Life in a time of crisis
While soldiers in the field were waiting for their turkeys to arrive packed in crates filled with straw and kept cold, hopefully, by winter weather, at home women were preparing to roast their turkeys. Roasting a turkey in the 1800s meant cooking it on a spit inside a tin oven. Catherine Esther Beecher in her 1859... Continue Reading →
Harvest festivals and meals of thanksgiving were common in the early American colonies. But the official Thanksgiving dates to 1863. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Ladies Book believed that having a common national holiday would help unified the country. For seventeen years, she petitioned presidents to establish the holiday Finally, in 1863, President Lincoln... Continue Reading →
American Civil War Voices 