Issue 119, Winter 2016
On the cover: An idealized view of a Confederate army camp, print after a painting (detail) by C.W. Chapman, Fifty-ninth Virginia Regiment. See “Dear Bettie: Letters from a Homesick Alabamian in the Army of Tennessee” by Christopher Thrasher. (Library of Congress)
Features
“Dear Bettie: Letters from a Homesick Alabamian in the Army of Tennessee”
By Christopher Thrasher
The letters John Crittenden sent his wife Bettie during his deployment in the Army of Tennessee while fighting in the Civil War offer an insightful and poignant glimpse into the hardships endured by soldiers. Crittenden’s letters explain his wartime service, the different parts of Alabama he saw during his tour, the scarcity of wartime resources such as food, and the deep anguish he felt at being separated from his family members. Crittenden wrote Bettie faithfully from the start of his service until the end of his life, and he describes battles throughout the state, including the Battle of Nashville, where Crittenden likely died.
Southside and Eufaula’s Cowikee Mills Village, 1910–1945
By David E. Alsobrook
During the early decades of the twentieth century, the city of Eufaula was largely divided between the northern population and the southern mill communities. Workers at the Cowikee Mills often had positive experiences and felt part of a tight-knit family, spearheaded by the leadership of mill executive Donald Comer, but this camaraderie lapsed in the broader Eufaula community, where mill families were met with prejudice and derision. The advent of World War II helped change these sentiments, as the larger sacrifices on an international scale led to shifting perspectives for people at home.
Sara Mayfield: A Woman of Her Times
By Jennifer Horne
From the days of her childhood friendship with Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Sayre, and Sarah Haardt through her work as a writer and inventor, to her time as a patient at Tuscaloosa’s Bryce Hospital, Sara Mayfield had a wide range of experiences that reflected the concerns and biases of her age. Jennifer Horne explores Mayfield’s Montgomery childhood, education and formative years, and adulthood—marked by moments of insight and creative brilliance, juxtaposed with several stints in mental health institutions. Mayfield’s surprising and circuitous path offers interesting insights into her communities and times.
The Creek Indian Deerskin Trade
By Kathryn H. Braund
For Creek Indians in the Alabama Territory, deerskin offered an extremely valuable commodity, becoming their most important trade item in the early nineteenth century. Although this was positive for a time, fostering some relationships between Creeks and Europeans and giving the Creeks access to items they did not have in their own communities, the ongoing practice also introduced changes to the Native Americans’ traditional culture. Over time, deer populations dwindled and Europeans desired other items than deerskins, making even more radical and detrimental changes to Creek communities.
Departments
Alabama Makers
The Year of Alabama Makers
By Lee Sentell
Editor’s Note: Alabama Heritage is excited to introduce a new department, “Alabama Makers,” which will celebrate the craftsmen, artists, farmers, writers, musicians, and others who create from their soul to their hands. Alabama Tourism Department Director Lee Sentell has designated 2016 as “The Year of Alabama Makers” and will introduce this department. We acknowledge and thank Alfa Insurance Company for sponsoring “Alabama Makers.”
This new department explores the upcoming 2016 “Year of Alabama Makers,” which will recognize those who synthesize imagination, art, commerce, and manufacturing to produce items that highlight the many special talents of Alabama communities. Their work and handicrafts reflect the state’s diverse offerings and contributions, from music and literature to clothing and other hand-crafted items.
Alabama Governors
Samuel B. Moore (March – November 1831)
By Samuel L. Webb
Although his tenure as governor was brief, as he accepted the role upon his predecessor’s resignation near the end of his term, Samuel B. Moore took stands on several significant issues and even helped inaugurate the new University of Alabama as it welcomed its first class of students.
From the Archives
The Art of the Great War
By Keri Hallford
Art of the Great War, a new exhibit at the Museum of Alabama until early 2016, showcases highlights from the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) collection of World War I posters. These posters—which strove to boost morale on the home front, encourage civilians to conserve resources, and remind everyday Americans of the sacrifices being made abroad and at home—were created by many significant designers and artists throughout the United States, and the ADAH collection is particularly rich in its depth and diversity.
Portraits and Landscapes
The Return of the Cranes
By Thomas V. Ress
Amid the many conservation issues plaguing animal and plant species worldwide, one success story travels right through Alabama—that of the Sandhill and Whooping Cranes, which now spend part of their winter migration in sites such as Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Although the birds are still rare—fewer than 500 Whooping Cranes remain in the wild—their winter stopover in northern Alabama remains a significant part of their continued survival, and each year Wheeler NWR celebrates their presence through the Festival of the Cranes.
Revealing Hidden Collections
Inherited Histories: A North Alabama Clergyman’s Passion
By Mary Bess Kirksey Paluzzi
Often archival documents arrive at institutions in circuitous ways. The Schaudies-Banks-Ragland Collection at the University of Alabama is no exception. This collection, which explores African American life and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth century, arrived at the university after an inquiry about another item in the library’s archive sparked a clergyman’s interest in how best to preserve and pass on the documents and other items in his care.
Alabama Treasures
The Book Catalogue of 1848: A Time Capsule to the History of the University of Alabama
By John H. Sandy
In the early years of the University of Alabama (UA), school officials endeavored to establish its credibility as an institution of higher learning on the frontier. One effort was rooted in The Catalogue of the Library of the University of Alabama With an Index of Subjects, a list of all the books held in the UA library system. With the university’s destruction at the hands of Union raiders during the Civil War, the book catalogue’s existence in other institutions remained even more valuable, as it helped preserve records of the texts that had once constituted the UA library.
Adventures in Genealogy
The Search for Grover O’Kelley
By Elizabeth Crabtree Wells
Archivists and family members often rely on hard work, resources from other institutions or researchers, and even a bit of luck in tracking down stories about ancestors. Elizabeth Crabtree Wells, archivist at Samford University, explains the difficulty of piecing together one particularly challenging history—that of Grover O’Kelley, whose history was obscured thanks to a tragedy an adoption, and a major error in military records.
From the Editors: Looking for O’Kelley was a puzzle that had more gaps than pieces. If you are looking for members of the military, use all military records (enlistment, service, and other related records), but as with all records, read thoroughly for every fact. Other helpful resources for tracking down a subject include contacting an educational institution’s archives for enrollment or attendance records; schools may also have catalogs, yearbooks, or school newspapers. City directories assist in following people through the years with data about spouses, addresses, and professions. Also, make sure you recheck your sources after finding clues—what you found earlier may make more sense and add another piece to the puzzle.
Reading the Southern Past
The Tennessee Valley in War and Peace
This quarter’s installment explores the development of the Tennessee Valley in different eras, taking as its subjects Transforming the Cotton Frontier: Madison County, Alabama, 1800–1840 (Louisiana State University Press, 1997) by Daniel S. Dupre; War’s Desolating Scourge: The Union’s Occupation of North Alabama (University Press of Kansas, 2012) by Joseph W. Danielson; and Transforming the South: Federal Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1915-1960 (Louisiana State University Press, 2014) by Matthew L. Downs (who was a regular contributor to Alabama Heritage’s “Becoming Alabama” department during its tenure).
