The August 6, 1869 edition of the Carlisle Herald reported on the Grand Tournament held several days before to celebrate “the emancipation of the slaves of the Southern States” by a procession through the streets of Carlisle and a tournament at Graham’s Grove.
Carlisle Herald, July 11, 1872. “The colored citizens of Carlisle and vicinity, contemplate holding a grand National celebration, in commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln in this place on Thursday, August 1, 1872.
In August 1859, Jacob Rheem held the Grand Opening of his new Hall in Carlisle located behind the Courthouse on Courthouse Avenue.
On Monday, April 10, 1865, news of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia reached Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In response to this event one of the town’s newspapers, the American Volunteer, exclaimed, “Thank God! [T]he fearful and bloody rebellion that has desolated our land for over four long years, costing, as it did, hundreds of thousands of lives, thousands of millions of treasure, is, so far as fighting is concerned, over.”1 Lee’s surrender signaled an end to the fighting between the United States and the Southern Confederacy.
Velocipedes were all the rage in Paris, and by November 1868 they had made their appearance on the streets of New York and were causing a sensation.