One day after the fall of Richmond in 1865, Thomas Chester, the Civil War's only black correspondent, sat down in the Speaker's chair of the Confederate Congress to write a dispatch.

A young Confederate officer, shocked to see a black man thus ensconced, ordered Chester out of the chair. Chester stood up as ordered, before punching the rebel in the nose, knocking him to the ground. He then sat down again and calmly returned to his work.