-by Jack C. Ramsay, Jr.  August 25, 2007

The more the true student of history researches history, the more the student is convinced there are few absolutes in historical research.   The draping of Cook's residence at the time of Lincoln’s assassination, interpreted by many, as mourning for Lincoln, is one example of this fact.   Elsewhere I have dealt with this. The personal losses that the photographer had recently experienced more than count for his draping his Charleston home in black bunting.   

There are other examples of the truism that “there are no absolutes in historical research”.   One is the Confederate ghost ship the Shenandoah that continued at sea for months, defying all efforts to accept the fact that the long, bitter war was over.   That particular vessel remained at sea under a captain who could not accept the fact of defeat.  He commanded a ship that refused to lower the  “Stars and Bars” even though more than ample messages had been sent his way.   As we approach the second century mark of that tragic conflict, more mysteries will be resolved.  Some historians believe genuine history cannot be written until two hundred years of time have elapsed.  Be that as it may, there are more and more historical realities of the period surrounding America’s Civil War that seem to be evolving as time goes by. 

More evidence that there are no absolutes in historical research is the demise of Napoleon.  Perhaps no person has been more thoroughly researched.   In spite of that fact, there is still a major question concerning his death.   This is the simple fact that there has been little intelligent research.  One serious volume has been written that contends his associates deliberately murdered Napoleon.  A toxicologist wrote the work and elaborate proof was provided through the use of locks of hair frequently given by famed persons to admirers.   When I read this, I was convinced.   However, there is some research that continues to cast doubt on this event.   I know little about the poisons of the time and have no knowledge that would add to this research.   However, I believe this is a question that remains open for study. 

An aunt who often quoted the following words raised me:    “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us.”*    Yet “talking about the rest of us” is the business of the historian.  Perhaps we can write about those who have died and gone to eternal rest if their death is such that they died at least two hundred years ago.     

*SOURCE: First printed in the Marion (Kansas) Record, owned by Governor Edward Wallis Hoch [1849-1925], and assumed to have been written by him.

Click on each of the following for more historical intrigue.

 History's Mysteries!?!
The Cook Mysteries

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