Battleflag To Fly Over Super Bowl

Members of the Confederate Veterans of America wait to hoist their flag again at their memorial site off of U.S. 92.

TAMPA - Super Bowl visitors coming to the Tampa area expecting a cosmopolitan waterfront city might be surprised to see the giant Confederate flag visible from Interstate 4. Local Super Bowl organizers and community boosters met with the owners of the 30-by-60-foot rebel flag in September to see whether the group would take it down during the week leading up to Sunday's game at Raymond James Stadium.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans declined and instead plan to capitalize on the notoriety during Super Bowl week to promote what they say is an effort to honor Southern heritage."We fly it so we can explain it," said Marion Lambert, a member of the group that is building a veterans memorial near the intersection of Interstates 4 and 75.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jan/27/270000/na-plannershopeflagdoesnthoistfury/

Arkansas' Last Real Son has Crossed the River

Charlie G. Pinkston
June 4, 1909 - January 20, 2009

Roller Funeral Home Highway 5 North Mountain Home , AR 72654

Charlie G. Pinkston, age 99, of Mountain Home, passed away Jan. 20, 2009 at Care Manor Nursing Center. Visitation will be from 12-9 P.M Friday, Jan. 23 at Roller Funeral Home, with family receiving friends from 6-8 P.M. A Masonic service will follow at 8 PM. Funeral Services , conducted by Rev. Max Pyron will be 2:00 P.M. Sat. Jan. 24 at Roller Funeral Home. Burial, with military honors will follow at Baxter Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

http://www.rollerfuneralhomes.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=15692&locid

Battleflag Files Proudly in Tampa

Controversial Rebel battle flag erected again in Tampa
Posted By: Tamara Hill

A local group vowed a flag would be up before Super Bowl and that's exactly what happened.

On Friday afternoon, The Sons Of Confederate Veterans erected an enormous Confederate Battle Flag at a memorial park in Tampa. The 30x30 foot flag flies adjacent to I-75 bridge over U.S. 92. The group first put the flag up last year in June, but it was recently damaged by high winds and had to be repaired. The flag has caused some controversy. Opponents say it's a sign of hatred but others say it's a symbol of heritage. While the flag came under criticism by some civil rights groups before it was put up. All permits were legally obtained and all requirements were met before the flag was raised.

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=98826&catid=8

SCV and US Army Cooperate in Grave Marking in Louisiana

Grave-side service held, Civil War veterans honored
Friday, January 16, 2009 12:50 PM CST

Members of the Sabine Rifles Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans honor two Confederate veterans at a ceremony at Peason Ridge training area Jan. 3. During the ceremony, Veteran’s Administration markers were placed on the veterans’ graves.

SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS The rain began to slow and the clouds dissipate as reenactors from the Sabine Rifles Camp 2057 fired their muskets to honor two Confederate veterans during a memorial held at the Merritt Cemetery, on the Peason Ridge training area Jan. 3. Both veterans, Edmond Merritt and Robert T. Conner, received new Veterans Administration grave markers denoting military service during the Civil War. The ceremony was hosted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in conjunction with the Peason Historical Foundation.


http://www.fortpolkguardian.com/articles/2009/01/16/fort_polk_community/022civil.txt

Lee and Jackson Celebrated in Deleware

Sons of Confederate Veterans honor generals Lee and Jackson
By MOLLY MURRAY
The News Journal
January 18, 2009

In Georgetown, members of the Delaware Grays Sons of Confederate Veterans gathered to mark the birthdays of Southern Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. In Wilmington, thousands gathered to see Barack Obama -- the nation's first black president -- join Joe Biden for their inaugural train ride to Washington.

Wayne Yarnall, publicity chairman for the Delaware Grays, said the timing of the event was unintentional. It coincided with Lee's birthday on Jan. 19, 1807, and Jackson's on Jan. 21, 1824. It also came as Obama is getting ready to be sworn in Tuesday, causing some to see parallels between him and President Abraham Lincoln, who guided the country through the turbulent time of the Civil War when Delaware, like Maryland, were border states.

Robert B. Eldreth Jr., commander of the Delaware Grays Camp 2068, said he believes many people welcome the change that Obama represents. "As we see the change and the desire for change ... let us see the truth in history," Eldreth said during his address at the Georgetown ceremony.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090118/NEWS/901180375/1006

Confederate Heroes Day Celebrated in Texas

Texas heritage group recognizes Confederate Heroes Day
1/17/2009 4:17 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

Saturday was Confederate Heroes Day and in order to commemorate the day, the Sons of Confederate Veterans held a memorial service on the south lawn of the Capitol. Confederate Heroes' Day commemorates those who died fighting for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. It's an official state holiday in Texas and the day has fallen annually on January 19—the birthday of Robert E. Lee—since its approval on January 30, 1931.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans dressed up in Confederate uniforms, and carried the various flags of the Confederacy. They also held a remembrance of General Robert E. Lee. http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=229426&SecID=2

Black Southerner marching to D.C., seeks respect for Confederate flag

H.K. Edgerton, a black member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, marches along U.S. 29 with the Confederate battle flag.

The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff
Published: January 17, 2009

The Confederate battle flag billowed, flapped and fluttered in Friday’s cold wind as H.K. Edgerton led his one-man march up U.S. 29 to Washington in hopes of gaining a little respect.
Edgerton, 65, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, is marching from his Black Mountain, N.C., home to ask President-elect Barack Obama to extend an olive branch to traditional Southerners. His improbable journey for an unlikely cause seeks what may be the politically impossible: official U.S. government recognition of the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of Southern heritage.

What makes Edgerton different than most advocates for his cause is that he’s black.
“I’m an African-American and I’m a Southerner and I believe my heritage, which is represented by the flag bearing the Christian Cross of St. Andrew, is being ignored and destroyed. It’s continuing to divide the black folks and the white folks who have a lot in common,” Edgerton said, stopping his forward march for a hot beverage at the Dunkin’ Donuts just north of Fray’s Mill Road.

“Mr. Obama said he is about unity and bringing this nation together. If he is truly a man of unity, I hope he will consider showing the Southerner that [the Southerner] is an important part of this country,” he said.

Edgerton offers advice on how that can be accomplished.

“He could have a Confederate color guard at the White House,” he said. “He could give the Confederate flag a respected place as part of the history and heritage of this country.”
That is unlikely to happen. The flag has become a magnet for racial division. Racists and white supremacy groups wave the flag to represent their cause and civil rights leaders point to the flag as a symbol of repression and slavery.

Edgerton insists that’s wrong.

“It does not represent slavery, although slavery was a fact of life. The flag represents a heritage, a way of life that my forebears had. It represents the men and the families that lived together and fought together to preserve their country from invasion,” Edgerton said. “My family volunteered for the Confederacy and fought side-by-side with white Southerners and Indian Southerners. They are all my family.”

3 Marysville-Pilchuck students suspended over Confederate flag displays

3 Marysville-Pilchuck students suspended over Confederate flag displays

By Krista J. Kapralos
Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE -- A long-running dispute over the Confederate flag and its display on the campus of Marysville-Pilchuck High School erupted again after years of relative calm.

Three students in recent months have been suspended for displaying the flag, an action that has been against school rules since 2004. That's when African-American students protested the public display of Confederate flags by white students.

The atmosphere then was tense and students barely escaped violence, said Ray Houser, executive director of teaching and learning for the Marysville School District. That's why school officials took quick action in October when they noticed Confederate flags on three vehicles parked in the student lot. The flag was painted on the hood of at least one of those vehicles. The students and their parents were called to a meeting to figure out what to do.

"We gave them a choice," Houser said. "They needed to either remove the flag or park off-campus."

The students were cooperative, and the school held special assemblies to remind everyone why it was against school rules to display the flag.

A month later, one of those three students brought a Confederate flag to school, Houser said. Two other students who were not involved in the October incident grabbed the flag. One slid behind the driver's seat in a pickup truck and drove around the parking lot. The other student sat in the truck bed and waved the flag, Houser said.

"These students chose to display it even though we had educated the student body on it," Houser said.

Both students were suspended for 10 days.

A week ago, one student who was involved in the October meeting arrived at school in a truck with a Confederate flag design on its front, Houser said. When school officials noticed it, the student also was suspended for 10 days.

After the latest suspension, a group of students appeared on Seattle television news report, arguing the Confederate flag isn't a sign of racism, but a symbol of rural culture.

A federal court in West Virginia ruled in 2005 that high school officials there violated students' First Amendment rights when they banned T-shirts displaying the Confederate flag. A student involved in the lawsuit was represented by an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU officials could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Student safety is more important than free speech in this case, said Don Hatch, a Tulalip tribal member and longtime board member of the Marysville School District. Tulalip tribal children are the largest minority represented in the Marysville School District.

If school officials hadn't taken action when they did, the situation could have escalated and easily turned violent, he said.

"Racism is a big issue in this area," he said. "We've got a lot of different cultures in our school system, and if we don't deal with this, we'll have some problems."

The Marysville School District's ban on displays of the Confederate flag came months after teenagers burned a cross in the front yard of an African-American pastor in Arlington in 2004. Arguments between African-American students and white students at Marysville- Pilchuck High School came after students painted the Confederate flag on school property.

When the flag is displayed, tensions rise and violence is possible between students who argue over the flag's meaning, Houser said.

Kids with Confederate flags on their vehicles are probably copying "The Dukes of Hazzard," said Clyde Moslander, a custom car artist and owner of Moslander's Rod and Custom in Monroe.

"A lot of kids probably saw on TV that Dodge Charger with the Confederate flag on the roof," he said. "It's probably a takeoff off that."

Moslander said he would never paint a swastika on a vehicle for a customer, but he wouldn't hesitate if someone asked him to paint a Confederate flag.

"It's no big deal," he said.

Andy Hugel, owner of DreamWerks, an auto detailing shop in Snohomish, said Confederate flags on trucks and cars is a sad throwback to 1950s hot-rod culture.

He said he begrudgingly painted the flag on a car for one customer in California several years ago.

"That paint lasted about a month," he said. "It got keyed, it got paintballs thrown at it. People were really upset when they saw it."

Now, Hugel refuses everyone who asks him to paint the design.

"My feeling is that these people should just grow up," he said. "It's like having a gun hanging in your back window. It's immature, and even a little scary."

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.

Grant the Butcher returns To Mississippi

Ulysses S. Grant marches south again

SIU loses archives to Mississippi State University

By Megan Twohey |Tribune reporter

January 18, 2009

The University of Virginia has Thomas Jefferson, Columbia University has Alexander Hamilton. And for more than 40 years, Southern Illinois University had Ulysses S. Grant.

But that honor came to an unceremonious end last month, when the Carbondale campus was forced to relinquish the world's largest collection of Grant papers.

Following a nearly yearlong conflict with the school, the Ulysses S. Grant Association, which owns the material, recently relocated nearly 100 file cabinets crammed with documents and memorabilia to Mississippi State University.

No one will talk on the record about what prompted the move. But the long relationship between SIU and the association apparently soured last year when the group's executive director was accused of sexual harassment and was notified he would be fired from a teaching position at the university.

When the legal skirmishing was over, some 300,000 items connected to the Union hero and former Illinois resident were moved to a state with strong Confederate roots—a development drawing attention, even chuckles, from across the country.

"It is pretty funny," said Keith Donohue, of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission in Washington, which has provided $1.8 million of support to the collection. "The hero of the Union has moved to Mississippi."

The Grant papers now reside in the library of a university whose first president was Confederate Gen. Stephen D. Lee and is in a part of the country where old traditions die hard. Not until the late 1990s did students at nearby University of Mississippi in Oxford stop flying the Rebel flag at football games.

The Magnolia State also was of singular importance to Grant's military career. Soldiers from Mississippi fiercely battled Grant's forces in Corinth and Port Gibson, and just across the border in Shiloh, Tenn., before his victory at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, helped seal the Confederacy's fate.

Though many see humor or even irony in what could be called Grant's final journey to the South, it is a major loss for SIU.

Housing such a valuable archive brings prestige to a university, and the Grant project is one of the most prized collections of its kind, experts on the subject said.

"There was a time when Grant was not welcome here, but that's in the past," said Mark Keenum, Mississippi State's president. "We're very excited to have these historic documents."

Because official presidential libraries weren't created until the middle of the 20th Century, certain universities have become home to the papers of the earlier presidents. The University of Virginia, for example, has the Jefferson collection.

The Grant association, an outgrowth of the Civil War Centennial, hired John Simon as its executive director and moved a burgeoning collection on the 18th president to SIU in 1964. The university also provided a home for a staff of four.

"We had a vague memorandum of understanding," said David Carlson, SIU's dean of library affairs. "If we were working on it today, it would be a lot more specific."

Eventually, the library amassed hundreds of original and photocopied manuscripts, letters, artwork, diaries and other war memorabilia on Grant.

The material shed light on the Ohio native's time at West Point, his rise through the Union command ranks and his presidential leadership during Reconstruction. It provided resources on Grant's financial ruin and the writing of his famous memoirs on his deathbed.

Among the items are copies of Grant's order to remove Jewish soldiers from his military district, his handwritten State of the Union address (with notes in the margins) and letters to his doctor as he was dying of throat cancer.

Simon wound up editing 30 volumes of Grant's papers published by Southern Illinois University Press. He won numerous awards and helped the National Portrait Gallery and other institutions craft exhibits on Grant.

But last May, SIU informed Simon that he would be fired from his teaching job following accusations of sexual harassment, according to his wife, Harriet. Later that month, the association voted to break from SIU, said Chief Justice Frank Williams of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, the group's president.

When Simon died in July, the association selected a new executive director: John Marszalek, professor emeritus of history at Mississippi State and a biographer of William T. Sherman, the Union general who was one of Grant's closest friends.

In August the association sued, accusing SIU of wrongfully detaining the Grant papers and claiming to be the lawful owner of the entire collection. Last month, after reaching an out-of-court settlement, SIU relinquished the papers. Both parties said the settlement prohibits them from discussing their break.

Rod Sievers, an SIU spokesman, confirmed that Simon was accused of sexual harassment but said he could not comment further except to say Simon was never fired.

Shortly before Christmas, movers packed all of the items into trucks and shipped them to Mississippi State's Mitchell Memorial Library.

Grant's return to the state has inspired mixed feelings in the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which works to preserve and promote the legacy of the Confederacy.

" U.S. Grant is not beloved in the state of Mississippi," said Cecil A. Fayard Jr. of Biloxi, who serves as a leader of the organization. "Southern folks remember well his brutal and bloody tactics of war, and the South will never forget the siege of Vicksburg."

Marszalek, who will assemble a new support staff, said the association intends to complete editing of the Grant papers as well as a scholarly edition of his memoirs. Southern Illinois University Press will continue as publisher.

This spring, the board of the Ulysses S. Grant Association will hold its annual meeting at Mississippi State—its first ever south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

mtwohey@tribune.com

NATIONAL CHAPLAINS CONFERENCE To Be Held In Mississippi

NATIONAL CHAPLAINS CONFERENCE

This is a revision of the information previously published on the conference. The motel where the conference will be held has been sold but the new owners are going to honor the previous conference arrangements and original room rate. If you have any difficulities ask for Colby Smith .

Please be aware of the the following important information relative to accommodations. SCV member Greg Steward, who is assisting with the arrangements, states there is a block of 30 rooms reserved for March 6 and 7, 2009 for the conference at $49.00 per night.

To obtain a room in the block reservations must be made by February 27. The meeting room in Gulfport, MS , which comfortably seats 40, is reserved both days for the group at no charge to the SCV.

The conference is being held at the RAMADA INN 9415 Hwy 49 Gulfport, Mississippi 39503
Phone 228-234-8200
Ask for the Sons of Confederate Veterans Chaplains Conference Rate

Lee-Jackson Dinner in Tennessee

Musician to perform at Lee/Jackson Day Dinner
From Staff Reports
January 08. 2009 3:01AM

Musician, author and storyteller Stan Clardy will perform “Story Behind the Songs” for the 16th annual Lee/Jackson Day Dinner set for Jan. 24 at The Foundry On The Fair Site, Knoxville.
The Longstreet/Zollicoffer Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is sponsoring the celebration of the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. Clardy, a North Carolina resident, is best known for a one-man play he wrote and performed at the group’s 10th anniversary celebration, ”Soldiers in Gray.”

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20090108/NEWS/901089976

Stratford Hall Hosts Lee Events

Stratford Hall Hosts Lee Events

Stratford Hall to offer free Jan. 19 activities honoring Robert E. Lee's birthday and later host its first-ever symposium on the Confederate leader

Date published: 1/10/2009

Special chances to better get to know Robert E. Lee are right around the corner.

As the Southern icon's birthday-- Jan. 19--draws near, Stratford Hall is planning two events in his memory.

The ancestral home of the Lees, where the general was born in 1807, invites the public to enjoy a free program on Saturday, Jan. 17. And Jan. 22-24, the Westmoreland County historic site will host its first symposium on the Confederate commander.

Several activities will be offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17.

Veteran re-enactor Al Stone will present a first-person portrayal of the general at 1 p.m., depicting Lee's painful decision to resign from the U.S. Army after Virginia seceded. At 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., ever-popular "Lee for Children" tours will be held.

Evergreen Shade, a duo accomplished in musical Americana, will provide entertainment. Refreshments will be served in the visitor center. The Stratford Hall Dining Room will be open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There's no charge to attend the special program. Regular fees for guided tours of the Great House will apply.

A few days later, during the three-day symposium based at Stratford, top Lee scholars will paint a fuller picture of the military leader revered by many. They'll focus on Lee as a general, reveal new dimensions about him and detail the importance of the Fredericksburg and Overland campaigns in which Lee played pivotal roles.

The scholars are Dr. Peter Carmichael, Eberly Professor of Civil War Studies at West Virginia University; Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean, associate professor of history at the University of North Florida, and author of "Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia;" and Elizabeth Brown Pryor, author of "Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee through his Private Letters," winner of the 2008 Lincoln Prize.

Symposium participants will tour the Fredericksburg, Wilderness and Spotsylvania battlefields, which saw some of the war's bloodiest combat, and learn lesser-known facets of those actions.

Talks and group discussions will take place at Stratford, Belmont and on the battlefields. For details, visit stratford hall.org, call 804/493-8038 or e-mail
Email: info@stratfordhall.org.

--Clint Schemmer

Mississippi Legislative Session Opens in Historic Old Capitol

Miss. lawmakers open session with history lessons

Associated Press - January 6, 2009 6:14 PM ET

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi lawmakers might think they have problems with partisanship and a tight state budget, but they got some history lessons today (Tuesday) to put things in perspective.

Legislators opened their 2009 session at the freshly renovated Old Capitol museum in downtown Jackson. They were shown a pair of .44-caliber pistols once owned by another famous Mississippi politician -- Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy.
The pistols were used for dueling, once a common way of settling differences. Representative Joe Warren of Mount Olive told his colleagues that no matter how tense things get at the Capitol now, they can find other, less violent ways to work things out.

Legislators will spend the rest of the three-month session in their usual place of business -- the 106-year-old "new" state Capitol.

http://www.knoe.com/Global/story.asp?S=9627291

Press Kit for Stephen Dill Lee Institute

PRESS KIT FOR THE STEPHEN DILL LEE INSTITUTE
FEBRUARY 6-7, 2009
FRANCIS MARION HOTELCHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

DAVIS v. LINCOLN

The International Sons of Confederate Veterans headquartered in Columbia, Tennessee, is pleased to bring to historic Charleston, South Carolina, the Winter Meeting of the Stephen Dill Lee Institute. The program represents the principal educational outreach program of the SCV. The Institute is named after famed Confederate General and Charleston native Stephen Dill Lee who spent much of his life promoting the honoring of Confederate soldiers and educating the public as to the true history of the South. The SCV recognizes the need today to defend the good name and motivations of the Confederate soldier and the Confederate role in the war in the face of never ending revisionist historical attacks and modern day political correctness.

The goal of the Institute is to organize and present to the public accomplished and professional scholars at events such as the Charleston meeting. To that end, it was felt that in the bicentennial anniversaries of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln and with the upcoming Sesquicentennial rapidly approaching, a theme such as Davis v. Lincoln would be both educational and highly entertaining.

The Institute will have its initial lecture on Friday February 6 at 8pm at the Francis Marion Hotel. We are pleased to present a giant in the person of Edwin Cole Bearss, the former Chief Historian of the National Park Service and today Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service. Ed Bearss is recognized as a legend in interpreting the War Between the States and as a national leader in battlefield preservation. He has received nearly every national honor imaginable for his incredible talents and contributions. Perhaps the most famous battlefield tour guide of all time, he is in great demand, working over 300 days a year. He has written numerous books and articles and was prominently featured in THE CIVIL WAR PBS series on television. He is also featured on CIVIL WAR JOURNAL, a popular television series. He has a devoted following which will grow after this event.

The topic for Ed Bearss is “The Assassination of Jefferson Davis – The Dahlgren Raid. Ed Bearss is also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. His lecture is the only lecture Friday night. The Institute resumes Saturday morning at 8:30am with Host and Moderator Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo delivering initial introductory remarks. Dr. Dilorenzo has gained a huge niche in the history community with the popular and widely printed volume titled The Real Lincoln. This book has ignited a national debate on Lincoln and his legacy. It has gone through many printings and continues to counter mainstream Lincoln ideas. Dr. Dilorenzo is an economics professor at Loyola College of Maryland and is the author of numerous articles both on Lincoln and on economics. His role as host and moderator will be to summarize and analyze the individual lectures during the day.

Leading off the Institute program on Saturday morning will be Dr. Donald W. Livingston. A longtime faculty member of the Institute, Dr. Livingston is a Professor of American Philosophy at Emory University and a former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. Professor Livingston is a renowned constitutional scholar on issues such as the compact nature of the Union, federalism, states’ rights, Nullification and secession. He helped found the Abbeville Institute and is a Director of the League of the South Institute. The title of his lecture is Davis, Lincoln and Liberty.

Following Dr. Livingston will be South Carolina native and well known War Between the States author and lecturer, Walter Brian Cisco. His intensive research has led to numerous articles and books on such South Carolina Confederate luminaries as Wade Hampton, Henry Timrod and States Rights Gist. His latest book is titled War Crimes against Southern Civilians and vividly documents the numerous atrocities committed by Union troops throughout the South including rapes, beatings, lootings, and the wholesale burning of homes, businesses and towns. He also includes a detailed account of the inhumane treatment of blacks by Union troops. His topic for the Institute will be Davis, Lincoln and the Rules of War.

The Institute will break for lunch after Mr. Cisco’s lecture and will reconvene with a presentation by Dr. Marshall DeRosa. Dr DeRosa is a Fellow with the Heritage Foundation and a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University. A longtime Institute scholar, he is the author of numerous articles and books including Redeeming American Democracy - Lessons from the Confederate Constitution. As a constitutional expert, Dr. DeRosa is well known for his analysis of the age old American dilemma, centralization versus de-centralization. His Stephen Dill Lee lecture topic is aptly titled The Confederate Experiment in Constitutional Government.

Next on the speakers list is Dr. Samuel Smith, Associate Professor of Education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. His expertise centers on education and religion and is a well know history of religion scholar, authoring numerous articles on the two topics. His lecture on Saturday afternoon is titled Davis, Lincoln and the Christian Faith.

Following Dr. Smith is the well known Distinguished Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and Editor of the Papers of John C. Calhoun, Dr. Clyde N. Wilson. Dr. Wilson also serves as the Dean of the Stephen Dill Lee Institute. He is active in the Abbeville Institute, League of the South and the Ludwig Von Mises Institute. He has often been identified as the intellectual heir of Richard Weaver and the Southern Agrarians. He is an important figure in modern day Southern and American history and is the author of numerous books and articles including Carolina Cavalier, Defending Dixie and From Union to Empire. His Stephen Dill Lee topic is A Sacrifice for his People: Jefferson Davis’ Persecution and Imprisonment.

A two hour question and answer session is then planned which will include all of our scholars and will give the audience a chance to pick the brains of the finest collection of Southern academics in America.

The Institute concludes its program with a banquet featuring nationally recognized historian and legal scholar, Kent Masterson Brown. Mr. Brown has for over 30 years practiced law in Lexington, Kentucky, and Washington D.C, specializing in health care and constitutional issues. A graduate of Washington-Lee University, he has received numerous awards for his historical scholarship. Many of his books and articles concern his native Kentucky during the War Between the States. He is active in preservation causes and his latest book, Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics and the Pennsylvania Campaign has been a best seller and received rave reviews. Active in battle field preservation, he is the founder of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association and has served on numerous civil war related boards and institutions. His topic which concludes the Institute seminar is titled Jefferson Davis Constitutionalist.

The Stephen Dill Lee Institute welcomes the public. Information about the Institute can be obtained by visiting the Institute website—www.StephenDLeeInstitute.com or by calling Event Coordinator Brag Bowling at 804-389-3620.

General Lloyd Tilghman House Saved

Groups save Tilghman House

Southern general had owned home

By C.D. Bradley • The Paducah Sun • December 14, 2008

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Three years after local groups teamed up to save the Lloyd Tilghman House and Civil War Museum, a deal struck earlier this month 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 Paducah home 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, executive director of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the group owns a half-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 Sons of Confederate Veterans' local Lloyd Tilghman Camp 1495, for helping put the package together. Weaver and other Camp 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 the Dec. 1 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., Wednesday through Saturday. 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.

Distributed by The Associated Press

Hunley Mystery Update

Monday, Jan. 05, 2009

Hunley’s last hours still a murky mystery
After nearly a decade of research, answers about Confederate submarine have not come easily
BRUCE SMITH - The Associated Press

NORTH CHARLESTON — It could be one of the nation’s oldest cold case files: What happened to eight Confederate sailors aboard the H.L. Hunley after it became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship?

Their hand-cranked sub rammed a spar with black powder into the Union blockade ship Housatonic off Charleston on a chilly winter night in 1864 but never returned.

Its fate has been the subject of almost 150 years of conjecture and almost a decade of scientific research since the Hunley was raised back in 2000. But the submarine has been agonizingly slow surrendering her secrets.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/640020.html

Remembering Robert E. Lee

COMMENTARY: Remembering Robert E. Lee’s 202nd Birthday

By Calvin E. Johnson Jr.

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/090103-johnson-columnsrobertelee.html

Sir Winston Churchill called General Robert E. Lee "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived." Please let me call to your attention that Monday, January 19, 2009, is the 202nd birthday of Robert E. Lee, whose memory is still dear in the hearts of many Southerners. Why is this man so honored in the South and respected in the North? Lee was even respected by the soldiers of Union blue who fought against him during the War Between the States.

What is your community doing to commemorate the birthday of this great American? During Robert E. Lee’s 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams Jr., a former Union Commander and grandson of US President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College’s Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia. His speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers and is said to had lifted Lee to a renewed respect among the American people.

Read about the upcoming January 2009 events for Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Lexington, Va. at: http://www.geocities.com/lexington_lee_jackson/ Dr. Edward C. Smith, respected African-American Professor of History at American University in Washington, D.C., told the audience in Atlanta, Ga. during a 1995 Robert E. Lee birthday event: "Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee were individuals worthy of emulation because they understood history."

SCV Helps Reclaim Cemetery

Published Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Historic Cemetery Looking Good

I had a very pleasant surprise Friday morning. As I rode by the Ebenezer Church burial ground at Thomas Crossroads and looked that way, as I always do, something caught my eye. I had to turn around and investigate. Someone had placed a wreath and flowers in this historic cemetery. The site is the final resting place of local pioneers. Revolutionary War soldier John Neely, the first senator from Coweta County, Joseph Shaw and many others, most unmarked, are buried there. The cemetery dates to the early 1830s.

Some years ago the Ebenezer Church burial ground was quite overgrown again. I had the bright idea that my family and I would reclaim it. Didn't take long for me to realize it was more than we could handle. I contacted Winston Skinner, and with some publicity from The Times-Herald about 30 people showed up over a few weekends. The place looked great. Next step was keeping it that way. Thanks to members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Turin Masonic Lodge and the community for making this wish of mine come true.

http://www.times-herald.com/opinion/Historic-cemetery-looking-good-623917