Thank you for this thoroughly researched presentation into Shelby Foote's real-life Civil War ancestor, a typically reluctant Secessionist, as were many in the South. He showed his residual loyalty to the Union by doing only the minimum of one year service in Mississippi's militia. I encountered the story of another reluctant Mississippi secessionist, Henry S. Foote --- who may be also be a true ancestor of Shelby Foote --- when I wrote most of the special issue of Civil War Times Illustrated Magazine's special issue DISSENT: FIRE IN THE REAR when I was in university. The issue was published in December 1981. I wrote two of the articles, about dissent in Alabama and Illinois. One of the articles I didn't write was HENRY FOOTE SKEDADDLES. Henry Foote was a United States Senator before the Civil War, who served at the same time with Senator Jefferson Davis (who he despised). During the Civil War, he was elected to the Confederate Congress. After Mr. Lincoln's re-election in 1864, he decided the war was lost and went on an unauthorized peace mission to try to negotiate the surrender of the Confederates with Lincoln, on the proposed basis that the Confederates would return to the Union, recognizing Emancipation, if Mr. Lincoln would amnesty them back in as U.S. citizens. The Confederates caught him trying to sneak across the lines and arrested him. He was curiously not expelled from the Confederate Congress when a large majority voted against his impeachment, so maybe there were a lot of clandestine sympathizers with his unauthorized peace mission. Perhaps you could research Henry S. Foote to see if he was an ancestor of Shelby Foote, as it seems they were both from the same part of Mississippi . As many others have noted, Shelby Foote wrote of the Civil War in a way that will never be surpassed. He puts you right in the middle of it, as a living, breathing, participant. Even more than that, he puts you inside the heads of dozens of its leaders, as well as the rank-and-file.
Thanks again ROn for your research on Shelby Foote's great grandfather. Many pardons were approved by Andrew Johnson, including James Longstreet's, though his application took much longer to be approved, but knowing US Grant helped his application approval along.
Really great Channel here, thanx for yor efforts. As a wayward teenager from NYC in the late 1970s I was sent for a summer to my brothers house in Grenada Mis’sippi… the experience was eye opening to say the least but I was exposed for the first time to how still very present the Civil War was with the general population of the South. Everyone my age there called me Yank, I read Shelby Foote very excellent narrative this past year and realized why he figured so prominently in the Burns series. Thanks again!!
I have a friend who was drafted in '71, but got to serve in Germany instead of Vietnam. He still ended up at Fort Benning for basic training. On his trip home all he could say was that most of the South was still fighting the Civil War and didn't seem to understand that they lost already. Gary was mystified about what their problem was with him.
I have always loved Shelby Foote's knowledge and books. I could listen to that mild mannered deep south upper class accent he had. We had a minister from Alabama that grew up wealthy in the deep south and his voice matched Shelby Foote's.
I remember Ken Burns saying that Shelby Foote received dozens of proposals of marriage from women all around the country after The Civil War series was first broadcast, even though Foote was already married. So many women were charmed by his good looks and deep Mississippi accent.
Very interesting. I remember watching the Civil War series by Ken Burns back when it first aired. Shelby Foote stood out as one of the contributors so much so he later acknowledged he received love letters from women who were smitten by him due to his appearance in the documentary. My paternal grandmother's last name was Travis and she bragged of a confederate relation to a general with said name. Years after she died I found she was wrong- he was a general but he was a participant in a different end earlier conflict... William Barett Travis from The Alamo 😂
Ron, another excellent video which helps us in this day and age to more fully understand the lives of the people who lived through the Civil War. I especially appreciated the reading of H.W. Foote's application for amnesty as he wished to be restored and in good standing with the U.S. Government following the War. Well done, sir!
Now that was interesting. Love Shelby foot and his books. I was prepared for him to have northern relatives or roots, but apparently that is not the case.
Thank you I've often wondered about Shelby Foote. Admiral Foote is descended from Nathaniel Foote, who came to Connecticut in 1634. I am also a descendant of Nathanial Foote, who was one of the founders of Wethersfield, Conn.
It was Ken Burns The Civil War that started me on a journey into Civil War History and my introduction to Shelby Foote. I later purchased and read his Civil War Narrative several times since.
I enjoy Shelby Foote recalling his great uncle telling the story of Union Soldiers parading through their defeated southern town when he was five years old. He described a huge black Union soldier reaching down and pulling a button off his coat. The uncle was very frightened of the encounter
Yeah, it's astonishing to me how many descendants of "Confederates" I have heard recount terrifying historical encounters with "huge Black men", where they remained unharmed. Its almost as if a stereotype is being promulgated.
Very interesting Ron. I think most of us Civil War enthusiasts and students have warm recollections of Shelby Foote. I wonder how common such post-war petitions were, especially among the rank and file. I don't imagine my great great grandfather, who returned to his family and small farm in southwest Virginia after the final surrender in NC, or many of his comrades in arms, requested pardons from the government. I'm not sure what the motivation to do so would have been.
In my 20’s living in the North, I fell hopelessly in love with sexy Southern Shelby Foote when I saw the Civil War series. I’m 64 now and still think he’s the bomb. 💣
I have an ancestor who was a postmaster for the US Mail in Anderson County South Carolina. In 1861 he served in the same job for the C.S.A. In order to regain his citizenship, he also had to obtain a pardon from the government in 1865, just as if he took up arms like a soldier. Those Confederate mailmen were dangerous!
The Amnesty Applications are really interesting and as you say personalised. It’s right that we see them in the light of men who still had every reason to fear that they could be hanged or at the least their property expropriated. Only senior members of the ruling class felt the need to apply. I have 5 in my immediate family tree that I have found…all from Georgia, including as ex governor, a former state Treasurer, a tax collector and a college president! They all owned slaves and none of them expressed the view that they had NEVER been secessionists! Because they all were…and publicly and remained faithful to the cause right to the end. Their collective view….expressed by one of my lot…was that the state constitution had created a provision for secession from the early days after the revolutionary war. And had moved forward with secession on the understanding that they were breaking no laws since the principle that the Federal Government could just overrule state government…a contentious issue even today…had never been declared or enforced. States were like EU countries now: they CAN leave if they choose to. None of my family applicants mentioned slavery as a factor…tho of course it was…..
Try calling the local sheriff's department, town hall, or courthouse for determining local/proper pronunciation of flummoxing place names. In this case, it's knox-uh-bee, emphasis on the first syllable.
Andrew Johnson was such a hero for contributing to the rehabilitation of so many unfortunate men of the South who had been forced to defend their countries. But I am curious to know if Captain Foote was actually granted a pardon by the president.
General pardons were issued by the US Government, under both Lincoln and Johnson, that covered over 1 million Confederate soldiers, but these were not extended to certain Confederate senior officers and political office holders (which I assume included said Captain Foote). Of those, at least 13,600 pardons were requested and issued, so I will assume most of those requested were issued.
It gets flak nowadays for not citing sources, but people miss the point that it is narrative, not strictly history book, and reads as such. One of the best pieces of literature I've ever read.
Give me the "Cliff Notes" version OF the "Cliff Notes" version. My reading list is long and growing faster than I can keep up. Causes of the war? Chief cause? What does he say about Fort Pillow? His opinions of Jefferson Davis, Thaddeus Stephens, Abraham Lincoln, RE Lee, US Grant? Let's start there...
@@bartsanders1553 _The Man In The Iron Mask_ *_and_* _War And Peace_ *_together_* are only 2/3 the length of Shelby Foote's epic? Thomas Jefferson once famously apologized in a letter, saying "I apologize for this long letter; I did not have time to write a short one." Perhaps Shelby should have expended _more_ *_thought_* and _less_ *_ink._* Like I said, I want the "Cliff Notes" version OF the "Cliff Notes" version.
If Shelby knew about his grandfathers' rather duplicitous request for a Federal pardon, it must have rankled him greatly! But he did the Confedericy proud in writing his epic history. Although I do believe that many Federal officers were made to seem bumbling idiots, while many Confederate officers acquired a fair measure of dash and effectiveness. Revenge served cold!
@@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244 We know that for every pardon request that was NOT sent in officially, for every oath of allegiance that was NOT taken. among this group were the more stalwart rebels, those who would've just as soon kept up the fight as they would wake in the morning. Verily, some of these people spent the rest of their natural lives being as anti-United States as was possible.
My understanding is that President Johnson's May 1865 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction offered a general pardon to those former Confederates who took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution and supported the abolition of slavery. But high-ranking Confederate political and military leaders and wealthy Southern property owners with greater than $20,000 in taxable property had to request clemency. Foote fell into the latter group.
I am mighty thankful that my paternal 3x great grandfather, Ambrose William West, enlisted in May of 1861 and was KIA in the trenches at Petersburg not even falling under the parole auspices of Appomattox. I have other, maternal, ancestors who were paroled at Appomattox. One of my ancestors, Captain Sterling Rowe, was mentioned in the federal governments so-called official war of the so-called rebellion. He farmed and was in the oyster business, selling oysters from York River and James River to customers in New York and New England before the war. When our troops had to abandon our defenses at Yorktown and Gloucester Point, linkinz libberators came around and destroyed all the vessels that they could not steal. The federal naval commander. Goldsboro mentioned in the official records that my great-great-great- grandfather, Captain Sterling Rowe had one of the finest schooners he had ever seen. Her name was the Seven Brothers. My grandfather had a partner Mr Tom Willey. Willey was not as brave as my grandfather, and the Federal commander, in his report stated that when he questioned Mr Willey, he tried to "...carry water on both shoulders..." saying that he never let the Confederates use his vessel for any purpose. That commander went further to say that he knew that Mr Willey was untruthful because Captain Rowe, referred to Willey as jos partner. Grandpa Rowe made it plain that he was not a union man. I am mighty thankful to be able to say that my grandfather stood by his convictions and was not a union man after the leftist radical republican coup of 1861. D e o. V i n d i c e
Shelby has been one of favorite civil war historians for many years. This was terrific.
Our well loved Shelby Foote was a writer of history, but not a historian, as he'd be the first to admit.
I live in the Appalachian mountains. One of Shelby’s ancestors is a neighbor. He is Big Foote.
Good one
Thank you for this thoroughly researched presentation into Shelby Foote's real-life Civil War ancestor, a typically reluctant Secessionist, as were many in the South. He showed his residual loyalty to the Union by doing only the minimum of one year service in Mississippi's militia.
I encountered the story of another reluctant Mississippi secessionist, Henry S. Foote --- who may be also be a true ancestor of Shelby Foote --- when I wrote most of the special issue of Civil War Times Illustrated Magazine's special issue DISSENT: FIRE IN THE REAR when I was in university. The issue was published in December 1981.
I wrote two of the articles, about dissent in Alabama and Illinois. One of the articles I didn't write was HENRY FOOTE SKEDADDLES. Henry Foote was a United States Senator before the Civil War, who served at the same time with Senator Jefferson Davis (who he despised). During the Civil War, he was elected to the Confederate Congress. After Mr. Lincoln's re-election in 1864, he decided the war was lost and went on an unauthorized peace mission to try to negotiate the surrender of the Confederates with Lincoln, on the proposed basis that the Confederates would return to the Union, recognizing Emancipation, if Mr. Lincoln would amnesty them back in as U.S. citizens. The Confederates caught him trying to sneak across the lines and arrested him. He was curiously not expelled from the Confederate Congress when a large majority voted against his impeachment, so maybe there were a lot of clandestine sympathizers with his unauthorized peace mission. Perhaps you could research Henry S. Foote to see if he was an ancestor of Shelby Foote, as it seems they were both from the same part of Mississippi .
As many others have noted, Shelby Foote wrote of the Civil War in a way that will never be surpassed. He puts you right in the middle of it, as a living, breathing, participant. Even more than that, he puts you inside the heads of dozens of its leaders, as well as the rank-and-file.
Thank you for researching and answering my question. ❤
Good question
Thanks again ROn for your research on Shelby Foote's great grandfather. Many pardons were approved by Andrew Johnson, including James Longstreet's, though his application took much longer to be approved, but knowing US Grant helped his application approval along.
Shelby Foote, my favorite Civil War historian and author. I saw him speak in Gettysburg, 1993.
Really great Channel here, thanx for yor efforts. As a wayward teenager from NYC in the late 1970s I was sent for a summer to my brothers house in Grenada Mis’sippi… the experience was eye opening to say the least but I was exposed for the first time to how still very present the Civil War was with the general population of the South. Everyone my age there called me Yank,
I read Shelby Foote very excellent narrative this past year and realized why he figured so prominently in the Burns series.
Thanks again!!
I have a friend who was drafted in '71, but got to serve in Germany instead of Vietnam. He still ended up at Fort Benning for basic training. On his trip home all he could say was that most of the South was still fighting the Civil War and didn't seem to understand that they lost already. Gary was mystified about what their problem was with him.
I have always loved Shelby Foote's knowledge and books. I could listen to that mild mannered deep south upper class accent he had. We had a minister from Alabama that grew up wealthy in the deep south and his voice matched Shelby Foote's.
I remember Ken Burns saying that Shelby Foote received dozens of proposals of marriage from women all around the country after The Civil War series was first broadcast, even though Foote was already married. So many women were charmed by his good looks and deep Mississippi accent.
Very interesting. I remember watching the Civil War series by Ken Burns back when it first aired. Shelby Foote stood out as one of the contributors so much so he later acknowledged he received love letters from women who were smitten by him due to his appearance in the documentary. My paternal grandmother's last name was Travis and she bragged of a confederate relation to a general with said name. Years after she died I found she was wrong- he was a general but he was a participant in a different end earlier conflict... William Barett Travis from The Alamo 😂
I would listen to Shelby Foote reading a phone book. His accent is perfect.
2800 pages in Foote’s narrative, I’ve read it five times and it never gets old. Also read Bruce Catton’s narrative multiple times.
Ron, another excellent video which helps us in this day and age to more fully understand the lives of the people who lived through the Civil War. I especially appreciated the reading of H.W. Foote's application for amnesty as he wished to be restored and in good standing with the U.S. Government following the War. Well done, sir!
Shelby Foote was a national treasure.
IS
Now that was interesting. Love Shelby foot and his books. I was prepared for him to have northern relatives or roots, but apparently that is not the case.
Thank you I've often wondered about Shelby Foote. Admiral Foote is descended from Nathaniel Foote, who came to Connecticut in 1634. I am also a descendant of Nathanial Foote, who was one of the founders of Wethersfield, Conn.
Shelby's ancestor fought the war with one hand tied behind his back.
It was Ken Burns The Civil War that started me on a journey into Civil War History and my introduction to Shelby Foote. I later purchased and read his Civil War Narrative several times since.
I enjoy Shelby Foote recalling his great uncle telling the story of Union Soldiers parading through their defeated southern town when he was five years old.
He described a huge black Union soldier reaching down and pulling a button off his coat. The uncle was very frightened of the encounter
Yeah, it's astonishing to me how many descendants of "Confederates" I have heard recount terrifying historical encounters with "huge Black men", where they remained unharmed. Its almost as if a stereotype is being promulgated.
Very interesting Ron. I think most of us Civil War enthusiasts and students have warm recollections of Shelby Foote. I wonder how common such post-war petitions were, especially among the rank and file. I don't imagine my great great grandfather, who returned to his family and small farm in southwest Virginia after the final surrender in NC, or many of his comrades in arms, requested pardons from the government. I'm not sure what the motivation to do so would have been.
In my 20’s living in the North, I fell hopelessly in love with sexy Southern Shelby Foote when I saw the Civil War series. I’m 64 now and still think he’s the bomb. 💣
Very interesting!
There is videos of him being interviewed in the The Civil War by Ken Burns,The 25th anniversary version
I have an ancestor who was a postmaster for the US Mail in Anderson County South Carolina. In 1861 he served in the same job for the C.S.A.
In order to regain his citizenship, he also had to obtain a pardon from the government in 1865, just as if he took up arms like a soldier.
Those Confederate mailmen were dangerous!
The Amnesty Applications are really interesting and as you say personalised. It’s right that we see them in the light of men who still had every reason to fear that they could be hanged or at the least their property expropriated. Only senior members of the ruling class felt the need to apply. I have 5 in my immediate family tree that I have found…all from Georgia, including as ex governor, a former state Treasurer, a tax collector and a college president! They all owned slaves and none of them expressed the view that they had NEVER been secessionists! Because they all were…and publicly and remained faithful to the cause right to the end. Their collective view….expressed by one of my lot…was that the state constitution had created a provision for secession from the early days after the revolutionary war. And had moved forward with secession on the understanding that they were breaking no laws since the principle that the Federal Government could just overrule state government…a contentious issue even today…had never been declared or enforced. States were like EU countries now: they CAN leave if they choose to. None of my family applicants mentioned slavery as a factor…tho of course it was…..
This has been a good video. Thank you for sharing. Genealogy can be very interesting.
Try calling the local sheriff's department, town hall, or courthouse for determining local/proper pronunciation of flummoxing place names. In this case, it's knox-uh-bee, emphasis on the first syllable.
Andrew Johnson was such a hero for contributing to the rehabilitation of so many unfortunate men of the South who had been forced to defend their countries.
But I am curious to know if Captain Foote was actually granted a pardon by the president.
General pardons were issued by the US Government, under both Lincoln and Johnson, that covered over 1 million Confederate soldiers, but these were not extended to certain Confederate senior officers and political office holders (which I assume included said Captain Foote). Of those, at least 13,600 pardons were requested and issued, so I will assume most of those requested were issued.
"forced to defend their country" is false. The Confederacy was never a country. That is what the war proved beyond a doubt
I have a first edition of the Shelby Foote 3-volume classic on the Civil War.
Shelby Foote's Three Volume "Civil War" is a captivating work not to be missed.
It gets flak nowadays for not citing sources, but people miss the point that it is narrative, not strictly history book, and reads as such. One of the best pieces of literature I've ever read.
Absolutely!
Give me the "Cliff Notes" version OF the "Cliff Notes" version. My reading list is long and growing faster than I can keep up. Causes of the war? Chief cause? What does he say about Fort Pillow? His opinions of Jefferson Davis, Thaddeus Stephens, Abraham Lincoln, RE Lee, US Grant?
Let's start there...
@@frankmcgowan9457 Relax, it's barely 900 pages in each volume😂
@@bartsanders1553
_The Man In The Iron Mask_ *_and_* _War And Peace_ *_together_* are only 2/3 the length of Shelby Foote's epic?
Thomas Jefferson once famously apologized in a letter, saying "I apologize for this long letter; I did not have time to write a short one." Perhaps Shelby should have expended _more_ *_thought_* and _less_ *_ink._*
Like I said, I want the "Cliff Notes" version OF the "Cliff Notes" version.
If Shelby knew about his grandfathers' rather duplicitous request for a Federal pardon, it must have rankled him greatly! But he did the Confedericy proud in writing his epic history. Although I do believe that many Federal officers were made to seem bumbling idiots, while many Confederate officers acquired a fair measure of dash and effectiveness. Revenge served cold!
Sounds like your research got off on the wrong foote, but was quickly in step with finding the right path.
Was he granted amnesty?
I was also wondering.
Who wasn't?
‘Wonder if A. H. Foote and fellow pardon claimants were able to submit any type of claim for the loss of property.
Shelby Foot seems to think that the South won every battle but somehow lost the war! I read his trilogy and saw the tv, program.
What about Shelby Foote's grandfather? Was he in the war? The younger southerners were more in favor of independence than most older ones
the grandfather, an only child born late in his father's life, was only 7 yrs old when the war started, so probably not
Ok. I see. Otherwise considering the dad's age he should have had an older son.
@@douglasturner6153 the grandfather's memories of the war and its aftermath were important to Shelby and he did nmae his only so after him
My great-great grandfather didn't ask for a pardon.
I wonder if Mr. Foote was laughing hysterically while writing this fake rendition to his participation in the war or just vomiting?
👍👍
Did H.W. Foote get the pardon??
But did Johnson pardon him, I wonder?
The pardon was so wide that it is difficult to find any that were refused.
@@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244 Jefferson Davis was refused.
@@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244 We know that for every pardon request that was NOT sent in officially, for every oath of allegiance that was NOT taken. among this group were the more stalwart rebels, those who would've just as soon kept up the fight as they would wake in the morning. Verily, some of these people spent the rest of their natural lives being as anti-United States as was possible.
So? Was his plea for clemency accepted by the government?
comment for the win
I don't think they could work for the US government without getting a pardon.
I'm curious, why he thought he needed clemency.
My understanding is that President Johnson's May 1865 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction offered a general pardon to those former Confederates who took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution and supported the abolition of slavery.
But high-ranking Confederate political and military leaders and wealthy Southern property owners with greater than $20,000 in taxable property had to request clemency. Foote fell into the latter group.
@@lifeonthecivilwarresearchtrailThanks for the answer Ron. I'm not very well read about the Civil War, like you are.
@@fokkerd3red618 Happy to help!
Deuteronomy 28:15-68 aka the "Transatlantic Slave Trade," 👉🏾 Genesis 15:12-14⌛
Shelby Foote would be rolling in his grave if he knew what dumb people had done to the memory of those who died in this war; the torn down monuments.
Foote said, "I'm for the Confederate flag always and forever". Because treason should always be celebrated?
I am mighty thankful that my paternal 3x great grandfather, Ambrose William West, enlisted in May of 1861 and was KIA in the trenches at Petersburg not even falling under the parole auspices of Appomattox. I have other, maternal, ancestors who were paroled at Appomattox. One of my ancestors, Captain Sterling Rowe, was mentioned in the federal governments so-called official war of the so-called rebellion. He farmed and was in the oyster business, selling oysters from York River and James River to customers in New York and New England before the war. When our troops had to abandon our defenses at Yorktown and Gloucester Point, linkinz libberators came around and destroyed all the vessels that they could not steal. The federal naval commander. Goldsboro mentioned in the official records that my great-great-great- grandfather, Captain Sterling Rowe had one of the finest schooners he had ever seen. Her name was the Seven Brothers. My grandfather had a partner Mr Tom Willey. Willey was not as brave as my grandfather, and the Federal commander, in his report stated that when he questioned Mr Willey, he tried to "...carry water on both shoulders..." saying that he never let the Confederates use his vessel for any purpose. That commander went further to say that he knew that Mr Willey was untruthful because Captain Rowe, referred to Willey as jos partner. Grandpa Rowe made it plain that he was not a union man. I am mighty thankful to be able to say that my grandfather stood by his convictions and was not a union man after the leftist radical republican coup of 1861.
D e o. V i n d i c e