Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: Horace King and the 1842 Tombigbee bridge
I had not decided what to write about this week until I came across an article in a May 10, 1842, Columbus newspaper announcing that construction was about to start on a bridge across the Tombigbee River at Columbus.
Ask Rufus: A legacy of heroism
There is a strange web about this world that sometimes makes it seem like a much smaller place than it is.
Ask Rufus: Shot down over Germany: A story of heroism
During World War II, my father, Rufus Ward Sr., was a B-17 tail gunner in the 337th Squadron of the 96th Bomb Group based at Snetterton Heath, England.
Ask Rufus: Natural Beauty
So often when we think of the grand beauty of nature, we think of impressive sights such as Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon.
Ask Rufus: Three Houses
My plan for today’s column was to put together a walking tour of a historic area on the north side of Main Street in Columbus.
Ask Rufus: Easter Dinner
Most Christians today will celebrate Easter enjoying a traditional meal that is also one of the year’s most important family gathering times.
Ask Rufus: The Voyage of the Gopher
Two years ago, I wrote a column about famed archaeologist Clarence Bloomfield Moore’s expeditions up the Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers between 1900 and 1906.
Ask Rufus: A Sunday stroll of historic homes
Today there are seven different homes and two Churches open on three different tours for the Columbus pilgrimage.
Ask Rufus: Columbus in 1822
I was talking the other day with Carolyn Kaye about the book on the history of Columbus that she, her late husband Sam Kaye and I had written in 1992 and how much more information we had uncovered since then.
Ask Rufus: 99 years ago airplanes were everywhere
In 1917 the Army began construction of a pilot training base on 533 acres in the prairie four miles north of West Point.
Ask Rufus: The Chickasaws and Choctaws, people of culture
Last Sunday at the Mississippi-Alabama Bicentennial program at Mississippi University for Women, Phillip Morgan, a Chickasaw writer/historian, spoke about how the Chickasaws and Choctaws here at the time of statehood were a cultured, civilized people.
Ask Rufus: It was exactly 200 years ago
This past Friday marked the 200th anniversary of the separation of the Mississippi Territory into Mississippi and Alabama, and it was 200 years ago this fall that the first house was built on the site that became Columbus.
Ask Rufus: The Cotton Plant
A week from today, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 5, there will be a most interesting program open to the public at the Mississippi University for Women titled “Borderline Confusion: Culture and Conflict in the Making of Mississippi and Alabama.”
Ask Rufus: Follow the Drinking Gourd, A Pathway to Freedom
Within the narratives of the Underground Railroad as a pathway to freedom for slaves in the antebellum South, one story merges into local history.
Ask Rufus: Lafayette and the Sons of the Forest
Back in November, my cousin Chip Billups and I were examining an old glass medallion with a cameo sulfide bust of George Washington.
Ask Rufus: The Minister’s Duel
It’s always surprising how finding an interesting story can lead down a trail to even far more interesting stories.
Ask Rufus: The Red Cross: 100 years in the Golden Triangle
Lost in the celebration of Mississippi”s Bicentennial is another time for celebration.
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.
