Land Added to Mansfield Battlefield

Civil War Trust, State of Louisiana Partner for Trio of Preservation Victories at Mansfield

National nonprofit organization announces national fundraising effort to purchase an additional 282 acres, representing the largest ever preservation project associated with the Red River campaign

   

(Mansfield, La.) – During a ceremony held in conjunction with the Battle of Mansfield 150th anniversary reenactment this weekend, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, joined by a representative of the Civil War Trust, announced a trio of exciting battlefield preservation achievements. First, the Trust launchd a national fundraising campaign to purchase 282 acres of battlefield land destined for eventual inclusion in the state historic site. The event also made public the Trust’s intention to donate to two already-acquired battlefield properties to the State of Louisiana — a one-acre parcel with frontage on Route 175 contiguous to Mansfield State Historic Site, and a 4-acre parcel that includes the historic Allen House.

Contacts

• Mary Koik, (202) 367-1861 x7231

“Quite frankly, if you had told me ten years ago we would ever have a chance to save this much additional land at Mansfield, I would have been incredulous,” said Trust president James Lighthizer. “But now, thanks to some forward-thinking, preservation-minded business leaders and landowners, we have an unprecedented opportunity to build significant momentum for preservation associated with this often-underappreciated campaign.”

The 282-acre tract northeast of the current state park was the site of the advance of Confederate Brig. Gen. James P. Major’s cavalry division (part of Maj. Gen. Thomas Green's cavalry corps) against the Union forces under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks. During the morning, overall Confederate commander Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor positioned Confederate Brig. Gen. Jean Jacques Alexandre “Alfred” Mouton’s division on the east side of the clearing. Maj. Gen. John G. Walker’s division arrived in the afternoon and formed on Mouton’s right. In the early afternoon, prior to the Confederate attack, Green’s cavalry fell back from the advancing U.S. forces and Major’s division took up position on Mouton’s left flank, while a brigade of cavalry moved to Walker’s right.

Thanks to a generous matching grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program, in order to complete the 282-acre acquisition, the Trust must raise $100,000 in private donations. After that funding is secured and the Trust closes on the property, the land will be donated to the State of Louisiana for inclusion in Mansfield State Historic Site. Once completed, the purchase will mark the largest-ever preservation effort at a Red River Campaign battlefield. Learn more at www.civilwar.org/fourbattlefields2014.

Although smaller, the two already acquired properties are no less historic. The one-acre parcel witnessed extensive troop movements by both Union and Confederate forces. The 2nd Illinois Cavalry formed near this area before launching a series of counterattacks on the Confederates to cover and protect the withdrawal of Union units atop Honeycutt Hill. Moreover, protection of this property allows access to a 30-acre portion of the park that was acquired by the Trust in 1993 and transferred to the state. The Trust’s purchase was made possible through the assistance of a matching grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program, an arm of the National Park Service.

During the Battle of Mansfield, the ante-bellum Allen House served as a Federal field hospital. It is one of the few remaining Civil War-era structures in the vicinity. The Calhoun Family donated the Allen House and surrounding property to the Trust, which is performing stabilization and restoration work before conveying it to the State.

“Being able to more formally ensure the long-term protection of this historic building has long been a goal for us,” said Carolyn Calhoun Huckabay.  “We are so pleased to see the growing public interest in our wonderful community’s dynamic past and are proud to have played a role in that process.”
The Battle of Mansfield, fought April 8, 1864, was the decisive battle of the Red River Campaign. The 4,400 casualties inflicted there convinced Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks he could not wrest Louisiana and Texas from Confederate control.

Civil War Trust is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s endangered Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds. To date, it has preserved more than 38,500 acres of battlefield land in 20 states. Learn more at www.civilwar.org, the home of the Civil War sesquicentennial.

http://www.civilwar.org/aboutus/news/news-releases/2014-news/mansfield-anniversary-preservation.html
 

2014 Reunion Awards Announcement

AWARDS PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL CONVENTION July 16 - 19, 2014 NORTH CHARLESTON, SC

 The Awards Manual may be downloaded from the SCV website at the following link:

http://www.scv.org/pdf/AwardsHandbook2013a.pdf. Previous editions of the Awards Manual are obsolete. 

Awards Display

The SCV Awards Display will be set-up for the National Convention in Charleston near the SCV General Headquarters table by noon on Wednesday, July 16, 2014. This is the drop-off and pick-up point for all SCV awards at the convention.

Best Camp Award

Camps who wish to participate in this competition should print a copy from the SCV website or they may request one from GHQ if they have no internet access. Entry forms should be sent to:

Jim S. Davis

Distinguished Camp Competition

160 Laguna Ct

St. Augustine, FL 32086

904-797-2686

scvcamp1316@att.net

 

All entries should be on the new form approved effective March 19, 2011 which is available on the SCV website at the following link: http://www.scv.org/pdf/distCampAwardForm.pdf. Please check and make sure you have the current form. The deadline to submit best camp entry forms is June 14, 2014.

Newsletter Awards

To be entered in the newsletter competition, four (4) copies of each camp or division newsletter issued during the eligibility period must be submitted to the National Awards Committee by June 14, 2014. Eligibility period is July 2013 issue through June 2014 issue. See the Awards Manual for all details that must accompany the entry. Newsletters may be submitted in hard copy or sent electronically to:

 Jim S. Davis

Newsletter Award

160 Laguna Ct

St. Augustine, FL 32086

904-797-2686

scvcamp1316@att.net

 

Scrapbook and Historical Project Award

Entries for the scrapbook or historical project awards must be delivered to the awards display table not later than 5:00 p.m., Thursday, July 17, 2014. No entries will be accepted after that time. Camps must arrange to pick up their entries on Saturday, prior to the dismantling of the Awards Display Table. Entries not picked up will be discarded at the end of the convention. See the Awards Manual for requirements and details for these awards.

Best Website Award

SCV units interested in competing for the Best Website Award should submit their URL through the link on the front page of the website at www.scv.org no later than June 14, 2014. Judging will be performed by experienced webmasters outside the SCV, based on generally recognized criteria for website excellence. Judging will take place at a randomly chosen time between June 14 and July 05, 2014.

 Individual Member Awards

 Any nominations for individual member awards should be submitted ,along with a brief statement citing the reason the particular individual should receive the award, to GHQ. The lists of proposed award recipients must be submitted to the Chief of Staff and GHQ no later than May 17, 2014 to allow time for Awards Committee review, consultation with and approval by the Commander in Chief, and for the GHQ staff to prepare the awards and include the names in the professionally printed Awards Luncheon Booklet. Award recommendation should be submitted by email to the Army Commanders as a MS word documents attachment. It is important to have the awards lists at GHQ by the June 3 deadline or GHQ will not be able to list your division’s award recipients in the Awards Luncheon souvenir booklet.

 Presentation of Awards

 All awards will be recognized at the Awards Luncheon on Friday, July 18, 2014 or at the Saturday night banquet on July 19, 2014. Please pick up your awards after the luncheon as well as those of men in your camp to take them home with you. This simple process will also save the SCV hundreds of dollars of postage expense and enable the staff to process your dues and new memberships more quickly when they return to GHQ.

Confederates Honored In Tampa Florida

Confederate descendants honor war dead

                                                    

Phile Waters unveils the plaque for Judah P. Benjamin at the Confederate Memorial Park in Tampa. LUKE JOHNSON/STAFF

 

By ELIZABETH BEHRMAN
Tribune staff
Published: April 26, 2014   |   Updated: April 26, 2014 at 08:29 PM

TAMPA — The descendants of local Confederate soldiers paid homage to their ancestors on Confederate Memorial Day on Saturday.
About 20 people — members of local chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy — traveled to three cemeteries in the Tampa area, where they laid wreaths and miniature Confederate flags on the graves of soldiers who fought for the South during the Civil War.
“We are remembering our ancestors but we are also remembering their sacrifice and also the civilians who were involved,” said David McCallister, commander of the Judah P. Benjamin camp, the local chapter of Sons of Confederate Veterans. “They were patriotic when their state called them.”
The two groups sponsored a “Confederate Cavalcade” on Saturday morning, which began at the Confederate monument in front of the Hillsborough County Courthouse in downtown Tampa. After a performance of the national anthem, the state anthem and “Dixie,” the group moved on to Oaklawn Cemetery, where they read the names of about 80 Confederate veterans buried there. They did the same for the 120 veterans at Woodlawn Cemetery and the two soldiers at the Branch Family Cemetery, where they read a proclamation from the city of Temple Terrace recognizing Confederate Memorial Day.
A bugler played Taps before the group left each cemetery.
The cavalcade came to an end after a dedication of a new plaque at Confederate Memorial Park on U.S. 92, honoring Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederacy’s secretary of state.
The groups have been celebrating the Confederate Memorial Day with a cavalcade for the past few years, McCallister said. Politics aside, they want to honor the soldiers who fought in the war to protect their homes and families, he said. “Who would be against veterans?” he said. “They do what they’re called up to do. Some wars are popular and some wars are unpopular.”'

Florida seceded from the Union in January 1861, the third state to do so. About 16,000 men from Florida fought in the war, according to the Sons of Confederate Veterans website. Most of them fought for the South, but about 2,000 of them fought for the Union.
The wreckage of the Scottish Chief, a Civil War-era wooden steamship, still sits on the bottom of the Hillsborough River just north of downtown. The wreckage of the Kate Dale, a schooner known for its speed, sits near the eastern shore of the river just north of Lowry Park.
Both ships were owned by James McKay, Tampa maritime pioneer and Confederate smuggler. They sank after a small battle with Union soldiers in 1863.
The Yankees, who had learned of the blockade runners, fired on Fort Brooke in downtown Tampa as soldiers crept up the riverbank to set fire to the Kate Dale near Lowry Park. The Confederates chased the Yankees back to Ballast Point, where a skirmish ensued. Three Union soldiers and 12 Confederates were killed.


http://tbo.com/news/breaking-news/confederate-descendants-honor-war-dead-20140426/
 

Confederate Medal of Honor

Confederate heroes have their own medal of honor

     Apr 26, 2014 11:07 AM CDT

By DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press HANCOCK, Md. (AP) - The Medal of Honor has a Confederate counterpart.

The Confederate Medal of Honor has been posthumously awarded 50 times since 1977 by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to fighters for the South who distinguished themselves in battle.

The most recent recipient is Maj. James Breathed (BRETH'-ed), a native Virginian buried in Hancock, Md. Breathed was honored last year for bravery in the 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia.

Rebel heroes will be celebrated this spring at state Confederate Memorial Day observations across the South, starting this weekend in Georgia.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, representing the nearly 3,500 U.S. medal recipients, says it doesn't care about the Confederate medal program - as long as it doesn't pretend to be the federal one.

http://www.waff.com/story/25348820/confederate-heroes-have-their-own-medal-of-honor#.U1xJXbkIMcM.facebook

Confederate Heritage Displayes in Florida Capitol Building

Confederate flags displayed in Florida Capitol

By Ian Cummings , Herald-Tribune

/ Friday, April 25, 2014

TALLAHASSEE — A display of Confederate flags in the Florida Capitol this week created a little buzz on social media but did not match the interest several months ago in a stack of beer cans or a “flying spaghetti monster.”

Kelly Crocker of the Sons of Confederate Veterans helped set up a display of Confederate flags in the Florida Capitol on Thursday. (Staff photo / Ian Cummings)

 

The display, arranged the Sons of Confederate Veterans group, marked today’s state recognition of Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War. It took place in a part of the Capitol rotunda near where a Christmas Nativity scene and a Festivus pole competed for attention last December. “That brought awareness to us that we could do this,” SCV member Kelly Crocker said of the holiday displays in the Capitol.

As the Festivus display, and a later visit from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster proved, anyone is allowed to promote political or religious messages in the rotunda if they follow certain guidelines.

But there is no guarantee that people will pay attention. While the Confederate flags raised eyebrows and prompted a few Twitter posts late this week, they seemed overwhelmed in the final hectic days of the legislative session.

Crocker, who described himself as a fifth-generation Floridian, said his group set up the flags Thursday ahead of Confederate Memorial Day Saturday, an official state holiday since 1895

.

 

A Christmas Nativity scene installed at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. Florida officials overseeing holiday displays at the Capitol said yes to a Nativity scene, a Festivus pole and a chair holding a fake pile of pasta with eyeballs and an accompanying proverb created by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (Associated Press archive)

 

It was the first time the group had brought Confederate flags into the Capitol, but the display was by no means unprecedented. The flag was flown at the Capitol from 1978 until 2001, when it was quietly pulled down at the request of then-governor Jeb Bush.

Ben Wolf, a spokesman for the Department of Management Services, which governs displays at the Capitol, said there was little controversy in approving the Confederate history group. “They met all the guidelines and followed all the proper procedures,” he said.

Crocker said he was aware that the flags could be a sensitive topic for some. “Many people associate this flag with the KKK or slavery,” Crocker said. But his group wants to counteract that perception, he said, saying they are only celebrating their ancestors. A poster accompanying the flag denounced racism.

 

In this Dec. 11, 2013 file photo, Chaz Stevens talks with reporters after setting up his Festivus pole made out of beer cans at the Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee. Stevens placed the pole across from a Nativity scene. Since Florida considers the Statehouse rotunda to be a public forum, people can use the space to express themselves or protest, as long as they first apply with a state agency. (AP Photo/Brendan Farrington, File)

 

But some still find the flag offensive. Later on Thursday, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, took aim at the flag display when he tweeted a photo of himself with state Sens. Oscar Braynon II, D-Miami Gardens, and Dwight Bullard, D-Cutler Bay, posing with a cardboard cutout of President Barack Obama. Clemens captioned the photo on Twitter: “Our response to the intrinsic racism of Florida Heritage Day. #AmericaWon”

Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tennessee, chairman of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, said he had not felt it necessary to speak out publicly about the flags. “I really don’t think it’s worth the energy,” Williams said while hurrying in and out of House legislative meetings Friday. “I’m not a big fan of the Confederate flag. A lot of people don’t appreciate it. It is a part of our history, just a part of our history that we don’t want to repeat.”

 

 

 

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/04/25/confederate-flags-displayed-florida-capitol/

Flags Taken From Cemetery In Georgia

Michael Mullis, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, with his niece Lizzy Centerfitt, and daughter Melissa  place Confederate flags at the gravesites of soldiers. Mullis was upset when after only a few days the flags were taken from the sites in Sunnyside Cemetery.


 Group upset over flag theft
 Becky Crissman
 Cordele Dispatch Apr 24, 2014, 03:35

Cordele — Thursday, April 17, police here responded to a call at Sunnyside Cemetery on Eighth Avenue in reference to flags being stolen from gravesites on the north side of the cemetery. Upon arrival at the cemetery Officer Robert Pflueger met with Michael Mullis of Cordele, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) Camp 141 of Albany who informed him that on the previous Saturday, a total of 27 Confederate flags that were placed at the gravesites of known Confederate soldiers in the cemetery as well as the gravesite of Tallulah Atkins who founded the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, had been stolen from those sites.

 Mullis said the flags were placed on the gravesites in Sunnyside Cemetery, as well as other cemeteries around the county in observance of Confederate History and Heritage Month. According to the report filed with the Cordele Police Department, Mullis informed Pfleuger that a friend had stopped by the cemetery to see the flags, just days later, only to discover they had been taken from the gravesites. The flags were valued at around $135. “I have no idea who would have taken the flags,” said Mullis. “But in doing so they desecrated someone’s final resting place and that is wrong.”

The flags were given to Mullis for placement by his SCV Chapter. James W. King, who is the chapter commander, said he too was appalled by the theft and had quite a bit to say on the matter. “It is my opinion that the theft of the Confederate flags from the cemetery was based on ignorance,” said King. “The victor of a war writes the history and the history of the old South, the Confederate States of America (CSA), and the Reconstruction era have not been presented in a fair and impartial manner in American history books written by extremely biased liberal Northern historians.”

King said in his opinion Americans have been indoctrinated by America's liberal Socialist news media to view the Confederate flag and the Confederate States of America in a negative perspective. Added to this is the negative image portrayed by Hollywood and in numerous books and magazines. “Slavery and a redneck image have been the weapons of choice by these individuals and groups to discredit the CSA and its flags along with portraying misuse and abuse by racist groups including the KKK and Skinheads,” continued King. “Black Americans have been especially susceptible to indoctrination. The U.S. flag, the Stars and Stripes, is the official flag of the KKK and it flew over the genocide and near-extermination of the Native American Indians as well as slave ships going to and from Africa. It gets a complete pass and the CSA and Confederate flags are condemned, berated and disparaged.

 “Most Southern slaves were treated better than poor white Northern workers and post-war Irish miners by Northern factory owners and mine owners. Black Americans have been told that the Confederate flag represents racism, bigotry, and a painful reminder of slavery and abuse, and many have been thoroughly indoctrinated (brainwashed) by these lies and propaganda.

The theft of the Confederate flags from the cemetery is a predictable result of this ignorance and indoctrination." It is uncertain whether or not the group will choose to replace the flags. Both King and Mullis said they would like to be able to replace the flags without worrying they will be stolen again. Mullis said he would also like to see the Confederate monument at the Community Clubhouse cleaned. -

See more at: http://www.cordeledispatch.com/local/x360410942/Group-upset-over-flag-theft#sthash.GFK1LAxf.dpuf

HATE GROUP (NAACP) ATTACK ROBERT E. LEE

NAACP Says Robert E Lee Painting Must Be Removed Because It’s Racist

April 22, 2014 

James Muwakkil, President of the Lee County, FL chapter of the NAACP, has petitioned the local commission to remove a portrait of General Robert E. Lee from their chambers. The reason? Muwakkil claims the portrait symbolizes racism.

Lee County was named after military hero Robert E. Lee just 22 years after the close of the ware between the states, The Washington Times notes. The portrait has hung in the County Commission chambers for years now.“That painting is a symbol of racism,” Muwakkil wrote in a letter, “It’s a symbol of divisiveness, and it doesn’t unify Lee County. It divides Lee County.

The petition to remove the painting will force a public hearing on the issues, state Commissioner Larry Kiker. Kiker also told the News-Press that he is looking for “thoughtful conversation based upon the historical value” of the painting, and why it was hung to begin with. The News-Press reported that Virginia assisted Lee County in obtaining the painting in 1939.
Lee is seen as a loyal hero in Virginia, because he played an important role in the Confederate army. He is not recognized for his position on slavery.

In fact, Lee did many things that were unconventional during his time, including allowing his wife and daughter to run and maintain an illegal school for slaves on their plantation. Despite Lee’s important role in Virginia history, the NAACP chapter petitions the county to take action repeatedly.
The last time they did so was in 2007, when they asked the commission to hang a painting of President Abraham Lincoln next to the portrait. The measure ultimately failed.

http://theuspatriot.com/2014/04/22/naacp-says-robert-e-lee-painting-must-be-removed-because-its-racist/

 

Malcontents Threaten Disruptions if Selfish Demands Not Met

Students threaten civil disobedience if school doesn't denounce Robert E. Lee

 

 

 

 

A sea of Confederate battle flags at Virginia's Washington and Lee schoolErik Perel/AFP/Getty Images

A sea of Confederate battle flags at Virginia's Washington and Lee schoolErik Perel/AFP/Getty Images

 

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April 21, 2014

 

Black students at Virginia's Washington and Lee University have issued an ultimatum: Denounce Robert E. Lee, one of the school's two namesakes, or face civil disobedience, the National Review Online reported Monday.

Students also want the school to apologize for what they call Lee’s “racist and dishonorable conduct,” remove Confederate battle flags from the chapel and ban Confederate reenactors from the campus on Lee-Jackson Day, a state holiday. They also want the university’s undergraduate school to cancel all classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Seven black law students, calling themselves “The Committee,” say that if the school does not cave to their demands, they will engage in acts of civil disobedience until their demands are met. The students gave the school until September 1 to meet their demands. “The time has come for us, as students, to ask that the university hold itself responsible for its past and present dishonorable conduct and for the racist and dishonorable conduct of Robert E. Lee,” Breitbart.com reported, according to the Washington Times. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War 150 years ago.

After the war, Lee served as president of the school and is buried on school grounds beneath the campus chapel. The school is also named after President George Washington, who gave a $20,000 gift to the school.

But the students say they were driven to make their demands after feeling “alienation and discomfort” while viewing the Confederate symbols. According to the Associated Press, one third-year law student reached a boiling point when Democrat strategist Donna Brazile was introduced as a speaker at Lee Chapel amid the Confederate flags. “A lot of students of color have felt sort of ostracized during their time here," 24-year-old Dominik Taylor told the AP. Taylor, along with other members of the protest group, knew the university's history but signed up anyway, deciding that a law degree from the school was too good to pass up. “Hey, it’s only three years. It can’t be that bad,” Taylor reportedly told the AP. “[But] when things such as Lee-Jackson Day happen, you’re just sort of feeling left alone and isolated and alienated.”

University president Kenneth Ruscio said he's created a special task force to consider the student's ultimatum. Ruscio says the task force will look into the school's history and "study the history of African Americans at the school.” “While we are aware of some of that history, I believe we should have a thorough, candid examination,” he added.

But, the Washington Post said, the group's actions are seen as divisive among black students on campus. “I think that a lot of people believe that water could have been used to solve these issues instead of fire,” said Hernandez Stroud, a second-year law student from Huntsville, Alabama. Stroud, the Post added, is president of the school’s Black Law Students Association.

The college graduated its first black law student in 1969. Today, 34 students, or about 8 percent of the school's law students, are black. Overall, black students make up about 3.5 percent of the total school population.

http://www.examiner.com/article/students-threaten-civil-disobedience-if-school-doesn-t-denounce-robert-e-lee?
 

LA Lt. GOVERNOR ADDS LAND TO MANSFIELD BATTLEFIELD

Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne to announce land acquisition at Mansfield State Historic Site

 

Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne will announce a land acquisition at the Mansfield State Historic Site. / File photo

   Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is visiting Mansfield State Historic Site to announce a land acquisition from the Civil War Trust.

The additional land will enhance the site and add opportunities for historical interpretation including Civil War medicine programs and battle re-enactments. An 11 a.m. press conference will take place April 26 in conjunction with the Site’s Civil War re-enactment commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Mansfield happening April 26 and April 27.
The battle of Mansfield was the most significant engagement of the Red River Campaign, the Union’s failed attempt to capture Shreveport and occupy east Texas.

Confederate troops, led by Gen. Richard Taylor, scored an overwhelming victory at Mansfield against Union forces, which were commanded by Gen. Nathaniel Banks. The battle involved almost 30,000 troops and resulted in almost 4,000 casualties.

Weekend activities will run 9 a.m –5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.–3 p.m. on Sunday, with a battle re-enactment at 2 p.m. each day. In addition to the battle, re-enactor camps, demonstrators and period vendors will be onsite for visitors to enjoy.

Mansfield State Historic Site is located three miles south of Mansfield on La. Hwy. 175. The park can be accessed east-west via U.S. Hwy. 84, or north-south via I-49.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014140418009
 

CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR SUPPORTS RIGHT TO CONFEDERATE LICENSE PLATE

Jimmy Carter’s grandson: People have right to sport Confederate battle flag license plate

 By Seth McLaughlin

The Washington Times

Monday, April 21, 2014 

 

The grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, who is running for governor in Georgia, suggested Monday that if he wins the gubernatorial race he will not stop the state from issuing license plates featuring the Confederate battle flag.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” state Sen. Jason Carter, a Democrat, said people have the right to sport the Sons of Confederate Veterans-backed license plate, which features an image of the Confederate flag. He also said he would rather have people focus their attention on the role that Georgia and its leaders played in the civil rights movement.

“I would like to see us focus on that great legacy we have of Dr. King and Joseph Lowery and Andy Young,” Mr. Carter said.

Georgia has offered the license plates since 2003, and a recent redesign has reignited the debate between civil rights advocates, who say it is a racially charged reminder of slavery and oppression, and supporters of the plate, who say the symbol honors Confederate heritage.

Pressed on whether he, as governor, would stop the state from issuing the license plates, Mr. Carter said, “I don’t know that we could block it frankly.”

Enlarge Photo

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/jimmy-carters-grandson-people-have-right-sport-con/#ixzz2zfm1TtkD

SCV SUPPORTS CHATTANOOGA CEMETERY

Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery relies on philanthropy 

Herb DeLoach, of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, mows the grass Wednesday at the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery, located in between the campuses of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences.

Photo by John Rawlston.

WHO IS BURIED THERE?

Five of the most notable:
Samuel Frazier: The man for whom Frazier Avenue is named was born in Rhea County and became a first lieutenant in the 19th Tennessee infantry. He fought at Shiloh and Vicksburg before he was wounded at Chickamauga and taken as a prisoner of war to Chattanooga. Following his recovery, he was sent north to a prison camp for the remainder of the war. He settled in Rhea County after the war and practiced law before abandoning the profession in 1882 and moving to Chattanooga where he started "Hill City" just north of downtown. He donated $10,000 for the construction of the Walnut Street Bridge, which was built in 1890. Frazier died in 1921.
Martin Fry: Enlisted in the Tennessee infantry at age 16 and saw action in many of the war's major battles in the western theater. While returning to his middle Tennessee home after the war in 1865, he was arrested in Pulaski, Tenn., on charges that he killed a man and burned a bridge. Fry was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessean, and returned to live in the rural countryside of Alton Park. He died in 1926.
Ben Goulding: A notable Chattanooga philanthropist who began a weather bureau in the city among numerous other civic actions following his participation in the war. Goulding died in 1934.
Shadrick Searcy: An African-American who received a Confederate pension and opted to be buried in the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery after the two brothers he served with died in action during the war. Following their death, Searcy remained in the Confederate service. He moved to Chattanooga in 1903 to work for the railroad and died in 1935.
Edward Wentworth: A sergeant in the Union's 19th Michigan Infantry, Wentworth was captured at Thompson's Station in Williamson County by Confederates and transported to Chattanooga where he died.

• 
  Site of Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery.

  Illustration by                                   

The American Civil War has been over for nearly 150 years, but the struggle to preserve the history of those who fought continues. And Herb DeLoach is doing everything he can to win the battle at the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery on Fifth Street.

Things look better at the historic resting place of hundreds of Confederate veterans than they did 20 years ago, but without federal funding, corporate backing or much city help, the cemetery relies on a local camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for maintenance and upkeep.

At the moment, that means DeLoach, the great-grandson of Alabama infantryman Robert DeLoach, hops on his 46-year-old lawnmower every so often and spends the day keeping the cemetery from becoming overgrown like it did in the early 1990s. "It takes between six and eight hours to do the whole job," said DeLoach, a 74-year-old retired aircraft maintenance supervisor. "But I don't mind. These guys, it's almost like they know you're here. That sounds strange, I know, but it's a labor of love for us and our camp."

Though the cemetery is the city's property, responsibility for the plot is claimed by N.B. Forrest Camp 3 in accordance with a national emphasis by the Sons of Confederate Veterans on Confederate burial places.

All of the needed tune-ups at the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery would require $100,000, the local chapter says. But with the primary revenue for the cemetery coming from DVD sales and other fundraisers at area Civil War shows, the 88-member chapter is taking things one project at a time.
Last month the City Council approved a resolution accepting $5,790 from the camp for repairs at the cemetery's pavilion. "It [the cemetery] means a great deal to a number of our local citizens," City Council Chairman Yusuf Hakeem said. "We've partnered with so many other entities and organizations. We didn't see it as an issue as far as partnering with that group for this. The fact that it doesn't cost the city anything, it makes it that much more attractive."

DeLoach, the adjutant of the chapter, has seen how the old city cemetery next to the Confederate portion was poorly maintained in the past. He wants a different fate for the plot that holds both soldiers who died during the war and some who chose to be buried there long after it.

 Nationally, things are no different. Gene Hogan, chief of heritage operations for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said camps work with municipally owned cemeteries across the South to ensure that Confederate cemeteries are not overlooked. "I would say just the overall maintenance, adornment, protection and preservation of a Confederate burial site, there's really just no higher priority we have than that," he said. "That is so critical to who we are and what we're called to do as an organization."

Many of the plaques, monuments and other bits of commemoration around the cemetery, like the wrought-iron battle flag gate along Fifth Street, are more than 100 years old. Confederate veterans purchased the northern part of the cemetery in 1867 from George Gardenhire and acquired the rest of it for one dollar in 1901 from the Gardenhire family under the provision that it would also be used as a Confederate cemetery.

When the last associate member of the local Confederate Veterans camp died in the 1950s, it left the city as the sole trustee of the cemetery. In 1994 Chattanooga Mayor Gene Roberts authorized cooperation with the Sons of Confederate Veterans to help restore the cemetery that had become overgrown and a rededication ensued in 1995. "We've tried to maintain it and take better care of it since then," DeLoach said. "But it is a real fight."

The future of the cemetery will soon lie in the hands of a younger generation, a generation that DeLoach worries about. Since the victors get to tell how the war was won, he worries that future Confederate descendants may grow up without a true understanding of the motives that drove their ancestors to fight for independence.

But for now, he is happy to continue devoting time to maintaining the cemetery. "We're bound to do this," he said. "As long as I can function and get on that 46-year-old tractor [I'll do it]. As long as I can get on that thing and crank it up."

Contact staff writer David Cobb @dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/apr/20/confederate-cemetery-relies-on-philanthropy/
 

Malcontent "Committee" Attack Robert E. Lee at W and L University

Students at Washington & Lee call for end to Confederate symbols

Published April 18, 2014

           

FILE: Jan. 9, 2008: A Confederate flag waves over the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol in Columbia.Reuters

 

RICHMOND, Va. –  A group of law students at Washington and Lee University is demanding the school banish the Confederate flag from its Lexington campus and repudiate one of its namesakes, Gen. Robert E. Lee.

 

The students also want the private liberal arts college to end the practice of allowing "neo-Confederates" to march on campus with battle flags during Lee-Jackson day, a Virginia state holiday that falls on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day.

 

The students, known collectively as The Committee, vowed civil disobedience if their demands are not met by Sept. 1. In a letter this month to the university's Board of Trustees, The Committee said it decided to act out of "alienation and discomfort" with the trappings of the Confederacy on campus.
They include the array of eight Confederate battle flags in the Lee Chapel, where the entire Lee family is buried. Lee's beloved horse, Traveller, is buried outside the chapel.

In a letter released Wednesday to the W&L community, President Kenneth P. Ruscio wrote that university officials "take these students' concerns seriously" and that they would be addressed. He asked provost Daniel Wubah to meet with the students. Through a spokesman, he declined a request Thursday for an interview with The Associated Press.

Dominik Taylor, a third-year law student, said the students decided to speak out after tolerating for years symbols and events they find offensive. "A lot of students of color have felt sort of ostracized during their time here," said Taylor, 24, of Yorktown. "It was just a thing where you would talk to your friend after class." Taylor said the "last straw" occurred during Lee-Jackson Day in January when a guest speaker, Democratic political consultant Donna Brazile, was introduced in the Lee Chapel amid the battle flags and it generated racist hate mail.

Washington and Lee, which is located in the Shenandoah Valley about three hours west of Richmond, was founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy, but adopted George Washington's name in 1796. Lee, who led Confederate forces during the Civil War before surrendering at Appomattox in 1865, served as the university's president after the Civil War and Lee became part of the university's name after he died.

Lee is a primary target of the activist students, who argue that his "racist and dishonorable conduct" should be acknowledged.

The Committee claims seven law school students. Taylor said its members include white students and its message is gaining wider acceptance, including support from faculty. "I think there's been a mix of responses," said Taylor, who is African-American. "A lot of the white students said, 'Hey, this is coming out of left field.' Taylor said he and fellow minority students were aware of the traditions on campus before they attended, but valued a law degree from Washington and Lee."Hey, it's only three years," he said. "It can't be that bad."

He added, however, "When things such as Lee-Jackson Day happen, you're just sort of feeling left alone and isolated and alienated."

The Washington and Lee complaints are familiar ones in the South, where the former Confederate states have struggled with symbols of the past that some find racist. In the city of Lexington, home to Washington and Lee, the adoption of an ordinance in September 2011 outlawing Confederate battle flags on city light poles attracted loud protests from defenders of the Confederacy.

One of those was Brandon Dorsey, who is a commander with the Lexington brigade of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He participated in the Lee-Jackson march on the W&L campus. He blamed the protests on campus on a small group of activists.

"I think the whole think is a bunch of tripe," Dorsey said. "I think the university will have a lot of angry alumni on their campus if they agree to those demands."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/18/students-at-washington-lee-call-for-end-to-confederate-symbols/?intcmp=latestnews

Cretin Cregin Fans Anti-South Hate in New York

Principal: L.I. High School Students Suspended Indefinitely For Displaying Confederate Flag

April 15, 2014 5:14 PM

 

 

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – Two Long Island high school students have been suspended for allegedly bringing a Confederate flag to school. Brother Gary Cregan, principal of St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, said the two seniors walked in with a Confederate flag draped around their shoulders during an after-hours sporting event at the school.

As CBS 2′s Kathryn Brown reported, there is outrage and disgust on Long Island.

 

“The African-American students who immediately saw it really exercised heroic restraint and fortunately a teacher immediately confiscated the flag and took the students out of the gym,” Cregan said.

The students were initially suspended for 10 days, but Cregan decided Tuesday they won’t be allowed back, Brown reported.

Cregan wrote a letter to parents saying the use of any symbols “designed to revive past injustices or to inflame discrimination or racial intolerance, is completely unacceptable and profoundly offensive,” Newsday reported.

Cregan said he sees the flag as a symbol of hate. “I find it just very hard to even imagine why any student in 2014 would even consider or think that a Confederate flag would be anything other than a symbol of hate,” Cregan said.

“It’s absolutely absurd, I don’t understand why you would bring up things from the past that are hateful,” student Jessica Flynn said. “It represents slavery to us. It represents racism and prejudice to us,” parent JuJu Quinnonez added. “Believe me, I am all for freedom of speech but to have someone come in to school with that flag draped around their shoulder – I’m not really sure what the intent was.”

In response to those who said the students were exercising their right to free speech, Cregan said there are limits. “I certainly think this particular symbol of hate falls in the category of something that should be excised from our culture,” Cregan said.

The students haven’t explained why they did it. St. Anthony’s is a private Catholic school and isn’t bound by the First Amendment right to free speech.

Still, the New York Civil Liberties Union said all people should be able to express their views freely, even the offensive ones. “Our motto is more speech, not censorship or punishment,” NYCLU director Donna Lieberman told Brown. “Helping children understand the impact of this patently offensive expressive activity.”

Tensions are so high among students at St. Anthony’s that the principal said he has security concerns once the suspension is over. He’s made the decision that the students involved aren’t coming back at all.

The teens involved did not respond to CBS 2′s calls for comment.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/15/l-i-high-school-students-suspended-for-displaying-confederate-flag/
 

Law Enforcement Offier Appreciation Week

Time to raise the white flag...

 

Did that get your attention?  No... I'm not calling for surrender, far from it.  The white flag is raised   in auto racing to signal the last lap of the race.  We have entered into the last year of the four-year Sesquicentennial observance of the War; now is the time to "make our move."

You've heard it said that "all politics is local"; in similar manner, "all Confederate Heritage is local."  We win (or lose) our battles community-by-community, state-by-state, all across the Southland.  For that reason, the relationships that our Camps develop in their communities are of great importance, among these are our relationships with local and state law enforcement.

You will recall that last year we began a program to allow local Camps to honor their sheriff and police departments and Divisions to honor their highway patrol (or whatever the statewide agency might be).  Based on the reports that came back to us, there was much goodwill and positive PR for the SCV as a result.  However, we need to do more this year.

Here's how it works -- the week of May 11-17 is Law Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week.  We need all Camps to participate in this -- if you meet in a municipal setting, honor your police department; if you meet in an unincorporated area, honor your sheriffs office.  You have a great deal of latitude with this; you can:

• Honor the agency in general  
• Honor the Sheriff / Chief
• Ask for the name of an officer to honor
• Use your own initiative and pick out an office based on his / her performance

Similarly, the place and time can vary:

• Utilize a camp meeting and invite the honoree
• Utilize a CMD service if you're in a state that recognizes May 10
• Call and ask permission to come to their offices
• Try to hit our target week, May 11 - May 18

IMPORTANT:  Please don't get sidetracked with details; as Nike says. "Just Do It." 

ALSO -- DIVISIONS: make sure that you participate by honoring your statewide law enforcement agencies; the above observations work for you, as well.

The certificate is available online.  Here is a link --

 

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

OK, got it?  We need to really hit a home run with this; let's make sure that every state, every county, every town and city across Dixie hears from us in this initiative.

 

Gene Hogan

Chief of Heritage Operations

Sons of Confederate Veterans

(866) 681 - 7314

Students Protest Attack on Heritage

Students protest Confederate flag ban at Waldron high school

 Apr 09, 2014

 

                        

Photos

Waldron High School flag protest

WALDRON , Ark. —A controversy in Waldron led to a parade of Confederate flags Tuesday evening to protest a ban implemented by officials at Waldron High School.
Students who displayed the Confederate flag flying on the back of their pickup trucks were asked by school officials to remove them while on school property.
The superintendent, Gary Wayman, said there have been complaints and some consider the display "offensive."  Wayman said the students were flying the Confederate flags from the back of poles attached to their trucks.

There were mixed feelings among students and others who gathered Tuesday to fly a parade of flags in protest.

WATCH:  Students fly Confederate flags in protest of school's policy  
Dakota Sims, an organizer of the parade in response to the ban, told 40/29 News "It's America, this is a free state. Like that flag represents freedom. Just like that American flag represents freedom. People died for both of them. Why not fly both of them?"
Another student said he supports his friends that are protesting, but felt that the flags could send the wrong message.
A Facebook page called "Scott County 746" was created with posts from supporters and others in the community. 

Read more: http://www.4029tv.com/news/students-protest-confederate-flag-ban-at-waldron-high-school/25396590#ixzz2ynucucqB

150th of Battle of Mansfield, LA Remembered

  

The Battle of Mansfield

    

 

MANSFIELD — The Battle of Mansfield was not a faraway war with nameless participants. It was fought here at home by ancestors not too far removed from current day. That connection makes the battle, considered the most significant engagement of the Red River Campaign, “so personal for all of us,” historian and author Gary Joiner said. “This is our battle; this is our campaign, whether you had ancestors on the Confederate side or the Union side.”

 

Joiner made his remarks Tuesday just an hour shy of the time the first musket fired 150 years ago. He and a small but interested group of men and women who gathered at the Mansfield State Historic Site to mark the sesquicentennial anniversary stood on the very ground where blood was shed during that hard-fought campaign on April 8, 1864.

Almost 30,000 soldiers would have been amassing for battle at the very moment state historic site superintendent Scott Dearman was welcoming the guests. “The lines were clashing, men were dying, men were suffering in the epicenter of that battle right now,” he said, asking them to transport their minds 150 years earlier to what “you would have been hearing and listening to.”
The fighting was “tough,” said Joiner. More than 1,000 Confederate soldiers died. Union records do not reflect how hard it was for them.

The personal impact comes from the realization the Confederate soldiers were fighting for their families, their homes and land. The Union, he said, was “fighting for the Union.”
Sometimes forgotten is how involved the townsfolk of Mansfield were. Once the Union gathered its surviving troops and retreated — the end result saving Shreveport from destruction — it was the men and women of Mansfield who created a hospital to treat the wounded and a morgue to tend to the dead.

Almost every home in the town also took in an injured soldier, regardless of the color of the uniform he was wearing. “They saved hundreds of lives because of their caregiving,” Dearman noted.
Heads were bowed as Dearman asked for a moment of silence to honor the civilians who endured the aftermath of the bloody war.

Also taking part in the ceremony were the Kate Beard Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, represented by Leona Lucius Connell, who placed a wreath at the Confederate memorial as Margaret Williams Jones sang “Dixie,” and the Friends of the Mansfield Battlefield, represented by Marilyn Joiner, who placed a wreath at the Union monument as the instrumental “Rally ‘Round the Flag” was played.

Each wreath-laying was marked with a musket salute by an honor guard of re-enactors wearing Confederate and Union uniforms. Special greetings were given by Daniel J. Frankignoul, of Brussels, Belgium, who read a letter from the grandson of Prince Camille J. de Polignac, a major general in the Confederate Army who led the troops at the Battle of Mansfield. Frankignoul, a former deputy mayor and current City Council president of the city of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert in East Brussels, has performed extensive research of the de Polignac family. He shared some of that information later in a program inside the Mansfield State Historic Site museum.

It’s important to continue annual observations of the Battle of Mansfield for “our children, their children and the other grownups to realize it was something that happened that involved the South, the whole South,” said Shreveporter LaJuana Goldsby, whose husband’s great-grandfather served in the 2nd Troop Cavalry and fought in the Battle of Mansfield. He joined the Confederacy in May 1863 and his wife died a month later in childbirth, leaving their slaves to care for the couple’s children as the war raged around the family home. Goldsby’s family hails from south DeSoto Parish near where the Battle of Pleasant Hill was fought the day after Mansfield.“This is a day to remember those who sacrificed everything for the Confederacy and the men in the Union who sacrificed, too. The sacrifices they made for us allows us to have the freedom we have today,” Goldsby said.

Hundreds of re-enactors gathered over the weekend in and around Pleasant Hill to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the entire campaign. The Battle of Mansfield Re-enactment is set April 26-27 and also is expected to draw hundreds of period-dressed soldiers who will relive the historic clash on the original battlefield just south of Mansfield.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014304080026&nclick_check=1
 

ALABAMA SCV PLACES NEW STATUE

‘Uncle Dick’ Payne honored with sculpture

by Jennifer Cohron Daily Mountain Eagle

 

A sculpture of Richard Elliott “Uncle Dick” Payne was recently placed at the Old Houston Jail in Winston County. Payne is credited with coining the phrase “the Free State of Winston” during the Civil War. Daily Mountain Eagle - Jennifer Cohron

slideshow

HOUSTON — A sculpture of Richard Elliott “Uncle Dick” Payne, who is credited with coining the phrase “the Free State of Winston,” was dedicated at the Old Houston Jail last weekend.

The project was spearheaded by the Winston County Grays, a local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp.

The sculpture of Payne joins another of John Anthony Winston, the 15th governor of Alabama, that was dedicated in 2008.

Steve Turner of the Winston County Grays said there are plans to place at least two more sculptures at the historic jail.

One will be Willis Farris, the first sheriff of Winston County (then named Hancock County).

The other will be Aunt Jenny Johnson, a midwife and medicine woman who lived in the Bankhead National Forest in the mid to late 19th century and is the subject of numerous local legends.

Each sculpture costs approximately $10,000. The sculptor is Branko Medenica, who also created the “Dual Destiny” monument located outside the Winston County Courthouse in Double Springs.

Turner said he and Sheriff Rick Harris first discussed the idea of erecting a monument to Winston shortly after efforts to restore the log jail began in 2006.

“I wasn’t being negative, but I just didn’t think the money would come as easily as it did. Once we started on Winston, we had $10,000 in six months,” Turner said.

Winston was a colonel in the 8th Alabama Infantry Regiment of the Confederate Army.

Payne was a private in Company D of the 27th Alabama Regiment in the Civil War.

Turner was instrumental in securing Confederate military markers at the graves of both men in recent years.

Turner now portrays Payne at an annual Living History Day held at the Houston Jail each October.

Payne was among the 2,500 people who met at Looney’s Tavern in 1861 to discuss secession.

Schoolteacher Christopher Sheats, who served as Winston County’s representative to the state secession convention in January 1861, argued that a county wishing to remain neutral in the war could secede from a state if the state could secede from the Union.

Payne then exclaimed sarcastically, “Oh, Oh, Winston secedes! The Free State of Winston!”

In addition to being a flagbearer in the Confederate Army, Payne was also a banker and made his own currency using brown paper.

 

http://www.mountaineagle.com/view/full_story/24882871/article--Uncle-Dick--Payne--honored-with-sculpture-?instance=main_article