Wonders of Digital Documents

It seems lately every time I begin to research a topic I am amazed at the volume of digital documents that are becoming available and can be accessed and printed from one's computer desktop.

Yesterday, while researching on Ancestry.com, I stumbled across a relatively new listing for Confederate Pardon Applications. Intrigued, I ventured over and out of the 400+ Louisiana applications in the collection, two had obvious ties to Minden. One was that of John C. Chaffe, the emigree from England who became a prominent businessman in Minden and then moved to New Orleans where he enjoyed even greater success. He was a brother of Christopher Chaffe, Thad Andress' direct ancestor.  John Chaffe's appeal to President Andrew Johnson was brief and effective. A single letter resulting in a pardon being granted within a few weeks.

The second file dealing with Minden history was more involved and more fascinating. It was the pardon request of Gen. Thomas Moore Scott, of Homer, the namesake of Minden's Sons of the Confederate Veteran's chapter. Scott's road to a pardon took the better part of two years and many documents that contain tidbits and clues to local history. Probably the most "bizarre" is Scott's request for a recommendation from W. Jasper Blackburn, the "scalawag" newspaper publisher and Congressman from our area. Blackburn, the former editor of the Minden Herald during the 1850s and the editor of the Homer Iliad through the war years, was a staunch foe of the Confederacy. He even stood trial for a capital offense against the Confederate government. After the war, he became prominent in Republican politics and served part of a term in Congress representing Northwest Louisiana as a Republican. It was during this time that Scott appealed to Blackburn for help, and Blackburn complied, sending a very personal letter to the U. S. Attorney General in Scott's behalf. The strange part is that at this very same time, Blackburn's newspaper office was being vandalized by former Confederates in Homer -- where Scott was residing.

Not going to share any more, because this is obviously going to be fruit for future newspaper columns. But the sources one can now access, without leaving home, are truly amazing to someone who began doing this kind of research nearly 40 years ago in what now seems like the "Stone Age" compared to modern research. I think it makes the promise of understanding more about our past very exciting. I'm also reminded of a line in Ken Burns' Civil War, discussing the enigmatic nature of Robert E. Lee. That particular quote discusses Lee's penchant for not revealing his innermost feelings and says the General kept those secrets from the "picklocks of biographers." I have to wonder if one day the Internet and digitization (if that's a word) might well get past those locks and place hidden and forgotten documents at our fingertips to give us greater insight into Lee and other iconic figures of our history.