In Harpers Weekly, there is a section of Humors of the day..

I like to read these over and see if I can get the joke or not.  I do like these couple from Jan 10, 1863:

A gentleman, one evening, was seated near a lovely woman, when the company around him were proposing conundrums to each other. Turning to his companion, the said, "Why is a lady unlike a mirror?" She "gave it up." "Because," said the rude fellow, "a mirror reflects without speaking, a lady speaks without reflecting." "And why are you unlike a mirror?" asked the lady. He could not tell. "Because a mirror is smooth and polished, and you are rough and unpolished." The gentleman owned there was one lady who did not speak without both reflecting and casting reflections.

"The boy at the head of the class will state what were the Dark Ages of the world." Boy hesitates. "Next. Master Biggs, can you tell me what the Dark Ages were?" "I guess they were the ages before spectacles were invented." "Go to your seats."

Greg,  One of my favorite jokes comes from the Gallipolis Journal Nov. 8, 1855.

Quote :

Fit For A Lawyer. -- An old lady walked into a lawyer's office lately, when the following conversation took place: "Squire, I called here to see if you would like to take this boy and make a lawyer out of him." "The boy appears rather young, madam.  How old is he?" "Seven years, sir." "He is too young, decidedly, decidedly too young.  Have you no older boys?" "Oh, yes sir, I have several; but we have concluded to make farmers out of the others.  I told my old man I thought this little fellow would make a first-rate lawyer, and so I called to see if you would take him." "No, madam, he is too young yet to commense the study of a profession.  But why do you think this boy is so much better calculated for a lawyer than your other sons?  What are his qualifications?" "Why, you see, sir, he is just seven years old to-day.  When he was only five, he would lie like the devil; when he got to be six, he was as sassy and impudent as any critter could be, and now he will steal anything he can lay his hands on.  Now if he's not fit for a lawyer, I would like to onwo what else he will have to learn?" "A promising youth, decidedly a promising youth, madam."

Two other favorites of mine are also from the Journal, the first being from the same issue as the one above.

Quote :

"I'm glad to find you better," said John Hunter, the famous surgeon, to Foot, the equally famous actor, one morning, "You followed my prescrïption of course?" "Indeed I did not, doctor," replied Sam, "for I should have broke my neck?" "Broke your neck?" exclaimed Hunter in amazement. "Yes, said Foote, "For I threw your prescrïption out of a three story window."

And finally, from the same Journal but the January 2, 1862 issue

Quote :

"Tinton!" exclaimed an Irish sergent to his platoon: "front face and tind to rowl call!  As many of ye as are present say 'Here!' and as many of ye as are not present say 'Absint!'"

Well, there you have my favorite jokes.    

Linda.

The following are from the Lancaster Union. It appears the paper was very short-lived, starting publication around the time of the firing on Ft. Sumter and wrapping up publication in less than a year.

The Lancaster Union – Saturday, July 13, 1861 –

The editor of the Charleston Mercury complains that his water-pipe has been cut. Pity it hadn’t been his wind-pipe.
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Jeff. Davis told his people, at the outset of this business, that the war should be wholly upon the soil of the Northern States. He seems to be a long while in getting there.
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The Lancaster Union – Saturday, July 20, 1861 –

Men are so differently constituted, that external condition is a poor index of happiness. A shoe which fits one man’s foot well, may grievously pinch another man’s.

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The Lancaster Union – Saturday, September 14, 1861

There was a Man –
There was a man in Richmond Town;
And he was Wond’rous Wise;
He jumped upon a battle horse,
And to the war he flies-
But when he saw the guns about;
With all his might and main;
He jumped upon another horse;
And rode away again!

****

The Lancaster Union – Saturday, Sept. 28, 1861 –

How Natural – On a recent occasion, as the marriage ceremony was about to be performed in a church in a neighboring town, when the clergyman desired all those persons wishing to be married to rise up, a large number of ladies immediately rose.
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Somebody has defined glory to be “getting killed in battle, and having your name spelt wrong in the papers.”
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The Lancaster Union – Saturday, November 2, 1861

One of our exchanges has discovered the cause of the retreat of our army at Bull Run. It says ‘when the battle was at its hottest point and nearly won to our side, there came word that there were two vacancies in the New York Custom House. Hence the stampede of the leading officers. The men followed.