Dixie Heritage News – Fri, Mar 30, 2018
Opening Day – CUBS WIN!!!
Two men have both been found guilty of trespassing and vandalism and were sentenced to jail time for the removal of tarps from the Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson statues in Charlottesville.
Monday’s decision is the latest in the back-and-forth about the statues in Emancipation and Justice parks. The statues were covered with tarps in August by order of the City Manager and were respectfully removed numerous times by Christopher James and Brian Roland Lambert, both veterans, before the tarps were finally ordered to be removed in February by Judge Richard E. Moore.
Noting that it was all but never that he would assign jail time for misdemeanor charges, Judge Joseph Sirks said he was emphasizing “the importance of following the legal process and appealing city decisions through the courts.”
Referencing those who got off “Scott free” for demolishing a monument in North Carolina, the Virginia judge wanted to remedy that injustice by throwing the book at veterans wanting to protect and honor a similar statue. “We are in an age where someone takes action into their own hands and then everyone becomes a copycat,” Judge Sirks said as he delivered his decision. “That doesn’t work in a system of the law.”
So Christopher James Wayne of Richmond was found guilty of trespassing and destruction of property valued at less than $1,000 on Feb. 16 and of trespassing on Feb. 23. For all of the charges, Wayne was ordered to serve five months in jail. He also was ordered to pay $445, the cost of the tarp that he took down.
“I am appalled at the way people uphold justice and law here,” Wayne said in court Monday. He added that he was defending the statues as war monuments for the sake of fellow veterans.
Brian Roland Lambert of Charlottesville was found guilty of misdemeanor charges of destruction of property valued at less than $1,000 and trespassing on Nov. 5 and for destruction of property valued at less than $1,000 and trespassing on Jan. 9. Lambert was ordered to serve eight months in jail, with credit for good behavior.
Lambert said he would appeal the decision; he has until April 5 to do so. During the appeals process, Lambert and Wayne would not have to report to jail.
“We will take our punishment like men, unlike others that ask to drop charges and won’t accept responsibility for their actions,” Lambert said.
The court will hear a case about whether or not the City can actually remove the statues on April 11.
WILL THIS ONE GET OFF “SCOTT FREE” TOO?
A Houston man has admitted to a federal judge that he planned to bomb a Confederate statue last summer.
The Houston Chronicle reports Andrew C. E. Schneck pleaded guilty Tuesday to willfully attempting to maliciously damage or destroy property in violation of federal law. Sentencing is set for June 22. He faces five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The 26-year-old told the judge he was pleading guilty voluntarily. He told the judge he’d intended “to damage the statue significantly.” Schneck also told the judge he’s currently taking mood stabilizing medication.
We reported the incident back in August when a park ranger caught Schneck with two boxes containing explosive materials near the statue.
NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OFFICIALLY DECLARED WHITE SUPREMIST
Wendy Jacobs, the “white-guilted” Chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, gave her annual “State of the County” address on Monday night. In the very first paragraph she condemned her City and County for having a “history and the legacy of white supremacy.”
LEAGUE OF THE SOUTH BANNED FROM CITY
Members and leaders of the League of the South have been barred from coming to Charlottesville, Virginia in groups of two or more according to a consent decree signed by Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore on March 14 as a part of an ongoing suit filed by the city government, local businesses and neighborhood associations to prevent demonstrations by “alt-right” groups in the City of Charlottesville.
The decree specifically names the League of the South, its directors, officers, members and agents. League of the South chairman Michael Tubbs and Kentucky chapter chairman Spencer Borum are specifically named. As persons blocked from “returning to Charlottesville, Virginia” on threat of court-ordered punishment.
The lawsuit, filed by Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, was on behalf of local businesses. Charlottesville City Council voted in a special session last October to join the suit. Additionally, several so-called “white nationalist” individuals and organizations, including Unite the Right organizers Jason Kessler and Matthew Heimbach were named as defendants.
The League of the South did not respond to request for comment.
MITCH-FEST CONTINUES
Remember the scene in The Wizard of OZ when The Wizard admitted to the cowardly lion that he could not give him courage but that he could give him a “testimonial”?
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was chosen to receive the 2018 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his role in removing four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced Tuesday.
Landrieu will be honored at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on May 20. The award will be presented to him by the late president’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg.
IN WASHINGTON STATE
A Confederate Flag was cut down by vandals at a park in Ridgefield last week Thursday. The Flag was cut at Jefferson Davis Park, located on private property.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans told FOX 12 that there were at least three Confederate flags cut down after someone broke the flagpole locks. This incident makes it the third case of vandalism since August when activists claimed responsibility for covering two monuments at the site in tar and paint.
“This is part of history here, and our society right now is breaking down because a lack of history, where the culture is what formed our history,” Kevin Sparks a Clark County resident said. “I don’t understand it.”
In October, the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission voted to take the controversial Confederate monument off the historic registry. However, it was not taken down because the park is on private land.
A CAMPAIGN PROMISE
If elected as a State Senator (District 30 – North Texas) Representative Pat Fallon’s first order of business will be to propose a bill to protect Confederate war memorials.
Rep. Pat Fallon is expected to become the District 30 state senator after defeating incumbent Craig Estes in the March primary.
Fallon said he will file the Texas Historical Protection Act to protect all war memorials – including Confederate markers – in 2019 if he wins the Nov. 6 General Election.
Fallon’s Democratic opponent, Kevin G. Lopez of Bridgeport, is running on a promise to seek the removal of Confederate monuments.
LAWSUIT CONTINUES
A petition was filed by the Shreveport chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in federal court Tuesday, March 27.
The United Daughters, which sued the Caddo Parish Commission after the body voted Oct. 19 to remove a Confederate statue, said in a court filing that the commission violated the nonprofit’s first, fifth and 14th amendment rights.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Mark Hornsby ruled that four Caddo Parish commissioners did not have to submit to depositions in the case. The four commissioners, all of whom voted for removal, had argued that they were legally immune from having to provide sworn testimony.
Parish Attorney Donna Fraizer did not provide a comment. The United Daughters attorney, Dick Knadler, did not return a call requesting a comment.
In its latest filing, the United Daughters seeks the following:
A written apology from the commission to the United Daughters and all U.S. war veterans if the monument is moved.
A trial by jury.
Preliminary and permanent injunctions preventing the commission, parish employees and/or their agents from enforcing the commission’s decision to remove the monument.
A declaratory judgment that the land under the monument belongs to the United Daughters and that the commission cannot remove the monument.
Alternatively, a declaratory judgment that the commission breached a contract by failing to legally convey that the United Daughters owned the land once the organization erected the monument.
A court order that, if the monument is moved, the parish commission must conduct scientific studies, purchase insurance for the replacement value, secure terrorism insurance and find a suitable location for the monument.
It is unlikely the United Daughters will have its case heard by a jury. The judge overseeing the case must rule on the request.
The United Daughters argues, among other things, that removal of the monument would cause potentially permanent damage. The monument has numerous microfractures and its value is estimated at $1 million, the organization states in its court filing.
In January, U.S. District Judge Robert G. James ruled against the United Daughters’ request for a preliminary injunction. He wrote that the group faced an “uphill battle” in proving that it owns the land at the Caddo Parish Courthouse on which the monument sits.
The trial is scheduled for June 25.
NO MEDIATION DEAL
In Memphis, the Confederate statues have been gone for more than three months. Lee Millar with the SCV says “Oh, we’re in it for the long haul. I’m tired of the city’s attitude of tearing down history every chance they get, but we are in it for the long haul. The city is wrong, and we are going after them.”
The city of Memphis and its lawyers aren’t talking. As far as they’re concerned, when the parks and statues were sold last December, that ended their involvement in the whole controversy. But a judge ordered mediation; a meeting between the city, Memphis Greenspace, the group that bought the parks and statues, and Sons of Confederate Veterans. They met one time. No agreements were reached, and no future mediation has been scheduled.
Lee Millar says his group had an idea, a way to not keep the statues but not take away from the Doctor King 50th anniversary events. “We agreed,” he said, “… that they (the statues) would stay down during the MLK 50 celebrations. Everybody in the city can celebrate that MLK week, and then the statues can go back up afterwards. But the city refused to consider it.”
If there is no compromise on the horizon, and Millar says there isn’t, then it is time to see a judge. “We still have two court cases against the city and Greenspace, and we’re just waiting on court dates now,” he said.
SOME GOOD NEWS THAT WE MISSED
Tombstone, Arizona was formed 13 years after the WBTS ended. On March 10th of this year, the City Fathers opened its streets to a parade of Confederate Flags.
Despite the controversy this parade posed, Tombstone officials unanimously approved the parade.
“It was brought before the council, and under the First Amendment, we couldn’t refuse them,” said Dusty Escapule, mayor of Tombstone. “And to be honest, there are a lot of people that fly the Confederate Flag in Tombstone. I feel like it’s their First Amendment right to display the Flag if that’s what they want to do. I personally wouldn’t display the Flag. I wouldn’t do a lot of things these people do neither. It doesn’t make it right or wrong.”
“We’re not racists, and we’re not a Confederate city,” Escapule said. “We’re just an American city that recognizes and honors the First and Second Amendments.”
PAM STEELE WRITES:
Regarding the Confederate Monument in Tampa, recently relocated to Brandon:
The whole area of the cemetery is absolutely beautiful! Landscaping, lighting and fencing make it look like a park.
It is highly visible on the main street where more people can see it than where it was before. The main thing is that is will be protected. The “black” sports teams (Tony Dungy) and other liberal scallywags did not put forth the dollars to move it due to heritage issues, but for pure hate, a blight to Tampa Bay. Little do they know that the monument looks better than it ever did and the park-like setting is unbeatable. Thank you Tony Dungy!
FREE AFTER 23 YEARS
When the White Sox open their 2018 home schedule April 5 against the Tigers, Nevest Coleman, the team’s newest grounds crew member, might be the only person rooting for rain.
“I hope it does rain so I can run on the field and put the tarp out,” a laughing Coleman told MLB.com by phone on Monday. “I can go on the field, get soaking wet and cover the field up.”
Coleman certainly could be excused for his bad weather wish. Monday marked the 49-year-old’s first day back at work after being wrongly incarcerated for 23 years based on being convicted for first-degree murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Prior to the alleged crime, Coleman was a hard-working part of the grounds crew at then Comiskey Park. His goal was to rejoin this same crew shortly after DNA evidence exonerated him and led to his release on Dec. 1, 2017, thanks to the Innocence Project, a program that uses modern DNA testing to clear those wrongly convicted. He interviewed with his old friend, Jerry Powe, who is now Coleman’s supervisor and who also was waiting to greet him at 7 a.m. CT on Monday.
“He’s got the qualifications,” said Powe, who was joined by Harry Smith, another grounds crew member. They are the only two left from when Coleman first worked for the White Sox. “He had them then. He still has them now.”
The White Sox did not publicize Coleman’s return, but camera crews were lined up when he arrived. While the first day could be considered a bit overwhelming, Coleman is simply excited to get back to the job he truly desired. That job involves power washing, working with the tarp when needed and anything else they want from Coleman.
“They didn’t have to hire me back,” Coleman said. “I appreciate the White Sox giving me the opportunity to come back to work.
“It was amazing just to see Jerry and Harry standing there to greet me when I came in. Just to see them outside waiting on me, it was a great feeling. To walk around on the field to see how the field is, everything is different in 23 years. It’s totally different.”
How is it different? Well, the high definition video boards weren’t in the outfield and neither was the signage, as Coleman explained. He also was amazed by the heightened security.
“Back then, I just came in Gate 4 and went right in the door. That was it,” said Coleman with a laugh. “There are a lot of security gates you have to go through nowadays.”
NON-HERITAGE NEWS EFFECTING THE SOUTHLAND:
Israel on Wednesday formally acknowledged what everyone already knew – that its air force destroyed Syria’s nuclear reactor on September 6, 2007.
For over 10 years, Israeli officials have merely “winked” when asked about the operation. Now that it’s official, the IDF is calling the covert bombing operation deep inside Syrian territory a warning shot for other enemies.
“The message of the attack on the reactor in 2007 is that Israel will not accept the construction of a capability that threatens the existence of the State of Israel. That was the message in ’81. That was the message in 2007. And that is the message to our enemies for the future,” said IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.
Both Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz more directly suggested that if Iran continues to seek nuclear weapons, it’s next.
“Our enemies’ motivation has increased in recent years, but so has the might of the IDF… This equation should be understood by anyone in the Middle East,” said Liberman.
Katz tweeted that “the courageous decision of the Israeli government almost 11 years ago to destroy the nuclear reactor in Syria and the successful operation following it sends a clear message: Israel will never allow countries like Iran who threaten its existence to have nuclear weapons.”
Red Flag Laws Mean Red Flag Rising
by Dr. Chuck Baldwin
Dr. Charles Obadiah Baldwin is an American politician, radio host, and was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
It took the State of Florida all of one week after a Republican house, senate, and governor passed one of the most draconian gun control bills in U.S. history to begin implementing the so-called red flag portion of the law that allows law enforcement officers to confiscate the firearms of any individual “suspected” of suffering from mental illness. The 56-year-old man was given no trial and no due process. The gentleman had committed no crime, no act of violence-not even the threat of violence. The State said the man MIGHT be crazy, so they confiscated his guns. Of course, all we have is the government’s version (and that of their lackeys in the mainstream media) of the man’s behavior that they say warrants his guns being confiscated.
As I have previously reported in this column, Washington State, Oregon, Indiana, California, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (the governor of Rhode Island issued a “red flag” executive order) are doing the same thing Florida did, as is Illinois, where a “red flag” law has already passed the Democrat-controlled State House of Representatives and Senate. And the Republican governor is sure to sign it into law.
In addition to the above 8 states, 22 other states have “red flag” laws pending-as does the federal government.
Folks, this is a HUGE step on the slippery slope toward totalitarianism. Allowing the government to decide who is mentally unfit to own a firearm without due process is patently Stalinesque.
Really? We are going to let the government tell us who is crazy?
Politicians and government officials are already on record as saying that people who believe in the New World Order or the Second Coming of Jesus Christ are mentally ill. Police agencies in the State of Missouri (and other states too-Missouri just got caught) are on record as saying if you oppose the Federal Reserve, the United Nations, the North American Union, abortion-on-demand, illegal immigration, etc., you might be a “dangerous extremist” and other such labels of mental instability. Christians, conservatives, and constitutionalists are often labeled as crazy by various people in government. Some even say that ANYONE who simply owns a gun is mentally ill.
Face it: In the states that pass these “red flag” laws, police can confiscate the guns of anyone they want. Period. Constitutional due process is absolutely dead in those states. And if the federal government passes a national version of a “red flag” law, constitutional due process is dead in America.
The former Soviet Union was famous for declaring people who opposed Stalin’s brutal dictatorship as being mentally ill, and, on that pretense, had them sent to prison or forced labor camps. Communist Chinese officials under Mao Tse-tung did the same thing. In fact, the communists in China STILL use this tactic today to help squelch public dissent. The passage of “red flag” laws in the United States means the Red flag is rising in America.
Imagine, too, the can of worms this opens up. Angry ex-wives (or ex-husbands) give false testimony about the “Ex” acting weirdly with a gun or other charges of mental instability. Bam. Guns confiscated. Anti-gun liberals see a lawfully armed citizen in public and call authorities, accusing the armed citizen of acting crazily. Bam. Guns confiscated. Neighbors accuse someone they don’t like in the neighborhood of acting in an unstable manner. Bam. Guns confiscated. Someone doesn’t like a person praising Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson or founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Bam. Guns confiscated. Or even someone who is contemplating doing harm against a person they know to be armed accuses the intended victim of behaving irrationally. Bam. Guns confiscated-and an innocent citizen made defenseless.
You don’t believe that will happen? Talk to the tens of thousands of American citizens who have already lost their right to keep and bear arms over an accusation of some form of domestic abuse. Oftentimes, the accusation ALONE is all it takes for a person to have his or her guns confiscated by authorities. Talk to the 260,000+ U.S. military veterans who have lost their right to keep and bear arms over accusations of having PTSD.
Florida’s “red flag” law also includes a section that is absolutely monstrous. Here is the section verbatim:
Training opportunities in Mental Health First Aid or other similar nationally recognized evidence-based training programs for all school personnel who have contact with students. The training MUST [emphasis added] cover risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for providing assistance to individuals in both crisis and non crisis situations, and the use of referral mechanisms that effectively link individuals to appropriate treatment and intervention services in the school and in the community. Topics covered should include depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, psychosis, substance use disorders, and suicide prevention.
(Florida Statutes, Section 1006.05 – Mental health assistance allocation specifications (1) (b) 2)
What this means, folks, is that teachers-and “all school personnel”-in Florida will be given “training programs” (i.e., “crash courses”) on how to monitor every child in the public school system for “mental health” issues such as depression, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, psychosis, etc. These kids will then be referred to mental health agencies for required continued evaluation. Mark it down: The kids that wind up in these referral programs will NEVER be allowed to purchase a firearm when they grow up. They will be stigmatized as having mental health problems as a matter of their official school record and will be adjudicated as being unqualified to own a gun. Yes, just like in Communist Russia or Nazi Germany, school teachers will become spies for the state with the power to ruin a kid’s life forever over whatever perceived “mental health” issues they determine the kid suffers from.
Can you imagine where this is going? Come on! We are talking about kids here. Depression? I got depressed every time I had to take a test that I hadn’t prepared for. Mood disorders? I could go from happy to sad or vice versa depending on the subject of the class I was about to walk into. Anxiety? Are you kidding me? My football and wrestling coaches made sure I stayed anxious. Psychosis? Psychosis can include hang-ups, phobias, or obsessions.
Obsession? There was a little blonde girl in my fifth grade class that I was absolutely obsessed with. Phobia? Yeah. I had a fear of feeling the edge of the ruler on the back of my hand (that would be called child abuse now) for my misbehavior from my fourth grade teacher. Hang-ups? Are you kidding? I was hung-up on a ton of stuff in school, including trying to figure out how to arrange my desk in such a way that the teacher couldn’t tell that I was sleeping.
Thousands of normal kids will be thrown into a government system that will forever brand them as having a mental disorder, with all of the educational and vocational ramifications that will result-not to mention the lifelong denial of his or her Natural, constitutional right of self-defense-by control freak, big-government, liberal school teachers (how many public school teachers do you know that are NOT liberal?) out to save the world by using the new-found power of these Orwellian “red flag” laws that augment the power of the state over people’s lives. Plus, think of all of the drugs these kids will be forced to take.
I will say it straight out: These “red flag” laws are CRIMINAL, and any State or federal legislature that passes them are CRIMINALS.
Again, these “red flag” laws allow police officers to confiscate the guns of any citizen who is merely “suspected” of having a mental health issue, without the individual committing any crime or even threatening to commit a crime. Such was the case in Florida-and in the State of Washington that I previously reported on. These fellows had their guns confiscated WITHOUT DUE PROCESS.
The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution says: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution, Section 1., states:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Authorizing police agencies to deny someone their Natural and constitutional right to keep and bear arms on the basis of “suspected” mental illness and NOTHING else-no crime committed, no act of violence, no threats of violence, etc.-violates everything the Bill of Rights protects. Such action is the mark of a communist-style Police State in the making. I’m telling you, folks, these “red flag” laws are going to create much more violence than they are pretending to prevent. Government gun confiscation will only be tolerated so far. With the propensity of government and police to overreact and presume a person guilty until proven innocent, thousands of law-abiding Americans in the near future are going to begin being subjected to these tyrannical tactics-and they WILL begin fighting back.
Furthermore, mentally ill people are still American citizens and, as such, have the same constitutional rights as anyone else. There are ways to respect lawful due process in making these determinations by relying on genuine medical professionals using thorough scientific investigative analysis. To turn the process of taking away constitutional liberties over to Police State tactics that rely on the testimony of untrained (or half-trained), second-hand, and often vindictive people is the mark of a totalitarian state-NOT a constitutional republic.
Disingenuous politicians, both Republican and Democrat, who pass these Orwellian backdoor gun control laws (which is exactly what “red flag” laws are all about) are only using Marxist-style incrementalism to further destroy the Second Amendment-along with the rest of our Constitution. If our civil magistrates (local, State, and federal) were truly serious about preventing mass shootings, there is one simple way to do it: ELIMINATE GUN-FREE ZONES. Anything short of that is nothing but self-serving, big government politicians creating more laws to make it easier for government police agencies to take away our constitutional liberties.
In a free country, liberty is more important than safety. In an enslaved country, safety is more important than liberty. Benjamin Franklin rightly said, “They that would give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Amen!
Any government demanding that citizens surrender their Natural and constitutional right to keep and bear arms (or any other Natural, constitutional right) without due process, without any crime being committed, or without any act of violence or any threat of violence being made is a government that is waging war on liberty.
Rightly are these tyrannical laws called “red flag” laws, because that is exactly what they are.
Jayhawker History School Books Forgot to Mention
by Al Benson, Jr.
Al Benson, Jr., is the editor and publisher of the Copperhead Chronicle. Benson has contributed to Southern Patriot and the Sierra Times. He maintains a Web site and blog.
I’ve found it interesting, over the years, as I have perused the internet out of curiosity to see what sites it might contain that deal with Yankee/Marxist atrocities in Missouri before and during the War of Northern Aggression, the first sites that usually pop up in search engines mostly seem to deal with Lawrence, Kansas.
Could you say there was Yankee/Marxist bias on the internet? Heavens to Abigail-who would ever have thunk it??? It seems that if you are going to discover what mayhem the Yankees committed in Missouri during and before the War, you are first going to have a bit of indoctrination as to what Quantrill is supposed to have done in Lawrence, Kansas in August of 1863.
The accounts of what happened in Lawrence vary in intensity, depending on which Yankee source is passing them along. This is not surprising. On a trip through Kansas several years ago, I chanced to run into a woman who was some sort of local “historian” (hysterian might be a more appropriate word). The minute I mentioned history she opened up with a barrage about the virtues of terrorist John Brown, ignored the excesses of Jennison’s Jayhawkers, and then proceeded to inform me that people like Jeb Stuart were nothing but terrorists! Our discussion ceased shortly after that and I was more than glad to let her go her abolitionist way. Unfortunately, this seemed, at that time, to be rather typical of eastern Kansas. Friendly territory if you didn’t deify John Brown it was not. So why should the internet be any different?
James D. Horan, in his book Desperate Men announced of Quantrill’s men that they “…sacked Lawrence, Kansas on August 13, 1863, killing one hundred and forty men, women and children.” Although Mr. Horan may not realize it, the part about Quantrill’s men killing women and children is the grist from which cow chips are made, and as such, it belongs out in the cow pasture with the rest of the bovine fertilizer. However, Horan does tell us that Quantrill’s men burned 185 buildings and five stores. In the movie Ride With the Devil, which is amazingly accurate in many areas, the first building Quantrill’s men are shown burning down is the local government school seminary. Maybe the movie’s director, Ang Lee, who is from Taiwan, knew something about out history that most Americans don’t, and that might be why the movie was yanked from theaters after only about a three week run, never to appear again except in video form-and you couldn’t get them everywhere.
So, should you decide to hunt and peck around on the internet, you can learn an awful not about what happened in Lawrence, Kansas. This raid, battle, or whatever you choose to label it is one thing mentioned in most “history” books dealing with the War. However, these same “history” books (and I use that term loosely) almost never mention Osceola, Missouri. In fact, most folks have probably never heard of that town unless they lived in close proximity to its location. It’s one of those supposed-to-be-forgotten places the Yankee/Marxists hope you never hear much about. Although the “history” books continue to give you grim accounts of all that supposedly happened in Lawrence, they will almost totally ignore what took place in Osceola, Missouri almost two years previous to Lawrence.
On September 23, 1861, Osceola, Missouri was attacked by Senator James H. Lane and his infamous “Lane’s Brigade.” This “brigade” was made up of Kansas cavalry and infantry, and was, according to one source, “…a ruthless band of Jayhawkers (plundering marauders) wearing United States uniforms. James H. Lane was known as the’Grim Chieftain’ for the death and destruction he brought on the people of Missouri.”
With Senator Lane, according to Paul Petersen, in Quantrill of Missouri, was the Fourth Kansas Jayhawker regiment and the Third Kansas Jayhawker regiment, the latter under the command of that plundering abolitionist preacher, “Colonel” James Montgomery. Although there were no Confederate soldiers anywhere near the town, and hence the town, as such, was no military threat, some of the local residents had the temerity to fire at the Union “soldiers” so Lane ordered the town to be shelled. After the town had pretty much been reduced to a mass of broken lumber and bricks, nine local citizens were led to the town square, where they were given a “trial” by a Kangaroo Court of Jayhawkers, and they were then summarily shot. Petersen informed us that: “Banks were an easy target for the Jayhawkers, but the Osceola bank had prudently shipped its funds elsewhere.
When Lane found little currency in the bank, he ordered the stores, warehouses and homes ransacked. His men loaded the loot into government wagons and any other vehicles they could confiscate. Among Lane’s personal haul were a number of pianos for his home in Lawrence.” Just the spoils of war, folks. No doubt those Missouri pianos would have given aid and comfort to any passing Confederates and so they had to be removed!
Then, in a typical Yankee/Marxist humanitarian gesture, Lane set what remained of the town on fire. Of the 800 building in town, only three are reported to have escaped the flames, and no consideration was given to the political leanings of any of the homeowners. Yankee or Secesh; if you had a home in Osceola, it got torched! One might wonder why Quantrill’s men, who supposedly burned 185 buildings in Lawrence, were given so much coverage while Lane’s men, who burned nearly 800 in Osceola, got almost none. You don’t suppose there was some historical bias involved here do you.
The loot these legalized thieves made off with from Osceola included over 300 horses, 400 head of cattle, and 200 kidnapped slaves, along with many sacks of flour, sugar, salt, and coffee. Petersen reported that: “Eyewitnesses noted that the plunder train of 150 wagons was at least a mile long. Property losses were estimated at more than a million dollars.” You have to understand, though, that all this is okay. As long as you are garbed in your new Yankee uniform it’s perfectly alright to rob, pillage, and rape (as Sherman’s men did in Georgia). It only becomes wrong when those nasty “racists” in the dirty gray uniforms do it.
Sound like a double standard? Of course, but how can you operate any other way when you have “racists” and various other “deplorables” to deal with and your mindset is avowedly Marxist? I mean, after all, what can people expect?
An interesting little sidelight to this horrific affair was the 200 “freed slaves.”
Petersen has informed us that they “…were taken into Kansas and assigned to work in the fields. Their pay was anything they could steal and carry away from their former owners…” Such a deal! I’ll bet those Kansas farmers just loved to have those “freed” slaves working in their fields and it was even reported later that Senator Lane wanted payment from the farmers for providing them. If I didn’t know better I’d think that almost makes Jim Lane sound like some sort of slave trader! If one were not convinced of the utter truth, virtue and nobility of the Yankee cause such information might make him tend to think that Lane sounded slightly hypocritical. But you have to remember, Lane was a 19th century cultural Marxist and so the double standard is perfectly alright so long as his agenda is served.
You might even, should you have a suspicious mind, as I have been accused of having, be tempted to ask the question-when is slavery not slavery? The answer to that question is-when it is practiced in Kansas by abolitionists instead of in Missouri by ordinary farmers. But having been exposed to a certain amount of political correctness in our day you all how that drill goes-“War is peace; Less is more,” and so forth.
And to top off a grand day for the Jayhawkers, just before Lane’s brigade left town, most of them got roaring drunk! But again, you have to realize, that’s okay-the Yankee uniform excuses anything-you know: “His truth is marching on” and all that! So should you be tempted to wonder, there were ample reasons for the raid on Lawrence. It was not just a random act of Southern terrorism as has been suggested. And we might well ask the question-if Lawrence was terrorism, then what, pray tell, was Osceola??? Answers anyone? I didn’t think so!
1865-1877 – Plundering the South!
by Mike Scruggs
Mike Scruggs is a retired combat pilot and a Vietnam War veteran. He is also a retired stock broker. Currently he writes as a columnist for the Tribune newspapers.
A very stringent anti-Klan law was passed by the North Carolina legislature under the direction of Governor William Holden in January of 1870. This was in response to Radical Republican leadership in Washington. True to Washington Radical Republican despotism, it gave the Governor power to declare counties in a state of insurrection and supersede practically all laws and Constitutional rights in its prosecution. Despite a vigorous attempt to enforce the law, Klan activity increased and a top black activist and leader of the League in Alamance County was found hanging in a tree. Shortly thereafter, Senator John Stephens, a ranking white operative for Governor Holden, seeking evidence for Klan prosecutions, visited a Caswell County Union League meeting. There he handed to each of about twenty members a box of matches with the suggestion that they should be put to good use burning barns. Barns were especially important to Southern farmers. Without a barn a familys livelihood was severely threatened. The next night seven barns, a row of houses, and the tobacco crops of several prominent citizens were burned.
A few days later Senator Stephens attended a rally at the Yanceyville Courthouse for the purpose of making notes on the speeches. He was quietly abducted, gagged, and brutally murdered in one of the Courthouse rooms with an open window to the crowd outside. His body was not discovered until two days later. It was not proven until 1936 that it was a well organized assassination by the KKK. The gruesome mystery and death of Stephens prompted Governor Holden and his advisors to launch a military campaign against the KKK in June. They hoped this would also be a political positive in the coming August elections.
Holden called upon the largely black Union League militia regiments in eastern North Carolina and the white veterans of Union Colonel George W. Kirks notorious bushwhackers from the mountains to score a decisive victory. Kirk was to be in charge. Kirk was a Confederate deserter who had been made a colonel in the Union Army during the war. During the war Kirk had commanded a combined force of Union Army regulars, Confederate deserters, and opportunistic criminals. A good size book could be written on the depredations and atrocities Kirk and his men inflicted on civilians in western North Carolina during the war. According to a report by a Union officer stationed in Yanceyville, Kirk lived up to his evil reputation in the service of Governor Holden. Kirks troops were an armed mob roaming the country, pillaging at will, insulting citizens with impunity, and even threatening to attack the United States troops. Many KKK suspects were arrested and imprisoned.
However, on August 4 of 1870 the elections in North Carolina took place. Despite their despotic tactics and corrupt leverages, the Republicans were very nearly routed. More than two-thirds of the legislative seats went to the Democrats. A growing number of whites had been able to register, and many blacks and even Union Army men had found the carpetbag corruption and tyranny so despicable that they voted for the Democrats. On August 6, U. S. District Court Judge George Brooks found that Kirk had no evidence against any of his prisoners and ordered their release. Thus ended the Kirk-Holden War. Kirk fled north, and within a few months Governor Holden was impeached by the North Carolina House for abuse of power, tried by the Senate and removed from office. Within a year the Union League in North Carolina was disbanded and disappeared.
Former Confederate General John B. Gordon testified in 1871 to the Joint Congressional Committee on Affairs in the Insurrectionary States that:
The first and main reason (for the Klan) was the organization of the Union League.
Gordon, who later became Governor of Georgia and then a U. S. Senator, also stated that even the burning of Atlanta and the devastation of Georgia during the war did not create a tenth of the animosity created by the Union Leagues treatment of the Southern people. Former Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest, a reputed founder of the Klan, testified before the same committee that:
The Klan was intended entirely as a protection to the (Southern) people, to enforce the laws and protect the people from outrages.
Both men realized, however, that after a few years, the Klan, formed in a peoples desperate cry for survival and justice, had itself become a lawless outrage. But it was the federally sponsored Union League that ranked first in time and violence. It should not be forgotten. The evils it inflicted on both black and white still live.
PLUNDERING THE SOUTH
At the end of the Civil War in the spring of 1865, the South had lost over 254,000 men killed in battle or died of wounds or disease. Of the 194,000 seriously wounded at least half had some physical disability from lost limbs, eyes, or other crippling wounds and injuries. Destruction of public and private property was widespread. In the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi where the Norths total war policies had been most zealously carried out by General Sherman, private property destruction exceeded 50 percent. In Virginia, Sheridans troops had laid bare the fertile Shenandoah Valley. The loss in private property included not only homes and furnishings, but barns, livestock, crops, tools, and means of transportation. Confederate currency and bonds were worthless. Two thirds of the Souths railroads were utterly destroyed or severely crippled. Countless bridges and river transports had been destroyed. Many industries and business had been laid waste. Most of Columbia, Atlanta, and much of Charleston had been deliberately torched. In Oxford, Mississippi, only one commercial business was left standing. Many small towns in numerous states literally vanished with only a smoldering trace. After the War, General Sherman himself gave a vivid description of Southern devastation:
Mourning in every household, desolation written in broad characters across the whole face of their country, cities in ashes and fields laid waste, their commerce goneRuin, poverty, and distress everywhere, and now pestilenceadding to their misery.
The South was utterly prostrate and destitute. In contrast to Lincolns total war policy, with some exceptions the United States pursued a generally more benevolent policy towards civilians and private property during the Second World War. At the end of the War in 1945 the United States sought to secure future peace and the common good with massive assistance in rebuilding the economies of Western Europe including West Germany and Italy. That was the Marshall Plan. Reconstruction after the Civil War was no Marshall Plan.
Reconstruction was not a plan to rehabilitate the Southern economy. It was a plan to remake the South into the ideological image of the North, plunder its resources and economy, punish the South for its rebellion and sins, and make certain that Republican political power in Washington would persist for the long term. The wisest method of providing economic recovery and relieving human misery is a benevolent plan to cut taxes and government regulations as well as lending material assistance in rebuilding infrastructure and meeting urgent humanitarian needs. Instead, Reconstruction policies instituted punitive taxes and sent swarms of tax collectors and despotic government regulators to oversee the plunder and humiliation of the South. They were accompanied by swarms of political opportunists, shameless swindlers, and misinformed militant do-gooders.
There are two warring academic schools of thought on Reconstruction. Until the early 1960s, the Dunning (William A. Dunning) school prevailed. He and his students viewed Reconstruction as the most corrupt, tyrannical, and disgraceful period in American history. In todays hysterically politically correct era, the Foner school prevails with a decidedly heavy hand. Eric Foner is a Marxist Columbia University professor, who believes Reconstruction did not go far enough and that even harsher methods should have been used to remake the South into a more liberal society. This is all part of a cultural Marxist war against truth that now dominates academia and the mainstream media, including most of the internet and social media.
To be continued…
FROM THE EDITOR
Dr. Ed is a pastor, author, public speaker, radio personality, lobbyist, re-enactor, and the Director of Dixie Heritage.
Two Dixie Heritage readers spoke recently at a City Commission meeting in Lakeland, Florida. They voiced their opposition to removing the Confederate statue from Munn Park.
“I’m here to represent the silent majority,” said Jenna Bernstein of Tampa. “There are Americans out there who want to preserve our history. All of it needs to be respected. Can’t we learn from our mistakes and try to better our society and bring people together in a positive dialogue?”
Bernstein brought an $80 gallon jug of D/2 Biological Solution, a cleaner she offered to donate to the city to help maintain the statue.
Carol Goldenhill, a Connecticut transplant to Lakeland in 2002, is also in favor of leaving the statue where it is. She said the statue, which depicts a soldier in a Confederate uniform, represents all the soldiers who fought in the war.
In 1841, Charles Francis Adams, the son of the nation’s 6th President, John Quincy Adams, and grandson of John Adams, a Founding Father and the 2nd President, quoted his grandfather:
“Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it.”
Nearly 192 years after John Adam’s death, Dixie Heritage has counted the cost, and we pay it daily, in our ongoing fight to regain the freedom that our second president fought so hard for.
Until Next Week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed
Dixie Heritage
P.O. Box 618
Lowell, FL 32663
