tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9409160.post188741651028796468..comments2024-02-19T07:06:52.139-05:00Comments on Twilight Language: The Charleston Massacre and the Name GameLoren Colemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10705306131201565523noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9409160.post-20758045650738493842015-06-26T02:20:52.282-04:002015-06-26T02:20:52.282-04:00As a historian, I am big fan of local history, loc...As a historian, I am big fan of local history, local historians, local lore and legend. After nearly 20 years tracking Wyatt Earp across the country, I've learned that local historians and histories are far more accurate than 'authorized' biographies. They get the story straight. This said, I never saw the John C. Calhoun thing coming, and I grew up in SC, lived there for nearly 40 years, and attended Clemson, which is based on one of his plantations. The Calhoun Mansion is the showpiece of the campus. As I mentioned in an email, the stadium is referred to as Death Valley. <br /><br />According to South Carolina lore and legend, Calhoun is the father of Abraham Lincoln. When Calhoun's father discovered the on-again, off-again fling with Nancy Hanks, he forced a marriage to Tom Lincoln. Hanks had 2 children by Calhoun. When she became pregnant the second time, he shipped her off to Kentucky. I've met several members of the Hanks family, who swear the story is true. At one time, the records proving the story were available in the special archives there at the university library. Of course, the story is so not in keeping with the lore and legend of Lincoln that no one outside of South Carolina believes it.<br /><br />There is a portrait of Calhoun in the library, done when he was young. Lincoln looked quite a bit like him. What I find fascinating are the demands to remove all traces of him from the state, like was this iconic figure. He wasn't. Everyone knew he was a womanizing skunk and a total jerk. <br /><br />When you get around to it, you might want to investigate the story behind 'Gone with the Wind'. It was written as a family history, but in code. Margaret Mitchell was not allowed to write the real story of the Fulton-Holiday family because it would be a social embarrassment, due to the most illustrious member of the clan: John Henry Holiday. In fact, the true story could not be told until the last member of a certain generation died. The moment he did, two cousins were out with their family history, the real story, and the Doc Holiday connection.<br /><br />The reason I add this is because there are some historians who think the Civil War was extended far into the West. I happen to think that the Civil War did not end until 2:30PM on October 26, 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona with the final shots being fired at the OK Corral. Going back to Bloody Kansas, we have antidotal evidence that Old Man Clanton rode with Quantrill. Unfortunately, I can't prove it. One of the leading historians of the era agrees with me, but the records just aren't there.<br /><br />SJ Reidheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009929983462161529noreply@blogger.com