Compatriots,
A number of years ago the SCV established a relief fund to assist our Compatriots when they experience a loss. An example is aid given to some of our compatriots in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in the tornados that hit Alabama about a year ago. The news reports today show that severe weather has again crossed Alabama, Georgia and other areas.
We do not have any reports of SCV members being affected by these storms but if there are members who have suffered a loss the Relief Fund may be able to assist. In this instance of severe weather, if you have been affected, contact AoT Commander Tom Strain at aot.commander@gmail.com or 256-990-5472.
Chuck Rand
Chief of Staff
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
News on the Hunley
Experts: New clues to sinking of Confederate sub
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Scientists say a pole on the front of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley designed to plant explosives on enemy ships may hold a key clue to its sinking during the Civil War.
The experts are to release their findings Monday at a North Charleston lab where the hand-cranked sub is being preserved and studied. The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship.
The pole, called a spar, was once placed at the front of the sub and used to plant a powder charge into the Union blockade ship Housatonic in 1864.The Housatonic sank, while the Hunley and its eight-man crew never returned.
The sub was found in waters off South Carolina in 1995 and raised five years later. It's been in the laboratory ever since.
http://news.yahoo.com/experts-clues-sinking-confederate-sub-113855343.html
Time To Redouble Recruiting Efforts!
February is National Recruiting Month!
There is NO better month to PUSH recruiting; as an individual, as a Camp, or as a Division!!
The National “Proration” membership policy makes February the very BEST month to recruit new members to our organization! Check the “explanation” of the program at www.scv.org/pdf/proration.pdf Become familiar with it and USE IT! Reinstating former members are also eligible for the prorated dues structure which is another incentive to sign up our former members living in your community.
There is no better time for a new recruit or a returning delinquent member to get the “best bang for his buck!” This means that for a total of $50, he will be paid in full until July 31, 2014, and receive nine issues of the Confederate Veteran magazine and membership privileges!
The prorated dues amount decreases on May 1st as our fiscal year winds down but of course the bargain benefits do as well! NOW is the time to do it!
Divisions, Camps or possibly individual members may even want to offer to pay the proration fee as an additional incentive to recruitment! NOW is the time to begin Camp and Division recruiting contests, as there is no better time to recruit or to simply give that gift membership that you always meant to give.
If YOU don’t make use of this GREAT recruiting tool you’re missing the very best opportunity we have to offer during the year!
“Every MEMBER, Recruit A MEMBER!”
Let’s DOUBLE the membership of the Sons of Confederate Veterans!
Deo Vindice!
Charles Kelly Barrow
Lt. Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
1800mysouth.com
There is NO better month to PUSH recruiting; as an individual, as a Camp, or as a Division!!
The National “Proration” membership policy makes February the very BEST month to recruit new members to our organization! Check the “explanation” of the program at www.scv.org/pdf/proration.pdf Become familiar with it and USE IT! Reinstating former members are also eligible for the prorated dues structure which is another incentive to sign up our former members living in your community.
There is no better time for a new recruit or a returning delinquent member to get the “best bang for his buck!” This means that for a total of $50, he will be paid in full until July 31, 2014, and receive nine issues of the Confederate Veteran magazine and membership privileges!
The prorated dues amount decreases on May 1st as our fiscal year winds down but of course the bargain benefits do as well! NOW is the time to do it!
Divisions, Camps or possibly individual members may even want to offer to pay the proration fee as an additional incentive to recruitment! NOW is the time to begin Camp and Division recruiting contests, as there is no better time to recruit or to simply give that gift membership that you always meant to give.
If YOU don’t make use of this GREAT recruiting tool you’re missing the very best opportunity we have to offer during the year!
“Every MEMBER, Recruit A MEMBER!”
Let’s DOUBLE the membership of the Sons of Confederate Veterans!
Deo Vindice!
Charles Kelly Barrow
Lt. Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
1800mysouth.com
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Come To Beauvoir! March 16 Dedication of Jefferson Davis Library
Compatriots,
The link below is to the site for the SCV's 2013 Sesquicentennial Event at Beauvoir. The event, the dedication of the new Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, will be held on Saturday, March 16 at Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS. If you have not been to Beauvoir in the last few years this is a fantastic opportunity to participate in this event remembering the sacrafices of out Confederate heroes and to help dedicate and tour the new Library and Jefferson Daivis' home, Beauvoir, itself. Beauvoir was restored to its post war appearance just a few years ago so now it looks as it did when Jefferson Davis lived there.
Make plans to be at Beauvoir on the 16th of March. It is an event you do not want to miss!
http://confederate150.com/2013.html
Chuck Rand
Chief of Staff
The link below is to the site for the SCV's 2013 Sesquicentennial Event at Beauvoir. The event, the dedication of the new Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, will be held on Saturday, March 16 at Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS. If you have not been to Beauvoir in the last few years this is a fantastic opportunity to participate in this event remembering the sacrafices of out Confederate heroes and to help dedicate and tour the new Library and Jefferson Daivis' home, Beauvoir, itself. Beauvoir was restored to its post war appearance just a few years ago so now it looks as it did when Jefferson Davis lived there.
Make plans to be at Beauvoir on the 16th of March. It is an event you do not want to miss!
http://confederate150.com/2013.html
Chuck Rand
Chief of Staff
Confederate Helicopter Design Found
Plans for the Little Known Confederate Helicopter
January 23, 2013
National Air and Space Museum
As my colleague Dr. Tom Crouch referenced in a previous post, our nation is currently in the midst of commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War (or sesquicentennial for you Latin fans). While other branches of the Smithsonian, such as the National Museum of American History and National Portrait gallery, have a wide depth of artifacts and images with which they can share stories from the time period, the National Air and Space Museum has far fewer relevant items in its collection. We do, however, have some of the most surprising Civil War artifacts in the entire Institution. Not only does the Museum preserve Thaddeus Lowe’s “double telescope,” but the Museum’s Archives Department preserves a set of drawings containing plans for the most marvelous of contraptions – the Confederate helicopter.
The American Civil War brought about great advances in the use of technology in warfare. Balloons, railroads, ironclad ships, and even a submarine were demonstrated throughout the conflict, and new ideas were constantly being thought up and tried on the battlefield. Some ideas were more exotic than others, such as the one thought of by William C. Powers. In 1862, most of the ports of the Southern states were completely blockaded by Union naval forces, choking off much needed supplies and commerce. William C. Powers was an architectural engineer living in Mobile, Alabama, and personally saw the effects of the Northern blockade. Powers knew that the southern states did not have enough ships to break the blockade with naval power, and going through the blockade was full of risks. William Powers saw another way to crush the blockade – attack it from the air.
Using his engineering skills, Powers began drafting plans for a machine that could lift off and propel itself through the air to attack Union ships. Although balloons were being effectively used for observation, they lacked directional control and could not lift enough weight to make an effective bomber. Powers drew upon the work of other famous engineers, such as Archimedes and da Vinci, and employed Archimedean screws for lift and thrust, all powered by a steam engine. The engine was located in the middle of the craft, and used two smokestacks, which can be seen in the drawings. Two Archimedean screws on the sides gave the helicopter forward thrust, similar to how a propeller works on a ship in water, and two mounted vertically in the helicopter gave it lift. A rudder was added to the rear of the craft in order to provide steering. The drawings below show these Archimedean screws represented by the snaking line that runs across the page.
After drafting his plans, Powers set out to make a small model and then a full-size mockup. Although he had some success creating the small model, as can be seen below, limited resources and lack of support prevented the idea from ever leaving the drawing board. Family lore also says that fear prevented the idea from getting off the ground. When the drawings were donated to the Museum, family members stated that they were hidden during the war to prevent them from falling into Union hands. It was said that a full size example was never created for fear that it would be captured by the Union, mass produced, and used to rain destruction on the Confederate armies and cities throughout the South.
Although the laws of aerodynamics were not on the side of William C. Powers or his helicopter, they do reveal an interesting aspect of the technological advances which came about as a result of the Civil War. Powers even stumbles upon a building method which would be resurrected later on to manufacture airships and even bombers.In the drawing shown below, it is clear that the “hull” of the Powers aircraft would have been constructed using a lattice approach, similar to that used in the British Vickers Wellington Bomber. This provides incredible strength without adding lots of weight.Perhaps Mr. Powers was just ahead of his time….
http://blog.nasm.si.edu/2013/01/23/plans-for-the-little-known-confederate-helicopter/
January 23, 2013
National Air and Space Museum
As my colleague Dr. Tom Crouch referenced in a previous post, our nation is currently in the midst of commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War (or sesquicentennial for you Latin fans). While other branches of the Smithsonian, such as the National Museum of American History and National Portrait gallery, have a wide depth of artifacts and images with which they can share stories from the time period, the National Air and Space Museum has far fewer relevant items in its collection. We do, however, have some of the most surprising Civil War artifacts in the entire Institution. Not only does the Museum preserve Thaddeus Lowe’s “double telescope,” but the Museum’s Archives Department preserves a set of drawings containing plans for the most marvelous of contraptions – the Confederate helicopter.
The American Civil War brought about great advances in the use of technology in warfare. Balloons, railroads, ironclad ships, and even a submarine were demonstrated throughout the conflict, and new ideas were constantly being thought up and tried on the battlefield. Some ideas were more exotic than others, such as the one thought of by William C. Powers. In 1862, most of the ports of the Southern states were completely blockaded by Union naval forces, choking off much needed supplies and commerce. William C. Powers was an architectural engineer living in Mobile, Alabama, and personally saw the effects of the Northern blockade. Powers knew that the southern states did not have enough ships to break the blockade with naval power, and going through the blockade was full of risks. William Powers saw another way to crush the blockade – attack it from the air.
Using his engineering skills, Powers began drafting plans for a machine that could lift off and propel itself through the air to attack Union ships. Although balloons were being effectively used for observation, they lacked directional control and could not lift enough weight to make an effective bomber. Powers drew upon the work of other famous engineers, such as Archimedes and da Vinci, and employed Archimedean screws for lift and thrust, all powered by a steam engine. The engine was located in the middle of the craft, and used two smokestacks, which can be seen in the drawings. Two Archimedean screws on the sides gave the helicopter forward thrust, similar to how a propeller works on a ship in water, and two mounted vertically in the helicopter gave it lift. A rudder was added to the rear of the craft in order to provide steering. The drawings below show these Archimedean screws represented by the snaking line that runs across the page.
After drafting his plans, Powers set out to make a small model and then a full-size mockup. Although he had some success creating the small model, as can be seen below, limited resources and lack of support prevented the idea from ever leaving the drawing board. Family lore also says that fear prevented the idea from getting off the ground. When the drawings were donated to the Museum, family members stated that they were hidden during the war to prevent them from falling into Union hands. It was said that a full size example was never created for fear that it would be captured by the Union, mass produced, and used to rain destruction on the Confederate armies and cities throughout the South.
Although the laws of aerodynamics were not on the side of William C. Powers or his helicopter, they do reveal an interesting aspect of the technological advances which came about as a result of the Civil War. Powers even stumbles upon a building method which would be resurrected later on to manufacture airships and even bombers.In the drawing shown below, it is clear that the “hull” of the Powers aircraft would have been constructed using a lattice approach, similar to that used in the British Vickers Wellington Bomber. This provides incredible strength without adding lots of weight.Perhaps Mr. Powers was just ahead of his time….
http://blog.nasm.si.edu/2013/01/23/plans-for-the-little-known-confederate-helicopter/
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Rangle Attacks Southern Culture
Compatriots:
I wanted every man in this organization to see the following clip. It is an interview with a prominent US Congressman. The remark you will want to pay close attention to comes at about the 0:55 mark.
It is always good to remember just what is at stake. This transcends mundane SCV business; this goes the essence of what our forefathers went to war over... and the essence of a cruel, vindictive Reconstruction. Regrettably, that period has never ended for some.
View the following. Be aware... this is why we speak up for our ancestors. In doing so, we are also defending the ability of future Southerners to be just that... Southerners... Americans... and not be ridiculed for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DBE5P-ewkm8
I guess the message of tolerance, recalled on a national holiday (and echoed in a Presidential inauguration address) fell on deaf ears with some. If you are offended by this, then tell YOUR Congressman about it; ask him to hold his uncivil colleague up to ridicule. Use the following link:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Gene Hogan
Chief of Heritage Defense
(866) 681 - 7314
chief.heritage@gmail.com
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Lee and Jackson Honored in Lexington, VA
LEXINGTON — As Brandon Dorsey read the governor's proclamation recognizing Virginia's favorite Confederate generals, a small plane circled overhead towing a long banner that read:
"Shame on Lexington: Honor Lee & Jackson."
Dorsey, clad in a gray uniform befitting a camp commander of a Sons of Confederate Veterans brigade, stopped reading and said, "The Confederate air force has arrived!"
The crowd laughed, providing a brief break from the quiet ceremony that took place Saturday morning in Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. Despite the airborne banner's criticism of Lexington, hundreds of people were already honoring Thomas Jackson and Robert E. Lee during Lee-Jackson Day events.
However, the banner's message was understood by most of the gray and butternut-clad confederation, whose members pointed cameras and cellphones heavenward to snap photographs of the sign. Saturday's festivities, which included a parade, wreath-laying ceremony and guest speakers, took place under a shroud of controversy and litigation.
In 2011, the Lexington City Council approved an ordinance that prohibited all flags from city-owned poles except for the United States, Virginia and city flags. That meant no more Rebel flags flying from the city poles, not even on Lee-Jackson Day.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans sued to have the ordinance overturned, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last June. The group appealed and will make its case before Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in March.
On Saturday, companies of re-enactors and Confederate heritage groups marched down Main Street, which was lined with red, white and blue American flags flapping from city poles.
One block after passing beneath a banner that paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., marchers arrived at Main and Nelson streets, where a few people carried Confederate flags as part of what was described as a "flag vigil."
Kirk Lyons of Black Mountain, N.C., wore a Confederate hat and coat as he carried a flag. His daughter Catherine and niece Abby Willis held flags across the street. His sons Nathanael and Robert and nephew Ewan Willis also participated in the vigil.
The family endured a nine-hour trip through a snowstorm that stranded them on Interstate 77 in Carroll County on Thursday night. They spent much of Friday holding Rebel flags on Main Street and returned Saturday morning. Lyons said he planned to be there until late afternoon, when he would head to the Virginia Horse Center to call the dance at an evening ball.
"People in Lexington need to see us here," Lyons said. "The flag needs to be seen in downtown Lexington. If we can't have it on the pole, we'll have it at the base of the pole."
Lyons is no stranger to Confederate controversies. On its website, the Southern Poverty Law Center calls Lyons a "white supremacist lawyer" who co-founded the Southern Legal Resource Center, "which has effectively become the legal arm of the neo-Confederate movement," the website says.
Lyons — who spoke easily with strangers, several of whom asked him to pose for photographs after they admired his uniform — said that he has befriended people of all races. He said, as head of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Heritage Defense Committee, he believes the group has a chance to win its lawsuit on appeal.
"We know it was an ordinance designed to keep Confederate flags off the flag pole," he said.
The parade took less than 15 minutes to make it down the street, as pipers piped, drummers drummed and the Virginia Flaggers of Richmond sang "Dixie." A couple of hundred marchers participated and perhaps a little more than 100 people watched from the sidewalks.
The morning began with a wreath-laying ceremony and hymn singing at Jackson's grave, where most of Stonewall is buried. (His left arm was amputated at Chancellorsville, where he was accidentally shot by his own men in 1863, and was buried by itself. Jackson died of his wounds after infection and pneumonia set in.)
Lexington's weekend of events are among the few festivities in the state that celebrate Lee-Jackson Day, which had been combined with Martin Luther King Jr. Day until Gov. Jim Gilmore separated the holidays in 2000.
Lexington has a long history with Lee and Jackson, both of whom are buried in the city. Jackson taught at VMI for 10 years before becoming a Civil War legend. After leading the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee became president of Washington College, which added his name to its own following his death in 1870.
"I think it's pretty amazing to walk the same grounds they did," said David Hinton, a bagpiper with the Edmund Ruffin Fire Eaters SCV Camp 3000 of Mechanicsville. "It's just amazing to be in the place where they did great works in war or peace."
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/319265#.UPxAyUmsfwo.facebook
"Shame on Lexington: Honor Lee & Jackson."
Dorsey, clad in a gray uniform befitting a camp commander of a Sons of Confederate Veterans brigade, stopped reading and said, "The Confederate air force has arrived!"
The crowd laughed, providing a brief break from the quiet ceremony that took place Saturday morning in Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. Despite the airborne banner's criticism of Lexington, hundreds of people were already honoring Thomas Jackson and Robert E. Lee during Lee-Jackson Day events.
However, the banner's message was understood by most of the gray and butternut-clad confederation, whose members pointed cameras and cellphones heavenward to snap photographs of the sign. Saturday's festivities, which included a parade, wreath-laying ceremony and guest speakers, took place under a shroud of controversy and litigation.
In 2011, the Lexington City Council approved an ordinance that prohibited all flags from city-owned poles except for the United States, Virginia and city flags. That meant no more Rebel flags flying from the city poles, not even on Lee-Jackson Day.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans sued to have the ordinance overturned, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last June. The group appealed and will make its case before Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in March.
On Saturday, companies of re-enactors and Confederate heritage groups marched down Main Street, which was lined with red, white and blue American flags flapping from city poles.
One block after passing beneath a banner that paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., marchers arrived at Main and Nelson streets, where a few people carried Confederate flags as part of what was described as a "flag vigil."
Kirk Lyons of Black Mountain, N.C., wore a Confederate hat and coat as he carried a flag. His daughter Catherine and niece Abby Willis held flags across the street. His sons Nathanael and Robert and nephew Ewan Willis also participated in the vigil.
The family endured a nine-hour trip through a snowstorm that stranded them on Interstate 77 in Carroll County on Thursday night. They spent much of Friday holding Rebel flags on Main Street and returned Saturday morning. Lyons said he planned to be there until late afternoon, when he would head to the Virginia Horse Center to call the dance at an evening ball.
"People in Lexington need to see us here," Lyons said. "The flag needs to be seen in downtown Lexington. If we can't have it on the pole, we'll have it at the base of the pole."
Lyons is no stranger to Confederate controversies. On its website, the Southern Poverty Law Center calls Lyons a "white supremacist lawyer" who co-founded the Southern Legal Resource Center, "which has effectively become the legal arm of the neo-Confederate movement," the website says.
Lyons — who spoke easily with strangers, several of whom asked him to pose for photographs after they admired his uniform — said that he has befriended people of all races. He said, as head of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Heritage Defense Committee, he believes the group has a chance to win its lawsuit on appeal.
"We know it was an ordinance designed to keep Confederate flags off the flag pole," he said.
The parade took less than 15 minutes to make it down the street, as pipers piped, drummers drummed and the Virginia Flaggers of Richmond sang "Dixie." A couple of hundred marchers participated and perhaps a little more than 100 people watched from the sidewalks.
The morning began with a wreath-laying ceremony and hymn singing at Jackson's grave, where most of Stonewall is buried. (His left arm was amputated at Chancellorsville, where he was accidentally shot by his own men in 1863, and was buried by itself. Jackson died of his wounds after infection and pneumonia set in.)
Lexington's weekend of events are among the few festivities in the state that celebrate Lee-Jackson Day, which had been combined with Martin Luther King Jr. Day until Gov. Jim Gilmore separated the holidays in 2000.
Lexington has a long history with Lee and Jackson, both of whom are buried in the city. Jackson taught at VMI for 10 years before becoming a Civil War legend. After leading the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee became president of Washington College, which added his name to its own following his death in 1870.
"I think it's pretty amazing to walk the same grounds they did," said David Hinton, a bagpiper with the Edmund Ruffin Fire Eaters SCV Camp 3000 of Mechanicsville. "It's just amazing to be in the place where they did great works in war or peace."
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/319265#.UPxAyUmsfwo.facebook
SCV Member Discusses Lee-Jackson Day in VA
RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – On Monday the nation will celebrate Martin Luther King Day, but here in Virginia, Friday is Lee-Jackson Day.
Friday was actually know in Virginia as Lee-Jackson-King Day until 2000. Starting in 1983, Virginia had combined the two holidays into one single day.
Author Henry Kidd stopped by the CBS 6 studios Friday to talk about the history behind this uniquely Virginian holiday.
Kidd said the 12th Virginia Infantry will be on guard duty Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. around Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson monuments along Monument Avenue in honor of Lee-Jackson Day.
Go to Video at Link Below:
http://wtvr.com/2013/01/18/the-history-behind-lee-jackson-day/
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Memphis Proposes to Re-Name Forrest Park
Memphis official wants to add Civil Rights leader's name to park named for Confederate leader
By Amos Maki Memphis Commercial Appeal
Posted January 17, 2013
City Council member Myron Lowery has drafted an ordinance to add Civil Rights leader Ida B. Wells' name to Forrest Park.
Currently, the park is named after Nathan Bedford Forest, a Confederate leader and former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Medical District area park has drawn widespread attention since city Chief Administrative Officer George Little had a bold "Forrest Park" marker removed without notifying to the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the Shelby County Historical Commission which spent $10,400 for the granite marker and concrete base.
Beverly Robertson, president of the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum, said Thursday that adding Wells' name to the park might not be "such a bad thing."
"I think the attempt is to reposition the park by renaming it for someone who fought for rights and justice and freedom for all, and that's not such a bad thing," said Robertson.
Lowery will introduce the ordinance, which requires three readings before becoming law, at the council's Feb. 5 meeting.
Lowery said he believed a majority of local African Americans would support his effort to include Wells' name on the park.
"I feel that a majority of African American leadership in this city will support this measure," said Lowery. "It's time to move past this controversy and honor all our heroes, not just a few. I think a majority of African Americans in this city see noting wrong with this solution."
Lowery's proposed ordinance said adding Wells' name to Forrest Park would shine as "a symbol of a city moving forward and embracing positive change within our great city."
Lowery's proposed ordinance is causing small, but visible, rifts in the usually tightly-knit 13-member council.
Councilman Jim Strickland is searching the Downtown area for city-owned land to create a park honoring Wells, a journalist and woman's suffragist who crusaded against lynchings in the 1880s and Jim Crow laws.
Strickland said Thursday that he wasn't opposed to Lowery's proposal, but that he had been looking for appropriate places to honor important Memphians, especially those who were leaders in the Civil rights area.
"My effort had nothing to do with Lowery's," said Strickland. "My effort had nothing to do with the whole controversy about Confederate parks. I just want to hear about (Lowery's) proposal. I'm open to the discussion."
Councilman Harold Collins said city leaders should be focused on the problems ailing Memphis now, such as high violent crime rates and crumbling neighborhoods.
"Why are we arguing over a park and a dead man?" asked Collins. "We ought to be focusing on why so many businesses are struggling and why the poverty right is so high."
"It's a waste of timer and energy," he said. "We're spending so much time and energy on things that aren't important. We can't change history but we can change and create the future we want, but we can't change the past."
"We need to be focusing on the essentials," said Collins. "Why are so many people killing each other. Why is there so much violence. These are the questions we should be asking, not focusing on the name of a park."
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jan/17/memphis-official-wants-to-include-civil-rights/?partner=yahoo_feeds
By Amos Maki Memphis Commercial Appeal
Posted January 17, 2013
City Council member Myron Lowery has drafted an ordinance to add Civil Rights leader Ida B. Wells' name to Forrest Park.
Currently, the park is named after Nathan Bedford Forest, a Confederate leader and former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Medical District area park has drawn widespread attention since city Chief Administrative Officer George Little had a bold "Forrest Park" marker removed without notifying to the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the Shelby County Historical Commission which spent $10,400 for the granite marker and concrete base.
Beverly Robertson, president of the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum, said Thursday that adding Wells' name to the park might not be "such a bad thing."
"I think the attempt is to reposition the park by renaming it for someone who fought for rights and justice and freedom for all, and that's not such a bad thing," said Robertson.
Lowery will introduce the ordinance, which requires three readings before becoming law, at the council's Feb. 5 meeting.
Lowery said he believed a majority of local African Americans would support his effort to include Wells' name on the park.
"I feel that a majority of African American leadership in this city will support this measure," said Lowery. "It's time to move past this controversy and honor all our heroes, not just a few. I think a majority of African Americans in this city see noting wrong with this solution."
Lowery's proposed ordinance said adding Wells' name to Forrest Park would shine as "a symbol of a city moving forward and embracing positive change within our great city."
Lowery's proposed ordinance is causing small, but visible, rifts in the usually tightly-knit 13-member council.
Councilman Jim Strickland is searching the Downtown area for city-owned land to create a park honoring Wells, a journalist and woman's suffragist who crusaded against lynchings in the 1880s and Jim Crow laws.
Strickland said Thursday that he wasn't opposed to Lowery's proposal, but that he had been looking for appropriate places to honor important Memphians, especially those who were leaders in the Civil rights area.
"My effort had nothing to do with Lowery's," said Strickland. "My effort had nothing to do with the whole controversy about Confederate parks. I just want to hear about (Lowery's) proposal. I'm open to the discussion."
Councilman Harold Collins said city leaders should be focused on the problems ailing Memphis now, such as high violent crime rates and crumbling neighborhoods.
"Why are we arguing over a park and a dead man?" asked Collins. "We ought to be focusing on why so many businesses are struggling and why the poverty right is so high."
"It's a waste of timer and energy," he said. "We're spending so much time and energy on things that aren't important. We can't change history but we can change and create the future we want, but we can't change the past."
"We need to be focusing on the essentials," said Collins. "Why are so many people killing each other. Why is there so much violence. These are the questions we should be asking, not focusing on the name of a park."
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jan/17/memphis-official-wants-to-include-civil-rights/?partner=yahoo_feeds
USS Hatters Imaged in 3D
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — The remains of the only U.S. Navy ship sunk in the Gulf of Mexico during Civil War combat now can be seen in 3-D sonar images from the Gulf's murky depths, revealing details such as a shell hole that may have been among the ship's fatal wounds.
The high-resolution images of the 210-foot, iron-hulled USS Hatteras are being released this month to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the battle where the ship was lost. Besides the shell hole, they also show previously unknown details like a paddle wheel and the ship's stern and rudder emerging from the shifting undersea sands about 20 miles off the coast of Galveston.
"This vessel is a practically intact time capsule sealed by mud and sand, and what is there will be the things that help bring the crew and ship to life in a way," said Jim Delgado, the project's leader and director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries."You can fly through the wreck, you're getting a view no diver can get," Delgado said.
The Hatteras had sat mostly undisturbed and unnoticed from January 1863 — when a Confederate raider sunk the ship and took most of the crew prisoner — until its discovery in the early 1970s.
Recent storms shifted the sand and mud where the Hatteras rests 57 feet below the surface, exposing more of the ship. So archaeologists and technicians, racing to beat any potential seabed movement that could conceal the Hatteras again, spent two days last September scanning the wreckage using sonar imaging technology for the first time at sea.
Divers used the 3-D gear to map the site in the silt-filled water where visibility is from near zero to only a few feet. The water's murkiness doesn't affect sonar technology like it would regular photography equipment. Sonar technology produces computer-colored images by analyzing sound waves bouncing off objects.
"We have very crisp, measureable images that show the bulk of the steam machinery in the engine room is there," Delgado said. "Some of it is knocked over, been toppled, which suggests we probably have 60 percent of the vessel buried."
Also revealed were platforms for the ship's 32-pounder guns, named for the size of the cast-iron shell the cannon delivered, and the bow.
"Very exciting," said Jami Durham, manager of historic properties, research and special programs for the Galveston Historical Foundation. "We knew the ship was out there, and to finally see the images. It seemed to make it more real."
The imaging plots the paddle wheel shaft, which appears to have been bent when the ship capsized, and damage to engine room machinery, including the shell hole that likely helped doom the ship, Delgado said.
The Hatteras site is in waters administered by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The ship itself, even 150 years later, remains U.S. Navy property.
The 1,126-ton Hatteras was built in 1861 in Wilmington, Del., as a civilian steamship, according to the Navy Historical Center. It was purchased by the Navy later that year, commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and assigned to join the blockade of the Florida coast to keep vessels from delivering supplies and war weapons and ammunition to the Confederacy.
The ship had an active tour in Florida, raiding Cedar Keys. It destroyed at least seven schooners and facilities before being transferred to the Gulf.
On Jan. 6, 1863, the Hatteras joined the fleet commanded by David Farragut, of "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" U.S. Navy fame, for similar assignments off Galveston. At the time, Galveston was the most prominent city and port in Texas, which had joined the Confederacy.
Days earlier, Union forces had been expelled by Confederate troops in the Battle of Galveston, considered the most significant military event in Galveston history.
On Jan. 11, the Hatteras spotted and tracked down a three-masted ship that identified itself as British, then opened fire from 25 to 200 yards away and revealed it actually was the CSS Alabama, a notorious Confederate raider credited with some 60 kills.
Forty-three minutes later, the Hatteras was burning and taking on water. Cmdr. Homer Blake surrendered and he and his crew were taken aboard the Alabama as prisoners, eventually winding up in Jamaica. Of the 126-man crew, two were lost and are believed entombed in the wreck.
The two crewmen, William Healy, 32, a coal heaver, and John Cleary, 24, a stoker, were from Ireland.
"Two of those guys paid the ultimate price," Delgado said. "This is a place where history happened and people died ... giving their all, making a choice to follow their captain and likely die, to try to do their duty and to serve."
Online:
USS Hatteras video flyover: www.exploreocean.org/hatteras-2012-video.html
NOAA Hatteras photo gallery: sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/press/2013/pr011113.html#photo
http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=19267019&ps=931&cat=&cps=0&lang=en&src=email&page=2
The high-resolution images of the 210-foot, iron-hulled USS Hatteras are being released this month to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the battle where the ship was lost. Besides the shell hole, they also show previously unknown details like a paddle wheel and the ship's stern and rudder emerging from the shifting undersea sands about 20 miles off the coast of Galveston.
"This vessel is a practically intact time capsule sealed by mud and sand, and what is there will be the things that help bring the crew and ship to life in a way," said Jim Delgado, the project's leader and director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries."You can fly through the wreck, you're getting a view no diver can get," Delgado said.
The Hatteras had sat mostly undisturbed and unnoticed from January 1863 — when a Confederate raider sunk the ship and took most of the crew prisoner — until its discovery in the early 1970s.
Recent storms shifted the sand and mud where the Hatteras rests 57 feet below the surface, exposing more of the ship. So archaeologists and technicians, racing to beat any potential seabed movement that could conceal the Hatteras again, spent two days last September scanning the wreckage using sonar imaging technology for the first time at sea.
Divers used the 3-D gear to map the site in the silt-filled water where visibility is from near zero to only a few feet. The water's murkiness doesn't affect sonar technology like it would regular photography equipment. Sonar technology produces computer-colored images by analyzing sound waves bouncing off objects.
"We have very crisp, measureable images that show the bulk of the steam machinery in the engine room is there," Delgado said. "Some of it is knocked over, been toppled, which suggests we probably have 60 percent of the vessel buried."
Also revealed were platforms for the ship's 32-pounder guns, named for the size of the cast-iron shell the cannon delivered, and the bow.
"Very exciting," said Jami Durham, manager of historic properties, research and special programs for the Galveston Historical Foundation. "We knew the ship was out there, and to finally see the images. It seemed to make it more real."
The imaging plots the paddle wheel shaft, which appears to have been bent when the ship capsized, and damage to engine room machinery, including the shell hole that likely helped doom the ship, Delgado said.
The Hatteras site is in waters administered by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The ship itself, even 150 years later, remains U.S. Navy property.
The 1,126-ton Hatteras was built in 1861 in Wilmington, Del., as a civilian steamship, according to the Navy Historical Center. It was purchased by the Navy later that year, commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and assigned to join the blockade of the Florida coast to keep vessels from delivering supplies and war weapons and ammunition to the Confederacy.
The ship had an active tour in Florida, raiding Cedar Keys. It destroyed at least seven schooners and facilities before being transferred to the Gulf.
On Jan. 6, 1863, the Hatteras joined the fleet commanded by David Farragut, of "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" U.S. Navy fame, for similar assignments off Galveston. At the time, Galveston was the most prominent city and port in Texas, which had joined the Confederacy.
Days earlier, Union forces had been expelled by Confederate troops in the Battle of Galveston, considered the most significant military event in Galveston history.
On Jan. 11, the Hatteras spotted and tracked down a three-masted ship that identified itself as British, then opened fire from 25 to 200 yards away and revealed it actually was the CSS Alabama, a notorious Confederate raider credited with some 60 kills.
Forty-three minutes later, the Hatteras was burning and taking on water. Cmdr. Homer Blake surrendered and he and his crew were taken aboard the Alabama as prisoners, eventually winding up in Jamaica. Of the 126-man crew, two were lost and are believed entombed in the wreck.
The two crewmen, William Healy, 32, a coal heaver, and John Cleary, 24, a stoker, were from Ireland.
"Two of those guys paid the ultimate price," Delgado said. "This is a place where history happened and people died ... giving their all, making a choice to follow their captain and likely die, to try to do their duty and to serve."
Online:
USS Hatteras video flyover: www.exploreocean.org/hatteras-2012-video.html
NOAA Hatteras photo gallery: sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/press/2013/pr011113.html#photo
http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=19267019&ps=931&cat=&cps=0&lang=en&src=email&page=2
Sunday, January 13, 2013
City of Memphis Steal Forrest Park Sign - Felony Theft
Battle Brewing Over Forrest Monument
Jan 08, 2013 10:16 PM CST
By Janice Broach
MEMPHIS, TN - (WMC-TV) – A monument battle is brewing in the Bluff City after Memphis officials had a Forrest Park sign removed. Now the Sons of Confederate Veterans want that controversial monument returned.
"Extremely angry," said Lee Millar with the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "We're trying to help the city out and help the parks department, and he sends someone here at night to take the sign out without notifying anybody."
Lee Millar is talking about a one ton, 10 thousand dollar granite monument at Forrest Park where there is a statue of KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest and where Forrest and his wife are buried.
"You just can't put signs up and monuments up in public parks and not get authorization," said Memphis CEO George Little.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans raised the money for the sign and put it in place with a crane several months ago. Millar says the group got the city's permission citing a letter from March 2011 from the then-Memphis parks director. The letter does give approval in part but does indicate there are more steps that need to be taken. "At the end of the day we didn't approve it," Little said.
"Mr. Little just didn't search far enough cause that was approved," said Millar.
So the battle is on. Lee Millar wants the sign put back. George Little says he'll return it to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, but it is not going back until there is approval by the city. And he says that seems unlikely.
Millar said he will not give up this fight. The monument will remain with the city until the Sons of Confederate Veterans reclaim it. We'll let you know if and when that happens.
http://www.wmctv.com/story/20538437/monument-battle-brewing-over-forrest-park-sign#.UOz1cKbbWjQ.facebook
Monday, January 7, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
New Monument Stands in Georgia
NEW MONUMENT MARKS BATTLE OF GRISWOLDVILLE IN GEORGIA
(Macon, Georgia - December 28, 2012) A monument commemorating the men who defended Georgia at the Battle of Griswoldville near Macon now stands completed in the Griswoldville Battlefield Park in Jones County, Georgia.
The battle was the last major engagement during Sherman's "March to the Sea" between Atlanta and Savannah and was fought on November 22, 1864. The Home Guard, Georgia's militia during the War for Southern Independence, was all that stood between Sherman and a clear path to Savannah as Union forces neared Macon in middle Georgia. In the face of concentrated fire from the newly acquired Spencer repeating rifles among Yankee troops, the young boys and old men which made up most of the Home Guard charged the enemy with only muskets a number of times throughout the day in an attempt to drive the enemy from their nearby homes. Despite their heroism on the field of battle, the militia was no match for the heavily armed invaders; and the Confederates ended the day with 50 killed, 500 wounded, and nearly 600 captured of their number. The defeat marked Georgia's last chance to survive the War and to stave off Sherman's scorched earth policy for which he was accused of war crimes against humanity.
The newly erected monument at Griswoldville is an obelisk standing 14 feet tall and bears the names of the Georgia Home Guard units involved in the battle, as well as the seal of Georgia and an emblem of the Confederate States of America. Funding for the monument was raised by the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and totaled nearly $30,000. The local SCV camp, the Gen. Edward Dorr Tray Jr. Camp #18 of Macon, spearheaded the effort and designed the monument which now sits on the grounds in one of Georgia's state parks.
The Griswoldville Monument is the latest project by the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans during the ongoing Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the War and is a project funded in large part by the sale of SCV license plates in Georgia. The specialty plates are available to the general public by request from their local tag offices and are used to fund other similar projects by the Sons of Confederate Veterans throughout Georgia.
For interviews regarding the Battle of Griswoldville or for more information on the Sesquicentennial commemoration of the War, please call Jack Bridwell, Division Commander for the Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans at 1-866-SCV-in-GA or online at www.GeorgiaSCV.org
Confederacy Remembered In Tennessee
'In the bonds of the Old South'
Civil War re-enactor takes on persona of Confederate ancestor
Dec 28, 2012
MURFREESBORO — Freezing rain and bitter cold had turned the landscape of Middle Tennessee into a mud-soaked mess 150 years ago today. The date — Dec. 30, 1862 — was the day before one of the most important battles in the Civil War would begin.
The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Battle of Murfreesboro, took place Dec. 31, 1862, through Jan. 2, 1863. Archibald James Patterson, the great-great-great-grandfather of James G. Patterson of Murfreesboro, was there.
“He was held in reserve close to where the (city) golf course is today,” explains Patterson, adjutant of Murfreesboro Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 33. But on Jan. 2, 1963, Patterson’s ancestor was pulled into battle for the Confederate charge on the Union Army.
Patterson’s ancestor survived the battle, but many weren’t that lucky. In fact, Battle of Stones River was one of the bloodiest in the Civil War. Out of more than 80,000 troops, approximately one-third were killed, wounded or captured, according to the National Parks Service website.
The landscape that was once littered with thousands of dead bodies that were literally frozen to the ground 150 years ago is now home to major thoroughfares, subdivisions and a large shopping center. Gone are the historic battle landmarks such as the log cabin headquarters of Union Maj. Gen. Williams S. Rosecrans, Patterson says.
But Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 33 members haven’t forgotten the soldiers who fought during those days of fierce fighting 150 years ago. Today at 2 p.m., SCV Camp No. 33 will hold a special 150th anniversary of the Battle of Stones River memorial service at Confederate Circle at Evergreen Cemetery, located at the corner of Greenland Drive and Highland Avenue.
Approximately 1,300 Confederate soldiers are buried at the circle. At one time, Confederates were buried on the battlefield. By 1867, a group had the Confederate soldiers’ graves moved to a special cemetery located near what is now the Co-op. After that small plot fell into disrepair, the bodies were moved into a mass grave at what is now known as Confederate Circle. Thirteen columns denote the states of the Confederacy.
Patterson says he discovered his own personal connection to the Civil War when he stumbled upon a marker for Archibald James Patterson while decorating headstones of his grandparents for Christmas.
“That started my interest in the Civil War,” says Patterson, explaining that he really didn’t appreciate the impact of the war until he found a personal connection. Patterson found service records in the archives and later discovered his mother’s family had Confederate soldiers in their lineage.
He says he was curious and wanted to know the reason why a farmer from Cainesville Pike area would want to don a uniform, take up arms and fight. Essentially, most men took up arms because they didn’t want to fight their own neighbors. Most people like Archibald James Patterson didn’t even own slaves, but instead, worked their own farms. Patterson also believes most Southerners didn’t want big government.
Another big reason to fight was because the enemy was in their own backyard. Even at the end of the war when it was fairly clear the Confederates were going to lose, “they still had the fight in them.” In fact, Archibald Patterson escaped as a prisoner of war several times, only to head back into battle.
“It was their home and their home had been invaded. it was a lot more personal when the fight got brought home,” Patterson says.
Patterson’s speech he often presents during his re-enactments as Archibald James Patterson: “Today we find our liberties once again infringed upon. We see the South paying higher taxes than our Northern neighbors, tariffs which protect Northern manufacturing profits have caused economic difficulties in the South. Because of these tariffs, Southerners have had to pay much higher prices for imported manufacturing goods. The recession in the South during the 1820s was because of this country’s tariff policies. We see principles of the Constitution being neglected. Some of our citizens are concerned about taxes, others about slavery, and many of 8us just mad that Lincoln has called for troops to invade the sovereign states that form this union. The union is precious, and second only to liberty. I was born into a voluntary union, and I aim to stop Lincoln from making it a compulsory union. When the Yankees march South to make war on my kin and home, I will stand and fight as my ancestors before me did.”
Patterson also signs all his emails, “In the bonds of the Old South” as a remembrance of his ancestor’s involvement in the Civil War.
SCV Camp No. 33 does a lot of re-enactments throughout the year, including many living history demonstrations at Oaklands Historic House Museum as well as other area historical events.
As a Confederate private, Patterson’s role would have been on the front lines of the infantry — basically low man on the totem pole. In December 1862, he would have been sleeping in a meager tent, eating food his family had packed up for him while he visited home for Christmas, and would have been wearing his cotton-wool-blend uniform for days on end. Cold, wind and mud would have been unwelcome partners to the soldiers. Even today, Patterson says he’s used to doing re-enactments in cold weather, but he doesn’t really mind.
He is even willing to help others research lineage to Civil War soldiers — even if there’s a Union connection. Forming ties to ancestry is that important to him.
To get in contact with James G. Patterson, email mboroscv33@aol.com. You can also visit tennessee-scv.org/Camp33/ or the group’s Facebook site for Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp # 33.
http://www.dnj.com/article/20121230/LIFESTYLE/312300029/-bonds-Old-South
Civil War re-enactor takes on persona of Confederate ancestor
Dec 28, 2012
MURFREESBORO — Freezing rain and bitter cold had turned the landscape of Middle Tennessee into a mud-soaked mess 150 years ago today. The date — Dec. 30, 1862 — was the day before one of the most important battles in the Civil War would begin.
The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Battle of Murfreesboro, took place Dec. 31, 1862, through Jan. 2, 1863. Archibald James Patterson, the great-great-great-grandfather of James G. Patterson of Murfreesboro, was there.
“He was held in reserve close to where the (city) golf course is today,” explains Patterson, adjutant of Murfreesboro Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 33. But on Jan. 2, 1963, Patterson’s ancestor was pulled into battle for the Confederate charge on the Union Army.
Patterson’s ancestor survived the battle, but many weren’t that lucky. In fact, Battle of Stones River was one of the bloodiest in the Civil War. Out of more than 80,000 troops, approximately one-third were killed, wounded or captured, according to the National Parks Service website.
The landscape that was once littered with thousands of dead bodies that were literally frozen to the ground 150 years ago is now home to major thoroughfares, subdivisions and a large shopping center. Gone are the historic battle landmarks such as the log cabin headquarters of Union Maj. Gen. Williams S. Rosecrans, Patterson says.
But Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 33 members haven’t forgotten the soldiers who fought during those days of fierce fighting 150 years ago. Today at 2 p.m., SCV Camp No. 33 will hold a special 150th anniversary of the Battle of Stones River memorial service at Confederate Circle at Evergreen Cemetery, located at the corner of Greenland Drive and Highland Avenue.
Approximately 1,300 Confederate soldiers are buried at the circle. At one time, Confederates were buried on the battlefield. By 1867, a group had the Confederate soldiers’ graves moved to a special cemetery located near what is now the Co-op. After that small plot fell into disrepair, the bodies were moved into a mass grave at what is now known as Confederate Circle. Thirteen columns denote the states of the Confederacy.
Patterson says he discovered his own personal connection to the Civil War when he stumbled upon a marker for Archibald James Patterson while decorating headstones of his grandparents for Christmas.
“That started my interest in the Civil War,” says Patterson, explaining that he really didn’t appreciate the impact of the war until he found a personal connection. Patterson found service records in the archives and later discovered his mother’s family had Confederate soldiers in their lineage.
He says he was curious and wanted to know the reason why a farmer from Cainesville Pike area would want to don a uniform, take up arms and fight. Essentially, most men took up arms because they didn’t want to fight their own neighbors. Most people like Archibald James Patterson didn’t even own slaves, but instead, worked their own farms. Patterson also believes most Southerners didn’t want big government.
Another big reason to fight was because the enemy was in their own backyard. Even at the end of the war when it was fairly clear the Confederates were going to lose, “they still had the fight in them.” In fact, Archibald Patterson escaped as a prisoner of war several times, only to head back into battle.
“It was their home and their home had been invaded. it was a lot more personal when the fight got brought home,” Patterson says.
Patterson’s speech he often presents during his re-enactments as Archibald James Patterson: “Today we find our liberties once again infringed upon. We see the South paying higher taxes than our Northern neighbors, tariffs which protect Northern manufacturing profits have caused economic difficulties in the South. Because of these tariffs, Southerners have had to pay much higher prices for imported manufacturing goods. The recession in the South during the 1820s was because of this country’s tariff policies. We see principles of the Constitution being neglected. Some of our citizens are concerned about taxes, others about slavery, and many of 8us just mad that Lincoln has called for troops to invade the sovereign states that form this union. The union is precious, and second only to liberty. I was born into a voluntary union, and I aim to stop Lincoln from making it a compulsory union. When the Yankees march South to make war on my kin and home, I will stand and fight as my ancestors before me did.”
Patterson also signs all his emails, “In the bonds of the Old South” as a remembrance of his ancestor’s involvement in the Civil War.
SCV Camp No. 33 does a lot of re-enactments throughout the year, including many living history demonstrations at Oaklands Historic House Museum as well as other area historical events.
As a Confederate private, Patterson’s role would have been on the front lines of the infantry — basically low man on the totem pole. In December 1862, he would have been sleeping in a meager tent, eating food his family had packed up for him while he visited home for Christmas, and would have been wearing his cotton-wool-blend uniform for days on end. Cold, wind and mud would have been unwelcome partners to the soldiers. Even today, Patterson says he’s used to doing re-enactments in cold weather, but he doesn’t really mind.
He is even willing to help others research lineage to Civil War soldiers — even if there’s a Union connection. Forming ties to ancestry is that important to him.
To get in contact with James G. Patterson, email mboroscv33@aol.com. You can also visit tennessee-scv.org/Camp33/ or the group’s Facebook site for Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp # 33.
http://www.dnj.com/article/20121230/LIFESTYLE/312300029/-bonds-Old-South
Texas School District Hides from History
Confederate battle flag BANNED by Texas school district
18 December 2012
A Central Texas school board is banning the Confederate battle flag from district property and district-sponsored events.
Hays board members voted 5-2 Monday to amend the student code of conduct to ban the flag, which was formerly displayed with the Hays High School Rebel mascot.
The ban also covers any imagery deemed to be racially hostile, offensive or intolerant.
The Central Texas school board is banning the Confederate battle flag from district property and district-sponsored events
Banned: Confederate symbolism was recently banned at another campus - Dixie State College of Utah. Workers (pictured) remove a statue from the campus depicting two Confederate soldiers
The action comes after two students were accused of writing racial slurs and urinating on the door of a black teacher's classroom in May at Hays High.
The school is in Buda, 15 miles south of Austin.
In October, the Hays board decided to keep 'Dixie' as the school fight song.
More...Rare Civil War photographs and letters revealed at auction including complete 56 signatures of Declaration signers
The Confederate anthem has been known to evoke the traditions of proud state and region, but also slavery and prejudice.
Confederate symbolism was also recently banned at another campus - Dixie State College of Utah.
The campus had to remove a statue depicting two Confederate soldiers, one of whom waved a confederate flag.
The flag remains a polarizing image in America, with many northern states associating it with slavery and the great death toll of the Civil War, whereas many southerners it as a point of heritage and pride.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249806/Confederate-battle-flag-deemed-offensive-banned-Texas-school.html#ixzz2GsTP7SwJ
S. D. Lee Institued To Be Held Feb 1-2 in Florida
STEPHEN DILL LEE INSTITUTE
Please mark your calendars for February 1-2 to attend the Institute in beautiful and historic St. Augustine Florida. The host hotel is the fabulous Renaissance Hotel and World Golf Center.
This years theme will be "The Emancipation Proclamation: Southern Views". Our distinguished list of speakers include---
1. Ryan W. Walters -- "The Powers of a Usurper:Northern Opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation"
2. Marshal De Rosa -- "Emancipation in the Confederacy: What the Ruling Class doesn't want you to know and why"
3. Kirkpatrick Sale --- "Emancipation Hell: The Disaster the Emancipation Proclamation Wrought"
4. Donald Livingston --- "How the North Failed to Respond to the Moral Challenge of Slavery"
5. Brion McClanahan -- " Democracy, Liberty, Equality: Lincoln's American Revolution"
6. Thomas Moore ---"The War of Emancipation 150 Years Later: How's that Working Out for You"
Please visit our website at www.StephenDillLeeInstitute.com for more information or call Brag Bowling at 804-389-3620.
We look forward to a great event and a chance to renew friendships from the past.
See you in historic, warm and beautiful St. Augustine
Brag Bowling
Director
Stephen Dill Lee Institute
Please mark your calendars for February 1-2 to attend the Institute in beautiful and historic St. Augustine Florida. The host hotel is the fabulous Renaissance Hotel and World Golf Center.
This years theme will be "The Emancipation Proclamation: Southern Views". Our distinguished list of speakers include---
1. Ryan W. Walters -- "The Powers of a Usurper:Northern Opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation"
2. Marshal De Rosa -- "Emancipation in the Confederacy: What the Ruling Class doesn't want you to know and why"
3. Kirkpatrick Sale --- "Emancipation Hell: The Disaster the Emancipation Proclamation Wrought"
4. Donald Livingston --- "How the North Failed to Respond to the Moral Challenge of Slavery"
5. Brion McClanahan -- " Democracy, Liberty, Equality: Lincoln's American Revolution"
6. Thomas Moore ---"The War of Emancipation 150 Years Later: How's that Working Out for You"
Please visit our website at www.StephenDillLeeInstitute.com for more information or call Brag Bowling at 804-389-3620.
We look forward to a great event and a chance to renew friendships from the past.
See you in historic, warm and beautiful St. Augustine
Brag Bowling
Director
Stephen Dill Lee Institute
Secession Tree Noted
Finding the tree where the Confederacy took root
December 26, 2012
By Mike Conklin, Special to Tribune Newspapers
BLUFFTON, S.C. — In this sesquicentennial period of the Civil War, it's the 150th anniversaries of significant battles that are getting the attention, such as with opening shots heard in Charleston. But some historians say the fiery, public rhetoric leading to the conflict started almost 20 years earlier under the limbs of a giant oak tree that today stands unmarked and mostly unnoticed.
The Secession Tree is this Low Country city's most enduring historic symbol, a magnificent oak under whose spreading branches on July 31, 1844, a crowd heard U.S. Rep. Robert Barnwell Rhett proclaim it was time to consider separation from the Union. The site is regarded here as the birthplace for a movement that grew into South Carolina's being the first state to secede.
The 75-foot tree, with hanging Spanish moss, is an estimated to be 350 to 400 years old. I found it at the end of a long, narrow road in a forest of oaks just off State Route 46 that cuts through town. It is in a private development known as Stock Farm. My directions came from Emmett McCracken, a lifelong resident, owner of Stock Farm Antiques, and former property owner where it stands.
"About once a week I get someone in the store asking how to find it," McCracken said. "I'm happy to do so. We consider it a real landmark, but people routinely go by it."
Bluffton itself is easy to miss. Most tourists blow by on U.S. Highway 278 to visit better-known neighbors Hilton Head Island or Savannah, Ga. "We call it the 'hidden gem,' " said Maureen Richards, executive director of the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society. She's not wrong.
Bluffton is a tidewater community surrounded by marshes, rich with plant life and loaded with reasons to stop. Del Webb arrived with a Sun City development in 1993, and the town steadily annexed its way from several hundred residents to 12,000 without losing a grip on Southern lifestyle and hospitality.
The Bluffton Historical District, a square mile of shops, landmarked buildings and a terrific farmer's market, anchors everything. The Heyward House Historic Center is a logical first stop. There, visitors can learn complete offerings and get a docent-led walking tour.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-26/travel/sc-trav-1223-strip-bluffton-tree-20121226_1_giant-oak-tree-low-country-confederacy
December 26, 2012
By Mike Conklin, Special to Tribune Newspapers
BLUFFTON, S.C. — In this sesquicentennial period of the Civil War, it's the 150th anniversaries of significant battles that are getting the attention, such as with opening shots heard in Charleston. But some historians say the fiery, public rhetoric leading to the conflict started almost 20 years earlier under the limbs of a giant oak tree that today stands unmarked and mostly unnoticed.
The Secession Tree is this Low Country city's most enduring historic symbol, a magnificent oak under whose spreading branches on July 31, 1844, a crowd heard U.S. Rep. Robert Barnwell Rhett proclaim it was time to consider separation from the Union. The site is regarded here as the birthplace for a movement that grew into South Carolina's being the first state to secede.
The 75-foot tree, with hanging Spanish moss, is an estimated to be 350 to 400 years old. I found it at the end of a long, narrow road in a forest of oaks just off State Route 46 that cuts through town. It is in a private development known as Stock Farm. My directions came from Emmett McCracken, a lifelong resident, owner of Stock Farm Antiques, and former property owner where it stands.
"About once a week I get someone in the store asking how to find it," McCracken said. "I'm happy to do so. We consider it a real landmark, but people routinely go by it."
Bluffton itself is easy to miss. Most tourists blow by on U.S. Highway 278 to visit better-known neighbors Hilton Head Island or Savannah, Ga. "We call it the 'hidden gem,' " said Maureen Richards, executive director of the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society. She's not wrong.
Bluffton is a tidewater community surrounded by marshes, rich with plant life and loaded with reasons to stop. Del Webb arrived with a Sun City development in 1993, and the town steadily annexed its way from several hundred residents to 12,000 without losing a grip on Southern lifestyle and hospitality.
The Bluffton Historical District, a square mile of shops, landmarked buildings and a terrific farmer's market, anchors everything. The Heyward House Historic Center is a logical first stop. There, visitors can learn complete offerings and get a docent-led walking tour.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-26/travel/sc-trav-1223-strip-bluffton-tree-20121226_1_giant-oak-tree-low-country-confederacy
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