Alabama's Tragic Decade by John Witherspoon Dubose

Alabama's Tragic Decade by John Witherspoon Dubose

John Witherspoon Dubose

1836-1918

John Witherspoon DuBose was born in Darlington County, South Carolina, but he relocated to Marengo County, Alabama, with his family when he was growing up. He received his education from the Dayton Classical Academy and briefly attended South Carolina College in 1854 before pursuing further studies at home with private tutors. DuBose became a successful cotton planter in the Canebrake area of Marengo County from 1856 to 1861. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate Army Quartermaster Corps, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, although he did not engage in combat due to his deafness. Post-war, DuBose worked as a plantation manager before relocating to Birmingham in 1886, where he established himself as a journalist and freelance writer. He focused extensively on local and state historical, political, and economic affairs, publishing numerous articles in newspapers and magazines. DuBose also had intermittent stints as a newspaper editor and owned a bookstore in Gadsden. Notably, he worked as an assistant at the Alabama State Department of Archives and History from 1901 to 1907 and again from 1912 to 1917. He passed away in 1918.

Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, http://alabamaauthors.org

1940

Alabama's Tragic Decade. Birmingham, AL; Webb Book Co, 1940 (First published as a series of articles in the Birmingham Age-Herald).

AL Book Collection

Dubose, John Witherspoon, “Alabama's Tragic Decade by John Witherspoon Dubose,” Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, accessed November 8, 2026, https://alabamaauthors.org/items/show/24649.