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J. F. H. Claiborne at ?Laurel Wood?
Plantation, 1853-1870
By Herbert H. Lang
EW OF THE NUMEROUS STUDIES OF THE VARIED CAREER of J. F. H. Claiborne give more than scant attention to the life and activities of the Mississippi historian during his years at ?Laurel Wood? plantation; yet, the period of his residence on the Gulf Coast?spanning the last few years of the ante-bellum era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction? was for Claiborne the most satisfying and significant of his entire life. Indeed, his decision to settle at ?Laurel Wood? in 1853 was a turning point for Claiborne, for it was at his plantation that he rebuilt his personal and political fortunes, and it was there that he produced most of the writings that brought him recognition as Mississippi?s foremost historian of the nineteenth century. It was at ?Laurel Wood,? too, during the war, that Claiborne became deeply embroiled in the intrigue that disrupted the normal course of events on the Gulf Coast for four years and marked the most dangerous and melodramatic period of his life.
Claiborne?s early career had been marked by disappointment and failure. He had served in the Mississippi legislature and in Congress, acquiring that profound insight into politics that was to enrich the pages of his books, but he had destroyed his own political future through indefensible machinations in the election dispute of 1837-1838. On another occasion, with unfailing honesty and courage he had exposed the attempt of speculators to defraud the government and the Indians in the notorious Choctaw lands case, securing the gratitude and vindication of Congress, but he