A Southern Missive

Here is a summary of this book from the back cover:

This well-written book traces the mysterious disappearance of William Morgan in 1826 in western New York when he proposed to publish the secret rituals of the freemasons. His disappearance led to a firestorm of antimasonry from the public and from political parties. The controversy culminates in the emergence of the first third party to nominate a U.S. Presidential candidate.

I knew little of Freemasonry before I read this book. Berry is an award-winning journalist, and it shows in his writing. I’ve had many friends and acquaintances through the years who have been Masons, but other than seeing the distinctive ring, I don’t recall learning a thing about them. I suppose a member of any “secret society” must be guarded in ways, but what I’ve seen in my friends is a subdued, subtle secrecy. After reading this book, I wonder if modern members know of the volatile times in the early 1800’s, very important times in their history. As I am still ignorant of Masonry, because Berry’s book is the extent of my study so far, I’m also not sure if Masons today would view Berry’s book as an expose or an effort to objectively analyze the people and events related to Morgan’s disappearance.

You can read a great summary of the novel and Berry’s biographical information here:

Berry’s epigraphs for the fifteen chapters are well-chosen, the citations numerous, and the conclusions Berry draws are convincing. The story is unsettling in some ways, effectively making me realize how much the history books and politicians have left out of America’s story. I remember the same feeling when I read a book about Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader, entitled, No Man Knows My History. The Bright Mason is a book that should be in the library of anyone who has interest in studying this period of America’s history. Berry has no hidden agenda–he merely wants to tell readers this forgotten story.

I hope you obtain this book so he can tell the story to you. It’s a story and a look into our past that will enrich and intrigue you.

I’ve found as I work hard in my frequent trips promoting my writing, storytelling, and music that serendipity often comes my way. That was certainly true for the book I just finished reading, which I paid a dime for at the Montgomery, Alabama Public Library. The title is A Skinful of Scotch (Houghton-Mifflin) and it’s written by journalist Clifford Hanley. The subtitle is “The guidebook that guides you to nothing–except what the Scot is really like.” Now admittedly, I have a rather odd sense of humor, but I found Hanley’s writing to be quite amusing with some of the funniest stories I’ve ever read, but I also found the book to be informative. He throws in so much “by the way” type of information (almost like you were talking to a Scotsman) that I now have a long list of items (people, places, terms, etc.) to research. So, if you want to know about “Auld Reekie” or a multitude of quirky Scottish facts, this is a book to read.

Hanley is well-published, a known and respected journalist and humorist, but he also has an autobiography and three novels. The MOST interesting bit of information was that he was the man who wrote the words for “Scotland the Brave”, which is an unofficial anthem of Scotland (along with “Flower of Scotland”) and I’ve included those lyrics in this post. The book’s jacket claimed that he was the author of Scotland the Brave and I thought the claim was a joke, but it turns out that he really did write the lyrics around 1950, though the tune had been in existence since 1900. As a Civil War reenactor, I find the tune a good one to march to.

Scotland the Brave

Hark! When the night is falling
Hark! Hear the pipes are calling,
Loudly and proudly calling, down through the glen.
There where the hills are sleeping,
Now feel the blood a-leaping,
High as the spirits of the old Highland men.

Chorus
Towering in gallant fame,
Scotland my mountain hame,
High may your proud standards gloriously wave,
Land of my high endeavour,
Land of the shining river,
Land of my heart for ever, Scotland the brave.

High in the misty Highlands,
Out by the purple islands,
Brave are the hearts that beat beneath Scottish skies.
Wild are the winds to meet you,
Staunch are the friends that greet you,
Kind as the love that shines from fair maidens’ eyes.

Chorus

Far off in sunlit places,
Sad are the Scottish faces,
Yearning to feel the kiss of sweet Scottish rain.
Where tropic skies are beaming,
Love sets the heart a-dreaming,
Longing and dreaming for the homeland again.

Though there were too many to list them all, here are some of my favorite lines from the book:

“The vanishing Highlander was helped to vanish by a fiscal exercise known as the Highland Clearances.” (17)

Gaelic was, “as every Scotsman knows, the tongue they spoke in the Garden of Eden” (18).

“Inverness is a pretty place . . . simply a lunatic asylum from which no traveller [sic.] returned” (21)

“[T]he tartan was taken to be a very big juju, heap strong totem, like Sioux war-bonnets, and the Government realised it could shear the Scotsman of his courage by abolishing the stuff altogether. A law as passed in 1746 forbidding the wearing of multi-coloured cloths in the Highlands. Penalty for the first offence, six months in jail; for a second offence, seven years’ transportation to the Colonies” (33)

As is true with the many black Southerners who fought with and for the South,  (Yes, folks, the South had black soldiers before the North thought of using them. It’s just a shame they didn’t use more!  Evidently Patrick Cleburne and others advocated this idea rather early in the war) I’m convinced that the role of Hispanic Confederates in the War Between the States has been gravely neglected.  I already knew that Juan Seguin and other Tejanos during the Texas Revolution had slipped from  prominence in the history books, and that is why writing and talking so much about them. I think I’m also going to have to add  Col. Santos Benavides (1823-1891) to my list of men to write about and include in my  Texas  History Program that I do in  schools. Here are some highlights of this forgotten  Hispanic Confederate leader and warrior:

1. He was the highest ranking Hispanic to serve in the Confederacy. He was captain of the 33rd Texas until promoted to colonel in 1863. According the Handbook of Texas Online, “His greatest military triumph was his defense of Laredo on March 19, 1864, with forty-two troops against 200 soldiers of the Union First Texas Cavalry, commanded by Col. Edmund J. Davis, who had, ironically, offered Benavides a Union generalship earlier. Perhaps Benavides’s most significant contribution to the South came when he arranged for safe passage of Texas cotton along the Rio Grande to Matamoros during the Union occupation of Brownsville in 1864.”

2. Before serving with the Confederacy, he had a reputation as an Indian fighter.  Below is a photo of Benavides and one of his gravestone.  I sense there’s a real story waiting for me about this man.