By the summer of 1863, the Civil War had dragged on longer than anyone thought at the outset, and leaders on both sides were desperate for more money, arms, manufactured goods, and most of all men. That growing desperation had inspired secretary of war Edwin Stanton to authorize Massachusetts governor John Andrew to start enlisting the nation’s first Black troops a few months before, including the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, whose well deserved fame was refreshed with the movie Glory. The influx of fresh and motivated troops contributed to Union gains throughout the rest of the war, but the so-called colored regiments were not enough. In July of that year, Congress passed a law compelling able bodied men into military service for the first time. Here in Boston, the burden of that draft law fell disproportionately on the working class Irish Americans of South Boston and the North End. And as we’ll see, the Irish had strong resentments based in class, race, religion, and economics that made them suspicious of compulsory service. These tensions boiled over on the evening of July 14th, 1863 as marshals attempted to serve the first draft notices in the crowded and narrow streets of the North End, with the US Army eventually firing artillery and small arms into a crowd of civilian protesters at point blank range.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/252/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

In this episode, Seth Bruggeman discusses his recent book Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston. In it, he traces the development of the Freedom Trail and our Boston National Historic Park, examining the inevitable tension between driving tourism revenue to Boston and doing good history. He delves into the politics surrounding our local historic sites during the trauma of urban renewal in Boston and the violence of the busing era that followed. He also argues that the Freedom Trail and related sites have been used to defend dominant ideas about whiteness at several different points in Boston’s contested history.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/251/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Seth Bruggeman is an Associate Professor of history at Temple University, where he studies the role of memory in public life, especially how Americans have used objects (in museums, monuments, historic sites, and beyond) to exert control over how we understand the past. Lost on the Freedom Trail is his fourth book.

Seth’s faculty profile | Twitter | Facebook

HUB History won a Massachusetts History Alliance Star Award for innovation in communications in public history!

For our 250th episode, we’re trying something different. This week, Aaron Minton from the Pilgrim’s Digress podcast is turning the tables on your usual host, Jake. And instead of asking the questions, this time Jake has to answer them.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/250/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Aaron and I discussed a lot of past episodes this week. Here are most of them… comment below with any that I missed!

Eric Jay Dolin joins us this week to discuss his new book Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. We’ll discuss the role of privateers in the American Revolution, with a special focus on the many privateersmen who sailed out of Boston and New England. Privateers were civilian ships that were outfitted for war by optimistic investors, with volunteer crews who were willing to risk their lives fighting for a share of the profits. From the mouth of Boston Harbor to the very shores of Britain, these private warships sailed in search of rich English merchant vessels, while risking the lives and freedom of their crews. While their role is mostly forgotten today, Eric will explain how privateer crews helped turn the tide of Revolution in favor of the Americans, and we’ll discuss how our modern habit of associating privateering with piracy leads to a distaste for the privateersmen who helped win our independence. Rebels at Sea will be available in bookstores everywhere on May 31, 2022.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/249/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Eric Jay Dolin is the author of 15 books, including a history of the US China trade, a history of whaling, and an environmental history of Boston Harbor. His 2019 book Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates was a finalist for the Julia Ward Howe award and a featured pick at the Mass Historical Society. His most recent book, Rebels at Sea, which shines a spotlight on piracy’s more respectable cousin the privateer, is available for preorder now, and it will be in bookstores everywhere on May 31.

Find out more about Eric and his upcoming book events on his website, and follow him on Facebook for the latest news.

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Liberty & Co, who sell unique products inspired by the American Revolution. If you find yourself inspired by today’s episode, you might consider a design featuring the so-called pine tree flag or the flag of the Massachusetts naval militia. A white banner with a large green pine tree under the words “An Appeal to Heaven,” this flag was used by the fleet of ships that George Washington personally funded after arriving in Boston in the summer of 1775, by the state navy that Massachusetts fielded (at least until it was decimated in the Penobscot expedition that we discussed in episode 25), and unofficially by countless privateers who sailed from Massachusetts during the Revolution.

At Liberty & Co, you can purchase this design as a t-shirt, a trucker’s hat, a sticker, or even a 3 x 5 foot flag. If that doesn’t float your boat, you can find merch with other flags of local significance, like the 1774 Taunton flag, emblazoned with the words “liberty and union,” or the New England flag, a red field with a green pine tree in a white union that is said to have flown at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Save 20% on any purchase with the discount code HUBHISTORY.

This episode continues our story of Joshua Slocum and his solo circumnavigation of the globe. We’ll follow Captain Slocum as he builds the little sloop Spray and hatches a plan to make money for his family by sailing alone around the world for the first time.  We’ll follow his astounding path from Boston to the rock of Gibraltar, back to South America, and through the months long ordeal of the Straits of Magellan.  We’ll learn how he sailed thousands of miles across the South pacific to Samoa without ever touching the wheel of the sloop, while his family worried that he had perished at sea.  And we’ll follow him on his pilgrimage to the home of Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson, his adventure in South Africa, and finally across the Atlantic and home, covering about 46,000 miles in three years, two months, and two days.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/248/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Captain Joshua Slocum’s adventure began in Boston, and it took him to nearly every corner of the world, nearly costing him his life on multiple occasions, and probably costing him his marriage. But in the end it earned him a place in history as the first person to circumnavigate the world completely alone, covering about 46,000 miles in three years, two months, and two days, without so much as a dog or a ship’s rat for company. The saga begins long before that legendary 1895 voyage, when the growing and very seafaring Slocum family lived at sea for 13 years, until they were visited by unspeakable tragedy. It follows them as they attempt to pick up the pieces, only to encounter further misfortunes that drove a wedge into the family and drove the Captain out to sea in his handmade sloop on what seemed like an impossible mission: sailing alone around the world.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/247/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Two deadly murders were committed in and around Boston using military grade assault weapons, and both of them happened in the middle of a raging debate around gun control in this country. You might assume I am talking about an incident that happened after the school shootings in Parkland Florida in 2018 or Columbine in 1999, but I’m not. The first crime took place in the sleepy Boston suburb of Needham in 1934, when three gangsters used a stolen Tommy gun to rob the Needham savings bank and murder two policemen. Sadly, this deadly crime took place just months before the 1934 federal firearms act made it illegal for civilians to own machine guns. The second crime we’ll discuss took place a generation later, in 1989, in the middle of a heated national debate that resulted in George HW Bush’s 1989 limited assault weapons ban, and the stronger 1994 ban that was allowed to expire in 2004. In what has to be the only recorded example of someone going postal in the sky, a disgruntled postal worker killed his ex wife, stole a plane, and spent hours shooting up downtown Boston with an AK-47.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/246/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

The photos below are by Leslie Jones

Diagrams from the Boston Globe

Pre-1934 advertisements for the Thompson submachine gun.

Professor Kelly Kilcrease of UNH Manchester joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his new book, Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea. Today, Long Wharf is easily missed along Boston’s waterfront, but that’s because the rest of the city has grown up around what was once considered one of the great wonders of the modern world. From the beginning of the 18th century until the early 20th century, Long Wharf was the grand front entrance to our city, welcoming visitors, sea captains, immigrants, and even enslaved Africans. Dr Kilcrease will tell us why the grand pier was built, how the proprietors funded it, and how it has changed over the past 300 years.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/245/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Dr. Kelly Kilcrease is an associate professor of business at UNH Manchester, with a focus on the history of business and small business development. His previous book is a history of shoe manufacturing in Manchester, and he’s authored a number of articles about Boston and New England history. He joined me to discuss his new book, Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea.

For more about Dr. Kilcrease and his work, check out his faculty profile.

This week we’re featuring a magician. And not just any magician, one of the most famous of all time, Harry Houdini. When he wasn’t busy escaping from locked jail cells and underwater safes, the Great Houdini made it a personal mission to unmask fraudulent mediums. In the early 20th century, mediums, spiritualists, and psychic practitioners of all kinds were undergoing a massive boom. With all the death associated with the Great War and the global flu pandemic, the public was desperate for a message from the other side, and there were plenty of practitioners who were willing to sell it to them. The practice of spiritualism was so widespread and accepted that the journal Scientific American was on the brink of giving it the stamp of scientific legitimacy. The leading contender for their approval (and their large cash prize) was a Beacon Hill medium who went by the stage name Margery. And she might have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for that meddling magician, too!

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/244/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/