Peter Hopper of Princeton Junction was honored recently as the first recipient of the John T. Cunningham Lincoln Prize for his paper, “No Paper Compromise: The Federal Response to the Pratt Street Riot Escalated What Proved to be a Costly Conflict between Maryland and the Union.”
The prize was awarded during a meeting of the Civil War Round Table.
The author of more than 50 books, Mr. Cunningham is one of the founders of the New Jersey Historical Commission and a past president of the New Jersey Historical Society.
His 20-plus documentary films include several in the Historical Commission’s series on historical New Jersey, in which he has acted as host. In 1986 he was awarded an Emmy for his documentary film, “Dreams of Distant Shores.”
Peter, a freshman at Princeton Day School, was also honored at the 2008 NJ History Day Awards Ceremony with prizes in two of the four special award categories, including best use of newspapers as a primary source presented by The Record/North Jersey Media Group.
At the 27th annual National History Day competition held at the University of Maryland in June, Peter’s paper won the esteemed Civil War History Special Prize, selected from all entries that encompass both Junior and Senior divisions in all categories.
The award is sponsored by the Civil War Preservation Trust and bestows a generous cash prize and a medal.
More than 500,000 students participate annually in the National History Day Program from 48 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam and the European Department of Defense schools.
More than 3,000 students traveled to the University of Maryland for the National Competition, a showcase for intensive research on a myriad of subjects that students related to this year’s theme, “Conflict and Compromise in History.”
Peter’s paper was the result of more than a year of reading and research about Lincoln’s response to the first bloodshed of the Civil War, when angry citizens attacked Federal troops marching through Baltimore.
Peter’s extensive reading of Lincoln’s daily logs, newspapers of the time, and other primary and secondary sources revealed that the President’s angry response to overtures from Baltimore delegates set the stage for long-standing conflict between the citizens of Maryland and the Federal government.
Dr. Joan Ruddiman served as Peter’s adviser for his NHD research project.

