Posted in Charles Demastus newsletter, Southern Heritage News and Views. It goes a long way towards refuting the claims by Yankees about slavery and Southerners. We should use such "eyewitness accounts" to disprove what currently passes for "history".
Born in 1822, Henry Benjamin Whipple (of Minnesota) toured the South in 1843 and 1844 to recover his health. While enjoying the warm hospitality of the region, he noted many differences between North and South.
Bernhard Thuersam, Director Cape Fear Historical Institute www.cfhi.netBishop Whipple's Southern Diary:
"Nov. 25th. (in St. Augustine) The people of the Southern States are generally much more hospitable than Northerners, and the difference must be attributed to the fact that they are not such money-loving people. You do not see the low, mean cupidity, that base selfishness so striking a characteristic of one portion of our restless Yankee brethren. I am more and more convinced that most of the exaggerated stories of abolitionists exist only in the imagination. And from personal observation I know that the efforts of the abolitionists at the North have only served to injure the slave and to destroy the kind and fraternal feeling which should exist between the Northern and Southern States. The South are not blind to the evils of slavery, they can see its bad effects as well as the most sharp-sighted abolitionists yet they cannot nor will they consent to have caustic remedies applied by unskillful hands which would only serve to increase, rather than diminish, the evil.
No! if slavery ever is abolished it must be gradual & done at the desire of and in the manner which the slaveholder desires. The slaveholders are generally opposed to the internal slave trade, and the families of slaves are never separated unless owing to the embarrassed situation of the master....
December 12, 1843. (in Georgia) The Southerner himself is different than the Northerner in many striking particulars. He is more chivalrous, that is to say, he has more of that old English feeling common in the days of the feudal system & Crusades. He is liberal in his feelings, high-minded, a warm & generous friend but a malignant and bitter enemy. He is generous to a fault with his property, is fond of gaiety and pleasure & generally dislikes the routine of business."
Voices of the Old South, Eyewitness Accounts 1528-1861, Alan Gallay, editor, UGA Press, 1994, pp. 270-271)
Posted in Charles Demastus newsletter, Southern Heritage News and Views. It goes a long way towards refuting the claims by Yankees about slavery and Southerners. We should use such "eyewitness accounts" to disprove what currently passes for "history".
Excellent post and yes you are correct about using items such as this for sources. Old newspapers and diaries, letters and other writings of the period are excellent sources of information.
Mississippi isn’t called the "Hospitality State" for nothing some of the friendliest people on earth live here.