My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans - Tapa dura

""This book is a real jewel for your Confederate library, just as the Confederate home in Kentucky was the jewel of all places that were set up across the south for southern veterans." --The Lone Star Book Review" -- "This work is a captivating narrative and a fine addition to several burgeoning sub-fields in southern history, including the Lost Cause, social welfare, women's history, and progressive reform." -- Louisiana History ""Williams should be commended for his energetic and very readable history of one of the South's most successful postwar efforts to provide solace and assistance to Confederate veterans as they ambled toward the grave."-- Journal of Southern History" -- ""All readers...will appreciate Williams's descriptive writing and colorful storytelling which brings his many subjects, and the time period in which they lived, to life."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society" -- ""William's book teems with human interest stories that undergird an institutional history. My Old Confederate Home will find broad appeal among scholarly and popular audiences who have an interest in thepost-Civil War lives of Kentucky's Confederate veterans, social welfare, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the mythology of the Lost Cause...Williams makes great strides in unraveling the Lost Cause mythology that encased the Kentucky Confederate Home, it's inhabitants, and its supporters...Williams story and its lively characters illuminate Kentucky's responses to its needy veterans and how these efforts ensured a proper place for the states' citizen-soldiers." --H-Net Reviews" -- ""Williams provides an excellent summarization about Confederate veterans' organizations in Kentucky after the war." --Bits and Pieces" -- ""Williams tells how Kentucky tried to provide some support for its needy Confederate veterans long after the cannons were quiet but while many of the older Rebel soldiers were still alive during the emotional "Lost Cause" era. This entertaining narrative utilizes the individual stories of many of the home's benefactors, managers and residents." --Berkeley Scott, Kentucky Monthly" -- ""Rusty Williams' My Old Confederate Home demonstrates how the Kentucky Confederate Home in Pewee Valley was forged and maintained through a mutually beneficial partnership between government and private organizations. By profiling a shining example of how societies can and should honor and care for veterans in need, it highlights important lessons for present and future generations." --cwba.com" -- ""Rusty Williams' definitive account of the Kentucky Confederate Home was written from extant original sources and documents... and is intended for both general readers and scholars." --Marion B. Lucas, Bowling Green Daily News" -- ""Based on the Kentucky Confederate Home's operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, family stories, and other valuable resources, My Old Confederate Home reveals an unwritten chapter of Kentucky's Civil War history." --Joseph-Beth Newsletter" -- ""[My Old Confederate Home tells] of the nuances and "byway" stories involving the war -- the personal stories, the oddities, the forgotten.... about a forgotten and overlooked aspect of the War Between the States."Old Virginia Blog" -- ""Williams's book is a welcomed addition to the growing literature on the care of disabled Civil War veterans and the Confederate soldiers' home movement. He narrates a compelling, true story, cleverly conceived, ably crafted and eloquently written."--R. B. Rosenburg, author of Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers' Homes in the New South" -- ""My Old Confederate Home is a good story well told."Gaines M. Foster, author of Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1913" -- "Won the Douglas Southall Freeman Award in 2011." -- ""A useful introduction into the grassroots formation, organization, and management of Confederate homes. Throug his meticulous research and a cast of lively characters, Williams has indeed created a respectable place for Civil War veterans."-- West Virginia History" -- ""Williams reveals the final, untold chapter of Kentucky's Civil War history."--Appalachian News-Express" -- ""Using detailed records of the home, Mr. Williams is able to cover the entire period of operation from inception to the death of the final Veteran.... an interesting and moving read." --DCV Today" -- .".".a fascinating read.... No library on Kentucky Civil War history will be complete without this book."--The Journal of America's Military Past" -- ""This interesting tale of late-19th-century Kentucky politics, the workings of Civil War veterans' organizations, and the careers of institutionalized Civil War veterans is sure to hold your attention." --Civil War News" -- ""Provide readers with an excellent account of efforts made by ex-Confederate who were business and political leaders in the state to provide a place for their comrades who had fallen on hard times." --Post and Courier" -- ""Freelance writer Rusty Williams has written the first history of the Kentucky Confederate Home, which operated in Pewee Valley, near Jefferson County, for thirty-two years during the early 1900s....This book will provide some very worthwhile insight on the experiences the Confederate veteran might have had while living there." --Kentucky Ancestors" -- ""Williams rekindles the significance of respecting veterans and honoring their contribution to history. He also emphasizes the importance of average Americans supporting veterans despite the political tensions and economic hardships that follow war. As the story of the Kentucky Confederate Home shows, caring for veterans is the first step to repairing an injured nation." --civilwar.com" -- ""Williams provides the history of this home and what happened during its existence. This well-written book is highly recommended to Civil War enthusiasts." --Benet Exton, The Oklahoman" -- ""This well-written book is highly recommended to Civil War enthusiasts." -Daily Oklahoman" -- ""Teems with humanity. Williams has a storyteller's gist for making historical characters come alive. This well-researched account of the establishment of a Confederate veterans' home in a state, Kentucky, that did not even support the Confederacy is a dramatic story of a diverse range of people who responded to the needs of Civil War veterans. It offers a new angle on the South's Lost Cause."--Charles Reagan Wilson, author of Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920" --

In the wake of America's Civil War, hundreds of thousands of men who fought for the Confederacy trudged back to their homes in the Southland. Some-due to lingering effects from war wounds, other disabilities, or the horrors of combat-were unable to care for themselves. Homeless, disabled, and destitute veterans began appearing on the sidewalks of southern cities and towns. In 1902 Kentucky's Confederate veterans organized and built the Kentucky Confederate Home, a luxurious refuge in Pewee Valley for their unfortunate comrades. Until it closed in 1934, the Home was a respectable-if not always idyllic-place where disabled and impoverished veterans could spend their last days in comfort and free from want. In My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans, Rusty Williams frames the lively history of the Kentucky Confederate Home with the stories of those who built, supported, and managed it: a daring cavalryman-turned-bank-robber, a senile ship captain, a prosperous former madam, and a small-town clergyman whose concern for the veterans cost him his pastorate. Each chapter is peppered with the poignant stories of men who spent their final years as voluntary wards of an institution that required residents to live in a manner which reinforced the mythology of a noble Johnny Reb and a tragic Lost Cause. Based on thorough research utilizing a range of valuable resources, including the Kentucky Confederate Home's operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, and family stories, My Old Confederate Home reveals the final, untold chapter of Kentucky's Civil War history.