Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 10/Henry Brandon

Overview
Henry Brandon (born around the 1870s, death date unknown) was an individual born into Southern Aristocracy who fell deep into alcoholism. He was interviewed about his life and circumstances by George Anderson in the late 1930s, and his words were compiled in the book Through a Glass Darkly and published as part of the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP).

Early Life and Adulthood
Brandon lived a rather privileged life in the farming communities around Yanceyville, North Carolina. Growing up during a time when Reconstruction was ending and White Southerners began to take more control, Brandon was very fortunate to grow up in the household of his father George Brandon, a former Confederate captain. Henry Brandon enjoyed his higher education at Harvard Law School and continued further education from the Sorbonne in France. Before he left for Europe, however, his father passed when he was 21, and he inherited his estate. His inheritance included 11,000 acres of plantation land and around $65,000 in more liquid assets like cash and railroad shares. He granted power of attorney to Jerry Hampton, who sold much of Brandon's property for his own gain, which led to Brandon taking the life of Hampton.

Later Adulthood and Alcoholism
After the murder of Hampton, Brandon was acquitted by the jury, which he claimed was due to his father's respected name. At this point, Brandon was beginning to develop a problem with alcohol. After an unfulfilling term on the State Senate and a short-lived farming attempt, Brandon met his partner, Jane Carwell, on the road when her horse went out of control. Their courtship gave life to Brandon, who cut drinking and improved his farming enterprise due to the profound effect Carwell had on him. Just months before they planned to marry, Carwell passed from typhoid, which devastated Brandon.

After the death of his fiancée, Brandon began drinking heavily again, to the point where much of his fortune was exhausted. Disgraced, broke, and helpless, Brandon almost succumbed to starvation until he was taken into the guardianship of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a Southern heritage group that sought and continues to seek to preserve Confederate honor. Because of Brandon's father, the organization took interest in his case. When he sold his last property in his name, the U.D.C. took control of the money to keep Brandon in check concerning his alcoholism, and he lived under their allowance granted to him for around fifteen years.

Once his money ran out, the New Deal afforded him an old-age pension which supported him up until the time the interview was conducted. At this point, he was left with nothing, and even his family name was weathered by time. Almost all of his father's estate was destroyed by his alcoholism, which left him joyless and destitute. However, he felt little regret for the life that he led and was not delusional about the circumstances that led him to this point.

Southern Aristocracy
In the South around the turn of the century, the economic devastation of the Civil War was mitigated with time. Real estate value was in fact higher than even before the war, even without a slave labor force. Because of this and other factors, upper-class Southern landowners were able to properly consolidate their power and wealth after Reconstruction ended. The descendants of these rich planters at around this time would benefit from greatly boosted social ties and a society that praised them for their lineage. Their privilege was so great that their wealth would par with their Northern counterparts, which would be historically richer.

The New Deal and the Confederate Welfare System
Around the Great Depression, Southern society was certainly changed by the increase in social programs in a unique way. However, the idea of pensions were not necessarily new concepts to those living in the South. Southern communities would enact Confederate pensions for Civil War veterans or their kin while withholding relief from blacks in the region. This would occur even as early as the 1880s as a method of reinforcing Democrat power in the region. Despite this, the New Deal generally changed the dynamic of the South, which was an important topic of debate at the time in the context of social welfare. However, the question was never about race around this time, as it was generally agreed that segregation, a doctrine more heavily reinforced in schools around this time, was not to be challenged. The New Deal in America was historically more of an issue of an increase in federal power, something of which the South was highly wary of. If anything, the discussion of the New Deal was argued to be a challenge of Southern control of their society and their own establishment.