Searching through Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy, I came across what I think was Cormac McCarthy himself giving a sly hint to the origin of the book… at the very meridian of the story. ***SPOILER ALERT*** I was looking at John Sepich’s website at these two notes on Blood Meridian as a palindrome, the first an essay by Christopher Forbis, and the second…
The Untouched Battlefield of Honey Hill
According to his daughter’s application to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Lemuel Edwards “participated in three battles.” Those battles were the battles of Griswoldville, Honey Hill, and Savannah. In the summer of 2016, I obtained permission from the town of Ridgeland, South Carolina, to explore the breastworks located in the snake-infested woods off Highway 336.…
Alexander Stephens and the Ides of March
One hundred and fifty-four years ago today, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens spoke before the Georgia legislature to denounce President Jefferson Davis and his recent suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Stephens had feuded bitterly with Davis since early in the war, but Stephens carefully contemplated before determining to give his fiery speech before the…
In Media Res
Spring comes late to Athens in 1863, and as the war has not yet touched northeast Georgia, the ancient rhythms of the seasons, plowing and harvesting continue much as they have for centuries. Fourteen year old Lemuel Edwards attends church, where rumors swirl of ‘fighting at three places on the Rappahannock,’ and ‘Yankees making another…
The Last Confederate Rifle
More than forty years after the guns of the Civil War fell silent, one battle-worn Confederate rifle was still shooting at Uncle Sam’s soldiers. Although President Teddy Roosevelt declared victory in the Philippine-American War in the summer of 1902, four years later, an insurgent group of Muslim Filipino native tribes known as the Moros continued to do battle…
The Search for My Family’s True Civil War Story
My search for my family’s Civil War story began more than twenty years ago with the gift of an eighty-year-old sheet of paper, a treasure map of sorts, from my maternal grandmother, Nonna. The fragile document had been passed down through our family for years, eventually ending up in hibernation in a box of family photographs…