Books

Surveyor and astronomer Andrew Ellicott set his famous rock that marks the northeast corner of the state of Georgia, common to North Carolina and South Carolina, on the bank of the Chattooga River on the day after Christmas 1811. He had begun his surveys a few months earlier, following the footsteps of previous surveyors whose conflicting boundaries had fueled the so-called “Walton War” among contentious settlers in that mountainous area.

This history of two men and their families exemplifies the drastic transitions that occurred in the lives of the planter class and their former slaves through the war years and afterward in the South. It puts the faces of real people on the rise of the freed black man through difficult times and the decline and struggle for survival of his former master.

Despite its fascinating cast of characters, host of combats large and small, and its impact on the course of the Civil War, surprisingly little ink has been spilled on the conflict's final months in the Carolinas. Resisting Sherman: A Confederate Surgeon's Journal and the Civil War in the Carolinas, 1865, by Francis Marion Robertson (edited by Thomas H. Robertson, Jr.) fills in many of the gaps and adds tremendously to our knowledge of this region and those troubled final days of the Confederacy.

Have you ever wanted to know how to barbecue a Whole Hog?  Or how to prepare the best Low Country Boil? Find out in Tom Robertson’s chapter “Men’s Gatherings: Grilled, Fried, and Stewed with Pride” in Past & Repast. The book is both a fine collection of recipes from Saint Paul’s Church, Augusta, Georgia, and an interesting history read of intertwined events of the history of this colonial parish. 

Tom Robertson contributed his article on "The Conversation Club and the Early Days of Golf in Augusta” to this fine expanded compendium, which covers the game of golf in the background of Augusta as a winter tourist center and the world famous Masters® tournament.