Bearing all of this in mind, there is a very important anniversary that we have come upon… that would be Wednesday, February the 25th. For it was exactly one hundred years before on Thursday, February the 25th of 1926 that the publishing company Boni & Liveright (pronounced "BONE-eye" and "LIV-right") would publish William Faulkner’s very first novel, ‘Soldiers’ Pay.’ I recently had the pleasure of handling a first edition ‘Soldiers’ Pay’ at the fabled Elder’s Bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee. It was really something to see the title page, how the type was set, and the beautiful pattern on the Endsheets just as Mr. Faulkner would have seen it when it was first published.

The reason that I would like to draw attention to this day specifically, is because I feel that some of us in the South, especially those of us who have a more historical bend in our interests, often fail to give our poets and authors their due. More so, it is because we don’t have many days of celebration to call our own, to celebrate our own, and to fully take possession of a part of our heritage that is just as important as anything accomplished by the settlers and soldiers that came before.

That being said, I propose that we collectively celebrate Mr. Faulkner on February the 25th, going forward. I have a hope that the celebration of this incredible author can transcend the divisions that have heretofore kept the modern South at odds with itself and become something that all true Southerners can celebrate together.

Now, in celebration of this new holiday, I myself will be starting William Faulkner’s ‘Soldiers’ Pay’ on the 25th. If you don’t have access to this book, don’t despair, you can get the title as a PDF online here, or for a small price on Amazon’s Kindle platform here. But please don’t feel limited to this work, I am reading it because it is the 100th anniversary of the title, but this isn’t a holiday in celebration of ‘Soldiers’ Pay’ alone, but all of Faulkner’s works. You should have no problems finding his books at any library around the country, but if you do, you can search for PDFs of his books and poetry online. There are even great interviews of him such as this one on Youtube if you prefer audio/visual media over reading text.

So, I humbly and happily wish you a happy William Faulkner Day!

— J.R. Dunmore

— J.R. Dunmore, EIC, Virginia Gentry Magazine

“Did you remember the books?”

“No.”

“I told you to remember them. Now we won’t get an autograph.”

I was embarrassed. I looked out the Volvo window at the rock face flitting by yards away. I tried to think only of the striated drill holes, where charges laid bare the mountain. I counted, skipping every other one, to see if the number was even or odd. I hadn’t meant to forget the three thick volumes; I simply had other things on my mind. We were traveling to see an old man, a stranger, and I had something to give him, after all; perhaps I wasn’t thinking about taking something from him. But I was twelve and did not consider this. Embarrassment gave way to disappointment. I should have done better.

But nothing else about the books was said the rest of the trip over the mountains out of North Carolina into Tennessee and then Virginia. Gradually I forgot. I watched the mountains go by and even read a book. Dad switched on the radio. Dean Smith had just announced his retirement from Chapel Hill. The laud continued as Kentucky hills turned gold. Dad and I arrived at his friend’s house in Lexington well after dark.

The next day was hot for October. We drove over to Transylvania University and were herded into an unoccupied classroom, the bright afternoon sun pouring in. There we waited in audience with many others. They were mostly men, carrying notepads or cameras or, my embarrassment reminded, those massive hardback volumes. I was the only youth there.

At last, the entourage entered. There was murmuring and the snap of cameras. And then I saw him. He was smaller and older than I imagined.

“It’s been a long, hot trip, no autographs today,” announced the faculty ringleader. Aha! My adolescent ineptitude vindicated. Innumerable questions were fielded by the audience, none of which I cared about at the time. I had a single mission, wrapped in a tiny paperboard box in my hands: I had to give him this toy soldier.

Starting at eight, I had begun to make my own toy soldiers. In those days, miniatures companies advertised in magazines like Civil War Times Illustrated. One would write off and weeks later, a “catalog” of xeroxed 8.5x11 sheets appeared the mail. I spent hours pouring over the listings. The Napoleonic miniatures were handsome, but it was The War that absorbed all my boyhood attention and with these soldiers it could be no different. My allowance dispatched, a package returned a few weeks later and I began the arcane art of melting ingots of metal on an electric coil stove. The alloy would turn bright and glossy in the precariously balanced ladle; then it grew a skin and was ready. Pour the liquid silver down into a rubber mold caked with talcum powder and wait. Once cool to the touch, pop open the mold and there was a soldier, shining raw.

The work had only begun, though. Cutting, filing, priming, painting: it was slow going and my ambitions of recreating the Stonewall Brigade to the man seemed to recede into adulthood. But I got better and better at it and when Dad told me who we were going to see in Kentucky, I knew what I must do. I chose a soldier biting a cartridge, ready to pour the powder down his rifle barrel. His coat and cap were gray, for as Southern boy to Southern man, I could do no else. But I painted his pants blue, either out of fidelity to regulations or just the fact that he had stolen them from a bluebelly. That soldier was waiting in my hand.

The questions ended and the audience rushed the old man at the front. “Go, get up there,” said Dad. I slipped between the adults and arrived at the table where he sat. He turned to me, tired but calm, inquisitive as to what I was doing there.

“No autographs,” said the handler.

I pressed the box forward. “This is for you.”

He ignored the hangers-on and opened the box. A faint smile crossed his face. “Well, a Union soldier. Thank you.”

Tongue-tied, I did not think to correct him. I do not remember if either of us said anything else. Then the crowd swallowed up around him and I backed away, my deed done.

We returned that night to the fine arts center for his speech. This was a more formal, collegial event than the pell-mell of the afternoon. When he appeared on stage, the old man seemed refreshed, fully the stoic with the twinkling mischief in his eye known to the public. There were the requisite introductions and applause, followed by the keynote address: “The Civil War: Values and Virtues Learned.” I don’t recall a thing about the speech itself. After he spoke, there was an intermission while they prepared for a panel discussion. And he was just standing on that stage alone, hands clasped behind his back, waiting patiently. I blurted out, “I’d like to ask him a question.”

“Go ask him,” said my dad.

I vacillated. I was painfully shy and didn’t want to embarrass myself.

“This is your only chance. If you don’t go ask him, you’ll always regret it.”

So I set off down the aisle. I ascended the stage and approached him. “I have a question.”

He accepted my imposition graciously, as if I were a peer.

“Do you think the Confederacy would have ended slavery?”

He shook his head. “No, no, they were not capable of an act of emancipation.”

I couldn’t even make eye contact with him. The man with the golden voice was answering my deepest questions about the struggle that absorbed all my youthful thought. “Even if it would have ended the war?”

He elaborated further and my young mind struggled to keep up. But he summed it up for me: “As much as they may have wanted to, the domestic situation simply would not permit it.”

“Oh, okay. That was what I wanted to know. Thank you.”

I disappeared from the stage and returned to my seat. The evening continued, but I remember nothing. Only a great relief — joy, even — at having gotten the truth from the unimpeachable authority himself.

A few weeks later, a letter arrived, addressed in gothic ballpoint handwriting. It had a 32 cent Robert E. Lee stamp and a Memphis postmark. On a single sheet of lined paper, the following was written:

If you would like to read more of ’s work, you can find his excellent debut novel here.

His X account here.

His personal website here, and his Substack below:

https://www.booksbytroop.com/p/books

Landmesser’s story illustrates that dissent is possible, even in the face of peer pressure. Today, we honor his defiance in the face of evil. He shows that not everybody succumbed to Nazi pressure to conform, dissent was possible, even if painful for the dissenter.

In a similar fashion, Virginia showed that political dissent in the face of evil was possible, even if, like Landmesser, it would be painful for the Commonwealth. On April 4, 1861, the Convention of the people of Virginia voted down secession by a two to one majority. Virginia was trying to craft a compromise that would bring the seceded states back into the Union. The same time, Lincoln sent a military expedition that included thousands of soldiers and sailors and hundreds of cannons to Ft. Sumter. Before this force could land, Confederate forces subdued Ft. Sumter, giving Lincoln the war he needed. Lincoln refused to recognize the independence of the Confederate States and called for troops to invade and overthrow by military force the elected state governments of the states from South Carolina to Texas. By the terms of the Constitution, President Lincoln had committed treason. Many northern states gleefully joined Lincoln in his treason. When the telegram arrived in Richmond, however, the moderate Unionists in the convention and indeed the governor could not believe it was real. Governor John Letcher wondered if some “mischievous person” had taken control of the telegraph and sent the message as a spoof. When mail arrived confirming the reality of the telegram, moderate Unionism collapsed. This act was antidemocratic, unconstitutional, and violent.

On April 17, Virginia’s August Landmesser moment had arrived. The Virginia Convention voted again on secession, and this time, secession won by a two to one majority. The proximate cause of Virginia’s secession was the change in the nature of the Union, from a voluntary association of sovereign states to a consolidated empire not controlled by the Constitution. The people of Virginia then voted in a plebiscite on May 23 endorsing secession 125,950 to 20,373.

Virginia, like August Landmesser, when presented with the demand by the majority to take part in evil, declined. Landmesser paid a steep price for his defiance. Virginia did as well.

I am proud to be a Virginian, proud of Virginia’s stand. When Lincoln and the northern majority were screeching that everyone join them in their illegal, unconstitutional, and violent attack on the states they themselves said were still in the Union, the Old Dominion said, “No. We will not support that effort. In fact, we will not even remain in a Union where such an evil policy is possible. Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined Virginia in their opposition, setting an example of doing right in the face of evil, cost what it may. Tens of thousands of Virginians died to defend Virginia’s right to be governed as her people wanted. The state was wrecked in the imperialistic war that the Union waged. Virginia, having lost the war for independence, was summarily kicked out of the Union by northern Republicans, and Virginians denied the right to vote. Virginia and the other Confederate States set an example for future generations that defiance was possible, even when painful. We can all be thankful for their example.

I first came across them about a year ago via X.com, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that I began to really pay attention to the work that they were doing. For the uninitiated, Monuments Across Dixie is a historical preservation group dedicated to keeping our Confederate heritage open and accessible to the public by the creation of new monuments. It was through the ongoing project to recreate and erect a one-to-one replica of Henry Shrady and Leo Lentelli’s General Lee statue that once stood proudly in Charlottesville, Va., that I came to pay close attention to them. At the time, they were giving away a numbered replica desk statue of the very same monument for a specific donation. You can find a picture of my desk statue below.

After that, I reached out and asked them if they would be willing to do a short interview (just as much to satisfy my own curiosity as to give them more exposure). You will find that below.

VG: What inspired the formation of Monuments Across Dixie, and how has your mission evolved over time?

MAD: The moment they removed the 1st monument, I realized it had to be countered in some way. In 2017 the idea was created, If they move a monument, let's get one back up that we can control. The mission has always been, control the land, control the monument, control the narrative.

VG: Excellent. How do you define “historical preservation” in the context of creating new monuments? In other words, what does historical preservation mean to your organization as you create new moments?

MAD: It's hard to preserve what you don't own. Its unfortunate that a large majority of the monuments were gifted to local or state governments. However, we can preserve the original intent of placement and the meaning through new monuments, parks, and seeking ownership of original monuments. We also encourage groups to seek out friendly local governments now to gain control of the land and monuments before demographics shift. We also support the creation of private parks that are accessible to the public. Having 100% access to monuments gives us the opportunity to undo what the media has done. We can again celebrate our ancestors without having to ask for government permission to gather or fly a battle flag.

VG: That’s wonderful. Would you walk us through your process for selecting which historical events or figures to commemorate?

MAD: We do that by request.

Interesting. How do you balance historical accuracy with artistic interpretation when conceptualizing a new monument? Or is this left to the commissioned artist?

MAD: We gather photos, do rough sketches, digital mock-ups to send to the sculptor before the clay sculpture begins. They review them. They may ask for different angles or closeups. We make edits to the clay sculpture once it's completed. That process takes weeks.

VG: What funding models do you rely on, and how do you secure the necessary resources for these large-scale projects?

MAD: We've used a variety of models to make projects happen. Groups will reach out wanting to do a project and we help make it happen. With the Charlottesville Lee, Captain Ellsworth’s Telegraph SCV Camp is doing the primary fundraising.

VG: How do you plan for the long-term maintenance and preservation of the monuments once they are erected? Also, what are some of the biggest challenges your society faces in erecting new monuments, both logistically and politically?

MAD: The groups that raise them have plans to take care of them long-term. Raising new monuments just depends on the will of the people. If a group wants to raise a new monument, we help make it happen

VG: In what ways do you measure the impact of your monuments on public understanding of history?

MAD: Owning the monument prevents contextual perversion that many original monuments now have through government signage. Being able to tell our story is crucial in preserving our history and heritage.

VG: What upcoming projects or initiatives are you most excited about, and how do they align with your long-term vision for historical preservation?

MAD: Our goal is to counter every removal. Anytime we can make a removal null and void, that’s exciting. There are plans to rebuild the New Orleans Lee statue after we complete the statue in Charlottesville.

VG: That it is! Last one. What advice would you offer to other communities or organizations looking to engage in similar projects?

MAD: We make the process as simple as possible to assist both individuals and groups. From fundraising ideas all the way to the delivery of the statue.

VG: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions about your organization. Is there anything else you would like to say?

MAD: This idea ironically isn't a new concept. A few years ago I found an old Confederate Veterans magazine with an advertisement that had the same concept. (Image below)

MAD Cont.: We literally used almost identical verbiage We could be raising monuments weekly if people would buy into this idea.

What we want people to remember is that defeat is a mindset. We have to take action and take ownership and not rely on government officials on any level to promote and protect our Southern Heritage. Flip the script, and turn every removal into an opportunity to defeat their will. Change the headline! We can either continue to read that government officials removed a monument to appease the social justice mob or read that Southern citizens placed a new monument that anti-Southern public officials can't remove.

Thanks for reading this interview. Good people are still doing good work for our heritage, and I am here for it!

If you would like to find Monuments Across Dixie on X, you can find them here.

If you are interested in donating to their monument projects, you can find their website here.

When moving to Oxford from Alabama became a possibility, I thought “that’s neat” and then went about my day. When it became a certainty - the house bought, the jobs acquired - I became a little more interested in Faulkner the man. Before we moved here, I had never read a word of his since high school, (Light in August) which I don’t remember a bit of, anyhow. I knew that he was perhaps the greatest American writer to ever live, and those I respect said so, so I was happy to take that at face value. After we moved, we finally went to visit his estate, which I enjoyed about as much as I enjoy seeing any old large manor which has been maintained well. I was surprised to find that, even on a cold rainy weekday, the parking lot is full of visitors of all kinds. Folks from out in the county, parents with kids, high schoolers, academics. That is to say, I found that Faulkner was -is- as much a person of particular interest as he is a point of pride, even for those who don’t fully ~understand~ his work in the way many academics will claim is necessary for full appreciation.

I began to collect his work and thousands of pages of reference material concerning southern literature and culture. It became clear to me, as my writing endeavors evolved from a hobby to a craft, that it was necessary to understand those that came before me as a presupposition of contributing to a literary tradition.

My in-laws have been in town for a few days to see our seven month old son. They expressed interest in going to Faulkner’s home, so we made the trek. Upon returning, my father in law, who’s known to almost never read fiction, expresses a desire to read some of Faulkner’s work. Prepared for comments such as those, I retrieved from my bookshelf two books: The Bear and a combined volume of As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury. Both were mass-produced and as such are worth very little, but I am partial to them as I am to all the books I own. The combined volume is from the late 40s, nearly triple my own age. I give them to him and say “happy reading.”

He begins to read The Bear, and I mention that I have begun to amass encyclopedic information about southern fiction. I collect those as well to show him the many thousands of pages they consist of. He looks at them, returns them to the bookshelf, and says “someone probably spent their entire careers writing these, but does anyone even read them?”

The comment makes me want to shout “Yes, me and my friends!”, but I respond with something milder: “You would be surprised.”

Like me, my father in law was born and raised in Florida. Many people don’t understand that Florida has some pretty incredible disparities in both culture and living standards. Between Miami and Tallahassee, there are many counties which rank as some of the poorest and least educated in the country. Hillbilly, Southern, and Redneck in every sense of the words, small islands that still belong to the Deep South despite being surrounded by Hispanics and miserable retirees from New York. I am from the poorest of its parts. Double-wides and dirt yards, rat snakes for friends and longleaf pine forests for adolescent, fantastical worldbuilding. I went off, joined the military, traveled the world, got a STEM degree, and now code for a living, but those are still my people. Perhaps moreso now than they have ever been.

I have read the Florida equivalents of Faulkner: namely Smith and Rawlings. I see marsh tackies, cattle, and endless scrub as much as I see ugly stucco buildings thrown up overnight, and highways that decimate everything unique to make way for GDP-maximizing. The palmetto and rattlesnake and swamp are as much there as they ever were.

Every year, more people move to the South, and every year, there are fewer Southerners. People vaguely understand that it requires a history, a sum of all previous days, in order to arrive at the current one. But the nuance of such facts is frequently lost to such nebulous things as Pragmatism, Need, and Schedules. “Do you really need to know such things”? Well, not need in any sense that you comprehend, Bob. But someone ought to know it. As they do, the old ones die. Things ought not die with them.

To be fair, this can be said of most any region in America. Localism and regional curiosity shrivels on the vine to be subsumed by the corporate kudzu, starved of the light and air required to carry seeds across the days. Even still, some of us are bent on slashing it away, though it may grow faster than we can cut it out.

I don’t expect my son to appreciate history in such ways, or even like reading southern fiction as much as I do, but he will come to understand that history is not a vacuum, that today will at some point be history, too. That “Days gone by” were only yesterday, and have more bearing on the Now than we usually give it credit for.

This article was originally published in The Double Dealer Magazine on Feb 17, 2025. You can find it and lots of other great content here:

The Double Dealer

The Double Dealer literary magazine

A Quick Bit Of History

The Jefferson Davis Pie, sometimes called the Kentucky Pie, is a custard pie, similar to a chess pie. Its origins are obscure, to say the least, with some claiming that it was a recipe created by a slave woman with the name of Jefferson Davis added much later, others that the slave woman named it the Jeff Davis Pie herself, and others still claim that it found its origins in the Davis household being a family recipe. With many different versions of the pie, it’s hard to tell if the references to the pies across history are the same pie, or different pies by the same name.

What the truth of the matter is, I cannot say. However, I trust this quandary into the hands of Mr. Steely once he cracks the code on eggnog.

Chase, I know you are reading this, so I trust this great mystery into your capable charge should you find it practicable to investigate.

The Recipe

This is the recipe from the Sweet Tea And Cornbread Blog. I will be rewriting it verbatim, and using their images here, I will also include my own deviations below.

Pie Ingredients

1 deep dish pie shell, unbaked

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs. flour

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup heavy cream

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon zest

pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Whipped Cream Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 Tbs. white sugar

1 Tbs. good Kentucky Bourbon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix the sugars, flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add cream and mix.

3. Add eggs and mix.

4. Add butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla and mix

   

5. Place the pie shell on a cookie sheet. This helps the pie cook evenly and it catches any spill overs. Pour the mixture into the shell and carefully place in the oven. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for approximately 40 -45 minutes. It will puff up some, but will fall back down when it cools. Cool and serve with whipped cream... bourbon whipped cream is especially good!

   

6. Whip cream and sugar until peaks form and then fold in bourbon. Serve immediately.

   ---

   How did I deviate? Truth be told, very little. I measured the vanilla with my heart rather than the teaspoon. In our oven, the optimal time for the pie was very near the prescribed time. Although, with it being a custard pie, I think it wise to watch it. I was pressed for time, so I used a premade pie crust from the store, that did just fine. Do not buy the crumbly crust, this is the kind you buy cold in a little roll.

   I used a kitchen aid to quickly make the whipped cream. I also doubled the whipped cream and I’m glad that I did because I wouldn’t have had enough for our party. In addition, I used Old Pogue Old Maysville Club Kentucky Straight Rye. This I also measured with my heart. The men at the party thought that the sweet custard pie paired well with a strong whipped cream, and the women thought it was a bit heavy for their liking. In fact, the joke of the night was that someone could take a shot of the whipped cream and be laid out. I liked it. In hindsight, I would have made it a little weaker for the ladies present, so it may be better to follow the recipe here.

   My final change was the inclusion of a hickory syrup drizzle. This was very hit-or-miss. I really liked the combination of flavors, but some thought that the hickory overpowered the pie. Nevertheless, the pie was a hit, and I will certainly be making it again.

   Virginia Gentry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Deo Vindice.

P.S. 9/14/24 6:55 PM

I would like to thank my friend, Chase Steely of for making me aware that this article is also available on Abbeville Institute’s website here. I originally came across this essay in an old issue of the great but unfortunately defunct “Southern Partisan” magazine. If the Abbeville Institute or Mr. Wilson would like us to take this down out of respect for their publication we would ask you to please email us at: VirginiaGentryMagazine@gmail.com and we will do so. — J.R. Dunmore, EIC

Scholars in every field in the humanities and social sciences have long recognized that Southerners have formed a distinct people within the body of Americans from the earliest colonial times to the present. Authorities in history, political science, economics, sociology, folklore, literature, geography, speech, and music have recognized and studied the significance of this distinctiveness. The distinct identity of Southerners has also, of course, been a commonplace of everyday life in the United States, and distinctive Southern manners, customs, attitudes and behavior have been material for our greatest creative artists in song, story, and movie-making.

Nearly every college in the United States and many in Europe (as well as Japan and Australia) offer courses in Southern history, literature, and other subjects. A number of universities have special institutes devoted to study of the South. (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of South Carolina, the University of Mississippi, John Hopkins University, and Cambridge University are a few examples.) Thousands of scholars around the world are studying Southernness. Thousands of books and dozens of popular and academic journals and websites are available today that are devoted specifically and exclusively to the South. It cannot be credited that this activity would be devoted to something unless it was real and significant.

Many explanations and descriptions have been offered in scholarly literature as to the origins and nature of a distinctive Southern people, beginning with the ethnic origins of the American colonial population and coming up to recent date in studies of public opinion and voting behavior.

An important, recent, and authoritative study is Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer, prize-winning Professor of History at Brandeis University, Boston (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). From exhaustive study in Britain and America, Fischer has identified four different cultural groups from the British Isles that formed differentiated cores of cultural development in what has become the United States. These groups came from different regions of Britain and were separated by religious denomination, economic activity, dialect, manners, and customs.

1. Puritan settlers of New England who came from the East Anglia region of England and formed an identifiable religious and cultural group, which spread to other parts of the Northern states.

2. Settlers from the English Midlands and Wales who settled the Delaware River Valley belonged to a variety of dissenting religions such as Quakers and Baptists, and pursued economic activities and goals different from those of New England and the South.

3. Gentry and servants from the English southern counties who settled Virginia and the Carolinas in the 17th century, largely Anglican, engaged in plantation agriculture, and displaying manners, customs and attitudes very distinct from groups 1 and 2.

4. Borderers, sometimes loosely described as Celtic, who came from Ireland, Scotland, and the Scots-English border region. They were largely Presbyterian, and their ways of living and making a living were markedly different from those of the ordinary English. They settled the piedmont regions of the Southern colonies and spread across the Appalachians in the late 18th century.

Fischer piles up convincing data that these groups formed different cultural centers in the evolution of America. Groups 3 and 4 merged in the early 19th century, to become the Southern people. The distinctiveness of a Southern people was well recognized by everyone by that time—by Southerners, by Northerners, and by foreign travelers. The famous English writer Charles Dickens observed after a trip to America that the Americans formed two distinct peoples. Fischer also provides extensive and convincing evidence that these distinct American cultures persist to this day, a distinctiveness which can be seen in attitudes, political behavior, and daily life. An interesting example he provides is the startlingly different actions and methods of leadership of two American generals in the Pacific theatre during World War II, both named Smith, one from the North and one a Southerner. Countless other examples can be cited showing such differences in recent history.

Historians have also identified as keys to Southerness climate and a historical experience that differs markedly from the general American. The South was warmer than the North and the regions of Europe from which settlers of America came, giving it a different kind of agriculture and crops (cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar), and thus a different kind of economic activity and a different relation to the marketplace than the rest of the United States. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided in the 1920s to commission a definitive history of American agriculture, it found that it required two distinct studies to cover the subject: Percy W. Bidwell, History of Agriculture in the Northern United States, 1620-1860 (Washington: 1925), and Lewis Cecil Gray, History of Agriculture in the Southern United States to 1860 (Washington: 1933).

Southerners have, unlike other Americans, more than 350 years of living in a biracial society, in which Whites and African-Americans have reciprocally influenced each other's development. It should never be forgotten that the number of African-Americans outside the states of the South was statistically insignificant throughout American history up to World War I. In evidence of a distinct Southern culture, it should be pointed out that Southern blacks share with Southern Whites nearly every aspect of Southern culture except ethnic origin and political behavior, and differ from general American attitudes in the same direction as do White Southerners.

Undoubtedly the most decisive historical event in firmly establishing a Southern people was the failed War of Independence of 1861-1865. Unlike all other Americans, Southerners have suffered military defeat and occupation and massive destruction by invading armies on their soil. The Confederate States of America was characterized by a mobilization and casualties far beyond that ever experienced by any other Americans at any time in their history. (Gary Gallagher of the University of Virginia, The Confederate War, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.) It is estimated that 85 percent of the eligible male population was mobilized in the War of Independence and one of every four Southern White men was dead at the end of the War. (Comparison: Northern losses were 1 in 10; and the losses were simultaneously made up by immigrants. American losses in later years are trivial percentages in comparison.)

The experience of total war, invasion, conquest, and defeat had effects, both tangible and psychological, that have lasted for generations and that mark Southerners now living. War is the single greatest solidifier of a nationality, and it is hardly credible that Southerners would have fought to such an extremity for independence if they had not been conscious of being a separate people.

C. Vann Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of Yale University, in his famous study The Burden of Southern History (Louisiana State University Press, 1960), has emphasized this distinctive experience as giving Southerners a heritage of defeat and sorrow. Coupled with longstanding guilt and frustration from the difficulty of race relations, this burden of history has made Southerners a sadder, less optimistic, but perhaps wiser and more realistic people than other Americans whose history has been one of uninterrupted success.

Woodward points also to another consequence of the War. In contrast to America in general, which has been a land of opportunity, progress, and prosperity, Southerners, both White and African-American have a long experience of poverty. The most prosperous region of the United States in 1860, the South was from 1866 to at least World War Il the most impoverished. An estimated 60 percent of the region's capital was destroyed by the War, leaving it economically helpless and subject to exploitation of its resources and peoples as a colony of the United States. In 1860 nearly all White Southern families were independent landowners. In 1900, forty percent of White Southerners were tenants or sharecroppers. And 60 percent of African-American Southerners were in this position, though in absolute numbers there were more White sharecroppers than black. In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously referred to the South as "the nation's No. 1 Economic Problem," and public discussions were full of references to the South's colonial economic status.

The South has long been known as a source of cheap labor. As well as African-Americans, hundreds of thousands of White Southerners have moved to the North and West in the 20th century, as industrial labor. In the North and West they were treated as and understood themselves to be a distinct ethnic group, referred to negatively as "hillbillies" and Okies." Evidences of this can still be seen, like "Little Dixie" neighborhoods in Chicago and country music in Bakersfield, California, It is impossible to overestimate the effects of generations of poverty within a prosperous country in forming a distinct Southern identity. Even in currently prosperous and growing areas of the South today, the better jobs are largely occupied by newcomers from other parts of the country and the blue-collar jobs by Native Southerners.

Southern differences in manners, speech, recreations, religious beliefs, cuisine, and music are commonplace observations in everyday life in the United States. These differences do not have to be absolute. Scots and some Irish and Welsh speak English and are like Englishmen in various ways, but they are still obviously distinct nationalities, as are the French-descended Canadians. Speech, religion, music, manners, and cuisine are the universal markers of ethnic distinction. The proof of distinctive Southern characteristics in these areas is easily established by the well-known negative (and sometimes positive) reactions that Southerners receive from other groups.

Contemporary markers distinguishing Southerners as a distinct group have been given systematic scientific study in the works of John Shelton Reed, Kenan Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, especially The Enduring South.

Besides differences in lesser matters such as names of children, places, and businesses, Reed demonstrates that public opinion surveys have consistently shown statistically significant differentiation from the American average, especially in three areas:

1. Southerners are the most consistent believers in basic orthodox Christianity as measured by their belief in the Bible, a future state of rewards and punishments, and the reality of Evil, as well as by their church attendance. They even outscore Roman Catholics in other parts of the country on these factors.

2. Southerners are more local and family oriented, less interested in distant events and celebrities than Americans in general.

3. Southerners, for better or worse, live by a different definition of the line between private and public. They are more conscious of giving and receiving offense and tend to deal with such things in person rather than call in public authorities. For instance, in the South murders most commonly occur between persons who are acquainted. In the North there are more commonly attacks by strangers.

Reed has also demonstrated through scientific attitude surveys that Northern and Southern students at the cosmopolitan University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recognize themselves as having different thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The distinctions discovered by Reed are not absolute—there is some overlap-but they are statistically significant (as well as readily confirmed by empirical observation). See the article by Reed in the Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups.

Another relevant work is The South and the Sectional Conflict by David M. Potter of Stanford University, generally recognized as one of the outstanding historians in the United States in the 20th century (Louisiana State University Press, 1968). Potter affirms the separateness of the Southern people and describes how that difference has been created by distinct folkways (thinking, feeling, behaving in ways common to members of the same social group) and separate political experiences.

The hallmarks of a living national culture are its production of arts both at the folk level (arising spontaneously from the people) and at the level of high culture. Southerners have produced several original styles of music and it is hardly to be doubted that Southern writers have produced a distinct (and highly regarded by the world) literature. The acclaimed novelist George Garrett has demonstrated that distinctive Southernness persists in the most recent generation of outstanding writers. And he has interestingly related Southern literary prowess to the distinctive manners of the region. George Garrett, "Southern Literature Here and Now," in Fifteen Southerners, Why the South Will Survive (Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1981).

The history of a distinctive Southern speech has been examined by the world famous literary scholar and critic Cleanth Brooks (Yale University) in The Language of the American South (University of Georgia Press, 1985). Brooks has demonstrated how distinctive Southern speech has contributed to the success of Southern literary efforts. The distinctiveness of Southern accents was part of the lifelong study of the greatest American scholar of English dialects, Raven I. McDavid of the University of Chicago, author of Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (Chicago, 1980 and later editions) and Sociolinguistics and Historical Linguistics (University of Odense, Denmark).

That Southerners can be distinguished by differing voting behavior is a commonplace calculation of politicians and news media and is the subject of much continuing study by political scientists.

Establishing the reality of the Southerner is akin to proving that lowa grows corn or that Hollywood is located in California. When the term "Southern" is used, there is not a mind in America that does not immediately reference impressions, favorable or unfavorable, of particular history, literature, music, cuisine, manners, and political and religious tendencies.

Before any other identity, I am a Virginian. It defines my worldview and is unquestionably the backbone of my political compass. My maternal line, in every direction, has been in the Old Dominion since either the 17th or 18th century, and my hometown is named for my family. My lineage is replete with notable Virginia names, Cavaliers that left England around the time of the English Civil War, as well as yeoman farmers that epitomize the vision of Jefferson. I am firm in my belief that it is this combination - gentle breeding and hardworking farm families - that precipitated the most civilized society in the world. The decline of this society in the modern era has been to the detriment of the nation, and it’s no coincidence that the country is now like a ship without a sail in the absence of real, heritage Virginia statesmen.

I grew up on a farm with my grandparents, and we had a large extended family spread across Southside Virginia. Looking back at this beautiful time in my life, I’ve realized that I was fortunate to witness the last vestige of what Old Virginia was actually like; it’s also why I fight, and why I am an unapologetic conservative and nativist. Spending time with my grandparents and their contemporaries gave me a glimpse into a world of unparalleled kindness, gratitude, morality, respect, and a sense of duty that does not exist in the modern, consumer-driven world. It is difficult to even articulate the zeitgeist and aesthetics of that world that disappeared around the time of the baby boom. My generation, even in the same location, were entirely removed from this spirit; going from school to home was like navigating two worlds. This homogenous, high-trust community that once existed most likely collapsed through its own naivety and has been spiraling ever since into a shell of its former self. In reality, it was indeed their kindness and acceptance of outsiders that dealt the final blow. There are traces of this society left, certainly, but in general the spirit is gone. The power structure in Virginia is now mostly dominated by transplants, and its colleges and universities that once served as finishing schools for the First Families of Virginia are now mostly filled with the children of these itinerant, corporatist transplants. Virginia, to me, has suffered a greater cultural loss than any state in the South, and it has paralleled the decline of the nation overall.

I, like others, have historically fallen into the trap of attempting to explain to challengers the value of the South as a region. I’ve argued with people about the war between the states and defended my heritage as noble and just. I’ve made all of the common legal arguments against Lincoln, but I don’t have to cite books to understand the morality of my ancestors; I have felt it and lived it. That is not something that any of our critics can say, as their roots in the nation are very likely much more shallow. I’ve come to realize that it is a fool’s errand to try and justify my existence to others who will never understand and have taken a step back in favor of preserving my mental health. No amount of reason and argument is going to convince the current cognoscenti to come over to our side. Some of the foremost names in elite academia that specialize in Civil War and Southern history have roots in the country that go back less than a century; it’s clear that their motive is political and monetary, not the elucidation of reality. Peter Onuf at UVA, whom I had the displeasure of having as a professor, is a prime example of someone who has done his best to besmirch Jefferson at every turn; his work is one of the reasons Monticello now gives tours based on clear fabrication. While letting go is a tough pill to swallow, I believe it is necessary for true Virginians and Southerners to finally understand this dynamic so that we can actively work to reclaim our culture from those who have co-opted it; and work to re-build from a position of strength, not from defensive flailing.

While my maternal line was all I knew growing up, it was grappling with my father‘s Yankee, New England origins that brought me to the conclusion mentioned above. My direct paternal line goes back to Plymouth in the 1600s. My southern belle aunt began researching my paternal line and, much to her chagrin, uncovered this barbed fact. At one point, they were New England Yankees of the old order, and my 5th Great-Grandfather was a Yale man who fought as an officer in the Revolution - even spending time with Washington at Valley Forge. Through the generations we ended up in Montgomery, Alabama in around 1848 - obviously an interesting time to arrive in the South. Through a very long genealogy research project, I learned that my 3rd Great-Grandfather moved to the city from Connecticut to work as a merchant with a fellow New England man, George Cowles. They lived together for a short period of time and my 3rd Great-Grandfather was even married in the home of Mr. Cowles to one of his relatives, so they were apparently very close. The book Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War says that “there was no shortage of dry goods stores. Tools, nails, brooms, and other household items were available at George Cowles’s Market Street store, which became a clandestine meeting place for local Unionists after the war began” (Rogers 2014, 4). Imagine my surprise reading this - my family cavorting with Unionists! Even living and working with one. Ironically, in addition to serving as the principal gathering place for Unionists in the region, George Cowles’ store was responsible for sewing the first Confederate national flag (Alabama Archives 2006)

This sent me down a rabbit hole of trying to understand Unionists in the South, and it painted a much different picture than the typical story of the North as a moral crusading, slavery-averse region. The census slave schedules show that Mr. Cowles was himself a slave owner, and undoubtedly simply felt a connection to his native state of Connecticut. Others opposed to secession in Montgomery included William Bibb, a cotton planter from the southern elite. He owned between 50 and 75 slaves between the onset and close of the war, and as Rogers explains, “Montgomerians rejecting the Davis government in thought (and sometimes deed) were not abolitionists. They were loyal citizens of the United States” (Rogers 2014, 104-106). Further digging showed other relatives in Connecticut that were also slave owners at one point.

To my relief, my 3rd Great-Grandfather ultimately served as a Sergeant for Alabama in the war, shown in the muster rolls in 1863. He was remarried following the death of his first wife in 1855 to a woman, my 3rd Great-Grandmother, with deep southern roots, and though I’ll never know for sure, I can’t help but think this led him to align with the South. If slavery was the primary issue on which everything hinged, as is purported in modern academia, these constant examples that run contrary to the presentist narrative would likely not crop up. Family connections, and devotion to a state, or the Union itself, held the real sway for citizens at the time. This is usually elaborated on when speaking of Robert E. Lee being true to Virginia, but stories of Northerner’s devotion to their states rarely make headlines in academia.

While I’ve read almost every author that has defended the South, this close-to-home experience has solidified my belief that it’s next to impossible to convince others to see reason when it comes to our history; this is because the loudest voices do not actually care about reality, and most of them have no roots going back to the time of the Civil War. The evidence exists in droves that the Northern War was not a moral crusade. It is, however, positioned as such, and this positioning serves as the rationale for the destruction of the historic American nation and remaking it into something it never was: a proposition nation for the entire world to come to. It is simply a case of come-here’s attempting to define an entity that is not theirs, for their own gain.

Similar to Virginia, the North has actually suffered significant cultural loss and erosion of its own history. In many ways, they have also been deprived of their history through erroneous accounts of the war. They’ve experienced waves of immigrants drastically different than themselves for far longer than the South and attempted to fight back through the Know Nothing Party. It’s not lost on me that I’m looking at this through the lens of a newfound soft spot for my paternal ancestry, and I’m very well aware that this region skews far left. I’m also very aware of the distinct differences that led radical Puritans to flee to Massachusetts, relative to Virginian’s adventures to Jamestowne. I do believe, however, that their founding stock are our cousins - Virginians from the South and West of England, and New Englanders from East Anglia a la Albion’s Seed. The Union Army was filled with much more mercenary-like forces than the South’s kinship-based army, and in many respects, they’ve been occupied with outsiders since this time. A popular novelist of the early 20th century, John P. Marquand, explores the lives of the Boston Brahmin set, the equivalent of our First Families of Virginia, in his books, and addresses the replacement of the old WASP stock with the Irish and other later 20th century Ellis islanders. Wishful thinking says an alliance of old-stock southerners and old-stock northerners, after all these years, could bring about a resurgence of heritage American culture that has been lost, and a rejection of the cultural detritus that has been the undoing of the republic created for these two groups that represent our posterity. Like a new American renaissance, brothers could finally bury the hatchet in a common cause, address the attack on our history from outsiders, and come away with a newfound respect and understanding of each other. Until that happens, I’ll cling to my country ham, my Jefferson Cup of bourbon, my family names, and remain unwavering, as a Virginian.

You can find Mr. Randolph on X here: @CavalierStockVA

Sources:

“Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection.” Alabama Department of Archives and History, 2006. https://legacy.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/100.html. 

Rogers, William Warren. Confederate Home Front: Montgomery during the Civil War. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2014.

“We’re going on a road trip,” my mother replied when I asked what we were doing shortly after school let out for summer break. This was not a surprise as our family went on these excursions regularly in the summer to visit family around Texas. With friends and family spread across the state, a few hours’ drive (ok, more than a few) to see the West Texas cousins and other kin is a staple of my childhood memories. That was why it came as bit of a shock when she told me where we were traveling; Nashville, Tennessee. I immediately looked at a Rand McNally map of the itinerary and saw this was going to be a monumental journey of around 1200 miles round-trip. Other teens might have felt angst at having to be in a vehicle for two weeks on the road, but I have always enjoyed traveling and was excited.

On the Road

Our trip took us from East Texas through Arkansas and into Tennessee with plenty of stops along the way. It is an exaggeration; but as a kid, it felt like we stopped every 40 miles to see a Civil War battlefield or historical marker that denoted something of significance that took place. A major highlight that sticks out to me all these years later would have to be seeing Elvis Presley’s Graceland Mansion in Memphis. The guitar-shaped pool, the buses, planes, and zebra print carpeted walls in the basement were…interesting. While not old enough to experience his career heyday of the 50s and 60s, my parents were huge enough fans for me to know his songs and life history. To go from a poor upbringing in Mississippi to the heights of fame and fortune was a Southern fairy tale in my mind.

Once arriving in Nashville, it was a flurry of activity for us. There was the required visit at a Grand Old Opry show where I still remember seeing Minnie Pearl perform onstage along with other country stars of that early 90s timeframe. We even went to a Nashville Network television series taping where none other than Dolly Parton happened to be a guest. Another highlight was a paddleboat steamer journey down the Mississippi. Thinking about how the mighty Mississippi River was (and still is) a major transportation hub providing access through the South gets fully realized as one travels it. Also, the cultural impact the river had on the writings of Mark Twain, a man who William Falkner described as “The Father of American Literature.”

Looking back on that trip, I now understand how significant that family vacation was, and still is, in the psychological formation that went into building my identity as an old stock Southerner. Interacting with people across the region, whether it was fellow Southern tourists visiting historical sites, or even at the hotels we stayed, there was a collective sense of communal identity and affection for each other. Families remarking on Civil War battlefields, who in their lineage fought, gave more weight and significance to those historical events that I did not understand at the time.

As I have gotten older, reconstructing the family tree and researching my lineage became an important endeavor. Besides the Texas and Louisiana roots that I knew about, finding out that we essentially began in Virginia in the 1600s before branching out to the Carolinas and Tennessee over the centuries brought new meaning to my recollection of our family vacation in ways I had not anticipated. Knowing the names of kin who participated in the monumental event that was the Civil War truly brought the history alive to me in a way that wasn’t apparent at the time. Visiting the battlefield sites across Tennessee brings new questions to my mind on what my ancestors faced during that conflict and what they must have thought. During my research, I even found a copy of the declaration of allegiance to the Union card that one captured Confederate ancestor was required to sign after hostilities ceased. Yet while the Civil War is a big part of Southerners’ history, it is important to remember it is not the only defining aspect of Southern culture and traditions.

Riding the steamboat down the Mississippi River during that childhood trip brought new meaning to me as I reflect now on how our forefathers shaped and conquered this land. Seeing the numerous family farms and locally owned businesses showed the resilience that Southerners have upheld during our presence in America. I recall my great-grandfather tipping his hat to any black-eyed pea plant he came across. When asked why, he would smile and say that he was thankful for them keeping him alive during the Great Depression.

Our Heritage is something to be proud of

Being an American Southerner in the 21^st century has a different connotation than it did only a few decades ago in the national mind. Something that represented a sense of pride in one’s ancestry, customs, and traditions for this region is now treated as a pariah to feel shame about. For such a turnaround to happen in mere decades is a shock. In most of the 20^th century, the South and her symbols were a constant presence in the nation’s conscious through pop culture and the American mind. TV series like The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, and yes, even Mama’s Family brought a flavor of the South into the living rooms of millions. This influence on American television was even greater before the “Rural Purge” of the early 1970s, a decision made by Northern network executives. Many still very popular rural, heartland-centric series were canceled in favor of more urban, gritty fare. Yet one could still see programming that treated the history and people of the South with nuance and not outright hostility. Ken Burns created an excellent documentary on The Civil War with fantastic insights from Shelby Foote (which now is all but denounced for being made). Hollywood even lent grace to the South and her rich past with high-production movies such as Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. The current self-flagellation from some who want to condemn their ancestors is an obscene display of virtue signaling.

Some roots of sanity have begun to sprout amongst the jihad against all things Southern. This story currently in the news about a Virginia school board in Shenandoah County reclaiming Confederate names is a nice start. Too often we allow outsiders to define who we are and our history. It is time to begin taking that heritage back.

It is time to begin taking that heritage back.

-Arthur in Cali, Old Stock Southerner

You can find Arthur In Cali on X.com here: @ArthurinCali and on SubStack here: arthurincali.com

For too long we have been denied the full measure of our inheritance. This is evident by the fact that the powers that be have no problem with your Confederate battle flag, your Confederate books, or your Confederate heritage so long as it is something to be despised and remains undignified and foolish. To some we represent an easy enemy, to others, we are a laughingstock, to others still, we are just a group of inconsequential backward country folk. The problem is, that we have been forcibly deracinated, degraded, and ripped away from our foundation by a modern culture that views Christian moral virtue and strong Southern identity as something that is both evil and anathema to the current understanding of reality. However, I am of the mind that it is time we revive the dignity of the Southern Agrarian tradition and begin to embody the great Christian chivalric frame of the Old South, and of Antebellum America as the founders intended.

General Robert E. Lee once said,

Or in other words, when we forget who we are, we can’t hope to maintain the transcendent freedom of our own self-determination. It should be clear to all who read this, that the culture at large isn’t afraid of a weak and degraded South who has forgotten the essence of her spirit. You should also know, that it is just as easy to tell that they fear a motivated and dignified South, that is unified in the bonds of tradition and animated by the spirit of her past.

Our fathers who fought through the War Between The States would be taken aback by the fact that we are only willing to express their legacy with bumper stickers and the occasional appearance at a reenactment. That isn’t to say that these things are wrong, but it is to say that we need to remember who we are representing and the respect that they have earned with the price of their blood. The great men of the past had an understanding of their own dignity and personal honor that we have seemed to forget in our present day. Have you ever considered why it is that the bumper sticker isn’t threatening, but the monument is? The same Christian spirit of duty animated the Confederate movement as that of the very foundations of America. They were not men of half-measures and lip service, they were severe men of action. A monument represents more than just a personal sentiment, it is also an indication of how seriously a people take themselves and a proclamation to all who would see it, what its builders value. It is a permanent reminder of who they are and what they stand for. I understand many of us do not have the means to wage a war of influence against the modern culture. Monuments are expensive, I know. However, we can and should do everything possible to elevate the memory of our fathers and live as they would have wanted us to. Let our lives be a monument to the Christian chivalric Southern Agrarian tradition.

The Christian chivalric tradition of the Old Southern aristocracy is not just a myth, despite what the modern history books say. Although many (but not all) of the legacy Old Southern “aristocratic” families have chosen to forfeit their inheritance for the sake of favor in the eyes of a fallen world. Let this never be said of us. It is evident that there is a long-forgotten and unutilized legacy lying in the gutter waiting to be picked up, polished, and exalted for the whole world to see. If the “aristocrats” wish to betray their blood, then we yeomen will do what they won’t.

This leaves us with this question; how do we restore dignity to the cause of the Confederacy and the Southern Agrarian culture? I would say first of all, take your identity seriously, whether or not you are a Confederate or a Copperhead, you need to understand that the cause that so many died for is not just a costume you put on a few weekends a year or a battle flag in your yard. The identity is sacred, the blood of our fathers was spilled for their identity just as much as it was for the states' rights. When we recognize this glorious burden, we realize we must live differently. We must live with the same convictions as the Southern gentlemen of old.

To that end, let me ask you another question, dear reader. How would you act if you knew you were a descendant of General Lee? Perhaps someone reading this is. Would you allow yourself to be a drunkard, or a drug addict, disheveled in your appearance or would you do everything you could to be an individual worthy of the legacy of your ancestor? What I want you to see is that in this way we are all descendants of General Lee, so why don’t we live like that? Whether Confederate or Copperhead, there is an honor and solemnity toward this Southern Agrarian identity that must continue along with the tradition itself into perpetuity. One powerful motivator of Gen. Lee’s conduct was to bring honor to his family name in the wake of his father and brother falling from grace in the public eye.

I would recommend everyone read about the challenge Gen. Lee undertook to leave behind a positive legacy of selfless courage, perseverance, and discipline. It is no small feat to undertake the resurrection of a good family reputation. The remarkable thing about Lee’s quest is the fashion in which he accomplished his goal. In setting a new and higher standard for the Lee name, he simultaneously fully embodied what we would come to know as the Southern tradition. He was elegant, comely, unwavering, and severe. He would write letters with the deepest convictions while maintaining his outward composure under the most intense circumstances. He would serve and speak to his fellow soldiers and countrymen as though they were lifelong friends. He would die for hearth and home, and after the war, live to educate the next generation of Southern gentlemen that came through Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. The task we have ahead of us is not much different from that of Gen. Lee. However, unlike his personal mission, it was not other Southerners who damaged our legacy, no, that was done by the Yankee “Great American Empire”, and we must do the necessary work collectively as Southerners to restore the legitimacy of our tradition and people for posterity’s sake.

This identity isn’t just something reflected within ourselves, but it should manifest without as well, our conduct should never reflect poorly on our fathers. As Gen. Lee, we have a duty to be well educated, humble, diligent, righteous, and disciplined not only to honor the memories of those who came before us but also to make sure those who come after us understand the tradition they have been born into. The continuity of honorable gentlemanly conduct is paramount within our community. To that end, practically speaking, I would say, dress with purpose, you don’t have to own the fancy clothes of rich men to take pride in your appearance. Be clean and tidy, and don’t use vulgar language when not necessary. Be the Southern gentleman (or lady) you are, dear reader!

I urge you to continue reenacting, wear the symbols of the Southern cause, and let your battle flag fly, but also be men of good character, take pride in yourself, and live a life worthy of the tradition that has been passed down to us from our fathers. The South isn’t finished, not so long as men such as you and I continue to fight on her behalf. Deo Vindice!

This is a short article written by SM, originally for the Confederateshop.com newsletter and “My Two Cents” blog. The article also appears on his “X” account (@SanguisMemoria). I asked him to revise and expand where he thought it would be practicable for publication here. It is a thought-provoking piece and worth your consideration. - J.R. Dunmore, EIC.