In Mrs. Davis's New York bedroom is a Portrait of Caroline Phelan Beale, dated December 1941. She was our first Regent and her efforts established the furnishings collections of the First White House here in Montgomery.
She was the daughter of John Dennis Phelan, a Supreme Court Justice of Alabama. She married Jesse Beale of Montgomery and spent her last years in New York City, where her son, Phelan Beale was a prominent attorney.
Phelan was married to Edith Bouvier of New Yourk and was a partner in the firm of Bouvier and Beale, located at 149 Broadway. He was the uncle by marriage of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. His divorced wife Edith Bouvier Beale and their daughter Edith Beale, were the subject of a noted film called Grey Gardens, set in their home at Southampton, Long Island.
In more recent years it has been made into a Broadway musical, and in 2009 an all-star new version was released as a dramatic feature film for which Ken Howard won a Golden Globe for his performance as Phelan Beale and Jessica Lange a GG for her performance as "Big Edie" Beale.
The members of this family have become American 20th Century cultural icons! I will look at the portrait of Mrs. Beale with much more interest in the future!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Sidney Lanier, Famous Poet, Served In Confederate Army
Sidney Lanier, another famous Southern musician and poet, fought in the War for Southern Independence, mostly in the tidewater region of Virginia, where he was first in the Signal Corps.
Later, he and his brother Clifford served as pilots aboard English blockade runners. On one of these runs, his ship was boarded and he was captured. He was incarcerated in a military prison in Maryland, where he contracted tuberculosis (called "consumption" at the time). He died from it at age 39.
He is of special interest to me because I graduated from Sidney Lanier High School here in Montgomery, and also because his niece was my aunt by marriage, Mary Seibels Lanier Branch. Her father was Sidney's brother, Clifford.
His most famous body of poetry was probably "The Marshes of Glynn". The Poems of Sidney Lanier can be ordered on Amazon. He also wrote "The Boy's King Arthur" A friend told me yesterday that she is writing an historical novel of his life. I can hardly wait to order it!
Later, he and his brother Clifford served as pilots aboard English blockade runners. On one of these runs, his ship was boarded and he was captured. He was incarcerated in a military prison in Maryland, where he contracted tuberculosis (called "consumption" at the time). He died from it at age 39.
He is of special interest to me because I graduated from Sidney Lanier High School here in Montgomery, and also because his niece was my aunt by marriage, Mary Seibels Lanier Branch. Her father was Sidney's brother, Clifford.
His most famous body of poetry was probably "The Marshes of Glynn". The Poems of Sidney Lanier can be ordered on Amazon. He also wrote "The Boy's King Arthur" A friend told me yesterday that she is writing an historical novel of his life. I can hardly wait to order it!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Freedom Never Free
A Happy July 4th to everyone! I hope you are "grilling" or doing other fun things today as we celebrate the birth of our nation, still one nation under God, even though folks like the ACLU would like to remove Him from our great Country. After all, He is the reason our Country is great.
Our brave Southern forefathers also fought for what they believed was right, the right to leave the nation as they wished to do. In creating their new nation, the Confederates essentially duplicated the institutions of the old Union. The Great Seal of the Confederacy has George Washington in the center. They believed fervently that it was they who were perpetuating the ideals of their revolutionary forebear, as Cameron Napier states in our First White House of the Confederacy booklet.
It took four years of bloody conflict and the loss of over 600,000 lives for the North to subdue the South. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned but never brought to trial, as feared it would be proved by the Constitution that the Southern States had a right to secede.Nevertheless, we give thanks for the United States of America. Obviously God wanted us to remain one nation and that is what we celebrate today on this, the birthday of our Country..
Our brave Southern forefathers also fought for what they believed was right, the right to leave the nation as they wished to do. In creating their new nation, the Confederates essentially duplicated the institutions of the old Union. The Great Seal of the Confederacy has George Washington in the center. They believed fervently that it was they who were perpetuating the ideals of their revolutionary forebear, as Cameron Napier states in our First White House of the Confederacy booklet.
It took four years of bloody conflict and the loss of over 600,000 lives for the North to subdue the South. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned but never brought to trial, as feared it would be proved by the Constitution that the Southern States had a right to secede.Nevertheless, we give thanks for the United States of America. Obviously God wanted us to remain one nation and that is what we celebrate today on this, the birthday of our Country..
Saturday, July 2, 2011
A Confederate Mystery
On June 27, 2011 in the Montgomery Advertiser, I read an article that the sunken Civil War submarine, H.L. Hunley had at last been turned upright. The rotation of the 7-ton, 40-foot submarine to expose a side of its hull not seen since the War had not been tried sooner because preservationists first had to sift for artifacts in sediment within the sub, and deal with the eight sets of human remains.
For those reasons it was kept at the 45-degree angle in which it had lain on the ocean floor when it was raised in 2000. Looking at the sub from the inside could not answer why it sank, according to Kellen Correia, executive director of Friends of the Hunley.
Maria Jacobsen, head archaeologist for the project says"...it is too soon to tell how the Hunley was forced to the bottom of the ocean along with her crew, but we are confident that we will eventually identify a cause".
The Hunley, you might remember, sank the USS Housatonic in the north entrance of Charleston Harbor. After the conflict, the Hunley failed to return to its port, which placed its disappearance as one of the great Civil War mysteries.
Eventually, after the preservation treatment is complete, the sub will be placed in a Charleston Civil War Naval Museum. I want to see it, don't you?
For those reasons it was kept at the 45-degree angle in which it had lain on the ocean floor when it was raised in 2000. Looking at the sub from the inside could not answer why it sank, according to Kellen Correia, executive director of Friends of the Hunley.
Maria Jacobsen, head archaeologist for the project says"...it is too soon to tell how the Hunley was forced to the bottom of the ocean along with her crew, but we are confident that we will eventually identify a cause".
The Hunley, you might remember, sank the USS Housatonic in the north entrance of Charleston Harbor. After the conflict, the Hunley failed to return to its port, which placed its disappearance as one of the great Civil War mysteries.
Eventually, after the preservation treatment is complete, the sub will be placed in a Charleston Civil War Naval Museum. I want to see it, don't you?
Why Did A Louisiana Lady Marry A Federal?
This is a brief funny incident from Kate Cumming's Journal of a Confederate Nurse. She tells about a Miss Womack, who is from Louisiana, and thinks the other states are all very well in their way, but not like LA.
Three gentleman informed her that a friend of her's in LA had married a Federal general. They were a good deal annoyed that this "lady" had lowered herself in such a manner. Kate then told Miss Womack that no Alabama girl would be guilty of such a disgraceful act as marrying a Yankee, General or no General.
Miss Womack replied that the girl was so ugly that no Confederate would marry her!
Three gentleman informed her that a friend of her's in LA had married a Federal general. They were a good deal annoyed that this "lady" had lowered herself in such a manner. Kate then told Miss Womack that no Alabama girl would be guilty of such a disgraceful act as marrying a Yankee, General or no General.
Miss Womack replied that the girl was so ugly that no Confederate would marry her!
Friday, July 1, 2011
A Confederate Spy
Confederate President Jefferson Davis credited her with winning the battle of First Manassas. Her name? Rose O'Neal Greenhow (1817-1864). According to wikepedia she was a fearless spy for the Confederacy as well as a glittering Washington hostess.
Rosie paid the price for her accomplishments, as she was imprisoned for her efforts. Even then she continued getting messages to the Confederates by means of cryptic notes, which traveled in unlikely places such as in a woman's bun of hair.
After her second prison term she was exiled to the South, where she was warmly received by Davis, who sent her to Britain and France on behalf of the Confederate cause.
In 1864 she boarded a ship for home. The vessel ran aground near Wilmington NC and she fled in a rowboat but never made it to shore. The little boat capsized and she was dragged down by the weight of the gold she was bringing back to aid the Confederate cause.
She was buried with full military honors and her coffin was wrapped int the Confederate flag and carried by Confederate troops. The marker for her grave, a marble cross, bears the epitaph, "Mrs. Rose O'N Greenhow, a bearer of dispatches to the Confederate Government".
There is a book about her if you want to read more: "Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Civil War Spy".
Rosie paid the price for her accomplishments, as she was imprisoned for her efforts. Even then she continued getting messages to the Confederates by means of cryptic notes, which traveled in unlikely places such as in a woman's bun of hair.
After her second prison term she was exiled to the South, where she was warmly received by Davis, who sent her to Britain and France on behalf of the Confederate cause.
In 1864 she boarded a ship for home. The vessel ran aground near Wilmington NC and she fled in a rowboat but never made it to shore. The little boat capsized and she was dragged down by the weight of the gold she was bringing back to aid the Confederate cause.
She was buried with full military honors and her coffin was wrapped int the Confederate flag and carried by Confederate troops. The marker for her grave, a marble cross, bears the epitaph, "Mrs. Rose O'N Greenhow, a bearer of dispatches to the Confederate Government".
There is a book about her if you want to read more: "Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Civil War Spy".
Chancellorsville and Friendly Fire
I read that there is a splendid account of Chancellorsville by Ernest B. Furguson, titled "Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls of the Brave," the first to come out in more than 35 years, according to Carey Winfrey in Smithsonian's July/August issue.The victory of the Confederates at Chancellorsville was due in large part to, as the author puts it "inspired risk-taking of Lee and Stonewall Jackson, who was mortally wounded by friendly fire".
Kate Cumming, in her dairy "The Journal of a Confederate Nurse" says this about the loss of Jackson: "The honor of taking this great man's life was reserved for his own men, as if it were a sacrifice they offered to the Lord, as Jephthah gave up his daughter."
This reference is from Judges 11:29-40 in the Old Testament, and it is the story of Jephthah, one of the warriors of ancient Israel, who tells the Lord if He will give Israel victory in battle, that Jephthah will sacrifice to Him the first thing that comes out of his door upon his return. Yes, the Lord grants the victory, but alas, who comes out of the door first, but his beloved only daughter!
A tragic tale, but an analogy to ponder, when we consider the follies of war.
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