Transvestite President? May 19, 2012
Posted by Beachcombing in : Contemporary, Modern
Beachcombing isn’t big on cross-dressing but this fabulous pastiche of poor old Jefferson Davies’ capture caught his attention. Some accounts – Union accounts it should be noted – claim that Jefferson tried to escape wearing his wife’s clothing. This comes from the New York Times. To Maj. Hudson was given the duty of surrounding the [...]
De Gaulle and Ike at Gettysburg January 26, 2012
Posted by Beachcombing in : Contemporary, Modern
***Dedicated to Michael Zak, a grand old partisan*** One of Beachcombing’s many files in the rusty filing cabinet in the downstairs bathroom is a surprisingly bulky: ‘battlefields after the fact’. Here there are a series of great men and women visiting the places of carnage past and reflecting on ‘the father of all things’. There [...]
Eating Flags December 22, 2011
Posted by Beachcombing in : Contemporary, Modern
In Beachcombing compendious filing cabinets there is a surprisingly thin folder on flags. ‘Surprising’ as flags, as highly charged symbols, encourage moving and peculiar behaviour. One of the most notable films of the last years is, after all, the Flags of Our Fathers (2006) telling the story of that photograph and Old Glory on Iwo [...]
Preeminent Horses: Rodney November 30, 2011
Posted by Beachcombing in : Modern
Nathan Bedford Forrest… For those who have not heard of this rather frightening individual the ‘Wizard of the Saddle’ was a Confederate cavalry leader in Tennessee and Alabama, who repeatedly surprised Union commanders with his audacious charges and his clever use of dismounted riders. This post pays tribute to Forrest’s most famous horse, Rodney. But [...]
The South will rise again…in Brazil August 17, 2010
Posted by Beachcombing in : Modern
Carl Sandburg once wrote that the American Civil War was fought over a verb: ‘the Unites States IS’ or ‘the United States ARE’ and there can be no doubt which verb won. The South struggled with every nerve and muscle in its body. But, by 1865, the Confederate States had lost and were dragged kicking [...]
The American Civil War and a coincidence June 19, 2010
Posted by Beachcombing in : Modern
Beachcombing has never really got his head around coincidences. So can it really be a ‘coincidence’ that he shares a birthday with another sixteen million human beings? Is it just dumb ‘luck’ that he has the same middle name as his wife’s American cousin? And is it mere ’fluke’ that he received three emails this morning from three different confidence tricksters whose names [...]
