A Pinch of History

John Hinderaker at Powerline points out the following odd correction from the New York Times:

A report in the City Room column on Tuesday about politicians who have served as both United States senator from New York and secretary of state misidentified the president who was in office when Alaska was purchased from Russia and misstated several dates in the careers of two of the politicians, William L. Marcy and William H. Seward, both former governors of New York. Andrew Johnson — not Abraham Lincoln — was president when Alaska was purchased in 1867. Marcy left the governor’s office in 1838, not 1839; Seward succeeded him in 1839, not 1838; and Seward took office as senator in 1849, not 1850.

Anything else you missed, Pinch?

About the illustration:

The National Union Convention met in Philadelphia in August 1866 to create a political party that would back President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction program and to elect a new Congress. Here, the convention is portrayed as a gathering of muzzled dogs, their collars inscribed with state names, who file toward a large doghouse, the "Wigwam." Except for the unwelcome arrival of Copperheads or Peace Democrats Fernando Wood and C. L. Vallandigham, the meeting was surprisingly harmonious even with the participation of representatives from both North and South. Here two dogs, "Massachusetts" and "South Carolina," side by side, lead the pack toward the Wigwam. Wood and Vallandigham are portrayed as cats, each held by the scruff of its neck by guard dogs Edgar Cowan and J. R. Doolittle. At bottom left stands a dog with a brush and a pail marked "N.Y. Times" tied to its tail. In the background "The Dead Dog of The White House," incumbent Andrew Johnson, lies in the road in front of the presidential mansion, which flies from its roof an American flag labeled "My Policy." "My Policy" was Johnson's campaign catchword. The Philadelphia movement ultimately failed, and anti-Johnson Republicans achieved more than a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress.