John McCain: ‘Young Americans do not trust this government’

John McCain is a consistent voice for US military intervention over-seas John McCain is a consistent voice for US military intervention over-seas as well as amnesty and Third World immigration at home US Senator John McCain recently verbalised what polling data has long suggested. He is quoted in a Washington Times article by Ben Wolgang lamenting the fact that so many people see whistleblower Edward Snowden as a hero and do not trust the Federal Government. In fact, polls have revealed that nearly three-quarters of the public in general do not trust Washington, DC. A majority actually see the Federal Government as a threat to freedom. And a quarter of the members of McCain’s own party across the United States (nearly double that in some Southern States) support seceding from the Union. Wolfgang writes of McCain’s recent comments: A deep distrust of government has led young Americans to hold up NSA leaker Edward Snowden as a hero, Sen. John McCain said Sunday. “There’s a young generation who believes he’s some kind of Jason Bourne,” the Arizona Republican said during on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to the lead character in the Bourne movie trilogy who battled his own government, particularly the CIA. Wolfgang goes on to refer to McCain as ‘a widely respected figure on national security.’ In fact, McCain’s strong support of constant foreign intervention is as predictable as it is unpopular. The Arizona Republican has supported US military intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. He even pushed for military action against nuclear-armed Russia in the short-lived 2008 conflict over the small republics that seceded from Georgia. The US public does not share McCain’s bellicose attitude. A full two-thirds (68%) oppose US military action in Syria, for example. As well, 90% of the public opposed sending ground troops into Libya and 59% believed the US shouldn’t be involved in the conflict at all. The Times article concludes with a revealing quote from McCain: “Right now there’s kind of a generational change. Young Americans do not trust this government,” Mr. McCain said. “Without trusting government you can’t do a lot of things.” What exactly would be those ‘lot of things’ that McCain wishes the Federal Government to do? Might they include more foreign wars, surveillance of US citizens, amnesty for illegal immigrants and bailouts for failed government-connected industries? Might they be the same agenda McCain has long advocated?

Against the Lincoln Temple

July 20, 2013

 

Against the Lincoln Temple

 has become a prominent place of late for Southern nationalists to express their opposition to the US Empire, the demi-god of that Empire and the blind worship of vast numbers of peoples of a man responsible for more than half a million deaths as well as the rape, pillage and conquest of the Southern people. In that spirit, the pictures below were recently taken and shared with SNN by an anonymous reader.

Note: The images below can be enlarged.

Songs of the Revolution: ‘Trouble in America’

There’s nothing on the TV/ nothing on the radio that means that much to me/

All my life/ been watching America/

All my life/been standing in America/

Oh! Oh! Oh!/there’s trouble in America..

There’ nothing on the TV/nothing on the radio that I can believe in…’

Georgia’s reluctance to support the American Revolution

In our examination of the origins of Southern culture and identity we have studied how the plantation culture of the Caribbean was transmitted to the North American mainland. Most of our focus to this point has been on the colony of South Carolina, as that is where the Caribbean plantation culture was first articulated in the South. Recently we have expanded our focus beyond the Carolina Lowcountry to the neighbouring colony of Georgia. As we’ve noted, Georgia got a later start than Carolina and at first rejected the plantation culture. Its extremely poor economic and demographic performance led colonial leaders to (reluctantly, in at least some cases) embrace the plantation model – a societal model which made the colony a nearly overnight success and put it firmly in the Caribbean-centred plantation civilisation that many nineteenth century Southerners and Northern sympathisers referred to as the ‘Golden Circle.’ Dr Paul M Pressly in his book On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World (University of Georgia Press, 2013) describes in chapter eleven (‘Nationalizing the Lowcountry’) how Georgia benefitted greatly from its position within the British Empire. Its people enjoyed a new prosperity that was quickly catching up to that of neighbouring South Carolina. Georgia was also protected from enemies such as the Spanish in northern Florida and the American Indian tribes in the Upcountry. As well, British troops provided security in the event of a slave uprising. In its embrace of the British military Georgia was much more like the Caribbean colonies (which were enthusiastic supporters of basing more troops on their islands) than the mainland colonies. Even South Carolina, which had been colonised by English-Barbadians who had largely replicated the Barbadian model in the Carolina Lowcountry, was significantly less supportive of the British military and Empire in general than was Georgia. Dr Pressly writes: Fort King GeorgeWhile Carolinians dug in to defend the “rights of Carolina Englishmen,” Georgians had fewer reasons to rebel against British rule than other Americans. For historical reasons, the colony received an annual grant of £3,000 sterling to cover the cost of the civil list, substantially reducing the tax burden on its citizens and making them cautious about any irrevocable step ending that relationship. Nor were Georgians insensitive to the fact that the sparse settlement in the upcountry made them vulnerable to the Creeks, who outnumbered whites until the very end of the period. Reliance on the protection of the British army remained a strong desire even if no British troops were stationed in the colony. …On a deeper level, the diversity of the province presented a roadblock to developing a common stance. The Germans around Ebenezer lacked any background in representative government, had found the religious freedom they sought, and tended to support the Crown, at least at the outset. By way of contrast, the Congregationalists of St. John Parish were passionate Whigs and pushed hard for a decisive break with Britain. However, issues of trade and commerce, and more generally, the very real advantages of the imperial system weighed heavily in people’s thinking. Few wanted to risk the economic boom that had carried the colony to new heights. Georgia was very much attached to the empire – and the habit of looking to the Caribbean and Britain, rather than to the middle colonies and New England, for sources of inspiration. The above economic and political reasons for supporting the British Empire were also strengthened by the social isolation of Georgia from the other mainland colonies. Pressly notes that ‘The colony was much less tied to the economic, cultural, and political life of the North American continent than was South Carolina.’ One important way this was reflected was in marriages. Georgians rarely married outside of the colony, and when they did it was generally to South Carolinians – who had largely colonised Georgia (those with Carolinian roots made up more than half of the planters in the Georgia Lowcountry prior to the American Revolution) in the first place. ‘If few Georgians married Carolinians, virtually no one married someone from elsewhere in the North American mainland. “Northward” brides or grooms were almost never found,’ Pressly writes. Beyond marriage, education was an important factor that in the colonial and throughout the Antebellum period united the mainland colonies. The Northeast had most of the early universities and it was common for upper class Southern young men to be sent to New England for college. However, ‘[Georgians] did not follow their Carolinian peers to Newport, Rhode Island, and other summer spots far removed from the stultifying heat and malaria-bearing mosquitoes of the southern seacoast. Very few traveled to the mid-Atlantic colonies for education and no one, it would appear, went to any institution in New England.’ These factors led to a ‘sense of disenfranchisement from the mainland’ and influenced Georgians’ view of the revolutionary, anti-British sentiments coming out of New England and the other colonies. Georgia’s three delegates to the Continental Congress refused to take their seats in Philadelphia. The only strong anti-British, pro-Revolution support in the colony was found in St John Parish ‘dominated by the Congregationalists with their New England ties.’ Pressly notes that ‘When the congress met in Savannah on January 18, [1775] only five parishes turned up, and they voted in tentative fashion for a watered-down resolution in favor of the [Continental] Association.’ The delegates informed their colleagues in Philadelphia via a letter that Savannah’s merchants ‘flatly opposed the boycott’ of commerce with Britain. Importantly, the ‘watered-down resolution’ that did pass contained ‘an omission that permitted Georgia’s lucrative commerce with the West Indies to go forward.’ It would take another year and the continued agitation of revolutionaries to stir up enough rebel support in Savannah to endanger Britain’s position in the colony. Even then many Georgians, especially the Scottish merchants and the Lowcountry planters, remained supportive of the Empire. It was the outbreak of war itself which, as Pressly writes, had the effect of ‘nationalizing the lowcountry’ and bringing it more into the North American sphere. The American Revolution effectively severed the Golden Circle, cutting off Carolina and Georgia in particular from their sister colonies in the British Caribbean. That severing ultimately had the fateful results of binding the Southern mainland plantation colonies to the New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies in a Union in which Southerners were the minority. As well, it greatly reduced the political influence of the remaining British plantation colonies (in the Caribbean) and empowered the abolitionist movement in English urban centres. In the end the British turned against their remaining plantation colonies in the Americas, opting to essentially destroy (with the imposition of democracy and equality) those highly affluent English outposts in the Caribbean in favour of a focus on African and Asian colonization. Likewise, only several decades after the American Revolution the Northern States were aggressively agitating (to the point of carrying out terrorists attacks in Virginia and Missouri) against the South. The great cultural, political and economic differences between the regions, reinforced by the resentment built up over decades of agitation and bitter political struggle ultimately led to Southern secession, Northern invasion and the subsequent destruction of the plantation South.

Cuba, Southern expansion & the Golden Circle

One of the long-term effects of the rise of the Republican Party as an explicitly sectional, anti-Southern party in the 1850s was the defeat of efforts by US President James Buchanan, Southerners and the Democratic Party in general to acquire Cuba and bring it into the Union as a plantation State. This would have added two more Southern senators, giving the South more parity in the all-important upper house of Congress and the ability to block anti-Southern legislation. As Dr Robert E May writes in his book The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire: 1854-1861 Buchanan’s ‘favored project was the annexation of Cuba.’ He explains, ‘By 1859, annexation of Cuba appeared to be the best means of reunifying his party as well as securing renomination in 1860.’ In addition to aiding the South, Cuba would have almost certainly elected more Democrats to the US Congress and helped to counter the rise of the Republican Party. To this end Buchanan sent an envoy to Spain to attempt to purchase the island from the Madrid government. Spain was a very divided society which was troubled with three civil wars in the nineteenth century; various factions were often in need of funds and US Democrats thought they could take advantage of this situation to buy the large, prosperous island to the south of Florida. By that time Spain had lost its empire in the New World and had a troubled relationship with the elites of Cuba, many of whom saw advantages to joining the Union as a plantation State. Bills advancing the purchase of Cuba were written in Congress and many believed the long-anticipated US acquisition was at hand. Recalcitrant Republicans in the US Congress ultimately prevented the acquisition of Cuba, which would have otherwise become another Florida, Louisiana or Texas. As May writes: Republicans served notice once again that they would never permit American acquisition of a tropical slave country. On January 24, the day that Branch introduced his bill to the House [authorising the purchase of Cuba], Albert Jenkins of Virginia shrewdly maneuvered William Kellogg of Illinois into admitting that the main reason Republicans opposed the bill was unwillingness to add another slave state to the Union. Homer Royce of Vermont warned: Southerners who supported the bill to increase their section’s political strength were ‘laboring under a great delusion.’ Thus, the North could expand throughout the Northwest and Midwest but the South was prevented from expanding (and therefore maintaining political parity with the North) due to the rise of the Republicans and their united voice on the issue. The situation was such that some of the Fire-Eaters (such as Robert Barnwell Rhett) by that time opposed the purchase of Cuba prior to Southern secession ‘because they felt that continuous attention to demands for Caribbean territory obscured other, more important southern grievances.’ Those who by that that time already supported secession feared that bringing Cuba into the Union would pacify many Southerners and delay independence. The early Cuban flag designed by Narciso López. The modern version uses a slightly darker shade of blue. The early Cuban flag designed by Narciso López. The modern version uses a darker shade of blue. SOUTHERN FILIBUSTERING & THE FLAG OF CUBA An interesting reminder of Southern efforts at expansion into the Caribbean can still today be found in the flag of Cuba. The flag which became the national banner of Cuba was designed by Narciso López, a wealthy Venezuelan-born adventurer of Basque ancestry. As a young man López fought against the Leftist revolutionary Simón Bolívar, who sought the independence and unification of all of Latin America. He worked for the Spanish government in Europe and later moved to Cuba where he failed at a few business ventures and joined a faction that supported independence. López was forced to flee the island under pressure from Spanish authorities and took up residence in New York City. There he recruited Cuban exiles, Democrats and supports of expansion to back his plans for a filibustering (a private military campaign) expedition to Cuba. At the time this was a popular movement, especially in the Lower South but also in New York and California, as a way to bring about Southern (and Democratic) expansion. He gathered 600 men in Mississippi and had three ships ready to take his troops to Cuba. Whig president Zachary Taylor intervened at the last minute and ordered the ships seized. López, who supported slavery and wanted to bring Cuba into the Union as a Southern State, moved to New Orleans and began again to organise a filibuster of Cuba. He offered Jefferson Davis, the moderate Democrat and US Secretary of War who would go on to become president of the Confederate States in 1861, a great sum of money as well as land to support his efforts to gain Cuba. Davis, who was not a supporter of filibustering, turned him down. López also made an offer to future Confederate general Robert E Lee for his support and Lee apparently seriously considered the plan but declined to participate. Despite failing to win over these men, López did have a great deal of Southern support and led a filibuster in 1850 into Cuba with roughly 600 men. The assault failed and he had to quickly retreat to Key West. In that military campaign though, López carried a flag which he designed – the banner which would eventually become the national symbol of Cuba. It had a long star like the Bonnie Blue flag of the Republic of West Florida (a short-lived Southern country that was conquered by the United States in 1810), the Republic of Texas (another Southern country which eventually joined the Union) and the secession banners of many Southern States in 1860-61. It also originally used a soft blue colour like the Bonnie Blue, though this was later changed to a darker shade. The determined filibuster mounted another campaign in 1851, again with several hundred men. That expedition ended in tragedy for López and many of his men, who were eventually surrounded, captured and executed by Spanish forces. Others were used as prison workers in Cuban mining camps. Wikipedia’s article on López concludes: The execution of López and his soldiers caused outrage in both the northern and southern United States. Many who did not support the expedition found the Spanish treatment of military prisoners brutal. The strongest reaction occurred in New Orleans, where a mob attacked the Spanish consulate. Despite its failure, López’s expedition inspired other filibusters to attack Latin American countries throughout the 1850s, most notably William Walker’s invasions of Central America in 1855-1860. Had he been successful, López could have profoundly altered politics in the Americas, giving a strong Caribbean foothold to the United States and spurring its further expansion. Instead, the failure of López and other filibusters discouraged Americans, especially in the South, from adopting expansionist strategies. Faced with the inability of slavery to move southward, many Southerners turned away from expansion and talked instead of secession. Though Southern attempts to gain Cuba ultimately failed and López’s efforts for that cause ended in tragedy, as did William Walker’s in Nicaragua, the flag of Cuba is a reminder of what could have been. The South, which had sprung from a long-established and wealthy plantation civilisation (called the ‘Golden Circle’ by many of that era) that ultimately stretched from Brazil to the Chesapeake Bay, had been severed from the other plantation societies by the American Revolution. Numerous Southern leaders in the nineteenth century dreamed of uniting those societies as a bulwark against the Progressive, industrial and expansionist societies of the Northern United States and Western Europe. For a time in the mid-1800s it seemed as if the South would be united with at least parts of the Caribbean world (Cuba and Nicaragua, in particular). That was thwarted by the Republican Party and the Northern USA. Then, a short time later, it appeared that the South would be an independent country, free to decide its own future and possibly to expand into the Caribbean. Again, Southern dreams were destroyed by the Republican Party and the Northern USA – that time with disastrous loss of life, destruction of property and the subjugation of the South.

GC 61: William Walker & the Republic of Sonora

August 8, 2013 By The League of South Today on the Golden Circle podcast we explore a little-known event in Southern history that sheds more light on the Golden Circle historical perspective. We take a look at the efforts in the 1850s by a Tennessean and his supporters to create an independent, pro-Southern republic in northwestern Mexico, how he was praised in much of the US media at the time, the failure of his filibuster expedition and how he ultimately went on to conquer Nicaragua. The podcast’s topics include: Updates on Uvalda demonstration & immigrant press attack on the League of the South; William Walker & the Southern filibuster movement; Excerpt from The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire 1854-1861; Walker’s conquest of Baja California; The Republic of Sonora.

ADL attacks Southern nationalists as ‘extremists’

By the League of the South The Left-wing group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) attempted in a recent article on its website to defame Southern nationalists by labeling them ‘White supremacists’, ‘neo-Confederates’ and ‘racist’. The ADL’s is based in New York City and it describes its agenda as ‘to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.’ The article in question is filed under the heading ‘Extremism & Terrorism’ with the subtitle ‘Latest Developments and Trends in Extremism & Terrorism.’ It focuses on the upcoming demonstration against Southern demographic displacement in Uvalda, Georgia. The ADL is now the second group to attack Southern nationalists for organising against the pro-amnesty mayor of Uvalda, Paul Bridges, and the displacement of the Southern people. Recently, a Hispanic newspaper in Savannah, Georgia called La Voz Latina (‘The Latina Voice’) which says it exists ‘for the Latino community’ also attacked Southern nationalists, promoted amnesty for illegal immigrants and defended Mayor Bridges. Where the ADL article differs from the La Voz Latina piece is that it focuses on those who are organising the demonstration. The piece features a picture of yours truly and mentions SNN. It also mentions Dr Michael Hill, president of the League of the South, and attacks the League as ‘an implic­itly racist group.’ It likewise attacks Hunter Wallace (a frequent guest on the SNN podcast and the webmaster of Occidental Dissent) as a ‘white suprema­cist.’ Additionally, the ADL attack Matthew Heimbach and Kyle Rogers, both of whom have also been on the SNN podcast more than once. The ironic thing about the hit piece is that the ADL specifically advocates for one group of people. It also notes on its website that it ‘Supports the Jewish state by advocating for Israel.’ Notice that it describes Israel as ‘the Jewish state.’ The ADL supports a nationalist state for Israelis but opposes the very same thing for Southerners. While it supports the survival, well-being and independence of Israelis it opposes this for the Southern people, referring to Georgia’s immigration law which sought to crack down on illegal immigration as ‘harsh’. The anti-Southern, anti-White group also attempts to single out and marginalise police chief Lewis Smith for upholding the law and defending the local people of Uvalda. Such is the way that the ADL operates. Click here for the ADL article attacking Southern nationalists Also see: Immigrant newspaper attacks League of the South, praises pro-amnesty mayor, Uvalda, GA demonstration against Southern demographic displacement and Mayor Paul Bridges: Activist for Southern demographic displacement

Immigrant newspaper attacks League of the South, praises pro-amnesty mayor

La Voz Latina supports demographically displacing the Southern people La Voz Latina supports demographically displacing the Southern people A Spanish-language newspaper in Savannah, Georgia called La Voz Latina (‘The Latina Voice’) which says it exists ‘for the Latino community’ of the Lowcountry of Georgia and South Carolina has a lengthy two page editorial in its August edition (see page 6) attacking the League of the South and praising Uvalda Mayor Paul Bridges. The article is written by John Newton (in fact, most of the writers for the newspaper have English names). PRO-AMNESTY MAYOR PRAISED FOR ACTIVISM The editorial in question is mostly a fluff piece which praises the unpopular mayor of Uvalda for his pro-amnesty activism on behalf of the Third World immigrants who are displacing the native Southern people of Georgia. Hispanic immigrants now make up over 8.8% of the population of Georgia and many rural areas of the State in particular are already demographically non-Southern. Mayor Bridges ran for office of his small Georgia town as a ‘conservative’ but once in office sided with Left-wing, anti-White organisations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Immigration Law Center in a legal suit against the State of Georgia over its strict immigration law. Predictably, the US Federal court system sided with the mayor, the Left-wing groups and illegal immigrants against the people of the State of Georgia. The mayor has also taken his case for the demographic displacement of Georgians to the US media in articles and videos in which he theorised that an American is a ‘concept’ and ‘rainbows.’ He has impeded efforts by local law enforcement in Uvalda and the surrounding county to crack down on illegal immigration and immigrant crime. La Voz Latina describes Bridges as ‘a gentle man who speaks softly and seldom raises his voice.’ It claims that he ‘has lots of friends in South Georgia and throughout the country’ and ‘defend[s] the rights of all the residents of his farming community regardless of their skin color.’ The editorial concludes with the line ‘Paul needs your prayers.’ One would get the impression from the article that Mayor Bridges is a heroic and beloved folk hero when in fact he is opposed by the city council of Uvalda, the local police and most of the people of the town. He has little power because of his unpopularity and is currently serving the final year of his term in office. As the article notes ‘Paul Bridges finds himself ostracized by the other members of Uvalda’s city government including the mayor pro-tem and all five council members.’ Given his support for amnesty and Third World immigration it is highly doubtful that the mayor has a bright political future in rural Georgia. SOUTHERN NATIONALISTS ATTACKED FOR DEFENDING GEORGIANS On the other hand, the League of the South, which is holding a demonstration on 24 August in Uvalda against the demographic displacement of Georgians, is described as ‘an ultra-right-wing political organization.’ It notes that ‘The group advocates for a second Southern secession from the union and favors a society dominated by “European Americans”.’ La Voz helpfully notes that this means White people. It makes no mention of the League’s work for the survival and well-being of the Southern people. Newton’s article does however quote Ed Wolfe, Chairman of the Georgia League of the South. Mr Wolfe has confirmed to SNN that he has not spoken to La Voz Latina and believes that the immigrant newspaper has a ‘spy’ which is monitoring the League’s communications. That said, the quote is factually correct and reads ‘This scalawag mayor is a rainbow Republican and needs to be put in his place. This demonstration will have a very narrow focus – how immigration is destroying our Southern Culture.’ POLICE CHIEF SLANDERED FOR UPHOLDING THE LAW The article also attacks the police chief of Uvalda, Lewis Smith, quoting Bridges: “Time after time, this chief of police, a man who is sworn to uphold the law, has used his authority to racially profile and trample on the rights of the Hispanics who live in Uvalda,” Bridges said. “He sets up illegal roadblocks, threatening people with deportation, and I’m not going to keep silent while these abuses continue to occur.” Mayor Paul Bridges opposes local police efforts to enforce laws against illegal immigration Mayor Paul Bridges opposes local police efforts to enforce laws against illegal immigration For his dedication to the native people of Georgia the police chief is smeared in this article by the mayor. There are no quotes from Police Chief Smith. While clearly unappreciated by La Voz Latina and Mayor Bridges, according to all reports Smith has the people of the town and of Georgia in general on his side. The League of the South plans on honouring the police chief for his service to the Southern people at the demonstration. LINES DRAWN OVER DEMOGRAPHIC DISPLACEMENT It should be pointed out that the entire editorial is simply the opinion of a Leftist writer in Savannah and the pro-amnesty mayor of a small town which is ready to see him go. Nowhere in the piece is anyone quoted defending the interests of Southerners except for the two sentences attributed to Mr Wolfe. None of the citizens of Uvalda were asked whether or not they want to be displaced by Mexican workers. None of the parents of the town were asked if they wanted their children sent to school full of foreign students. Nowhere in the piece is anyone quoted defending the interests of Southerners except for the two sentences from Mr Wolfe. Newton assumes the moral high ground for his advocacy of flooding southern Georgia with vast numbers of Third World immigrants without giving any consideration to the rights and concerns of the native people of Georgia. Those opposed to mass immigration and amnesty are described as the ‘old guard’ and Newton even invokes the Leftist cliché ‘Paul Bridges stands on the right side of history in this struggle.’ The article quotes Bridges using similar Progressive rhetoric: ‘You can only do so much when people are resistant to change, no matter how much sense it makes.’ Readers of La Voz Latina are to take it then that supporting the imposition of a foreign language, a foreign culture, a Left-wing political agenda and ultimately the displacement of the native people of Georgia is to be ‘on the right side of history.’ Georgians who do not want their towns and counties to become little Mexico colonies are ‘resistant to change’ – with ‘change’ always assumed to be a Progressive and positive nature. At least Georgians know where La Voz Latina, Mayor Paul Bridges and their supports stand on this all-important matter. Likewise, it is clear where the League of the South and Southern nationalists in general also stand. Those favouring displacing Southerners have the US court system, the White House, the US media and vast numbers of immigrant-activists on their side. The Southern people have the League on their side. The upcoming demonstration in Uvalda will make this obvious and will call attention to the immorality of the anti-Southern agenda advanced by Mayor Bridges, La Voz Latina and their supporters.

WHEN WILL THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER BE FORGOTTEN?

"When the lion eats grass like an ox
And the gallinipper swallows the whale,
When the terrapin knits woolen socks
And the hare is outrun by the snail.
When serpents walk upright like men
And doodle bugs travel like frogs,
When grasshoppers feed on the hen
And feathers are found on the hogs,
When Thomas cats swim in the air,
And elephants roost upon trees,
When insects in summer are rare
And snuff never makes people sneeze.
When fish creep over dry land
And mules on bycicles ride,
When foxes lay eggs in the sand
And women in dress take no pride.
When Dutchmen no longer drink beer
And girls get to preaching on time,
When billy goats butt from the rear,
And treason is no longer a crime,
When the humming bird brays like a donkey
And limburger smells like cologne,
When plowshares are made out of monkeys
And the hearts of Alabamians are stone."

-By Mr. James Barson in Age Herald, June 9th, 1908

On the morning of August 9, Jackson's army crossed to the Rapidan River into Culpeper County, led by Maj. Gen. Richard S.

On the morning of August 9, Jackson's army crossed to the Rapidan River into Culpeper County, led by Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's division, followed by Brig. Gen. Charles S. Winder's division, with Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's division in the rear. Just before noon, Brig. Gen. Jubal Early's brigade, the vanguard of Ewell's division, came upon Federal cavalry and artillery occupying the ridge above Cedar Run, just to the north-west of Cedar Mountain. Early brought up his guns and an artillery duel began between the opposing forces as Early's infantry formed a line on the eastern side of the Culpeper-Orange Turnpike (present day U.S. Route 15) on the high ground on the opposite bank of Cedar Run. As the rest of Ewell's division arrived they formed on Early's right, anchored against the northern slope of the mountain and deployed their six guns on its ridge. Winder's division formed to Early's left, on the west side of the Turnpike, with Brig. Gen. William Taliaferro's brigade closest to Early, and Col. Thomas S. Garnett's on the far Confederate left in a wheat field at the edge of a woods. Winder's artillery filled a gap on the road between the two division, the Stonewall Brigade, led by Col. Charles R. Ronald, was brought up in support behind the guns. A.P Hill's division, still marching up the Turnpike, was ordered to stand in reserve on the Confederate left.

Union position

The Federals formed a line on a ridge above Cedar Run, with Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford's brigade on forming the Union right in a field across from Garnett and Brig. Gen. Christopher C. Augur's division on the Union left to the east of the Turnpike. Brig. Gen. John W. Geary's brigade was anchored on the Turnpike opposing Taliaferro, while Brig. Gen Henry Prince's brigade formed the far left opposite Ewell. Brig. Gen. George S. Greene's understrength brigade (only two regiments) was kept in reserve in the rear.

A little before 5:00 p.m. as the artillery fight began to wane, Confederate Brig. Gen. Charles S. Winder fell mortally wounded. He had been ill that day and was taken onto the field in an ambulance wagon. While attempting to direct his troops, he was struck by a shell fragment. Winder's left arm and side were torn to pieces, and he died a few hours later. As a result, command of the division devolved on William Taliaferro, who was completely ignorant of Jackson's battle plan. Dispositions on his part of the field were still incomplete; Garnett's brigade was isolated from the main Confederate line, with its flank dangerously exposed to the woods. The Stonewall Brigade was to have come up to support them, but remained a half mile distant behind the artillery. Before leadership could properly be restored to the division the Union attack began. Geary and Prince were sent against the Confederate right. The Federal advance was swift and threatened to break the Confederate line, prompting Early to come galloping to the front from Cedar Mountain where he was directing troop dispositions. Early's stabilizing presence and the raking fire of the Confederate guns halted the Union advance on the Confederate right. On the left Crawford attacked Winder's division, sending one brigade directly at the Confederate line and another brigade through the woods on a flanking movement. The Federals came from the woods directly into the flank of the 1st Virginia Infantry, who under the pressure from attack on two fronts broke for the rear. The Federals pushed on, not waiting to reform their lines, rolling through the outflanked 42nd Virginia until they found themselves in Taliaferro's and the artillery's rear. The Stonewall Brigade came up and was swept aside by Crawford's troops before it had a chance to react. Jackson ordered the batteries withdrawn before they were captured, but Taliaferro and Early's left were hit hard by the Union advance and threatened to break.

Confederate counterattack

At this dire point, Gen. Jackson rode to that part of the field to rally the men and came upon his old brigade finally being brought up to reinforce the line. Intending to inspire the troops there, he attempted to brandish his sword; however, due to the infrequency with which he drew it, it had rusted in its scabbard and he was unable to dislodge it. Undaunted, he unbuckled the sword from his belt and waved it, scabbard and all, over his head. He then grabbed a battle flag from a retreating standard bearer and yelled at his men to rally around him. The Stonewall Brigade, heartened by their commander, launched into the Union troops and drove them back. By this point, Banks's men were becoming tired and disorganized, with their ammunition nearly gone. Without any support, his men had been unable to follow up on their initial success. In their zeal, the Stonewall Brigade pursued the Federals as they fell back, but soon found themselves beyond the Confederate line and without support. The Federals reformed and attacked, driving the 4th and 27th Virginia back. But the actions of the Stonewall Brigade gave the Confederate line time to reform and A.P Hill's troops to come up and fill the gaps from Winder's broken regiments. Jackson ordered Hill and Ewell to advance. He encountered Brig. Gen. Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (a career politician) making a lengthy speech to his troops, and urged him to press forward. The Union right immediately collapsed. Ewell, having difficulty silencing his guns, was delayed, but the Union left began to waver at the sight of Crawford's retreat and were finally broken by a charge down Cedar Mountain by Brig. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble's brigade.

Confederate pursuit

Despite bringing up Greene's reserve brigade in support, by 7 p.m. the Union line was in full retreat. In a last-ditch effort to help cover his infantry's retreat, Banks sent two squadrons of cavalry at the Confederate line. They were met with a devastating volley from the Confederate infantry posted behind a fence on the road, allowing only 71 of 174 to escape. The Confederate infantry and Brig. Gen William E. Jones's 7th Virginia Cavalry hotly pursued the retreating Federals, nearly capturing Banks and Pope, who were at their headquarters a mile behind the Federal line. After a mile-and-a-half of pursuit, Jackson grew weary as darkness set in, as he was unsure of the location of the rest of Pope's army. Finally, several Union infantrymen captured by the 7th Virginia informed the Confederates that Pope was bringing Sigel forward to reinforce Banks. Accordingly, Jackson called off the pursuit and by around 10 p.m the fighting had ceased. By this point, Brig. Gen. James Ricketts's division of McDowell's corps was arriving, which effectively covered Banks's retreat.

Aftermath

Losses were high in the battle: Union casualties of 2,353 (314 killed, 1,445 wounded, 594 missing), Confederate 1,338 (231 killed, 1,107 wounded).[1] Crawford's brigade had lost over 50% of its total strength, including most of its officers. Prince's and Geary's brigades suffered 30–40% casualty rates. Both generals were wounded, and Prince was also captured. Confederate Brig. Gen. Charles S. Winder was mortally wounded by a shell.

For two days, Jackson maintained his position south of Cedar Run on the western slope of the mountain, waiting for a Federal attack that did not come. Finally, receiving news that all of Pope's army had arrived at Culpeper Court House, on August 12, Jackson fell back on Gordonsville to a more defensive position behind the Rapidan River.

Weather and poor communication with his divisional commanders had robbed Jackson of the initiative in the fight. Still expecting to face the same cautious opponent from the Valley, he was taken by surprise and very nearly driven from the field. Excellent commanding by the Confederates at the crucial moment of the battle and the fortuitous arrival of Hill staved off defeat, eventually allowing their numerical superiority to drive the Federals from the field. For his part, Banks, having been soundly defeated by Jackson in the Valley, was anxious to make up for previous losses. Rather than fighting a defensive battle from a strong position because he was outnumbered 2 to 1, giving time for the rest of Pope's army to arrive, he decided to take the initiative and attack Jackson before he could fully form his lines. The bold move very nearly paid off, but in the end he was again defeated by his old foe.

With Jackson on the loose, wreaking havoc against Union forces, General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck became apprehensive and called off Pope's advance on Gordonsville, thereby giving Lee the initiative in the Northern Virginia Campaign. The battle effectively shifted fighting in Virginia from the Virginia Peninsula into northern Virginia.

Battlefield preservation

The Civil War Trust has preserved 154 acres of the Cedar Mountain battlefield so far and started an effort in 2012 to add another significant tract of land to that total.

Most of the already preserved land sits near the intersection of Virginia State Routes 15 and 657 (the latter of which is known as General Winder Road). It includes the area where Crittenden Gate once stood, along with the wheat field in which some of the bloodiest fighting of the battle took place. The Trust preserved a 152-acre plot of land there in 1998 and added two more to that total twelve years later. A local organization known as the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield proved instrumental to implementing these preservation efforts.

The Trust initiated a campaign in 2012 to preserve an additional ten acres close to Crittenden Gate. This land includes the area of the battlefield where General Winder was mortally wounded, along with the locations of Jackson’s command post and his desperate effort to rally Confederate troops at the climax of the battle.

Sue Mundy / Jerome Clarke

While not a Missouri Partisan Ranger, Sue Mundy was joined by Quantrill and several members of Quantrill's band when they entered Kentucky in late 1864 or early 1865.
Sue Mundy was the fictitious name of the 'Girl Guerrilla' who operated in Kentucky and whom Quantrill joined on occasion while in Kentucky. The name Sue Mundy was thought up by a newspaper reporter in order to embarrass the Federals for allowing him to operate so freely.
Actually, Sue Mundy was a young man, small and long-haired, whose real name was Jerome Marcellus Clarke. Clarke was the scion of a distinguished family. The newspaper had brazenly invented his female persona - even borrowing the name of a notorious local madam - to embarass the Federal army commander in Louisville, with whom it was feuding.
The hoax worked, and by early 1865 the capture of Sue Mundy's gang had become an urgent priority, especially after well-publicized accounts related that "she" had joined forces with William Quantrill's Raiders.
On the night of Feb. 2, 1865 the combined force of Quantrill and Mundy burned the railroad depot and freight cars to the torch at Lair Station, Kentucy. Passing by New Market at 11 a.m. on Feb. 8, the gang attacked a Federal wagon train. The guerrillas killed three soldiers, captured four others, burned a number of wagons and shot all the mules.
A few weeks before the war's end, a troop of Wisconsin cavalry captured Clarke in a Kentucky barn. He demanded to be treated as a prisoner of war, but because of Sue Mundy's infamous celebrity, he was hanged as a criminal instead.


Henry C. Magruder, Marcellus "Sue Mundy" Clarke, Samuel "One Arm" Berry

I AM THEIR FLAG...

In 1861, when they perceived their rights to be threatened, when those who would alter the nature of the government of their fathers were placed in charge, when threatened with change they could not accept, the mighty men of valor began to gather. A band of brothers, native to the Southern soil, they pledged themselves to a cause: the cause of defending family, fireside, and faith. Between the desolation of war and their homes they interposed their bodies and they chose me for their symbol.

I Am Their Flag.

Their mothers, wives, and sweethearts took scissors and thimbles, needles and thread, and from silk or cotton or calico - whatever was the best they had - even from the fabric of their wedding dresses, they cut my pieces and stitched my seams.

I Am Their Flag.

On courthouse lawns, in picnic groves, at train stations across the South the men mustered and the women placed me in their hands. "Fight hard, win if possible, come back if you can; but, above all, maintain your honor. Here is your symbol," they said.

I Am Their Flag.

They flocked to the training grounds and the drill fields. They felt the wrenching sadness of leaving home. They endured sickness, loneliness, boredom, bad food, and poor quarters. They looked to me for inspiration.

I Am Their Flag.

I was at Sumter when they began in jubilation. I was at Big Bethel when the infantry fired its first volley. I smelled the gun smoke along Bull Run in Virginia and at Belmont along the Mississippi. I was in the debacle at Fort Donelson; I led Jackson up the Valley. For Seven Days I flapped in the turgid air of the James River bottoms as McClellan ran from before Richmond. Sidney Johnston died for me at Shiloh as would thousands of others whose graves are marked "Sine Nomine," - without a name - unknown.

I Am Their Flag.

With ammunition gone they defended me along the railroad bed at Manassas by throwing rocks. I saw the fields run red with blood at Sharpsburg. Brave men carried me across Doctor's Creek at Perryville. I saw the blue bodies cover Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg and the Gray ones fall like leaves in the Round Forest at Stones River.

I Am Their Flag.

I was a shroud for the body of Stonewall after Chancellorsville. Men ate rats and mule meat to keep me flying over Vicksburg. I tramped across the wheat field with Kemper and Armistead and Garnett at Gettysburg. I know the thrill of victory, the misery of defeat, the bloody cost of both.

I Am Their Flag.

When Longstreet broke the line at Chickamauga, I was in the lead. I was the last off Lookout Mountain. Men died to rescue me at Missionary Ridge. I was singed by the wildfire that burned to death the wounded in the Wilderness. I was shot to tatters in the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania. I was in it all from Dalton to Peachtree Creek, and no worse place did I ever see than Kennesaw and New Hope Church. They planted me over the trenches at Petersburg and there I stayed for many long months.

I Am Their Flag.

I was rolled in blood at Franklin; I was stiff with ice at Nashville. Many good men bade me farewell at Sayler's Creek. When the end came at Appomattox, when the last Johnny Reb left Durham Station, many of them carried fragments of my fabric hidden on their bodies.

I Am Their Flag.

In the hard years of so-called "Reconstruction," in the difficulty and despair of years that slowly passed, the veterans, their wives and sons and daughters, they loved me. They kept alive the tales of valor and the legends of bravery. They passed them on to the grandchildren and they to their children, and so they were passed to you.

I Am Their Flag.

I have shrouded the bodies of heroes, I have been laved with the blood of martyrs, I am enshrined in the hearts of millions, living and dead. Salute me with affection and reverence. Keep undying devotion in your hearts. I am history. I am heritage, not hate. I am the inspiration of valor from the past. I Am Their Flag. By Dr. Micheal Bradley

~Robert~

Reign of Steamboats on Sabine Full of Romance

The Second Battle of Sabine Pass took place on September 8, 1863, and was the result of a Union expedition into Confederate-controlled Texas during the American Civil War. It has often been credited as the most one-sided Confederate victory during the conflict. Here is a story about life along the Sabine River before the railroads.

A remarkable historical photograph of the Steamboat "Neches Belle." It was taken by noted photographer Velma Nash, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 93. Here is a 1932 article from The (Beaumont, Texas) Enterprise that describes life on board this steamboat. It is fascinating:

Reign of Steamboats on Sabine Full of Romance
Old-time Glory of Cotton Carriers of 40 Years Ago Told by “Cap’n” John White

Advent of Railroad System Causes Passing of Freighters; Sailings of Neches Belle are Recalled

By Dean Tevis

On a day when the wind is in the east Cap’n John can hear her whistle for the landing – though he’s a good 15 miles from the river. Generally four or five long Blasts—if there’s plenty of steam in the old boilers—low, resonant sounds—as though someone in a little patch of woods at some distance drew a well-resined bow slowly across the “G” string of an old violin.

“If yo’d ever got the note in your heart,” he said, “you’d never forget it!”

Captain John G. White, who skippered the Neches Belle on the Sabine, and who tells the story of the closing days of the steamboats on the rivers of southeastern Texas.

But in reality the captain never hears the whistle of the Neches Belle, one of the very last of the Ladies of the River, proud cotton carriers of a day past and gone, for it’s been 35 years since she and her sisters sailed.

Sometime when you’re on your way north and you’re crossing the historical bridge at Logansport, someone will show you the white bones – a little part of the rotting bottom-planking of the Neches Belle—lying in the shallow waters of the Sabine

T’is the story, if you care to listen to a tale of the rivers of east Texas concerning a man who wouldn’t admit that the railroads could beat the river steamboats as carriers of freight, but who found it out when he was one of the last men tossing a lead into some shallows In the Sabine to test the depth.

About the tale is the rhythm of the rivers of the far south, with semi-tropical vegetation along their banks, and great green pines on their often steep banks. There are odors about the tale—the odors of wild flowers and the smell—the rich peaceful smell of the wild woods. There is music in the story, the music of nature and the little removed song of the darkies. Through it runs strains of “Suzanna,” coming from the Louisiana bank of the Sabine, and a Texas melody from the western bank. Where the Neches Belle and other boats of the Cap’n’s ken ran was once the boundary between Mexico, and then Texas, and the United States of America.

Cap’n John G. White has lived at Kountze for a quarter of a century. When you meet him you fix his age at perhaps 55. Some might say 60. But the fact is that come July the Cap’n will be ‘73. He always has been and is now a “husky young fellow.” But ‘one’ day, not so long ago, he tried to crank a little car. He thought he knew the car. Long association does that even with men and machinery. The Cap’n tore a hawser, as he himself would put it. But you wouldn’t notice it, looking at him casual like.

Cap’n John was first mate, and then captain of the Neches Belle, and skipper and mate of other steamers. His river days were spent largely on the Sabine. That’s his river, though he has sailed the Neches.

His introduction to Texas and her rivers was at old Niblett’s Bluff on the Sabine when he was 7. He came west from Lexington, Ky., then. During the years that followed he worked at pushing husky pine and hardwood logs down the bank to send them on their weary way down the river. In those days the forests were virtually untouched. The chief things a log went for were shingles.

And then it was that Cap’n saw some of the earlier sternwheelers, built, for the most part, at some big port on the Mississippi, though later a shipyard on the lower Sabine turned out several.
SOME years passed and the boy went to Orange and sewed sacks and coopered barrels for Alladice and Lyles. He was 16. They owned the Neches Belle and she was under repair when he dropped down the stream to the place they then called Green’s Bluff. She lay at the old Bill Sword’s shipyard. The boy did a little caulking. He was under the tutorship of a man named Livingston, whom he lovingly refers to as Old Man Livingston. Those were the days, incidentally, when J. E. Broussard of Beaumont ran a meat market at Orange.

The Cap’n’s next step up was under General Slaughter. The general, it appears, was a hold-over in the south from the war. He had been a federal and was a war department engineer assigned to “clean out” the Sabine. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of logs, called “sinkers,” had slipped to the bottom of the river. The Sabine then was looked upon as not only highly navigable, but of as much importance as a traffic lane as the main line of a transcontinental railroad is today. When the steamer which the general commanded chugged north on her cleaning up cruise the Cap’n was one of the crew. A month later he was given charge of the men and several years slipped by.

ALONG in the mid-nineties the Cap’n had his mate’s papers, but in 1897 he got his license as master, which presented the information beneath a seal to all and sundry that John G. White, having proved himself capable, etc., was licensed by the government of the United States to navigate the rivers of east Texas. During this chapter of his story he ran some with Capt. Tom Davis on the Minnie and the Dura.

The Cap’n was an all-around steamboater for at times he held the post of engineer, and on other occasions he was a pilot. In other words Cap’n John knew the turns and the bends, the shallows, and the deep pools of the Sabine. And, therefore, there is perhaps not a man left who can better spin the tale of that river, during the years just before the railroads robbed it of Its meat and Its glory. He got in early enough, too, to learn the romance of the stream. He knows the spot where the Lafitte schooner lies and he knows where the Indian villages were along its banks.

The bulk of the Sabine boats, as Cap’n John put it, went out in about 1893, but some of them stayed on. He sailed out of Orange during the latter nineties with the Neches Belle for Logansport to build a new bridge for the H. B. and W. T., the railroad from Shreveport to Houston. “But she never came out,” said the Cap’n. “She was seized by the law for some debt. I can’t recall just now what it was. We tied her up and left her. That was in a time of fairly high water. Soon the stream fell and the Neches Belle turned over. I saw part of her wreck in the river bed four years ago, and I have no doubt she’s there still. I was the first mate of the Belle and Will Loving—you know Captain Loving—-he was the pilot. and a good one.”

That left Cap’n John out of a job. So it was pretty handy, the way things turned out, When Captain George Wolford of Orange brought the little sternwheeler Dura up the twists and bends and tied her to the bank at Logansport. Logansport, while a Louisiana town, really belongs in the east Texas picture, for it has played a continuous part in Texas’ story.

The Dura was a small steamboat. Her dimensions are quoted as 70 by .14. She carried about a hundred bales on her deck. The Dura, like the fated Neches Belle, was also seized for some debt. She owed, as best the Cap’n can remember, some $800. He stepped in with a proposition, and began operating the Dura to “work her out.”

Dura was owned in Sabine county—more an upriver boat than a member of the downstream company. Sabine Town, probably the greatest of all the lost river ports of both the Sabine and the Neches, was still something of a landing then, and the Cap’n loaded “many a bale there.” He’d bring provisions up the stream, and as he’d unload them he’d pick up cotton. On his return trip it would be the same procedure.

Well, as Cap’n John tells it, “I worked her clear out of debt, but the coming of the railroads put a stop to steamboating. It doesn’t take much explanation to see what happened.”

Cap’n John can close his eyes and see the Sabine in all Its old-time glory, when the pines were tan and thick as hair on a dog’s back. He’ll tell you about Youngblood landing, where they unloaded goods for old Burkeville. That was where Captain Sam Allidice lived. Then, winding north, there was Haddon ferry, one of the oldest on the stream and still in operation today; Snell’s landing, Godwin shoals, Sabine Town, most Important of them all; Pendleton, famous old East Hamilton, Snider’s landing, and then Logansport, the end of the voyage.

T'were few if any river tragedies in Cap’n John’s river experience. It is a peaceful tale he tells, o happy days and nights, of singing black darkies. Of course, they went aground sometimes, and there were bits of trouble here and there, but he never lost a steamboat nor was on one which sunk or burned. He tells, however, of the burning of the Bertha at the crossing of the Kansas City Southern north of Orange.

The Cap’n talks of the old Tennesaw, the Lark, and many other of the boats which plied near to the end of the steamboating days. Then, too, he can go back If you like and tell you stories of the older boats.

He’ll tell you how they made the voyages from river mouth to river mouth—from the Sabine around through the gulf to the Neches, and perhaps from the Neches to the Trinity. They nearly always made these voyages at night.

But when you talk river boats, sternwheelers and brooked streams to him he’ll invariably come back to the Neches Belle!. She was undoubtedly his favorite—the lass of the river he loved best. An Interesting fact is that she was built in Beaumont. Her engines and all her machinery came from the old steamer Vicksburg.

The Neches Belle was built to handle 500 bales of cotton. The Cap’n loaded 550 on her decks on one memorable trip. He did this with the help of one Charley—Old Chancy—they called him, who was wise in the way of beats and negroes, who bossed the crew of blacks, and who knew how to get the cotton in. His last name was Pollock. Ah, but those were gracious, happy, friendly days — those river days. “We’d always blow long and loud for the landings,” said the Cap’n. “The old ladies, and sometimes the young ones, would nearly always come down to the bank to greet us. They’d bring greens, butter, milk, eggs, and anything else they had handy. And they were always presents to us. . . - And you can bet your life we never forgot our friends, We always brought them candy or fruit—and anything else we thought they’d like. They enjoyed our coming because there weren’t many visitors along the river In those days. The roads were mud trails and few traveled them. They only saw their own kith and kin.

The officers and crew had to have their fun and they’d play pranks on one another. Cap’n John tells of the night they landed at Possum Bluff, now Deweyville. They ‘stuffed a fox hide with cotton, and then proceeded to take the engineer on a fox hunt. “He was so sick over it he went to bed.” When the steamboat was under way the crew took it pretty easy. Only the pilot and the engineer and the fireman has much to do. Of course the latter were hard at it all the time, and the captan stayed on the job as long as the gangplank was in. The mate had little to do and more often than not he had his feet on the rail and an old black pipe between his teeth. Out on the forward deck the negroes chanted old songs—”I’m Coming to You Darling,” “I’ll See You By and By,” or “The Old Log Cabin.” They are mostly big, black fellows, and the Cap’n will tell you that many of them could carry a 500-pound box of meat on his shoulder.

Once in a while there would be a fight, or some little incident to relieve the monotony, and once in a while the crew would see a deer, and in the older days, a bear, on the bank. As they’d run into the shallows the mate, or perhaps one of the wiser members of the black crew would begin gauging for depth. The Neches Belle needed two and a half feet of water when she was light or six feet loaded. They liked a full seven feet of water for her to run in when she had a full load of cotton or provisions. Moving slowly, cautiously, the man with the lead would cast it. He’d get the depth and call back is a sing-song to the pilot—”mark tow.” A little further, and he’d have three feet. He’d call that back, possibly relaying It to the captain on the deck. When they had a full depth of water the man with the lead’ would call—”mark twain.” That, incidentally, was how Samuel Clemmons got his name. The steamboat boys were popular at the landings and ofter the — folks in the villages held dances for them.

Steamboating on the Sabine and the Neches was pretty much after the fashion of the greater packets on the Mississippi. The country, however, and the streams themselves presented a strange contrast to anyone who had steamboated Old Man River. Here were narrow streams, as against a broad, broad old river. And there weren’t the dangers on the east Texas streams that one encountered on the Mississippi. And then there was a more homely atmosphere at the landings. And the banks themselves; they were tree lined, and often they were steep, and always lonesome.

To know and appreciate the old east Texas setting, through the sixties and the seventies, and on to about the middle of the last decade of the old century, it is necessary to know the old river towns and the ferries. In some few cases they hang on, but for the most part you can’t find where the general store stood, though it often was a brick building. Most of the old men have gone who knew them in their real glory …. You see the roads all led to these landings, these important towns. Forget, for the moment, that there was ever such a thing as a railroad, or even a highway. There wasn’t then, and the rivers were the roads. They grew the cotton in those days just as they do now, and they had to get it out. So by oxen and mule it went down the roads to the steamboat landings, and there it was picked up.

“I tried to beat the railroads,” Cap’n John said, “and I found out quickly that it couldn’t be done. I never dreamed the rails would beat the steamboats, and then for years I never dreamed that any other mode of transportation could beat the railroads—but it appears that’s what’s going on now.”

The Cap’n can enlarge in great degree upon this story, and he’ll do it for you if you like… He’s the most accommodating storyteller, I believe I’ve ever run across. And then he’s accurate. He doesn’t spin bear stories, but he gives you the low-down on the boats and the rivers.

If you care to find him inquire for “Cap’n John” at the first filling station, 10 steps off the new gravel road as you reach the southern limits of Kountze. He’ll be there waiting for you. He’ll have his old steamboat cap on his head, and you’ll find the place just as ship-shape as was the deck of the Neches Belle when he had charge of her.

And another thing—don’t expect to find an old man with a bye-gone complex or an “I sailed her before you were born” fixation. He hasn’t got it.