Alexandria, VA – Review: True Tales of Old Alexandria
Publisher: History Press
Author: Ted Pulliam
Reviewed by: Ralph Peluso, Literary Editor
Zebra Rating: 5 Stripes
True Tales of Old Alexandria mesmerizes readers with the first story. Henry, a fourteen-year-old boy, is punished by his family for some unknown reason and sent halfway around the planet to a new world. There, he suffered the harsh reality of betrayal. And his life was most likely cut short by a Powhatan warrior’s hatchet. Author Ted Pulliam, as the saying goes, “had me at the beheading.”
History is one of those subjects that you either love or hate. But if you love history, that love is reinforced with Pulliam’s work. History, after all, as the roots of the word indicate, is for the inquiring mind. One reason some love history is that it is a collection of personal and societal stories interwoven into our lives and helped shape our world. Pulliam’s collection of Alexandria-centric stories is intriguing. Each has an element of excitement, captivating characters, and plot lines that cemented Alexandria’s place in history.
I asked Pulliam about his passion for hidden and unique history in a recent interview. “I have been curious about history in general since my mother took me to Yorktown when I was about seven. There, I realized I actually could stand where soldiers once shot at each other in a real battle, and that was fascinating. Much later, when my wife and I moved to Alexandria, I went to work in D.C. from the Braddock Road Metro. I generally knew that Braddock was a British general who was badly defeated by Indians but had no idea why a road and Metro station in Alexandria were named after him. I looked for the answer, which is not particularly hidden—the Carlyle House tells it well. But learning the answer made me curious to know more about the history of Alexandria and the surrounding area,” Pulliam responded.
When reading about General Braddock in True Tales, I connected with my earliest recollection of American History. I was fascinated by the defeat of the invincible Braddock battalion. Spoiler alert: Don’t wear red and beat drums when fighting in the forest. Another noteworthy point of Braddock’s shocking failure was the Colonialists learned that the British war machine was vulnerable and could lose.
History, when told as an unfolding series of stories, has an element of charm to it, especially when filled with kernels of odd or untold facts. For example, in the chapter “Alexandria and the War of 1812”, Pulliam tells a surprising quote from the great compromiser, Henry Clay, during the buildup to the war. “I prefer the troubled ocean of war…to the tangled, putrescent pool of ignominious peace.”
Pulliam responded frankly when I asked why he chose history as his genre. “I had found I was not good at writing fiction, which required me to make up a story, but with history, the story was already there. I only needed to find it,” Pulliam said. And that the author did successfully. Each chapter in True Tales of Old Alexandria plays like an episode in a mini-series.
There are serious chapters that hit on very sensitive issues. In the chapter “The Dark Day of the Black Codes,” the author tells of the callous arrest of a 14-year-old girl, Nancy Jones, a free African American. Jones was thrown into jail using the most severe provision of the codes. Forced to live in squalor and worse, she faced the likelihood that she’d be sold back into slavery. Fortunately, the story ended better for Jones, maybe.
In True Tales, the author creates fascinating reading for Alexandrians to delve deeper into their city’s compelling history through captivating stories. There’s nothing like a Sunday stroll through Old Town, thinking about the noteworthy historical figures who walked these streets.
Pulliam added, “People like stories, and perhaps through reading stories of events and people of the towns and cities where they live, they expand their interest, if they have not already done so, to include historical stories of their state, country, and other countries. This could make their lives richer and make them more knowledgeable and better members of their communities.”
Ted Pulliam retired from the General Counsel’s office in the Department of Energy, where he drafted energy program regulations and bills. Pulliam has written articles for Legal Times, WWII History magazine, American History magazine, the Washington Post, and several other publications. He authored Historic Alexandria: An Illustrated History.
Pulliam is a member of the Alexandria Archaeological Commission and the Alexandria African Heritage Trail Committee and is a past member of the Board of the Alexandria Historical Society and the Alexandria Waterfront Commission. He received an award by the Historical Society for “especially noteworthy contributions.” Ted is a graduate of Davidson College and Columbia University Law School. He lives in the Del Ray part of Alexandria.
The streets of Alexandria are charming, but they have also borne witness to events and individuals that have created its cumulative history. These are true tales for everyone to enjoy. After you’ve read True Tales of Old Alexandria, take a casual stroll through Old Town and connect with its past. A solid Zebra rating of 5 stripes.
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