In Which Our Heroine Finds A Telegram That Brings Her To Tears

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Time for a brief bit of history . . .

In researching old photographs of Chicago for the writing of Hexbound, I posted over at Write What You See a few minutes ago about the photograph collections available from the Library of Congress’s online American Memory project.
I also thought I’d see if the collection housed any images of Chicago’s Kimball mansion (the model for Cadogan House). A word search for “Kimball” pulled up a pretty lengthy list. As I was scanning it, I came across the following entry:
As some of you may know, I’m originally from Arkansas. So out of curiosity, I clicked on the link. The following image popped up:
It’s a bit hard to read, but after a few passes, here’s my translation:
Office U. S. Military Telegraph, War Department
The following Telegram received at Washington, 4:35 p.m., April 25 1864 from Little Rock, AR, Dated April 11, 1864
President of U.S.
The inauguration of the governor of Arkansas today was preceded by a grand civil & military procession participated in by upward of ten thousand (10,000) people including citizens [unreadable] and freed people, the procession was three (3) miles in length & is acknowledged to be the greatest civil & military demonstration that was ever received in Arkansas. God has granted us a magnificent triumph & Arkansas is once more an organized state with national union free from slavery.
Nathan Kimball
Of all the random things to happen upon–the memorialization of a victory over oppression. I think that’s very cool.
[Ed. Note – Because I’m ever curious, I did a little more research on the letter. It appears to refer to the inauguration of Arkansas governor Isaac Murphy, who has quite a sordid history.]

2 thoughts on “In Which Our Heroine Finds A Telegram That Brings Her To Tears”

  • It's so cool to know I am not the only geek who likes history. Not that you are a geek. I would never hint at that:) I love the American Memory project site. I haven't been there in awhile because it sucks up like an afternoon of my time. BAHAHAHAHA

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