Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Robert E. Lee: America's Incomparable Hero

Robert E. Lee: America's Incomparable Hero

From: bernhard1848@att.net

General Robert E. Lee knew the ragged, half-starved, barefoot and poorly-armed American soldiers under his command would not fail him against overwhelming odds, they performed admirably time after time. This was America's greatest military leader, and whose birth date we celebrate on 19 January. 

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"



"There was a Confederate scout, Stringfellow by name, who on the 4th of May, 1864, the eve of the opening of that [Wilderness] campaign, reported himself to [General] Lee, when the following colloquy took place:

"Well, Captain Stringfellow, where do you come from?"

"From Washington, General."

"What number of men has General Grant, and what is he doing?"

"He has about 140,000 men in front of you and is about to move on you."

Without a moment's hesitation Lee said: "I have 54,000 men up, and as soon as he crosses the river I will strike him."

Grant crossed the Rapidan on the following day, and as soon as he was entangled in the Wilderness Lee struck him a staggering blow. In the four weeks' campaign ending with Grant's bloody repulse at Cold Harbor on June 2 . . . Lee had put as many of Grant's men out of action as he himself had under his command during the entire campaign – viz., 64,000."

(Robert E. Lee, H. Gerald Smythe, Confederate Veteran Magazine, January 1921, pp. 6-7)

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Experimenting with Federally-Occupied State Governments

From: bernhard1848@att.net

The express purpose of the Northern invasion and occupation of Louisiana in 1862 was to forcibly hold the State in the Northern union, and through the imposition of a military-directed civil government. Despite the State already   having a freely-elected legislature and governor, the Northern Congress proclaimed them criminals and supervised the establishment of a new administration under military control.  The Michael Hahn mentioned below was a German immigrant to New York and then Texas, and a prewar import to Louisiana. 

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Experimenting with Federally-Occupied State Governments

"Louisiana's situation was particularly bad because from the time that General Benjamin F. Butler and his troops came to New Orleans on May 1, 1862, south Louisiana was lost to the Confederacy.  The loss of control of the Mississippi River isolated most of Louisiana and Texas.  And while the war was going on in other places the Federal government was already experimenting with the "redemption" of Louisianians.

By January, 1864, Federal forces occupying Louisiana were intent upon effecting a civil government through which they could enact laws and render conditions amicable to their interests.  On January 11, General N.P. Banks issued a proclamation ordering an election of State officials in federally-occupied Louisiana.  By "federally-occupied," he acknowledged the division within the State.

In the meantime, Governor [Thomas O.] Moore delivered his farewell address, and on January 25 Henry Watkins Allen was inaugurated . . . governor of Louisiana.  On March 4, Michael Hahn was inaugurated governor of Federal Louisiana . . . [and] the reality of two State administrations was a source of despair [for Louisianians].

The Union army captured Fort DeRussey and the interior of Alexandria and Natchitoches in March of 1864.  A convention was held in New Orleans of April 6 to draft a constitution for federally-occupied Louisiana . . . [and on] July 23, 1864, a Republican convention revised the constitution and abolished slavery.  On October 12, a resolution of [the US] Congress ordered the attorney general to institute criminal proceedings against all members of the 1860 Louisiana legislature who had voted for the Convention of Secession.

O June 2, 1865, Governor Allen delivered a farewell proclamation to the people of Louisiana and went into exile in Mexico . . . "

(Louisiana Legacy, A History of the State National Guard, Evans C. Casso, Pelican Publishing, 1976, pp. 83-85)

Monday, January 27, 2014

Sherman Would Spare Nothing

From: bernhard1848@att.net

Though fighting against his countrymen who only sought a more perfect political union, and with the blessing of Lincoln and Grant, Sherman's devastation would literally spare nothing. Of note regarding his march through Georgia and the Carolina's was a young Spanish military observer, Valeriano Weyler, who would later become known as "the Butcher" by Cuban's fighting for independence. Weyler herded women and children into concentration camps while devastating the countryside, having learned much from his master.

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Sherman Would Spare Nothing

"Fort Sumter was fired upon, and now the sulking Achilles came out to fight; and with him blood and iron would play a part from the very beginning.  In May [1861] he declared: "the greatest difficulty in the problem now before the country is not to conquer, but so conquer to impress upon the real men of the South a respect for their conquerors."  As the war got under way Sherman became hypnotized by it . . . and refused to be diverted by those who would minimize the task or mollify it by soft considerations of the claims of humanity or too close adherence to the rule book.

As condemnation of his prodigality in the use of men began to come in, he replied that the war could not be fought with breath, but that hundreds of thousands of lives must perish, and he added, "Indeed do I wish I had been killed long since."   [He] began "to regard the death and mangling of a couple thousand men as a small affair, a kind of morning dash – and it may be well that we become so hardened."

[In 1862 he wrote] the Secretary of the Treasury, "The Government of the United States may now safely proceed on the proper rule that all the South are enemies of all in the North."

As to the large number of people who were being arrested [for disloyalty] in Kentucky, he would send them "to the Dry Tortugas, or Brazil, every one of those men, women and children, and encourage a new breed."

"To secure the navigation of the Mississippi River [to Northern shipping] I would slay millions.  On that point I am not only insane, but mad."  For every shot fired at a [Northern] river steamer he would return "a thousand 30-pound Parrotts into every helpless town on Red, Ouchita, Yazoo, or wherever a boat can float or a soldier march."

But for no reason beyond the fact that the South was opposing the North, he would set stark starvation loose upon the land.  Before beginning his Meridian campaign early in 1864, he wrote his wife, "We will take all provisions, and God help the starving families."

[In 1863 he insisted] on war, pure and simple, with no admixture of civil compromises . . . [and] considered it unwise at that time "or for years to come" to give the southern people "any civil government in which the local people have much to say . . . All the Southern States will need a pure military Government for years after resistance has ceased."

By the summer of 1864 . . . [Sherman] offered this advice to General Sheridan, who might find it useful in the Shenandoah Valley:  "I am satisfied, and have been all the time, that the problem of this war consists in the awful fact that the present class of men who rule the South must be killed outright rather than in the conquest of territory . . . Therefore I shall expect you on any and all occasions to make bloody results."

He wrote Grant his well-known article of faith, "Unless we can repopulate Georgia it is useless to occupy it; but the utter destruction of roads, houses and people will cripple their military resources . . . After he had reached Savannah he wrote to Halleck, " We are not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and we must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies."

When he found himself on one of Howell Cobb's plantations in Georgia, he instructed his army "to spare nothing," and on the march through South Carolina, one chilly night he consumed in the blazing fireplace the furniture of "one of those splendid South Carolina estates where the proprietors had formerly dispensed hospitality that distinguished the regime of that proud State."

His first disagreement with the Radical reconstructionists grew out of his long-standing attitude toward the Negro. He had spurned abolitionism in 1861, and during the war he had shown his contempt for Negro soldiers.  He wrote in May, 1865, ". . . I do not favor the scheme of declaring the Negroes of the South, now free, to be loyal voters, whereby politicians may manufacture just so much more pliable electioneering material . . . they are no friends of the Negro who seek to complicate him with new prejudices."

(Sherman and the South, E. Merton Coulter, North Carolina Historical Review, Volume VIII, Number 1, January 1931, excerpts, pp. 46-53)

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Robert E. Lee the Matchless American Hero

From: bernhard1848@att.net

A venerated American hero whose birth date we celebrate on 19 January, General Lee's abilities are legendary and even his adversaries would praise him. General Granville Dodge of the Northern military said that Lee's "unfailing equipoise and sturdy courage prolonged the life of the Confederacy from month to month [and a] dispassionate judgment places Robert E. Lee among the greatest generals of modern times."

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Robert E. Lee the Matchless American Hero:

"In discussing Pompey's greatness on the field of battle, Cicero, a master of ordered thought, asserts that four qualities are united in supreme military chieftains. These, as he thinks, are . . . Military knowledge . . . Valor . . . Authority . . . [and] Good fortune. No soldiers will long fight whole-heartedly for an unlucky chief.

Did Lee possess these traits? Knowledge?  How otherwise, with an army necessarily diminishing, did he compel President Lincoln to try McClellan, Halleck, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, Grant in an effort to match him in the field, and this, too, when these capable officers excelled him in every material equipment of war?

Valor? It is needed only to recall how, with McClellan still lying at the doors of Richmond, Lee sent off Jackson to jar Pope's complacency and then followed himself with the larger part of his army to complete Jackson's task, or how, when fighting in the ratio of only two to five, he divided his army at Chancellorsville and overthrew the self-sufficient Hooker. The last quality mentioned by Cicero, good fortune, is a relative term. Although Lee was fought to a standstill at Sharpsburg, and baffled at Gettysburg, the admiration, even veneration, of his soldiers was undiminished. They still believed that, while circumstances might prove too much for him, no skill of an antagonist would ever surpass his battlefield strategy.

Such was the chieftain the North Carolina troops, in common with the soldiers of the South, were henceforth to follow until Appomattox came. Bomb-proof critics might assail him with shallow criticisms, but the "hardiest troops that ever laughed at hunger, cold or danger," never wavered in their conviction that their leader was matchless."

(The History of the War Between the States, Volume II, Bethel to Sharpsburg, Daniel H. Hill, Edwards & Broughton, 1926, pp. 91-92)

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Patriots of '61 – Private Louis Leon of Mecklenburg


A German immigrant of the Jewish faith, Private Louis Leon was not unusual as a Confederate soldier from North Carolina.  Captain Cornehlson raised the German Volunteers in Wilmington in 1861, which became Company A of the Eighteenth North Carolina.  Of the 102 men in Company A, every officer and every enlisted man but 30 had been born in Germany and volunteered to fight to defend North Carolina and the Southern Confederacy.

Lewis Leon of Mecklenburg, Sharpshooter Versus Sharpshooter

"Lewis Leon, a well-known resident of Wilmington and a veteran of Confederate States service, was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, November 27, 1841.  Three years later he was brought by his parents to New York City, whence he moved to Charlotte in 1858, and engaged in mercantile pursuits as a clerk.  Becoming a member of the Charlotte Grays, he entered the active service of that command, going to the camp of instruction at Raleigh on April 21, 1861.

The Gray's were assigned to Col. D.H. Hill's regiment, the First, as Company C, and took part in the Battle of Big Bethel, in which Private Leon was a participant.  At the expiration of the six months' enlistment of the Bethel Regiment, he reenlisted in Company B [of] Capt. Harvey White, of the Fifty-first Regiment, commanded by Col. William Owen.

He shared the service of this regiment in its subsequent honorable career, fighting at Gettysburg, Bristow Station, Mine Run, and the Wilderness, receiving a slight wound at Gettysburg but not allowing it to interfere with his duty. During the larger part of his service he was a sharpshooter.

On the 5th or 6th of May, 1864, the sharpshooters of his regiment were much annoyed by one of the Federal sharpshooters who had a long range rifle and who had climbed up a tall tree, from which he could pick off the men, though sheltered by stumps and stones, himself out of range of their guns.

Private Leon concluded that "this thing had to be stopped," and taking advantage of every knoll, hollow and stump, he crawled near enough for his rifle to reach, and took a "pop" at this disturber of the peace, who came tumbling down.  Upon running up to his victim, Leon discovered him to be a Canadian Indian, and clutching his scalp lock, he dragged him back to the Confederate line.


At the Battle of the Wilderness he was captured, and from that time until June, 1865, he was a prisoner of war at Point Lookout and Elmira, N.Y.  Upon being paroled he visited his parents in New York City, and then worked his   way back to North Carolina.

He is warmly regarded by his comrades of Cape Fear Camp, U.C.V., and has served several terms as its adjutant. When Col. James T. Morehead prepared a sketch of his regiment, the Fifty-third, Private Leon furnished him with a copy of a diary which he had kept from the organization of the regiment up to the 5th of May, 1864, when he was captured.

(Chronicles of the Cape Fear River, James Sprunt, Edwards & Broughton, 1916, pp. 334-335)

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage, and devotion to liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission"

Friday, January 24, 2014

Mosby's Raids in Civil War Northern Virginia --FREE PROGRAM

HISTORIC BLENHEIM & the Civil War Interpretive Center
3610 Old Lee Highway (703) 591-0560
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
FREE PROGRAM
Mosby's Raids in Civil War Northern Virginia
Saturday, January 25, 2014, 2 p.m. with William S. Connery (talk, book sale and signing)
The most famous Civil War name in Northern Virginia, other than General Lee, is Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the Gray Ghost. He stands out among nearly one thousand generals who served in the war, celebrated most for his raids that captured Union general Edwin Stoughton in Fairfax and Colonel Daniel French Dulany in Rose Hill. By 1864, he was a feared partisan guerrilla in the North and a nightmare for Union troops protecting Washington City. William S. Connery will bring alive the many dimensions of this fascinating man as revealed in his book of the same title.
William S. Connery is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. He has been writing articles since 1999. For his first book, Civil War Northern Virginia, 1861 and Mr. Connery has received the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal for this endeavor from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Fairfax Chapter.
Light refreshments served
The new hours for the Civil War Interpretive Center hours are
Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
The historic house is open with guided site tours at 1 p.m.
The Gift Shop carries Civil War-related books, prints, games, and toys.
Cash, checks, and credit cards accepted.
PROGRAMS CONTRIBUTE TO THE COMMEMORATION OF THE VIRGINIA SESQUICENTENNIAL OF THE CIVIL WAR



A Monarchy in Everything But Name


That Southern State governors and legislatures did not authorize federal troops to enter their sovereign borders is true, and of the ensuing war begun by Lincoln, the author below writes that "never was there such a medley of tragedy and farce, murder and mockery . . . and the most ridiculous government follies."  The source of this passage is available in reprint form from www.confederatereprint.com)

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

A Monarchy in Everything But Name

The War Debt is Unconstitutional:

"By what authority did [President Lincoln] destroy State government?

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, and, on application of the Legislature, from domestic violence."  United States Constitution, Article IV, Sec. 4.

What Governor of what State applied to the President to protect them from domestic violence? On the contrary, the President asked the Governors of Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky, to do this, they indignantly declined the work of butchery proposed; the President had no right to invade any State.

There was no domestic violence; the operation of law was unclogged until the President commenced the work of disintegration.  There were no changes made in the State laws and State constitutions, which were not made in conformity with the organic laws.

By what authority did the President imprison the Legislature of Maryland?  Incarcerate Judges of the several States of the Union?

"The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit of law or equity, commenced or to be prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State or by subjects of a foreign power."  Amendment XI to the Constitution.

How much less the right to wage war against a State. What may not be done peacefully, may not be forcibly done. Judgment always preceded execution. A war levied against a State is unconstitutional. A debt contracted for such purpose is likewise unconstitutional. No such war could grow out of the Constitution, nor the debt be of valid obligation.

The people are not bound by the Constitution to pay this debt, because it was entirely unauthorized by the Constitution. It was created in violation of the Constitution, for the purpose of overthrowing the Constitution.

The war was waged in violation of the theory of our government . . . to destroy the republican system. In its stead was a monarchy in everything but the name, in which the President was guarded in the style of the Czar and Sultan, with all the brutality of the one and the pomp of the other; with all of the trappings of monarchy and the violence and the violence of despotism.

With the overthrow of our system . . . and the adoption of the imperial style and military guard, the most intimate friend of Washington, Jefferson or Monroe, would have entirely failed to recognize the old an familiar forms that gave us characteristic distinction everywhere."

(Crimes of the Civil War, Judge Henry Clay Dean, Innes & Company, 1868, pp. 206-207)


Thursday, January 23, 2014

Robert E. Lee Guilty of Ingratitude?


The charge is often made by Northern historians that Southern graduates of United States military academies were indebted to the federal government for their education and displayed ingratitude in drawing their swords against that government.  Below, Admiral Raphael Semmes takes issue with this assertion.

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com


"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Robert E. Lee Guilty of Ingratitude?

"Another charge, with as little foundation, has been made against myself, and other officers of the Army and Navy, who resigned their commissions and came South. It has been said that we were in the condition of eleves of the Federal Government, inasmuch as we received our education at the military schools, and that we were guilty of ingratitude to that Government, when we withdrew from its service.

This slander has no doubt had its effect, with the ignorant masses, but it can scarcely have been entertained by any one who has a just conception of the nature of our federal system of government. It loses sight of the fact, that the States are the creators, and the Federal Government the creature; that not only the military schools, but the Federal Government itself belongs to the States.

Whence came the fund for the establishment of these schools? From the States. In what proportion did the States contribute it?

[Senator Thomas Hart] Benton answered this question . . . when he was discussing the effect of the [protectionist tariffs benefitting the North] under which the South had so long been depleted. He has told us, that four States alone, Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia, defrayed three-fourths of the expenses of the General Government; and taking the whole South into view, this proportion had even increased since his day, up to the breaking out of the war.

Of every appropriation, then, that was made by Congress for the support of the military schools, three-fourths of the money belonged to the Southern States. Did these States send three-fourths of the students to these schools?

Of course not – this would have been something like justice to them; but justice to the Southern States was no part of the scheme of the Federal Government.  With the exception of a few cadets, and midshipman "at large," whom the President was authorized to appoint – the intention being that that he should appoint the sons of deceased officers of the Army and Navy, but the fact being that he generally gave the appointment to his political friends – the appointments to these schools were made from the several States, in proportion to population, and as a matter of course, the North got the lion's share.

But supposing the States to have been equally represented in those schools, what would have been the result? Why, simply that the South not only educated her own boys, but educated three-fourths of the Northern boys, to boot.  Virginia, for instance, at the same time she sent Robert E. Lee to West Point, to be educated, put in the public treasury not only money enough to pay for his education, and maintenance of three Massachusetts boys!

How ungrateful of Lee, afterward, being thus a charity scholar of the north, to draw his sword against her."

(Memories of Service Afloat, Raphael Semmes, LSU Press, 1996/original 1868, pp. 79-80)

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Robert E Lee Remembered in Georgia's Capitol







Sons of Confederate Veterans
January 20, 2014     



  
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SATURDAY'S "ROBERT E. LEE CELEBRATION" A SUCCESS AT FORMER STATE CAPITOL   



(ATLANTA - January 20, 2014)  In commemoration of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's birthday, Georgia's annual "Robert E. Lee Celebration" was held this past Saturday, January 18, at Georgia's wartime capitol in Milledgeville.

Several hundred participants marched in a parade from the old governor's mansion in Milledgeville to the antebellum state capitol which is today on the grounds of Georgia Military College.  Following the parade, nearly 200 individuals from every age range continued the celebration by filing into the former legislative chamber of the General Assembly in which Georgia declared secession in 1861.  Jack Marlar of South Carolina was the distinguished guest speaker and spoke of Lee's victories, particularly the Battle of Chancellorsville, where Union General Hooker's entire Army of the Potomac was routed and forced into a panic-stricken retreat back to the streets of Washington, D.C.  

Robert E. Lee has been honoured for the last 150 years all across America as both a Christian gentleman and perhaps America's greatest military leader of all time.  Like most Southern states, Georgia still officially observes the birthday of Robert E. Lee as a state holiday, and similar celebrations to the one in Georgia are scheduled in every Southern state this weekend.  As the organization founded by actual Confederate veterans and their real sons in 1896, the Sons of Confederate Veterans again led Georgia's event. 

Following the program inside the Capitol building, those present returned outside on the grounds where reenactors presented the colours of the South and fired both a musket volley and cannon volley in honour of the South's greatest general. 
   
For more information about this year's Robert E. Lee Celebration, please contact Jack Bridwell, Division Commander for the Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans at 1-866-SCV-in-GA or online at www.GeorgiaSCV.org   
  
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The Issue for Which We Fought


Five years after meeting President Davis in Richmond as a Prussian military observer, Captain Justus Scheibert revealed in his just-published account of seven months in the Confederacy: "The fact that an uncritical, partisan madness now besmirches his character . . . cannot rob him of the place in history, which will be given him when calm reason stands in judgment over blind confusion."

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

The Issue for Which We Fought

"That we should dare to resort to arms for the preservation of our rights, and "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," was regarded by our enemies as most improbable.

Their aspirations of dominion, and sovereignty, through the Government of the Union, had become so deep-seated and real as to cause that Government, at its first step, to assume the haughtiness and imperiousness of an absolute sovereign.

"I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort," said President Lincoln, in the first proclamation, calling for seventy-five thousand men. The term "loyal" has no signification except as applied to the   sovereign of an empire or kingdom.  In a republic the people are the sovereign, and the term "loyal" or its opposite can have no signification except in relation to the true sovereign.

To say, therefore, that the agent of a sovereign people, the representative of the system they have organized to conduct their common affairs, composed the real sovereign, and that loyalty or disloyalty is of signification to this   sovereign alone, is not only a perversion of language, but an error, that leads straight to the perversion of all popular government and the establishment of the monarchical or consolidated form.

The Government of the United States is now the sovereign here, says President Lincoln in this proclamation, and loyalty consists in the maintenance of that sovereignty against all its foes.  The sovereignty of the people and of the several and distinct States, in his mind, was only a weakness and enthusiasm of the fathers.

The States and people thereof had become consolidated into a national Union.  "I appeal," says President Lincoln, "to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, integrity, and the existence of our national Union."

This was the usurpation.  This lay at the foundation of the war. Every subsequent act of the Government was another step in the same direction, all tending palpably to supremacy for the Government of the United States, the subjugation of the States, and the submission of the people.  This was the adversary with whom we had to struggle, and this was the issue for which we fought.  That we dared to draw our swords to vindicate the rights and the sovereignty of the people . . . was adjudged an infamous crime, and we were denounced as "rebels."

(Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. II, Jefferson Davis, D. Appleton & Company, 1881, pp. 563-564)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Remembering Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson

On January 19 and 21, many of us will remember the birthdays of  Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathon "Stonewall" Jackson respectively. In honor of their memory, I'll raise atop my flagpole an infantry-sized (4ft. X 4ft.) Army of Northern Virginia Battleflag as tribute to two great sons of the South. Why remember these two men? They were the epitome of leadership by example by which many of us patterned our lives. This includes Presidents and Pastors, along with folks in various walks of life both here and abroad. Their life and career left a legacy of selfless devotion to duty, honor, and people unmatched in the history of western civilization. Their mark was not just military heroism, but also a moral heroism. Their brilliant accomplishments on the battlefield were outshone in victory and defeat by the nobility of their moral wisdom and stainless integrity. Their devotion to God, family, soldiers, and the Southern Cause became legendary.
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, whose military tactics have been studied worldwide, were American soldiers, educators, Christian gentlemen, husbands and fathers. And even though they are primarily thought of as   Confederate Generals, they both would only want to be remembered as humble servants of God. They accepted no credit for victory or defeat, noting it was God's will and all glory given him.
At war's beginning, Lee held a 32-year commission in the United States Army. He resigned that commission after being offered command of the Union Army and chose instead to defend his beloved country of Virginia, of which this Union Army was being rallied to illegally invade the South. This is a great sacrifice made by Lee on which I will challenge upon in a later communication.
Before the War for Southern Independence, Thomas Jackson was an ex-soldier, artillery specialist, and an obscure professor at Virginia Military Institute. He also served as a board member of a local bank. Though he was considered a pillar of the community, he was threatened with prosecution for conducting a Sunday school class for slave children, which was illegal at the time. Jackson risked his place in society by remarking that all should know the teachings of Christ. No threat was ever made good. Again, I will challenge upon this in a later communication.
Jackson received the immortal nickname "Stonewall" after the first Battle of Manassas in July 1861 when he stood fast - pressing his troops forward to close a gap in the line against a Union attack. Upon observing Jackson, General Bee out of Texas reportedly called out to his men, "Rally behind the Virginians! There stands Jackson like a stonewall!" Some report that Bee didn't agree with Jackson's maneuver and actually said, " "Look at Jackson standing there like a damned stone wall!" We'll never know what Bee meant because moments shortly after his rallying cry, he was shot and died the next day. Whatever his actual words, General Bee was credited for giving rise to General Thomas J. Jackson being forever after referred to as "Stonewall Jackson."
Following this victory, "Stonewall" wrote a letter to the Pastor who was carrying on the colored Sunday school class: "In my tent last night, after a fatiguing day's service, I remembered that I failed to send a contribution for our colored Sunday school. Enclosed you will find a check for that object."
"Stonewall" Jackson is considered by military historians as one of the most gifted tactical commanders in US history. He was General Robert E. Lee's right hand during many battles. Unfortunately, Jackson was accidentally   shot by Confederate pickets at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. General Jackson survived with the loss of his left arm, but died of complications from pneumonia eight days later.
After the passing of "Stonewall", General Robert E. Lee stated, "Jackson has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right."
Sir Winston Churchill once remarked, "Lee was the noblest American who had ever lived and one of the greatest commanders known to the annals of war."
The late Franklin D. Roosevelt, America's 32nd President, spoke at the unveiling of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Statue in Dallas, Texas on June 12th, 1936 and said, "I am very happy to take part in this unveiling of the statue of General Robert E. Lee.
All over the United States we recognize him as a great leader of men, as a great general. But, also, all over the United States I believe that we recognize him as something much more important than that. We recognize Robert E. Lee as one of our greatest American Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen."
On August 9th, 1960, former General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in response to an inquiry as to why he had a picture of Robert E. Lee in the Oval Office remarked:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War Between the States the issue of Secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.
General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his belief in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.
From deep conviction I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee's caliber would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the nation's wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.
Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.
And finally on Aug. 5th, 1975, 110 years after Lee's application, President Gerald Ford signed Joint Resolution 23, restoring the long overdue full rights of citizenship to Robert E. Lee.
At that signing, President Ford said, in part: "General Lee's character has been an example to succeeding generations, making the restoration of his citizenship an event in which every American can take pride."
So I ask each of you to take time and remember these two men. When you attend church services tomorrow, ask your Pastor if the congregation can sing "How Firm a Foundation" in memory of Lee. It was his favorite hymn.
Semper Fi - Semper Southern - Semper Saviour,
JW


Chaplains Monument

Gentlemen,
 
Attached is a PDF with a letter from our Division Chaplain, Ollie Sappington.  Also attached is an image of the Chaplains Monument, planned to be placed in April of this year.  Please distribute both to you camp memberships.
 
Darrell Maples - Cmdr.
MO Division -  SCV


150th remembrance event which will incorporate the battle of Camden Point

Hello all!
 
Hope you are having a nice week. I was wanting to talk with you (and any interested parties) about the upcoming 150th remembrance event which will incorporate the battle of Camden Point and events surrounding this area. We are planning on having a reenactment June 28 of this year (around 1 pm Saturday), with another reenactment on Sunday early afternoon.
 
Some of the events we are also looking at doing – all of which the public would be invited to attend:
 
- A remembrance ceremony at the Pleasant Grove cemetery (where the markers for the soldiers are)
 
- Reenactors marching in the Camden Point Freedom Festival Parade (as we’ve done in prior years)
 
- A period church service (sunday morning)
 
- A period recruitment event (featuring Coon Thornton being presented with the Protect Missouri Flag made by the ladies of Camden Point)
 
- The impact of the event on the local community
 
- And there will also be some artifacts on display which I’ve collected from the battleground, as well as live period music, open campsites for touring, and plenty of learning opportunities for all.
 
NOTE: Please see the attached logo created for the event. This features historically accurate flags – the “Protect Missouri” flag is the actual design of the flag which the ladies of Camden Point gave to Coon Thornton, and is currently housed somewhere in a Colorado museum). This logo could be used on commemorative posters, mugs or shirts.
 
If any of the local churches or lodges would be interested in helping, please let me know. We might like help on a meal or picnic lunches for around 150 reenactors. As with the Reenactment that happened back in 87 or 88 (which I attended as a young boy), I think this could be a nice event to bring folks together and help educate as to our community history.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions.
 
Thanks,
 
Matthew
 
P.S. Please feel free to forward to any on the 175th committee or other relevant folks, as I couldn’t find the e-mail addresses for some folks.
 

Ten Islands

To the Editor:
                     
Sometimes the obvious has to be stated in order to get it on the fast track to becoming a reality. Ten Islands located at Neely Henry Dam on the Coosa River between Ragland & Ohatchee, Al. was the site of Ft. Strother during the War of 1812. Gen. Andrew Jackson used this as a supply depot during his campaign against the Redsticks of the Creek Tribe. There is also a cemetery there containing the remains of some of his soldiers. Not only this but, the site is also, where a Civil War battle took place when Confederate troops encountered raiding Union cavalry trying to destroy Janney Furnace across the river in Calhoun county.
 
Today there is also recreational facilities there in the form of a picnic, swimming area & boat launch on the river. First of all one would think the Federal Government would want the graves of the soldiers of the War of 1812 marked out of respect & remembrance of their service to this nation. Secondly, the building of a replica of Ft. Strother would be a tourist attraction bringing revenue into St. Clair County & the State of Alabama. It would also be a potential site for another annual reenactment of the War of 1812 much like the one of Ft. Mims in Mobile County & the one of Horseshoe Bend near Daviston, Al.
 
As there is an annual reenactment of the Battle of Ten Islands & people visiting Janney Furnace on a regular basis throw in all the boaters, fishermen, swimmers & campers to this spot & St. Clair County or Calhoun County & especially the State of Alabama should consider building a motel / hotel here & maximize the potential revenue profit that this spot offers. This is too good of a money making attraction to let it sit idle plus, it's the right thing to do in honor of all who died there.



Billy E. Price
Ashville, Al.

Monday, January 20, 2014

ANNUAL GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND PARADE


ALL ARE WELCOME

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014

PARADE BEGINS A 10:30 am

AND CEREMONY BEGINS AT 11:00 AM

THIS A PUBLIC EVENT FOR EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO HONOR ONE OF THE SOUTH'S GREATEST GENERALS.

THERE WILL BE PERIOD DRESSED SOLDIERS MARCHING IN THE PARADE ALONG WITH MUSKET AND CANNON STAUES FOLLOWING THE CEMEMONY AT THE OLD CAPITOL BLDG.

The Gen. Robert E. Lee Birthday Commemorative is scheduled for Jan. 18, 2014 at the Old Capitol Building, 201 E. Greene St. Milledgeville, Ga.

The parade route will start at 10:30 a.m.at the Old Governor's Mansion on W. Hancock Street and proceed through downtown to the Old Capitol on East Greene Street.

The speaker this year is Jack Marlar who will speaking about General Lee's 1863 Battles and Campaigns.

"Do your duty, in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less" ……Robert E. Lee

Proclaim Your Southern Heritage!

Join the Sons of Confederate Veterans

Est.1896

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a historical and heritage preservation organization, whose charge, is to honor and preserve the true history of the Confederate Soldier, our Ancestors.

To Join call toll free: 1-866-728-4642

We will assist you in finding your Confederate ancestor.

Visit www.georgiascv.com or www.scv.org

The SCV reserves the right to restrict participation

Saturday, January 18, 2014

2013, What a Year!


Civil War Trust

Civil War Trust
2013 Year in Review

2013: Year in Review

The past year was a record year for the Civil War Trust, with education programs, digital products, events, and, most importantly, over 2,700 acres of historic battlefield land saved forever. This puts us at over 38,500 total acres we have saved as an organization! Without you, none of this would have been possible.

I want to personally thank and commend you for your outstanding support, which allows us to keep saving Civil War battlefield land and spreading enthusiasm for our nation's history. There is still plenty of hallowed ground left to save, and we don't intend to rest on our laurels, but as we open the New Year, I wanted to remind you of the tremendous accomplishments you have made possible.

Thank you again, and I look forward to your continued support in helping to make 2014 even more successful!
Saved Land
Our Mission
Video
Membership

Copyright © 2014 Civil War Trust
1156 15th Street N.W. Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20005
p 202-367-1861 | e info@civilwar.org


SOUTH EXPERIENCES THE FIRST MODERN TOTAL WAR




   Sons of Confederate Veterans
SCV  Telegraph

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR S. D. LEE INSTITUTE

SOUTH EXPERIENCES THE FIRST MODERN TOTAL WAR
  
     The Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp #3 of Chattanooga want to remind everyone that on February 7-8, the Stephen Dill Lee Institute will take place at the Hilton Double Tree Hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our outstanding speaker roster includes--
      David Aiken    Monsters of Virtuous Pretensions
     Marshall DeRosa   Living in the Ruins: The American Civil War and the Subverson of Christian  Civilization
     Donald Livingston   Total War and the Creation of American Nationalism
     James Russell  My Family's Personal History and the Devastation of our South Carolina Plantation
     Kirkpatrick Sale  Violating the Lieber Code: The March From the Sea
     Muriel Joslyn  The Effect of Total War on Prison Policies
     Douglas Bostick  Violation of the Law of Nations in the Siege of Charleston
     Costs for the conference are $150 per person. Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and families will be charged $125 per person. Your registration fee includes breakfast, lunch and Banquet on Saturday. Please visit our website at www.StephenDLeeInstitute.com  for registration and hotel information. Also, registrations can be secured by calling Ms Cindy White at SCV Headquarters in Columbia, Tennessee (1-800-MY DIXIE).
     Hotel reservations are $109/night and include parking. reservations can be obtained by contacting reservations at the Downtown Hilton Double Tree Hotel (407 Chestnut Street) at 1-423-756 5150.
     The Stephen Dill Lee Institute also has a limited number of scholarships for deserving students and teachers.
      Anyone desiring information should contact Brag Bowling at 804-389-3620.






Friday, January 17, 2014

Lynchburg editorial on Lexington


When Lexington (and the 4th Circuit) violates the law, the constitution, and abridges the rights of all Lexingtonians by violating the rights of SCV members through a ban of a venerated symbol like the Confederate Battle flag - you can expect them to bow up a little bit. They are in the right - I hope the Lee-Jackson flag vigil goes on for the next 6000 years or until Lexington pulls its bigoted collective head out
Kirk D. Lyons
SLRC
kdl@slrc-csa.org



January 18, 2014 - General Lee and General Jackson Birthday Ceremony

TO: ALL CONFEDERATE REENACTMENT UNITS, ALL SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS CAMPS, ALL UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY CHAPTERS & OFFICERS, ALL HISTORICAL, PATRIOTIC, AND HEREDITARY ORGANIZATIONS, ALL FRIENDS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

SUBJECT:  ANNUAL LEE/JACKSON BIRTHDAY CEREMONY 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014, 11:00 A.M.                              

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

As  in the past, the annual memorial ceremony at the LEE / JACKSON   Monument in Baltimore will be hosted by the  Colonel Harry W. Gilmor Camp #1388, Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Maryland Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.  The purpose of this ceremony is to honor General Robert Edward Lee and General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson on the anniversary of their births, January 19, 1807 and January 21, 1824 respectively.  The ceremony will also remember and honor the thousands of soldiers who served the Confederacy during the War Between the States.

In previous years, many of you have attended this ceremony even in the coldest weather and because of your effort and dedication to the memory of the Confederate soldier; the ceremony has always been a great success.  We would like to once again cordially invite you and your reenactment unit, patriotic organization, and your family and friends to participate in this important annual event.  The LEE/JACKSON ceremony will be held on SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.

The LEE/JACKSON Monument is located at Art Museum Drive and Wyman Park Drive about two blocks west of Charles Street and across from the Baltimore Museum of Art.  This year we will assemble across from the monument. 

Paid on street parking by credit card may be required.  We cannot park on the Johns Hopkins campus and probably not on their parking lots. There is free parking on some side streets.

THE TENTATIVE LEE/JACKSON BIRTHDAY CEREMONY PROGRAM INCLUDES:

* Invocation 
* Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag
* Salute to the Confederate flag
* Welcoming remarks
* Presentation of memorial wreaths and floral tributes by various patriotic organizations and military units
* Dixie  
* Benediction 
* Closing bugle call.  

Additional Information:
* Military units, please bring ALL your colors, your drummers and fifers. We ask that reenactors under 16 years of age not to carry muskets or edged weapons. 
* With all the recent attacks on the Confederate Flag and our Confederate Heritage, and particularly with the affront to us by Johns Hopkins University, this is your opportunity to show the Confederate colors in a positive and honorable way.  PLEASE BRING EVERY CONFEDERATE FLAG YOU OWN, Battle, 1st National, 2nd National, 3rd National, Bonnie Blue, State flags, unit flags, SCV Camp Confederate flags.  
* All groups, military or civilian are encouraged to bring wreaths or floral tributes to be placed at the LEE/JACKSON Monument.  If you are making a presentation, please let us know who will make the presentation for your organization/unit and check in with the Wreath Coordinator at the event.
* If you have contact in the press, please invite them to this ceremony.
* Please distribute to your address book, post in your newsletter and on your web site.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Regards to all,

Elliott Cummings                               

Adjutant                               

Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp #1388                               

Sons of Confederate Veterans

basilduke@comcast.net