Fanny Rickets: Where Thou Goest, I Will Go

by Sherry Shindelar

Fanny Rickets

Fanny Lawrence Rickets lived by these words from Ruth 1:16, "Where thou goest, I will go. Thy people will be my people..." Neither enemy lines, blood and gore, or prison walls could stop her from being by her husband’s side when he needed her.

Fanny married the love of her life, Captain James Rickets, in January 1856. Shortly after the wedding, the young bride followed her husband to the Texas frontier, where his artillery company was stationed. She shared in the hardships of garrison life even as she brought cheer to the men and aided the sick.

When the Civil War erupted, she moved with James to his new post in the Washington, D.C. area, and that is where she awaited news of him when he fought in the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861.

Reports came back that he had perished on the battlefield. An aide even brought James’s sword and last words to Fanny. For two days, she endured the belief that she had lost her beloved husband, but then word came, that although he was grievously wounded, he was still alive and a prisoner of the Confederates.

Rickets Battery at First Manassas, Painting by Sidney E. King, Public domain

Fanny immediately took action. She procured a carriage, two horses, and a pass from the Federal Army in order to travel through the lines to her husband, and set out on her own. However, the pass meant nothing once she reached the Confederate pickets, but Fanny persevered. She sent a note to Confederate Colonel J.E.B. Stuart, an old army friend of her husband’s. Stuart agreed to allow her to travel to Manassas if she’d sign a note swearing that she wasn’t there to spy. Fanny ripped up the note in front of him and said, “I am no spy, but the wife of a wounded officer, and I will go as your prisoner, but I will never sign this.”

Flabbergasted by her audacity, Stuart acquiesced and sent her on her way to the battlefield. Fanny found James at the Lewis House, a.k.a. Portici, still covered in blood five days after the battle:

No words can describe the horrors around me. Two men dead and covered with blood were carried down the stairs as I waited to let them pass. On a table in the open hall, a man was undergoing amputation of the leg. At the foot of the stairs two bloody legs lay, and through it all I went to my husband. Outside the next door was a severed arm, and my clothes brushed by blood, cloths, splint, etc. I found my dear husband lying on a hospital stretcher, still covered with blood! Downstairs, there are some forty men in the various stages of death or possible recovery. Blood runs on the floors, the smell is dreadful but no language can describe it. " Mrs. Fanny Captain Ricketts, 1861

Forsaking her own comfort, Fanny dug in and got to work caring for James, who’d been shot four times, and for the other men in the ward. Two weeks later, the Confederates transferred Rickets, who still wavered between life and death, to a prison in Richmond. Fanny was not about to let her husband go without her. She followed him to prison and slept by his bed for four months, nursing him and the other wounded officers, in a doorless room where they were gawked at by curious onlookers.

Libby Prison in Richmond, Painting by David Gilmour Blythe, Public Domain 

Fanny’s love for her husband meant more to her than her own comfort and safety. Her courage and determination enabled her to put her love into action even in the most of dire circumstances. Her sacrifices and ministrations helped save his life.

In December 1861, Ricketts was traded in a prisoner exchange and allowed to return home to finish his recovery. The ever-faithful Fanny followed.

General James Rickets and his wife Fanny

However, the war was not over. Ricketts rose to the rank of general and was seriously wounded two more times, and his wife saw him through it all.

Fanny's real-life love story inspired a plot twist in one of my Lone Star Redemption series books. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t mention which novel, or whether it’s already published or yet to be released. I’ll leave it to the discerning reader to figure that out.

Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she isn’t busy writing, she is an English professor, working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is a multi-award-winning writer. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.

Connect with Sherry: website newsletter Amazon FB

The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.

Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior and having a baby. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life and takes her captive. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.

Captain Garret Ramsey finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, where he witnesses the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave?

Rogue's Gallery, The Next Round of the Wanted Poster by Denise M. Colby

The Original Wanted Poster

In the Old West (1700 to early 1800’s) the wanted poster communicated to local lawmen that a criminal was at large. They were issued by sheriffs, state officials, or the military. Possibly with a drawing or description, unless you knew details, it made it difficult to track them down.

These bulletins didn’t go out to the public or were posted publicly. There were a tool used by local law enforcement in all sizes of towns and cities. They shared this information by mail or stagecoach (pony express too), and later by telegraph or wire and would be reproduced locally (especially if it was urgent).

With the invention of the railroad (and with it railway robbers) they too would send out bulletins, or hire agencies such as the Pinkerton Detective Agency (because if they couldn’t keep their passengers safe, who would want to ride a train?).

 

Rogue's Gallery - A New Improved Version

In 1855, Allan Pinkerton saw a need and created the The Rogue’s Gallery. It incorporated an actual photograph of the person along with more specific details. A step up from the original wanted poster.

They images were made with cheap photography mounted on card stock to capture what the criminals looked like, making it easier to identify them. Many of these criminals were bank robbers, railroad bandits, and other more localized criminals. These images were distributed to sheriffs throughout the west in a booklet.

By 1870, the agency had built the largest collection of mugshots in the world. (Although the term mugshot wasn’t used until later). The Rogue’s Gallery included a card on the back of the photograph that had detailed information related to physical descriptions, methods of how the rogue operated, hiding places, and any associates of the criminals. It might list distinguishing marks on the person, aliasas, and much more.

It was the most extensive early database around. By 1895, the Rogue’s gallery had grown to over 1500 photographs.

 

Examples of Rogue's Gallery 

I found this picture online of a printed book that was up for auction. It shows how a book looked, and gave an idea of how it could be distributed.

 

I also found a photograph of a permanent fixture In New York City, where they mounted on large wooden boards all the cards, similar to how one would look through posters at a store to purchase.

The website page where I found it is called The Rogue’s Gallery.

Reference to the Rogue's Gallery

In my book, A Whole New Plan, the local sheriff of Washton has the cards from the Rogue’s Gallery up on the wall and Lydia points out one of the criminals listed there as the person who she is trying to capture. She then shares she’s a part of the Pinkerton Agency. It was a fun way to put in this tidbit of history.

Book 4 in the Best-laid Plans Series releases May 26, 2026

California, 1870. Pastor William Baker built his life on steady faith and safe choices, but the arrival of Lydia Spencer upends everything. Independent and outspoken Lydia is unlike any woman he’s ever known. Lydia is a Pinkerton detective, undercover as a schoolteacher while tracking a dangerous crime boss. She’s determined to protect her friends in Washton even if it means keeping her distance from the kind, steadfast pastor who sees too much. But when Will and Lydia are thrown together in a search for truth they find themselves fighting not only for justice, but for a future neither had planned.

Denise M. Colby writes historical romance sweetened with faith, hope, and love. She finds history fascinating and contemplates often how it was to live in the 1800's. Her debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, is a 2025 Carol Award finalist. Sign up for her newsletter at www.denisemcolby.com or follow Denise on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, Pinterest, or GoodReads.

Before Land Between the Lakes: Communities That Disappeared

In my continuing series about Kentucky towns that moved—or disappeared—I couldn't overlook the communities that once stood in what is now Land Between the Lakes.

Long before campers pitched tents beneath towering oaks or anglers launched boats into Kentucky and Barkley Lakes, nearly 2,800 people called this peninsula home. Known then as Between the Rivers, the region was a close-knit collection of farms, churches, schools, country stores, and small villages where neighbors often gave directions by creek crossings instead of street names.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area today,
 showing the location of Golden Pond.
Map by Ontheworldmap.com

After the completion of Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) proposed creating a national recreation area. A canal connecting the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers transformed the land into a peninsula encompassing approximately 170,000 acres in western Kentucky and Tennessee.

To make that vision a reality, every resident was required to relocate.

Entire communities vanished from the landscape, including Golden Pond, Kentucky, and Model and Tharpe, Tennessee, along with numerous smaller settlements scattered across the peninsula.

Most of these were tiny villages rather than incorporated towns. Golden Pond—the largest—had fewer than 300 residents when Land Between the Lakes was established. There were no factories, railroads, public water systems, or sewer lines. Electricity came from two rural electric cooperatives, and telephone service was limited to lines running along U.S. 68 and portions of the highway now known as the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway.

Visitors can walk on the concrete map at the Golden
Pond overlook and imagine the homes and businesses
that once existed there.

Today, Golden Pond lives on as the location of the Land Between the Lakes Visitor Center. From an overlook above the original town site, visitors can study a street map recreated by the U.S. Forest Service, which has managed Land Between the Lakes since 1998, and imagine the homes and businesses that once stood there.

Yet Golden Pond was once much more than a dot on the map.

A painting of Golden Pond, Kentucky, from mid-20th century.
 Artist unknown.

During the early twentieth century, it was a thriving rural community with a hotel, bank, church, café, two general stores, and a filling station. Although a devastating fire destroyed much of the business district in 1933, residents rebuilt most of what had been lost.

Golden Pond also became famous during Prohibition.

While, as one resident observed, "the big percentage of people here never had anything to do with whisky making," the region nevertheless earned a reputation for producing exceptional corn liquor. Its rugged hills, dense forests, and remote location made it an ideal place for illegal distilleries.

One colorful story tells of a local "king bee" in Golden Pond, who acted as a wholesaler for area moonshiners. Distillers reportedly delivered their whiskey to him for distribution and payment. According to local tradition, the liquor was poured into a well on a nearby hill and flowed through pipes leading directly into the king bee's house—a tale that illustrates the folklore surrounding the area's moonshining past.

Federal authorities fought a long battle against the illicit trade. From the early 1930s through the 1950s, the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Unit maintained five or six investigators in the region. The last operating still was seized in 1967, although TVA officials reportedly discovered evidence of a recently abandoned still as late as 1969.

Golden Pond was only one of many communities that disappeared.

In Tennessee, settlements included Tip Top, Blue Spring, Caleb's Valley, Fort Henry, Futrell, and Iron Valley. Kentucky communities included Fenton, Turkey Creek, and Pleasant Hill in Trigg County, along with Twin Lakes, Woodson Chapel, and Carmack in Lyon County.

Today, little remains of these once-vibrant communities except scattered cemeteries, old foundations hidden beneath the trees, family photographs, and cherished memories. Their stories are preserved through exhibits at the Golden Pond Visitor Center, reunions, and social media groups maintained by former residents and their descendants.

Millions of people now visit Land Between the Lakes each year to enjoy its forests, lakes, and wildlife. Few realize they are walking roads once traveled by schoolchildren, farmers, merchants, and churchgoers—following the footsteps of generations who called Between the Rivers home.

Sources:

Ed Huddleston, “The Land Between the Rivers,” reprinted from Nashville Banner, Nashville, Tenn., September, 1957.

Marie Wells Coutu, The Development of the Land Between the Lakes 1961-1972: A Case Study in Public Relations, Master’s Thesis, Murray (Ky.) State University, August 1973.

Harry Bolser, “Lakes Land: Iron to Alcohol,” Courier-Journal and Times, Louisville, Ky., August 31, 1969.

Senior Class, Lyon County High School, One Century of Lyon County History, Eddyville, Ky., 1964.

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. Moonshine River, the first book in her Between the Rivers Legacy series, will release this fall. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

When the lights of Broadway dim, Delia leaves the city behind. But will her family welcome her home again?

The historical short story, “All That Glistens,” was inspired by an old photo of a woman from the Between the Rivers area of western Kentucky. The story was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes.

How Live Theater Shaped A Nation

By Kathy Kovach

It took some doing to convince Americans that theater had a place here. Between religious objections, and the attempt to sever all British ties by the Continental Congress in 1774, live theater almost died a painful, melodramatic death on our shores.

America’s only established theater troupe, The Great American Company, had been forced to flee to Jamaica. However, thanks to the manager’s persistence, it returned in 1784 following the end of the American Revolutionary War. One of the cities that had encouraged theater prewar, Charleston, South Carolina, embraced it with open arms.

Ironically, what we consider the hub of live theater today, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, rejected efforts to bring live theater into their communities. These, and other cities, enacted bans, going as far as to arrest anyone involved in theater. Including the patrons themselves.

By the end of the 18th Century, economic and cultural reforms began to take hold of the nation. New men were in power, and many believed live theater could promote nationalism and patriotism. Beautiful new playhouses with red velvet curtains and crystal chandeliers popped up in communities where powerful people could connect. Not only plays were performed there, but the elite enjoyed other social activities, as well.

At least, that was the hope.

It soon became evident that British influence was still unwelcome, and its plays were no exception. Dissenting political views disrupted the elegance that the theater managers wished to promote.

William Dunlap
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Dunlap_Engraving.jpg

One such disruption was a riot that took place on March 30, 1798 between the Federalist and Republican factions in attendance. The play, André by William Dunlap, took place in New York’s Park Theatre.

Before explaining what happened, it’s important to note this about playwright, actor, and producer William Dunlap. Although he was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey in 1766, that city was located in one of the colonies owned by the British Empire at the time. His father was Northern Irish and was wounded at the Battle of Quebec in 1759. In other words, he was an American born under British influence.

The play, André, is about the real person, Major John André, a British spy hanged for his role in the treason of Benedict Arnold.

So now, we have a playhouse full of American patriots of two different factions in post-war New York, watching a play about a British officer who had been executed by George Washington, written by an American with British ties. What could go wrong?

Tricorn hat with cockade

The riot sparked when an American character in the play, named Bland, is furious with Washington and rips off the black cockade from his three-cornered hat (a Federalist symbol) and throws it away. How dare he dishonor America! As a result of this theater revolt, Dunlap was forced to revise the ending.

So, how did William Dunlap come to be known as the Father of American Drama? He became devoted to the shaping of American theater, writing more than fifty original scripts, translations, and adaptations. Besides his management of New York’s John Street and Park Theatres at the turn of the century, he also wrote A History of the American Theatre in 1832. He turned out to be an advocate of shunning the old European system and encouraged the practice of allowing artists freedom of expression and thought.

Dunlap was one of the first to believe that theater could transform the new nation, teaching lessons of “patriotism, virtue, morality, and religion.”

Eventually, thanks to William Dunlap and others, by the early half of the 19th century, America, along with the American theater, was well on the journey of establishing its own identity.

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

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Creek Villages of the Federal Period

by Denise Farnsworth

A number of my novels include the history of Georgia and surrounding states when large portions of the Southeast belonged to Creek and Cherokee Indian Territory. I'm often surprised at how many people are unaware that the Cherokees fought with the British during the American Revolution but allied to Andrew Jackson's Americans during the War of 1812, facing off against their longtime enemies, the Creeks, who were allied to the British. Most of the fighting of this portion of the war, known as the Creek War or Red Stick War, took place between the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers in modern-day Alabama. My novella that just released in Freed by the Frontier starts on the Georgia border in 1814 and unfolds in Creek Territory, depicting what life was life in a Creek village. Today’s article will relate something of the structure of a Creek Indian town during the Colonial to Federal period.

Naturalist William Bartram was an observer at the land cessation meeting that occurred in 1773 in Augusta, Georgia, between the white colonists and the Creek and Cherokee Indians. The journal of his travels from the coast to middle Georgia provide significant early information about the Creek Indians. He described 60 towns, 30 of which spoke the Muscogulge tongue. The five clans were Panther, Bear, Wind, Bird and Snake.

Creek reenactor at Horseshoe Bend

In each town, white clay, paste, or chalk was used to draw plants, flowers, and trees on the red clay houses, especially those creating the public square. On white walls, colored chalk was used. Each family would have a round winter and a rectangular summer house. In 1790, Caleb Swan described these as being between 12 and 20 feet long and 10 to 15 feet wide, constructed with poles stuck in the ground, walls lathed with canes and packed with clay, and roofs pitched from a ridge pole and covered with bark and four to five layers of shingles. The huts had one door and a chimney and would last only a couple of years. Families often lived in clusters of homes. Major villages were surrounded by walls.

The town council was held every forenoon in the public square, presided over by the mico, with the war chief on his left and the second headman on the right. The mico or king received great respect at the Great Rotunda or winter council house, but outside important meetings, he dressed and was treated the same as the others, hunting and working the fields with his family. He was, however, entitled to the first fruits of harvest and use of the national granary. Should a king or mico also be war chief or high priest (in charge of guarding the eternal fire in the Great Rotunda) he would indeed have great power.

Between the public square and rotunda of each town was the chunky-yard, chunky being a game which involved rolling a small disk and shooting arrows or spears at the disk. The yard itself was a large, sunken ground with what was known as the chunky-pole, four square pine pillars rising to an obtuse point. At the top, the Indians could fasten an object to shoot at with bows and arrows and rifles. Near each corner of the lower and farther end of yard was a lesser, 12-foot-high pole, but a more fearful sight than the chunky pole, as it was decorated with the scalps of enemies and crowned by a grinning enemy skull. Here in the days before Bartram’s arrival, captives could have been forced to run the gauntlet or burned to death. Thankfully, that practice had been abandoned by then, and Bartram was full of praise for the hospitality of his hosts.

Each family had a lot bordered by poles and including a garden spot where corn, rice, squash, etc. were raised. A portion of everything went to the aforementioned public granary, which was for the use of guests of the tribe or families that fell on hard times. Bartram observed that the Creek were very given to sharing and loaning. A man could clear and settle as much land as desired within his tribe. Occasionally, a Creek Indian would own an independent plantation and would live in their private villa, wealthy from trade with whites.

Freed by the Frontier: Three unforgettable romances prove that God's greatest blessings often come disguised as our greatest challenges, and that true love can bridge any divide.
https://www.amazon.com/Freed-Frontier-Lone-Star-Redemption-ebook/dp/B0GX2WN3ZB/

Denise Farnsworth, formerly Denise Weimer, writes historical and contemporary romance mostly set in Georgia and also serves as a freelance editor and the Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books. A wife and mother, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

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Creek and Cherokee Territory

No More Grassy Taste

By Suzanne Norquist

What do soda straws and cigarette holders have in common?

First of all, they are both long tubes that bring a substance to someone’s mouth. Soda straws offer tasty beverages while cigarette holders carry nicotine.

Secondly, Marvin Stone, who brought us paper straws, first invented paper cigarette holders along with the equipment to manufacture them. Apparently, he recognized the commonality between the two and capitalized on it. Tweak the design, and presto, it’s a straw.

He lived in the late 1800s (1842-1899), when many common household products were introduced, and steam engines enabled mass production. As the son of an inventor, he had a leg up on all the others. His father invented things like a washing machine and a cheese press.

However, Marvin didn’t jump right into industry. He studied theology in college until he left to fight in the Civil War. After an injury, he stayed in the military until the war ended. Back at college, he tried his hand at music before earning a degree in theology. Afterward, he worked as a journalist for a while.

Eventually, he followed in his father’s footsteps. In addition to straws and cigarette holders, he invented a fountain pen, an umbrella, and a system to add color to fine china.

As an entrepreneur, he operated a successful business manufacturing paper cigarette holders. The product allowed smokers to keep their fingers clean and ashes away from their clothing. He contracted with W. Duke Sons & Co., a prominent cigarette manufacturer.

At that time, straws made from organic grasses left a grassy taste in drinks. Apparently, annoyed with this, he decided to make a better straw out of paper.

He wrapped strips of paper around a pencil and glued them. This diameter kept lemon seeds from getting stuck inside. To prevent sogginess, he coated the paper in paraffin. He patented the straw and the equipment used to make it.

He started manufacturing and marketing. Instead of selling straws to individuals, he offered them to restaurants and soda fountains, touting their cleanliness. They soon became his best-selling product, more popular than his cigarette holders.

Marvin Stone passed away before receiving the final patent for his manufacturing design, but his legacy lived on. His brothers-in-law took over the company. The spiral winding process is still used in electronics.

The product remained relatively unchanged until the 1930s, when Otto W. Dieffenbach invented the plastic straw, and Joseph B. Friedman turned it into a bendy straw.

Recently, the paper straw has made a comeback as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. Marvin Stone could never have imagined the longevity of his invention. Personally, I’m grateful for the cigarette holder manufacturer who wanted something better. I wouldn’t like drinking from a straw that tastes like grass. 

***

 

Love In Bloom 4-in-one collection

“A Song for Rose” by Suzanne Norquist

Can a disillusioned tenor convince an aspiring soprano that there is more to music than fame?

“Holly & Ivy” by Mary Davis

At Christmastime, a young woman accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a mail-order bride and loses her heart to a gallant stranger.

“Periwinkle in the Park” by Kathleen E. Kovach

A female hiking guide, who is helping to commission a national park, runs into conflict with a mountain man determined to keep the government off his land.

“A Beauty in a Tansy”

Two adjacent store owners are drawn to each other, but their older relatives provide obstacles to their ever becoming close.

Republished from Bouquet of Brides

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bOOx8K

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Mary-Davis/dp/B0FPLFYCXR/

 

Suzanne Norquist is the author of two novellas. Everything fascinates her. She has worked as a chemist, professor, financial analyst, and even earned a doctorate in economics. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining engineer husband and has two grown children. When not writing, she explores the mountains, hikes, and attends kickboxing class.

 

Independence and the Island Spirit

 —By Tiffany Amber Stockton

If you haven't snagged your FREE e-book copy of Magic of the Swan, join the FanTAStic Reader community and receive the book today.

And now, on with this month's post.

When I think about Independence Day, I think about flags and fireworks and parades. But the deeper I dig into the history of these coastal communities, the more I realize these barrier islands didn't treat independence as a holiday. It was a way of life, and sometimes it was a choice that cost something.

Cut Off From the Rest of the World

For most of their history, the barrier islands of Virginia's Eastern Shore were genuinely isolated. They were part of a small sliver at the very bottom of the Delmarva Peninsula. Before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964, getting to or from the mainland was a long ferry ride at best. The island communities that built up here — Chincoteague especially — developed a satisfying self-reliance simply because they had no other choice. Geography shaped the character the same way it always does when people are left to solve their own problems without much outside help.

You can still see it. These communities were defined by fishing, oystering, boat-building, and the practical ingenuity that comes from living at the edge of things. They knew how to read the weather, manage the tides, and handle whatever the season brought without waiting for someone else to fix it.

The July Fourth That Meant Something

In July of 1861, the country was coming apart. Virginia had just voted to secede from the Union, which put the island communities of the Eastern Shore in an extremely uncomfortable position. Their whole economy depended on selling seafood to markets in Philadelphia and New York. Siding with the Confederacy would have cut off everything.

On July 4th of that year (the 85th anniversary of American independence), 418 men from the barrier islands of Maryland and Virginia gathered on Chincoteague and signed a document pledging their loyalty to the United States. A War of 1812 veteran named Captain Edward Whaley stood up and declared he would defend the old flag to his last drop of blood. Not long after, Chincoteague voted to remain in the Union by 138 votes to 2, becoming the only part of Virginia to do so.

John A.M. Whealton, a merchant and oyster entrepreneur, was the man who organized that loyalty and made sure Washington knew about it. He later explained the decision plainly: "We sold nearly all the oysters we raised in Philadelphia. It would have meant starvation to us to have seceded." When Confederate sympathizers on the mainland tried to force the issue, Whealton's men took to flatboats and turned them back without losing a single islander.

Practical men, making a principled stand. That is the very essence of the Eastern Shore. And it's often found in smaller communities anywhere you go.

The Island Spirit

Interesting that these men chose to celebrate Independence Day in 1861 by signing a loyalty pledge. With the country fracturing around them, they gathered on their island and recommitted to the idea that freedom was worth defending. That some things don't bend.

That instinct runs all the way through the history of these communities. The barrier islands shaped people who were stubbornly self-reliant but also fiercely tied to one another. Islands by their nature draw people together. You take care of your neighbor because your neighbor is the only neighbor you have.

What happened on Chincoteague that Fourth of July didn't make the history books the way bigger battles did. Confederate Virginia barely noticed. As one account put it, Richmond simply didn't care about a small island choosing to go its own way. But Chincoteague didn't need Richmond to notice. They knew what they'd decided and why, and they went back to catching oysters.

This is just one of the many quiet decisions, made by ordinary people in ordinary places, that don't get monuments or headlines but shape everything that follows. I've been writing historical fiction long enough to know that the best stories are usually hiding in the footnotes. Chincoteague's July Fourth of 1861 was one of those footnotes. But it carried a lot of what independence actually means.