Lee Statue in Richmond Vandalized

Richmond's Robert E. Lee Statue Vandalized

Posted: Nov 12, 2012 5:29 AM CST

RICHMOND, VA—Police are searching for the person who vandalized the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond this Sunday.
Capital Police found the worlds "beef cake" spray painted on three separate sides of the statue early Sunday morning.
The monument has been tagged a few times this year.
Capital Police are reviewing surveillance video and talking to people in the area who may have seen the person responsible.
Stay with 8News for updates.

http://www.wric.com/story/20070110/richmonds-robert-e-lee-statue-vandalized

Flags Placed at Monument in Mississippi

Confederate ‘Flaggers’ exploit loophole in Haywood monument law; Become Mississippians-for-a-day December 9, 2012
By Roger McCredie

WAYNESVILLE – With some passive help from the sovereign state of Mississippi and active involvement by the Southern Legal Resource Center, devotees of the Confederate flag outflanked the Haywood County Council last weekend.
On Friday, November 30, flag supporters placed two miniature Mississippi state flags in front of the Confederate monument on the grounds of the Haywood County Courthouse. The Mississippi flag prominently features the Confederate battle flag in its upper left corner, but although the county recently enacted a temporary ban on displays of the battle flag on public property and is considering an ordinance that would ban it entirely, the battle flag’s appearance as part of the Mississippi flag in no way violated the very ordinance designed to prevent its display.
The county enacted the flag ban in June after Robert Clark, an attorney now practicing in Waynesville, objected to the practice of placing tiny Confederate flags at the memorial, which was donated to the county in 1940 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The ordinance currently before the county’s board of commissioners specifically prohibits the battle flag’s display on county property at any time. It does allow for placement of the Confederate First National flag (the “Stars and Bars”) at the monument, but only on Confederate Memorial Day (May 10).
The Southern Legal Resource Center, a Black Mountain-based nonprofit law firm which specializes in Southern heritage cases, noticed that the interim flag ban does not apply to “official government flags,” including “the flag of any state or territory of the United States.” Lyons drafted a letter to Haywood County attorney “Chip” Killian, informing him that members of the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Western North Carolina Flaggers intended to place the Mississippi flags at the monument on Friday. “The display of the Mississippi state flag comports in every way with the interim ‘Display Policy’ … and therefore it should not be removed or molested in any way,” Lyons’ letter stated, adding, “premature removal of these flags from county monuments by private persons or state actors constitue[s] theft and monument desecration.”
County atty. Killian was in Waynesville on Friday – his office is in Raleigh – and Lyons delivered the letter to him by hand.
“The County’s interim policy and the proposed policy is still unconstitutional & illegal. But should it be adopted, we have an allowable Confederate Battle flag variant, the Mississippi state flag, that is an “official Government Flag” that can be displayed on County property while the illegal ban on the Confederate Battle flag, for both the interim & proposed policy is fought out,” SLRC Executive Director Thomas Willis said.
Approximately 20 “flaggers” carrying full-sized battle flags and other flags of the Confederacy were present for the placing of the small Mississippi flags. They were joined by several passers-by.he county council is expected to vote on the proposed flag ban at its December 17 meeting.

http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2012/12/09/confederate-flaggers-exploit-loophole-in-haywood-monument-law-become-mississippians-for-a-day/

ALabama Dsplays Heritage - Hate Monger Holmes Objects

State Weighs in on Confederate Flag Flap


Louisville Metro Police say Fabian Valentine, 35, is responsible for at least eight robberies in the Metro and two in southern Indiana.More >> Another flag flap for Alabama. This time the repercussions over a huge Confederate flag flying along Interstate 65 could have a ripple effect on the state.

Opponents question the legality of putting up the giant battle flag and vow to take drastic measures to bring it down. Others view it as their given heritage.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans dedicated the banner Sunday. As they raised the flag, a protestor raised a question about it's legality.
Protestor Frank Matthews says, "that racist flag is a violation of state statutes." He says the banner is too tall and too close to the interstate.
So WSFA 12 News checked with the state department of transportation.
Tony Harris, the department's spokesman says, "When it comes to outdoor signs, billboards, and things of that nature, there's nothing that we have in the law or in regulations that effect flying a flag on private property."
DOT lawyers even examined the height and proximity of the flag and found nothing illegal.

State representative Alvin Holmes of Montgomery says, "You know sometimes the lawyers for the highway department, their interpretation is wrong and backwards."
Holmes says he will have attorneys for the state's black caucus review the law, including whether the flag is a distraction to drivers.
If it is determined that the flag is flying legally, then he will ask white leaders to call for it's removal. And if that doesn't work, Holmes says, "We are going to consider calling for a nationwide economic boycott against the state of Alabama."
Governor Bob Riley says, "That's as much a part of our culture, a part of Alabama history as a million other things."
During Sunday's dedication ceremony, protesters posted signs on the bank below the flag calling for the governor to bring it down.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3527616&nav=0RdEbVrN

Special Offer From 2014 Reunion Host Committee

Compatriots,

At the recent national convention, the SC Division 10th Brigade, host camp of the 2014 National Reunion, offered a package for early registration called the Palmetto Package. Many compatriots have already claimed the limited packages.

Palmetto Package includes:

Registration ($45.00)

Reunion Program

1 Numbered Medal ($75.00)

1 Awards Banquet ticket ($35.00)

1 Ancestor Memorial ($10.00)

1 Second National Confederate Flag flown over Ft. Sumter National Monument

Palmetto Package Cost: $125.00
The Palmetto Package is valued at over $170.00 and is limited to the first 250 registrants. The Palmetto Package offer will close on January 1, 2013 or until a combined total of 250 registrations have been sold. Whichever comes first! Other incentive packages may be put together at a later date. We only have 2nd National remaining – First registered; first served – The flags are 3 x 5 poly flags with a certificate of authenticity signed by the Superintendent of Ft. Sumter National Monument.
Visit our reunion site to claim one of the remaining packages available.
www.scv2014.org
In January 2013, the package will be replaced with general registration information. Don’t miss out on this last opportunity to save! Compatriots who purchase the early registration package will receive information pertaining to the tours and other events prior to announcing on the reunion website.

David Rentz 2014 National Reunion Chairman

Intollerance and Ignorance Causes Removal of Statue

Confederate statue removed at DSC Officials feared artwork might be damaged
Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2012

 Confederate statue removed: A statue on Dixie State College’s campus depicting two Confederate soldiers carrying a Confederate flag was removed Thursday afternoon. Emotions varied from excitement to shock Thursday afternoon when Dixie State College removed a Confederate soldier statue that stood in front of the Avenna Center.

The statue, created by local artist Jerry Anderson, depicted a Confederate soldier on a horse reaching his hand out to a wounded soldier, with a Confederate flag in the background. Former alumni president Connor Shakespeare said he was “sad” the statue was taken off the campus. “I didn’t look at it with two Confederate soldiers; I saw the greatest act of service one could render to another human being, and it was a pure form of self-sacrifice having one fellow soldier risking his life for another,” Shakespeare said. “It’s too bad that there are individuals that felt otherwise. The only thing they saw was the Confederate flag instead of reading the poem or looking at it as a piece of art.”

For others, the Confederate statue was a sign of racism and discrimination. “I think if we’re going to be a university, we need to cater to everyone’s feelings and not just to the community,” DSC student Ryan Mayfield said. “I think it’s really cool to be here and see it leave; I think it’s a big day in Dixie’s history.”

Mayor Dan McArthur said it is “too bad it came down.” “To see that is kind of like ripping the heart out of us,” McArthur said. “I still think the piece of artwork was well-done.”

DSC student Kourtni Mietchen also was “glad” to see the statue moved. “I think it’s the good direction that Dixie needs to go in,” Mietchen said. “It just offended a lot of people.” DSC public relations director Steve Johnson said the decision to remove the statue was made Wednesday by DSC president Stephen Nadauld, who has been discussing the removal of the statue with administrators. In the wake of a protest at the statue last week, school officials expressed concern that the piece might be damaged. “It’s a valuable piece of art, even though we understand it has been a focal point of contention as part of this university naming process over the last couple of weeks,”

Johnson said. The discussion to remove the statue began once administrators became aware that “people had issues with it being on our campus,” Johnson said. The discussion has surfaced in connection with Dixie State College preparing to be elevated to university status, which is expected to happen early next year. School officials are also exploring a possible name change. The fate of the statue is still in question, as the statue was originally donated in the late 1980s when the current DSC Avenna Center was the Dixie Convention Center. “The statue was donated to the city and county when that area was the Dixie Convention Center,” Johnson said. “When the Dixie Convention Center south of town was built, everybody moved from (the Avenna Center), and the state then acquired that property. (The state) made it into the Smith Computer Center, the Avenna Center and the Cox auditorium, but the statue remained.”

Johnson said it is unclear who owns the statue, but the college has been in contact with the St. George city attorney’s office to determine who owns the piece. “Until we find out who owns it, we decided to take it down to protect it because it’s worth tens of thousands of dollars,” Johnson said. “We don’t want anything to happen to the statue or the integrity of the statue because the college doesn’t want to be monetarily responsible.”

The statue will be removed from DSC’s campus and put into storage until it is decided who owns it.“You can understand our sensitivity for wanting to protect the statue because a local Washington County resident created it,” Johnson said. “You can understand our sensitivity for wanting to protect the statue because a local Washington County resident created it,” Johnson said.

 http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20121206/NEWS01/312060002/Confederate-statue-removed-from-Dixie-campus?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Budget and Finance Deadlines for Funding Requests Announced

Compatriots,


The Budget and Finance Committee will review funding requests prior to the GEC (General Executive Council) Spring meeting. To be considered requests must be received no later than January 19, 2013.
It is preferred that requests and supporting documentation be sent as attachments to an email message directed to Adjutant-in-Chief Ritchie (aic@scv.org) and Executive Director Sewell (exedir@scv.org).

If you send the request and supporting documents in hard-copy format, they should be sent to AIC Ritchie, Executive Director Sewell and Army Commanders Earnest, Strain and Owens, who also serve on the Budget and Finance Committee. Mailing addresses can be found on the National Committee page at:

http://www.scv.org/committeeView.php?cid=BFf.

Those requesting funds should read the Funding Proposal Guidelines found on the Forms and Documents page of scv.org at:

http://www.scv.org/pdf/FundingProposalGuidelines.pdf

The form to be used to make a Funding Request is also on the Forms and Documents page at: http://www.scv.org/pdf/SCVFundRequests.pdf

The information requested on the form is the minimum that is needed to consider a request. Those making requests are encouraged to submit additional supporting information if it helps clarify the purpose and other particulars of the project.

If you have any questions regarding the guidelines, form or process, please contact me.


Stephen Lee Ritchie
Adjutant-in-Chief
aic@scv.org
(765) 759-8038

Lincoln Film Is Propaganda

Lincoln the Racist


(Or: Steven Spielberg, Call Your Office)
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

"Who freed the slaves? To the extent that they were ever ‘freed,’ they were freed by the Thirteenth Amendment, which was authored and pressured into existence not by Lincoln but by the great emancipators nobody knows, the abolitionists and congressional leaders who created the climate and generated the pressure that goaded, prodded, drove, forced Lincoln into glory by associating him with a policy that he adamantly opposed for at least fifty-four of his fifty-six years of his life."

Lerone Bennett, Jr., Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’ s White Dream, p. 19

Let me introduce you to Lerone Bennett, Jr. who was the executive editor of Ebony magazine for several decades (beginning in 1958) and the author of many books, including a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King) and Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream. Bennett is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta and authored hundreds of articles on African-American history and culture during his career at Ebony. He spent more than twenty years researching and writing Forced into Glory, a scathing critique of Abraham Lincoln based on mountains of truths.

Forced into Glory, published in 2000, was mostly ignored by the Lincoln cult, although there were a few timid "reviews" by reviewers that have never done one-thousandth of the research that Lerone Bennett did on the subject. As a black man, he was spared the mantra of being "linked to extremist hate groups" by the lily-white leftists at the Southern Poverty Law Center, the preeminent hate group of the hardcore Left. He was also spared that hate group’s normally automatic insinuation that any critic of Lincoln must secretly wish that slavery had never ended. They mostly sat back and hoped that he would go away.

Lerone Bennett, Jr. contends that it is almost impossible for the average citizen to know much of anything about Lincoln despite the fact that literally thousands of books have been written about him. "A century of lies" is how he describes Lincoln "scholarship." He provides thousands of documented facts to make his case.

On the subject of Steven Spielberg’s new movie on Lincoln, which is entirely about Lincoln’s supposed role in lobbying for the Thirteenth Amendment that ended slavery, Bennett points out: "There is a pleasant fiction that Lincoln . . . became a flaming advocate of the amendment and used the power of his office to buy votes to ensure its passage. There is no evidence, as David H. Donald has noted, to support that fiction . . ." To the extent that Lincoln did finally and hesitatingly support the amendment, Bennett argues that it was he who was literally forced into it by other politicians, not the other way around as portrayed in the Spielberg film. (David Donald, by the way, is the preeminent Lincoln scholar of our day and Pulitzer prize-winning Lincoln biographer).

On the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, Bennett correctly points out that "J.G. Randall, who has been called ‘the greatest Lincoln scholar of all time,’ said the Proclamation itself did not free a single slave" since it only applied to rebel territory and specifically exempted areas of the U.S. such as the entire state of West Virginia where the U.S. Army was in control at the time. (James G. Randall was indeed the most prolific Lincoln scholar of all time and the academic mentor of David Donald at the University of Illinois).

Lerone Bennett is understandably outraged at how the Lincoln cult has covered up Lincoln’s racism for over a century, pretending that he was not a man of his time. He quotes Lincoln as saying in the first Lincoln-Douglas debate in Ottawa, Illinois, for example, that he denied "to set the niggers and white people to marrying together" (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 3, p. 20). In Forced into Glory Bennett shows that Lincoln rather compulsively used the N-word; was a huge fan of "black face" minstrel shows; was famous for his racist jokes; and that many of his White House appointees were shocked at his racist language.

Lincoln did not hesitate to broadcast his racist views publicly, either. Bennett quotes his speech during a debate with Douglas in Charleston, Illinois on September 18, 1858 (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 3, pp. 145-146):

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."

Bennett documents that Lincoln stated publicly that "America was made for the White people and not for the Negroes" (p. 211), and "at least twenty-one times, he said publicly that he was opposed to equal rights for Blacks." "What I would most desire would be the separation of the white and black races," said Lincoln (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 2, p. 521).

Reading through Forced into Glory, one gets the clear impression that Bennett got angrier and angrier at the non-stop excuse-making, lying, cover-ups, and fabrications of the "Lincoln scholars." He never takes his eye of the ball, however, and is relentless in throwing facts in the faces of the Lincoln cultists.

As a member of the Illinois legislature Lincoln urged the legislature "to appropriate money for colonization in order to remove Negroes from the state and prevent miscegenation" (p. 228). As president, Lincoln toiled endlessly with plans to "colonize" (i.e., deport) all of the black people out of America. This is what Bennett calls Lincoln’s "White Dream," and more recent research of the very best caliber supports him. I refer to the book Colonization after Emancipation by Phillip Magness of American University and Sebastian Page of Oxford University that, using records from the American and British national archives, proves that until his dying day Lincoln was negotiating with Great Britain and other foreign governments to deport all of the soon-to-be-freed slaves out of the U.S.

The Lincoln cult, which has fabricated excuses for everything, argued for years that Lincoln mysteriously abandoned his obsession with "colonization" sometime around 1863. Magness and Page prove this to be the nonsense that it is.

In Illinois, the state constitution was amended in 1848 to prohibit free black people from residing in the state. Lincoln supported it. He also supported the Illinois Black Codes, under which "Illinois Blacks had no legal rights. White people were bound to respect." "None of this disturbed Lincoln," writes Bennett.

Bennett also points out the clear historical fact that Lincoln strongly supported the Fugitive Slave Act which forced Northerners to hunt down runaway slaves and return them to their owners. He admittedly never said a word about slavery in public until he was in his fifties, while everyone else in the nation was screaming about the issue. When he did oppose slavery, Bennett points out, it was always in the abstract, accompanied by some statement to the effect that he didn’t know what could be done about it. And as a presidential candidate he never opposed Southern slavery, only the extension of slavery into the territories, explaining that "we" wanted to preserve the Territories "for free White people" (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 3, p. 311). In Bennett’s own words: "One must never forget that Lincoln always spoke in tongues or in a private code when he was talking about slavery or Negroes. And although he said or seemed to say that slavery was wrong, he always qualified the assertion in the same speech or in a succeeding speech, saying either that slavery was wrong in an abstract sense or that it was wrong in so far as it sought to spread itself." He was a master politician, after all, which as Murray Rothbard once said, means that he was a masterful liar, conniver, and manipulator.

All of these truths, and many more, have been ignored, swept under the rug, or buried under thousands of pages of excuses by the Lincoln cult over the past century and more in books and in films like the new Lincoln film by Steven Spielberg. After spending a quarter of a century researching and writing on the subject, Lerone Bennett, Jr. concluded that "Lincoln is theology, not historiology. He is a faith, he is a church, he is a religion, and he has his own priests and acolytes, most of whom have a vested interest in ‘the great emancipator’ and who are passionately opposed to anybody telling the truth about him" (p. 114). And "with rare exceptions, you can’t believe what any major Lincoln scholar tells you about Abraham Lincoln and race." Amen, Brother Lerone.

November 10, 2012

Thomas J. DiLorenzo [send him mail] is professor of economics at Loyola College in Maryland and the author of The Real Lincoln; Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed To Know about Dishonest Abe and How Capitalism Saved America. His latest book is Hamilton’s Curse: How Jefferson’s Archenemy Betrayed the American Revolution – And What It Means for America Today. His latest book is Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government.

http://lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo241.html

GEC Meeting at Elm Springs Held October 27

Condensed Account of the October 27, 2012 GEC Meeting:
1. Meeting opened at 8:00 AM with Prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, Salute to the Confederate Flag and The Charge.

2. Executive Director Sewell reported the SCV, as of 10.26.12, has 30, 534 members, approximately 400 more than the same time last year. He stated the needed maintenance on Elm Springs has been minimal and reported on the status of the SCV’s endowment funds.

3. GEC voted to put the Bicentennial Fund under the review of the Investment Committee.

4. CIC addressed several issues:
A. Vision Program Progress
B. Carter House in Franklin, TN
C. Discount for SCV members at the Kissimmee, FL Ramada Inn
D. Appointments to the Disciplinary Committee

5. Lt Commander Barrow reported on the recent Leadership Conference in Colorado, the upcoming conference in Richmond, November 3, 2012, and other conferences in Alabama, Kentucky and possibly Texas and Arizona.

6. ANV Councilman Randy Burbage reported on two Battleflags that have recently been acquired by the South Carolina Division.

7. Chief of Heritage Defense Hogan presented a report on the Reidsville, North Carolina monument, the updated SCV website where heritage violations can be reported on-line and a new heritage defense fundraising program.

8. The GEC adopted additions to the Convention Guidelines to establish a minimum fee for debutants, to define requirements for the memorial service for compatriot who have passed away in the last year  and for the Heritage Defense Luncheon held at Reunions.

9. The GEC voted to affirm that the “The Charge” of Gen. S.D. Lee as recorded in the minutes of the United Confederate Veterans 1906 minutes, the minutes of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans minutes from their 1906 Reunion as currently shown on scv.org is the historically correct version of The Charge.

10. Discussion of Sam Davis Youth Camps' legal structure.

11. Budget and Finance Committee reported on five (5) requests:
A. The request for funding for a monument in Ardmore, OK was approved.
B. Funding for the Culp Brothers monument in Gettysburg, PA was approved contingent a contract governing the monument is received and reviewed at GHQ.
C. Assistance requested by the Boy Scouts in St. Mary’s Ohio to mark a confederate grave of an officer from Mississippi. AIC Steve Ritchie will assist with this project - no funding needed.
D. Request for funding for a sculpture Confederate Veteran Richard Payne for an historical park in Winston County, Alabama. Funding approved contingent on agreement with the historical park board regarding conditions of the sculpture being donated.
E. Request for funding for the Confederate Plaza in Palestine, Texas was approved. The plaza has been donated to the General Organization of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

12. Past Commander In Chief McMichael spoke about upcoming Sesquicentennial Events, the next at Beauvoir on March 16, 2013. He also addressed issues regarding The Confederate Museum.

13. CIC Givens made closing comments, including announcing the next GEC meeting will be at Beauvoir in conjunction with the Beauvoir Sesquicentennial event.

14. Meeting ended at 3:35 PM with prayer and the singing of Dixie!!

Elm Springs on Christmas Tour

Elm Springs, headquarters for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, is one of the homes on the Maury County, Tennessee, Christmas Historic Home Tour this year. The theme is "Prelude to the Battle of Franklin," which will highlight the siege of Columbia and the events leading up to the Battle of Franklin.


Tour hours are Friday, November 30, Noon to 7 PM and Saturday, December 1, 9 AM to 5 PM. Docents will be at all tour venues along with special events at each stop.

A Confederate encampment will be on the grounds at Elm Springs including cannon demonstrations.

For more information visit www.maurychristmas.com

Europe Camp Completes Monument Restoration in Rome

Tomb of CSA Captain Thomas Jefferson Page restored in Rome, Italy


Yearly tens of thousands of visitors flock to the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome, Italy to see the final resting places of British Poets John Keats and Percy Shelley, 19th Century American author of Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana and others.

But one magnificent, but lesser-known grave honors someone very different.

Captain Thomas Jefferson Page (1808-1899) was a major American naval figure. After a long and distinguished career as a U.S. Navy Officer, during the WBTS Page served the South as a Confederate States Navy Officer: he built Confederate ships in Europe and challenged and faced down U.S. Navy ships. But by the time he could get his French-built ironclad ram CSS Stonewall to America waters, the war was over.

After the War, Page went to Argentina and eventually moved to Rome, Italy. He died there in 1899, full of years, an important, much-loved member of the American community there.

Captain Page’s impressive tomb, now over one hundred years old, badly needed renovation.

In 2010, the SCV’s Europe Camp led an international effort, which, with donations from Europe and the United States, as well as the SCV national organization, enabled the Cemetery to fully restore the tomb of this important America naval figure.

On Saturday, 8 September 2012, the tomb was rededicated in a ceremony hosted by Europe Camp. Guests came from Europe, Australia and the United States. More than a hundred years after the Captain was laid to rest, his final resting place is again a shining, unique American presence in the Eternal City.

David O. Dodd, Confederate Hero, Honored in Arkansas

Long after death, Confederate spy honored in Ark.


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The story of David O. Dodd is relatively unknown outside of Arkansas, but the teenage spy who chose to hang rather than betray the Confederate cause is a folk hero to many in his home state.

Street signs and an elementary in the state capital have long borne Dodd's name, and admirers gather at his grave each year to pay tribute to Dodd's life and death.

"Everyone wants to remember everything else about the Civil War that was bad," said one of them, W. Danny Honnoll. "We want to remember a man that stood for what he believed in and would not tell on his friends."

A state commission's decision, though, to grant approval for yet another tribute to Dodd has revived an age-old question: Should states still look for ways to commemorate historical figures who fought to defend unjust institutions?

"(Dodd) already has a school. I don't know why anything else would have to be done to honor him," James Lucas Sr., a school bus driver, said near the state Capitol in downtown Little Rock.

Arkansas' complicated history of race relations plays out on the Capitol grounds. A stone and metal monument that's stood for over a century pays tribute to the Arkansas men and boys who fought for the Confederacy and the right to own slaves. Not far away, nine bronze statues honor the black children who, in 1957, needed an Army escort to enter what had been an all-white school.

The newest nod to Dodd would mark a site across town where he was detained after Union soldiers found encoded notes on him about their troop locations. Dodd was convicted of spying and sentenced to death, and legend has it he refused an offer to walk free in exchange for the name of the person who gave him the information.

"He was barely 17 years old when the Yankees hung him" on Jan. 8, 1864, Honnoll said. "Yeah, he was spying, but there (were) other people that spied that they didn't hang."

Dodd is certainly not the only teenager to die in the war or even the lone young martyr, said Carl Moneyhon, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock history professor.

"If you start talking about the 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds who were killed in battle, the number is infinite," Moneyhon said. "There are tens of thousands of them. They become unremarkable."

So it seems all the more curious that some have come to portray Dodd as Arkansas' boy martyr.

"It's part of the romanticizing of the Civil War that began in the 1880s and the 1890s, that looks for ... what could be called heroic behavior to celebrate in a war filled with real horrors," Moneyhon said.

And it's caught on, though many question why.

"It's a very sad story, but at the end of the day, Dodd was spying for the Confederacy, which was fighting a war to defend the institution of slavery," said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Sharon Donovan — who lives on West David O. Dodd Road (there's an East David O. Dodd Road, too) — said she wouldn't mind another Dodd namesake in her neighborhood.

"The fact that we live in the South, I could understand why he would want to do it because he was actually working for us in a way. ... For that era, I think it was probably a noble thing to do," Donovan said.

About a half-mile away, a banner outside an elementary school proclaims, "David O. Dodd Committed to Excellence." A doormat bearing Dodd's name shows a black boy smiling next to a few white ones. About half of the school's 298 students last year were black and only 27 were white.

Jerry Hooker, who graduated from Central High School years after the desegregation standoff over the Little Rock Nine, lives at the site where he says Dodd was detained almost a century and a half ago. The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission approved his application and agreed to chip in $1,000 for the marker noting the spot's historical significance.

Hooker, 59, said the move to commemorate Dodd is not about honoring slavery, but about remembering the past.

"I don't think it has a thing to do with race whatsoever," Hooker said. "He was a 17-year-old kid with a coded message in his boot that had enough of whatever it is in him that he didn't squeal on his sources."

Still, in a city that stripped "Confederate Blvd." from its interstate highway signs shortly before dignitaries arrived in town for the opening of Bill Clinton's presidential library, the question remains: Should Dodd's name be etched into another piece of stone or metal for posterity's sake?

"There are currently more monuments to David O. Dodd than any other war hero in Arkansas," Potok said. "You would think that at some point it would be enough."

http://news.yahoo.com/long-death-confederate-spy-honored-ark-171804641.html

SCV Calls for Investigation of Carter House Association

Press Release from the Sons of Confederate Veterans

For Immediate Release


Contact: Allen Sullivant
Email: allensullivant@bellsouth.net
Phone: 615-971-7484
Website: http://scv.org/

Sons of Confederate Veterans Request Investigation of Battle of Franklin Trust by State Officials

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) announced today that an attorney retained to investigate allegations of mismanagement and improper conduct by members of the Boards of Directors of both The Carter House in Franklin, Tennessee, and its management group, of The Battle of Franklin Trust (BOFT), has uncovered numerous instances of apparent disregard for the legal requirements for operating non-profit corporations, conflicts of interest on the parts of several members of both boards, and a possible misuse of state funds. As a result of this investigation, the SCV has requested the Tennessee Historical Commission to undertake its own investigation, and to involve other state offices such as those of the Attorney General and State Comptroller as they see fit. The Carter House is a state-owned historic site, under the stewardship of the Tennessee Historical Commission, and is one of Tennessee's premier tourist destinations.

Managed under the auspices of the Carter House Association since the 1950s, practically all control of the Carter House was signed away to the Battle of Franklin Trust three years ago in what some are calling a political maneuver, one which may be costing the taxpayers of Tennessee. Now, the Battle of Franklin Trust is requesting the Tennessee Historical Commission to deed related state property to them. Surprisingly, two of the people making the request have strong ties to the state, one being a state commissioner, and the other being the wife of a state commissioner.

"We were troubled to discover that state funds were possibly being used to make payments on an existing mortgage against Carnton Plantation, a privately owned historic site which is also managed by the Battle of Franklin Trust" said William Speck, Heritage Chairman for the Tennessee Division of the SCV. The mortgage in question was initiated by Marianne Schroer, wife of TDOT Commissioner John Schroer, when she was chairman of the board of directors of the Carnton property. She now holds the same position on the board of the Battle of Franklin Trust. Marianne Schroer and another state commissioner, Tourism Department head Susan Whitaker, who is also a board member for the BOFT, have spear-headed the BOFT's effort to obtain title to taxpayer-owned property.

Mr. Speck added, "The Carter House property belongs to the people of Tennessee and no portion of it should be given away to any group whose financial situation is questionable and whose grasp of proper management practices is apparently deficient. Therefore, the SCV retained the services of attorney Randy Lucas, and his investigation has confirmed that the problems with the Battle of Franklin Trust rise above mere carelessness. Mr. Lucas has outlined a number of deficiencies and conflicts of interest among board officers, and has now forwarded his findings to the Tennessee Historical Commission."

The SCV is requesting the Tennessee Historical Commission to vote against any concept of transferring property to the Battle of Franklin Trust. Further, the SCV is requesting that the Tennessee Historical Commission immediately open an investigation into the BOFT and the legal issues and financial questions brought forward by their attorney, involving any state agencies they feel necessary. Finally, the SCV requests a decision as to whether the contract between Carter House and the BOFT is legally binding, because of the "perpetual" control given over a state-owned property, and because the Carter House board president who solely approved the contract is an officer on both boards, which appears to be a classic conflict of interest.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is an international organization of descendants of Confederate soldiers and the nation's largest military history and genealogy society. Formed in 1896, the SCV owns, operates, and manages many historic properties, including Winstead Hill Memorial Park in Franklin, the General N.B. Forrest Home in Chapel Hill, and Beauvoir - the last home of Jefferson Davis, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Its headquarters are in Columbia, Tennessee, at historic Elm Springs.

Point Lookout Maryland Monument Vandalized

Confederate POW memorial vandalized Security surveillance under review By Jason Babcock, Staff writer The Confederate Memorial Park near Point Lookout was vandalized last week with a spray-painted swastika on the base of a statue of a Confederate prisoner of war. A noose was placed around the statue’s neck and there was also a racial epithet spray-painted on another section of the memorial. “I’m highly upset about it,” said Michael Daras, who lives nearby. His son, John, noticed the swastika on Thursday, but did not notice the noose until Friday when he visited the site. “It shouldn’t be desecrated that way,” Michael Daras said, who was born in England and raised in Washington, D.C. The memorial park was dedicated on Sept. 6, 2008, and cost more than $250,000 along with $100,000 worth of materials, said Jim Dunbar, chairman of the Confederate Memorial Park. Dunbar called the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and they are investigating the vandalism. There was a beer bottle at the top of the stockade under the statue and a security camera there was removed, Dunbar said. However, another security camera at the site was recording and that video is under review, he said. “I think it was probably a couple of kids,” he said. It is the first time that the memorial has been vandalized, he said. The next lot over contains the state and federal monument to those Confederates who died at Point Lookout when it was a prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. Those monuments were not vandalized. Placards at the private memorial park say that 52,264 documented Confederates were held there at Camp Hoffman while it was open from September 1863 to June 1865. The swastika was originally an ancient religious symbol that the German Nazi Party adopted as its symbol for the Third Reich, which went on to kill 6 million Jews during World War II. A rope fashioned into a noose usually symbolizes the lynching of blacks in America. “We couldn’t figure it out,” Dunbar said. “It’s just ignorance on their part. It wasn’t the prisoners who were Nazi-like. It was their captors,” he said, because the Union supplied very little food, medicine or shelter. Michael Daras and his son have different theories on who vandalized the site, but both agreed the vandalism doesn’t make any sense. The Confederate Memorial Park group is going to put up at least a $500 reward for the conviction of whoever vandalized the site. “That would be a hate crime with a noose and swastikas,” Dunbar said. “It’s a black mark on their soul.” “I would sure like to see something done about,” Michael Daras said. Another placard at the park said, “The vast majority of Confederate Soldiers, more than 90 percent, did not own slaves or large tracts of land, and would not say that the preservation of slavery was their reason for volunteering to serve in the Confederate army.” http://www.somdnews.com/article/20120919/NEWS/709199587/1074/confederate-pow-memorial-vandalized&template=southernMaryland

Gen. Forrest Statue Petition

Compatriots,

Please go to the link below to sign the petition in support of the Gen. Forrest statue in Selma. There is a competing petition opposing the staute.

Copy this link and message to your division and other lists to get a wide distribution of the petition so we can see to it that the history of Gen. Forrest and Selma is preserved.

http://www.change.org/petitions/selma-al-city-council-continue-work-on-the-forrest-monument-use-it-as-an-educational-opportunity

Chuck Rand
Chief of Staff

Battleflags in Time Square

Confederate Flags in Times Square?

Originally published by Civil War Times magazine
Published Online: May 22, 2012


In New York City, on the walls of the sprawling subway station beneath Times Square, small mosaics bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Confederate battle flag form part of a decorative border. Can it be that the Southern Cross, an icon that still stirs controversy 150 years after the war, is prominently displayed at one of the world's busiest intersections? According to the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, the emblem—a blue X edged in white and set against a red background—stands for nothing more than the convergence of subway lines. But my research suggests a more interesting ancestry. Distinctive symbols are featured in stations throughout the system. For example, the Astor Place station is decorated with beavers, a reference to fur trader John Jacob Astor; the Grand Central Station has locomotives on its walls. So what can be inferred from the Times Square decor? ° Designed by architect Squire J. Vickers, the mosaic was installed in the station below the former New York Times building in 1917. In a 1919 Architectural Record article Vickers, a somewhat eccentric figure, explained how designing with tile placed him in a position "conceived in strength and power, standing forth like a prophet of old, proclaiming calmly from a lofty height great and universal truths." He recognized the power of symbols, and his mosaics were loaded with them, many speaking to New York's history. ° Several notable Confederates are part of that past. Four Rebel generals are buried in the Bronx's Wood­lawn Cemetery, including Archibald Gracie III, whose home, Gracie Mansion, now serves as the official mayoral resi­dence. Both Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson lived in Brooklyn as young U.S. Army officers, and Stonewall was baptized in the city and spent his honeymoon there. Varina Howell Davis lived on Central Park West for the last 16 years of her life, working for the New York World.

Yet outside of calling New York home at some point in life—or death—those famous Rebels have no particular connection to Times Square. In fact, Times Square did not even exist prior to 1904; the neighborhood was then called Long Acre. For much of the 19th century, Long Acre Square was relatively undeveloped, known for its livery stables, grazing pastures and brothels. But in the early 20th century, the area between 7th Avenue and Broad­way underwent a transformation, evolving into the "Crossroads of the World." Rather than Lee or Jackson, a more likely candidate for the Times Square Confederate is perhaps the man who cata­lyzed that transformation. If the mosaic represents a convergence of subway lines, Vickers also unmistakably references the symbol of the South to highlight the station's proximity to a publisher with strong ties to the South: New York Times owner Adolph S. Ochs.

Adolph S. Ochs, 1911. Library of Congress.In 1904 Ochs finished building his new headquarters at Long Acre Square, a skyscraper that would have its own subway station in its basement. To commemorate the new structure, the Board of Aldermen renamed the neighborhood Times Square. The Times building quickly became the cultural and artistic nucleus of Manhattan. Upscale hotels were built. New res­taurants opened. And of course, there were the theaters. Times Square became the city's meeting place, where New Yorkers came to grab a late edition, and where the world unofficially entered the New Year. By the time Vickers began building the subway station in 1917, Times Square was on the cusp of its legendary heyday in the Roaring '20s. The Great White Way was born courtesy of Ochs and his "Old Gray Lady."

The Confederacy was a significant part of Adolph Ochs' family history, thanks to his mother. As a teenager in Ba­varia, Bertha Levi Ochs was so outspoken in her sympathy for revolutionaries involved in the upheaval in 1848 that her family sent her to relatives in Mississippi. In America Ber­tha married Ju­lius Ochs, also a German immigrant, and the couple soon moved to Ohio, where Adolph was born in 1858. When the Civil War broke out, Bertha decided that she couldn't bear the Union's despotism, and after her brother was commissioned a Rebel officer, she decided to go to Memphis. But her husband Julius re­mained loyal to the Union, and fought with an Ohio regiment.

This "house divided" stood just fine. Bertha helped the Confederates by smuggling spies and quinine across the lines. When she was caught, it was Julius, by that time a well-respected Union officer, who saved her from prison. In a 1930 speech at the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier at Mount Hope Cemetery, George Ochs, Adolph's younger brother and the historian of the New York Chapter of the Sons of Confed­erate Veterans, spoke of his parents, saying the "beautiful bonds of affection and devotion to each other had happily withstood the crucial strain of civil strife, [and they] returned to their home in Tennessee, yet to the day of their death, the convictions of each remained unaltered, and both gave unflattering devotion to the respective causes, which each had so firmly upheld." For Bertha this meant serving as a charter member of the United Daugh­ters of the Confederacy. When she died, UDC members shrouded her coffin with the Con­federate battle flag. In 1924 Adolph donated $1,000 to have his mother's name engraved on the founders' roll of the Stone Mountain Con­fed­erate Memorial. Enclosed with his check was a letter in which he sum­med up his mother's views: "Robert E. Lee was her idol."

Although he spent the second half of his life in New York City, Adolph Ochs never forgot his Southern roots. Raised in Knoxville, Tenn., he had cut his teeth as a publisher of the Chattanooga Times, which he acquired when he was only 20 years old. It was not until 1896, following his purchase of the foundering New York Times, that he moved to New York. Years later, he would be honored by the New York Southern Society for a lifetime of "unu­sual achievements in the perpetuation of the history and traditions of the South" and for having "striven on the side of the angels for supporting with unique zeal and power the highest ideals and traditions of the Southern States." He donated to establish Confederate cem­eteries in Tennessee; to fund the United Con­federate Veterans' reunions; and to establish the Chickamauga & Chat­ta­nooga Na­tional Mili­tary Park. He ran editorials and com­memorative and pictorial editions dedicated to Confed­erate veterans' activities. But Ochs' reverence for the South is best captured in his response to a 1927 controversy. Falsely accused by a Georgia newspaper of trying to thwart Stone Mountain from acquiring adjacent parkland, Ochs pro­tested in an editorial citing his longstand­ing dedication to Dixie: "I concede to no newspaper pub­lisher in the South a more loyal, sincere, enthusiastic and industrious ad­vo­cacy of the best interests, welfare and prosperity of the South than I have shown in the Chat­tanooga Times and The New York Times. I am confident that all to whom I am known will attest that the South, its interests and its welfare have been and are part of my religion and profession and hobby." When Ochs died in 1935, the UDC sent a pillow em­broidered with the Con­federate flag to be placed in his coffin.

In 1998, the Times Square subway station underwent a substantial renovation and expansion that included re­-creations of Vickers' mosaic tribute to Adolph Ochs. Even today, throughout the station's cavernous, rumbling corridors, the Southern heritage of one of the city's most influential figures is hiding in plain sight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Yorker Dr. David J. Jackowe, a lifelong student of the Civil War, writes about history, art and medicine.


http://www.historynet.com/confederate-flags-in-times-square.htm

Beauvoir Post Issac

Compatriots,

Headquarters has reports from Beauvoir that state the Home and Presidential Library fared well during the recent hurricane and no damage of note was done. We can all be grateful for this.

Remember that Beauvoir will be the site of the next Sesquicentennial Rally in March of 2013. Make your plans to attend!

Chuck Rand
Chief Of Staff

Flags Removed in North Carolina

Confederate flag controversery still unsettled in Haywood
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Written by Becky Johnson

Haywood County temporarily backed off its hard-line stance against tiny Confederate flags being stuck in the ground around the base of a memorial for Confederate soldiers on the lawn of the historic courthouse in Waynesville, but has once again started removing the flags.

After getting a complaint about the divisive symbol being placed on the courthouse lawn by Confederate supporters, the county decided to remove the tiny flags. That didn’t last long, however.

The county immediately got pushback from Confederate supporters, who claim the flag is a symbol of their heritage and honors their ancestors who fought for the South. Several of them staged a protest outside the courthouse last week and have upped their game — placing a full-size Confederate flag pole on the lawn instead of the six-inch-high toothpick variety they had been sticking in the ground before.

County leaders then decided to let the flags stay, given the absence of a formal policy on what can and cannot be placed on the courthouse lawn by outside groups.

After a week of allowing the flags until a policy could be researched and adopted, the county changed its position and decided that it would instead remove the flags in the absence of a policy. This also means that the tiny American flags stuck in the ground around the other war memorials on the courthouse lawn have to go as well.

In the meantime, those who are offended by the Confederate flag as a symbol often associated with racism and slavery have expressed their views to the county.

“Nearly every symbol, flag and banner can be placed in a historical context in an attempt to justify the placement of same on public, government property. There is no doubt that a great number of our citizens find that the flying of this particular symbol on government property is offensive,” reads a letter delivered to Haywood County commissioners last Friday and signed by 20 local residents. “This is a symbol that divides our citizens and continues to harm our ability to heal past wrongs.”

Commissioners also received letters pleading to allow the flag.

“Those that vilify Confederate monuments and symbols are very confused about the history of the War Between the States and have jumped on the bandwagon to spread falsehoods and fear. In no way do these symbols represent hate or violence,” according to a letter from Kip Rollins, a Haywood residents and leader within the Southern Historical and Heritage Preservation Society.

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/8337-confederate-flag-controversery-still-unsettled-in-haywood

Petersburg VA Depot to be Restored

Petersburg South Side Depot to be restored as Civil War Center

The historic South Side Depot in Old Towne Petersburg will be restored, and eventually it will house a visitor's center devoted to interpreting the Civil War.


PETERSBURG, VA.
Petersburg will have its own version of Richmond's visitor-friendly collaboration at Tredegar Iron Works when a restoration being announced today is completed.

The city of Petersburg and Petersburg National Battlefield will begin stabilization and restoration of the South Side Depot in Old Towne Petersburg with $400,000 in Transportation Enhancement grants from the state and a $100,000 match from the Civil War Trust. The building eventually will house a visitor's center where park rangers will interpret Petersburg's Civil War history.

The Civil War Trust also is receiving a $448,000 Transportation Enhancement grant toward the purchase of 81 acres at Cemetery Hill near Blandford Cemetery. The land is part of a $1.1 million campaign by the trust to protect 120 acres associated with fighting around the city during the last year of the war. Acquisition of the Cemetery Hill property will require $750,000 of that total.

The two historic preservation projects will be announced today at a 10 a.m. news conference featuring leaders of the city, state, battlefield and Civil War Trust. Officials plan to gather on the cobblestones of River Street at the South Side Depot, whose tall windows and distinctive cupola date to 1854.

The land at Cemetery Hill will be placed under a perpetual conservation easement and is slated to be incorporated into Petersburg National Battlefield. The trust also has applied for funding from the Virginia Civil War Sites Preservation Fund and is raising money from trust members.

Cemetery Hill was held continuously by Union troops for more than nine months during the siege of Petersburg. The site factored into the battles of Petersburg on June 18, 1864; the Crater on July 30, 1864; and Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865, according to the Civil War Trust. Those battles accounted for a combined 20,500 casualties — a quarter of those seen in the entire campaign.

The South Side Railroad was the final railroad to be severed by Union forces. When it was captured on April 1, 1865, said Mary Koik, spokeswoman for the Civil War Trust, "it was a foregone conclusion" that Petersburg would surrender. Richmond surrendered a day later.

A room on the second floor of the depot was used as an office after the war by Confederate Gen. William Mahone, a railroad president who later was a founder of Virginia State University.

Having a national park site in downtown Petersburg will allow the battlefield to "reach out to new audiences who haven't come to the park and help them learn more," said park Superintendent Lewis Rogers.

"I'm African-American. When I grew up, I didn't think there was anything in the Civil War for me. I learned there were African-Americans who fought in the Civil War, and Native Americans who fought in the Civil War, both of which fought at Petersburg.

"We want to reach out to the urban population … and to become more a part of fabric of the community. We have four sites, but most are out in more rural areas. … We want the opportunity to be right in town and be part of the fabric of the community. We hope it will also help stimulate the economy."

Officials predicted that the site would draw tens of thousands of heritage tourists each year.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/aug/14/tdmet01-petersburg-south-side-depot-to-be-restored-ar-2129031/

Confederates Remembered in Montana

Confederate monument honors the nostalgic past
July 21, 2012

For those who believe Montana was far removed from the Civil War, take a stroll through Helena's Hill Park and admire the granite fountain prominently standing there.

The Confederate Memorial Fountain was erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1916. As you read the inscription, "A Longing Tribute to Our Confederate Soldiers," realize that you are in the presence of the only Confederate monument in Montana and the Northwest and one of the few such tributes to the Confederacy in the northern United States.

Hill Park, once known as Great Northern Park, is south of the distinctive Civic Center between Neill Avenue and North Park Avenue. It's near the heart of the capital city on the western rim of historic Last Chance Gulch.

Confederate Veteran magazine covered the unveiling of this Confederate memorial:

"The 5th of September, 1916, was made memorable in the city of Helena, Mont., by the presentation of the Confederate memorial fountain as a gift from the Winnie Davis Chapter, U. D. C. (United Daughters of the Confederacy)," the magazine wrote. "It was in 1903 that this Chapter began its work for a Confederate memorial, and in this it was aided by other Chapters of the State. So on the evening of September 5, in the glow of the low Montana twilight, an interested throng gathered to witness the unveiling ceremonies."

Several aged Confederate veterans were present. Miss Gertrude C. Young gave the presentation speech, telling the history of the gift as the Confederate Daughters saw the need to beautify Hill Park. She explained the motive in planning such a gift, telling how the Confederate Daughters, desiring to make some presentation to their new residence after leaving the South, had chosen the fountain as a fitting memorial.

Young lauded the present-day American spirit, a spirit of union with no ill feeling between the old North and South, which caused such bitterness and sorrow years ago.

City Attorney Edward Horsky, in place of Mayor Purcell, accepted the donation for the city. After the speeches, Mrs. Will Aiken pulled the cord to loosen the flag that covered the monument, while Mrs. F. F. Read turned the water into the bowl. These three women were the only charter members of the Winnie Davis Chapter then in Helena.

Prominent Helena architect George H. Carsley, the monument's designer, was inspired by a memorial fountain erected in Washington, D.C., in the memory of two heroes of the Titanic disaster. Erected at a cost of $2,000, the Confederate memorial used native Montana granite.

A Confederate Veteran described the fountain:

"The base upon which the fountain is placed is rectangular in form, bordered by heavy granite copings and approaches being on opposite sides, corresponding to the east-and-west axis of the park."

The fountain has two basins with bubbling drinking fountains at its north and south sides.

"Rising out of the upper basin is an octagonal shaft, upon opposite sides of which are two inscriptions in cut letters. ... Upon one side: 'A Longing Tribute to Our Confederate Soldiers.' Upon the other ... 'By the Daughters of the Confederacy in Montana, A. D. 1916.' "

Four bronze spouts pour water from this pedestal into the upper basin.

"In addition, there are four low jets bubbling through the surface of water in the upper basin, which, together with two overflow spouts from the drinking fountain and the water spilling from the upper into the lower basin, forms pleasing lines and graceful patterns.

"The whole is surmounted by a bronze lantern, giving to the shaft something of the proportions of a lighthouse, the distance from platform to top of the light being about nine feet."

The Montana Confederate Memorial was dedicated in 1916 at a time when race relations in the country were at the nadir with segregation and lynchings reaching their peak. The memorial beautified Hill Park, but ironically it also made a strong statement about the past — that even this far north the Confederacy should be honored nostalgically.



http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/8228-confederate-supporters-protest-flag-removal-at-courthouse

NC County Removes Flag from Memorial

Confederate supporters protest flag removal at courthouse
Written by Becky Johnson

A protest was held this week in front of the Haywood County historic courthouse by Confederate supporters who say their flag is being discriminated against.

For years, David Crook had been making monthly rounds past the Confederate Memorial on the lawn of the historic courthouse and tucking a tiny flag into the ground at its base. And for years, an anonymous person who felt the flag carried negative symbolism had been pulling them up.

“They kept disappearing,” said Thomas Shepard, whose own ancestors fought for the South. “So we kept replacing them.”

The flag tug-of-war gradually ramped up, with a new one being put down and pulled up almost daily.

The county was forced to wade into the fray in June, when a local attorney complained about the tiny flag display and asked the county to intervene.

“Personally, I have been more than uncomfortable with the flag’s presence on government property,” Waynesville Attorney Bob Clark wrote in an email to county commissioners. “Will you please take action, quietly and effectively, to stop the display of this divisive symbol?”

If the county won’t step in and stop the tiny flags from cropping up, then perhaps the commissioners should issue a public statement that they “support the flying of this symbol,” Clark suggested.

County Manager Marty Stamey talked the issue over informally with commissioners, and the next morning directed county maintenance workers to pull up the flags whenever they saw them. Stamey sent county maintenance workers an email asking them to keep an eye on the monument a couple of times during the day to monitor for the flag’s reappearance.

“Am I understanding correctly that you are requesting the Confederate Flag to be removed and not ever be placed back in front of the Confederate Monument?” County Maintenance Director Dale Burris wrote back to Stamey.

“It is a sensitive issue with government property as you are aware,” Stamey wrote back to Burris. “Maybe we can request that they just keep a nice wreath in front of the memorial instead.”

Burris decided to keep any flags he pulled up from the monument in the maintenance office in case someone came looking for them. But no sooner had he walked outside to do the deed than one of the Confederate supporters, Jule Morrow, happened to drive by and see him pull it up. Morrow confronted Burris, and Burris replied that he was only doing what he had been told by county officials.

Confederate supporters questioned why their flag is being pulled up from the lawn, while tiny American flags stuck at the base of other war memorials in front of the historic courthouse are allowed to stay.

David Teague, Haywood County public information officer, said part of the problem is outside groups placing any kind of decoration on county property without permission.

The county had been working on a compromise with some of the Confederate supporters, Teague said.

One Confederate group, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, urged local Confederate supporters not to cause a ruckus.

“The best thing to do in this case is not to replace the flag you are using and let the matter die a natural death,” wrote Aileen Ezell, president of the N.C. Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. “We gain nothing by fighting this. It is amazing to me that such a small flag has caught so much attention.”

Some of the local Confederate supporters in Haywood County have decided to go to the mat over the tiny flags after all, however. Several of them staged a protest outside the courthouse this week, and have pledged to appear before the county commissioners at the next county meeting and lobby permission to put their flag back out.

“This flag is often associated with hate rather than heritage and honor,” Shepard said. But, that’s not the case, he said.

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/8228-confederate-supporters-protest-flag-removal-at-courthouse

Confederate Cemetery to Be Dedicated in Virginia

Virginia cemetery for Alabama Civil War dead to be dedicated
Tuesday, August 07, 2012

WASHINGTON -- A newly restored Civil War cemetery in northern Virginia will be formally dedicated next month in a ceremony that is expected to draw descendants of the Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment soldiers who died there.

The small but significant portion of Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park was reborn after decades in private hands, overgrown and surrounded by farmland. Prince William County saved the battlefield area in a deal with a real estate developer, and historic preservationists determined that up to 90 Alabama soldiers died there during a disease outbreak in the late summer of 1861.

An Eagle Scout candidate, guided by park officials, helped clear the cemetery site and make it accessible to the public in a project last December. Since then, park officials have been raising money for a monument and, in the absence of engraved tombstones, using historical documents to try to piece together the names of the fallen soldiers.

So far, 42 of the men have been identified, said Rob Orrison, site manager with the Historic Preservation Division of the Prince William County Department of Public Works.

The Alabama Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans donated the stone for the monument. Among those who drove it up to Virginia was a descendant of a soldier buried there, Orrison said. The four-foot rock was added to the site Monday and plaques are coming.

The Sept. 22 ceremony, at 9 a.m. CDT, will be open to the public and include remarks from park officials and a historian, music, a color guard, and a gun salute by a Virginia-based re-enactment group.

Orrison said the Alabama Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans collected dirt from around each of the courthouses in the counties that were home to members of the 10th Alabama Regiment.

"I have two buckets of dirt in my office right now, and they're bringing the rest up in September," Orrison said. "They're going to spread some Alabama soil on the cemetery."

The Eagle Scout candidate who organized two days of site-clearing, fence-raising and bridge-building, Dane Smith of Nokesville, also will participate in the ceremony, as will a second Eagle Scout candidate who will be laying the patio around the monument with flagstone brought from Alabama.

The 133-acre Bristoe Station park opened in 2007, marking the Battle of Kettle Run in 1862 and the Battle of Bristoe Station in 1863. It is about an hour's drive west of Washington, D.C., in Bristow, Va., near the Manassas National Battlefield Park.

The 10th Alabama Infantry Regiment included companies from Jefferson, Shelby, Calhoun, Talladega, St. Clair, Calhoun, DeKalb and Talladega counties, according to the Alabama Department of Archives and History.


http://blog.al.com/sweethome/2012/08/virginia_cemetery_for_alabama.html#incart_river_default

Monument to Black Confederate Veterans to Be Erected

NC county to honor black Confederate Army veterans
Posted: Aug 03, 2012 N.C. (AP)

A North Carolina county has finalized plans for a granite marker that will honor local slaves who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/OOgDeh ) that the marker honoring 10 black men, including nine slaves, is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the country. The marker will go in a brick walkway at the Old County Courthouse in Monroe, in front of a Civil War monument.

The county's historic preservation commission on Thursday unanimously approved the plan for a marker that reads, "In Memory of Union County's Confederate Pensioners of Color." It goes on to recognize all African Americans who served in "The War Between The States."

SCV Responds to Glenn Beck Propagnda and Falsehoods

Compatriots:

This is a video that should fully explain the reason we contacted Mr. Beck. Watch and "hang on" --

http://s661.photobucket.com/albums/uu339/Hudsonator/Glenn%20Beck%20clips/?action=view¤t=07-20-12GlennBeckEvilGenForrest_0001.mp4


Letter to Beck Below:

Dear Mr. Beck:

Recently, on GBTV, with WallBuilders’ Founder and President David Barton present, you displayed what you claim was the sword belonging to Nathan Bedford Forrest – an example of “tremendous American evil,” in your words. You spoke of the War Between The States’ engagement at Ft. Pillow and perpetuated Rev. Barton’s conjecture (which I’d never before heard) that the sword “skinned people alive.”

Perhaps you and Rev. Barton should actually read the Congressional inquiry into the matter -- it is inconclusive, neither exonerating nor condemning Forrest. Ft. Pillow was the typical “fog of war” circumstance that makes it impossible to sort out events as they actually occurred.

However, don’t feel compelled to accept my opinion. Lt. Col. Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr. is an Assistant Professor, Department of Command and Leadership, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. His review of the events at Ft. Pillow follows:

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/nathan-bedford-forrest-and-the-battle-of-fort-pillow-1864.htm

Only two weeks after the battle, a U.S. Congressional inquiry could not conclusively determine exactly what happened. Both sides failed to control the action, and only Forrest’s direct, personal intervention to stop the shooting saved many of the Union defenders left standing on the beach. Not satisfied with the Congressional inquiry, Union General William T. Sherman convened a not-so-impartial inquiry. He openly stated that he would try and convict General Forrest. However, Sherman’s inquiry also ended without substantive evidence to find Forrest culpable.

Northern newspapers criticizing Forrest’s effort “to explain away the Fort Pillow affair,” however, seem especially disingenuous since the sensationalist accounts by the partisan Northern press bears a large share of the burden for creating and perpetuating the “massacre” claim in the first place. Forrest always disputed claims that his Fort Pillow victory was a “massacre.” Any fair-minded judgment as to whether it was truly the racism-inspired, premeditated massacre claimed by the Northern press and Union leaders at the time must also take into consideration the inevitable confusion of desperate, hand-to-hand combat and the many contributing factors that created and exacerbated the disastrous Union rout.

Of course, wartime events concerning Forrest cannot be considered in a vacuum – he has become unfairly associated with the actions of the KKK. Again, a bit of digging instead of accepting “flat earth history” will give the intellectually honest person a different perspective. Consider the findings of the Anti-Defamation League:

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/history.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk

By 1869, internal strife led Klansmen to fight against Klansmen as competing factions struggled for control. The Klan's increasing reputation for violence led the more prominent citizens to drop out and criminals and the dispossessed began to fill the ranks. Local chapters proved difficult, if not impossible, to monitor and direct. In disgust, Forrest officially disbanded the organization and the vast majority of local groups followed his lead.

If the treatment of Forrest was not bad enough, to follow it up with a reference to Herman Goering amplified the insult, effectively equating Forrest to a Nazi. From a practical standpoint, why would you alienate Southerners by doing this? The South has obviously been very accepting of your message – we value the Constitution and eschew progressivism.

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus came “full of grace and truth” (v.14). While you and Rev. Barton are “Restoring Love,” why not restore some grace to the Southern people and some truth for their history?


Gene Hogan
Chief of Heritage Defense
Sons of Confederate Veterans
(866) 681 - 7314
http://scv.org/

Tennessee Flaggers Defend Veterans Flag

By: Cameron Crapps | WJHL
July 28, 2012

Elizabethton, TN --
A Confederate flag flying over a Carter County cemetery is the spark of new controversy tonight. We first told you about a Confederate flag flying over Green Hill Cemetery in Elizabethton when members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans erected the monument in honor of several confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.

The Watauga Historical Association Vice President Dawn Peters told 11 Connects in October there shouldn't be a huge Confederate flag flying overhead when there's not even a large American flag at the cemetery.

Today, a group calling themselves "Tennessee Flaggers" from four different states gathered at the cemetery to protest those against the flying of the Confederate flag.

“I'm not ashamed of my family,” says Rick Morrell. “I'm proud of what they believed in." Morrell and other Tennessee Flaggers marched across Green Hill Cemetery and gathered in protest of those opposed to flying the Confederate Flag there.

"Those soldiers over at Green Hill Cemetery deserve to have their flag flying over the graves of those humble men,” says H.K. Edgerton. “Every time I pick this flag up and come to a gathering like this, I'm at a gathering of love the same kind of love that existed then."

http://www2.wjhl.com/news/2012/jul/28/confederate-flag-controversy-brings-protestors-eli-ar-2091656/#fbcomments

2016 Reunion Bid Deadline Announced

Reunion Bid Deadlines for Hosting 2016 Reunion:

Bid packages for those wishing to host the 2016 reunion are due by January 15,2013. They should be sent to Chairman Joe Ringhoffer at 1211 Government St. Mobile, AL 36604or emailed to ringhje@aol.com.

Bidders should include in their proposals information such as the cost of guest rooms at the hotel(s), any parking fees, host hotel flag display policy, meeting facility layout, and projected registration cost. This information is needed in addition to the bidders plans for tours and events and information about attractions in the area.

The Guidelines for hosting a convention can be obtained from Joe Ringhoffer at the email address above or on scv.org at http://www.scv.org/pdf/ReunionGuidelines.pdf.

The place and date of the meeting of the Convention Planning Committee, where bidders will make their formal presentations, will be announced after receipt of the bids.

For more information contact Chairman Ringhoffer at 251-402-7593.

Grant Request Deadline Announced

Compatriots,

The Budget and Finance Committee will review funding requests prior to the GEC (General Executive Council) Fall meeting. Requests must be received no later than September 1, 2012 to be considered!

It is preferred that requests and supporting documentation be sent as attachments to an email message to Adjutant-in-Chief Ritchie (aic@scv.org) and Executive Director Sewell (exedir@scv.org).

If you send the request and supporting documents in hard-copy format, they should be sent to AIC Ritchie, Executive Director Sewell and Army Commanders Earnest, Strain and Owens, who also serve on the Budget and Finance Committee.

Mailing addresses can be found on the National Committee page: http://www.scv.org/committeeView.php?cid=BFf.

Those requesting funds should read the Funding Proposal Guidelines found on the Forms and Documents page of scv.org at: http://www.scv.org/pdf/FundingProposalGuidelines.pdf . The form to be used to make a Funding Request is also on the Forms and Documents page at: http://www.scv.org/pdf/SCVFundRequests.pdf .

The information requested on the form is the minimum that is needed to consider a request. Those making requests are encouraged to submit supporting information if it helps clarify the purpose and other particulars of the project.

If you have any questions regarding the guidelines, form or process please contact me.

Stephen Lee Ritchie

Adjutant-in-Chief

aic@scv.org

(765) 759-8038

Okolona, MS Remembers Confederate Veterans

Confederate Remembrances held Saturday
by JB Clark/NEMS Daily Journal Djournal

Nicole Byrd places a wreath beside the headstone of 2nd Lt. William N. Cox as Cliff Richey stands by during a dedication ceremony at the Battle of Harrisburg National Park site in Tupelo on Saturday. (DESTE LEE | DAILY JOURNAL)slideshow


Rannie Gillentine sprays bleach on a row of headstones at the Okolona Confederate Cemetery on Saturday. (DESTE LEE | DAILY JOURNAL)slideshow
Saturday was a day of Civil War remembrance in Northeast Mississippi.

Volunteers with the Okolona Cemetery Restoration and Re-enactment Project began bleaching the 800 headstones of Confederate soldiers in the Okolona’s Confederate cemetery.

The group is preparing the cemetery for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Okolona, in February 2014. Martha Gordon, of the restoration committee, said when completed, there will be a flag flying for every state that has a soldier buried there.

The graveyard is home to many soldiers who were wounded or killed at the Battle of Shiloh and brought to the hospital in Okolona by train. Many of the soldiers’ identities are still unknown.

Also on Saturday, new headstones were placed on unmarked Confederate graves in Tupelo. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Harrisburg Camp No. 645 dedicated two headstones in the Battle of Harrisburg National Park to mark the 148th anniversary of the battle.

“I thank the men of Harrisburg Camp for placing these stones,” said Edwina Carpenter, director of Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center. “When a person gives all for his beliefs, he has recorded his name in the archives of heaven, it is right that we should remember.”

The two headstones are in memory of 1st Lt. John J. Stone, of Company H of the Coonewah Rifles 2nd Mississippi Infantry, and 2nd Lt. William N. Cox, of Company A of the 8th Mississippi Cavalry.

The two Confederate officers were buried in the Old Harrisburg Cemetery, on the grounds of the Battle of Harrisburg.

Stone was born in Alabama in 1811 and came to Mississippi around 1851. He enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 50 and retired the next year due to ailing health. Stone died in 1866.

Cox enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1963 and died in the Battle of Harrisburg in 1864 at age 28.

Kevin Thornton, communications officer for the Harrisburg Camp, said installing the headstones at the battlefield has been a project of theirs for 10 years.

A re-enactment of the battle at Old Town Creek, an encampment and a skirmish was slated for Saturday night on Mount Vernon Road, but it had to be canceled because of rain.

http://djournal.com/bookmark/19327375

Colorado Leadershop Workshop Set for August 25

SCV LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP SET FOR COLORADO
SCV National Leadership Workshop

As we move through the challenging years of the Sesquicentennial, leadership training has become even more important to the defense of our Southern heritage. In an effort to insure that our members better understand the challenges of leadership roles and to aid our leaders in acquiring the knowledge to better perform their duties, the SCV has scheduled a Summer National Leadership Workshop.

This year’s event will be held August 25, 2012 at the Holiday Inn Express, 1855 Aeroplaza Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80916. It will be hosted by the Colorado Division. A tentative schedule for the day is posted below along with registration and lodging information.

Please note that this event will include relevant presentations and individual workshops for more specialized training for Commanders and Adjutants; however, ALL members are invited to attend!
___________________________________

8:00 – 8:15 Welcome & SCV Protocol Div. Cmdr. Patrick Gerity
8:15 – 8:30 Introductions & Overview Lt. CIC Charles Kelly Barrow
8:30 – 9:15 Commanders & Command CIC R. Michael Givens
9:15 – 9:30 BREAK
9:30 – 10:15 Adjutants & Administration AIC
10:15 – 10:30 BREAK
10:30 – 11:15 Recruiting & Retention Lt. CIC Charles Kelly Barrow
11:15 – 12:30 DINNER
12:45 – 1:30 Heritage Defense Chief of Heritage Defense
1:30 – 1:45 BREAK
1:45 – 2:30 Commander’s & Adjutant’s Workshops CIC, Lt. CIC & AIC
2:30 – 2:45 Concluding Remarks & Discussion Lt. CIC Charles Kelly Barrow
Benediction



Registration is only $10 per person and will be handled through General Headquarters at Elm Springs. You may mail a reservation with a check or call 1 (800) 380-1896 ext 209 (Cindy) or email accounting@scv.org with credit card information (MC, VISA or AMEX)
___________________________________

Holiday Inn Express 1855 Aeroplaza Drive Colorado Springs,
Colorado 80916 (719) 380-8516
SCV Workshop rate: King or DQB $99
Free shuttle to/from airport 5am-11pm


Super 8 Motel 1790 Aeroplaza Drive
Colorado Springs,
Colorado 80916
719) 570-0505
$69.99 + tax

America's Best Value Inn
1780 Aeroplaza Drive
Colorado Springs,
Colorado 80916
(719) 574-7707
$49.99 + tax


Registration Sheet

Name________________________ Address____________________________________________

_____________________________ Email _______________________________________

Camp number_________________ Check enclosed ( ) or

Credit Card (MC, VISA, or AMEX) Number __________________________ Expires _________

2012 REUNION NEWS

News from the 2012 Reunion

Proposed constitutional amendments one and two pertaining to allowing camps to secede from their divisions were defeated. Proposed constitutional amendment three dealing with a minor wording change to section 13.4 dealing with discipline was approved.

Proposed standing order amendment number one was withdrawn by the author, and proposed standing order amendment number two, clarifying language dealing with the prohibition of SCV members, camps and divisions from filing lawsuits without prior express consent of the GEC, was approved.

A paper ballot was used to select Richmond, Virginia as the 2015 site of the 120th SCV Annual General Reunion.


Officers elected for 2012-2014

Commander in Chief- R. Michael Givens

Lt. Commander in Chief- C. Kelly Barrow


ATM

Commander- M. Todd Owens

Councilman- Charles E. Lauret


AOT

Commander- Thomas V. Strain, Jr

Councilman- Larry Allen McCluney


ANV

Commander- Britton Frank Earnest, Sr

Councilman-Randall B Burbage


Also selected to serve on the General Executice Council


Chief of Staff- Charles L. Rand III

Adjutant in Chief- Stephen Lee Ritchie

Chief of Heritage Defense- Eugene G Hogan II

Chaplain in Chief- Mark W. Evans

Judge Advocate in Chief- Roy Burl McCoy


2012 National Awards

Dr. George R. Tabor Award is presented to the most distinguished camp in the SCV. The winner of this prestigious award, which is an extremely close competition every year, is the Finley's Brigade Camp 1614 of Havana FL, Graham F. Smith, Commander.

Scrapbooks

Dr. B. H. Webster Award for the best Scrapbook for camps with fewer than 50 members was not awarded in 2012 as no entries were received.

Judah P. Benjamin Award for the best Scrapbook for camps with 50 or more members is the Robert E. Lee Camp 239 of Fort Worth TX, James B. Turnage, Commander.


Dr. James B. Butler Award for the best historical project was won by Litchfield Camp 132, Conway, SC, James E. Graham, Commander.

General Stand Watie Award winner for the camp making the largest contribution to the Stand Watie Scholarship Fund was not awarded in 2012.


Best Web Site- General Samuel Cooper Award for the best website is the William Kenyon Australian Confederates Camp 2160, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. http://www.scvau.com/ James M. Gray, Commander.

Newsletters

Dr. Paul Jon Miller Award winner for the best newsletter among camps with fewer than 50 members is The Round Mountain Report which is produced by the COL Daniel N. McIntosh Camp 1378, Tulsa OK, Kenneth H. Cook, Editor.

S.A. Cunningham Award for the best newsletter among camps with 50 or more members is The Louisiana Tiger which is produced by the LTG Richard Taylor Camp 1308, Shreveport LA, Bobby G. Herring, Editor.

Dewitt Smith Jobe Award for the best Division newsletter is a tie and two awards were given to The Carolina Confederate, North /Carolina Division, Ron Perdue, Editor and the Palmetto Partisan, South Carolina Division, Bill Norris, Editor.


Recruiting

Edward R. Darling Award for the top recruiter in the Confederation is awarded to

Kyle Sims, a member of the COL Middleton Tate Johnson Camp 1648, Arlington

TX. Compatriot Sims recruited 37 new members.


Membership

General Nathan Bedford Forrest Award for the camp with the greatest gain in membership (plus 39 net) goes to COL W. M. Bradford/COL J. G. Rose Camp 1638, Morristown TN, Michael L. Beck, Commander.

New Camps, Division- General A. P. Hill Award is a tie with five new camps each, and is awarded to the North Carolina Division, Thomas M. Smith Jr, Commander and the Georgia Division, Jack Bridwell, Commander.

New Camps, Army- General Albert Sydney Johnston Award for the Army with the greatest gain in new camps, a total of 12, goes to the Army of Trans-Mississippi, W. Danny Honnoll, Commander.

Individual Awards

Hoover Law and Order Medal was presented to Sheriff Larry Dever, Cochise County, AZ.

Rev. J. William Jones Christian Service Award is presented to Reverend Eric Gray
Rudd NC), Reverend David Andrew Taylor (AR), and a posthumous award to Reverend Jack Ray Griffin (AZ) all three of whom have emulated and perpetuated the orthodox Christian faith demonstrated by the soldiers and citizens of the Confederate States of America.

Robert E. Lee Gold Medal, the second highest award which can be given to a SCV member, has been presented to Eugene G. Hogan II (SC), B. Frank Earnest Sr.(VA), and Thomas Y. Hiter (KY) for their exceptional contributions and service to theSCV.

Jefferson Davis Chalice has been presented to Bragdon R. Bowling Jr. (VA). This is the highest award which may be bestowed on a member for service to the SCV and consists of an engraved silver chalice, a medal and a certificate.


Non Member Awards

The S. D. Lee Award, the SCV's highest award for nonmembers of the SCV was presented to Pam Trammell of Arkansas.

The Horace L. Hunley Award, the SCV's second highest award for nonmembers was presented to Allen Roberson of South Carolina.

The Dixie Defender Award, the SCV's third highest award for nonmembers was presented to Sarah Mosley of South Carolina.

Las Cruses Mayor Shows His Intolerance

Las Cruces Tea Party flew Confederate flag on Fourth of July parade float
Posted at: 07/08/2012
By: Shaun Griswold, KOB.com

Bitter words are being exchanged between the Las Cruces mayor and the city's Tea Party over a parade float.

The Tea Party's float won best of show at the Las Cruces Fourth of July parade.

The float prominently displayed a Confederate flag.

Mayor Ken Miyagishima is upset about the flag's placement on the float.

"The Las Cruces Tea Party can believe whatever it wants, but to have this symbol and what it represents," he said. "Highlight the winning float at a celebration of our nation's independence is an outrage."

The Tea Party said the float celebrates the area's history.

"The theme of the parade was the history of the State of New Mexico," party members said in a statement. "There was a lot of history that defined our state prior to 1912. We showed how we fought for our statehood and the sacrifices we made along the way, along with our triumphs."

History tells a brief tale about Confederate occupation in New Mexico.

It started at the plaza in La Mesilla, N.M., nearly five miles from the parade route.

On March 16 1861, La Mesilla hosted a territorial secession convention. 12 days before the convention, seven states left the U.S. to form the Confederate States of America, and nearly one month later the Civil War's first major aggression took place at Fort Sumner.

Both Union and Confederate governments claimed control over the New Mexico Territory, which extended through Arizona and southern Nevada.

As with the war, the territory split horizontally. On July 15 1861, Confederates from Texas took over Mesilla and established the Arizona Territory from southern New Mexico through Tucson, Ariz.

Confederates pushed north, however its New Mexico Campaign would end at Glorietta Pass in March 1862.

Union troops forced Confederates into retreat. They destroyed the Confederate supply wagon and its hopes for expansion into California.

By April 1882, Union troops had forced the last Confederate soldiers out of Mesilla.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2682024.shtml?cat=504

S. D. Lee Institute - St. Augustine, FL

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: SOUTHERN VIEWS

It is my pleasure to announce the scheduling of the 2013 Stephen Dill Lee Institute in St. Augustine, Florida, at the Renaissance Hotel on February 1-2.

Hosting the event will be the Florida Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. It is the aim of the Institute to examine the ramifications of the Emancipation Proclamation from an academic perspective, which truly differs from prevailing contemporary mainstream dogma.

We are pleased to announce the following will speak at the event:

1. Donald Livingston -- "How the North Failed to Respond to the Moral Challenge of Slavery"

2. Colonel Jonathan White -- "Forty Acres and a Mule: Miscarriages of Justice in Post-Emancipation Federal Policy"

3. Kirkpatrick Sale --Emancipation Hell: The Disaster the Emancipation Proclamation Wrought"

4. Marshall De Rosa --"Emancipation in the Confederacy: What the Ruling Class doesnt want you to know and why"

5. Kent Masterson Brown -- To be Announced


Please join us and our outstanding faculty for a one of a kind academic experience on February 1-2, 2013.

We will soon have our website, www.StephenDillLeeInstitute.com up and running with event and hotel information. Thanks for supporting our efforts.

Brag Bowling
Stephen Dill Lee Institute

Nugent Says American Better if South Won

Ted Nugent: America Would Be Better Off If South Won Civil War
Posted: July 6, 2012


Where would America be today if the South had won the Civil War? According to Ted Nugent, the United States would be a better place if we were still flying the confederate flag.

The musician recently wrote an op-ed for the Washington Times calling John Roberts, the Supreme Court Judge who sided with the liberal to uphold President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, a traitor.

Nugent writes at the Washington Times:

“(Roberts) squandered the opportunity to restore judicial, financial and legislative sanity to a government that by any sane person’s standards is insane and addicted to centralized federal control of our lives…. Our entitlement programs have bankrupted America… We have dug a financial crater so deep that many doubt we can ever climb out. With his vote, Chief Justice Roberts didn’t give Fedzilla an even bigger shovel, he gave Fedzilla an earth mover with which to dig bigger financial holes.”

This isn’t the first time that Nugent has spoken out against the Obama administration. The secret service even paid him a visit earlier this year after he made comments about assassinating the president.

Nugent concludes that Robert’s vote effectively killed our founding father’s vision of a limited government.

Nugent said:

“Because our legislative, judicial and executive branches of government hold the 10th Amendment in contempt, I’m beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War. Our Founding Fathers’ concept of limited government is dead.”

The Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act has drawn strong opinions from just about everybody. And it’s understandable that Nugent is upset about Robert’s decision. But saying that America would be better off if the South won the Civil War is a little out of line, right?


http://www.inquisitr.com/271111/ted-nugent-america-would-be-better-off-if-south-won-civil-war/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Inquisitr+%28Inquisitr%3A+All%29#MXA2MQxFfUcKQYPr.99

Tombstones Dedicated in Little Rock

Identified Civil War Veterans Receive New Tombstones
By: Lauren Trager, KARK 4 News
Updated: June 24, 2012

A dedication service was held Sunday afternoon at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock honoring Civil War veterans.

New tombstones have been placed for more than a dozen recently identified Confederate and Union soldiers.

Mount Holly is the city's oldest cemetery .

The memorial service included a flag ceremony, and Civil War reenactments.

Sunday marks the one-hundred and fifty year anniversary of the death of one 16-year-old soldier buried there at the cemetery


See Link Below for New Video:

http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=553232

Starvation Fate of Freed Slaves

The end of slavery in the United States led to anarchy and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of black Americans claims a new revisionist history of the Civil War.

Instead of a granting former slaves a glorious moment of freedom, President Abraham


'The end of slavery led to hunger and death for millions of black Americans': Extraordinary claims in new book

President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation gifted freedom to four million black Americans in 1863

Former slaves struggled to begin their free life and up to one million died or got sick

Challenges the accepted wisdom of the Unionist North being sympathetic to the cause of freed slaves

Whole families returned to work on the plantations they had escaped because there was no work and no food

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation condemned millions to a life of disease and hunger says historian Jim Downs in his new book, 'Sick from Freedom'.

Scouring through obscure records, Professor Downs has revealed that freed slaves were subject to outbreaks of cholera and smallpox as they attempted to start new lives for themselves and that thousands starved to death.

Writing about the period of 1862 to 1870, Professor Downs claims that one million of the four million salves former slaves freed by Lincoln's 1863 executive order died or got sick.

This number includes at least 60,000 who lost their lives in a smallpox epidemic that started in Washington and spread to the south as black Americans left their former slave-masters in order to find work

Calling this 'the largest biological crisis of the 19th century', Downs states that this tragedy has failed to be acknowledged because it does not match with the rosy view of the Civil War being a fight between the Unionist North and Confederate South for God-given rights.

Professor Jim Downs new revisionist history of the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation claims that a million black Americans suffered hunger and died following the end of slavery
'The freed people we want to see are the ones with all their belongings on the wagon, heading towards freedom,' said David W. Blight, a professor of history at Yale to the New York Times.
'But the truth is, for every person making it there may have been one falling by the way.'

As the anniversary of President Lincoln's order approaches, Mr. Downs, 39, is part of new school of thought re-addressing commonly held beliefs about the history of emancipation.

'We're getting ready to celebrate 150 years of the movement from slavery to freedom,' said Professor Downs to the New York Times.
'But hundreds of thousands of people did not survive that movement.'

In fact in the years following 1863, the public health problems that freed slaves experienced attempting to set up their own homes, getting jobs and feeding their families seemed so intense that some historical observers wondered whether all black Americans might die.

In 1863, one white religious figure wrote, 'Like his brother the Indian of the forest, he must melt away and disappear forever from the midst of us.'

While the accepted view is that the Unionist North was sympathetic to the plight of all southern slaves, Professor Downs feels that there was in fact an element of turning a blind eye to the problems the newly freed people experienced.

'In the 19th century people did not want to talk about it,' said Professor Downs to the Observer. 'Some did not care and abolitionist, when they saw so many freed people dying, feared that it proved true what some people said: that slaves were not able to exist on their own.'

Professor Downs paints a desperate picture of freed families staggering away from southern plantations and finding themselves in Union run 'contraband camps' struggling for food and living in unsanitary conditions.

His book points out the irony that these camps were sometimes no better than the freed slaves previous living conditions and that the only way out was to offer to return to the same plantations from which they had escaped.

In 'Sick from Freedom' Professor Downs recounts the tragic story of one former slave, Joseph Miller, who arrived at a union camp in Kentucky with his wife and four children in 1864 and watched them all die within months, before he died in 1865.
During his research, Professor Downs discovered the horrific conditions within what were essentially refugee camps doted around the south.

A military official with the Union army wrote that life for the former slaves was so appalling that they were: 'dying by scores - that sometimes 30 per day die and are carried out by wagon-loads without coffins, and thrown promiscuously, like brutes, into a trench.'

Not wishing to cast aspersions on the Emancipation Proclamation, for which Professor Downs still holds its true moral value, he nonetheless wants to bring a fuller picture to the public.

'I've been alone with these people in the archives,' said Professor Downs. 'I have a responsibility to tell their stories.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160484/The-end-slavery-led-hunger-death-millions-black-Americans-Extraordinary-claims-new-book.html#ixzz1y5oLQ1fJ