Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Thousands Attend SCV Sponsored SC Reenactment

Thousands turn out to see Confederate victory

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By APRIL BAILEY, Staff writer

Several thousand history buffs gathered on Sunday to watch the re-enactment of what was considered one of the most significant Confederate victories during the Civil War, the Battle of Aiken.

A crowd of about 3,000 turned out for the event, sponsored by the Aiken Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #1575, to witness what life was like more than 140 years ago. According to Cmdr. Richard Walling, the event is held each year to pay homage to those who served during the Civil War.

"We honor our Confederate ancestors by doing this," he said.

Full story:

http://www.aikenstandard.com/0225BoA

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Washington Times Covers SCV, Davis, Beavoir Events

Katrina-hit Davis home to reopen By Martha M. Boltz

The bicentennial observance of the birth of Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis will take place throughout this year, with the highlight being the reopening of Beauvoir, his final home, in Gulfport, Miss., on June 3.

The nationwide events are being led by members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans along with local heritage organizations, which also have offered their support to the bicentennial effort.

Full story:

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080216/CIVILWAR/82892238/1011

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Georgia Legislature Passes 3 Resolutions Honoring Davis

The Georgia Legislature has just passed a total of three resolutions Honoring President Davis in this year of the bicentennial of his birth. Army of Tennessee Commander Kelly Barrow approached representatives (and SCV members) Alan Powell and Tommy Benton, and senator Jeff Mullis. All three pushed variations of the resolutions through. Below are links to each resolution:

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/fulltext/sr915.htm

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/fulltext/hr1163.htm

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/fulltext/hr1164.htm

Monday, February 18, 2008

SC SCV Sponsored Re-enactment Gets Coverage

A way to honor your ancestors - Cannons roar as reenactors stage Battle of Rivers Bridge

By LARKIN HIOTT, T&D Correspondent

EHRHARDT, SC --Cannon fire echoed through the Bamberg County countryside near Ehrhardt this weekend during reenactments of the Battle of Rivers Bridge.

The living history demonstrations were staged by the 25th South Carolina Volunteers, Palmetto Battalion Inc., with assistance from Rivers Bridge Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #842.

Full story:

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2008/02/06/news/12948083.txt

Friday, February 15, 2008

SCV Gives Students Realistic Look at War

Fifth-grade students at Pleasant Hill Elementary school recently had a visit from the Sons of Confederate Veterans of Gainesboro, TN and the Order of Confederate Rose of Crossville. The groups came to the school to show the students examples of what the soldiers and their wives of the Civil War-era wore. The also showed some of the weapons and utensils they used.

Gainesboro Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) members Mike Davis and Mike Wilson, along with Order of Confederate Rose (OCR) members Carolyn Hedgecoth and Ruby Pruett, offered classroom illustrations and demonstrations of what it was like in that era.

Full story:

http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/features/local_story_045162429.html?keyword=topstory

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Eastern KY Camp Formation Makes News

Veterans group gets Morehead charter

By Stephanie Ockerman - Managing Editor

Morehead now has a charter for a group dedicated to keeping alive the history and legacy of their soldier ancestors.

The 5th KY Infantry Camp #2122 of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans was founded by Darrell Crawford of Morehead, who was a previous member of the Ben Caudill Camp #1629 in Whitesburg.

The 5th KY camp is connected with the Big Sandy Brigade.


Full Story:

http://www.themoreheadnews.com/local/local_story_043142021.html

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

TN Camp Erects 'Welcome to South' Signs


The Otho F. Strahl Camp #176 in Union City, TN has erected a 6 foot by 24 foot "Welcome to the South" sign on an old cotton trailer on the south side of U.S. Highway 51 just east of Union City, TN.

This highway is the main thoroughfare into West Tennessee from West Kentucky. Funds for this project came from the SCV and donations from the camp membership.

Joe Dillon

Life member, Camp # 176, Union City, TN.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

New ANV Newsletter Available

A new issue (edition I, issue III) of the Army of Northern Virginia newsletter is now online at http://anv.scv.org/documents.php, along with back issues and other documents of interest.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Alabama Division Saving a Piece of History

February 6, 2008
$6,000 will save a piece of historyBy Kenneth Mullinaxkmullinax@gannett.com

Most of the 90 Confederate battle flags among the Civil War era collection housed at the Alabama Department of Archives and History are tattered from battle.
Nearly all of the flags were carried by Confederate troops in Civil War battles that included Gettysburg, Shiloh, Atlanta, and Vicksburg, said Bob Bradley, chief curator at the state archives.
"Many of these flags are in need of repair because of bullet holes, burn marks from cannon shot, the blood of the men who carried them, and over 140 years' worth of age and handling," Bradley said.
Fourteen of the flags have been restored. Bradley offered his thanks for a $6,000 donation made Monday by the Alabama Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. It means one more flag can be restored and put on public display.
"If it wasn't for the generosity of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, we wouldn't have any flags for the public to see," Bradley said.


For full story see:
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080205/NEWS01/802050326

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Stephen Dill Lee Institute Comes to NC March 1

The SCV’s acclaimed educational outreach program, the Stephen Dill Lee Institute will be held in Burlington, North Carolina, March 1st. In an all-day affair, some of the finest scholars in Southern history will present Lies My Teacher Told Me: The True History of the War for Southern Indepence. Brian Cisco, Thomas DiLorenzo, Donald Livingston and Clyde Wilson will present the fact about the economic motives for the North’s conquest of the South, the North’s hypocrisy over slavery, the South’s correct constitutional position, and Yankee war crimes against Southern civilians. In addition, there will be a special presentation on The Myth of North Carolina Unionism. Plenty of time will be allowed for audience participation and discussion.

The Institute will be conducted at the Ramada Inn in Burlington, North Carolina, at exit #143 of Interstate 85/40 (between Raleigh and Greensboro) beginning at 9 am. A registration fee of $35 will cover the program including mid-day meal. This is the best bargain in Southern scholarship, and every SCV member should consider attending.

Get more information and register online by clicking here.

Formation of New KY Camp Makes News

By Jared Nelson jnelson@timesleader.net

Monday, February 04, 2008

A new Caldwell County, KY camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans appears to be on its way to formation.

About 15 men interested in the group and a local camp formation braved the rain and snow to attend an organizational meeting at the George Coon Public Library Thursday evening.

Full story:

http://www.timesleader.net/articles/stories/public/200802/04/4GQQ_news.html

Sunday, February 3, 2008

SCV Field Rep Jack Marlar Makes News Speaking on the Hunley

An educational discussion about the “Southern ingenuity” of the first submarine to sink an enemy ship brought local members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to the Mooresville Public Library Monday night.

Full Story:

http://www.mooresvilletribune.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MOT/MGArticle/MOT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354142358

SCV Camp Seeks Proper Stone for NC Soldier - But Now NPS Wants "Mock" Trial

By Terry W. Ayers

Adjutant SCV Camp 2068, member SCV PR/Media Committee

There is such a thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For Sgt. Ivy Ritchie, CSA, the problem is he has been in the wrong place for a long time.

According to Joel Fesperman of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Ivy Ritchie Camp # 1734 Albemarle, NC the namesake of their camp, one of the last soldiers – and perhaps the last - to die in the battle of Appomattox Court House, has been lying in a grave at the National Park Service’s Poplar Grove Cemetery in Petersburg Virginia for almost 150 years with the name of a fictitious Union soldier, Sgt. J. Ritchie, Co. “H”, 14th New York Infantry, on his tombstone.

Ritchie, from Stanly County, North Carolina fought with the 14th NC in nearly every major battle of the war in Virginia. The end was in sight when he was killed on the morning of April 9, 1865.

Fesperman and members of his camp have been trying for years to get Sgt. Ivy Ritchie’s remains moved to North Carolina or at least get his tombstone corrected. They say that his remains were removed from Appomattox after the war and buried at a national cemetery for Union dead by mistake.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans feel that a DNA analysis is the best means of determining that the soldier in grave #4824 is Sgt. Ivy Ritchie. But the National Park Service has refused to exhume the remains.

Fesperman says despite the refusal, the National Park Service seemed to be cooperative. “We have a letter from them (NPS) telling us the stone would be changed. Then they decided to have (a) mock trial.”

According to Fesperman, without warning the NPS suddenly changed their mind and decided to invite three experts to hear testimony on whether or not Ritchie is buried with Union soldiers. So they scheduled a mock trial to be held on Wednesday February 13th at Dinwiddie Court House and both sides – Fesperman and the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Chris Calkins, a historian from the National Park Service, will present evidence to the three-man panel. Calkins has written a book that reveals that there is compelling evidence that Ritchie buried in that grave. Now Calkins has changed his mind, citing mysterious new evidence that he says he will reveal at the trial.

It all seems very suspicious to Fesperman and his SCV camp. He says he has a letter written by Ritchie’s brother positively identifying the remains as Ritchie and has a newspaper article that indicates the body was moved to Poplar Grove Cemetery. “It was him” the newspaper article says, according to Fesperman.

“We have done our research,” indicates Mr. Fesperman, a process that has taken years and many hours of time for the camp, the largest in the state of North Carolina. “We contacted the National Archives. There is no other Ritchie that it could be other than Ivy Ritchie. There are no spelling variations from New York, New Jersey or any surrounding states. We pulled all the records with an “I” or a “J’ in their name. Then we determined if they survived, when they were discharged and accounted for every one of them. The only “I” Ritchie it could be is him (Ivy Ritchie). We are convinced it has to be him.”

For Fesperman and the camp members, this is about more than just correcting a mistake in history. “This is personal. He’s my double cousin. Twenty members of our camp share blood (with Ritchie).”

So Joel Fesperman and members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1734 will don their Sunday best and attend the hearing on February 13 to plead their case. They are confident of victory but say “If they (the National Park Service) are playing games, it won’t stop at that courthouse. If we have to do an environmental study (the next step in the process) we’ll do an environmental study.” The study would cost an estimated $5,000 dollars but Fesperman and his camp are willing to do it.

“We’ve come this far, we’re not going to stop now. This is personal.”

The NPS mock trial is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday February 13th just west of Petersburg at Dinwiddie Court House. It is hoped that members of the Sons of Confederate Soldiers will show their support for their Compatriots in Camp 1734.

End

Poll Results: What is the average attendance at your camp meeting vs camp size?

105 people responded to this poll and here are the results: 16% said that average attendance at their camp meetings was less than 15% of the camp size, 23% said that attendance was 16-25% of camp size, 33% said that attendance was 26-40% of camp size, and 26% said that attendance was more than 40% of their camp size. These results show a wide distribution, from camps with small relative attendance to camps that seem to get most of their members to come. In this matter, it seems that "mileage will vary" greatly from camp to camp.