Defending the South
Our Homes, Our Way of Life, and Our Sacred Honor
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Escorting an old maid schoolteacher to Georgia was not what I wanted to do. However, orders were orders, so I went to meet this Miss Briggs but I just went in my regular uniform. I didn’t bother to bathe or shave or brush my hair. I didn’t want to impress anybody, I just wanted to get this interruption over as quickly as possible so I could return to my unit. I was dirty and sweaty and smelly and I really didn’t care. Imagine my surprise when Miss Briggs turned out to be an absolutely beautiful twenty-five-year-old, beautifully dressed, educated, cultured, poised, and self -confident without seeming pushy or arrogant. I was astounded that my brother could find such a perfect lady in the midst of this war. I introduced myself. Miss Briggs looked me over and hastily decided not to go anywhere with such a dirty soldier. She said, “I suppose your brother sent you. Please tell him I’ve decided to stay here in Lynchburg, so I won’t be going to Georgia after all.” I was flabbergasted, but I regained my composure enough to say, “Please reconsider, because I know my brother will be greatly disappointed to hear that. I’ll come back this evening, and you can give me your final answer then.” Back in camp, I found Dock and said, “Quick, Dock, it’s an emergency! I need that new uniform and those new boots I’ve been saving. Draw me a bath and get my shaving kit. Don’t take time to heat the water for the bath, just a little hot water for shaving. I’ll bathe in cold water. Where’s the soap? And bring me a towel. While I’m gone, you can wash this old uniform for me. Oh, and make sure my horse has some oats and some water, and bring me one of those calling cards I showed you.” In thirty minutes I looked and felt like a new man. Dock said, “My, my, ain’t you sumpin? You must be goin’ courtin’, ‘cause it ain’t time for church, Master Joe.” “I am, Dock, I am,” was all I said.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
In 1846, Joe Carson decides to sell his inn and move from Knoxville, Georgia, to Macon County, Georgia, near the future site of the town of Reynolds. Using the money from the inn, he buys a cotton plantation in Macon County. Joe and his wife, sons, and daughters start a new life on the farm. As tensions begin to rise across the nation on the eve of the War Between the States, Joe finds himself as a delegate to the state convention—where he signs the Ordinance of Secession, by which Georgia secedes from the Union. In Defending the South: Our Homes, Our Way of Life, and Our Sacred Honor, author Ferdinand Carson describes in compelling first-person narratives the true-life story of the Carson family and the conditions in rural Georgia before, during, and after the War Between the States. He also provides a riveting look into the adventures of Joe Carson’s four sons as they serve in the Confederate Army, and he offers a window into the relationship between the slaves and the Carson family. From a particularly Southern perspective, the causes of the war and its aftereffects on the Carson plantation in West-Central Georgia resonate with themes of honor, family, sacrifice, and principles, and this faithful narrative of the Carson family’s history offers an engaging insight into slavery and the war—one that admits of pride in a distinctly Southern way of life.
About the Author
Ferdinand Carson is a Carson family son who has been collecting and recording the family’s history. A graduate of Georgia Tech, Ferd has worked as an engineer for several different industries. Like Joe Carson, Ferd’s father moved his family to Reynolds, Georgia, where Ferd’s dad became a successful farmer on the original Carson land.