Issue 22, Fall 1991

Issue 22, Fall 1991

On the cover: Office of War Information poster from World War II. [Courtesy U. S. Government Printing Office. Artist: Bernard Perlin]


Features

Alabamians at Pearl Harbor

By Maridith Walker Geuder

December 7, 1991, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the day “that will live in infamy.” Alabamians who survived Pearl Harbor remember the attack and its devastating aftermath. The shocking attack marked the beginning of America’s military participation in World War II. The first wave of Japanese planes arrived while most of the island was still asleep: 189 fighters and bombers swooped in to wreak destruction on the unsuspecting American fleet. It was one of the most humiliating attacks in United States history. This article recounts the attack and includes a number of sidebars featuring these survivors telling their stories in their own words. 


The Federal Road: Tourists in the Creek Nation

By Jerry Elijah Brown

Excerpts from Travels in North America

By Captain Basil Hall, Royal Navy

This double-article recounts the experiences of travelers in Alabama in the early- to mid-nineteenth century. They came by the dozens–pilgrims, speculators, stage-drivers, slaves, innkeepers and doomed Indians.  They came from England, from Scotland and Ireland and Germany. They came from France.  They came with pen and paper, ready to record their adventures in this opening land. Their travels took them along the Federal Road, a highway now long since faded into obscurity, leaving only the faintest trace of its former existence. 

Travels in North America is the account of one such traveler. In this excerpt, Captain Basil Hall of the Royal Navy recounts his travels among the Creeks.


Julia S. Tutwiler: Years of Innocence

By Paul M. Pruitt, Jr.

Julia Tutwiler, educator and social reformer, wanted to change the world–or, at least, change Alabama. Part one of a two-part series, this article examines her preparation for that formidable challenge. It covers the period from her birth in 1841, through her European travels, to her return in 1878. Julia Tutwiler would prove to be a powerful influence on Alabama. This is her story.


Departments

Southern Architecture and Preservation

Elm Bluff–A New York House in an Alabama Forest

By Robert Gamble

In the 1840s, John Jay Crocheron, a patrician New Yorker-turned-planter, had a unique house built on his property. Though it was located on a plantation, there is a Manhattan air of sophistication about the place, setting it apart from the typical Greek Revival-style plantation houses in this part of the world. The designer of Elm Bluff remains shrouded in mystery, but the house displays the signature of an accomplished architect. Even in its decay, Elm Bluff remains a beautiful, tantalizing mystery.

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