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15/06/2021

11. Constitutions

The southern states and newborn Confederacy needed founding documents. Their new Constitutions explicitly protected slavery and made it difficult, if not impossible, to emancipate people who were enslaved.

Image credits:

1) Provisional Confederate Constitution, https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:Provisional_Confederate_Constitution.djvu/1&oldid=8250280

2) “James Hopkinson’s Plantation,” Henry P. Moore, Library of Congress – Civil War Treasures from the New York Historical Society, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Hopkinsons_Plantation_Slaves_Planting_Sweet_Potatoes.jpg, public domain

3) Image of Savannah, Georgia, circa 1861, https://plaintalkhistory.com/read-their-reasons/1861/03/22/alexander-stephens/

4) “The Confederate Cabinet,” circa 1861, Harper’s Weekly, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ConfederateCabinet.jpg, public domain

5) Provisional Congress, Montgomery, Alabama, circa 1861, by Frank Leslie, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Confederate_congress.jpg

15/06/2021

10. Absurdity

Henry Benning believed that slavery needed to expand westward to prevent a future of unimaginable, unspeakable horrors for white people. Any southerner who disagreed risked abetting the extinction of the white race.

Image credits:

1) “Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton,” by Henry P. Moore, 28698046@N08/25351067412/," rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/28698046@N08/25351067412/, public domain

2) “Cotton Belt Region Map” By Caliga10 at the English language Wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27425666 , CC BY-SA 3.0

3) “Effects of the Fugitive Slave Law,” Theodor Kaufmann, Hoff & Bloede, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a05114/, public domain

4) “Richmond, VA, Front view of Capitol,” Author Unknown, Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.02891/, public domain

5) “General Benning_3010” by James Emery, https://flic.kr/p/8qgaKS CC BY 2.0

6) “The Freedmen’s Bureau,” Alfred R. Waud, Harper’s Weekly, 1868, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/92514996/, public domain

7) “First Colored Senator and Representative,” Currier & Ives, 1872, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98501907/, public domain

8) “Emancipation Day in South Carolina,” Frank Leslie, 1863, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99614128/, public domain

9) “Celebration of the Abolition of Slavery in Washington, DC,” Frederick Dielman, 1866, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00651116/, public domain

10) “Virginia Ordinance of Secession,” 1861, http://historymaking.org/textbook/files/original/03427b6f70fb5cd264ca02df0a0d69f6.jpg

04/05/2021

9. Virginia

Henry Benning gave a fiery speech at Virginia’s secession convention explaining Georgia’s primary motivation for leaving the North: it was the only way to prevent the abolition of slavery. He saw no other way and believed that his audience would agree.

Photo credits:
1) “Richmond, VA, Front view of Capitol,” Author Unknown, Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.02891/, public domain

2) “General Benning_3010” by James Emery, https://flic.kr/p/8qgaKS, CC BY 2.0

3) From “Get off the track!” song by Jesse Hutchinson and B.W. Thayer & Co., Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b16371/, public domain

4) “First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation,” Francis Bicknell Carpenter, U.S. Senate Collection, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emancipation_proclamation.jpg, public domain

5) “The United States Senate, A.D. 1850,” Drawn by Peter F. Rothermel, engraved by Robert Whitechurch, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.09398/, public domain

6) “The Underground Railroad,.” Charles T. Webber, 1893, Cincinnati Art Museum, American Paintings, Sculptures, and Drawings, https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection?id=19760930, public domain

7) “History Map of the United States: The Secession,” University of Texas at Austin, from the Cambridge Modern History Atlas, 1912, http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/united_states_secession_1860.htm, public domain

19/04/2021

8. Dream

Georgia joined six other states to create the Confederate States of America in February of 1861, but that left eight other southern states reluctant to leave the Union. Soon after the Confederacy’s founding, the slave states that remained in the Union held conventions on the issue of secession. Georgia sent Henry Benning to Virginia’s convention to convince stubborn Unionists that secession alone could preserve the institution of slavery.










Photo Credits:
1) Cotton Field, Retreat Plantation, Port Royal Island, S.C. – by Hubbard & Mix, Beaufort, S.C., Library of Congress, public domain, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012648060/

2) The City of Montgomery Alabama, Harper’s Weekly, public domain, https://civilwarmonths.com/monthly-timeline/1861-2/february-1861/

3) Provisional Congress, Montgomery, Alabama, by Frank Leslie, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Confederate_congress.jpg,

4) The Confederate Cabinet, Harper’s Weekly, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ConfederateCabinet.jpg, public domain

5) State House Richmond, Virginia, public domain, https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:h128sk460

6) Map of the City of Richmond, Virginia, public domain, https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3884r.cw0645600/

7) The City of Richmond, Virginia – View From Gamble’s Hill, sketched by A.W. Warren, Harper’s Weekly, public domain, http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/April/confederate-capitol.htm

8) Mrs. Casey’s Warning to Parson Brownlow, by Dan Beard, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brownlow-speech-sevierville-tn1.jpg

9) “General Benning_3010” by James Emery, https://flic.kr/p/8qgaKS CC BY 2.0

10) The Capitol of Virginia, Richmond, by Unknown, Library of Congress, public domain, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/135804684

09/04/2021

7. Strife

According to Henry Benning, Lincoln and his allies engaged in nothing less than a wholesale subversion of the United States Constitution. Benning did not see abolition as an attempt to free subjugated and enslaved people, but rather a conspiracy by Lincoln and the Republicans to dissolve the Union through domestic conflict and the imposition of illegal and immoral laws.











Photo credits:
1) Republican Ticket – public domain, https://www.loc.gov/resource/lprbscsm.scsm0711/

2) Lincoln Portrait – Matthew Brady, public domain, http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a09102/

3) Drawing of Wigwam Interior During 1860 Nominating Convention, public domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sauganash4b.jpg

4) A Wide Awake Parade Through Lower Manhattan, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abraham_Lincoln%27s_political_career_through_1860_(1860)_(14594018200).jpg

5) Portrait of General Benning," Bjorn P. Egeli, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54785329, CC BY-SA 4.0, uploaded by Sgbradley

31/03/2021

6. Disease

Henry Benning believed Abraham Lincoln's victory in the 1860 presidential election would prove fatal to the South's way of life. To Benning, Lincoln and his Republican Party represented abolition, "one of the direst evils which the mind can conceive."











Photo credits:
"Portrait of General Benning," Bjorn P. Egeli, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54785329, CC BY-SA 4.0, uploaded by Sgbradley

"Old State Capitol, Milledgeville," L.D. Andrew, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, GA,5-MILG,6-2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7159695, public domain

26/03/2021

5. Fire-eater

Henry Benning once considered himself an extremist whose views on secession had never been properly accepted by his fellow southerners. But when Georgia’s Legislature met to discuss the prospect of secession in November of 1860, he took the opportunity to plead his case.










Photo credits:
“General Benning_3010” by James Emery, https://flic.kr/p/8qgaKS, CC BY 2.0

“Scene in Whitehall Street, Atlanta, Georgia,” by George N. Barnard, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AtlantaNegroSalesLOC.jpg #/media/File:AtlantaNegroSalesLOC.jpg, public domain

“Slaves for sale, a scene in New Orleans,” published in Harper’s Weekly, Jan 1863, public domain

“An African American family” By O. Pierre Havens, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89889792, CC BY-SA 4.0

“Cotton Belt Region Map” By Caliga10 at the English language Wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27425666, CC BY-SA 3.0

"Old State Capitol, Milledgeville," L.D. Andrew, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7159695, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, GA,5-MILG,6-2, public domain

18/03/2021

4. Birthright

Henry Benning never questioned his status as part of the ruling class. He long knew that the only way to prevent abolition from spreading would be an eventual conflict between North and South.











Photo credits:
“Slaves Waiting for Sale – Richmond, VA,” by Eyre Crow, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crowe-Slaves_Waiting_for_Sale_-_Richmond,_Virginia.jpg, public domain

“Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton,” by Henry P. Moore, 28698046@N08/25351067412/," rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/28698046@N08/25351067412/, public domain

“Howell Cobb Photo,” by Matthew Brady, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9852764, public domain

"Portrait of General Benning," Bjorn P. Egeli, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54785329, CC BY-SA 4.0, uploaded by Sgbradley

The Confederacy explicitly protected the enslavement of black people in its founding document.
11/03/2021

The Confederacy explicitly protected the enslavement of black people in its founding document.






11/03/2021

3. Descendant

After earning his university degree, Henry Benning became a lawyer and one-term Georgia supreme court justice. His political career peaked there, his achievements falling short of his aspirations. That did not, however, prevent him from owning a plantation and, like his forebears, enslaving people.

Photo Credits:
Photo of downtown Columbus, GA, 1880, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Georgia #/media/File:Downtown_columbus,_georgia_1880.jpg, public domain

Photo of Henry Benning, 1875, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HLBenning_laterlife.JPG, public domain

Portrait of Henry Benning, circa 1860, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_L._Benning.jpg, public domain

“Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton,” by Henry P. Moore, 28698046@N08/25351067412/," rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/28698046@N08/25351067412/, public domain

“Cabins where slaves were raised for market” by Underwood & Underwood https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a18408/, no known restrictions

08/03/2021

2. Spirit

Forty-three years after his death, the U.S. Army named its newest base in honor of Henry Benning. This occurred not for any battlefield prowess - he has long been considered a poor general - but at the urging of local residents who wished to keep the Confederacy’s spirit alive.

Photo Credits:
"Portrait of General Benning," Bjorn P. Egeli, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54785329, CC BY-SA 4.0, uploaded by Sgbradley

“Downtown Skyline, Chattahoochee River,” by PghPhxNfk, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64345894, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photos four soldiers and map of Camp Benning found in “100th Anniversary of Camp Benning” by The US Army https://www.benning.army.mil/Infantry/Historian/Historical-Documents, public domain

“Columbus, GA Business Block,” found in “Fort Benning, The Land and The People,” by Sharyn and Richard Keeton, https://rb.gy/cl3l89, public domain

“General Benning_3010” by James Emery, https://flic.kr/p/8qgaKS CC BY 2.0

“General Benning Plaque” by Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com
https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/general-benning, CC BY 4.0

“Atlanta Chapter Delegation U.D.C. Convention,” by Holland Studio (Albany, GA) 1930
https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.66708/, no known restrictions

“Battle of Franklin,” By Kurz and Allison Restoration by Adam Cuerden, United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Div., digital ID pga.01852. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35402871, Public Domain

22/02/2021

1. Opening scene from our short documentary "DIREST EVIL"
The documentary focuses on the life of Confederate General Henry Lewis Benning.



Phot credits

"Portrait of General Benning," Bjorn P. Egeli, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54785329, CC BY-SA 4.0, uploaded by Sgbradley

“The Capital of Virginia, Richmond” by John Howard Hinton https://catalog.archives.gov/id/135804684 Unrestricted

“Slaves for Sale, a scene in New Orleans” - 19th century engraving Via New York Public Library Digital Collection at [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3471179

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DIREST EVIL - Opening Scene
DIREST EVIL - Opening Scene

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