When bringing up the Antebellum South, an image of large cotton plantations set among trees covered in Spanish moss comes to mind. I like to think about the smaller farms, farms that would be considered the yeoman class. These were smaller farms that were worked by the owners and their families. They might have had a farm hand, or possibly one or two servants, but everyone worked the land together. The yeoman class is basically misunderstood by historians just as the blue-collar folks of today are confused by the elites.
If you attempt to look up the yeoman class of the South, they are painted as dull and witless. Moderns consider the yeoman class as simply poor Whites of the Antebellum South and controlled by the ruthless aristocracy, and the aristocratic South used the yeoman sense of honor to goad them into dying needlessly for the Lost Cause (as one historian has written). That snippet itself reveals a fundamental lack of understanding about the entire culture of the South. This misunderstanding (or, more accurately, mischaracterization) by modern academia also encroaches upon the South’s hard-working men of today. The yeoman class was never stupid, they were the fighting soldiers of the South (the aristocracy, its officers).
The yeoman, as a class, really emerged during the Hundred Years’ War with the renown of the longbow yeoman (for which we have the legend of Robin Hood). Then, the yeoman can be viewed within the confines of the chivalric social structure – the rank was between page and squire. This was the stage that young boys would learn proper manners and how to represent themselves in a respectable fashion. Later, the official rank of yeoman was used on naval ships for common seamen that were in charge of supply stores. These were ordinary folks with a large amount of responsibility. And, yeoman was used to describe free land-owning men of Scotland and England, men that were not born with land to their name but eventually acquired property. This tradition carried over to the Colonies when our ancestors settled.
So, we can clearly see that the yeoman is a man of intelligence and fortitude. Typically, these were self-learned men that owned land and deemed it worth fighting for. The yeoman has a history of fighting, not just fighting for his land but against tyranny or the unfair treatment of his people. Yeoman of England were deadly accurate archers and cavalrymen – cavalrymen that were used to maintain order and police the citizenry when not at war. These were definitely of a warrior-class and any fighting man knows that being honorable is a defining characteristic. Also, these were men that knew how to behave properly and chivalrously.
The Southern yeomanry class initially settled in the Tidewater, Piedmont, and Appalachia. Many of them grew tobacco and cotton. They were primarily land-owning farmers. And, they came from the fighting stock of England, Scotland, and Ireland. These were not poor, uneducated White “hicks” that just lumbered off a ship and started working in the fields. These were men looking to expand their family name. These were men that had passion, daring, and entrepreneurship. They built something with their hands and their time. They traveled in the circles of the affluent and were merchants, too.
We can see that the yeoman was not some sort of cattle yoked to a cruel, uncaring aristocracy. They were educated, formally or informally. They were bold and brave men that held themselves in a respectable manner and, of course, defended their name and honor. Yeoman farmers and merchants took up the Southern Cause because they were defending their home against the Yankee invaders. These were men that stood up to protect their country and culture. Be proud of your yeoman heritage.
Teach a man to fight, he can win a battle.
Teach a man to write, he can win a nation.
Good article. Frank Owsley’s book “Plain Folk of the Old South” touches heavy on this subject. His thesis is that the Yeomanry was the largest class in the South. They were the average/common folk of the day with a status higher than the landless working poor (“white trash”) but lower the the landed gentry/aristocracy.
Mr. Aldrich.
I grew up and have lived as far removed from Southern Culture as one could get, to my own detriment. I was taught mannerisms from young and told to call people Sir and Ma’m, I have always thought as an adult that those terms must have sprung up from the yeoman class of the South, that it was attributed to the way they communicated with each other after the war of Independence.
Do you know anything about that?
Great article, Thank you Sir.
Yes I believe the history is from European background, but it is maintained out of respect for those around you and yourself, even close non- family will be referred to as Mr or Mrs. (insert first name)
Mr. Aldrich
Growing up out west in all European communities I can assure you there is absolutely no tradition of language, none. My Southern father instructed me to use Sir and Ma’m when engaging people and more times than not I was treated as backward ass for doing so by people out here when I was a young man, I never stopped using those terms my whole life and now out west here the use of those terms is more common. To be honest, if I’m not given the respect of “Sir”, it could get pretty ugly for whomever, like someone I’m forced to work around, for example.
I’ve read the book “who killed society” by Emery 1960 and he has nothing but praise for the South, which he claims has always had a Nobility of Character, it just doesn’t make sense how Europeans out west did not bring that tradition here(Sir Ma’m) could it in fact be related to the Southern military tradition that kept those terms alive in the British new world?
God Bless the Southland
Forgive me I misspoke and misunderstood. I was going for the origin of sir and ma’am, which is Sire and Madam. Secondly I should have said the British, Scottish and Irish isles. Lastly there are cultural reasons it has stood, military heritage is one, hospitality what would be considered extreme hospitality by areas outside the South. These are major contributors.
“When bringing up the Antebellum South, an image of large cotton plantations set among trees covered in Spanish moss comes to mind.”
Only in the minds of Yankees and other outsiders.