Friday, October 31, 2014

The Top Ten Most Haunted Battlefields

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/civil-war/2013/oct/30/civil-war-ghosts-still-haunt-gettysburg-and-antiet/


VIENNA, Va., October 30, 2013  — It is my personal opinion that no war or conflict is quite as symbolically connected to the Halloween holiday as the 1861-1865 period of time. 
It takes but a few minutes of searching to realize that spirits, ghosts, and inexplicable sights and sounds seem endemic to many sites connected with the war period and thereafter.
If you go to Gettysburg and walk the battlefield, specifically the areas around Devil’s Den and Little Round Top, I can almost guarantee you that something will occur to make you wonder if there is not some truth in it.  After the war’s end, many bodies and body portions were discovered in and among the amazing rock formations of Devil’s Den, and only those that could be recovered were brought out and buried.
I am told that there were many still visible down between the huge boulders there, which simply could not be reached and were allowed to deteriorate and disintegrate where they lay. If one believes in spirits who never rest, this would be a good place for them.
A ghost near a statue on Gettysburg Battlefield?
One terribly hot July day a few years ago, we were walking over to the Bloody Triangle, down a hill, to where some flags were. I was in front, and as the July sun beat down on us, I walked across an invisible line, and was instantly enveloped by a cold, COLD burst of air. Before I could say anything, as I continued on, Mr. Skeptic stopped behind me, frozen, and said, “Did you feel that?”  He had felt the same icy patch of air. I cannot explain it nor have I felt it since.
We are told that up at the old Seminary there atop Seminary Ridge, the site of heavy fighting, the old elevators stop at various floors. A group of students reported that once when the elevator stopped at the basement and the doors opened, there to their startled eyes was a fully functional operating room, staffed by bloody surgeons in old uniforms, who looked up, startled at the intruders, who swiftly got the elevator moving again, up.  And it has happened enough times that many students have started to take the stairs.
Many people who have visited “that hallowed ground,” as Lincoln called it, and its environs, come away convinced that “something happened…while they were there.” To them.  To their family,  etc.
Many who have studied the subject of battlefield ghosts narrow it down to those areas where conflict has arisen, where battles have been fought, and where numerous people died suddenly and violently. They are prime locales for spirits of the departed to announce their presence in some supernatural way, as the manner of death leaves them unable to “cross over” or transition into a final resting mode.
The dead from the three day battle were everywhere.
Categorically they fall into several types of “hauntings,” an inclusive word used to cover any sightings, sounds, activities, etc. which cannot be attributed to more logical events.
You can have an intelligent or interactive haunting, usually in houses or other structures, where the spirit actually makes some sound or in some way announces its presence. Shapes appear in mirrors when no one else is there; fingers are felt on one’s shoulder or neck – it can be rather unsettling.
Next is the residual haunting, which seems to consist of one specific scene, which plays over and over like a reel of tape.
The warp haunting is where there is a warp or tear in the time continuum, and the person is transported into a scene that took place long ago such as the one from the elevator in the college building.
The Jenny Wade house where poor Jenny was the only civilian killed, shot as she was baking bread in the kitchen, has been explored and apparently verified by paranormal investigators who set up EVP recorders and highly sensitive camera equipment after making sure the house was totally empty – they term it “dropping a net over it” – with some amazing results.
I talked to a young lady at one of the stores who told me she had been a total skeptic until driving the store’s receipts over to the owner’s house one night. She was talking with him on her cell phone to let him know she was on her way.  Suddenly she slammed on the brakes, said some bad words, and when he asked what was the matter, she replied that there was a group of five or six ragged looking soldiers in gray, complete with rifles, slowly crossing the roadway in front of her.
She said that when they reached the other side of the road, they disappeared, but when she got to the store owner’s home, he told her she was as white as a sheet. Amazingly, on the phone the owner had cautioned her to sit still and not try to drive through the apparitions.
Is the Seminary haunted?
I’m told spirits can be seen or felt — usually attended by a very cold feeling — at various places connected to heavy fighting around the battlefield and beyond, and even Little Round Top, where Gen. Paddy O’Rorke died, has its share. 
There have been similar sightings at the Bloody Lane at Antietam, another scene of mass violent death, as well as Pry House, Piper House, and others. Some people see things, others do not. It makes for interesting conversation and investigation. Trust me, if you ever have one of these experiences, you will instantly become a believer.
A side note and  serious thought — if you are lucky enough to be owned by a coal black cat, please keep him or her inside on Halloween. Some people see them as dark omens. Protect your kitty!
So “…from ghoulies and ghosties. And long-legged beasties. And things that go bump in the night… Good Lord, deliver us!”
Wishing all that you have a Happy Halloween – you never know whom you may bump into! 
This article original posted October 28, 2012 
Follow the blog on FaceBook at MarthaBoltz; email is mboltz2846@aol.com . Read more of Martha’s columns on The Civil War at the Communities at the Washington Times.


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Haunted Battlefields by Dale Kaczmarek



The Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars ever fought especially since it was waged on American soil. It pitted brother against brother, family against family and nearly split our great Union in two. Approximately one million men were killed or wounded. Those that died and gave their lives for their cause only seemed to strengthen the country after the fighting finally stopped.

Two of the most bloody battles fought were Chickamauga and Stones River, both in Tennessee. Nearly ... read more at: http://www.ghostresearch.org/articles/battle.html

Ghost Research Society (www.ghostresearch.org)
© 2000 Dale Kaczmarek. All rights reserved.
Web site created by Dale Kaczmarek

10 Haunted Military Forts And Battlefields

Whether or not you believe in the paranormal, you can probably agree that some places are simply creepy. Old hospitals, abandoned insane asylums, empty prisons, and most low end strip clubs immediately spring to mind. And of course you have to include places like battlefields and old military forts, where people were brutally killed or wounded during insanely bloody battles. Lots of those places simply give people the creeps, and after reading this list of 10 haunted forts and battlefields, you’ll probably understand why.


The Top Ten Most Haunted Battlefields

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/toptenhaunted/toptenhauntedbattlefields/

#1. GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.
Three days of the bloodiest fighting of the American Civil War have forever etched these hallowed fields into the memory of a country and a people. But in the hundred-plus years since the last shot was fired and the last man fell, there continue to be reports from the fields of the fallen: reports of spectral armies still marching in step, of ghostly sentinels and horsemen, of mournful women in white, and the ghostly wails of orphans and animals alike.
Real Gettysburg Ghost Photos are said to happen all the time at this the most Haunted Battlefield in America!
GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD GHOST PHOTO SUBMITED BY RANDY BERGAMO
The Gettysburg Battlefield was the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1 to July 3, 1863, in and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the county seat of Adams County, which had approximately 2,400 residents at the time. It is now the site of two historic landmarks: Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
The town was the center of a road network that connected ten nearby Pennsylvania and Maryland towns, including well-maintained turnpikes to Chambersburg, York, and Baltimore, so was a natural concentration point for the large armies that descended upon it.
To the northwest, a series of low, parallel ridges lead to the towns of Cashtown and Chambersburg. Seminary Ridge, closest to Gettysburg, is named for the Lutheran Theological Seminary on its crest. Farther out are McPherson's Ridge, Herr's Ridge, and eventually South Mountain. Oak Ridge, a northward extension of Seminary Ridge, is capped by Oak Hill, a site for artillery that commanded a good area north of the town.
Directly south of the town is Cemetery Hill, at 503 feet (153 m) above sea level, a gentle 80 foot (24 m) slope above downtown. The hill is named for the Evergreen (civilian) cemetery on its crest; the famous military cemetery dedicated by Abraham Lincoln now shares the hill. Adjacent, due east, is Culp's Hill, of similar height, divided by a slight saddle into two recognizable hills, heavily wooded, and more rugged. Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill were subjected to assaults throughout the battle by Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps.

Extending south from Cemetery Hill is a slight elevation known as Cemetery Ridge, although the term ridge is rather extravagant; it is generally only about 40 feet (12 m) above the surrounding terrain and tapers off before Little Round Top into low, wooded ground. At the northern end of Cemetery Ridge is a copse of trees and a low stone wall that makes two 90-degree turns; the latter has been nicknamed The Angle and The High Water Mark. This area, and the nearby Codori Farm on Emmitsburg Road, were prominent features in the progress of Pickett's Charge during the third day of battle, as well as General Richard H. Anderson's division assault on the second.
Dominating the landscape are the Round Tops to the south. Little Round Top is a hill with a rugged, steep slope of 130 feet above nearby Plum Run (the peak is 550 feet (168 m) above sea level), strewn with large boulders; to its southwest, the area with the most significant boulders, some the size of living rooms, is known as Devil's Den. [Big] Round Top, known also to locals of the time as Sugar Loaf, is 116 feet higher than its Little companion. Its steep slopes are heavily wooded, which made it unsuitable for siting artillery without a large effort to climb the heights with horse-drawn guns and clear lines of fire; Little Round Top was unwooded, but its steep and rocky form made it difficult to deploy artillery in mass. However, Cemetery Hill was an excellent site for artillery, commanding all of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge and the approaches to them. Little Round Top and Devil's Den were key locations for General John Bell Hood's division in Longstreet's assault during the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. The valley formed by Plum Run between the Round Tops and Devil's Den earned the name Valley of Death on that day.
Northwest from the Round Tops, towards Emmitsburg Road, are the Wheatfield, Rose Woods, and the Peach Orchard. As noted by General Daniel E. Sickles in the second day of battle, this area is about 40 feet higher in elevation than the lowlands at the south end of Cemetery Ridge. These all figured prominently in General Lafayette McLaws's division assault during the second day of battle.
After the battle, the Army of the Potomac and the citizens of Gettysburg were left with appalling burdens. The battlefield was strewn with over 7,000 dead men and the houses, farms, churches, and public buildings were struggling to deal with 30,000 wounded men. The stench from the dead soldiers and from the thousands of animal carcasses was overwhelming. To the east of town, a massive tent city was erected to attempt medical care for the soldiers, which was named Camp Letterman after Jonathan Letterman, chief surgeon of the Army of the Potomac. Contracts were let with entrepreneurs to bury men and animals and the majority were buried near where they fell.
Two individuals immediately began to work to help the town recover and to preserve the memory of those who had fallen: David Wills and David McConaughy, both attorneys living in Gettysburg. A week after the battle, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited Gettysburg and expressed the state's interest in finding its veterans and giving them a proper burial. Wilson immediately arranged for the purchase of 17 acres (69,000 m²) next to the Evergreen Cemetery, but the priority of burying Pennsylvania veterans soon changed to honoring all of the Union dead.
McConaughy was responsible for purchasing 600 acres (2.4 km²) of privately held land to preserve as a monument. His first priorities for preservation were Culp's Hill, East Cemetery Hill, and Little Round Top. On April 30, 1864, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association was formed to mark "the great deeds of valor ... and the signal events which render these battlegrounds illustrious", and it began adding to McConaughy's holdings. In 1880, the Grand Army of the Republic took control of the Memorial Association and its lands.
On November 19, 1863, the Soldiers' National Cemetery was dedicated in a ceremonyhighlighted by Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The night before, Lincoln slept in Wills's house on the main square in Gettysburg, which is now a landmark administered by the National Park Service. The cemetery was completed in March of 1864 with the last of 3,512 Union dead were reburied. It became a National Cemetery on May 1, 1872, when control was transferred to the U.S. War Department.
The removal of Confederate dead from the field burial plots was not undertaken until seven years after the battle. From 1870 to 1873, upon the initiative of the Ladies Memorial Associations of Richmond, Raleigh, Savannah, and Charleston, 3,320 bodies were disinterred and sent to cemeteries in those cities for reburial, 2,935 being interred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. Seventy-three bodies were reburied in home cemeteries.

Gettysburg National Military Park
Travel back in time to Civil War days.
97 Taneytown Rd.
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Located 50 miles northwest of Baltimore, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of the largest battle ever waged during the American Civil War. Fought in the first three days of July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg resulted in a hallmark victory for the Union "Army of the Potomac" and successfully ended the second invasion of the North by General Robert E. Lee's "Army of Northern Virginia". Historians have referred to the battle as a major turning point in the war, the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy". It was also the bloodiest single battle of the war, resulting in over 51,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing.

View official Web site 

Gettysburg National Military Park and Visitor Center
Open All Year
September through May 8 AM to 5 PM
June through August 8 AM to 6 PM
Cyclorama Center Museum
Open All Year 9 AM to 5 PM
Gettysburg National Military Park
United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service

MARK NESBITT
MARK NESBITT

Mark Nesbitt has over the years gathered many ghost stories from park rangers, visitors and people who live in the Gettysburg area. Nesbitt tries to gather factual data on the stories he receives so he can offer a background as to why these ghost stories may have evolved. His stories are factual and interesting and do not just talk about battlefield soldiers and civilians , all are also involved in famous ghost stories in Gettysburg!
The entire Ghost Of Gettysburg series is well researched, documented and written. And presents each haunting in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner and maintains the perfect balance of skepticism and belief. 
It could be said that Mark Nesbitt’s first ghost investigations took place in the 1970s when he was a National Park Service Ranger at Gettysburg. Patrolling the battlefield at night could be a downright thrilling experience. When his shift was done, he would head for home, one of the historic buildings on the battlefield—buildings that had been used as hospitals during the battle. More than once, in the middle of the night, he was awakened by strange noises which appeared to have no source—at least no visible source.
Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours®
Ghosts of Gettysburg, 271 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325 (717) 337-0445
Visit Mark Nesbitt here Official Web Site www.ghostsofgettysburg.com
Also Check Out: Ghost TV Dead On Productions is a partnership between historian Mark Nesbitt, author of the highly acclaimed Ghosts of Gettysburg series, and Investigative Medium Laine Crosby, marketing strategist and former director of marketing for high-tech ventures, including the launch of The Weather Channel New Media and weather.com.
Ghost TV Dead On Productions
The duo also co-host the talk show Ghost Talkers. The show includes interviews with psychics, authors, historians, and paranormal investigators. The first season’s topics include: unpublished Gettysburg ghost stories, capturing electronic voice phenomenon, psychic encounters, demonology, possessed possessions, and all things paranormal. “We noticed a void in the market- audiences’ desires were not being met,” said executive producer Laine Crosby, an ex-marketing executive who now works as an Investigative Medium. “Although national cable networks have begun to offer quality programming about the paranormal, with the exception of the random podcast, the Internet seems to be dead silent. We are the first non-television network to launch this unique programming in the high-tech world.” www.ghostchannel.tv
#2. ANTIETAM, MARYLAND
Established by Act of Congress on August 30, 1890, this Civil War site marks the end of General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North in September 1862. The battle claimed more than 23,000 men killed, wounded, and missing in one single day, September 17,1862, and led to Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Strange events have taken place at Bloody Lane that lead people to believe that it is haunted. The sounds of gunfire and the smell of smoke and gunpowder are just some of the strange happenings there. People have also seen strange blue lights near Burnside Bridge where many Federal soldiers died while trying to cross Antietam Creek. The Pry House was used as McClellan's headquarters and is thought to be haunted by General Richardson's wife Frances, who cared for him on his deathbed. Ghosts have also been seen at the Piper House, Sherrick House, Otto House and St. Paul Episcopal Church, which was used, as a Confederate field hospital following the battle.
Upside down canon barrels mark the spots on the battlefield where Generals were killed. There are five in all on the Antietam battlefield. Ghost Photo sent to us from Belinda Franks.
Strange events have taken place at Bloody Lane that lead people to believe that it is haunted. The sounds of gunfire and the smell of smoke and gunpowder are just some of the strange happenings there. People have also seen strange blue lights near Burnside Bridge where many Federal soldiers died while trying to cross Antietam Creek. The Pry House was used as McClellan's headquarters and is thought to be haunted by General Richardson's wife Frances, who cared for him on his deathbed. Ghosts have also been seen at the Piper House, Sherrick House, Otto House and St. Paul Episcopal Church, which was used, as a Confederate field hospital following the battle.
Many ghost hunters have investigated Antietam Battlefield and have come away with paranormal photos of "orbs" and strange mists. There certainly appears to be here ample reason to conduct an investigation of our own.
Second only to Gettysburg in the annals of warlike horror is Antietam. On a single day – September 17, 1862 – the Union and Confederate Armies clashed in the corn fields and farmlands surrounding this little corner of a divided nation. When the day had ended, 23,000 souls had been dispatched to the hereafter: this is more than all the dead of the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican American and the Spanish American conflicts combined.
Antietam National Cemetery, whose 11.36 acres contain 5,032 interments, 1,836 unidentified, adjoins the park; grave space is not available. Civil War interments occurred in 1866. The cemetery contains only Union soldiers from the Civil War period. Confederate dead were interred in the Washington Confederate Cemetery within Rosehill Cemetery, Hagerstown. The Antietam National Cemetery was placed under the War Department on July 14, 1870; it was transferred to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933.
Over the years visitors and park rangers alike have reported strange occurrences from the now idyllic fields of Antietam. Like their brothers at Gettysburg, the soldiers who fell at Antietam still remain as more than memory.
Operating Hours & Seasons
Daily, summer: 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; daily, winter: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Antietam National Park Home Page
The Battle of Antietam Official Records and Battle DescriptionThe Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
(The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War)
September 17, 1862

A GALLENT COLOR BEARER, HARPERS WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 20,1862
"Baltimore: A House Divided" Civil War Trail is open.

Cross the Potomac River with Lee. Discover the "Lost Orders" with McClellan and fight the battles of South Mountain as you follow the roads the soldiers used during the 1862 Antietam Campaign. Trace the route of John Wilkes Booth's escape route through southern Maryland after he shot Abraham Lincoln. Ride with Confederate Jubal Early as he marched toward Washington in 1864. Have a look at a prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout. Visit Baltimore's rich store of Civil War sites and uncover the secrets of Frederick, Washington, Carroll and Montgomery counties.

Antietam National Battlefield and South Mountain State Park in Washington County. 
Civil WarTraveler.Com
NEW: Combined Virginia/Maryland Civil War Trails map-brochure
http://www.civilwar-va.com/maryland/antietam.html


#3. Chickamauga, (Chattanooga) Tennessee
In the early to mid-1800’s, the present town of Chickamauga was just a large plantation in the North Georgia rolling hills. The name of the post office was Crawfish Springs-named for Indian Chief Crayfish, of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee Indians had settled the area, farming and enjoying the natural beauty of the land. Chickamauga is derived from an ancient Cherokee word meaning "River of Death".
Considered a Confederate victory for halting the Union advance, the Battle of Chickamauga was a costly one. It claimed an estimated 34,624 casualties (16,170 for the Union; 18,454 for the Confederates).
"Wherever there has been great suffering, people are always seeing strange things."
These are the words of Edward Tinney, former historian and chief ranger at Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park. Tinney, who worked at the park from 1969 to 1986 and also spent time working at the battlegrounds at Shiloh, Tenn., said ghostly sightings at the Chickamauga Battlefield or any Civil War site are not uncommon.
Tinney said the legend of Old Green Eyes, the ghost who is said to haunt the battlefield in various forms ranging from a Confederate soldier to a green-eyed panther, has been a part of Chickamauga Battlefield lore since the last shot was fired at the bloody battle that claimed 34,000 casualties Sept. 19-20, 1863. The tales of Green Eyes and other phantom sightings stem from the soldiers, who lived through the War Between the States, Tinney said.
"Green Eyes is rumored to be a man who lost his head to a cannonball, frantically searching the battlefield at night for his dislocated body," Tinney said. "History says ghosts in the bat-tlefield such as the Green Eyes tale began happening soon after the war in 1863.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, located in northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee, preserves the sites of two major battles of the American Civil War.
One of the earliest ghost sightings shortly after the Civil War ended is documented in Susie Blaylock McDaniel's book "The Official History of Catoosa County."
Jim Carlock, an early resident of the Post Oak Community, writes in McDaniel's book about returning home from a centennial celebration on Market Street in Chattanooga in 1876, a mere 13 years after the bloody battle. Carlock writes: "Did you ever see a ghost? They used to see them on the Chickamauga Battlefields just after the war."
Carlock goes on to write that, while passing through the battlefield (or near it, the exact location is unclear), it was dark and there were no houses nearby when he and his friends spotted something 10 feet high with a "big white head." He said he and his companions were in a wagon and a Mr. Shields was riding horseback. Carlock said Shields road up and hit the ghost and a baby cried out and the ghost said, "Let me alone." He said the entity appeared to be a ghostly apparition of a Negro woman with a bundle of clothes on her head.


Chickamauga ghost the haunted cannon.
Chickamauga Ghost Photo sent to us by Danial Druey.
During the War of 1812, five hundred Cherokee soldiers from the area fought with General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Creek Indians, who were aligned with England. Their valor helped assure victory for the Americans. The Cherokee nation was divided into districts and courts with Crawfish Springs the county site of one of the districts. A courthouse was built in the town in 1820 and the first court in Walker County was held here. The Cherokees called this area their home until their forced exodus in 1838, leading to the Trail of Tears.
But the Civil War is not the only source of death that may have imprisoned lost spirits at the battlefield. The hill behind Wilder Tower saw the deaths of many soldiers, mainly from ty-phoid fever, during their training and encampment on the battlefield in preparation for the Spanish-American War, he said.
According to various sources, other tales claim Green Eyes existed before the Civil War and circulated among the soldiers during the fighting, or that the spirit existed as early as the Native American occupation of the land where the battlefield is now located.
Tinney said that during his tenure at the park, he saw something one night that he could not explain, and believes he came face-to-face with the undead inside the battlefield.
The historian said that one day in 1976, about 4 a.m., he went to check on some battle re-enactors who were camping out in the park. He said that while walking near Glen Kelly Road, he encountered a man over 6 feet tall, wearing a long black duster, with shaggy, stringy, black, waist-length hair, walking toward him. From the man's body language, Tinney feared he was about to be attacked, so he crossed to the other side of the road, he said. When the man became parallel with Tinney he turned and smiled a devilish grin, and his dark eyes glistened. Tinney said he turned to face the man and began to back-pedal, as his companion did as well. At that moment, a car came down a straightaway in the road, and when its headlights hit the apparition it vanished, he said.
Between 1890 and 1899 the Congress of the United States authorized the establishment of the first four national military parks: Chickamauga and Chattanooga, Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg. The first and largest of these, and the one upon which the establishment and development of most other national military and historical parks was based, was Chickamauga and Chattanooga. It owes its existence largely to the efforts of General H.V. Boynton and Ferdinand Van Derveer, both veterans of the Army of the Cumberland, who saw the need for a national park to preserve and commemorate these battlefields during a visit to the area in 1888.
Chickamauga Ghost Horse, Photo submited by Rick Kanan.
Chickamauga Ghost Horse I am a Civil War re-enactor and was visiting the Chickamauga battlefield last year... I got home and developed the pictures there was one apparition of a dismounted horse behind me in the brush.
Ghost Photo submited by Rick Kanan.
Site of a major Confederate victory, it was nonetheless hard earned: All told 34,624 died in the battle that raged from September 18 – 20, 1863. Chickamauga is a Cherokee word meaning “River of Blood” and for the dead of both sides this is just what it became.
The specter, in the form of a lady in a white wedding dress, known as the "Lady in White," is searching for her lover, Tinney said.
Other stories of hauntings on the battlefield include visitors' accounts of hearing gunshots, hoof beats, or smelling the strong scent of alcohol.
Sam Weddle, chief ranger at the park for 11 years, said the National Park Service has no official opinion about the legend of Green Eyes or any of the other ghostly tales that float from the confines of the park.

Still, there have been hundreds of reports of paranormal events and ghostly encounters with the remnant spirits of the souls who once fought and died here.
David Lester, Civil War enthusiast and re-enactor, said about five years ago, he and some of his fellow re-enactors were camping out at the battlefield as part of "Living History Days," an event that gives park visitors a first-hand look at how soldiers lived during the war.
Lester said several of his comrades wandered to a neighboring camp to say hello to their fellow soldiers. The men talked with the neighboring campers for several hours before re-turning to their own camp to sleep for the night.
When day broke, the men went back to the camp to wish them a good morning and see how they were getting along, but they were gone, Lester said. There was no sign of their campfire from the night before, not one trace of any human occupation at the site — only undisturbed land.
Operating Hours & Seasons
The Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. The Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center is open 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Both Visitor Centers are closed on December 25. It is advisable to call the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center, 423-821-7786, for current Cravens House tour schedule.
Visitor Center hours of operation will change effective November 28, 2004 to:
8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Va Flaggers: W&L Lee Chapel Desecration Update: The Tar Heels Arrive!


 A group of flaggers from the Old North State traveled to Lexington this past weekend to protest Washington & Lee University after University officials stripped Confederate Battle Flags from the chamber of the LEE Chapel, desecrating the final resting place of Gen. Robert E. Lee and dishonoring Lee and all Confederate veterans. They filed this report:
 "The flagging during the Washington & Lee University Alumni Homecoming was a great success. From the moment the Tar Heels set up at the entrance in front of Lee Chapel, motorists and pedestrians alike got a clear view of Confederate soldiers and their flags of honor. The streets were filled with parked cars and visitors flooding into Lexington for the homecoming events. The weather was perfect and pedestrians traveled the sidewalks all day.
 Over the course of the day over 100 fliers where handed out, people stopped to talk to the flaggers and were upset to hear about the desecration of the LEE Chapel. Motorist honked horns, waved and shouted their thanks to the flaggers for their continuous efforts to restore the flags. Many cadets from VMI stopped to salute and shake hands with the flaggers, most in disbelief of how General Lee has been disgraced by the very University that would not be in existence today, if not for his efforts.
 Students and Alumni frequently stopped to ask questions about the flags, uniforms, the soldiers, Lee's character and why the school would cave into six student's demands so easily. Camera phones were out in force as passers-by tried to get the perfect shots of the Confederate soldiers, many pulling over to get out of their cars and buses to have their photo taken with the soldiers.
 A family of first time visitors to Lexington said that seeing the soldiers out in front of Lee Chapel was the best part of their day and that they couldn't believe how Lexington and Washington & Lee University is now ashamed to honor the Confederate soldier. Of course, not all of the students and visitors were as open minded. On the occasion where a supporter of the flag removal approached us, it gave the flaggers a perfect opportunity to educate them and debate the issues at hand, and afterwards, most left without animosity, and with new information which will hopefully spark further investigation about what the war was truly about.
 In all, the flaggers made a big impact along the sidewalks of Jefferson St. Students and Alumni we spoke with vowed to write letters and let President Ruscio know of their displeasure. Many will go to their friends and pass the word along. Let's hope this makes a big impact on the return of the flags and the restoration of honor."
 -Jamie Funkhouser- Tar Heel Flagger
 THREE CHEERS FOR THE TAR HEEL FLAGGERS!
 Call to action:
 CALLING ALL CONFEDERATE COLOR/HONOR GUARDS!   Following up on the phenomenal success of the Tar Heel flagging, we would love to see a uniformed Confederate color/honor guard on duty AT LEAST once a week!  We will help coordinate your visit, provide your men with literature to distribute, talking points to share, and assist in any way possible.  For more information or to schedule your participation, contact info@vaflaggers.com.
 For those who cannot make it to Lexington, we ask that you, once again, let University officials know that the desecration of the RE Lee Chapel is not acceptable. This week, we have added the contact information for Mr. J. Donald Childress, Rector of the Board of Trustees.  We ask that you contact him, in addition to President Ruscio, and continue the pressure that has been continually and effectively applied since the flags were ripped from the Chapel walls in July.

Contact Ino:
 J. Donald Childress
Rector of the Board of Trustees
Atlanta, Georgia
dchildress@childressklein.com

Kenneth P. Ruscio
President of the University
540.458.8700
president@wlu.edu

RETURN the flags!
RESTORE the honor!

Grayson Jennings


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Va Flaggers: Confederate Archives Update


While the Va Flaggers have been busy fighting heritage violations, erecting Memorial Battle Flags and working to honor our Confederate Veterans, our Confederate search engine project - ConfederateArchives.com - has been quietly and very successfully expanding under the direction, guidance and hard work of TriPp and Jack Lewis. Please read the following update, including information regarding the exciting new Confederate Descendant Finder Project, share the information with others, use the search engine, and add any Confederate data that you find or possess...

ConfederateArchives.com – Launched 03/2013
Total links – 2.4 million links
Total Searches since 05/2013 - 987,477
Confederate Descendant finder Project - 1,654,612 descendants and counting

Confederate Archives is a fully functioning search engine that searches the internet for websites and data concentrating on Confederate history from 1828 to present day. Type "Lee" on other search engines and notice how many results are generated for LEE JEANS, for instance, instead of General Lee. Then try ours. The main purpose of ConfederateArchives.com is to record our Southern history and to be able to provide this content if/when other search engines are forced to censor what approved results will be displayed. We never will.

We provide a safe, family friendly search engine, screened of inaccurate, inappropriate, and false information, which will allow the documentation of our TRUE Southern Heritage and history for generations to come. Sounds good? We think so, too...and we need YOUR help to make this project successful. What can you do? USE IT!  When you're researching the WBTS, ancestry, or any search related to the CSA, use ConfederateArchives.com. The more it is used, the better the results will be when people search in the future.

Please add your favorite websites using the link on the front page of the search engine. Http://www.confederatearchives.com/

Type of websites we would like to add to confederatearchives.com: - Confederate Cemeteries - Confederate Soldiers Lists - Museums with Confederate Artifacts - Newspapers collections from 1828 thru 1941 - Current day news articles concerning Confederate History - Current day news articles on heritage violations. - Historical Documents between 1828 to present day. - UDC Websites - SCV Camp websites - Heritage defense websites - Art work and pictures - Maps - Genealogy pages with family tree information Love letters and letters to family members...AND everything else Confederate!

In February 2014, after reviewing the data we had collected for over a year it came to our attention that we could endeavor to find ALL of the descendants of Confederate Soldiers, even those still living. The Sons of Confederate Veterans membership is around 30k members. What if we could find the living descendants of soldiers and invite these folks into our organization(s)? Just imagine...

We are working on this. We have about six more months before we finish up and can start providing SCV camps and others an outline of how to use the data we collected as well as provide the procedures and needed information to raise an army of heritage defenders.

Total develop time on ConfederateArchives.com since 03/2013 – 288hrs.
www.confederatearchives.com

Susan Hathaway


Monday, October 27, 2014

The Sin of Slavery


From: cscitizen@windstream.net

Chuck, if slavery was/is a sin then why would God tell us how to treat slaves fairly & humanely in the bible? Looking back through 21st Century eyes it's easy to say the practice was wrong. However, the average slave was taught to read, write (until abolitionist publications told them to rise up & murder their master & their families) and              taught Christianity.
 
I doubt seriously blacks would have been better off left in Africa rather than under the care of a Christian master. However when the U.S. government apologizes for not freeing the slaves in America before the ink on the U.S. Constitution dried then I will too but, not until then. This means every one of the yankee states that practiced slavery as well.
 
I probably won`t then as I`ve never owned any slaves. Doing so would be as stupid & fruitless as apologizing for my English ancestors who treated my Welsh, Scottish & Irish ancestors just as badly, if not worse by selling them into slavery to the American colonies before blacks were ever thought of as being used as slaves.
 
If slavery apologists are going to apologize for slavery in America perhaps they need to go on a worldwide tour & apologize for the whole worlds slavery practices from the beginning of mankind. The rest of us are tired of the continual harping of those apologists.

Billy E. Price
Ashville Alabama

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Why I am a "neo-Confederate"



My response to a Yankee gentleman who decried by siding with "neo-Confederates" and wondered why I did so as I was (reasonably) intelligent. Below is my response written in 2012.

Val


Eric,

I have given considerable thought to your query on my "neo-Confederate" contacts. If I put in everything, you would have an essay and I'm sure your curiosity does not extend to that degree so I will try to keep it short.

The South was right and I am not alone in that belief. Hear the considered opinion of Lord Acton—a giant of his and any other time. Acton in a letter to Robert E. Lee, said:

"I saw in States' rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy…. Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization, and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo."

After over ten years of research, I now know that what I revered for most of my life was an illusion and that our present national condition is the consequence of more than 150 years in which the original vision of most—but not all—of the Founders has been replaced by a central tyranny which at least used to pay "lip service" to the will of the people. My conclusions are summed up by Professor Jay Hoar, an historian from Maine (not Mississippi) who said:

"The worst fears of those Boys in Gray are now a fact of American life—a Federal government completely out of control."

Of course, I have been assured that Hoar's opinions are suspect because he spent time in the South. But if Hoar had lived on the moon, that would not change the fact that he is correct. Our "no-longer-federal" government is completely out of control and cares nothing for anyone's consent, much less that of "the governed."

And finally, I must bring forth the words of Ulysses Grant who said,

"The questions which have heretofore divided the sentiment of the people of the two sections—slavery and state's rights, or the right of a state to secede from the Union—they (Southern men) regard as having been settled forever by the highest tribunal—arms—that man can resort to."

And with that unchallenged sentiment, I realized that we no longer have any law but the law of the jungle—the survival of the strongest. Antonin Scalia—a conservative—said the same thing when asked about the constitutionality of secession. Grant and Scalia were not talking about what was called after the war "the abitrement of the sword," that is, acceptance of a military defeat by such men as John Mosby and Robert E. Lee, but the actual belief that triumph in arms somehow bestowed legitimacy upon one side of an issue! If right is determined by might, then Hitler wasn't "wrong," he was merely bested in war! Had he won, his adherents would have every moral "right" to build the same type of monuments to him that we have built to another tyrant and war criminal, Abraham Lincoln! As well, if we accept Grant's and Scalia's premise, then we are then forced to agree with another well respected conservative, John Bolton, who said that the United States government killed many Southern civilians during the Civil (sic) War without due process and it was the right thing to do! I reject that philosophy which apparently is now—and has been—the philosophy of this country for at least 150 years (ask the American Indian)! If the right is determined by the strong rather than by the law, then why bother with the law except as a subterfuge to hide that fact from the ignorant and the naïve?

I stand with those whom you call "neo-Confederates" because they are waging an admittedly losing battle to preserve their history, their symbols and their way of life—Christian Western civilization and I would prefer to die with the righteous than live with the Spirit of the Age. They cannot win because the tide of history is against them              but for those who think that their loss means nothing to "America," I assure you, the symbols, history and heritage of the "The United States" will soon follow the symbols, history and heritage of The Confederate States. The latter can no more be allowed to remain in our Brave New World than the former. Already we see American—not Confederate—flags being censored in our schools lest they "offend" our Third World "guests"—invited or otherwise.

I am almost 72; my husband is almost 75 (as noted, this was written in 2012). we are already "dead" in the eyes of Obamacare as is my handicapped son who is just another expensive "useless eater." My daughter and her husband have no problem with the current regime—and by that I mean all of them and not just one political party. Indeed, I echo the sentiments of Patrick Buchanan who stated that the two parties are merely two wings on the same bird of prey. I have no grandchildren, nor will I have any so I am not overcome with angst about the future. It is sad to see the end of "the Great Experiment," but actually it ended before it really began. The seeds of its destruction were sown at its birth. Patrick Henry was right when he declared that the Constitution was nothing but a plan for the installation of a tyrannous central government despite every effort to prevent that from happening (bye-bye Bill of Rights!). Benjamin Franklin was right when he said that when the Congress discovered it could use the People's money to buy elected office in perpetuity the Republic was dead. Today, we are merely seeing these warnings played out. The final death blow was struck in 1865. We are only now coming to the last dying gasps.

Valerie Protopapas


Saturday, October 25, 2014

Parks Appeal – write the CA



Park friends and supporters,

Please write to Letters to the Editor of the Commercial Appeal newspaper.    We MUST keep this in front of our government officials and in front of our friends and fellow citizens.  We must remind them all that we will not forget              our ancestors and will continue the fight for the preservation of our American history.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/submit-letter-to-editor  

Please write that you agree with (applaud, congratulation, commend) the SCV & CTSOP for filing the appeal in the Parks Lawsuit.

The Memphis City Council was wrong in trying to rename our historic parks (Confederate Park, Jefferson Davis Park, and Forrest Park) and their acts were illegal.

And add whatever else you wish.  We know we're right, and the city and city council are wrong.

A press release was sent to all the media but they may try to ignore our appeal of this injustice.  We must write in and keep them aware of our efforts.

Lee


As you are perhaps aware, on Thursday Sept 4, 2014 the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the Citizens to Save Our Parks filed an appeal of the recent court ruling dismissing the Parks Renaming lawsuit on 'standing'.   The case will now go to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Western District in Jackson, TN.  No hearing date has been scheduled as yet.  The original suit was brought to correct the Memphis City Council's unauthorized attempted renaming of Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park, and Confederate Park in downtown Memphis.

Lee Millar, spokesman for the SCV, stated that "we feel that the chancellor inadequately considered the precedent case law and failed to consider material facts.  Thus we are appealing the case and will continue until the original historic park names are restored.  We know that the city council was wrong in attempting to rename these three historic parks.  The preliminary dismissal will not deter us and the Sons of Confederate Veterans along with the Citizens to Save Our Parks shall continue to work to maintain this part of our American history."

It should be noted that Forrest Park and Confederate Park are on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Register of Historic Places and to the civilized world (which evidently excludes Memphis), the parks will always be known as Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park, and Confederate Park.


Friday, October 24, 2014

New Quantrill-related biography you and your colleages should know about



Gentlemen,
 I hope you might share the attached flyer and press release with your audiences. It was about 140-years ago when the first biography of William Clarke Quantrill was published. Just a few days ago, the first authoritative biography of his ‘wife,’ Kate King, was released! What a fascinating and mysterious woman. The co-authors spent more than 20 years researching and writing this important book, sure to be a hit with members and followers of your organization.

Thank you in advance for helping to promote the availability of this new biography throughout your network. Perhaps your colleagues in Kentucky and Oklahoma, too, might especially be interested in this book that directly involves their areas? May I humbly ask you to put in a good word with them and share the attached?

Cordially,
David W. Jackson
How shall I live that my family and the community in which I dwell, shall be the better for my having lived?” –Mrs. Kersey (Sarah Chandler) Coates, Kansas City, Missouri




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Chuck Demastus

A TRULY HISTORIC DAY, A STIRRING TRIBUTE TO A BEAUTIFUL SOUL, AND A MEDIA BLACKOUT

James Bradley
--- Forwarded message ---
From: Sons of Confederate Veterans <ihq@scv.org>
Date: October 20, 2014 9:04:59 PM
Subject: SCV Telegraph- Message from the Chief of Heritage Operations
To: jamesbradley_1970@yahoo.com



   Sons of Confederate Veterans
                                
         
 
A TRULY HISTORIC DAY, A STIRRING TRIBUTE TO A BEAUTIFUL SOUL, AND A MEDIA BLACKOUT

By Ben Jones

This past Saturday, at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Monroe, North Carolina a memorial service of major historic importance took place. The ashes of Mrs. Mattie Clyburn Rice were placed next to the grave of her father, Weary Clyburn. Mr. Clyburn was born in 1841 and was a combatant in the American Civil War and passed away in 1932. His daughter, Mrs. Rice, passed on September 1st of this year, two weeks before what would have been her 91st birthday. The service was to remember "Miss Mattie" and to dedicate to her a permanent memorial.

The memorial service was a day of tears and laughter, and a day of reflection, pageantry, music, and praise. It was a memorable occasion for a beautiful soul.

Between them, the lives of father and daughter encompassed the greater part of the American Experience. When Weary Clyburn was born, there were still many alive who had fought in the American Revolution. When his daughter died, the space age had taken men to the moon and beyond, and the digital revolution had enabled the entire planet to instantly connect. During this Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, one would have expected such a memorial tribute as this to gain the attention of the major television networks, the cable news networks, and the major regional and national newspapers.

Certainly serious historians of the era would be there to mark the occasion, for
this wonderful lady had heard of the war first hand from the stories of her beloved father, and she had honored his heritage with devotion and courage.

But the event took place in a virtual blackout of media coverage. There were, to my knowledge, two reporters from the Monroe area there, but nothing beyond that. The nation did not get to hear about "Miss Mattie" and her devotion to her father's memory. The historic importance of this family went virtually unnoticed by the media.

There was, however, an Associated Press story about the Memorial on the day before the service. And that nationally distributed story is indicative of the "mainstream media's" approach to what can only be called "political correctness". Nothing else can explain the "hatchet job" on the passing of this beautiful soul. For you see, Weary Clyburn was a slave, and he served for the Confederacy, and he received a pension for his service to the Southern Army. But the story told to the nation by the Associated Press says that he was surely forced into service by his master.

And that, according to Weary and his daughter Mattie, is a lie.

According to "Miss Mattie", her father went into the war with his friend, Frank Weary, and served as his bodyguard for four years. In one battle, Weary saved the wounded Frank's life by carrying him over his shoulders to safety. A granddaughter of Frank Weary spoke heartfelt thanks for this act to Weary's descendants at the Memorial Service.

For that Associated Press story, the reporter, Martha Waggoner, interviewed a man identified as a "blogger", a man who is a high school teacher from New Jersey who lives in Massachusetts. Claiming to be a "historian", this blogger has said that Mrs. Rice had promulgated a hoax, and that it was not true that men like Weary Clyburn had supported the Confederacy because Weary Clyburn was a slave. Never mind what the man Weary Clyburn himself said. The blogger, a man named Kevin Levin, thinks he knows the minds of Southern people who lived in the 1840's better than they knew it. In choosing to interview a blogger who is best known as an avowed anti-Southern propagandist, the A.P. reporter has insulted the memory of Mrs. Rice and her father and brought great pain to her family and to the many friends who knew this wonderful lady.

Of course, the "reporter" did not bother to cover the actual event and talk to Mrs. Rice's children and grandchildren. She and her colleagues were nowhere in sight. She had "covered" the story with a phone call to a self obsessed Massachusetts blogger.

It is an outrageous and disturbing piece of "reporting". How anyone could slander this father and daughter is beyond comprehension, but that is exactly what "reporter" Martha Waggoner and "blogger" Kevin Levin managed to do.

Ms. Waggoner could have easily contacted any number of serious, respected historians of the American Civil War in North Carolina. Instead she seemed to "cherry-pick" a blogger devoted to attacking Southern heritage and gave him the final word.

But we can speak up for Weary Clyburn and "Miss Mattie" just as she spoke up for us.

Please e-mail Ms. Waggoner at MWaggoner@ap.org and tell her politely that her story was clearly biased and insulting to the memory of Mattie Clyburn Rice and her family. Tell her, as nicely as possible, that she should apologize to every one of "Miss Mattie's" family members, and especially to the memory of Weary Clyburn and his indomitable daughter, Mattie Clyburn Rice.


OFFICIAL SCVNEWS POST
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1999-2014, Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The SCV Telegraph Mailing List is for Official
SCV Use ONLY.

DO NOT reply to this message.
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Sons of Confederate Veterans | PO Box 59 | Columbia | TN | 38402

Thursday, October 23, 2014

MO State Guard Lapel Pins


Gents,
I have 13 --- only 13 MO State Guard Lapel Pins left.  This was our second run of these, so when they are gone, they are gone.  I would like to clear the inventory so to speak, so if anyone, or any camp is interested, they are $10 each.  I'll mail them to you postage paid by me if you are interested.  They will go on a first come, first served basis.... which will probably be pretty quick.  If you are interested, let me know.  I also have this past year's MO Division Reunion Buttons/Ribbons, and quite a few of those still exist, we will sell them to camps and/or members for $3 each, in an effort to move them.  Just let me know.  Again, once they are gone, they are gone.
Darrell Maples- Commander
MO Division - SCV


Danville Flag




   Sons of Confederate Veterans
                                 
  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 
DANVILLE FLAG OUTCOME "A VICTORY FOR COMMON SENSE OVER POLITICAL CORRECTNESS''
In a major victory for Americans of Confederate heritage, the City of Danville today squashed the attempts by The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History to remove the Third National Flag of the Confederacy from its grounds at the historic Sutherlin mansion.
"This is a huge victory for common sense over political correctness," said Kelly Barrow, the Commander in Chief of the 30,000 member Sons of Confederate Veterans, a heritage organization made up of direct descendants of those who fought for the Confederate States of America.

 
"The Sutherlin Mansion is called the Last Capital of the Confederacy because Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet stayed there after Richmond fell in 1865," said Barrow. "That flag flies there as a very significant part of American history. What the museum was proposing was nothing less than an unthinking insult to the more than 70 million Americans whose ancestors fought for the Southern cause. It amounts to an attempt to whitewash American and Virginian history."

 
In a brief statement, the City of Danville acknowledged that Virginia law prevents the removal of the flag. Attorney Fred Taylor, who represented individual citizens of Danville, said, "I am pleased to hear of the decision by the Danville City Council. Virginia state law is clear regarding the protection of the monument and the memorial, and it is reassuring to see the City Council honor its original 7994 agreement with the Heritage Preservation Association and the citizens of Danville, avoiding what could have been a needless and costly legal battle."

 
Ben L. Jones 
Chief of Heritage Operations


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