Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: Footprints
This year, we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country’s independence.
Ask Rufus: Hunting memories
It’s that time of year when we’re leaving deer season and drifting toward turkey season.
Ask Rufus: Sounds of wrecks and rivers
Recently I watched a television special on the loss of the Edmond Fitzgerald on the Great Lakes and Gordon Lightfoot’s hit song about her. It made me think of another song about a wrecked boat.
Ask Rufus: Random thoughts on events of 211 years ago
Recently the 211th anniversary of an event with ties to our area and that shaped American history passed all but unnoticed.
Ask Rufus: A jigsaw puzzle of Columbus history
I am frequently asked where I find the details of the stories in my column.
Ask Rufus: Alabama Public Television presents a ghost story at Christmas
Kathryn Tucker Windham (1918-2011) was the best ghost storyteller I have ever heard.
Ask Rufus: ‘The Night Before Christmas’
The poem “The Night Before Christmas” is an enduring American Christmas tradition, but few know its history or realize its impact on how we celebrate Christmas.
Ask Rufus: 117 Years of Letters to Santa
It’s once again time for children to write letters to Santa Claus.
Ask Rufus: Searching for Thomas Thomas
One of, if not the biggest, mysteries surrounding the founding of Columbus is who was Thomas Thomas.
Ask Rufus: Columbus 1852
I was recently given an 1852 Mississippi Almanac which I will be placing in the Billups Garth Archives at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library.
Ask Rufus: The origins of Thanksgiving
I have recently had several people mention the Pilgrims and the origin of the American celebration of Thanksgiving.
Ask Rufus: Mr. Hooper’s Choctaw Dinner in 1822
Seven years ago, I wrote a column about a missionary from Mayhew having dinner with Moshulitubbee, a Choctaw chief, at his house northeast of present-day Brooksville.
Ask Rufus: John Murphy, a veteran of the revolution
Today’s column continues the stories of veterans of the American Revolution who resided in Lowndes County.
Ask Rufus: Lowndes County oil boom, oops bust of 1920
It’s been called everything from black gold to Texas tea, and since the mid-1800s oil oozing from the ground has meant an economic bonanza.
Ask Rufus: Ghosts and apparitions along the Tombigbee
It is the season for ghosts and haunted houses, but not all area ghosts are found on land.
Ask Rufus: Anna Burnham, pioneer Starkville teacher
I recently came across a map published in the December 1832 issue of the Missionary Herald that showed the location of all the Indian missions and schools that were in Mississippi.
Ask Rufus: Rescuing the white horses
I recently watched the 1963 Disney movie “Miracle of the White Stallions.” The movie was a fascinating and fairly accurate though condensed depiction of the saving of the Lipizzaner horses from the German SS and the Red Army at the end of World War II. It was based on one of the strangest military operations of the war.
Ask Rufus: William Cocke and the founding of Columbus
The entire direction of William Cocke’s life changed with the outbreak of the War of 1812. A phase of that war in the South was the Creek Indian War of 1813-1814.
Ask Rufus: William Cocke, from the founding of America to the founding of Columbus
One of the most interesting and significant figures in Columbus history was William Cocke.
Ask Rufus: The most frequent questions
I often have people ask me about different topics or stories and many times I have previously written about those topics. Over the 16 years I have been writing this column, these are the questions I am most often asked.
