Friday, August 31, 2012

One Account of Sherman's Raid in North Carolina:


Severely wounded in Virginia and forced to resign from service, Colonel Robert H. Cowan of the 18th North Carolina Regiment became president of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherfordton Railroad Company in the spring of 1863, and removed his family to a home about 5 miles from Laurinburg in Scotland county, and about twenty miles from Cheraw, South Carolina.  From here he oversaw railroad operations for the remained of the war.
His daughter Jane Dickinson DeRosset was a young girl at that time and recalled the following:
"I shall never forget when Sherman's army reached [Cheraw, and opposed primarily by General Wade Hampton's cavalry forces, under General Joseph E. Johnston], during the first week of March in 1865. We sat and listened all day to the booming of the cannon, with aching hearts and fervent prayers that the enemy might be driven back – the utter desolation when we knew that Johnston's Army had passed by and we were left alone to face the dreaded foe!
Late that afternoon I sat on the front steps at my father's feet trying to comfort him and to receive comfort from him, for we were in the deepest distress, our whole country devastated, our dear Southern boys retreating, but contesting every inch of ground, falling by the wayside, gladly giving up their life-blood for the land they loved so well.  The brave, noble remnant struggling on, overpowered by numbers, yet full of faith and trust in their leaders, striving to reach Lee and join forces.  Then all would be well.
Besides this the angel of Death lowered over our house. My youngest sister (now Mrs. Junius Davis) and brother had been ill for weeks with scarlet fever, and our physician had that day given up all hope of saving them.  The burden seemed greater than we could bear.
Every minute we expected [my sister and brother] to leave us and the Federal troops to be upon us. Once we heard the tramping of horses [for as the] day broke I looked out the window and from every direction the hated blue uniforms were coming.  They seemed to spring out of the ground and in a few seconds our house was full of them.
They were everywhere, upstairs and downstairs, rummaging through closets, trunks, bureaus, wardrobes, anywhere, until every piece of silver, jewelry, clothing and everything else, including food, was gone.  We spent the whole ay without one mouthful to eat. Our [black] servants came crying and saying they tried to bring us something, but the [Northern] men would snatch it from them.
My mother had a spoon in which she was mixing medicine for her sick children snatched from her, and she was obliged to mix it in her hand and put it into their mouths with her finger.  They pulled the rings from her fingers as she was holding in her lap, and kicked the cradle in which the other one was lying, with the remark, "That one is dead already."
One of the soldiers engaged in this indignity had meanwhile stood with his loaded musket beside the chair in which my mother sat. They were yelling, cursing, drinking, pitching trunks and boxes from the attic down two flights of stairs to the first floor, breaking them open and putting all that could be carried in that way about their persons, piling up the rest and making bonfires of them.
We had trunks of valuables belonging to General [William H.C.] Whiting, which he had sent us for safe-keeping when the city of Wilmington had fallen into the hands of the foe; also had all that Bishop Watson, who was at that time rector of Saint James Church in Wilmington, had saved when the town of New Berne, N.C., fell.
One of them rushed into the room where we were all gathered together, dressed in the Confederate uniform of my uncle, Captain John Cowan, and going up to my grandmother, slapped her face with Confederate money which he had found somewhere about the house, grabbed at her watch guard, which she thought she had hidden, and pulled it with the watch from her neck.
I was thankful my father was then out of the room, but he soon came in with a Federal soldier, who had promised him to protect us; though he really had no authority in doing so (this man  we found afterwards was a North Carolinian and a deserter from the Confederate army).
There were five watches taken from us at that time.  Another [soldier] came up to me, a girl of sixteen, and told me to give him a ring, which I did not have. My younger sister…said that if he would leaves me alone she would give him one, and as he took it, he threw his arms around her saying he was a Philadelphia boy and had just come out of the penitentiary, which we could well believe.
My father sprang forward….[and] I thought we would all be killed, but Providence watched over us. I saw a [soldier] put a pistol to my father's head and another knock it aside just as it went off.  We had begged father the night before to leave us and go into the woods with our brother and uncle, for we were afraid he would be killed, but he would not go.
[My father] had been in the [Secession] Convention of 1861, which had carried the State out of the Union, and the soldiers had found one of his speeches and had fastened it up on the wall where it could be read by all, and when our uncle, Dr. McRee, asked for a guard for our house and told the officers how outrageously their men were behaving, they answered that they did not care what they did at our house, for they had heard of Colonel Cowan all through South Carolina.
As night came, the [deserter] guard told my father he must take his family out of that house….[and that] when the rest of the army came up that night he would not answer for the consequences, so after dark we stole quietly through [the enemy] camp to an old temperance hall about a quarter mile away.  It had been roughly fixed up as a dwelling for Dr. McRee's family, and in that old shanty we remained for a week (while the Union Army was passing), with nothing to eat, nothing to wear, nothing to look forward to but death.
Sometimes our servants would steal a chicken or turkey from the soldiers and bring it to us, and we would hold in with our hands over the fire until it was cooked enough for us to eat, and that would be all we would have for a day or two.
At last one afternoon the Negro regiments were coming up and they surrounded the old hall yelling that we had gold hid and they were going to have it. I certainly thought then, as we looked out on that sea of black faces, that our time had come, and that death or worse was near.  We barred the doors and windows, and my father got out and walked through those regiments until he found a general, who after hearing him, ordered the Negroes away, and with his staff spent the night in the lower part of the old hall. [They enjoyed] a good supper, we upstairs had not tasted food all day….[and the Northern] general sent a few pieces of dry baker's bread….
The next day the last of Sherman's army left us, and we started back to our home, which the troops had tried to burn down, but our servants had saved for us.  We had nothing but the clothes we had on and a few articles of clothing for the children, and we came to an empty house. The heavy furniture which could not be carried off was there, and Bibles, Prayer-books and pictures, torn, broken and covered with mustard and molasses.
We had no food but the corn their horses had dropped while eating, which we picked up, washed and ground, and a few potato slips, nothing else. When we found a room that was not full of feathers from the beds that had been torn open [looking for valuables], we threw ourselves down and rested, thanking God that we were alive and had a roof over our heads.
My father told his servants to try to get to Wilmington, where they were known, and could make a living, for he did not know he would get meat and bread for his own family and could not help them, though he would do what he could for those who remained with us."
Jane Dickinson DeRosset
(Richmond County, North Carolina Genealogy website www.ncgenweb.us)

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"

2012 Train Robbery in Rothwell Park



 Aug. 26th, 2012 Train Robbery in Rothwell Park , Moberly MO.
In Commemoration of Confederate Col. Poindexter taking the Fayette, MO. Gold from the Train in Moberly that was heading to a New York Bank on August 28, 1861 and returning it to the Bank in Fayette. 
 
Anderson Camp #1743 Sons of Confederate Veterans, Huntsville MO. donated an afternoon to the Friends of Rothwell Park Mini RR……………………………….
Participating was:
Commander, Neil Block
Members: Dan "Nohorses" Ballew and Duddy Pilkington
 
4 situations stand out for me that day:
 
The first was the little girl who would not give up the money bag to Neil and then the little boy who jumped off train and attempted to escape and we shot our guns at him before he was captured.  The last thing that stood out for me was when Neil could not get anyone to give up the money bag hidden on train.  One of the passengers said:  "Obama must have it.!"  I LOL at that one…..
 
But the last one was really funny!  Neil hid in the Outhouse to rob the train.   Below are a couple pics of him coming out of it……now that was funny!
 
                                                                                             
 
Below are a few pics I have chosen out of many taken that Day of Train Robbery:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Okay Men, that's about it for now…..I chose the best of them pics.  Many were out of focus and some with heads cut off and such.  Hope you enjoy these!   We got to take what we can get when we aren't the ones taking the pics…….
 
Dan "Nohorses" Ballew ….out…


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Va Flaggers Update: 2nd Manassas


Va Flaggers Update:  2nd Manassas
Va Flaggers  - 2nd Manassas Sesquicentennial – Flagging the Custermobile with a visit to the Manassas Battlefield and Stonewall Jackson Shrine.
On Saturday, August 25th, several Virginia Flaggers made our way up 95 to Manassas.  Our mission was to flag the Virginia Civil War Historymobile (Custermobile), but we started our day with a visit to the Manassas Battlefield.  There, we carried our flags and visited the markers and monuments around the battlefield.  Although there were no big crowds there, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who approached us to ask about the flags we were carrying.  Most were very interested to learn what the Va Flaggers were all about and thanked us for the information.   One man very enthusiastically asked where he could go buy a Confederate Battle Flag, right then!  Sadly, we were unfamiliar with the area and could only offer him an online recommendation. 
Following the visit there, we headed downtown, where Old Town Manassas was hosting a festival…with a living history encampment and our target…the Custermobile!  When we arrived at the Custermobile, we found a few people in line.  As we stood in front of the trailer, we were approached by many people who asked about the flags, why were carrying them, and asked to take our pictures.  For the first hour, we explained why we were there and handed out our literature and were VERY well received.  
Soon, we were joined by Stephen Dunn and  Rusty Jones of the Flint Hill Rangers.  They were a fantastic reinforcement for the Flaggers, drawing even bigger crowds, and giving us the opportunity to talk to more people about the Commission and their blatant disregard for our Confederate ancestors.
The Historymobile staff was very accommodating.  We spoke with visitors when they came out, handed out literature, stayed right in front of the trailer, and were never asked to leave or stop speaking to the public.  I asked one of them why Custer was on the side of the VIRGINIA Civil War Sesquicentennial Historymobile, instead of one of the numerous great Confederates who hailed from Virginia.  His response was that the Virginia Historical Society decided what photos would go on the trailer and that it was a very difficult and carefully thought out process.  He really had no explanation other than that and just threw up his hands when I pressed the matter.  
What we found in Manassas was a public that was EAGER for the truth.  I imagine our flags and soldiers in uniform was the largest Confederate presence ever in the short, but very politically correct history of the Va Historymobile.  This traveling exhibit needs to be flagged in every town that it visits. 
The State of Virginia, through the Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, refuses to honor our ancestors.  If you don't speak up for them… who will? 
Severe weather forced the Custermobile to close up early (HOORAY!), but allowed us time to make a stop at the Stonewall Shrine at Guinea Station.  The house in which Stonewall  Jackson died is a must-see.  Standing in the room where he took his last breath, and listening to the Park Ranger relay the details of the hours and minutes before he died, was a chilling, moving, and altogether wonderful experience. 
More information on the Va Civil War  Sesquicentennial Commission:
Here is a LTE from  April, 2011:
Editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch
4/29/11
I believe I speak for many Virginians when I say that we are very disappointed in the Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and its blatant exclusion of any recognition of the 32,000+ Virginians who answered the State's call to take up arms in her defense and never returned home, or the thousands more who survived the war and returned to help rebuild the ruins of the State.
While no one denies that slavery was one of the main issues that led to the conflict and deserves a place in any discussion of the War Between the States, this commission has taken its original focus of inclusion, which we applaud, and twisted it so far as to make slavery/emancipation its main focus, in effect excluding any remembrance of the men and women who so valiantly defended Virginia.
The commission's Facebook page is closed to comments, based on the fact that there were many Virginians who questioned the content as being void of any mention of the rich history of our State and the War, other than that which relates to slavery/emancipation.
Throughout the years the State has made many promises to honor the memory of its Veterans, most of which have been broken. This injustice should be enough to cause an outcry, but this commission, which is funded by the tax dollars from the descendants of these brave heroes, has stepped the offense up from disregarding promises to actually attacking the memory of our veterans.
Even if one has no interest in honoring these valiant men, the economic fallout of the decisions made should be questioned. Virginia is rich in its history, with battlefields, museums, cemeteries and other places of interest, which, if promoted properly, could draw in tourists and revenue. Instead, in the name of political correctness, these treasures are left ignored at a time when additional revenue is desperately needed.
General Patrick Cleburne, CSA said this, in the midst of the War...
"Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War; will be impressed by all the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision". How prophetic...and how sad that we would see it propagated not by Northern school teachers or school books, but by those who are being paid by the Commonwealth of Virginia to promote the Sesquicentennial.
Susan Hathaway
Sandston
Commission member contact info. here:  http://www.virginiacivilwar.org/members_commission.php

Saving Second Manassas on its 150th

Civil War Trust



On the 150th anniversary of the battle, the Civil War Trust is proud to announce a new campaign to save 3 acres of the Second Manassas Battlefield. Learn more about the history of this target tract and join us in our effort to reclaim this hallowed ground.
Jim Lighthizer, President, Civil War Trust
Manassas Maps
See the Tract

Satellite Map & Photos

Our target tract is closely associated with Longstreet's August 30, 1862 attack upon the Federal left flank. Hood's Texas Brigade crossed this ground to attack Warren's Zouaves.
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History

Destruction of the Zouaves

Learn more about the destruction of the 5th and 10th New York regiments at the Battle of Second Manassas. The Confederate attack passed just over our target tract.
Manassas Facts
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Manassas Video
Manassas 2012

Historian Videos

Learn more about the battle between Hood's Texas Brigade and Warren's Zouaves at the Battle of Second Manassas from historian Scott Patchan.
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Battle Flags

Flags of Second Manassas

See our new exhibit of Civil War battle flags from Second Manassas. Several of these flags flew with units that passed on or near our target tract.

Manassas Flags
$76,000 Goal | $5 to $1 Match
Hats

Receive a new Civil War Trust Hat... or two

Donate $50 or more and we'll send you our new Civil War Trust hat. Donate $68.62 or more and we'll send you two hats!

Civil War Trust — Donate with Confidence

We have been awarded Charity Navigator's top award for financial discipline and fundraising effectiveness
Manassas
  Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields CIVIL WAR TRUST
1156 15th Street N.W., Suite 900, Washington D.C. 20005 | phone (202) 367-1861
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Civil War Trust

An Open Report from HK Edgerton

An Open Report
On Saturday morning, August 25, 2012, the Founding President , Mrs. Lunelle Siegel, of the Augusta Jane Evans Wilson 2640 Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Tampa, Florida would bring me to tears as she presented me with Christian Cross of St. Andrew that had donned the coffin of her husband and that had been presented to her by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
I would stand before the ladies of the Chapter, and their guest on this morning to deliver the keynote speech with full knowledge that they were as their ancestors were; the heart and soul of the Southland of America, and the focal point of our strength as a people. I had come to speak, but in the end, there was nothing that I could tell these wonderful ladies, but thanks. Thanks for standing by me all across the country, and teaching me as I stumbled over the years making mistakes all along the way. And reminding me as my mom once did, listen son, listen son, and you will learn.
I have listened, and can honestly report that in the Southland of America, as long as there is breath in the body of just one lady that is deemed a United Daughter of the Confederacy, All IS WELL!
I would hope that in this election year that they would consider giving their vote to Ms. Lunelle as she seeks the office of Historian. They would do themselves proud to have her.
HK Edgerton

Fictionalized Views of the South


The States of the northeast in 1860 were better termed former-slave States, a region that eradicated slavery by statute and sold its slaves to work Southern plantations. It was not a hospitable place for free blacks as New York passed Jim Crow laws in the 1820s to intimidate black voters, and Frederick Douglas complained of the intense racism against his race at  Philadelphia.  
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Fictionalized Northern Views of the South:
"There has been a tendency, stubbornly persistent even in our time, to mistake the planter aristocracy for the entire South. It is therefore important to point out that if one could identify an average Southerner of the eighteen-fifties, statistics would demand that he be, at least by plurality of numbers, a non-slaveholding white farmer who cultivated a few acres with the help of his wife and children.  A small nucleus, about 4 percent of all slaveholders, held on hundred or more slaves.  Yet it was the large slaveholder, fictionalized by partisan pens, that has constituted popular portraits of the South.
Moreover, a sense of history was conspicuously lacking in antebellum Northern views of the South. It is not inappropriate here to recall that the beginnings of slavery coincide with the first English settlements in America. During the seventeenth century slave-traders of many nations joined in establishing in America, North and South, an institution which was not to become "peculiar" in anyone's eye's for nearly two centuries.
No generation was alone responsible for the enslavement of men; but no generation could escape the mounting social tensions and moral complexities that accompanied its growth. By the time prevailing ideologies of the world had become expressly opposed to slavery, most Southerners had come to consider it indispensable to either their economic or their social well-being.  To understand the tragedy of the South is to realize that it is inescapably America's tragedy."
(The South in Northern Eyes, 1831 to 1861, Howard R. Floan, McGraw-Hill, 1958, pp. viii-ix)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

An American City Under Siege

An American City Under Siege
The British bombarded Charleston in 1780; Northerners did the same in August 1863.  The latter fired "Greek fire" into Charleston with the intention of making the city a raging inferno, and churches like St. Michael's and St. Philip's were used as convenient targets for Northern gunners who fired indiscriminately into the city. A local newspaper reported that a "shell passed through a bed containing three children and exploded in the next floor," and that "no one was injured is regarded as miraculous." In both sieges, the enemy in Charleston were Americans seeking political independence.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
An American City Under Siege:
"At 10 o'clock in the morning of [April 13, 1780] our batteries began to play violently and seriously on the city, and this fire was answered just as violently by the enemy. It lasted without interruption until; eight o'clock in the evening. Also, firebombs were shot into the city today, because of which the city, and, indeed, the house of the governor and of the commanding officer were set on fire as soon as these bombs began to be used.  The Hessian artillery fired the fire-bombs. The enemy works suffered great damage today, and several of their cannons were dismounted. 
On the 14th the cannon fire was moderate on both sides. At noon we received news that the Cathcart Legion and Ferguson's Corps had attacked a corps of rebels thirty miles from here between the Cooper and Ashley rivers and captured a hundred prisoners, including three officers, and almost as many horses. A reinforcement arrived from New York. This consisted of the regiment von Ditworth, the 42nd Scots Regiment, the Queen's Rangers, Lord Rawdon's Corps, and Colonel Brown's Corps.
The besieged in Charleston were now cut off from land on all sides [and] we became absolute masters of the river. On the [May] 7th our siege was continued….Our jaegers caused great damage to the enemy in the city….a battery did great and constant damage to the houses in the city….The fire from this battery distinguished itself through the repeated pauses of all other batteries, and it was not seldom that these Jacktars gave a full broadside."
(The 1780 Siege of Charleston as Experienced by a Hessian Officer, Part Two, George Fenwick Jones, South Carolina Historical Magazine, Volume 88, Number 2, April 1987, pp. 65-67) 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Lincoln Uber Alles: Dictatorship Comes to America

Lincoln Uber Alles: Dictatorship Comes to America
By John Avery Emison
List Price:  $24.95
SHNV/SWR Price:  $16.47 
http://astore.amazon.com/souhernewvie-20/detail/1589806921

In his provocative book, John Avery Emison sets the record straight on the legality of Southern secession. He laments the unnecessary loss of 620,000 lives, the burning of cities, and mass devastation to the South, wreaked between the years of 1861 and 1865, by the North. A close examination of the true causes of the Civil War reveals the fight was not one for racial justice, but rather a battle over the economic disparities between the North and the South. By illustrating how Abraham Lincoln's tyrannical presidency paved the way for today's bloated "Leviathan" government, Emison brings his subject into the twenty-first century and puts forth his fear for the future.

Contrary to contemporary assumptions, secession was--and still is--within the rights of all states. The concept of sovereignty grants such powers to the states, not the federal government. Emison explains the list of violations that Lincoln committed in an effort to prevent the South's peaceful exit from the Union. These atrocious actions include the blockading of ports, arresting innocent citizens, suspending habeas corpus, suppressing newspapers, and, most notably, ordering a gruesome war without consent from Congress.

While presenting a historical backdrop, the author credits the events and political figures that contributed to Lincoln's election. He references significant Supreme Court doctrines and delves into the depths of the U.S. Constitution. Emison's arguments are backed by the expert analysis of notable legal historians, such as Kenneth Stampp and Carl Wittke.

Monday, August 27, 2012

The Responsibility for War

The Responsibility for War
It is said that the war against the American South began when the Star of the West left its dock at New York, laden with troops and supplies to reinforce the Fort Sumter garrison.  The land and fort was originally ceded to the US government to protect Charleston from hostile forces, with its artillery aimed toward the sea.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
The Responsibility for War:
"The view that the South was to blame for the war has been challenged by [historian] Charles Ramsdell, who maintained that the real cause of hostilities was Lincoln's sending relief expedition to Fort Sumter. Lincoln had done so, said Ramsdell, in the full expectation that war would result, because only be provoking the Confederates into firing the first shot could he hope to unify the Radical and Conservative wings of his [Republican] party and attract Northern Democrats to the cause of preserving the Union by force.
A new dimension was added to the subject by Kenneth Stampp, who carefully analyzed what the North feared it would lose be acquiescing in an independent Confederacy, and how those fears were translated into powerful political pressure on Lincoln to do something decisive.
He conceded that Lincoln….was willing to accept war rather than Southern Independence. As for the North in general, Stampp concluded:
"Yankees went to war animated by the high ideals of the nineteenth century middle classes, but they waged their war in the usual spirit of vengeance….But what the Yankees achieved – for their generation at least – was a triumph not of middle-class ideals but of middle-class vices.  The most striking products of their crusade were the shoddy aristocracy of the North and the ragged children of the South. Among the masses of Americans there were no victors, only the vanquished." 
(North Against South, The American Illiad, 1848-1877, Ludwell H. Johnson, Foundation for American Education, 1993, pp. 279-280)

Sunday, August 26, 2012

No Black Veterans in the Army of Emancipation Grand Review

No Black Veterans in the Army of Emancipation Grand Review
The Grand Review of the North's conquering armies in Washington in May, 1865 failed to showcase the people they ostensibly liberated, and took into their ranks so white Northerners could stay home. Read more about "The Myth of Saving the Union" at http://www.ncwbts150.com/TheMythoftheLostCause.php.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
No Black Veterans in the Army of Emancipation Grand Review:
"More surprising [in the Washington Grand Review of the federal armies] was the exclusion from the parade of the black Union regiments, some of which had fought a good deal longer than the white units on parade.  A number of observers commented on their absence, the Inquirer concluding that "by some process it was arranged that none should be here….They can afford to wait.  Their time will yet come."
The few blacks in the review marched as parts of "pick and shovel" brigades or were included as comic relief. Two large black soldiers with Sherman's army, for example, were displayed "riding on very small mules, their feet nearly touching the ground."
Captured slaves were described as "odd looking "contrabands" dressed in all the colors that ever adorned Joseph's coat."  In the rear of the First Pennsylvania, one such captive, mounted on a solitary Confederate mule, "created much laughter, in which the President and others joined heartily" as he was carried past the reviewing stand.
Neither the free black nor the free black soldier was to be the hero of this national pageant; instead, each was relegated a secondary, rather uneasy position within it.  The exclusion of blacks from the celebration was a clear message about the sort of Union the white [Northern] veterans felt they had preserved."  (Glorious Contentment, The Grand Army of the Republic, Stuart McConnell, UNC Press, 1992, pp. 8-9)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Confederate Battle Flag

Confederate Battle Flag
Dear Elizabeth Leland,
You stated the following in your article of August 11, 2012,, "The flag is part of my heritage, too. But it's not something I'm proud of. Our ancestors fought to keep slavery intact, and the flag is a symbol of that misguided cause. It's past time we put it away."
How sad it is to see native Southerners turn their backs on their heritage and swallow the Yankee Kool-Aid of "the war was about slavery".  There is ample proof that it absolutely was not about slavery, and one would think that a professional journalist could do just a little bit of research and find the truth instead of spouting out the usual mythological talking points.  Please, allow me to do your job for you.  Here is proof that shoots the Yankee mythology out of the water:
Corwin Amendment
To refute the oft-repeated lie that the War for Southern Independence (commonly but erroneously called "The Civil War") was fought over slavery, I need only mention the Corwin Amendment -- proposed by Congressman Thomas Corwin of Ohio, passed by Congress 2 March 1861, and endorsed by Abraham Lincoln. That amendment read: "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State."
If the seceded States had wished to perpetuate slavery, they had only to re-join the Union and ratify that amendment. They did not because they seceded to escape an overweening, all-intrusive big government, the same reason that thirteen States seceded from Britain in 1776, Mexico from Spain in 1818, and Texas from Mexico in 1836.
Clifton Palmer McLendon
Upshur County, Texas
Where is the logic?  IF slavery was the cause of the War For Southern Independence, and IF the North fought to free the slaves, why then: 
1. Was a 13th amendment presented in the U.S. Congress and signed by Lincoln in 1861 that would have prohibited the U.S. government from ever abolishing or interfering with slavery in any state? (Corwin Amendment, 2 March, 1861)
2. Was West Virginia allowed to accede to the union as a "Slave" state after 1863? (West Virginia was illegally and unconstitutionally formed)
3. Was slave labor used to build the Capitol building in Washington D.C.?
4. Was the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, applicable only in areas not under the control of the Union? (The Emancipation Proclamation freed not one solitary person, but was a war measure meant to cause a slave uprising, which did not happen)                                               
5. Was Union Gen. Fremont's order emancipating slaves in Missouri countermanded by Lincoln and the slaves sent back to their masters?
6. Why did New Jersey uphold its "Lifetime apprentices" rule until 1866?
7. Why were there six slave states in the union (Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, according to the 1860 U.S. Census)  during the War For Southern Independence?
8. Was there a U.S. Resolution stating that the war had nothing to do with slavery? (July 22, 1861) On July 22, 1861, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution stating the purpose of the war:
"Resolved…That this war is not being prosecuted on our part in any spirit of oppression, not for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those states, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease." 
This is further proof that the war was NOT fought over slavery.  The North did, however, conquer and subjugate the South, and the war they initiated and waged against the South was both unconstitutional and treasonous.  It was fought to force the legally seceded South back into the union for the purpose of continuing the collection of excessive tariffs, which economically damaged the South, but was of economical benefit to the northern industrialists.  This shoots down the Yankee claim of the war being about slavery. Our history was rewritten during "Reconstruction" to brainwash all the Southern boys and girls, and it has done a tremendous job of doing so for 150 years. Read some true history to educate yourself.  The Confederate Battle Flag never did, and never will, represent a people fighting for slavery.  It represents a people fighting for independence from an overreaching, all-powerful government intruding into every area of private life.  Of course, it has become "politically correct" to bash and slander Southern Heritage and culture, but the same slander and genocide would not be tolerated in any other area of the country on any other people, but because it is perpetrated against the South, it is accepted.  I cannot stand by and allow such charges to go unanswered out of duty, and respect for those who fought and died defending the South from Lincoln's illegal invasion.  It is up to those of us who know the truth to do our best to enlighten those who do not.
Even Lincoln himself stated that the war was not about slavery. 
"We didn't go into the war to put down slavery, but to put the flag back; and to act differently at this moment would, I have no doubt, not only weaken our cause, but smack of bad faith..." Abraham Lincoln. Speaks for itself. 
Books that need to be read; "The Real Lincoln", by Charles L.C.  Minor,  "The South Was Right", by James Ronald Kennedy and Walter Donald Kennedy,  "Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists" by Walter D. Kennedy and Al Benson, Jr., "The Un-Civil War" by Leonard M. Scruggs, and "Facts and Falsehoods Concerning the War on the South 1861-1865", by George Edmunds.
This will give you a good start on the true history of that terrible and senseless war.
Jeff Paulk
Tulsa, OK

Friday, August 24, 2012

Waynesville County Courthouse


Dear Ms. Lunelle,
After fielding concerns about my safety at the Confederate soldiers Memorial Monument in Historic Downtown Waynesville, N.C., I would return Friday, August 17, 2012, and be received with a huge precedent of love from the citizens of Waynesville and many who were just visiting the town as their voices resonated support for the Stand that I and others like the young son Ewing, and his sister, Abby, along with their father the Honorable Elder Thomas Willis, Director of the Southern Legal resource Center who on this day would join me at the monument. We would conduct an interview with a reporter of the Asheville Tribune newspaper, and call it a day.
On Sunday morning, August 19, 2012,  I would don the uniform of the Southern soldier and once again post the Christian Cross of St. Andrew at the Confederate soldiers Memorial monument in Historic Downtown Waynesville, N.C.. I would be visited by a member of the Sons Mechanize Calvary of North Carolina, and be told by him that the Mechanize Calvary would visit the Monument on Saturday, August 25, 2012, a time that will find me in Tampa, Florida.
I would pose for many pictures on this day, hold many conversations with visitors to the town , and again delight in the many who would pass expressing their support for the Stand being made at the monument. On Monday evening, August 20, 2012, the Council is expected to draft a policy governing what can be placed on monuments on the courthouse grounds. I pray that they will return the Colors of all the War Veteran Memorials that became a target for removal after the desecration at the Confederate soldiers Memorial. God bless you.
                                                                
Your brother,
                                                                    
HK

Defenders of controversial Confederate general rise again


To the Editor:
                    
After having read your article, "Defenders of controversial Confederate general rise again" about the stolen bust of Gen. Forrest from Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Al. you make it seem as if the victims, Friends of Forrest, are the ones at fault because a crime was committed against them.
  
First of all, like it or not, agree with it or not, General Forrest is a historical figure tied to Selma's Civil War history forever. Unless of course the Montgomery Advertiser intends to help the criminals in Selma who stole the bust of Gen. Forrest re-write Selma's Civil War history.
  
Secondly, the bust of Gen. Forrest was paid for with private money collected to forge it, no taxpayer money was used. It was placed in a public place of prominence in Selma but, the cry baby juveniles that now control the city government, in their infinite "wisdom" could not stand the thought of being fair, equal & just & present all of Selma's history.
  
Instead, because they did not/do not personally agree with this part of Selma's history, they started this on going process of hiding, denying & destroying every iota of it having ever existed, a re-writing of history. So they then had the bust moved to Live Oak Cemetery, a less conspicuous place for it, hidden even more from public view.
  
Yet, this still was not enough so, Rose Sanders & her "civil rights" thugs took justice into their own hands & tried to remove this bust of Gen. Forrest, damaging it in the process. Then sometime later, under the cover of darkness the evil deed of stealing this bust was committed by "someone."
 
In conclusion, it does not take Dick Tracy to see whom the over-mounting circumstantial evidence points to in this case of Forrest damaged/stolen bust. Had this been a crime committed against a civil rights monument in Selma, the State of Alabama or anywhere in the South, you can rest assured this case would not have been relinquished to a back-burner as it has been. The F.B.I. and S.P.L.C. would be working overtime without a thought to arresting a dozen people to insure they caught the guilty one.
  
Sadly today in 2012 whites are no longer equal to blacks or justice would be served in spite of black biases, prejudice & bigotry & this case would be brought to a close with all damages paid & the guilty sentenced to prison.
Billy E. Price
Ashville, Al.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Va Flaggers Update: Reidsville, NC



Sunday, September 19th, the Va Flaggers traveled to Reidsville, NC to stand with Jamie Funkhouser and the Tar Heel Flaggers in the spot where the Reidsville Confederate Monument once stood. 
We arrived to rainy weather and to find Jamie already in position and enjoying breakfast someone had dropped off for him.  Right away we realized that this is no normal flagging situation (if there is one).  Inside the traffic circle, where the monument once proudly stood, the city has planted vegetation, in an obvious move to keep Jamie from standing comfortably (and safely) inside.  There is a 6" curb separating the inside from the sidewalk that surrounds it.  Once Jamie was driven out of the circle, he was then told he could not stand on the sidewalk, because it was officially not a sidewalk, but rather a rolling curb, for vehicles to use if they can't make the turn...SO...Jamie stands on the 6" of curb.  Wanting to hear about this firsthand, I spent the first hour or so walking around the statue on the sidewalk.  Sure enough, we were visited by a Reidsville Police Officer who stopped by and told me I had to stand on the curb or leave the circle.  So, we all stood on the curb  for the remainder of the day. 
This video describes the curb situation well:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Jww-PTa6Zv4
And here's one of Va Flagger TriPp Lewis having a little fun walking the tightrope:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0QSVKYzKLg&feature=plcp
"Do not damage plants or vegetation", AKA "Do not stand here, Jamie Funkhouser".  Vegetation must be preserved in Reidsville. Confederate monuments, on the other hand...not so much. 
There were 10 of all together, and we were able to surround the traffic circle for most of the day.  Traffic was brisk and the people of Reidsville were OVERWHELMINGLY supportive.  Shouts of "God Bless You", "We're gonna get him back", and especially expressions of thanks were the norm as folks passed us on the curb.  Lori Dodson met us when we arrived and made her business available to us for bathroom breaks and left us a supply of drinks and snacks.  Another Reidsville resident stopped by to bring us biscuits. 
Throughout the (did I mention very rainy?) day, we also received visits from HPAC officials, who stopped by to thank each of us personally and to shake our hands, including Dianne Parnell, VP (who also brought some DELICIOUS, STILL WARM chocolate chip cookies), Ira Tilley, Public Relations, and Sherry Graham, Secretary.  I can tell you that the Va Flaggers have never received such a warm reception as we did from the people of Reidsville on this rainy day.
We have heard about this situation from Jamie for over a year now, but until I stood where he stands, I could not truly understand.  He showed us the direction from which the car came that "accidentally" hit the statue.  Take a look at this picture I took, looking in the direction the car was coming.  The story (and they are sticking to it) is that the driver fell asleep and hit the statue.  What you might not realize is that he would have had to have been sleeping and operating the gas pedal, because he would've been traveling UPHILL!!!  Seems very unlikely when you stand and look at it...
This young lady was walking by with a young man and a baby in a stroller.  Curious, she walked across the street and asked us what was going on.  TriPp explained the situation, and described what had happened to the monument and that we were out here to protest the removal of a monument to Confederate veterans.  Satisfied, she starts to walk back across the street and yells out  to the young man..."It's ok...they ain't no racists!".
Changing hearts and minds. :)
We finished out the day by planting a set of stick flags in the spot where the monument once stood, and then went to visit the cemetery on the edge of town, where the NC State UDC has decided to relocate the statue to a "safer, less controversial location".  There, we found that there was already a perfectly beautiful monument for the Confederate soldiers.  We planted stick flags here, as well...
Before we left, we also discovered that a flag pole, which once flew a Confederate flag over these graves and this monument, had been taken up, and was hiding in a large cedar tree, leaving the flag stand empty, and NO Confederate flag flying. 
Sickened, outraged, angered and blood boiling despite being soaked and chilled to the bone, we packed up and pulled out of the cemetery to head back home to Richmond...
...NOT!!!!
The Virginia Flaggers were here!!!!
We can only hope and pray someone in Reidsville will take on the task of checking on the flag and making sure it flies EVERY DAY!
I was interviewed by a reporter from Reidsville yesterday and she told me that Mrs. Ezell, NC UDC President, told her that the reason they were moving the Reidsville Confederate Monument to a cemetery was to protect it from getting damaged
again. I hope someone who knows Mrs. Ezell will share with her what is happening in Selma, AL. Even as I am typing this, a Confederate hater has gathered 12,000 signatures on a petition to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue from the cemetery there (what's left of it), AFTER it was moved there from its original home.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/08/petition_drive_hopes_to_remove.html
The Confederate monument in Reidsville needs to go RIGHT BACK IN THE CENTER OF TOWN, where the ladies of the UDC erected it 101 years ago! If it gets damaged again, prosecute the offenders and keep rebuilding! If these people see us giving up like this, it will be open season on our monuments.  Want to get rid of one?  Just mow it down and "poof"...it disappears.  Our ancestors did not give up without a fight...why are we so eager to?
It was an honor and a privilege for the Va Flaggers to travel to Reidsville to stand for those who are no longer standing, both human and marble, in this case.  We will return.  We urge all Southerners to support Jamie Funkhouser, the HPAC, and the NC Div, Sons of Confederate Veterans as they continue to fight the good fight and work to return the statue to its rightful home.
Susan Hathaway
Va Flaggers

Is Secession Treason?

Is Secession Treason?
By Albert Bledsoe
Price:  $11.95 

http://astore.amazon.com/souhernewvie-20/detail/1932490809

General Robert E. Lee uttered to Albert Bledsoe these important words: "You have a great work to do; we all look to you for our vindication". The "work" Lee was referring to was in essence a Confederate political bible, that would clarify and explain the principles of self-determination upon which the Secession from the United States of America was based. Bledsoe was truly inspired to write a most deftly argued book defending the South's "unthinkable" action. This treatise, originally called Is Davis a Traitor?, is finally returned to print in a new edition, with a new preface and index. Albert Taylor Bledsoe (1809-1877) could be characterized as a traditionalist, an "unreconstructed Southerner", a fighter for various causes and a firm believer in the dangers of modernism and foreign influence. Yet he was no stooge working for the Southern "Brahmins"- he was an intelligent man of letters, soldier and educator, clergyman and lawyer, friend of wealthy men, social investigator, and seasoned traveler. Because of his intellectual perspicacity, and his connections to important leaders in the South, he became an apologist for the Southern Confederacy, and the pre-war Southern "mentality". Is Secession Treason? represents the pinnacle of Bledsoe's work. The centerpiece of his position is the critical distinction between the words "constitution" and "compact". Drawing from the texts of numerous political and philosophical documents, he presents ample justification for the assertion that the union of former colonies in the 1780s was voluntary and not perpetual, and their inherent independence was not taken away by their acceding to the "compact" that joined them. Limitation on the power of the central authority over the states was actually a key factor in the minds of the participants attending the Constitutional Convention, as the author so ably proves. In the pursuit of honesty and openness, Bledsoe strives to present both sides of the debate, and states with great clarity and force the positions of Webster, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Calhoun and many others. After careful reflection and analysis, he arrives at two powerful conclusions: Secession was allowed under the Constitution, and the military attack by the Federal government on the Confederacy was illegal. So well-reasoned were his arguments, that his book proved to be a source of material for the defense of Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, from charges of treason. Despite Albert Bledsoe's unwavering devotion to his beloved homeland, one could say that his treatise is more of a fair and balanced treatment of Secession, than many recently published works covering the same subject. Paul Dennis Sporer has edited other books that contribute to the understanding of the complex social and political dynamics of the American Civil War period, such as End of an Era, by John Sergeant Wise, Half a Century, by Jane Swisshelm, and Tupelo by James Hill Aughey.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

RELEASE: Georgia Mourns the Loss of Her Last "Real Son"

Sons of Confederate VeteransAugust 21, 2012   

  
PRESS RELEASE  

SCV logo  



GEORGIA MOURNS THE PASSING OF HER
LAST "REAL SON"
     
    
(SAVANNAH - August 21, 2012)  On Saturday, August 18, 2012, in the south Georgia town of Terryville, what may be the last surviving "real" son of a Confederate veteran from Georgia passed away. John Charles McDonald, 76 years old at the time of his passing, was the son of James Malachi McDonald (1847-1941) of the 4th Georgia Cavalry during the late War for Southern Independence.
As did so many Southern boys late in the War, James McDonald joined the Confederate army at the young age of 13 years old and served alongside his brothers in the 4th Georgia Cavalry until he was mustered out of the service at the end of the War in 1865 at the ripe old age of 16. Upon returning home from the service, James married and settled down in Montgomery County, Georgia. The last son born to this Confederate veteran was John Charles McDonald, born in 1936 during the Great Depression. John was just a small boy when his father passed away.
John McDonald was the owner of John McDonald Farms and was very well-known for his cultivation and promotion of the Vidalia onion in south Georgia. His passing on Saturday marks the end of an era in Georgia history - an era when children of the actual veterans who fought so gallantly to defend Georgia against the innumerable masses of Yankee invaders still lived to tell the stories of our fathers who now lie in hallowed graves throughout Georgia and beyond.
At the request of the McDonald family, a Confederate funeral ceremony conducted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be held for Mr. John Charles McDonald at the Sammons Funeral Home in Soperton, Georgia at 11:00 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012.
The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans join the family of John Charles McDonald in mourning his passing but also in commemorating the honourable heritage left by his generation and that of his parents. The Sons of Confederate Veterans was formed in 1896 by "real" sons of the veterans, themselves, for the purpose of perpetuating their stories, their memories, and the truth about the Cause of liberty and freedom from federal tyranny for which they lived, fought, and died. With the passing of Georgia's last "real" son, the SCV in Georgia has committed to redoubling its effort to promote the true history of the South and her sons who fought to defend Georgia.

Interviews and more information may be obtained by contacting the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans online at www.GeorgiaSCV.org or by calling 1-866-SCV-IN-GA. 
   
END RELEASE
 
Ray McBerry Enterprises is the public relations firm for the Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans. 
Ray McBerry Enterprises



Flags of The Confederate States of America


Flags of The Confederate States of America
 
 
Dear Sir:
 
It has come to my attention that you sponsored a motion to the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of VFMA forbidding the display of "the Confederate Battle flag or any of its derivatives" on "museum property," said motion being carried unanimously.
 
To begin with, the "Museum property" to which you referred is legally a part of the Confederate Memorial Park as specified in an agreement between the State of Virginia and the United Confederate Veterans. As such, you, the Executive Committee, the Board of Trustees and the VFMA have neither the moral nor the legal right to make such a determination. Yet, even if you and your small cadre of politically correct bureaucrats could so determine, that certainly does not mean that other flags of the Confederate States of America - such as the First, Second and/or Third National flag(s) - could not be so displayed.
 
Therefore, in light of the historic nature of the museum - and since neither yourself nor any other member of the Executive Committee or the Board of Trustees or the VFMA itself has (at least openly) forbidden the display of these legitimate symbols of that which you are supposed to protect and preserve - I see no reason why said National flags should not be prominently displayed both inside and outside of the Museum. To fail or refuse to do so proves that it is not the Battle flag that is the problem, but the bigoted, anti-Southern prejudice of those like yourself who have been given the charge of protecting and preserving Southern history and heritage. Worse, it is just one more example of an elite group considering itself worthy to make decisions contrary to what the majority of their fellow citizens have shown time and again to be the will of the People. When the State of Virginia holds a referendum regarding the display of Confederate symbols - including the Battle flag - and the PEOPLE of Virginia vote to consign them to oblivion, then and only then will you and your fellow "trustees" have the right to censor history. Absent public support, you represent just one more small politically correct elitist clique ruling by fiat which, unfortunately, seems to be the norm these days.
 
Valerie Protopapas
Long Island, New York

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Confrontation At the Confederate Monument in Waynesville, N.C.

From: hk.edgerton@gmail.com
As promised I would post the Colors at the Confederate soldiers Memorial Monument in Historic Downtown Waynesville, N.C. on Friday, August 10, 2012, and a Confederate stick flag I would place adjacent to the monument.
On this Sunday morning, August 12, I would don the uniform of the Southern soldier and return to Waynesville. I would find the stick flag had been removed, and thereby would post a Third National flag adjacent to the monument, post my colors on the sidewalk, wave at the many who would pass by, hold conversation and take pictures with a host others who were either residents or visitors to the town.
After some five hours had passed, I began to think about leaving when a frail white man pushed a bicycle up to where I stood and extended his hand to shake mine all the time identifying himself as attorney Bob Clark, and that I must be HK Edgerton. He then pointed to the Third National flag and said that for me to take it up immediately. Not going to happen was my reply. He then said he was going to do it for me, I put myself between him and the flag and was told to get off the counties property, and that I wasn't even a citizen of the County. He went on to say that we had already settled this matter and was going to let it die down, and that I had gone and made a mess of the deal made. I asked the man to move along because I had nothing more to say to him. He would hesitate and make a gesture again towards the little flag. I told him again, don't do it or we are going to need two cars, one with the law, and an ambulance to carry one of us away. He then told me not to talk loud to him. And without making a scene of it, I spoke as loud as I could , and told him to move along buddy. He stomped away dragging his bike with him. I would spend another three hours at the monument basking in the love that so many had come to give me on this day for making a Stand for the most honorable and courageous fighting man the world has ever known, and the Christian Colors that he served under.
I would like to thank the Mountaineer newspaper for their excellent coverage of the story they did about this travesty, and for bringing me food and drink on Friday morning, the Tipping Post for the same on Sunday morning and the many other citizens who too would do the same, as well.
HK Edgerton