| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 15 February 2005 |
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After Davis's death, his widow sold the property under the conditions that it would serve as a home for Confederate veterans and their widows as long as it was needed, and would then become a museum dedicated to his memory. On December 2, 1903, the home got its first resident (or inmate, as they were called). At its height it could support 288 inmates at one time, and over the years had over 2000 inmates. In the mid-1940s the remaining four soldiers and forty widows were moved to the eastern half of the property and work begun on the museum. On February 19, 1957, the four remaining widows were moved to a nursing home. Hurricane Camille destroyed the last dormitory in 1969, but a half-scale reconstruction has been built. On April 19, 1980, the last burial took place in the cemetery-an unknown soldier.
Beauvoir is very different from the National Park Service sites. Those are fairly even-handed, having books written by and about both the Union and the Confederacy. Beauvoir has only works by and about the Confederacy. The display is labeled 'Experiment in Nationalism: The Confederacy and the War for Southern Independence.' And there is a shrine-like atmosphere (the AAA book calls it the Jefferson Davis Shrine), with relics from his funeral.
They are also in the process of constructing a new building to be the 'Jefferson Davis Presidential Library & Museum.' I'm not sure if this will be counted in the list of official Presidential libraries or not. (I'm not even sure who decides what's official.)
There was a display about the history of the Confederacy. It was formed in Montgomery, Alabama, in February 1861. (We later saw the room where this occurred.) There were seven states represented here (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas). Later, after Fort Sumter, they were joined by Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Missouri was admitted toward the end of 1861, but the Confederate government was driven out of the state shortly after that. Kansas was apparently also admitted but never really had a Confederate government.
From the beginning, the Confederacy had problems. In my opinion, their main problem was that they were founded on a principle that almost guaranteed problems, that of strong states' rights. For example, Confederate currency was a disaster, with nothing to back it up, an inability of the Confederate government to tax effectively, and the desire of the states to print their own currency. The Constitution gave more power to the states in many areas, which made even confederacy unworkable.
One of the buildings was Jefferson Davis's study and library, but the books on the shelves postdate not only Davis but even the period when the grounds were used as a soldiers home. Apparently they were purchased by the foot to fill the shelves rather than having any significance.
From one of the guides we learned that all the houses in this area are built on pillars twenty feet above sea level, because of hurricanes. (Twenty feet is almost always high enough.)
Throughout the Deep South, I noticed that the segregationists of the 1950s and 1960s were right: integration brought an end to civilization as they knew it. It was replaced by a better civilization, where Blacks and whites sit together at lunch counters and work together in stores, and where interracial couples walk down the street in Biloxi without anyone even noticing. (Well, okay, obviously I noticed, but I was specifically looking for this.)
We passed the entrance to Keesler Air Force Base. This probably doesn't mean much to most people, but my father was on a TDY (Temporary Duty) assignment to Keesler when I was very young and the first postcard I remember him sending us was from Biloxi.
We drove east along the coast and then somewhat inland to Pascagoula, where we stopped and ate at Catalina's Seafood, a somewhat mediocre seafood restaurant (the boiled shrimp were mushy). We then proceeded to Mobile, Alabama, for the night.
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We had originally planned to visit Fort Morgan, but that is way around the other side of Mobile Bay and out at the end of a long peninsula. So instead we drove to Dauphin Island and toured Fort Gaines ($3). (Note: There is a really spectacular view of the island from the top of the bridge to it, so whoever is the passenger should have his or her camera ready.)
Fort Gaines was one of the key forts in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War. Mobile Bay was critical because it was the last port through which the Confederacy was able to run the blockade. This battle is the source of 'Damn the torpedoes-full speed ahead!' (also quoted as 'Damn the torpedoes-go ahead!'). What Admiral Farragut (and everyone else then) called torpedoes, we would now call mines. This was also the battle in which Farragut had himself lashed to the mast above the smoke so he could see the course of the battle.
Among the many interesting features of this fort was a ten-seater 'flush' latrine. That is, it was positioned above an estuary so that twice a day the tide would come in and go out, flushing out the waste.
Also of interest was the bookstore, which in addition to Mobile-specific books and Civil War reference book had Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South! (For those not in the know, the latter is an alternate history novel in which time-traveling South Africans bring AK-47s to Lee's troops.)
We returned to Mobile, and Fort Conde. This was a fort critical not in the Civil War, but in the Revolutionary War, when the Spanish took it from the British. They later sold the area to the French, from whom we bought it. So we visited sites relating to the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Texian Revolution (and by implication, the Mexican War), and the Civil War, as well as Fort Sam Houston, which claims connections with all subsequent wars as well. (Since the Rough Riders trained there, I'll give them at least the Spanish-American War.)
Fort Conde had an exhibit of photographs of Mobile's racial history along with the usual artifacts. Their display and video at the beginning seemed to emphasize a certain competition with New Orleans both as a port (with the completion of the Tenn-Tom Waterway, Mobile hopes to surpass New Orleans) and with their Mardi Gras celebration (older than that of New Orleans).
Our next stop was the U. S. S. Alabama (http://www.olcg.com/al/atc/south/ussabmp.html) ($7 minus $1 AAA discount), a decommissioned World War II battleship. This counts as a genuine World War II site (though it wasn't this geographical area that was involved).
After a quick snack, we started touring the battleship. There are three separate routes, one for the forward part below decks, one for the aft, and one for the superstructure. Since the brochure said that each takes about a half hour, the AAA book gives a very low estimate when they say 'allow 1 hour, 30 minutes minimum.' (Yes, I know that's a minimum, but in addition to the ship, there is a submarine, an aircraft pavilion, and some outdoors displays. We took three hours, not counting our snack time.)
One question I had was how new sailors assigned to a battleship find their way around, but we talked to someone who said that when people we assigned to a new ship, they saw an orientation film, and no doubt they also got plans to study showing where everything was.
The galley was interesting-it looked a lot like the galley for the Dawn Princess. The latter was newer, of course, but they both had the problem of preparing food for a lot of people.
The most famous sailor to serve on the U. S. S. Alabama was probably baseball pitcher Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians.
We also walked through the submarine, and saw the aircraft in the pavilion (about ten or so). By then it was getting late and it was also very hot, so we just drove by the outdoor exhibits and headed up I-65 to Montgomery, Alabama.
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First thing this morning we drove north on I-85 to Tuskegee to see the Tuskegee Institute and the George W. Carver Museum. (Carver was originally just 'George Carver,' but took the middle initial 'W' when he lived in a town where there was another George Carver. When someone asked him if the 'W' stood for 'Washington,' he smiled and said, 'Why not?' but he never actually used the name.)
Carver got his degree at Iowa State, where he was the first Black student, the first Black graduate, and the first Black faculty member there before accepting an invitation from Booker T. Washington to teach at Tuskegee Institute.
Carver always worked toward helping the poor, such as developing inexpensive paints from Alabama soils for painting houses, or teaching ways of using reeds, bark, or string to make decorative and useful objects. (He originally wanted to be an artist, and even won a prize at the Chicago Worlds Fair for his painting of a yucca plant.)
Carver started a 'school on wheels' to visit the farmers who couldn't read his many bulletins, and taught them crop rotation and uses for various crops. (His most famous bulletin is probably 'How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption.') He never applied for patents for his discoveries, wanting them available to all (though he did allow some to be patented in his name by companies who wanted to produce products from them).
One of his least likely admirers was Henry Ford: 'Just ask Dr. Carver, I agree with everything he thinks and he thinks the same way I do.' This may have been wishful thinking on Ford's part.
We also stopped at the bookstore. The textbooks were mostly in technical fields, but they did have an interesting section labeled 'High School' which contained literary classics both in the traditional 'Western canon' and in what has come to be the African-American canon, and which by implication students should have read in high school.
I should note that this was the place where we were most obviously tourists. Everywhere else people knew we were tourists as soon as we opened our mouths, but here, because Tuskegee is still a traditionally Black university, even that wasn't necessary. It's a bit like going to Nairobi, or Tokyo. For someone who is generally in the majority, realizing that you are in the minority and that everyone knows it can be a very educational experience.
After this we returned to Montgomery and the 'First White House of the Confederacy' (http://www.olcg.com/al/atc/central/fwhc.html). This was Jefferson Davis's first home after being selected the President of the Confederacy (not by popular election, but by the committee that formed the Confederacy across the street in the Alabama State Capitol).
Here they had an explanation of the many flags of the Confederacy. (Of course, it is not completely consistent with other explanations I have seen, but it's close.) The first flag was the 'Stars and Bars,' authorized on March 4, 1861. Take a flag of three horizontal stripes-red, white, and red. Now replace the left third of the top red stripe with a blue field and a circle of eleven (later thirteen) white stars.
However, many people thought this still too similar to the 'Stars and Stripes,' and indeed, at the battle of First Manassas, it was so similar as to cause major confusion. |
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