
The Shame of Reconstruction, part 2: The Whites Fight Back
South’s leaders sparked White resistance, but lacked long-range ideas
by Ted O’Keefe
AS THE EVENING shadows lengthened on the deserted streets of Franklin, Tennessee, Saul Bierfield sat amidst the piled wares of his prosperous dry-goods store, greedily devouring a watermelon. Two…

The Shame of Reconstruction, part 1
by Ted O’Keefe
SHORTLY AFTER nightfall on September 8, 1865, a train steamed south from Orangeburg, South Carolina, through countryside which had been devastated by General William Sherman’s troops only a few months before. Among the passengers was a gaunt and battle-weary…