Historic Philadelphia

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Right: Camp William Penn was established
in Cheltenham Township in June 1863, as a
training post for U.S. Colored Troops. By
the war’s end, eleven regiments of local
African Americans were mustered there, a
total of 10,940 enlisted men commanded
by four hundred white officers. Noncommissioned
officers were selected from
the ranks.
COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA.
Below: The Continental Hotel was the
largest in the United States when it opened
on the southeast corner of Ninth and
Chestnut Streets in 1860. Guests during the
posh hotel’s first year included the first
Japanese government delegation ever to visit
the United States (thousands of
Philadelphians lined the streets to see them
arrive), the Prince of Wales (who later
became King Edward VII) and Presidentelect
Abraham Lincoln.
COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.
HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA
76
reached City Hall that Richmond, the
Confederate capital, had been captured. The
city erupted like a dozen Independence Days.
Flags appeared everywhere, cheering crowds
roamed the streets, bells and whistles clamored,
and some twenty-five hundred employees from
the Navy Yard marched around the city,
accompanied by the Marine Band. The staff of
the Evening Bulletin borrowed a cannon from
the Moyamensing Hose Company firemen and
began firing continually on the roof of their
offices at Fourth and Chestnut, celebrating not
only the Union victory, but the fact that the
paper had just sold an “extra” of ninety-three
thousand copies, about fifteen times the normal
daily circulation.
April 9 was Palm Sunday, a quiet day on
which the new Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul
on Logan Square held its first masses. The
domed edifice was begun by Bishop Francis P.
Kenrick in 1846, and finished by Bishop James
F. Wood in 1864. After about 9 p.m. the city was
quiet no longer; news arrived that Robert E.
Lee’s army had surrendered. Rumors had raised
expectations, and when lights began going on in
newspaper offices around Third and Chestnut,
the public knew what was up. The Bulletin and
North American buildings ignited decorative gas
jets, and the Ledger lit up gas-outlined stars
designed for celebrations. Independence Hall’s
bell began to ring. Fire engines and factories
blew steam whistles. Church bells rang. Firemen
and the military marched around in disciplined
aimlessness. Cannons fired. There were bonfires
and fireworks.
The revelry in the street continued until 2
a.m. Outside the Union League house at 1118
Chestnut Street, a disheveled mob sang until