Our own worst enemy

Abraham Lincoln gave this speech when he was a young lawyer and a representative in the Illinois State Legislature. He considered his time as the inheritor of blessings from the founders, and that those inheritances were being eroded. I included the previous paragraph before the one I bolded (to give a bit of context and introduction) . Certainly, times and military prowess have changed in the nearly two hundred since Lincoln’s speech. Nevertheless, his observations are up-to-date. We are still our own worst enemy.

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee

A very interesting bit of obscure American history:

On August 1, 1946, a group of Southern World War Two veterans in Athens, Tennessee, fought and won the only successful armed insurrection in the United States since the War of Independence...

Knox Henry was sworn in as Sheriff, declaring: “We have accomplished what we started out to do. We’ve broken the grip of the political machine that has ruled McMinn County for ten years without regard as to the wishes of the people in how their government was to be run. When I say we, I mean the other GIs on the nonpartisan cleanup ticket and the citizens of McMinn County who helped us win the battle. We regret that the gunfight at the jail had to happen...Our only alternative was to use force...there will be no trouble of this kind at the next election. Any person who can qualify for an office may run with the full assurance of an honest election and the people will have nothing to fear when they go to the polls on Election Day.”

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee

Evangelicals’ Opposition to Abortion

The History of American Evangelicals’ Opposition to Abortion Is Long -- “To take pro-choice revisionists at their word, one would have to believe that, with Roe, the Supreme Court struck down restrictive abortion laws that came from nowhere and were passed by nobody but merely existed.”

The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child. [Didache 2:1–2 (a.d. 70)]
In the new historiography of the abortion debate, the reason that pro-lifers are against abortion is not that they sincerely believe it to be murder. Rather they are operating from a false consciousness, hiding their real motive, racism...To take pro-choice revisionists at their word, one would have to believe that, with Roe, the Supreme Court struck down restrictive abortion laws that came from nowhere and were passed by nobody but merely existed.

A Fourth of July speech

A little while back I noticed someone mention book I'd never heard of -- Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption. Sounded interesting. I ordered it. The following excerpt comes from “that (redeemed) devil Forrest” speaking in 1875 to a black group called the Pole-Bearers Association (according to the author, this was a forerunner of the NAACP) and others at a Fourth of July celebration.

Forrest: “I came here with the jeers of some white people, who think that I am doing wrong. I believe I can exert some influence, and do much to assist the people in strengthening fraternal relations, and shall do all in my power to elevate every man, to depress none. I want to elevate you to take positions in law offices, in stores, on farms, and wherever you are capable of going...I did not come here to make you a long speech, although invited to do so by you. I am not much of a speaker, and my business prevented me from preparing myself. I came to meet you as friends, and welcome you to the white people. I want you to come nearer to us. When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I'll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand.”

Nathan Bedford Forrest is known for many things, but very seldom for his late in life Christian conversion. The text of Forrest's speech was printed in the Memphis Daily Appeal, July 06, 1875, page 1.

Jones and other Free States

The movie Free State of Jones debuted in theaters on Friday June 24th. It "tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy...[who]...continued his struggle into Reconstruction." The Free State of Jones was the region of Jones County, Mississippi and surrounding counties that threw off the yoke of the Confederacy in the final years of the War Between the States. The movie is rated "R" because of its violence and graphic images (for example, in the opening scenes of the movie we see the back of a soldier's head get blown out and hogs eating the guts of a wounded or dead soldier). There is no sex (though implied), nudity or profanity. For a Hollywood movie, it does a pretty fair job following the historical events -- though there is obviously a lot of license. And some of the facts are disputed as well. History vs Hollywood points out some of the fact and fiction.

The movie will serve a good purpose if it makes us think about and research our history and heritage. Due to the firmly-embraced narrative of the Lost Cause, I suspect many of us native Southerners rarely think of the amount of doubt, discouragement, dissension, desertion -- and outright rebellion -- across the South regarding secession and war. The truth is clouded by the lore of some who inflate the anti-Confederate identity -- while others who settled into life in the post-war South wanted to erase and forget it (even some who were among the "antis").

Jones County, Mississippi may have one of the best stories for retelling, but it was not the only area of its kind to oppose secession and the Confederacy. Others include the Nickajack region of North Alabama and Southeast Tennessee, the Republic of Winston in Northwest Alabama, Searcy County in Arkansas, the State of Scott in North Tennessee, and the Free State of Van Zandt in Texas. Many East Texans have heard of Van Zandt County as the "Free State of Van Zandt," but varying stories and legends make us wonder whether it was ever a "free state" in the same sense as Jones County, Mississippi. Evan Andrews tells us of 6 Southern Unionist Strongholds During the Civil War -- one that is seldom mentioned and little-known, the Hill Country of Texas, and one that is so well-known and obvious that we forget, the state of West Virginia. Perhaps one of the best known Southern leaders who opposed secession was General Sam Houston. He refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Confederate States of America and was removed from the office of Governor of Texas, but he did not actively support the Union. He died in 1863 during the middle of the War.

Interesting facts
Rudy H. Leverett, author of the scholarly work The Legend of the Free State of Jones from University of Mississippi Press, was the great-grandson of Major Amos McLemore (believed killed by Newton Knight). Leverett is buried in the same small cemetery as McLemore in Forrest County. Victoria E. Bynum, who wrote The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War, says Leverett’s book "exposed so many of the untruths passed on over the years" and her book "takes up where Dr. Leverett left off, but he and I came to very different conclusions about the men and families who joined and supported the Knight Company."

Ethel Boykin Knight, who wrote The Echo of the Black Horn was married to Sidney Knight, a grandson of Newton Knight's uncle D. C. Knight. Her book gives a very unflattering view of the Knight Company. Her husband's Knight ancestors fought for the Confederacy.

Why one man fought the Civil War

The Sniper Who Slayed More Than 100 Union Soldiers – “...sometimes a man simply fights because of personal loss — and the need for bloodstained revenge.”

In his book Jack Hinson’s One-Man War: A Civil War Sniper, Tom McKenney describes Hinson as “a Southerner at heart,” but one who “was firmly against secession and war.” The brutal death of his sons changed all that. Two of Hinson’s sons “were caught with rifles by a Union patrol while hunting squirrels, they were executed on suspicion of guerrilla activity, their decapitated heads delivered to Bubbling Springs, the Hinson plantation, and mounted on gateposts. That was the day that 57-year-old Hinson’s neutrality came to an end.” Hinson freed his slaves, collected his rifle, and waged his own war against the Union – beginning with “the lieutenant responsible for killing his sons” and the soldier who put his sons’ heads on his gateposts.

The Free State of Jones

• Baptists and the American Civil War: March 31, 1864 -- " Newton Knight, Confederate deserter and Primitive Baptist...remains controversial almost a century after his death."
• Did Jones County Secede from the Confederacy? -- "Newt himself, as well as his 1st Sgt., Jasper J. Collins, and Jasper’s son, Loren, all denied the myth of secession during their lifetimes."
• Free State of Jones (2016) -- "We Stood firm to the union when secession swept as an avalanche over the state."
• Jasper Collins and the ‘Ellisville Patriot’ -- "For many Southern renegades, their actions during the Civil War marked a single instance in which they felt compelled to defy the expectations of the larger Southern community."
• Newt Knight vs. The U.S. Court of Claims -- "Newt Knight was relentless in his efforts to gain compensation for himself and his men from the U.S. Government for having served the Union."
• Newton Knight -- "Knight Cemetery, Jasper County, Mississippi"
• Newton Knight and the Legend of the Free State of Jones -- "Private Jasper Collins, was furious: “This law...makes it a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”"
• Rachel Knight and Her Descendants -- "There were but two options open to Rachel’s descendants,...remain in Mississippi...to suffer racial discrimination and prejudice...as blacks...The other option for Rachel’s descendants was to move to other states where they were not known and could passa blanca..."
• Rachel Knight and Her Descendants, Part 2 -- "Newt set Rachel and her children up in a house next door to his family and brought them up as white."
• Rachel Knight and Her Descendants, Part 3 -- "They were raised as white in an isolated environment and had difficulty being accepted by either whites or blacks."
• ‘The Free State of Jones’ Battles Civil War Cliches -- "...this will likely be the first exposure to the history of Reconstruction for many moviegoers."
• The True Story of the ‘Free State of Jones’ -- "He was a Primitive Baptist who didn’t drink, didn’t cuss, doted on children and could reload and fire a double-barreled, muzzle-loading shotgun faster than anyone else around."
• Who was Newt Knight of “Free State of Jones?” -- "A number of Knight family members served the Confederacy, including Newt who enlisted in the 8th Mississippi Infantry, Co. K, in August of 1861 for a one-year term."
• Why I wrote the Free State of Jones -- "...the American Revolution and the opening of the Southwestern frontier—shaped attitudes toward authority and government among these plain folks of the Old South."

Two Ships from Southampton

On August 5, 1620 two ships set sail from Southampton, England -- destination America, the New World. Many of the "The Pilgrims" had been living in Leiden, in the Netherlands and hired the Speedwell to bring them to Southampton. There they met the Mayflower, a ship that had been hired in London. This ship was about 80 feet long on deck, and 100–110 feet long overall. There were several false starts on the voyage, due to the Speedwell leaking and needing repair. After docking twice, finally at Plymouth, England, they decided to leave the un-seaworthy Speedwell behind.  The Mayflower probably had about 65 passengers in the beginning, but after the Speedwell's unfortunate demise, they stuffed 102 passengers and about 30 crewmen abroad. The Mayflower left for America alone, departing on September 6. At this time the Pilgrims had left England, they had already been living on board the two ships for almost a month and a half. From that time the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days till they sighted Cape Cod (Massachusetts, well north of their intended landing) on November 9th. The difficulties of the voyage included mostly sea-sickness in the beginning. Later they encountered many very treacherous storms. There were two deaths on the journey.

Nearly 300 years later, April 10, 1912, the remarkable, massive and "unsinkable" RMS Titanic set out on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City. The ship was over 882 feet long. Her maximum breadth was a little over 92 feet and her total height was 104 feet. She was the largest ship afloat at the time. On this maiden voyage the ship included about 885 crew members and carried over 1300 passengers -- about 1/3 of her capacity. Five days out to sea -- early a.m. April 15, 1912 -- she collided with an iceberg and sank into the North Atlantic Ocean. Over 1500 met their fate in those icy waters, and some survivors died afterwards. The unsinkable ship that sank remains one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.

Happy Treason Day

...you colonial rebels.

No Poo and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• 10 fascinating facts about Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant -- "After the war started on April 12, 1861, Lee was offered command of the Union army." [not mentioned is that they were both slave-owners]
• Denver's Azucar Bakery wins right to refuse to make anti-gay cakes -- "Colorado's legal battles between religious freedom and gay rights continue to play out in the not-so-sweet arena of bakery cake requests."
• I Haven't Shampooed My Hair in 6 Years -- "The anti-shampoo movement has a name — No Poo — which has been gaining a lot of attention lately..."
• In an Iowa courtroom, an astonishing case of sex and Alzheimer’s -- "Rayhons’s trial, which begins Wednesday, is a rare and possibly unprecedented examination of a little-explored aspect of consent."
• Lee surrenders at Appomattox, 150 years ago today -- "On a Palm Sunday 150 years ago today, Confederate General Robert E. Lee agreed to surrender his Army of Northern Virginia, marking a symbolic end to the Civil War."
• Making Sense of Robert E. Lee -- "He did not see right and wrong in tones of gray, and yet his moralizing could generate a fog..."
• Washington Nationals sued for religious discrimination -- "Although the team allowed the men to miss games during the 2013 season in order to observe their sabbath (sundown Friday through sundown Saturday), the Nationals allegedly fired the three in 2014 when their religious beliefs prevented them from working at least 80% of the team’s games."

Dueling politicians

* A future American president’s deadly duel -- "On this day in 1806, future President Andrew Jackson nearly died in a duel when he killed his opponent, a fellow plantation owner."

This day...1865

Abraham Lincoln died April 15, 1865. He was shot the night before on April 14, 1865, while attending the play called Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater. This was the first successful attempt to assassinate an American president. The event continues to capture the minds of the American people nearly 150 years later. The name John Wilkes Booth is well-known, but he had several co-conspirators and assassinations were also planned for Secretary of State William H. Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Here's some reading you might find interesting:
* 10 odd facts about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination -- "Where was General Grant?"
* Abraham Lincoln's assassination -- "On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth...fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln...only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered...at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War."
* The forgotten man who almost became president after Lincoln -- "...if John Wilkes Booth’s plot were entirely successful, a little-known senator may have been thrust into the White House."
* Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard -- "What happened to Officer John Parker, the man who chose the wrong night to leave his post at Ford's Theater?"

Tribute to the Civil War Surgeons

From 2011-2015 the 150th anniversary of the "Civil War" is being recognized. At the beginning of the Twenty-First Annual Conference on Civil War Medicine I thought I would post this "Tribute to the Civil War Surgeons." This quote specifically addresses Southern surgeons, but it was doubtless true of all faithful surgeons who served during these tragic times.

"The Southern surgeons were the first to succor the wounded and the sick, and their ears recorded the last words of love and affection for country and kindred, and their hands closed the eyes of the dying Confederate soldiers." -- "Formation of the Medical Corps of the Confederate Army and Navy," Joseph Jones, M.D., The Medical History Of The Confederate States Army And Navy, Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. XX., Richmond, VA, January-December, 1892.

Transcript of 'I Have a Dream'

If you've listened to any news or been online today, you already know that today is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. A transcript of this speech can be found HERE.

Not nearly as well known, but about 6 years earlier King gave another speech in Washington, D.C. -- Give Us the Ballot on May 17, 1957.

10 Things Robert Edward Lee said

About The War
"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it."
"I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God."
"We have fought this fight as long, and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation."
"The war...was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides."
"I have carefully searched the military records of both ancient and modern history, and have never found Grant's superior as a general. I doubt that his superior can be found in all history."

About some other things
"I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it."
"Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less."
"The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."
"The education of a man is never completed until he dies."
"My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good."

Preaching without notes and prodding the establishment

In the late 1700’s, funds from Virginia state taxes went to support the Episcopalian clergy. Baptists and other non-establishment ministers opposed this practice that wed church and state. An Anglican minister told John Leland, supremely anti-establishment Baptist freedom fighter, that a minister needed state support to compensate them for their time spent preparing sermons.

“Leland answered that he could expound the Scriptures without special preparation, and the Episcopalian challenged him to preach on a text to be provided just before beginning the sermon. Leland went to the pulpit, and as he ascended to the pulpit he was handed a text which proved to be Numbers 22:21, ‘And Balaam saddled his ass.’ Mr. Leland first commented on the account from which the text was taken, and then said he should divide his subject into three parts: 1st, Balaam, as a false prophet, represents a hireling clergy; 2d, the saddle represents their enormous salaries, and 3d, the dumb ass represents the people who will bare such a load. This was a theme he could develop with no difficulty whatever.” -- From Elder John Leland, Jeffersonian Itinerant, Lyman Henry Butterfield, VA: American Antiquarian Society, 1953, pp. 168-69

They Sing Of A Heaven

They Sing Of A Heaven is a 15-minute Sacred Harp documentary from 1972, directed by Jerry Stimpfle (University of Mississippi, c1972).

Steven Sabol's and Warren Steel's Sacred Harp and Shape-Note Music Resources describes it as a video that "depicts three distinct styles of class singing, plus other scenes (such as dinner on the grounds) and interviews. The styles are East Mississippi/Alabama Fasola style, North Mississippi white Doremi, and North Mississippi black Doremi."

As I watched this, it grabbed my heart-strings and caused me to shed a joyful tear. Even though I didn't know anyone, I felt like I did. It reminds me of growing up, of old-times that I can't retrieve, and old folks who are no longer here. I liked it for the Sacred Harp documentary element, but I also liked the "folks" element. It feels like "home". Take the time to watch this.

Thanks to David Wright of for pointing us to this documentary.

Helen Keller -- 1 poem and 1 anecdote

"Mine to Keep"
They took away what should have been my eyes
(But I remembered Milton's Paradise) 
They took away what should have been my ears
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears)
They took away what should have been my tongue
(But I had talked with God when I was young).
He would not let them take away my soul:
Possessing that, I still possess the whole.
  By Helen Keller

The following I will call an anecdote, because I have seen the circumstances of it recorded slightly differently. Nevertheless, the two people and content are consistent.

Phillips Brooks is credited with  introducing Helen Keller to Christianity. Later in their continuing relationship, they exchanged letters back and forth.  In one of these letters, Helen told Brooks concerning God, "I always knew He was there, but I didn't know His name!"

Gone but not forgotten

Today a group of family gathered in Galveston to render the honor of descendants to an ancestor. 149 years ago Wyatt Vaughn died on the island of Galveston. Being war time, he was buried in an unmarked grave where he awaits God's resurrection. Wyatt Vaughn has not been forgotten* -- his story has been passed down through the generations -- but all these 149 years no stone was raised for a memorial to his name. That fault has now been corrected, through the leadership of Leslie Vaughn and the generosity of numerous family members. 

Wyatt Vaughn was born in January of 1820. In 1845 he married Eliza Jane Parker in Greene County, Georgia. An "innumerable host" of the Parker family, including Wyatt and Eliza, decided to seek their future in Texas. They called for their church letters and heeded the Western call. Wyatt's "fortune" in Texas was short-lived. Arrived around 1854, he engaged in service to his state and served in Galveston during the Civil War, dying of typhoid fever on March 28, 1864.

Also honored today was Wyatt's son, John W. Vaughn, who was his eldest, who lived and served and died alongside father, three days previous on March 25, 1864. Though we do not know the exact location of their graves, memorial stones have been placed in a section set aside in the Oleander Cemetery to remember Confederate soldiers buried in Galveston.

Through the meanderings of time and the establishment of God's Providence, we proudly yet humbly call ourselves Vaughns and Texans.

* Indicating he was not forgotten, the descendants ranged from the oldest -- a great grandson -- to the youngest -- great-great-great-great children.

New London School

Yesterday was the 76th anniversary of the New London School disaster. If you would like to learn more about it, visit the website HERE.