Author Archive

The Royal Wedding

On the rare occasion I’m watching TV these days, nothing will cause me to change the channel faster than a story on the Royal Wedding. I don’t mean to sound curmudgeonly, but who cares? My negativity is not the result of my Irish heritage nor some kind of popular embrace…

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Congressional Redistricting

The Globe has a story by Mark Arsenault speculating that the First Congressional District, which covers close to one-third of the entire geographic area of the Commonwealth and stretches from the New York border to nearby Pepperell and Townsend is the most likely candidate for dismemberment in this year’s Congressional…

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Back from Baltimore

Yesterday I returned from a long weekend in Baltimore for that city’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Pratt Street Riot, the April 19, 1861 confrontation that cost the lives of Luther Ladd, Addison Whitney, Sumner Needham and Charles Taylor. The centerpiece of the Baltimore celebration was a parade…

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April 19, 1861 (part II)

Eight railroad cars bearing seven companies of the Sixth Regiment made it to Camden Station, but four companies in four cars remained behind. The four captains commanding those companies decided to march through the city. Captain Follansbee of Company C took the lead. The troops had to overcome a number…

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April 19, 1861 (part I)

A sleepy Sixth Regiment departed Philadelphia by train at 1 am on Friday, April 19, 1861. The original plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but railroad officials warned Colonel Jones of talk that people in Baltimore planned to prevent any troops from passing through the city. Jones…

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“The Conspirator”

[youtube]8XhOq5zp6j4[/youtube] With all the attention being given to the Civil War, seeing “The Conspirator” proved irresistible. This new film by Robert Redford depicts the trial of Mary Surratt, one of those charged with conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The central characters are Surratt and Frederick Aiken, the…

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