Often people are told that they live in a violent.
Television news proves it night after night.
seem to celebrate violence even more. But in the.
nineteenth-century south, people are thinking that.
they were more violent than others can imagine. The.
south was different than the north for two reasons.
One reason was the south's culture was largely oral.
That meant a person's reputation was depended on what.
people heard about you. The other reason was that poor.
whites were defending the privileges that were given.
to them, proving that they were not slaves.
In 1735, boxing was popular in the Chesapeake Bay.
Forty years later a visitor from the north declared.
that along with a few other things such as dancing and.
card playing it would be an essential skill for young.
Virginia gentlemen. They weren't meaning the boxing.
that involved bare-knuckle fighting that was familiar.
to the English. Four deaths occurred in 1746,.
prompting the North Carolina government to ask for.
legislation against boxing. The government replied by.
making felonies to people doing harmful things such as.
raking eyes, biting, or kicking.
Around the beginning of the nineteenth century, men.
sought out original names to replace boxing as their.
brutal sport. They used names such as.
"rough-and-tumble" and "gouging" to replace the boxing.
name. The rough-and-tumble style was unique because it.
was mainly based on severing bodily parts. Many.
fighters would try to go the main part of another.
person, the eye. To them, that was their shortcut to.
victory. Whatever body part that they took off, they.
would keep as if it was a trophy. As this new fighting.
style evolved, it grew geographically as well.
Leadership was quickly passed for the seaboard to.
upcountry countries to the western frontier.
Rough-and-tumbling was mainly based in the south, but.
it was best suited for the backwoods where hunting was.
predominated. So the people in places such as Alabama,.
Georgia, and Tennessee were known for its fighting.
