Confederate flag at center of debate stolen By Robert Sorrell
A Confederate flag placed at historic Green Hill Cemetery this October, which became the center of controversy, has been reported stolen.
Ptl. Justin Pearce of the Elizabethton Police Department reported on the theft Sunday. Pearce said he was dispatched to Green Hill Cemetery, which is located next to the Tractor Supply Company in Elizabethton. He spoke to William Hicks, who said he observed the Confederate flag, which he placed in October, had been stolen.
Hicks said he last saw the flag about 7 p.m. Saturday and noticed it was missing around 8 a.m. Sunday.
According to a police report, Cpl. Curtis Bullock attempted to lift latent prints from the 30-foot flag pole but did not recover any evidence. There were no suspects at the time of Pearce’s report.
On Monday, Investigator David Peters was assigned the case. Peters said he has read the initial report and began the investigation but has no leads or suspects. He added that there is not any video surveillance at the cemetery, or any video of the cemetery from the adjacent Tractor Supply.
Peters also investigated the theft of an iron Southern Cross of Honor from the grave of a Confederate soldier in Highland Cemetery. The theft was reported in early October by a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Peters said he received a tip in the iron cross case, but it led to a dead-end.
The Confederate flag at Green Hill Cemetery was raised in October by the SCV in commemoration of four Confederate soldiers buried on the property, including 1st Lt. Robert J. Tipton.
On Oct. 22, Hicks said the Third National flag, a Confederate flag, was placed on the pole during the ceremony, which featured several guest speakers, costumed re-enactors and entertainment. After Hicks discovered the flag was missing on Sunday, he replaced it with the Naval Jack, or “Battle Flag.” He explained to the STAR that this flag was used by commands to direct units in battle.
The raising of the flag was the center of some controversy in October, after the SCV announced it would be placed at the historic cemetery. The Watauga Historical Association, which has preserved the property since the 1980s, has voiced its disapproval of the Confederate flag’s placement, primarily citing that Green Hill Cemetery is not a military cemetery.
In addition to the new Naval Jack flag, there are also a few smaller Confederate flags, as well as American flags, at the cemetery.
http://www.starhq.com/2011/11/22/confederate-flag-at-center-of-debate-stolen/
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Florida Monument Needs Repair
By ANGEL McCURDY/Florida Freedom Newspapers
11/14/2011
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The 140-year-old white marble monument that sits in front of the Walton County Courthouse attracts little attention.
The memorial dedicated to the confederate dead from the Civil War has been there since 1927, yet it is missing pieces and goes mostly unnoticed by passers-by.
The monument has been designated by historians as the first one erected in Florida to pay tribute to confederates killed in the war. However, many details about the memorial come from folk tales rather than documentation.
“For me, (the monument) is just there. It’s not anything that catches people’s attention,” said Diane Merkel, president of the Walton County Heritage Museum. “I’m sure there are records somewhere, but no one has dug that deep yet.”
The monument was sculpted shortly after the Civil War. A group then called Ladies’ Memorial Association raised $250 to have it erected.
“I would guess in this area, in the South in general, it was a lot of money,” Merkel said. “Those people had been through a terrible time.”
A New Orleans sculptor named A. Barret is credited with the work, according to “Walton Wanderings: A Swing and a Miss at History” written by James E. Moore in 1996.
The monument stands 12 feet high and has a base of 28 inches.
The top, which once featured a hand pointing skyward, disappeared about six years ago, presumably taken by vandals.
“There’s really little maintenance that’s done with it. It’s just a part of our community,” said Dede Hinote, the county’s administrative services coordinator.
Hinote said officials have been considering ways to replace the missing hand for the last two years.
“Funding hasn’t been available the past few years and the person who was trying to get this going retired, but we’re still looking into it,” Hinote said.
Inscribed on the monument is the date it was made — 1871 — and “To the Memory of the Confederate Dead of Walton Co. Florida.”
The sides are inscribed with the names of two captains, four lieutenants and 85 enlisted men from the 1st, 6th and 7th Florida volunteers — 91 names in all.
“It was a good amount of people (killed),” Merkel said. Based on a census from 1860, the population of Walton County was 3,037 — 2,584 white men and women and 441 slaves.
The Ladies’ Memorial Association originally decided to place the monument at Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church, but others disagreed and the group placed the statue in the front lawn of the early court-house in Eucheeanna.
At some point, John Morrison, a state delegate, his brother Murdoch Morrison and some of their employees loaded the monument onto a wagon and brought it to Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church.
According to Moore’s book, the brothers threatened violence against anyone who tried to stop them.
The president of the women’s group, Jeannett J. McCullom — McKinnon on the statue — filed a complaint with the First Judicial Court. The case was dismissed.
McCullom appealed to the Supreme Court of Florida. In January 1874 the court found for McCullom and the monument was moved back to the Eucheeanna courthouse.
In September 1927, the statue was moved a final time to its present location in DeFuniak Springs when the city became the county seat.
The monument with a confederate flag flying beside it has stirred up little debate over the years. Merkel credited it to being “heritage, not hatred.”
Hinote agreed that few problems have arisen in about statue or the flag.
“It’s important to this area because it’s a part of our history,” Hinote said. “It’s all pretty basic. There’s been no controversy to speak of.”
While nothing has stirred about removing the historic marker, little is known about the monument.
“Most of our history is verbal, which makes it really hard to get back to the primary sources information,” said Merkel, who has been trying to gather information. “I want to use primary sources if at all possible, but there are not a whole lot of things around.”
The now–defunct Florida Board of Parks and Historical Monuments declared the memorial a historic marker in 1967.
Since then, few photos have been shot.
“I wish we had enough photographs of it to pinpoint the years. (The hand has) been gone for a long time,” Merkel said. “I wish there were more available. Maybe someone will be inspired to start digging.”
http://m.newsherald.com/news/memorial-98360-attracts-springs.html?pic=1
11/14/2011
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The 140-year-old white marble monument that sits in front of the Walton County Courthouse attracts little attention.
The memorial dedicated to the confederate dead from the Civil War has been there since 1927, yet it is missing pieces and goes mostly unnoticed by passers-by.
The monument has been designated by historians as the first one erected in Florida to pay tribute to confederates killed in the war. However, many details about the memorial come from folk tales rather than documentation.
“For me, (the monument) is just there. It’s not anything that catches people’s attention,” said Diane Merkel, president of the Walton County Heritage Museum. “I’m sure there are records somewhere, but no one has dug that deep yet.”
The monument was sculpted shortly after the Civil War. A group then called Ladies’ Memorial Association raised $250 to have it erected.
“I would guess in this area, in the South in general, it was a lot of money,” Merkel said. “Those people had been through a terrible time.”
A New Orleans sculptor named A. Barret is credited with the work, according to “Walton Wanderings: A Swing and a Miss at History” written by James E. Moore in 1996.
The monument stands 12 feet high and has a base of 28 inches.
The top, which once featured a hand pointing skyward, disappeared about six years ago, presumably taken by vandals.
“There’s really little maintenance that’s done with it. It’s just a part of our community,” said Dede Hinote, the county’s administrative services coordinator.
Hinote said officials have been considering ways to replace the missing hand for the last two years.
“Funding hasn’t been available the past few years and the person who was trying to get this going retired, but we’re still looking into it,” Hinote said.
Inscribed on the monument is the date it was made — 1871 — and “To the Memory of the Confederate Dead of Walton Co. Florida.”
The sides are inscribed with the names of two captains, four lieutenants and 85 enlisted men from the 1st, 6th and 7th Florida volunteers — 91 names in all.
“It was a good amount of people (killed),” Merkel said. Based on a census from 1860, the population of Walton County was 3,037 — 2,584 white men and women and 441 slaves.
The Ladies’ Memorial Association originally decided to place the monument at Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church, but others disagreed and the group placed the statue in the front lawn of the early court-house in Eucheeanna.
At some point, John Morrison, a state delegate, his brother Murdoch Morrison and some of their employees loaded the monument onto a wagon and brought it to Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church.
According to Moore’s book, the brothers threatened violence against anyone who tried to stop them.
The president of the women’s group, Jeannett J. McCullom — McKinnon on the statue — filed a complaint with the First Judicial Court. The case was dismissed.
McCullom appealed to the Supreme Court of Florida. In January 1874 the court found for McCullom and the monument was moved back to the Eucheeanna courthouse.
In September 1927, the statue was moved a final time to its present location in DeFuniak Springs when the city became the county seat.
The monument with a confederate flag flying beside it has stirred up little debate over the years. Merkel credited it to being “heritage, not hatred.”
Hinote agreed that few problems have arisen in about statue or the flag.
“It’s important to this area because it’s a part of our history,” Hinote said. “It’s all pretty basic. There’s been no controversy to speak of.”
While nothing has stirred about removing the historic marker, little is known about the monument.
“Most of our history is verbal, which makes it really hard to get back to the primary sources information,” said Merkel, who has been trying to gather information. “I want to use primary sources if at all possible, but there are not a whole lot of things around.”
The now–defunct Florida Board of Parks and Historical Monuments declared the memorial a historic marker in 1967.
Since then, few photos have been shot.
“I wish we had enough photographs of it to pinpoint the years. (The hand has) been gone for a long time,” Merkel said. “I wish there were more available. Maybe someone will be inspired to start digging.”
http://m.newsherald.com/news/memorial-98360-attracts-springs.html?pic=1
New Jersey Teen Suspended for Flag Shirt
East Windsor teen suspended over Confederate flag shirt, mom says school is wrong
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lisa Coryell/For The Times The Times, Trenton
Torri Albrecht, 14, an eighth grade student at East Windsor's Kreps Middle School, was suspended on Monday, Nov. 7, 2011, for wearing a Confederate flag sweatshirt to school, according to her mother, Jane West. (Photo courtesy of the West family.)
EAST WINDSOR — A Kreps Middle School parent who says her daughter was suspended for wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the image of the confederate flag says the school overstepped its boundaries and violated her daughter’s right to free speech.
Jane West says she’s thinking about withdrawing her daughter, Torri Albrecht, from the school even as district officials insist that the flag — viewed by many as a racially charged symbol — was not the reason the girl was suspended.
“They’re saying that now because they know they really went too far this time,” West said. “If there wasn’t a problem with the sweatshirt, why did the vice principal call at 10 after 8 on Monday to demand that I bring a change of clothes for my daughter?”
“He told me he had a bunch of students and a bunch of teachers come into his office to say they were disturbed by it,” she said.
West said she told the assistant principal, Jermaine Blount, he was crazy if he thought she was coming out with a change of clothes for the eighth-grader.
“The Indian kids wear their turbans. The Jewish kids wear their yarmulkes. That’s their birthright,” she said. “I told him that Torri was born in Virginia. That flag is her heritage and I’m not telling her to take it off. He said ‘I guess she’ll have to suffer the consequences.’”
West said before heading to the school she called her daughter’s cell phone to tell her not to follow any orders to turn the sweatshirt inside out.
When she got to the school she was told that her daughter had been given a one-day suspension, she said.
No stranger to run-ins with school administrators at Kreps over issues involving her daughter, West said she’d had enough. She told her daughter to clean out her locker because she wasn’t coming back to school.
District Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer III disputed West’s account.
“No student was suspended for wearing an inappropriate shirt,” he said. He declined to say why Albrecht was suspended, citing student confidentiality policies.
Speaking in generalities, he said the district has a dress code that bans any clothing that causes a substantial disturbance in school.
“We’d rather be proactive than reactive,” he said. “Ninety-nine times out of 100, when asked, students say ‘OK, I’ll change.’ Some want to make an issue of it for ulterior motives. If there’s defiance involved, if there’s profanity involved (in the refusal to change clothing), certainly we’d have to respond appropriately.”
The battle flag of Confederate forces in the Civil War is widely regarded as one of the most controversial symbols from American history. Many see it as a symbol of racism while others consider it a part of familial and cultural heritage.
West says she and her daughter are in the latter group.
“We are so far from prejudiced,” she said. “My older daughter is biracial. For Torri this was about expressing herself. It was about saying ‘I’m from the South and I’m proud of it.’ She didn’t do it to cause hurt feelings.”
Furthermore, she said, the sweatshirt could not have caused a disturbance in the 10 minutes Albrecht wore it before being escorted to the office at the start of the school day. Albrecht herself said no one commented on the shirt.
Courts have upheld the right of schools to prohibit the display of Confederate flags on school property, but both Forsthoffer and West agree that the East Windsor district is pushing that issue.
The superintendent said no ban was ever issued. West says Kreps Principal Lori Stein called her the day after the suspension to say the school had changed its stance.
“She said that after careful consideration she decided that if Torri wears the sweatshirt, it might not be liked but that (Stein) would look the other way and allow her to wear it,” West said.
She’s not sure she’ll accept that solution, she said.
West said she plans to send Albrecht to Virginia to live with her sister in December but doesn’t know what to do in the meantime, since Kreps is the only middle school in the district. She said she’s considering home-schooling the girl until she can make the move south.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/11/east_windsor_teen_suspended_ov.html
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lisa Coryell/For The Times The Times, Trenton
Torri Albrecht, 14, an eighth grade student at East Windsor's Kreps Middle School, was suspended on Monday, Nov. 7, 2011, for wearing a Confederate flag sweatshirt to school, according to her mother, Jane West. (Photo courtesy of the West family.)
EAST WINDSOR — A Kreps Middle School parent who says her daughter was suspended for wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the image of the confederate flag says the school overstepped its boundaries and violated her daughter’s right to free speech.
Jane West says she’s thinking about withdrawing her daughter, Torri Albrecht, from the school even as district officials insist that the flag — viewed by many as a racially charged symbol — was not the reason the girl was suspended.
“They’re saying that now because they know they really went too far this time,” West said. “If there wasn’t a problem with the sweatshirt, why did the vice principal call at 10 after 8 on Monday to demand that I bring a change of clothes for my daughter?”
“He told me he had a bunch of students and a bunch of teachers come into his office to say they were disturbed by it,” she said.
West said she told the assistant principal, Jermaine Blount, he was crazy if he thought she was coming out with a change of clothes for the eighth-grader.
“The Indian kids wear their turbans. The Jewish kids wear their yarmulkes. That’s their birthright,” she said. “I told him that Torri was born in Virginia. That flag is her heritage and I’m not telling her to take it off. He said ‘I guess she’ll have to suffer the consequences.’”
West said before heading to the school she called her daughter’s cell phone to tell her not to follow any orders to turn the sweatshirt inside out.
When she got to the school she was told that her daughter had been given a one-day suspension, she said.
No stranger to run-ins with school administrators at Kreps over issues involving her daughter, West said she’d had enough. She told her daughter to clean out her locker because she wasn’t coming back to school.
District Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer III disputed West’s account.
“No student was suspended for wearing an inappropriate shirt,” he said. He declined to say why Albrecht was suspended, citing student confidentiality policies.
Speaking in generalities, he said the district has a dress code that bans any clothing that causes a substantial disturbance in school.
“We’d rather be proactive than reactive,” he said. “Ninety-nine times out of 100, when asked, students say ‘OK, I’ll change.’ Some want to make an issue of it for ulterior motives. If there’s defiance involved, if there’s profanity involved (in the refusal to change clothing), certainly we’d have to respond appropriately.”
The battle flag of Confederate forces in the Civil War is widely regarded as one of the most controversial symbols from American history. Many see it as a symbol of racism while others consider it a part of familial and cultural heritage.
West says she and her daughter are in the latter group.
“We are so far from prejudiced,” she said. “My older daughter is biracial. For Torri this was about expressing herself. It was about saying ‘I’m from the South and I’m proud of it.’ She didn’t do it to cause hurt feelings.”
Furthermore, she said, the sweatshirt could not have caused a disturbance in the 10 minutes Albrecht wore it before being escorted to the office at the start of the school day. Albrecht herself said no one commented on the shirt.
Courts have upheld the right of schools to prohibit the display of Confederate flags on school property, but both Forsthoffer and West agree that the East Windsor district is pushing that issue.
The superintendent said no ban was ever issued. West says Kreps Principal Lori Stein called her the day after the suspension to say the school had changed its stance.
“She said that after careful consideration she decided that if Torri wears the sweatshirt, it might not be liked but that (Stein) would look the other way and allow her to wear it,” West said.
She’s not sure she’ll accept that solution, she said.
West said she plans to send Albrecht to Virginia to live with her sister in December but doesn’t know what to do in the meantime, since Kreps is the only middle school in the district. She said she’s considering home-schooling the girl until she can make the move south.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/11/east_windsor_teen_suspended_ov.html
Battle Flag Commentary - Why the Hate Toward It?
Why do so many of the ruling elite despise the Confederate battle flag?
by Mark Vogl
Monday, March 7, 2011
One of these days you may be driving along an interstate highway and be surprised to see a huge garrison sized Confederate battle flag flying proudly. These flags are part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Flags Across the South program.
The crimson battle flag with a blue cross and thirteen white stars is the most recognized symbol of the South, and the Civil War in America, and across the globe. In fact, if you think for a moment, does any other region in the United States have a symbol? Does the powerful northeast? Does the West Coast? How bout the Heartland? The answer is no.
Only the South has a regioal symbol, and even a quasi-national anthem, Dixie.
Three decades ago these symbols flew at NASCAR race tracks, at many college and high school football games, and Dixie was played as a fight song for many schools.
But somewhere in the 80's the ruling elite decided that these symbols of Southern regionalism and pride had to be erased. The excuse, that they offended black Americans. They made every effort to associate the Confederate battle flag with raciest organizations. Slavery was embraced as the sole PC subject connected with the American Civil War.
Why?
Any real historian will tell you that the only American slave ships which brought slaves to America flew the American flag! The slave trade was condemned as illegal in the Confederate Constitution.
And, once the US was created as nation, the US flag flew over the harbors, north and South, where slaves were brought to the United States. There was no Confederacy in those days, and there was no crimson battle flag.
So why is there so much hatred spewed against the battle flag of the Confederate Armed Forces? Why is the most recognized symbol of the South condemned?
Before I answer, let me ask another question. Do you know what the Stars and Bars looks like? No not the crimson battle flag, the Stars and Bars? This was the first national flag of the Confederate States of America. The Stars and Bars kinda looks like the US flag. It has a red, white and red bar, with a blue field in the upper corner. Usually, it is seen with seven stars in a circle. Yep, that's the Stars and Bars. The Confederacy had two other national flags, one was a white sheet with a crimson battle flag in one corner, the third was a white sheet with a crimson battle flag in the corner, and red bar running from top to bottom on the other end.
Ok, so lets talk about why the Confederate flag is so hated?
The Confederate battle flag is a very attractive, recognizable flag. It is the most recognized symbol of the South. Across the globe, many oppressed people fly this flag as a symbol of resistance. It flew in Berlin when the Wall fell. It flew in Afghanistan when the Afghani’s drove out the Soviets.
The Confederate battle flag makes Americans think about secession. It leads to discussions and questions about the principle of the "consent of the governed," and how that principle was completely ignored when Lincoln invaded the South. Before 1861 the legitimacy of the United States government rested on the sovereignty of the people and the fact that the states, as the representatives or agents of the people joined the union voluntarily. But, that ended with secession. For whatever reason, thirteen southern states chose to leave the Union. They left through democratic process and system. The people of the state, either through referendum, or through election of delegates to attend secession conventions chose to leave the Union.
And, when seven of those states joined together, they held a constitutional convention in Montgomery Alabama and drafted a new Constitution with many important changes. In effect, the South created a new system for American governance.
The ultimate right of the people was asserted. The people of a state, if they did not wish to remain in the Union could leave. If they did not want Obama care, they could leave. If they did not support a war, they could leave. If they opposed Roe v. Wade, or Gay Marriage, they could leave the union.
It was this ability to secede peacefully which acted as the single most effective restraint to the federal government over reaching itself.
The ruling elite despise the Confederate battle flag because of what it truly stands for, the original intent of the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia.
Take an opportunity during the Sesquicentennial to learn about America. Visit a local Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp and learn about American history. We encourage people to read primary sources concerning the creation of the US Constitution, and the actual events of secession in each of the Southern states. If you armed with the facts of what really occurred you might finally understand why there is such hatred towards the Crimson battle flag
http://www.nolanchart.com/article8433-why-is-there-so-much-hatred-towards-the-confederate-battle-flag.html
by Mark Vogl
Monday, March 7, 2011
One of these days you may be driving along an interstate highway and be surprised to see a huge garrison sized Confederate battle flag flying proudly. These flags are part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Flags Across the South program.
The crimson battle flag with a blue cross and thirteen white stars is the most recognized symbol of the South, and the Civil War in America, and across the globe. In fact, if you think for a moment, does any other region in the United States have a symbol? Does the powerful northeast? Does the West Coast? How bout the Heartland? The answer is no.
Only the South has a regioal symbol, and even a quasi-national anthem, Dixie.
Three decades ago these symbols flew at NASCAR race tracks, at many college and high school football games, and Dixie was played as a fight song for many schools.
But somewhere in the 80's the ruling elite decided that these symbols of Southern regionalism and pride had to be erased. The excuse, that they offended black Americans. They made every effort to associate the Confederate battle flag with raciest organizations. Slavery was embraced as the sole PC subject connected with the American Civil War.
Why?
Any real historian will tell you that the only American slave ships which brought slaves to America flew the American flag! The slave trade was condemned as illegal in the Confederate Constitution.
And, once the US was created as nation, the US flag flew over the harbors, north and South, where slaves were brought to the United States. There was no Confederacy in those days, and there was no crimson battle flag.
So why is there so much hatred spewed against the battle flag of the Confederate Armed Forces? Why is the most recognized symbol of the South condemned?
Before I answer, let me ask another question. Do you know what the Stars and Bars looks like? No not the crimson battle flag, the Stars and Bars? This was the first national flag of the Confederate States of America. The Stars and Bars kinda looks like the US flag. It has a red, white and red bar, with a blue field in the upper corner. Usually, it is seen with seven stars in a circle. Yep, that's the Stars and Bars. The Confederacy had two other national flags, one was a white sheet with a crimson battle flag in one corner, the third was a white sheet with a crimson battle flag in the corner, and red bar running from top to bottom on the other end.
Ok, so lets talk about why the Confederate flag is so hated?
The Confederate battle flag is a very attractive, recognizable flag. It is the most recognized symbol of the South. Across the globe, many oppressed people fly this flag as a symbol of resistance. It flew in Berlin when the Wall fell. It flew in Afghanistan when the Afghani’s drove out the Soviets.
The Confederate battle flag makes Americans think about secession. It leads to discussions and questions about the principle of the "consent of the governed," and how that principle was completely ignored when Lincoln invaded the South. Before 1861 the legitimacy of the United States government rested on the sovereignty of the people and the fact that the states, as the representatives or agents of the people joined the union voluntarily. But, that ended with secession. For whatever reason, thirteen southern states chose to leave the Union. They left through democratic process and system. The people of the state, either through referendum, or through election of delegates to attend secession conventions chose to leave the Union.
And, when seven of those states joined together, they held a constitutional convention in Montgomery Alabama and drafted a new Constitution with many important changes. In effect, the South created a new system for American governance.
The ultimate right of the people was asserted. The people of a state, if they did not wish to remain in the Union could leave. If they did not want Obama care, they could leave. If they did not support a war, they could leave. If they opposed Roe v. Wade, or Gay Marriage, they could leave the union.
It was this ability to secede peacefully which acted as the single most effective restraint to the federal government over reaching itself.
The ruling elite despise the Confederate battle flag because of what it truly stands for, the original intent of the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia.
Take an opportunity during the Sesquicentennial to learn about America. Visit a local Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp and learn about American history. We encourage people to read primary sources concerning the creation of the US Constitution, and the actual events of secession in each of the Southern states. If you armed with the facts of what really occurred you might finally understand why there is such hatred towards the Crimson battle flag
http://www.nolanchart.com/article8433-why-is-there-so-much-hatred-towards-the-confederate-battle-flag.html
Baloon Launching Point to be Preserved
Nonprofit aims to save Civil War's 'Kitty Hawk'
Story posted 2011.11.26
By STEVE SZKOTAK
The Associated Press
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — It was the Civil War's "Kitty Hawk moment," and it happened here when balloons manned by Confederate and Union aeronauts floated above a field of battle — the first time warring armies sent their air ships aloft simultaneously over U.S. soil.
The historic encounter in the skies occurred on June 27, 1862, when two Union balloons — the Intrepid and the Washington — rose aloft only miles west of Richmond while their Southern counterpart, Gazelle, floated over the capital of the Confederacy. These balloons were the unarmed drones of war, collecting intelligence on rival troop movements from a vantage of 1,000 feet above the earth.
"You had the Confederate balloon up and the Union balloons up, all trying to exploit the advantages of being above and over the battlefield and providing tactical information to their respective generals," says Mike Boehme, director of the Virginia Aviation Museum. "This was the first time that opposing air forces were facing each other."
Today a multimillion-dollar preservation effort by the nonprofit group The Civil War Trust is seeking to save the ground where the Union launched its balloons here. Little of the original battlefield has been preserved. But the 285-acre slice of the Gaines' Mill battlefield includes a ravine that shielded the North's balloons from Confederate troops while they were launched.
Gaines' Mill was the stage for the one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the Civil War and the battleground where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee recorded his first victory. The June 27, 1862, battle repulsed Union forces and their Peninsula Campaign, a disastrous attempt starting in March 1862 to occupy Richmond by way of the peninsula between the York and James rivers. The battle involved nearly 100,000 troops and left more than 15,000 dead or wounded.
The trust's Rob Shenk was attending a presentation on Civil War ballooning in June at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum when he made the aeronautic connection.
"I realized, God, that looks like one of the tracts we're about to save," said Shenk, the trust's director of Internet strategy and development. "How amazing it would be if we were saving a piece of battlefield land that had great aeronautical history."
Until the Civil War, balloons were fairgrounds attractions, taking the curious aloft for a few dollars.
A New Englander, Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, changed all that. The father of military aerial reconnaissance, he had planned a trans-Atlantic balloon crossing until he was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as chief aeronaut of the Union's balloon corps. He dazzled the president by taking a balloon over the White House and telegraphing Lincoln a message in June 1861.That was the beginning of the Union's earliest "air force" and balloons would later be sent aloft on several occasions to spy on enemy lines — but not at the same time by rival forces until Gaines' Mill.
Intrigued by the intersection of Civil War and aeronautic history, Boehme and two experts in aviation history trekked to Gaines' Mill one crisp fall day. They carried historic photos of ballooning from Gaines' Mill, comparing the present-day contours of the spare landscape with the aging images.
All agreed, this was the home of Civil War ballooning's heyday.
"Military ballooning spreads from here, really, to around the world," said Tom D. Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
"The high ground. It is the ultimate high ground," said James L. Green, chief of planetary science at NASA and one of the three who viewed the site of the Union balloon camp.
With Richmond about 6 miles due east and the faint sound of traffic on Interstate 295 in the distance, it now seems an unlikely setting for aeronautic history. A closer look, however, connects all the dots.
Today the Union balloon camp is found beyond a field of grazing beef cattle and in a ravine studded with decaying logs and a thicket of boot-snagging grasses. In this trough, Union aeronauts hauled in wagons to inflate the balloons.
The Gazelle, which was stitched together using silk common to dressmaking, was launched from a rail track close to Richmond.
While Confederate forces had balloons, the North had the technological and financial edge to assemble a balloon corps. Still, even the Union's use of balloons was limited to a couple of years. Military leaders weren't quite sure how to effectively deploy this novelty.
The balloons were tethered as aeronauts relayed observations by telegraph, the communication wire dangling to the ground. Residents in Richmond could see the Union inflatables. It was probably a terrifying sight.
"If I was in Richmond and I saw the balloons, which they did quite frequently, I would be scared that the Union army is just over the hill," Green said.
The Union balloons were made of thick silk with a coat of varnish enveloped by a netting of Italian flax thread. The basket was made of willow and cane and had an armored floor.
The three modern-day pilgrims stood near the banks of a small, clear brook, talking excitedly about what occurred here 149 years ago and how balloons could be inflated in the ravine by Union forces without being detected by Confederate forces. The hydrogen was concocted in inflation wagons using dilute sulfuric acid and iron filings.
"This spot is incredibly historic for people who really enjoy aeronautics and the birth of flight," Boehme said. "For me, personally, this is like going down to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers."
The Civil War wasn't the first time balloons were used in a wartime environment. More than a half century before the start of the Civil War, France created the Corp d'Aerostiers in 1794. They too were used for military reconnaissance.
Lowe, whom Crouch described as a showman, designed balloons that were sturdier than the fairground versions, with some able to carry five people aloft. One of the largest, the Intrepid, had a portrait on the balloon depicting Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who led the Union's Peninsula campaign. The portrait was suspended from an eagle's beak.
The Union's balloon corps, which included seven inflatables, were sent aloft during the Peninsula campaign at Yorktown and at the Union-held Fortress Monroe in Hampton, Va. There was even an early forerunner of an aircraft carrier: two balloons and their gas generators were loaded onto a converted coal barge for observations over water. expanded
Despite the Union's dominance of the skies, Lee's troops had a rare edge in numbers at Gaines' Mill and the Southern forces were able to drive back the Army of the Potomac and save the Confederate capital.
The Civil War Trust is using state and federal funds to preserve the 285 acres of the battlefield, but a capital campaign is needed to raise an additional $1.2 million to close the deal. The land ultimately could be transferred to the National Park Service.
At the 150th anniversary of the Gaines' Mill battle next June, Shenk is hopeful a replica of the Intrepid can be launched from the same site.
"The fact that we could fly and see what's going on over the hill has absolutely shaped the course of world history," Crouch said. "And all of it starts here."
___
Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap.
___
Online:
The Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/
Virginia Aviation Museum: http://www.vam.smv.org/
Story posted 2011.11.26
By STEVE SZKOTAK
The Associated Press
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — It was the Civil War's "Kitty Hawk moment," and it happened here when balloons manned by Confederate and Union aeronauts floated above a field of battle — the first time warring armies sent their air ships aloft simultaneously over U.S. soil.
The historic encounter in the skies occurred on June 27, 1862, when two Union balloons — the Intrepid and the Washington — rose aloft only miles west of Richmond while their Southern counterpart, Gazelle, floated over the capital of the Confederacy. These balloons were the unarmed drones of war, collecting intelligence on rival troop movements from a vantage of 1,000 feet above the earth.
"You had the Confederate balloon up and the Union balloons up, all trying to exploit the advantages of being above and over the battlefield and providing tactical information to their respective generals," says Mike Boehme, director of the Virginia Aviation Museum. "This was the first time that opposing air forces were facing each other."
Today a multimillion-dollar preservation effort by the nonprofit group The Civil War Trust is seeking to save the ground where the Union launched its balloons here. Little of the original battlefield has been preserved. But the 285-acre slice of the Gaines' Mill battlefield includes a ravine that shielded the North's balloons from Confederate troops while they were launched.
Gaines' Mill was the stage for the one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the Civil War and the battleground where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee recorded his first victory. The June 27, 1862, battle repulsed Union forces and their Peninsula Campaign, a disastrous attempt starting in March 1862 to occupy Richmond by way of the peninsula between the York and James rivers. The battle involved nearly 100,000 troops and left more than 15,000 dead or wounded.
The trust's Rob Shenk was attending a presentation on Civil War ballooning in June at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum when he made the aeronautic connection.
"I realized, God, that looks like one of the tracts we're about to save," said Shenk, the trust's director of Internet strategy and development. "How amazing it would be if we were saving a piece of battlefield land that had great aeronautical history."
Until the Civil War, balloons were fairgrounds attractions, taking the curious aloft for a few dollars.
A New Englander, Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, changed all that. The father of military aerial reconnaissance, he had planned a trans-Atlantic balloon crossing until he was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as chief aeronaut of the Union's balloon corps. He dazzled the president by taking a balloon over the White House and telegraphing Lincoln a message in June 1861.That was the beginning of the Union's earliest "air force" and balloons would later be sent aloft on several occasions to spy on enemy lines — but not at the same time by rival forces until Gaines' Mill.
Intrigued by the intersection of Civil War and aeronautic history, Boehme and two experts in aviation history trekked to Gaines' Mill one crisp fall day. They carried historic photos of ballooning from Gaines' Mill, comparing the present-day contours of the spare landscape with the aging images.
All agreed, this was the home of Civil War ballooning's heyday.
"Military ballooning spreads from here, really, to around the world," said Tom D. Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
"The high ground. It is the ultimate high ground," said James L. Green, chief of planetary science at NASA and one of the three who viewed the site of the Union balloon camp.
With Richmond about 6 miles due east and the faint sound of traffic on Interstate 295 in the distance, it now seems an unlikely setting for aeronautic history. A closer look, however, connects all the dots.
Today the Union balloon camp is found beyond a field of grazing beef cattle and in a ravine studded with decaying logs and a thicket of boot-snagging grasses. In this trough, Union aeronauts hauled in wagons to inflate the balloons.
The Gazelle, which was stitched together using silk common to dressmaking, was launched from a rail track close to Richmond.
While Confederate forces had balloons, the North had the technological and financial edge to assemble a balloon corps. Still, even the Union's use of balloons was limited to a couple of years. Military leaders weren't quite sure how to effectively deploy this novelty.
The balloons were tethered as aeronauts relayed observations by telegraph, the communication wire dangling to the ground. Residents in Richmond could see the Union inflatables. It was probably a terrifying sight.
"If I was in Richmond and I saw the balloons, which they did quite frequently, I would be scared that the Union army is just over the hill," Green said.
The Union balloons were made of thick silk with a coat of varnish enveloped by a netting of Italian flax thread. The basket was made of willow and cane and had an armored floor.
The three modern-day pilgrims stood near the banks of a small, clear brook, talking excitedly about what occurred here 149 years ago and how balloons could be inflated in the ravine by Union forces without being detected by Confederate forces. The hydrogen was concocted in inflation wagons using dilute sulfuric acid and iron filings.
"This spot is incredibly historic for people who really enjoy aeronautics and the birth of flight," Boehme said. "For me, personally, this is like going down to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers."
The Civil War wasn't the first time balloons were used in a wartime environment. More than a half century before the start of the Civil War, France created the Corp d'Aerostiers in 1794. They too were used for military reconnaissance.
Lowe, whom Crouch described as a showman, designed balloons that were sturdier than the fairground versions, with some able to carry five people aloft. One of the largest, the Intrepid, had a portrait on the balloon depicting Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who led the Union's Peninsula campaign. The portrait was suspended from an eagle's beak.
The Union's balloon corps, which included seven inflatables, were sent aloft during the Peninsula campaign at Yorktown and at the Union-held Fortress Monroe in Hampton, Va. There was even an early forerunner of an aircraft carrier: two balloons and their gas generators were loaded onto a converted coal barge for observations over water. expanded
Despite the Union's dominance of the skies, Lee's troops had a rare edge in numbers at Gaines' Mill and the Southern forces were able to drive back the Army of the Potomac and save the Confederate capital.
The Civil War Trust is using state and federal funds to preserve the 285 acres of the battlefield, but a capital campaign is needed to raise an additional $1.2 million to close the deal. The land ultimately could be transferred to the National Park Service.
At the 150th anniversary of the Gaines' Mill battle next June, Shenk is hopeful a replica of the Intrepid can be launched from the same site.
"The fact that we could fly and see what's going on over the hill has absolutely shaped the course of world history," Crouch said. "And all of it starts here."
___
Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap.
___
Online:
The Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/
Virginia Aviation Museum: http://www.vam.smv.org/
Friday, November 25, 2011
History of the Southern Cross
The history of the Southern Cross
Nov. 24, 2011
Editor's Note: Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. To mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, a series of articles by Dr. Jones about the war will be published in The News-Star. Dr. Jones is also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This is the eighth article in the series.
Louisiana in the Civil War
On November 27, 1861, Louisiana General P.G.T. Beauregard hosted a dinner party for his officers. Beauregard was the South's first hero, having captured Fort Sumter in April and then defeated the Yankees at the First Battle of Bull Run in July. Now, he commanded the Confederate army stationed in Northern Virginia to block any enemy advance out of Washington, D.C.
During the evening, Beauregard told his guests how the fog of war had caused him to nearly throw away the victory at Bull Run by ordering a headlong retreat. The fighting had raged since daylight on July 21, 1861, after General Irwin McDowell's Union army attacked Beauregard from across the small Virginia stream known as Bull Run. The battle seesawed back and forth throughout the day, but fresh troops rushed in from the Shenandoah Valley had finally given Beauregard the advantage. Then, just as victory seemed certain, he spied a heavy column of troops more than a mile away maneuvering on his flank.
Beauregard explained, "At their head waved a flag which I could not distinguish. Even by a strong glass I was unable to determine whether it was the United States flag or the Confederate flag. At this moment I received a dispatch from Capt. (Porter) Alexander, in charge of the signal station, warning me to look out for the left; that a large column was approaching in that direction, and that it was supposed to be Gen. (Robert) Patterson's command coming to reinforce McDowell. At this moment, I must confess, my heart failed me."
Beauregard knew his exhausted men could not withstand a determined flank attack. "I came, reluctantly, to the conclusion that after all our efforts, we should at last be compelled to yield to the enemy the hard fought and bloody field." Beauregard turned to an officer and instructed him to go to the rear and tell General Joseph E. Johnston to prepare the reserves to support the retreat he was about to order. As the officer began to leave, Beauregard had second thoughts and told him to wait a minute to make sure that it actually was Yankees bearing down upon them. It proved to be a fortuitous decision. "I took the glass and again examined the flag. "A sudden gust of wind shook out its folds, and I recognized the stars and bars of the Confederate banner."
The mysterious flag turned out to be the Confederacy's First National Flag, which resembled the United States flag in both color and design. It was carried at the head of Colonel Harry T. Hays' 7th Louisiana Volunteers, the lead regiment in Colonel Jubal Early's brigade that was attacking the Union flank. Early's bold move helped win the day, and the First Battle of Bull Run ended in a complete Confederate victory. Few people knew how close Beauregard had come to throwing away that victory simply because he could not identify a flag on the battlefield.
Determined to avoid similar mistakes in the future, Beauregard decided the Confederates needed a distinctive battle flag. Collaborating with Joseph E. Johnston and others, he settled on a design that South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles had submitted earlier for consideration as the First National Flag. Miles' submission was a blue St. Andrew's Cross on a red background, with white stars representing the Southern states.
After telling his tale, Beauregard had the new flag brought out to show his officers. A reporter for the Richmond Daily Dispatch was impressed and wrote, "The flag itself is a beautiful banner, which, I am sure, before this campaign is over, will be consecrated forever in the affections of the people of the Confederate States." Shortly the dinner, Beauregard was transferred to the western Confederacy and the new battle flag took root there, as well.
The Louisiana-inspired battle flag became known as the Southern Cross, and it was adopted by the other armies when General Beauregard was transferred to the western theater of war. However, it was never an official flag of the Confederate government and it was never flown over public buildings despite what Hollywood might have one believe. The Southern Cross was simply a military banner that troops carried in the field. Nonetheless, it became the iconic symbol of the Rebel cause, and it was later incorporated into the Confederacy's Second and Third National Flags.
Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and has published six books on the American Civil War.
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20111125/LIFESTYLE/111250322/The-history-Southern-Cross?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
Nov. 24, 2011
Editor's Note: Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. To mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, a series of articles by Dr. Jones about the war will be published in The News-Star. Dr. Jones is also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This is the eighth article in the series.
Louisiana in the Civil War
On November 27, 1861, Louisiana General P.G.T. Beauregard hosted a dinner party for his officers. Beauregard was the South's first hero, having captured Fort Sumter in April and then defeated the Yankees at the First Battle of Bull Run in July. Now, he commanded the Confederate army stationed in Northern Virginia to block any enemy advance out of Washington, D.C.
During the evening, Beauregard told his guests how the fog of war had caused him to nearly throw away the victory at Bull Run by ordering a headlong retreat. The fighting had raged since daylight on July 21, 1861, after General Irwin McDowell's Union army attacked Beauregard from across the small Virginia stream known as Bull Run. The battle seesawed back and forth throughout the day, but fresh troops rushed in from the Shenandoah Valley had finally given Beauregard the advantage. Then, just as victory seemed certain, he spied a heavy column of troops more than a mile away maneuvering on his flank.
Beauregard explained, "At their head waved a flag which I could not distinguish. Even by a strong glass I was unable to determine whether it was the United States flag or the Confederate flag. At this moment I received a dispatch from Capt. (Porter) Alexander, in charge of the signal station, warning me to look out for the left; that a large column was approaching in that direction, and that it was supposed to be Gen. (Robert) Patterson's command coming to reinforce McDowell. At this moment, I must confess, my heart failed me."
Beauregard knew his exhausted men could not withstand a determined flank attack. "I came, reluctantly, to the conclusion that after all our efforts, we should at last be compelled to yield to the enemy the hard fought and bloody field." Beauregard turned to an officer and instructed him to go to the rear and tell General Joseph E. Johnston to prepare the reserves to support the retreat he was about to order. As the officer began to leave, Beauregard had second thoughts and told him to wait a minute to make sure that it actually was Yankees bearing down upon them. It proved to be a fortuitous decision. "I took the glass and again examined the flag. "A sudden gust of wind shook out its folds, and I recognized the stars and bars of the Confederate banner."
The mysterious flag turned out to be the Confederacy's First National Flag, which resembled the United States flag in both color and design. It was carried at the head of Colonel Harry T. Hays' 7th Louisiana Volunteers, the lead regiment in Colonel Jubal Early's brigade that was attacking the Union flank. Early's bold move helped win the day, and the First Battle of Bull Run ended in a complete Confederate victory. Few people knew how close Beauregard had come to throwing away that victory simply because he could not identify a flag on the battlefield.
Determined to avoid similar mistakes in the future, Beauregard decided the Confederates needed a distinctive battle flag. Collaborating with Joseph E. Johnston and others, he settled on a design that South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles had submitted earlier for consideration as the First National Flag. Miles' submission was a blue St. Andrew's Cross on a red background, with white stars representing the Southern states.
After telling his tale, Beauregard had the new flag brought out to show his officers. A reporter for the Richmond Daily Dispatch was impressed and wrote, "The flag itself is a beautiful banner, which, I am sure, before this campaign is over, will be consecrated forever in the affections of the people of the Confederate States." Shortly the dinner, Beauregard was transferred to the western Confederacy and the new battle flag took root there, as well.
The Louisiana-inspired battle flag became known as the Southern Cross, and it was adopted by the other armies when General Beauregard was transferred to the western theater of war. However, it was never an official flag of the Confederate government and it was never flown over public buildings despite what Hollywood might have one believe. The Southern Cross was simply a military banner that troops carried in the field. Nonetheless, it became the iconic symbol of the Rebel cause, and it was later incorporated into the Confederacy's Second and Third National Flags.
Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and has published six books on the American Civil War.
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20111125/LIFESTYLE/111250322/The-history-Southern-Cross?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
Thanksgiving Proclamation By President Davis
1862 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by CSA President Jefferson Davis
President Jefferson Davis, Confederate States of America, made the following Thanksgiving Day proclamation in 1862. His first such proclamation, "a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer," had been issued in 1861. It was not until two years later that the infidel Abraham Lincoln copied Davis and announced the first official Thanksgiving day in the North.
To the People of the Confederate States:
Once more upon the plains of Manassas have our armies been blessed by the Lord of Hosts with a triumph over our enemies. It is my privilege to invite you once more to His footstool, not now in the garb of fasting and sorrow, but with joy and gladness, to render thanks for the great mercies received at His hand. A few months since, and our enemies poured forth their invading legions upon our soil. They laid waste our fields, polluted our altars and violated the sanctity of our homes. Around our capital they gathered their forces, and with boastful threats, claimed it as already their prize. The brave troops which rallied to its defense have extinguished these vain hopes, and, under the guidance of the same almighty hand, have scattered our enemies and driven them back in dismay.
Uniting these defeated forces and the various armies which had been ravaging our coasts with the army of invasion in Northern Virginia, our enemies have renewed their attempt to subjugate us at the very place where their first effort was defeated, and the vengeance of retributive justice has overtaken the entire host in a second and complete overthrow.To this signal success accorded to our arms in the East has been graciously added another equally brilliant in the West.
On the very day on which our forces were led to victory on the Plains of Manassas, in Virginia, the same Almighty arm assisted us to overcome our enemies at Richmond, in Kentucky. Thus, at one and the same time, have two great hostile armies been stricken down, and the wicked designs of their armies been set at naught.
In such circumstances, it is meet and right that, as a people, we should bow down in adoring thankfulness to that gracious God who has been our bulwark and defense, and to offer unto him the tribute of thanksgiving and praise. In his hand is the issue of all events, and to him should we, in an especial manner, ascribe the honor of this great deliverance.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Thursday, the 18th day of September inst., as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great mercies vouchsafed to our people, and more especially for the triumph of our arms at Richmond and Manassas;
and I do hereby invite the people of the Confederate States to meet on that day at their respective places of public worship, and to unite in rendering thanks and praise to God for these great mercies, and to implore Him to conduct our country safely through the perils which surround us, to the final attainment of the blessings of peace and security.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this fourth day of
September, A.D.1862.
JEFFERSON DAVISPr
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