Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: The greatest football team ever
With all the coverage of the upcoming Super Bowl, thoughts turn to great football teams. In pro ball there are memories of the Old Green Bay dynasty. This past season of college ball brought back memories of the old LSU Chinese Bandits, at least until Alabama showed up for the rematch. Then there was East Mississippi Community College and its trip to Arizona to win the community/junior college national championship.
Rufus Ward: The art of history
When researching Southern history, it is always interesting to find first-person accounts of earlier times, but it is most fascinating to find early images. It is surprising just how many of those early images are around and how they can relate to the present.
Ask Rufus: The legend of General Hummingbird
Though now little-known, a Choctaw war chief commonly called “General Hummingbird” repeatedly came to the aid of the U.S. in times of trouble. He received military commissions from both George Washington and Andrew Jackson. His life took him through the formation of this country and had him serving with some of America’s greatest leaders.
Columbus’ five most interesting buildings
I am frequently asked, “What is the oldest house in Columbus?” However, I would rather answer, “What is the most interesting building in Columbus?” When it comes to the architectural history of Columbus, I have two friends who are the experts and on whom I normally rely for the best information.
Ask Rufus: The St. Stephen’s Trace
The St. Stephen’s Trace is a little-known but very historic road that once ran from John Pitchlynn’s residence at the present site of the John Stennis (Columbus) Lock and Dam to St. Stephen’s, which is about 50 miles north of Mobile.
Rufus Ward: Annus mirabilis 1811
Annus mirabilis is Latin for “year of wonders.” It is most recognized as the title of a poem by John Dryden about the miraculous year of 1666. However, there was also such a memorable year in the history of Mississippi. It was the year 1811.
Ask Rufus: Newspapers tell our history
People have often asked me where I find some of the little known events of history that I have written about. The answer is easy: The newspaper. Accounts of the settlement of what is now Mississippi have been published since articles on the French colony at Biloxi first appeared in French and English papers in 1699.
Ask Rufus: The tradition behind Halloween
For 800 years, Halloween has been an important, meaningful and fun celebration. However, a look today at Halloween around the country would lead one to believe that it’s a time to commercially exploit pagan themes and children. What is being lost is that it actually reflects an almost 2,000-year-old Christian tradition.
Rufus Ward: Gen. Grant’s Columbus ploy
History is like a big puzzle. There are scattered pieces tucked away in different collections, archives and books just waiting to be assembled. Sometimes these scattered pieces come together and what had been unassociated events help to form a complete story.
Rufus Ward: ‘Number 27 and the Pumpkin Pie’
Columbus was a major military hospital center during the Civil War. That was not a status Columbus sought. However, being a branch of the Mobile and Ohio railroad, and the handling of wounded after the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, resulted in the development of Columbus as a Confederate hospital center.
Rufus Ward: Sharks in your backyard
Many young people — and old ones too — enjoy collecting fossil shark’s teeth. The Tombigee River Valley is full of chalk and sand outcroppings that contain many different kinds of fossils. In the Golden Triangle area, these deposits are mostly from the Cretaceous Period of geologic history and range from about 70 to 82 million years old. Throughout the area are found the teeth of sharks, giant fish, sea going reptiles and even an occasional dinosaur.
Rufus Ward: Josh Meador and the ‘Forbidden Planet’
Last month the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscar people) celebrated the innovative special effects and technology of the 1956 movie, “Forbidden Planet.” In the MGM science-fiction classic, a space crew from Earth lands on a distant planet searching for survivors of a space ship that had landed there 20 years earlier. What they found were two survivors, a robot and a strange freighting Id monster.
Ask Rufus: Columbus in danger of losing a piece of its history
I read in Wednesday’s Dispatch the Postal Service was considering closing the downtown Columbus post office. Beside the practical inconvenience, such a move would vacate a building on the National Register of Historic Places and end a 191-year stretch for the Main Street staple.
Ask Rufus: Columbus in danger of losing a piece of its history
I read in Wednesday’s Dispatch the Postal Service was considering closing the downtown Columbus post office. Beside the practical inconvenience, such a move would vacate a building on the National Register of Historic Places and end a 191-year stretch for the Main Street staple.
