Nathan Bedford Forrest Compared To Nazi General Von Manstein

 Josh Moon has written an article in the August 19 edition of the Montgomery Advertiser "Forrest's legacy tarnished beyond repair". In it he compares Forrest to WWII German Erich Von Manstein, one of Hitler's finest and savviest generals.

Moon says: "The two had something rather important in common. They fought for the wrong side. Not the losing side, the wrong side....We don't erect monuments of people who do the wrong thing...A memorial implies honor. And Forrest and the rest of the South had very little..."  That really makes my blood boil, does it yours?

Naturally, Moon beats the slavery drum throughout the article. Of course slavery was wrong. No thinking person could say or think or feel any other way. But it doesn't mean that the only reason the South went to war was because of slavery., nor does it mean the North and Lincoln went to war for the noble idea to free the slaves.  Remember Lincoln did not issue the emancipation proclamation until he saw the north was in grave danger of losing. And he is on the record as saying he didn't care whether the slaves were free or not, before the war.

People like Moon cannot be reasoned with so don't bother with the letters to the editor. Just remember he is there to sell newspapers. He should stick to the /Sports column in my opinion.



War Between the States Anniversary Celebrations Being Held

In today's Montgomery Advertiser there is an article from AP writer Emily Wagster Pettus, titled "For Mississippi, Civil War's anniversary brings angst".

In the first place it was not the Civil War. There was nothing civil about it. It is rightly called WBTS or The War for Northern Aggression as I have said before. The article also mentions the fact that the Miss State flag bears the  Confederate Battle emblem. Well so what! Its their right after all, isn't it?

It goes on to say that a marker commemorating the 11th Miss Infantry is being dedicated this weekend in Sharpsburg, Md. where 119 members were killed in what the Yankees called the battle of  "Antietam". Interesting to us is that one of the speakers is Bertram Hayes-Davis.

The article goes on to say that the state is taking a "decidedly low-key and scholarly approach to commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War".Couldn't the same could be said for Alabama and the rest of the Southern states?

Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts In the Civil War

I have mentioned several times that our Gunboat Quilt was selected to be in the aforementioned exhibit at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA from June 30-Nov 25, 2012.

In the process, we have had our quilt conserved and it now is greatly enhanced. The curators at the Museum have been wonderful to work with and the exhibit sounds fabulous.According to their information, "each object represents a deeply moving and insightful personal story, from the noose reportedly used to hang abolitionist John Brown to the quilt stitched by an Illinois mother using the uniforms of her two sons, one fighting in Confederate gray and the other in Union blue".

An accompanying book has been written and it is first-class. It mentions that the women used their "needles as daggers" with the "same commitmentand fury as did their men on the battlefields". The women of Alabama had the quilts raffled off to raise money to buy a gunboat. The cost of the gunboat was $ 80,000.

Mary Chesnut, so proud of the $2000.00 she and her friends raised for the cause found out that the boats were unwieldy and unmaneuverable. She confided sadly to her diary "oh, that we had give our thousand dollars to the hospital and not to the gunboat"!!!

Bertram Hayes Davis Introduced as New Director of Beauvoir

           Exiciting news from Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis's retirement home on Miss. Gulf Coast. See below!!! As you know Bert Hayes-Davis is a great friend of the First White House. We are so thrilled that he will be much closer to Montgomery and is going to be the Execuitve Director of Beauvoir. more on this tomorrow... See Below:  

Greetings from Beauvoir

Please scroll down to see all of our updates!

Beauvoir gets new Executive Director!

At the July 11, 2012 press conference at Beauvoir, The Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, Rick Forte, Chairman of the Combined Boards of Beauvoir, introduces the new Executive Director of Beauvoir, Bert Hayes-Davis and his wife, Carol. Bert Hayes-Davis is the great, great grandson of President Jefferson Davis.

Salute Fired Over Grave of Varina Davis

I have been blogging about Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis's second wife and mother of their six children, when today I read an article that was in the Richmond newspaper about her funeral, from Oct 19, 1906.

I knew she was buried with honors. The article reads: "as the casket was lowered into the grave the Richmond  Howisters fired a salutes. Near the grave of her husband, Mrs. Davis's body lies in a quiet, secluded part of the cemetery, nearly hidden by the great trees. To the right and to the left, lie long lines of those who fell in the Confederate armies."

The article names the members of the Davis family who came with the body from New York, including Mr and Mrs. J. Addison Hayes, the latter being the only remaining daughter of Mrs. Davis, and their son, Jefferson H. Davis, whose name was changed to that of his grandfather by act of the Legislature. Other family members listed were "Miss Hayes and Dr. and Mrs. Webb".

Services were held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 3:00, conducted by Rev. Robert Forsyth. An escort from the New York camp of Confederate Veterans was there as well as the President of the New York chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

As I have mentioned before, I have visited the grave site and it is a very peaceful place. Rest well, President and Mrs. Davis, and "well done".  You both deserve to "rest from your labors".

Varina and Jefferson Davis's Marriage

I found it quite interesting that on their honeymoon, the newlyweds visited the grave of his first wife! I wonder how Varina felt about that? They also went to see his aged mother, Jane Davis.

When they returned home, they took up residence at Brierfield, his 100 acre plantation that had been given him by his brother, Joseph. It wasn't long before one of Jefferson's sister's and her children moved in with them. No wonder Varina was so happy to move to Washington, when he was elected to the US House of Representatives!

Varina, from all reports, loved Washington, and thrived there. Jefferson took a leave though, to serve in the Mexican-American War, where he was wounded and came home a hero. They soon went back to Washington, when he was appointed to fill a Senate seat and this was an especially happy time, because after seven childless years, a son was born in 1852. More of their life together tomorrow...

Varina and Jefferson Davis, The Courtship

When Varina met Jefferson, he was a 35 year old widower and she was 17. She had accepted an invitation to spend the Christmas season at Hurricane, Joseph Davis's plantation near Vicksburg. During her stay, she met her host's younger brother Jefferson, who had a reputation as a recluse since the death of his first wife, Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor.

 In addition to the age problem (18 years), he was a Democrat, and she was a Whig. In spite of these differences, Varina was almost instantly attracted to this older man, writing her mother: "I do not know whether this Mr. Jefferson Davis is young or old. He looks both at times, but I believe he is old, for from what I hear he is only two years younger than you are". (the rumor was correct).

In her memoirs, Varina said her mother's greatest concerns were Davis's excessive devotion to his living relatives, especially his brother Joseph, who had largely raised him after their father's death and upon whom he was financially dependent; and to Jefferson's near worship of the memory of his deceased first wife (concerns that in private correspondence, Varina would later concede were entirely correct).

Nevertheless, the Howells ultimately consented to the courtship, and the couple did marry! More about that tomorrow....