Rare opportunity in Eufaula, AL June 13.

Got this invite from a friend. For you history buff's this will be a great opportunity to see some rare books and photos from the past. As mentioned in the invite, we will get to visit with a collector that has many rare civil war photos. Who knows, he may have photos of your ancestors. This will be at the Fariview Cemetary on North Eufaula Avenue beginning at 10:30 central time June 13. It is one block east of US 431. Go east from 431 in Historic section of Eufaula, to first street, turn left. Cemetary is at the end of the street.

Invite

We have the tickets for the Jefferson Davis Celebration and barbecue and Alabama Allatoona Pass Monument Project in Eufaula for Saturday, 13 June. The event is now scheduled to begin at 10:30 (registeration), with the action (music, tours, etc., Donnie Kennedy's books and Bob McClendon's books and perhaps others for sale at c. 11:00 -- if Donnie and his wife arrive that early, they have to drive all the way from Monroe, Louisiana), dinner at noon, and the program beginning at around one.

Since we are serving food, we need to know how many people are coming. Hence, we are pre-selling tickets for $10 each for adults, $5 for children six through twelve, with children five and under free. Please tell anyone who plans to come to mail their check to me (Friends of Old Eufaula) at 106 Alabama Highway 95, Eufaula, Alabama 36027, and I will send them the tickets. (or if you will email me I'll let them know you are coming and you can ay when you arrive) A self-addressed stamped envelope would be nice but not absolutely necessary.

We are planning to have tours of the Confederate section of the Eufaula cemetery, and probably tours of some of the graves of prominent Eufaulians buried near the gazebo and Arboretum site, such as those of the Claytons, including Confederate Major General Henry DeLamar Clayton, who led an expedition to Kansas before the War and who served as President of the University of Alabama in the late 1880s. His son, Henry DeLamar Clayton, Jr., also buried in the Clayton lot in Eufaula, authored the very famous Clayton Anti-Trust Act. His wife, Virginia (Hunter) Clayton, who accompanied his party on the Kansas expedition, authored a book describing the Kansas experience, and life in the old slavery days of the South entitled "Black and White Under the Old Regime," the best single reminiscence I have seen explaining the Southern view of slavery -- their ministers quoted passages in the Bible justifying slavery, and they took it as their duty under God to care for the persons so placed under their care. "Black and White Under the Old Regime" is a classic work, though almost never cited today, or known, for that matter. It was published in 1903. Victoria (Hunter) Clayton was born in 1832 and died in 1908.

We have also arranged for tours of the Eufaula Athenaeum, the best collection of rare books, manuscripts, and photographs in private hands in Alabama, this according to the Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The War for Southern Independence is a major theme of the collection, as is Alabama and local history. Steve Williams, who assembled the collection over a period of forty years travelling all over the U. S. in his business, strongly believes he has the largest collection of "Civil War" photographs in private hands in the U. S. -- some 12,000 to 15,000 of them -- in little 'ole Eufaula! The Athenaeum is not yet open to the public, so this is a very rare opportunity to visit. There will be guided tours.

Thank you for whatever you are able to do to help us by encouraging people to come. The proceeds will go to the Alabama Monument to be erected at the Battle of Allatoona Pass. An effort is currently underway to have all States with soldiers at that battle to erect monuments at the battle site. Kolb's Battery of Eufaula was the only Alabama unit at the Battle of Allatoona Pass. Kolb, you may know, was a Populist candidate for Governor of Alabama in the 1890s, who is believed to have won the election, but the election officials declared William Calvin Oates, the Democratic nominee, from neighbouring Henry County, the winner. Feelings ran so strong that Kolb's supporters staged his inauguration in Montgomery anyway, but Oates was seated as Governor.