The Idea of the American South, 1920-1941 by Michael O'Brien

Author:Michael O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

eight:

Frank Owsley: “The Immoderate Past”

On his mother’s side, Frank Owsley was a McGehee. For those who know the intricate genealogy of the Highland clans, that will seem no mean burden. These McGehees had changed their name from MacGregor, after James VI had issued Letters of Fire and Sword against the clan in 1603. For sins against the crown of Scotland, it was commanded that the clan be exterminated, its lands confiscate to any strong enough to seize them, its women to be branded and transported. Any outlaw might earn his pardon by bringing the head of a recalcitrant MacGregor before the justices. The remnants of the embittered clan were driven to fugitive banditry upon Rannoch Moor, where they were to be spectators of the Massacre of Glencoe. Others, more prudent, fled their native hills and went to the American colonies. One branch of the McGehees set itself up on a rich plantation in Montgomery County, Alabama, in due time.1

On his father’s side, Owsley’s family history was no less violent. In the 1850s, his great-grandfather had been murdered in Alabama by a gang of outlaws. The shooting had taken place in the family home, to be witnessed by the man’s wife and his youngest son. In the spirit of the clans, the child had vowed that he would seek out the criminals and systematically destroy them. And he did so. His long life was divided between an ordinary family life in a remote Alabama valley and errands of vengeance. In his old age, “Uncle Dink” had summoned Frank Owsley’s father to his lair. Explaining that he could no longer carry on the vendetta, he asked his nephew, as the male heir, to assume the unfinished task. There were not many left, two or three, not too much work for a young man. The honor was declined. But the story had an unexpected sequel. Several years later, Owsley’s father went to teach in Pike County, Alabama. Upon arrival, he was told of a strange old man who would permit no tree or bush near his home, nor let a light be seen from his window at night. It was said that this was the man who, long ago, had fired the shot that killed Uncle Dink’s father. And it is said that, when the murderer heard that an Owsley had come to town, he had a heart attack and died clean away.2

Such yarns were the commonplace of the Owsley fireside. With such a twofold heritage converging on the youthful Frank Owsley, it is not surprising that he was inclined to see dark shadows in men’s motives. When Andrew Lytle turned the tale of Uncle Dink into a novel, The Long Night, he made the avenger seem a trifle psychotic. Owsley objected to the interpretation. To him, such a man may not have been normal, but he was not mad. For people were capable of such things.3 It is well to keep this elemental vision of human nature in mind when considering Frank Owsley, the Southern historian.

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