[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harper’s Ferry, the election of 1860, secession – all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Captured Mexican Steamers – 1-3
Editorials – 3-4
The Lounger – 4-5
Under Chloroform – 5-6
Humors of the Day – 6
Hon. Martin J. Crawford of Georgia – 6-8 The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, Miss Halcombe’s Narrative Continued – 8-11
Domestic Intelligence – 11-13
Foreign News – 13-14
Preaching to Thieves and Harlots – 15-16
Captain Brand of the Schooner “Centipede,” by Lieut. Henry A. Wise, U.S.N. (Harry Gringo). Part I, Chapter IV-V – 17-19
Miss Nightingale on Nursing – 19-21
On the Way to Charleston, No. II – 21
Another Escape of a Balloonist – 21, 23
Arrest and Rescue of Mr. Sanborn at Concord, Mass. – 21-22, 24
The New Partner, or “Clingham & Co., Bankers, by Fitz Hugh Ludlow Chapter XII-XIII – 22-23, 25-26
Startling and Heart-Rending News – 27

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from April 13 (reply #9).

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[2banana]

Seems like a fairly peaceful country with no massive underlying issues...

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Count Adam Gurowski to James S. Pike, April 16, 1860

NEW YORK, Monday, April 16.

DEAR YANKEE: Congratulate Mr. Potter for me from the bottom of my heart.

What is the talk about code of honor? There is and never was such a codification in Europe among the genuine chivalry for these one thousand years, neither among nobles of any country of Europe. There is a kind of common law which every one knows, and a practice of details which is acquired in the same way as by a lawyer. I fought more than thirty duels, was second perhaps sixty times at least, and all with gentlemen and noblemen, and never heard of code of honor or absolute rule about weapons. If there is any code, rule, or common law about it, it is this: that cowards only refuse when a weapon magnifies danger. I assisted to duels, as second, when one of the combatants, pistols in hand, proposed to approach each other from ten paces (the original distance) to three. It was accepted. Old and hoary as I am, and never having really seen the use of a bowie-knife, I would accept it if I still should insist on my reputation as duellist. We Polish nobility, we fight generally with short, half-round Turkish swords. It makes ugly gashes, and I saw bowels come out once.

Mrs. Potter is a Spartan lady, and has a true gentleman for a husband. Greeley is an ass.

Yours,

GUROWSKI.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860

, p. 513

civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com

Adam Gurowski Wikipedia page