As you work on Blog Post #2 and your reading over the weekend, you might also want to check out this post about James Kemp Holland. It’s optional reading, but a timely post in light of our readings and discussions this week.
Holland, like Weary Clyburn and Silas Chandler, is identified on some websites as a high-ranking black Confederate officer in Texas. He married and lived in the Houston area for some time, and he actually settled eventually in Chappel Hill, which is very close to the location of the SCV billboard that I saw on my way to Brenham and talked about in class. (A picture of the billboard is here.)
This well-researched post on Holland offers a good example of how careful documentary research can be brought to bear on the question of whether there were “black Confederates.” And the connection of Holland to Houston makes it especially interesting reading for us!
Thanks for linking to my blog post on James Kemp Holland. If any of your students have questions or observations, they’re welcome to post in the comments there, as well. Discussion and weighing of the evidence is the goal here.