Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: The Sallie Spann
Often while working on a column, I fall down a rabbit home. That was the case Saturday while working on a column about the Tombigbee steamboats of 1852. The rabbit hole I stumbled into was the steamer Sallie Spann which sank on the lower Tombigbee 90 miles above Mobile November 22, 1855.
Ask Rufus: Oysters & C.
The Thanksgiving and soon Christmas holidays are upon us. Oysters and oyster dressing have long been a popular Thanksgiving and Christmas treat in Columbus, Aberdeen and other area towns.
Ask Rufus: Veterans Day in Lowndes County
On Friday Veterans Day was celebrated in Lowndes County and across the Country. While Veterans Day is now a day to celebrate and honor those who have served our country in the military, its origins go back to a day to honor those who had died during World War I.
Ask Rufus: Black Bears and a Yellow-Eyed Dog
Having grown up doing a lot of bird, deer, rabbit and squirrel hunting, that is often where my thoughts and memories wander in November.
Ask Rufus: Columbus newspapers
When working on my weekly Dispatch column, I often rely on period newspapers for primary source information.
Ask Rufus: Halloween’s Christian Roots
We are fast approaching Halloween, and according to a public invitation to a party at Miss Kitty Ezell’s house on College Street in Columbus, “Cats, Bats and Fairies bright dance together on Halloween night.”
Ask Rufus: A landscape having all the beauty and innocence of Eden
There are several good descriptions of the Columbus area when it was settled 204 years ago.
Ask Rufus: Mickey Mouse turns 94
This year Mickey Mouse turned 94 years old. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created Mickey in 1928. Mickey’s first animated short had been a silent one and the addition of sound, including music, that same year in “Steamboat Willie” made all the difference.
Ask Rufus: The Columbus Riflemen and the ‘Almost War’ with Mexico
The Columbus Riflemen were a storied Columbus military unit that had been organized in 1837. They had served with valor in the Mexican War, the Civil War and the Spanish American War. It was a distinctively Columbus unit with its armory located in city hall. In 1916 they and the Caledonia Rifles were the Lowndes County companies in the Mississippi National Guard. That all soon changed.
Ask Rufus: The Mississippi National Guard deployed to the Mexican border
No, that headline is not from now but from 1916.
Ask Rufus: Recalling M*A*S*H
September 17th will be the 50th anniversary of the classic television show M*A*S*H. It was first a book, published in 1968 by Dr. Richard Hornberger in collaboration with sportswriter W.C. Heinz, under the pen name Richard Hooker. The book became an Oscar winning movie in 1970.
Ask Rufus: A Grand Heritage of Military Aviation
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of Columbus Air Force Base in 1942. It is also the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Air Force as a separate military branch.
Ask Rufus: Samuel Edmondson’s 500-mile ride for help
It was 209 years ago today that Samuel Edmondson passed this way riding “hellbent for leather,” up the west side of the Tombigbee, spreading a warning of death and destruction.
Ask Rufus: Remembering Red Barber
Three recent events have brought to mind the late Walter Lanier “Red” Barber.
Ask Rufus: Choctaw heroes of World War I
Recently there has been a revival in interest in the 2002 movie Windtalkers, the story of Navajo code talkers during World War II.
Ask Rufus: Josh Meador’s Animation Effects
The other night I found myself watching Walt Disney’s 1951 animated feature “Alice in Wonderland.” Throughout the movie I kept seeing scenes I recognized as the work of Josh Meador.
Ask Rufus: Summer vacation
July always brings hot humid weather and thoughts of vacations. Though destinations and entertainment have to a large extent changed, summer vacations have long been with us. The Mississippi and Alabama coasts were popular 100 years ago with people from the Golden Triangle and still are. One change though is that rather than Gulf Shores or Orange Beach — then basically a barren beach — it was the Point Clear area along Mobile Bay that was the vacation destination in Alabama.
Ask Rufus: 200 Years of Industrial Development in Columbus
I read in The Dispatch last week that a new industry is locating here. That brought to mind the first industry in Columbus and how industrial sites and the products manufactured here have changed over the years.
Ask Rufus: Memories from The Porch of Wisdom
With the passing of PFC Brad Freeman, Easy Co, 506 PIR, 101st Airborne, news media around the world has told his story. I could certainly repeat those accolades and add even more.
