Category Archives: Nifty History People

Lucretia Garfield: The 6-Month FLOTUS

Crete Lucretia “Crete” Rudolph Garfield (1832-1918) was a well educated young woman. She was sent first to the Geauga Eclectic (similar to a prep school), followed by attending Hiram College, today part of Case-Western Reserve in Ohio. She had known … Continue reading

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Grant, Buckner and the Pillow Flight

Gideon Pillow was first and foremost a “political” general of massive pretensions. The Stuffed Pillow Gideon Pillow (1806-78) was born and raised to a prosperous and well-connected Tennessee family. He attended the University of Nashville, became an attorney, and went … Continue reading

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John Adams: Four Months in the White House

On November 1, 1800, 65-year-old President John Adams took up residence in the unfinished Executive Mansion in Washington, DC, only a few days before the quadrennial election. The White House…  …was neither “white” (it was sandstone), nor would it be … Continue reading

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Edward Porter Alexander. Soldier. Engineer. Gettysburg.

EPA: The Young and Handsome Edward Porter Alexander wanted to be a soldier from early youth. His well-to-do father, a successful Georgia planter, wanted him to be an engineer. When a family friend advised the senior Alexander that a West … Continue reading

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The Lincolns: A Tale of Two Stepmothers

Among the many commonalities between Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd was the sad memory of being motherless at an early age. Abraham Lincoln: Semi-orphaned at Nine Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of the milk sickness, said to be from poisonous grasses … Continue reading

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Mother Bickerdyke: Civil War Ranking Nurse

Right after the Civil War, there was a huge parade in Washington, DC. Leading the Soldiers On May 23, 1865, as the intense mourning over the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln began to slowly ebb, the newly discharged Army of … Continue reading

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Corinne: The Long Neglected Roosevelt

Little Sister Corinne The iconic Theodore Roosevelt was one of four siblings. The oldest of the four remarkable Roosevelts was Anna (1855-1931), called “Bamie” by her siblings, and “Auntie Bye” by the next generation. Despite an early childhood illness which … Continue reading

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General Grant’s No-Exchange Order

Hard to Believe, But… After millenniums of savage butchery, more “civilized” armies faced each other on the most favorable empty grounds they could find and they became battlefields, far from villages and towns and private citizens. If a belligerent was … Continue reading

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Frances Cleveland: Saturday

Frances Folsom Cleveland was only 21 when she became First Lady. The Young FLOTUS-To-Be Frances Folsom (1864-1947) was the total antithesis of her husband, sitting President Grover Cleveland. She was young (he was 49), slim and trim (he weighed in … Continue reading

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Martha Washington’s Speckled Apron 

Mistress Custis, Mistress Washington Martha Dandridge (1731-1802) was not born to wealth per se. She was born, very much like George Washington, to a family of gentry. Her father, John Dandridge, owned several hundred acres. This entitled him to a … Continue reading

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