Böcker av Rickey Butch Walker

In the book, "Hiking Sipsey-A Family's Fight for Eastern Wilderness," Rickey Butch Walker teams with Jim Manasco to produce an ultimate guide to the Bankhead National Forest which includes the Sipsey Wilderness Area. It tells of the struggles to prevent the destruction of one of Nature's greatest gems which is located in the Warrior Mountains of Northwest Alabama. You will read of the efforts of those who cherished the unique treasures in the Bankhead Forest and launched a determined and successful campaign to preserve it for this and subsequent generations. With the attitude that anything of value this great is worth fighting for, the Sipsey Wilderness was established. Meet the family of Jim and Ruth Manasco who has dedicated their life's work to preserving the natural beauties of the Warrior Mountains and the Rocky Plains. Follow the struggle to designate the heart of the Bankhead, the crown jewel of the forest, as a wilderness area so that it might return to its primitive state, that which proceeded the effort to turn it into a pine plantation. The book allows the reader to walk the trails of the forest and smell the wildflowers that grow in profusion within its boundaries-look but don't pick! Through words you visualize the habitat of the forest, listen to the birds sing, frogs croak, and the hoot of an owl. Read the messages left on the ancient Beech trees and recognize the different species of vegetation by examining the leaves and bark of the plant. Search for herbal plants such as ginseng-but no digging allowed! Let the great variety of moss amaze you, but in all this, be careful to preserve this treasure for future generations.

Many years ago, Rickey Butch Walker took his tape recorder and camera and systematically began interviewing some of the oldest living descendants of the pioneer families of the Warrior Mountains of northwest Alabama. No price can be put on the stories that he recorded. He captured snapshots of Americana and family history that would have been lost forever. These historical sketches and photographs will be revered forever by the descendants of the families who lived on mountain farms in one of Alabama's most rugged back country. His down-to-earth style of writing is reminiscent of summer afternoons that I have spent in a front porch chair captivated and fascinated by listening to old timers telling of the old days and the old ways. My the world has changed and maybe not for the better. Lamar Marshall, Cultural Heritage Director, Wild South

Cotton Was King, Volume 5, Morgan County is a comprehensive collection of the historical migration of wealthy land speculators, cotton planters, slave holders, farmers, and settlers. These folks were coming to northwest Alabama for the land grab that resulted with the removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and other Tribes of indigenous peoples from Morgan County and across North Alabama. You will gain information Rickey Butch Walker has gleaned from a variety of sources including the Morgan County Censuses of 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860.Morgan County was Cotaco County even before Alabama was a State, Decatur before it was the Morgan County Seat, and Rhodes Ferry before it was Decatur. You will read about the trails, roads, creeks, rivers, ferry locations, and boundary lines that crisscrossed early North Alabama in the late 1700's to the middle 1800's. You will find information about North Alabama's inhabitants during that time; where they migrated from and settled including their occupations, marriages, births, children, relatives, ages, land holdings/values, crops, livestock, property descriptions, when they died, and where they were buried.You will learn who the slave owners were and their vast land holdings until the end of the Civil War. You will also read about the first railroad south and west of the Appalachians which became known as the Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Railroad Company and of its importance in transporting cotton around the dangerous Muscle Shoals onto river steamers and then on to the worldwide markets. And you will gain knowledge about the proximity of this railroad and why Decatur became the primary offloading point for the 1837-38 Indian removal.

Today, many of the names of local residents can be clearly traced to some of these planters and slaves. Walker has listed planters and the number of their slaves from 1820 through the 1860 census records. He has provided agricultural information, land records, census records, pictures, family members, birth and death information, and stories to make history come alive. This is a great book for those seeking individual profiles and local family information. I am honored to recommend "Cotton Was King" Volume 3. "Cotton Was King" Volume 3 begins with a review of Chief Doublehead and other important Indians who owned these lands before the Turkey Town Treaty of 1816. The author, Rickey Butch Walker, raised in Lawrence County, has always had a love for his Indian heritage and the history of his home county. The book is a historical record of early cotton planters and slave owners who were the first settlers to move into the Indian Territory after the treaty was signed and covers what is now Lawrence and Colbert Counties. There is not another book that compares to the historical account of the earliest days of the area. As we travel through this time capsule of the past, many hidden stories of planters and their slaves are brought to light. It is a compelling read for all who love history and want to get to the truth of the historical roots of Lawrence County.

In, "Cotton Was King Franklin-Colbert Counties" Rickey Butch Walker gives a wonderful account of Chickasaw Chief George Colbert as a cotton planter and the role of the Chickasaw Colbert's prior to the first white planters who moved with their slaves to claim the fertile lands of the Tennessee River Valley. After the Indian claims to the land were abolished by the 1816 treaty. The United States government transferred land titles to white settlers through federal land sales beginning in 1817. From the nutritionally deprived soil of cotton farms in the east, slave-owning planters poured into early Franklin County, Alabama, most of which is now present-day Colbert County. Rickey Butch Walker gives profiles of many of these wealthy plantation owners prior to the Civil War. This is the first detailed narrative of some of the white families of Franklin- Colbert County who helped develop the cotton industry of northwest Alabama. Some of the affluent planters, their plantations, land holding, property locations, and numbers of black slaves are discussed in detail. These early planters were dependent on black slave labor to become very wealthy and control vast tracts of land. This is a valuable read for anyone interested in the local history of cotton barons who came to North Alabama from North Carolina and Virginia.