The Ozark Howler: Monster Cat in the Ozarks?

Ozarks of Arkansas

One of my favorite stories from my years of living in different parts of the South is the tale of the Ozark Howler in Arkansas. (It is also said to live in Missouri and Oklahoma, maybe even in Texas).
Now let me be clear from the start that this mysterious animal or beast or monster or whatever it is has been the focus of an incredibly large number of hoaxes and false reports. One hoaxer even admitted to a researcher that he spread as many false stories as he could to poke fun at the Chupacabra craze that swept through Texas a decade or so ago.

Small Waterfall in the Ozarks

That said, there are real stories from sincere eyewitnesses of a strange creature roaming through the Ozark Mountains. Its nightly cries are said to sound like a the screams of a woman.

I first heard reasonable eyewitnesses talk about the Arkansas Howler in 2004 when I was living in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Several people that I talked to who had seen or heard it or found its prints did not believe it to be a real "monster," but instead thought that a mountain lion or cougar was loose in the Boston Mountains that stretch between Fort Smith and Van Buren on the south and the booming Northwest Arkansas corridor.

Wildlife authorities maintained at that time that there were no native cougars left in Arkansas. Nevertheless, residents who lived in and along the fringes of the Boston Mountains, which are part of the Ozarks, were serious in their claims that a large animal was roaming their neighborhoods.



Cougar as seen in a USDA Photo

The most convincing evidence I saw during my time in Arkansas were photos from a trail cam belonging to a couple that lived north of Van Buren in Crawford County. The photos without doubt showed a large, tawny cat that looked just like a cougar to me. State wildlife officials did not dispute that it could be a big cat, they simply point out that there is no evidence of a breeding population of such animals in Arkansas.

Be that as it may, they do agree that there could be cougars or other large cats roaming the wild areas of the Ozarks, just believe that if they are there, they were someone's pets that either escaped or were released by their owners when they got too big and dangerous.

The Ozarks from White Rock Mountain

Now to be fair, other eyewitnesses claim to have seem something much more monstrous than a cougar in the hills and hollows of the Ozarks. Sightings ranging from a cat much bigger than a cougar to a cat-like monster with glowing eyes and horns growing from its head have been reported.

Whatever it is, and a recent investigation in Newton County, Arkansas, obtained plaster casts of what a biologist identified as possible Puma tracks (Puma is another name for a big cat like a cougar), the Ozark Howler is very much part of the modern folklore and tradition of the Ozarks.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ozarkhowler.

Tennessee Williams Boyhood Home - Columbus, Mississippi

Tennessee Williams Birthplace & Boyhood Home
Columbus, Mississippi

The famed American writer Tennessee Williams was born in this Victorian home in Columbus, Mississippi. The house today serves as the city's official welcome center.

Tennessee Williams was born as Thomas Lanier Williams on October 26, 1911. His grandfather, Rev. Walter Dakin, was rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Columbus and his daughter and son-in-law were then living in the rectory as well. Thought to have been built in around 1875, the charming and colorful Victorian home served as home for the future playwright and writer for three years.

The Pulitzer Prize winning writer lived here for 3 years.

Adopting the name Tennessee, Williams of course went on to write two Pulitzer Prize winning plays, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." He noted in a letter to his grandfather once that much of his writing was based on Columbus, Mississippi. Scholars also agree that he relied heavily on his own family for the characters in his plays and books.

Columbus is unique in that it has had close associations with two Pulitzer Prize winners. Novelist Eudora Welty attended what is now Mississippi University for Women (lovingly called the "W") in Columbus. She received a Pulitzer in 1973 for The Optimist's Wife.

When the Tennessee Williams Birthplace was threatened with demolition in 1993, the community came together and the home was relocated to 300 Main Street in the city and beautifully restored to its 1911 appearance. It is now open to the public and has been designated a Literary Landmark by the Friends of Libraries, U.S.A.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/tennesseewilliams.

Stephen D. Lee Home & Museum - Columbus, Mississippi

Stephen D. Lee Home in Columbus, Mississippi

Stephen D. Lee was a remarkable soldier, political leader, preservationist and educator. At the age of thirty, he became the Confederacy's youngest lieutenant general. Wounded twice in combat, he fought on fields ranging from Second Manassas and Antietam to Tupelo and Nashville.
His home is a treasured museum today in Columbus, Mississippi. Inherited by his wife, the beautiful old brick residence was General Lee's home after the War Between the States (or Civil War) when he did some of his most noteworthy public service.



Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, CSA

Born in Charleston in 1833, Stephen Dill Lee entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when he was 17 years old. He graduated in the Class of 1854 alongside J.E.B. Stuart, G.W. Custiss Lee and John Pegram. An outstanding artilleryman who had served in the Third Seminole War, he resigned his commission and entered the service of the South after his home state of South Carolina seceded from the Union.

Serving in the East until 1863, Lee rose to the rank of Brigadier General while fighting with noted heroism at Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Antietam (Sharpsburg) and Fredericksburg. Ordered to Mississippi to assist in the defense of Vickburg he was wounded at Champions Hill and was captured when Union forces took Vicksburg on July 3, 1863.

Stephen D. Lee Home & Museum

Exchanged after four months, he was promoted to major general and then to lieutenant general. In July 1864 he fought alongside Nathan Bedford Forrest at the Battle of Tupelo. He went on to serve under John Bell Hood in the Franklin and Nashville Campaign, during which he was wounded again while commanding a rear guard action during Hood's retreat out of Tennessee. He recovered in time to take part in the Carolinas campaign and was among the officers and men surrendered at Bennett Place in North Carolina.

Still in his early 30s when the war came to an end, Lee went on to serve his adopted state of Mississippi with great distinction. He was the first president of today's Mississippi State University, a leader in the effort to create Vicksburg National Military Park, a state legislator and the President of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives & History. From 1904 until his death in 1908, he was national Commander of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), of which today's Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is a successor. The Official Charge of the SCV is taken from one of his speeches.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/stephendlee.

Waverly - Mississippi's Haunted & Historic Mansion

Waverly Mansion

An architectural wonder, Waverly Mansion was once the center of a vast Mississippi cotton plantation. Still a private residence, the home is open to the public daily and is located between the Mississippi cities of Columbus and West Point.
Designed during the 1840s, the house took several years to construct and was finished in 1852. The octagonal cupola, its distinguishing architectural feature, offered Col. George Hampton Young a 360 degree view of his plantation and the surrounding countryside. It also was part of a unique 19th century "air conditioning" system.

The Gates of Waverly

The interior of the house is open from the cupola down to the ground floor and when the windows are open, it generates airflow that moves warmer air up and out of the cupola as cooler air flows in through the downstairs window. The resulting "breeze" helped cool the house during the hot Mississippi summer and was a remarkable innovation for its day.

Waverly also had interior lighting powered by gas manufactured on the grounds and then piped into the house. An exterior ice house was dug 20 feet deep and provided storage for blocks of ice brought in from Northern climes. The natural insulation provided by storing the ice so far underground helped keep it from melting for weeks at the time and allowed the residents and their guests to enjoy chilled beverages.

The home's original owner, Col. Young was a friend of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and the "Wizard of the Saddle" once spent three weeks at Waverly recuperating from battlefield wounds.

And then their are the ghosts! The 20th century restoration of Waverly apparently awakened quite a collection of them, ranging from a young girl who cries for her mother to a mysterious horse and rider that appear in the yard. Waverly is traditionally said to be one of the most haunted houses in the South.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/waverly.

The Battle of Kings Mountain - Blacksburg, South Carolina

Ferguson's Cairn (right) and the crest of Kings Mountain

Thomas Jefferson called the Battle of Kings Mountain the "turn of the tide of success" in the cause for American Independence.

Outraged by threats made against their lives, homes and families, a large force of "Overmountain Men" came across the Blue Ridge from Tennessee and trapped 1,100 British soldiers on the top of Kings Mountain in South Carolina. By the time the fighting was over, 225 British soldiers and Loyalist allies had been killed, 163 were wounded and 716 were prisoners of war.

Kings Mountain National Military Park

The bloody battle ended the threat of Major Patrick Ferguson and his Loyalist (Tory) Battalion to the Patriot settlers in the Carolina backcountry and the frontier families living across the mountains in what is now Tennessee. The disaster dealt to Ferguson's command also proved to the British commander, Lord Cornwallis, that he could not pacify South Carolina by force. He had hoped to suppress the Revolution there by forcing residents to either swear their loyalty to King George III or suffer the consequences.

Rocky Slopes of Kings Mountain

As Thomas Jefferson noted, the Battle of Kings Mountain was the first in a series of bloody disasters handed to Cornwallis and his army by Patriot forces in the South. It was followed three months later by Daniel Morgan's stunning victory over Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens and a few months thereafter the bloodletting at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Combined these battles put Cornwallis on the road to Yorktown, where he was trapped and defeated by George Washington.

The site of the battle is now preserved at Kings Mountain National Military Park near Blacksburg, South Carolina. The park features a paved interpretive trail that winds through key areas of the battlefield and across the crest of the mountain. It also has monuments, the stone cairn where Patrick Ferguson is buried and a recently remodeled museum that includes outstanding displays on the battle.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/KingsMountain1.

The Battle of Fowltown - Decatur County, Georgia

The exact site of Fowltown has never been identified.
Military reports placed it 3-4 miles south of modern Bainbridge.

Most people today associate the Seminole Wars of the 19th century with Florida, but the series of three conflicts actually began near what is now Bainbridge, Georgia.
On November 21 and 23, 1817, U.S. troops attacked the Lower Creek Indian village of Fowltown. Headed by Neamathla, a chief who would figure prominently in early Florida history, the town was located three or four miles south of the site where Bainbridge would later be established.

Neamathla

Neamathla was not a signer of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which had ended the Creek War of 1813-1814. That treaty ceded most of what is now Southwest Georgia to the United States. Neamathla, however, lived on the land and refused to give it up. When Major David E. Twiggs, who commanded Fort Scott on the lower Flint River, told the chief that he and his people must move, Neamathla replied that the land was his and that he was "directed by the Powers above to defend it."

Gen. Edmund P. Gaines
(Late in Life)

To overcome the chief's determined resistance, Maj. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines ordered Major Twiggs and 250 men from Fort Scott to march on Fowltown and bring Neamathla back to the fort. The troops marched on November 20, 1817, and arrived outside the village before daylight the next morning.

Twiggs attempted to surround Fowltown in the darkness, but the movement of his troops was discovered. A party of warriors opened fire on the American lines as others helped get the women and children away to safety in the surrounding swamp. The U.S. troops responded with a single volley of fire, killing five of Neamathla's followers, one of them a woman. No U.S. casualties were suffered.

This first skirmish did not rise to the level of battle and the soldiers failed in their mission to capture Neamathla. Unwilling to let the matter end there, Gen. Gaines send a second force back to Fowltown two days later.

Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle

On the morning of November 23, 1817, a command of 300 soldiers from the 4th and 7th Infantry Regiments arrived at Fowltown under the command of Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle. The soldiers found the village abandoned and began to load corn from the Indian storehouses into a wagon they had brought along.

As this operation was underway, however, Neamathla and around 60 of his warriors suddenly emerged from the swamp that nearly surrounded the town and opened fire. The U.S. troops responded and this time a pitched encounter broke out.

Remembered today as the Battle of Fowltown, the firefight was the first battle of the Seminole Wars. You can learn more about it and what happened next by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fowltown.

Stephen C. Foster State Park - Fargo, Georgia

Boat Tours lead into the Okefenokee Swamp

Located 18 miles from Fargo in the edge of the famed Okefenokee Swamp, Stephen C. Foster State Park is one of my favorite Georgia State Parks.

Popular with lovers of the massive 438,000 acre swamp and the night time skies of the South alike, the park is named for 19th century American composer Stephen C. Foster, who penned the much loved Florida State Song, "Suwannee River" ("Old Folks at Home"). It covers 80 acres and is located on a natural island in the Okefenokee.

While most visitors come for its guided boat tours; boat, canoe & kayak rentals, and the access it provides to the water trails that wind through the swamp, the park is actually a great place to learn about the history and ecosystems of the Okefenokee Swamp.

Interpretive Center at Stephen C. Foster State Park

An often overlooked feature (on the day I visited I had the place to myself) is the park's interpretive center. Basically a museum of the natural and cultural life of the Okefenokee. The displays include animals, snakes, insects and birds (some of them live, others mounted) along with both audio and written descriptions of them and their importance to the ecosystems of the swamp. Other displays explain how the swamp was formed and help visitors understand its natural importance.

The interpretive center also features artifacts, maps, historic photographs and other displays that detail the cultural history of the swamp, from prehistoric times to the modern era. There are exhibits on the Native Americans who once lived in the Okefenokee, on the Second Seminole War and on the early settlers and loggers who once made lives for themselves in the "Land of the Trembling Earth." Among the artifacts on display are weapons, tools and an original Okefenokee moonshine still.



Boat Rentals and Guided Tours leave the Park Marina

 The park also offers the Trembling Earth nature trail, a primarily boardwalk trail that winds through the edge of the Okefenokee. Interpretive panels point out a variety of animals, trees and plants while also explaining the history of the swamp.

Because the park is located so far from the lights of towns and cities (18 miles from the nearest town, Fargo), it is known for its spectacular night skies. For stargazers, it is a great place to come and watch meteor showers and just see the stars. The park has a variety of activities that help visitors learn about the skies at night.

To learn more about Stephen C. Foster State Park, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fostersp.

To learn more about the Okefenokee Swamp, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okefenokee.

Okefenokee Swamp - "The Land of the Trembling Earth" in Georgia & Florida

Okefenokee Swamp

One of the five largest swamps in the world, the Okefenokee Swamp covers 438,000 acres in Georgia and Florida. It is on the tentative list to become a World Heritage Site.

There are three main entrances to the Okefenokee and each is a gateway to a mysterious and beautiful region that is rich in both natural and cultural history. Stephen C. Foster State Park near Fargo serves as the western gate, Suwannee Canal Recreation Area near Folkston is the eastern and Okefenokee Swamp Park near Waycross is the northern.

The origins of the word "Okefenokee" are as mysterious as the big swamp itself. One long popular legend holds that the name is a Creek Indian word meaning "Land of the Trembling Earth." There is probably a lot of truth to the legend. In the Hitchiti language of the Lower Creeks, the word Econfinoka translates literally to "trembling earth." Econfinoka sounds very similar to Okefenokee when pronounced out loud.

"Land of the Trembling Earth"

The Chehaw Indians of South Georgia spoke the Hitchiti language and a chief of Chehaw named Tustenuggee Hadjo gave U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins this explanation in 1796. Hawkins spelled the word "Akinfinocau" and said it meant "quivering earth."  He also pointed out that a similar word in the Choctaw language that he spelled "Okefinacau" meant "quivering water." While the latter looks closer to the modern spelling, the Choctaw did not live in Georgia so the name is probably of Lower Creek origin.

Hawkins paraphrased the chief in his journal:

Alligator in the Okefenokee Swamp

...He had seen most of the border of the Okefinacau, and once attempted with some young lads to pursue a bear he had wounded; they went in several hours, and were compelled to return. The whole earth trembled under them, and at several places, where the surface was pressed with the foot, water would spout out. One of his lads sunk in so deep that he called for help, and they took him out. There are some large cypress, but the growth mostly dwarf. Some of the Tallassee people had been in much farther than he had; they saw some ponds, many aligators, turtles and snakes, particularly a small snake with a button at the end of the tail like the rattlesnake; they saw a considerable number of them, and some times 20 or 30 in one view, coiled up on the small grassy nobs; two of these people were killed with the bites of them. He knew of one man who attempted a settlement near this swamp, but he gave it up because the tygers killed his hogs, cattle and sometimes horses. - Benjamin Hawkins, 1796.

The "tygers" referred to in the chief's account were panthers. 

The chief's description of how the "whole earth trembled under them" is based on reality. The Okefenokee Swamp is formed in a vast shallow bowl, the bottom of which has accumulated layers of peat over the centuries. Trees take root in this peat bog and it is actually possible to make them shake by jumping up on the ground. 

To learn more about the Okefenokee, please visit our new Okefenokee Swamp section at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okefenokee.
 

Miss Lillian Carter was a Southern mother we all loved

Miss Lillian Carter (left) as her son is nominated

Democrat, Republican or Independent, we all found something to love in the plain spoken, socially active mother from Plains, Georgia, "Miss Lillian" Carter.

Today is Mother's Day and I found myself thinking about some of the unique Southern women of our time. One of my favorites, I must admit, has always been Lillian Carter. She lived a life that was as big as the times in which she lived.

Born in Richland, Georgia, in 1898 as Lillian Gordy, Mrs. Carter was known to people around the world as "Miss Lillian." She was raised in a home where women were taught to take a strong role in changing the world around them. These were lessons she carried with her through life.

Lillian and Earl Carter home near Plains

After marrying James Earl Carter, Sr., usually known as Earl Carter, in 1923, she and her new husband made their home in Plains, Georgia. Carter ran a farm and farm supply business there and Miss Lillian worked as a registered nurse in the local hospital. She became a strong opponent of segregation and her son, future President Jimmy Carter, eventually would challenge famed segregationist Lester Mattox in one of the fiercest gubernatorial elections in Georgia history.

Like many of the other mothers of Plains, Miss Lillian guided her family through the dark days of the Great Depression instilling her children a belief that all things were possible. She also often provided nursing care for patients who could not afford to go to the doctor, volunteering countless hours working among her neighbors, both black and white.

In 1946 she saw son Jimmy graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and accept an officer's commission in Admiral Hyman Rickover's famed American nuclear submarine fleet.

Plains, Georgia

By the time her husband died from cancer in 1953, she had lived a full life. Sadly, the Earl died from pancreatic cancer, a disease that would also kill Jimmy Carter's two sisters and younger brother.

After Earl's death, when Jimmy and Rosalynn came home to run the family business, Miss Lillian launched a second career of service that would continue through the rest of her life. From 1955 to 1962 she served as a house mother to a fraternity at Auburn University and then in 1966, when she was already in her late 60s, she entered the Peace Corps and served as a volunteer in India for two years.

She ran a campaign office for Lyndon Johnson and crisscrossed the country making more than 600 speeches for Jimmy when he was running for President. She became a popular fixture on television news during Carter's administration, known for her outspokenness and feisty Southern charm.

Lillian Carter was named recipient of the Synagogue Council of America's Covenant of Peace Award in 1977 and became honorary chair of the Peace Corps National Advisory Council three years later. She died in 1983, even as her son was following her example and beginning a post-presidential career modeled in many ways after her own years of service. Jimmy Carter's involvement in Habitat for Humanity alone inspired millions of people around the world to support the efforts of that organization leading to a massive private initiative to build homes for those in need.

You can learn more about Miss Lillian in Plains, Georgia, today, where her legacy is a much loved part of the community's history. Her life is among those interpreted there.

To learn more about Plains and the Carters, please visit: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jimmycarter and www.exploresouthernhistory.com/plains.

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park - Middlesboro, Kentucky

Civil War cannon and earthworks at Cumberland Gap

One of America's truly great national parks, the Cumberland Gap is a beautiful mountain pass that was the original gateway to the West for American pioneers.

The gap takes its name because it cuts through Cumberland Mountain. It is 26 miles long and 1-4 miles wide. Prior to Daniel Boone's blazing of the famed Wilderness Road in 1775, it was the route of the Warrior's Path used by Shawnee and Cherokee Indians. These tribes hunted in Kentucky and considered the "dark and bloody ground" to be their exclusive hunting grounds. They often warred with each other over use of the pass and hunting rights.

Cumberland Gap NHP

Daniel Boone opened the Wilderness Road in 1775 and despite bloody violence in Kentucky during the American Revolution, it did not take long for thousands of American frontier families to follow in his footsteps. The National Park Service, in fact, estimates that as many as 47 million Americans can trace their ancestors to settlers who passed through the Cumberland Gap.

Rock Formations at Cumberland Gap

The natural pass through the mountains was a strategic point during the Civil War and both Union and Confederate armies each held it twice. The remains of Fort Lyon and Fort McCook are popular historic sites in the park today. Visitors can explore Civil War fortifications and look out at the Gap from the view of the soldiers that once held the forts.

Cumberland Gap today is a national historical park. Over 20,000 acres of beautiful mountain scenery is protected by the National Park Service, which also provides campsites, picnic areas, hiking trails, a visitor center, historic sites and even guided tours of the Gap Cave, one of a number of natural caves and caverns in the park.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/cumberlandgap.

Siloam Springs, Arkansas, named one of Smithsonian's 20 Best Small Towns in America

Siloam Springs, Arkansas

Siloam Springs, a charming and historic city on the western border of Arkansas, has been named one of the 20 Best Small Towns in America by Smithsonian Magazine.

Although the area had been settled as early as 1835 and had seen troops of both armies pass through during the months leading up to the Battle of Prairie Grove in 1862, Siloam Springs really came to life in 1880 when an analysis determined that the 28 springs in the vicinity held minerals then thought to hold curative powers for a number of illnesses. It was not long before a steady stream of people began coming to "take the waters."

Siloam Springs

The town of Siloam Springs, named for the healing pool mentioned in the Bible, was surveyed and by the time it could be incorporated in 1881, more than 3,000 people were living there. Thousands of others came to visit, hoping the water from the natural springs would cure them of their ailments.

The resort thrived for only around 12 years until a major flood destroyed much of the downtown area. Siloam Springs rebounded, but as more of a trading center than as a resort. The springs, however survived, an today have been resorted into a series of beautiful spring-fed lakes, water features and natural spring basins that winds its way through the center of town.

Natural Falls State Park

In addition, the stunning Natural Falls State Park, filming location for the popular movie Where the Red Fern Grows, is just across the state line. The park is home to one of the tallest waterfalls in Oklahoma.

Located near the booming Northwest Arkansas corridor of Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Rogers (home of Wal-Mart's corporate offices), Siloam Springs is experiencing a significant revival. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/siloamsprings.

Other Southern communities on the Smithsonian list include Key West and Naples, Florida; Staunton, Virginia and Marfa, Texas.

First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, Georgia

First Presbyterian Church of Augusta

First Presbyterian Church of Augusta celebrates a remarkable anniversary this year: its 200th year in the same sanctuary!

Designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument, the magnificent church was completed in 1812, 200 years ago. The congregation itself is even older, having celebrated its bicentennial in 2004.

Much of Mills' original design can still be seen at First Presbyterian, although the Augusta church was "modernized" in 1847 with the addition of crenellations and Romanesque windows. The shape and scale of the historic building, however, is classic Mills.

Woodrow Wilson, ca. 1870

The church appears almost identical today as it did in 1858 when the Rev. Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson became its minister. His family included a young boy who would become the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.

The future President, then called "Tommy," likely was present for at least parts of the session when the church hosted the first meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of the Confederate States of America in 1861. He definitely witnessed the conversion of the sanctuary to a hospital following the Battle of Chickamauga. Pews were removed from inside the building to create the floorspace needed to treat badly wounded men from both sides.

First Presbyterian Church of Augusta

The boy who would become President attended First Presbyterian Church of Augusta until 1870 when he moved with his family to Columbia, South Carolina. His boyhood home, now a museum, stands just across Telfair Street from the sanctuary. Later in life, Wilson would remember his boyhood in the South with the significant quote, "The only place in the country, the only place in the world, where nothing has to be explained to me, is the South."

First Presbyterian was a gathering place for soldiers who came to Augusta to train during World War I, then sometime's called "Mr. Wilson's War." The former boy from Augusta was President of the United States when the country joined the allies to battle Germany in Europe.

To learn more about historic First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/augustapresbyterian.

To learn about other historic sites across the South, be sure to visit our main site at www.exploresouthernhistory.com.

Fort Morgan State Historic Site - Gulf Shores, Alabama

Flank Howitzers at Fort Morgan

If you've never been to Fort Morgan, you should add it to your list! It is one of the most fascinating places on the Gulf Coast.

The historic old fort was begun in 1819 and stands on the site of an earlier work named Fort Bowyer (see Fort Bowyer - Alabama's Forgotten Battle of the War of 1812). Named for General Daniel Morgan, a hero of the American Revolution, the fort withstood one of the fiercest naval attacks of the Civil War.

Land Face of Fort Morgan

In fact, Fort Morgan has touched so much history it is difficult to summarize its story in less than book form! To offer a few highlights, however, the fort served as a holding camp for unfortunate Creek Indian families making their way west on the Trail of Tears. The fort was seized by state militia forces in 1861 as Alabama seceeded from the Union and the first Alabamian to give his life in the Confederate cause died here.

Confederate forces strengthened the already powerful fort by adding earthwork batteries and other defenses. They even placed "torpedoes" (now called mines) in the ship channel leading past the fort into Mobile Bay and engineered the wires and other mechanisms needed to trigger them when enemy warships passed directly over the devices. This tactic proved deadly to the Union navy when it attacked Fort Morgan on August 5, 1864.

Main Gate of Fort Morgan

Admiral David G. Farragut lashed his ships together two by two and steamed them into the channel leading past Fort Morgan into Mobile Bay. The fort opened fire with fierce salvos of shot and shell and the Union warships responded. As the fleet surged forward, the ironclad USS Tecumseh moved into close range of Fort Morgan intending to batter it with its heavy guns. Instead it steamed directly over a "torpedo" that was triggered from the fort. The ironclad exploded up into the air, rolled over and sank, carrying dozens of U.S. sailors to the bottom with it.

Heavily Bombarded Channel Front of Fort Morgan

The stunning sight caused the other ships in Farragut's fleet to slow to a near stop, directly under the guns of Fort Morgan, as well as long-range fire from Fort Gaines across the bay. The story of what happened next is one of the most famous of the Civil War. Demanding to know what was happening, Admiral Farragut was told the lead ships had encountered torpedoes in the channel. "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!" he ordered, and the fleet again picked up speed and surged past Fort Morgan into Mobile Bay.

Spanish American War era battery at Fort Morgan

The Battle of Mobile Bay, however, was just beginning. The ironclad CSS Tennessee then steamed out from a sheltered spot behind Fort Morgan and in a heroic defense, engaged the entire Union fleet.

The Tennessee was finally battered into submission and Fort Gaines fell not long after. Fort Morgan, however, held out and did not submit until the end of a long land siege by the Federal army.

In later years new fortifications were added to the old as the U.S. again worried about the possibility of foreign invasion just before and during the Spanish American War. Fort Morgan remained an important coastal defense site until the end of World War II when it was declared obsolete and turned over to the State of Alabama.

Today the site is an intriguing historic site where visitors can explore the history of more than 100 years of coastal defense. Our newly updated Fort Morgan page is now online at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmorgan. Be sure to take a look!

Fort Bowyer - Alabama's Forgotten Battle of the War of 1812

Fort Bowyer stood on the site of today's Fort Morgan

When history buffs think of a brave stand by outnumbered American troops and a devastating defeat of the British on the Gulf Coast, they usually think of Andrew Jackson's stunning victory at the Battle of New Orleans.

Before New Orleans, however, there was Fort Bowyer. The all but forgotten little fort stood on Mobile Point in Alabama and on September 15, 1814, the men of its garrison withstood a British onslaught to secure a victory that lifted the spirits of Americans far and wide.

Plan of Fort Bowyer

Begun in the fall of 1813 after American troops seized Mobile from the Spanish, the fort was built of earth and timber on the site where the better known Fort Morgan stands today. With a semi-circular front facing the entrance to Mobile Bay, Fort Bowyer was designed to sweep the channel with artillery fire. Its land face was bastioned as an additional defense against an infantry attack.

In anticipation of their coming move on New Orleans, the British initially planned to take Mobile. Its location and bay made the city ideal for an overland move against Baton Rouge, where the Mississippi River could be controlled to break off supplies and other commerce moving downstream to New Orleans. Such a move would make the Crescent City much easier to take.

This view shows the route of the British ships.

Having landed troops and trained Creek and Seminole Indians in Pensacola with the permission of the Spanish Governor there, the British quickly focused their attention on Fort Bowyer. Built on the shifting sands of Mobile Point and still not complete, the fort offered what was expected to be an easy target. Once the fort was taken, Mobile would of necessity capitulate soon after.

Sailing west from Pensacola in early September, British commander Captain William H. Percy put ashore 60 men from the Colonial Royal Marines under Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls. Supported by 120 or so Indians under Captain George Woodbine, this force moved to block land access to Fort Bowyer and Nicolls directed his Marines, almost all of whom were free blacks, to emplace a 5 1/2 inch howitzer on a high sand dune near the fort.

Cannon on display in Fort Bowyer exhibit at Fort Morgan Museum

Nicolls became sick with dysentery after achieving this objective and went back aboard the flagship HMS Hermes for treatment. While he was suffering on board ship, Captain Percy moved forward to attack Fort Bowyer.

On the afternoon of September 15, 1814, the four British warships, led by the 20-gun Hermes formed in a line and closed in on Fort Bowyer. Major William Lawrence and his garrison from the 2nd U.S. Infantry stood to their guns on the walls of the fort and, when the British came into range at around 4:15 p.m., opened fire.

HMS Hermes in Action

The following battle was one of the fiercest land and sea battles of the War of 1812. The rumble of cannon fire shook the ground for miles around as fire and smoke covered both the fort and the leading ships of the squadron. The sick Colonel Nicolls, already known in Great Britain as "Fighting Nicolls" leaped into action on the Hermes, helping Captain Percy direct the fire of the guns. A cannon shot from Fort Bowyer sent a shower of lethal splinters across the deck where Nicolls was standing, wounding him in the legs and head. He went below for treatment but then came back up to continue the fight.

For hours the Battle of Fort Bowyer raged at virtually the same site of the later and better known Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War. To learn more about the fight, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortbowyer.

Siege of Augusta, Georgia - A Battle of the American Revolution

Monument marking site of Fort Cornwallis

Augusta is a charming and beautiful city nestled along the Savannah River. And while the Georgia city is known for its historic and scenic riverfront, few visitors realize that it also was the scene of a major battle of the American Revolution.

The Siege of Augusta began on April 16, 1781, when Patriot militia companies from the backcountry of Georgia arrived on the outskirts of the city. Augusta was then held by a Loyalist force commanded by the notorious Lt. Col. Thomas Brown.

Gen. Andrew Pickens

The militia, led first by Lt. Col. Micajah Williamson and later by the famed Col. Elijah Clarke, hovered around the edges of Augusta, creating the impression that their force was much larger in size than it really was. Col. Brown withdrew his forces into three strong points: Fort Cornwallis at St. Paul's Church, Fort Grierson about 1/2 mile away and the fortified home of Indian trader George Galphin 12 miles outside of town.

Clarke's militia was reinforced in May by hundreds of South Carolina militiamen under Gen. Andrew Pickens and Continental regulars under Lt. Col. "Light Horse Harry" Lee, the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

The combined forces struck first at Galphin's place, taking it on May 21, 1781. The battle was found in intense heat and one Patriot soldier died from heat stroke.

St. Paul's Church

The Patriot army moved on Fort Grierson next. As the American soldiers came into Augusta and began to surround the fort, its commander Col. Grierson tried to lead 80 men in a desperate retreat to larger and stronger Fort Cornwallis. They made it as far as the banks of the Savannah River before they were cut off by the Patriot militia and slaughtered to a man. The massacre was frontier-style retribution for similar tactics used by Lt. Col. Brown in previous battles.

The main siege of Fort Cornwallis now began. For days the two forces battled in smoke and fury along the riverfront of Augusta. Finally, at the suggestion of Lee, the Patriots resorted to the construction of a 30 foot tower from which they could fire their single cannon down into the fort. A desperate breakout was attempted by Brown's men, but failed.

As Pickens, Clarke and Lee were positioning their men for an attempt to storm the fort on June 4, 1781, Lt. Col. Brown agreed to surrender. His only condition was that the capitulation be delayed by one day so he would not be forced to surrender on the birthday of King George III. The Americans agreed and the next the U.S. flag was raised over Fort Cornwallis.

To learn more about this remarkable battle and see additional photos of the scene, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/augustasiege.

Muskogee Azalea Festival is officially underway!

Muskogee Azalea Festival

The 2012 edition of the annual Muskogee Azalea Festival, one of the finest events of its kind in the nation, is now underway in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

The festival runs from today, April 1st, through April 30th and will feature numerous events including a parade, chili cook-off, Rotary in the Park and more. The festival centers around Honor Heights Park in Muskogee, which is known for its tens of thousands of flowering azaleas, dogwoods, redbuds and other plants. Other events take place around the city.

Muskogee Azalea Festival

Members of the Friends of Honor Heights Park report that the early spring brought out the azaleas much earlier than normal this year and that they could be gone by the main weekend of the festival in two weeks. So, if you want to see the azaleas, you need to get to Muskogee in a hurry!  That doesn't mean, of course, that there won't be plenty of blooms to see from other trees and shrubs as the month goes along, but the azaleas themselves definitely are early.

The main day of the festival is set for April 14th. The day will begin with the Muskogee Run at 8 a.m. followed by the 2012 Azalea Festival Parade through downtown Muskogee at 11 a.m. The Chili Cook-off kicks off at noon at Okmulgee and 4th Streets and will continue until 5 p.m. Tens of thousands of people, of course, will make their way up the hill to Honor Heights Park to enjoy the activities and sights there.

Honor Heights Park is open to the public daily and the festival is free to visit.  To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okmuskogeeazalea.

Azaleas are early in Muskogee, Oklahoma!

Muskogee Azalea Festival

The annual Muskogee Azalea Festival is one of the finest events of its kind in the world. It runs from April 1st - April 30th, but this year the blooms have arrived early!

According to the Friends of Honor Heights Park, the azaleas are now in bloom and my well be gone by the time of the annual Azalea Festival Parade on April 14th!

Carriage in Honor Heights Park

The warm spring and lack of a late freeze has the thousands of blooming plants, trees and shrubs at Honor Heights Park out early and now through the weekend of April 7th & 8th is probably going to be the best time to go and see them. That according to a statement provided today by those who help care for the park.

Predicting the timing of the blooms always involves a bit of watch and wait, but they normally come out in the first week of April and peak in the second or third. This year, however, the flowers are all coming in early and so if you hope to see them, you should make plans to go immediately!

For more information on this year's festival, please visit: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okmuskogeeazalea.