The American Civil War

The American Civil War

1860 In America this December, Abraham Lincoln* (1809-65) is elected the 16th President. This sends a signal to the South to secede from the Union. President Buchanan* promises there won't be any hostilities but he sends troops to Fort Sumpter (South Carolina).

Hawthorne* publishes The Marble Faun*. This year Garibaldi* leads a bunch of "red shirts" in a spectacular conquest of Sicily and

Naples. He turns it all over to the king, except for Rome, which doesn't get taken over. 1861 Kansas becomes the 34th state. Abraham Lincoln* finds that by Inauguration Day seven

states have seceded. When he summons the militia and Confederate troops fire on Ft. Sumpter, four more states secede. The Confederacy* (made up of South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee) makes Richmond, VA their capital and they elect Jefferson Davis* president. This will be the bloodiest war in the history of the country. Obviously theatre will be needed for entertainment where there is no fighting, and, where the war is being fought, it will not do too well. One thing this war will do is give railroads a terrific boost. For a big country like the United States (however temporarily fragmented) this will be a good thing.

This year Italy is united as a country under Victor Emanuel II*, the king of Sardinia as the new king of Italy.

In Great Britain this year, Prince Albert*, husband of Queen Victoria, dies and the Queen goes into three years of seclusion.

1861 - Two months after the outbreak of the American Civil War Laura Keene*'s theatre is the only one open in New York. Unfortunately her standards have to be lowered and the company sinks to mainly melodrama and spectacle.

1860s In Great Britain miners and textile workers are getting organized into unions. In France, Louis Pasteur* (1822-95) is busy developing the process of pasteurization which

will make food a lot healthier. Actually he is discovering microorganisms that cause food spoilage and then he works on how to get rid of them. This leads to great improvements in the canning business (started by Nicolas Appert* and patented in the U.S. in 1815).

1862 - In Paris this year an actress (who will become the most famous French star of the late nineteenth century) makes her debut. Sarah Bernhardt* (1844-1923) will spend about ten years performing and learning her art before making a deep impression on the theatrical world.

In Russia this year a Frenchman, Marius Petipa* (1822-1910), is appointed balletmaster of the Imperial Schools. This guy will raise Russian ballet to a peak of perfection. He will choreograph 74 long works (including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, with music by Tchaikovsky*) and give them the form long associated with the later, world-famous, Russian ballet.

1862 This year another powerful player shows up on the European stage. This is a guy called Bismark* (Otto von Bismark, 1815-98) who will be known as the Iron Chancellor*. This year

he becomes the premier of Prussia, and, acting for William I* (king of same), he (Bismark) unconstitutionally dissolves the parliament and illegally levies a bunch of taxes to pay for the army. He will be a busy (and devious) adversary for Austria.

1863 - This year a rising star of the American stage, Edwin Booth* (1833-93) takes over as manager of the Winter Garden Theatre* (known as the Metropolitan Theatre* until 1859). Edwin is one of three sons (the others are Junius Junior, and, of course, John Wilkes, of whom we will hear more later) of the English actor, Junius Brutus Booth* Senior (1796-1852) who came over to America in 1821. He (Edwin) made his first stage appearance at 16, toured Australia and is now a fine tragedian. He will be the first American actor to get a European reputation and will do a lot of starring tours all over. We'll hear more of him later.

1863 West Virginia is created the 35th state and Lincoln* issues the Emancipation Proclamation* declaring all slaves free. They aren't, of course, in the Confederacy*. That, however, will come soon. Meanwhile, the oil industry is taking off. This year John D. Rockefeller* starts an oil refinery with some partners.

1864 This year Bismark* (the Prussian guy, see 1862) provokes a war with Denmark as the first step toward getting Austria out of the German Confederation*. The next step will soon follow.

In America, Nevada comes in as the 36th state and General Sherman is marching through Georgia. The physical and economic devastation of the South sets theatre in that area back to square one [It does't do anything else much good either.]

1864 - Ibsen* (the Norwegian playwright) gets a little traveling scholarship and takes off for Italy. He won't go home for 27 years. Travel is broadening and he will learn a great deal more about playwrighting in Europe. This year an English playwright, Thomas William Robertson* (1829-1971), has his first big success with David Garrick*. He is one of the few in Great Britain to be interested in this realistic* stuff, but since he worked for Mme Vestris* (see above) it's logical. He's writing about contemporary life in very specific settings with great detail about the place and the stage business. He will continue to write them throughout the 1860s but he's just about the only one.

1865 - Boucicault* writes Rip Van Winkle* for Joseph Jefferson* 1829-1905). Jefferson* (the third) comes to be associated primarily with this role which he plays, almost exclusively, for the next fifteen years. He first appeared on the stage at the age of 4 and will spend 71 years acting. He has a charming, humorous personality and is typical of the best in America at this time. He toured Australia (1861-65) and becomes the recognized head of the American acting profession when he succeeds Edwin Booth* as President of the Players Club (see 1888) in 1893. He lectures, writes a delightful autobiography (1890) and generally serves his profession well.

A native American, Lotta Crabtree* (1847-1924), makes her New York debut this year. She has been dancing, singing and acting all over the west since she was six. She is one of the most popular entertainers in America (especially in the mining towns where she tours widely). Her versatility is legendary.

1865 An English surgeon, Joseph Lister* (1827-1912, 1st Baron of Lister) has been studying that germ theory of Pasteur* and comes up with the beginning of antiseptic surgery.

The United States are finally united again with the surrender of Gerneral Robert E. Lee* at Appomattox* to General Ulysses S. Grant*. The Civil War* is over and it will take a very long time for the defeated South to recover.

This is the year Mark Twain* (1835-1910, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens) becomes widely known for his The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County*.

The Confederacy surrender happens on the 9th of April and on the 14th, while Lincoln* is attending a performance of Our American Cousin* (by Tom Taylor*, put on by Laura Keene*'s company) at Ford's Theatre*, the actor, John Wilkes Booth*, assinates him. This throws the country into a tizzy and gives American theatre a black eye. No President will again attend a theatre performance until the 1960s. The theatre manager and his brother are thrown in jail for 39 days, but it turns out they had nothing to do with it. The theatre is closed and never opened again. [Eventually, in 1932, the property will be turned into a Lincoln museum. In 1954 Congress will vote money to restore the theatre to the way it looks this year. It will open in 1968.]

The Vice President, Andrew Johnson* (1808-75), becomes the 17th president.