Judah P. Benjamin

The Jewish second-in-command of the Southern Confederacy during the Civil War was once a United States senator.

By Clay Travis

Judah Philip Benjamin was a politician, a lawyer, a United States Senator, and during the American Civil War, the second-in-command of the Confederacy.

Benjamin was born August 6, 1811 on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies (the present-day Virgin Islands) to Jewish parents. At the time of his birth, Benjamin's family was in transit from England to America. However, due to the War of 1812, the family was forced to settle in the West Indies until the war ended. They finally arrived in America in 1814, settling in Charleston, South Carolina.

Early Years

Benjamin was an exemplary student. At the age of 14, he entered Yale University. Two years later he was expelled (no record exists as to the reason) and eventually, Benjamin moved to New Orleans.

Confederate Judah P. Benjamin

Benjamin apprenticed at a law firm and began to study for the bar--a complicated course of action because, to become a lawyer in Louisiana, the state's use of the Napoleonic Code required fluency in both English and French. In order to fulfill this requirement, Benjamin took a job teaching English to the daughter of a prominent Creole family, Natalie St. Martin, so that he could learn French.

The tutoring sessions worked well and provided unintended benefits--on February 12, 1833, the 21-year-old Benjamin and the 16-year-old Natalie were married. As a condition of marriage, Benjamin agreed that the couple's children would be raised in the Catholic faith. That same year, Benjamin was admitted into the Louisiana bar.

Benjamin's law practice flourished. He authored a seminal work on legal contracts, Benjamin on Contracts, which examined existing contracts jurisprudence to a depth previously unknown in America. As his wealth and status grew, Benjamin took on the trappings of antebellum Southern aristocracy. He purchased a large sugar plantation on the outskirts of New Orleans and owned 140 slaves. In 1843, Natalie gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter named Ninette. Though they never divorced, a few years later his wife moved to Paris and took their daughter with her. The family would never live together again.

Political Career

In 1842 Benjamin was elected, as part of the Whig political party, to the lower house of the Louisiana legislature. Ten years later, he sold his plantation and all of his slaves. That same year, the Louisiana legislature selected him for the United States Senate.

Before he could even be seated as a senator, Benjamin was also offered a seat on the Supreme Court by outgoing President Fillmore. Benjamin declined and was sworn into the Senate on March 4, 1853, becoming the second Jewish senator (after David Levy Yulee of Florida, in 1845).

Benjamin was offered an appointment to the Supreme Court once more, in 1854, by President Tyler. Again, Benjamin declined. In the Senate, Benjamin gained a reputation as a skilled tactician and orator, yet his Jewish background and service for the slave-holding South provided points for attack. An abolitionist senator referred to him as "an Egyptian in Israelite clothing."

Benjamin served in the body until February 4, 1861 when he resigned from office along with other senators from the seceding Southern states. The Civil War had arrived.

In the Confederate Cabinet during the Civil War

In March of 1861, Benjamin was appointed Attorney General by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, with whom Benjamin had served in the Senate. Davis often referred to Benjamin as "the brains of the Confederacy." His appointment made Benjamin the first Jew to ever serve in an American cabinet. That same year, Davis requested that he accept the position of Secretary of War.

After public outcry over Confederate failings on the battlefield, in particular when reinforcements never arrived at the battle of Roanoke Island, Benjamin resigned as Secretary of War and was promptly appointed Secretary of State. Benjamin served in that position for the remainder of the war, often working at Davis' side for up to 12 hours a day.

On February 9, 1865, two months before the Confederate armies surrendered, Benjamin gave the most controversial speech of his political career, an impassioned plea for the Confederacy to arm their slaves and enlist them as Confederate soldiers. In Richmond, before an audience of 10,000, Benjamin asserted: "Let us say to every Negro who wishes to go into the ranks on condition of being made free--'Go and fight; you are free.' If we impress them, they will go against us. We know that everyone who could fight for his freedom has had no chance."

Benjamin argued that Southerners had gotten the opportunity to fight for their independence from the North, but slaves had not. If enlisted, slaves could be fighting for two freedoms, their own from slavery and for Southern independence from the North.

Benjamin's controversial plan met with disdain among defenders of slavery, but it was eventually passed by the Confederate Congress. Its passage in March 1865 came too late; no slave would ever take up arms for the Confederacy.

Life after the Civil War  

Fearing that he would be hung as a traitor, Benjamin fled the United States in the final days of the Civil War. He arrived in England, where, barely a year after the close of the war, he was admitted to the British bar in June of 1866. He would never return to the United States. For the final 18 years of his life, Benjamin practiced as a successful barrister, eventually attaining the highest rank in British legal profession--that of a Queen's Counsel.

So loathe was Benjamin to have his biography written that he burned all of his personal artifacts and papers before his death. Consequently, historians have had difficulty in reconstructing his life.

Benjamin died in Paris on May 6, 1884 at the age of 72. He was buried in a Paris cemetery with a simple headstone, reading only "Phillipe Benjamin." In 1936, the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a monument at his gravesite.

On The Web:   http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1700-1914/America_at_the_Turn_of_the_Century/Acceptance_in_the_US/Civil_War/judahpbenjamin.shtml



 

A Little Levity if You Please! (Part 38) by Bill Vallante

"A JOLT FOR WENDELL BY A NEGRO WAITER" - V123 Confederate Veteran March 1912

A long time ago Wendell Phillips, the abolitionist, went to Charleston, He had breakfast served in his room, and was waited upon by a slave. Mr. Phillips took the opportunity to represent to the negro in a pathetic way that he regarded him as a man and brother, and, more than that, that he himself was an abolitionist. Finally Mr. Phillips told the darky to go away, saying that he could not bear to be waited on by a slave. "You must 'sense me," said the negro. "I is 'bliged to stay here 'cause lse 'sponsible for de silverware."

November, 1906, “The Confederate Veteran”

Colonel Brown (John C.) had a negro servant named Ned. When the fight began, Ned begged his 'Marse John' to be allowed to ride one of his horses and stay by his side. Colonel Brown let him have a pistol and one of his horses. Ned proudly rode to the front. When the fire opened between Porter's (Morton's) Battery and the Federal batteries opposite, Ned could not stand the bursting shells and falling limbs, and he rode up to Colonel Brown and said: 'Marse John, I 'spec' I'd better go back under dat hill an' fix fer ter cook yo' dinner. An' heah, Marse John, jes' take dis pistol. I neber needed er pistol ter cook wid.'

550 Confederate Veteran December 1898. CONFEDERATE VETERANS IN NEW YORK.

I remember, continued Eli, "when they began to have the first freedmen schools around Memphis in 1864. Several Massachusetts tutors were teaching the freedmen the new doctrine of political equality. The negroes, you know, can never separate political equality from social equality, so when the teacher said, 'We are all born free and equal,' Clarissa Sophia broke in, 'Wa' dat yo's sayin' now? Yo say I'se jes as ekal as yo is ?' 'Yes,' said the teacher, 'and I can prove it.' 'Ho ! 'tain't no need,' replied the lately disenthralled. 'Reck'n I is, sho' nuff. But does yo say dat l'se good as missus, my missus?' 'Certainly you are, Sophia,' said the teacher. 'Den I'se jes gwine out yere rite off.' said Sophia, suiting action to word. 'Ef I'se good as my missus, l'se goin' ter quit, fer I jes know she ent ,'soshiatin' wid no sich wite trash as you is.'

The Confederate Veteran , April, 1893

After the battles of Bull Run and Manassas it was the writer's privilege to stand picket at the farm house of a good old Mrs. Taylor, a few miles east of Fairfax Station. It was there I learned the true meaning of the word Manassas, and how it originated. A faithful old negro man belonging to Mrs. Taylor met a neighboring brother, and addressed him about as follows: " Uncle Willis, kin yer tell me how dey got dis name Manassas fur dis place down dar whar dey has all dem big guns?" "I dunno, Brer Ephriam, cep'ing tis we is de man, and dem Yankees whar cum down here is de asses, dats how we gets de name Manasses, I speck."

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

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The Worst Place to be? Perhaps the USCT! (Part 37) by Bill Vallante

In earlier articles, I attempted to reduce the USCT to more believable historical levels. Their contribution was not critical to the union’s success or failure, their performance was often not nearly as spectacular as portrayed in the movies, like their white counterparts, they were also subject to compulsory military duty, many didn’t even want to be there, and there was no shortage of them who were willing to engage in their own brand of atrocities.

Once again however, it’s time to bring the historical books into balance, and to do it this time, within my own series of articles. What kinds of conditions did USCT soldiers operate under?

Someone once asked me, “who would you have like to have been if you were alive during the civil war?” Can’t say that I have an answer for that question, but at least I do know who I would not have wanted to be – a USCT line soldier. Why? Well, if I were a USCT soldier, here’s how I would describe the conditions that I operate under:

The Confederate soldier views me as his worst nightmare come to life. Ever since 40,000 whites were slaughtered by the former slaves in San Domingo back in 1804, the phrase “servile insurrection” has haunted white Americans, especially in the South where slavery as an institution took root. The white Southerner believes (with some justification perhaps), that the Northern government is turning to servile war in its effort to crush him, and that I am a part of that effort.

My fellow northern (white) soldier sees me as a joke at best and an insult to the uniform at worst. I sometimes run as much of a risk of being fired on by him as I do the men in gray. Many of my white officers rip the “USCT” patches off their jackets when captured and deny that they never saw me before in their lives!

The Northern public either belittles me or sees me simply as a warm body with which to fill a uniform that would otherwise be filled with a white man. Many in the north say that I will never make a good soldier, others want to use me for cannon fodder. My equipment is substandard, and the treatment I receive is worse than the treatment I received as a slave.

And, the criticism of my performance that I receive from those for whom I am risking my life fails to take into account that my regiment was formed in 1863 and is composed of inexperienced men who are being sent into battle against battle-hardened troops who have been fighting for more than two years. I’m doing the best I can despite being “up against it,” yet, I am paid an average of $11/month as compared to the $13/month that my white “comrades” receive. Many times, I am not even given the chance to choose whether or not I want to be here...

That said, let’s roll the historical videotape:

****Captain Waddell, of the Confederate Commerce raider, CSS Shenendoah, perhaps summed it up best:

“Southern Partisan Magazine,” Volume XXVI No. 2, July 2007, Page 31
A Book Review of “The Last Shot”, by Lynn Schooler, New York, Harper-Collins, 2006

“In his musings, (Captain) Waddell wrote regarding Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, “For two years the North waged war against the South without attempting to interfere with slavery. It was only when they found the negro could be used for killing the white people of the South and serve as breastworks for Northern white troops that they declared him free…they cared nothing for the unhappy negro; they preferred his destruction to that of their white troops.” “

****Sherman, who once described himself as “the best friend that Sambo ever had,” was more than critical about the idea of black men wearing blue uniforms:

“War Crimes Against Southern Civilians,” Walter Brian Cisco, Page 140

... “I like niggers well enough as niggers,” but only “fools and idiots” promoted their advancement.”

“Southern Negroes 1861 – 1865,” By Bell Irvin Wiley, Page 302

“I want soldiers made of the best bone and muscle in the land and won’t attempt military feats with doubtful materials…I am right and won’t change.”....”I cannot bring myself to trust Negroes with arms in positions of danger and trust.”…General W.T. Sherman thought it “unjust to the brave soldiers and volunteers” to place them on a par with Negro recruits.”

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXXVIII/5 [S# 76]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE…September 4, 1864.

General HALLECK:

MY DEAR FRIEND: ....
...I hope anything I may have said or done will not be construed unfriendly to Mr. Lincoln or Stanton. That negro letter of mine I never designed for publication, but I am honest in my belief that it is not fair to our men to count negroes as equals. Cannot we at this day drop theories, and be reasonable men? Let us capture negroes, of course, and use them to the best advantage. My quartermaster now could give employment to 3,200, and relieve that number of soldiers who are now used to unload and dispatch trains, whereas those recruiting agents take them back to Nashville, where, so far as my experience goes, they disappear. When I call for expeditions at distant points, the answer invariably comes that they have not sufficient troops. All count the negroes out. On the Mississippi, where Thomas talked about 100,000 negro troops, I find I cannot draw away a white soldier, because they are indispensable to the safety of the river. I am willing to use them as far as possible, but object to fighting with "paper" men. Occasionally an exception occurs, which simply deceives. We want the best young white men of the land, and they should be inspired with the pride of freemen to fight for their country. If Mr. Lincoln or Stanton could walk through the camps of this army and hear the soldiers talk they would hear new ideas. I have had the question put to me often: "Is not a negro as good as a white man to stop a bullet?" Yes, and a sand-bag is better; but can a negro do our skirmishing and picket duty? Can they improvise roads, bridges, sorties, flank movements, &c., like the white man? I say no. Soldiers must and do many things without orders from their own sense, as in sentinels. Negroes are not equal to this. I have gone steadily, firmly, and confidently along, and I could not have done it with black troops, but with my old troops I have never felt a waver of doubt, and that very confidence begets success……

Your sincere friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.

****Other union soldiers, officers and politicians, often mirrored Sherman’s sentiments….

“Myths and Realities of American Slavery,” By John C. Perry, Page 206:

“One Union colonel wrote of the African Americans in the union blue uniform, “makes a good enough soldier for garrison and guard duty, but for field service a hundred white men is worth a thousand of them.”

“A Union sergeant writing from the front lines in Virginia said that he did not want to fight side by side with them, suggesting rather that the African American soldiers “be sent here to use the pick and shovel in the roiling sun as we are doing now, and we will take a soldier’s tool – the gun and the bayonet.” “

“Some white Union soldiers felt that the African American troops were given special treatment. One write, “Some of the boys say that the army motto is, first the Negro, then the mule, then the white man. A sergeant from Minnesota complained about the special treatment received by an African American aide on the headquarters’ staff. He wrote, “Their has been more sympathy lavished on him than I ever saw on 20 white men. I guess the day is not distant when a white man will be as good as a Nigar.” “

“Perry's Saints or The Fighting Parson's Regiment,” Chapter 11
www.generalatomic.com/PerrysSaints/chapter11.html

“…. I am impelled to say, in spite of the criticisms that my statement may provoke, that my own observation and experience, as well as the experience of others, have convinced me that the prevailing opinion, especially in New England, of the valuable services rendered by colored troops in actual conflict, is erroneous, and that their most effective work during the war was done with the pick and spade.”

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXXIV/3 [S# 63]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE,…April 17, 1864.

Maj. Gen. D. HUNTER, U.S. Volunteers:
General Banks has always been very vigilant in the organization of colored troops. It is to be hoped that his expedition up Red River will give a large number of recruits of this class. All acquired in this way, however, being without organization or discipline, could not be counted as so many men for defense of garrisons. Three of them, though, might count equal to one veteran soldier in fixing the number to leave behind at any one place.

U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

“THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF THE CIVIL WAR”: Fourth Edition, Michael T. Griffith
www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/southernside.htm

“Certainly we hope we may never have to confess to the world that the United States government has to seek an ally in the negro to regain its authority,” declared an editorial in the Milwaukee Sentinel. “We don’t want to fight alongside with the nigger,” agreed a recruit from New York. “We think we are a too superior race for that…”

“Vice President Hamlin probably reflected northerners’ opinion . . . when he told a rally in Bangor [Maine] in July that “we want to save, as much as possible, our men, even if it is done by men a little blacker than myself.”

“Governor Samuel Kirkwood of Iowa put the matter more baldly when he voiced a desire to see “some dead niggers as well as dead white men.” “

****The treatment these men received from their own side ranged from disrespectful to downright appalling:

“Southern Negroes 1861 – 1865,” By Bell Irvin Wiley, Page 344

“Those Negroes who were assembled in contraband camps died by the thousands; those who were employed on plantations received treatment little better than that which they had received under the old regime, those who entered military pursuits were dealt with in a manner more becoming to slaves than to freedmen.”

“The Slave Narratives,” Rev. Squires Jackson, Florida

“.... That very night he ran away to Wellborn where the Federals were camping. There in a horse stable were wounded colored soldiers stretched out on the filthy ground. The sight of these wounded men and the feeble medical attention given then by the Federals was so repulsive to him, that he decided that he didn't want to join the Federal Army. In the silent hours of the evening he stole away to Tallahassee, thoroughly convinced that War wasn't the place for him. While in the horse shed make-shift hospital, a white soldier asked one of the wounded colored soldiers to what regiment he belonged, the negro replied "54th Regiment, Massachusetts.”

VIVID REMINISCENCES OF WAR TIMES. BY ALDEN M'LELLAN
(LIEUTENANT IN ARTILLERY), NEW ORLEANS., Confederate Veteran June 1906. p. 265

“... An amusing thing occurred between the white and colored troops as we left the island. When we went on board the transport, the colored guards who came with us were stopped. They had come prepared to go on the transport, and there were several consultations between officers of white and colored troops before the colored guards were allowed to come on board, and then they were required to keep themselves at the bow of the boat. The white soldiers were not friendly to their colored comrades. At midnight the colored guards went on duty, then all prisoners had to keep inside the boat. The relief that was put on duty near me was very unmilitary. The colored guard approached in proper form, saluted, and asked for instructions. The white guard, who was leaning on his gun, looked at the relief in a very surly manner and said, "Stand there," and walked off, trailing his gun.”

O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XXXIX/1 [S# 77], SEPTEMBER 20-OCTOBER 17, 1864.

Raids from Kentucky and East Tennessee into Southwestern Virginia.
No. 6.--Report of Col. James S. Brisbin, Fifth U.S. Colored Cavalry of the part taken by a detachment of the Fifth U.S. Colored Cavalry, under the command of Col. James F. Wade, Sixth U.S. Colored Cavalry, at Saltville

HEADQUARTERS U.S. COLORED TROOPS,
Lexington, Ky., October 20, 1864.

.....On the march the colored soldiers, as well as their white officers, were made the subject of much ridicule and many insulting remarks by the white troops, and in some instances petty outrages, such as the pulling off the caps of colored soldiers, stealing their horses, &c., were practiced by the white soldiers. These insults, as well as the jeers and taunts that they would not fight, were borne by the colored soldier patiently, or punished with dignity by their officers, but in no instance did I hear colored soldiers make any reply to insulting language used toward [them] by the white troops…..

AMES S. BRISBIN, Colonel and Supt. Organization U.S. Colored Troops.

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXVIII/2 [S# 47]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.--#4 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 77.

HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH,
In the Field, Morris Island, S. C., Sept. 17, 1863.

It has come to the knowledge of the brigadier-general commanding that the detachments of colored troops detailed for fatigue duty have been employed, in one instance at least, to prepare camps and perform menial duty for white troops. Such use of these details is unauthorized and improper, and is hereafter expressly prohibited. Commanding officers of colored regiments are directed to report promptly to these headquarters any violations of this order which may come to their knowledge……

By order of Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore:
ED. W. SMITH, Assistant Adjutant-General.

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXVI/1 [S# 41]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.--#8, GENERAL ORDERS No. 12.

HDQRS. UNITED STATES FORCES,
Port Hudson, La., July 30, 1863.

The commanding general of this post has been informed of the abuse of colored soldiers, and disregard of their authority as sentinels, on the part of some of the other troops of this command, and on the part of some persons not in the military service. He takes this opportunity to correct certain erroneous impressions, and to announce to all concerned that this course of conduct must cease at once and entirely…..

By command of Brig. Gen. George L. Andrews:
GEO. B. HALSTED, Captain, and Assistant Adjutant-General.

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXXIV/3 [S# 63]
CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE
Victoria, May 4, 1864.

Brig. Gen. J. E. SLAUGHTER,
Chief of Staff:
SIR: I have the honor to state that I have just returned after a week's absence at Lavaca and Indianola. The information I have collected leaves me to believe that all the white troops except 200 or 300 cavalry have been removed from Saluria and sent to Louisiana. I think it entirely reliable that Warren's brigade have left and that their place has been supplied by a regiment of colored troops. I am informed that the enemy have no confidence in their colored troops; that Warren thought it unsafe to leave them at Saluria without white troops; that the negroes mutinied on account of their pay, $7 per month; that 1 was shot by an officer; that 50 or 60 were court-martialed and sentenced to one, two, and three years on the Tortugas; that they absolutely refused to receive their pay, and that numbers of them would desert if they had a chance…

O. STEELE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding

****Being fired on by their own troops was not unheard of, having their officers deny that they ever knew them was also not unheard of, and there are several instances (Olustee, Brice’s Crossroads and Saltville) where, in battle, white troops ran off and left the black troops to fend for themselves:

“Southern Negroes 1861 – 1865,” By Bell Irvin Wiley

Page 325 - “At Ship Island, Mississippi, the Federal gunboat Jackson was called upon to support 3 colored companies. Instead of training its guns upon the Confederates, it directed shots into the midst of the Negroes when they retreated. Some of the gunboat’s crew had been killed a short time before in an altercation with a colored sentry.”

Page 339 – “A Northern white soldier who took part in the fight [the Crater] and who was sympathetic toward the Negroes said in a letter written two days after the battle: “Worse still, the 13th Indiana white…deliberately shot down many of the retreating soldiers. When I say there is a fearful mortality among the dusky heroes you will readily understand how it happened.” The New York Herald correspondent reported that after their repulse the Negroes “ran, a terror stricken, disordered mass of fugitives, to the rear of the white troops. In vain their officers endeavored to rally them with all the persuasion of tongue, saber and pistol.”

Pages 311–312 – “General [David] Hunter found great difficulty in getting white officers to command the units of his regiment. “Private Miles O’Reilly” said that the reply Hunter received from almost every competent young lieutenant or captain he approached on the subject was, “What! Command Niggers?” General Weitzel refused to command Negro troops raised by Butler in New Orleans. Ullmann, an officer of Negro troops at Port Hudson, said in an address delivered shortly after the termination of the war: “Officers of the Ullmann Brigade will ever have occasion to remember with bitter feelings the contemptuous treatment they received at the siege of Port Hudson, from General and other officers who had heaped indignities upon “Nigger Officers” as they were wont to courteously style us.””

Page 312 - “Some of the officers of Negro troops who were captured at Petersburg, when asked what regiments they were attached to, gave the numbers of certain white ones for fear they would be molested. One of them, more courageous than the rest, answered. “Lemuel D. Dobbins, Nineteenth Negroes, by God!” His frankness won for him more consideration than that received by his associate officers.”

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXXV/1 [S# 65]
FEBRUARY 5-22, 1864.--The Florida Expedition.

No. 18.--Report of Lieut. M. B. Grant, C. S. Engineers, of engagement at Olustee.

This fight occurred upon ground which furnished a fair field to both parties, and no advantage to either. The advantage of the enemy upon this occasion consisted in the superiority of numbers and equipment. Their force was, at the lowest estimate, twice that of ours. As usual with the enemy, they posted their negro regiments on their left and in front, where they were slain by hundreds, and upon retiring left their dead and wounded negroes uncared for, carrying off only whites, which accounts for the fact that upon the first part of the battle-field nearly all the dead found were negroes.

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

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Civil War sesquicentennial provides opportunity for dialogue
By VINCE GRAHAM
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

We live in an age that is largely unconcerned with history. This is too bad because the past is a valuable source of wisdom and guidance. When history is twisted or glossed over, it undermines our ability to learn from the past and inform a positive vision for the future.

Southerners are a romantic breed, passionate about history. However, we tend to graciously avoid topics tied to racial issues of the past so as not to trip over strong emotions that echo in the present. By doing so, we tend to talk past one another instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue.

The tension we avoid is the kind of nonviolent confrontation the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to in his famous 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail.' King wrote that a certain measure of constructive tension 'will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.'

This coming December will mark the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession from the union. This sesquicentennial presents an opportunity to expand the 'monologue' that has, thus far in 2010, been associated with controversy surrounding two monuments proposed for the Charleston area.

The first is a memorial to Denmark Vesey, a former slave and master carpenter who purchased his freedom after winning a city lottery. Vesey, it is commonly believed, was plotting a large slave insurrection, before being arrested, tried, and executed in 1822. At the monument's groundbreaking ceremony in early February, Mayor Riley deemed Denmark Vesey's efforts a 'courageous quest for liberty and self-determination.' Others allege Vesey's plot involved the murder of whites, and thus feel he should not be commemorated. Either way, there's no question that Vesey's actions struck fear in the population and fed the siege mentality in place since Charleston was a walled city.

The second monument is proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and is intended to honor the men who signed the Ordinance of Secession in 1860. Defenders of secession believe in voluntary union, and maintain a state's right to withdraw from that union is a legitimate check against the potential tyranny of central government.

They point to the Declaration of Independence, arguing the men who signed the Ordinance were acting wholly within their right to divorce themselves from the government they believed to be engaging in abuses and usurpations that would ultimately lead to absolute despotism. By adopting the Ordinance of Secession, signers felt they were working toward providing 'new Guards for their future security.' Unfortunately, these 'new Guards' perpetuated the same immoral system of slavery that existed under the old system. Nevertheless, as with Vesey's actions, secession was, in the signers' minds anyway, a 'quest for liberty and self-determination.'

Opponents of this monument, such as the Rev. Joseph Darby, accuse the secessionists of being traitors to the United States. They point to the fact the signers were members of a relatively small aristocracy of slaveholders who monopolized political power and held the allegiance of non-slave- holding whites by cultivating racial prejudice.

The chronic aversion to mature dialogue about our past is a form of denial. This psychological defense mechanism has long hampered South Carolina progress by addicting it to the politics of race.

Shall we overcome? If political addiction was viewed in the same manner as substance addiction, the humane first step would be to stop feeding the addiction and start acknowledging truth. As uncomfortable as this process might be, it could serve as the type of 'constructive tension' Dr. King felt was often necessary to achieve healing and enlightenment.

Perhaps this year offers a good time for reflection and prayer about our history. With grace and willpower, SCV members, Mayor Riley, Rev. Darby, and other leaders could help citizens advance freedom through discourse that scales 'the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.'

Just because one cannot imagine something possible, doesn't make it impossible. Dum Spiro Spero. While I Breathe, I Hope. It's South Carolina's state motto.

Copyright © 1995 - 2010 Evening Post Publishing Co.

On The Web:   http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/09/civil-war-sesquicentennial-provides-opportunity-di/

 

Judge urges truce in war memorial fight

Court lets SCV lawsuit proceed over location of monument to Confederate dead

Date published: 3/9/2010
By CLINT SCHEMMER

The legal fight will continue over a new monument to Confederate dead.

Fredericksburg Circuit Judge Gordon F. Willis yesterday declined the city's request that the court dismiss a lawsuit brought by the local camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. But Willis urged both parties to try to settle their dispute out of court.

At issue is the location of a granite-and-bronze memorial erected last spring by the SCV's Matthew Fontaine Maury Camp No. 1722. It sits on one corner of the grassy triangle at Barton and George streets that is dominated by the much-larger Fredericksburg Area War Memorial.

The City Council decided last fall that the SCV monument--dedicated in April during a public ceremony--must move. It enacted an ordinance saying the triangle is the exclusive site of the War Memorial honoring local military personnel killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The multi-columned memorial was designed and donated by the Potomac Region Veterans Council.

The SCV's monument honors 51 soldiers from seven Southern states--including three from Virginia--who died here in 1861 and 1862 on garrison duty before the Battle of Fredericksburg. They were buried nearby along Barton Street.

By resolution on Nov. 1, 1861, the City Council set aside land there for the soldiers' graves. The Rev. Alfred M. Randolph, pastor of St. George's Episcopal Church, presided over the burials. There is no record that the soldiers' remains were later disinterred.

Judge Willis' decision clears the way for the litigation to proceed. But he urged both sides to arbitrate their dispute, relying on a retired judge as a mediator under procedures established by the Virginia Supreme Court.

"Before we have a second War of 1812, you might want to consider that," Willis told City Attorney Kathleen Dooley and Patrick McSweeney, attorney for the SCV camp.

Calling the dispute "very unfortunate," Dooley told Willis that both city staff and SCV officers were acting in "good faith" as they discussed the building permit that was issued for the Confederate monument.

But in granting the permit, city staff exceeded their authority, she said. Only the City Council is empowered under state law to site a war memorial on city property, Dooley said.

McSweeney countered that city staff members have routinely approved historical markers and monuments and other encroachments on public property.

The two lawyers were on their best behavior during yesterday's one-hour hearing, but once it ended, the scene turned ugly for a few minutes. A few members of the SCV and the Veterans Council briefly traded verbal barbs across the courtroom's center aisle before tempers cooled.

The SCV's Maury Camp also includes veterans, and Veterans Council member David Ellis said he normally would be sympathetic to that group's tribute to their fallen brethren. "It may have been well intended, but it's in the wrong place, and came at the wrong time," Ellis said of the SCV monument.

The Veterans Council worked for 10 years to create its "Fallen Heroes" memorial to 400 wartime casualties, he noted.

The group obtained the City Council's express permission, after consulting neighboring residents and changing the monument's size and design to meet their concerns, Ellis said.

Dooley said she will consult the City Council about how it wishes to proceed.

McSweeney said the Maury Camp is open to talking with the city and trying to resolve the matter out of court. For now, though, it intends to take the case to trial, he said, and will depose city officials to document how they handled the SCV's plans for the monument.

But, McSweeney said, the SCV can't afford to lose the protection of state statute it claims bars Fredericksburg from relocating the monument. "That makes it difficult to reach a settlement," he said. "We can't bargain that away."

Dooley argued that no such legal protection applies to the SCV monument.

Copyright 2010, The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co.

On The Web:   http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/032010/03092010/533165

 

Some Real Reasons For The War Of Northern Aggression

By Al Benson Jr.

For much longer than I have been alive we have been getting phony “history” and, therefore, much erroneous comment about what the War of Northern Aggression was all about. I’ve read reams of screed by so-called “newspaper columnists” who rant and rave that “The South seceded so she could keep her slaves.” Hogwash! The South could have kept her slaves had she stayed in the Union. No one was trying to outlaw slavery in Dixie, so that’s not what the war was about.

Others have claimed the South committed treason when the Southern states seceded. More hogwash. After keeping Jeff Davis in jail as a political prisoner for two years the North could not come up with enough credible evidence to try him for treason. Even the Yankee politicians admitted among themselves that secession was not treason. And it was not a “civil war” either. A civil war is two opposing factions fighting for the control of one country. The South did not wish to take over Washington--they just wanted to leave in peace and go their own way.

Rev. Steve Wilkins of Auburn Ave. Presbyterian Church in Monroe, Louisiana has noted that: “There were numerous causes of the War (least of all was slavery). The theological declension that occurred during the first half of the 19th century laid the foundation.” The North and South had basic theological differences as the South tended toward a revival of the Reformation faith that this country was established on while the North seemed bent on pursuing the rampant apostasy of the Unitarians, spiritualists, feminists, and, yes, Marxists. The theological differences are something that are almost never discussed in “historical circles.” Several years ago C. Gregg Singer, who received his PhD. From the University of Pennsylvania wrote an excellent book called A Theological Interpretation of American History  in which he documented the growing theological differences between the two regions. This is probably the reason least mentioned for the cause of the War. Politically correct “historians” are uncomfortable discussing religion unless it is their own (humanism).

Pastor Wilkins also noted the problem with tariffs--something else the historians would rather not mention, although they will deal with it grudgingly if forced to. We need to force them to. In his book The South Under Siege 1830-2000  author Frank Conner noted that Northern manufacturers wanted to overprice their goods “…in the firm knowledge that the competing low-priced British goods--with the tariffs added--would then be more expensive than theirs…Second, the Southerners bought most of the manufactured goods imported from Britain, largely because they sold most of their cotton to Britain; thus--by paying the tariff--the Southerners paid most of the costs of running the US government…and all of the Southern states were paying about 85% of the cost of running the federal government. By increasing the tariff rates, the North could force the South to pay most of the costs of the US government’s industrialization program--a program which would benefit the North tremendously, and the South not at all.” Talking about a little “redistribution of the wealth here? Such a deal! The Yankee Marxist mindset in action!

The North wanted to use Federal funds for their “internal improvements” program, and for subsidies for private businesses. Does this sound familiar? And you thought it started with Bush. These efforts at the corporate adultery of government and big Northern business were often stymied by Southerners in Congress, aided by conservative Northern Democrats, because they were, blatantly unconstitutional. They still are but that doesn’t matter anymore.

The Northern view of the country, with Unitarian and socialist influence, was that the central government in Washington should be increasingly more powerful while the states should be satisfied to become mere vassals to the collectivist leviathan. This didn’t set well with most Southerners, who held to a strict constructionist view of the Constitution--meaning that the Federal government should deal only with those areas delegated (not surrendered) to it and should stay out of everything else. Such an anachronistic position simply had to be dealt with because the South was holding up the “progress” (which they had paid for) of the rest of the country.

Pastor Wilkins has also noted that: “The more radical element (in the North) were desirous of removing the one barrier to the progressive consolidation of power with the central State authority. The destruction of the South would give them the liberty they needed to establish this change in the structure and philosophy of the national government.”

They wanted Lincoln in office then just as they want Obama in office today, because both of these men were (and are) willing to take the leftist position of what government should be doing. Both share the same collectivist mindset and both have sought to take the federal government far to the left of where it ought to be. The Marxist-influenced Lincoln was the same as the Marxist Obama is. Had Lincoln not been successful in his day we probably would not have Obama to deal with today.

Pastor Wilkins summed up by saying that: “Perhaps no war changed out nation like this war--especially in the size, reach, and role of the Federal Government. Behind the army and this massive bureaucracy stood a vastly transformed office of President with authoritarian power over almost every aspect of life in this Union.”

I hate to disappoint the court “historians” (not really) but on a list of ten reasons the War was fought, slavery might have been #9 on a good day.

Content ©2010  Al Benson Jr.

On The Web:   http://www.cakewalkblogs.com/antiestablishmenthistory/some-real-reasons-war-northern-aggression.aspx


 

Friday, March 05, 2010

Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne—Stonewall Jackson of the West

By Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., American-Historical Writer, Speaker, Author of book “When America Stood for God, Family and Country” and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. http://www.scv.org

Wednesday, March 17, 2010, is the 182nd birthday of Patrick Ronayne Cleburne.

Do you remember the 1961 weekly television series, entitled “The Americans?” This wonderful-educational show centered around two brothers who fought on opposite sides of the War Between the States—Confederate Corporal Jeff Canfield played by Richard Davalos and Union Corporal Ben Canfield played by Darryl Hickman. Their Father, Pa Canfield, was played by the late great John McIntire. The great theme music was produced by Hugo Friedhofer and original music by Bernard Hermann.

When I was growing up near Atlanta, Georgia school children could recite some of the words to the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and knew the true history of those who gave us our freedom. Politicians in their speeches proudly quoted from American Patriots like; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee.

Who was Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne?

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born on March 17, 1828, in Ovens, County Cork, Ireland. He was an Anglo-Irish soldier who served in the 41st Regiment of Foot of the British Army. He is however best known for his service to the Confederates States of America during the War Between the States.

He was only eighteen months old when his Mother died and a young fifteen when his Father passed away. He tried to follow in his Father’s foot steps, Dr. Joseph Cleburne, in the field of medicine but failed his entrance exam to Trinity College of Medicine in 1848. He immigrated to America three years later with two brothers and a sister and made his home in Helena, Arkansas.

In 1860 Cleburne became a naturalized citizen, lawyer and was popular with the residents.

He sided with the Confederacy at the outbreak of the War Between the States and progressed from the rank of private of the local militia to major general.

Cleburne, like many Southerners, did not support the institution of slavery but chose to serve his adopted country out of love for the Southern people and their quest for independence and freedom. In 1864, he advocated the emancipation of Black men to serve in the Confederate Armed Forces. In early 1865, his dream became a reality but it was then too late--the war was lost.

Did you know that Gen. Ulysses S. Grant owned slaves but Gen. Robert E. Lee did not?

Cleburne participated in the Battles of Shiloh, Richmond, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap and Franklin. He was killed at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864.

Due to his brilliant strategy on the battlefield Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne was nicknamed “Stonewall Jackson of the West.”

General Patrick R. Cleburne said before his death at the Battle of Franklin:

"If this cause, that is dear to my heart, is doomed to fail, I pray heaven may let me fall with it, while my face is toward the enemy and my arm battling for that which I know is right."

Cleburne was engaged to Susan Tarleton of Mobile, Alabama.

On March 17, 1979, Cleburne’s birthday, I organized the Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne Camp 1361 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Jonesboro, Georgia which is still active. The Confederate Cemetery in Jonesboro is also named in honor of the general.

Gen. Cleburne is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Helena, Arkansas.

A good book “A Meteor Shining Brightly” Essays on Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne” --edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, is a good source of information about Cleburne.

Freedom is God given. Nation’s remain who free put their trust in God and the People.

On The Web:   http://shnv.blogspot.com/2010/03/gen-patrick-r-cleburnestonewall-jackson.html

 

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Confederate Constitution

BY BRUCE KAUFFMANN

This week (March 11) in 1861, the first seven states to secede from the Union and create a new confederacy adopted their constitution.

As it happened, four of the states that ratified this Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America -- South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina -- had previously ratified the Constitution of the United States of America in 1788.

The Confederate Constitution was both similar to and different from the U.S. Constitution.

Chief among their differences was the balance of power between the national government and the states. As was true of America's first national government, the Articles of Confederation, the new confederate constitution, gave most power to the states, including the power to provide -- or not provide -- money and resources to the national government.

The Founders had considered this among the Articles' chief defects -- financially it beggared the national government -- and it was corrected at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Unsurprisingly, it would come back to haunt the Confederacy in the later years of the Civil War.

Another difference was a single six-year term for the Confederacy's president and vice president, and a third difference was that the Confederate Constitution explicitly "recognized and protected" the institution of slavery.

But the similarities are the most striking.

In language that was almost duplicative, the Confederate Constitution, just like the U.S. Constitution, provided that the federal government is "the Supreme Law of the land" and, therefore, binding on the states.

Further, the Confederate Constitution denied states the right to enter into separate alliances or make separate treaties or generally act independently.

In other words, the seven states that had seceded from the country created by the U.S. Constitution approved a Confederate Constitution with the power to deny its member states the right to secede.

This, President Lincoln came to believe, was more than hypocritical, it undermined their rationale for leaving the Union.

To Lincoln, the states that seceded did so because they believed the U.S. Constitution allowed them. It was incumbent upon them to decide whether to include that right in their constitution.

If they had included the right to secede, they were admitting that each Confederate state had a right to secede again. But since they did not include that right, they were admitting in principle that the right to secede was not, nor should it have been, in the U.S. Constitution.

To Lincoln, that reaffirmed his conviction that the Confederate states had not legally left the Union but were in a state of rebellion. Guided by that conviction, he fought and won the Civil War.

Copyright (c) Woodward Communications, Inc. 2010

On The Web:   http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=275324

 

Re-enactors recapture history in battle at Gamble’s Hotel

By Samantha Shepard
March 7, 2010

MARS BLUFF — Hundreds of people got to experience a piece of South Carolina’s Civil War history this weekend at the reenactment of the Skirmish at Gamble’s Hotel.

The two-day event was held at the Harwell House at the Rankin Plantation in Mars Bluff and featured a period-dress ball, Civil War merchants, a period church service and the battle reenactments with artillery, infantry and cavalry re-enactors.

For Jacquie Corbett, this is an annual get together for her family and friends.

“It’s kind of like getting to put yourself right into history,” she said.

The battle depicted on Saturday and Sunday was an encounter on March 5, 1865 between 500 Union soldiers under the command of Colonel Reuben Williams of the 12th Indiana Infantry trying to destroy the Florence railroad department and 400 Confederates defending their ground.

But for re-enacters and spectators, the event is more than just a lesson in history.

Mike King, president of the 23rd S.C. Volunteer Infantry (SCVI), said his organization has hosted the Skirmish for the past 19 years because it is important to experience history, not just read about it in a book. “What you need to do is get down and hear the muskets firing, smell the gun powder, hear the cannons go off,” he said. “It takes it to another level.”

All the proceeds from the weekend go toward to the SCVI Scholarship Fund, which is awarded to a history major entering their senior year at Francis Marion University, and other historical preservation projects in the Pee Dee.

The battle always ends the same way with the Confederates driving the Union soldiers away, Corbett said, but the experience is never the same.

“Anytime that you can live, breathe, and touch history, that’s just the ultimate way to go,” she said.

©2010 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC

On The Web:   http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/pee_dee/article/recapturing_history_at_the_gambles_hotel/108562/

 

Confederates dismantle Yankees

by Morgan Wall

ROCKFORD — Taking advantage of the nice weather, spectators gathered in Rockford Sunday afternoon for the second day of the fifth annual Civil War Battle and Living History Weekend.

Many people grabbed a bite to eat in the Rockford General Store, which was serving up chicken and dumplings and pintos and cornbread in addition to its usual staples, before heading to the amphitheater behind the building for the battle.

At 1:30 p.m., a sudden outburst of gun fire let the spectators know the battle was starting and all attention turned to the field. They watched as the Union troops advanced, were surrounded by Confederate troops, fell back, advanced and finally surrendered. Complete with tactical retreats to move troops to different avenues, sneak attacks from behind and even a last stand charge by some of the Union troops, the battle lived up to its hype.

For some, the battle was a chance to get out and enjoy some fresh air.

“It’s nice outside so we wanted to get some fresh air,” said Debra Holt, who was at the re-enactment with her husband and their two dogs. “I’ve been here before and seen a Revolutionary War re-enactment. These are fun.”

For others, the event was a chance not only to enjoy the weather but to witness a part of history.

“I rode my horse out here yesterday. I’ve never seen this before,” said John Doss, who came back on Sunday with family and friends. “I used to play this same stuff. Those horses out there, I used to ride right with them. I think it’s good for everybody to learn this stuff.”

“I’ve been to one several years ago in Abingdon (Va.). I’ve always wanted to come to Old Rockford but never had the chance,” said Lynn and Sandy Hallman. “It brings history to life and helps us appreciate our roots and where we came from.”

Linda Jordan took the trip down memory lane even further. Her grandfather grew up in Rockford and she had a number of relatives who were killed in the Civil War. For the past five years, she has been putting together a family tree and trying to find out as much about her ancestors as possible.

“I had a lot of kin killed in the Civil War, and I find it very interesting,” she said.

Her great-great-grandfather had six sons all of whom were in the war. Three of the sons died as did a daughter and some of his daughters-in-law. He also died in the 1860s. Some of the children on the other side of the family also were killed.

“Both fathers died in the 1860s. I think they grieved to death,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like then. It had to have been tough.”

Following the battle, visitors took some time to visit the encampment and talk with some of the re-enactors as well as take pictures. Throughout the weekend, the re-enactors organized skits for the spectators in order to portray different aspects of life in an encampment during the Civil War.

On Sunday, they performed a skit revolving around captured spies and deserters. Some of the Confederate soldiers ran from the camp to track down a deserter. The supposed deserter was brought before a court along with a spy from the Union ranks.

“Have mercy on my life,” pleaded the corporal. “It’s terrible out there. Men kill each other in the worst ways.”

His sister even came to try to plead his case. However, the court ruled against the pleas and found him guilty of desertion as the spectators looked on.

“Lieutenant, our duty is clear. We have to execute this man,” said the presiding authority.

Even after Union troops appeared in the Confederate camp to negotiate for the spy captured, the court still had its say in his case as well.

“You’ve been condemned by this court to die,” declared the presiding authority once again.

Both men were then taken to the firing squad as the spectators gathered around to witness the event.

“You’re gonna send me to Hell with a Yankee!?” cried the deserter in a final attempt to find mercy from the troops.

After the firing squad carried out their orders, the crowd dissipated once more to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, whether it was browsing through the general store or enjoying a snack at one of the picnic tables in the sun.

The re-enactors slowly began to break down camp and pack their gear before heading home until next year. The group and the village of Rockford decided this year that the encampment will have a permanent home the first weekend of March from now on.

copyright © 2010 Mount Airy News

On The Web:   http://www.mtairynews.com/view/full_story/6601912/article-Confederates-dismantle-Yankees?instance=home_news_lead

 

The South shall rise

Filing continues. Alas, Mike Ross is in. Robbie Wills officially joined the 2nd District race. (He's for jobs. Me, too.) Gov. Mike Beebe is in. Etc.

But there was at least one item of passing interest. Loy Mauch of Bismarck filed  for House District 26, as a Republican. (If only the CSA had a party.)

Regular readers of the D-G letters page (those with strong stomachs, in other words) know the name. There was his protest, along with his Sons of the Confederate Veteran chapter, over a statute of Abraham Lincoln on display at the Hot Springs Convention Center. There's his veneration of the Confederate battle flag, as evidenced when James Vandiver lowered the D.C. flag and raised the Dixie banner over his motel.

For Loy Mauch of Bismarck in Hot Spring County, the Confederate flag is a symbol of America’s Christian roots, from which he believes the nation has strayed.

 “The government has lost its moral authority over God-fearing Americans and I wish more patriots like James Vandiver would take their stand for what the Confederate Battle Flag truly symbolizes,” Mauch wrote.

David O. Dodd, reinforcements are on the way.

On The Web:   http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2010/03/the_south_shall_rise.aspx

 

Flag flap splits city commission

By BILL RETTEW JR.
Staff Reporter

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Lake Commissioners voted during Tuesday's meeting to forbid placing Confederate flags on the graves of former Civil War soldiers at Lake Wales Cemetery.

The 3-2 vote reversed the short-lived policy to allow the Stars and Bars to fly over the graves of Confederate veterans at the city's two cemeteries, for just one day per year, Confederate Memorial Day, April 26.

Since a December commission vote – when an ordinance outlining what mementos and artifacts would be acceptable on graves was enacted – a city study showed that no Civil War vets are buried in the city cemeteries.

Several commissioners and members of the public noted that the political discussion and vote were moot unless the unlikely scenario arises that someone wishes to move a former soldier's body to Lake Wales. Commissioners heard that state and federal policies allow for use of Confederate Flags and would trump any local ordinance.

Speakers from the podium and audience were nearly divided during a public hearing on the first reading of the ordinance change. Commissioners will get a chance to reexamine the situation prior to a final vote.

Commissioners Alex Wheeler, Jonathan Thornhill and Terrye Howell voted to prohibit flying Confederate flags over graves, while John Paul Rogers and Mayor Jack Van Sickle prefer keeping things the way they are and leaving the ordinance on the books.

"We want unity: We don't want disunity. We're basically spitting in your face. Disunity is showing disrespect,” Wheeler said. “The United Sates Flag should be the only flag flying over any veteran's grave."

Thornhill said he believed "There's been a lot of historical inaccuracies. This is a legal issue. It all comes down to state law."

"Let's hope we never have a war like that again,” Van Sickle added. “Let's hope history has taught us we need to get along."

Rogers said there really wasn’t much of a need to even have the discussion.

"I don't see any reason to even bring this up. It's moot,” Rogers said. “Federal and state law allow for flying the flag."

"Do right by all people. Don't dishonor anyone who is dead. Put an American Flag up there,” Howell said.

Several community members also offered opinions, including NAACP Lake Wales president David Smith.

"Anything at the cemetery that's insulting to the community should not be at the cemetery. We need to come together,” Smith said.

The Rev. J.J. Pierce, of First Institutional Baptist Church, added: "I hope you get tired of us speaking on racial issues and we get tired of coming. Use the time and energy to work on the more important and progressive issues. This is one step forward and two steps backward. It's out of the Dark Ages."

Ed Bowlin, who also this week was named a member of the city’s newly formed charter review committee, observed: "It's about honoring veterans. A veteran has no choice of what war he fights in. This is not an issue of taking sides, this is about honoring a veteran. Honoring Confederate veterans is not going to correct the evils of slavery. We can't correct the past sins."

Copyright © 2010 Lake Wales News

On The Web:   http://www.lakewalesnews.com/articles/2010/03/06/news/local/doc4b914eaf92f41964783503.txt

 

Prisoner Exchange and the USCT (Part 36) by Bill Vallante

There are many stories circulating around these days which claim that the South refused to treat black union soldiers as prisoners of war, that they killed them outright, or sold them into slavery, and that the North, in an effort to hold the moral high ground, suspended the prisoner exchange cartel in 1864 in a noble effort to get the South to recognize black civil rights.

****George Christian, writing in the Southern Historical Society Papers, essentially lays out the real issues and the problem as it concerned black union prisoners of war and General Richard Taylor confirms Christian’s contentions in the following source.

Essentially, if a black union prisoner was recognized as being a runaway slave, he was to be returned to his former owner. Until the owner was found, he was put to work repairing or building military fortifications or projects. Free men of color went to a prison camp along with the white prisoners. There was no policy on the part of the Confederate government which ordered the execution of black union prisoners.

Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. XXX. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1902
By Hon. GEO. L. CHRISTIAN, Chairman., Read at Wytheville, Va., October 23rd, 1902.

“..... The Federal authorities contended that where slaves were captured by them, or when they deserted and came to them and enlisted in their armies, they thereby became free, and should be placed on the same footing with their white soldiers, in respect to exchanges, as well as in all other respects. The Confederates, on the contrary, contended that whatever might be the effect on the status of the slave by going to the Federals and enlisting in their armies, yet should they be recaptured by the Confederates, that restored them to their former status as slaves, and they should then be returned to their masters or put to work by the Confederates, and their masters compensated for their labor. In those cases where the masters did not reside in the Confederacy, or could not be ascertained, such Negroes were to be exchanged as other prisoners.”

“Destruction and Reconstruction,” by Richard Taylor, Page 215

“The Confederate Congress had enacted that negro troops, captured, should be restored to their owners. We had several hundreds of such, taken by Forrest in Tennessee, whose owners could not be reached; and they were put to work on the fortifications at Mobile, rather for the purpose of giving them healthy employment than for the value of the work. I made it a point to visit their camps and inspect the quantity and quality of their food, always found to be satisfactory…..”

****Jefferson Davis, not one for lying, remarked that he had never been told the reason for the North’s suspension of the prisoner exchange, which leaves one wondering about the claim of contemporary historians that the reason the North suspended prisoner exchange was because the Confederates would not treat black prisoners who were runaway slaves as “prisoners of war.” Looking at Davis’ quote, we are left to wonder how it was that the North could supend the cartel, allegedly over injustice directed at the black man, but forget to notify the Confederate government of this? The matter is more clearly laid out in the source following Davis’, written by a former Confederate officer in the January 1896 edition of the “Confederate Veteran”:

Jefferson Davis to Congress of the Confederate States, Richmond, 2. May 1864.

“On the subject of the exchange of prisoners, I greatly regret to be unable to give you satisfactory information. The government of the United States, while persisting in failure to execute the terms of the cartel, make occasional deliveries of prisoners and then suspend action without apparent cause. I confess my inability to comprehend their policy or purpose.”

From The Papers of Jefferson Davis, Volume 10, pp. 378-87. Transcribed from a signed copy in the National Archives, RG109, Documents in the Official Records, Series 4, Volume 3, pp. 365-68.

JOHN SHIRLEY WARD, Los Angeles, Cal., P. 10 Confederate Veteran January 1896.

“...This fact led the Southern Government to decline to recognize negroes as prisoners of war who had been decoyed from their homes by promises of large bounties for enlistment against their old masters, and it was intended by the Cartel that it should include the exchange of only free soldiers. This was not a question of color, for the South was willing to regard as prisoners free negroes who had been captured in the Union Army.”

****I’ve been reading about the Civil War for over 50 years. The way I always understood it, the prisoner exchange was suspended by the North in 1864 as part of a war of attrition against the South. Quite simply, the South could not replace its killed, wounded or captured, while the North could, due to its much larger population. The North then had nothing to gain by engaging in a prisoner exchange and chose therefore, to forego it, and bleed the South dry, thus bringing the war to a speedier conclusion. Today we are often told that the North suspended the cartel because it was enraged over the South’s failure to give black prisoners of war their civil rights. If anyone believes that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I dearly would love to sell you.

I also have to believe that had Lincoln announced to the white northern population that their husbands, brothers and sons would have to languish in Southern prison camps to promote black civil rights that he either would have had mass riots on his hands, or, he would have been clobbered in the election of 1864.

The following two sources give another, and perhaps more truthful side to the story. The first is written by a Confederate officer in the July 1911 edition of the Confederate Veteran, and the second is from a Union POW who was part of a delegation of Andersonville prisoners that was sent to Washington in 1864, to help try and negotiate the re-instituting of the prisoner exchange cartel.

EXCHANGE OF CIVIL WAR PRISONERS., BY JOHN BROADUS MITCHELL. 342 Confederate Veteran July 1911

“Stanton's words are well known: "We will not exchange able bodied men for skeletons. We do not propose to reinforce the Rebel army by exchanging prisoners."

It is claimed with some weight that the talk after the war of negroes having affected the exchange of prisoners was not founded on fact, since at the time the Northern authorities abandoned the cartel there were no negro prisoners. The difference, however, did affect conditions.

The attitude of Secretary of War Stanton and of General Grant that no exchange so long as the North held the excess of prisoners was a necessity of war is best seen in their own communications on the subject. On August 8, 1864, Grant sent the following telegram to General Butler:

    "On the subject of exchange of prisoners, however, I differ with General Hitchcock. It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons not to release them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. To commence a system of exchange now, which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those already caught, they amount to no more than so many dead men. At this particular time to release Rebel prisoners would insure Sherman's defeat and compromise our safety here."

Grant says in his "Memoirs" that the exchanged Confederate was equal on the defensive to three Union soldiers attacking.”

“Andersonville, The Southern Perspective,” by Joe Henry Segars

Google Books, page 76, (This from union Pvt. Edward Wellington Boate)
”...General Winder remarked to us before we quitted Andersonville, that the object of our government in refusing to exchange was that they felt it hard to give soldiers for civilians. "The time," added he, "of thousands of those unhappy men in that stockade is out many months; thousand of others are rendered worthless for soldiers through long confinements, disease and privations - for I will admit that we have not the resources to treat your men as we would wish."

Since I returned to the North, Winder's words were confirmed, for it was semi-officially stated to me that, "It might look very hard that we refused to exchange; but we could not afford to do so. We would have to give a number of strong; well fed, available soldiers for a number of men broken down from campaigning, disease, and out of the service by the expiration of their term."

A policy like this is the quintessence of inhumanity, a disgrace to the Administration which carried it out, and a blot upon the county. You rulers who make the charge that the rebels intentionally killed of or men, when I can honestly swear they were doing everything in their power to sustain us, do not lay this flattering unction to your souls. You abandoned your brave men in the hour of their cruelest need. They fought for the Union, and you reached no hand out to save the old faithful, loyal, and devoted servants of the country. You may try to shift the blame from your own shoulders, but posterity will saddle the responsibility where it justly belongs.”

****The claim is often made that the official Confederate policy toward black union soldiers was to take no prisoners, or to execute them after capture. While such things did occur, as well as the reverse I might add, the truth is that there was no official policy to that effect. After an incident of this type at Saltville Virginia in 1864, the commanding general in that area, General J.C. Breckinridge, irate over the behavior of some of his troops, reported the incident to Robert E. Lee. Lee wrote the following letter back to Breckinridge...

Robert E. Lee's dispatch concerning the murders of POW's at Saltville, VA
(October 2, 1864)

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
October 21, 1864.
Maj. Gen. J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,
Commanding,
&c., Wytheville:

GENERAL:

General Lee directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, and to repeat the gratification the handsome success at Saltville afforded him, and his satisfaction with the arrange meats and dispositions made by you. He hopes your efforts to promote the efficiency of the troops in your department will be soon attended with the success they deserve. He is much pained to hear of the treatment the negro prisoners are reported to have received, and agrees with you in entirely condemning it. That a general officer should have been guilty of the crime you mention meets with his unqualified reprobation. He directs that if the officer is still in your department you prefer charges against him and bring him to trial. Should he have left your department you will forward the charges to be transmitted to the Department, in order that such action may be taken as the case calls for.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CHARLES MARSHALL,
Lieutenant-Colonel and Aide.de.camp

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The USCT – Yankees Behaving as Yankees often do – Badly! (Part 35) by Bill Vallante

A Google search of “USCT AND atrocities” yielded a handful of pages among the first 50 hits which had nothing whatsoever to do with the civil war itself. Two of the first 50 hits, one belonging to a Southron blogger, and another to an SCV camp, dealt with atrocities committed by the USCT. The remaining pages all dealt with Confederate atrocities perpetrated on the USCT. What’s missing here? The answer is - an awful lot of history! Does anyone other than me feel that the presentation is a bit one-sided?

One of the pages I found maintained that the USCT massacre of Confederate soldiers at Fort Blakely in 1865 was at least exaggerated, if not fabricated. Another essentially said that the rebs got what they deserved because they used the the “N” word. Sorry folks, once again, I cannot refute such rationale. It is simply too painful for me to try to think on this guy’s level.

As I said in the Prison Guard story, it’s time for a little equal time and to bring the history books back into balance. There are two sides to every story, and this is the other side that rarely gets told. Hold onto your hats and let’s roll the historical videotape:

****The affair at Fort Blakely is something that I’ve known about for a very long time. What amazed me when I searched for it was the number of “hits” which either denied that atrocities took place or which attempted to minimize them. While atrocity accusations against Confederates these days abound, any similar accusation made against black union troops seems to bring out a small army of historians with their little scrub brushes and spray bottles, hurriedly rushing to clean up the USCT’s reputation. The words quoted below, by the way, were the last words of Lt. Joshua Lazarus Moses, who was commanding an artillery battery at the defense of Fort Blakely, Mobile Alabama, April 9, 1865, and whose command was overrun by USCT soldiers. The USCT did not spare Lt. Moses.

Fort Blakely, April 9, 1865 – “For God’s sake, spare my men, they have surrendered!”
--Lt. Joshua Lazarus Moses, from Monument to Murderers at Fort Blakely? by Lewis Regenstein.

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXXV/1 [S# 65] - JANUARY 1-NOVEMBER 13, 1864.--Operations in Charleston Harbor and Vicinity, S.C. No. 32.--Reports of Brig. Gen. Beverly H. Robertson, C. S. Army, commanding Second and Sixth Military Districts, of operations July 7-10. HDQRS. SECOND AND SIXTH MILITARY DISTRICTS, July 14, 1864.

“....For the information of the major-general commanding I desire to state that negro prisoners assert that Colonel Silliman, commanding Twenty-sixth Regiment U.S. Colored Troops, in the presence of Brig. Gen. R. Saxton (who has always commanded negroes), gave orders to show no quarter; also, that on Thursday, when the right of our line was temporarily pressed back, Private Cooper, Company B, Second South Carolina Cavalry, who was wounded, fell into the enemy's hands. When we recovered the ground it was discovered that he had been bayoneted in six or seven different places. I respectfully recommend that the Yankee General Foster be held to a strict accountability for such violation of civilized warfare....” B. H. ROBERTSON, Brigadier-General, Commanding

***You'll recall from Part 33, the USCT use of the phrase "No Quarter to Rebels!"

“Dixie After the War, Myrta Lockett Avary,” Pages 141-142
“Newberry South Carolina, Calvin S. Crozier – confederate soldier, released from prison, on his way home, September 8, 1865. At Orangeburg, S.C., a gentleman placed 2 young ladies under his care. To Crozier, the trust was sacred. At Newberry, the train was derailed by obstructions placed on the tracks by negro soldiers of the 33rd U.S. Regiment, which, under the command of Colonel Trowbridge, white, was on its way from Anderson to Columbia. Crozier got out with the others to see what was the matter. Returning, he found the coach invaded by two half-drink negro soldiers, cursing and using indecent language. He called upon them to desist, directing their attention to the presence of ladies. They replied that they “didn’t care a damn”. One attempted gross familiarities with one of the ladies. Crozier ejected him’ the second negro interfered, there was a struggle in the dark’ one negro fled unhurt’ the other, with a slight cut, ran toward camp yelling, “I’m cut by a damned rebel!” Black soldiers came in a mob.

The narrative as told on the monument, concludes, “the infuriated soldiers seized a citizen of Newberry upon whom they were about to execute savage revenge, when Crozier came promptly forward and avowed his own responsibility. He was hurried in the night time to the bivouac of the regiment to which the soldiers belonged, was kept under guard all night, was not allowed communication with any citizen, was condemned to die without even the form of a trial, and was shot to death about daylight the following morning, and his body mutilated.

He had been ordered to dig his own grave, but refused. A hole had been dug, he was made to keel on its brink, the column fired upon him and he tumbled into it, and then the black troops jumped on it laughing, dancing, stamping.”

**** Opportunities to commit atrocities on the battlefield didn’t present themselves to the USCT very often, but what they were unable to do on the battlefield, they seemed to make up for off the battlefield, especially when it came to dealing with unarmed, white Southern civilians, thus, equaling and sometimes surpassing the behavior of their white blue-clad “comrades.”

O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XL/3 [S# 82]
CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, FROM JULY 5, 1864, TO JULY 31, 1864.--#1, RICHMOND, VA., July 5, 1864.

Maj. T. O. CHESTNEY, Assistant Adjutant-General, Headquarters:

MAJOR: I have the honor to report that about the 13th of June last a regiment of negroes, commanded by Colonel Draper, of Massachusetts, arrived at Pope's Creek, in Westmoreland County, Va., accompanied by about fifty regular U.S. Cavalry.(*) They marched to Union Wharf Richmond County, in divided commands, taking negroes, horses, cattle, bacon, wagons, farming utensils, &c., all of which were either carried away or burned. About the 14th, at a place called Hutt's Store, near the center of Westmoreland County, some of the negro troops went to the house of Private George, of Ninth Virginia Cavalry, and committed a rape upon his wife, who had just been confined with a babe only six weeks old. She is now almost a maniac, and begs that some one will kill her. This atrocious crime can be verified by a number of witnesses who are personally cognizant of the fact. In Warsaw, Richmond County, the negro troops attempted to ravish white ladies, but were foiled by the assistance of the female slaves of the households. In the case of Mrs. Belfield, she escaped by flight to the woods. Many other instances could be mentioned of like atrocities if desired....

JNO. S. BRAXTON, , Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XXXIX/2 [S# 78]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE…., U.S. S. MOOSE, Smithland, Ky., June 11, 1864.

Rear-Admiral DAVID D. PORTER,
Commanding Mississippi Squadron:
SIR: .... I am told, in consequence of some gross outrages that was said to have been committed in that neighborhood by a Colonel Cunningham, from Paducah. It is reported that he went up in that section of country with a lot of negro soldiers, and sent them on shore to conscript every negro they could find. These negroes, it is reported, were sent on shore armed and without an officer with them, entered private houses, broke open the doors, and entered ladies' bedrooms before they were up, insulted women, and plundered and searched generally. If this be as bad as reported, it is certainly a gross outrage and disgrace to our cause. I will, on my way up, stop and see if I can ascertain the truth of the matter. It was said that gun-boat convoyed them up. None of our gun-boats convoyed them or would countenance such disgraceful proceedings; on the contrary, they would have forced respect to women. On my way down I found the people so frightened and excited that to set them aright I thought it only justice to ourselves to send them a communication, of which the inclosed is a copy.(*)

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
LE ROY FITCH, Lieutenant-Commander.

“The Day Dixie Died, Southern Occupation,” By Thomas and Debra Goodrich Page 155

“Maj. J.R. Cook and his family lived about seven miles from Vicksburg, not far from the railroad line. Despite numerous murders in their community, the Cooks felt some sense of security. General Grant himself had guaranteed that Hardtimes Plantation would not be subject to further searches or depredations, The family had retired for the retired for the evening when a party of 25 black soldiers, armed with muskets and carbines, burst into the house. During the confrontation, gunfire erupted and Minerva was struck in the chest. When the major rushed to her aid, he too was shot. Before leaving, the intruders plundered the house and grounds, taking not only valuables, but also every chicken on the farm.”

Page 226 - Near Chattanooga, black troops entered the home of an old man, robbed him, beat him nearly to death, then raped his wife and daughter.

Page 155 - “A company of black soldiers drove off the family’s hogs, Eudora Inez Moore reported from Texas, and when her father tried to stop them, the troops picked up sticks and threatened to “beat his brains out” if he came any closer. ….”

Pages 226–227 - In Augusta, a regular battle ensued when black soldiers were chased from a woman’s home by her son, who wielded a pistol. More troops returned, broke down the door, and stormed upstairs. When it was over, and an officer had finally forced them out, four blacks were dead. (footnote 17)

Pages 226–227 - In Beaufort North Carolina, a squad of black soldiers entered a home near the fort and, reported a Charlotte editor, “while the man of the house and his wife were held, they ravished their daughter, a girl of 15 year of age. ………..“Another squad went to another house and attempted a rape on a child of 10 years of age” At almost the same time, 4 black troops from fort Macon were brought to Raleigh in chains on charges of raping a 13 year old. In Texas, a band of several hundred black soldiers went on a rampage, raiding, robbing and raping…

“Dixie After the War,” Myrta Lockett Avary

Page 22 – “In Raymond Mississippi, Negro troops strung a flag across the street and drove the white children under it.”

Page 273 – “In the hill country of South Carolina, a one-armed ex-confederate, a “poor white”, made a scanty living for his large family by hauling. Once, on a lonely road, when his load was whiskey, he was surrounded by negro soldiers, who killed him, took possession of the whiskey and drank it. Ring leaders were arrested and lodged in jail; some were spirited away to Columbia and released; a plan was afoot to set the rest free, among them, the negro captain who had boasted of his crime, and flouted the whites with their powerlessness to punish him….

Page 267 – “A congregation in another county church was thrown into a panic by balls crashing through the boards and windows; a girl of 14 was killed – negro soldiers marched by.”

Page 267 – “Into a dwelling a squad of black soldiers marched, bound the owner, a prominent aged citizen, pillaged his house, and then before his eyes, bound his maiden daughter and proceeded to fight among themselves for her possession. “Though”, related my informant, “her neck and face had been slobbered over, she stood quietly watching the conflict. At last, the victor came to her, caught her in his arms and started into an adjoining room, when he wavered and fell and she with him. She had driven a knife, of which she had in some way possessed herself, into his heart. The others rushed in and beat her until she too was lifeless. There was no redress.”

“The Coming of the Glory,” By John S. Tilley

Page 171 - “...Even so, the soldiers’ favorite activity of looting at length reached such excesses as to provoke open condemnation from Northern editors and clergymen, among the latter being Henry Ward Beecher.” (from the Tuskaloosa Monitor, copied in Montgomery Weekly Mail, May 6, 1868)

Page 213 - “The crowning humiliation came with the arrival of Colonel Shaw’s negro regiment from Massachusetts, a group which went to great pains to vent its wrath upon the despised slave-holders. A careful student of the period tersely records that the colored soldiers were “lawless, brutish and in not a few instances, murderers.” They swash-buckled through the streets, elbowed men and women alike off the sidewalks, flaunted their authority in the faces of the helpless whites, threatened with their guns, any show of opposition.”

“The Tragic Era,” By Claude G. Bowers, P. 53

From every quarter appeals reached Washington for their [the USCT occupying forces in South Carolina during Reconstruction] removal, for the fears of the whites were not of the imagination. Thus, at Chester they clubbed and bayoneted an old man, at Abbeville white men were ordered from the sidewalks, in Charleston they forced their way into a house, ordered food, and, after partaking, felled the mistress of the household….

“Jefferson Davis, Private Letters 1823 – 1889”, by Hudson Strode, Page 218

....I thank God on my knees for the cloud which directed me the day I sent my poor little boys away from danger. A quarrel with a negro child caused by the negro snatching a toy from its hand which the white child’s father reclaimed from the negro, brought to the rescue two negro soldiers, who, finding that the white man had help, desisted, but came back with 20 more at night and were only prevented from murdering him by his barring his doors and sending secretly for the police…. (a letter from Varina Davis to Jefferson Davis, December 25, 1865)

“DAILY CONSTITUTIONALIST” [AUGUSTA, GA], July 22, 1864, p. 4, c. 1
”Mrs. Mary Beckham, in a letter published in the Atlanta Appeal, furnishes a lengthy narrative of the treatment of her family by Lincoln ’s murderers….

"On Tuesday morning about 9 o’clock, August 4th, 1863, twelve armed negro soldiers came to the house, there being no one there except my husband, father-in-law, Benjamin Beckham, and four of my children, and some of our family negroes. They rushed on my husband and tied him, took off his watch and pin, and rifled his pockets. They then tied my father-in-law, and dragged them to the river, (it being about thirty yards.) They killed my husband on top of the bank by shooting him in the head. They then cut off his shoulder-blade and rolled his body into the river, his clothes looked as if there had been a great struggle.

They then took the old gentleman, stabbed him three times, once in the heart, and cut one of his ears off. After throwing his body into the river, they proceeded back to the house, where two of them had been guarding my dear little children. They spoke to my eldest daughter, Laura, aged fourteen years, telling her to get up and follow her old daddy, at the same time presenting a pistol to her temple. The children then were driven to the waters edge, where their father and grandfather had been murdered, and then they were put to death in the most cruel manner.

The youngest, Richard aged two and a half years, was thrown into the water alive. Laura jumped in and attempted to rescue him, and whilst in the water, waist deep, begging for mercy, she was knocked on the head by the butt end of a gun, entirely separating her forehead, and then stabbed in the side. Kate Ida, eleven years of age, was then disposed of. She was beaten with guns until her head and shoulders were perfectly soft; her body was bruised all over. Caroline, seven years of age was shot through the head, and so disfigured that she did not look like a human. After they had murdered them all and thrown their bodies into the river, they returned to the house, taking everything valuable and all the clothing they could carry."”

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The USCT as Prison Guards (Part 34) by Bill Vallante

A Google search of “USCT [United States Colored Troops] and Prison Guards” yielded over 3000 hits. Of the first ten, one “hit” made brief mention of the behavior of African American guards at Point Lookout, claiming that it was sometimes “brutal” but also sometimes “kind.” Another hit stressed the ‘important’ part the USCT guards played in the war effort, i.e., “they prevented captured Confederates from rejoining the war,” which I have to admit is one of the most creative attempts I’ve ever seen at turning a mundane task into a war-winning feat of incredible achievement.

It gets even better though, because still another “hit” praised the 200 black guards at Elmira for guarding over 12000 Confederates! I wonder if any of them got the Congressional Medal of Honor for pinning down 12000 unarmed, emaciated, freezing men? Any more embellishment and the story would have been easily confused with 200 men holding off thousands at the Alamo. And in another hit, there is actually a mention of a Confederate being shot by a guard at Point Lookout, but according to the writer, the prisoner was being “unprofessional” because he shouted “racial slurs.” What can I say? It is impossible to argue with “logic” such as this!

Now, a reality check - The United States Colored Troops displayed the same human failings as the white troops on either side. They were not mythic, they were not “angels” in blue, and they were not “boy scouts.” I am a firm believer in “equal time,” and quite simply, it is “time” for a little of that here. It seems that no one else is willing to look objectively at the down side of their behavior and performance, so allow me. Here is a quick look at them in their roles as prison guards. My purpose is less to issue a general condemnation of them, and more to provide a little balance among the stories that are currently being told.

“Southern Historical Society Papers,” Vol 1. Richmond, Virginia, April, 1876. No. 4 ”The Treatment Of Prisoners During The War Between The States.”

“The affidavit of Thomas E. Gilkerson states that negro soldiers were promoted to corporals for shooting white prisoners at Point Lookout, where he was a prisoner…..…That negroes were placed on guard. That while on guard, a negro called a prisoner over the dead line, which the prisoner did not recognize as such, and the negro shot him dead, and went unpunished…..That shooting prisoners without cause or provocation, was of frequent occurrence by the negro guards.”

“Southern Historical Society Papers,” Vol. VII. Richmond, Virginia. August 1879. No. 8. “Prison Experience.” By James T. Wells, Sgt. Co. A, 2nd South Carolina Infantry.

“…A guard of negroes was sent through the camp to search for it, and the manner in which they performed that duty was observable in the number of bleeding heads among the prisoners. They had beat them over the head in order to compel them to tell who did it. For this conduct, their officers praised them, and told them to shoot whenever they felt like doing so, and right well did they obey this order, as will be shown hereafter. Matters were thus proceeding from bad to worse. The shooting of a prisoner was looked upon as an every day affair, especially when said shooting was done by a negro. The colored troops came on guard only once in three days, and the day of their coming was always dreaded by the prisoners”

“Southern Historical Society Papers,”Vol. XVIII. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1890. ”Prison-Pens North” [From The Dispatch, June 21, 1891.] by Hon. A. M. Keiley.

“The negro guard would, almost without warning, fire among the prisoners, and this at last culminated in the murder of a poor, feeble old man named Potts, a prisoner, one of the most harmless creatures in the pen. He was hailed by one of the guard while approaching his ward, ordered to stop, and shot dead while standing still.”

“Southern Historical Society Papers.” Vol. XVIII. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1890. Point Lookout - Address before Pickett Camp Confederate Veterans, October 10, 1890.

BY PAST COMMANDER CHARLES T. LOEHR., [Richmond (Va.) Times, October 11, 1890.]

“Next our guards. As already stated, they were negroes who took particular delight in showing their former masters that "the bottom rail was on top." On one occasion one of the North Carolina men, who have a habit, which is shared by our Virginia country cousins, in whittling every wooden object they come across, was enjoying this sport on the prison gate, when one of the colored soldiers shot him down, nearly blowing his head off. This created some little excitement, but what the result was I never learned. During the day we had access to the sink built on piles in the bay, but at night the gates were closed, and boxes were placed in the lower part of the camp, to which the men were allowed to go at all hours of the night. There were hundreds of sick in camp, cases of violent diarrhœa, reducing the men to skeletons. As these men were compelled to frequent these boxes, the negroes would often compel them at the point of the bayonet to march around in double quick time, to carry them on their backs, to kneel and pray for Abe Lincoln, and forced them to submit to a variety of their brutal jokes, some of which decency would not permit me to mention…”

“Southern Historical Society Papers,” Vol. XXV. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1897. [From the Richmond, Va.. Times, August 22, 1897.],
Stories of Captain F. C. Barnes and Captain R. E. Frayser.

“We were guarded by negro troops commanded by Colonel Hallowell, who was a heartless man, and under him the most cruel treatment was experienced. We were not allowed any privileges, and often fired into by the guards for the most trivial offence and several men were wounded.”

****Special thanks to Bernard Thuersam of the “Cape Fear Historical Institute” www.cfhi.net, for the following reference:

“Rock Island Dungeon”
(Forty Hours In A Dungeon At Rock Island,” B.M. Hord, Nashville, TN. Confederate Veteran Magazine, August 1904, page 385

“When we arrived [as Confederate prisoners] at Rock Island, early in December 1863, Col. Rust was in command with a detachment of the Fourth Invalid Corps. He was a kind-hearted old fellow and just to the prisoners; but unfortunately for us the old Colonel was soon removed, and in his place came as inhuman a brute as ever disgraced the uniform of any country, one A.J. Johnson, with his regiment of Negroes for guard duty, leaving the Fourth Invalid men...for light fatigue duty.

Men were brutally punished upon the slightest pretext. I saw prisoners tied up to the fence by their thumbs, their toes barely touching the ground in the hot, broiling sun until they would faint, and when cut down by the guards, fall limp and unconscious. While none of us dared approach for they were next to the fence, over the dead line and grinning Negro sentinels stood just above them with ready guns in hand. ...”

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The USCT at The Crater – “No Quarter to the Rebels?” (Part 33) by Bill Vallante

A couple of years ago I attended a meeting of the local Civil War Round Table here on Long Island which on that particular night featured a talk by an author who had written a book about “Italians in Blue and Gray.” Naturally, being a “neo-confederate,” as I am sometimes called, and being of Italian extraction, I was hoping he’d speak about the Italians who wore the gray, but that was not to be. He focused instead on the Garibaldi Brigade out of NY City, and on General Taliaferro, who commanded the United States Colored Troops division in the army of the Potomac.

As most WBTS fans are aware, this particular division played a major part in the July 1864 Battle of the Crater at the siege of Petersburg. During the speaker’s talk, he made reference to the “awful massacre of African Americans at the Crater by the Confederates.” Maybe he was practicing for an appearance on Oprah or maybe not, but almost looked like he was about to shed (crocodile?) tears when he said it.

Steaming, I decided to let the first comment pass. His big mistake was in making the same comment a second time, as if to drive the point home. This time I opted not to take a pass and instead raised my hand during the question and answer period. My question to him was as follows:

“Regarding your comment about Confederates massacring African Americans at the Crater, are you aware that the United States Colored Troops yelled “NO QUARTER TO THE REBELS” as they charged, and do you not think that they, in effect, got what they asked for - since, when you yell “NO QUARTER” at your opponent, you have to expect him to act in kind toward you?”

Of course, a few people in the audience gasped. Then, our distinguished speaker squinted at me, eyes somewhat glazed, like he had been hit over the head with a hammer, and began to shake his head ever so slightly and mumbling unintelligibly. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was simply stunned by my question, or if he simply had no answer, or if he was denying that such a thing ever took place? This continued for a few seconds.

Since I wasn’t getting an answer, I asked “Are you going to try and tell me that this never happened?” He continued to squint and shake his head ever so slightly with no answer coming out of his mouth. At that point the moderator stepped in and diffused what seemed to be an uncomfortable situation and the group moved on to the next question. I never did get an answer. Afterward however, and somewhat surprisingly, several people came up to me to show support.

The incident in question is indeed documented in the writings of Confederate veterans of that particular battle who faced the USCT. I have no reason to believe that their claims are any less valid or true than anyone else’s. Yet, I never hear “No Quarter to the Rebels” mentioned in any account of the battle. All I hear is that those werry werry bad confederates hatefully beat up on the black men, and I am fast growing weary of this one-sided treatment.

That said, here are a few accounts of the battle that you won’t find many contemporary historians willing to admit or even discuss. You can determine for yourself whether the USCT got what they asked for or not...

Confederate Veteran August 1903, P. 355 --- "BATTLE OF THE CRATER." BY W. A. DAY, SHERRILL'S FORD, N. C.

“... By that time it was light enough to see a considerable distance, and our men could be seen running rapidly to the rear, and the whole field in front full of Yankees and negroes charging up to the crater. The great burly negroes in their ill fitting uniforms, half drunk it was said, were shouting at the top of their voices, "No quarter to the Rebels! No quarter to the Rebels!" and butchering every man they found alive in the works. The soldiers who fought in that battle will never forget it. That dreadful shout, "No quarter!" from the negro troops rang in our ears for days afterwards. We plainly saw the position we were in. To be captured by the negro troops meant death not only to ourselves but, it appeared, to the helpless women and children in Petersburg...”

Confederate Veteran, November 1907, P. 490 - “WILCOX'S ALABAMIANS IN VIRGINIA,” BY B. F. PHILLIPS, ASHER, OKLA

“... About two o'clock in the afternoon a detail was made to send for water, and while waiting for its return General Mahone walked in front of the line and told us that the negroes in the Crater had holloed: "Remember Fort Pillow! No quarters!"

...The slaughter was terrible. The soldiers were excited, they were reckless, they burst the negroes' skulls with the butts of their guns like eggshells. The officers tried to prevent it, but they were powerless. It was "No quarter for the Rebels" that morning, and it is no quarter for them now. The fight was soon ended.”

Confederate Veteran, February 1893, P. 41 - “CARNAGE AT "THE CRATER NEAR PETERSBURG”

“Lieut. Col. William H. Stewart, of the Sixty first Virginia, Mahone's old brigade, gives a thrilling account of the battle of "The Crater," from which the following extracts are made……

Ay, boys, you have hot work ahead they are negroes, and show no quarter." This was the first intimation that we had to fight negro troops, and it seemed to infuse the little band with impetuous daring, as they pressed onward to the fray. Our comrades had been slaughtered in a most inhuman and brutal manner, and slaves were trampling over their mangled and bleeding corpses. Revenge must have fired every heart and strung every arm with nerves of steel for the herculean task of blood….”

Southern Historical Society Papers. Vol. XXIII. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1895.
By Judge THOMAS R. ROULHAC, late First Lieutenant Company D., Forty-Ninth North Carolina Infantry.

“A large excavation was made, and in the smoke and confusion, amid the flying debris and mangled men, the enemy charged in great force, effecting a lodgement in our lines, and a large number of flags of Burnside's Corps floated on our works. Reinforcements poured to their support and a vigorous assault was made on our line on both sides of the crater. In the van were negro soldiers crying, "No quarter to the rebels." “

Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. XXXIII. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1905
”Graphic Account Of Battle Of Crater, STORY OF A PARTICIPANT.
Charge of Wilcox's Old Brigade Under General Saunders, of Mahone's Division.”
From the Times-Dispatch, October 22, 1905

“... In the fort the enemy were crowded, but; undaunted by numbers, our boys commenced scaling the sides of the fort. The enemy kept up such a fire that it seemed like a second Vesuvius belching forth its fire. Then came the "tug of war" The enemy have shouted: "No quarters!" We then gave them what they justly deserved. There we were on one side of the walls of the fort and the Yankees on the other. The fight was the bloodiest of the war considering the numbers engaged. We fought with muskets, with bayonets, with rocks, and even with clods of dirt. The fight lasted in this manner for near half an hour, when they called for quarters, and we being sickened by the slaughter as well as awfully tired of the fight, granted them quarters. All that we had not killed surrendered, and I must say we took some of the Negroes prisoners.”

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On The Web:   http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/vallante-black-history-month33.phtml

 

The USCT in Combat (Part 32) by Bill Vallante

To listen to modern day historians, one would think that the Confederate army had a take-no-prisoners policy when it came to black union soldiers and that the always courageous/always well-behaved USCT won the war for the Union. We are bombarded about stories of confederate atrocities perpetrated against United States Colored Troops, but we seldom hear anything about the behavior of the USCT themselves. We are left with the impression that the USCT were brave and well behaved and of course, were cruelly discriminated against by their opponents simply because of their color. While it is common these days for neo-abolitionist historians these days to criticize our “Civil War Memory”, it would appear that they have some memory deficits of their own.

The following are excerpts from the old Confederate Veteran Magazine about the action at Tishomingo Creek, which was part of the sprawling battle of Brice’s Crossroads. The first story was written by a soldier whose home was in the path of Sturgis’ advance. It appears that the behavior of the USCT there was anything but angelic. It also appears that the USCT was unaware that once you raise the Black Flag, there is no taking it down and you will inevitably receive what you asked for!! Once again, let’s roll the historical videotape!

401 Confederate Veteran September 1900 --- "BATTLE OF TISHOMINGO CREEK."

...When I saw these things I knew that Forrest had gained a great victory, but my heart sank at the prospect of our own losses. The Yankees had taken every grain of corn and every ounce of meat, leaving us nothing to eat. The family had not eaten anything since the previous morning, and the house had been plundered. Everything was turned upside down, and much was missing. Dead and wounded, men were lying in the house, upstairs and downstairs. Bullets had penetrated the walls in various places. Negroes and white men had both plundered our dwelling. Nothing could move their pity, but with vandal hands they rifled trunks and bureaus, entering every room. Destruction seemed to be their aim. They even entered the negro cabins, and robbed them of their clothing. They cut the rope, and let the bucket into the well. As they went back, panting with heat and suffering with thirst, they were glad to drink such dirty slop as they could find…..

...The negro troops were specially insolent. As they passed down they would shake their fists at the ladies and say that they were going to show Forrest that they were his rulers. As they returned, their tune was changed. With tears in their eyes, some of them came to my mother and asked her what they must do, would Mr. Forrest kill them? On the retreat Sturgis was in the front, going at a trot….

...The pursuit was continued beyond Salem. On Monday, the 13th, many soldiers returned from the pursuit. Eight hundred prisoners were marched down the road that day. Some officers were among them, and they were nice looking men. It is certain that a great many negroes were killed. They wore the badge, "Remember Fort Pillow," and it was said that they carried a black flag. This incensed the Southern soldiers, and they relentlessly shot them down...

153 Confederate Veteran April 1901 --- "STORY OF OUR GREAT WAR." --- BY THE LATE MERCER OTEY, OF SAN FRANCISCO.
[Continued from the March number, 1901.]

....Immediately orders were issued to the three brigades to retrace their steps, and we started to find the enemy. Couriers were constantly arriving from Gen. (Stephen) Lee, uring all possible haste, as the column was devastating the country and committing outrages of the most fiendish kind. Women and children alone were encountered, all the men being in the ranks, and these noncombatants were made to feel the heavy hand of the spoilers. The larger part of the Federal troops were negroes that had been enlisted in Memphis, and now sent out on this raid as mounted infantry. They came breathing death and destruction, proclaiming "no quarter" to Forrest and his whole command. Their battle cry was: "Remember Fort Pillow!"

A forced march brought us in front of the column at Tishomingo Creek on the morning of January 10, and we immediately attacked, though our men and horses were badly jaded by the constant ten days in the saddle, through heavy rains and miry roads. The fight took place at Guntown, a small country post office, sometimes called Bryce's Cross Roads. It was a hot and stubborn one, but out men were maddened to fury by the news of the atrocities perpetrated by the negroes all along the line of their march from Memphis, and as the enemy had declared themselves for extermination, but little attention was given to capturing prisoners.

They say that there are two sides to every story and that both sides need to be heard. Someone forgot to tell that to the “State”, the corporate-owned Pravda-like rag which masquerades as a South Carolina newspaper. Last year they published an article about Harriet Tubman’s “Combahee Raid”, glorifying the raid as an act which freed slaves, etc., etc. Here’s the other side to the Combahee Raid from the perspective of a Confederate officer. Again, it appears that not all the slaves thought or behaved in exactly the same way. Since there are two sides to every story, this one needs to be examined and considered. Of course, “the State” simply ignored me when I sent them a copy of this report. I wonder why?

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXVIII/2 [S# 47]

Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations On The Coasts Of South Carolina And Georgia, And In Middle And East Florida, From June 12 To December 31, 1863.

CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.--#5

HDQRS. FOURTH BRIGADE, SOUTH CAROLINA MILITIA,
Charleston, August 3, 1863.
Brig. Gen. THOMAS JORDAN,

Chief of Staff:
SIR: I beg leave to submit to you, for your consideration, the following extract from a letter just received from one of Brig. Gen. W. S. Walker's staff, dated McPhersonville, August 2, 1803:
A recent raid was made, by order of General Walker, on Barnwell Island by some of our troops, under command of Capt. M. J. Kirk. Thirty-one negroes were captured, 4 of whom are men, the rest women and children. Three of the men had been drafted for the Second South Carolina Regiment, but had run away; 2 of them were there a week and 1 three weeks. They represent many of the negroes as being very unwilling to be made soldiers of, but say they are forced to be, and are even hunted down in the woods and marshes to be taken. Several have been shot in the effort to take them. They say the Fernandina negroes are active soldiers, and are used against them. Some of our own negroes volunteer. Most of the negroes are left on the plantations, and plant provisions under a white superintendent. The task they do is about the same they did for us. One-half of the produce goes to the Yankees, the rest to the negroes. They are not clothed or fed by the United States Government. Most of them have, they say, the clothes their owners gave them, except what they have purchased for themselves. They make a little money by selling eggs, chickens, watermelons, &c. They represent that many of the negroes would be very willing to come back to their owners if they could, but that their boats have all been taken, and they are told if they come to us we will shoot them. Others are perfectly content to remain.

The negroes from the Combahee raid were all carried to Beaufort. The infirm men, women, and children were left there, and the prime men, without being allowed to go on shore, were carried to Hilton Head, and from there to Folly Island, to work on the batteries. Most of them objected to be made soldiers of or work on the intrenchments, but were forced off.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WILMOT G. DE SAUSSURE, Brigadier-General, Comdg. Fourth Brig. S.C. Militia.

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

On The Web:   http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/vallante-black-history-month32.phtml

 

Court battle pits city vs. SCV

Legal feud erupts over location of memorial to Confederate dead
Date published: 3/7/2010
By CLINT SCHEMMER

A battle royal has broken out over who controls some of Fredericksburg's most cherished public space.

Tomorrow the fight moves to Circuit Court, where the city and the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp will argue whether a new monument to Southern soldiers can stay or must go.

Of course, if the judge throws out the case, the dispute may become known as Fort Fizzle.

But now, the litigants are deadly serious. The SCV's Matthew Fontaine Maury Camp No. 1722 wants the court to declare that state law bars Fredericksburg from disturbing or removing the Confederate memorial at Barton and George streets.

Fredericksburg contends that the SCV needed permission from the City Council, not merely a city building permit, to erect its monument last year.

The memorial honors 51 soldiers from seven states who died here of disease in 1861 and 1862 before the Battle of Fredericksburg and were buried along Barton Street.

Last September, four months after the Confederate memorial was unveiled in a public ceremony, the council intervened. It designated the grassy triangle near the old Maury School as exclusively for the Fredericksburg Area War Memorial--which honors some 400 local military personnel killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The council called for the Confederate memorial to be relocated.

But the SCV's Maury Camp "absolutely" believes it had the city's permission to install its monument, said Patrick McSweeney, the group's Richmond lawyer.

Not so, countered City Attorney Kathleen Dooley.

"No city official could have [approved the marker] and usurped the council's own discretion," she said in an interview Friday.

The city is asking the court, which is scheduled to hear the case tomorrow, to dismiss the lawsuit.

McSweeney said the SCV undertook its project, several years in the making, with the knowledge and support of top city officials.

According to its lawsuit:

Senior Planner Erik Nelson pitched the idea to the city Economic Development Authority in November 2008.

In addition to the EDA, Nelson worked with the city manager and Councilman Matthew Kelly to respond to the Maury Camp's proposal for the monument.

The city established the location for it in December 2008.

The SCV, which paid for the monument and its installation, invited all members of the City Council to the dedication. The city closed adjacent streets for the ceremony.

Zoning Administrator Raymond Ocel Jr. and a building-code official issued a permit for the "Confederate war memorial" on Jan. 15, 2009.

But, Dooley said, the code official judged only whether the monument's foundation plan complied with the building code.

"He didn't look past that," she said. "He took it at face value."

In contrast, when the Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council undertook to create its memorial, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the City Council that defined each party's responsibilities for the project, Dooley said.

Still, the SCV camp disagrees with the idea that council members had sole authority to approve the Confederate monument, McSweeney said.

City staff has signed off on war-related monuments in other cases--including the Irish Brigade memorial at City Dock and a United Daughters of the Confederacy marker about an encampment of troops in the Spanish-American War, he said.

"These matters have never been treated that way in the past," McSweeney said. "You can imagine if any encumbrance or encroachment had to go to the City Council for formal approval."

Regardless of its other allegations, the Maury Camp isn't entitled to legal relief because its monument isn't protected by Virginia statute, Dooley said.

Its marker is not a war memorial as defined by state law, she argues in the city's reply to the lawsuit.

McSweeney harrumphed at that claim.

He said the SCV's memorial is just like other tributes to Confederate dead across the South and to Civil War veterans at county courthouses across Virginia, and the monuments in Richmond to Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and others.

"By the city of Fredericksburg's definition, these monuments would not be covered by state statute," McSweeney said. "But no one would seriously argue that they are not war memorials."

Dedicated on April 18, the SCV's 3-foot-high granite-and-bronze memorial shares space with the Fredericksburg Area War Memorial. The latter, much larger, memorial was dedicated Sept. 13, 2008.

Copyright 2010, The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co.

On The Web:   http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/032010/03072010/532740/index_html?page=1


 

The Southern Legal Resource Center
eU P D A T E
Friday, March 05, 2010

Southern Legal Resource Center
P.O. Box 1235
Black Mountain, NC 28711
(828)669-5189
slrc@slrc-csa.org

‘FAIR’ HARVARD? “VERITAS”? GIVE US A BREAK …

SLRC kicks off equal recognition campaign
For Harvard’s Confederate dead

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The country’s oldest seat of higher learning, since 1636 the gold standard for academic excellence and purveyor to the nation of presidents, ambassadors, distinguished scientists and jurists, captains of industry, etc., etc., is the principal icon of the New England Puritan intellectual tradition in America. Dedicated to the Harvard dead of all wars, its Memorial Church boasts, on the wall of the south transept, 28 white marble tablets inscribed with the names of 136 Harvard men who fought and died while serving in the Union Army.

But what of the 64 Harvard graduates who died wearing the gray?  Harvard’s Confederate dead include Confederate general Ben Hardin Helm, who was Abraham Lincoln’s half-brother-in-law; States’ Rights Gist, one of the five Confederate generals killed at Franklin;   and Lt. Col. Charles LeDoux Elgee, Chief of Staff  to another Harvard alum, Lt. Gen. “Dick” Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor.  You won’t find their or any of the 61 other Confederate names in Memorial church, or in any of the other hallowed spots scattered about the Cambridge campus.

Not that the matter hasn’t been discussed.  Way back in 1988, Mason Hammond, a Harvard emeritus professor, suggested placing a Confederate memorial in Memorial Hall – not Memorial Church – which, he pointed out, “is rather a Valhalla of Harvard’s past than specifically a commemoration of the Union side of the Civil War.”  Such a project, Hammond said, would be “a long overdue act of pietas”  [Lat.: sense of duty; kindness; piety]  that would “recognize that Harvard’s dead on the Confederate side gave their lives for a cause in which they selflessly believed.”   (There wasn’t much Confederate pietas going around Harvard in ’88 and Hammond’s proposal was either ignored or vilified.)

In 1995, when Memorial Church was being renovated, the Harvard Alumni Association actually proposed a Confederate memorial and the idea was even supported by Memorial Church’s minister; however, according to a 2003 Harvard Crimson article, that idea was shot down by the Harvard Black Law Students’ Association, the undergraduate Black Students’ Association and the University’s then-president, Neil L. Rudenstine.  In 2006, multimedia artist Brian Knep put together a digital presentation he called “Deep Wounds” which involved projecting the names of Harvard’s Union dead onto the floor of Memorial Hall. The website “Big Red & Shiny” reported that Knep “originally wanted to list the names of Harvard’s Confederate Civil War dead,” but said the Boston Globe reported that Harvard’s Office for the Arts thought that would be “too controversial.”

Now, with the War’s sesquicentennial upon us and a Harvard Law alumnus in the White House, the SLRC figures it’s time to revisit this situation. Accordingly we will be contacting the Minister of Memorial Church (who supported the idea of a Confederate memorial there in ’95) to ask whether he would be willing to re-endorse such a project.   We will copy Harvard’s Board of Overseers, and when we receive their inevitable condescending reply … well, that’s when the SLRC will appeal to its own loyal supporters – y’all – to add your voices to our call for the University to live up to its motto: Veritas [Lat.: Truth], which seems strangely at odds with Harvard’s resolutely ignoring the Confederates who made up nearly a third of the institution’s WBTS casualties..  Meanwhile, if you can spare it, a contribution to this effort would be greatly appreciated.  We are poor and Fair Harvard’s pockets are deep indeed.

 
 

From: "Craig Maus" - csacommand@windstream.net
Date: March 5, 2010
To:   semmes11@csnavy.org
Subject: Who is The Confederate Alliance- an explanation.

Dear Brethren (A Reply to Many),
 
Many years ago The Confederate Society of America set out on a mission to unite the many organizations across the South under one flag.
 
The key difference in this monumental undertaking, from others, was that the Society did not seek, wish or desire autonomy over any of these organizations.  Rather, we wanted each and every one to retain their individual autonomy and to be self sufficient.
 
The Society believed in a Confederated approach just like that of our Confederacy.  The Society also believed that coming together as individual organizations, in the long run, would prove far more productive & beneficial for all involved.  If in turn a Communications Network between us could be realized, it to would prove far more advantageous for everyone as well.
 
We in the Society realized that Confederates have various levels of differences & priorities.  A key stumbling block in the past towards independent unification has simply been these differences & priorities, but that should not prevent us from collaborating and working together.  Such impediments have only helped to serve our enemies while segregating ourselves from one another & preventing the Movement from advancing.
 
Thus, by undertaking the approach we took, EACH organization can prioritize on what they believe to be THEIR top priority & retainTHEIR autonomy without sacrificing or jeopardizing UNITY & productivity in the bargain.
 
Unfortunately, there were some who who did not embrace this approach.  Rather, they insisted on a 'single-organization' approach wherein they & their cadre alone would establish what they deemed to be the proper approach while making ALL decisions for everyone.
 
The Society viewed this as just another top/down approach & no different than that of the existing Federal style.
The Society believed & continues to believe that a structure of this type is an invitation for the same problems that confronts this Nation at present.  The Society holds steadfast to the belief that our men & women are our best natural resource and are more than capable of representing themselves.  History clearly distinguishes that difference and the ideology behind each as evidenced before 1865 & that which has followed since 1865.
When others were calling themselves Southerners and referring to The Southern Movement, WE WERE REFERRING TO OURSELVES AS CONFEDERATES and referring to our mission as THE CONFEDERATE MOVEMENT.  We do NOT mix words and we do NOT hide or run away from that which we are! 
We are NOT politically-correct because we KNOW WHO WE ARE & ARE DAMN PROUD OF IT.  We apologize to NO ONE. If anything, people should be apologizing to us for what they have done to us.
     
Thus, the creation of The Confederate Alliance after many, many years of hard & difficult work.  Although it continues as a work in progress, many organizations have come on board and have joined it.
    
Years ago I was told that you couldn't get 3-'Southerners' in a room without a fight breaking out and that any attempt at an Alliance stood about a snowballs chance in hell of ever being realized.  I never believed that for one moment.  Confederates are fiery yes, but why wouldn't they be after all they have gone through?
 
To me this was an excuse for either not trying or an excuse to create and promote the 'single organization' argument.  What I saw was not disagreement but Passion & Pride!  And all they needed was another chance to organize as Confederates in Common and take back that which was taken from them.
 
After all, who was the best in Lincoln's War against the Republic against immeasurable odds?  Rekindle that Passion & Pride of old and let them take command.....it just needed explanation and some ole fashioned one and one from the shoulder to the shoulder as the saying goes and 'Johnny' can do for himself rather nicely again!
 
The second issue in the galvanization of the Alliance required TRUST & RESPECT before all else!  This would prove to be the most difficult task of any as it would require many trips and many meetings on the back roads and in the foothills.  I decided to make that my personal undertaking and after each of our Conventions across the South, I traveled the back roads over the next 10 days or so to meet and speak with many of our folks.  I believed it was my responsibility to educate myself and get to know them if a Confederate Alliance was to stand a chance.  Conventions and meetings are fine but they cannot address TRUST & RESPECT in a 72-hour time period.  As president of the Society I have made it my business to reach out to our fine folks, however & wherever possible.  I've slowed down a bit over these 17 years as I'm cresting 66 soon and I'm no longer 48 as when I started but I continue, along with my Brethren, to persevere.
 
And it is to this end I am happy to report, that the Confederate Alliance was established & continues to grow as a result.
 
Many of you have asked- HOW DOES IT WORK?
 
First, there is NO fees associated with joining the Alliance.  Secondly, there is NO prerequisites as to size (membership) for any organization wishing to join.
 
Thirdly, you must agree that you understand & agree to the two basic but key points upon which the mechanism of the Alliance is based:
 
A) That you are Confederate, not Southern or SouthRon but Confederate and,
B) You recognize and agree that the Southern States remain in a state of secession to this very day and that you will seek the restoration of the legal government of the South- our Confederate States of America.
(It is important to note that 'some' organizations have conveniently dodged and sidestepped these questions. In this manner, no one can ever say to their membership that they did not know who they were joining or what their intended mission was.)  
 
Thus the leadership of all organizations is able to confer with one another in helping to broaden & improve the Communications Network between us.  All potential inquiries for entry into the Alliance is carefully screened & checked for the obvious reasons.  We do not want any 'weak-sisters' who can jeopardize the legitimacy of our Mission.  It has taken many years of hard work to get where we are & we will NOT allow that to be compromised.
 
Which Organizations Are in the Alliance?
 
>  Each of the organizations within the Confederate Alliance can presently be found listed in the Society's webpage (www.deovindice.org) on its Alliance page.
> Their logo's, websites and leaders' names accompany each of them.
Our webmaster has created direct links to each of them so all you have to do is 'hit their link' and y'all will immediately go to them.
 
That in a nutshell is it!  Its development has taken time but this initiative required proper planning, trust and understanding as mentioned.  Its creation is a testament to that same Confederate resolve & dedication that was exhibited long ago when we simply said enough was enough and decided to leave Lincoln's nefarious 'union' for the same identical reasons that is destroying that 'union' today.
 
When some were running away or making excuses for not using the word Confederate, we were proclaiming our status loud and clear.  We consider it a Badge of Courage & an Honour of Distinction.  We do NOT run away from our past as some have suggested but rather, we embrace it proudly & admirably for the noble entity it represented & will represent AGAIN!  We are not card-carrying hate mongers that Washington has made us out to be....that is merely a tactical ploy to divorce everyone from the history they have stolen from us while advancing themselves at our expense!
       
I have tried my best to create a foundation based upon those age-old characteristics that were once the bread & butter of this country- Honour, Loyalty, Tradition, Heritage, Culture & Respect.  If you retain these and keep God at your helm, then your Individual Liberties will endure against all else.  One does not need to be a 'rocket-scientist' to understand this, but I suppose when you're trying to steal everything from everyone like Washington, this will never make any sense because its basis makes entirely too much sense....as in 'Common Sense'.
 
Well, that's pretty much it.  I hope I have answered each of your many questions. 

Again its worth mentioning that our people do NOT need anyone telling them what to do.
They are the captains of their own ships and are more than capable of handling their own business.
I have always believed in 'Teaching a Man how to fish rather than giving him a fish'. That's how I learned and I believe its a damn good creed.  It will make us better neighbors & respectful of one another and collectively, we can all prosper and live in peace.
 
As I told the first man I came in contact with many years ago, one Calvin Johnson over in Georgia who I remain in contact with to this very day-'we could all get to where we want a helluva lot faster if we put all the horses in front of the wagon rather than splitting the team and putting them at opposite ends of the other.'
 
When The South Lost, So TOO Did This Entire Nation, but Only We Knew it at The Time!
 
ALL Roads Lead to 1865!
For God, Family and The Confederacy,
Craig Maus,
president, The Confederate Society of America and Proud Member of The Confederate Alliance of Independent Organizations
Staunch Supporters for the Restoration of the Legal Government of The South- The Confederate States of America.
www.deovindice.org
One For All and All For One.
No More, Evermore.
PS- Will YOU join us NOW?
 
'When Government Becomes Absolute, the People Must Become Resolute'
God Save the South, for So Goes the South, So WILL Go This Nation
 

Rock Island
 
From: rajones@esper.com
 
A couple of years ago I had a book published which dealt with the Federal Prison at Rock Island and the policies employed there. The book was based on the service of my GG Grandfather who was a prisoner there for 13 months until exchanged in March 1865. I drew extensively from memoirs and articles written by men who were there. The book is entitled THE ROAD TO ROCK ISLAND. Another good books on this subject are REBELS AT ROCK ISLAND and PORTALS OF HELL. Anyone who has doubts about Yankee atrocities in their prisons only have to read these books and watch the excellent documentary, 80 Acres of Hell.
 
Ron Jones
Commander Camp 87 SCV
www.ronjonesbooks.com

 
 

A true Confederate hero died this week
 
From: torpenhow@charter.net
 
I (Nelson Waller) know many of you were aware of the extraordinary life of Dr. Robert Clarkson and his third-of-a-century in all-out warfare against the new world order. And I know how tragically few people in the South and the country have ever heard of this great man. Ten installments of SHNV might begin to sum up his saga,  but it would be a tight squeeze at that.
 
I and other SHNVers were privileged to work and celebrate life with him in, around, and thousands of  miles beyond Anderson, South Carolina, and it's my extremely unhappy task to report that he died last Sunday morning after a year's struggle with stomach cancer and other conditions.
 
Looking over my obituary of him (below) -- which of course didn't get published in any daily fishwrap -- I'm incredulous that I didn't say a word about his Southern service, but that, too, was lifelong. Put it down to working closely with his family this week -- they, like mine and probably yours, mostly cringe at the thought of even looking at "city hall" crosseyed.
 
Robert was a direct descendant of many Confederates and Revolutionary figures including the drafter of the CSA's Constitution..... and of Thomas Heyward, a signer of the US Declaration of Independence. Every time you would mention meeting anybody who was anybody in SC -- even a jeweler whose Spartanburg shop I noted in giving him directions -- he would truthfully tell you he was related to them, had known them in school or the army or whatever. The Chief Justice of South Carolina was aware of our hero -- he'd accidentally dropped a tree on her father's house in their younger days! (No real damage.)
 
Lawsuits were his happy mission......... always where it was needed most against the yankee/socialist establishment......... constantly, for decades. He sued to get SPLC demons and their brainwashing thrown off of military bases. I believe some bases were freed of that plague.* SHNV readers may remember his, my, and Patriot Larry's suit on the Stephens County, Georgia school system over their hate crimes against us in a C-flag demo in Toccoa. We "lost" that one but not without causing some sleepless nights to the educrats there, bringing them lots of really bad publicity, and costing them in 6 figures for legal bills. (Wonder if the citizens of Stephens ever noticed how expensive these loathsome officials got?)
 
Robert instigated and led the production of many save-the-flag rallies in SC, Georgia and NC. He was a walking encyclopedia of American, Southern and South Carolinian history not to mention of the ameriKan and SC systems of law and government -- including every arcane mystery of the state and federal tax codes, and how to legally, safely stonewall them. He was a dealer in Southern goods and a protagonist in many C-Flag protest actions. He founded (and headed for 30 years) the Patriot Network, a national circuit of local Constitutional tax freedom study clubs which doubled when needed as the Southern Rights Association.
 
All of this modestly, selflessly, engagingly, ironically, even hilariously. A page on some of his early work:
 
www.patriotnetwork.info/news_articles_by_robert_clarkson.htm
 
The good Doctor's memorial service will be this Sunday at 3 in Anderson, S.C. Interested folks can contact me directly for details. After, we'll do what Clarkson cohorts have always done -- PARTY.
 
The Patriot Network (dot info) continues its work as I write. Here's that obit:
 
Robert Barnwell Clarkson II, J.D., died Monday after a long struggle with stomach cancer. Born in Sumter, he served as a platoon commander in the 25th Infantry in Vietnam. After the war he graduated in economics from Clemson and earned the Juris Doctor at USC. A disabled veteran the rest of his life, he nevertheless dedicated it to training and helping citizens defend themselves against predatory bureaucracies. As early as his Clemson years he was litigating against misuse of student fees. As a young attorney he realized the IRS and state Department of Revenue were taking advantage of often weak and ill-informed working people, and the redressing of lawless tax collections became his primary focus. His Patriot Network "clubs" in cities around the country met in restaurants and celebrated life as they educated attendees. He produced and distributed thousands of books, videos and other resources and appeared as guest on hundreds of radio and TV talk shows. The organization continues since his demise.
 
Known for conviviality and hospitality as well as dedication to his work, Dr. Clarkson answered friends' phone calls with a jocular "Sue 'em all." He started making headlines in the early 1980s by turning an IRS appointment at his home into a "tea party" with real tea, a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the sun in the agent's eyes at the picnic table. As reported with photo in the Greenville News, the agent left in a state of total confusion. Tea parties for many other taxpayers followed. Arrested for leading a demonstration in front of (?) an IRS office in Greenville, Dr. Clarkson filed a First Amendment suit and "got a new roof out of it."
 
Archly dubbing himself "The Great One", he strategically foiled thousands of tax proceedings. His work became nationally recognized and legally embattled. It often took him into courtrooms where he helped citizens apply what they had learned in his seminars. Called twice before the state Supreme Court for his activities, Dr. Clarkson and his associates successfully defended against all charges and sometimes had the solemn justices laughing in spite of themselves. His third of a century in legal and political work brought awards from the Justice Times, Freedom Law School and similar organizations.
 
A libertarian icon and occasional candidate for political office, Dr. Clarkson put the Constitution Party permanently on the ballot in South Carolina. His 1992 run for (?) U.S. Congress on the Republican ticket brought a significant percent of the vote.
 
He was a member of the Western Carolina Sailing Club and a life member of VFW.
 
Scion of a large family long notable in South Carolina history, he is survived by his daughter, Caroline Hinkelman and husband, Travis, of Lincoln, Neb.; grandchildren, Gabby and Owen; mother, Frances Clarkson of Sumter; brothers, Jim Clarkson of Columbia, twin brother Dargan Clarkson of Sumter and brother Thomas Clarkson of Kingsville, Texas; and sisters, Fran Clarkson and Bess Long, both of Pawleys Island.
 
Memorial gifts may be sent to:
Hospice and Palliative Care Foundation – HPCF
10 Dillon Drive
Spartanburg, SC 29307
 
*Does anybody remember that long before 9/11 the SPLC, ADL et al were busy as little bees painting anybody to the right of Bob Dole as TERR'ISTS? The SPLC's shtick on the military bases was its "DIT Course", i.e. "Dynamics of International Terrorism". It said nothing about any terrorism, international or otherwise, it just ran down lists of patriotic leaders and organizations and demonized them as "Timothy McVeighs" waiting to happen.

 

Another side to the Story of Reconstruction(Part 31) by Bill Vallante

While it would appear that at least initially, most Freedmen sided with the Radical Republicans during Reconstruction, there were some who refused to run with the herd. While some modern day readers might find it uncomfortable to read some of their thoughts on what they experienced, their words and stories do deserve to be heard and considered.

*Note – “Red Shirts” is a reference to the paramilitary rifle clubs used by Wade Hampton during his run for governor of South Carolina in 1876. The “clubs” were used to counter the tendency on the part of the Radical Republicans to use the (primarily black) state militia to enforce its will. There were also a number of black “Red Shirt Rifle Clubs”.

Beaufort South Carolina – 90% black. Hampton met at the station by a Red Shirt escort that included a contingent of blacks. Among these black Red Shirts may have been “the mounted black cadre”, a group that traveled to Join Hampton at some of his campaign stops around the state. Several in the cadre were black Confederate veterans. [- Wade Hampton, Confederate Warrior, Conservative Statesman, Brian Cisco, P. 239]

Ed Barber, South Carolina, (The Slave Narratives)

"It's been a long time since I see you. Maybe you has forgot but I ain't forgot de fust time I put dese lookers on you, in '76. Does you 'members dat day? It was in a piece of pines beyond de Presbyterian Church, in Winnsboro, S. C. Us both had red shirts.

Martha Lowery, South Carolina, (The Slave Narratives)

"My parents were free Negroes and were considered in comfortable circumstances when I was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1853," said Martha Lowery.

"By that time the government, a so called carpet bag government, backed by troops had a backing known as Freedmen's aid and government was by ex-slaves and white men, mostly from the North. I have always thought that if the ex-slaves had been advised at that time and lead by South Carolina white men a great deal of the reconstruction confusion would have been avoided. As it was there was too much graft in it, and far too little interest.

"The 1876 campaign was between General Hampton and Governor Chamberlin, a so called carpetbagger, who ruled by the federal bayonet right, and the carpetbag outfit made a tremendous effort to poll all the black vote, but Negroes generally know much more than they were given credit for and they refused to be lead as sheep to the slaughter, and a vast majority of them voted for their friend, General Hampton. At that time there was plenty signs that the leadership of the South intended to make full citizens of the Negroes and live in accord with them.

Henry Green, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"Well, Boss Man, yo done ax me en I sho gwine ter tell yo de truf. Yes sir, I sho is voted, on I 'members do time well dat do niggers in do cotehouse on de Red Shirts hab ter git 'em out. Dat was do bes' thing dat dey eber do when dey git de niggers outen de cotehouse en quit 'em frum holdin' de offices, kase er nigger not fit ter be no leader….

D. Davis, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"Atter de war dey hed de carpet-baggers en de Klu Klux bofe, en de white folks dey didn't lak de carpet-baggers tolerable well, dat dey didn't. I don't know who de carpet-baggers was but dey was powful mean, so de white folks say. You know sum way er udder de Yankees er de carpet-baggers er sum ob de crowd, dey put de niggers in de office at de cote house, en er makein de laws at de statehouse in Jackson. Dat was de craziest bizness dat dey eber cud er done, er puttin dem ignorant niggers whut cudn't read er write in dem places. I tell yo, Capn, den whut put doss niggers in de office dey mus not had es much since es de niggers, kase dey mought know dat hit wudn't wuk, en hit sho didn't auk long. Dey hed de niggers messed up in sum kind er clubs whut dey swaded dem to jine, en gib em all er drum ter beat, en dey all go marchin er roun er beatin de drums en goin ter de club meetins. Den ignorant niggers wud sell out fer er seegar er a stick er candy.

Campbell Armstrong, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"I knew Jerry Lawson, who was Justice of Peace. He was a nigger. a low-down devil. Man, then niggers done more dirt in this city. The Republicans had this city and state. I went to the polls and there was very few white folks there. I knew several of them niggers---Mack Armstrong, he was Justice of Peace. I can't call the rest of them. Nothing but old thieves. …..

Aaron Ray, Texas, (The Slave Narratives)

"De day dat Marse tolt de slave dat dey was free, dem niggers jes' nacherly went wild. Dey shouted, danced, sang an' was more dan happy. Dey jes' was drunk wid de joy. Some ob dem ran off in de woods er shoutin' 'I kin run whar I wanter now, ain't no dogs ner no patty roller eber gwine git me agin'.' Some ob 'em jes' run clar off an' I don' know whar, case dey didn't cum back eber. But de mos' ob de oldes' ones, dey calmed down 'bout de nex' mawnin' an' den dey begin ter ask 'Whar us gwine stay, an' how us gwine eat? Dar ain't no Yankee mans cum ter gib us noddin'.' No'm dey didn't gib us noddin' much, case all de w'ite folks hab lef' atter de war, was jes' de lan' dey lib on...

....Dar sho' was some 'citin' times har 'bout 1871. Dat year dey had a special 'lection. An' stid ob hit bein' one day lak now, dey had hit fer four whole days an' eberyboddy from all ober de county had ter come right here to Waco to vote. Dey had hit f'om October 3 to de 6th. An' dar was two 'Publicans an' two Democrats dat helt dis here 'lection. Dem Democrat men wore pistols in er holster under dere arms an' dey didn't know but what dey git shot eny minnit. De Davis militia was all 'roun de court house, an a lot ob nigger who was jes' crazy ober gittin' freed an' so swole up wid 'portance dey lak er bus'. Ebery time a Southern man 'ud come to vote, dese soljers an' de cullud police 'ud jeer an' take on an' 'sult dem. Dey made dese Southerners walk one atter de odder on a plank lane between de Yankees soljers an' dese negro police ter git ter de place ter vote. De 'lection was at de ole Court House on de Square.

Joshua, Rivers, South Carolina, (The Slave Narratives)

"This ended de fightin', daddy say, but it defeated Governor Chamberlain, 'cause he say de white vote turn its back on Chamberlain, and vote for General Hampton. And some of de niggers, too, vote for General Hampton, so he was 'lected, and when Governor Chamberlain leave Columbia, de nigger power was over. I has thought 'bout it a good deal over de years, and I think it was providential for de white folks to win. I can see that de nigger, which had just gained his freedom, was not fit to govern de State."

Hamp Simmons, Mississippi, (The Slave Narratives)

"The Yankees promised niggers a gray mule and forty acres when they were freed, but the niggers ought to have known that wasn't so, because there wern't that many gray mules in the United States." (1)

Henri Necaise, Mississippi, (The Slave Narratives)

……It was dem Carpetbaggers dat 'stroyed de country. Dey went an' turned us loose, jas' lak a passel o' cattle, an' didn' show us nothin' or giv' us nothin'. Dey was acres an' acres o' lan' not in use, an' lots o' timber in die country. Dey should-a give each one o' us a little farm an' let us git out timber an' build houses. Dey ought to put a white Marster over us, to show us an' make us work, only let us be free 'stead o' slaves. I think dat would-a been better'n turnin' us loose lak dey done.

Matilda Pugh Daniel, Alabama, (The Slave Narratives)

"Durin' de war us warn't bothered much, but atter de surrender, some po' white trash tried to make us take some lan'. Some of 'em come to de slave quarters, an' talk to us. Dey say 'Niggers, you is jus' as good as de white folks. You is 'titled to vote in de 'lections an' to have money same as dey,' but most of us didn't pay no 'tention to 'em.

Joe Oliver, Texas, Slave Narratives

"After freedom my daddy went to political conventions at Austin in de days of reconstruction, an' helped to pass de laws, but de Yankees sent so many rascals down here to run things dat de Texas men would not stand for dis. Dey was called de carpet baggers, dey took de vote away from de very men dat had freed Texas from Mexico, kase dey had fought for de rebels, den dey put de nigger troops over at Tyler, kase hit was de headquarters for de Yankees. Dey put two niggers troops here, an' so dey did'nt have any better sence den to think dey could run de town, de men an women bof' was not safe to go anywhar at night for fear of dese soldiers, w'en all of a sudden dey was de Ku-Klux a ridin' up an' down de streets at night, dey was robed in w'ite, an' not a sound did dey make but dey horse hoofs a poundin' de pavements, an' in de road dat led into de city. "De next mornin' dey would be de bodies of de soljers a hangin' to de trees, sometimes dey would be out in de cemeteries. Dey put de soljers guards from de nigger troops to guard de roads dat led into de town but de guards body would be found hangin' jes de same as de soljers. De soljers called dem "de w'ite devils", but pretty soon dey commenced to behave demselves, an' let de w'ite folks go 'bout dey business, an' so de troops had enough of de Ku-Klux an' was soon sent some other place.

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

On The Web:   http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/vallante-black-history-month31.phtml




 

Fundraising continues for Confederate Museum

STEPHANIE A. JAMES
Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Fundraising efforts for the Museum of the Confederacy are continuing to move forward.

Mayor Paul Harvey explained during a Feb. 8 Appomattox Town Council meeting that the Museum of the Confederacy is moving along in their fundraising efforts.

A meeting was held on Feb. 5 between the museum and County officials.

Museum officials informed County officials that they were not ready to break ground, said Harvey.

Museum officials have not set a date for breaking ground but hope to have the museum ready just in time for the 150 anniversary of the Civil War.

Museum spokesman Sam Craighead said that Appomattox would be the first of the satellite museums to be built.

In 2007, Appomattox was among two other sites in Virginia selected as satellite branches of the museum help accomplish the museum's mission of educating as many people about the Civil War.

Other sites include Chancellorsville of the Fredericksburg area and Fort Monroe of the Hampton area.

The museum is in the middle of a fundraising campaign to raise money towards the cost of the satellite museum, which is estimated to be $4 million for the building.

When discussion first began about the size of the museum building, each location was going to have a 8,000 square foot building.

However, the size of the museum building will increase from 8,000 square feet to 10,600 to compensate for more exhibits to be on display.

The gallery space will be 5,000 square feet.

Construction is targeted to take place on four-acres of property located at the intersection of Route 24 (Old Courthouse Road) and the 460 Bypass, where Horseshoe Road and Burge Road cross.

As Richmond's oldest museum, the Museum of the Confederacy houses a collection of civilian and military Civil War artifacts and a post-war era collection.

The White House, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family lived during the Civil War, will remain at its current location in Richmond along with the administrative offices, the library and research center and the preservation and conservation center.

Copyright © 2010 WPCVA.COM

On The Web:   http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2010/03/03/appomattox/news/news38.txt

 

Lake Wales moves toward removal of Confederate flag reference

By Kara Phelps
News Chief staff
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

LAKE WALES - After much debate, the Lake Wales City Commission voted 3-2 to consider taking away part of a cemetery ordinance that mentions Confederate flags on the graves of Confederate veterans.

Commissioners decided Tuesday to continue the process of removing the phrasing in the ordinance that deals with Confederate flags. They will take a final vote on the issue at the March 16 meeting.

Commissioner John Paul Rogers and Mayor Jack Van Sickle said no Confederate veterans are buried in the city-owned Lake Wales and Willow Lawn cemeteries.

"As it stands, the language we have is moot and inflammatory," said City Manager Judy Delmar. She said the Cemetery Ordinance Committee placed the language in the ordinance a few months ago after a plot owner expressed a desire to put a Confederate flag on her son's grave.

At the meeting, three people expressed their support of removing the reference to Confederate flags from the ordinance, and one spoke in favor of keeping it.

"This is insulting to me and my family," said David Smith, president of the Lake Wales chapter of the NAACP. "This is insulting to have a Confederate flag that tried to keep my race in slavery."

Not everyone agreed.

"Veterans don't have a choice in the war they fight," Ed Bowlin said. "Dishonoring Confederate veterans who gave their life is not going to correct the past evil of slavery."

Rev. J.J. Pierce said he thought the Confederate flag "represents something much more personal than slavery." He said he associates it with the more recent racial violence of lynchings and the activity of the Ku Klux Klan as well as slavery.

Rogers, whose background as the former grand dragon of a KKK extension called the United Klans of Florida has been widely publicized, said removing the language was a "triviality" that would not have an effect at either cemetery.

"It doesn't bother me to take it off the books because federal and state law upholds it," he said.

Still, Rogers voted with Van Sickle to keep the language as it stands. Commissioners Terrye Howell, Jonathan Thornhill and Alex Wheeler voted to remove it.

Van Sickle said that although no Confederate veterans are buried in either cemetery, locals may want to transfer the remains of a Confederate veteran in their family to a cemetery in Lake Wales.

"They deserve the same rights as any veterans from any other war," Van Sickle said. He cited federal laws that recognize Confederate veterans as U.S. military veterans and state law that gives the Confederate flag the same status as the American flag.

City attorney Chuck Galloway said taking out a reference to Confederate flags wouldn't prohibit their display.

Legally, he said removing the language "doesn't make a great deal of difference."

Howell said she thought the language should not have made it into the ordinance, and said she wanted to see it removed.

"We're going to make some history, in my opinion, in Lake Wales, by doing right by all people," she said.

Thornhill said he thought "there's some reverse discrimination going on here." He said he did not have an issue with removing the reference to the Confederate flag if state and federal law supported its recognition.

"I think moving this clause is an olive branch," Wheeler said. He said he thought keeping the language would be "disuniting."

Copyright © 2010 NewsChief.com

On The Web:   http://www.newschief.com/article/20100303/NEWS/3035011/1021/NEWS01?Title=Lake-Wales-moves-toward-removal-of-Confederate-flag-reference

Slave Trading Laws of England and New England
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
The American South did not invent African slavery, but inherited a colonial labor system of England which populated North America with previously enslaved Africans. This labor system was continued by New England slavers, who brought more Africans to these shores for the purpose of producing raw cotton to feed the hungry textile mills of Massachusetts. The radical abolitionists needed only to close the profitable New England mills in order to end slavery in the South.
 
Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
www.cfhi.net  

Slave Trading Laws of England and New England:
 
“The labor-system of the South before AD 1860, is a thing of the past. Nearly a generation has lived since it was abolished. It is time that the political emotions which once associated themselves with it were quieted. But every fair observer knows that in the South, essential changes from [the] unjust and harsh system were made by law….So far did the laws of the South go from treating the African in bondage as a mere thing, owned by the master absolutely; those laws treated the bondsman as a responsible moral agent, personally amenable to statute laws, and encouraged and warned by its sanctions: they protected his life, limbs, Sabbath and chastity, against violence even from his own master: and that by the same statues, and the same penalties which protected these rights of white persons…” 
 
[And how did the] Southern States…protect themselves from the evils of the presence of this savage population? A presence which had not been elected by those States, but forced on them, while colonies against their choice, by the slave trading laws England and New England. Let the reader observe in passing that nothing more is needed than this correct definition of the relation, to make an end of the boastful argument of the Abolitionist.”
 
(Discussions by Robert L. Dabney, C.R. Vaughn, editor, Volume IV, Secular, Sprinkle Publications, 1994 (original 1897), pp. 354-356)

 

Re: Confederate Flag at the State House: What Next?
 
From: kahlblad@eastlink.ca
 
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=84614&catid=2
 
Good Morning Chuck,
 
Greetings from Nova Scotia.  I notice that "Confederate Flag at the State House: What Next? WLTX.com" has a POLL in it where the good guys don't seem to be doing so well at the moment.  May I suggest we all visit with the poll and let the folks at WLTX know what we think?  The poll incidentally is designed to split the pro flag vote to the benefit of those who want it removed from the state house grounds.
 
Cheers,
 
Kurt

 

Anyone who is rational
 
From: tandpam@shawneelink.net
 
Chuck and all,
 
This is in reference to the ongoing debate of the treatment by Federal troops towards Confederate POW's, being simply the misfortunes of war. Anyone who believes there were no differences between Andersonville and such places as Camp Douglas Chicago is either irrational, illiterate, (whether a published author or not), or is  a sadist.
 
I have only been to three Federally operated POW camps Alton Il, Rock Island Il, and the most infamous Camp Douglas in Chicago Il. By any standards of morality, and humanity, all three were deplorable. It has been my good fortune to thrice be in the company of George Levy author of "To Die in Chicago", the story of Camp Douglas.  On those three occasions I was privileged to attend several hours of lectures by Mr. Levy, and view hundreds of photos via slide show presentation of Camp Douglas, and it's conditions. It is safe to say he is an authority on Camp Douglas.  There is not one pence difference in Camp Douglas and the POW camps of the Axis powers of WW II.
 
Andersonville will always be a blight upon the CSA, yet few of the damnyankee persuasion are even aware of the deplorable treatment  towards Confederate prisoners in any of the numerous Federal prison camps.  If they are they just don't care.
 
The mass grave in Chicago is one of the most somber places I have ever spent any time.  Of the multiple thousands buried there, remain thousands more unaccounted for, because the original place of burial was a swamp and countless brave CSA soldiers simply were washed away becoming little more than bait for catfish , turtles and gar.
 
In defense of the citizens of Chicago, countless deplored the conditions and treatment, and some even died trying to come to the comfort of those imprisoned there.
 
Black Confederates were shot on sight.  This is not fabricated history made to cast a poor light on the Federal troops, this is just the plain simple documented truth.  Much like the Nazi's, the Federals kept detailed records. Someday pray those records come back to haunt them as they did the Nazis.
 
The "ugly rock” as Brother Scroggins refers to it, as well as the guards buried there is a travesty to basic human morality. Was it not enough to treat our venerable vets worse than dogs, must the same guards that haunted their lives while living, continue to haunt them all these years later in death?
 
To the men of SCV camp 1507, I shall always salute you for your dedication and wonderful Memorial Service.  I have stood shoulder to shoulder with you multiple times when live rounds were fired in retort of the musket salute, I along with my wife and child have wept like babies at the tolling of the bell and the reading of the roll of dead by the men of your camp.  One of the highlights of my life was performing Dixie with then Camp Commander Jim Wilson at the site of the mass grave. Camp members Steve Quick, and Bruce Buchweitz (forgive me Bruce if spelled it wrong I have not seen you in years, are among some the best  CSA historians I have ever met bar none, and their dedication to the Cause is undeniable, as well is the rest of the camps members.
 
It is not an easy task to be Confederate in Cook County illannoy.
 
In closing, I personally wouldn't walk across the road to spit on anyone on fire that holds with the belief that the treatment by the Federals towards Confederate POW's was just.
 
T Warren
Heritage Officer Camp 2022 Ga Div SCV
Still behind enemy lines

 

Andersonville
 
From: vaproto@optonline.net
To: cscitizen@windstream.net
 
I’ll tell you something else about Andersonville. The vile treatment of the prisoners was done to one another. It was not done by the guards. In fact, a group of thugs was rampant there; the leader called himself “Mosby” because when he was captured by Mosby’s men, he tried to “join” the 43rd believing that Mosby was a renegade like himself. Mosby sent him on to Richmond; he was sent from there to Andersonville. He found a few like himself and then a few more and they became a plague, stealing from and killing their fellow prisoners. Finally, the Yankees had had enough and they rose up and captured the group. The Confederates gave permission and they were tried and hanged in the camp. It was all done by the Yankees; the guards had nothing to do with it.
 
Unlike most of the Confederate prisoners, in Andersonville at least, the Yankees were there own worst enemy.
 
Val

Gillispie
 
From: cscitizen@windstream.net
 
James M. Gillespie’s Andersonville of the North is based more on Mr. Gillispie’s opinion & bias than fact.
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Review&month=1003&week=a&msg=CREyJ81aJ9Btp5ph8MpV%2Bg
  
The deliberate withholding of medicine, food, blankets & clothing from Confederate P.O.W.`s were sanctioned from Abe Lincoln down through the War Department to the individual prison commanders even though there was an abundant supply of all to distribute to the prisoners. If Mr. Gillispie did any research for this subject he had to conveniently leave this out of his story as these facts are well documented in the yankees own official records.
  
It does seem however that every prison commander in the north was very innovative in implementing his own brand of cruel & unusual punishment on these Confederate P.O.W.`s. Some P.O.W. camps even set up viewing areas so public officials & select civilians could witness the cold & calculated mistreatment of these prisoners including yankee soldiers randomly firing into the general prison population, rations being cut with supply readily available then refusing prisoners the right to buy their own supplies from sutlers and refusing to give them mail from loved ones which contained many of those supplies.
  
This list of war crimes against the union goes on & on. I will not try to list the known ones from each & every prison camp as the information is readily available to anyone wishing to do honest research on this subject, including Mr. Gillispie.
  
Its ironic that the Commandant Wertz of Andersonville prison was executed for not providing that which he did not have, while people like Gillispie try to make hero`s of yankees who systematically plotted to withhold supplies that they did have to kill Confederate P.O.W.`s. I guess Gillispie consider this justifiable yankee “justice."
 
Billy E. Price
Ashville Alabama

 

From: "Craig Maus" - csacommand@windstream.net
Date: March 4, 2010
To: semmes11@csnavy.org
Subject: Obama- the Transparent/Arrogant Punisher!

Dear Patriots,
 
Today, in the aftermath of the Health Care 'debate', Obama finally exposed himself for the zealot tyrant he is and asked his Democratic 'playmates' to ram down our throats a National Health Care Bill through a 'Reconciliation Process' that was NEVER designed or intended for this purpose.  Despite overwhelming objection from the people of this country, he will do what he wants and pursue a path of Economic Destruction that will destroy this country.
 
He and his ilk cannot be that stupid NOT to realize the consequences of their actions.  But as this Confederate and the organization I represent (The Confederate Society of America) has stated over and over ever since he was 'candidate Obama', is that he is nothing more than a Socialist/Marxist ideologue whose entire purpose is the hate he has for this country as evidenced by the writings in his books.
 
While the national media was giving him a free pass he was playing this country all along as the saying goes.
His dirty little lieutenants in Congress were doing his dirty work for him but now he has been forced out from beneath the rock he has hidden under.
      
Never mind anything that he ever said publically or what he said that sounded cute & nice (Hope & Change) when he was on his campaign trail- NONE of that matters now other than to render upon this country a Bill that will allow the Federals to be in charge of 1/6 of this Nation's entire GDP.  How scary is that when they can't even run a lemonade stand?  Medicare is bankrupt; Social Security is bankrupt; The Post Office is bankrupt;
They plagiarized Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac in their quest for supremacy & used political extortion as their means toward their nefarious ends (thanks to Chris Dodd & Barney Frank) and now they too are bankrupt.....and now they want you to believe they are capable of running a National Health Care Plan with your interests and mine as the driving force behind this!  In 1987 they gave 3-million illegal's amnesty and NEVER corrected the problem afterwards and now we have another 15-million within our borders who have brought with them all kinds of social, economic & criminal problems.  Why wasn't the problem corrected AFTER 1987?  But NO, it was the same old same old.  Ever wonder if they did correct the problem that perhaps 9-11 may never have occurred!
 
Its OUT of CONTROL!!!!!!  THEY are OUT of CONTROL!!!!!!  Obama and Congress is OUT of CONTROL!!!!!!
 
He is an arrogant pup who has NEVER run a business and is a product of the Federal System.  NOT so much as a lemonade stand did he ever run OR manage!  He doesn't even know how to pronounce the word corpsman!!!!!
 
My God, it is all so obvious to anyone who has ever been in the trenches.
 
I invite y'all to Please re-read my communiqué below. It contains excerpts from the original sent in early February with some revisions.  I believe it truly speaks to EVERYTHING.  Folks, we Must Separate- those fools in Washington bought themselves a one-way ticket on the Titanic and are asking each of us to get our cameras ready to take a pretty picture of that ice-berg up ahead.......
 
ALL Roads Lead to 1865!
For God, Family and the Confederacy,
Craig Maus
president, The Confederate Society of America and Proud Member of the Confederate Alliance of Independent Organizations
Staunch Supporters for the Restoration of the Legal Government of the South- The Confederate States of America.
www.deovindice.org
 
'When A Government Becomes Absolute....the People Must Become Resolute'
PS- Will You Join Us NOW?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
    
 
On Sat, Feb 6, 2010, Craig Maus - csacommand@windstream.net wrote:

A Confederate Commentary:
        
"This guy is in so far over his head you can't find him with sonar."
Marine Colonel Oliver North- 2/4/10 ...referring to Barack Hussein Obama!
        
Most Americans are coming to grips with the stark reality that they have elected an incompetent hack as a president.  Adding to his obvious incompetency is the equal reality that he is a committed Marxist/Socialist as evidenced by his policies and those he has surrounded himself with and appointed to at various high levels of government.
        
It is a process of Transformation that has been in effect since 1865.
        
We (5-generations later) have been brought to this "time and place"  because of a series of Federal 'alterations' (via legislative acts providing judicial enforcement)  in which this Republic has been Transformed from a Constitutional Republic into a Socialist Democracy.
         
We Confederates have been asserting these charges for years.
        
Many have been influenced by the same zealots who are no different today than they were 145 years ago.
We have been portrayed as yahoo's, rednecks, right-wingers, Klaner's & racists in an obvious attempt to SILENCE us and prevent the truth from being heard.
        
We pleaded with y'all to listen to us.
          
Today's conditions (the cronyism, corruption, special interests, lobbyists, etc., etc.) are but the by-products of the Failed-System that was born in 1865.
         
It ALL changed for this country after the War For Southern Independence ended.  It was NEVER a regional War (North vs. South) as I have contended but a War between TWO COUNTRIES with two entirely different ideologies.
        
Lincoln wanted a Central Government in which the Sovereign States would be subordinate.  The Confederate States of America wished to remain a Constitutional Republic whose Sovereign, State Republics would remain in control.  That remains THE difference between us to this very day.
        
The War Between Both Countrys was fought entirely because of these TWO-DIFFERENT ideologies .
The South viewed Lincoln and a Central Government as being NO different & probably worse than the one which we opposed only 65 years earlier when we revolted from King George III -- but that one was called The American Revolution.
         
The victor always determines the resulting political ideology,  & that ideology in turn, determines how the ECONOMIC structure of any country will be positioned thereafter.
        
It has taken the Federals 145 years, thanks to their overthrow of our Southern Nation to completely mess things up, but it was an inevitability that had to happen and one that was entirely predicted by our Confederate ancestors should we lose.
        
NO government can live off the masses supported by a Tax System that lends itself to a National Welfare System whose basis revolves around a Federal/Social Re-Engineering Stratagem.   The Founding Fathers went to great lengths to insulate us from ever evolving into this.
        
The current Federal debt ( $12 + TRILLION DOLLARS & expected to reach $15 TRILLION DOLLARS by 2013 ) is NOT sustainable! We are Bankrupt!
         
THEIR Culture of Corruption has been in play for 145 years and now the 'Piper' wants his pay.  Toady's occurrences & events are but the extension of a political doctrine that was put in play immediately after our Christian Confederacy was defeated.  We realized long before 1860 where this was going.  The 'Federal Mindset' existed back then, and just as we don't want any part of it today, we certainly didn't want any part of it then!  Thus, we separated & went our way in peace, as was our right under the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution.  Lincoln, like Obama, ignored the wishes of the people and subsequently shelved the US Constitution and waged War against us.
        
We were NOT rebels!  We were patriots then and we remain patriots today.
        
And just as Lincoln brought havoc to this Nation, so to is Obama doing the same today.  He and Lincoln are cut from the same mold & are an ideological extension of the other.
        
'When the South Lost, So Too did This Entire Nation'... as y'all are beginning to realize today!
          
The entire FEDERAL SYSTEM has been built around a socially designed entitlement system that supports their entire ideology at the expense of the majority.
        
The Federal Demagogue has been built on a foundation of deceit & corruption whose 'bridges' serve as the conduit that allows them to cross into & intrude upon our individual liberties....and all under the guise & name of Social Entitlement.  A process wherein we would see the original US Constitution decimated through alteration & revision coupled with the systematic dumbing down of the electorate through Revisionist History. 
Thus, all that occured BEFORE 1865, has been cleverly & masterfully appropriated from YOU.  As such, the 'Tail has been wagging the Dog' ever since.
        
Once again, the ONLY way in which we can ever hope to return to a Constitutional Republic, is to go 'Back To The Future'.  The hand writing has been on the wall for years.
        
The War For Southern Independence resulted in the Federals controlling the Economic Purse Strings of this Nation.  Rather than money going FROM the States to them to handle ONLY certain aspects of the Nations business, the entire economic platform reversed itself.  The Federals became the Central Bank & the States their literal dependents...... Again, the 'Tail Wagging the Dog'.
        
Over time, the States became the bastard children of the Federal Demogague resulting in TWO entirely & distinct 'mentality's' culminating in what has become known today as The Red States & the Blue States.
As such, they are diametrically opposed to one another and for the same reasons (politically & economically) that led to the War For Southern Independence. 
         
The Blue States have emulated the same policies, practices & politics of THEIR Federal overseer!
And as a result, every one of them is in the same trouble & for the same reason as THEIR FEDERAL MASTER- and they are all equally BROKE!  That is why many of their residents are fleeing in droves & going to States that have retained more formidable, common sense practices.  Their Social Entitlement Programs have failed & have bankrupted them.
        
The harsh but apparent reality is that we cannot co-exist.  The political divide brought about under the Federal structure is far too great & controlling- both economically & ideologically.  The political abyss between us remains as omni-present as it did when the first of our States legally seceded in 1860.
         
We do NOT embrace nor do we welcome their political ideology just as they do not embrace ours.  I believe theirs is destined for complete and total failure and if we remain on board, its a one-way ticket to oblivion.
        
We must Separate if we hope to survive.  We, The Confederacy, remain a Country under conquest, and as 'foreign' as that may sound to some, it is TRUE nevertheless.  We seceded from the Union as was our Constitutional Right to avoid the situation they have put themselves into.  We formed our own country, The Confederate States of America, as a result of our respective State-secessions.   We left with NO hostile intentions but was subsequently invaded by a Foreign force whose actions were NEVER Constitutionally sanctioned by the US Congress.
          
Despite The Confederate States of America's military loss, our Government was NEVER surrendered!
It is and REMAINS a legal entity AND country to this very day.
         
Although time has passed, that does NOT eradicate anything. Might does NOT make right.  YOU must realize what THEY UNDERSTOOD & that which we in the Confederacy continue to embrace to this very day---- 
The actions of the Federal would one day come back to haunt them for the mantle of their entire & subsequent creation rests entirely upon their illicit and illegal invasion through which they re-purposed the original design of this country from a Constitutional Republic into their Socilaist Democracy of today! 
        
Yes, it is True, and the "Truth is what shall set you Free" as our Lord Almighty has stated.
        
And, as President Davis said and predicted, "the Cause for which we fought is bound to re-assert itself although it may be in a different time & place."  Today is that different time & the place is this Socialist Democracy we have become!
        
We must go 'Back to the Future' & we must go our way and they must go their way.  We cannot co-exist for our beliefs are entirely too different from one another.
        
They have ostracized God from the helm of this government & country while we embrace Him and follow His lead in all things.  Their's has been cast in the image of the Golden Calf while our's is based totally upon Christian values & conscripts.  The Federal structure does NOT allow for nor does it recognize the Right of the Individual much less the Sovereignty of this Country as evidenced by their collective actions.
        
HealthCare & their Cap & Trade Bill's are but the ominous foretelling of what they have in mind for YOU & YOURS....I know this is difficult for many to understand & comprehend,  but for those of us who have understood what follows when your country has been Conquered & subsequently 'ReConstructed' in another's image, this is but the obvious & telling conclusion for all else that follows.  It is the same 'Plague that was unleashed on us ALL, long ago in 1861 !
        
'When the South Lost, So Too Did This Entire Nation....but Only We Knew it at The Time'
        
ALL Roads Have Always Lead to 1865!
For God, Family and The Confederacy,
Craig Maus,
president, The Confederate Society of America and Proud Member of The Confederate Alliance of Independent Organizations,
Staunch Supporters for the Restoration of the Legal Government of the South- The Confederate States of America.
www.deovindice.org
PS- Are you hearing us now?
 

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Johnny Reb - American Hero     Backup (14.6 MB)

Ron Paul Speaks Out About Lincoln And The War For Southern Independence     Backup (59.3 MB)

Abraham Lincoln: Tyrant     Backup (17.6 MB)

Judge Andrew Napolitano - Secession 10th Amendment     Backup (8.66 MB)

Mr. Confederate Man     Backup (8.87 MB)

Legend Of The Confederate Soldier     Backup (7.68 MB)

Black Confederate - HK Edgerton     Backup (10.2 MB)

What Was The South Fighting For?     Backup (7.63 MB)

NAACP Flag Burning     Backup (11.1 MB)

Betcha Didn't Know These Facts     Backup (1.42 MB)

Cursed Are The Peace Makers - SC Statehouse     Backup (39.3 MB)

The Confederate Flag Issue - SC Statehouse     Backup (19.5 MB)

Good Ole Rebel      Backup (8.55 MB)

Is Secession Crazy?     Backup (9.41 MB)

Judge Napolitano On Liberty, Lincoln & Public Miseducation     Backup (5.99 MB)

DIXIE - This Is My Flag     Backup (17.1 MB)

The Empire Is Dying, Long Live Dixie     Backup (13.5 MB)

Uniting Southron Patriots     Backup (8.91 MB)

The Flag Man Of The South     Backup (10.6 MB)
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Tampa SCV Confederate Flag-Largest in the World     Backup (3.42 MB)

Passing Of The Last Civil War Vet

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South Carolina Confederate Flag Demonstration     Backup (39.3 MB)

The Hazzards Of White Guilt     Backup (9.90 MB)

Confederate Memory Loss     Backup (10.1 MB)

Beautiful Dixie

Why Enemies Of Liberty Love Lincoln
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Heart Of The Confederacy, 1937

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“Massa Robert Toombs”(Part 30) by Bill Vallante

The following short narrative was given by a woman who was a slave of General Robert Toombs. Toombs, one of the defenders of slavery as an institution, appears to have treated his charges in as good a manner as could have been expected of anyone living in his time and in his situation, at least according to Alonza Toombs. In any case, it would appear that not everyone who owned a slave had horns growing out of his or her head.

Toombs, Alonza Fantroy
(Alabama, Gertha Couric, John Morgan Smith)

Missy," said Alonza Fantroy Toombs, "I'se de proudest nigger in de worl', 'caze I was a slave belonging to Marse Robert Toombs of Georgia; de grandest man dat ever lived, next to Jesus Christ. He was de bes' stump speaker in de State, an' he had mo' frien's dan a graveyard has ghosts. He was sho a kin' man, an' dere warn't no one livin' who loved his wife an' home mo' dan Marse Bob. "Lissy," Uncle Lon continued, "he was near 'bout de greates' man dat eber come outen de South. He were a good business man; he were straight as dey make 'em, am he sho enjoy playin' a good joke on someone. I useta see him a walkin' down de road in de early mornin' an' I knowed it were him f'um a long distance, 'caze he was so tall. I guess you knowed all 'bout his livin' in de State legislature an' in de United States Congress an' a bein' a gen'l in de war an' him bein' de secretary of State in de confederacy.

"I was bawn on Marse Bob's plantation in de Double Grade Quartes. My pappy's name was Sam Fantroy Toombs an' my mammy was Isabella Toombs. In de slabery times I was too young to work in de fiel's, my job was to hunt an' fish an' feed de stock in de evenin'. My pappy was a preacher an' Marse Bob learnt him to read and write, an' would let him go f'um plantation to plantation on de Sabbath Day a-. preachin de gospel. He was Marse Bob's carriage driver.

"Mass'm. white folks, Marse Bob was a good provider, too. Us niggers et at home on Sundays, an' us had fried chicken, pot pies, beef, pork, an' hot coffee. On de udder days, our meals was fixed for us so dat de time us got for res' could be spent dat way. On Sadday us stopped work at noon an' would come wid our vessels to git flour, sugar, lard an' udder supplies. My mammy's pots an' pans was so bright dat dey looked like silver, an' she was one on de bes' cooks in de lan'. She useta cook fine milk yeast bread an' cracklin' bread. All us slaves on Marse Bob's place was cared for lak de white folks. We had de white folks doctor to treat us when we was sick. We had good clothes, good food an' we was treated fair. Dere warn't no mean peoples on our plantation.

"White lady, I 'members Marse Bob's smoke house mos' of all. It had everything in it f'um 'possum to deer; an' de wine cellar! Don't say nothin'! Dat was de place I longed to roam. But marse Bob, he drink too much. Dat was his only fault. He hit de bottle too hard. I couldn't understand it neither, caze he lef' off smokin' in later years when he thought it warn't good for him; but he keppa drinkin'!

"I been ma'ied twice, Mistis, De fus' time to Ida Walker. She died at childbirth; de little fella died too. Den I ma'ied Alice James, an' she's been gone nigh on to twenty year now. My pappy, Rev. Sam Fantroy ma'ied me both times.

"Atter de S'render, nary a slave lef' Marse Bob. He gib eve'y nigger over twenty-one a mule, some lan' an' a house to start off wid. Yassum, Mistis, I kin read an' write; my pappy learnt me how. I'm eighty-six year old now an' still goin' strong, ceptin' 'bout six years ago I had a stroke. But I cone out all right. I lives here wid my sister an' she's good to me. De only thing lef' for me to do is to wish dat when I cross dat ribber I can slip back to de ole place to see some of my frien's." (Wash. Copy, 6/2/37, L. H.)

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

On The Web:   http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/vallante-black-history-month30.phtml

 

Dover board approves placement of SCV monument

By BONNIE LILL
The Stewart Houston Times
March 2, 2010

After four years of on and off negotiation, the Dover Board of Mayor and Aldermen finally approved, on a 3-2 vote, the placement of a monument by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #249 honoring the local people who served in the Battle of Dover in 1863.

Prior to this, the board also approved, again on a vote of 3-2, guidelines for the placement of historical and honorary monuments and markers on town property.

Voting against both items were aldermen Terry Odom and Paul “Bud” Berry.

Voting in favor were aldermen James Boren, Tim Barrow and Mayor Lesa Fitzhugh.

This all occurred at the regular February 8 meeting of the Dover Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Before the vote, Town Administrator Jeff Knott gave some background. He said that up until now, the town had no definitive policy on monuments.

The discussion on this particular monument had begun in 2006 but the item had been tabled twice in the absence of formal guidelines.

Town attorney Larry Watson had been asked at the previous meeting to look into any legalities surrounding the placement of such monuments. At the February meeting, Watson reported that there was nothing to prohibit monuments and markers.

“It’s strictly your call,” he said.

However, he essentially said that common sense would dictate that the town would need to be sure that the information on the sign or marker would be historically accurate and appropriate.

He also said that following the January meeting, he went to a Stewart County Commission meeting where the legislative body voted to put up historical signs reflecting the same Civil War era theme. The Dover monument and the county signs would complement one another and add another tourism dimension to the area.

Knott allowed board members time to look over the proposed guidelines, which cover issues such as monument size, location, financial liability, maintenance, etc.

Ultimately, the board would make final determinations about any given monument. Sponsoring organizations would be required to buy, install, maintain, and if necessary, remove the signs or monuments.

Watson said all guidelines were legal.

The SCV monument meets all criteria and will be installed in the gazebo area in the future.

In other business, the board honored outgoing Ward 2 Alderman James Boren for his service to the town. Amid applause, Knott presented Boren with a clock containing an inscription detailing their gratitude.

Boren said that he had been proud to serve the town, and he was especially proud of the progress the board has made with regard to the water and sewer system.

On The Web:   http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20100302/STEWART01/100301012

 

Studying and debunking Civil War myths

By Denise Watson Batts
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 2, 2010

Civil War history is rich with tales of blood and gore, heroism, and too many lies.

Some of the nation's pre-eminent historians will examine that history in a symposium, "Race, Slavery and the Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American History and Memory," at Norfolk State University in September.

The conference is free and open to the public, and registration opened this week.

James Horton, professor, author, and consultant to film and television, will lead the conference. He has signed on several noted Civil War scholars, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author James McPherson and David Blight, director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition at Yale University. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, an award-winning professor and department chair of history at NSU, also will participate.

Horton said one of the biggest myths about the Civil War is that slavery was not a cause.

Slavery is the "great American contradiction," he said. Writers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, for example, cried for freedom yet held slaves. By the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, there were more than 4 million slaves in America, Horton said.

"The issues of slavery and race are significant in understanding the Civil War; that's why we decided on that theme," Horton said in a phone interview.

"If you're a historian who thinks it's important to understand the historical context for things going on in today's society, then you've got to teach history where people are out learning history." Most people are not learning history in a classroom but in museums and forums like the conference, Horton said.

The daylong event will feature panelists talking about events leading up to the war and the conflict itself, then discussions with the audience.

The organizers are planning Saturday tours of local war sites, and Norfolk State will host an exhibit of Civil War images from Hampton Roads at the Harrison B. Wilson Archives. There are plans to video-stream and record the conference for use in schools, Newby-Alexander said.

Newby-Alexander and Horton said it's important to present historical research and allow people to draw their own conclusions. It's also important to debunk the myths that have persisted for decades.

For example, Newby-Alexander said, Lincoln is often called the "Great Emancipator" of blacks but was ambivalent in his feelings toward them. He supported colonizing blacks outside of the country because he did not think whites and blacks could live together once slaves were freed.

Another myth, Newby-Alexander said, is that the North embraced freed blacks.

"It was in the North that you had these riots against abolitionists," Alexander said. "When we look at books like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' - which was a novel, not a fact - we get these myths, like all white Northerners loved blacks."

This year's conference is the second in a series sponsored by the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, created to mark the 150th anniversary of the war's beginning. Other annual gatherings will be held around the state until 2015, each with a different theme.

Last year's event in Richmond drew more than 2,000 people from around the country, said Cheryl Jackson, executive director of the commission. Organizers can register 1,600 for the September event.

© 1993-2010, HamptonRoads.com

On The Web:   http://hamptonroads.com/2010/03/studying-and-debunking-civil-war-myths
 

Confederate Flag at the South Carolina State House: What Next?

Ashleigh Walters
3/1/2010

Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Ten years after the Confederate flag was moved from the dome of the State House to the monument in front, it continues to ignite differing opinions.

Some say the Confederate flag represents division and oppression.  Others say, it means heritage and culture.  What the flag stands for and what should be done with it are questions that bring answers as varied as the people you ask.

"I agree with both sides, it is a part of our history, I think it's a part of our history that should be taught to everybody here in South Carolina, but it should not be in a place of sovereignty here at the State House.  It should not fly at the State House grounds," said Representative Chris Hart.

Hart says the issue is important enough that he repeatedly introduces a bill for its removal to the House of Representatives.  Every day he introduces the bill, another representative shoots it down.

Hart says lawmakers refuse to talk about issues like job creation and education, while time and taxpayer dollars are wasted on issues like the flag; however, Hart says he brings it up every day hopeful that the flag's removal will change attitudes.

"I think that the flag sends a symbol to the rest of the country that we're some back woods, pickup-driving, tobacco-chewing bigots, which we aren't.  I'm trying to change it.  It's not the flag, it's the mentality that's associated with the flag," Hart said.

Representative Leon Howard agrees with Hart and that our state has been, "Damaged tremendously by the flag with business opportunities."

Howard says the flag's visible location sends the wrong message to visitors.

"That taxpayers and the citizens of this state deserve better.  South Carolina is the confederacy of the mind," Howard said.

The South Carolina Conservative Action Council wants the flag moved up to its former location on top of the dome.

William G. Carter, a chairman of the group said, "We feel that's a form of ethnic cleansing.  That people of European American descent have their culture and their heritage, just like black people.  And at the same time, if we're going to live in a so-called multi-cultural society, where do we fit in?  Where do we stand?"

Secretary Nelson Waller agrees.  "It stands for the Confederate troops who sacrificed so much and in many cases paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we know today," he said.  "It stands for the South, its beautiful traditions.  Its illustrious, honorable history.  The South was the birth of the country.  It produced numerous of the Founding Fathers and presidents.  We are very proud of the South."

Carter says the Black Caucus agreed to the compromise in 2000 that moved the flag from the dome to the memorial in front.  "Now the NAACP says well we're not a part of that, that deal," he said.

National NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said, "It's a very powerful symbol and its location literally at the front door of the State House is a real problem."

Jealous says that moving the flag from the dome to the monument in front was not a real compromise.

"We aren't saying that there is no place for the Confederate Flag anywhere on the State House grounds," he said.

Jealous would not say exactly what State House location would be acceptable.

"The idea is that we should be one country, not a country divided against itself and that the time for that battle has long since passed, and the time for this country to really come together as one has long since arrived," he said.

The Conservative Action Council believes the issue should be decided by voters.

Copyright ©2010 wltx.com

On The Web:   http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=84614&catid=2

 

Is NAACP boycott over? Residents react
   
By Katie Williams
Tuesday, March 02, 2010

COLUMBIA-- 10,000 people are expected to crowd Columbia's Colonial Life Arena this week for a conference of the nation's three largest Black Methodist denominations.  This is despite long-standing efforts by the NAACP to keep visitors away from the state.

The NAACP has boycotted the state for years over the Confederate flag flying on the Statehouse grounds. That boycott is intended to keep money out of the state. However, the state NAACP has not publicly opposed this event.

WACH FOX News reporter Katie Williams hit the streets to see what residents think about the NAACP endorsing this event, while the organization encourages others to stay away from South Carolina.

Some residents say it's hypocritical, while others say the boycott is still going strong.

© Copyright 2010 Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC

On The Web:  http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=424007

 

Let the New South be the Honest South
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
Claude Kitchin was wary of the New South advocates, and did not want to see North Carolina turned into an industrial wasteland as Northerners had already done to their own homes in pursuit of profit. He also saw the Northern industrialists abandon their own States, leave them scarred with empty factories, ruined lives and polluted rivers, and move South for cheaper labor. He did not view this as progress.
 
Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
www.cfhi.net  

Let the New South be the Honest South:
 
“This was the time when Henry W. Grady, chief prophet of the New South, was at the height of his fame. Grady was making his famous speeches North and South on various occasions, writing editorials for the Atlanta Constitution and articles for national magazines, eloquently pleading for sectional reconciliation and for Northern investments in the exploitation of Southern resources. Grady was a loveable and eloquent man, worshipped especially by the group in the South eager to follow the Northern, industrial pattern.
 
[Claude Kitchin] loved Grady, “to whom all honor and praise are due for his sublime efforts to bring the two sections together and to make their great hearts beat as one”; but he condemned Grady’s tendency to turn his back upon the South’s past and accept uncritically the Northern way. Industrialization within limits was desirable but it must not become the summon bonum. In this matter he preferred the position of Henry Watterston, whom he quoted: “If we are to have a New South let it be an honest South…Let us stand by all that was good in the Old South…and with our past alike to warn and to cheer us, let us turn our faces to the great future.”
 
(Claude Kitchin and the Wilson War Policies, Alex Mathews Arnett, Little, Brown & Company, 1937, pp. 19-20)

 

Re: book defends Union's horrid prison conditions
 
From: stevescroggins2003@yahoo.com
To: regenstein@mindspring.com
 
What a crock !!!
 
The book needs to be reviewed and dissected --- but the fallacies are obvious from just reading the review.  (Jeff.... by the SCV review group we discussed)
 
What about "the Mule" in Camp Douglas?  Numerous POWs described it as well as Chicago citizens who witnessed it from the observation tower where they paid money to view "rebel prisoners' as if they were zoo animals.  THE MULE was an oversized sawhorse made of rough hewn wood where the Confederate POW was made to sit astride it in the nude while heavy weights were afixed to his ankles.
 
Was that just "the misfortunes of war" ??
 
Does this author mean to seriously contend that the availability of food, medicines and blankets in Chicago, Elmira NY and Columbus Ohio were ANYTHING remotely like that of Andersonville GA ?  Please.
 
Look at the Confederate guards at Andersonville; they suffered sickness and starvation very similar to the POWs at Andersonville.  Were the yankee guards at Camp Douglas, Camp Chase, Point Lookout, Elmira, etc., reporting similar deprivations as the CSA POWs? ??  I don't believe that for one moment.
 
Citizens of Chicago were arrested and even shot at for throwing food over the wall to the CSA POWs.  Food was in ample supply as were blankets and medicines.  Yet the POWs died at rates similar to Andersonville.  The ONLY rational conclusion is that deprivation was intentional.  Camp Douglas had 12,000 POWs near the end, but they could only account for 6000 and the plaque that adorns the monument at Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery has the names of only 4300.  We should point out that Southerners raised the money to put up that monument some thirty years AFTER the war --- after the yankees had moved the remains three separate times.  That (Okay Woods) is, by the way, the LARGEST MASS GRAVE in North America.  They were all chunked in one big hole.  Andersonville, on the other hand, has all the POWs buried in separate graves.
 
And to top things off, the yankees put up the Ugly Rock in Oak Woods to further insult the POWs buried there.  The cenotaph labels the Confederate as "cruel enemies" and "traitors."  WHO are really the cruel enemies here?  How could any American stand for this treatment of American veterans?  It doesn't seem to bother folks like Gillispie who seem to be saying, "Oh, it wasn't really that bad."
 
Read more about the Ugly Rock here:
http://scvcamp1399.org/uglyrock.php
See photos here:
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/scroggins-andersonville-hypocrisy.phtml
 
---Steve

Referring Email:  dixieoutfitters.com/p/book-defends-prison-conditions

 

Book defends Union's horrid prison conditions 
 
From: regenstein@mindspring.com
 
Another propaganda piece by an "historian" who thinks the North can do no wrong.
 
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Review&month=1003&week=a&msg=CREyJ81aJ9Btp5ph8MpV%2Bg

 

Save the dates: 15 and 16 October 2010
 
From: m.hartzog@mail.utexas.edu
 
The Texas State Capitol in large part was built by the former Confederates in the 1880s. And it contains many outstanding CSA monuments on the grounds and also artworks inside the beautiful building. The entire setting is a testament to the dedication of these men and their families.
 
This year is the Centennial of the erection of the Hood’s Texas Brigade Monument on the Texas Capitol Grounds, and we are planning a grand re-dedication on Friday, October 15, with an all-day seminar focusing on the brigade and its achievements on Saturday, October 16. More plans are being made and I will keep you updated, plus I promise to get the webpage up to speed soon. We are being assisted in our planning by State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, whose dedication to ALL of Texas history is legion, also by Sam Hood, Dr. Richard McCaslin, Rick Eiserman and others.
 
On behalf of the board -- myself, Ann Oppenheimer, Secretary/Treasurer, Judy Ostler, Chaplin, and Rob Jones, Counsel -- please plan to join us. This will be one of the special events of our lifetime. A commemorative medal will be struck for the event. Remember that Austin is a beautiful city with many historic sites that every member of your family will enjoy.
 

Warmly,
 
Martha
 
Martha Hartzog, President
Hood's Texas Brigade Association, Reactivated
605 Pecan Grove Road
Austin, Texas 78704
“Texans Always Move Them” — RE Lee at the Battle of the Wilderness
Bookmark it: http://www.hoodstexasbrigade.org/

 

From: "Craig Maus" - csacommand@windstream.net
Date: March 2, 2010
To: "Charleston Voice" - bilrum@knology.net
Subject: Re: South Carolina - the 1st State to Turn Paper Into Gold and Silver.                                            

Dear Confederates (bcc herein),
 
Thanks to the Charleston Voice for this update (see below).
The Confederacy will rise again because it remains an indelible entity whose purpose, despite Federal Conquest & Reconstruction, continues to represent the principles & virtues of this once proud Republic.
Our people remain as fiercely independent , proud & resolute as did our ancestor's, and I am equally convinced that they will NOT allow this Federal Government to further usurp our liberties any more under the guise of 'social-improvement'.
 
Despite Revisionist History which has served as the consummate prostitute for the Federal Leviathan,  enough has finally become enough!  It is incumbent upon every Citizen as it is incumbent upon each and every State, to go 'Back to OUR Future' & re-assemble & revitalize the mantle upon which this nation was conceived & created.
 
We fought their Wars & paid their taxes while the Federals were transforming us into the docile sheeple they thought we had become.  As such & because of their overwrought & continued demonization & characterization of us and OUR history, they have been altering the structure of this Republic while systematically dumbing us down in order to advance & provide merit for their contentious rantings.  Equally, they parallel their actions with many social reforms that have further corrupted the identity of this Republic's culture via an emancipation process that suggests we need to be all things to all people.....taking precedence over the welfare of this country & putting it & its people at total risk.  History more than suggests that these actions have been of deliberate design & purpose.  The people of this country, ALL, were once foremost & uppermost before all else.
The Federals have corrupted that principle much as they have corrupted many others in their zeal & quest for autonomous control.
 
This Government has created by way of its actions, deliberate, wide-spread polarization that allows their orthodoxy & ideology to be advanced  while providing them with a greater capacity to steal our liberties from us....again in the name of social expediency.  In growing their Leviathan they aggregate themselves further from us becoming less and less accountable resulting in the open & intolerable contempt & defiance they are exhibiting toward us today.  They have gotten away with it for so long in their pursuit of 'Babylon', that any opposition to them receives the the back of their hand upon our faces as the transliteration of their actions refers to us, the real patriots, as right-winger's, Nazi's & rednecks to boot.  Their contempt for us is real and nowhere does it remotely suggest representation.  They are beyond corrupt and their apparent & obvious lack of respect for us & our wishes is clearly evident in their actions.
 
I applaud the efforts of South Carolina and I sincerely hope that others within their respective States emulate South Carolina and take the bull by the horns to save themselves as well as their constituents, Et Al, from the abusive Federal Demagogue that has placed this nation in Harm's Way.
 
Once more I can only respectfully suggest that unless we separate, we cannot survive!
 
ALL Roads Lead to 1865!
For God, Family and The Confederacy,
Craig Maus
president, The Confederate Society of America and Proud Member of The Confederate Alliance of Independent Organizations
Staunch Supporters for the Restoration of the Legal Government of the South- The Confederate States of America!
www.deovindice.org
'When A Government Becomes Absolute...the People Must Become Resolute'
____________________________________________________________________________
 
From: Charleston Voice
To: bilrum@knology.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Subject: South Carolina - the 1st State to Turn Paper Into Gold and Silver

Here's a great one for use anywhere - see how far these travel around the US! SC H-4501  is the Bill authorizing gold and silver coins be used as legal tender in SC. - thus nullifying the monopoly of the Federal Reserve. "Save your gold and silver coins boys, the South will rise again!" Has your state drafted a similar Bill yet?

“Emergency!
Pass SC H-4501”
    
I will check today about putting this stamp on the website www.BackToMainStreet.com where you can then order it.
    


 

Going to Heaven in Such Bad Company
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
Going to Heaven in Such Bad Company:
 
[Diary Entry] June 5, Monday [1865]:
 
“A Yankee came this morning before breakfast and took one of father’s mules out of the plow. He showed an order from “Marse” Abraham and said he would bring the mule back, but of course we never expect to see it again. I peeped through the blinds, and such a looking creature, I thought, would be quite capable of burning Columbia. [Northern officer] Capt. Schaeffer…not only will not descend to associate with Negroes himself, but tries to keep his men from doing it, and when runaways come to town, he either has them thrashed and sent back home, or put to work on the streets and made to earn their rations.
 
People are so outraged at the indecent behavior going on in our midst that many good Christians have absented themselves from the Communion Table because they say they don’t feel fit to go there while such bitter hatred as they feel towards the Yankees has a place in their hearts. The Methodists have a revival meeting going on, and last night one of our soldier boys went up to be prayed for, and a Yankee went right up after and knelt at his side. The Reb was so overcome with emotion that he didn’t know a Yankee was kneeling beside him…Some of the boys who were there told me they were sorry to see a good Confederate going to heaven in such bad company.”
 
[Diary Entry] June 6, Tuesday:
 
“Strange to say the Yankee brought back father’s mule that was taken yesterday---which Garnett says is pretty good evidence that it wasn’t worth stealing.  They are making a great ado in their Northern newspapers, about the “robbing of the Virginia banks by the Confederates” but not a word is said in their public prints about the $300,000 they stole from the bank at Greenville, S.C., nor the thousands they have taken in spoils from private houses, as well as the banks, since these angels of peace descended upon us. They have everything their own way now, and can tell what tales they please on us, but justice will come yet.  Time brings its revenges, though it may move but slowly.
 
Some future Motley or Macaulay will tell the truth about our cause, and some unborn Walter Scott will spread the halo of romance around it. In all the poems and romances that shall be written about this war, I prophesy that the heroes will all be rebels, or if Yankees, from some loyal Southern State. The bare idea of a full-blown Yankee hero or heroine is preposterous. They made no sacrifices, they suffered no loss, and there is nothing on their side to call up scenes of pathos or heroism.”
 
(The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, Eliza Frances Andrews, D. Appleton, 1908, pp. 287-290)

EMERGENCY REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
 
From: torpenhow@charter.net
 
I was contacted this morning (Thursday) by a Columbia SC TV station with a most strangely and unintentionally tricky question: the gal wanted to know which SC state legislators I consider to be in accord with our pro-flag stance. She wants to interview some -- but tragicomically enough I can't name a single one that is known to be reliable and true-blue on the never-ending SC Confederate flag issue.
 
***Does anybody out there have intelligence to offer in this matter? Please call me right away at 864-356-9966. Doesn't matter how meager your info may appear to you -- I want it all.***
 
I consulted 3 of the main people I've been working in the Southern Cause with, and none could name a positively known pro-flagger in state House or state Senate either. One asserted that all Republicans and some Democrats can be counted on to voice opposition against any new vote on the flag if only because (a) they don't want another big ruckus over it and (b) it's an election year. That's good news of a sort -- shows we've at least cowed the politicians -- but we do need to know what each SC legislator (basically without exception) is made of, since the issue never goes away and Gov. Sanford has less than a year remaining in office.
 
For all his faults, Sanford has blessedly stonewalled the NAACP for his seven-plus years in office -- and the pattern is that he's the only one to do so since the ruckus began in earnest 15+ years ago.
 
THANK YOU..... /\/.\/\/.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Fearing Obama Agenda, States Push to Loosen Gun Laws

Americans are arming themselves against an increasingly intrusive, authoritarian Federal government:

When President Obama took office, gun rights advocates sounded the alarm, warning that he intended to strip them of their arms and ammunition. ... In Virginia, the General Assembly approved a bill last week that allows people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and the House of Delegates voted to repeal a 17-year-old ban on buying more than one handgun a month.

Arizona and Wyoming lawmakers are considering nearly a half dozen pro-gun measures, including one that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. And lawmakers in Montana and Tennessee passed measures last year — the first of their kind — to exempt their states from federal regulation of firearms and ammunition that are made, sold and used in state. Similar bills have been proposed in at least three other states.

Blocking unconstitutional Federal regulations is the first essential step toward ultimate secession. Once the principle is re-established that the people of the States, not Congress, is the seat of sovereignty, there's only one path open for the future, and that's the path away from centralization, insane deficit spending, and ever-tighter government control.

On The Web:   http://www.dixienet.org/rebellion/2010/02/fearing-obama-agenda-states-push-to.html

 

What is States' Rights? Part 2 – Commentary by Mike Crane, 2/24/2010

“Our Rights are like a cookie. No matter how big the cookie and how small the bites, eventually you run out of cookie.”

In Part 1 of this series a concept was presented that runs a bit contrary to current public conception – that the term States’ Rights can be used more for partisan benefit than a true effort to protect the God-given Rights of the people.

Some background is in order. Let’s start with the body of the Constitution of 1787. Remember this is the report of the Constitution Convention of 1787 back to the government of these United States, then operating under the Articles of Confederation.

A search of the body of The Constitution of 1787, excluding the Amendments - produces one match for either “rights” or “right” in Article I, Section 8:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

This language in the Constitution of 1787 most will recognize as the basis for the Copyright and Patent laws of The United States. Perhaps some might find it interesting that in the Constitution of 1787 the only direct reference to a “Right” is to empower the government to protect certain citizen’s rights for a limited time only.

There is nothing in the body of the Constitution of 1787 that states the purpose of government is to guarantee the God-given rights of the people.

The body of the Constitution of 1787 despite its many strong points was obviously flawed in some or many aspects depending on your point of view. One of these flaws is its failure to clearly state that its main, or even one of its secondary purposes is to guarantee the citizen’s God-given Rights. This is simply a statement of fact. Within a very short period of time after adoption of the Constitution of 1787 - ten amendments (Bill of Rights) were added in an effort to correct this specific flaw.Since the transition from the Articles of Confederation until today, there has been periodic if not constant debates, disputes and even armed aggression concerning the allocation of not only “powers to govern” but what rights the citizens have. Today and through much of our history since the transition - the term “States’ Rights” has been used to represent the concept of a federated form of government as opposed to a national form of government.

From a definition (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia® Copyright © 2007) of federated government:

“ ... The distribution of powers between the federal and state governments is usually accomplished by means of a written constitution, for a federation does not exist if authority can be allocated by ordinary legislation. ...”

[In later parts of this series the author will submit for readers consideration that this definition should be expanded to include “ ... by ordinary legislation, judicial edit or military power … “]

The bitter partisan disputes that are occurring today are anything but new. Their roots lie in the State conventions of 1788-89 as the transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution of 1787 took place. Or for that matter in the struggle for independence from the English Crown if one does not limit the subject to just American government.

The author believes in and desires a federated form of government with clearly delegated powers and shared sovereignty. Despite this strong desire – I do not see much hope of returning to such a form of government. It certainly does not exist today and grows more distant with the passage of time.

An interesting reference from the first State of the Union address of President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1807):

“Other circumstances, combined with the increase of numbers, have produced an augmentation of revenue arising from consumption in a ratio far beyond that of population alone; and though the changes in foreign relations now taking place so desirably for the whole world may for a season affect this branch of revenue, yet weighing all probabilities of expense as well as of income, there is reasonable ground of confidence that we may now safely dispense with all the internal taxes, comprehending excise, stamps, auctions, licenses, carriages, and refined sugars, to which the postage on news papers may be added to facilitate the progress of information, and that the remaining sources of revenue will be sufficient to provide for the support of Government, to pay the interest of the public debts, and to discharge the principals within shorter periods than the laws or the general expectation had contemplated.” [emphasis added]

One way to read this statement is that the “new” government in just a few short years was “already” collecting taxes beyond what was needed to meet its new Constitutional duties. What would President Jefferson think of the vast array and amount of the taxes that modern day citizens face?

Whatever your political affiliation or views on proper form of government, it is virtually impossible to not agree that our taxes today are more pervasive than those our Colonial forefathers faced under the King of England. Sadly the early signs of this fiscal mentality had already reared its ugly head by 1801.

Another excerpt from this same State of The Union address:

“When we consider that this Government is charged with the external and mutual relations only of these States; that the States themselves have principal care of our persons, our property, and our reputation, constituting the great field of human concerns, we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated, too expensive; whether offices and officers have not been multiplied unnecessarily and sometimes injuriously to the service they were meant to promote.” [emphasis added]

Here we have the essence of the position today called States’ Rights. What President Jefferson is describing is a federated form of government, which mostly still existed in 1801. But his words also conveyed the warning that all was not well in this regard:

“ ... we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated, too expensive; whether offices and officers have not been multiplied unnecessarily and sometimes injuriously to the service they were meant to promote.”

Alas, from the creation of American Liberty during the Colonial period - this land by 1801 had not only undergone a transition from the Articles of Confederation but was already showing early signs of incursions nibbling away at American Liberty. Did not President Jefferson imply that authority or allocation of power was being accomplished by legislation?

If President Jefferson was right and by 1801 – “offices and officers had been multiplied unnecessarily “ – what does that say about our land today?

As stated in Part I,

American Liberty is rapidly approaching the cliff. It's up to you the citizen to change that direction if it's going to be changed.

Now, for a few closing words on the subject of these articles. If the concept referenced by the use of today’s term States’ Rights (or more properly State’s Powers) is that referenced by President Jefferson above, it certainly has merit. All good intentions aside, if today’s States’ Rights efforts are not directed at resolving the causes of the failure to achieve a federated form of government and to guarantee the citizen’s God-given Rights - then it is partisan political activity of the type that President George Washington warned us about in his Farewell Address.

To be continued...

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Reconstruction – That Warm and Fuzzy Story of Social Progress!?(Part 24) by Bill Vallante

“The South Carolina government is the worst in the world”, said the NY Journal of Commerce in commenting on the taxpayers’ gatherings. Not only were land owners and businessmen bearing the burden of bad government, but the “humblest blacks and whites suffer from the wolves of Columbia, and should be glad to join forces with the taxpayer to exterminate them politically”
    – Wade Hampton, Confederate Warrior, Conservative Statesman, Walter Brian Cisco, P. 211

I was born, raised and educated in the north, but when I went to school, one word always found in association with any narrative about the Reconstruction period was - CORRUPTION! How odd that the word seems to have DISAPPEARED from the modern day academic’s vocabulary?!

According to neo-abolitionist historians, “Reconstruction” is now a warm and fuzzy story of social progress, snuffed out by the evils of white supremacy. Blacks held office in record numbers, according to one such historian, and were active in politics, voting and giving “stump speeches”.

The question begs, for those with enough courage to ask it aloud:

How do a people who were slaves not more than two years ago, acquire the knowledge necessary to be able to do such things and do them COMPETENTLY – and on such a grand scale?? Moreover, “freedom” also entails the responsibility for supporting oneself, something I would think would be a major undertaking for the inexperienced Freedman. So where did the Freedman find the free time to participate so heavily in politics? Finally, who the hell put him up to it? (See the story about “Limosine Liberals” for the answer to that one.)

One Freedman’s Bureau official declared that blacks “must be allowed their civil rights to sue and be sued and to testify in court, but 19 in 20 are no more fit for the political responsibilities and duties of a citizen than my horse”. [Wade Hampton, Confederate Warrior, Conservative Statesman, Brian Cisco, Page 178]

With 200 black trial justices, South Carolina had more than her share of funny happenings, as of tragic. A gentlemen who had to appear before some tribunal wrote us, “Whom do you suppose I found in the seat of law? Pete, my erstwhile stable-boy! He does not know A from Z, had not the faintest idea of what was to be done”. - “Mars Charles, you jes fix ‘tup, please suh. You jes write down whut you think orter be wroted an’ I’ll put my mark anywhar you tell me” [Dixie After the War, Myrta Lockett Avary, Page 192]

Into a store in Wilmington sauntered a sable alderman whom the merchant had known from boyhood as “Sam”.

Merchant: What’s the matter Sam? (as Sam walked out of the store)
Sam: (stalking back into the store) Suh, you didn’ treat me wid proper respecks.
Merchant: How Sam?
Sam: You called me Sam, which my name is Mr. Gary.
Merchant: You’re a damned fool! There’s the door!

Gary had the merchant up in the mayor’s court.
Mayor: What’s the trouble?
Sam: Dis man consulted me.
Mayor: You ought to feel flattered. What did he do to you?
Sam: He called me Sam, suh.
Mayor: Ain’t that your name?
Sam: My name’s Mr. Gary.
Mayor: Ain’t it Sam too?
Sam: yessuh, but –
Mayor: Well, there ain’t any law to compel a man to call another “Mister”. Case dismissed.
Sam: (muttering) Dar gwi be a law ‘bout dat.
[Dixie After the War, Myrta Lockett Avary, Page 193]

A Regimental Chaplain of the 128th US colored troops, stationed in Beaufort SC, stated that “the more intelligent of his men believed there should be a literacy qualification for voting, as “you ought never to undertake a job unless you know how to do it.”
[Wade Hampton, Confederate Warrior, Conservative Statesman, Brian Cisco]

Among extraneous resolutions adopted by delegates, one recommended that laws eventually be passed banning terms like “negro”, “nigger” or “yankee”. The exercise went on for 53 days and cost the taxpayer $110,000. (The Charleston Convention, January 14, 1868), [Wade Hampton, Confederate Warrior, Conservative Statesman, Brian Cisco, pp. 178, 191-192]

General Sherman said, “We all felt sympathy for the negroes, but of a different kind from that of Mr. Stanton, which was not of pure humanity, but of politics....I did not dream that the former slaves, without preparation, would be manufactured into voters....I doubted the wisdom of at once clothing them with the elective franchise....and realized the national loss in the death of Mr. Lincoln, who had long pondered over the difficult questions involved.” [Dixie After the War, Myrta Lockett Avary, Page 281-282]

Hamp, Simmons, Mississippi, (The Slave Narratives)

"The Yankees promised niggers a gray mule and forty acres when they were freed, but the niggers ought to have known that wasn't so, because there wern't that many gray mules in the United States."

Henri Necaise, Mississippi, (The Slave Narratives)

It was dem Carpetbaggers dat 'stroyed de country. Dey went an' turned us loose, jas' lak a passel o' cattle, an' didn' show us nothin' or giv' us nothin'. Dey was acres an' acres o' lan' not in use, an' lots o' timber in die country.

Henry, Garry, Alabama Henri, (The Slave Narratives)

Seems lak dar warn't no trouble 'mongst de whites an' blacks ''til atter de wah. Some white mens come down from de Norf' an' mess up wid de nigger……….."Git rid of de carpetbaggers? Oh, Yassah, dey vote 'em out.

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Friday, February 19, 2010

I’d Climb the Highest Mountain

By Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.,
American-Historical Writer,
Author of book “When America Stood for God, Family and Country” and for over 36 years a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, http://www.scv.org

Cleveland, Georgia is the home of the Old Stovall Covered Bridge that bridges Chickamauga Creek. This 1890s structure appeared in the movie “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain.”

Have you ever seen the movie ‘I’d Climb the Highest Mountain?’

This wonderful-classic movie was made during the 1950s, when families spent quality time at the movies where Coca Cola was a nickel, hot bettered popcorn a quarter and for a mere quarter you might see a double-feature film, cartoon and newsreel. Parents did not worry about the sexual, bad language or graphic scenes of the early films because most were family friendly.

It was also during June 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea and soldiers said goodbye to their mother, father, sister, brother and sweetheart to fight a war many miles away from home.

America saw sad times during the 50s but there was also much excitement in the North Georgia Mountains. This was the year that the movie ‘I’d Climb the highest Mountain’ was filmed in Georgia’s red clay hills. The 1910 novel that became a movie was written by Georgia’s own Corra Harris and was entitled ‘A Circuit Rider’s Wife.’ It told the story of a young Methodist preacher and his bride as they moved to the Georgia hills to pastor a local church. Much of the movie was shot around Helen and Cleveland in what is called the Blue Ridge Mountains.

When Corra Harris died in 1935, Hollywood screenwriter Lamar Trotti, an Atlanta, Georgia native, wrote the screenplay of her book. Trotti earned his fame far from Georgia, but had kept his love of his home and its history. After World War II, Henry King, a successful director, worked with Trotti to produce the movie for Twentieth Century-Fox. King had made the religious films ‘David and Bathsheba’ and ‘Song of Bernadette.’ He was born in Christiansburg, Virginia.

Susan Hayward played the role of Mary Elizabeth, the preacher’s wife and narrates the story. Reverend William Thompson is played by William Lundigan. Both give fine performances about a country preacher, his wife and the Christian life of a small town in the rural South. Their faith is tested by a deadly flu epidemic, a child drowning at the church picnic and the miscarriage of their child. The faithful strength of this couple brings the people closer to one another. Mary even talks a tight fisted old man out of money and buys Christmas presents for the poor children.

The supporting cast includes: Rory Calhoun and Gene Lockhart, father of actress June Lockhart. Alexander Knox, of the movie ‘Wilson’, played a non-believer who was touched in the end by the goodness of the preacher and his wife. Even though Knox lost a child, he now sees his children just as happy as other children and tells Reverend Thompson that he and his family would look into the future with an open mind.

There is an emotional scene where Minister Thompson asks all married couples to hold hands and repeat their marriage vows. This is a scene worth repeating—many times! The movies climax is classic Hollywood. Thompson, as a circuit-riding minister is transferred to another church. He and Mary bid their congregation farewell. Susan Hayward became very fond of the mountain people, many of whom played extras.

An early 1900s automobile was needed for the movie. The producers found Otis Mason in South Carolina with a 1912 vintage Overland in running condition. However, he was the only one who knew how to drive it. Mr. Mason appears in the movie as the driver and just had one line ‘Yes Ma’am.’ What would you give for just one line in a movie? Especially a line that husbands use all the time!

The movie ends with the ‘Lords Prayer’ sung slowly and reverently. The original music by Sol Kaplan and music direction by Lionel Newman is wonderful. This beautiful Technicolor classic is about the dirt roads, farmlands, old buildings and Georgia Mountain folks. Edward Cronjager received praise for the films Technicolor cinematography.

‘I’d Climb the Highest Mountain’ was filmed during the golden era of Hollywood. It premiered on February 17, 1951, at Atlanta Georgia’s Paramount Theater. Susan Hayward was honored by the Georgia State Senate with a resolution declaring her an ‘adopted daughter of Georgia.’ Hayward, born in New York, married a Georgian and they made Carrollton, Georgia their home.

February 2011 will mark the 60th anniversary of the release of this grand movie. It should be re-released on DVD for all to enjoy because……

they don’t make movies like that anymore.

On The Web:   http://shnv.blogspot.com/2010/02/id-climb-highest-mountain.html



 

“Forced into Glory?” From the “Official Records” and other Sources (Part 20) by Bill Vallante

Look at any monument or any story for that matter regarding the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and you cannot help but come away with the impression that 200,000 black men went willingly into the Union army to fight for their freedom. Several years ago the History Channel ran a program on “The Battle of the Crater” which focused on USCT involvement in that battle. One of the “experts” tapped for the program was a black National Park Service guide who worked at the Petersburg Virginia battlefield. I suppose that objectivity on the event would have been a bit much to ask from either him or the History Channel. He went on and on about how “different” the men of the USCT were from their opponents – to use his words, they were “freedom fighters!”

About the time the series first ran, I had just concluded reading “The Slave Narratives.” That experience left me with a number of surprises, one of which was that it appeared that not everyone in the USCT was a willing participant. Some had joined because as runaways, they simply had no place to go, and the army at least provided food, money and the necessities of life. Others had been forcibly conscripted, some under threat of death. Still others showed no emotion or volunteered no additional information at all when questioned about their wartime experiences, i.e. simply “I was in the army…” A number of those interviewed with military experience not only failed to describe what their duties were, i.e., support personnel or soldier, but even failed to mention which army they were in. To put it bluntly, what I read in the Narratives didn’t quite match up with the picture the Park Service guide was painting.

It has become fashionable among many contemporary historians and their students these days, to question the motivations of the Confederate soldiers and civilians. Much is made, for example, of Southern unionists fighting for the North, of Southern desertions and a lack of will to fight, of a dispirited civilian population, and of slaves either running off to join the Union army, or working feverishly to sabotage the Southern war effort to help their Yankee rescuers. After listening to all these stories, one has to wonder how it was that the war lasted four years instead of two weeks, and how it was that 360,000 Yankees came to “lay stiff in Southern dust?!”

No one ever asks such questions about the USCT though. The discussion as to why this is could fill an entire book, so I’ll have to take a pass for now. However, the following references, garnered from sources other than “The Slave Narratives,” should provide some realistic insight into the matter. “Freedom Fighters?” Not all of them, definitely not all of them! My money says no more than half of them at best. At the very least, these sources should provide a not-often-talked-about and eye-opening look at Yankee recruiting tactics.

****James Seddon, Confederate Secretary of War, had something to say about Yankee methods for “recruiting” slaves for their armies……

O.R.--SERIES IV--VOLUME II [S# 128]
Correspondence, Orders, Reports, And Returns Of The Confederate Authorities,
July 1, 1862-December 31, 1863

“....They have already formed numerous regiments of the slaves they have seduced or forced from their masters, and the statement has been boastfully made in their public prints that they have already some 30,000 negro troops in arms... It is now an ascertained fact that as they overrun any portion of our territory they draw off, often by compulsion, the most efficient male slaves and place them in their negro regiments; and when they have established anywhere a temporary occupation, they practice a regular system of compulsory recruiting from the slaves within their reach....”

Respectfully submitted.
JAMES A. SEDDON,
Secretary of War

****Jefferson Davis also reiterates Seddon’s contention about taking slaves off by force, and adds a postscript about how Union “hero” Dalgrhen executed his black “guide” in his 1864 raid on Richmond.

O.R.--SERIES IV--VOLUME III [S# 129]
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT,
Richmond, Va., April 28, 1864.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS,
President Confederate States of America:

“... Various raids of the enemy have been made by cavalry, generally in indefensible portions of the Confederacy, and for the most part for purposes of mere rapine and destruction. They have been conducted with a precipitation most wasteful to their men and animals, and indicative of constant apprehension, but have been marked by a malignant spirit and practices of infamy and barbarity that would have disgraced brigands or savages. Their warfare has been almost exclusively on peaceful citizens, and their avowed object has been the destruction of private property; the taking off of the slaves, even by force; the waste of stores and the means of subsistence; the destruction of animals and implements of husbandry, and the privation of all means of future production and support to the whole people…….. Dahlgren marked his course to the river, unimpeded by any hostile force, only by ravage and incendiarism, but failed wholly to effect a crossing, and sought to cover the timidity that shrank from trying a doubtful ford by an act of savage vengeance on his negro guide...

****And if you have some doubt about the veracity of the reports from Seddon and Davis, Union General Rufus Saxton will certainly back up those reports by describing the same type of thing happening in his neck of the woods.

O.R.--SERIES III--VOLUME IV [S# 125]
BEAUFORT, S.C., December 30, 1864.
Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

....The order spread universal confusion and terror. The negroes fled to the woods and swamps, visiting their cabins only by stealth and in darkness. They were hunted to their hiding places by armed parties of their own people, and, if found, compelled to enlist. This conscription order is still in force. Men have been seized and forced to enlist who had large families of young children dependent upon them for support and fine crops of cotton and corn nearly ready for harvest, without an opportunity of making provision for the one or securing the other...

I am sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
R. SAXTON, Brigadier-General of Volunteers.

****Another dispatch from the “OR’s” from Union General Foster would appear to indicate that not only were slaves conscripted, but that slaves of “loyal citizens” were exempt from conscription. Apparently, it was ok to own slaves as long as you were loyal to “Father Abraham.”

O.R.--SERIES III--VOLUME IV [S# 125]
GENERAL ORDERS No. 6.
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, Knoxville, Tenn., January 6, 1864.

“All able-bodied colored men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five within our lines, except those employed in the several staff departments, officers' servants, and those servants of loyal citizens who prefer remaining with their masters, will be sent forthwith to Knoxville, Loudon, or Kingston, Tenn., to be enrolled, under the direction of Brig. Gen. Davis Tillson, chief of artillery, with a view to the formation of a regiment of artillery, to be composed of troops of African descent. The commanding officers of divisions and posts are charged with the execution of this order.”

By command of Major-General Foster:
HENRY CURTIS, JR.,

****Of course, we can always rely on Uncle Willie (Sherman), to chime in with his two cents

“War Crimes Against Southern Civilians,” by Walter Brian Cisco, P. 173

“I won’t trust niggers to fight yet,” wrote William T. Sherman in the spring of 1863, "but I don’t object to the Government taking them from the enemy and making such use of them as experience may suggest.”

****And from a Confederate Soldier writing in the Southern Historical Society Papers, we have this observation, obtained by him in conversations with captured black Union soldiers after the 54th’ Massachusetts’ assault on Battery Wagner…....

Southern Historical Society Papers. Volume XII.
Richmond, Va., March, 1884. No. 3., Letters from Fort Sumter in 1862 and 1863.
By Lieut. Iredell Jones, First Regiment S.C. Regulars. No. 2. Fort Sumter, July 20, 1863.

... The negroes were as fine looking set as I ever saw -- large, strong, muscular fellows. They were splendidly uniformed; but they do not know what they are fighting for. They say they were forced into it. I learned from prisoners that they are held in contempt by the white soldiers, and not only so, but that the white officers who command them are despised also. They are made to do all the drudgery of the army...

****Bell Wiley, a Southern historian who wrote in the 1930s and 40s, but who was not a “Lost Cause” advocate by any stretch of the imagination, had something to say about the lack of enthusiasm among slaves for joining the Union army.

“Southern Negroes 1861 – 1865,” By Bell Irvin Wiley, Page 309

“In the military departments of the South, [the Carolina Coast] the Gulf, and the West Mississippi, the commanding generals ultimately resorted to an open conscription of all able-bodied Negro men within specified age limits. Under authority of these conscription orders, and in many instances without the authority of such orders, recruiting squads scoured the country forcing Negroes into the army. {General David Hunter] Hunter resorted to such practices to fill the ranks of his abortive regiment of South Carolina “Volunteers” in 1862. When General Saxton succeeded Hunter he gave “earnest and repeated assurances” that forced enlistments would not again be used. But when General Foster assumed command of the Department of the South in 1863, he ignored Saxton’s assurances and ordered an indiscriminate draft.

****A conundrum often presented itself to the newly “liberated” slave – join and leave your wife and kids to fend for themselves, or, have the Yanks stand you up against the wall and shoot you. Special thanks to Bernard Thuersam of the “Cape Fear Historical Institute” www.cfhi.net/, who apparently shares my love of research, and from whose research I have taken the next two recounts:

“Jacksonville’s Ordeal by Fire,” Martin & Schafer
Florida Publishing Company, 1984, P 145

“...On March 16, after fighting an exhausting series of skirmishes with Yankee troops, [Winston] Stephens wrote to warn his wife of the black troops in Jacksonville, and of the grave danger that Yankee raiders might come upriver to Welaka. “Get the slaves ready to run to the woods on a moment’s notice,” he wrote his wife, adding that “the Negroes in arms will promise them fair prospects, but they will suffer the same fate those did in town that we killed, and the Yankees say they will hang them if they don’t fight.”

“After Slavery, The Negro in South Carolina During Reconstruction“
Joel Williamson, UNC Press, 1965, pp. 17- 20

“…On March 10, he (Union Abolitionist Colonel James Montgomery) landed in Jacksonville (Florida) along with Higginson’s command and led a foray seventy-five miles inland, returning laden with booty and a large number of potential soldiers---lately slaves. In May and June, raids up the Ashepoo and Combahee rivers in South Carolina and an attack on the village of Darien, Georgia supplied more recruits. Meanwhile, Hunter issued an order drafting all able-bodied Negro men remaining on the plantations. Others were seized in the night by squads of Negro soldiers. On one plantation on St. Helena, Betsey’s husband was thus taken, leaving her with ten children and a “heart most broke.”

Those who attempted to evade the draft were roughly treated. Josh, who had fled to the marshes, was tracked to his hiding place and when he again tried to elude his pursuers was shot down and captured. Negro civilians suffered under the draft and resented the manner of its enforcement… ”the draft is either taking or frightening off most of the men,” lamented one of the (Northern missionary) superintendents at the end of March, 1863. During (the) early history (of Negro impressments), the new regiments were plagued by desertions which were freely excused on the ground of ignorance...Private William Span, having been recaptured on his eighth or ninth defection, was brought before the colonel in his tent. Montgomery asked Span if he wished to offer an excuse. Span said no. “Then,” declared the colonel, “you will be shot at half-past nine this morning.”

****What today’s history books carefully conceal in the USCT story, is that refusal to submit to conscription in this organization, could mean the loss of one’s freedom, and indeed, the loss of one’s life. You won’t find these examples (and there are many more than the few listed here), in any National Park Service Presentation. Perhaps if the NAACP and like-minded organizations want to pursue “reparations,” for past wrongs they should start here.

“War Crimes Against Southern Civilians,” Walter Brian Cisco, Pages 173 -174

“When Federals came through the neighborhoods of Guntown and Saltillo Mississippi, they committed the usual theft and destruction of property. But they were particularly zealous to take all the slaves they could, presumably needing their labor. Rev. James Agnew wrote in his journal that “the Yankees shot two of Thomas Burris’ negroes down in the yard because they would not go with them.”

****Apparently, even “Father Abraham,” whose pursuit of victory in this war knew no boundaries or limits, was appalled by Union conscription methods:

“Southern Negroes 1861 – 1865,” By Bell Irvin Wiley, Page 310

“...Complaint is made to me that you are forcing Negroes into the military service, and even torturing them, riding them on rails and the like to extort their consent…The like must not be done…Answer me on this.” (Lincoln to a recruiting officer in Kentucky, February 1865)

****The Confederate army wasn’t the only army to use black men as servants and support personnel. Not all black men in Union armies were soldiers, but other than not having to worry about being shot at, their lot, insofar as treatment goes, wasn’t any better. I wonder if the Petersburg battlefield guide would call these men “freedom fighters?” Moreover, I wonder what these men would call the Petersburg battlefield park guide?

“A City Laid Waste,” William Gilmore Simms, Page 64

The negroes accompanying them were not numerous, and seemed almost to act as drudges and body servants. They groomed horses, waited, carried burden and in almost every instance under our eyes, appeared in a purely servile, and not a military, capacity. The men of the West treated them generally with scorn or indifference, sometimes harshly, and not unfrequently with blows. Most of those escaping from them since their departure – and they have been numerous, express themselves sufficiently satisfied with their brief taste of Yankee fraternity.

***Did the slaves really “rally ‘round the flag?” (the Union flag)... A few of them did of course, And a few of them rallied ‘round the “Stars and Bars” as well. My money says that most felt the way Maria Sutton Clemments did….

Clemments, Maria Sutton, Arkansas (The Slave Narratives)

I don't know that there was ever a thought made bout freedom till they was fightin. Said that was what it was about. That was a white mans war cept they stuck a few niggers in front ob the Yankee lines. And some ob the man carried off some man or boy to wait on him. He so used to bein waited on. I ain't takin sides wid neither one of dem I tell you.

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

On The Web:   http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/vallante-black-history-month20.phtml

Secession Day event held at Roy Moore's foundation

2/19/2010
PHILLIP RAWLS
The Associated Press        

(AP) — MONTGOMERY, Ala. - An event commemorating Alabama's secession from the United States in 1861 will be held Saturday in Montgomery at the Foundation for Moral Law, where Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore serves as president.

Speakers for Alabama Secession Day Commemoration include Franklin Sanders of West Point, Tenn., a board member of the League of the South, which supports another Southern secession. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the League of the South as a hate group and has been critical of Saturday's gathering.

Rich Hobson, executive director of the Foundation for Moral Law, said he agreed to let organizers use meeting space in the foundation's building in downtown Montgomery. Hobson said Moore was unavailable for comment, but that Moore knew nothing about the arrangements.

"While the Foundation for Moral Law owns the building, it is not involved in the meeting," Hobson said Thursday.

Others on Saturday's agenda include Rev. Chuck Baldwin of Pensacola, Fla., who was the Constitution Party's nominee for president in 2008. Baldwin has written that the leaders of the Confederacy were not racists and "the South was right in the War Between the States."

The event is being organized by Pat Godwin of Selma, who caused a stir in 2000 when she and others erected a statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest defended Selma in April 1865, but it was what he did later to help lead the Ku Klux Klan that caused protests over the statue.

"It's quite the hate fest going on at the foundation," said Heidi Beirich, director of research for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Godwin said the law center criticizes the event each year and doesn't understand its purpose. "This is a historical commemoration day," she said.

The Montgomery-based law center monitors hate groups, compiles statistics on hate crimes, and is home to a civil rights memorial.

The law center sued Moore after he used his position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court to erect a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building. A state court removed Moore from office in 2003 when he refused to abide by a federal court order to remove the monument.

Moore is now seeking the Republican nomination for governor in the primary June 1.

Godwin said organizers will take up donations Saturday and the money will be given to the foundation to cover the cost of using the meeting space.

Hobson said the meeting space is available for a variety of functions, ranging from weddings to causes.

Alabama's secession occurred on Jan. 11, 1861. The publicity for Secession Day Commemoration say it's being held in February to make it closer to the day that Jefferson Davis became the president of the Confederate States. Godwin said organizers have used the state Capitol for the previous eight events.

© 2010 Alabama Live LLC

On The Web:   http://www.al.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-107/1266608346254590.xml&storylist=alabamanews

 

Nearly at the 150 mark for the Confederacy and still debating the flag

We're fast approaching the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Confederacy and another battle is looming: Where does the celebration of Southern culture end and racism begin?

Getting a bit at that point is a column by The Post and Courier's Brian Hicks who reflects on the recent planting of a Confederate flag in a Berkeley County yard.

Three things are a safe bet: We'll have no answer come the December anniversary, the anniversary will be publicly celebrated, and there will be a lot of negative fuss directed at South Carolina about it wherever the flag is displayed.

On The Web:   http://charleston.thedigitel.com/arts-culture/nearly-150-mark-confederacy-and-still-debating-fla-19281-0220

 

Black History Month---The "Roots" Hoax
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
The Roots Hoax
 
Black writer Alex Haley (1921-1992) made a great deal of money from his 1976 book “Roots” and the television min-series that followed a year later.  The book purported to be the true story of Haley’s slave ancestors.  He followed a family oral tradition all the way back to Africa where he met a tribal wise man whose orals traditions matched Haley’s: Slave traders snatched distant ancestor Kunta Kinte and hauled him off to America. “Roots” goes on for 700 pages and six generations of black resistance to white oppression.
 
The book won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was issued as a Reader’s Digest condensed book.  It was published in 37 languages and has been used in courses at approximately 500 colleges.  There is even a cliff notes-like Novels For Students version for scholars in a hurry, and the book is still promoted as a true story.  In fact, early parts of the book are worse than invention; they are lifted straight out of a 1967 novel called “The African” by a white author, Harold Courlander. Courlander sued Haley or plagiarism in 1978, forced him to admit he had copied long passages, and collected $650,000 in damages. 
 
This, however, has done almost nothing to tarnish Haley’s reputation.  By the time of the suit, “Roots” was already a cultural icon and a source of pride for black Americans.  Judge Robert Ward, who presided over the plagiarism case, urged Courlander to keep quiet since the truth would be too great a blow to black pride.  The co-sponsor of the Annapolis “slavery walk” in September, 2004 was none other than the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, whose purpose is to “encourage greater study and awareness of African-American culture, history, archaeology and genealogy.” 
 
Source:
(From American Renaissance, November, 2004) 

Friends of the Black Man Up North
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
From New York in 1712 (an era when blacks were burned at the stake there) to Cincinnati in 1841, the worst race riots and murders of black persons were committed north of Mason and Dixon’s Line---not in the American South.  A pertinent question to ask today along with “why were Jim Crow laws found necessary,”  is why black persons (below) were to not reenter Cincinnati unless white persons agreed to be answerable for their conduct. 
 
Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
www.cfhi.net  

Friends of the Black Man Up North:
 
“There was an abolition mob in Cincinnati a fortnight before my arrival, and the excitement had hardly subsided then. Let it be remembered, Ohio is a non-slave State. Two boys were playing near the canal, and bothering a Negro man, who got into a passion and stabbed one of them with a knife. The Negro was apprehended; but the citizens were so indignant at the outrage that they determined to hunt the Negroes out of the town altogether. For this purpose, they met at Fifth Street Market, some thousands strong, with rifles and two fieldpieces, and marched in regular order to the district of the city where the Negroes principally resided.
 
The blacks were numerous, and rumor said they were to show fight. Many of them had arms. Some said they fired on the citizens, and others not. There was some firing; but I could not ascertain if any of the blacks were killed, the accounts were so various. The end of the matter was, that they hounded them out of the town, and not a Negro durst show his black face in the town for a week. Many of them fled to the authorities of the town for protection; and the jail-yard was crowded with the poor creatures who had fled for their lives.
 
An arrangement was immediately come to, between the authorities and the citizens; to the effect that no Negro should be allowed to live in the city who could not find a white man to become his security, and be answerable for his conduct. There were two days of mobbing. The second day they gutted an abolition establishment, and sunk the press in the middle of the Ohio River, where it now lies…”
 
(Lynch Law---North and South, William Thomson, The Leaven of Democracy, Clement Eaton, editor, Braziller Press, 1963, page 424)

 

John Brown
 
From: info-co@comcast.net
 
Dear Mr. Demastus,
 
Last October 16, the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid, and just a few days after the death of my dear friend, mentor, and publisher, I began an article that you might find interesting called "Dr. Edwin Elliott, John Brown, and The Christian Observer" - http://christianobserver.org/dr-edwin-elliott-john-brown-and-the-christian-observer/ .
 
As my publications work is voluntary and a ministry, I work for a living in computer support, and for the past almost-seven years, in Harpers Ferry, WV, where I witnessed first-hand some of the preparations and machinations regarding the 150th anniversary "celebration" of John Brown's cowardly doings, and the "spin" as seen through the clouded lens of 150 years of revisionist history and political correctness. The short article tries to put some of that into perspective.
 
Two other related Christian Observer articles covering the John Brown raid were republished on their 150th anniversary of first publication:
 
A Regular Abolition Conspiracy - http://christianobserver.org/a-regular-abolition-conspiracy/
 
Character of John Brown - http://christianobserver.org/character-of-john-brown/
 
My predecessor publisher, Amasa Converse, had been covering the demise of the American Republic for several decades before the war broke out, as he saw what the heresy of the New England Religion (Unitarianism) and the radical abolitionist mindset were doing to our nation.
 
Best Wishes,
-----
 
Bob Williams
Managing Editor, Christian Observer
http://christianobserver.org/
and Presbyterians Week
http://christianobserver.org/category/pw-news/

 

NAACP boycott is over, Ford says
 
The DAILY BUZZ | Overheard at the State House.
 
Charleston Sen. Robert Ford, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, declared the NAACP's tourism boycott of S.C. over.
 
The Buzz seriously doubts Ford has that authority.
 
But that did not stop the outspoken former civil rights advocate from making a decree from the Senate floor.
 
Ford cited an upcoming religious convention in Columbia, where 12,000 Methodists from three different branches of the church are meeting. The NAACP has not discouraged the meeting.
 
That, according to Ford, means the boycott is finished.
 
"The fact that these black (Methodist) churches will come here and spend millions of dollars simply means the NAACP's boycott is officially over," Ford said. "So we can invite the NCAA tournament back."
 
The civil rights group has discouraged tourism spending in this state so long as a version of the Confederate flag flies on State House grounds. The NCAA has complied, keeping playoff tournaments out of the state.
 
The State
http://www.thestate.com/2010/02/25/1173845/naacp-boycott-is-over-ford-says.html?storylink=omni_popular

 

John Brown's Raid and North Carolina
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
The request for arms on the part of Southern States prior to 1860 was the predictable result of abolitionists inciting murderous slave uprisings, and the bloodshed caused by John Brown and his many Northern conspirators. Had reasonable and peaceful solutions to African slavery been advanced by the slave-trading North instead, war might have been avoided.  North Carolinians were very reluctant to leave the Union of their Fathers, but Lincoln’s policy of war drove the State to form a more perfect union in the South.
 
Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
www.cfhi.net  

John Brown’s Raid and North Carolina:
 
“Scarcely had he [President James Buchanan] returned to Washington when John Brown made his raid on Harper’s Ferry. The story of the reaction of the North and the South toward Brown’s raid and his subsequent execution is too familiar to need repetition. The raid itself frightened the South, since no man could tell how far Brown’s conspiracy extended; but the South had no doubt of its ability to handle that phase of the problem.
 
What most alarmed and horrified the Southern people was the expression of Northern sentiment toward the criminal; and the extent to which the anti-slavery fanaticism might go was borne in upon Southerners by Emerson’s exclamation that Brown “has made the gallows as glorious as the cross.”
 
North Carolina, of course, fully shared the sentiments of her sister Southern States. There was a general demand for military preparations; new military companies were organized; and Governor Ellis requested the War Department to send and additional supply of arms to the Federal arsenal at Fayetteville. The political effects were equally as great. The [Raleigh] Standard declared that unless the South could be assured of protection in the Union it would have to “sunder the bonds,” and the Register echoed the sentiment. In December the Council of State resolved that, “If we cannot…enjoy repose and tranquility in the Union, we will be constrained, in justice to ourselves and our posterity, to establish new forms….[of union].”
 
(North Carolina, Rebuilding an Ancient Commonwealth, Vol. II,  R.D.W. Conner, American Historical Society, 1929, pp. 124-125)

 

From: HK Edgerton - hk.edgerton@gmail.com
Date: February 23, 2010

ABC News Affiiliate WLOS Channel 13 TV news Anchor Ms. Darcel Grimes in the City of Asheville, North Carolina, would report on the 11:00 PM news commentary that in a rural town in Southern Georgia, the Ku Klux Klan would gather and have on display the Confederate Flag. She would go on to say that the NAACP would hold a similar gathering across the street, and would issue a statement that there was no place for hatred in the year 2010.
 
Ironically because the National Sons of Confederate Veterans leadership had issued many condemnations to the Klan for using the Confederate Battle Flag or the Confederate Naval Jack at such gatherings, the Nnational leadership of the Klan had vowed that they neither needed to, or would use the Confederate Flag because they had their very own flag.
 
Had Ms. Grimes or ABC done their homework, they would have known that the flag on display was neither the Confederate Battle Flag or the Confederate Naval Jack, but the unofficial old Georgia State Flag. And it is also ironic that the NAACP would condemn hatred after not only the hate filled message issued by Julian Bond at their last National Convention about this Congressional Venerated Flag, but also the hate fill message in the resolution issued by the national body directed towards the Southern Cross.
 
Ms. Grimes and ABC News should issue issue an immediate retraction of the news report of February 22, 2010.
 
HK Edgerton
President
Southern Heritage 411
 
 

Confederate History and Heritage Month 2010
 
Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Chairman of the National and Georgia Division Confederate History and Heritage Month Committee of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
Email: cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net
 
Mike Crane, Co Chairman
Email: mikecrane@tds.net
 
Members: Billy Bearden, Jeff Davis, John Black, James King and Fred Wilhite
 
Dear Friends,
 
The following report for Confederate History Month 2010 has also been published in the Georgia Confederate newspaper of the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans—Mr. Tim Pilgrim, Editor. Go to link below and page 5. Take the time to read the entire January-February edition of the Georgia Confederate that includes the story and pictures from the 2010 Robert E. Lee Birthday Celebration in Milledgeville, Georgia. If you are not a member of the SCV, go to last page for subscription information for the print edition.
 
http://georgiaconfederate.org/gc/GeorgiaConfederate_2010_January.pdf
 
Please share the following letter and repost to everyone who loves and appreciates the proud history of our Southern-Confederate Grandfathers and Mothers and……
 
also share with the children who are our future leaders.
 
Permission is granted to place in publications.
 
In 2009, the Georgia General Assembly approved Senate Bill No. 27, signed by Governor Sonny Perdue, officially designating April permanently as Confederate History and Heritage Month. See proclamation at:
 
http://sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2009/04/text-of-georgia-confederate-history.html
 
On January 3, 2010, Governor Sonny Perdue signed an annual proclamation for Confederate History Month. See proclamation:
 
http://sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2010/01/georgia-governor-signs-confederate.html
 
Who will follow Georgia’s lead?
 
Save http://confederatehistorymonth.com and http://confederateheritagemonth.com
 
on your computer of favorite places. It is full speed ahead for Confederate History Month 2010. We ask for God’s guidance and will come together during the month of April in educating 50 million people or more the truth of the Confederate men and women of the Old South who stood for States Rights and freedom and gave us our wonderful Southern Heritage. They stood tall just like their ancestors who fought for American freedom and independence in 1776.
 
It is my great pleasure to serve National SCV Commander Charles McMichael and Georgia Division SCV Commander Jack Bridwell as Chairman of the 2010, Confederate History and Heritage Month committee for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.. I have asked the following to again serve on this our very important committee: Commander Jack Bridwell and Commander Chuck McMichael as advisors, Co-Chairman Mike Crane, Billy Bearden, Jeff Davis, John Black, James King and Fred Wilhite. Your committee needs your help and needs to hear from you all.

You are all appointed as Honorary Ambassadors of Good Will to promote Confederate History Month throughout the USA. Please spread the good news at SCV, UDC, American Legion, VFW, DAR, SAR and other Civic, Historical and Patriotic groups meetings.
 
Dear Ladies of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Daughters of the American Revolution and Order of Confederate Rose please help us get the good word out!
 
See a sample proclamation that you can use with minor word changes to send to your mayor, commissioner or governor at: http://confederateheritagemonth.com/heritage/sample.php
 
We have a new brochure and poster that you can be distributed to libraries, schools, etc. which will be posted soon.
 
Committee Member John Black is now taking orders for large and small orders of Confederate History Month stickers and you can call him for a price at: 1-800-942-2447 or email at: dixiedepot@gmail.com
 
We have already posted Confederate History Month minutes on CHHM page that you may use for newspaper, radio and TV, daily or weekly, tributes.
 
Shall we make our goal this year for 1,000 proclamations from city, county and governors—Nationwide? I have received word that Cobb County and Acworth will again honor us in March with a proclamation.
 
Please go to: http://confederateheritagemonth.com and sign up for updates. You can write me at: cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net or call 770 330 9792.
 
Let’s us all work to make April---Confederate History and Heritage Month a month to remember! With the favor and guidance of Almighty God, April will be a Dixie month to remember. Lest We Forget!
 

From: "Craig Maus" - csacommand@windstream.net
Date: February 24, 2010
To:   semmes11@csnavy.org
Subject: Its THEIR Government & THEIR System- it is NO longer OUR's!

Dear Compatriots,
 
Please note the date in which this communiqué was sent (below at bottom)- July 29, 2009.
Please note the questions that were being asked by the author.
I think they have only become MORE PROFOUND & DAMNING since!
 
Those questions equally mirror everything we Confederates have asked & asserted for years.
When the 'establishment' was painting us with their broad 'democratic' brush of demagoguery and attacking us incessantly, many across this nation accepted their rants because life, up to that point, had been good for most. As such, it was easier to dismiss us as loons & rednecks because 'looking the other way' had become common place & reticence was far easier than having to deal with reality & responsibility.
 
However, the 'piper' ultimately gets paid and usually quite handsomely once reality, responsibility & common sense are thrown to the wind & cast as 'old-time' values & referred to as  ' extraneous & superfluous values in a contemporary age' ,  by the same zealots who have masterminded this nations demise!
 
Now the stark reality of this 'contemporary age' of thinking is descending upon us all with a vengeance unlike anything ever before seen or witnessed in American History.  The calamity we have invited unto ourselves has been in play for many years, but the last 60 years, particularly, have done the most damage.
 
The Washington zealots, in collaboration & conjunction with their brothers on Wall Street were playing fast & loose with one another during this time period.  As a result, this nation along with every YOU & ME alike, were paying a hefty price for their economic & political recklessness...only most were unaware until it was entirely too late.  And with our financial strength being squandered away, so too was our future & independence.   Adding & further cloaking themselves from what was going on, they cleverly hid behind a fabric of social re-engineering often using that as a further means towards their nefarious ends.   Sadly, most were unaware and,  like any 'house' that is getting ransacked by any crook....you don't realize it until after the fact and after the damage and theft has occurred.
 
In so doing, they have corrupted the principles & politics' of this country while stripping it bare & reducing it to but an anemic vestige of its former self & greatness.
 
Now that the jig is up & for ALL to see, they remain, nevertheless, as resolute, defiant & arrogant as before, demanding still more from us in the face of complete & total failure & impending financial destruction.  Further, they have the temerity to suggest that 'their way' is still the only way!  As such, even now, they are posturing themselves to procreate even greater tributes from us in advanced taxation policies for their gargantuan failures of the past that they persist in pursuing for the future.   They will demand more of the same, coming from the same, in order to justify their transgressions & corruption through additional taxes & additional government controls!
 
You & I think of this as INSANITY but it is in fact, the hideous extension of their warped thinking & political orthodoxy !  It is, as I have said before, a culture of corruption, and WE have ALL become their sacrificial lambs.
( Perhaps some will now begin to understand what it is like to be a Confederate...knowing what it is like to see all that you fought for & represented, subsequently lied about & vilified by the same people who are now doing to their country what they did to ours longs ago through subterfuge and skullduggery...what YOU can expect to realize once YOU to have been conquered.Today's government is the resulting system from that which we predicted would come about & opposed LONG AGO. Perhaps YOU will finally begin to understand why we fought & what it was all about?)
 
Washington & Wall Street sold this country out LONG AGO as I have repeatedly stated!  I believe I said "Washington has had a 4-Sale sign on its front lawn for the longest time."  They are co-conspirators!  And now, to pay for THEIR collective political & economic demagoguery, we the people, will be taxed into oblivion in order to 'shore' up THEIR levy's!  However, even after the continued & further 'recklessness' is realized, there is NO assurances that anything they do will prevent or reverse the damage that has already been done!  But pay we will...the majority of the American people will underwrite Wall Street though additional bailouts and the socially oppressed, by Washington's definition, will get the rest while we are stripped of our liberty in the name of social expediency & necessary change!
 
Additionally, they would have you believe that a change within the current 2-party system this fall is going to make things right.  Really?
 
Washington is in need of a complete & total overhaul if we are to turn things around.... but such an overhaul would require a commitment & return to a Constitutional Republic and that, in this Confederate's humble opinion & experience, is NEVER going to happen.  Thus, YOU & YOURS, like ME & MINE, will only be realizing more of the same old from the same old (political-establishment) that has exhibited a penchant for BIGGER & BIGGER GOVERNMENT that uses US all as the bridgework over which they can continue to extract more & more of our money in the pursuit of THEIR Tower of Babylon.  They have so plagiarized this nation that any attempt to undo what they have done over these last 145 years would require nothing less than a Congress of Constitutional scholars adept in the definitive execution & understanding of EVERY LAW written and executed since the conclusion of the War Between the States.
 
Again, THEY would never allow this to happen not too mention the fact that our politicians have been educated & graduated from the same Federal school's whose mindset has been anything but 'conservative' or Constitutional.
 
Thus we are reminded of the many profound comments, comparisons & warnings written of & by Thomas Jefferson in which he described the nature & purpose of this government and the literal potholes to be aware of should our representatives select deviation of purpose rather than ascension of purpose.
 
In the end, it will be up to us, the people, to change that which others do not want changed.
 
Their culture of their corruption is far too gone.  They are embedded with too many Special Interest Groups and the vested interests they share far outweigh the conscripts of purpose as they relate to the People & sanctity of this once proud Republic! 
 
Someone once asked me 'how I would change things'?  My answer, among others, was this: pass a Federal Law that would eliminate Special Interests groups- PERIOD.  Follow that up with term limits and this Government would then be forced into acting as representatives instead of bought & paid for lackey's & corrupted politicians.
 
This of course THEY would never do because YOUR interest's and mine are NOT in THEIR interest's as mentioned.   It has all become a game of pretend.
 
Again, the damning differences between a Federated (Centralized) Government & that of a Confederated (Constitutional Republic) Government.
 
I believe they will continue to act recklessly, defiantly and arrogantly.  Obama and company are but the head of the pimple.  The 'infection' that pimple has created now threatens the welfare of the 'body' overall & goes much deeper than anyone ever expected.  To address that 'infection', and in order to save the 'body', will require (sooner or later) radical surgery if the 'patient' is to survive.
 
The RepublicRats have combined to destroy this country.  They have created THEIR government and THEIR system in THEIR image.  It has NOT been ours for some time.
 
Washington transformed us into the Socialist Democracy from the Republic we once were and, like ALL world civilization democracy's before us, we to are now FAILING & for the same, identical reasons-  chaos resulting from & borne out of the corruption and miss-use of public monies earmarked for special favours & for a multitude of Social, Special Interests.  The 'tail' folks has been wagging the dog for too long and where I come from, it was always intended to be the other way around.
 
You can colour or characterize some or all of these people as liberals or leftists in the contemporary but they are no less the same as their predecessors of many years ago- Red Republicans & Marxists.  NOT 20th century as most have been led to believe, but whose origin was created in the 19th century.   And in the end the result is always the same- FAILURE!
 
That is why the Founding Fathers were so EXACTING in their description & purpose of our Republic....and yet there are those today within government who would tell YOU that what the Founding Fathers wrote and meant is NOT what they MEANT!
 
Once more I can only suggest to any and all who desire & appreciate their Individual Liberty & Freedoms- WE MUST SEPARATE IF WE ARE TOO SURVIVE!
 
A dark and ominous Chaos is NO longer a prediction....it has arrived! 
 
The RepublicRats hold a-high two of the MOST lethal & devious men of their respective times who did more harm to this nation than any country or adversary ever hoped to- Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  They are the respective iconic persons (Republican & Democrat respectively) the RepublicRats offer us as their most prolific examples unto whom they wish this nation to aspire & emulate themselves of!
Those two men did more damage to this country and decidedly impacted its posture & political profile than any others.  Collectively, they were responsible for two horrific War's that caused the deaths of more than 1-million men combined.  Each War was a profile of the other and each dealt with the same, identical reason for its undertaking- MONEY & POWER.   Each equally, & upon their conclusions, FURTHER DISTANCED this country from its Constitutional basis & roots into the Socialist-Transformed Democracy of today.
 
Y'all must read your American History carefully and collectively to understand what has been afoot for more than 145 years. YOUR children & grandchildren are depending upon YOU.   Y'all hold THEIR lives in YOUR hands now and it is more than apparent that we Confederates were 'right on' from the start.  Remember, what can be said of a government that has repeatedly told you and your children that a War in which over 650,000 men died, was fought over & entirely on a single issue?   What War was ever fought over a single issue in which the cost of life was 650,000 men? NONE!  If YOU can employ nothing else other than this most obvious & damning question, then what was the Real Reasons for that War?  Equally, what can be said of the now-sitting government who would perpetuate such a lie?  In whose image & ideology would such a lie benefit?  Thus, once YOU have connected the Dots of History through self-education, will all that exists today begin to make sense to you?
 
As such and afterwards, y'all must ask this question- can ANYONE, realistically, ever hope to believe that either party can act in the best interest's of the People moving forward?
 
The party's over folk's and has been for the last 145 years.   Washington & the Goldman Sachs' alumni who run the US Treasury have filled their pocket books lock, stock & barrel and have left us & this Nation, penniless and broke in the 'bargain'.  And now, just as I commented in many of my earlier communiqués, our arch-enemy's, the Red Chinese & Mr. Putin's Communist Russians' are threatening to sell & drop the US dollar on the World Market that would collapse & deliver a death blow to this Nation- ALL THANKS to Washington's 'spending policies'.   How could our elected leaders risk exposing ourselves to our enemies....but then again, MONEY & POWER have served the minority well while draining the majority dry.....yes we told you so!
 
The RepublicRats make King George and his Royal Taxation policy's of over 250 years ago look amateurish compared to what they have done to this country and us.....her PEOPLE!
 
When the South Lost, So To Did This Entire Nation...but only We Knew it at the Time!
 
ALL Roads have Always Lead to 1865!
For God, Family and The Confederacy,
Craig Maus
president, The Confederate Society of America and Proud Member of The Confederate Alliance of Independent Organizations
Staunch Supporter's for the Restoration of the Legal Government of the South- The Confederate States of America!
www.deovindice.org
 
'When Government becomes Absolute- the People Must become Resolute'
 


From: Craig Maus
To: semmes11@csnavy.org
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Subject: Fw: History Unfolding.

Dear Compatriots,
 
Y'all are the captains of your tomorrow's.....into whose hands would you entrust yourselves - the Federal Government, or a restored Confederate Government?
Perhaps better asked, who would you rather trust your children & grandchildren with?
Once again, think hard & long before you answer.....
 
ALL Roads Lead to 1865!
Craig Maus
president, The Confederate Society of America and Proud Member of The Confederate Alliance of Independent Organizations
Staunch Supporters for the Restoration of the Legal Government of the South- The Confederate States of America!
www.deovindice.org
www.CSAGov.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: FW: A Must Read
Author Unknown.

A Must Read
     
WAKE UP AMERICA!

History Unfolding

I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?

We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the people, who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about)  the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth... It is potentially 1929 x ten... And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. (Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe are more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change.  Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.

This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.  And that is only the beginning.

As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the "savior" was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now.

And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did regularly. And then, he was duly elected to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course.

How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it with a compliant media did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and ... change. And the people surely got what they voted for.

If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books.

So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchillpointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lordsin England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to.

Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me

I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am. Perhaps the only hope is our vote in the next elections.
 

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On Feb 18, 2010, Jason Rice wrote:

I was very pleased to see your recent email add.  The female model looks to be Filipino (I may be wrong).  It pleased me very much.  The reason is this,...My wife is from the Philippines.  As my wife I taught her the truth of the south and what our southern ancestors believed and tried to preserve.  As a Christian woman she immediately found herself in agreement and has adopted the South as her home, and has taken up the southern cause as her own in defense of liberty and our culture.  She wears Dixie Outfitters clothing with pride!  Together we fly the Confederate Flag on our property.  She supported me in defending our heritage when The Harrison Arkansas Chamber of Commerce tried to ban our flag from festivals and ban the local Dixie Outfitters store from setting up a booth at local festivals.  It makes the point.  It is not about race, it is about culture, a system beliefs and liberty, of freedom, and our Anglo/Celtic heritage that any person from any region or country is welcome to embrace and recognize as a good and just system.  It is about our Christian heritage that all Christians should embrace.

Well done my friend!  Well done!

Your servant,

Jason Rice

*******************************************************************************************************

From: Dewey Barber - dewey@barberandcompany.com
Date: February 19, 2010
To: Jason Rice - ricefamily7181@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Recent email add.

Jason,

Thanks for your kind words.

We at Dixie Outfitters (and the great majority of Southerners) know that our Southern heritage is not about race, but is about a system of beliefs and a culture that is guided by the Christian faith.

Honestly, it really did not occur to me that the model was anyone other than a pretty young girl. In retrospect, that is the way it should be. Race should not be a factor or a consideration when it comes to our Southern heritage and I do not believe it is a consideration for most Southerners.

I believe Dixie Outfitters has been successful because we accurately portray the true beliefs of Southerners in regards to their culture. This particular email ad is just an example of their beliefs.

Best regards,
Dewey Barber
President, Dixie Outfitters

 

Dixie Outfitters Southern Heritage Stores

Corporate Headquarters:

Dixie Outfitters
204 Thomas Street
P O Box 220
Odum, Georgia 31555

Phone: (866) 916-5866
Fax: (912) 586-6989

Dixie Outfitters Southern Heritage Franchise Store Profile
Jacksonville, Florida

Owner: Kathy Cribbs
11043-16 Crystal Springs Rd
Jacksonville, Florida 32221
Phone: (904) 379-2096

Territory: Duval County, Florida (all that is West of Highway 17)

                Clay County, Florida

Dixie Outfitters Southern Heritage Franchise Store Profile
Walterboro, South Carolina

Owners: Tammy & William Unger, Jr.
1789 Hampton Street
Walterboro, South Carolina  29488
Phone: (843) 549-4301

Territory: Colleton County, SC (except for areas within a 20 mile radius of Summerville, South Carolina)

Join the Union Army and See the World! – err, well, sort of?! (Part 17) by Bill Vallante

Once again, contemporary historical wisdom has it that all of the slaves ran away to join the union army or to follow it. As one neo-abolitionist historian recently put it, “The Slaves set themselves free!!” Sounds like the kind of pie-in-the-sky melodrama you’d expect from a limosine liberal. In reading the Slave Narratives, I noted that over half of all accounts of union military service suggested ambivalence or involuntary service. It would appear that the popular myth of the USCT being an army of enthusiastic “freedom fighters” is only half-true, if that. Did the slaves overwhelmingly favor one side over the other? That’s hard to say. There were nearly 4 million slaves and no one took a poll. I suppose the safest thing to say is that they did not all behave, nor should they have been expected to behave, in exactly the same way. Let’s look at a few examples:

Henry Henderson, Oklahoma – (Captured Body Servant), (The Slave Narratives)

I use to be a fighting man and a strong Southern soldier, until the Yank's captured me and made me fight with them. I don't know what the year was, but there was some Southern Indians took in the same battle and they fought with the North too. There was whole regiments deserted from the South, but I was captured; never figured on running away from my own people. Some of the Cherokee Indians who fought with the North were Bob Crittenden, Zeke Proctor and Luke Six Killer. Luke's father was with the South and got killed; some of the folks said young Luke killed his own father in the war.

William H. Harrison, Arkansas – (Captured Body Servant), (The Slave Narratives)

The son was Gummal L. Harrison. I went with him to war. I was his servant in the battle-field till we fought at Gettysburg and Manassas Gap. Then I was captured at Bulls Gap and brought to Knoxville, Tennessee and made a soldier. I was in the War three and one half years…

..."I was with my young master till my capture. That was my part in freedom. I was forced to fight by the Yankees then in the Union army

Liney Chambers, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

What the Yankees didn't take they wasted and set fire to it. They set fire to the rail fences so the stock would get out all they didn't kill and take off. Both sides was mean. But it seemed like cause they was fightin' down here on the Souths ground it was the wurst here. Now that's just the way I sees it. They done one more thing too. They put any colored man in the front where he would get killed first and they stayed sorter behind in the back lines……

... When they come along they try to get the colored men to go with them and that's the way they got treated.

George Greene, Arkansas , (The Slave Narratives)

My father's name was Nathan Greene. I reckon he went by that name, I can't swear to it. I wasn't with him when he died. I was up in Mississippi on the Mississippi River and didn't get the news in time to get there till after he was dead. He was an old soldier. When the Yankees got down in Mississippi, they grabbed up every nigger that was able to fight.

Rebecca Brown Hill, Arkansas , (The Slave Narratives)

I had two brothers sent to Louisiana as refugees. The place they was sent to was taken by the Yankees and they was taken and the Yankees made soldiers out of them.

Elizabeth Hines, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

My father never told me what his master was to him, whether he was good or mean. He got free early because he was in the army. He didn't run away. The soldiers came and got him and carried him off and trained him.

Charlie Rigger, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"I recollect the soldiers come by in July 1863 or 1864 and back in Decamber. I heard talk so long 'fore they got there I knowed who they was. They took my oldest brother. He didn't want to go. We never heard from him. He never come back.

Ous Williams,- Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"I was born in Chatham County, Georgia--Savannah is de county seat. My marster's name was Jim Williams. Never seen my daddy cause de Yankees carried him away durin' de War, took him away to de North. Old marster was good to his slaves, I was told, but don't ricollect anything about em. Of course I was too young

Soldier Williams, - Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"I was sway to Louisville to j'ine the Yankees one day. I was seared to death all the time. They put us in front to shield themselves. They said they was fighting for us--for our freedom. Piles of them was killed. I got a flesh wound. I'm scarred up some. We got plenty to eat. I was in two or three hot battles. I wanted to quit but they would catch them and shoot them if they left.

Annie Little, Texas, (The Slave Narratives)

"Dem de good old days, but dey didn't last, for de war am over to sot de slaves free and old massa ask if we'll stay or go. My folks jes' stays till I's a growed gal and gits married and has a home of my own. Den my old man tell me how de Yankees stoled him from de fields. Dey some cavalry sojers and dey make him take care of de hosses. He's 'bout twict as old as me, and he say he was in de Bull Bun Battle. He's capture in one battle and run 'way and 'scape by de help of a Southern regiment and fin'ly come back to Mississip'.

Matilda Miller, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

Mamma said the Yankees told the Negroes when they got em freed they'd give em a mule and a farm or maybe a part of the plantation they'd been working on for their white folks. She thought they just told em that to make them dissatisfied and to get more of them 'to join up with em' and they were dressed in pretty blue clothes and had nice horses and that made lots of the Negro men go with them. None of em ever got anything but what their white folks give em, and just lots and lots of em never come back after the war cause the Yankees put them in front where the shooting was and they was killed

Maggie Snow And Charlie Snow, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"Papa said the Yankees made all the slaves fight they could run across. Some kept hid in the woods. Seem like from way he told bout it they wanted freedom but they didn't want to go to war.

William Sherman, Florida, (The Slave Narratives)

Many of the slaves were joining the Union army. Those slaves who joined were trained about two days and then sent to the front; due to lack of training they were soon killed

Martha Organ, North Carolina, (The Slave Narratives)

"I 'members 'specially what mammy said 'bout when de Mankees come. She said dat it was on a Thursday an' dat de ole master was sick in de bed an' had sent some slaves ter de mill wid grain. When dese men started back frum de mill de Yankees overtook 'em an' dey killed de oxes in de harness, cut off de quarters an' rid ten de house wid dat beef hangin' all over de horses. Dey throwed what dey ain't wanted away, but of course dey took de meal an' de grain.

"De ole master had hyard dat dem Yankees was comin' an' he had buried de silverware in a san' bar, but Lawd dem Yankees foun' hit jist lak it were on top o' de groun'. Dey stold eber' thing dat dey git dere han' s on, 'specially de meat frum de smoke house. Dey went down inter de cellar an' dey drunk up master's brandy an' dey got so drunk dat dey ain't got no sense atall. When dey left dey carried my bruther off wid 'em, an' nobody ever hyard frum him ag'in.

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Dem’ “Uppity”/“White Trash” Yankees (Part 16) by Bill Vallante

Once again, popular historical wisdom holds that all slaves welcomed the Yankees and that the Yankees, being of course an army of blue-coated warm and fuzzy types, responded with love and affection. Let’s go to the historical videotape and toss a few eggs at contemporary historical “wisdom”.

Amanda Mccray, Florida, (The Slave Narratives)

... She was a grownup during the Civil War when she was commandered by Union soldiers invading the country and employed as a cook. Her owner, one Redding Pamell, possessed a hundred or more slaves and was, according to her statement very kind to them.

Walter Legget, Texas, (The Slave Narratives)

Well now one thing I remember plain is the trashy, bad actin' yankees. They come in bunches down by the place and they are the most outlandish, triflin, smart-actin', slummerin' folks ever you see. I wouldn't vise nobody to have truck with 'em.

Rose Thomas, Texas, (The Slave Narratives)

"Our men all went to the war. Marster went and Ben, a fine colored man, went with him. They both came back, but marster was sick and didn't live very long and Uncle Ben seemed all at once like an old man…… ... "We never heard of no slaves being mistreated. We lived a lot better then than we have since, even if the government does give me a pension."…… …"Yes, the Yankee soldiers came around. At first they were just smart alecks in their fine blue suits with brass buttons, but later they stole things, horses and silver and the like.

William Watkins, Texas, (The Slave Narratives)

"Den de war come and de Yankees come down thick as leaves. Dey burns de big house and de slave houses and ev'ryting. Dey turns us loose. We ain't got no home nor nuthin' to eat, 'cause dey tells us we's free.

Mandy Leslie, Alabama, (The Slave Narratives)

Us live dar 'til I was grown woman, and Mr. Biles sho' was a good man to live wid and he treat us right every year…… .."Yassum, I 'members de war, but I don't lak no wars. Dey give folks trouble and dey's full of evil doings. When de Yankees come through here, dey took my mammy off in a wagon, and lef' me right side de road, and when she try to git out de wagon to fetch me, dey hit her on de head and she fell back in de wagon and didn't holler no more. Dey jes' drive off up de big road wid Mammy lying down in de wagon - she done been dead, 'cause I ain't never seed her no mo'.

Hannah Irwin, Alabama, (The Slave Narratives)

"Well, what about the Yankees?" he was asked. "Did you ever see any Yankees; and what did you think of the ones that came through your place? Were you glad that they set you free?"

"I suppose dem Yankees was all right in dere place," she continued, "but dey neber belong in de South. Why, Miss, one of 'em axe me what am dem white flowers in de fiel'? You'd think dat a gentnen wid all dem decorations on hisself woulda knowed a fiel' of cotton. An' as for dey a-settin' me free! Miss, us niggers on de Bennett place was free as soon as we was bawn. I always been free."

Everett Ingram, Alabama, (The Slave Narratives)

"De Yankees comed through de yard in May an' tol' us: 'You's free.' De Yankees wasn't so good. Dey hung my mammy up in de smokehouse by her thumbs; tips of her toes jest touchin' de floor, 'ca'se she wouldn't 'gree to give up her older chilluns. She never did, neither.

Hattie Clayton, Alabama, (The Slave Narratives)

Yankee raiders whipped a slave to get him to tell where the valuables were

Betty Curlett, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

Grandma Becky said when the Yankees came to Mrs. Moores house and to Judge Rieds place they demanded money but they told them they didn't have none. They stole and wasted all the food clothes; beds. Just tore up what they didn't carry with then and burned it in a pile. They tock two legs of the chickens and tore them apart and threw them down on the ground, leaving piles of them to waste

Sponcer Eornett, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

Old mistress cried more on one time. The Yankees starved out more black faces than white at their stealing. After that war it was hard for the slaves to have a shelter and enough eatin' that winter. They died in piles bout after that August I tole you bout. Joe Innes was our overseer when the house burned.

Rachel Fairley, Arkansas, (The Slave Narratives)

"When the Yanks came through, they took everything. Made the niggers all leave. My mother said they just came in droves, riding horses, killing everything, even the babies

Copyright © 2003-2010, GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org

On The Web:   http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/vallante-black-history-month16.phtml

 

So You've Been Told Secession Was Illegal--guess what? It wasn't!

By Al Benson Jr.

So you were told in your government school “history” class that Southern secession was illegal--that Jeff Davis and all those nasty Southern folks were really nothing but traitors to the glorious Union. You see the same thing in “news” articles and on the Internet. Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve heard many born and raised in the South parrot the same line. They should know better, but thanks to the benefits of a government school “education” they don’t have a clue.

Frank Conner, in his excellent book The South Under Siege 1830-2000 which I read back in 2003, dealt in some detail with the alleged treason of Jefferson Davis.  In referring to the leadership in the North he noted: “They believed the most logical means of justifying the North’s war would be to have the federal government convict Davis of treason against the United States. Such a conviction must presuppose that the Confederate States could not have seceded  from the Union;  so convicting Davis would validate the war and make it morally legitimate.” Interesting thought, if you are a Yankee with a Marxist mindset. However, in truth, nothing could validate the War of Northern Aggression in such a way as to give the North moral legitimacy.

Although the Northern leaders planned to seize the moral high ground with a trial for Davis, that prolific South-hater, Thaddeus Stevens, couldn’t keep his big mouth shut, and he was wont to let the cat out of the bag. Stevens’ rants against the South and her people had become legend, and Stevens, at his most charitable, said “The Southerners should be treated as a conquered alien enemy…This can be done without violence  to the established principles only on the theory that the Southern states were severed from the Union and were an independent government de facto and an alien enemy to be dealt with according to the laws of war…No reform can be effected in the Southern states if they have never left the Union…” And, although he did not plainly say it here, what Stevens really desired was that the Christian culture of the Old South be “reformed” into something compatible with his personal beliefs. Stevens would have made Robespierre look like a right-winger!  No matter how you cut the mustard, the feds tried to have it both ways--they claimed the South was “in rebellion” and had never left the Union, but then they claimed the South had to do certain things, pass certain amendments--in order to get back into the Union they had never been out of. Strange, is it not, that the “history” books never seem to pick up on this. But, then, they give us “all the history that fits” (the agenda).

At any rate, the Northern government prepared to try President Davis for treason while they had him in prison. Mr. Connor observed that: “The War Department presented its evidence for a treason trial against Davis to a famed jurist, Francis Lieber, for his analysis. Lieber pronounced ‘Davis will not be found guilty and we shall stand there completely beaten’.” According to Mr. Conner, U.S. Attorney General James Speed appointed a renowned attorney, John J. Clifford, as his chief prosecutor. Clifford, after studying the government’s evidence against Davis, withdrew from the case.  He said he had ‘grave doubts’ about it. Not to be outdone, Speed then appointed Richard Henry Dana, a prominent maritime lawyer, to the case. Mr. Dana also withdrew. He said basically, that as long as the North had won a military victory over the South, they should be satisfied with that. In other words--you won the war, boys, so don’t push your luck beyond that!

Conner also informed his readers that: “In 1866 President Johnson appointed a new U.S. attorney general, Henry Stanburg. But Stanburg wouldn’t touch the case either. Thus had spoken the North’s best and brightest jurists re the legitimacy of the War of Northern Aggression--even though the Jefferson Davis case offered blinding fame to the prosecutor who could prove that the South had seceded unconstitutionally.” None of these bright legal lights from Yankeedom would touch this case with a ten-foot pole. It’s not that they were all dumb, in fact, the reverse is true. These men had sense enough to know a dead horse when they saw it--and they were not about to climb aboard and attempt to ride it across the treacherous stream of illegal secession. They knew better. In fact, a Northerner from New York, Charles O’Connor, became the legal counsel for Davis--without charge! That, plus the celebrity jurists from the North that held their noses and walked away from the case, told the federal government that they, in reality, had no case against Davis or secession and that Davis was merely being held as a political prisoner. Most folks, even in the North, already knew that.

Author Richard Street, writing in The Civil War back in the 1950s, said exactly the same thing. Referring to Jeff Davis, Street wrote: “He was imprisoned after the war, was never brought to trial. The North didn’t dare give him a trial, knowing that a trial would establish that secession was not unconstitutional, that there had been no ‘rebellion’ and that the South had got a raw deal.” You can’t say it much more directly than that.

At one point, the federal government intimated that it would be willing to offer Davis a pardon, should he grovel a little and ask for one. Davis refused--to his credit.  He demanded that the government either give him a pardon or give him a trial.  Mr. Street said: “He died, unpardoned, by a government that was leery of giving him a public hearing.” If Davis was as guilty as they claimed--why no trial???

Had the federal government had any possible chance to convict Davis and therefore declare secession unconstitutional, they would have done so in a heartbeat.  The fact that they hemmed and hawed around for two years and finally released him without benefit of a trial that he wanted, proves that the North had no real case against secession. Over 600,000 boys, North and South, were killed or maimed so the North could fight a war of conquest and class struggle over something the South did for self-preservation, that was neither illegal or wrong. Yet the North claims the moral high ground because they, supposedly, “freed the slaves” when all they really did was to transfer ownership from private to federal hands. What a farce!

Content ©2010  Al Benson Jr

On The Web:   http://www.cakewalkblogs.com/antiestablishmenthistory/so-youve-been-told-secession-illegalguess-wasnt.aspx

Colonel Reb still enlists support, controversy as Ole Miss vote nears

By Linda A. Moore
Posted February 14, 2010

Thousands of University of Mississippi students have enrolled, matriculated and graduated without ever seeing an official mascot.

In 2003, Ole Miss officials retired Colonel Reb, its bearded Southern gentleman, leaving the school with no costumed character on the sidelines at athletic events.

However, a student vote on Feb. 23 could change that.

The only question on the ballot asks students to say yes or no to a student-led process to develop a new mascot.

Some students want another choice -- the return of Colonel Reb. Others say keep the Colonel in your heart and put a new mascot on the field.

"I feel that most students are supporters of Colonel Reb. We are the Ole Miss Rebels and Colonel Reb embodies that," said senior Hannah Loy, 22, leader of the Colonel Reb Foundation, established in 2003.

"We don't want a new mascot, we want our mascot back," Loy said.

That's not an option, said senior Peyton Beard, 22, director of athletics for the Associated Student Body student governing board.

It's a new mascot or none at all.

"Without a mascot we have nothing that can identify us," Beard said.

In a conference with an elephant, a war eagle and a commodore, Ole Miss is the only Southeastern Conference school without a mascot.

"We're not trying to take anything away from Colonel Reb. We want something that can be on the field and enhance the game-day environment," said Beard, president of the Cardinal Club, a student spirt organization.

Many decisions were made by previous administrations that won't be revisited and retiring Colonel Reb is one of them, said Chancellor Dan Jones.

"Most people associated with the university are interested in moving forward to an on-the-field mascot that will unify the entire Ole Miss community," Jones said.

Ole Miss opened with 80 students in 1848. Today, there are about 18,000 students system-wide, including about 14,000 on the Oxford campus. Colonel Reb first appeared in cartoon form in the 1930s and stepped onto the field as as a costumed mascot in 1979.

Meanwhile, with the vote looming, Loy said she was unable to send messages to her organization's Facebook group and she's suspicious as to why.

"The administration has used manipulations and deceptions in the past regarding this issue," she said. "We wouldn't be surprised if they used their power to contact Facebook directly on this matter. I wouldn't put it past them."

Officials with Facebook did not respond on Friday to a media inquiry. Jones denied Loy's accusation.

If students decide they want a new mascot, the administration will facilitate the process but not attempt to influence it, he said.

"We'll offer them advice, resources and support in any way that we can," Jones said.

2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.

On The Web:   http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/feb/14/colonel-reb-still-enlists-support-controversy-as/

Monday, February 15, 2010

Anti-SCV petition to President Obama

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/2010/02/2010-letter-to-president-obama.html

This petition to President Obama is circulating among the usual leftist circles, and is reportedly receiving numerous signatures. Here is what the petition demands:

... in addition to ending the practice of sending a Presidential wreath to the Confederate memorial in Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day, I ask you to revoke the SCV’s participation as a recognized charity in the Combined Federal Campaign, deny the SCV permission to host events for the United States Army, and prevent the SCV’s future involvement Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs in America’s high schools.

The sponsor of this petition, Ed Sebesta, is already on record of advocating that members of the SCV, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and League of the South be excluded from serving on juries.

Here's the web site of one of the signers of this petition:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/americanstudies/profile204558.html

On The Web:   http://www.dixienet.org/rebellion/2010/02/anti-scv-petition-to-president-obama.html
 

From: "Charleston Voice" - bilrum@knology.net
Date: February 17, 2010

As we've reported numerous times before, our enemies are real downright nasty rodents. An always successful strategy has been to smear and isolate leaders within their enemy groups. They're after Debra Medina for right now. Maybe Glenda Biecko's already gotten the word to get aboard or lose his job. Our enemy's audience will be those non-thinkers who form an  opinion from one-liners and sound bytes. It is not always easy to defend against these attacks.  This is why it's always DANGEROUS TO 'DEBATE' these radicals as the moderator is often with them. Stay off TV and radio. You won't win. Let them settle for some counterfeits. The truth will out. The Tea Party movement scares them to death because IT is FRAGMENTED, WITHOUT CHOREOGRAPHY, and SPONTANEOUS. The Tea Party's strength is COMMUNICATION without administration, or accomplishment without central LEADERSHIP.

Clinton Plotting Tea Party Counterattack

by Capitol Confidential

Last week, former President Clinton was rushed to the hospital in New York for an emergency heart operation. Medical experts said the procedure was “relatively routine” and predicted Clinton would make a full re