What does national reconciliation look like? As someone who thinks a lot about history, I continue to think about the late 1860s. Sure, the Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, is endlessly fascinating. But I think we too often pass over the period of 1865-1870. What did that reconciliation look like? How were those beaten in battle treated by the victors? How did formerly-enslaved African Americans contemplate their newfound freedoms and begin to think about establishing their own communities?
As I’ve stated before, I have no sympathies for the confederate cause and I’m very thankful their army was eventually crushed. But I can’t help but wonder what it was like to return to this land we now know as the Ag Reserve, having been beaten in battle, and get back to work in the fields. One such individual, Benjamin Franklin Pyles (1840-1896), fought for the confederacy under Elijah White’s command. At some point he built this home (I’d guess in the 1870s). I’m not sure if it still stands, but based on the pictures (mostly from the 1970s and early 1990s) it is likely gone.
