South Carolina Fire-Eater: The Life of Laurence Massillon Keitt, 1824-1864
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.90 (798 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1611173493 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 264 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-12-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
He was among the few fire-eater politicians to serve in the military and was likely the only one to perish in combat defending the Confederacy.. Amid the chaos of his personal brand of politics, Keitt found time to woo and wed a beautiful, intelligent, and politically astute plantation belle who after his death restored the family fortune and worked to embellish her late husband’s place in history.After Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Keitt and the rest of the South Carolina delegation resigned their seats in Congress. He then negotiated unsuccessfully the surrender of Fort Sumter with lame-duck president James Buchanan, played a major role in the December 1860 Secession Convention that led his state out of the Union, and a lesser role in the convention that formed the Confederacy. With that last act of bravado, Keitt distinguished himself. Bored with his position as a member of the Confederate Congress, Keitt resigned his seat and raised the 20th South Carolina Infantry. Inexperienced in leading troops on the battlefield he launched a head-long attack on e
A MUST read for anyone interested in the breakup of the young union.”James Robertson, author of Stonewall Jackson . The author's dogged research does justice to this complex and critically important historical figure. Readers of this important study will find important new evidence of Keitt's congressional career, his sense of honor, his part in the Sumner-Brooks affair, his role during the secession winter and the creation of the Confederacy, and his military record, as well as a fascinating and touching treatment of Keitt's marriage and family. Merchant's path-breaking biography is deeply researched and skillfully presented. The biographer and his subject have finally met.” Eric H. “this is an engaging, nuanced, and perceptive study.”--South Carolina Historical Magazine“Holt Merchant's biography of the South Carolina secessionist is as brisk and fast-paced as the life of Laurence Keitt himself. He then fought with equal vi
An important historical figure with unusual foresight J. Hardin If as it seems, Keitt was responsible for the building of the "Fireproof" in Charleston, he deserves praise for foresight and intelligence. One of the few who saw the need to preserve records of past SC history, perhaps the first to see the need for modern preservation. Regarding the jacket, domwe need the red eyes?
. Holt Merchant, until he retired in 2013, was a professor and chair of the history department at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia