• Andrew Jackson, Nathan Forrest and statues…

    So today’s effort is a bit of a mixed bag, expect some meandering of thought. Jump on, enjoy the ride. You may have heard in the news over the last few days that the Statue of Andrew Jackson in New Orleans in Jackson Square, is under threat from protesters calling themselves ‘Tear ‘Em Down New Orleans’, a group working in conjunction with Black Lives Matter, in a roundabout way, to push through action on votes that passed motion to reposition four statues of controversial historical figures who are in a modern context associated with some degree of white supremacy. Now we have an invisible set of boundaries here at Naked…

  • The Knights of the Golden Circle

    1860 were a very turbulent time in American History.  The Civil War was about to break out in earnest after a few skirmishes in the 1850s in Bleeding Kansas.  The country was about to be torn in two between the North and the South.  In the North, there was a vocal faction of the Democratic party who opposed the war.  Republicans began calling the anti-war Democrats “Copperheads” after the venomous snake.  This group adopted the slur and reinterpreted the copper “head” as the symbol of liberty cut from coins they used for their badges.  At their peak, they had the support of two senators, several newspapers and a strong base…

  • The Lost Confederate Treasury

    In April 1865, the confederacy was in its death throes.  Confederate President Jefferson Davis heard on the way home from church on April 2, 1865 that Grant had broken through the line at Petersburg.  The evacuation of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy was underway.  The Confederate cabinet commandeered to special trains on the only open line left to Danville, Virginia- one carrying the cabinet and the other the Confederate treasury along with the assets of six Virginia banks.  The Confederate treasury was worth about $500,000 at the time, which is about 10 million dollars in today’s money.  It consisted of gold ingots, gold double eagle coins, silver coins,…

  • The Levellers- Proto-democracy

    After the First English Civil War, everyone thought that Parliament would wield power in England and not the throne.  Well, they were half right.  In the mid 1640s, parliamentarian control was being established throughout England, but the army had the power.  The New Model Army had been socially transformed as officers were drawn from a much lower and broader section of society than before.  These men were poorly paid, hungry and angry.  The Leveller movement grew from this contingent.  At first the term “leveller” referred to a faction of the New Model Army which intended to assassinate King Charles.  The group did not like the term as they felt it…

  • Dr. Samuel Mudd-   His name was mud

    Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd was a doctor and Confederate sympathizer in southern Maryland.  He was married with children and lived a comfortable life near Bryantown, Maryland, outside of Washington DC.   Dr. Mudd first met John Wilkes Booth in 1864 while he was part of the Confederate underground.  There is evidence at least two meetings, once at St. Mary’s Church near Bryantown, Maryland and at the Bryantown Tavern.  Booth wanted Dr. Mudd to introduce him to Confederate courier, John Surratt, which he did.  The two men remained in sporadic contact.  Later witnesses told authorities John Surratt and the other conspirators visited Dr. Mudd at his farm numerous times in the…