I’m a big fan of the blog Hillbilly Highways. The best thing about the internet is that it brings together communities of like-minded folks who would likely never cross paths without it. H.P. and I have very similar tastes in books and music and there’s a big overlap in our historical interests. I was honored to be asked to be his guest for Episode 2 of the Whiskey and Book Club.
We recently spent an hour talking about Appalachia, Scots-Irish heritage and the like — and it’s all right here on video.
Definitely need to pick up The Land Breakers by John Ehle.
Chuck says
Hot dang. Now I have another item to listen to while tooling up some Christmas gift wallets today. Might even strap the kilt on. Thanks and a Merry Christmas and Safe and Happy Holidays to you and yours Jim.
JimC says
And to you. Thanks for your support.
Paul McNamee says
That was neat!
David C Wrolson says
Congrats.
I am repeatedly in awe as I have no idea how you can get everything done.
JimC says
Sometimes I wonder what I’ve got myself into…
Matthew says
Talking about Southern Heritage, I am in an odd place. My mother’s family came from Alabama which was mostly Confederate territory. However, my dad’s family was Midwestern German and included a Prussian soldier who came over to fight for the Union. Except that my paternal grandmother came from Tennessee, but it was the part of East Tennessee which was strongly Unionist.
JimC says
The South and its loyalties were WAY more complicated than conventional histories would lead a person to believe. Conversely, Southern Indiana, where part of my family hailed from, was heavily influenced by Southern culture and was considered Copperhead territory.
J.F. Bell says
Somewhere, buried deep in my files, I have a string of stories from the maternal side of the family. It takes the form of a dozen or so transcriptions of oral accounts as transcribed sometime in the 1920s and ’30s; not a comprehensive account by any means, but when first encountered at the age of twelve or thereabout it counted for an early brush with the sort of rough-hewn history usually gets washed out in favor of say, Giant or Gone With the Wind.
That side of the family didn’t give much of a damn for the Union. Some were drafted into gray – and given the number that deserted, we may surmise they didn’t give much of a damn for the Confederacy or the high-minded planter culture of the Southern aristocracy, either.
Recalling that one such deserter tracked down the man who reported him to the law and, after breaking jail with the help of a brother and a cousin or two, murdered him and dropped him in a cedar brake outside Lampasas, we can probably imagine big-picture history wasn’t much on the mind of the Scots-Irish hill people of middle Texas.
JimC says
That’s 100 proof stuff.
.lane batot says
I have a paternal Texas ancestor ancestor that was conscripted into the Confederate army, which he didn’t much agree with, so he “Rode Like The Wind” to Old Mexico where he remained till the Civil War was over. When he returned, he became a Texas Ranger! I wisht he had written an autobiography! He is mentioned in a coupla books I have, though…..
JimC says
What’s the name? I’d be interested in running this story down.
.lane batot says
Christian Batot–my great, great, great grandfather. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1870–the “E Company”. He is mentioned(and interviewed) in the classic A. J. Sowell’s “Texas Indian Fighters”–which should ABSOLUTELY be a volume in yer library! Quite the voluminous tome to the old Texas frontier! He is also detailed in a family privately published book “Round Up On The Rosita”–all about the intertwined Wipff and Batot families. I was given a copy of this book by distant Texas cousins–it is a very nice, professionally done book! I just don’t know if it is available anywhere to the general public…..
JimC says
Excellent. Thanks.