Buckner Melton's Books

A Hanging Offense

The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers

By: Buckner Melton

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A Hanging Offense

The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers

By: Buckner Melton

Mutiny on the Bounty is one of history's greatest naval stories—yet few know the similar tale from America's own fledgling navy in the dying days of the Age of Sail, a tale of mutiny and death at sea on an American warship. In 1842, the brig-of-war Somers set out on a training cruise for apprentice seamen, commanded by rising star Alexander Mackenzie. Somers was crammed with teenagers. Among them was Acting Midshipman Philip Spencer, a disturbed youth and a son of the U.S. Secretary of War. Buying other crew members' loyalty with pilfered tobacco and alcohol, Spencer dreamed up a scheme to kill the officers and turn Somers into a pirate ship. In the isolated world of a warship, a single man can threaten the crew's discipline and the captain's authority. But one of Spencer's followers warned Mackenzie, who arrested the midshipman and chained him and other ringleaders to the quarterdeck. Fearing efforts to rescue the prisoners, officers had to stay awake in round-the-clock watches. Steering desperately for land, sleep-deprived and armed to the teeth, battling efforts to liberate Spencer, Somers's captain and officers finally faced a fateful choice: somehow keep control of the vessel until reaching port—still hundreds of miles away—or hang the midshipman and his two leading henchmen before the boys could take over the ship. The results shook the nation. A naval investigation of the affair turned into a court-martial and a state trial and led to the founding of the Naval Academy to provide better officers for the still-young republic. Mackenzie's controversial decision may have inspired Herman Melville's great work Billy Budd. The story of Somers raises timeless questions still disturbing in twenty-first-century America: the relationship between civil and military law, the hazy line between peace and war, the battle between individual rights and national security, and the ultimate challenge of command at sea.

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Page Count

330

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416595929

ISBN 13

9781416595922

Sea Cobra

Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Sea Cobra

Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon

By: Buckner F. Melton

One of the costliest battles of World War II happens to be one of the least known. After failing to stop the attack of Admiral Takeo Kurita at Leyte Gulf, Admiral “Bull” Halsey made a desperate attempt to engage the Japanese Imperial Navy in a full-scale battle. Acting against better judgment and in a desperate attempt at redemption, Halsey led his crew into the raging path of a typhoon, which resulted in the loss of nearly one thousand sailors—the most costly mission of the Pacific war.

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Page Count

340

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1461749123

ISBN 13

9781461749127

Aaron Burr

Conspiracy to Treason

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Aaron Burr

Conspiracy to Treason

By: Buckner F. Melton

To shed new light on the conspiracy itself and on what led Burr to orchestrate it, Professor Melton traces Burr's career - from his early days as a New York attorney to his cunning political maneuverings, from his decades-long feud with chief rival Alexander Hamilton to his complex relationships with the other Founding Fathers, especially with Thomas Jefferson and his coconspirator, General James Wilkinson, Commander of the United States forces in the West.

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Page Count

289

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

047139209X

ISBN 13

9780471392095

Closing Arguments

A Memoir

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Closing Arguments

A Memoir

By: Buckner F. Melton

As a member of the "Greatest Generation," Buckner F. Melton was born at the end of the great depression, raised as a poor preacher's kid in the Deep South, served in the Navy during two wars, had a full career as a lawyer, and served in public office. He also spent a huge amount of time working for various civic and chartable causes and economic development in Macon and the state of Georgia. Using many episodes in his life, Melton weaves a memoir that is both informative and warm. His days growing up will bring life to a bygone era. His service in the navy will delight and inspire. The first time he sees his future wife reminds one of a 1950s romance movie. This book is the story of his life, on the one hand private, and one the other in public service. Serving the city as mayor and in many other capacities, Melton transformed a city from its troubled past into a city with a future.

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Page Count

292

Publisher

Mercer University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0865549273

ISBN 13

9780865549272

The Law

By: Buckner F. Melton (Jr.)

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The Law

By: Buckner F. Melton (Jr.)

To determine the appropriate punishment for a crime, a society creates rules, or laws, to ensure that the perpetrators are disciplined and the order of society is upheld.

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Page Count

167

Publisher

Infobase Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1604136340

ISBN 13

9781604136340

The Princeton Fugitive Slave

The Trials of James Collins Johnson

By: Lolita Buckner Inniss

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The Princeton Fugitive Slave

The Trials of James Collins Johnson

By: Lolita Buckner Inniss

A study of the life of a Maryland slave, his escape to freedom in New Jersey, and the trials that ensued. James Collins Johnson made his name by escaping slavery in Maryland and fleeing to Princeton, New Jersey, where he built a life in a bustling community of African Americans working at what is now Princeton University. After only four years, he was recognized by a student from Maryland, arrested, and subjected to a trial for extradition under the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. On the eve of his rendition, after attempts to free Johnson by force had failed, a local aristocratic white woman purchased Johnson’s freedom, allowing him to avoid re-enslavement. The Princeton Fugitive Slave reconstructs James Collins Johnson’s life, from birth and enslaved life in Maryland to his daring escape, sensational trial for re-enslavement, and last-minute change of fortune, and through to the end of his life in Princeton, where he remained a figure of local fascination. Stories of Johnson’s life in Princeton often describe him as a contented, jovial soul, beloved on campus and memorialized on his gravestone as “The Students Friend.” But these familiar accounts come from student writings and sentimental recollections in alumni reports—stories from elite, predominantly white, often southern sources whose relationships with Johnson were hopelessly distorted by differences in race and social standing. In interrogating these stories against archival records, newspaper accounts, courtroom narratives, photographs, and family histories, author Lolita Buckner Inniss builds a picture of Johnson on his own terms, piecing together the sparse evidence and disaggregating him from the other black vendors with whom he was sometimes confused. By telling Johnson’s story and examining the relationship between antebellum Princeton’s Black residents and the economic engine that supported their community, the book questions the distinction between employment and servitude that shrinks and threatens to disappear when an individual’s freedom is circumscribed by immobility, lack of opportunity, and contingency on local interpretations of a hotly contested body of law. Praise for The Princeton Fugitive Slave “Fascinating historical detective work . . . Deeply researched, the book overturns any lingering idea that Princeton was a haven from the broader society. Johnson had to cope with the casual racism of students, occasional eruptions of racial violence in town and the ubiquitous use of the N-word by even the supposedly educated. This book contributes to our understanding of slavery’s legacy today.” —Shane White, author of Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire “Collectively, Inniss’s work provides an exciting model for future scholars of slavery and labor. Perhaps most importantly, Inniss skillfully and compassionately restores Johnson's voice to his own historical narrative.” —G. Patrick O'Brien, H-Slavery

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Page Count

261

Publisher

Fordham Univ Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0823285359

ISBN 13

9780823285358

The Quotable Founding Fathers

A Treasury of 2,500 Wise and Witty Quotations from the Men and Women Who Created America

By: Buckner F. Melton, Jr.,Buckner F. Melton

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The Quotable Founding Fathers

A Treasury of 2,500 Wise and Witty Quotations from the Men and Women Who Created America

By: Buckner F. Melton, Jr.,Buckner F. Melton

The most extensive and useful collection available

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Page Count

363

Publisher

Potomac Books, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1574888293

ISBN 13

9781574888294

Closing Arguments

A Memoir

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Closing Arguments

A Memoir

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Page Count

292

Publisher

Mercer University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0865549273

ISBN 13

9780865549272

Aaron Burr

Conspiracy to Treason

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Aaron Burr

Conspiracy to Treason

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Page Count

289

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

047139209X

ISBN 13

9780471392095

Sea Cobra

Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Sea Cobra

Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Page Count

340

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1461749123

ISBN 13

9781461749127

Fuller E. Callaway

Portrait of a New South Citizen

By: Buckner F. Melton (Jr.),Carol Kingsland Willcox Melton

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Fuller E. Callaway

Portrait of a New South Citizen

By: Buckner F. Melton (Jr.),Carol Kingsland Willcox Melton

At eight years of age, he owned nothing but a nickel and a few spools of thread. Within a decade he had acquired his own store. By the time he was 30, he was a leading textile man in his town. Another dozen years and he had become a giant in the textile world, a major force in railroads and banking, and a trusted advisor to state and national leaders. This is the story of Fuller Earle Callaway, a man of inexhaustible energy, relentless drive, and visionary, calculated risk. In the generation following the devastation of the Civil War, Callaway became a personification of the New South. Embracing the revolution in Southern industry, transportation, and trade, he soon came to stand at the forefront of the South's modernization efforts. Known principally to history as a textile magnate, Callaway in fact was at heart a merchant, an expert in both retail and wholesale, with a gift for advertising as well as for buying and selling. He was also one of the South's leading authorities on railroads, gaining his experience through battles against the rail monopolies in venues ranging from the boardroom to the Supreme Court. Callaway was in addition a successful banker, spurred on by his need to capitalize his many business concerns in the face of an impoverished Southern economy. Fiercely independent and an opponent of the labor union movement sweeping turn of the century America, Callaway nevertheless was foremost among Progressive industrialists and became a noted advisor to Woodrow Wilson's administration. Here, too, is the story of LaGrange, the heart of Troup County, Georgia. Barely a generation removed from the frontier in the year of Callaway's birth, it became, through the efforts of Callaway and his generation, a showplace of Southern progress and industry.

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Publisher

Looking Glass Books, Incorporated

Published Date

ISBN 10

192961960X

ISBN 13

9781929619603

Aaron Burr

The Rise and Fall of an American Politician

By: Buckner F. Melton

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Aaron Burr

The Rise and Fall of an American Politician

By: Buckner F. Melton

Surveys the life of Aaron Burr, a hero of the American Revolution who later served as a senator from New York and Vice President under Jefferson, but who is best remembered for his duel with Alexander Hamilton.

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Page Count

112

Publisher

Powerplus

Published Date

ISBN 10

0823966267

ISBN 13

9780823966264

Book's by Buckner Melton

A Hanging Offense

A Hanging Offense

Sea Cobra

Sea Cobra

Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr

Closing Arguments

Closing Arguments

The Law

The Law

The Princeton Fugitive Slave

The Princeton Fugitive Slave

The Quotable Founding Fathers

The Quotable Founding Fathers

Closing Arguments

Closing Arguments

Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr

Sea Cobra

Sea Cobra

Fuller E. Callaway

Fuller E. Callaway

Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr

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