Saturday, October 31, 2015
5 Disturbing Cemeteries in Missouri That Will Give You Goosebumps
Cemeteries are creepy enough without adding ghost stories to the mix. All of these cemeteries have their share of spooky histories. CAUTION: Not for the easily scared!
Read more at: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/missouri/disturbing-cemeteries-mo//
10 Most Haunted Places in Missouri
Missouri's hauntings reach back centuries to the Native Americans of the region, who had traditions for keeping the dead from returning to this world. Today there are dozens of haunted spots in the Show-Me State. Many of the sites are open to the public (such as the Lemp Mansion) or can be visited during special events.
More at: http://paranormal.lovetoknow.com/10-most-haunted-places-missouri
HAUNTED MISSOURI
There are few places as appealing to the historians and history buffs of the Midwest than the mighty Mississippi River. There is really no other place that conjures up the image of the river as it once was like Missouri. St. Louis has always been known as the "Gateway to the West" and it became the prosperous river town that it did because of the Mississippi.... The river, and the state of Missouri itself, have long been linked to stories of ghost and haunts and perhaps the strong link between the river and Missouri is what makes this state such a haunted place. Regardless, sit back and plan to enjoy the many tales of ghosts in the "Show Me" state.
Read more at: http://www.prairieghosts.com/hauntmo.html
Read more at: http://www.prairieghosts.com/hauntmo.html
The Most Haunted Cemeteries In Savannah
http://www.ghostsandgravestones.com/savannah/haunted-cemeteries.php
A visit to Georgia’s first city is a vacation that will be filled with fascinating history, beautiful natural scenery, magnificent Victorian architecture, and quaint country squares. It is also a favorite destination for those seeking ghostly encounters. Savannah has earned a reputation as America’s most haunted city. It’s not surprising that this lovely Southern city has its share of haunted cemeteries - a must visit for anyone who’s ready to have a paranormal experience.
Colonial Park Cemetery
Considered one of the most haunted places in the city, Colonial Park Cemetery is the oldest burial ground in Savannah and is located within the heart of Savannah’s historic district. Burials here began in 1750 - making it the final resting place of many of Savannah’s earliest residents. The numerous ghosts and apparitions, mysterious sounds and sights are believed to be caused by the tragic deaths of the thousands of victims of the Yellow Fever Epidemic and the many dueling deaths that were too numerous to count. Whatever the cause, it is not disputed that this historic cemetery has its share of eerie events. There’s one ghost that seems to be more visible than the others: A man who was convicted of murder and the story goes he was hung inside the cemetery from a tree. Many who visit say they have seen Rene Rondolier hanging from that same tree; others say they saw him walking amongst the graves. The story of Rene’s ghost has been repeated so many times that some call the cemetery Rene’s playground. The other sightings and mysterious encounters include voices, shadowy figures and more.
Bonaventure Cemetery
Located along the Wilmington River, Bonaventure Cemetery is known for its gorgeous magnolia, dogwood and live oaks, colorful azaleas and interesting tombstones. This beautiful setting has made the more than 150-year-old burial ground one of the most photographed cemeteries in the country. Made famous for its role on the cover of the bestseller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Bonaventure beckons tourists to stop by. But among all the natural beauty, there’s a supernatural side to the cemetery that draws in ghost enthusiasts and curious visitors from all over the world. The most well known spirit here is that of little Gracie Watson who died of pneumonia at 6-years-old. A statue that was carved in her honor stands in front of her grave site and many people place coins and toys at the base of the statue. Those who’ve stood close to her grave site have reported seeing the beautiful little girl and others have said they saw tears of blood streaming down from the angel’s eyes. Bonaventure has several other elaborate statues and guests have told accounts of them grimacing and smiling at them when they stood in front of them. The cemetery is not without its spooky or inexplicable sounds - like that of a baby crying near an infant’s grave, giggling children or perhaps the most disturbing, the sounds of a pack of dogs snarling and barking angrily. No one has ever seen the dogs but many have heard them. Are they real or a figment of imagination? It’s worth a visit to find out.
Laurel Grove Cemetery
Established in 1853, this ancient cemetery was created after Colonial Park became too full for any more burials. A segregated burial ground, the north side was reserved for the whites, the south for blacks. Among the famous laid to rest here are Girl Scouts Founder Juliette Gordon Low, 24 different Savannah Mayors, a US Supreme Court Justice as well as more than 1,500 confederate soldiers killed in the war. A walk through Laurel Grove will remind you just how separate life was back in the Civil War era and even beyond. In fact, there are two separate entrances and the distinction between elaborately carved figures and headstones and simple grave markers is quite evident. But it is the hauntings that lure in visitors- instances that include the sightings of a woman dressed in a wedding gown wandering about and the sounds of heavy footsteps when no one was in sight. There’s also the ghost story that dates back all the way to 1894 when a trolley line that traveled past the cemetery reported that every time the railway car passed the cemetery, they would hear the sound of a child crying. The crying continued for many years - every day and only in car #28. The workers on board reported that although the sounds were pitiful and spooky, after a while they got used to it. No one ever saw a child inside the car. Take a stroll through this lovely cemetery to enjoy its history and natural scenery; but beware of lingering spirits.
Ghost Stories and Tall Tales of the American South
Chickamauga Battlefield Ghosts
If Georgia has its own Loch Ness Monster, it may very well be “Ol’ Green Eyes,” a legendary creature that, according to numerous ghost hunters and tourists through the years, still haunts the massive national park at Chickamauga Battlefield. Green Eyes isn’t the only apparition roaming the grounds of Chickamauga, but he certainly is the most famous.Read More: http://themoonlitroad.com/chickamauga-battlefield-ghosts/
Spirits of the Civil War in Alton The History & Hauntings of the Confederate Prison
CONFEDERATE OFFICER FROM CALLAWAY COUNTY, KENTUCKY
Confined to the Alton Military Prison in 1863
Confined to the Alton Military Prison in 1863
When word reached the land where the Great Rivers meet that the United States was embroiled in a Civil War, many of the men from Alton and the surrounding area responded to Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers. One of the city’s greatest moments came only a few days after the proclamation of war, when the steamer City of Alton was used to remove military supplies from St. Louis to keep them from falling into the hands of the secessionists in that city.
St. Louis was a city that was sharply divided in 1861. However, when Claiborne Jackson took the oath of the governor’s office of Missouri, his inaugural address left no doubt that he intended to align the state with the rapidly forming Confederacy in the south. State conventions were suddenly being held to discuss secession from the Union. They met for the first time on February 28. In return, moderates began to call for meetings of a Constitutional Union party, hoping to preserve not only the Union, but also peace in the nation and in the state of Missouri.
The Constitutional Unionists and the Black Republicans watched closely the maneuverings of the Jackson men in St. Louis. Armed militiamen were stationed at the Berthold Mansion, where the Missouri secessionist banner with its single bar and crescent waved proudly. Meanwhile, Union men drilled openly and operated a headquarters at Turner Hall. Governor Yates of Illinois sent them 2,000 muskets in a load of beer barrels with which to prepare for trouble. Both groups had their eyes on the well-stocked St. Louis Arsenal near the river. Here, either side could easily capture more than 60,000 guns, along with 200 barrels of powder and other munitions.
Governor Jackson constantly warned that the secessionist men should take the Arsenal, but to no avail. However, he was reassured by General D.M. Frost, who reported that Major Bell at the Arsenal was loyal to the state of Missouri and would not allow the facility to fall into Unionist hands. Meanwhile, Isaac Sturgeon, federal assistant treasurer in St. Louis, was also concerned and not only about the Arsenal, but the funds in his charge as well. With very few United States regulars west of the Mississippi, he contacted Washington with his concerns. A short time later, a detachment was sent to strengthen the forces at Jefferson Barracks. Then, on the urgings of Mayor Oliver Filley, a loyal Union man, a group of soldiers marched into the city, took over the Customs House and removed the government’s money.
The chief military commander in Missouri at that time was General William Selby Harney, a close friend of Jefferson Davis. He was living in St. Louis at the time and saw no cause for alarm over the events that were being set into motion. However, Major David Hunter, who had conferred in the city with Isaac Sturgeon, was not so confident. Soon, Harney received a telegram from the War Department, asking whether or not it might be wise to bring soldiers from Jefferson Barracks to guard over the Arsenal. A few days later, Captain Nathaniel Lyon was sent from Fort Riley to St. Louis with a detachment of troops. Within a short time, he was placed in charge of the Arsenal and General Harney was called to Washington.
By the time that war broke out on April 12, talking had ended and the city was plunged into chaos. The first acts of aggression from the Confederacy sent ripples through the cautious peace in St. Louis and when President Lincoln called for four regiments of volunteers from Missouri, Governor Jackson denounced the call as “illegal, unconstitutional and revolutionary”. Meanwhile, a Committee of Public Safety was formed in St. Louis, headed by pro-Union Republicans and Democrats. They pledged “unalterable fidelity to the Union under all circumstances” and were determined to back the Union at all costs.
Four days after Jackson refused to obey the President’s orders, Captain Nathaniel Lyon was ordered to muster four regiments into public service. Before nightfall, he had them at the Arsenal, supplied with both arms and ammunition. On April 30, Lyon was informed that if he and the Committee of Public Safety deemed it necessary, he could proclaim martial law in the city of St. Louis. The military commanders feared for the safety of the arms that were secured at the St. Louis Arsenal and they ordered Captain James B. Stokes to use the City of Alton to salvage them and move them to Illinois.
Stokes proceeded downriver from Alton with a force of 700 men. They loaded weapons from the Arsenal onto the steamer but to divert the attention of a mob that was forming, he ordered 500 unusable muskets be placed on another vessel. A great show was made of this and while many in the crowd were distracted, others were taken into custody and locked up in the guard house.
Stokes and his men managed to remove 20,000 muskets, 500 pistols, 500 carbines, cannons and ammunition from the Arsenal. They secured them aboard the City of Alton and headed back up the river to Alton. They had not gone far before the steamer was in danger of running aground. It was dangerously overloaded and only by shifting the cargo back and forth were they able to stay afloat. The steamer arrived back in Alton during the early morning hours and when Stokes rang the fire bell, dozens of volunteers flocked to the river. The weapons and ammunition were quickly transferred to a waiting train and sent on to Springfield and into the hands of the forming Illinois regiments.
One of the men involved in the foray into St. Louis was Franklin B. Moore of Upper Alton. In July 1861, he would independently raise a company called the Madison County Rangers. The company became famous for their raids and their battles with Missouri guerilla troops. They were known for their bravery and captured over 1,200 prisoners and huge quantities of arms and supplies. Moore, who was known as “Fighting Frank” was the son of Abel Moore. His brothers, William and Joel, had been killed in the Wood River Massacre.
Greenwood Cemetery Where the Dead Still Walk
The beginnings of Greenwood Cemetery are a mystery.
The Native Americans of the Illiniwek Confederation were the first to settle in the area around Decatur. Before they settled here, the lands of middle Illinois were covered in a vast sea of prairie grass for as far as the eye could see. They built villages in the immediate region, hunting the forests and fishing the rivers. Strangely though, none of these villages were ever built on the site of the future city of Decatur. Instead, the area was used as a burial ground. Some "historians" have made excuses for this, citing confluences of rivers and other reasons, but these alternate explanations never see fit to explain the burial mounds that have been found throughout the downtown area. Many of the burial sites have become common knowledge as the years have passed while others have simply vanished with time.
More at: http://www.haunteddecatur.com/greenwood.html
One of America's Most Haunted Cemeteries...
Halloween is fast approaching. This month, A Grave Interest has taken a look at several haunted cemeteries. Get ready as we explore one of America's most haunted cemeteries.....
http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2012/10/one-of-americas-most-haunted-cemeteries.html
http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2012/10/one-of-americas-most-haunted-cemeteries.html
Manassas Civil War Ghost
My family and I were on vacation in DC and we went to the Manassas battlefield. We video taped there, and later that day we were watching the tape and we noticed the woman dressed in white walking along the fenceline. There were no reenactments going on that day, and we didn't see her there. If you look to the left
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G27tgEiUE2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G27tgEiUE2o
HAUNTED CEMETERIES IN AMERICA
There is not a single person among us who has not contemplated the mystery of death at one time or another. We all wonder, no matter what we believe in, what will happen to us after we pass on from this world. Some believe that everything comes to an end, that life in this world is our only existence. Others feel that we are born again, as an old soul in a new body, while others believe that our spirits pass on to another place... or perhaps even remain behind as ghosts.
We all wonder about such things... and perhaps this is the reason that we have dreamed up so many rituals and practices dealing with death. Death has been celebrated and feared since the beginning of time itself. We have immortalized it with cemeteries, grave markers and of course, with our darkest and most frightening legends and lore.
It is a common belief among experts of the occult that cemeteries are not usually the best places to find ghosts. While most would fancy a misty, abandoned graveyard to be the perfect setting for a ghost story, such stories are not as common as you might believe. A cemetery is meant to be the final stop in our journey from this world to the next, but is it always that way?
Nearly every ghost enthusiast would agree that a place becomes haunted after a traumatic event or unexpected death occurs at that location. History is filled with stories of houses that have become haunted after a murder has taken place there, or after some horrible event occurs that echoes over the decades as a haunting.
But what of a haunted cemetery? Do such places really exist? Most assuredly they do, but ghosts who haunt cemeteries seem to be a different sort than those you might find lingering in a haunted house. Most of these ghosts seem to be connected to the cemetery in some way that excludes events that occurred during their lifetime. As most spirits reportedly remain in this world because of some sort of unfinished business in life, this seems to leave out a cemetery as a place where such business might remain undone.
Graveyard ghosts seem to have a few things in common. These spirits seems to be connected to the burial ground because of events that occurred after their deaths, rather than before. In other cases, the ghosts seem to be seeking eternal rest that eludes them at the spot where their physical bodies are currently found. Cemeteries gain a reputation for being haunted for reasons that include the desecration of the dead and grave robbery, unmarked or forgotten burials, natural disasters that disturb resting places, or sometimes event because the deceased was not properly buried at all!
Troy Taylor's book, Beyond the Grave, collects cemetery ghost stories from all over the country. No region of America seems to be spared when it comes to haunted graveyards. In the section that follows, we'll briefly glimpse some of America's most haunted cemeteries and also include an excerpt from Beyond the Grave as well. Those interested in more stories, should check out the book or look into other parts of the website
Get spooked: Five haunted cemeteries
Walking through a hushed cemetery at night with only a flashlight to guide your way can be a stirring experience for amateur ghost hunters this Halloween.
"A lot of paranormal societies use graveyards for training grounds," said Alan Brown, author of more than 20 books on the subject. "If you get an EMF reading in a graveyard, there is no electricity there, so it has to be coming from some other source."
Oftentimes, the spirits you may encounter in a cemetery aren't kind or frightening but rather full of grief in this final resting place.
"Oddly enough, a lot of cemeteries aren't that haunted," said Richard Senate, a historian and ghost hunter of 33 years. "People haunt where they loved. The idea of haunting a cemetery outside of someone who is grieving -- that's what we're picking up, the grief of a person, rather than their spirit linked to a site."
The Top Ten Most Haunted Battlefields
Though the battles have long ago ended and the sound of cannons and muskets is but a distant memory, there are some souls who are still waiting for the call to “Retreat” – and for them, it may never come!
Old Cahawba shares its haunted history
Seeing Old Cahawba during the day is something that can be done most days of the year, but there are only a select few that people get to experience at night.
Friday night marked the start of the ninth annual Haunted History Tours with wagon rides through the old ghost town that was once one of the most prominent towns in Alabama and is now home to a ghost tale or two.
“The other 364 days we’re off limits,” said Jonathan Matthews, assistant site director at Old Cahawba.
“We have these ghost stories, and I can tell that people are intrigued, and this is a chance for them to experience it first hand. I think everyone learns better when they’re doing something and not just passively listening.”
Matthews said Old Cahawba is known most for being the state’s first capitol, but the park is much, much more than that.
“It’s the confluence, or the intersection, of many different things. The most obvious is the confluence of the two main rivers, the Cahaba River and the Alabama River, but it’s also where the European culture intersected with the Native American culture and the African American culture,” Matthews said.
“It’s a place where Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers crossed paths at the infamous Castle Morgan Civil War prison camp we have, but it’s also where the spirit world meets our world. Anything you experience tonight is either in your head, or it’s the real thing. We’re not making it up.”
Read more: http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2015/10/16/old-cahawba-shares-its-haunted-history/#ixzz3pg11a6x4
Top 10 spooky places in AL
ALABAMA (WAFF) -Haunted houses, scary movies, and spooky ghost stories are what this month is all about.
You can skip the staged haunted houses with fake blood and masks and head to the real attractions that have been spooking Alabamians for years.
Wonderlist compiled a list of the top haunted attractions in Alabama. Read the list... if you dare.
‘Haunted’ Louisiana: Tales of terror from Lafayette to Monroe
New Orleans often is considered the nation’s most haunted city.
It’s no wonder between its eerie hotels, rich voodoo culture and being a popular setting for vampires and other mythical beings.
But the Crescent City isn’t the only place in Louisiana to witness paranormal activity or experience things that go bump in the night.
Many south Louisiana plantations, antebellum homes, historic bridges and graveyards are full of strange occurrences attributed to ghosts and goblins. Here are some interesting hauntings we found across Louisiana.
The grave history of Galveston's cemeteries
Few realize the cemetery they pass on Broadway Street is actually a collection of seven cemeteries built over the last 176 years. In that time, these cemeteries became the resting place for a menagerie of souls who bring a touch of mischief, mystique and the macabre to the Island's history.
However, before the departed rise to tell their stories, you have to first understand just how much history is actually buried in these cemeteries. More at: http://www.click2houston.com/news/the-grave-history-of-galvestons-cemeteries/35995622
Whats Your Civil War Ghost Story???
http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2012/10/one-of-americas-most-haunted-cemeteries.html
Friday, October 30, 2015
Does your Camp or Historical Group need a speaker for Robert E. Lee's Birthday or Lee-Jackson Banquet?
Greetings from William Connery
In 2007 we celebrated the 200th birthday of Robert E. Lee. General Lee has come under fire during the recent controversy about the Battle Flag. Does your Camp or Historical Group need a speaker for Robert E. Lee's Birthday or Lee-Jackson Banquet? I am available for speaking on HONORINGPRESIDENT ROBERT E. LEE, celebrating his years as president of Washington College and his work to bind up the wounds of the nation. I also speak on PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE, THE CSS SHENANDOAH AND THE LAST SHOT OF THE CIVIL WAR, and FORT MCHENRY DURING THE WAR.I have talks on two History Press books: CIVIL WAR NORTHERN VIRGINIA 1861 and MOSBY'S RAIDS IN CIVIL WAR NORTHERN VIRGINIA. I was awarded the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal for my '1861' book, which deals with the start of the War Between the States in Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun Counties. Fairfax is the birthplace of the Battleflag. My second book deals with the Gray Ghost, Colonel John Singleton Mosby, from his birth in 1833, through his amazing War exploits, until his death in 1916. I CAN BE REACHED AT WILLIAM.CONNERY@VERIZON.NET OR CALL ME AT 703-719-6639.
In 2007 we celebrated the 200th birthday of Robert E. Lee. General Lee has come under fire during the recent controversy about the Battle Flag. Does your Camp or Historical Group need a speaker for Robert E. Lee's Birthday or Lee-Jackson Banquet? I am available for speaking on HONORINGPRESIDENT ROBERT E. LEE, celebrating his years as president of Washington College and his work to bind up the wounds of the nation. I also speak on PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE, THE CSS SHENANDOAH AND THE LAST SHOT OF THE CIVIL WAR, and FORT MCHENRY DURING THE WAR.I have talks on two History Press books: CIVIL WAR NORTHERN VIRGINIA 1861 and MOSBY'S RAIDS IN CIVIL WAR NORTHERN VIRGINIA. I was awarded the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal for my '1861' book, which deals with the start of the War Between the States in Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun Counties. Fairfax is the birthplace of the Battleflag. My second book deals with the Gray Ghost, Colonel John Singleton Mosby, from his birth in 1833, through his amazing War exploits, until his death in 1916. I CAN BE REACHED AT WILLIAM.CONNERY@VERIZON.NET OR CALL ME AT 703-719-6639.
Poor Alexander H. Stephens!
The Vice President of the American Confederacy's informal speech to a Savannah audience in March 1861 is used to verify that the defense of slavery is all the new experiment in American government was about — and despite the fact that Stephen's remarks were simply imperfect reporter's notes and we are not even sure if he uttered those exact words. And had Stephen's indeed mentioned "cornerstone and African slavery" in the same sentence in Savannah, he most likely was referring to Charleston abolitionist Angelina Grimke' who some 25 years before said this about the United States.
Angelina's speech in 1836 was entitled "An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South" and its topic anti-slavery. Both she and her sister were born into wealth in Charleston, SC — and later moved to the former center of the transatlantic slave trade, New England, to become Quakers and join William Lloyd Garrison's abolition movement. There the Grimke' sisters perhaps not only engaged in serious abolitionist discourse but also discovered that the slavery they abhorred was a mostly New England enterprise, and supported by its notorious rum trade with Africa.
Miss Grimke stated in her appeal that "The interests of the North . . . are very closely combined with those of the South. The Northern merchants and manufacturers are making their fortunes out of the produce of slave labor . . . [and] the North is most dreadfully afraid of Amalgamation. She is alarmed at the very idea of a thing so monstrous, as she thinks. And lest this consequence might flow from emancipation, she is determined to resist all efforts at emancipation without expatriation. It is not because she [the North] approves of slavery, or believes it to be "the cornerstone of our republic," for she is as much anti-slavery as we are; but amalgamation is too horrible to think of." (see "Against Slavery, An Abolitionist Reader," Angelina & Sarah Moore Grimke', Penguin Books, 2000).
Stephen's wrote in his Recollection's that he spoke extemporaneously in his Savannah speech, and the reporter's notes he reviewed afterward "were imperfect" contained "glaring errors." He goes on to explain the contents of his speech with "The relation of the black to the white race, or the proper status of the colored population amongst us, was a question now of vastly more importance than when the Constitution was formed. The order of subordination is nature's great law; philosophy taught that order as the normal condition of the African amongst European races. Upon this recognized principle of a proper subordination, let it be called slavery or what not, our State institutions were formed and rested. The principle of the subordination of the inferior to the superior was the "cornerstone" on which it was formed. I used this metaphor merely to illustrate the firm convictions of the framers of the new Constitution that this relation of the black to the white race, which existed in 1787 . . . The status of the African race in the new Constitution was left just where it was in the old; I affirmed and meant to affirm nothing else in this Savannah speech" (Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens, 1910/1998, LSU Press).
Thus Stephens viewed African slavery in the same way as the abolitionists who sought secession from the United States by New England, to separate themselves from what they saw as the evil cornerstone of the United States. And the Confederacy incorporated nothing more than what the United States already had recognized as a domestic institution of the States, to be accepted or eradicated in time by each State. This raises the obvious question: If the abolitionists were opposed to slavery, why did they not advance a peaceful and practical emancipation proposal as did England in the 1840s with compensated emancipation?
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
Great and Famed American Soldiers
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
The text below is taken from Judge D.F. Pugh's address at the dedication of the Camp Chase Cemetery. He was at the time Past Department Commander of the GAR of Ohio, and spoke respectfully of the valor and dedication of his brave, half-fed and barefooted adversaries from the American South.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
Great and Famed American Soldiers
"That the Confederate soldiers were gallant, that they were hard fighters, can be proved by every Union soldier who struggled against them in the fiery front of battle.
After the battle of Missionary Ridge I was attracted by the extreme youthful appearance of a dead Tennessee Confederate soldier who belonged to a regiment of Cheatham's Division, against which we had fought the day before. He was not over fifteen years of age and very slender. He was clothed in a cotton suit and was barefooted – barefooted!—on that cold and wet 24th day of November, 1863.
I examined his haversack. For a day's rations there were a handful of black beans, a few slices of sorghum, and a half dozen roasted acorns. That was an infinitely poor outfit for marching and fighting, but that Tennessee soldier had made it answer his purpose. The Confederates who, half fed, looked bravely into our faces for many long, agonizing weeks over the ramparts of Vicksburg; the remnants of Lee's magnificent army, which, fed on raw corn and persimmons, fluttered their heroic rags and interposed their bodies for a year between Grant's army and Richmond, only a few miles away – all these men were great soldiers. I pity the American who cannot be proud of their valor and endurance.
We can never challenge the fame of those men whose skill and valor made them the idols of the Confederate army. The fame of Lee, Jackson, the Johnston's, Gordon, Longstreet, the Hills, Hood and Stuart, and many thousands of noncommissioned and private soldiers of the Confederate armies, whose names are not mentioned on historical pages, can never be tarnished by the carping criticisms of the narrow and shallow-minded."
(Judge Pugh's Address, Confederate Veteran, July 1902, page 295)
Have You Heard About Rand Paul's Flag Stance?
From: bjpershing@juno.com
Dear Chuck and all,
I have been reflecting on the disintegration of Rand Paul's presidential campaign, and am wondering how much it has to do with his public statement after the Charleston shooting that the Confederate flag ought to be taken down. Until that point, I had been, by and large, a Rand Paul supporter, albeit somewhat more cautious in his case than with his father, as he seems to have much more of the politician in him than Ron. But when Rand Paul decided that trying to win some fraction of the black vote by pandering to a politically correct cause was more important than maintaining the loyalty of people like himself, he lost my support for good. The moment I saw he had called for the Confederate flag to come down, I determined then and there he would not have my support in any way, shape, or form. Personally, I am inclining more and more to supporting Ted Cruz, who seems to have more character and intestinal fortitude than any other major player on the political scene today, but that's another story.
I am wondering how much Rand Paul's diss of the Confederate flag has cost him. I know that a large share of his supporters come from basically a States' Rights position, which is at its heart at Southern issue. I cannot help but think that he has alienated a great number of them by attacking the Confederate flag. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it seems to me the downfall of his campaign began about the time he called for our flag to come down. I would appreciate the thoughts of others on this, and if anyone has done any research on the subject would be very interested in learning what they have discovered. If indeed Rand's attack on the Confederate flag has helped lead to the demise of his political aspirations, then at least it shows that Southerners have not yet lost all their political punch.
Deo Vindice,
Pastor Samuel Ashwood
Muskogee, OK
www.samuelashwood.wordpress.com
Dear Chuck and all,
I have been reflecting on the disintegration of Rand Paul's presidential campaign, and am wondering how much it has to do with his public statement after the Charleston shooting that the Confederate flag ought to be taken down. Until that point, I had been, by and large, a Rand Paul supporter, albeit somewhat more cautious in his case than with his father, as he seems to have much more of the politician in him than Ron. But when Rand Paul decided that trying to win some fraction of the black vote by pandering to a politically correct cause was more important than maintaining the loyalty of people like himself, he lost my support for good. The moment I saw he had called for the Confederate flag to come down, I determined then and there he would not have my support in any way, shape, or form. Personally, I am inclining more and more to supporting Ted Cruz, who seems to have more character and intestinal fortitude than any other major player on the political scene today, but that's another story.
I am wondering how much Rand Paul's diss of the Confederate flag has cost him. I know that a large share of his supporters come from basically a States' Rights position, which is at its heart at Southern issue. I cannot help but think that he has alienated a great number of them by attacking the Confederate flag. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it seems to me the downfall of his campaign began about the time he called for our flag to come down. I would appreciate the thoughts of others on this, and if anyone has done any research on the subject would be very interested in learning what they have discovered. If indeed Rand's attack on the Confederate flag has helped lead to the demise of his political aspirations, then at least it shows that Southerners have not yet lost all their political punch.
Deo Vindice,
Pastor Samuel Ashwood
Muskogee, OK
www.samuelashwood.wordpress.com
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Our Problems
From: cscitizen@windstream.net
To All:
Our problems stem from the fact that the average Southerner & other Americans today are cowards. We elect & have cowards to lead over many of our institutions as well. Too many of these cave to the silly whims & demands of political correctness when a simple answer of NO is appropriate. Besides scream, cry & threaten what can our enemies really do to erase our history & heritage unless we agree to it & become an accomplice to their demands?
Gov. Bentley who is one man caved in to a black state rep. who threatened to clog up his first special session if they did not remove the flags from the Confederate military monument in Montgomery. That special session turned out to be a bust anyway but, our flags are just as gone.
Another example are the board of directors over the reenactment at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant , S.C. NO ONE to my knowledge asked them to cancel this reenactment but, out of fear & cowardice over the shooting in Charleston they took it upon on themselves to tuck tail & run.
This list of our self-inflicted losses goes on & on. We give ground under little to no pressure. It’s one thing to have something taken from us but, something entirely different when we aide & abed our enemies silly P.C. whims by just handing over to them.
Our biggest problem is, some of us just need to learn to say NO & stand our ground when political correctness demands anything of us.
Billy E. Price
Ashville Alabama
Two Intolerant Hate Groups SPLC & NAACP
From: cscitizen@windstream.net
To: ghanner@thestclairtimes.com
To the Editor:
I read an article where the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery is compiling a map of all the Confederate statues & monuments across America with their intended purpose of targeting them all for eradication. If they did this to any other group of Americans the full force of America`s laws would come down on them & stop their selective racism & bigotry.
The S.P.L.C. is not an extension of government & they have not to my knowledge been directed by the government to do this. This has to be illegal as it is akin to singling out a group & stalking them.
The only reason they & the N.A.A.C.P. have declared war on Southern history is because they are desperately trying to create an enemy to fill the void left when their initial goal of winning Civil Rights for everyone was won in 1964. Since that time they have been creating boogey-men left & right trying to remain relevant & viable organizations lest they disappear into the pages of history as groups.
They are doing to to Southerners as they claim was done to blacks in the 1950 - 60`s & two wrongs will never make a right no matter what they do or how hard they try. All this will accomplish is to drive a wedge deeper between the races as everyone is entitled to their own unique & diverse history including the South.
If we had a judicial system or politicians worth their salt they would put an end to these two groups witch hunts before they completely destroy every last bit of goodwill between America`s many diverse peoples. It is impossible to be a nation of inclusion when groups like the S.P.L.C. and N.A.A.C.P. want to do the picking of which groups of people are included & which groups are excluded.
By these actions all you are doing is creating animosity among the excluded & ensuring that any racial drifts that exist never mend. Does America still have room for all her sons & daughters? Obviously not according to both these groups.
Billy E. Price
Ashville, Al.
Hope this message finds you well.
First, I would like to thank you for your support in defending the Confederate Flag and our Southern heritage. You have spent your precious time and effort to help further our cause in your own ways by posting news on your Facebook pages, hosting flag rallies, and attending local city council meetings. We each feel as though we have been called to fight this battle in our own unique ways.
We did not seek this fight, but my dad always told me "Son, don't start a fight, but if you have to, make sure you fight to win." We must take the fight to our haters. Sitting back, complaining, and giving speeches will not work any longer. We have to break their will to fight us. Make them realize that they made a huge mistake by poking the Confederate hornet nest. They are used to getting their way because nobody has shown the courage and backbone to stand up to them. This must stop immediately. If they are so "offended" by a couple of Rebel flags at Ebenezer Baptist Church, than we should make them even more uncomfortable. I prayed a few nights ago about how to help the cause. I woke up the next morning and had so many ideas running through my mind that I started writing them down. My intent is not for notoriety, as I don't want credit for anything. When I woke up that morning, I feel as if I was told what we need to do to succeed in this battle. The ideas are listed below.
I am contacting you because you have a successful Confederate Flag group on Facebook with many followers. Each of your followers are angry and willing to help save our heritage and flag. We can continue to fight this battle in multiple large groups and risk losing or we can come together as one massive group and take the fight to our enemies with much greater strength. It will take all of us to succeed over a period of time. We have sat passively on the sidelines for too long and assumed that our enemies had a moral compass that would prevent them from trying to erase our heritage. We were wrong for assuming that other groups have the same tolerance as we do. I'm not sure how to accomplish all of the goals below, but I am willing to help in any way that I can. I have also contacted the other large groups on Facebook with our same interests. Many of you know more than me about social media, fundraising, organizing, etc. Hopefully, we can work together as a unified force to find the people with skills necessary to complete our goals.
All of the Facebook groups are doing a great job of keeping members posted on the latest news. However, we need one site that is based solely on setting up ACTIONS and tasks that need to be completed instead of news. I have read messages from members of one Facebook site who missed out on rallies and city council meetings because the info was posted on Facebook pages that they were not a member of. Continue to be run your Facebook page and keep followers afoot of the latest news, but we need to have all of our followers join one main group that is focused solely on the following ACTIONS:
1) Make everyone in the general public see the Confederate flag on a daily basis. We can set up a gofundme account online to raise money. With 200,000 group members raising only $10 each, we would raise $2 million dollars. This should be very doable considering many people would donate more. If you combine the membership of all of the Confederate pride groups on Facebook, it totals nearly 320,000 members. The money could go towards raising huge Confederate Flags (like the one in Tampa) alongside every interstate that runs into every major city in the South. Put them near Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Richmond, Birmingham, Nashville, etc. Huge flags and tall flagpoles alongside the interstate need to be in areas where they are seen by the maximum amount of people. Let people know that we live in the South and we are proud of that. I'm not sure about the cost of each flagpole and flag, but the someone should be able to help with that info.
After we finish with the large flags going into each major city, we could start focusing on finding landowners to help with normal sized flagpoles and flags in each small town. Ideally, we could find landowners with access to land in direct view of city hall in each town. Make the politicians have to notice our beautiful flag each time they report for work. Therefore, when they look out the window and see the flag, they know that we are always watching.
We would need a nonprofit organization (maybe someone has knowledge of how to start this) to actually take in the money on the gofundme account online. Maybe, we could start talking to group members and try to find people who own land near the interstates around large cities that would donate a small portion of their land for a flagpole. As we find sites, we could list them in order on the gofundme site and have members donate to the cause. We simply raise the flagpoles and flags as we receive the funds.
We could also erect large billboards on each interstate heading south at the Mason Dixon Line. This billboard would have a picture of the Confederate Flag and say "Welcome To The South. Fighting an Overreaching federal government since 1861." Place them near all state lines of border states at the interstates so everyone will know when they enter the South and know that we are proud of our history and culture.
This group could also be the main site where everyone posts their flag rally info. Everyone could see the rally details on this site with the Facebook link to the rally event page. Attendance would increase because everyone would know where to look for rally info. Advise event leaders to promote their rallies with events after the rally to increase attendance (a band, cookout, etc.).
Persuade everyone in the group to fly a Confederate Flag at their home and to place a decal on each owned vehicle to help increase exposure.
2) Have members start asking all local and state politicians about their views on the Confederate Flag and Southern heritage. Use this group to post voting information by recommending politicians who are friendly to our cause and who exhibit a BACKBONE!
We have to start taking back our country from the local and state levels. Mobilizing voters (and maybe having members run for local office) will help to preserve our heritage.
We can also use the group to send email addresses and phone numbers to our elected officials, so we can contact them in mass numbers before important votes.
3) We need to use this group to get involved in the community and show them that we are not racists or bigots. This group could be used to mobilize members to attend local fairs, festivals, and community events. Talking with people and donating goods to worthy causes would help show that the lies told about us are not true. They need to know that we are ordinary people and not the KKK.
We have a larger following among minorities than many would expect. They need to take a leadership role in dealing with the media and in our communities. Seeing minorities on television, at local functions, and in the newspaper will discredit all lies that our heritage is based on racism.
4) Be aggressive and take the fight to the NAACP and other hate groups. This Facebook group could be used to list companies that donate to these hate groups and also list companies that do not support Southern history and heritage. Have members send emails to all of these companies demanding that they cut ties with the NAACP and treat our community with respect. If we can cut the funding from these hate groups, they will not be able to sustain their influence.
We also need to boycott these companies who donate. A thousand people boycotting will not make them notice. 250,000 boycotting and writing emails will get their attention very quickly. Include the simple ultimatum in each email that if you donate to the NAACP, than we will boycott your business in mass numbers.
In conclusion, we need to mobilize and speak as one voice. If each Facebook page moderator continues to run their page to post news, while also teaming up on this one main action group, we could make a much greater difference. We all share a common cause to honor our ancestors, preserve our way of life and heritage, fight political correctness, and demand the respect that we deserve. Let's all work together and come up with a plan, so we can work out the details upfront (who is in charge of what, who moderates the Facebook group, who makes the decisions on where to apply funding, etc.) This group needs to be focused on ACTION instead of news. Please send me a private message back with your email address. When I get the email addresses of all of the Facebook group mods, I will send a group email to everyone that will allow us to work together on the details of making this happen. We will sort everything out and find a way to actually make a sizable difference in this fight for our culture.
Thank you for your time. I don't know how to proceed from here, and I definitely can't do it alone. To show that I am serious, I will be happy to donate the first $200 towards our flag and flagpole campaign. Please send me your email address and let's talk as a group, so we can get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
John Daniel (proud Southerner from Georgia)
oconeeboatrentals@gmail.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Longstreet Finds Adversaries Lacking Honor
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
Southern commanders like James Longstreet expected their Northern counterparts to embrace the conviction that enemies no less than comrades merited honorable treatment, from officers down to enlisted men. To encourage a Southern soldier to desert was unthinkable; A letter from a Southern woman in 1862 stated that "the black title of tory and deserter will cling to them, disgracing their children's children."
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
Longstreet Finds Adversaries Lacking Honor
Letter from General Longstreet to General [J.G.] Foster:
"Headquarters, Confederate Forces, East Tennessee, Jan. 3, 1864:
To the Commanding General, United States Forces, East Tennessee –
Sir – I find the proclamation of President Lincoln, of the 8th of December last, in circulation in handbills among our soldiers. The immediate object of this proclamation seems to be to induce our soldiers to quit our ranks and take the oath of allegiance to the United States government.
I presume, however, that the great object and end in view is to hasten the day of peace. I respectfully suggest, for your consideration, the propriety of communicating any views that your government may have upon this subject through me, rather than by handbills circulated amongst our soldiers.
The few men who may desert under the promise held out in the proclamation, cannot be men of character or standing. If they desert their cause, they disgrace themselves in the eyes of God and man. They can do your cause no good, nor can they injure ours.
As a great nation, you can accept none but an honorable peace. As a noble people, you could have us accept nothing less.
I submit, therefore, whether the mode that I suggest would not be more likely to lead to an honorable end than such a circulation of a partial promise of pardon.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J. Longstreet, Lieutenant-General, Commanding
Headquarters, Confederate Forces, East Tennessee, Jan. 11, 1864:
"Sir – I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th of January, with its inclosures, etc.
The disingenuous manner in which you have misconstrued my letter of the 3d, has disappointed me. Let me remind you, too, that the spirit and tone of my letter were to meet honorable sentiments.
I have read your order announcing the favorable terms on which deserters will be received. Step by step you have gone on in violation of the laws of honorable warfare. Our farms have been destroyed, our women and children have been robbed, and our houses have been pillaged and burnt. You have laid your plans and worked diligently to produce wholesale murder by servile insurrection. And now, the most ignoble of all, you propose to degrade the human race by inducing soldiers to dishonor and forswear themselves.
Soldiers who have met your own on so many honorable fields, who have breasted the storm of battle in defence of their honor, their families, and their homes, for three long years, have a right to expect more of honor, even in their adversaries. I beg leave to return the copies of the proclamation, and your order.
I have the honor to renew to you the assurance of great respect, your obedient servant,
J. Longstreet, Lieutenant-General, Commanding."
(Lee and His Generals, Profiles of Robert E. Lee and Seventeen other Generals of the Confederacy, Captain William P. Snow, Gramercy Books, 1867/1996, pp. 333-334)
The Governor's Coffin
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
The occupation troops of Northern General Ambrose Burnside at New Bern in mid-1862 not only loaded their empty transports with furniture, carpets and jewelry for the return trip North, but also found New Bern cemeteries full of coffins to appropriate. Even Lincoln's hand-picked proconsul, Edward Stanly, who was appointed "governor" of North Carolina, resigned in disgust after observing the looting by Northern soldiers.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
The Governor's Coffin
Richard Dobbs Spaight (1796-1850), son of a Revolutionary War veteran who was also a member of the North Carolina Legislature, United States Congressman and delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, served as governor of The Old North State from 1835 to 1837.
He was born in New Bern, and prior to being governor, he served in the State Legislature from 1819 to 1822, and again from 1825 to 1834. Spaight was the last governor to be elected by the legislature, and was a member of the 1837 Constitutional Convention which transferred the gubernatorial election to popular vote. During the War Between the States, Northern occupation troops used the Stevenson House (corner Pollock & George Streets) in New Bern as a hospital for wounded soldiers.
In a truly unbelievable act of barbarism, "the body of Governor Spaight was dug up by Northern soldiers, the skull placed on a gate post, and the metal coffin used to send the body of a federal soldier back North."
(A New Geography of North Carolina, Bill Sharpe, Sharpe's Publishing Company 1961, page 1232)
FreeMississippi.org WEEKLY UPDATE
It has been a very busy two weeks since I last wrote. We did not send a Weekly Update this past week because our setup location kept changing and literally came down to the evening before.
The changes occurred as property owners backed out letting us use their highway frontage property. There is always one of two reasons given: 1. "I'm afraid Blacks are going to throw a brick through my window" or 2. "I'm afraid Blacks will stop doing business with me." We are in this mess because of cowardly people who profess behind closed doors how much they love the flag, and want to help, but will not risk anything to make it happen. The two things above are imaginary fears. Most of our members have been doing this for over 20 years. We have never once been attacked. We have setup FreeMississippi.org events at literally hundreds of locations without the least bit of violence, during or after. Also, whenever we setup at a business location...sales increase, not decrease.
We are thankful to Joyce & Angel who own the fireworks business on the east side of Hwy 49 just South of Collins. These two women showed more courage than the trembling men who backed out on us. Angel even grabbed a flag and joined our "flag waving crew" on the side of the highway. She also was kind enough to offer our booth volunteers an opportunity to relax in the A/C when they needed to cool a bit in the 102 degree heat. Be sure to patronize their business when you need to buy some fireworks!
The highlight of the day was raising a 40 square foot flag on a large 35' flag pole. The halyards were dry-rotted and a lift truck had to be called in to re-string it. You will not believe what happened as the flag was being raised. You can check it out on our Facebook post below. It is so phenomenal we have already had 181 shares, 1800 combined likes and over 15,000 people reach.
https://www.facebook.com/FreeMississippi.org/posts/492819384226204
THIS WEEKEND: BEAUVOIR
We have been invited to setup our full roadside display this weekend on the grounds of Beauvoir, the last home of President Jefferson Davis. The home is located on the beach in Biloxi. I am told there will be free admission to all vehicles flying Confederate flags. Since all of our people seem to be doing that already, I hardly need to announce it. There is to be a big flag rally on the grounds so it should be a fun day!
We agreed to setup at Beauvoir this weekend for two reasons: 1. After several weeks in extreme heat, we wanted to give the booth workers a weekend off. They would not agree, so I thought this would be a happy compromise. They will be on hand to work the tables...but in the SHADE.
This is a good week for folks to volunteer who have indicated they wanted to help. We won't have the constant flow of traffic stopping in, so it won't be so hectic...and it will be so much cooler.
We just purchased a 12' x 18' Mississippi State Flag. This is about 1/3 again larger than the 10' x 15' Battleflag we now use. Dale O'Neal has volunteered his shop for welding the frame so we will head over on Friday and start fabricating our custom frame. We hope to be complete and debut it on Saturday.
FREEMISSISSIPPI.ORG T-SHIRTS
We have received our FreeMississippi.org t-shirts, both in black with white graphic and white with black graphic. They really look good! All booth volunteers get one for free.
LOT TO CATCH-UP ON
We have been so busy with planning and attending events that we have been negligent in keeping the website up-to-date. Hopefully, the dust is beginning to settle as we continue to complete a lot of projects on our checklist.
WHERE ARE THE TERRY JOE RAINEY'S TODAY?
Tonight's post on Facebook:
On March 4th 2001, FreeMississippi.org sponsored a 43 day walk from Gulfport to the Mississippi State Capitol ending at our huge rally three days before the vote. Terry Joe Rainey quit his job and made the walk on schedule, with his rat terrier Erie. We were drawing statewide attention to the referendum and to our rally at the State Capitol on April 13, 2001.
Terry Joe would walk each morning then setup a table in the afternoon to gather signatures. Over the course of 43 days we gathered well over 10,000 signatures and registered nearly 1000 people to vote. The Walk was a huge success! When Terry Joe arrived at the State Capitol he was greeted with a heroes welcome by 2000 cheering flag supporters.
My question is this: Where are the Terry Joe's today? I know it is a rare individual who can quit their job and give 43 days of their life to the cause...but we need the spirit of Terry Joe that inspires us to do ALL WE CAN!
There were several men and women who dedicated MANY days, nights & weekends for the cause of saving the State Flag. It is flying today because of them. Here we are threatened again. The old warriors have been coming out of the woodwork to muster back into service, but we need new troops who can make the same commitment..
Contact us today...we have a job for you!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.494270154081127.1073741829.476008575907285&type=3
Stay-tuned, we are picking up more steam each and every week. We are in dire need of volunteers to help man our tables and, if you are located near Stone County, help out at the office. Drop me a line, or give me a call....
Blessings,
John Cripps
Chairman
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The Graceful Aims of Southern Scholarship
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
Scholars like Richard Weaver are known for influencing "the revival of philosophical conservatism in the American academy as well as deepening and enriching Southern studies and the discipline of rhetoric. The agrarian South traditionally was close to the soil while the North was immersing itself in commercialism and the false god of science, a reality persisting to this day.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
The Graceful Aims of Southern Scholarship
"Wishing to be complimentary, a forthright city editor of a Manhattan newspaper once proclaimed that young men from the South make excellent reporters provided they can rid themselves of malaria and gentility. This characterization may be accepted as a fair statement of the reputation of Southerners abroad in the land. By malaria the city editor meant not so much the pathological state induced by the mosquito's sting, as that dreamy and miasmic attitude of mind usually associated with the disease.
And by gentility the editor intended to imply a false assumption of gentlemanly graces and immunities, especially an immunity from a conscience which holds steady work to be a duty. From his own point of view the Manhattan journalist of course spoke with accuracy.
But from the point of view of the indigenous Southerner he was altogether wrong. For the terrestrial aims of the Southerner are not the same as those of the New Yorker or New Englander. To be properly appreciated for his native qualities, the honest Southern person should stay at home.
When I went North to college, a dean, after learning the region of my nativity, asked in a tone of slight facetiousness what I considered the aim of Southern scholarship. Did I also think Southern scholars had to do nothing but sit pleasantly on a vine-covered back porch and drink lemonade?
I shall always feel that one of the tragic failures of my experience was that I did not, to our common astonishment, say, "Yes – provided the scholarly conversation is graceful, well-mannered, and leisurely enough."
(Culture in the South, Middle Class and Bourbon, Clarence Cason, UNC Press, 1934, pp. 478-481)
Grand Army of the Republic of Thieves
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
With the war nearly over and nothing to gain from destroying private homes and property, Lincoln's Grand Army added salt to the wounds in a State which was rightly driven from the Union four years earlier by his inability to compromise and avoid war. In 1865 began reconstruction and twelve years of misrule, robbery and outrage in the American South.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
Grand Army of the Republic of Thieves
"Glen Burnie, [North Carolina] March 21, 1865
My Dear Cousin,
Well Pattie, I have seen the Yankees at last, and I earnestly pray that I may never see them again. The 9th of March will ever be remembered by me. The vagabonds appeared here early that morning, we had no idea they were within fifty miles of here . . . There was a hundred fifty men in the first squad that came here, and such a yell as they gave when they rode in the gate, mortal never heard.
Papa ran to the swamp as soon as he saw them coming, and they were almost frantic with rage when they found he had left and started in the woods to find him and swore by all the saints in heaven that they would kill him if they found him.
The rascals all came in, and in less than ten minutes the house was stripped of almost everything. Pa had the night before fortunately concealed his two watches and your jewelry in a very nice place . . . One of them came to me to know where they were, I of course refused to tell, he them immediately presented a pistol to my head and swore he would take my life if I did not tell him . . ." They carried off every earthly thing we had to eat, did not leave a grain of corn or coffee, or anything that would sustain life one day, and they found all our silver and took every knife, fork and spoon we had in the world.
They set the Piney Woods on fire all around us. Tell Aunt Jenny they set on fire all the rosin she saw, and turned day into night. They carried off a great many of our clothes, have not left me a cloak or shawl of any kind, tore the silk you gave Jenny all to flinders, and carried off my best dresses, and two of Mama's silks. Have not one blanket in the house, have only a half dozen quilts. The Yankees burned our barn and swore they would burn our house over our heads, but Providence saved it. I can't tell you how.
Well Pat, I must close by telling you that the Yanks never caught Papa and that we are not quite starved to death, though we came very near it, we went five days without a mouthful of bread. You will excuse the paper I know as it is all the Yankees left in the house, and 'tis a wonder they left this.
Oh how I do hate the very name of Yankee! May the chilling blight of heaven fall on their dark and doomed souls. May all the powers of earth and heaven combine to destroy them, may their land be one vast scene of ruin and desolation as ours is. This is the blessing of the innocent and injured one. I forgive them? May heaven never! Nellie"
(A Goodly Heritage, Emma Woodward MacMillan, Wilmington Printing Company, 1961, pp. 65-
One Ruler to Enforce Obedience
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
The peaceful political separation desired by the American South in early 1861 was best summarized by President Jefferson Davis' in his inaugural address: "We seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any kind from the States with which we were lately confederated. All we ask is to be let alone; that those who never held power over us shall not now attempt our subjugation by arms."
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
One Ruler to Enforce Obedience
"From Mr. [Robert] Toombs, Secretary of State, Message No. 5, Department of State, Montgomery, Alabama, May 18, 1861.
To: Hon Wm. L. Yancey, Hon. Pierre A. Rost, Hon. A. Dudley Mann, Commissioners of the Confederate States, etc.
Gentlemen: My dispatch of the 24th ultimo contained an accurate summary of the important events which had transpired up to that date, and informed you that the Executive of the United States had commenced a war of aggression against the Confederate States.
On the 20th instant the convention of the people of North Carolina will assemble at Raleigh, and there is no doubt that, immediately thereafter, ordinances of secession from the United States, and union with the Confederate States, will be adopted.
Although ten independent and sovereign States have thus deliberately severed the bonds which bound them in political union with the United States, and have formed a separate and independent Government for themselves, the President of the United States affects to consider that the Federal Union is still legally and constitutionally unbroken . . . He claims to be our ruler, and insists that he has the right to enforce our obedience.
From the newspaper press, the rostrum, and the pulpit, the partisans of Mr. Lincoln, while they clamorously assert their devotion to the Union and Constitution of the United States, daily preach a relentless war between the sections, to be prosecuted not only in violation of all constitutional authority, but in disregard of the simplest law of humanity.
The authorized exponents of the sentiments of [Lincoln's party] . . . avow that it is the purpose of the war to subjugate the Confederate States, spoliate the property of our citizens, sack and burn our cities and villages, and exterminate our citizens . . .
[The] real motive which actuates Mr. Lincoln and those who now sustain his acts is to accomplish by force of arms that which the masses of the Northern people have long sought to effect – namely, the overthrow of our domestic institutions, the devastation and destruction of our social interests, and the reduction of the Southern States to the condition of subject provinces.
It is not astonishing that a people educated in that school which always taught the maintenance of the rights of the few against the might of the many, which ceaselessly regarded the stipulation to protect and preserve the liberties and vested rights of every member of the Confederacy as the condition precedent upon which each State delegated certain powers necessary for self-protection to the General Government, should refuse to submit dishonorably to the destruction of their constitutional liberty, the insolent denial of their right to govern themselves and to hold and enjoy their property in peace.
In the exercise of that greatest of the rights reserved to the several States by the late Federal Constitution – namely, the right for each State to be judge for itself, as well of the infractions of the compact of the Union, as of the mode and measure of redress – the sovereignties composing the Confederate States resolved to sever their political connection with the United States and form a Government of their own, willing to effect this purpose peacefully at any sacrifice save that of honor and liberty, but determined even at the cost of war to assert their right to independence and self-government."
(A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy 1861-1865, James D. Richardson, Volume II, US Publishing Company, 1905, excerpt, pp. 26-31)
Socialists and Communists in the Republican Party and Union Army
One cannot fully understand the War of Northern Aggression without understanding that many European socialists and communists made up the Republican Party and held positions in the Union Army from private to general. Many socialists immigrated to the U.S. from Europe during the 1840s and 1850s and flocked to the Republican Party because it represented what they believed in. Many were exiled from their native homelands due to their participation in the failed socialist revolutions of 1848. Some even escaped from prison and made their way to America. These people are commonly known as Forty-Eighters. They were faithful to bring their socialist ideologies with them when they settled in their new homes. Many of them started newspapers and spread their socialist propaganda throughout the North. They were great admirers of Lincoln because they shared the same ideas of big government and no state's rights. These radical Republicans were instrumental in getting Lincoln nominated and elected. They were also very radical abolitionists and considered John Brown, America's first terrorist, a hero. The Union Army had many high ranking officers, including generals, who had fought in the socialist revolutions in Europe. They saw the opportunity to achieve here what had failed in Europe. Even Karl Marx was a great admirer of Lincoln and he worked for Charles A. Dana, who was the top aid to Horace Greeley, editor of "The New York Tribune", and assistant Secretary of War under President Lincoln. Lincoln was surrounded with known socialists, such as Dana, Greeley, and Frederick Engels. Engels co-authored the "Communist Manifesto" with Karl Marx. (Birds of a feather?)
These socialists and communists were all about big government and against personal property ownership. The 1848 socialist revolution, which failed in Europe, was to be reborn in all of American society. People didn't see it then, and they don't see it now. The mess this country is in today is a direct result of Lincoln's illegal and socialist invasion of the South for the purpose of extracting excessive tariffs, and crushing state's rights and limited government. The result of the North winning the war is the U.S. turning 180 degrees from what our Founders established; a limited government with sovereignty of the states and individual liberty. "Reconstruction" completely turned this country upside down and implemented the overgrown, socialist government we have today. Lincoln "saved" the union geographically, but he destroyed it politically, socially, and economically. A union held together by force is not a true union.
180,000 Germans, with many more thousands of Austrians, Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, and Irish made up Lincoln's army. Without their help it is doubtful the North could have won their illegal war due to the mass numbers of desertions it was suffering. The socialists and communists in Lincoln's army is a dirty truth that not many people know about. It has been conveniently left out of the "history" books which have polluted the minds of countless Americans for 150 years in our public education system, which, by the way, was an idea of Marx's. What has been taught about Abraham Lincoln is a huge myth. He was not "honest", he was not an "emancipator", and he did not "save the union", but destroyed it. Our Marxist rewritten history has put us on the track we are now on. If you didn't know these facts about our history, what other facts have been kept from you and covered up with radical leftist lies? How can one understand the present when they do not know the past?
Jeff Paulk
Tulsa, OK
cwipaulk@earthlink.net
(Referenced from, "Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists", by Walter D. Kennedy and Al Benson, Jr.)
Monday, October 26, 2015
Southwest Missouri Town Haunted by a Dangerous Civil War Spirit, Shadow Figures, and More
I'm not one to jump the gun and believe everything I read on the internet, but I found some ghost stories about a little town called Avilla, with an estimated population of 122. I quickly found out that there are legends about a civil war spirit (or perhaps something far worse), various shadow figures, random stenches as if something had died, and something called a Death Tree. But first, I had to look into what we know to be true, especially since these myths seem to stem from the town's history.
Get your scare at: http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/06/04/southwest-missouri-town-haunted-by-a-dangerous-civil-war-spirit-shadow-figures-and-more--2-3278659?lt_source=external,manual
Get your scare at: http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/06/04/southwest-missouri-town-haunted-by-a-dangerous-civil-war-spirit-shadow-figures-and-more--2-3278659?lt_source=external,manual
The Grandest Soldiers That Ever Marched
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the men who followed Lee and other Southern generals was their steadfast determination in the face of overwhelming odds. Rarely after mid-1863 were there even odds and most often Lee fought successfully against foes two or three times his own number.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
The Grandest Soldiers That Ever Marched
"It is quite a mistaken idea that the Yankees were poor soldiers and easily whipped. Any Confederate soldier who met them often in battle will testify that they were hard and tenacious fighters, especially those from the Great North West.
The Confederates could claim very little credit for holding at bay such a mighty host armed with the most improved weapons and devices of warfare for four long, dreary years, and defeating them so often and disastrously, with odds often greatly against them, had the Northern army been merely a disorganized mob and rabble.
Yes, the Northern army was a fine one, well equipped and well officered, with all the resources at hand that could be desired for great and aggressive warfare; but it had to meet an army of Southern troops composed of the grandest soldiers that ever marched to martial music, or fought in defense of country!
Just to think, that the Southern army of six hundred thousand men, poorly armed and equipped, ridiculously clad and meagerly fed, without tents, without medicine, without pay, checkmating, baffling, repulsing and often humiliating and disastrously defeating the Northern army of 2,778,304 men armed with the most improved engines of warfare, well paid, well fed, abundantly clothed; backed by all the resources of a great nation, for four long, dreary years, staggers the credulity of man to contemplate.
In a letter to General [Jubal] Early shortly after the close of the war, General Robert E. Lee wrote: "It will be difficult to get the world to understand the odds against which we fought." From the number drawing pensions from the United States government today, fifty years since the close of hostilities, there might have been a million more soldiers in the Union Army than given in the figures named above."
(Sketch of the War Record of the Edisto Rifles, William V. Izlar, The State Company, 1914, pp. 98-100)
Haunted Cemeteries and Ghostly Graveyards
Cemeteries around the world have gained a reputation for being haunted by ghosts for many reasons, including grave robbery, unmarked or forgotten burials, natural disasters that disturb resting places, or sometimes even because the deceased was not properly buried at all. Add all of that to the fact that graveyards are often dark, somber places and you've got the perfect setting for a ghost or two.
Come explore some of the world's most haunted cemeteries...but don't forget to hold your breath as you drive by, or you might breathe in the spirit of someone who has recently died!
Grasping Yankee Prussians Against the South
From: bernhard1848@gmail.com
Southern President Jefferson Davis describing Bismarck's Prussians as the "arrogant robbing Yankees of Europe" who appropriated their small sister states into a centralized and oppressive regime. By 1864, fully 25% of Lincoln's war machine was comprised of German soldiers and US war bonds found many subscribers in the Fatherland.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com The Great American Political Divide
Grasping Yankee Prussians Against the South
" . . . Southerners insisted that slavery was not a cause of the war in the sense of being a source of an irrepressible conflict between North and South. They ascribed [Northern attacks on slavery] . . . not to any humanitarian or ideological considerations which indicated divergent opinions on the morality of slavery, but to the desires of ambitious politicians and selfish manufacturers for political power and economic gain.
They charged that Northern majorities in Congress had passed legislation for the benefit of their section's commercial and manufacturing interests and at the expense of the Southern States. The Yankees had become grasping and aggressive, and Jefferson Davis, drawing a parallel to the contemporary Franco-Prussian War, compared the Yankees of the 1850's to the Prussians of the 1870's . . .
Not slavery, but the North's unjustifiable assaults upon the Southern States had caused secession and war, in the view of Confederates . . . the primary reasons for the North's hostility to the Southern States lay in the fact that the Northern and Southern States had differing, antagonistic and competing ways of life. The Southern way of life was generally defined by former Confederates in terms of an agricultural economy, locally controlled and conservative in its social and political customs.
[They] emphasized in particular that the ante-bellum South had differed from the North in that its civilization had been essentially conservative. It was conservative, they asserted, in its concept of constitutional liberty, centering around the sovereignty of States, and opposed both to national centralization and to extreme doctrines of the "natural rights" of individuals.
It was conservative also, they stated, in its aristocratic principles, opposing mere majority rule, opposing what the former Confederate Secretary of State, R.M.T. Hunter called the "despotic majority of numbers" in the North.
D.H. Hill, A.T. Bledsoe, and R.L. Dabney took the lead in describing the antagonism between Southern "conservatism" and Northern "radicalism." The North, they declared, had abandoned the system of government prescribed in the Constitution and had adopted radical, democratic, European "isms," based upon principles of equal rights for all individuals and rule by the majority.
These doctrines stemmed from the French Revolution; they were held, implied General Jubal Early, by the men who had crucified Jesus Christ. Against Northern Jacobinism the Confederacy had fought the whole world's battle; the South, asserted [Gen. Daniel H.] Hill, was the Vendee of the United States and had waged a similar fight for "conservatism against lawlessness, infidelity, irreverence towards God and man, radicalism."
(Americans Interpret Their Civil War, Thomas J. Presley, Princeton University Press, 1954, pp. 119-121)
Please review and advise
From: siegels1@Mindspring.com
Friends,
Yes, the attacks on flags, monuments, paintings, street names are awful. But I just have seen what I view to be the worst thing possible… It appears that the US Military Academy is teaching the War was about slavery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcy7qV-BGF4
My nephew pointed this out to me, and I feel strongly that there must be some organized response to this!!!
I confirmed the speaker, suspecting that it was not truly an Army officer, but sadly I am wrong!
http://www.usma.edu/history/SitePages/Faculty%20New.aspx
And to add insult to injury, Praeger University, hosted by a conservative talk show host is the sponsor of this, and they claim to be promoting Judeo-Christian values.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/08/29/radio-host-dennis-prager-has-a-new-online-college-to-combat-liberal-bias-and-teach-judeo-christian-values/
Interested in your thoughts to a response…
Also, we need to get out a competing YouTube.
Lunelle
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Rally Against Nikki Haley Over Confederate Flag in Greenville, SC from Sept. 18th, 2015
From: grayguns@earthlink.net
Found this on YouTube.
Though the person taking this video did not support our efforts, I was proud to attend with Mark, my fellow Confederate Society Compatriot. We traveled from NC to stand with our Confederate brethren, especially our SC Compatriot Joe Payne. This event center is located on a heavily traveled road that merges into I-385. We got extreme exposure to both the public and media. The local media filmed and conducted interviews. I was interviewed by NPR (I'm sure it was edited - big time) and a local reporter.
This was more than a rally against Gov. Haley. It was about sending a message to those attending the sold out Presidential candidates forum that none of the candidates will stop the Marxist takeover of America. Many of us wore red shirts in honor of Wade Hampton's Red Shirts of the mid 1870's, when he stood against the carpetbaggers and scalawags doing the deeds of the Radical Republicans who had taken over the State government at the time.
Our symbolic gesture was apropos for our times as well.
I held a gold sign with scarlet lettering which read: Red Shirts Against Red Gov't. The word "against" was in black lettering. Though the moniker was my creation, a lifelong friend here in NC professionally made it. Mark and I are at the very beginning of the video, though it is hard to see us through a flatbed's side walls.
More on this event later.
JW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euP7MlT2UTM
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