Cleburn Statue to be Erected in Georgia

CAMERON McWHIRTER / cmcwhirter@ajc.com

The Patrick Cleburne statue will be placed in in Ringgold Gap.

The statue almost was not finished because for years organizers couldn’t scratch up the money to pay the sculptor. When it’s put on display next year, this North Georgia community of 2,500 will see whether the $120,000 price tag was worth it.

With the Civil War’s 150th anniversary in 2011, communities across the South are planning gatherings and spiffing up battlefields in hopes of drawing tourist dollars. Between Chattanooga and Atlanta, towns where blue and gray fought are trying to build things for people to see besides reading roadside markers. Ringgold is banking on one of the few new statues to a Confederate being built anywhere and a festival next fall to unveil it. In this little town, the Army of Tennessee general won his greatest victory.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/12/28/Cleburne_statue_ringgold.html

Historic Papers in Charleston, South Carolina

Sunday, Nov. 02, 2008
Confederate Relic Room: Long-lost papers shine a light on Confederacy’s financial crisis
By OTIS R. TAYLOR JR. - otaylor@thestate.com

On the verge of crisis 145 years ago, the Confederate States of America sought an economic rescue not unlike the one U.S. financial institutions recently got.
Confederate accounts were overdrawn, and credit from overseas investment firms was about to dry up because lenders weren’t confident the Southern states could repay their mounting debts.
So, in 1863, Alabama businessman Colin J. McRae was sent to Europe to orchestrate a bailout of the Confederacy.

http://www.thestate.com/sunday-life/story/574183.html

Atlanta's Cyclorama

Volunteers clean the scene at Atlanta’s Cyclorama
By BO EMERSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, November 30, 2008

Every year a team of volunteers arrives at the Cyclorama, Atlanta’s monumental, in-the-round Civil War painting and diorama, to eat a chicken dinner, take a narrated tour of the painting, then roll their sleeves up and start cleaning.
This year, on a chilly November Saturday, about 30 men and women (and a few children) brought plastic gloves, buckets, hand brooms, feather dusters, vacuum cleaners and “plein air” painting kits to the huge cylindrical gallery where the painting is displayed.

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/11/30/evcyclorama_1201_web.html

Battle of Whitehall Memorial

SEVEN SPRINGS -- A granite monument honoring the Confederate soldiers killed at the Battle of Whitehall in 1862 was dedicated Saturday on a piece of land less than a mile from the site of the original Civil War clash.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans paid tribute to the fallen 13 soldiers during a ceremony off Lynch Road, on the north bank of the Neuse River, where Confederates held off Union attackers on a similarly chilly December day. The monument also pays tribute to the men who served as sailors aboard the CSS Neuse gunboat that was under construction at Whitehall, now Seven Springs, at the time of the battle. And it specifically honors eight Sutton brothers from the area who fought for the South, four of whom did not make it home.

The monument, made from a stone used as a floor support in the Marshall/Richmond Theater in Richmond, Va., was erected by the SCV on land donated by Dan and Wendy Boyette. The organization is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the men who fought for the South.

http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/2008/12/14/monument_to_whitehall_battle_is_dedicated_in_seven_springs/

SCV Dedicates Memorial in North Carolina

SCV dedicates memorial to Battle of Whitehall, CSS Neuse sailors

December 13, 2008 - 9:12 PM
David AndersonStaff Writer

LA GRANGE - An estimated 150 people gathered in Dan and Wendy Boyette's front yard Saturday to dedicate a monument to local Confederate soldiers and sailors. "I love you, for you are all my Christian brothers and sisters," Dan Boyette said from his wide front porch as he spoke to the assembled representatives of various Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy chapters.

The memorial, made of granite taken from the floor supports of the nearly 200-year-old Richmond Theatre in Richmond, Va., had inscribed on it the names of 13 Southern soldiers killed during the December 1862 Battle of Whitehall and the crewmembers of the CSS Ram Neuse. That historic battle took place near - and the ship was built near - the Boyettes' property.

Many of those who attended wore period civilian and military clothing. A color guard dressed in military uniforms held the various Confederate States of America national flags, including the controversial Confederate Battle Flag that many Americans see as a symbol of racism because of its adoption by white supremacist

groups. http://www.enctoday.com/news/confederate_51559_kfpress__article.html/boyette_scv.html

Georgia Honors Jewish Confederates

Sons of Confederate Veterans
Elm Springs, Columbia, TN
December 8, 2008

For Immediate Release

GEORGIA GOVERNOR HONORS JEWISH CONFEDERATES

A ceremony is planned for December 11th at the office of Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue which will observe a proclamation signed on November 6, 2008. The proclamation declares April 2009 as Confederate History Month and April 26, 2009, as Confederate Memorial Day.

The proclamation highlights the contributions of Georgia's Jewish community to the Confederate States of America. The Sons of Confederate Veterans will be joined by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, The Children of the Confederacy, the Georgia Civil War Commission and members of the Georgia House and Senate in the ceremony at the Georgia Capitol.

The proclamation emphasizes the contributions of Jewish citizens who saw action in the Confederate military and government. Two such individuals who made significant contributions to the state were Phoebe Yates Levy Pember of Cobb County and Charles Wessolowsky of Washington County.

Phoebe Pember was appointed Chief Matron of Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond which at the time was the the largest military hospital in the world.She dedicated herself to relieving the suffering of soldiers, administering medication, assisting surgeons in operation, patching wounds and caring for patients. Often she served as the final companion to the dying. She wrote a book called "A Southern Woman's Story".

Charles Wessolowsky came from Prussia to settle in Sandersville, Georgia. He served as Sergeant Major of Company E, 32nd Regiment, Georgia Infantry. After the war he moved to Albany where he served as city alderman, Clerk of the Superior Court, a term in the Georgia House and a term in the Georgia Senate. He was associate editor of "The Jewish Voice". He also served as Grand High Priest of the GeorgiaMasonic Order.

END
Contact Information:
J. A. Davis
Sons of Confederate Veterans PR & Media Committee.
770 297-4788

University closes doors to Confederate remembrance

University closes doors to Confederate remembrance
By Peter Sicher
Issue date: 12/4/08

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Every January for 20 years, Hopkins has rented a room in Shriver Hall to the Sons of Confederate Veterans for a reception after their celebration of Southern Civil War rebel leaders Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson in Wyman Park. This January, however, Hopkins is ending this practice.

Because Hopkins is a private institution, explained Dennis O'Shea, executive director of Communication and Public Affairs, "We are not obliged by law to allow any group on campus," and the University has ultimately decided that it does not want the confederate flag to be taken across its grounds.

The Colonel Harry W. Gilmor Camp precinct of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is outraged at Hopkins's decision, according to several members.

In an e-mail, Michael Williams, Commander of the group, said he believes that "the practices of Hopkins [against] the First Amendment Rights promised by the Constitution, including the rights of our group ... are near Stalinist."

http://www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2008/12/04/NewsFeatures/University.Closes.Doors.To.Confederate.Remembrance-3571307.shtml

Three charged with desecrating Confederate officer's grave

By Jena Passut | Tidewater News

Originally published 11:35 a.m., December 2, 2008
Updated 09:09 p.m., December 2, 2008

Kyle Burks

COURTLAND — Three men have been arrested and charged in connection with the June desecration of a Confederate grave at the Gillette family cemetery east of Courtland.

Southampton County lawmen have made arrests in last summer's desecration of a Confederate grave site.

Kyle Sinclair Burks, 21, Aaron Richard Howard, 20, and Justin Thomas Rainey, 23, were charged with one count each of violation of sepulcher and attempted grand larceny. Southampton County authorities who made the arrest would not speculate on the men's motive.

The three are accused of digging up the grave of Maj. Joseph Ezra Gillette, the man for whom the Urquhart-Gillette Camp 1471 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans was named.

Aaron Howard

Justin Rainey

Gillette served as a captain and then a major in the 13th Virginia Cavalry. He died at his family’s ancestral home, “Cedar Lawn,” on Nov. 1, 1863, from wounds he received at Brandy Station. He is buried in a small family cemetery that is maintained by the local SCV camp.

Detective Cpl. Richard Morris, a spokesman for the Southampton Sheriff’s Office, said after the incident that vandals had dug 4 feet into the grave and there was “nothing to indicate” that the vandals had reached Gillette’s remains.

SCV Saves Tilghman House in Kentucky

Sons of Confederate Veterans saves Tilghman House

http://www.paducahsun.com/articles/stories/members_only/200812/03/9zzx_news.html

Group owns properties throughout the South, hopes to offer Paducah
By C.D. Bradley

Three years after local groups teamed up to save the Lloyd Tilghman House and Civil War Museum, a deal struck Monday appears to offer a stable foundation for the museum to continue operating.The Tennessee-based Sons of Confederate Veterans bought the former home of Confederate Gen. Lloyd Tilghman from the Market House Museum, with each group paying half of the nearly $150,000 mortgage. The museum’s board stepped in, along with the city and the Paducah-McCracken County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, when financial woes threatened to shutter the home in 2005.“It’s part of fulfilling our mission of education and preservation,” said B.J. Summers, president of the Market House Museum board. “We hated to see a museum fail. Three years ago, we put together a package to allow them to operate, and today we fulfilled that package.”

The home at 631 Kentucky Ave. was built for Tilghman in 1852, and he lived there until 1861. Tilghman commanded the Confederate garrison at Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and went on to lead troops in the Vicksburg campaign, where he died in 1863.

Ben Sewell III, SCV executive director, said the group owns half a dozen properties throughout the South and was pleased to help keep the Tilghman House open.“It’s obviously a nice piece of property,” Sewell said. “We hope the people of Paducah and western Kentucky will continue to enjoy it as the wonderful historic home that it is.”Sewell credited John Weaver, former chairman of the Tilghman Heritage Center board and a member of the SCV’s local Lloyd Tilghman Camp 1495, for helping put the package together. Weaver and other 1495 members will organize the volunteers that will keep the center operating, Sewell said.“It’s a unique piece of history, and now it’s on solid footing,” Weaver said. He said Monday’s deal makes the house mortgage-free for the first time in a decade, relieving the pressure on the nonprofit group to make monthly payments.“Now we just need to make enough to keep the doors open,” he said.

For now, the group plans to maintain its March to November schedule, with the house open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Weaver said he hopes for enough visitors and volunteers to open more days a week, for longer hours and perhaps eventually year-round. The house schedules appointments for school and group tours.For more information or to volunteer: Call Weaver or Bill Baxter, the house’s volunteer director, 575-5477.

C.D. Bradley can be contacted at 575-8617.

The Death of Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis: Death of American Patriot and Southern Hero
Calvin Johnson
November 21, 2008

What will Historians say about the Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan?

We should never forget the hateful treatment some people showed our brave Servicemen and women as they returned home from Vietnam in the 1970s. And, now, some people would malign the honorable name of the Confederate soldier and his ´blood stained´ battle flag. Isn´t it about time we to speak-out for our American Veterans, living and dead, and to proclaim that disrespecting some Veterans is dishonoring all Veterans?

There was a time when Union and Confederate Veterans were honored by the American people and the world. Before the invention of radio and television, parents told their children stories about their American ancestors. The history of those men and women, who fought under the United States and Confederate flags, was also taught in public schools.

Saturday, December 6th, 2008, is the 119th anniversary of the death of Jefferson Davis.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/82135

Virginia Battlefield Preserved

Saving a Civil War legacy in Shenandoah Valley
By Nick Miroff
Washington Post
November 23, 2008

Virginia family's sale of 209 acres preserves history

A $3.35 million land sale will preserve 209 acres of woods and hayfields on one of Northern Virginia's most significant battle sites, where Yankee and Rebel forces waged brutal hand-to-hand combat for control of the Shenandoah Valley.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/11/23/saving_a_civil_war_legacy_in_shenandoah_valley/

WASHINGTON - In 1762, the Huntsberry family settled the land along Redbud Run, outside Winchester, with a deed from Lord Fairfax. Eight generations later, Bob Huntsberry spent his summers there as a child, finding old minie balls that had been fired from the muskets of Civil War soldiers. He grew up steeped in elders' stories of the day, late in the summer of 1864, when Union General Philip Sheridan and 39,000 troops came marching in.

Leonidas Polk Remembered

Leonidas Polk was 'fighting bishop of Louisiana'
Jim Bradshaw • jbradshaw@ theadvertiser.com
November 23, 2008

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081123/NEWS01/811230306

Leonidas K. Polk wore a number of hats, most unusually both that of a Confederate general and an Episcopal bishop, both at the same time.

He consecrated the Church of the Epiphany in New Iberia in 1858, just in time to see it used as a field hospital during the war in which he commanded troops.

He was a native of North Carolina and apparently entertained the idea of a military career as a young man. He entered West Point in 1823, with that in mind, but there met Charles Petit McIlvaine, later Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, but then chaplain to the cadet corps.

SCV in Tombstone Parade

Sons of Confederate Veterans take part in Tombstone events
Published on Wednesday, November 26, 2008

TOMBSTONE — The Sons of Confederate Veterans once again participated in the Helldorado Days Parade in Tombstone.

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2008/11/26/news/doc492ce6cbe1844435845802.txt

Arizona Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Lt. Cmdr. Rich Montgomery, second from right, presents the Sons of Confederate Veterans War Service Medal to Larry Bowman, right, as Compatriot Herb Sampson, left, and Arizona Division Adjutant Curt Tipton, second from left, witness the ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the Arizona Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans) The parade was held on Oct. 19 as part of three days of celebrating Tombstone’s history.

All five camps of the Gadsden Brigade took part. A camp is the name of a local group of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Gadsden Brigade camps are located south of the Gila River.

The parade entry consisted of the Arizona Division Sons of the Confederate Veterans’ Mounted Color Guard, a horse-drawn surrey and a detachment of marching infantry and artillerymen.
Not only did the group participate in the parade festivities but took the opportunity to bestow a national award on a member.

Larry R. Bowman of the Confederate Secret Service Camp 1710 of Sierra Vista received the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ War Service Medal.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans honors its members who have served the nation in the armed forces by presenting them with the medal.

Bowman served in the U.S. Air Force from 1972 to 1995, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.

SCV in Arizona High School Program

Confederacy is their Specialty
By Lourdes Medrano
Arizona Daily StarTucson, Arizona
Published: 11.27.2008

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/268884

Four men whose ancestors fought in the 1860s war paid a visit to history teacher's Sharon Akridge's classroom last week.
The men, Bobby Morris, Bill Seymour, Richard Montgomery and John Potenza, were dressed in Confederate uniforms. They are members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1202, Capt. Sherod Hunter's Arizona Rangers.
The group talked about the war in general, about their ancestral ties to the war and how Hunter's soldiers flew the Confederate flag over Tucson in February 1862.

JEFFERSON DAVIS STATUE

JEFFERSON DAVIS STATUE
By WILL JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-11-19-0131.html

A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis apparently won't stand -- or be stored -- at the American Civil War Center, after all.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans are talking to two other sites about the life-size bronze statue after talks with the American Civil War Center at Tredegar Iron Works broke down, said Brag Bowling, a Richmond resident and board member of the Southern heritage group.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans had offered to donate the statue, and museum officials had said they would accept it. That decision, however, came with no guarantee of where or whether the statue might be displayed or how it might be interpreted.

SCV In Ribbon Cutting

Ribbon cut at Museum

Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:25 AM
By Sylvia Allen, Editor

LAWRENCEVILLE - The area around the Brunswick County Museum was buzzing with activity on Sunday, Nov. 9. The Brunswick Museum & Historical Society, Inc. sponsored the opening of an exhibition called "Celebrating Brunswick's Varied Past" that featured a communion set of Trinity St. Mark's Church, historic photographs from Saint Paul's College, memorabilia from local fire and emergency services and a Sons of Confederate Veterans display.

http://www.vancnews.com/articles/2008/11/14/brunswick/news/news01.txt

Johns Hopkins University Heritage Violation

Compatriots, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Confederate re-enactors

SUBJECT: Heritage Violation, Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore Maryland

The Maryland Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy and the
Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp #1388, Sons of Confederate Veterans sponsor an
annual General Lee and General Jackson Birthday Ceremony each year in
January on the Saturday nearest to the birthdays of Generals Robert E. Lee
and Stonewall Jackson. Over the years, the ceremony has included
participants from numerous hereditary, historical , military and patriotic
organizations including the: Baltimore Civil War Roundtable, the Virginia
Military Institute Alumni , the Virginians of Maryland, the Sons of Union
Veterans, the Friends of President Street Station, the Army of Northern
Virginia, Confederate Military Forces and a number of independent
Confederate and Federal reenactment units.

Every year since 1988, the Johns Hopkins University has rented the
Clipper Room in Shriver Hall, or on several occasions another facility, to
the Son of Confederate Veterans to hold our post ceremony social gathering.
However this year is different. The John Hopkins University has refused to
rent the Clipper Room, or any other facility, to our organization. The
sole reason given, per a Johns Hopkins representative, was that we are a
"Confederate" organization. Make no mistake about it, we were not denied
because the facility was unavailable, or for any other legitimate reason, we
were denied because of who we are. In addition, the Hopkins representative
stated that this ruling came directly from the President of the Johns
Hopkins University, Mr. William Brody.

The Colonel Harry W. Gilmor Camp has had an excellent on-going
relationship with the Johns Hopkins, Office of Scheduling for over 20 years.
There has been absolutely no problem over this long period of time. We have
always been good citizens toward Hopkins. We have paid our rent on time, we
have always left the facility neat and clean, and there has never been any
disturbance of any kind. A letter was written on September 22, 2008
outlining our long history with the University and appealing this
unwarranted decision. By letter of October 14, 2008 from President Brody's
Office, we were again denied.

Because of this unfortunate situation, I must advise the SCV and UDC
membership and the public at large that, should you decide to join us for
the January 17, 2009 ceremony, you must understand that there will be no
post event refreshments; and more importantly, no rest room facilities
available before or after the ceremony. In addition, the ceremony may be
substantially shorter than in previous years.

We are very sorry to report this to you, but feel that we must be
candid with all that have supported us over the years. I can assure you
that regardless of the number of participants and people attending, and
regardless of this unjust action by Hopkins against our Confederate
Heritage, the General Lee and General Jackson Birthday Ceremony will be
held on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. at the Lee and Jackson
double equestrian monument in Wymn Park.

If you would like to contact President Brody to express your thoughts
on this decision, his address is:

Mr. William R. Brody
President
The Johns Hopkins University
Office of the President
242 Garland Hall
3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore MD 21218

Phone - Office of the President: 410-516-4351

You may also contact him at his e mail address : wrbrody@jhu.edu

Sincerely,

G. Elliott Cummings
Adjutant
Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp #1388
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Baltimore, MD

Virtual Cemetery in Kansas

Virtual cemetery honors Veterans
BY BECCY TANNER The Wichita Eagle

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/592612.html

On the Internet, John Jackson pays them a tribute. All told, he has snapped more than 13,000 photos of Civil War veteran tombstones in Kansas and Missouri and posted more than a thousand biographies and obituaries. He's creating the Kansas Virtual Civil War Veteran Cemetery.

Retired from the U.S. Army after 21 years, Jackson says he does this to keep the veterans' legacy alive. He is hoping that as Kansans pay honor to veterans of current wars today, they won't forget the ones that earned Kansas the national nickname of "soldier state" -- Civil War veterans.

"I think that no veteran of a war should ever be forgotten no matter how long ago that war was," said Jackson, of Chanute.

Some estimates by the mid-1880s indicated more than 100,000 Union Civil War veterans claimed Kansas as their home state. The numbers for the Confederate veterans are less certain.
Jackson is on a deadline and says that finding forgotten veterans is his mission.

The year 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of both the beginning of the Civil War and the adoption of Kansas to the Union. His hope is to give every Civil War veteran in Kansas recognition and to help groups like the Sons of Union Veterans and the Sons of Confederate Veterans identify, repair and in some cases obtain government-issue tombstones.

SCV Dedicates New Grave Markers in North Carolina

New tombstones for two Gaston County brothers who fought in Confederate Army
One died in Battle of Chancellorsville, other got medical discharge, lived to be 84

November 8, 2008 - 7:34PM
Corey Friedman

CHERRYVILLE - Clad in a black mourner's dress with a veil and parasol obscuring her face, Linda Hoyle knelt before two ivory gravestones and adorned them each with a single black rose.
Musket fire echoed through the towering trees as a Confederate heritage group honored 1st Lt. John H. Roberts and 1st Lt. Adam M. Roberts, brothers buried side-by-side in the family cemetery.

The Dallas-based Sons of Confederate Veterans Col. William A. Stowe Camp No. 2142 placed new tombstones at the brothers' graves to ensure their names will never fade from history. Re-enactors joined distant descendants for a dedication ceremony Saturday afternoon.

"These men fought for what they believed in - first and foremost God, country and family," said Gary Byrd, commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "This war broke out not - to the belief of many - over slavery. It was a defense of their homes, property, way of life."
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/roberts_26948___article.html/confederate_war.html

Unemployed Anti-Confederate Politicians

Can you say "Anti-Confederate" ??? These anti-Confederate politicians found that opposing Southern Heritage caused them to lose elections and have more time on their unemployed hands!

These unemployed folks can !!!
EX- Alabama Gov. Jim Folsom
EX-South Carolina Gov. David Beasley
EX-South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges
EX-Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
EX-Alabama Gov. Don Seigelman
EX-Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Mark Early
EX-Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes
EX-Presidential Candidate Dick Gephardt
EX-Presidential Candidate Howard Dean
EX-Missouri Gov. Bob Holden

Nathan Bedford Forrest High School will keep it's name !

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/110408/met_351685682.shtml

Forrest High will keep its name

After two years of controversy, school board votes 5-2 to leave the name.

By TOPHER SANDERS, The Times-Union

Nathan Bedford Forrest High School's name will remain unchanged.


The Duval County School Board voted 5-2 Monday to leave the name of Forrest High School, which honors the Confederate general, slave trader and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan. The decision ends two years of controversy over a possible name change.

The vote to change the name of the majority black school split down racial lines, with board members Betty Burney and Brenda Priestly Jackson, the board's only black members, casting the two votes to change the name.

Priestly Jackson and Burney said the school was named after Forrest in 1958 as a slap in the face to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown vs. Board of Education to integrate schools. "It was done to slap in the face integration and now the school itself is almost all African-American," Burney said.

Board members voting to keep the name said energy surrounding the issue and the resources it would take the change the name are better suited to helping the school improve its academics.

Forrest received an F on the most recent Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Board member Kris Barnes, who wrote the agenda item recommending the rejection of the name change, said she had a problem that the issue was raised by the community instead of the students going to the school.

Barnes said she wouldn't be able to understand the pain the name may cause blacks, but said she was frustrated so much time was being spent on a name of a school.

"I would like the see it go through a process started by the student body," Barnes said.

Board member Vicki Drake said she was displeased by the number of people who showed up at Forrest's School Advisory Council meetings to voice their concerns about the name change, but wouldn't come to the meetings to help the children at the school succeed.

"The children didn't ask anybody to change the name of their school, the children asked for help to read and write," Drake said.

Board member Tommy Hazouri agreed with Drake and Barnes.

"For me in my heart, I think the great concern today is moving that school off the F chart," he said. "I believe that we should leave the name where it is."

The board voted after listening to more than two hours of public comment. About 100 people concerned about the name change attending the board meeting.

The public's statements featured dueling histories and opinions of Forrest and his life. Opponents said removing Forrest's name was a step toward erasing Southern heritage and called Forrest a civil rights advocate and a good man

SCV Assists Wounded Veterans in Florida

Wounded Veterans Enjoy Visit to Port of the Islands
By MELANIE L. BENFIELD
9:10 p.m., Friday, October 31, 2008

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/oct/31/wounded-veterans-enjoy-visit-port-islands/

NAPLES — A little “R&R” was provided Friday in Collier County to some veterans who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cliff Naylor, post commander of the VFW District 10129 in North Fort Myers, brought 27 injured veterans from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Georgia to the Port of the Islands Resort and Marina for a special weekend hosted by Sunstream Inc. The soldiers range in age from 21 to 57.

Naylor stated in a press release that about 30 years ago, concerned citizens took him and other wounded soldiers to Miami for much-needed “R&R.” He wanted to extend the same favor by bringing vets from Iraq and Afghanistan here.

The veterans were greeted by the Lely High School Band and JROTC along with representatives of Palmetto Ridge High School.

Everglades City Sons of the Confederate Veterans Camp 2150 provided a cookout lunch for them at the marina.

Victory in Tennessee!

Sons of Confederate Veterans
Elm Springs, Columbia Tn.
November 3, 2008

Big Heritage Victory in Trimble, Tennessee

Compatriots,

For those who haven't heard the details of the victory in Trimble, Tennessee, we're pleased to provide them for you.

For six months SCV members in Trimble, Dyer County and nearby camps have been going through the due process of getting approval for a 80 foot flagpole at the Parks Ridge
Confederate Memorial.

Their application met with resistance from a very small cadre of protesters who managed to create delay and debate in the process. Even so, The Board of Commissioners approved the application. It then had to go to the Board of Zoning Appeals for an exception in the zone. With overwhelming support from members and citizens throughout the area, the flagpole was approved.

Billy J. Foster, Brigade Commander of the SCV expressed thanks on behalf of all the compatriots involved in the day to day battle. Included in the involvement is the support provided by the national SCV.

At national headquarters we are pleased with both the arduous campaign and the tenacity of those involved in this great victory. We shall now be looking forward to the completion of a beautiful 80 foot flagpole at Parks Ridge Cemetery Ridge Memorial Plaza.

Deo Vindici
Chuck McMichael
Commander-in-Chief

S. D. Lee Institute - Website

Below is the link to the Stephen D. Lee Institute's new website.

The next meeting of the Institute will be in Charleston, South Carolina
In February 2009.

http://www.stephendleeinstitute.com/

S. D. Lee Institute - Charleston, South Carolina

JEFFERSON DAVIS v. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
THE 2009 STEPHEN DILL LEE SEMINAR

The Sons of Confederate Veterans are now taking registrations for the Stephen D. Lee Institute seminar on February 6-7, 2009 at the Hotel Francis Marion in Charleston, South Carolina.

The cost for a registration is $150 per person. The cost for SCV members and spouses will be a discounted rate of $125 for a limited period of time.

Registration will include breakfast, lunch and banquet on Saturday, February 6.

Friday evening February 6, 2009 -Edwin C. Bearss - A Conversation with Ed Bearss: The Assassination of Jefferson Davis—The Dahlgren Raid. 8pm.

Saturday February 7, 2009 at 8:30 am. Thomas DiLorenzo Host and Moderator Clyde Wilson A Sacrifice for his people: Jefferson Davis’s Persecution and Imprisonment

Brian Cisco - Davis, Lincoln and the Rules of War

Marshall DeRosa - The Confederate Experience in Constitutional Government.

Kent Masterson Brown - Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist

Donald Livingston - Davis, Lincoln and Liberty

Samuel C. Smith - Davis, Lincoln and Christian Faith

Please register today. You can register by calling The Sons of Confederate Veterans at 1-800-MY DIXIE (1-800-693-4943).

Hotel reservations at a discounted rate can be made by calling the historic Hotel Francis Marion at 1-877-756-2121 or 1-843-722-0602 or by visiting their website at www.francismarioncharleston.com.

Thanks for your support of Southern history.

Brag Bowling
Event Chairman

Alabama Memorial Ceremony

Heritage groups to pay homage to Confederate monument
Courthouse memorial honors local Civil War veterans
By Hamilton RichardsonProgress staff writer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.prattvilleprogress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081025/PROGRESS01/810250310/1041

Many people who pass by the large stone monument on their way to the Autauga County courthouse every day may not even notice it, even though it's been there for 100 years.
The monument to Confeder­ate soldiers, however, will be the center of attention Sunday as the Sons of Confederate Veter­ans sponsor a special commemo­ration ceremony.

As well as the Sons of Confed­erate Veterans, the Prattville Dragoons and the Autauga County Heritage Association will also sponsor and play an in­tegral part in the ceremony. The event will take place at 3 p.m. at the Autauga County courthouse and afterwards, at the Heritage Museum for a reception.

Fall Muster At Beauvoir

Fall Muster At Beauvoir on local television station:

http://www.wlox.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3043337&h1=Don%20Culpepper%20goes%20behind%20the%20scenes%20of%20Fall%20Muster%20at%20Beauvoir&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=138367&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=89514181

Tennessee Flag Pole Project

Sons of Confederate Veterans seek permit for flagpole, memorial
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Dyer County Board of Zoning Appeals plans to consider issuing a permit Tuesday, Oct. 28, authorizing a Confederate monument.The called meeting is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Dyer County Building and Zoning Office, 1910 Pioneer Road.

The County Commission voted Oct. 13 to allow historic sites and monuments in forestry, agricultural and residential (FAR) zones as a permitted use on appeal.

Two days later, the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed the first request for a permit. The SCV has already started work on the Parks Cemetery Ridge Memorial Plaza. An 80-foot-tall flagpole and a 20-by-30-foot Confederate battle flag were erected last summer.

The application states that the memorial plaza will include development of a circular memorial plaza consisting of the 80-foot flagpole, a granite marker and a sitting area with appropriate landscaping and lighting.

http://www.stategazette.com/story/1471970.html

Confederate Graves Found In New Mexico

Lot could be Confederate graveyard
The Associated Press 10/21/2008

http://www.scsun-news.com/news/ci_10771819

SOCORRO — Civil War buffs say a rocky patch of vacant land likely holds hundreds of human remains in a long-abandoned cemetery, including the unmarked graves of 27 Confederate soldiers.

Ken Garrison, an officer with the New Mexico Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said if the abandoned cemetery can't be preserved, soldiers' remains should be exhumed and reburied "in a respectable location."

The land is owned by Mary Silva, who said it's among the few valuable possessions she hopes to leave to her nine children.

However, state law makes it nearly impossible for Silva or her eventual heirs to do anything with the land, officially designated as an "unmarked burial ground," or for Garrison to relocate the Confederate graves.

State officials have known about the abandoned cemetery since at least 1995, said Glenna Dean, a former state archaeologist who is now associate director of the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area.

Dean said the cemetery was likely used from 1853 to 1875 and was probably a former Presbyterian cemetery. Its exact boundaries are unknown.

The bodies, Garrison said, include 27 Confederate soldiers who died of wounds sustained in the Battle of Valverde, a Civil War skirmish thattook place on the nearby banks of the Rio Grande on Feb. 21, 1862.

SCV In Cemetery Program

Oakland Cemetery to come alive
By John Andrew Prime • jprime@gannett.com
October 19, 2008 2:00 am

New life will come to Shreveport's oldest landmark, historic Oakland Cemetery, on All Saints Sunday.

Thanks to the efforts of more than a dozen costumed volunteers and the Oakland Cemetery Preservation Society, Oakland's more historic residents, or those who died after leading colorful or significant lives, will come alive again in a historic tour from 1-4 p.m. Nov. 2.

"This is a wonderful way for people to relate to the history of Shreveport," said Gary Joiner, local military author, historian and cartographer, who is a member of the board of the cemetery group and who has been mapping and researching the cemetery with his students from LSU-Shreveport. Calling Oakland "a history laboratory," he says "We still have much to learn about Shreveport's history."

People portraying the historic deceased are LSUS students and community volunteers.
In addition to the ghoulies, Dr. ElizaBeth Guin, history professor at Northwestern State University, will demonstrate monument preservation techniques.

Residents who will stand by their graves and the people portraying them are:

Amanda Arnett Clark, 19th century Shreveport humanitarian, will be portrayed by LSUS graduate Dana Fergins.

Dr. Dickinson Smith, son of Amanda Clark, first black member of the local medical society, by LSUS student John McClain.

Col. Leon Dawson Marks, attorney, newspaper publisher and officer in the Confederate 27th La. Infantry, by David Hill of the Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Mary Bennett Cane, called the "mother of Shreveport" and "grandmother of Bossier City," by LSUS student Leigh Tomb Messenger, president of the university's History Club.

Annie McCune, Shreveport prostitute and civic benefactor, by LSUS student Cassie Barrois.

Lt. Eugene Augustus Woodruff, U.S. Army engineering officer and hero/victim of the great 1873 yellow fever epidemic, by Kevin Adkins of the Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Simon Levy Jr., banker, businessman, vice-president of Kansas City Southern Railroad and Confederate officer, by Scott Summers of the Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Lawrence Pike Crain, attorney and former mayor of Shreveport, by LSUS student Eric Hammons.

John Morgan Landrum, early mayor of Shreveport and former U.S. congressman, by LSUS student Earl Moses.

Dr. Joseph Hotchkiss, Confederate captain and engineer on the staff of local Confederate commander Lt. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, by John McGibboney of the Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Rufus Sewall, brother of first mayor of Shreveport, by LSUS student Marty Loschen.
Nathan Goldkind, a local merchant who met an untimely death, by LSUS graduate Marty Young, director of the Pioneer Heritage Center at LSUS.

Amazon A. Cole Jacobs, wife of prominent merchant and banker Benjamin Jacobs, by LSUS student Jessica Sims.

1873 Yellow Fever Epidemic victims Kendra Cherie Gray, Margaret Chini and Patti Underwood, by LSUS graduate Susan Reeks, Caddo Middle Magnet student; Joshua Nabors and South Highlands Elementary School student Nicholas Nabors.

The ghostly residents will talk about their lives, how the city was at the time they lived and how they wound up in the cemetery. Hines Vaughan, president of the cemetery society, will be joined by his board members to talk about the cemetery's restoration and preservation.

Admission will be by donation, with the society suggesting $10 for adults and $1 for children, with proceeds benefitting the society's preservation efforts.

Oakland cemetery is on Milam Street at the intersection of Elvis Presley Avenue by the Municipal Auditorium.

Free parking will be provided in the lot east of the cemetery.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/NEWS01/810190312/1060

New Hunley Information

Scientists have new clue to mystery of sunken sub
By BRUCE SMITH, Associated Press Writer Bruce Smith – Fri Oct 17, 7:25 pm ET

CHARLESTON, S.C. – It's long been a mystery why the H.L. Hunley never returned after becoming the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship in 1864, but new research announced Friday may lend credence to one of the theories. Scientists found the eight-man crew of the hand-cranked Confederate submarine had not set the pump to remove water from the crew compartment, which might indicate it was not being flooded.

That could mean crew members suffocated as they used up air, perhaps while waiting for the tide to turn and the current to help take them back to land.

The new evidence disputes the notion that the Hunley was damaged and took on water after ramming a spar with a charge of black powder into the Union blockade ship Housatonic.
Scientists studying the sub said they've found its pump system was not set to remove water from the crew compartment as might be expected if it were being flooded.

The sub, located in 1995 and raised five years later, had a complex pumping system that could be switched to remove water or operate ballast tanks used to submerge and surface.
"It now really starts to point to a lack of oxygen making them unconscious," said state Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston and the chairman of the South Carolina Hunley Commission, formed to raise, conserve and display the sub. "They may have been cranking and moving and it was a miscalculation as to how much oxygen they had."

In excavating the sub, scientists found little intermingling of the crew remains, indicating members died at their stations. Those bones likely would have been jumbled if the crew tried to make it to the hatches in a desperate attempt to get out.

"Whatever occurred, occurred quickly and unexpectedly," McConnell said. "It appears they were either unconscious because of the concussion (from the attack) or they were unconscious because of a lack of oxygen."

Archaeologist Maria Jacobsen cautioned that scientists have not yet examined all the valves to see if the crew may have been trying to surface by using the pumps to jettison ballast.
"Can we definitely say they weren't pumping like mad to get water out of the tanks? No we cannot," she said. "I'm not really at a point where I think we should really be talking about what these guys were doing at the very end because we simply don't know all the valve settings."

But she said scientists can definitely say the valve that would have been used to remove water from the crew compartment was closed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081017/ap_on_re_us/confederate_submarine

SCV In Memorial Service

SCV participates in memorial service
by Agnes Hagin

Euharlee Valley Historical Society (EVHA) on Saturday presented a Veterans Memorial Service a at the historic Van Wert Church, Rockmart. It was the first of what is to become an annual service.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans from the Camps of Northwest Georgia, dressed in period uniform, conducted the service. Musical entertainment wasgiven by Ms. Lisa Skinner.

There were also be quotes and sayings from well-known Evangelist Sam P. Jones, who once served as pastor of the old church, re-enacted by Rob Arnold.

Those attending also had an opportunity to take a self-guided tour of the cemetery and to view a collection of local antique quilts inside the church.

http://www.cedartownstd.com/pages/full_story?article-SCV-participates-in-memorial-service%20=&page_label=home_top_stories_latest&id=309205-SCV-participates-in-memorial-service&widget=push&instance=home_latest_right_first&open=&

Tennessee Giant Flag

SCV in the news - amendments being considered to allow TN giant flag

County body to consider amendments allowing monuments, billboards, water tanks
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Three amendments to the county's zoning regulations - including one that would permit historic monuments - will be considered Monday night.
The Dyer County Commission plans to hold a public hearing on the amendments at 6:30 p.m. in the Dyer County Courthouse's second-floor courtroom. The commission's regular monthly meeting will follow at 7 p.m.

The zoning amendments address three issues in forestry-agricultural-

residential (FAR) districts. Under the proposed amendments, anyone who wants to erect a historic monument, a billboard or a water tank in an FAR zone must seek l permits from the county's Zoning and Appeals Board.

The amendment allowing historical monuments has the potential to legitimize an 80-foot-tall flagpole that has become a lightning rod for controversy.

A 20-by-30-foot Confederate flag tops the flagpole near Pierce Cemetery at Trimble. The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) said the flag is one of several mega-flags being erected throughout the South "for history, heritage and honor."

http://www.stategazette.com/story/1469178.html

Tampa Battleflag Gets Even Larger

Large Confederate flag to be replaced near I-4
Reported by: Keith BakerEmail: kbaker@abcactionnews.com

TAMPA, FL -- The controversial Confederate flag flown near I-4 and I-75 will come down Sunday afternoon according to organizers of the Confederate Memorial Park. The 30 by 50 foot Confederate Battle Flag will be replaced by another larger Confederate Battle Flag. The new flag measures 30 by 60 feet.

Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesperson Marion Lambert says the new flag ties the second largest flag flying in the United States. Once the original flag is removed it will be portioned out as a fund raiser for the memorial.

Lambert says the memorial construction is underway and should be completed within six weeks except for granite monument installations. Organizers say the flag and memorial are not to promote racism but rather pay respect to part of America's history and to those veterans who fought in the Civil War. Activists have raised concerns but have not gained much support to protest its existence.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=beb18f55-4b02-496a-b224-a97a6ce93468

Mississippi License Tag Leads To Firing

Dixie flag tag yields firing, suit
Therapist, former employer battle over 'symbol of hate' on bumper
By Lawrence Buser (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Wednesday, October 8, 2008


A marriage and family therapist from Olive Branch who considers the Confederate battle flag "a venerated object" says he was illegally fired for refusing to remove his special Mississippi license tag bearing the flag logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

His former employer, Compass Intervention Center on Lowrance near Hacks Cross Road, says it only asked Adrian Paul McLaren, not to park in a way that would make another Confederate flag on his front bumper visible to guests.

McLaren said in the suit that officials at the residential adolescent treatment center began making the parking request in 2006 and that he spent 20 minutes explaining the history, his personal beliefs and Christian aspects about Confederate symbolism.

He said that after an ongoing series of corrective action notices from his employer, McLaren began parking head-in to comply with the request to hide the front tag from view in the parking lot.

The company, however, then began to complain about his Mississippi-issued license plate on the rear of the car that also displayed the Confederate battle flag logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, McLaren said in the suit.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/oct/08/dixie-flag-tag-yields-firing-suit/

Deleware and Jewish Confederates

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20081003/COMMUNITIES0901/81003017

Guest Speakers talk about Delaware Confederates & Jewish Confederate Soldiers
Contributed by Wayne Yarnall • October 3, 2008

The “Delaware Grays”, Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 2068 invites the public to attend their next monthly meeting featuring two special guest speakers on Monday, December 1st at 7pm in the Seaford Library Conference room. Anne Happholdt of Dover, a skilled local researcher and genealogist will discuss how she uncovered dozens of previously unknown Delaware Confederate soldiers and Military Historian Mike Werner of Yardley, Pennsylvania will give a presentation about Jewish Confederates and Black Confederates during the ‘War between the States’ 1861 to 1865.

Ms. Happholdt started in the field of genealogical research 10 years ago to find out if her family came over to the new world on the Mayflower. They did. She also discovered ancestors at Jamestown, Virginia, including an indentured servant who was given to the Powhatan Indians as part of a prisoner exchange. Ms. Happholdt recently assisted the “Delaware Grays” in finding nearly 50 previously undiscovered Confederate soldiers from the First State who will be honored on the “Delaware Confederate Soldiers Monument” located on the grounds of the Marvel Museum in Georgetown. She will discuss the process by which she uncovered
information about these men and why it took nearly 150 years for their stories to be revealed.

Mr. Werner has three master degrees, including two in military history and has spoken at 45 different Civil War Roundtables. His area of interest is the Jewish Contribution to the Civil War, including Jewish Confederates. He will also discuss the role of Black Confederate soldiers. He is recently retired from the United States Postal Service and holds the military rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3, 157th Combat Service Support Brigade.

High School Bans US Flag

High school's ban of American flags has students outraged

Oct 1, 2008By Jeff Gatlin

http://hollisterfreelance.com/news/249033-high-schools-ban-of-american-flags-has-students-outraged

HOLLISTER, CA

San Benito High School senior Jared Ballinger, who has completed basic training in the Army Reserve's Alternate Training Program and is set to finish advanced training after graduation, was driving around the campus parking lot this week with an American flag flying from the back of his truck when a school counselor flagged him down.

"I was told that flying any kind of flag, even the flag of the United States of America, wasn't allowed," said Ballinger, also noting that a school resource officer pulled up behind and took down his license plate number.

Ballinger said he's been told recently he couldn't wear a T-shirt displaying the American flag as well. "That's where I draw the line," Ballinger told the Free Lance on Tuesday.

While San Benito High School today implemented stricter dress code policies that bar logos having city names and other brands that local authorities have deemed associated with gangs, the rule against displaying any sort of flag - including the American flag - has been in place for several years. And it's not just the American flag ban that has stirred some controversy, as students at the school in the past on Mexican Independence Day have been told to remove Mexican flags.

The Spirit of Robert E. Lee

COMMENTARY: The Spirit of Robert E. Lee

By Calvin E. Johnson Jr.
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/081001-johnson-columnsrobertelee.html
Special to Huntingtonnews.net

Sunday, October 12, 2008 is the 138th anniversary of the death of a great American soldier, Confederate leader, husband, father and savior of a great college.

You may be interested in turning to the Travel Channel at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 10, www.travelchannel.com, which will air a live telecast of the "Most Haunted" team’s investigation from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Some call Gettysburg’s War Between the States Battlefield the most haunted spot in the USA , where thousands of Confederate and Union soldiers died during three days of battle in July 1863.

Robert E. Lee’s greatness can be shown in how he came from defeat at Gettysburg and surrender at Appomattox Courthouse to helping save a financially troubled college in Lexington, Va.

Some say the spirit of Gen. Lee still walks the halls of Washington and Lee University.

General Robert E. Lee died at his home at Lexington, Va. at 9:30 a.m. on October 12, 1870. His last great deed came after the War Between the States when he accepted the presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University. He saved the financially troubled college and helped many young people further their education.

It is believed that Robert E. Lee suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on September 28, 1870, but was thought to greatly improve until October 12th, when he took a turn for the worse. His condi ion seemed more hopeless when his doctor told him, "General, you must make haste and get well--Traveller--has been standing too long in his stable and needs exercise."

The heavy rains and flooding were reported as the worse of Virginia s recorded history on the day Gen. Lee passed away.

The church bells rang as the sad news passed through Washington College, Virginia Military Institute, the town of Lexington and the nation. Cadets from Virginia Military Institute carried the remains of the old soldier to Lee Chapel where he lay in state. Many buildings and homes were covered in black crepe in mourning.

The United States flag flew at half-mast throughout much of the nation.

Memorial meetings were held throughout the South and as far north as New York . At Washington College eulogies were delivered by: Reverend Pemberton, Reverend W.S. White--Stonewall Jackson's Pastor and Reverend J. William Jones. Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis brought the eulogy in Richmond, Va. Lee was also eulogized in Great Britain.

In a letter home, a VMI Cadet wrote, quote "The day following the funeral procession after marching all around town and through the institute grounds, formed around the college chapel and he was buried in the chapel under the floor of the basement. The procession was a very large one, a great many persons from a distance being here. Our brass band with muffled drums went ahead of the hearse playing the death march." unquote

Robert E. Lee's last words were, "Strike the Tent."

“Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by this nation.”---The late former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Some news organizations have reported a revival of interest in the War Between the States as 2008 is the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and 2009 will be the 200th birthday of Union President Abraham Lincoln.

Please check the Sons of Confederate Veterans national website at: www.scv.org for more information about the history of the South, which is part of the history of this great nation. You can also find more information on Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis and his family by going to: www.beauvoir.org

Lest We Forget!!

SCV and Jesse James

Oak Grove returns to the Old West for Jesse James Festival
Staff Report • September 19, 2008

It’s a showdown on Main Street in Oak Grove this weekend as the 2008 version of the Jesse James Festival and Outlaw Roundup takes the streets.

The festival continues through the weekend with Bluff City Carnival and a city flea market on Friday and Saturday.

The main event of the weekend will be on Saturday and will feature live music and entertainment, horse and carriage rides, a stick horse rodeo, a movie at the Fiske, a barbecue contest, sweet potato pie contest, horseshoe hunt and parade. The day will also feature reenactments of gun fights on Main Street, locals in period costume, a Yankee and Confederate Shootout conducted by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans and skits performed throughout the day by Criswell and Company.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/ENTERTAINMENT/80918032

Ike Uncovers Mystery Civil War-Era Shipwreck

Friday, September 19, 2008

AP

Sept. 16: People look over the wreck of a wooden ship uncovered by Hurricane Ike on a beach on Fort Morgan Road in Fort Morgan, Ala.

FORT MORGAN, Ala. , Texas ­ When the waves from Hurricane Ike receded, they left behind a mystery ­ a ragged shipwreck that archeologists say could be a two-masted Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862 or another ship from some 70 years later.

The wreck, about six miles from Fort Morgan, had already been partially uncovered when Hurricane Camille cleared away sand in 1969.

Researchers at the time identified it as the Monticello, a battleship that partially burned when it crashed trying to get past the U.S. Navy and into Mobile Bay during the Civil War.

After examining photos of the wreck post-Ike, Museum of Mobile marine archaeologist Shea McLean agreed it is likely the Monticello, which ran aground in 1862 after sailing from Havana, according to Navy records.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,425563,00.html

Washington Ceremony

EVERETT, Wash. (Map, News) - For decades they lay mostly forgotten in the northeast corner of Evergreen Cemetery.

Then barely a month after being general manager in 2001, Jim Shipman realized that some of the markers in a patch of grass were for Civil War veterans.

At first he thought there were 25 or 30. Now retired, Shipman has accounted for more than 150 and thinks there may be another 25. Biographies have been completed on more than 100, including two known to be black.

On Saturday dozens of people of all ages attended the fourth annual "Echoes of Blue and Gray" ceremony, which was instituted at the cemetery with the dedication of a 9-foot obelisk in 2005.

There were talks from members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy, as well as a performance by the Washington Civil War Association fife and drum corps, musket and artillery salutes and the playing of "Taps."

"These men fought in America's greatest crisis, and they should not be forgotten," Shipman said.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1587125~Dozens_attend_Everett_cemetery_s_Civil_War_tribute.html

Interest in Jefferson Davis Increases

Davis sites gain visits amid Lincoln 200th fervor
September 28, 2008
BY JOE BIESK

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- From Abraham Lincoln's boyhood residence to the Mary Todd Lincoln house, visitors this year are flocking to Kentucky sites dedicated to the 16th president.
But Lincoln's Confederate counterpart, Jefferson Davis, is experiencing a similar resurgence. Kentucky, which claims both men as native sons and has statues of both in its Capitol Rotunda, isn't the only place experiencing a Davis boost.

"It'll be hard for anyone to approach the level of attention that Abraham Lincoln gets because he's always classified as one of our greatest presidents," said Paul Bradshaw, manager of a Davis historic site in Georgia. "But I think there's a trend to learn more about the other side."
Interest in both Civil War presidents seems on the rise amid a two-year blitz surrounding Lincoln's 200th birthday next February. This June marked 200 years since the birth of Davis, who served as president of the Confederacy.

Attendance at Kentucky's Lincoln sites has increased about 18 percent, officials say. Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home in Hodgenville, for example, had more than 105,000 visitors in the first six months this year, compared with about 89,000 during the same period last year.
In addition to the Lincoln museum, birthplace and boyhood home in Hodgenville, Kentucky has eight other museums and historic sites related to Lincoln, his family and associates.
Davis' memorial in Fairview, in southwestern Kentucky, meanwhile, has seen an increase in visitors by about 12 percent overall for the year, and a nearly 30 percent jump in June, the month he was born, said Mark Doss, the Davis memorial park manager.

Increased interest in the Civil War, combined with the bicentennial events, are likely behind the renewed interest, Bradshaw said.

Rick Forte, acting director of Beauvoir, the home in Biloxi, Miss., where Davis last lived, said about 4,000 people visited the estate on June 3 for Davis' birthday celebration and grand reopening of the home after restoration work following Hurricane Katrina.
"We have seen just an outstanding growth of interest," Forte said. "Phone calls, e-mails, you name it."

In Lexington, Ky., a town that also boasts ties to both men, the Lexington History Museum has an exhibit featuring both Lincoln and Davis. The museum's president said a record number of people -- more than 8,000 -- have viewed the museum's exhibit. - AP

Reenactment in Wisconsin

Thousands gather for annual Civil War weekend
By Janet Ortegon • Sheboygan Press staff •

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/SHE0101/809280451

GREENBUSH — While other young kids cowered and covered their ears when the cannons went off and the yelling soldiers rode past, 4-year-old Nigel Thiel pointed and laughed.

OAS_"They're pretending fighting!" said Nigel, who was in full period costume along with his mother, Shalimar Thiel, his little brother, Graham, and his grandma, Elaine Jacks. "I like to see the battle. And I like the noise."

Nigel was one of thousands of people who will file through the Wade House Historic Site in Greenbush for the 18th annual Civil War weekend.

Florida Town Honors Role in War

‘Marianna Day’ honors city’s role in Civil War
By Kate McCardell
Published: September 28, 2008

Marianna Day was celebrated Saturday, with several events taking place in the city to commemorate Marianna’s role during the Civil War.

Tents covered a portion of the field at Citizens Lodge Park over the weekend, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans Number 703 of Quincy, Confederate States Ship of Tallahassee Marine Guard and Order of the Confederate Rose held a Civil War living history program.
The re-enactors demonstrated everyday life of both the military and civilians during the years between 1861 and 1865.

“We’re just trying to preserve our heritage,” said Pvt. David Brinkley. “And to get the truth out. The war wasn’t all about slaves. The southern states were trying to get their independence, just like the United States was during the Revolutionary War.”

Earlier in the day, the Theophilus West, M.D., Camp #1346 Sons of Confederate Veterans, held a headstone dedication and ceremony for Judge Allen Henry Bush at St. Luke’s Cemetery.

http://www.jcfloridan.com/jcf/news/local/article/marianna_day_honors_citys_role_in_civil_war/38549/

Deleware Living History Weekend

Marvel Carriage Museum, in Georgetown hosts Civil War Living History Oct. 4
Georgetown Historical SocietysThu Sep 25, 2008

GEORGETOWN, DEL. -On Oct. 4-5 , the Georgetown Historical Society will host its Civil War Living History Weekend. The event will be held at the Marvel Carriage Museum located at 510 South Bedford St., in Georgetown.
The Historical Society has planned a very full weekend of events. Our special features during the weekend this year will be our guest speakers. Once on the grounds, you will feel that you have actually stepped back in time as you get the chance to speak to and meet these special people. We are very pleased to have Dr. Phil Carpenter, PhD. return this year as “General Robert E. Lee, Army of Northern Virginia”. Phil has done exhaustive research on General Lee and always leaves his audiences as if they really have met the General.
It is also our pleasure to introduce “General Stonewall Jackson," as portrayed by Donald Willey. It is not often that you can speak with people from the past. This will be your opportunity to hear the General speak on his life, the war and his experiences during this dramatic time in our country’s history. After he has drawn you into the 19th century, take the time to meet the General up close during his question and answer session.
The Georgetown Historical Society is also pleased to have several members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp # 2068 on hand to give visitors information on the monument that honors Delaware soldiers who served the Confederacy. This organization also has a lot of information on how to start your own research in looking for your ancestors.
http://www.sussexcountian.com/entertainment/x1070363118/Civil-War-comes-to-Georgetown-Oct-4-5

Heritage Weekend in North Carolina

Event offers a look at the Civil War era

Special to the Times-News

MILLS RIVER - The fifth annual Blue-Gray Heritage Weekend will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Mills River.
Although this year's Civil War living history event is officially the fifth annual, it is actually the successor to an event of the same name held for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s at the historic Woodfield Inn in Flat Rock.
Many people still remember that event and will often ask, "When are you having that reenactment again?" Today the event enjoys a larger site in a beautiful rural setting, with plenty of convenient parking.
The purpose of the event is to teach about the history of the War Between the States era, and is a great place for school children and homeschoolers to learn about the war in Western North Carolina. Presentations will include a display and talk about the evolution of the U.S. flag and the many others used during the war, Civil War medical displays, a ladies' 1860s fashion show and a ladies' tea to highlight the social customs of the day.
The event is hosted by Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 70 of Hendersonville. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 to 12 and free for children under 6.
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080925/NEWS/809251025?Title=Event_offers_a_look_at_the_Civil_War_era

Overby Rememberance Held

Overby remembrance held in Oak Hill
By Elizabeth Richardson

The Times-Herald
erichardson@newnan.com

A group gathered Saturday in Oak Hill Cemetery's Confederate section to remember the timeless courage of William Thomas Overby.
Overby, born in Virginia in 1837 and raised in Newnan, entered the Confederate Army in May 1861. During his service, Overby joined Col. John Mosby's Rangers. Overby and five others were taken captive on Sept. 23, 1864. Within four hours, Overby and another solder were hanged, and the four remaining captives were shot -- all without a trial.
Overby is remembered as a hero because, even in the face of death, he refused to reveal Mosby's last known location. For his actions, Overby became the only Georgian to be awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor.
On Saturday, Kelly Barrow, commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Army of Tenn., spoke during the program. Barrow said true southerners are different because "we're nourished by the memories of our heroes." It is his wish to see school children "taught about all heroes -- including ours."
http://www.times-herald.com/Local/Overby-remembrance-held-in-Oak-Hill---556296

General Longstreet's restored Piedmont Hotel dedicated

Gainesville's restored Piedmont Hotel dedicated



By Jerry Gunn Staff

GAINESVILLE - The long-awaited dedication of the restored remaining section of Confederate General James Longstreet’s Piedmont Hotel was held Saturday morning in Gainesville.

Members of the Hall County Historical Society, including Judge William Norton along with the Longstreet Society, showed off their long-time labor of love.

Gainesville Newcomer’s Club members, in period dress, handed out programs that were copies of the Piedmont’s grand opening more than 100 years ago.

Norton expects this remainder of Longstreet’s railroad hotel should last another 100 years.

A bust of General Longstreet was placed on display, brought from Dahlonega by Tim Ragland of the “Blue Ridge Rifles" 1860 Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=213262

SCV Flagpole and Red Tape

County planners OK resolutions for historic monuments, billboards in FAR zones
Friday, September 12, 2008

The Dyer County Regional Planning Commission passed resolutions Thursday allowing historic monuments and advertising signs in forestry, agriculture and recreation zones.
The resolutions also must be approved by the Dyer County Commission before becoming part of the county's zoning regulations.


The resolutions are perceived as potential solutions to two controversial topics: a giant flagpole near Trimble and an alleged case of spot zoning for a Highway 78 billboard.

Under the proposed amendments, anyone who wants to erect a monument or sign must seek special permits from the county's Board of Zoning Appeals.

The flagpole

The Sons of Confederate Veterans erected an 80-foot-tall flagpole near Pierce Cemetery in a forestry, agriculture and recreation (FAR) zone. A 20-by-30-foot Confederate flag now flies high on a hill overlooking Interstate 155.

Last month, Bill Foster of Union City, commander of the 10-county Sons of Confederate Veterans division that established the flagpole, said it is part of a complex "for history, heritage and honor." The SCV plans to place Confederate "mega-flags" along routes across the southern United States.

After the flagpole was erected, a complaint was filed with the Dyer County Board of Zoning Appeals. Historic monuments, such as this, are not permitted in FAR zones. The board declined Aug. 12 to approve a variance for the flagpole, but board members said the SCV could ask the county to amend its zoning regulations.

http://www.stategazette.com/story/1460909.html

Mahone’s Tavern

Public to get first peek at Mahone’s Tavern

BY R.E. SPEARS III/STAFF WRITER/res.spears@tidewaternews.com

Friday, September 5, 2008 7:38 PM EDT

COURTLAND—Following its purchase by an undisclosed Virginia Beach benefactor, Mahone’s Tavern will be open for public tours for the first time later this month.

Members of the Urquhart-Gillette Camp No. 1471, Sons of Confederate Veterans, plan to open the antebellum mansion for public viewing during the Southampton Historical Society’s annual Heritage Day on Sept. 20.

It will be the first of many planned events that will help the organization raise the money it needs to pay back the debt associated with buying, maintaining and restoring the house, according to Tommy Simmons, local SCV commander.

Simmons said the organization expected to receive its incorporation papers this week, codifying its status as a nonprofit entity and then allowing a formal deal to be struck with the person who bought the building, which was the boyhood home of Confederate Gen. William Mahone.

“When the nonprofit entity becomes a reality, then we can in turn deal with the party that took the house off the market,” he explained. “I feel like we’re on the right path now.”

From the perspective of Simmons and other history buffs throughout the area, the current path is a much safer one for the building than the one it seemed to be on this spring, when a “For Sale” sign hung outside and the SCV worried that Realtors were getting calls from private citizens or developers with little or no interest in the home’s historic significance.

“We had worried that someone would want to do something else with it,” turning it into a bed-and-breakfast, tearing it down or interfering with its historic status in some other way, he said.

Although other parties had expressed an interest in buying the house to preserve it, sources said this week that they had been unable to raise the money to do so. Simmons’ group worked with the Virginia Beach buyer for about three months before the purchase finally went through.

That buyer had seen a newspaper article about the house and the SCV’s hopes for it and had called offering to help, Simmons said Wednesday.

Simmons and his group announced in May that they were looking for a way to take ownership of the home and use it as a meeting place and activity center for the SCV camp and the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

He also promised that it would be opened for tours, Civil War-type encampments and even some private events.

Heritage Day, he said Wednesday, offers a good first opportunity to do so.

The Camp will open the house for tours Sept. 20 during the Historical Society’s event at the Southampton Agriculture and Forestry Museum. Simmons said that Blair Bunn of Newsoms will run a mule-driven Amish wagon with up to 20 guests at a time to and from the Mahone Tavern.

Guests can board the wagon at the museum for a $2 fee, which includes a chance to win a historic portrait by nationally known artist and author Henry Kidd of Colonial Heights.

While at the Tavern, they will be able to see a mock encampment behind the antebellum mansion and interact with people wearing period dress.

For the night prior to Heritage Day, the Camp has planned a fish fry, catered by Nixon’s, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. A limited number of seats are available, or food may be taken out. Tickets are $8 and are available from any local SCV member.

Proceeds from both events will help pay the $210,000 debt on the property, Simmons said.

Mahone’s Tavern was built as a residence in 1794 by Samuel Kello, Southampton County’s second Clerk of the Court.

William Mahone, who was born in Monroe and would later become a general in the Confederate Army, moved to the house with his parents in 1840, after the Nat Turner rebellion. They believed the town, known as Jerusalem at the time, would be a safer place to live and raise their family.

The Mahone family would later build a breezeway between the residence and the home next door, operating the two buildings as a bed-and-breakfast serving people who came to town with business at the courthouse across the street.

Eventually the building became known as Mahone’s Tavern.

Both homes still exist today, though the breezeway has been removed and the Town of Courtland owns the neighboring home.

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Confederate flag may stay aloft

Confederate flag may stay aloft
By Andrew Meacham, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, September 4, 2008


http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article795495.ece


TAMPA ­ The giant Confederate flag near Interstates 75 and 4 has been flying for nearly two weeks, and this time it is likely to stay aloft, backers say.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans first raised the banner for 20 minutes on April 1, and then again on June 3 and on Flag Day, June 14, on private property where they were building a monument to honor Confederate soldiers. They have put it up and lowered it three times, never flying it for more than a day or so.

Confederate Cemetery bequeathed to SCV Moultrie Camp

Confederate Cemetery bequeathed to SCV Moultrie Camp

Sully Witte - News Editor
Published: Wednesday, September 03, 200


Pictured here are SCV Moultrie Camp #27 commander Howard Chalmers accepting ownership of the
Confederate Cemetery from Confederate Memorial Association President Mary Julia Royall,
as former commander Jeff Antley looks on.

The earliest known burial in the Confederate Cemetery, located in the
Old Village, took place in 1814. These are two graves located there.

Howard Chalmers, Commander of the Sons of Confederate Veteran’s Moultrie Camp #27 stood alongside
Mount Pleasant’s very own historian, Mary Julia Royall Thursday looking out over the graves of our confederate soldiers.
They were in Mount Pleasant’s only Confederate Cemetery, located in the Old Village to facilitate a historical “passing of the torch.”

Royall, president of the Dr. John DuPré Confederate Memorial Association (JDCMA) bequeathed the
Confederate Cemetery to the Moultrie Camp in an effort to ensure that the Cemetery is preserved in perpetuity....

http://www.moultrienews.com/news/sully-confederate-cemetery

Jefferson Davis's Refuge In South Rises Again

Jefferson Davis's Refuge In South Rises Again
By STUART FERGUSON
Wall Street Journal
August 28, 2008; Page D11

Biloxi, Miss.

In 1878, ex-Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote: "Our house was given its name by its former possessor to express
a beautiful prospect. The air is soft. In winter especially the sea breeze is invigorating. The oranges are shining golden on
the trees, and our pine-knot fires soar in the chimneys; in their light I try to bury my unhappiness."

Davis had much to be unhappy about. Not only had the South's bid for independence failed and its leader been
arrested and imprisoned -- for a brief time in chains -- but Davis was sickly and broke. Beauvoir would be his final refuge
from 1877 to 1889, when he died in New Orleans returning from a trip to Brierfield, his old plantation on the
Mississippi River.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121987959431377955.html

Chickamauga: Re-enactors react to Newsweek story

Chickamauga: Re-enactors react to Newsweek story


By: Chloé Morrison
(Contact)
By: Mike O'Neal
(Contact)

Civil War re-enactor John Culpepper said he has always heard about the “nut” from Kennesaw who collects Ku Klux Klan memorabilia, and he doesn’t appreciate being lumped together with such a person.

The cover story in the Aug. 11 issue of Newsweek, “Southern Discomfort,” details writer Christopher Dickey’s odyssey through the South as he tried to gauge impressions of presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain.

For a portion of the interview Mr. Dickey talked with a young Civil War re-enactor he ran into on Lookout Mountain. He also talked to the Kennesaw man Mr. Culpepper referred to, whose name is Dent Myers.

In a photo spread, the re-enactor, 12, is just below a picture, which features a mannequin in a white, pointy, Ku Klux Klan hood, from Mr. Dent’s store.

Mr. Culpepper said his friend sent him the article.

“He was boiling mad,” Mr. Culpepper said of his friend, a fellow re-enactor. “Because it puts us in with racists.”

The history buff, also Chickamauga city manager, and others said the Newsweek article perpetuates stereotypes of re-enactors, and of Southerners, that are inaccurate.

“As far as me and the average Southerner, we are not racist,” Mr. Culpepper said. “We are living historians. We portray Union and we portray Confederate. We are doing it for our ancestors to honor both sides of the war.”

Ann Shackleford and her husband, Bill, have been re-enacting Civil War battles for 18 years. They operate the Mountain City Mercantile, a Civil War-era general store in Chickamauga.

Re-enacting is not about trying to rewrite history, Ms. Shackleford said, it is about recreating history and honoring ancestors.

Mr. Shackleford said many members of the Sons of Confederate veterans also are members of the Sons of Union Veterans, having ancestors who fought on both sides.

Although some re-enactors said they are sometimes misunderstood, Mr. Shackleford said he never has been ridiculed for his hobby.

“I catch more flak for dressing as a Yankee,” he sai

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/aug/27/chickamauga-re-enactors-react-newsweek-story/#comments

Louisianans headed to Poland to honor cavalry officer

Louisianans headed to Poland to honor cavalry officer

Heros Von Borcke was a larger-than-life figure.

By John Andrew Prime • jprime@gannett.com • August 25, 2008


In a tribute to diversity, two Louisianans are headed to Poland to honor a Prussian aristocrat who fought for the Confederacy almost 150 years ago.


Chuck Rand, of Monroe, and Michael Bergeron, of Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, are en route to Eastern Europe to help dedicate a new U.S.-supplied military gravestone for Col. Johann August Heinrich Heros von Borcke, a soldier who served with the South in the 1860s and became a heroic figure among its cavalry corps. A 6-foot 4-inch prankster who fought with enthusiasm, and who almost could have been taken from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, his wounding in 1863 just before the Battle of Gettysburg is thought by some historians to have changed the course of the conflict.


"It is interesting that events that occurred in North America over 140 years ago not only still reverberate here but also have echoes in Europe," said Rand, who is the national chief of staff for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.


Heros von Borcke is due his tombstone through a change in U.S. law that has recognized Confederate veterans as U.S. soldiers since the early 1900s.While the government provides tombstones for former Confederates, they are different in design from traditional gravestones for other U.S. soldiers in that they have a pointed, rather than a rounded top.The gravestone dedication and graveside memorial service, which will be open to the public and the media, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Gyzin, also called Giessenbrugge.


Due to wars and boundary changes in Europe, the historic residence of the Von Borcke family was once in Prussia, a part of old Germany, but now is in modern Poland.Von Borcke's original tombstone was destroyed by the Soviets after they occupied the region following World War II.

Rand and Bergeron will represent the Sons of Confederate Veterans at the event.


The national heritage group has another Louisiana connection through its national commander in chief, Shreveport Charles McMichael. Rand and Bergeron will present the Von Borcke Family with a certificate from McMichael noting their ancestor's service.Von Borcke was an imposing presence in the Confederacy, as he was a top aide and confidante to James Ewell Brown Stuart, the famous cavalry leader.A signal character in the June 9, 1863, battle of Brandy Station, the largest cavalry encounter of the war, he was known to give advice and guidance to Stuart.But Von Borcke was badly wounded in the neck at the Battle of Middlesburg 10 days later. Stuart and his cavalry were absent from the July 2-4 Gettysburg battle at crucial times, and some historians believe that had Von Borcke been at Stuart's side, he might have given Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia better service when most needed.


"Upon returning to Germany, Col. Von Borcke wrote a book titled 'Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence,'" Rand said.


Von Borcke, who died in 1895 at the age of 60, flew the Confederate flag from the battlements at his ancestral castle and even named his daughter Virginia in tribute to his service.The U.S. War Between the States is a topic of interest in Europe and other parts of the world, with re-enactors active in Germany, Poland, Australia and South America.


In addition to the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a company of German Confederate reenactors, Hampton's Legion from Berlin, will fire a salute in honor of Von Bocke, with attendees from units in Germany, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and other countries looking on.


http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808250305