Jefferson Davis

Update on Jefferson Davis’s Crown of Thorns

by Kevin Levin on September 27, 2009 · 9 comments · Follow me on

in Lost Cause, Memory, Religion

After last week’s post on the controversy surrounding whether the story of Jefferson Davis receiving a crown of thorns from Pope Pius IX was authentic, I received this additional information. It looks like part of the problem has to do with commentary that is contained in Jefferson Davis: Private Letters 1823-1899, which was selected and [...]

So It Was a Holy Cause After All

by Kevin Levin on September 10, 2009 · 40 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause, Memory, Religion

Update: I don’t mind having to admit a mistake every once in a while, but this time I really dropped the ball.  I thought I had confirmed this story with a sufficient number of SCV websites, but Karen Cox tells me that the entire story is apocryphal.  Ruth Ann Coski, who used to work at [...]

What’s in a Name?

by Kevin Levin on August 3, 2009 · 0 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Memory, Slavery

Make your way over to Vast Public Indifference for a fascinating series of posts on the naming of enslaved and free blacks after Confederate heroes. Black Children, Confederate Heroes Jeff Davis, General Lee, and Stonewall J. Chronology of Confederate Naming Unionist Naming in the Postwar South

Abe and Me

by Kevin Levin on March 5, 2009 · 11 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Memory, Southern History, Teaching

I‘ve never quite understood the vehement anger expressed by some for Abraham Lincoln. Yes, I get the libertarian concern that Lincoln’s policies reflect a fundamental shift in the size and scope of the federal government. Funny that they rarely express the same concern for Jefferson Davis who went just as far in suspending civil liberties [...]

SCV May Offer Davis-Limber Statue to Themselves

by Kevin Levin on February 11, 2009 · 1 comment · Follow me on

in Memory, Public History

It looks like the Davis-Limber statue may wind up in a place where very few people will get to see it.  The statue was origininally offered to the American Civil War Museum at Tredegar before the SCV pulled out of the deal.  They are now looking to see if the state of Mississippi is interested in it; this [...]

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is still trying to find a home for their statue of Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber.  The statue, which cost $100,000, was originally planned for the grounds at Tredegar in Richmond next to the statue of Lincoln and his son Tad.  The American Civil War Museum accepted the statue, but [...]

Following in Their Footsteps

by Kevin Levin on January 30, 2009 · 7 comments · Follow me on

in Lost Cause, Memory

Professor Stephen Berry was kind enough to send along this wonderful letter after reading yesterday’s post.  In the following 1930 letter, Lexington lawyer and Lincoln-historian, William Henry Townsend, responds to the cranky “posts” of  Mary Carter, who has charged Lincoln with the usual tyrannies and abuses.  Apparently, angry “Lady Rebs” have been unleashing their venom [...]

I’ll Take It

by Kevin Levin on November 19, 2008 · 8 comments · Follow me on

in Lost Cause, Public History, Teaching

Looks like Brag Bowling and the SCV are going to look elsewhere for a home for their statue of Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber.  I reported on this story a few days ago.  He is rightfully concerned that, given the lack of preconditions attached to the donation of the statue to the American Civil War [...]

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