The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina

by Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore, George C. Rogers, Jr.

2020 · Univ of South Carolina Press

The complex, colorful history of South Carolina's southeastern corner In the first volume of The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, three distinguished historians of the Palmetto State recount more than three centuries of Spanish and French exploration, English and Huguenot agriculture, and African slave labor as they trace the history of one of North America's oldest European settlements. From the sixteenth-century forays of the Spaniards to the invasion of Union forces in 1861, Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore, and George C. Rogers, Jr., chronicle the settlement and development of the geographical region comprised of what is now Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, and part of Allendale counties. The authors describe the ill-fated attempts of the Spanish and French to settle the Port Royal Sound area and the arrival of the British in 1663, which established the Beaufort District as the southern frontier of English North America. They tell of the region's bloody Indian Wars, participation in the American Revolution, and golden age of prosperity and influence following the introduction of Sea Island cotton. In charting the approach of civil war, Rowland, Moore, and Rogers relate Beaufort District's decisive role in the Nullification Crisis and in the cultivation, by some of the district's native sons, of South Carolina's secessionist movement. Of particular interest, they profile the local African American, or Gullah, population - a community that has become well known for the retention of its African cultural and linguistic heritage.

The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson In Which is Told the Part Taken by the Rockbridge Artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia

by Edward Alexander Moore

2020 · Library of Alexandria

At the age of eighteen I was a member of the Junior Class at Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, during the session of 1860-61, and with the rest of the students was more interested in the foreshadowings of that ominous period than in the teachings of the professors. Among our number there were a few from the States farther south who seemed to have been born secessionists, while a large majority of the students were decidedly in favor of the Union. Our president, the Rev. Dr. George Junkin, who hailed from the North, was heart and soul a Union man, notwithstanding the fact that one of his daughters was the first wife of Major Thomas J. Jackson, who developed into the world-renowned "Stonewall" Jackson. Another daughter was the great Southern poetess, Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, and Dr. Junkin's son, Rev. W. F. Junkin, a most lovable man, became an ardent Southern soldier and a chaplain in the Confederate Army throughout the war. At the anniversary of the Washington Literary Society, on February 22, 1861, the right of secession was attacked and defended by the participants in the discussion, with no less zeal than they afterward displayed on many bloody battlefields. We had as a near neighbor the Virginia Military Institute, "The West Point of the South," where scores of her young chivalry were assembled, who were eager to put into practice the subjects taught in their school. Previous to these exciting times not the most kindly feelings, and but little intercourse had existed between the two bodies of young men. The secession element in the College, however, finding more congenial company among the cadets, opened up the way for quite intimate and friendly relations between the two institutions. In January, 1861, the corps of cadets had been ordered by Governor Wise to be present, as a military guard, at the execution of John Brown at Harper's Ferry. After their return more than the usual time was given to the drill; and target-shooting with cannon and small arms was daily practised in our hearing. Only a small proportion of the citizens of the community favored secession, but they were very aggressive. One afternoon, while a huge Union flag-pole was being raised on the street, which when half-way up snapped and fell to the ground in pieces, I witnessed a personal encounter between a cadet and a mechanic (the latter afterward deserted from our battery during the Gettysburg campaign in Pennsylvania, his native State), which was promptly taken up by their respective friends. The cadets who were present hastened to their barracks and, joined by their comrades, armed themselves, and with fixed bayonets came streaming at double-quick toward the town. They were met at the end of Main street by their professors, conspicuous among whom was Colonel Colston on horseback. He was a native of France and professor of French at the Institute; he became a major-general in the Confederate Army and later a general in the Egyptian Army. After considerable persuasion the cadets were induced to return to their barracks.

The Northern Isles

by Alexander Fenton

1997 · Dundurn

The Northern Isles stand at a crossroads of North Atlantic Europe, subject to the competing influences of Scandinavia and Scotland. Sandy Fenton's detailed study of the material culture of Orkney and Shetland is combined with thorough linguistic analysis and is based on years of study and sifting of a mass of detail. Much of the material is new, based on extensive research by the author, on manuscript and other written sources and on knowledge freely imparted by many local inhabitants. It illuminates the complexity of numerous interlocking factors, draws a picture of a fascinating and varied existence and reveals the past not as a static tableau but a process of continuous change. This book recreates the physical environment in which the people lived, their crops and livestock, the harvest of the sea, their houses, the food they ate. These things dominated their lives and form the background which is the key to understanding the character of these fascinating islands. This major work has earned its place as a key contribution to European ethnology and won the Dag Stromback Award of the Royal Gustav Academy, Sweden.