Rebel
Well-Known Member
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Pressfit's excellent thread on Professional Beggars made me think of a true story by Paul Harvey that I'd like to share. The word "Hobo" is a coined word that came together in the late 1800's to early 1900's.
After the Civil War ended, southern soldiers came home to a shattered economy. Their homes, farms, and plantations were burned out, brothers and fathers killed off in battle. Wives, sisters and family moved away. These young soldiers who had given so much to defend their country came back home to nothing.
Contrary to what most of us have been taught, most southerners didn't own slaves and most of the few people who did own slaves worked in the fields right alongside the blacks. Our country, especially the south was mostly agrarian and most of these former soldiers knew the trade of farming. So, with little more than the worn out shoes on their feet, threadbare clothing, and a farming implement or two, usually a hoe, these young men drifted from town to town looking for work plying the only other trade they knew. They lived in the woods, off the land and wherever they could find shelter. They traveled from town to town and often hitchhiked on trains. They worked wherever a field needed tending. They started out with the nickname of Hoe Boys... In the later years they became known as Hobos...
After the Civil War ended, southern soldiers came home to a shattered economy. Their homes, farms, and plantations were burned out, brothers and fathers killed off in battle. Wives, sisters and family moved away. These young soldiers who had given so much to defend their country came back home to nothing.
Contrary to what most of us have been taught, most southerners didn't own slaves and most of the few people who did own slaves worked in the fields right alongside the blacks. Our country, especially the south was mostly agrarian and most of these former soldiers knew the trade of farming. So, with little more than the worn out shoes on their feet, threadbare clothing, and a farming implement or two, usually a hoe, these young men drifted from town to town looking for work plying the only other trade they knew. They lived in the woods, off the land and wherever they could find shelter. They traveled from town to town and often hitchhiked on trains. They worked wherever a field needed tending. They started out with the nickname of Hoe Boys... In the later years they became known as Hobos...
