Dear Chaplains and Compatriots:
Please note that the telephone number for accommodations at the Ramada Inn, for the Chaplains’ Conference, Gulfport, Mississippi, March 6, 7, 2009 is (228) 868-8200. A wrong number was previously published.
Your current Chaplains’ Corps Chronicles has the correct telephone number.
Chaplain-in-Chief Cecil Fayard supplied the following information:
NATIONAL SCV CHAPLAINS CONFERENCE
Plan now to be with us March 6-7 in Gulfport, Mississippi for the Spring 2009 Chaplains Conference. We have lined up a great group of speakers and are planning a special tour of Beauvoir - the last home of Jefferson Davis. Arrangements are in the works to take you to Ship Island on Friday. Ship Island is a very interesting place and you will benefit from the one hour boat ride and tour of the island and Fort Massachusetts.
Our Chaplains Conferences are great times of spiritual refreshing and great fellowship. The special tour of Beauvoir is Friday at 5 p.m.
The Saturday meeting will be in the conference room of the Ramada Inn beginning at 9:30 Saturday morning.
The subjects / speakers for the Chaplains Conference:
Dr. Charles Blair, "Copperheads"
Dr. Charles Baker, "Review of Books on Abraham Lincoln"
Rev. Kenneth Studdard, “The Life and Conversion of Dorsey Pender”
Dr. H. Rondel Rumburg, “Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?”
Dr. Cecil Fayard Jr. "Jefferson Davis: The Beauvoir Years"
Question and answer session!
Please plan on coming to Gulfport and sharing a great time of enrichment.
Yours in Christ,Dr. Cecil Fayard Chaplain-in-Chief
Please consider the following important information relative to accommodations:
Greg Steward has reserved a block of 30 rooms for March 6 and 7 $49.00 per night.
The block of rooms will no longer be reserved after February 27.
The Gulfport meeting room, which comfortably seats 40, is reserved both days at no charge.
RAMADA INN
9415 Hwy 49
Gulfport, Mississippi 39503
Phone# 228-234-8200
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
South Carolina Bill would create Paid Confederate Holiday
Black State Senator Wants Paid Confederate Holiday in South Carolina
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A black state senator is pushing a bill that would require South Carolina cities and counties to give their workers a paid day off for Confederate Memorial Day or lose millions in state funds.
Democratic Sen. Robert Ford's bill won initial approval from a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. It would force county and municipal governments to follow the schedule of holidays used by the state, which gives workers 12 paid days off, including May 10 to honor Confederate war dead. Mississippi and Alabama also recognize Confederate Memorial Day.
Years ago, Ford said, he pushed a bill to make both that day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day paid holidays. He considered it an effort to help people understand the history of both the civil rights movement and the Confederacy in a state where the Orders of Secession are engraved in marble in the Statehouse lobby, portraits of Confederate generals look down on legislators in their chambers and the Confederate flag flies outside.
"Every municipality and every citizen of South Carolina, should be, well, forced to respect these two days and learn what they can about those two particular parts of our history," Ford said Tuesday.
In a state steeped in a segregationist past, "there's no love in this state between black and white basically," he said. That's not apparent at the Statehouse, where black and white legislators get along, "but if you go out there in real South Carolina, it's hatred and I think we can bring our people together."
Lonnie Randolph, president of the state conference of NAACP branches, objected to that reasoning.
"Here Senator Ford is talking about the importance of race relations by forcing recognition of people who did everything they could to destroy another race — particularly those that look like I do," Randolph said. "You can't make dishonor honorable. It's impossible."
Ron Dorgay, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member from Elgin, said race relations have moved far from hatred but he hopes Ford's bill brings more understanding of the state's past.
"Even in school systems, they don't teach the correct history," Dorgay said.
Local governments, meanwhile, are seeing green, not race, when it comes to adding holidays to their calendars.
Large and small counties would put up more cash to cover holidays they don't now recognize, largely for law enforcement and emergency worker overtime, municipal and county association lobbyists said.
Only 10 of the state's 46 counties recognize Confederate Memorial Day and only 27 observe the more benign Presidents' Day.
Greenville County, one of the state's wealthiest and most populous counties, doesn't offer the Confederate holiday. The Judiciary Committee said the county would spend $156,900 to add each holiday to its calendar. Much smaller Laurens County would spend $37,080.
Ford dismissed the costs.
"The good outweighs any kind of rationale you can come up with," he said before the subcommittee sent the bill forward to the full Senate Judiciary Committee for debate, which won't happen until at least next week.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, supports the bill — and holding back chunks of the more than $300 million the state sends local governments each year.
Counties and cities "should be respectful of that as political subdivisions of the state," said McConnell, a Civil War re-enactor who runs a Charleston Confederate wares gallery and on Tuesday fretted how new junk metal collection legislation might affect his cannon. "If they don't want to be a subdivision of the state, then don't take the money."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487565,00.html
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A black state senator is pushing a bill that would require South Carolina cities and counties to give their workers a paid day off for Confederate Memorial Day or lose millions in state funds.
Democratic Sen. Robert Ford's bill won initial approval from a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. It would force county and municipal governments to follow the schedule of holidays used by the state, which gives workers 12 paid days off, including May 10 to honor Confederate war dead. Mississippi and Alabama also recognize Confederate Memorial Day.
Years ago, Ford said, he pushed a bill to make both that day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day paid holidays. He considered it an effort to help people understand the history of both the civil rights movement and the Confederacy in a state where the Orders of Secession are engraved in marble in the Statehouse lobby, portraits of Confederate generals look down on legislators in their chambers and the Confederate flag flies outside.
"Every municipality and every citizen of South Carolina, should be, well, forced to respect these two days and learn what they can about those two particular parts of our history," Ford said Tuesday.
In a state steeped in a segregationist past, "there's no love in this state between black and white basically," he said. That's not apparent at the Statehouse, where black and white legislators get along, "but if you go out there in real South Carolina, it's hatred and I think we can bring our people together."
Lonnie Randolph, president of the state conference of NAACP branches, objected to that reasoning.
"Here Senator Ford is talking about the importance of race relations by forcing recognition of people who did everything they could to destroy another race — particularly those that look like I do," Randolph said. "You can't make dishonor honorable. It's impossible."
Ron Dorgay, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member from Elgin, said race relations have moved far from hatred but he hopes Ford's bill brings more understanding of the state's past.
"Even in school systems, they don't teach the correct history," Dorgay said.
Local governments, meanwhile, are seeing green, not race, when it comes to adding holidays to their calendars.
Large and small counties would put up more cash to cover holidays they don't now recognize, largely for law enforcement and emergency worker overtime, municipal and county association lobbyists said.
Only 10 of the state's 46 counties recognize Confederate Memorial Day and only 27 observe the more benign Presidents' Day.
Greenville County, one of the state's wealthiest and most populous counties, doesn't offer the Confederate holiday. The Judiciary Committee said the county would spend $156,900 to add each holiday to its calendar. Much smaller Laurens County would spend $37,080.
Ford dismissed the costs.
"The good outweighs any kind of rationale you can come up with," he said before the subcommittee sent the bill forward to the full Senate Judiciary Committee for debate, which won't happen until at least next week.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, supports the bill — and holding back chunks of the more than $300 million the state sends local governments each year.
Counties and cities "should be respectful of that as political subdivisions of the state," said McConnell, a Civil War re-enactor who runs a Charleston Confederate wares gallery and on Tuesday fretted how new junk metal collection legislation might affect his cannon. "If they don't want to be a subdivision of the state, then don't take the money."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487565,00.html
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
SCV in PBS Documentry on Lincoln
SCV PROMINENTLY FEATURED IN MAJOR TV DOCUMENTARY
By J. A. Davis, Chairman,
SCV Public Relations and Media Committee
Elm Springs, Columbia, TN
3 February, 2009
After a full year of working with the PBS television network, producers and the host-writer, Henry Louis Gates, the Sons of Confederate Veterans announces its participation and inclusion in the premiere of a the two hour multi-million dollar production entitled "Looking For Lincoln" which will first air on PBS nationwide on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 9 PM Eastern Time. It will also be repeated in the days following the initial airing. Consult local listing for the airing times in your area.
Pre-play date showings to critics and select audiences indicate the production will likely be regarded as one of the top television shows of 2009 and a potential candidate for major awards.
Besides a sizeable segment on the SCV, the program features former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Doris Kearns Goodwin and about a half dozen historians.
The SCV's participation went forward after careful consideration and scrutiny by the SCV PR & Media Committee, ultimately approved by Commander-in-Chief Chris Sullivan and continued by his successor, Commander-in-Chief Chuck McMicheal. A series of' understandings were reached with the producers, leading to "Looking for Lincoln" host, Henry Louis "Skip" Gates and a full production crew coming to the SCV Reunion at Concord, NC.in the summer of 2008.
Interviews were arranged with SCV members regarding Lincoln. These will appear on the program on February 11th. They include, from the PR & Media Committee, Jim Dean, of Georgia, Army of Northern Virginia Commander, Bragdon Bowling, of Virginia,
and former Chief- of- Staff, Don Shelton, of Kentucky.
Considerable time is spent showing the tribute paid at the Reuion to the Clyburn family, descendants of a black Confederate soldier from North Carolina. This includes a conversation with the Associate Archivist at the North Carolina State Archives.
The program was originally conceived to be part of the commemoration of Lincoln's 200th birthday. While that remained its main theme, the segments including the Sons of Confederate Veterans represent a major breakthrough in network television for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
For those who would like an advance screening of the program on the internet, conduct a search for "Looking For Lincoln" on pbs.org . The program is divided into segments. The segment most centered on the SCV is titled "The Beginning of the Civil War".
END
By J. A. Davis, Chairman,
SCV Public Relations and Media Committee
Elm Springs, Columbia, TN
3 February, 2009
After a full year of working with the PBS television network, producers and the host-writer, Henry Louis Gates, the Sons of Confederate Veterans announces its participation and inclusion in the premiere of a the two hour multi-million dollar production entitled "Looking For Lincoln" which will first air on PBS nationwide on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 9 PM Eastern Time. It will also be repeated in the days following the initial airing. Consult local listing for the airing times in your area.
Pre-play date showings to critics and select audiences indicate the production will likely be regarded as one of the top television shows of 2009 and a potential candidate for major awards.
Besides a sizeable segment on the SCV, the program features former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Doris Kearns Goodwin and about a half dozen historians.
The SCV's participation went forward after careful consideration and scrutiny by the SCV PR & Media Committee, ultimately approved by Commander-in-Chief Chris Sullivan and continued by his successor, Commander-in-Chief Chuck McMicheal. A series of' understandings were reached with the producers, leading to "Looking for Lincoln" host, Henry Louis "Skip" Gates and a full production crew coming to the SCV Reunion at Concord, NC.in the summer of 2008.
Interviews were arranged with SCV members regarding Lincoln. These will appear on the program on February 11th. They include, from the PR & Media Committee, Jim Dean, of Georgia, Army of Northern Virginia Commander, Bragdon Bowling, of Virginia,
and former Chief- of- Staff, Don Shelton, of Kentucky.
Considerable time is spent showing the tribute paid at the Reuion to the Clyburn family, descendants of a black Confederate soldier from North Carolina. This includes a conversation with the Associate Archivist at the North Carolina State Archives.
The program was originally conceived to be part of the commemoration of Lincoln's 200th birthday. While that remained its main theme, the segments including the Sons of Confederate Veterans represent a major breakthrough in network television for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
For those who would like an advance screening of the program on the internet, conduct a search for "Looking For Lincoln" on pbs.org . The program is divided into segments. The segment most centered on the SCV is titled "The Beginning of the Civil War".
END
Monday, February 2, 2009
Tampa Battleflag flies without Controversy
Big Confederate flag is no flap for Super Bowl weekend
By Chandra Broadwater, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, January 29, 2009
TAMPA — The Super Bowl is in town. So is the world's largest Confederate flag.
But groups on both sides of the 1,800-square foot flag that flies over the junction of Interstates 4 and 75 aren't so concerned about a potential black eye for the city or the game.
Some wonder if many football fans will even see it. The flag is planted just east of Tampa, miles from many of the Super Bowl events and hotels.
"We're not much interested in this event," said Marion Lambert, who heads the local Sons of Confederate Veterans group that owns the giant battle flag.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article971513.ece
By Chandra Broadwater, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, January 29, 2009
TAMPA — The Super Bowl is in town. So is the world's largest Confederate flag.
But groups on both sides of the 1,800-square foot flag that flies over the junction of Interstates 4 and 75 aren't so concerned about a potential black eye for the city or the game.
Some wonder if many football fans will even see it. The flag is planted just east of Tampa, miles from many of the Super Bowl events and hotels.
"We're not much interested in this event," said Marion Lambert, who heads the local Sons of Confederate Veterans group that owns the giant battle flag.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article971513.ece
SCV Restores Confederate Veterans' Cemetery in Texas
Monument to his memory: Groups restoring Civil War veterans’ Cemetery
Harper Scott Clark
February 2, 2009
A city crew pours concrete Friday for the curb and parking lane in front of the Belton South Cemetery on South Penelope Street. The cemetery is undergoing a renovation thanks to a partnership between Belton and the Maj. Robert M. White Camp No. 1250 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Dennis Browning, parks superintendent, said a wrought iron arch will be installed across the entrance.
Maj. Robert M. White’s legacy to Bell County resides in his reputation as a man of high character and high spirit. He is also remembered for his incredible scouting skills and his prowess as a leader during the Civil War. White’s gravesite carries an inscription carved into an obelisk in the flowery prose of an earlier day. “His many virtues form the noblest monument to his memory.”
John C. Perry of Temple has researched and chronicled White and the Civil War. He said White was recorded in the Bell County census of 1860 along with his wife, Sarah, and a daughter, Christine. White was listed as a grocer by trade. Perry said White was known in the 1850s for his exploits leading posses to track down Indians who stole horses from Bell County residents. He would then return the horses to their owners.
http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2009/2/1/55511
Harper Scott Clark
February 2, 2009
A city crew pours concrete Friday for the curb and parking lane in front of the Belton South Cemetery on South Penelope Street. The cemetery is undergoing a renovation thanks to a partnership between Belton and the Maj. Robert M. White Camp No. 1250 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Dennis Browning, parks superintendent, said a wrought iron arch will be installed across the entrance.
Maj. Robert M. White’s legacy to Bell County resides in his reputation as a man of high character and high spirit. He is also remembered for his incredible scouting skills and his prowess as a leader during the Civil War. White’s gravesite carries an inscription carved into an obelisk in the flowery prose of an earlier day. “His many virtues form the noblest monument to his memory.”
John C. Perry of Temple has researched and chronicled White and the Civil War. He said White was recorded in the Bell County census of 1860 along with his wife, Sarah, and a daughter, Christine. White was listed as a grocer by trade. Perry said White was known in the 1850s for his exploits leading posses to track down Indians who stole horses from Bell County residents. He would then return the horses to their owners.
http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2009/2/1/55511
SCV Logo Car in Daytona on Saturday
The SCV is back in the Race Game.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans will be gracing the track at the Daytona International Speedway at 4 pm EST on Saturday, February 7th, 2009. The SCV is proud to be working with veteran owner/driver James Hylton from Inman, South Carolina.
The SCV car will be racing in the ARCA RE/MAX series, 46th Annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 in Daytona. The race will be 200 miles (80 laps) and can be viewed in Hi-Definition on the Speed channel, coverage beginning at 4pm EST.
James Hylton spent his early years in Roanoke Virginia, and his life centered primarily around farming but he soon found himself, like many other southern teenagers, immersed in the world of stock car auto racing. Hylton's career in auto racing began in the late fifties when he began working as a mechanic for the legendary Rex White.
James, Rex and Louis Clements teamed to win 26 races and most importantly the 1960 NASCAR Grand National championship. In 1964, White scaled back his driving duties and James began his tenure as crew chief for the Ned Jarrett / Bondy Long team. During the 1964 season the team won 14 races and finished second in points. In 1965, the team won 12 races and won the NASCAR Grand National championship.
On July 8, 1964, Hylton made his first Grand National start at the Old Dominion 400 at Manassas, Virginia. James finished 19 and collected $100 for his efforts. Things improved dramatically in 1966, as Hylton finished second in the points chase and won the coveted NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. James also captured his first pole at Starlite Speedway in Monroe, NC. Hylton again finished second in points during the 1967 season. James was a model of consistency during this two year period as he had 46 top five finishes in 87 races.
In 1968, James became a car owner / driver, a dual role that continues to this day. James found his way to victory lane for the first time on March 1, 1970 at the Richmond 500, driving the familiar number 48 Ford.
On August 6, 1972, James forever etched his name in the history books by claiming the Talladega 500. Hylton led 106 laps of the 188 lap race and won $ 24,865 for the day. Hylton won by one car length.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is proud to sponsor this car and this driver with such a rich heritage in this traditional Southern sport.
http://www.jameshylton.com/
http://www.arcaracing.com/schedule.cfm?contentid=1327
Michael Givens
Lt. CiC
givens.scv@gmail.com
The Sons of Confederate Veterans will be gracing the track at the Daytona International Speedway at 4 pm EST on Saturday, February 7th, 2009. The SCV is proud to be working with veteran owner/driver James Hylton from Inman, South Carolina.
The SCV car will be racing in the ARCA RE/MAX series, 46th Annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 in Daytona. The race will be 200 miles (80 laps) and can be viewed in Hi-Definition on the Speed channel, coverage beginning at 4pm EST.
James Hylton spent his early years in Roanoke Virginia, and his life centered primarily around farming but he soon found himself, like many other southern teenagers, immersed in the world of stock car auto racing. Hylton's career in auto racing began in the late fifties when he began working as a mechanic for the legendary Rex White.
James, Rex and Louis Clements teamed to win 26 races and most importantly the 1960 NASCAR Grand National championship. In 1964, White scaled back his driving duties and James began his tenure as crew chief for the Ned Jarrett / Bondy Long team. During the 1964 season the team won 14 races and finished second in points. In 1965, the team won 12 races and won the NASCAR Grand National championship.
On July 8, 1964, Hylton made his first Grand National start at the Old Dominion 400 at Manassas, Virginia. James finished 19 and collected $100 for his efforts. Things improved dramatically in 1966, as Hylton finished second in the points chase and won the coveted NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. James also captured his first pole at Starlite Speedway in Monroe, NC. Hylton again finished second in points during the 1967 season. James was a model of consistency during this two year period as he had 46 top five finishes in 87 races.
In 1968, James became a car owner / driver, a dual role that continues to this day. James found his way to victory lane for the first time on March 1, 1970 at the Richmond 500, driving the familiar number 48 Ford.
On August 6, 1972, James forever etched his name in the history books by claiming the Talladega 500. Hylton led 106 laps of the 188 lap race and won $ 24,865 for the day. Hylton won by one car length.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is proud to sponsor this car and this driver with such a rich heritage in this traditional Southern sport.
http://www.jameshylton.com/
http://www.arcaracing.com/schedule.cfm?contentid=1327
Michael Givens
Lt. CiC
givens.scv@gmail.com
S. D. Lee Institute This Weekend in Charleston
Contrasting seminars look at Lincoln, legacy
By Brian Hicks The Post and Courier
Monday, February 2, 2009
Some folks around here joke that Charleston not only is where the Civil War began but also where it one day might end. Come downtown this weekend, and you'll see what they mean.
Two conferences with very different views on the war and Abraham Lincoln's place in history will run simultaneously — and just a few blocks apart — on Friday and Saturday. The University of South Carolina and College of Charleston's Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art will host "Lincoln and the Civil War in Contemporary America" at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. At the same time, the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Stephen D. Lee Institute will convene at the Francis Marion Hotel for "Jefferson Davis vs. Abraham Lincoln," a conference that will offer some the ideas of various writers and professors about the causes of the war and of the 16th president.
You need not worry about any new bombardment of Fort Sumter, the chance of another Shiloh on Marion Square — these are two scholarly meetings between groups who seem willing to agree to disagree."What we're trying to do is put a fair and balanced perspective on different issues of the war," Brag Bowling, chairman of the Lee Institute said. "It's part of our educational outreach. Davis and Lincoln are the two most important political figures of the 19th century; Lincoln's bicentennial is this year, Davis's was last year." The institute, which is named after a Southern lieutenant general from Charleston, was formed by the SCV as something of a "Confederate think-tank" to offer a more academic argument about their positions on the war. The group thinks history has been sanitized, the South demonized."
The Sons of Confederate Veterans felt they weren't getting a fair shake," said Clyde Wilson, a USC history professor and one of the speakers at Davis vs. Lincoln. "The academic world is so politically correct they dismiss anything in defense of the South."Many of the people who will speak at the Francis Marion will offer perspectives on the war crimes of Union soldiers, defend the South's right to independence and even argue that Davis was much more of a Christian than Lincoln. Wilson will speak Saturday on the way Davis was treated in the years after the war, when he was a pariah in the North, and a hero in the South.
The Lee Institute speakers will discuss the myriad causes that, in their opinion, led to war, and offer evidence to support their claims that Lincoln was in the wrong, that the South was within its rights to secede."
Lincoln and the Civil War" is not exactly the polar opposite of the SCV meeting. One presentation will center on the connection between Lincoln and President Obama, while others focus on Juneteenth, southern Civil War fiction and even the hobby of re-enactment. Thomas Brown, a history professor at USC, said their conference will focus more on what's going on today. "I think there is a tremendous interest in Lincoln right now, and we will look at what's different between now and 50 years ago," Brown said. Brown said it is "preposterous" to think there is some liberal political view of Lincoln that affects the academic community. He notes that serious Lincoln scholars have a balanced and not entirely positive view of the former president's views on race. But Brown has little interest in hearing convoluted excuses about what caused the war.
The SCV says the war largely was fought over Southern independence and states' rights. Brown said it was, in fact, about the states' rights — to own slaves."Everybody who studies the Civil War for a living realizes slavery was the central issue of the Civil War," Brown said. Georgette Mayo, director of the Avery Research Center, said the conference was planned before Obama's win but that the timing could not be better, the subject matter more apropos. After all, Obamas' daughters will do their homework on a desk Lincoln used to write the Gettysburg Address.Maybe, Mayo said, people should attend both events."We will always have two sides to every story," she said.
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: 'Jefferson Davis vs. Abraham Lincoln,' sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Stephen D. Lee Institute
WHEN: Friday and Saturday at the Francis Marion Hotel, 387 King St.ADMISSION: $150, $125 for students (includes breakfast, lunch and banquet).
INFORMATION: stephendleeinstitute.com/events.html or call 1-800-MY-DIXIE.
By Brian Hicks The Post and Courier
Monday, February 2, 2009
Some folks around here joke that Charleston not only is where the Civil War began but also where it one day might end. Come downtown this weekend, and you'll see what they mean.
Two conferences with very different views on the war and Abraham Lincoln's place in history will run simultaneously — and just a few blocks apart — on Friday and Saturday. The University of South Carolina and College of Charleston's Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art will host "Lincoln and the Civil War in Contemporary America" at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. At the same time, the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Stephen D. Lee Institute will convene at the Francis Marion Hotel for "Jefferson Davis vs. Abraham Lincoln," a conference that will offer some the ideas of various writers and professors about the causes of the war and of the 16th president.
You need not worry about any new bombardment of Fort Sumter, the chance of another Shiloh on Marion Square — these are two scholarly meetings between groups who seem willing to agree to disagree."What we're trying to do is put a fair and balanced perspective on different issues of the war," Brag Bowling, chairman of the Lee Institute said. "It's part of our educational outreach. Davis and Lincoln are the two most important political figures of the 19th century; Lincoln's bicentennial is this year, Davis's was last year." The institute, which is named after a Southern lieutenant general from Charleston, was formed by the SCV as something of a "Confederate think-tank" to offer a more academic argument about their positions on the war. The group thinks history has been sanitized, the South demonized."
The Sons of Confederate Veterans felt they weren't getting a fair shake," said Clyde Wilson, a USC history professor and one of the speakers at Davis vs. Lincoln. "The academic world is so politically correct they dismiss anything in defense of the South."Many of the people who will speak at the Francis Marion will offer perspectives on the war crimes of Union soldiers, defend the South's right to independence and even argue that Davis was much more of a Christian than Lincoln. Wilson will speak Saturday on the way Davis was treated in the years after the war, when he was a pariah in the North, and a hero in the South.
The Lee Institute speakers will discuss the myriad causes that, in their opinion, led to war, and offer evidence to support their claims that Lincoln was in the wrong, that the South was within its rights to secede."
Lincoln and the Civil War" is not exactly the polar opposite of the SCV meeting. One presentation will center on the connection between Lincoln and President Obama, while others focus on Juneteenth, southern Civil War fiction and even the hobby of re-enactment. Thomas Brown, a history professor at USC, said their conference will focus more on what's going on today. "I think there is a tremendous interest in Lincoln right now, and we will look at what's different between now and 50 years ago," Brown said. Brown said it is "preposterous" to think there is some liberal political view of Lincoln that affects the academic community. He notes that serious Lincoln scholars have a balanced and not entirely positive view of the former president's views on race. But Brown has little interest in hearing convoluted excuses about what caused the war.
The SCV says the war largely was fought over Southern independence and states' rights. Brown said it was, in fact, about the states' rights — to own slaves."Everybody who studies the Civil War for a living realizes slavery was the central issue of the Civil War," Brown said. Georgette Mayo, director of the Avery Research Center, said the conference was planned before Obama's win but that the timing could not be better, the subject matter more apropos. After all, Obamas' daughters will do their homework on a desk Lincoln used to write the Gettysburg Address.Maybe, Mayo said, people should attend both events."We will always have two sides to every story," she said.
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: 'Jefferson Davis vs. Abraham Lincoln,' sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Stephen D. Lee Institute
WHEN: Friday and Saturday at the Francis Marion Hotel, 387 King St.ADMISSION: $150, $125 for students (includes breakfast, lunch and banquet).
INFORMATION: stephendleeinstitute.com/events.html or call 1-800-MY-DIXIE.
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