History moves in strange ways. The Confederate ironclad CSS Stonewall never fired a shot for the South, yet she crossed the Atlantic, stared down two Union warships, and ended her career half a world away as Japan’s first ironclad warship. Here is her remarkable story. Built in France for the Confederacy In 1863, Confederate agents
From Dixie to the Land of the Rising Sun Read More »
Zebulon Baird Vance is one of the most beloved figures in North Carolina history. Before the war, he was a strong Unionist who worked hard to keep his state in the Union. Then, in a single moment in April 1861, everything changed. A Mountain Man in Congress Vance was born in 1830 in Buncombe County,
Zeb Vance: from Unionist to Secessionist Read More »
Among the many in North Carolina who joined the Confederate forces during the Civil War was a Watauga County lawyer, George N. Folk who was a representative of the General Assembly. In 1861, he resigned his seat in Raleigh, and ultimately raised, a company for Confederate service, the Watauga Rangers. In 1862, Folk was appointed
George N. Folk and the raid at Fish Springs. Read More »
Rare film footage from the 1914 reunion of the United Confederate Veterans in Jacksonville, Florida, captures a remarkable moment. Among the gray-haired veterans, a former slave named Jeff Mabry is introduced to the camera. Mabry does not appear to be wearing a uniform, but he proudly wears at least one reunion ribbon, a sign that
“Yasser Boss”: Old Jeff Mabry Attends a Reunion Read More »
Americans who think today’s elections are bitter should look back at 1860. As the presidential election approached that fall, the country was more divided than at any time in its history. In South Carolina, the Charleston Mercury reported that Minute Men were organizing across the state “for any emergency that may arise in the present
The Temper of the Southern Mind as the 1860 Election Approached Read More »
Originally the humble Richmond iron steam tug James Gray, the 250-ton ship Lady Davis had a distinguished if brief career in the American Civil War. After being commissioned in the Confederate Navy in 1861 it captured the AB Thmpson, a full-rigged ship of 980 tons and a crew of 23 out of Maine into Beaufort,
The Charleston Zouave Cadets of the Confederate Army, 1861 Charleston’s Own Zouaves When war came to South Carolina in 1861, Charleston answered with a long list of volunteer militia companies. One of the most colorful was the Charleston Zouave Cadets. Like many units of the day, they borrowed their style from the French Zouaves, whose
Historic Photo: The Charleston Zouave Cadets Read More »
What “Heritage Not Hate” Really Means “Heritage not hate” is one of the most common phrases you will hear from people who fly the Confederate battle flag. For millions of Southerners, those three words sum up exactly why the flag matters to them. To these families, the flag is a memorial. It honors grandfathers and
The Dukes of Hazzard Still Ride For anyone who grew up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Friday nights meant one thing: Bo and Luke Duke tearing down the back roads of Hazzard County in the General Lee. The Dukes of Hazzard ran on CBS from 1979 to 1985 and became one of the
Now More Dukes Of Hazard You Say… Read More »
