Stone Mountain Still Rides

Posted on September 12, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Just north east of the downtown Atlanta, there rises a huge bubble of stone, bubbling like a large pimple on the flattening landscape. Rising 825 feet above the surrounding countryside, Stone Mountain advertises itself as the “largest exposed piece of granite in the world.” The claim, a marketing ploy by supporters is incorrect – there is larger exposed granite in the world, though the hyperbole undoubtedly also was designed to help the thriving granite industry there and in nearby counties. And geologists will happily point out that Stone Mountain is not really granite, but a “quartz monzonite rock” instead. As the surrounding countryside wore away over the eons, the mountain was exposed.

The mountain is a unique oddity in itself and would have been a center point for attention for that. But Stone Mountain does not need to rest on that laurel; it is also the medium for an oversized piece of man-made art. On the side of the mountain are the images of three Confederate leaders, memorialized in the largest bas relief sculpture in the world. Towering 90 feet high, the images of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas J “Stonewall” Jackson are seen astride their favorite mounts (Blackjack, Traveller and Little Sorrel respectively) frozen for all time. The entire sculpture surface area encompasses 3 acres, almost the size of three football fields.

Carving in Progress 1928 (About North Georgia)

In the decades following the Civil War, writing, discussion and debate ensued as to how to properly view and commemorate the four years of bloody fighting. In the antebellum period arose the myth of the “Lost Cause” – stating that the Confederacy was never defeated, but was overrun by superior numbers, and discussion of the war’s causes shifted towards issues of states’ rights and autonomy and away from slavery. Many groups formed to memorialize the fallen and the struggle, and to help shape the tenor of the debate and memory. Among one of the most prolific groups active in erecting memorials and monuments was the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC),

In 1916, the Venable family – owners and miners of the mountain, deeded its the north face to the UDC for creation of a suitable Civil War monument, to be completed within 12 years. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was given the commission for the project. Originally he was approached with a plan to carve a 20 foot high bust of General Lee on the side of the mountain; however Borglum replied “Ladies, a twenty foot high head of Lee on that mountainside would look like a postage stamp on a barn door.” Instead he developed the idea for a carving of Lee, Davis and Jackson riding across the mountain with a legion of troops behind.  Designs were begun but were put on hold with the United States’ involvement in World War I.

Since carving on such scale had never been attempted before, challenges arose in translating test designs into the proper expanded size. Tracing the outline for carving daunted the sculptor until a large “magic lantern” was developed to project the design upon the mountain’s face. Finally on June 23, 1923 chisel was taken to stone and carving officially begun. Within a year Lee’s head was publicly revealed. Relations between Borglum and the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial continued to degrade until early 1925 when the committee voted to terminate Borglum’s contract. In response Borglum smashed his models and left the project.

In two years he would be applying the lessons learned at Stone Mountain to his work carving presidents onto Mount Rushmore.

Borglum’s work in Georgia was taken up by sculptor Augustus Lukeman, who completed a revised design for the project and developed a “point system” to transfer the design to the mountain. He spent only a couple of years on the carving; the project stopped in 1928, when the Venable family reclaimed the mountain when the original 12 year time limit was up and construction halted. The Great Depression and World War II took precedence over the project in subsequent years. In the spring of 1956, the Venable family gave the property to the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, Inc.

The carving languished uncompleted for thirty years, until the Georgia legislature, at the urging of Governor Griffin, stepped in and purchased Stone Mountain for the state. Five years later, in 1963, the sculpture project was back on under the guidance of chief carver Walker Hancock, who began carving early the following year. Roy Faulkner was hired as foreman of the work crew and he handled implementing Hancock’s designs. Faulkner made some adjustments to the design including taking the sculpture only as far down as the riders’ knees.

The Side of Stone Mountain

Although work would continue through March of 1972, in May 1970 the carving was dedicated in front of over 10,000 spectators. President Nixon was slated to attend, but in the wake of the shootings at Kent State four days earlier Vice President Agnew attended in his place.

Today, while visitors gaze up on the carvings and hear recitation of statistics of the structure and of those memorialized, they are less likely to hear about another part of Stone Mountain’s history, and one of the reasons the memorial came to be carved there.

In 1915, D.W. Griffin’s epic film Birth of a Nation was released and told a romanticized portrait of the Ku Klux Klan. 1915 Georgia also saw the lynching of Leo Frank, a pencil factory worker who had been convicted of the death of co-worker Mary Phagen. Georgia Governor Stanton commuted his sentence from death to life in prison. The trial carried heavy anti-Semitic tones with Frank, a Jew from New York portrayed as preying on a vulnerable southern working girl. A group of 25 armed men, called the “Knights of Mary Phagen” broke Frank out of prison and returned him to Marietta, just north of Atlanta, where he was lynched.

Many of these participants were among the men who gathered on November 15, 1915 on the top of Stone Mountain to revive the Ku Klux Klan after it had experienced a period of dormancy. These men donned robes and hoods and were sworn into the organization by Nathan Bedford Forrest II, son of the Confederate General and one of the original KKK founders, Nathan B. Forrest. A burning ceremonial cross provided a fiery announcement of the organization’s return. Also in attendance was Samuel Venerable, owner of Stone Mountain.

Sculpture at Stone Mountain, Still Riding

The new Klan worked with the UDC to help guide the design and ideology of the memorial, ensuring that the project reflected and honored proper “Lost Cause” ideology.  Gutzon Borglum would himself be inducted in the Klan, though it must be noted that Borglum already strongly espoused a “nativist” political philosophy – to be “American” one was born of “American parents.”  The Klan would meet many times on Stone Mountain in subsequent years while the mountain remained in private hands.

Stone Mountain and the memorial even earned a reference by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who evoked the monument in his “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963 where he included the line “let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!”  Visitors to the park for many years were guided by staff in confederate gray outfits.  Naturally, none of the material that Stone Mountain puts out, at least online, mentions the site’s history with the Klan.

Stone Mountain Park today is a collection of family fun, with a skyway tram, golf courses, 4-D Theater, scenic railroad, 1850’s village, camping and the nightly laser spectacular along with the famous stone carving. What once was a symbol for a new generation of the Klan and the memory of the Lost Cause is now a wholesome destination for fun. Very little time or energy is given to the reflection of the past leaving a legacy in stone as we head into the Civil War’s sesquicentennial.

Posted in Civil War, Confederacy, Lost Cause, Monuments | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Grave Matter of Smokey (the) Bear

Posted on September 2, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Grave of Smokey Bear: Photo by KB0QNW (Flikr)

“Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” is an old joke question dating back to the turn of the 20th century.  (The answer technically is “No one” – the bodies of General Grant and his wife Julie are entombed above ground in a mausoleum and are not buried at all.) But besides this example one might think that this kind of question is rightfully a no-brainer. But things are not always as easy as they seem.

[This is all aside from the recent revelation of hundreds, or even thousands, of interment s in Arlington National Cemetery may have been mislabeled and mis-recorded.  Such mistakes are inexcusable and in no way do I mean any levity or disrespect on this matter.]

Out in New Mexico, there is a small memorial park area in the Smokey Bear Historical Park. The memorial is for the final resting place of Smokey Bear.  Now Smokey Bear (Ursus americanus or American black bear) should not be confused with Smokey Bear (mascotus americanus of American mascot character).   Smokey the mascot was created in 1944 as part of an advertising campaign to prevent forest fires. The Smokey whose final resting place is in a part in New Mexico was a bear cub who was rescued in 1950 after surviving the Capitan Gap wildfire in the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico.

The young cub suffered burns on his paws and hind legs when he was rescued after the fire by a game warden. Initially he was dubbed “Hotfoot Teddy,” presumably a play off the fire and the Teddy Bear. Soon after he was apparently renamed Smokey after the popular mascot, again also alluding to the fire he survived. He needed veterinary care, and was taken in for care by a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Ranger and his family. Their story caught the attention of Life magazine, which featured an article on the bear and his recovery. Before he knew it, the bear cub was on his way to Washington, D.C.  Now a “national figure” he took up a permanent home in the National Zoo, where he was adored by visitors for 26 years, until his death in 1976.

Due to his fame, and his association with his famous mascot counterpart, Smokey was a beloved figure, and bear or not many decided he deserved a proper final resting place. Having survived the final fate of many of his fellow Zoo residents, his remains were returned to the state of New Mexico. In 1979 the Smokey Bear Historical Park was opened near where the cub was rescued decades earlier, and features a final resting place for the beloved cub.

At the height of his popularity, Smokey was said to be second only to Santa Claus in terms of popular recipient of mail. His popularity is such that in 1964 he was given his own Zip Code (20252) to help with the delivery of his mail.

The U.S. Forest Service emphatically states that the mascot’s name (and Smokey’s namesake) is Smokey Bear, without any “the” between the two words. Apparently the “the” was inserted in the popular name by a pair of songwriters who penned an ode to him called “Smokey The Bear” which became a hit song.  According to lore the “the” was added to improve the rhythm of the song.

So while smoke may get in your eyes, Smokey Bear the mascot lives on to be, according to the Ad Council is recognized by 95% of adults and 77% of children. And Smokey Bear, to paraphrase Harry Potter, the bear cub that survived, is forever shaded by a glade of trees in his home in New Mexico.  And despite protestations, a stray “the” sneaks into both their names here and there.

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Kinship Across the (State) Lines

Posted on August 29, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

The Kindship Monument Under The Trees

In north Louisiana, along the border with neighboring Arkansas, sitting near the center of the border running east and west,  there is a rough stone road called, appropriately, State Line Road. And off of that road is another road called, also appropriately, Monument Road. Appropriate because on this road, just feet north of the state line and next on the side of a dirt road is a monument. A large mausoleum styled memorial to the friendship between Louisiana and Arkansas.

This unusual monument is often referred to as the Kinship Monument as that it celebrates the kinship between the two states.  George Washington Donaghey, governor of Arkansas (1909-1913) was born just over the state line in Union Parish, Louisiana. In 1931 he donated some of the land of his boyhood home on the border to be used as a park celebrating the love he held for both states, and to commemorate the centennial of the drawing of the current border between the states, along the 33rd parallel.

The parkland was supplemented with an intricate Art Deco monument at the edge of the park commemorating the two states and the border centennial. The north face commemorates the State of Arkansas, while the south face commemorates the State of Louisiana. Each of the east and west ends depict transportation modes of 1831 and 1931.

The Arkansas side of the monument, facing north and on the “back of the monument” when viewed from the road, a bit of history is inscribed:

Arkansas

Harvey Parnell, Governor

This monument commemorating the 100th year since the establishment of the line between Arkansas and Louisiana. Erected 1931 A.D. by

George W. Donaghey

Who was born July 1, 1856 in Louisiana approximately one mile southwest of this point and reared on the adjacent land in Arkansas.

To the Union Sawmill Co. though its Vice-Pres. F.W. Scott the erector and the public are indebted for this site containing approximately forty acres of land part in each state. Dedicated for a perpetual park.

Arkansas Side

For Louisiana (the side facing the road) the inscription commemorates the political (and less interesting) participants in developing the monument:

Louisiana

Huey P Long, Governor

Latitude 33 0’ 38.68” North     Longitude 92 22’ 4.36” West

Charles H. Murphy of Arkansas and Edward Everett, Sr. of Louisiana were appointed commissioners by the Governors of their respective states to correctly establish the location of this monument.

To George E. Murphy, John M. Murphy, W.H. Moffett, W.K. Slade, T.B. Coldsby and W.C. Codley companions and neighbors of his boyhood days, the builder is indebted for personal aid in erecting this monument.

To C.S. Christian, Chief Engineer of the Arkansas Highway Commission, R.S. Wilson, W.F. Addison, J.C. Stevenson County Surveyor of Union County Arkansas Appreciation is expressed for professional services rendered.

Louisiana Side

The two ends are inscribed

1831:  Andrew Jackson, President U.S.A.  and depict a side paddle-wheel steamboat, a stagecoach and a covered wagon in an Art Deco style.

The other says 1931: Herbert Hoover, President U.S.A. and depicts a plane, and automobile and a train engine also in an Art Deco style.

The monument in itself is unusual.  The fact that it sits beside a dirt side road, off of a side road a distance down from a state route, and miles from the nearest town meant that over time people forgot it was there. The monument sits beside the road, on the edge of the woods with no landscaping so little was needed for it in terms of maintenance.

In 1975, Louisiana state representative Louise Johnson initiated legislation to cede part of the parkland to the state parks system, an act that was passed and signed by the governor. In the process of looking at the land transfer, the monument was “rediscovered” by the state and the monument site was where the rededication ceremony took place.

There the monument sat for the following 34 years, a victim of vandalism: souvenir seekers chipping away pieces of marble; graffiti artists leaving their message on the marble surfaces, obliterating the original inscriptions; the grounds and nearby woods strewn with bottles, cans and other trash from many deep-woods parties. While the monument was not “forgotten” by locals, it was forgotten again by the state that helped erect it. Unfortunately a fate that befalls many of our commemorative monuments and statues.

In 2009, Louisiana dedicated $10,000 to clean and restore the monument. Chips were repaired, the spray paint graffiti carefully washed and ground out, cracks were filled and finally the monument was surrounded by an eight foot tall wrought iron fence.

The fact that the monument, celebrating the kinship between two neighboring states actually sits just over the border a short way inside Arkansas. Yet both states seemed to forget the monument’s existence and it has been left to Louisiana to watch over and restore the monument. Even though it is well off the beaten path, the beautiful and unusual monument marks an important commemoration of how we began to carve new states from expanding territories and write these borders upon the landscape.

1931 Side

1831 Side

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Written by the Roadside

Posted on August 25, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Roadside Memorial

Somewhere when we made the move from a nomadic to an agrarian society, humans began to mark where the dead were buried to remember those who have passed from this world. As Christianity flourished in the Western world, the need to mark burials became not only important for memory commemoration, but also to mark our dead in preparation of the resurrection at the Final Judgment (which was hoped to arrive sooner rather than later). Even in times of war, once the fighting had stopped, efforts were made to identify remains as much as possible and to provide combatants, whenever possible, with individual graves markings and barring that, mass markers.

Memorial where General McPherson Fell

In more recent times we often note not only where someone lies for eternity, we also note where someone has met his or her end, often violently or suddenly. On battlefields, a cannon barrel pointing upward on end notes where a general was killed. Ford’s Theater retains the box in which Lincoln was shot. A stone marker commemorates where Bonnie & Clyde perished in a hail of bullets in Gibsland, Louisiana. In more recent examples, thousands of flowers were left by admirers outside the Dakota in New York City, and in the roadway tunnel under Paris marking where John Lennon and Princess Di had their lives ended.

When death is not unexpected, we prepare ourselves and mourn the deceased at the graveside. When death is unexpected, especially in the case of an automobile accident, the crash site has taken on an almost totemic significance. Travel down any highway, major or minor, and before long you will see a roadside shrine. The shrine can be as low key as a single flower, stuffed animal or small bouquet, or as elaborate as crosses, large flower displays or semi-permanent structures. These roadside memorials usually sit on public land and eventually will be swept away by roadside maintenance, often much to the chagrin of the grieving.

Yet what compels us to mark the location of violence that leads to death? Is it to pay homage to the victims? We have our cemetery markers to provide a permanent commemoration of the victims (let us discount those who are cremated or whose remains are donated to science for this discussion). Is it an act to remind those of us who are alive of the fragility and fleeting nature of life? By their very nature, these public mourning shrines are themselves temporary, destined to be broken down by public works or barring that by Mother Nature (or unfortunately vandalism). Maybe they are the modern public face of a period of mourning, a version of sitting shiva with the mirrors covered, replacing black armbands, draped crepe and “widow’s weeds.” Maybe there is a feeling of immediacy noting where the violent event happened, rather than carrying it with you continually in the wearing of the mourning black. There must be a reason to spend time, money and obviously emotional capital to write the passing of a loved, or beloved, one on the landscape even if the marking, like life, is fleeting.

McPherson Memorial Monument in Atlanta

Guard Rail Memorials

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Bonnie and Clyde Ride Still

Posted on August 23, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Marker

The early 1930’s saw the United States (and the world) plunged into the Great Depression. The middle of our country was being turned into the giant storm of dirt that was the dust bowl. And fascination with flamboyant outlaws exploded. Fueled by lurid pulp tabloids like True Detective and True Crime Mysteries, the public lapped up photos and tales of desperados like “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Ma” Barker, John Dillinger. It made no difference that these “true” stories were more fiction than fact, they allowed readers to escape into tales of flashy criminals living exciting, dangerous lives.

A favorite subject was the exploits of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker – better known as “Bonnie and Clyde” (or actually “Clyde and Bonnie” in those days – it would not be until years later with the movie Bonnie and Clyde that the names would become commonly reversed).  The duo, and the whole Barrow Gang, were known for being well dressed, polite, and murderously dangerous.  Eyewitness tales of those taken hostage, often in theft of a car and then subsequently released, fed the frenzy and served as a counterpoint of police and other crime victims who were shot to death by one or more of the gang members.

Bonnie Parker

The pair were known as avid photographers, taking numerous pictures in their travels as they camped out to avoid the law or gathered with family for get-togethers. Escaping from an unsuccessful raid and shoot-out in Joplin, Missouri their camera was found left behind, along with clothes, guns and Clyde’s guitar. The police processed the rolls of film and released the photos to the (then new) news wire. The public went wild for pictures of the desperados including posed photos of the pair pointing guns at each other. One photo of Bonnie, gun in hand, foot up on a car bumper with a cigar dangling from the corner of her mouth caused a sensation.  Furor arose not because of the gun in her hand, nor with the less than ladylike pose, but rather that the photo captured her with a cigar in her mouth – something a proper woman would never be seen with. An embarrassed Bonnie tried to get the world out that she didn’t’ smoke cigars in reality and it was a joke for the photo, so bothered was she by the allegation.

By 1934 the gang had amassed quite a reputation, and a body count, across the country radiating outward from the duo’s home and family in West Dallas, Texas. One of the then gang members, Henry Methvin, was from northwest Louisiana and the gang would sometimes visit the area so he could see his family. Gibsland was out of the way enough of a place, yet only a short drive down US 80 to Shreveport, Monroe and even Dallas. Clyde even talked of buying land there to have a place to stay. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Henry joined the gang when he accompanied several others in a breakout from the Eastham Prison Farm in Texas. His father, Ivy, was concerned about his son’s breakout and his association with the Barrow Gang. So he approached law enforcement officials with an offer – he would let them know when Clyde and Bonnie were in the area in exchange for a pardon for his son’s crimes in Texas.  This took place in an era when police jurisdictions usually ended at the state border and the United States Bureau of Investigation, precursor of the FBI, was just starting to gain traction. In the end, local law enforcement along with newly deputized officers from a Texas Rangers task force to capture the Barrow gang laid a trap.

On the morning of May 23, 1934, Clyde and Bonnie roared down Highway 154, a narrow packed dirt road on the way to the Methvin farm to pick up Henry. Approaching a rise in the road, the duo slowed down to talk to Ivy Methvin who was standing by the road with the tire off of his beat up truck. Ivy had been put there by the police to encourage the notorious fast driving Clyde to slow down to help. At that point bullets began to rain down upon the duo’s car as the police posse opened fire. In a manner of seconds, the notorious outlaws lay dead on the front seat.

Every year near the anniversary of their deaths, the locals celebrate a festival marking the event. A small collection of memorabilia of them is on display in the Bienville Depot Museum in nearby Arcadia. Gibsland is also the home of the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum, which is overseen by “Boots”Hinton, son of Dallas Deputy Ted Hinton, who participated in the takedown of Bonnie and Clyde. The museum sits in the former site of Ma Canfield’s Cafe. where they got take out sandwiches just before meeting their destiny. Meanwhile the “death car,” riddled with bullets still is on display 75 years later in a casino in Nevada.

And out on the side of 154, a monument marks the place where the two died. Once simple rectangular marker, over time the monument has shrunk considerably as souvenir hunters have chipped off pieces, bringing home a piece of the flamboyant outlaw’s fame and legacy.

The monument reads:

On This Site May 23, 1934
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker
Were Killed By Law Enforcement Officers

Erected by Bienville Parish Police Jury

On the back side a fan left his or her own tribute:

Fan tribute in spray paint

Interestingly enough, when the marker was visited a couple of weeks ago (August 2010), someone had been trying to dig around the marker’s base.  Not quite sure what someone would actually do with the trophy of that size and weight. One more danger to roadside history.

  • Guinn, Jeff. Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009)

The early 1930’s saw the United States (and the world) plunged into the Great Depression. The middle of our country was being turned into the giant storm of dirt that was the dust bowl. And fascination with flamboyant outlaws exploded. Fueled by lurid pulp tabloids like True Detective and True Crime Mysteries, the public lapped up photos and tales of desperados like “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Ma” Barker, John Dillinger. It made no difference that these “true” stories were more fiction than fact, they allowed readers to escape into tales of flashy criminals living exciting, dangerous lives.

A favorite subject was the exploits of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker – better known as “Bonnie and Clyde” (or actually “Clyde and Bonnie” in those days – it would not be until years later with the movie Bonnie and Clyde that the names would become commonly reversed). The duo, and the whole Barrow Gang, were known for being well dressed, polite, and murderously dangerous. Eyewitness tales of those taken hostage, often in theft of a car and then subsequently released, fed the frenzy and served as a counterpoint of police and other crime victims who were shot to death by one or more of the gang members.

The pair were known as avid photographers, taking numerous pictures in their travels as they camped out to avoid the law or gathered with family for get-togethers. Escaping from an unsuccessful raid and shoot-out in Joplin, Missouri their camera was found left behind, along with clothes, guns and Clyde’s guitar. The police processed the rolls of film and released the photos to the (then new) news wire. The public went wild for pictures of the desperados including posed photos of the pair pointing guns at each other. One photo of Bonnie, gun in hand, foot up on a car bumper with a cigar dangling from the corner of her mouth caused a sensation. Furor arose not because of the gun in her hand, nor with the less than ladylike pose, but rather that the photo captured her with a cigar in her mouth – something a proper woman would never be seen with. An embarrassed Bonnie tried to get the world out that she didn’t’ smoke cigars in reality and it was a joke for the photo, so bothered was she by the allegation.

By 1934 the gang had amassed quite a reputation, and a body count, across the country radiating outward from the duo’s home and family in West Dallas, Texas. One of the then gang members, Henry Methvin, was from northwest Louisiana and the gang would sometimes visit the area so he could see his family. Gibsland was out of the way enough of a place, yet only a short drive down US 80 to Shreveport, Monroe and even Dallas. Clyde even talked of buying land there to have a place to stay. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Henry joined the gang when he accompanied several others in a breakout from the Eastham Prison Farm in Texas. His father, Ivy, was concerned about his son’s breakout and his association with the Barrow Gang. So he approached law enforcement officials with an offer – he would let them know when Clyde and Bonnie were in the area in exchange for a pardon for his son’s crimes in Texas. This took place in an era when police jurisdictions usually ended at the state border and the United States Bureau of Investigation, precursor of the FBI, was just starting to gain traction. In the end, local law enforcement along with newly deputized officers from a Texas Rangers task force to capture the Barrow gang laid a trap.

On the morning of May 23, 1934, Clyde and Bonnie roared down Highway 154, a narrow packed dirt road on the way to the Methvin farm to pick up Henry. Approaching a rise in the road, the duo slowed down to talk to Ivy Methvin who was standing by the road with the tire off of his beat up truck. Ivy had been put there by the police to encourage the notorious fast driving Clyde to slow down to help. At that point bullets began to rain down upon the duo’s car as the police posse opened fire. In a manner of seconds, the notorious outlaws lay dead on the front seat.

Every year near the anniversary of their deaths, the locals celebrate a festival marking the event. A small collection of memorabilia of them is on display in the Bienville Depot Museum in nearby Arcadia. Gibsland is also the home of the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum, which is overseen by Boots Hinton, son of Dallas Deputy Ted Hinton, who participated in the takedown of Bonnie and Clyde. Meanwhile the “death car,” riddled with bullets still is on display 75 years later in a casino in Nevada.

And out on the side of 154, a monument marks the place where the two died. Once simple rectangular marker, over time the monument has shrunk considerably as souvenir hunters have chipped off pieces, bringing home a piece of the flamboyant outlaw’s fame and legacy.

Guinn, Jeff. Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009)

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Never Surrender the Marker

Posted on August 18, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Historic markers note our triumphs and tragedies across the land, commemorating fond memories as well as events that many may prefer to be forgotten. A major turning point for the Confederacy during the Civil War was the fall of the City of Atlanta to Union forces in the fall of 1864.

Down near the current intersection of Marietta Street and Northside Drive on September 2, 1864 Mayor James M. Calhoun surrendered the city to U.S. forces under the command of General Sherman. Col. James Coburn and Maj. General H.W. Slocum received the surrender for the Union army.  A Georgia Historic Commission marker has sat near the intersection since 1982, at least on and off. In the past decades the area has grown from commercial real estate to a more dense mix of commercial, residential and retail real estate and vehicle traffic in the area has increased exponentially.

The Surrender of Atlanta Marker

Construction and vehicles (along with tight state budgets) are the bane of historic marker programs.

The 70-pound marker watched as the neighborhood changed. Then in summer of 2005, the marker itself became the victim of progress when a truck backed into the marker, knocking it off its gray metal post. The marker then was sent to a storeroom outside Atlanta. There it sat when the 141st anniversary of the surrender passed. It is but one of almost 2,000 markers in the Department of Natural Resources’ historic marker inventory.

By then though the markers were falling victim to an enemy more implacable than Sherman’s Union Army – budget woes. Some sources cited the minimal cost of $300 prevented the marker’s return. Others said it was the lack of a suitable place to repair the marker. Now the Surrender of Atlanta marker was not the only marker in need of repair or replacement in the state, but certainly it was one of the few to commemorate an event with national importance (no offense to the marker celebrating the World Record Bass). Luckily in 2006 the state legislature allocated $50,000 for historic marker repairs. The repairs included the Surrender of Atlanta marker.

The marker returned in September 2006, just missing the 142nd anniversary of the event. And it sat happily again in a grassy strip next to the roadway. Except for one thing. Right in the area where the marker was planted, construction on a new mixed use building began. And soon the marker found itself surrounded by construction equipment and fencing. So while the marker stood there commemorating, you couldn’t find it. After finally returning, the marker was wrapped away for another year, a victim of “progress”.

In the end, the construction concluded and in 2008, one could again find the marker, now sitting on a nicely manicured stand of grass between the sidewalk and the road. More importantly now near a telephone pole, and landscaping trees and plants. And hopefully safe from trucks and other assorted dangers, free to again stand sentinel to history.

Never Surrender the Marker

Historic markers note our triumphs and tragedies across the land, commemorating fond memories as well as events that many may prefer to be forgotten. A major turning point for the Confederacy during the Civil War was the fall of the City of Atlanta to Union forces in the fall of 1864.

Down near the current intersection of Marietta Street and Northside Drive on September 2, 1864 Mayor James M. Calhoun surrendered the city to U.S. forces under the command of General Sherman. Col. James Coburn and Maj. General H.W. Slocum received the surrender for the Union army. A Georgia Historic Commission marker has sat near the intersection since 1982, at least on and off. In the past decades the area has grown from commercial real estate to a more dense mix of commercial, residential and retail real estate and vehicle traffic in the area has increased exponentially.

Construction and vehicles (along with tight state budgets) are the bane of historic marker programs.

The 70-pound marker watched as the neighborhood changed. Then in summer of 2005, the marker itself became the victim of progress when a truck backed into the marker, knocking it off its gray metal post. The marker then was sent to a storeroom outside Atlanta. There it sat when the 141st anniversary of the surrender passed. It is but one of almost 2,000 markers in the Department of Natural Resources’ historic marker inventory.

By then though the markers were falling victim to an enemy more implacable than Sherman’s Union Army – budget woes. Some sources cited the minimal cost of $300 prevented the marker’s return. Others said it was the lack of a suitable place to repair the marker. Now the Surrender of Atlanta marker was not the only marker in need of repair or replacement in the state, but certainly it was one of the few to commemorate an event with national importance (no offense to the marker celebrating the World Record Bass). Luckily in 2006 the state legislature allocated $50,000 for historic marker repairs. The repairs included the Surrender of Atlanta marker.

The marker returned in September 2006, just missing the 142nd anniversary of the event. And it sat happily again in a grassy strip next to the roadway. Except for one thing. Right in the area where the marker was planted, construction on a new mixed use building began. And soon the marker found itself surrounded by construction equipment and fencing. So while the marker stood there commemorating, you couldn’t find it. After finally returning, the marker was wrapped away for another year, a victim of “progress”.

In the end, the construction concluded and in 2008, one could again find the marker, now sitting on a nicely manicured stand of grass between the sidewalk and the road. More importantly now near a telephone pole, and landscaping trees and plants. And hopefully safe from trucks and other assorted dangers, free to again stand sentinel to history.

http://atlantasouth.2.forumer.com/a/historic-sign-has-new-future_post315.html

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A Cannon of Literature

Posted on August 16, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

On the campus of Tufts University, between the Goddard Chapel and the main administrative Ballou Hall stands something that one does not find on all campuses – a cannon. Not a “real” cannon, but a replica of an original 24-pound cannon from the deck of the U.S.S. Constitution – “Old Ironsides” – which sits a few miles away in Charlestown.

The cannon has stood on campus since 1956 facing in a southward direction, supposedly pointed towards “that little school down Massachusetts Avenue” – Harvard.  Originally the replica cannon was given to the city of Medford by the National Parks Service in appreciation for fund-raising efforts to preserve the Constitution. Medford, lacking a good place to display the cannon donated it to Tufts in 1956. There the cannon stood sentinel on the upper campus at the top of the Walnut Hill, the main hill of campus. A decade later the cannon was removed for repairs and due to the then prevalent anti-war sentiment was not returned to its home. After another decade languishing in storage, alumni efforts saw that the cannon was returned to display on campus in 1977.

That Fall a student or students went out one night and painted the cannon in protest, though the exact protest target is murky; some versions of the story say it was a visit and honorary degree being conferred upon Imelda Marcos. The cannon was quickly painted over and suitable noises arose decrying the vandalism of such an historic monument. However, it was not long after that the cannon was painted again with new messages and a tradition was born. Soon “Painting the cannon” became an almost nightly event.

Tufts University Cannon - Message Board For Campus

The “rules” for painting the cannon are simple: you and friends would gather later in the evening, under the cover of darkness and when the academic quad would be mostly deserted. The first task is to claim the cannon, before anyone else can, and commence painting your message. Once this is done, then the real work begins – for certainly you are not the only one who wants to paint the cannon on most nights. So it’s necessary to stand guard and protect your work from other painters until morning. Prematurely leaving the cannon unguarded opens it up to being painted over by someone else, negating your work, and your message.

Why paint the cannon? Well in the time before the ubiquitous Internet, the cannon served as an ersatz message board. Anyone could photocopy (or ditto in an even older age) a flier and post a message that way. The cannon is an unique message board, a canvas to display your message in bold and unique ways. Messages included protest, at least one marriage proposal, birthday wishes, sports team victories and memorials to fallen friends. The message might be fleeting, but it would be seen by hundreds during the day. Today in honor of the tradition, you can virtually paint the cannon online at http://www.paintthecannon.com/.

Over the years the cannon began to lose its shape as more and more layers of paint were glopped onto it. After nearly a decade, in 1985, the cannon was sandblasted to remove the hundreds of layers of paint, and this was repeated a decade later in the mid 1990’s.

The Lipscomb Buffalo

Now the Tufts cannon is certainly not unique.  Many other campuses have places with similar ideas. Some schools have rocks and rocky outcroppings that are painted with messages. Other schools, like Lipscomb University in Nashville, have statues on campus that are subject to painting and messages also.

Using unofficial message boards like this allows us all to write our message on the landscape.

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Riot or Massacre: Events in Colfax, LA (Part 3)

Posted on August 12, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Colfax Monument to the Fallen Whites

The Massacre of Colfax of 1873 receded into the past and was largely relegated to a footnote or forgotten from the antebellum history books. It would take 77 years before the state “commemorated” the event with a roadside marker. However it would not take that long for the White citizens of Colfax to mark the even on the landscape. Forty-eight years to the day, the citizens of Colfax gathered on April 13, 1921 to commemorate the battle. That morning, under heavy, rain threatening skies, citizens and “veterans” of the Colfax riots marched through town to the Colfax Cemetery. There, several hundred people, including the “entire student body of Colfax High School” gathered to unveil a twelve foot obelisk.  The monument was inscribed:

In Loving Remembrance
Erected to the Memory of the Heroes
Stephen Decatur Parish
James West Hadnot
Sidney Harris

Who fell in the Colfax Riot
fighting for White Supremacy
April 13, 1873

Colfax Monument Inscription

The monument wears its heart right on its sleeve, dedicated to the cause of White supremacy. In contrast, no monument stands to mark the African-Americans who fell and buried in mass graves. In fact their remains continued to show up for decades after, as progress brought new construction in the downtown area around the old court house site.

Of the three men commemorated, Parish was shot while manning a cannon brought to bear against the courthouse and Harris and Hadnot both are believed to have been victims of friendly fire and were evacuated by steamship to Alexandria soon after the courthouse battle. Hadnot died the next morning, while Harris clung to life for weeks before succumbing to his wounds.

Grant Parish Courthouse in Colfax Today

Despite the one-sidedness of the events, the commemoration on the landscape belonged to the “victors” and the obelisk to White rule was the sole commemoration until the state erected the marker thirty years later in 1951.  To this day, both markers are the lonely  public remembrance of the event, though in 2007 the Red River Heritage Association was formed and hoped to establish a museum in Colfax to discuss Reconstruction in Louisiana, especially in the Red River area.  Until then, one-sided presentation of events is allowed to stand sentinel to memory.

  • Lane, Charles.  The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of Reconstruction. (New York: Henry Hold and Company, 2008)
  • http://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Colfax_riot  – Accessed June 14, 2010
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Riot or Massacre: Events in Colfax, LA (Part 2)

Posted on August 8, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

1873 dawned in Louisiana politics with dueling governments and the presence of U.S. Army soldiers providing security for the Republican Government which had been designated the legitimate election winners by a federal judge.

In Colfax, parish seat of Grant Parish, the elected Republican officials took office in the Colfax courthouse. These officials comprised of a multi-racial coalition of newly freed slaves and Reconstruction supporting whites. Fearful that the white Democrats would try to take the courthouse, and power in the parish, by force the Freedmen of town dug trenches around the courthouse and kept guard  to repel attacks.

Marker for the Colfax "Riot"

The Freedmen held the courthouse for three weeks until the white supremacists began to make their move. The first week of April saw several skirmishes between the forces with little results. Both sides tried to appeal to their respective elected governors for assistance; the supremacists recruited additional forces from the KKK and other groups.

Labeling the resistance as a “riot,” white forces approached the courthouse in force on Easter Sunday, April 13, ordering the defenders to surrender. They refused. After allowing women and children camping with the defenders in the area to leave, shooting commenced. After several hours of inconclusive fighting, a black captive was made to sneak under the courthouse and set the building afire. The besiegers ceased fire and waved a white flag of truce. In the next few minutes one of the besiegers, James Hadnot, was shot. At the time, some claimed he was shot from within the courthouse; later study says he was shot by accident by another besieger. As the courthouse caught fire and the defenders fled the growing inferno, the militia attackers started firing, shooting down Freedmen as they exited, and chasing down those fleeing for the woods. A number of prisoners were captured and later that evening were taken out in a group and shot.

The number of casualties in the event remains under dispute. There seems to be no dispute that three whites died as a result of the battle. The number of Freedmen killed varies. Federal troops claim to have identified 105 victims by name and 15-20 unidentified. The marker cites 150. More recent books (The Day Freedom Died) places the number between 62 and 81. Regardless, the massacre killed exponentially more blacks than whites.

Following the event, the U.S. Attorney of New Orleans brought charges against nine participants for violation of the victims’ civil rights under the 14th Amendment , as laid out in the US Enforcement Act of 1870. Three men were found guilty. However, Joseph Bradley, an associate US Supreme Court Justice attended the trial and following the verdict ruled the Enforcement Acts unconstitutional and ordered the men freed. When the government appealed in United States v. Cruikshank (1875) the court ruled the Enforcement Acts applied only to acts by the state, not individuals to limit civil rights. The ruling spelled the end of the U.S. government enforcement actions to preserve Freedmen civil rights.

The ruling emboldened the anti-Reconstructionist whites to form para-military groups to regain power by coercion, murder and intimidation. The first chapter of the White League was formed in 1874 by Christopher Columbus Nash, one of the leaders of the Colfax attackers. Three years later, with the election of 1876, Reconstruction was effectively over.

When the state began commemorating history with roadside markers across the state, one was raise on the site of the rebuilt courthouse. The marker retained the White attacker’s language of “riot” setting the event in the framework of rioting Freedmen and White defense against it. As noted in the last entry showed that “riot” can be seen as an accurate definition when it can refer to the White mob acting in a disruptive manner for private purpose. The “carpetbag misrule” pejorative also framed the even t in the mythos of “The Lost Cause,” which held that the South did not lose the war, rather it was “overwhelmed” and then subjected to punitive tyranny by vengeful Republican (Northern) political forces. History was written by the “victors.”

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Riot or Massacre: Events in Colfax, LA (Part 1)

Posted on August 4, 2010 by JJ Kwashnak

Colfax Louisiana

As the Red River makes its way through central Louisiana it meanders past the town of Colfax (pop 1,659) northwest of Alexandria. On the tree shaded grounds of the Grant Parish (county) courthouse stands two free standing historic markers. One remembers the “Famous Burning Well of Colfax,” a local oddity of an artesian well that due to the presence of natural gas would flow with water and flame.

The other reads

COLFAX RIOT

On this site occurred the Colfax Riot in which three white men and 150 negros were slain. This event on April 13, 1873 marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South.

Erected by the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry 1950

In reading this, one might conjure up images of an armed melee or a pitched battle to produce such a body count. But the first part of the marker tells you nothing about who fought whom or who the two or more sides were.  The second sentence gives us more clues and helps indicate the politics behind the marker. The marker notes the “end of carpetbag misrule.” Not ‘rule’ but ‘misrule.’ The marker puts what happened in Colfax squarely in the framework of the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy.

Let us digress a moment and look at language. The marker refers to the Colfax Riot.

Riot – noun -1) a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets.

2) – Law -. a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons acting together in a disrupting and tumultuous manner in carrying out their private purposes.

As we shall see, the events certainly meet this definition of riot, but not in the way that the original language meant.

In more recent scholarship, the event is more often referred to as the Colfax Massacre. (note 1).  By contrast, the dictionary defines

Massacre – noun – the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder.

Words are one of the most powerful tools we have to define events and causes and when written on the landscape dominates the interpretation for a long time. Where once riot was used to try and denote lawlessness, massacre has become a more accepted word for the events in 1873, as we shall see.

The events in Colfax did represent the beginning of the end of Reconstruction in the antebellum South. The story of the Colfax Massacre has tragically received little attention, though in the past few years it received study in the excellent The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of Reconstruction by Charles Lane and The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, and the Death of Reconstruction by LeeAnna Keith .

Following the end of the Civil War, the defeated South entered into a period of “Reconstruction” marked by military control of many southern states, enfranchisement of newly freed slaves (often referred to as Freedmen), control by Republican party politicians and the most African-American political officials in the South than will be seen for the following century. Many of the Republican officials came from the ranks of the abolitionists from the north (Carpetbaggers) while the Democrats tended to draw from the former Confederates and those opposed to the rise of rights for Freedmen. With the passage of the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, the federal government granted Freedmen citizenship and voting rights, but with limited aid in enforcing this new political reality. The elections following the war were marked by increased acrimony, corruption and violence though with the army’s backing the Republican slate was usually victorious.

The town of Colfax was formed from a plantation owned by William Calhoun, a progressive liberal who believed in racial harmony. The town was named for President Grant’s Vice-President, Schuyler Colfax and was the seat for the newly created Grant Parish, named for the former Union general and current President of the United States.

In the Louisiana election of 1872, a multiracial slate of candidates was elected to parish and state offices on the Republican ticket. In New Orleans, then the state capital, dual governments claimed legitimacy: Republican William Pitt Kellogg and Fusionist (Anti-Reconstruction Democrats and Republicans)  John McEnery both held gubernatorial inaugurations and certified their slate of state and parish candidates.  Subsequently a Federal judge in the city ruled the Republican governor and legislature be seated, and backed up that order with federal troops to support this government. In Colfax, the Fusionist slate claimed victory in an election marked by extensive voting irregularities, and took their oath of office in January 1873, sending certification documents to the Fusionist Governor McEnery. Meanwhile Governor Kellogg issued commissions to the Republican parish slate. The stage for conflict was set.

Next: The conflict comes to a head

  • Lane, Charles, The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2008)
  • Keith, LeeAnna, The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, and the Death of Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008)
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