In the aftermath of the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued the most significant presidential decree in American history, the Emancipation Proclamation, which would forever free all slaves in territory not under Union control. Nevertheless, his chief military commander in the field, Major General George B. McClellan, was outraged. Within days, two former Union officers nefariously crossed the lines into rebeldom, an initiative resulting in an elaborate subterfuge to scam Lincoln into withdrawing the Proclamation in return for nebulous promises of peace. This book tells the story, obscured in a veil of secrecy for 150 years, of the cloak and dagger chess match between Union detectives and Southern operatives in the months before emancipation become effective. Despite an ominous warning by author Herman Melville five years before, the scheme to perpetuate slavery almost succeeded, for it was engineered by a man the National Police Gazette once declared the "King of the Confidence Men."

Hardcover reprint of the original 1918 edition - beautifully bound in brown cloth covers featuring titles stamped in gold, 8vo - 6x9. No adjustments have been made to the original text, giving readers the full antiquarian experience. For quality purposes, all text and images are printed as black and white. This item is printed on demand. Book Information: Venable, William Henry. A Centennial History Of Christ Church, Cincinnati, 1817-1917. Indiana: Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012. Original Publishing: Venable, William Henry. A Centennial History Of Christ Church, Cincinnati, 1817-1917, . Cincinnati, Stewart & Kidd, 1918. Subject: Christ Church, Cincinnati

Algernon Sidney Crapsey: “The Last of the Heretics,” is a biography about a man whose life reflected the religious, social and cultural conventions of late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. The fascinating changes that Crapsey experienced in his personal life paralleled the intellectual developments that attended the nation as it moved from a Protestant, Christian culture to a primarily secular one. Recognizing those transformations in the life of Crapsey helps us to understand them at the societal level as well. After a short stint in the military during the Civil War, Crapsey began his career as a young man caught up in the pomp and ritual of the Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism. He maintained a long romance with the medieval communitarian- based Anglican institution. He eventually became a leading missioner or, one who brought instruction and Episcopal evangelism to various places both at home and abroad. He was, at one point, the leading candidate for the Bishopric of Omaha, Nebraska though he ultimately declined the offer. But as he became more successful at one point traveling to Great Britain, he eventually witnessed the discrepancies between the hierarchical church and the laity. The seeds of socialism both Christian and secular were set at this point. He became more and more broad- minded and liberal in his thinking leading to his utterances of heresy and eventual excommunication between 1905-07. His trial captivated the nation twenty years before the Scopes Monkey Trial, and every major newspaper carried its developments. As he moved on in years his life deepened becoming more interesting and legendary as a favorite circuit speaker, author, avowed communist and New York State’s first youth probation officer. For many, his death at the end of the decade of the twenties marked the end an era of modernism in America. As a true progressive, Crapsey had not only helped to initiate a process that brought successive modification to society, but he also helped to establish a tradition of liberality within the Episcopal Church. The subsequent controversies surrounding Bishops Pike and Spong attest to this tradition, as does the current controversy concerning the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson.

Arranged alphabetically by county. Within each county lists important agencies, court records, census records, and published sources to aid in local genalogical research.