When the banking firm of Jay Cooke and Company, a firm heavily invested in railroad construction, closed its doors on September 18, 1873, a major economic panic swept the nation.
When war broke out in 1861, kids across the North and the South said goodbye to their fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins — or joined the military themselves.
Senator Charles Sumner's outspoken support of abolition and the rights of emancipated blacks drew both praise and criticism — and almost cost him his life.Â
