Skip to main content

The Homestead Act of 1862


On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman, a Union Army scout, was scheduled to leave Gage County, Nebraska Territory, to report for duty in St. Louis. At a New Year's Eve party the night before, Freeman met some local Land Office officials and convinced a clerk to open the office shortly after midnight in order to file a land claim. In doing so, Freeman became one of the first to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Homestead Act, a law signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862. At the time of the signing, 11 states had left the Union, and this piece of legislation would continue to have regional and political overtones.

Comments

  1. Gintaras, thanks very much. Interesting context that I hadn't given much if any thought to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and it's our day in history, too. Good timing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Day in History piqued my interest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's an interesting photo they chose to illustrate the Homestead Act:

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bison_skull_pile,_ca1870.png

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gintaras:

    Thank you for the recent comments list. That's fantastic!

    It has disappeared as I type this, but will surely help me keep track of multiple conversations.

    I feel otherwise like I'm wandering through a long-winding library peeking into rooms.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is inconsistent, as I had to import it, but I think it will get more durable with time.

    These blogs are not really set up to handle a large number of comments. As NYT noted, it would be nice if they were in inverse order.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, it does seem to come and go, but I think it will a great addition to keeping track of multiple conversations.

    We'll never be able to entirely replicate the discussion format at the Times, but this works just fine for me. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to get together with everyone again.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Not sure about anyone else, but whenever I click on Comments I get an operation aborted message.

    ReplyDelete
  9. And with that post, my problem has stopped. Weird.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It is a bit wierd, rick. I think it just takes time for the "recent comments" widget to adjust to your computer, since it was an imported device and not one that came with the blog template.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Ranger Doris.

    As a life-long fan of and visitor to the national parks, this is one that had escaped my attention.

    You might be interested in chiming in on why "this day in history" chose a pile of buffalo skulls to illustrate the signing of the bill, and what may have motivated the timing of the bill to coincide with the Civil War. We're all history buffs and interested in questions like these.

    And you never know, we may some day explore the history of the national parks themselves. You should check back from time to time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for the information, Doris! Let me know if you would like to be a contributor. You can reach me at Dzimas61@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think Doris was stopping by to promote her park -- I love the national parks and the people who work there! In fact, I actually have an application in to work for the park service at the moment. I have no chance because people think of me as an academic (which is very weird) but I'm trying!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer.  Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions.  I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters.  Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs.  Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77.  I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not.  Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!