Abraham Lincoln died on the morning of April 15, 1865 (159 years ago today.) He was 56 years of age. It was Holy Saturday, the morning before Easter Sunday ( Read more... )

Today is the 159th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He was shot on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 (158 years ago today), while attending the play "Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The Civil War was almost at its end, but Lincoln would not live to see the aftermath of the war, nor to play a part in his ( Read more... )

Books about Andrew Johnson usually focus on two aspects of his story: his role in reconstruction of the nation following the end of the Civil War, and his impeachment, the first of any US President. Johnson rose from humble beginnings and his path to the Presidency was an unexpected one. He was a rare bird, someone loyal to the Union even after his ( Read more... )

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you who have some Irish ancestry. Apparently there were 23 Presidents who had some Irish ancestry, some of whom will surprise you. For three of these (Taft, Harding and Truman), I have been unable to locate which ancestor of theirs lived in Ireland. Here is the list:


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On March 8, 1874 (150 years ago today) Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States and the last Whig President, died at his home in Buffalo, New York at the age of 74.


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The great African-American social reformer Frederick Douglass was born with the name Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey sometime in February 1818. (He was unsure of the exact date, and decided that he would celebrate his birthday on St. Valentine's Day). He died on February 20, 1895 (129 years ago, and shame on me for not posting this entry about ( Read more... )

The Freedmen’s Bureau was a government agency established by an Act of Congress that was passed on March 3, 1865, just before the end of the Civil War. It was supposed to be a temporary body that was only intended to last for the duration of the war and one year afterward. It operated under the authority of the War Department and the majority of ( Read more... )

When William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became President. McKinley's closest advisor, Ohio Senator Mark Hanna, thought that this was a double tragedy. Hanna had tried to keep Roosevelt off the ticket with McKinley. At the 1900 Republican convention, he said "Why, everybody's gone crazy! What is the matter with all of you ( Read more... )

Prior to 2021, every year on this day (January 7th) a ceremony was held at the grave of President Millard Fillmore at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo New York. Faculty, staff, students, administrators and friends of the University of Buffalo would gather at Fillmore’s gravesite at Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery to mark the birthday of the ( Read more... )

On December 29, 1808 (214 years ago today) Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He's one of the most controversial presidents for a number of reasons, including his personal problems (i.e. his drinking), his stance on reconstruction in which he undid much of the good planned by Abraham ( Read more... )