{"id":3427,"date":"2018-07-21T21:42:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T02:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=3427"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:39:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:39:54","slug":"impending-war-by-clint-lacy-with-original-art-by-curtis-copeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2018\/07\/21\/impending-war-by-clint-lacy-with-original-art-by-curtis-copeland\/","title":{"rendered":"Impending War by Clint Lacy with original art by Curtis Copeland"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Original artwork by Curtis Copeland.<\/em><\/p>\n

Impending War<\/h1>\n

by Clint Lacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cotton was not king in the Ozarks but hard work was. The soil was not suited for farming. If it had been the planters would have bought it up and brought their slaves with them.<\/p>\n

Planting was done in small clearings. It was no easy task and the crops grown in the rocky soil were done so for subsistence, not cash.<\/p>\n

Some of the corn was used to feed the cattle and some was ground into meal for the family.<\/p>\n

News was slow to travel to the Ozarks but when it did arrive it brought word of the impending war.<\/p>\n

My father doubted the war would make it to our isolated homestead.<\/p>\n

Leaning against a split rail fence he stated, \u201cThere is barely enough for us to survive on, much less enough to fight over.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was in deep thought. He shifted the rocky soil back and forth with his foot and it was not clear whether he was trying to convince me or himself. With pipe in hand , he pointed at the barn and said, \u201cHarness the mule son. We\u2019ve got a crop to put in\u201d.<\/p>\n

From time to time a neighbor would bring news on the current state of affairs. Jim Sutton stopped by one day and stated the Governor had met with Captain Lyon in St. Louis to negotiate a peace and that the meeting had ended with Captain Lyon declaring war on the Governor, the State and every man, woman and child who lived there.<\/p>\n

News traveled \u201cthrough the grapevine\u201d in the mountains, from neighbor to neighbor. Newspapers were a rarity. Partly because of\u00a0 <\/span>isolation and partly because more than a few settlers could not read and had very little time for such luxuries even if they could. Despite the rumors of war, there was always work to be done. Wood needed to be chopped, livestock fed and fences repaired.<\/p>\n

Most of our neighbors were of Scots-Irish who had immigrated from the neighboring states of Kentucky and Tennessee. They were Southerners of a different social class. A working class who placed more emphasis on necessary labor and taking care of their families and neighbors than the politics of the day.<\/p>\n

August brought news of a great battle in the Western portion of the state and another visit from Jim Sutton.<\/p>\n

I had just finished my chores for the day and had drew a bucket of water from the well. I dipped the ladle into the bucket and was taking a sip of the cool water when I saw Mr. Sutton ride up on his horse.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowdy Elijah\u201d, he said with a smile, \u201cIs John around?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy\u2019s in the barn Mr. Sutton\u201d , I said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My father walked out of the barn and said, \u201cHowdy Jim. What brings you around?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Sutton climbed off of his horse and shook Daddy\u2019s hand. \u201cCan I talk to ya?\u201d<\/p>\n

They went to the barn but I could still make out part of the conversation. Mr. Sutton was trying to convince Daddy to join the Confederate forces and Daddy countered with, \u201cWho\u2019s going to take care of this farm and this family? This is no war for us besides you said Lyon was dead. There might not even be a threat to us now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going John\u201d, Mr. Sutton said. \u201cLyon being killed isn\u2019t going to stop what\u2019s comin\u2019, if anything, those Yankees are going to want vengeance and don\u2019t go thinkin\u2019 we\u2019re gonna be safe here. Mark my words. They\u2019re going to swarm over the whole state like a plague of locusts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish you luck Jim\u201d, Daddy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou too John\u201d, replied Mr.Sutton as he mounted his horse and turned it toward the road. Before riding off he stopped and added, \u201cJohn. There are a lot of families headed down to Green County, across the state line. If the war visits your place take what you can and get down there.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Introducing Writer and Artist…”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”3432″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]\u201cWhat a special and truly unique event. I came away from SOTO Writer\u2019s and Artist\u2019s night with a feeling of heart-filled happiness, and admiration for the tremendous amount of talent that we had experienced. I was refreshed by experiencing something completely out of the norm for our community.\u00a0 Artists and writers who create outside of any limelight, and outside of public view, were finally provided a platform to share their amazing gifts.\u00a0 This talent needed to be shared. You could feel an entire range of emotion emanating from the audience, as these writers poured out their hearts and minds through image and words. I’m absolutely delighted to know that I\u2019m in a community with so much talent and thought-provoking creativity. And I\u2019m very pleased that SOTO provided a platform for them.\u201d \u2014 Curtis Copeland[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”3435″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Original artwork by Curtis Copeland. Impending War by Clint Lacy Cotton was not king in the Ozarks but hard work was. The soil was not suited for farming. If it had been the planters would have bought it up and brought their slaves with them. Planting was done in small clearings. It was no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[937,582,529,957],"tags":[817,425,26,426],"class_list":["post-3427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarkwriters","category-sotoarchive","category-sotoart","category-sotoevent","tag-clint-lacy","tag-curtis-copeland","tag-vintage-paris","tag-woodcut-art","category-937","category-582","category-529","category-957","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3427"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3436,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions\/3436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}