Vikki

Clearly, the only book in my opinion of this incident that is accurate; and factual is Dr. Bynum’s. (Sorry Ethel; your book “Echo of the Black Horn” was a revisionist book as well)

Keep up the good work and accuracy Dr. Bynum!

Mitch Chance

Vikki

I was immediately puzzled by the fact that two books had been published within a fairly short time span about a topic that is rather specialized—I wondered to myself, “If one book has been published on this topic in 2002, what enormous cache of material would have emerged less than seven years later to warrant another big book on this topic and along the same lines?”

As I read the reviews, and later the blogs, it became very apparent to me what had happened. Dr. Bynum, I am very happy you have set the record straight!
While I am not a historian in terms of profession, I definitely have a deep and abiding respect for the truth of factual research. So, Dr. Bynum, let me say that after accidentally “stumbling across” your book title yesterday, I can hardly wait for Amazon to send your book to me!

As an African-American genealogy buff with roots in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana, I am intrigued with this concept of Unionists/guerrillas in the slaveholding South, and I am anxious to learn more about it. I just love discovering America’s “hidden history”! I have spent almost 30 years researching my own family; and as you might guess, there are many, many tangled webs that include the themes of slavery, interracial relationships, mixed race children, the Civil War, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and on and on.

I see that you are planning to release another book next year, which expands on this topic of Unionists. Your earlier book and the upcoming title both reminded me of some family research I unearthed a few years ago. My great grandfather, who was white and born in Sumter County, Alabama, had at least six uncles (his mother’s brothers) who fought in the Civil War (Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana). Three of them never returned from the War.

Based on my initial research, I’d assumed all six fought for the Confederacy. I was truly shocked when I discovered that one brother, Richard Nicholas Newton, Jr., had joined the Union Army! I was able to secure the pension papers that had been filed by his widow and learned he had been a private in the 1st Louisiana Volunteer Calvary Scouts in Company D. Captain A. Hawthorn was the commander of this unit. Richard Jr. died from measles on July 18, 1864, in Banks Hospital in New Orleans.

Richard Jr. and his wife were in Kemper County, Mississippi, before the start of the Civil War and later moved to Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where he apparently joined the war effort on the Union side. I am just wondering if you have uncovered any Unionist efforts in Louisiana as well?

Finally, if you are ever want to research mixed race families, murder, property rights, and intrigue in northern Louisiana, the black DeGraffenried family story is one that is just waiting to be told. I am related to a member of this family, and their roots can be traced to the DeGraffenrieds in North Carolina, Virginia, and Switzerland. The white patriarch of the black branch was murdered in the 1920s in Caldwell Parish, and the murder has never been solved. The family legend that has been passed down points to the story of Edwin Lafayette DeGraffenried planning to give his black children some of his land, but he was killed before he had a chance to finalize this transaction.

Much success on your upcoming book title, and I look forward to reading your account of the Jones County Mississippi saga!

Take care,

Gwen Hester, Ed.D.