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III
CHRONOLOGY OF FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED

1852–1857

1852
February 18 Volume 1 of Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England is published.
October Volume 2 of Walks and Talks is published.
December 10 Begins first journey through the South.
1853
February 16 First letter of the series “The South” is published in the New-York Daily Times.
April 6 Ends first southern journey.
November 10 Begins second journey through the South with his brother, John Hull Olmsted.
1854
January 23 Kansas-Nebraska Bill is introduced in Congress.
February 13 Last letter of “The South” series is published.
March 6 First letter of the series “A Tour in the Southwest” is published in the New-York Daily Times.
May 30 Kansas-Nebraska Act is signed into law.
June 7 Last letter of the series “A Tour in the Southwest” is published.
c. August 2 Ends second southern journey.
October Circulates appeal for funds for San Antonio Zeitung.
1855
March 30 Proslavery, “bogus” territorial legislature is elected in Kansas.
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April Becomes a partner in the publishing firm of Dix, Edwards and Company and moves to New York City. Until January 1856, acts as managing editor of Putnam’s Monthly Magazine.
October Buys mountain howitzer and ammunition for free-state settlers in Kansas, acting as agent for James B. Abbott.
1856
January Publishes A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States.
February Leaves for eight months in Europe on business for Dix & Edwards.
March 29 Last issue of the San Antonio Zeitung is published.
March-May Travels on the Continent—from Paris to Marseilles, Nice, Genoa, Leghorn and Rome; then south to Naples, Pompeii and Amalfi; north to Florence, Venice and Trieste; and on to Vienna, Prague, Leipzig and Dresden.
May Adolf Douai leaves Texas for Boston.
May 20 Lawrence, Kansas, is “sacked” by proslavery forces.
May 22 Charles Sumner is caned by Preston Brooks in U. S. Senate chambers.
May–July Lives in London and attends to publishing matters. Socializes with circle of editors of Punch. Frequently visits parks in London and vicinity.
July 21–c. 29 Meets father and stepmother in Liverpool and travels with them back to London via Wales, Chester, Coventry, Kenilworth, Warwick, Stratford, Leamington, Oxford and Windsor.
c. August 7–20 Travels with family to Dresden via Ostend, Bruges, Ghent, Mechlin, Lièges, Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, Bonne, Coblenz, Bingen, Kastel, Hesse-Cassel, Frankfort, Leipzig and Dresden. Returns to London via Berlin and Hamburg.
September New territorial governor of Kansas, John W. Geary, begins program of “pacification.”
October Returns to New York from England.
December Writes “Letter to a Southern Friend.”
1857
January Publishes A Journey Through Texas.
January John Hull Olmsted leaves for Cuba and Europe in search of better health.
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March 4 Governor Geary of Kansas resigns.
March 6 Dred Scott decision is announced by U. S. Supreme Court.
March–April Writes introduction and supplement for American edition of T. H. Gladstone’s The Englishman in Kansas.
March 26 Robert J. Walker is appointed governor of Kansas Territory.
April Becomes partner in publishing firm of Miller & Company, with George W. Curtis and J. W. Miller.
May Begins to work with New England Emigrant Aid Company to promote free-labor colonization in Texas and “Neosho.”
June Publishes American edition of The Englishman in Kansas. Withdraws as partner in Miller & Company.
June 3 First letter of the series “The Southerners at Home” is published in the New York Daily Tribune.
August 6 Publishing firm of Miller & Curtis fails.
August 12 Applies for post of superintendent of Central Park in New York City.
August 24 Last letter in “The Southerners at Home” series is published.
September 11 Appointed superintendent of Central Park.
November 24 John Hull Olmsted dies in Nice.