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The Children of Pride: Selected letters of the family of the Rev. Dr. Charles Colcock Jones from the years 1860-1868; A New, Abridged Edition
Provides a detailed picture of plantation life in Georgia
706 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
March 10, 2015
I started this book back late last summer and been with it so long I don't even have any good initial reaction insights left.
Background: It's the story of a well-respected, wealthy, religious, compassionate, erudite, white supremacist, plantation family through the course of the civil war. The entire book consists of the letters they wrote to each other.
Two cents: This is one of those books you internalize and never forget. It is one of the most insightful books on civil war times and one of the most unique books in the history of the human race. That's not hyperbole. I honestly doubt there is another collection of letters this extensive, written and preserved during one of the epic periods of human history, anywhere else in the world.
The book starts in the heyday of the antebellum south. The family has several plantations, they are prosperous, the father is a respected elder in the Presbyterian church, and the sons are away in the north at Harvard law school and Penn Medical school. By the end of the book their plantations are razed, the family fortune is on its last legs and all the family is dispersed, consistent with the post war diaspora. You pass first hand through their marriages, their tragedies, the experience of their first born children, their careers, the death of loved ones, their military service, their racism and pride. Fiction could never do as much as this book-one person's imagination is only so expansive. History books can never do as much, writing from hindsight.
Parts of their world are like our own, others radically different. Recently I find myself comparing it against life in internet times which only underscores how much the internet makes life feel like an abstraction, passing by as a movie.
Final thought: Even the mini-biographies at the end of the book touched me deeply. The book is one of the best lessons in life I've ever read.
Background: It's the story of a well-respected, wealthy, religious, compassionate, erudite, white supremacist, plantation family through the course of the civil war. The entire book consists of the letters they wrote to each other.
Two cents: This is one of those books you internalize and never forget. It is one of the most insightful books on civil war times and one of the most unique books in the history of the human race. That's not hyperbole. I honestly doubt there is another collection of letters this extensive, written and preserved during one of the epic periods of human history, anywhere else in the world.
The book starts in the heyday of the antebellum south. The family has several plantations, they are prosperous, the father is a respected elder in the Presbyterian church, and the sons are away in the north at Harvard law school and Penn Medical school. By the end of the book their plantations are razed, the family fortune is on its last legs and all the family is dispersed, consistent with the post war diaspora. You pass first hand through their marriages, their tragedies, the experience of their first born children, their careers, the death of loved ones, their military service, their racism and pride. Fiction could never do as much as this book-one person's imagination is only so expansive. History books can never do as much, writing from hindsight.
Parts of their world are like our own, others radically different. Recently I find myself comparing it against life in internet times which only underscores how much the internet makes life feel like an abstraction, passing by as a movie.
Final thought: Even the mini-biographies at the end of the book touched me deeply. The book is one of the best lessons in life I've ever read.
April 14, 2017
If you are a Civil War buff this book is a worthwhile read. However, if you merely want an overview of the time period and setting, Sarah Morgan's Civil War Diaries would be a much better choice as it is written in a more engaging manner.
When first reviewing the list of people central to the volume, I was encouraged by the large number and hoped to get many viewpoints of the times. To my disappointment, well over half the book involves letter exchanges between basically three people. This leads to a great deal of repetition and a sort of tunnel vision of unfolding events. One of the most interesting parts occurred during Sherman's March across Georgia when excerpts from journals are interspersed with the letters. I think the book would have been better served to include journal excerpts throughout. To me, these were much more interesting and delved deeper into a person's thoughts and feelings.
I was continually left incredulous by the thinking of Reverend Jones and his wife. Now, I'm not naïve as to how people, particularly Southerners, viewed black people during this time period. However, the hypocrisy displayed by a preacher was stunning. I kept wanting to ask him one question. "Do you think when getting to heaven, black people will be cooped up in a different section of paradise?" And both he, his wife and children exhort a need to fight for liberty as all the while they deny liberty to others.
Another part of the letters which grew tedious were the constant listing of sicknesses and ailments. At times, I felt as if I'd been cornered by the elderly relative whose greatest thrill in life is to relay all their aches and pains. The prevalence of certain illnesses (such as cholera, yellow fever, measles, etc.), however, left me quite thankful I live in a time of vaccines and where scientists have eradicated many virulent illnesses.
My favorite parts of the letters were the descriptions of the young children and their exploits. The pride of the grandparents shines through whenever they are mentioned and the reader can sense the love for the grandchildren and the eagerness the grandparents have while awaiting a visit. All of which made the death of little Julia very sad, even though I'd already perused the family tree and knew it was inevitable. The predominance of the children in the letters also helps the reader remember the truly innocent victims in any war, on either side. Children.
While I admire the courage and reliance on faith of Mrs. Mary Jones (the Reverend's wife), at times her hypocrisy is breathtaking. My skin actually crawled when she stated that Caucasians are intellectually superior to blacks, though she certainly was not thinking differently than most for the time period. She is also greatly shocked that most of the black people would choose freedom over continuing enslavement. If nothing else, that should have proven her wrong on the question of intellect.
One point which was returned to over and over left me perplexed and if anyone knows the answer, please enlighten me. The Reverend Jones at times, and later on his wife in much more emphatic fashion, continually plead with their eldest son, Charles Jr., to "accept God as his Savior". From all the letters I read that were written by Charles, he believed in God and Jesus and seemed quite religious. What am I missing? Is it something specific to the Presbyterian religion? Does he have to make a public statement of faith before he can be "saved"? Nothing I read by Charles Jr. left the impression that he was a godless man on the path to hell. If anyone can help with the specifics here, I'd appreciate it.
Overall, a good look at the mindset of people in the South at the time and the way their lives are upended by war. Because of the repetition, however, I would recommend this only to people with an extreme interest in Civil War history.
When first reviewing the list of people central to the volume, I was encouraged by the large number and hoped to get many viewpoints of the times. To my disappointment, well over half the book involves letter exchanges between basically three people. This leads to a great deal of repetition and a sort of tunnel vision of unfolding events. One of the most interesting parts occurred during Sherman's March across Georgia when excerpts from journals are interspersed with the letters. I think the book would have been better served to include journal excerpts throughout. To me, these were much more interesting and delved deeper into a person's thoughts and feelings.
I was continually left incredulous by the thinking of Reverend Jones and his wife. Now, I'm not naïve as to how people, particularly Southerners, viewed black people during this time period. However, the hypocrisy displayed by a preacher was stunning. I kept wanting to ask him one question. "Do you think when getting to heaven, black people will be cooped up in a different section of paradise?" And both he, his wife and children exhort a need to fight for liberty as all the while they deny liberty to others.
Another part of the letters which grew tedious were the constant listing of sicknesses and ailments. At times, I felt as if I'd been cornered by the elderly relative whose greatest thrill in life is to relay all their aches and pains. The prevalence of certain illnesses (such as cholera, yellow fever, measles, etc.), however, left me quite thankful I live in a time of vaccines and where scientists have eradicated many virulent illnesses.
My favorite parts of the letters were the descriptions of the young children and their exploits. The pride of the grandparents shines through whenever they are mentioned and the reader can sense the love for the grandchildren and the eagerness the grandparents have while awaiting a visit. All of which made the death of little Julia very sad, even though I'd already perused the family tree and knew it was inevitable. The predominance of the children in the letters also helps the reader remember the truly innocent victims in any war, on either side. Children.
While I admire the courage and reliance on faith of Mrs. Mary Jones (the Reverend's wife), at times her hypocrisy is breathtaking. My skin actually crawled when she stated that Caucasians are intellectually superior to blacks, though she certainly was not thinking differently than most for the time period. She is also greatly shocked that most of the black people would choose freedom over continuing enslavement. If nothing else, that should have proven her wrong on the question of intellect.
One point which was returned to over and over left me perplexed and if anyone knows the answer, please enlighten me. The Reverend Jones at times, and later on his wife in much more emphatic fashion, continually plead with their eldest son, Charles Jr., to "accept God as his Savior". From all the letters I read that were written by Charles, he believed in God and Jesus and seemed quite religious. What am I missing? Is it something specific to the Presbyterian religion? Does he have to make a public statement of faith before he can be "saved"? Nothing I read by Charles Jr. left the impression that he was a godless man on the path to hell. If anyone can help with the specifics here, I'd appreciate it.
Overall, a good look at the mindset of people in the South at the time and the way their lives are upended by war. Because of the repetition, however, I would recommend this only to people with an extreme interest in Civil War history.
December 15, 2009
This is the abridged version (at almost 700 pages) of the letters of a Georgia plantation family on the verge of, during, and just after the Civil War.
It's fascinating for all the reasons collections of period letters are such a treasure, especially when the letters are written without any eye to an audience. We see from the inside the idyllic life of a loving family, who are convinced that their way is God's plan for the world--they genuinely care for their "childish" slaves nearly as much as they cherish their children. When sickness strikes, the nursing and the (largely ineffective) doctoring is spread among them all. But they don't question that way of life--Lincoln and the Northerners, the "Lincolnists" are seen as willful destroyers. And of course everything they feared came to pass--the south was torn up, their plantation burned and stripped of everything of value, and they were scattered around--those who survived--to adjust to change.
Robert Manson Myers, in selecting the letters, centered them around Charles Colcock Jones, Jr. who was made mayor of a city at the age of 29 because of his dynamism, erudition, and his deep faith. We see him gradually alter into a military man, though he suppresses the worst details because he's writing to his mother, his sisters, his aging pastor of a father. We see him pursue a frustrating case where another pastor came to live at the house, seduced a black servant, and left the girl pregnant. He never discusses this case with his family, as that wouldn't be proper: there are no civil laws covering the situation, so he writes to the man's church, presenting three proofs--that is, the man staying there during the time, the fact that the girl readily said who had fathered her baby, and the fact that the "mulatto" baby looks just like the father. In turn, the church authorities of the man's home explain how each charge could be wrong. Even when evidence turns up that the man had done this before, the churchmen still are reluctant to act when their man swears an oath, and he's so upstanding in all other regards. You see both sides trying to figure out what to do when there are no laws--except that blacks and whites cannot marry, therefore the man could not be charged with false promises.
Watching these people struggle to deal with justice in circumstances that we, in modern times, know were rife with injustice makes tough reading. Watching the war from the southern viewpoint, as all the high ideals erode and grim reality just gets worse; watching Jones's first wife die, and his little daughter, because the medical knowledge of the time is ineffective. Watching the family struggle to save the baby, whose ears are leaking nasty stuff--they finally resort to baths of burnt brandy, which (unknown to them) kills germs. The baby survives.
Their earnestness, their mutual love, their faith while they cannot see the injustice of their entire way of life does not make this book an easy read, but it's sure an absorbing one.
It's fascinating for all the reasons collections of period letters are such a treasure, especially when the letters are written without any eye to an audience. We see from the inside the idyllic life of a loving family, who are convinced that their way is God's plan for the world--they genuinely care for their "childish" slaves nearly as much as they cherish their children. When sickness strikes, the nursing and the (largely ineffective) doctoring is spread among them all. But they don't question that way of life--Lincoln and the Northerners, the "Lincolnists" are seen as willful destroyers. And of course everything they feared came to pass--the south was torn up, their plantation burned and stripped of everything of value, and they were scattered around--those who survived--to adjust to change.
Robert Manson Myers, in selecting the letters, centered them around Charles Colcock Jones, Jr. who was made mayor of a city at the age of 29 because of his dynamism, erudition, and his deep faith. We see him gradually alter into a military man, though he suppresses the worst details because he's writing to his mother, his sisters, his aging pastor of a father. We see him pursue a frustrating case where another pastor came to live at the house, seduced a black servant, and left the girl pregnant. He never discusses this case with his family, as that wouldn't be proper: there are no civil laws covering the situation, so he writes to the man's church, presenting three proofs--that is, the man staying there during the time, the fact that the girl readily said who had fathered her baby, and the fact that the "mulatto" baby looks just like the father. In turn, the church authorities of the man's home explain how each charge could be wrong. Even when evidence turns up that the man had done this before, the churchmen still are reluctant to act when their man swears an oath, and he's so upstanding in all other regards. You see both sides trying to figure out what to do when there are no laws--except that blacks and whites cannot marry, therefore the man could not be charged with false promises.
Watching these people struggle to deal with justice in circumstances that we, in modern times, know were rife with injustice makes tough reading. Watching the war from the southern viewpoint, as all the high ideals erode and grim reality just gets worse; watching Jones's first wife die, and his little daughter, because the medical knowledge of the time is ineffective. Watching the family struggle to save the baby, whose ears are leaking nasty stuff--they finally resort to baths of burnt brandy, which (unknown to them) kills germs. The baby survives.
Their earnestness, their mutual love, their faith while they cannot see the injustice of their entire way of life does not make this book an easy read, but it's sure an absorbing one.
November 23, 2013
I read the unabridged version, which my local used book store was able to find for me. I am so glad to have discovered this series. Can't believe I didn't know about it all these years, since it won so many awards when it was first published. This true story of the Jones family in pre-Civil War years, war time, and the postwar era is totally absorbing. Now that I have family members living in the Savannah area, it has more meaning than if I had read it earlier. Each person in the Jones family has his or her own voice, even through the letter format, and it is surprising how contemporary they often sound. Their good intentions are quite apparent, so it is even more shocking how callous they can sound about their slaves. Though they are concerned about souls, in the end it is all about business. I must also give great credit to the editor, Dr. Myers, for his monumental work in shaping this collection.
January 27, 2012
I'd heard this dramatized on radio when it was first released in 1973 and wanted to get "the whole story." I would recommend the complete addition, which has an index, maps, and brief biographies of people mentioned in the letters. The abridged edition confines itself to the Civil War and Reconstruction periods and left me, at least, wondering why everyone was so concerned about Charlie's faith, why was Kitty Stiles so close to the family, and wondering what became of the minor players.
February 12, 2016
I checked this book out of my local public library because it was the biggest book I had ever seen on the shelves there. I wasn't at all prepared for how fascinated and even swept-away I would be by this book. It was like the true story version of Gone With the Wind.
October 25, 2012
Absolutely superb history, a true slice of life. Shows an unbiased view of an extended family in the South before, during, and after the Civil War.
July 3, 2021
I was only able to get a copy of the third volume of letters (post-Civil War) but now I mean to read them all. They are very illuminating of the mind set of nineteenth century Southern planters (the people who insist on calling their unpaid, involuntary work force "servants," just for starters - including the editor, in his preface. In 1972). Fascinating.
March 27, 2023
Children of Pride is an absolutely incredible, amazing book. It consists of a collection of letters between members of a Georgia family from 1854-1868 -- just before, during and after the Civil War. You don't have to be interested in history to appreciate this book; if you are interested in people, then you will find the book engrossing (and learn a lot of history along the way!).
The paterfamilias, Dr. Colcock Jones, is a retired Presbyterian minister, a published author, a missionary to the slave population. His wife Mary helps to oversee their 3 plantations and more than 100 slaves, and spends much time entertaining, visiting, and graciously managing her household. As the letters begin, the oldest son is attending Harvard Law School, the second son, a recent Princeton graduate, is in medical school, and the youngest child, a daughter, lives at home preparing for her expected life as a Southern woman of means.
One of the amazing things about this book is the eloquence of their writing; even just between child and parent, the writing is formal and erudite. Interestingly, after a brief prologue introducing the characters, the letters tell the entire story, without footnotes, without narration. The letters themselves read like a complete novel (an intimate and intense Gone with the Wind).
Reading the letters, I was stunned at how their lives were upended by the war -- from a comfortable privileged life, to confusion and grief and then terror as the war progressed, to destitution and "a skeleton world" at the end.
But the thought uppermost in my mind after finishing the book was puzzlement. These were good kind intelligent people -- how could they not see the inherent evil of slavery? But they didn't. These kind generous people truly believed in the rightness of slavery.
At close to 2000 pages, starting this book is an intense commitment, but, wow, one of the best, most emotional and enlightening books ever!
The paterfamilias, Dr. Colcock Jones, is a retired Presbyterian minister, a published author, a missionary to the slave population. His wife Mary helps to oversee their 3 plantations and more than 100 slaves, and spends much time entertaining, visiting, and graciously managing her household. As the letters begin, the oldest son is attending Harvard Law School, the second son, a recent Princeton graduate, is in medical school, and the youngest child, a daughter, lives at home preparing for her expected life as a Southern woman of means.
One of the amazing things about this book is the eloquence of their writing; even just between child and parent, the writing is formal and erudite. Interestingly, after a brief prologue introducing the characters, the letters tell the entire story, without footnotes, without narration. The letters themselves read like a complete novel (an intimate and intense Gone with the Wind).
Reading the letters, I was stunned at how their lives were upended by the war -- from a comfortable privileged life, to confusion and grief and then terror as the war progressed, to destitution and "a skeleton world" at the end.
But the thought uppermost in my mind after finishing the book was puzzlement. These were good kind intelligent people -- how could they not see the inherent evil of slavery? But they didn't. These kind generous people truly believed in the rightness of slavery.
At close to 2000 pages, starting this book is an intense commitment, but, wow, one of the best, most emotional and enlightening books ever!
October 4, 2014
I read ALL of the original 1400 page (plus the 300 page who's who) in the spring of 1973 when my family (me as adult) was in France, way out in the country. I borrowed it from the USIA library which was (is now??) on the 4th floor of the magnificent city library of Clermont-Ferrand, an hour's drive away from the village we lived near.
An utterly engrossing story is told in these pages, letters to and from many people of this one Presbyterian Southern family. They had owned slaves, but had given them their freedom long before (If I am remembering correctly).
The one thing that made it possible for me to take in this story (it seemed at first like lots of people all speaking at once)was that we had no radio, a rented television that did not work very well (and was in our bedroom, where there were no chairs, and freezing cold). No distractions. No wonder this book won the 1972 National Book Award.
Robert Manson's judicious editing, his succinct and meaty footnotes, and 300 pages of who's who to turn to every so often, made this a pearl of a book. A string of pearls. Two or three sides of every argument were revealed, the tragedies and the (small) triumphs...
If you love a good book, can allow yourself to be drawn in, read the full length version. It takes the whole family to tell the story.
An utterly engrossing story is told in these pages, letters to and from many people of this one Presbyterian Southern family. They had owned slaves, but had given them their freedom long before (If I am remembering correctly).
The one thing that made it possible for me to take in this story (it seemed at first like lots of people all speaking at once)was that we had no radio, a rented television that did not work very well (and was in our bedroom, where there were no chairs, and freezing cold). No distractions. No wonder this book won the 1972 National Book Award.
Robert Manson's judicious editing, his succinct and meaty footnotes, and 300 pages of who's who to turn to every so often, made this a pearl of a book. A string of pearls. Two or three sides of every argument were revealed, the tragedies and the (small) triumphs...
If you love a good book, can allow yourself to be drawn in, read the full length version. It takes the whole family to tell the story.
Want to read
October 10, 2020I have the first edition which my family gave me. I am Charles Colcock Jones' great great great great grandson which feels very strange to state given the horrors of slavery my ancestors participated in and the value my father, Jones' great great great grandson, imparted to me to be actively against racism and viewing blacks as inferiors to white people.
I look to forward to reading this book so that I can learn more about one of the most important periods of our young nation's history.
Another book which may be of interest is this one about Jones' great grandson: War and Healing: Stanhope Bayne-Jones and the Maturing of American Medicine (Southern Biography Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/080711717X/...
I look to forward to reading this book so that I can learn more about one of the most important periods of our young nation's history.
Another book which may be of interest is this one about Jones' great grandson: War and Healing: Stanhope Bayne-Jones and the Maturing of American Medicine (Southern Biography Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/080711717X/...
September 14, 2007
This is a collection of letters written before, during and after the Civil War from members of a southern family to each other. The sons went to Harvard so the northern view is expressed.
Fascinating!
Fascinating!
October 1, 2009
Really interesting, although I wish there were maps so I could pinpoint the places they are talking about. I know the coastal area just well enough to be frustrated by this. However, the book itself is great. It confirmed some things that I had always heard about the war and the post-war time.
January 29, 2016
A fascinating look at life on a Georgia plantation during the civil war through letters of the family. I can't believe I'm the only person on Shelfari who has read this. I know somebody who became so interested in this that they went down to Georgia and found the remains of the mansion.
January 17, 2011
Fascinating collection of letters written before, during and after the Civil War.
July 7, 2011
Excellent, especially for Civil War buffs.
Read
January 27, 2015David Buttolph was my great, great uncle
April 25, 2016
This was a life changer for me because I did it for my Master s degree back in the 80s
August 21, 2018
Although a tremendous undertaking, this historical non-fiction will give you an unmatched experience of plantation life in Georgia before, during and after the Civil War. It is essentially a case study, focusing on the events of these times through the lives of one family- that of Rev. CC and Mary Jones of Liberty County, GA. revealed through their extended family's exchanged correspondence. Deeply religious, and yet deeply believing in the moral rectitude of their position as masters over "the people" (black servants, not once referred to as slaves) the Reverend Jones disagreed that the war was being fought to maintain the South's economic system: "We are fighting for our liberty and independence, not for our interests. They certainly are involved, but they are secondary." Meanwhile, his wife, Mary, foreshadows the great tragedy which is about to overtake her family and friends, writing in 1860: "Our commonest blessings are our greatest; we need only to be deprived of them to feel it so." A wonderful resource, but a read for only the dedicated few.
July 23, 2021
A remarkable 1400 page collection of letters from a Presbyterian slaveholding family in coastal Georgia. The letters begin in 1855 and go through 1868--the years leading up to, during and immediately after the Civil War. They are unquestionably lovely people, with loving family relations, deep religious convictions, and good educations. They all write well, and their letters give a vivid portrait of an extended family circle during not only a terrible war, but also through sickness, death, marriage, childbirth, hurricane, and drought. I was completely caught up in it. The family is utterly blind to slavery. They own well over 100 slaves, and are evidently fond of the house servants, but the plantation way of life, dependent on enslavement, hold them in its thrall so thoroughly that questions about who gave them the right to buy and sell other human beings never even reach consciousness.
May 29, 2019
My five stars are for the unabridged version, which I was able to find through a used book source. It's three huge volumes, but reading in full gave me a sense like no other of living through the years before, during, and after the Civil War in coastal Georgia. The letters of this extended family are so thorough and detailed I really felt like I knew them and understood the times in a way I never had before. I read this in 2010 but it still ranks as one of my greatest reading experiences. I've recommended the unabridged version to others over the years as one of the best ways to understand the Southern experience during this time period.
August 15, 2022
A dishonest attempt at doing something. I have no idea what the intention was, but I found out about which kind of wood the door was made, and what ”they say” about this or that person. Surely there are some years thrown in, but mostly it's about collectives: the people of X county, the members of a certain clan.
June 29, 2020
Provides a detailed picture of plantation life in Georgia before, during, and after the War Between the States. National Book Award for History (1973), Fletcher Pratt Award (1972), Museum of the Confederacy Founders Award (1972)
February 9, 2023
A totally astonishing and absorbing book. It’s a long haul (1800 pgs) but the portraits are vivid and engaging. The only edition available new is severely abridged which is unfortunate. The original can still be found used.
March 21, 2020
This is one of the most powerful and moving books I've ever read.
March 25, 2022
Elaborate comments included in review of the softcover edition recorded earlier.
Want to read
September 27, 2017* Understanding Oppression: African American Rights (Then and Now)
The Children of Pride: Selected letters of the family of the Rev. Dr. Charles Colcock Jones from the years 1860-1868; A New, Abridged Edition by Robert Manson Myers #history #americas slavery
The Children of Pride: Selected letters of the family of the Rev. Dr. Charles Colcock Jones from the years 1860-1868; A New, Abridged Edition by Robert Manson Myers #history #americas slavery
Want to read
November 20, 2010Civil war-era letters NPR --
November 12, 2013
I own and have read the unabridged version of The Children of Pride. Excellent. The very best research for any writer of Civil War era fiction.
April 12, 2013
I think my favorite line is from the introduction
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews