Two Citizenships: The South as a Christian Civilization By Karen Stokes Blog Post
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:14:01 +0000 Karen Stokes Download MP3
Karen StokesFebruary 24, 2021
A Window into the Old South: South Carolina Diaries and Letters by Karen Stokes Blog Post
Mon, 14 Jul 2014 01:37:22 +0000 Karen Stokes Download MP3
Karen StokesFebruary 24, 2021
The Political Economy and Social Thought of Louisa S. McCord by Karen Stokes Blog Post
Mon, 14 Jul 2014 01:36:14 +0000 Karen Stokes Download MP3
Karen StokesFebruary 24, 2021
The Gaslighting Commission and American History Blog Post
This month marks 160 years since a relatively unrecognized, but noteworthy, battle between Union and Confederate forces in which black soldiers participated in relatively large numbers. The noteworthiness was not in terms of strategic significance, consequential results, exceptional leadership, or recognized valor. Rather, Olustee was the battle in which a relatively recent phenomenon – black U.S. soldier regiments – probably…
Forrest L. MarionFebruary 29, 2024
A Glaring Consistency Blog Post
While other interests come and go, I believe the permanence of my obsession with Dixie is rooted in its manifestation of enduring principles, to which I am stubbornly loyal. Despite the Abbeville Institute’s dedication to the Southern tradition in its entirety, our study seems to hover around the Confederacy and the War for Southern Independence, and for good reason. In…
Julie PaineJune 19, 2023
Unholy War Blog Post
A review of Union Terror: Debunking the False Justifications for Union Terror Against Southern Civilians in the American Civil War (Shotwell Publishing, 2023), by Jeffrey Addicott. There have been a number of good books exposing the extent and brutal nature of the Union army’s war against civilians in its invasion and conquest of the South. Karen Stokes, Walter Brian Cisco,…
Clyde WilsonMay 29, 2023
The Destruction of Washington Street Methodist as a Metaphor Blog Post
As Northern victory drew near in 1865, on the night of February 17/18 troops under General William T. Sherman set fire to the Washington Street Methodist Church in Columbia, South Carolina. Legend has it – highly plausible – that the soldiers intended to burn down the First Baptist Church. But when approached and queried by Union soldiers as to the…
Forrest L. MarionFebruary 23, 2023
Another Eyewitness to Union War Crimes Blog Post
Dr. Daniel H. Trezevant, The Burning of Columbia, S.C., edited by Karen Stokes. Shotwell Publishing, 2022. Dr. Trezevant was a respected Columbia physician who experienced fully the Yankee robbing and burning of South Carolina’s capital by Sherman’s army in February 1865. He wrote a series of newspaper articles just after, which became a pamphlet. Although there was a facsimile edition…
Clyde WilsonJanuary 3, 2023
The Last Americans to Believe in the Voluntary Union of the States Blog Post
“If there is to be a separation [i.e., secession of New England], then God bless them [the two countries] both, & keep them in the union if it be for their good, but separate them if it be better.” Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John C. Breckenridge, Aug. 12, 1803, regarding the New England secession movement “No state . . can…
Thomas DiLorenzoJune 7, 2022
Frederick A. Porcher and the Conversation Club of Charleston Blog Post
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 19:21:32 +0000 Karen Stokes Download MP3
Karen StokesFebruary 24, 2021
The Last “Insurrection” According to the Political Establishment Blog Post
The Washington establishment, led by a senile 78-year-old man who can barely speak in complete sentences and seems permanently fighting mad, is hell- bent on labeling virtually all Americans who voted for President Trump –Republicans, Independents, and Democrats — as “insurrectionists.” They have invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 to justify placing thousands of heavily-armed National Guard (and other) troops…
Thomas DiLorenzoFebruary 9, 2021
The Real Thing Blog Post
A Review of The Everlasting Circle: Letters of the Haskell Family of Abbeville, South Carolina, 1861—1865. (Mercer University Press, 2019) Edited by Karen Stokes. Participants in the Old South and the Confederacy were conscientious in preserving their documents, as were several succeeding generations. They knew that their history was important and that it would suffer massive misrepresentation. As a result,…
Clyde WilsonNovember 5, 2019
Demonizing the South to Purify the Nation Blog Post
Victor Davis Hanson is one of the most lauded and applauded historians of the “conservative establishment.” Honored by President George W. Bush, a regular writer for National Review, spoken of in hushed and admiring tones by pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Hanson is rightly regarded as a fine classicist and military historian, especially of ancient warfare. But like…
Boyd CatheyOctober 19, 2017
A Legion of Devils Blog Post
A review of Karen Stokes, A Legion of Devils: Sherman in South Carolina (Shotwell Press, 2017). Many of us have read about the horrendous things William Tecumseh Sherman did as he and his “bummers” marched through Georgia, things a lot of us would rather not have read about. However, if we are to properly understand our history we are often compelled…
Al BensonOctober 10, 2017
July 2017 Top Ten Blog Post
1. Why Vicksburg Canceled the Fourth of July – For a Generation by Karen Stokes 2. Bust Hell Wide Open by James Rutledge Roesch 3. You Are Deplorable by Clyde Wilson 4. The Origins of the Neo-Marxist Attack on the South by Norman Black 5. General Lee Figured It Out by Fred Reed 6. “Free People of Color” in Dixie…
Brion McClanahanAugust 6, 2017
February Top Ten Blog Post
The top ten articles for February 2017: 1. Attack on Robert E. Lee is an Assault on American History Itself by Allan Brownfield 2. Presidents Quiz by Clyde Wilson 3. Washington vs. Lincoln by Brion McClanahan 4. Why the South Fought by Sheldon Vanuaken 5. Union or Else by Karen Stokes 6. The Black Confederate and the Teddy Bear by…
Brion McClanahanMarch 1, 2017
July Top Ten Blog Post
The Top Ten for July 2016. Read ’em again. 1. The Free State of Jones: History or Hollywood? by Ryan Walters 2. Understanding the Battle Hymn of the Republic by Howard Ray White 3. Why Vicksburg Canceled the Fourth of July – For a Generation by Karen Stokes 4. Rethinking the Declaration of Independence by Brion McClanahan 5. Nathan Bedford…
Brion McClanahanAugust 1, 2016
May Top Ten Blog Post
Our top ten articles for May. Read ’em again. 1. Hampton Roads: A Twist in the Lincoln Myth by Dave Benner 2. Erasing Southern History, Step by Step by Alphonse-Louis Vinh 3. Confederaphobia: An American Epidemic by Paul C. Graham 4. “Don’t Leave Me Here to Bleed to Death!” by Karen Stokes 5. Is “White Supremacy” an Exclusively “Southern” Ideology?…
Brion McClanahanJune 2, 2016
April Top Ten Blog Post
The top ten articles for April 2016: 1. Andrew Jackson: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by James Rutledge Roesch 2. Confederaphobia: An American Epidemic by Paul C. Graham 3. Why the War Was Not About Slavery by Clyde Wilson 4. The Cause of Jackson is the Cause of Us All by James Rutledge Roesch 5. Lies My Teacher…
Brion McClanahanMay 1, 2016
November Top Ten Blog Post
The Top Ten posts for November. If you haven’t read ’em yet, do so. If you have, read ’em again. And don’t forget our new podcast. 1. Andrew Jackson: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by James Rutledge Roesch 2. Is The Campaign To Eradicate Southern Heritage Losing Steam? by Gail Jarvis 3. Thomas Jefferson, Southern Man of Letters,…
Brion McClanahanDecember 2, 2015
Life In The Old Land Yet Blog Post
There is life in the old land of Dixie yet. There seems to be no end of talent and knowledge coming forth in our defense against the South-hating jihadists who seem to dominate the American scene these days. Valiant and wise people continue the daunting task of educating our fellow citizens about the truth of American history. The end of…
Clyde WilsonSeptember 16, 2015
New From Southern Pens, Part 2 Blog Post
Maryland Redeemed Everybody knows that our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was written by Francis Scott Key as he watched the British attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. Almost nobody knows the rest of the story. In 1861, Key’s grandson, Francis Key Howard, was locked up in Fort McHenry. Howard wrote: “The flag which…
Clyde WilsonMay 8, 2015
April Top 10 Blog Post
The top ten for April 2015. Thank you for a great one year anniversary for the new and improved Abbeville Institute website. We exceeded our previous traffic for the entire year in April alone. There is more to come in the near future, so please, like, share, and tweet our material, and if you are so inclined, please consider a tax deductible…
Brion McClanahanMay 2, 2015
New From Southern Pens Blog Post
Karen Stokes’s Reconstruction Novel Awhile back it was theorised by some that Southern literature’s era of greatness was coming to an end with the changes taking place in our region. Abbeville Scholar Karen Stokes of Charleston single-handedly disproves that theory. If I count correctly, seven books published in about as many years—four history and three fiction. It is rare to…
Clyde WilsonApril 22, 2015
Rehabbing Sherman Blog Post
“The amount of plundering, burning, and stealing done by our own army makes me ashamed of it. I would quit the service if I could for I fear we are drifting towards vandalism. Thus you and I and every commander must go through the war justly chargeable for our crimes.” – General William T. Sherman, 1863 “I have felt a…
James Rutledge RoeschNovember 18, 2014
A Confederate in Paris Blog Post
In March 1861, Ambrose Dudley Mann, a native of Virginia, left the Confederate States of America on a diplomatic mission to Europe, where he remained for the next four years. After his country was defeated in the war, he resolved that he could never return to his native soil unless he returned to an independent South, and so he resided…
Karen StokesMarch 28, 2024
A Confederate Lady at Castle Pinckney and Battery Wagner in Charleston Harbor Blog Post
Since I became a member of the Charleston Chapter 4 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, I have had the honor of working as a volunteer at our museum in historic Charleston, South Carolina. One aspect of that work involved an inventory of the museum’s rich, remarkable treasure trove of manuscripts and printed material. Having authored a book some…
Karen StokesDecember 20, 2023
Secession and Economics Blog Post
The following are some interesting historical tidbits from primary sources (emphasis added): Gabriel Manigault (1809-1888) was a South Carolina lawyer, author, and planter. He was a signer of the Ordinance of Secession, and he served in the South Carolina Ordnance Department with the rank of colonel. In a letter found in his family papers, Manigault writes urgently to Colonel James…
Karen StokesJuly 20, 2023
Thy Troy Has Fallen Blog Post
In recent research, I accidentally happened upon this beautiful, touching story of a dying poet’s tribute to Robert E. Lee, and thought readers would find it interesting. Like Lord Acton, the English poet Philip Stanhope Worsley was an admirer of the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Worsley was born in Greenwich…
Karen StokesMarch 29, 2023
An Englishman Meets General Jackson Blog Post
Henry Wemyss Feilden, born in England in 1838, was the younger son of Sir William Feilden, a baronet. Young Henry entered the British Army, and after serving in India and China for a number of years, he decided to resign his commission and volunteer for service in the army of the Confederate States of America. On a winter night in…
Karen StokesJanuary 20, 2023
The Political Economy and Social Thought of Louisa S. McCord Blog Post
From the 2011 Abbeville Institute Summer School. The name of the lady I’m introducing today, the Southern intellectual Louisa Susanna Cheves McCord, or as she’s usually called, Louisa S. McCord, is generally not well known today. In the antebellum era she was the author of numerous essays on political economy and social issues. Her other writings included poetry, reviews, and…
Karen StokesNovember 30, 2022
Blacks in Gray Blog Post
A Review of Blacks in Gray Uniforms (Arcadia, 2018) by Phillip Thomas Tucker South Carolina Confederate history is my area of research, so I was interested to come across the book Blacks in Gray Uniforms, which gives information on some black Confederate soldiers from the Palmetto State, and I wanted to bring it to the attention of the readers of…
Karen StokesMay 18, 2022
South Carolina in 1865 Blog Post
There is nothing new under the sun, but there are things which have lain undiscovered, forgotten, or neglected, and these can be brought to light. In my new book South Carolina in 1865, I have collected unpublished, obscure, and neglected records which document events and conditions in the Palmetto State during the last year of the war. The most cataclysmic…
Karen StokesFebruary 23, 2022
Southern Orthodoxy Blog Post
A review of Preachers with Power: Four Stalwarts of the South (Banner of Truth, 1992) by Douglas F. Kelly I first became aware of Douglas F. Kelly through some videos on YouTube in which he was interviewed about his recent book Creation and Change, a defense of the book of Genesis as authentic history. His erudition and his manner (that…
Karen StokesMay 4, 2021
Our Other Man in Charleston Blog Post
Published in 2016, the book Our Man in Charleston tells the story of Robert Bunch (1820-1881), the British consul in Charleston, South Carolina, who is described in the subtitle as “Britain’s Secret Agent.”Bunch was not, for the most part, a secret agent, but he did somewhat covertly keep his government informed about conditions and developments in South Carolina. In correspondence…
Karen StokesMarch 25, 2021
Total War in Georgia Blog Post
In June 1863, Fitzgerald Ross, a British military man who was collecting information about the war in America, paid a visit to Richmond, Virginia, the capital city of the Confederacy. There he met with some high officials of the government, one of whom was Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin. Ross described their meeting his 1865 book A Visit to…
Karen StokesMarch 2, 2021
A Night to Remember Blog Post
The diary of Emma LeConte is one of the best known documents chronicling the sack and destruction of Columbia, South Carolina. On February 17, 1865, the city surrendered to the besieging army of General William T. Sherman. His soldiers pillaged the city throughout the day and in the evening set fires that would destroy much of the place. Emma LeConte’s…
Karen StokesFebruary 17, 2021
A [r]epublican in Exile Blog Post
In Washington, D.C., while serving as Secretary of War in the 1850s, Jefferson Davis met Ambrose Dudley Mann, a native of Virginia who was the Assistant Secretary of State (and the first man to hold that office). The two men were drawn to each other immediately and became fast friends for the rest of their lives. In her biography of…
Karen StokesNovember 5, 2020
A Forgotten Spiritual Hero Blog Post
Daniel Baker (1791-1857) is all but forgotten today, but in the first half of the nineteenth century this Presbyterian minister was a well-known and profoundly influential evangelist in America. Born in Midway, Georgia, he was educated at Hampden Sydney College in Virginia and at Princeton. He held several pastorates, including one in Savannah, Georgia, but spent most of his life…
Karen StokesMarch 11, 2020
The South’s Gifts to Posterity Blog Post
What does the South have to offer that is valuable to humanity, to civilization? In 1939, the Pulitzer prize-winning historian Douglas Southall Freeman proposed an answer to this question in his book The South to Posterity. He subtitled it An Introduction to the Writing of Confederate History, but it was something more than that. In presenting the works of Confederate…
Karen StokesSeptember 25, 2019
We the People of South Carolina…. Blog Post
William Plumer Jacobs (1842-1917), a native of Yorkville, South Carolina, was a Presbyterian minister and scholar whose entire life has been called “a singular consecration to work and service in behalf of his fellow men.” He is closely identified with the town of Clinton, where he pastored a church and founded the Thornwell Orphanage and the Presbyterian College of South…
Karen StokesDecember 20, 2018
The Spirit of ’61 Blog Post
The bloody conflict of 1861 to 1865 is often called the Civil War, but most Southerners regarded it as a war for independence and self-government. Many if not most Confederate soldiers and officers who fought in it had fathers or grandfathers who served in the first American war of independence, and they were mindful of their heritage. Southerners were proud…
Karen StokesJuly 4, 2018
A Bloodless Victory Blog Post
Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, is known as the place where the “Civil War” began. The South is normally portrayed as the aggressor, the side which fired the “first shot,” and is thus given the blame for starting the war. The whole truth is, however, that the governments of South Carolina and the Confederate States of America made repeated…
Karen StokesApril 16, 2018
Northern Lies about the Burning of Columbia Blog Post
When you hear or read about the burning of Columbia, General Sherman’s principal target in South Carolina, you are often told that the origin of the fire is a historical mystery that can’t be conclusively solved, or that the fires were actually initiated by the evacuating Confederate troops, or even by the citizens of Columbia themselves—none of which is true….
Karen StokesFebruary 15, 2018
The Timely Wisdom of Robert Lewis Dabney Blog Post
Many of the destructive ideas and “isms” of our century in America had their roots in the 18th and 19th centuries, and a number of Southern writers and clergymen recognized their nature and warned against them. Among these men was Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) of Virginia, one of the South’s great Presbyterian thinkers. He was the author of a number…
Karen StokesMarch 13, 2017
Union or Else Blog Post
In 1864, General William T. Sherman wrote to a fellow Union officer that the “false political doctrine that any and every people have a right to self-government” was the cause of the war that had been raging in America since 1861. The general was forgetting, or ignoring, that this very “doctrine” had led the American colonists to declare their independence…
Karen StokesFebruary 17, 2017
The Conversation Club of Charleston Blog Post
This essay was presented at the 2016 Abbeville Institute Summer School. When I was young I used to read a lot of books about archaeology—the study of ancient lost worlds and civilizations. I never got to study archaeology, but I became an archivist, and I suppose my job is a little like field archaeology—except that I work indoors, in air-conditioned…
Karen StokesDecember 21, 2016
A Southern Saint Blog Post
William Porcher DuBose of South Carolina is not well known today, but in the early 20th century, he achieved fame in America and abroad as an Episcopal theologian and author. He was born in Winnsboro, S.C., in 1836, and his father, a wealthy, well-educated planter, saw to it that his intellectually gifted son received a fine education. After attending schools…
Karen StokesDecember 15, 2016
More Secession Theology: Thomas Smyth of Charleston Blog Post
Lately there has been mention of Dr. Thomas Smyth in two Abbeville Institute blog and review posts, namely, “The Theology of Secession” by M. E. Bradford, and “What Lincoln’s Election Meant to the South” by Bradley J. Birzer. Having written about this Charleston clergyman in an upcoming book, I thought our readers might be interested in learning a little more…
Karen StokesJune 23, 2016
“Don’t Leave Me Here to Bleed to Death!” Blog Post
The most recent issue of Hallowed Ground, a publication of the Civil War Trust, features an 1863 photograph of several Confederate soldiers laid out in shallow graves—casualties of the fighting at Gettysburg. This picture is like many of the grim photographs of the war dead, but what makes it unusual is that one of the soldiers has been identified. Two…
Karen StokesMay 11, 2016
Sherman’s Army in North Carolina Blog Post
Some historians have suggested that General William T. Sherman’s terror campaign through the deep South came to an end when his troops crossed the state line into North Carolina, and some of his officers are on record noting a pronounced change in the conduct of their soldiers. It is true that North Carolina did not see the scale of ruthless…
Karen StokesApril 14, 2016
Reconstruction in South Carolina Blog Post
In 1872, Daniel W. Voorhees, a Congressman of Indiana, made a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he described conditions in the South after the war, during the period (laughingly) known as “Reconstruction.” He accused the United States government, under the control of the Republican Party, of plundering and slandering the conquered Southern states, sending “powerful missionaries…
Karen StokesFebruary 8, 2016
The Immortals Blog Post
THE IMMORTALS: A STORY OF LOVE AND WAR In 1861, as a deadly conflict looms between North and South, Charleston sits like a queen upon the waters—beautiful, proud and prosperous—and no native son loves her more than George Taylor. A successful Broad Street lawyer, Taylor has won the heart of an enchanting young woman and looks forward to a brilliant…
Karen StokesDecember 29, 2015
A Tale of Two Plantations Blog Post
In the 1850s, Ann Pamela Cunningham, a frail woman from South Carolina, was responsible for preserving the plantation home of George Washington, founding the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, an organization which still maintains this historic site. Thanks to her efforts, Mount Vernon remained virtually untouched during the War for Southern Independence. Arlington Plantation, the beautiful Virginia home of Robert E….
Karen StokesDecember 21, 2015
The Queen City Humbled Blog Post
In 1865, a writer for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine described Charleston, South Carolina, contrasting her condition before the war, and after four years of siege, blockade and bombardment: Not many years ago, Charleston sat like a queen upon the waters, her broad and beautiful bay covered with the sails of every nation, and her great export, cotton, affording employment to…
Karen StokesOctober 23, 2015
Destruction of the City of Columbia, South Carolina: A Poem by a Lady of Georgia. A True Statement of Facts. Blog Post
About the author: Elizabeth Otis Marshall Dannelly (1838-1896), a native of Madison, Georgia, was a published poet significant enough to be included in the book Living Writers of the South (1869). During the War Between the States, she lived in Columbia, South Carolina, where her husband Dr. Francis Olin Dannelly (1823-1880) was on duty as Chief Surgeon. Mrs. Dannelly was…
Karen StokesSeptember 15, 2015
The “Hawaiian Prophet” from South Carolina Blog Post
South Carolina is not known for great surfing, but a native son named Alexander Hume Ford (1868-1945) is credited with the revival, preservation, and promotion of that sport. The scion of an old South Carolina family, he was the son of Georgetown County planter Frederick W. Ford (1817-1872) and Mary Mazyck Hume. His mother died at the time of his…
Karen StokesJuly 16, 2015
A Lady Champion of Free Trade Blog Post
In her famous diary, Mary Chesnut called Mrs. Louisa S. McCord “the very cleverest woman” she knew. Of these two women from South Carolina, Chesnut is the most famous and widely read today, but Mrs. McCord—far more than clever—was a force to be reckoned with in her own time. In the antebellum era, she was the author of a number…
Karen StokesJune 19, 2015
Agony at Appomattox Blog Post
Promoted over four senior captains just a few days shy of his nineteenth birthday, James R. Hagood was the youngest full colonel in the Army of Northern Virginia. A native of Barnwell, South Carolina, he began his Confederate military service as a private. His promotions were made for acts of gallantry which earned him the commendations of Generals Bratton, Field,…
Karen StokesApril 9, 2015
John Mitchel: Irish Confederate Blog Post
John Mitchel (1815-1875) was a fiery Irish nationalist who was convicted of treason by the British in 1848 and transported first to Bermuda and then to a penal colony in Australia, from which he escaped in 1853. After Mitchel and his family settled in America, he continued his nationalist activism by founding a radical Irish newspaper in New York, denouncing…
Karen StokesMarch 17, 2015
February 1865: The Invasion Continues Blog Post
On February 5, 1865, the last of General Sherman’s troops crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina. That same day, soldiers of the 14th Corps burned the village of Robertville. Determined to punish the “original secessionists,” an army of over 60,000 was now making its way through the Palmetto State on a mission of destruction and pillage. On February 7,…
Karen StokesFebruary 16, 2015
The Invasion Begins Blog Post
By mid- January 1865, General Sherman’s campaign in South Carolina had begun in earnest. Some of his forces began moving through the parishes of Beaufort District at this time, and one of their first targets was the village of Hardeeville, where troops of the 20th Corps arrived on January 17th. During their days there, they burned down or tore apart…
Karen StokesJanuary 30, 2015
The Cruel Winter of 1865 in South Carolina Blog Post
January 2015 ushers in the last year of the sesquicentennial of the War for Southern Independence. One hundred and fifty years ago, the first month of 1865 was the beginning of a cruel and catastrophic winter for the state of South Carolina. Having completed his destructive march through Georgia, General William T. Sherman took possession of the coastal city of…
Karen StokesJanuary 7, 2015
The Lady Who Saved Mount Vernon Blog Post
Born in 1816, Ann Pamela Cunningham was raised at Rosemont, a plantation on the Saluda River in Laurens County, South Carolina. At the age of seventeen, she suffered an injury to her spine when she was thrown from a horse and was crippled for the rest of her life. In 1853, when she was 37 years of age, she was…
Karen StokesDecember 18, 2014
Conduct of the Northern Army Blog Post
Lately, media outlets have been giving some attention to the 150th anniversary of General William T. Sherman’s infamous march through Georgia that took place in 1864, minimizing, of course, the barbarity and criminality of his campaign. You only have to read the letters and diaries written at the time of the actual events to learn the truth of the matter,…
Karen StokesNovember 28, 2014
Our Danger and Our Duty Blog Post
Acclaimed in his time as the “Calhoun of the Church,” James Henley Thornwell was a prominent Presbyterian clergyman of South Carolina and one of the state’s greatest men in the nineteenth century. Like many Southerners, he cherished the Union, but came to accept the necessity of secession. Before he died in 1862, in one of his last writings, Our Danger…
Karen StokesNovember 11, 2014
Siege of Spite Blog Post
By October 1864, the city of Charleston, South Carolina had been undergoing a bombardment for over a year. The Federal forces were in full possession of nearby Morris Island, and had all but neutralized Fort Sumter’s offensive capabilities. During the previous summer, Union batteries near Morris Island began sending their deadly fire into Charleston, the first attack on the city…
Karen StokesOctober 23, 2014
The Crime of William Dougherty Blog Post
During the War Between the States, thousands of Americans were incarcerated for political reasons in various Northern prisons without due process of law. One of these Americans, Rev. Isaac W. K. Handy, kept a diary during his fifteen months of confinement at Fort Delaware, Delaware, and in it he sheds light on a particularly interesting fellow prisoner there. In his…
Karen StokesOctober 7, 2014
Hell At Pea Patch Island Blog Post
After the War Between the States began, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, and during the course of the conflict, thousands of citizens (mostly Northerners) were arrested and incarcerated in various prisons without due process. Thomas DiLorenzo, author of Lincoln Unmasked, wrote that “virtually anyone who opposed [the Lincoln] administration policies in any way was threatened with…
Karen StokesSeptember 19, 2014
The Immortal 600 Blog Post
Because of the 1989 movie Glory, many Americans know of the battle on Morris Island in 1863 in which the black soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment fought. Very few people, however, are aware of their participation in another wartime event on this barren, sandy piece of land in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, after Federal forces gained control…
Karen StokesAugust 29, 2014
Miss Pinckney’s Constitutional Catechism Blog Post
Maria Henrietta Pinckney (1782-1836) of South Carolina was the daughter of General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, an officer in the Continental Army and a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Maria lost her mother at an early age and was educated at home by her famous grandmother, Eliza Lucas Pinckney. In 1830, during the nullification controversy, Miss Pinckney published a widely…
Karen StokesAugust 22, 2014
Why the South Seceded Blog Post
Writing in 1913, historian Nathaniel Wright Stephenson explained the political situation in America thus: “It is almost impossible to-day to realize the state of the country in the year 1860. The bad feeling between the two sections, all came to a head, and burst into fury, over the episode of John Brown.” In The Declaration of the Immediate Causes issued…
Karen StokesAugust 5, 2014
Why Vicksburg Canceled the Fourth of July – For a Generation Blog Post
From May through early July 1863, Vicksburg, Mississippi, a strategically important city on the Mississippi River, was besieged by Federal forces under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant, and by a flotilla of gunboats in the river commanded by Admiral David Porter. The city was surrounded by outlying Confederate lines of defense, but the Union forces also shelled the…
Karen StokesJuly 2, 2014
“I cannot fight against the Constitution while pretending to fight for it.” Blog Post
During the time of the secession of South Carolina and other Southern states, and after Abraham Lincoln called for militia troops from all the states to invade the South in April 1861, many officers in the army and navy of the United States resigned their commissions (and most who resigned offered their services to the Confederate States of America). One…
Karen StokesJune 9, 2014
