clear how much of it has been torn down and replaced. Today, we’ll look (again) at the place he […]
I have previously written about James Buchanan’s inaugural parade and the model ship built by the men at the Washington Navy Yard for that occasion. This was, it turns out, not the only time they were engaged in a project of this nature. While Lincoln’s first inauguration was a fairly anxiety-riddled affair, with war in […]