The July 4 celebration of 1860 had been impressive enough
On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces in Charleston, S.C., began bombarding Union-held Fort Sumter in the city's harbor.On April 13, the fort surrendered. The Civil War had begun.The people of Springfield defiantly refused to let the bad news cancel their annual July 4 celebration, however. The 1861 party was quite as extensive as the 1860 version had been, though not quite the same,guccioutlet-brand.com.The July 4 celebration of 1860 had been impressive enough, setting a high standard for 1861 to follow.The main events were "gotten up" in Hampden Park, organized by one Mr. Tilly Haynes. Two music bands, the Hatfield brass and the Hartford cornet, played in the park all day.There were also theater performances at the Music Hall, both day and evening. These performances served as a nice backdrop for the two main attractions, a tight-rope show by a Professor Sweet, and a balloon ascension by Professor H.M. Spencer,cheap-louisvuittonoutlet.webs.com, of Winsted, Conn., with his daughter.Professor Sweet began his performances that morning, by walking a tight-rope 25 feet above the ground in the park. He really wowed the spectators in the afternoon, however, with repeated crossings of the Connecticut River, about 20 feet up, on a rope 1,500 feet long - the longest tight-rope walk up to that time. The river was lined for almost a mile with spectators.That afternoon saw the balloon ascension by Professor Spencer in a balloon named "The Comet,http://www.hogan1sito.com/." It reached a mile-and-a-half altitude, and eventually landed in Agawam,Louis Vuitton Outlet.The evening closed with fireworks, set off by Springfielders all over town. The fireworks included firecrackers, rockets and Roman candles. There were also other fireworks set off, with names strange to the modern reader, such as Hissing Serpents, Grasshoppers, Blue Lights, Silver Flags, Triangles, Bengola Lights and Flower Pots.The July 4, 1861, celebration made for an interesting contrast. It was organized in honor of the newly minted 10th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.During the morning, the 10th Regiment marched through the main streets of Springfield, together with local fire companies, and the new Union Guards, City Guard and Springfield cadets. Some 800 school children presented each man of the 10th with a bouquet of flowers. The 10th stuck the flowers on the points of their muskets.The soldiers were given a lunch under a great tent in the park, inevitably accompanied by speeches from local politicians and military officers. At 5 p.m., the soldiers gave a dress parade before some 10,000 spectators.Mr. Haynes had not been idle this year,true religion jeans outlet, either, and arranged for theatrical and acrobatic shows at the Music Hall and City Hall.The evening again closed with fireworks by people around the town.The July 4, 1861, issue of the Springfield Daily Republican, as it was then called, described the war just beginning as "the decisive battle between freedom and slavery as ruling elements in the American government."On the other hand, its prediction of the war's duration was sadly wrong: "We believe that before the next national birth-day dawns, we shall have a re-united country.", a free-lance writer, lives in Washington, D.C.His sources for this column include: Springfield Daily Republican,http://www.monsterbeats1store.com/, July 3,nike soccer cleats, 1860, Page 1; July 4, 1860, Page 2; July 6, 1860, Page 2; July 3, 1861, Page 3; July 4, 1861, Page 1; and July 6, 1861, page 1.
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