2012 VA Flaggers, Richmond, VA
posted by PoP at
2:20 AM
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Monday, February 27, 2012
Sons of Confederate Veterans group rallies at Lee monument
Story and photos
HERE
HERE
posted by PoP at
2:04 AM
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Sunday, February 26, 2012
The Museum of the Confederacy - A Brief Look At A Worsening Situation
By Valerie Protopapas
vaproto@optonline.net
The Original Spirit of the Museum of the Confederacy:
The glory, the hardships, the heroism of the war were a noble heritage for our children. To keep green such memories and to commemorate such virtues, it is our purpose to gather together and preserve in the Executive Mansion of the Confederacy the sacred relics of those glorious days. [From the first appeal for donations to the Museum in January, 1892]
"The need of an organization to preserve a true and faithful record of the gallant struggle made by the soldiers of the South for independence being keenly felt, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society was chartered and organized under the laws of Virginia, its object being to teach all future generations the true history of the war and the principles for which these soldiers laid down their lives."
[From the first paragraph of the Introduction Page: Catalogue of the Confederate Museum of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, 1905]
Dedication of Administrators from Earlier Days:
"(W)e must pray that others will rise up to carry on the trust."
[Former Board President Sally Archer Anderson, 1926]
Warnings of a New Direction:
“We’re the Museum of the Confederacy, not the Museum for the Confederacy”
[Former director Robin Reed, 1988-2001*] [*dates approximate]
"It's not a memorial or a shrine, it's a museum and research center."
[Present Director S. Waite Rawls]
Antecedents of the Current Situation:
Present Director of the MoC, S. Waite Rawls has rightly declared that the Museum of the Confederacy should “tell our story” and by that, one assumes he means the story of the attempt by certain Southern states to secede from the Union - including what brought the people of those states to this position, what they did and the constitutional basis for their actions, the war they waged against the attempt by the federal government and the states remaining in the Union to forcibly return them to that entity and so forth. Unfortunately, those whom Rawls has chosen to tell that “story” are men like Gary Gallagher, co-author of “The Myth of the Lost Cause” and Irwin Jordan – a so-called “black Confederate expert” - whose book refers to these brave black men who fought beside their fellow Confederates rather than in segregated commands under white officers as “zealots of the wrong”.
Nor is Rawls the first administrator of the MoC who seems to think that “our story” is best told by “those people” to quote General Robert E. Lee. Indeed, he seems to be only the last of a rather long and sorry parade of like-minded individuals. One of Rawls’ predecessors opened the Museum for lectures by such as Alan Nolan, author of the book, “Lee Considered”. Nolan is a lawyer from Wisconsin, a notable champion of the Union’s “Iron Brigade” and no friend of Lee or the Confederacy. In 1999, Curator Malinda Collier was quoted as saying in an article on the Museum’s plans for a 130th year exhibit on Robert E. Lee, that the exhibition would attempt to explain "how this man who led a traitorous army" nevertheless rose from the status of sectional hero to one of the foremost American heroes of all time. Most recently, in continuation of this apparent celebration of all things hostile to the Confederacy and its heroes, the prestigious “Jefferson Davis Award” was bestowed upon a work entitled “Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters by Elizabeth Brown Pryor. This book was advertised as a revelation of Lee based upon newly discovered correspondence but instead, it is a politically correct character assassination consisting of the author’s perceptions of Lee which are supposedly validated by a very few previously unpublished letters. Of course, there were kudos from the usual establishment “historians and critics” - and outcries from Museum members about what was either a total lapse of judgment on the part of the Administration or another example of the deviation in the museum’s goals and policies from its founding principles. In fact, given what has happened since Director Rawls’ installation, one has to wonder just whose “story” this gentleman wants told.
The attitude that Director Rawls is ostensibly attempting to counter by virtue of his ongoing collaboration with these foes of Southern culture, history and heritage, was clearly enunciated by author James McPherson. In 1999 McPherson gave an interview with Ed Sebesta on the liberal Pacifica Radio network program Democracy Now! on the subject of the Museum of the Confederacy and its Lone Star Ball fundraising event as well as Sebesta’s views on the historical Confederacy and modern day organizations connected with it. Sebesta stated that the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy were created with the motive of celebrating the Confederacy, including the use of slavery in the Confederate economy, and white supremacy. The interview with McPherson . . . included the following statement: ". . . I agree a 100% with Ed Sebesta about the motives or the hidden agenda . . . of such groups as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. They are dedicated to celebrating the Confederacy and rather thinly veiled support for white supremacy. And I think that also is . . . (the) hidden agenda of the Confederate flag issue in several southern states."
Apparently, however, MoC’s Administration had made sufficient “brownie points” with McPherson, for him to state that it had changed its orientation, from its original purpose of celebrating the Confederacy: “Over time, and especially in the last decade or two,” said McPherson, “it (the MoC) has become a much more professional, research-oriented, professional exhibit-oriented facility . . ." In other words, the “politically correct” Mr. McPherson approved of the MoC and its present “orientation”. Thus, the actions of Director Reed and Curator Collier, among others I’m sure, had won over McPherson and perhaps some of his fellow travelers. But one has to wonder if in doing so, their actions compensated for the abandonment of the original mission of the MoC as stated in writing by its founders and their betrayal of most of the present contributors to the Museum of whom one must doubt that either Mr. McPherson or Mr. Sebasta in fact, are.
As a further attempt to “revitalize” the institution, present Director Rawls told a reporter that he was thinking of partnering the MoC with the slavery museum in Fredericksburg as well as the planned museum at Fort Monroe should the MoC be moved in whole or in part to those locations. Parenthetically, as Fort Monroe was a haven for runaway slaves, one must suppose that any museum at that location would be largely if not principally devoted to that issue. Yet Rawls seems unconcerned that such establishments tend to be extremely one-sided in their treatment of the very complex subject of slavery - and are usually rabidly anti-Confederate in their focus. However, even Rawls’ efforts are not universally successful and there were considerable negative responses from Lexington’s “black community” and their white supporters when it was discovered that Lexington was being considered as a site for the MoC. One Al Hockaday –owner of two local stores, we are told – voiced his less than rational concerns about the impact of the MoC on Lexington as a whole. "I think the negative impacts would be more than the city could bear," this gentleman opined and further predicted that minority enrollment would drastically diminish at local universities because the museum would erode the town's social climate. One wonders about the intelligence of people who entertain - much less publicly express - such grossly irrational and supremely ignorant viewpoints! Nonetheless, despite the stupidity of these comments, Rawls addressed them by assuring Mr. Hockaday and others that the MoC is “not a memorial or a shrine. It's a museum and research center." Sheryl Wagner, director of marketing for Rockbridge tourism, pointed out that there had been “miscommunication” about the name. “You have to consider that the museum is about learning, not promoting the Confederacy." Apparently, Rawls believes that these are the people and the communities that would “enhance” the future of the Museum. That being the case, one has to wonder what sort of “future” Mr. Rawls envisions for the institution if he finds these sentiments and those who express them, acceptable and even positive.
If this – and other incidents too numerous to mention - weren’t enough, Director Rawls has also determined that the Museum of the Confederacy needs the “blessing” of the NAACP. The ongoing assault by that organization on all things traditionally Southern and/or Confederate is well known and undeniable. In fact, its actions have prolonged its existence far beyond any usefulness – and made a considerable profit out of being “offended” by all things Southern, demanding that they be removed, expunged and/or buried in the deepest possible pit, never again to see the light of day. Therefore, it is hardly strange that no “official blessing” was forthcoming from these overly-sensitive souls when Rawls approached them at one meeting. However, our intrepid Director was thrown a crumb for his conscientious groveling when the Spotsylvania NAACP graciously consented to consider the matter providing, of course, that the MoC tells “the whole story” of the “Civil War” (sic). Those familiar with the lexicon of political correctness know instinctively that this means “tell it our way or else!”
Yet, this might not be a problem given Mr. Rawls’ understanding of the patrons he wishes to attract to the MoC. In a statement made to the Fort Monroe organization in an attempt to make the institution more “palatable”, Rawls complained that those criticizing the Museum have misperceptions and that, its visitors, in Rawls’ words are "…NOT the redneck in the pickup truck with the T-shirt on that you might think of.” Rather, according to Rawls, visitors to the Confederacy museum are "well-educated, retired, married couples who are history buffs” . These sentiments - clearly illustrative of Rawls’ elitism - require no comment; they speak for themselves.
Finally, according to the report on the Fort Monroe plan by Conover Hunt, the authority’s interim executive director, the idea was to bring in experts in African-American history, Union history and Confederate history with said “experts” collaborating at a symposium and offering a comprehensive plan for a museum campus. But the question then is, whose “experts”? Does anyone seriously believe that they will not be the same “experts” who have been defining the era’s history from the beginning? Consequently, can any intelligent person believe that the “Confederacy” will receive objective, fair and balanced treatment? The answer to that is, I believe, painfully obvious.
How did Rawls react to all of the foregoing? Well, among other things, he openly considered removing the name “Confederate” from the title of the institution! With what he would have replaced it one cannot possibly imagine, but it is indicative of the direction in which this institution has been going for far too long that the matter was even broached. And with regards to the NAACP, Rawls is on record as saying, “One of the things I would love to have in the Museum of the Confederacy here is an NAACP meeting. It would send a signal to all Americans of what we are all about." It certainly would do that! But to the people for whom this institution is not just a collection of relics from a dead past, the “signal” sent by such an arrangement would be unjustifiable, undesirable and, given the NAACP’s sordid history, intolerable.
The crux of the problem was brought to light in an April 4th, 2007 newspaper article in the Washington Post. Under the headline: . . the onetime "Shrine of the South" . . . faces an uncertain future - History's Changing Tide:
“Attendance (for the MoC) has dropped by nearly half over the past decade . . . (a)nd this is in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy . . . It may even have to change its name. That same doleful report said the Museum of the Confederacy, though it has made efforts to distance itself from being an unabashed shrine, still ‘conjures up in the public mind images of slavery, racism, and intolerance. . . . [It] carries enormous, intransigent, and negative intellectual and emotional baggage.’"
The article then quotes Rawls as saying, " ‘. . . the museum was where Confederate veterans came to give their items to make a statement. Richmond was the epicenter of the Civil War. . . So yes, there's a symbolic message to our moving.’ [and can’t we all guess what that message is!]
“But (the article states) it's also about a historic shift in the mind-set of the white South, whose psychological underpinnings were held together for more than a century by the romantic ideal of "the lost cause" of the Confederacy. This held the antebellum world as a largely mythological place, a land of moonlight and magnolias, of "Gone With the Wind," of mint juleps and Henry Timrod's ‘Ode to the Confederate Dead at Magnolia Cemetery’:
Stoop, angels, hither from the skies!
There is no holier spot of ground
Than where defeated valor lies . . .
Swept Away By History.
“These sorts of atmospherics floated about in the cultural id, but the tangible remnants of the belief were preserved here (the MoC): Robert E. Lee's uniform, the plumed hat of J.E.B. Stuart, hundreds of battle flags, thousands of soldiers' letters from mud-filled trenches that soon would become their graves. People brought such things from across the war-ravaged South, thousands of them, artifacts presented with such reverence that they were called ‘sacred relics.’”
Conclusion:
So here, in a nutshell, is the course on which the Administration of the MoC has chosen to embark and the reasons for that choice. Though the North is filled with “shrines” to those who died in order to coerce the South by military might back into a union that the vast majority of its people had rejected, the South apparently is not permitted any such shrine to the memory of those who resisted that tyranny with their last full measure of devotion. In fact, it probably won’t even be permitted to retain as historical relics the artifacts of its past because they “offend” the sensibilities of the politically correct - black and white. In the meanwhile, it seems that the present Administration of the Museum of the Confederacy is doing its damnedest to make the transition from shrine to tomb as rapid and as covert as possible.
vaproto@optonline.net
The Original Spirit of the Museum of the Confederacy:
The glory, the hardships, the heroism of the war were a noble heritage for our children. To keep green such memories and to commemorate such virtues, it is our purpose to gather together and preserve in the Executive Mansion of the Confederacy the sacred relics of those glorious days. [From the first appeal for donations to the Museum in January, 1892]
"The need of an organization to preserve a true and faithful record of the gallant struggle made by the soldiers of the South for independence being keenly felt, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society was chartered and organized under the laws of Virginia, its object being to teach all future generations the true history of the war and the principles for which these soldiers laid down their lives."
[From the first paragraph of the Introduction Page: Catalogue of the Confederate Museum of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, 1905]
Dedication of Administrators from Earlier Days:
"(W)e must pray that others will rise up to carry on the trust."
[Former Board President Sally Archer Anderson, 1926]
Warnings of a New Direction:
“We’re the Museum of the Confederacy, not the Museum for the Confederacy”
[Former director Robin Reed, 1988-2001*] [*dates approximate]
"It's not a memorial or a shrine, it's a museum and research center."
[Present Director S. Waite Rawls]
Antecedents of the Current Situation:
Present Director of the MoC, S. Waite Rawls has rightly declared that the Museum of the Confederacy should “tell our story” and by that, one assumes he means the story of the attempt by certain Southern states to secede from the Union - including what brought the people of those states to this position, what they did and the constitutional basis for their actions, the war they waged against the attempt by the federal government and the states remaining in the Union to forcibly return them to that entity and so forth. Unfortunately, those whom Rawls has chosen to tell that “story” are men like Gary Gallagher, co-author of “The Myth of the Lost Cause” and Irwin Jordan – a so-called “black Confederate expert” - whose book refers to these brave black men who fought beside their fellow Confederates rather than in segregated commands under white officers as “zealots of the wrong”.
Nor is Rawls the first administrator of the MoC who seems to think that “our story” is best told by “those people” to quote General Robert E. Lee. Indeed, he seems to be only the last of a rather long and sorry parade of like-minded individuals. One of Rawls’ predecessors opened the Museum for lectures by such as Alan Nolan, author of the book, “Lee Considered”. Nolan is a lawyer from Wisconsin, a notable champion of the Union’s “Iron Brigade” and no friend of Lee or the Confederacy. In 1999, Curator Malinda Collier was quoted as saying in an article on the Museum’s plans for a 130th year exhibit on Robert E. Lee, that the exhibition would attempt to explain "how this man who led a traitorous army" nevertheless rose from the status of sectional hero to one of the foremost American heroes of all time. Most recently, in continuation of this apparent celebration of all things hostile to the Confederacy and its heroes, the prestigious “Jefferson Davis Award” was bestowed upon a work entitled “Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters by Elizabeth Brown Pryor. This book was advertised as a revelation of Lee based upon newly discovered correspondence but instead, it is a politically correct character assassination consisting of the author’s perceptions of Lee which are supposedly validated by a very few previously unpublished letters. Of course, there were kudos from the usual establishment “historians and critics” - and outcries from Museum members about what was either a total lapse of judgment on the part of the Administration or another example of the deviation in the museum’s goals and policies from its founding principles. In fact, given what has happened since Director Rawls’ installation, one has to wonder just whose “story” this gentleman wants told.
The attitude that Director Rawls is ostensibly attempting to counter by virtue of his ongoing collaboration with these foes of Southern culture, history and heritage, was clearly enunciated by author James McPherson. In 1999 McPherson gave an interview with Ed Sebesta on the liberal Pacifica Radio network program Democracy Now! on the subject of the Museum of the Confederacy and its Lone Star Ball fundraising event as well as Sebesta’s views on the historical Confederacy and modern day organizations connected with it. Sebesta stated that the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy were created with the motive of celebrating the Confederacy, including the use of slavery in the Confederate economy, and white supremacy. The interview with McPherson . . . included the following statement: ". . . I agree a 100% with Ed Sebesta about the motives or the hidden agenda . . . of such groups as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. They are dedicated to celebrating the Confederacy and rather thinly veiled support for white supremacy. And I think that also is . . . (the) hidden agenda of the Confederate flag issue in several southern states."
Apparently, however, MoC’s Administration had made sufficient “brownie points” with McPherson, for him to state that it had changed its orientation, from its original purpose of celebrating the Confederacy: “Over time, and especially in the last decade or two,” said McPherson, “it (the MoC) has become a much more professional, research-oriented, professional exhibit-oriented facility . . ." In other words, the “politically correct” Mr. McPherson approved of the MoC and its present “orientation”. Thus, the actions of Director Reed and Curator Collier, among others I’m sure, had won over McPherson and perhaps some of his fellow travelers. But one has to wonder if in doing so, their actions compensated for the abandonment of the original mission of the MoC as stated in writing by its founders and their betrayal of most of the present contributors to the Museum of whom one must doubt that either Mr. McPherson or Mr. Sebasta in fact, are.
As a further attempt to “revitalize” the institution, present Director Rawls told a reporter that he was thinking of partnering the MoC with the slavery museum in Fredericksburg as well as the planned museum at Fort Monroe should the MoC be moved in whole or in part to those locations. Parenthetically, as Fort Monroe was a haven for runaway slaves, one must suppose that any museum at that location would be largely if not principally devoted to that issue. Yet Rawls seems unconcerned that such establishments tend to be extremely one-sided in their treatment of the very complex subject of slavery - and are usually rabidly anti-Confederate in their focus. However, even Rawls’ efforts are not universally successful and there were considerable negative responses from Lexington’s “black community” and their white supporters when it was discovered that Lexington was being considered as a site for the MoC. One Al Hockaday –owner of two local stores, we are told – voiced his less than rational concerns about the impact of the MoC on Lexington as a whole. "I think the negative impacts would be more than the city could bear," this gentleman opined and further predicted that minority enrollment would drastically diminish at local universities because the museum would erode the town's social climate. One wonders about the intelligence of people who entertain - much less publicly express - such grossly irrational and supremely ignorant viewpoints! Nonetheless, despite the stupidity of these comments, Rawls addressed them by assuring Mr. Hockaday and others that the MoC is “not a memorial or a shrine. It's a museum and research center." Sheryl Wagner, director of marketing for Rockbridge tourism, pointed out that there had been “miscommunication” about the name. “You have to consider that the museum is about learning, not promoting the Confederacy." Apparently, Rawls believes that these are the people and the communities that would “enhance” the future of the Museum. That being the case, one has to wonder what sort of “future” Mr. Rawls envisions for the institution if he finds these sentiments and those who express them, acceptable and even positive.
If this – and other incidents too numerous to mention - weren’t enough, Director Rawls has also determined that the Museum of the Confederacy needs the “blessing” of the NAACP. The ongoing assault by that organization on all things traditionally Southern and/or Confederate is well known and undeniable. In fact, its actions have prolonged its existence far beyond any usefulness – and made a considerable profit out of being “offended” by all things Southern, demanding that they be removed, expunged and/or buried in the deepest possible pit, never again to see the light of day. Therefore, it is hardly strange that no “official blessing” was forthcoming from these overly-sensitive souls when Rawls approached them at one meeting. However, our intrepid Director was thrown a crumb for his conscientious groveling when the Spotsylvania NAACP graciously consented to consider the matter providing, of course, that the MoC tells “the whole story” of the “Civil War” (sic). Those familiar with the lexicon of political correctness know instinctively that this means “tell it our way or else!”
Yet, this might not be a problem given Mr. Rawls’ understanding of the patrons he wishes to attract to the MoC. In a statement made to the Fort Monroe organization in an attempt to make the institution more “palatable”, Rawls complained that those criticizing the Museum have misperceptions and that, its visitors, in Rawls’ words are "…NOT the redneck in the pickup truck with the T-shirt on that you might think of.” Rather, according to Rawls, visitors to the Confederacy museum are "well-educated, retired, married couples who are history buffs” . These sentiments - clearly illustrative of Rawls’ elitism - require no comment; they speak for themselves.
Finally, according to the report on the Fort Monroe plan by Conover Hunt, the authority’s interim executive director, the idea was to bring in experts in African-American history, Union history and Confederate history with said “experts” collaborating at a symposium and offering a comprehensive plan for a museum campus. But the question then is, whose “experts”? Does anyone seriously believe that they will not be the same “experts” who have been defining the era’s history from the beginning? Consequently, can any intelligent person believe that the “Confederacy” will receive objective, fair and balanced treatment? The answer to that is, I believe, painfully obvious.
How did Rawls react to all of the foregoing? Well, among other things, he openly considered removing the name “Confederate” from the title of the institution! With what he would have replaced it one cannot possibly imagine, but it is indicative of the direction in which this institution has been going for far too long that the matter was even broached. And with regards to the NAACP, Rawls is on record as saying, “One of the things I would love to have in the Museum of the Confederacy here is an NAACP meeting. It would send a signal to all Americans of what we are all about." It certainly would do that! But to the people for whom this institution is not just a collection of relics from a dead past, the “signal” sent by such an arrangement would be unjustifiable, undesirable and, given the NAACP’s sordid history, intolerable.
The crux of the problem was brought to light in an April 4th, 2007 newspaper article in the Washington Post. Under the headline: . . the onetime "Shrine of the South" . . . faces an uncertain future - History's Changing Tide:
“Attendance (for the MoC) has dropped by nearly half over the past decade . . . (a)nd this is in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy . . . It may even have to change its name. That same doleful report said the Museum of the Confederacy, though it has made efforts to distance itself from being an unabashed shrine, still ‘conjures up in the public mind images of slavery, racism, and intolerance. . . . [It] carries enormous, intransigent, and negative intellectual and emotional baggage.’"
The article then quotes Rawls as saying, " ‘. . . the museum was where Confederate veterans came to give their items to make a statement. Richmond was the epicenter of the Civil War. . . So yes, there's a symbolic message to our moving.’ [and can’t we all guess what that message is!]
“But (the article states) it's also about a historic shift in the mind-set of the white South, whose psychological underpinnings were held together for more than a century by the romantic ideal of "the lost cause" of the Confederacy. This held the antebellum world as a largely mythological place, a land of moonlight and magnolias, of "Gone With the Wind," of mint juleps and Henry Timrod's ‘Ode to the Confederate Dead at Magnolia Cemetery’:
Stoop, angels, hither from the skies!
There is no holier spot of ground
Than where defeated valor lies . . .
Swept Away By History.
“These sorts of atmospherics floated about in the cultural id, but the tangible remnants of the belief were preserved here (the MoC): Robert E. Lee's uniform, the plumed hat of J.E.B. Stuart, hundreds of battle flags, thousands of soldiers' letters from mud-filled trenches that soon would become their graves. People brought such things from across the war-ravaged South, thousands of them, artifacts presented with such reverence that they were called ‘sacred relics.’”
Conclusion:
So here, in a nutshell, is the course on which the Administration of the MoC has chosen to embark and the reasons for that choice. Though the North is filled with “shrines” to those who died in order to coerce the South by military might back into a union that the vast majority of its people had rejected, the South apparently is not permitted any such shrine to the memory of those who resisted that tyranny with their last full measure of devotion. In fact, it probably won’t even be permitted to retain as historical relics the artifacts of its past because they “offend” the sensibilities of the politically correct - black and white. In the meanwhile, it seems that the present Administration of the Museum of the Confederacy is doing its damnedest to make the transition from shrine to tomb as rapid and as covert as possible.
posted by Chuck Demastus at
5:00 PM
2 Comments
Friday, February 24, 2012
An invite to join the The Southern War Room & Liberty Forums
The Southern War Room was founded 2004.
Our principal objective is to spread the truths often falsified by modern "yankee version" history, big brother, media and "those people." In addition to providing truthful information & heritage alerts for others, we are a fellowship of like minded people that have drawn a line in the sand for liberty and Southern justice.
We are a most unique group that loves liberty, Dixie & truth to the point of offending "those people." In fact our group loses many new members because of the afore mentioned.... We will not change who and what we are to appease anyone... Period.
If you can handle straight forward honest Southron that fight for that which is right, please join us.
See Forum:
HERE
Join us:
HERE
God bless,
Tommy PoP Aaron
For SWR
Our principal objective is to spread the truths often falsified by modern "yankee version" history, big brother, media and "those people." In addition to providing truthful information & heritage alerts for others, we are a fellowship of like minded people that have drawn a line in the sand for liberty and Southern justice.
We are a most unique group that loves liberty, Dixie & truth to the point of offending "those people." In fact our group loses many new members because of the afore mentioned.... We will not change who and what we are to appease anyone... Period.
If you can handle straight forward honest Southron that fight for that which is right, please join us.
See Forum:
HERE
Join us:
HERE
God bless,
Tommy PoP Aaron
For SWR
posted by PoP at
12:36 AM
0 Comments
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
2012 GA Division Reunion June 8th - 10th
2012 GA Division Reunion
June 8th - 10th
Events:
Friday
Friday Social - 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Saturday
Guest Speaker - 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Banquet & Dance - 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Entertainment by 7lbs of Bacon
Host Locations
Hotel: Charter House Inn
1401 Tallahassee Hwy.
Bainbridge, Ga 39819
229-246-8550
Specify that you are with the Sons of Confederate Veterans Reunion.
Meeting Venue: Bainbridge College Charles H. Kirbo Regional Center
2500 E. Shotwell Street
Bainbridge, GA 39819
View Map
Download Registration Form
Decatur Grays Camp 1689 Website
posted by PoP at
12:27 PM
0 Comments
Friday, February 17, 2012
Celebrating Black History Month in the South
By Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Speaker, Writer, Author of book “When America Stood for God, Family and Country” and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net
February is Black History Month and 2011 through 2015 marks the 150th Anniversary of the War Between the States.
May I share two short stories about a Black South Carolina Confederate soldier honored recently and a Black Confederate Veteran-Legislator from Mississippi from over a century past?
Black Confederates? Why haven’t we heard more about them? National Park Service Historian, Ed Bearrs, stated, quote “I don’t want to call it a conspiracy to ignore the role of Blacks both above and below the Mason-Dixon Line, but it was definitely a tendency that began around 1910.” Unquote
The movie “Glory” enlightened us about Black Union Soldiers of the War Between the States and books like: “Forgotten Confederates—An Anthology about Black Southerners” by Barrow, Segar’s and Rosenburg opened our eyes about Black Confederates.
The War Between the States was tragic but also an important time in America’s past. Young people once knew who Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Joshua Chamberlain were and sang songs of the war that included Dixie and Goober Peas. It is very unfortunate that Dixie, the song loved by President’s Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, has been banned by many institutions.
A newspaper reported that during February 2012 the Colonel Joseph Norton Camp No. 45 Sons of Confederate Veterans honored Henry Craig a Black Confederate Soldier who was born in South Carolina in the 1840s. Henry was a Servant of the Craig family of Pickens and Oconee County. When war broke out in 1861 he joined the Craig Brothers in enlisting in ‘Orr’s First South Carolina Rifles.’
On August 6, 1864, John Craig was wounded at Gravely Hill, Virginia and lost his arm. Henry brought his Master and childhood friend back to Pickens, South Carolina where he continued to serve the Craig family until his death in 1927.
South Carolina Senator Robert Ford of the 42nd District, a Black Southerner, is reported to have spoken at the service honoring Henry Craig of his desire to honor the heritage of all people.
In Mississippi on February 1, 1890, an appropriation for a monument to the Confederate dead was being considered. A delegate had just spoken against the bill, when John F. Harris, a Black Republican delegate from Washington County, rose to speak:
"Mr. Speaker! I have risen in my place to offer a few words on the bill.
I have come from a sick bed. Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come. But sir, I could not rest quietly in my room without contributing a few remarks of my own.
I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentlemen from Marshall County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier would go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of the brave dead. And, Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines, and in the Seven Day's fighting around Richmond, the battlefield covered with mangled forms of those who fought for this country and their country's honor, he would not have made the speech.
When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they believed, and they made not requests for monuments. But they died, and their virtues should be remembered.
Sir, I went with them. I, too, wore the gray, the same color my master wore. We stayed for four long years, and if that war had gone on till now I would have been there yet. I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions.
When my Mother died I was a boy. Who, Sir, then acted the part of Mother to the orphaned slave boy, but my old Missus! Were she living now, or could speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill. And, Sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in favor of the bill to erect a monument in HONOR OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD."
When the applause died down, the measure passed overwhelmingly, and every Black member voted "AYE."
A fact sheet has been prepared by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Education Committee for distribution to professors, teachers, librarians, principals, ethnic leaders, members of the press, and others interested in promoting an understanding of Black contributions to United States history. See fact sheet at:
http://www.scv.org/documents/edpapers/blackhistory.pdf
The War Between the States Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary, runs 2011 through 2015. The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans joins the nation in remembering this historic time in our nation’s history. See more information at: http://www.150wbts.org/
cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net
February is Black History Month and 2011 through 2015 marks the 150th Anniversary of the War Between the States.
May I share two short stories about a Black South Carolina Confederate soldier honored recently and a Black Confederate Veteran-Legislator from Mississippi from over a century past?
Black Confederates? Why haven’t we heard more about them? National Park Service Historian, Ed Bearrs, stated, quote “I don’t want to call it a conspiracy to ignore the role of Blacks both above and below the Mason-Dixon Line, but it was definitely a tendency that began around 1910.” Unquote
The movie “Glory” enlightened us about Black Union Soldiers of the War Between the States and books like: “Forgotten Confederates—An Anthology about Black Southerners” by Barrow, Segar’s and Rosenburg opened our eyes about Black Confederates.
The War Between the States was tragic but also an important time in America’s past. Young people once knew who Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Joshua Chamberlain were and sang songs of the war that included Dixie and Goober Peas. It is very unfortunate that Dixie, the song loved by President’s Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, has been banned by many institutions.
A newspaper reported that during February 2012 the Colonel Joseph Norton Camp No. 45 Sons of Confederate Veterans honored Henry Craig a Black Confederate Soldier who was born in South Carolina in the 1840s. Henry was a Servant of the Craig family of Pickens and Oconee County. When war broke out in 1861 he joined the Craig Brothers in enlisting in ‘Orr’s First South Carolina Rifles.’
On August 6, 1864, John Craig was wounded at Gravely Hill, Virginia and lost his arm. Henry brought his Master and childhood friend back to Pickens, South Carolina where he continued to serve the Craig family until his death in 1927.
South Carolina Senator Robert Ford of the 42nd District, a Black Southerner, is reported to have spoken at the service honoring Henry Craig of his desire to honor the heritage of all people.
In Mississippi on February 1, 1890, an appropriation for a monument to the Confederate dead was being considered. A delegate had just spoken against the bill, when John F. Harris, a Black Republican delegate from Washington County, rose to speak:
"Mr. Speaker! I have risen in my place to offer a few words on the bill.
I have come from a sick bed. Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come. But sir, I could not rest quietly in my room without contributing a few remarks of my own.
I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentlemen from Marshall County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier would go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of the brave dead. And, Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines, and in the Seven Day's fighting around Richmond, the battlefield covered with mangled forms of those who fought for this country and their country's honor, he would not have made the speech.
When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they believed, and they made not requests for monuments. But they died, and their virtues should be remembered.
Sir, I went with them. I, too, wore the gray, the same color my master wore. We stayed for four long years, and if that war had gone on till now I would have been there yet. I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions.
When my Mother died I was a boy. Who, Sir, then acted the part of Mother to the orphaned slave boy, but my old Missus! Were she living now, or could speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill. And, Sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in favor of the bill to erect a monument in HONOR OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD."
When the applause died down, the measure passed overwhelmingly, and every Black member voted "AYE."
A fact sheet has been prepared by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Education Committee for distribution to professors, teachers, librarians, principals, ethnic leaders, members of the press, and others interested in promoting an understanding of Black contributions to United States history. See fact sheet at:
http://www.scv.org/documents/edpapers/blackhistory.pdf
The War Between the States Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary, runs 2011 through 2015. The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans joins the nation in remembering this historic time in our nation’s history. See more information at: http://www.150wbts.org/
posted by Chuck Demastus at
5:47 PM
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
BULLIES AND THEIR VICTIMS: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUBJUGATION
Dear Friends,
When a person or people are bullied by a government and the anger of the victim becomes open and verbalized, the bully will claim that the victim has various "mental health" issues and psychological problems. Then the bully will begin to call the victim various demeaning names which can vary from culture to culture. They may be called racist, misfits, losers, bitter, and unforgiving. In the case of the victimized Southern people, the bully could never call them sissies.
Following the foolish display of power by the bully is control. Following control is domination. Following domination is subjugation where hope is lost and freedom is only a ghost from the past that haunts the imaginations of a few of us who are generally considered extremists.
The solution as presented by the bully is for the victim to "do the Christian thing and forgive and forget" and to "get over it for the war is over." Yes, the pagan will accuse the Christian of not acting Christian even though the pagan has no interest in Christ or Christianity. And then because the victim cannot overpower the bully, the victim is never allowed to have a meaningful opinion affecting the dialogue at the table of politics on any political or moral matters of importance. The bully now continues to dominate the victim and the victim is not "permitted to resist" or the means to resist. He must remain disarmed. The bully will always claim that the victim hit him first; thus the bully never is forced to take moral responsibility for his actions, and of course, the bully lacks the integrity and the manly fortitude to voluntarily take by his own volition the responsibility for his violent actions and immoral character.
When a people are forced fight a war to separate themselves from a dominating people and a dominating government and win, they are on the path to BEGIN to think like a "free people." When a people are forced fight a war to separate themselves from a dominating people and a dominating government and lose and their peaceful right to secede is forcibly denied, they are on the path to begin to think as slaves and a "subjugated people."
The more violent and devastating the war conducted by the bully the more profound is the nature of their subjugation. Southerner's suffer from the effects of TOTAL war. Think about it. It will take (blank) numbers of years for us to realize the psychological effects of that war and that realization CANNOT begin until we are free of the subjugating government and the subjugating people.
“Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late… It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern schoolteachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects for derision… It is said slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for. It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.” ~ Maj. General Patrick R. Cleburne, CSA, January 1864.
There are internal results of subjugation that permit the external manifestations noted by Major General Cleburne. This is sad because Southerners and Christians and their wives, children and their elderly family members continue to be victimized by the Imperial yankee bully and that is why Southerner's don't and will never “just get over it.”
--
Timothy D. Manning, M.Div
Executive Director
www.TheSouthernPartisan.com
160 Longbridge Drive
Kernersville, North Carolina 27284
Phone: (336) 420-5355
Email: tim@thesouthernpartisan.com
When a person or people are bullied by a government and the anger of the victim becomes open and verbalized, the bully will claim that the victim has various "mental health" issues and psychological problems. Then the bully will begin to call the victim various demeaning names which can vary from culture to culture. They may be called racist, misfits, losers, bitter, and unforgiving. In the case of the victimized Southern people, the bully could never call them sissies.
Following the foolish display of power by the bully is control. Following control is domination. Following domination is subjugation where hope is lost and freedom is only a ghost from the past that haunts the imaginations of a few of us who are generally considered extremists.
The solution as presented by the bully is for the victim to "do the Christian thing and forgive and forget" and to "get over it for the war is over." Yes, the pagan will accuse the Christian of not acting Christian even though the pagan has no interest in Christ or Christianity. And then because the victim cannot overpower the bully, the victim is never allowed to have a meaningful opinion affecting the dialogue at the table of politics on any political or moral matters of importance. The bully now continues to dominate the victim and the victim is not "permitted to resist" or the means to resist. He must remain disarmed. The bully will always claim that the victim hit him first; thus the bully never is forced to take moral responsibility for his actions, and of course, the bully lacks the integrity and the manly fortitude to voluntarily take by his own volition the responsibility for his violent actions and immoral character.
When a people are forced fight a war to separate themselves from a dominating people and a dominating government and win, they are on the path to BEGIN to think like a "free people." When a people are forced fight a war to separate themselves from a dominating people and a dominating government and lose and their peaceful right to secede is forcibly denied, they are on the path to begin to think as slaves and a "subjugated people."
The more violent and devastating the war conducted by the bully the more profound is the nature of their subjugation. Southerner's suffer from the effects of TOTAL war. Think about it. It will take (blank) numbers of years for us to realize the psychological effects of that war and that realization CANNOT begin until we are free of the subjugating government and the subjugating people.
“Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late… It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern schoolteachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects for derision… It is said slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for. It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.” ~ Maj. General Patrick R. Cleburne, CSA, January 1864.
There are internal results of subjugation that permit the external manifestations noted by Major General Cleburne. This is sad because Southerners and Christians and their wives, children and their elderly family members continue to be victimized by the Imperial yankee bully and that is why Southerner's don't and will never “just get over it.”
--
Timothy D. Manning, M.Div
Executive Director
www.TheSouthernPartisan.com
160 Longbridge Drive
Kernersville, North Carolina 27284
Phone: (336) 420-5355
Email: tim@thesouthernpartisan.com
posted by Chuck Demastus at
1:36 PM
0 Comments
One of the Greatest Heroes of the War
By Bob Hurst
confederatedad1@yahoo.com
The magnificent warrior, Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, expressed the truth about war with his statement that "war means fightin' and fightin' means killin'". Union general William T. Sherman is credited with the description that "war is hell". Sherman, of course, would have certainly known since his "total war" tactics brought true hell on earth to thousands of Southern civilians whose homes, farms, crops, fences, animals, etc. were destroyed by Sherman's forces.
War, without a doubt, is one of the most horrible creations of mankind. In too many cases it brings out the worst side of human nature resulting in the cruelty and evil that play such a major role in conflict. If I live to be a thousand, I will never be able to understand, for instance, how a human could load a car with explosives and park it in a crowded area where it can kill or maim hundreds of people who are totally unknown to the perpetrator. (And don't even ask me how someone could give the order to firebomb a treasure like Dresden that was filled with civilians at the end of a war that was already decided.)
And yet, occasionally in war we learn of amazing instances of compassion and kindness that are so unusual that these acts give rise to ideas of saintliness. This article will be about such an act and the saintly young man who displayed such compassion and kindness generally unknown among the horrors of war. It all occurred on the 14th of December of 1862 near the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The name of the young man was Richard Rowland Kirkland.
The events that had occurred in Fredericksburg in the days immediately preceding the actions of this young Confederate soldier made his acts of compassion and kindness even more remarkable. The federal commander, General Ambrose Burnside, had ordered an artillery shelling of the town of Fredericksburg and the more than one hundred cannons at his disposal did great damage to the lovely old town and its citizens. Many beautiful houses and buildings were destroyed by the cannon shells and more were destroyed by the fires that followed. Family heirlooms, furniture, paintings and other possessions that were not destroyed by the cannon fire soon fell victim to the looting of the federal troops. Burnside, like many other Union generals, apparently had no problem attacking civilian targets.
Burnside had his forces in Fredericksburg as part of his grand plan to move on from there and take Richmond - the Confederate capital. His plan had been foiled, however, by numerous delays that had allowed General Robert E. Lee to move a sizeable Confederate force to Fredericksburg.
The Confederate forces had set up west of town in what appeared to be an impregnable position. The artillery and infantry were entrenched in hills which were fronted by open fields. Burnside consulted his subordinate officers for their opinions and many thought it would be foolish to attack such a well-fortified position under such circumstances. Burnside would not be dissuaded, however, and around noon on December 13 the attack began. Confederate forces from their position in the hills could hardly believe the federals would attempt such a maneuver. By this time, General Lee had been able to accumulate about 80,000 troops and the artillery units and the sharpshooters with the infantry were all well-positioned to repel the attack of the blue coats.
Burnside's primary objective was a ridge called Marye's Heights. Confederate general James Longstreet's troops occupied this ridge and General Stonewall Jackson had positioned his corps alongside Longstreet. Making this position even more daunting was the presence of a four-foot high stone wall at the base of the ridge. With a multitude of sharpshooters positioned six-deep behind the wall and vast artillery stationed atop the ridge, it seemed suicidal for the federal troops to attack at this position. But attack they did and the carnage began.
Burnside had ordered General William B. Franklin to attack Jackson's position with 4500 troops and these were soon being cut to pieces by the artillery counterattack. Burnside ordered attack after attack on the Confederates positioned on Marye's Heights and each met with the same result as the federal troops continued to be cut to ribbons by the accurate artillery fire and the deadly sharpshooters of the Confederate infantry.
Before the carnage ended, Burnside had sent fifteen brigades to challenge the strongly-held Confederate position. When the federals finally stopped their attacks there were more than sixty-three hundred dead and wounded soldiers lying in the fields.
As the shooting stopped and the darkness set in, the horror of the day did not end. The fallen federal troops lay on ground that was quickly freezing in the December cold. The moans and cries of the wounded and dying were easily heard by the Confederate troops. Some of the yankee troops had gotten as close as 150 feet from the wall at the base of the ridge. The desperate and unending calls of the wounded for water and help filled the night.
The next morning as the Confederates awakened the sounds of the suffering filled their ears. Since the two armies were still in position, sporadic gunfire would erupt as combatants on either side became visible to the other. Amidst all this tragedy and horror, one young Confederate was moved to the point that he could stand it no longer. Richard Kirkland, a nineteen year old sergeant, approached his regimental commander with a request that he be allowed to go out among the yankee wounded and provide them with water and help them in whatever way he could. His commander, fearing that young Kirkland would be quickly shot as soon as he became visible to the enemy, denied the request.
Later in the day, Sgt. Kirkland was able to obtain permission to speak to Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw. Kershaw, like Richard Kirkland, was a South Carolinian. General Kershaw, in fact, was good friends with the parents of young Kirkland. Kershaw was taken aback by the request of the young soldier to go out among the enemy wounded and provide some relief to their suffering. He initially refused the request, but the young sergeant persisted and the general was apparently touched by the sincerity of Richard Kirkland and the nobility of the sentiments driving the request of the young soldier.
General Kershaw warned Sergeant Kirkland that he would likely be shot by the enemy as soon as they saw him in the field but the young South Carolinian said he was willing to take that chance. Impressed by the character of the young man but concerned about how he would explain the situation to Kirkland's parents should he be killed, General Kershaw reluctantly agreed to the request.
Before he embarked on his mission of mercy, Sgt. Kirkland asked permission to wave a white handkerchief as he went over the wall into the field. This request was denied. Although it might have provided an element of protection for the young man, the general was concerned that the meaning of the white kerchief might be be misread by the enemy.
Richard Kirkland went over the wall without the white handkerchief but loaded down with as many canteens full of water as he could carry. Some accounts of his deed record that no shots were fired toward this angel of mercy while other accounts, more numerous, indicate that there were shots fired toward him initially. For certain, though, when it was recognized what the gallant young man was doing, all firing in his direction quickly stopped. The noble young soldier spent more than an hour and a half in the field going to as many of the wounded enemy as he could reach. To each wounded soldier he offerred a kind word and a much-needed drink of water. For some he rearranged their coats or capes to make them more comfortable or changed their positions on the frozen ground. Most importantly, he gave a ray of hope to each of the wounded.
He made numerous trips to refill his canteens so he could provide water to as many as he could reach. There is no record of how many blue-coated soldiers he ministered to that day but several accounts indicate that it likely was at least a hundred. That is a small number when compared to how many fallen there were in the field that day but it wasn't the number helped that truly mattered - it was the size of the heart of the caregiver and the amazing bravery displayed by the young soldier.
After Fredericksburg, Richard Kirkland saw service in the battles at Chancellorsville, Salem Church and Gettysburg where he was recommended for promotion to lieutenant. He later went to Chickamauga where, sadly, on September 20, 1863, this wonderful young man was struck down by a bullet to the chest. Reportedly, his last words (spoken to two Confederate companions) were, "Save yourselves and tell my father I died right." The funeral in Camden, South Carolina, for the young hero was attended by a huge crowd since since he had already become a legend.
I have no doubt that Richard Kirkland held some hate in his heart for the injustices committed by the northern government and the northern army toward the South. I feel strongly that he resented the waging of an unnecessary war against the South; the waging of war against Southern civilians; the destruction of so many towns, farms, homes and lives of people of the South and the needless deaths of so many young Southern men. It is obvious, though, that this noble young man had no hate in his heart for northern soldiers as individuals and was willing to risk his own life to give aid and comfort to these human beings at a time of great need.
Richard Kirkland was not a commanding general, nor a dashing cavalry leader or an esteemed member of the Confederate government; but his actions on December 14, 1862, proved him to be a person of such innate goodness and sterling character that he was truly one of the greatest heroes of the war. It is for this trait of humanity that a statue stands near the site of his remarkable deed and he will be forever immortalized as "The Angel of Marye's Heights".
DEO VINDICE
Addendum: For his bravery and humanitarian actions at Fredericksburg, Sergeant Richard Kirkland, C.S.A., was awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor. For more information about this medal see the December 2006 issue of this magazine or my book, CONFEDERATE JOURNAL, Volume 1, 2005-2007.
Note: Previous articles of CONFEDERATE JOURNAL are available in book form. Articles from 2005 through 2007 are in Volume 1 which can be ordered online at http://createspace.com/3540609. Articles from 2008 and 2009 are available online at http://createspace.com/3543269. Volume 3, 2010-2011, will be available in about two months.
Bob Hurst is a Southern Patriot who has special interests in the Confederacy and the antebellum architecture of the South. He is Commander of Col. David Lang Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in Tallahassee and is also 2nd Lieutenant Commander of the Florida Division, SCV. He can be contacted at confederatedad1@yahoo.com or 850-878-7010.
confederatedad1@yahoo.com
The magnificent warrior, Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, expressed the truth about war with his statement that "war means fightin' and fightin' means killin'". Union general William T. Sherman is credited with the description that "war is hell". Sherman, of course, would have certainly known since his "total war" tactics brought true hell on earth to thousands of Southern civilians whose homes, farms, crops, fences, animals, etc. were destroyed by Sherman's forces.
War, without a doubt, is one of the most horrible creations of mankind. In too many cases it brings out the worst side of human nature resulting in the cruelty and evil that play such a major role in conflict. If I live to be a thousand, I will never be able to understand, for instance, how a human could load a car with explosives and park it in a crowded area where it can kill or maim hundreds of people who are totally unknown to the perpetrator. (And don't even ask me how someone could give the order to firebomb a treasure like Dresden that was filled with civilians at the end of a war that was already decided.)
And yet, occasionally in war we learn of amazing instances of compassion and kindness that are so unusual that these acts give rise to ideas of saintliness. This article will be about such an act and the saintly young man who displayed such compassion and kindness generally unknown among the horrors of war. It all occurred on the 14th of December of 1862 near the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The name of the young man was Richard Rowland Kirkland.
The events that had occurred in Fredericksburg in the days immediately preceding the actions of this young Confederate soldier made his acts of compassion and kindness even more remarkable. The federal commander, General Ambrose Burnside, had ordered an artillery shelling of the town of Fredericksburg and the more than one hundred cannons at his disposal did great damage to the lovely old town and its citizens. Many beautiful houses and buildings were destroyed by the cannon shells and more were destroyed by the fires that followed. Family heirlooms, furniture, paintings and other possessions that were not destroyed by the cannon fire soon fell victim to the looting of the federal troops. Burnside, like many other Union generals, apparently had no problem attacking civilian targets.
Burnside had his forces in Fredericksburg as part of his grand plan to move on from there and take Richmond - the Confederate capital. His plan had been foiled, however, by numerous delays that had allowed General Robert E. Lee to move a sizeable Confederate force to Fredericksburg.
The Confederate forces had set up west of town in what appeared to be an impregnable position. The artillery and infantry were entrenched in hills which were fronted by open fields. Burnside consulted his subordinate officers for their opinions and many thought it would be foolish to attack such a well-fortified position under such circumstances. Burnside would not be dissuaded, however, and around noon on December 13 the attack began. Confederate forces from their position in the hills could hardly believe the federals would attempt such a maneuver. By this time, General Lee had been able to accumulate about 80,000 troops and the artillery units and the sharpshooters with the infantry were all well-positioned to repel the attack of the blue coats.
Burnside's primary objective was a ridge called Marye's Heights. Confederate general James Longstreet's troops occupied this ridge and General Stonewall Jackson had positioned his corps alongside Longstreet. Making this position even more daunting was the presence of a four-foot high stone wall at the base of the ridge. With a multitude of sharpshooters positioned six-deep behind the wall and vast artillery stationed atop the ridge, it seemed suicidal for the federal troops to attack at this position. But attack they did and the carnage began.
Burnside had ordered General William B. Franklin to attack Jackson's position with 4500 troops and these were soon being cut to pieces by the artillery counterattack. Burnside ordered attack after attack on the Confederates positioned on Marye's Heights and each met with the same result as the federal troops continued to be cut to ribbons by the accurate artillery fire and the deadly sharpshooters of the Confederate infantry.
Before the carnage ended, Burnside had sent fifteen brigades to challenge the strongly-held Confederate position. When the federals finally stopped their attacks there were more than sixty-three hundred dead and wounded soldiers lying in the fields.
As the shooting stopped and the darkness set in, the horror of the day did not end. The fallen federal troops lay on ground that was quickly freezing in the December cold. The moans and cries of the wounded and dying were easily heard by the Confederate troops. Some of the yankee troops had gotten as close as 150 feet from the wall at the base of the ridge. The desperate and unending calls of the wounded for water and help filled the night.
The next morning as the Confederates awakened the sounds of the suffering filled their ears. Since the two armies were still in position, sporadic gunfire would erupt as combatants on either side became visible to the other. Amidst all this tragedy and horror, one young Confederate was moved to the point that he could stand it no longer. Richard Kirkland, a nineteen year old sergeant, approached his regimental commander with a request that he be allowed to go out among the yankee wounded and provide them with water and help them in whatever way he could. His commander, fearing that young Kirkland would be quickly shot as soon as he became visible to the enemy, denied the request.
Later in the day, Sgt. Kirkland was able to obtain permission to speak to Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw. Kershaw, like Richard Kirkland, was a South Carolinian. General Kershaw, in fact, was good friends with the parents of young Kirkland. Kershaw was taken aback by the request of the young soldier to go out among the enemy wounded and provide some relief to their suffering. He initially refused the request, but the young sergeant persisted and the general was apparently touched by the sincerity of Richard Kirkland and the nobility of the sentiments driving the request of the young soldier.
General Kershaw warned Sergeant Kirkland that he would likely be shot by the enemy as soon as they saw him in the field but the young South Carolinian said he was willing to take that chance. Impressed by the character of the young man but concerned about how he would explain the situation to Kirkland's parents should he be killed, General Kershaw reluctantly agreed to the request.
Before he embarked on his mission of mercy, Sgt. Kirkland asked permission to wave a white handkerchief as he went over the wall into the field. This request was denied. Although it might have provided an element of protection for the young man, the general was concerned that the meaning of the white kerchief might be be misread by the enemy.
Richard Kirkland went over the wall without the white handkerchief but loaded down with as many canteens full of water as he could carry. Some accounts of his deed record that no shots were fired toward this angel of mercy while other accounts, more numerous, indicate that there were shots fired toward him initially. For certain, though, when it was recognized what the gallant young man was doing, all firing in his direction quickly stopped. The noble young soldier spent more than an hour and a half in the field going to as many of the wounded enemy as he could reach. To each wounded soldier he offerred a kind word and a much-needed drink of water. For some he rearranged their coats or capes to make them more comfortable or changed their positions on the frozen ground. Most importantly, he gave a ray of hope to each of the wounded.
He made numerous trips to refill his canteens so he could provide water to as many as he could reach. There is no record of how many blue-coated soldiers he ministered to that day but several accounts indicate that it likely was at least a hundred. That is a small number when compared to how many fallen there were in the field that day but it wasn't the number helped that truly mattered - it was the size of the heart of the caregiver and the amazing bravery displayed by the young soldier.
After Fredericksburg, Richard Kirkland saw service in the battles at Chancellorsville, Salem Church and Gettysburg where he was recommended for promotion to lieutenant. He later went to Chickamauga where, sadly, on September 20, 1863, this wonderful young man was struck down by a bullet to the chest. Reportedly, his last words (spoken to two Confederate companions) were, "Save yourselves and tell my father I died right." The funeral in Camden, South Carolina, for the young hero was attended by a huge crowd since since he had already become a legend.
I have no doubt that Richard Kirkland held some hate in his heart for the injustices committed by the northern government and the northern army toward the South. I feel strongly that he resented the waging of an unnecessary war against the South; the waging of war against Southern civilians; the destruction of so many towns, farms, homes and lives of people of the South and the needless deaths of so many young Southern men. It is obvious, though, that this noble young man had no hate in his heart for northern soldiers as individuals and was willing to risk his own life to give aid and comfort to these human beings at a time of great need.
Richard Kirkland was not a commanding general, nor a dashing cavalry leader or an esteemed member of the Confederate government; but his actions on December 14, 1862, proved him to be a person of such innate goodness and sterling character that he was truly one of the greatest heroes of the war. It is for this trait of humanity that a statue stands near the site of his remarkable deed and he will be forever immortalized as "The Angel of Marye's Heights".
DEO VINDICE
Addendum: For his bravery and humanitarian actions at Fredericksburg, Sergeant Richard Kirkland, C.S.A., was awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor. For more information about this medal see the December 2006 issue of this magazine or my book, CONFEDERATE JOURNAL, Volume 1, 2005-2007.
Note: Previous articles of CONFEDERATE JOURNAL are available in book form. Articles from 2005 through 2007 are in Volume 1 which can be ordered online at http://createspace.com/3540609. Articles from 2008 and 2009 are available online at http://createspace.com/3543269. Volume 3, 2010-2011, will be available in about two months.
Bob Hurst is a Southern Patriot who has special interests in the Confederacy and the antebellum architecture of the South. He is Commander of Col. David Lang Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in Tallahassee and is also 2nd Lieutenant Commander of the Florida Division, SCV. He can be contacted at confederatedad1@yahoo.com or 850-878-7010.
posted by Chuck Demastus at
12:28 PM
0 Comments
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Fauquier Heritage Institute presents "The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission"
By Gar Schulin
WARRENTON, VA - The 2012 edition of the annual Fauquier Heritage Institute Lectures in American History features distinguished local historians and nationally acclaimed scholars to address a variety of topics of regional and national significance.
On Saturday, 31 March 2012, with special cooperation by the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, the Institute will host Dr. Robert F. Turner, Chairman of the Jefferson-Hemings Scholars Commission, which strongly challenges the modern-era view that President Thomas Jefferson fathered one or more children by an enslaved African-American woman named Sally Hemings. The lecture will be held at 3:00 PM in the John Barton Payne Building, located at 2 Courthouse Square, on Main Street, in Old Town Warrenton, Virginia. Admission is free to the public. A question-and-answer session and book signing for The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission will be held following the lecture.
The report of the Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings controversy documents the results of a year-long, independent panel inquiry by thirteen distinguished academics from across the nation. Working without compensation at the request of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, the scholars were unanimous in their conclusion that "the allegation is by no means proven," and with but a single mild dissent their views "ranged from serious skepticism about the charge to a conviction that it is almost certainly untrue." Each argument in the debate is examined in careful detail in the comprehensive 412-page volume, with more than 1,400 footnotes documenting their analysis.
Many of the commonly accepted premises behind the story were found to be false, according to the panel of scholars. Dr. Turner relates on September 1, 1802, one of the most disreputable scandalmongers in American history, James Thomson Callender (who once called George Washington a “traitor” and a “thief”), published an article in the Richmond, Virginia Recorder alleging that while in Paris, Thomas Jefferson had begun a sexual relationship with his servant Sally Hemings- and a son named “Tom” was born of that relationship shortly after they returned to Virginia at the end of 1789 and his “features are said to bear a striking resemblance to those of the President himself.” The report documents Callender was a self-confessed “liar,” who claimed the lies he wrote about President John Adams had made Jefferson President. Subsequently Turner describes Callender as having demanded “payment” in the form of an appointment as Postmaster of Richmond, threatening to turn his pen on Jefferson if the appointment was not forthcoming. When Jefferson refused, Callender vowed a “ten thousand fold vengeance” upon Jefferson. Dr. Turner notes the “Black Sal” allegation was rejected even by Jefferson’s political enemies Alexander Hamilton and John Adams (Adams previously and subsequently was a great Jefferson friend, but at the time his enemy because Adams blamed Jefferson for Callender’s lies during the incredibly nasty political campaign of 1800). The American people also apparently found no credibility in the allegations, re-electing President Jefferson by an overwhelming margin in 1804.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that such a relationship could have begun in Paris, as claimed, as Sally Hemings was the fourteen-year-old servant to Jefferson's daughters Martha and Mary, who lived in a boarding school across town from their famous father and the school had quarters for servants. Years after returning to Monticello, Martha received letters from classmates asking to be remembered to Sally. Dr. Turner recounts Jefferson, after learning his two year old daughter had died of whooping cough, had requested that Mary be sent to him immediately in the care of a trusted older slave named Isabel Hern. Unbeknownst to Jefferson, Isabel was suffering complications from recent childbirth, so his in-laws sent fourteen-year-old Sally Hemings to accompany Mary on the trans-Atlantic voyage. The Scholars Commission Report reveals the only credible surviving descriptions of Sally Hemings’ talents or abilities are found in two 1787 letters from the remarkable Abigail Adams, wife of U.S. Minister to Great Britain John Adams, who kept the fourteen-year-old Sally and Jefferson’s eight-year-old daughter for two weeks when they arrived from Virginia on the way to joining Jefferson in Paris. She described Sally as being “quite a child,” and said that she “wants more care than the child [Jefferson’s eight-year-old daughter], and is wholly incapable of looking properly after her, without some superiour to direct her.”
According to Dr. Turner, very little else is known about Sally Hemings in the historic record, as Jefferson made passing references to her in only four of his more than 20,000 letters; and only eleven brief entries in his memorandum books, most of them lists of servants and only a single listing after she returned from Paris. Furthermore, years later, while President Jefferson brought a number of servants from Monticello to work at the White House, Sally Hemings was not among them and remained at Monticello. In an undated note to one of his Monticello overseers prior to departing for Washington, D.C., Jefferson instructed that his daughter Martha and her husband were to receive “everything the plantation will furnish,” and added, “They are to have also the use of the house-servants, to wit, Ursula, Critta, Sally, Bet, Wormeley and Joe. So also of Betty Hemings, should her services be necessary.” According to Dr. Turner, if Sally Hemings had filled the role of his de facto wife or mistress, surely her name would have been listed with that of her mother, Betty Hemings, for special treatment; and surely he would have taken her with him among the dozen slaves he regularly took to Washington- but he never did. Compiling verbatim all listings and descriptions of Sally Hemings contained in the historic documents, Dr. Turner notes everything known about Sally Hemings fit onto one side of a standard index card. Quite clearly the report observes, with the almost total absence of information pertaining to Sally Hemings, she appears to have been a very minor figure in Thomas Jefferson’s life.
Today, many mistakenly believe Jefferson's paternity was established by 1998 DNA testing reported in the journal Nature, but those tests did not even involve DNA from Thomas Jefferson, and merely established that Sally's youngest child, Eston, was likely fathered by one of more than two-dozen Jefferson men living in Virginia at the time- of whom at least seven are thought to have been at Monticello when he was conceived. At the time of Eston’s conception, the elderly President Thomas Jefferson, age 64, was documented as suffering a host of medical and physical maladies including debilitating rheumatism clearly documented in the firsthand accounts; and intense migraine headaches which often lasted for weeks at a time.
By far the strongest family traditions (stories passed down from one generation to the next) suggesting President Jefferson's paternity of a Hemings child was told by descendents of Thomas Woodson, long thought to have been the slave "Tom" upon whom the original 1802 story was founded. However, six different tests of descendents of three of Woodson's sons proved beyond any doubt he could not have been fathered by Thomas Jefferson. And for many generations, descendents of Eston Hemings passed down the story that he was not President Jefferson's son, but rather the son of an "uncle." The report explains who that uncle might have been.
Furthermore, the scholars conclude that neither Sally Hemings nor her children received "extraordinary privileges" at Monticello, and her children were not all given their freedom at the age of 21 as is often claimed. It is true that Sally's sons Madison and Eston were freed in Jefferson's will, but so were all but two of the sons and grandsons of Sally's mother Betty Hemings who still belonged to Thomas Jefferson at the time of his death. Sally's sons received by far the least favorable treatment of those freed in Thomas Jefferson's will.
Other evidence contained in the historic record invites the question, “Would Thomas Jefferson have entrusted his reputation to the discretion of Sally Hemings?” Dr. Turner observes that shortly before Thomas Jefferson left for Paris, he wrote his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia, which included one of the most eloquent denunciations of human bondage in history, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep for ever… The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.” Dr. Turner specifically notes Jefferson went on to denounce the sexual exploitation of slave women by their ‘masters:’ “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal… If a parent could find no motive in his philanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present.”
The Scholars Commission Report notes the only accounts we have of Sally Hemings as she traveled to Paris as being exceptionally immature and lacking the judgment of an eight-year-old child, and “As the servant to Jefferson’s daughters, she was presumably in their presence for hours at a time, day after day. Again, the issue is not whether Thomas Jefferson would have believed that such a child might be able to preserve his confidences, but whether he would be certain that he could entrust his cherished reputation to her discretion.” Significantly, period French Intelligence reports reveal no scandalous activities observed and recorded during his time in Paris, which would have served the French Government for the purpose of compromising Thomas Jefferson. Dr. Turner adds, we are asked to believe that Jefferson “took as his ‘concubine’ the young and immature Sally Hemings, the ladies’ maid to his beloved daughters, and apparently entrusted his reputation and their love and respect for him to her discretion. Such behavior would be totally inconsistent with everything we know about Thomas Jefferson.”
A fable has been defined as “a fictitious narrative or statement,” usually of known origin. Proponents of the Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemings Fable are asking modern Americans to believe that Thomas Jefferson became obsessed with an immature, uneducated 14-year-old slave girl while in Paris; and that he proceeded to conduct an illicit, 38-year love affair with her for the remainder of his life fathering one, or more, or all of her children. Based on everything we know in the voluminous historic record pertaining to Thomas Jefferson, such a fable is not only unthinkable, it is preposterous.
While the facts cited here are just a few examples of the significant evidence in the historic record to date which overwhelmingly vindicate Thomas Jefferson as a man of great character and moral rectitude; and as someone innocent of the charges of fathering slave children, Dr. Donald Livingston, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow and President of the Abbeville Institute for the Study of Southern Culture notes there is a great deal of ideologically driven "advocacy scholarship" throughout academia and the pop culture media today, which is more interested in changing behavior than in truth. Solid scholarship and truth will eventually out those omissions of fact; intentional or unintentional errors in the transcriptions of historic documents; and other blatant falsehoods which contradict everything known about Thomas Jefferson contained in the historic record.
With the hope of promoting an informed public dialogue on this issue, the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society has issued a public challenge for the most prominent scholars on the other side of the issue to engage in public debates. Dr. Turner’s recently televised appearance at a Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., which summarized the report findings, received high praise from scholars and historians alike; and was covered by national and international journalists.
There is a growing awakening across our land, a yearning by American citizens to recall and seek increased knowledge and understanding of the essential truths and guiding principles that represent our cultural, political and spiritual inheritance, much of it authored and championed by Thomas Jefferson. Ultimately, with the passage of time, works by revisionist historiographers fail to withstand critical thought and scrutiny, and their efforts disintegrate before the underlying presence of the truth- their works become scorned and discredited. The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission, remains faithful to the study of our American history as a never-ending search for the truth, as it masterfully examines, weighs and documents the facts contained in the historic record to date along with newer research.
Dr. Turner concludes, “It is my hope that our report will at minimum help to correct some of the mythology that has grown up around this issue in recent years. The ninety-two percent margin by which the members of the Scholars Commission concluded that the allegation is probably false should at least give those otherwise inclined to accept the charge reason to pause, as should the fact that the leading scholars who embraced the argument that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemings prior to the release of our report have been unwilling to defend that position in public debate.”
Why does it matter today for Americans to study the immense character and ideals of Thomas Jefferson factually and truthfully?
Thomas Jefferson once reminded us a nation cannot remain ignorant and free. A 2009 survey of Oklahoma high school students indicated only 25% could identify George Washington as our nation's first President; only 14% could identify Thomas Jefferson as the Author of the Declaration of Independence; and only about 3% would have passed the basic Citizenship Test given to recent immigrant candidates for U.S. citizenship. Such ignorance does not bode well for the future of our republic- the federative polity bequeathed to us by our American Founders.
It matters greatly that current and future generations of Americans learn about the immense character, legacy, ideals and essential truths of Thomas Jefferson, not only as a great American Founder and Patriot worthy of our remembrance for his many noble qualities and contributions, but for his deep inspiration and enduring influence which comprise the very foundation of America. His is a legacy that current and future generations of Americans- and citizens around the world- would be well-served to learn, to honor and remember, and to keep dear in our hearts.
Robert F. Turner is a cofounder of the Center for National Security Law (1981) at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Turner holds both professional and academic doctorates from the University of Virginia School of Law, and is a former Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College and a Distinguished Lecturer at West Point. He has taught both in Virginia's Department of Government and Foreign Affairs and the Law School, and is the author or editor of more than a dozen books. A former president of the congressionally-established U.S. Institute of Peace, he has had a strong professional interest in Jefferson for more than four decades.
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (http://www.tjheritage.org/) is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which has a five-fold purpose: To further the honor and integrity of Thomas Jefferson, and to promote his vision and ideas, and their application in our times and in the future; to pursue truth in all matters that touch upon the legacy of Thomas Jefferson; to promote the principles of freedom, patriotism and truth, which were hallmarks of Thomas Jefferson's life; to sponsor and perform research in matters pertaining to the private and public life of Thomas Jefferson; and to stand always in opposition to those who would seek to undermine the integrity of Thomas Jefferson. Additional detailed facts documenting the work of the Scholars Commission can be referenced at the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society web site.
The Fauquier Heritage Institute was created to promote the study and love of Virginia and American history. To that end, the Institute hosts a yearly series of public lectures that seek to promote knowledge, understanding and appreciation of our local, regional and national history. The Fauquier Heritage Institute welcomes and encourages all volunteers to aid our special events programs and lecture series in a variety of capacities; and may be contacted at: gonearethedays@hughes.net
WARRENTON, VA - The 2012 edition of the annual Fauquier Heritage Institute Lectures in American History features distinguished local historians and nationally acclaimed scholars to address a variety of topics of regional and national significance.
On Saturday, 31 March 2012, with special cooperation by the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, the Institute will host Dr. Robert F. Turner, Chairman of the Jefferson-Hemings Scholars Commission, which strongly challenges the modern-era view that President Thomas Jefferson fathered one or more children by an enslaved African-American woman named Sally Hemings. The lecture will be held at 3:00 PM in the John Barton Payne Building, located at 2 Courthouse Square, on Main Street, in Old Town Warrenton, Virginia. Admission is free to the public. A question-and-answer session and book signing for The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission will be held following the lecture.
The report of the Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings controversy documents the results of a year-long, independent panel inquiry by thirteen distinguished academics from across the nation. Working without compensation at the request of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, the scholars were unanimous in their conclusion that "the allegation is by no means proven," and with but a single mild dissent their views "ranged from serious skepticism about the charge to a conviction that it is almost certainly untrue." Each argument in the debate is examined in careful detail in the comprehensive 412-page volume, with more than 1,400 footnotes documenting their analysis.
Many of the commonly accepted premises behind the story were found to be false, according to the panel of scholars. Dr. Turner relates on September 1, 1802, one of the most disreputable scandalmongers in American history, James Thomson Callender (who once called George Washington a “traitor” and a “thief”), published an article in the Richmond, Virginia Recorder alleging that while in Paris, Thomas Jefferson had begun a sexual relationship with his servant Sally Hemings- and a son named “Tom” was born of that relationship shortly after they returned to Virginia at the end of 1789 and his “features are said to bear a striking resemblance to those of the President himself.” The report documents Callender was a self-confessed “liar,” who claimed the lies he wrote about President John Adams had made Jefferson President. Subsequently Turner describes Callender as having demanded “payment” in the form of an appointment as Postmaster of Richmond, threatening to turn his pen on Jefferson if the appointment was not forthcoming. When Jefferson refused, Callender vowed a “ten thousand fold vengeance” upon Jefferson. Dr. Turner notes the “Black Sal” allegation was rejected even by Jefferson’s political enemies Alexander Hamilton and John Adams (Adams previously and subsequently was a great Jefferson friend, but at the time his enemy because Adams blamed Jefferson for Callender’s lies during the incredibly nasty political campaign of 1800). The American people also apparently found no credibility in the allegations, re-electing President Jefferson by an overwhelming margin in 1804.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that such a relationship could have begun in Paris, as claimed, as Sally Hemings was the fourteen-year-old servant to Jefferson's daughters Martha and Mary, who lived in a boarding school across town from their famous father and the school had quarters for servants. Years after returning to Monticello, Martha received letters from classmates asking to be remembered to Sally. Dr. Turner recounts Jefferson, after learning his two year old daughter had died of whooping cough, had requested that Mary be sent to him immediately in the care of a trusted older slave named Isabel Hern. Unbeknownst to Jefferson, Isabel was suffering complications from recent childbirth, so his in-laws sent fourteen-year-old Sally Hemings to accompany Mary on the trans-Atlantic voyage. The Scholars Commission Report reveals the only credible surviving descriptions of Sally Hemings’ talents or abilities are found in two 1787 letters from the remarkable Abigail Adams, wife of U.S. Minister to Great Britain John Adams, who kept the fourteen-year-old Sally and Jefferson’s eight-year-old daughter for two weeks when they arrived from Virginia on the way to joining Jefferson in Paris. She described Sally as being “quite a child,” and said that she “wants more care than the child [Jefferson’s eight-year-old daughter], and is wholly incapable of looking properly after her, without some superiour to direct her.”
According to Dr. Turner, very little else is known about Sally Hemings in the historic record, as Jefferson made passing references to her in only four of his more than 20,000 letters; and only eleven brief entries in his memorandum books, most of them lists of servants and only a single listing after she returned from Paris. Furthermore, years later, while President Jefferson brought a number of servants from Monticello to work at the White House, Sally Hemings was not among them and remained at Monticello. In an undated note to one of his Monticello overseers prior to departing for Washington, D.C., Jefferson instructed that his daughter Martha and her husband were to receive “everything the plantation will furnish,” and added, “They are to have also the use of the house-servants, to wit, Ursula, Critta, Sally, Bet, Wormeley and Joe. So also of Betty Hemings, should her services be necessary.” According to Dr. Turner, if Sally Hemings had filled the role of his de facto wife or mistress, surely her name would have been listed with that of her mother, Betty Hemings, for special treatment; and surely he would have taken her with him among the dozen slaves he regularly took to Washington- but he never did. Compiling verbatim all listings and descriptions of Sally Hemings contained in the historic documents, Dr. Turner notes everything known about Sally Hemings fit onto one side of a standard index card. Quite clearly the report observes, with the almost total absence of information pertaining to Sally Hemings, she appears to have been a very minor figure in Thomas Jefferson’s life.
Today, many mistakenly believe Jefferson's paternity was established by 1998 DNA testing reported in the journal Nature, but those tests did not even involve DNA from Thomas Jefferson, and merely established that Sally's youngest child, Eston, was likely fathered by one of more than two-dozen Jefferson men living in Virginia at the time- of whom at least seven are thought to have been at Monticello when he was conceived. At the time of Eston’s conception, the elderly President Thomas Jefferson, age 64, was documented as suffering a host of medical and physical maladies including debilitating rheumatism clearly documented in the firsthand accounts; and intense migraine headaches which often lasted for weeks at a time.
By far the strongest family traditions (stories passed down from one generation to the next) suggesting President Jefferson's paternity of a Hemings child was told by descendents of Thomas Woodson, long thought to have been the slave "Tom" upon whom the original 1802 story was founded. However, six different tests of descendents of three of Woodson's sons proved beyond any doubt he could not have been fathered by Thomas Jefferson. And for many generations, descendents of Eston Hemings passed down the story that he was not President Jefferson's son, but rather the son of an "uncle." The report explains who that uncle might have been.
Furthermore, the scholars conclude that neither Sally Hemings nor her children received "extraordinary privileges" at Monticello, and her children were not all given their freedom at the age of 21 as is often claimed. It is true that Sally's sons Madison and Eston were freed in Jefferson's will, but so were all but two of the sons and grandsons of Sally's mother Betty Hemings who still belonged to Thomas Jefferson at the time of his death. Sally's sons received by far the least favorable treatment of those freed in Thomas Jefferson's will.
Other evidence contained in the historic record invites the question, “Would Thomas Jefferson have entrusted his reputation to the discretion of Sally Hemings?” Dr. Turner observes that shortly before Thomas Jefferson left for Paris, he wrote his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia, which included one of the most eloquent denunciations of human bondage in history, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep for ever… The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.” Dr. Turner specifically notes Jefferson went on to denounce the sexual exploitation of slave women by their ‘masters:’ “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal… If a parent could find no motive in his philanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present.”
The Scholars Commission Report notes the only accounts we have of Sally Hemings as she traveled to Paris as being exceptionally immature and lacking the judgment of an eight-year-old child, and “As the servant to Jefferson’s daughters, she was presumably in their presence for hours at a time, day after day. Again, the issue is not whether Thomas Jefferson would have believed that such a child might be able to preserve his confidences, but whether he would be certain that he could entrust his cherished reputation to her discretion.” Significantly, period French Intelligence reports reveal no scandalous activities observed and recorded during his time in Paris, which would have served the French Government for the purpose of compromising Thomas Jefferson. Dr. Turner adds, we are asked to believe that Jefferson “took as his ‘concubine’ the young and immature Sally Hemings, the ladies’ maid to his beloved daughters, and apparently entrusted his reputation and their love and respect for him to her discretion. Such behavior would be totally inconsistent with everything we know about Thomas Jefferson.”
A fable has been defined as “a fictitious narrative or statement,” usually of known origin. Proponents of the Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemings Fable are asking modern Americans to believe that Thomas Jefferson became obsessed with an immature, uneducated 14-year-old slave girl while in Paris; and that he proceeded to conduct an illicit, 38-year love affair with her for the remainder of his life fathering one, or more, or all of her children. Based on everything we know in the voluminous historic record pertaining to Thomas Jefferson, such a fable is not only unthinkable, it is preposterous.
While the facts cited here are just a few examples of the significant evidence in the historic record to date which overwhelmingly vindicate Thomas Jefferson as a man of great character and moral rectitude; and as someone innocent of the charges of fathering slave children, Dr. Donald Livingston, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow and President of the Abbeville Institute for the Study of Southern Culture notes there is a great deal of ideologically driven "advocacy scholarship" throughout academia and the pop culture media today, which is more interested in changing behavior than in truth. Solid scholarship and truth will eventually out those omissions of fact; intentional or unintentional errors in the transcriptions of historic documents; and other blatant falsehoods which contradict everything known about Thomas Jefferson contained in the historic record.
With the hope of promoting an informed public dialogue on this issue, the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society has issued a public challenge for the most prominent scholars on the other side of the issue to engage in public debates. Dr. Turner’s recently televised appearance at a Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., which summarized the report findings, received high praise from scholars and historians alike; and was covered by national and international journalists.
There is a growing awakening across our land, a yearning by American citizens to recall and seek increased knowledge and understanding of the essential truths and guiding principles that represent our cultural, political and spiritual inheritance, much of it authored and championed by Thomas Jefferson. Ultimately, with the passage of time, works by revisionist historiographers fail to withstand critical thought and scrutiny, and their efforts disintegrate before the underlying presence of the truth- their works become scorned and discredited. The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission, remains faithful to the study of our American history as a never-ending search for the truth, as it masterfully examines, weighs and documents the facts contained in the historic record to date along with newer research.
Dr. Turner concludes, “It is my hope that our report will at minimum help to correct some of the mythology that has grown up around this issue in recent years. The ninety-two percent margin by which the members of the Scholars Commission concluded that the allegation is probably false should at least give those otherwise inclined to accept the charge reason to pause, as should the fact that the leading scholars who embraced the argument that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemings prior to the release of our report have been unwilling to defend that position in public debate.”
Why does it matter today for Americans to study the immense character and ideals of Thomas Jefferson factually and truthfully?
Thomas Jefferson once reminded us a nation cannot remain ignorant and free. A 2009 survey of Oklahoma high school students indicated only 25% could identify George Washington as our nation's first President; only 14% could identify Thomas Jefferson as the Author of the Declaration of Independence; and only about 3% would have passed the basic Citizenship Test given to recent immigrant candidates for U.S. citizenship. Such ignorance does not bode well for the future of our republic- the federative polity bequeathed to us by our American Founders.
It matters greatly that current and future generations of Americans learn about the immense character, legacy, ideals and essential truths of Thomas Jefferson, not only as a great American Founder and Patriot worthy of our remembrance for his many noble qualities and contributions, but for his deep inspiration and enduring influence which comprise the very foundation of America. His is a legacy that current and future generations of Americans- and citizens around the world- would be well-served to learn, to honor and remember, and to keep dear in our hearts.
Robert F. Turner is a cofounder of the Center for National Security Law (1981) at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Turner holds both professional and academic doctorates from the University of Virginia School of Law, and is a former Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College and a Distinguished Lecturer at West Point. He has taught both in Virginia's Department of Government and Foreign Affairs and the Law School, and is the author or editor of more than a dozen books. A former president of the congressionally-established U.S. Institute of Peace, he has had a strong professional interest in Jefferson for more than four decades.
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (http://www.tjheritage.org/) is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which has a five-fold purpose: To further the honor and integrity of Thomas Jefferson, and to promote his vision and ideas, and their application in our times and in the future; to pursue truth in all matters that touch upon the legacy of Thomas Jefferson; to promote the principles of freedom, patriotism and truth, which were hallmarks of Thomas Jefferson's life; to sponsor and perform research in matters pertaining to the private and public life of Thomas Jefferson; and to stand always in opposition to those who would seek to undermine the integrity of Thomas Jefferson. Additional detailed facts documenting the work of the Scholars Commission can be referenced at the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society web site.
The Fauquier Heritage Institute was created to promote the study and love of Virginia and American history. To that end, the Institute hosts a yearly series of public lectures that seek to promote knowledge, understanding and appreciation of our local, regional and national history. The Fauquier Heritage Institute welcomes and encourages all volunteers to aid our special events programs and lecture series in a variety of capacities; and may be contacted at: gonearethedays@hughes.net
posted by Chuck Demastus at
10:44 AM
0 Comments
Thursday, February 09, 2012
FLY "THE" FLAG: OUR STATE FLAGS.
by Tim Manning
I love the courageous and well-meaning people who fly Confederate flags (1st, 2nd or 3rd Confederate National Flags, the Confederate Naval Jack and the other Confederate battle and State flags)!!! Yet, this is often not accurately understood by the historically challenged in our Southern States. Many of our State flags are OUR flags redesigned by OUR Confederate State governments after secession from the USA. Many fly the flag of the U.S. national government when it actually only represents the central federal government and not the "people" of the united States, and the notion does not strike them that it is more appropriate to fly their State flags at the homes, businesses, schools and especially over “their State Capitals.”
Many of us pride ourselves in being "Southern Nationalists." We dream of escaping the corruptions of the worlds most powerful and universally corrupt empire, the USA, in order to establish a smaller empire, the CSA, which may or may not make the desired and necessary changes that would restore true liberty and freedom. We should begin to think in terms of truly becoming "nationalists" as in “Virginia Nationalists”, “Georgia Nationalists”, “Texas Nationalists”, etc. When we begin thinking as true State nationalists we will begin flying our State flags. Our term "State" originally had the same meaning as the word "country" as we use it today. The U.S. National Flag is the flag of the USA Government. The State Flags are the flags of the people of the united States.
Framing the restoration of freedom and liberty in the clothes (terms and flags) of the Confederacy is tricky and can be deceptive. Today there are 35 individual States of the USA that have populations the size of the entire USA as it was in 1860 before secession and “The War.” In some ways modern “unreconstructed” Southerners do not even begin to think in real “nationalistic” terms and the State and regional terms that led to the secession of their States leading to the creation of the CSA.
I would love to hear of our Southern Senators and Representatives forming a “Southern Caucus” which in time could become a “Confederate Caucus.” I would love to see banks, businesses, post offices, schools and homes fly their State flags in the place of the flag of the U.S. federal government. This could be a place to begin in reclaiming our freedom and civil liberties.
The Southern Partisan Reader
posted by PoP at
9:03 PM
1 Comments
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Is There a Southern Movement in 21st Century America?
By Mark Vogl
johnyreb43@yahoo.com
Is there are Southern movement within the complex diverse cultural quilt that is America as we head towards November of 2012? Is there any reason to think the South is what it was, a region of its own values, and political, social and economic interests?
I define the Southern movement as people who see present day value in;
both the original Constitution, as written by the Founders, and in the actions of the people of the South to try to maintain the original political structure of their nation, and a desire to bring those elements into today’s political discourse,
loyalty to the South second only to a Christian God.
the concept of republic, and the legal, accepted right of secession.
To be a movement it must be concerned with today; with the challenges of today, with the politics of today, with the future. This is an essential part of the question and is the standard by which we will measure whether there is a present day movement.
The movement may be enhanced and, to some extent, evidenced through culture, and music. The Southern tradition is about a love of the land, and the place of Christ in daily living. Any Southern movement would not be about the dust of history, but about the needs of today, and the application of the principles, values and character of the men who were the South of 1860.
This article is intended to explore the size and condition of the Southern Movement, if there is one. Is it coordinated or operating along separate and uncooperative avenues? Is the Southern movement engaged in the Culture War? If so, how? Is the South ashamed of its history? Has the most recent invasion of Yankees to the South, in the Post Air Conditioning era, overwhelmed Southern identity? Or is the South resisting the homogenization of regions within the United States into a sort of a “milk toast” Americanism?
Is it coincidence, or part of a divine plan that the United States of America is experiencing the Sesquicentennial (150th) Remembrance of its Civil War at the same time the nation is at a crossroads as big as the one at Fort Sumter?
It’s important to note here that Southern symbols, icons, and culture were still alive and well as late as the 1970’s. Confederate naval ensigns would fly at high school and college football games and decorate cars burning gas on the various NASCAR tracks throughout the South. The Rebels was a common name for high school or college sports team. Dixie would play as often as the national anthem. And Southern icons like Lee and Jackson were still hung in portraits over the bed of a family’s son(s).
Southern bands like Alabama continued into the late twentieth century. Groups like Shenandoah offered hope that Southern music would survive. But modern country just isn’t what it was. Southern rock and roll doesn’t dominate the radio stations of Dixie any more.
Somewhere, and somehow, these regional trademarks were erased or marginalized. The culture war of the sixties continues to this day. Inclusion of some has meant exclusion of others. This has not been about making room at the table for more, but about pushing some out of their seats, so that others could occupy them.
As I researched this article, I tried to look at the widest possible view of what could be considered a part of the Southern movement. One commercial business seemed a real possibility as a participant in the movement. This business uses the Confederate naval ensign and the words Dixie and Southern in its name. Yet, when I contacted them for an interview, the reply was startling. They did not want to be interviewed or mentioned in this article! They did not want to offend anyone’s feelings. I found it confusing that they would so blatantly use Southern symbols to adorn their business, yet refuse an interview for this article.
Let me close the introduction by saying that just because a group or person is mentioned in this article, does not indicate they are a part of a Southern movement, but rather that through my experience and knowledge I felt addressing them in this paper was important. And there may be groups dedicated to modern application of Southern values which are not mentioned because of my limited knowledge. Should those groups see this article and wish to be included in any further work in this area, I hope you will contact me.
Jed Marum
Let’s begin this article with a little known, but very talented musician and song writer whose upbringing was in Boston, Massachusetts. Jed Marum moved to Texas for employment reasons. But as things turned out, he has gone farther and farther down the road of song writer and entertainer. His music is Celtic and also Southern. Yes, that’s what I said, Southern.
One of Jed’s best songs is titled “I Didn’t Know I was a Yankee, ‘til I Moved to Texas!” Jed is fascinated by the South, its story, and the tragedy that it has endured as a result of Yankee invasion and occupation. Jed’s music tells the story of the South from the Southern view. He is operating in the underground that is the Southern movement. He performs for living history and reenactment events, and at meetings of heritage organizations. He has written songs and music for movies about the Civil War.
Jed is unique, both in his talent, and in his vantage point. Because he is not Southern, Jed appreciates the South as only a foreigner can.
The Heart of the Movement
The very heart of what is the movement, if there is a movement, is an ill-defined but beautiful concept known as “the South.” This concept, to my knowledge, has never been succinctly described. But attempts have been made.
One attempt dealt solely with the contest in Virginia, and two of the South’s icons, Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan Jackson. This effort was a video program produced by New Liberty Videos www.newlibertyvideo.com of Missouri titled “Warriors of Honor.” This story paints a picture of the martial South, which wraps together a deep and shared Christian faith that pervaded the leadership of the Army of Northern Virginia with a devotion to duty, a conduct of honor, and brilliance on the field unparalleled in American history.
The South is more than the Army of Northern Virginia. The South’s ideals and essence were described through the creation of the Confederate Constitution, and the great courage and sacrifice made by so many. Alas, there were lesser beings in the South white population, and these men’s blood flows today, just as that of the nobler men. The great individualism, which is a Southern trait, also created fissures and fractures that divided the South through crisis, as it does today.
Still, there was a higher South - a land before heaven, on earth. The Confederate naval ensign is a symbol of this South. It is a rally point for Southern pride, for Southern nationalism, and a reminder of the Constitution of Madison’s hand, and Jefferson’s Declaration. The Confederate naval ensign is an internationally known symbol of the South. With respect to its value as a regional trademark, it would be impossible to estimate in terms of dollars. This flag represents the defiance of the South as it left the union, and could be the symbol of a modern Southern movement.
Heritage Organizations
Any exploration of a Southern movement would be incomplete without consideration of the various heritage organizations which trace themselves back to the Confederacy. These are the largest identifiable groups connected to the South. The largest of these organizations, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (S.C.V.), is somewhere between 25 and 28,000 members. Headquartered in Columbia, Tennessee, its membership extends overseas to Brazil (where a Confederate colony was established after the war) and in Europe. Though their Charge (purpose) is to vindicate the Cause, they are not organized, nor do they conduct activities which would do so. They have no political arm, and their fund-raising efforts are anemic. Their sole strength is at the local level in towns and hamlets across the South.
As a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans since 1994, I first became aware of the different heritage organizations of the South. Foremost among these is the United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C.). It is not difficult to say that this group, more than any other, is responsible for most of the monuments, and preservation of many of the battle colors and documents of the Confederate South. However, in recent times, the U.D.C. has established a series of hurdles to membership that would fatigue most marathon runners. Similar to the S.C.V., a genealogical connection from a Confederate veteran to a potential member is required. But, proof of that reality is in some sense beyond normal standards, and other personal information requested could cause potential members to hesitate in their application.
Another organization, much smaller, and of dubious commitment to the Southern Cause is the Military Order of the Stars and Bars. The MOS&B is not large and seems to have a belief in the genetic properties of leadership, whereby the descendants of the great Southern leaders of one hundred and fifty years ago have somehow secured the leadership traits of the South’s most renowned heroes and will exercise them to control today’s lesser beings.
Other auxiliary groups like the Descendants of Confederate Veterans and the Order of the Confederate Rose are more evidence of fissures and fractures within established heritage organizations, than a rush by the general public to join the Southern movement. Recruiting efforts by these organizations have targeted existing heritage organization memberships rather than break ground into new, untilled areas for membership.
Of course, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is the premier Southern heritage organization with membership just under thirty thousand. (It is not growing despite the Sesquicentennial Anniversary.) Disappointing, given that a genealogical formulae developed by Dr. Ray James of Texas A & M and some of his colleagues, indicates there may be as many as 80 million living American descendants of the Confederacy.
Across the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is probably the most active group concerning Southern heritage. While they do not participate in influencing government policy, they are very active at the camp (local) level in parades, classrooms, and conducting ceremonies honoring their Confederate ancestry. They do maintain a presence, a Southern presence in thousands of cities and villages across the South. Many of their members, and some of their leadership, are devoted to the Charge and the Cause. So the verdict is still out. They do much, but with the right leadership, a change in attitude of a segment of this organization and a modernizing of their Constitutions, they could become a real force in the movement.
The Internet’s Role in the Southern movement
The internet plays a big role in the modern 21st Century Southern movement. It provides a whole new, international means to link people of a Southern attitude. Interestingly, if you were to use Google to search the internet for the word “Dixie,” you would find 103,000,000 hits. If you search for the term “Yankee”, you find 23,000,000 hits! A startling discovery.
The most common use of the internet in the Southern movement is for websites. These sites normally act as advertisements for the local organizations, “camps” of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. There are also sites for museums, battlefields, re-enactor units, etc.
Other communication devices used on the internet are email lists. Individuals or groups become news-gatherers for events and issues occurring in the south. Some of these lists can have thousands of members, and are a means for quickly distributing information across the South. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Telegraph is an email list run from their national headquarters in Columbia, Tennessee. In addition, a blog is also operated by the S.C.V.
The Southern Heritage News and Views is both a website and a news distribution point with more than 3,500 subscribers. Charles Demastus, the owner, has been operating this outlet for fourteen years and reports subscribers from all over the world. Mr. Demastus reports that the subscriber list for Southern Heritage News and Views has leveled out over the past couple of years. Given we are in the second year of the Sesquicentennial, one has to ask if the poor economy has cooled enthusiasm? Or does the leveling off reflect reaching the ceiling of people interested in Southern or Civil War history?
One of the venues featuring Southern culture on the internet is a new brand of radio. This “radio” operates strictly off the internet.
One of those radio stations is Dixie Radio, http://www.dixieradio.net/ owned and operated by Winston Boulware of Millbrook, Alabama. Winston says: “I do it for the fun of it.”
Social media like Facebook has created a national network for people who enjoy Southern culture, and/or participate in Civil War re-enactments, cotillions, balls, and living histories. There are a number of Southern Facebook pages set up, each with hundreds or thousands of members.
It is a theory of mine that the personal computer has done a lot to create a whole new wave of authors of varying talents, intellectual skills, and academic training. You need only attend S.C.V. reunions each year to see new authors with new stories and theories. While much of this is probably not central to the development of a Southern movement, some seed may sprout from this wild garden which could ignite increased interest.
African American Confederates
When asked about the diversity of the subscribers connected to Southern Heritage News & Views, Charles pointed to “HK Edgerton, Al McCray and Bob Harrison” as long-time subscribers of African American descent.
Mr. Edgerton is especially well known as a spokesman for his Pro-Confederate views. Recently his brother, Lee, sent out an email announcement about a book he had just completed concerning HK’s famous walk. “ On Oct. 14th, “2002 H.K. and I set off to bring attention to the wrongful removal of the Confederate plaques from the G.S.A. Building in Austin, Texas. This endeavor is now known as The March Across Dixie. We covered seven states and dozens of cities in this endeavor.”
Lee Edgerton refers to a despicable act by then Governor George Bush in ordering the removal of plaques acknowledging the financial contributions of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to build a state building. Bush’s orders were executed in the dark of night to prevent public notice or action. As is the S.C.V. modus operandi, they took the state to court, but failed to get the plaques restored to their original location. However, Mr. J. K. Edgerton’s heroic efforts made him a hero within the Southern movement. For more information about the book, The Historical March Across Dixie, 2002-2003 (Copywriter 2011), call 828-505-1385. This coffee-table-sized book is filled with colorful photos of the march.
In a telephone interview with H. K., I found him impassioned, highly educated, articulate, experienced in celebrating Southern culture and history, and committed to his purpose. H. K. said the enemies of the South “divided the South white and black. The whites who owned my ancestors were not just called master, but family and friend.”
H.K. said he had been invited by a Black and Latino student organization at Wright State University to speak to them. In response to my question what was he going to speak about, he said, “I am going to talk about the African-American contribution to the war effort, as soldiers, teamsters, and operating the plantations and the rest of the home front while the whites were off to war.” He went on, “They are trying to erase the memory of what we did to help the South, and to take away our position of honor in the South.” H.K. mentioned a black soldier who served with Confederate Cavalry leader, Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Some within the Southern movement talk about secession and the creation of a new Southern nation. I asked H.K. how that fit into his work and thinking? “That is not my part of my agenda,” he said. “It’s scary to think about that. But people are tired of the tyranny. The South is still under Reconstruction, each time they attack the Confederate naval ensign, or like Governor Bush taking down the plaques, we see occupation.” H. K. made a point to thank the League of the South for the many times they have helped him on projects.
H.K. was 55 years old when he did his march across the South. But that wasn’t his last walk. H.K. mentioned leading a Martin Luther King Parade carrying the Confederate flag and walking with the Sons of Confederate of Veterans in Cross City, Florida.
For more information on H.K. Edgerton go to www.southernheritage411.com H.K. calls himself a “seven-day-a-week Confederate!”
Another African American very active in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is Nelson Wimbush who has attended many national reunions. I first met Nelson in 1995 in Richmond at the 100th Reunion of the S.C.V.
Race is not the issue reported in the mainstream media. The present modern-day Southern movement accepts the equality of civil rights. The League of the South, the most ardent of the groups within the Southern movement, states: “ The LS disavows a spirit of malice and extends an offer of good will and cooperation to Southern blacks in areas where we can work together as Christians to make life better for all people in the South. We affirm that, while historically the interests of Southern blacks and whites have been in part antagonistic, true Constitutional government would provide protection to all law-abiding citizens…”
In fact, serious research and academic work focused on the contributions to Southern war effort b African Americans are sought after and highly prized. Whether it be on the battlefield, serving as soldiers, or as combat support and combat service support troops constructing trench lines, or driving the supply wagons operating with the armies, or at home, running the plantations, it is becoming more evident each year that the South’s African-American population was essential to sustaining the war effort.
Abbeville Institute
Abbeville Institute http://abbevilleinstitute.org/ in South Carolina is certainly one of the intellectual centers of the Southern movement. Annually, the Institute holds conferences on various aspects of the politics of regional difference, and events that led to secession. Every year, a summer program for college and graduate students is conducted at the Institute. Members see their charge as that of illuminating vast areas of history that clearly indicate the vindictive and aggressive actions of the North against the South.
Dr. Don Livingston wrote me after a telephone interview to say: “The Institute was formed in 2003 by 12 academics at the University of Virginia concerned that the Southern tradition is no longer being taught in colleges and universities across the South, except as fuel for political correctness. The task of the Institute is to critically explore what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition. To this end it holds an annual week long summer school for college and graduate students and an annual scholars’ conference for academics and other thoughtful people. To examine what is valuable in the Southern tradition is at the same time to present a critique of much of American modernity.
The Institute, from its small beginning, now has over 120 academics associated with its mission. These scholars, over the past decade, have produced over 40 scholarly books on all aspects of the Southern tradition. The scholarship of the Institute is necessarily thought provoking. Readers are invited to rethink the nationalist and other paradigms that determine so much of American culture.”
As an example consider this from a recent conference on the topic of Northern dissent from Lincoln’s war:
“Nationalist historians for 150 years have protected Americans from confronting the stark immorality of prosecuting what French philosopher Bertrand de Jouvenel called, “a war such as Europe had never yet seen” to force eleven States into a federation from which their people had voted to secede. Should eleven American States secede today and form a federation of their own, such a war would be judged criminal.”
In a telephone interview, Dr. Donald Livingston described the Southerners of Sumter as “bearing witness to the Jeffersonian view of the Constitution. We see the Southern tradition as looking all the way back to the original Constitution. The South is older than the United States. It had an identity that was recognized before the Constitution was written.”
The Institute’s goals express an understanding of present bias, and establish an over the horizon objective; “This condition in higher education is not going to change overnight. Those who created it are tenured, and will dominate in higher education for at least a generation-- and even longer since they are disposed to hire and tenure only their own. Even so, there are many scholars in America and abroad who take inspiration from the Southern tradition, and many others who are open to what it has to teach. Students too are open. Many feel they are somehow encountering on campus a profound intellectual and spiritual disorder, but they do not know how to think about it.”
Dr. Donald Livingston described the Southerners of Sumter as “bearing witness to the Jeffersonian view of the Constitution. We see the Southern tradition as looking all the way back to the original Constitution. The South is older than the United States. It had an identity that was recognized before the Constitution was written.”
The Institute’s goals express an understanding of present bias, and establish an over-the-horizon objective: “This condition is not going to change overnight. Those who created it are tenured, and will dominate in higher education for at least a generation-- and even longer since they are disposed to hire and tenure only their own. Even so, there are many scholars in America and abroad who take inspiration from the Southern tradition, and many others who are open to what it has to teach. Students too are open. Many feel they are somehow encountering on campus a profound intellectual and spiritual disorder, but they do not know how to think about it.”
The Abbeville Institute is on the cutting edge of bringing the Southern view up to today. Formed in 2003 by a small number of professors at the University of Virginia, the institute now has 120 associates. Its most recent book is Rethinking the American Union for the 21st Century. (Pelican Publishing, 2012). It can’t get more challenging and timely than that.
The Institute also conducts Jefferson Seminars. These are local gatherings of folks to explore a topic guided by an Institute scholar. If you would like to fund one for your community, contact the Institute at contactus@abbevilleinstitute.org.
The Grady McWhiney Research Foundation http://www.mcwhiney.org/mission.html
This not-for-profit foundation is focused on the study of the history of the mid 19th- century United States, Civil War and American military affairs and Texas history. Dr. Grady McWhiney, the founder of this foundation, had a very pro-Southern reputation.
“A well-known and respected scholar, McWhiney served as head of the Southern History Institute at the University of Alabama for many years. His published work, in the form of several books and numerous articles, has been both ground-breaking and provocative. In the course of his nearly forty years as a professional historian, McWhiney earned a reputation for impeccable scholarship that often led to unconventional insights into our nation's history.” Dr, McWhiney earned his PhD, at Columbia University in New York.
Dr. McWhiney did serious work in the study and consideration of General Braxton Bragg, CSA and also Southern history. “His most path-breaking and provocative work, Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South,” is directly taken from the website page describing Dr. McWhiney. So one would think the Foundation is deeply involved in the preservation of a positive Southern history.
Dr. Don Frazier, President and CEO of McWhiney, has been with the foundation for 20 years. He says that the “foundation is open to more interpretation, advancing investigation and scholarship in Southern history,” and went on to say that they had published a lot of Civil War books over the years.
Dr. Frazier said that McWhiney’s work in Cracker Culture focused on “the Celtic influence in the formation of the Southern culture.” Frazier went on to say more work is needed to continue to develop that theme.
Dr. Frazier indicated that the South had been a brake on evolving the Constitution away from a Republic towards centralization. He used the term “obstructionist” to describe how the Southern senators and congressmen had slowed the process until secession. Once their chairs were empty, Lincoln and the remaining Congress were able to begin the process, which has brought this nation to its present condition.
20 years as a professor in the field, Dr. Frazier believes the Southern movement may have “reached its crest and is now subsiding. Part of what they are arguing for has been coopted by the Libertarian movement and other groups nationally. In many ways, what they had been saying were regional (Southern) concerns but now are becoming national concerns. There is a general uneasiness with what is occurring at the national level.”
Lastly, Dr. Frazier said Southerners had made a huge tactical mistake by not condemning racism. Because they would not separate themselves from racism in the post war years, their credibility on other issues and the future of the American society was suspect.
The Stephen D. Lee Institute
The Stephen D. Lee Institute http://www.stephendleeinstitute.com/ is part of the educational arm of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The purpose of the Institute is described on its website: “The Institute’s goal is to organize accomplished and distinguished professional scholarship to inform our members and the general public of the Southern side of the war. To that end the Institute makes available recognized scholars to present such subjects as states' rights and the Constitutional aspects of the war; economic motives for invasion of the South; the dubious benevolence behind the slavery issue; Union Army war crimes and other unsavory aspects of the war against the South in 1861–1865; and other aspects of the true causes and nature of the war.”
Brag Bowling, current Chairman of the Stephen D. Lee Institute, said “We are trying to give a solid academic foundation to the cause of the Southern secession. A lot of people realize that the Stephen D. Lee Institute is becoming an educational force.” Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an arch enemy of the South, called the S. D. Lee Institute the “Confederate think tank.
The Stephen D. Lee Institute convenes in locations around the South bringing academic expertise of great renown together to address questions important to the Constitutional crisis of 1859-1860. Many leaders within the SCV believe that the past struggle has great relevance to what is occurring within the United States today. The next session of the Stephen D. Lee Institute will be conducted in Savannah, Georgia, February 3 - 5, 2012.
The Kennedy twins
Intellectual pursuits are not just the possession of institutes. Two of the most powerful intellects in the Southern movement are the Kennedy brothers, Donnie and Ron. Their book, The South Was Right, has sold thousands of copies, and is must reading for many in the Southern movement. With this book, sold on the shelves of Barnes and Nobles, the South crossed sabers with the politically correct version of history. And if the Kennedys’ writings are electrifying, their ability to communicate from the “pulpit” is an even stronger weapon.
Donne Kennedy said, “I wonder is there a Southern movement? But as compared to the past, there is so much more now…in a broad sense, there must be a Southern movement. The Abbeville Institute is an excellent example of the growth of it in my life time. It’s hard to define, hard to prove it. The Southern movement is in the heart, but not in the Yellow Pages.”
Donnie and Ron became Southern nationalists in the late sixties.. But today Donnie says that Facebook is filled with references to a “Southern movement.” In the sixties we felt like we were by ourselves, but today we see a lot more evidence of people who feel as we do.
Don Kennedy sees the same trends as Dr. Frazier, but from a much more optimistic perspective. Kennedy believes that because Southern views have become more popular at a national level, this should encourage local people in the South to coalesce around a Southern identity. “Now at last we are seen as the wave of the future. Everything that we have said as Southern nationalists is coming to fruition. We have allies now! We are celebrating!”
Ron and Don are looking for a “Ron Paul” for the Southern national movement. That was the whole reason for the Kennedy effort to get into the Republican Primary movement four years earlier. “One day there will be a standard bearer for the South. Ron Paul is setting an example for the future. Just as the Libertarians have had to wait their turn, but it came, so will the turn of the South!”
Kennedy sees the Southern movement as the best answer for America when it collapses under the great financial strains being created by the socialists in Washington and at the state capitals. “We must have a plan, a vision of where to go when the United States collapses.”
Many museums in the South have had to redefine themselves in order to qualify for money. In Columbus, Georgia, a museum dedicated to the Confederate Navy had to reorganize itself as the Civil War Naval Museum in order to qualify for federal monies. Jefferson Davis’ prediction that the winners would write the history seems even truer today than it did in the years immediately following the war. Many Southern leaders wrote memoirs and histories. These writings could not be twisted by the victors. But they are less and less available.
Sea Raven Press
There are a number of publishers who seem to have a connection with the Southern movement. Pelican Publishing in New Orleans, Louisiana, may be the largest and most recognizable; but they are not the only ones. Eastern Digital Resources on the East Coast, and Sea Raven Press in central Tennessee are two small publishers who seek out and publish less well-known writers.
Cassidy Ravensdale, is the President of Sea Raven Press, http://www.searavenpress.com/index.html. Ms. Ravensdale said they “ believe that Sea Raven Press is the world’s number one pro-South publisher.” Lochlainn Seabrook is their primary author and has been writing for over fifteen years, averaging about one book a year. He is presently working on a children’s book. A Rebel Born a defense of Nathan Bedford Forrest was awarded the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
When I asked Ms. Ravensdale if the term “Southern movement” meant anything to her, she immediately became animated in her voice. She responded, “ Over the past 150 years there have been a lot of northerners and misinformed Southerners who know little about Southern culture, the causes for secession and the war. Mr. Seabrook is a truth teller who wants to get the truth out through his writings.” She went on to say that the Southern movement is about preserving the Southern culture in all its truth and beauty.
Sea Raven Press is associated with the League of the South, and Mr. Seabrook’s work has been commended by Michael Givens, present Commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Sea Raven Press is located in Middle Tennessee in Franklin. They sell their books through a wide variety of local vendors, which include both gun shops and hairdressers, and through a variety of larger distributors and book store chains. When asked about the Southern movement in relations to book sales, Ms. Ravensdale said; “Our sales our doubling every six months!”
Mr. Seabrook also writes both country and blue grass music and is related to Elvis Presley and other country and blue grass artists.
Re-enactors
One very large group of men, who could comprise sizeable elements within the Southern movement, are re-enactors. These men are mostly formed in small company-sized units, and have invested money and time in developing themselves as re-enactors. They practice the skills necessary to perform as period correct re-enactors. Their kit, uniform, weapons, tentage, and accessories can easily run more than a thousand dollars. Then there is the cost of travel to far-off places, and possibly the expense of taking off work, or at least using vacation days. Re-enactments are not weather sensitive. Rain or cold, wind or extreme heat can be the environment one could be exposed to for days. So there is a level of commitment to being a re-enactor.
For the larger battles, like Gettysburg, Shiloh and others, thousands of men will travel hundreds of miles. Some will bring horses and cannon. At Gettysburg it is not unusual to have more than 10,000 re-enactors, sometimes as many as 20,000, to refight the famous campaign.
However, the motives for re-enacting are diverse, and because there are literally hundreds, possibly thousands of Southern re-enactor units, it would be impossible to say that even a good sized segment of the men are members of the Southern movement.
A lot of the re-enactors have an interest in history, and probably, a majority do it because brothers, friends, etc. do it, and they love the camaraderie. Les Pettigrew, Captain of the 15th Texas: “Camaraderie is the glue that keeps it all together. Taking care of each other is a large part of the experience, and does help to meld you into a cohesive unit.” Les expects to put 30 rifles in the field at the 150th Anniversary of Shiloh.
“We sit around campfires at night and talk about the history of the war.” In a way, a lot of re-enactors do it for patriotism of the South. Do some have political preferences? All re-enactors have their own opinion, but everybody is still for the Southland.
In response to a question about the Southern movement, Captain Pettigrew said; “Regarding the Southern movement, I think most Southern re-enactors would like to see preservation of Southern values, but there are many ways to do that.”
Museums, Churches, odds and ends
Some not sensitive to the nuances of social intellectual fashion might think the many Civil War Round Tables that are scattered over the nation are an element within the Southern movement. But alas, they are not. While they do have Southerners as a portion of their membership, the Round Tables are more a market for college professors peddling their propaganda, than they are expression of Southern culture.
Modern American academic fashion has swung obscenely to the side of minorities, placing huge amounts of emphasis on the abstracts of history, rather than focusing on its main elements. Diversity has shattered reality as kids learn more about the eccentricities of a time than they do about the major philosophical and political developments of an era. This is most evident in Civil War museums where more and more space is being occupied by the sideshows of the era. Titanic figures like Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jackson and so many others are pushed aside to make room for the stories of slaves, or women, or other novelties of the era.
And while the story of slavery is an essential part of the era, and of the story, the story is broader than the fashion of today. For example, there were 3.5 million slaves in a South where the population was around 9 million. Had the African- American slaves revolted at any point between 1860 and 1865, the war would have come to screeching halt. But they did not. Yet, in what museum will you hear the story of how Southern blacks sustained the home front of the South during the war?
Today’s stories in museums are more about victimization than they are about life and relationships, and the whole South, black and white working together.
While some privately owned museums could be considered part of the Southern movement, only a keen inspection with a vigilant eye could discern that. I remember personal disgust when visiting Stonewall Jackson’s home in Lexington, Virginia, to hear an employee authoritatively spew Yankee history while standing in the home of Ole Jack. My heart broke knowing how many ears this poison had infected.
There are few known national figures who speak for the Southern point of view. Shelby Foote, a wonderful author of the great conflict may be the last Douglas Southall Freeman-type storyteller for the South. These two men wrote the war from a perspective that gave the Southern point of view legitimacy and for a long time, almost the entire second half of the twentieth century, their interpretations of history had great affect on professors and teachers all across the nation. (I have read more than twenty-five thousand pages of history of this era, and no modern historians came close to these two in their ability to relate the Southern perspective of the era, and the war Only the words of Davis, Lee, and other first person accounts are superior to these two men in telling the story.)
Dr. Thomas Di Lorenzo of Loyola College in Maryland may not be a part of the Southern movement, but his work has articulated the Southern view of democracy as no other in modern times. In an article titled The Great Centralizer: Abraham Lincoln and the War between the States http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_03_2_dilorenzo.pdf, Dr. Di Lorenzo follows up on a theme about President Lincoln developed in his book. Di Lorenzo talks at length about how Lincoln undid the Republic to save the Union. For the modern Southern movement, this theme is central to its existence.
Another place you don’t see the South as it once was is in the Christian churches of the South. Here should be fertile ground for the South of old. In the Preamble of the Confederate Constitution, Southerners called on God for His wisdom and protection. Christianity was a large part of the South, and is still. But the connection between the tattered Confederate gray and the Cross is no longer there. Few pastors of the South have read Christ in the Camp, the story of Christian revivals in the Southern armies. And there seems a division or distance between the Southern movement and the great majority of churches in the South.
Political elements within the movement
There are political elements within the Southern movement. One of them, the Southern National Congress, http://www.southernnationalcongress.org, has been active for about five years. This group’s purpose is to formulate and articulate a Southern view point that can echo in the halls of Congress. The group meets annually to discuss issues, and address resolutions brought to the Congress by delegates from all the Southern states. Many of the attendees are writers and thinkers of different disciplines struggling with the America of today.
The Southern National Congress is representative of the people of the South, its views more populist in nature. The Convent of the Congress http://www.southernnationalcongress.org/southernnationalcovenant.shtml is fairly specific in its condemnation of present U.S. policies and its expression of the concept of a Southern nation.
Mark Thomey has been a member of the League of the South and also the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is the present Chair of the Southern National Congress. Coming from Louisiana, Mark Thomey is an unreconstructed Southerner. “There have always been two America’s, one Yankee and one Southern.” Thomey talks a lot about secession, and about a Southern nation. He believes there is very much a subdued Southern nation. Thomey believes that many Southerners have been hobbled by Yankee occupation and brain washing.
Mark said, “Yes, there is a Southern movement, among the people of the South, something is really wrong, and we have to fix it. Southerners believe we are not the same as the rest of America. But this feeling is deep inside, and has been covered over. There is a constant internal struggle.”
“The movement is those of us who have finally decided to look at the U.S. regime for what it really is. Evil people are bent on our destruction as a people.” The Southern National Congress is the tip of the spear. Other organizations are lagging behind in seeing a modern Southern nation.”
Mark Thomey saw recently that a poll indicated as many as one in five people support the idea of secession as a political alternative in today’s world. The SNC is shifting gears so as to try to become an umbrella organization for the movement. “Our first couple of years we were a debating society, but now we are trying to set ourselves up as a more legitimate political alternative to what presently exists.”
Chairman Thomey announced, “The SNC is planning to put together an international conference on secession.”
It is their hope that as Americans, descendants of men who separated themselves from an oppressive monarchy, and as the heirs to Southern secession, they will be able to help Americans understand the position of foreign peoples who wish only for independence and liberty.
In addition, the SNC has set a course for its delegates to engage state legislatures in legislation endorsed by the SNC. This is a tremendous first step toward real political activity on behalf of Southern movement. It begins the process of practicing citizenship and learning how to influence government policy.
Another political group, the League of the South http://dixienet.org/rights/index.shtml, is more concerned with the principle of secession. Formed in June of 1994, the League’s stated purpose is to organize the people of the South to pursue an independent nation. However, the League clearly states it does not seek armed revolution, but rather a peaceful, and legal means of secession.
The League does believe in the absolute connection between the Southern culture and Christianity. They state: “As an organization we do recognize the legacy of Christianity and the universal sovereignty of the triune God. Most League members are Christians, and we base our movement on Christian principles. Trinitarian Christianity cannot be separated or removed from Southern society or culture without both ceasing to be Southern.”
Observation
For the most part, each element or organization within the Southern movement operates without cooperation or even contact with the others. And from my viewpoint, this inability to cooperate epitomizes the Southern failure in the War for their independence, and the present plague of combat ineffectiveness in both the Culture War, and the political course the United States has taken.
While individuals across the South share many hopes, aspirations and values, fissures and firebreaks have been created by leaders in some of the Southern heritage organizations to prevent the formation of political efforts on behalf of the South and its culture. Censorship is used to keep the movement divided. The internet has helped to challenge this censorship, but it has not eliminated it. Leaders decide what they want their people to hear about, and what they don’t. They then censor messages based on those calls.
For some who think about the internal dynamics of the Southern movement, they see censorship as a question of ego and control. But, I think the overt efforts to limit communications, and thus cooperation between the various elements within the Southern movement has a more devious objective - to limit the combat effectiveness of all Southern movement organizations in the Culture War.
THE CONFEDERATE WAR COLLEGE
Some leaders in the South are interested in facilitating communications between the organizations. Some leaders want free speech and the free exchange of ideas. THE CONFEDERATE WAR COLLEGE will be a new addition to the Southern movement. Privately operated, this site will publish articles submitted from whomever. Controversial ideas will be encouraged. The idea is to strengthen the South and expand the cooperation of the different elements. We hope to live by the very virtues of Southerners like Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.
Is there a Southern movement?
Regretfully, I must conclude that there is not. A movement, in political terms, would have a purpose, direction, and degree of unity not present in the disparate groups we have identified. The Southern National Congress does express political ambitions, but it has not grown, and not connected with other elements within the movement.
The heritage organizations, and, specifically, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, are impotent in terms of political power. Despite their membership size and century- old organization, they are combat ineffective in the Culture War. The SCV does not lobby Congress or the state legislatures for their Cause. They do not create a legislative agenda as other similar type organizations do. And efforts to create political action committees (PACs) floundered because of a lack of persistence reflecting a lack of interest at the leadership levels.
In part, the South is dying because her “guardians” are not organized to defend her.
Commercially, the South has failed to take advantage of the thousands of historic sites it is home to. Gettysburg, a small town in southern Pennsylvania, annually nets more than 300 million dollars in tourist revenue, employing more than 6,000 persons. In the South many political leaders/bureaucrats have gone to great lengths not to preserve Southern battlefields, or promote Southern culture as a tourist attraction. The Civil War may well be the most-read American history, creating the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of books, but Southern investors have not seen fit to take advantage of a “prepared” market to develop the historical properties, which would enshrine Southern culture.
Agriculture is still a large part of the South’s economy, but growing cities and a densely populated coastline have overwhelmed traditional Southern views of life. Christianity still survives in much of the South, but more so in the rural areas where there is less population.
It may be more accurate to say that there is a Southern tradition. This tradition shows itself at fairs and parades and cemeteries. You can hear the tradition on the internet from time to time. But the tradition is not reflective of the tens of millions of Americans whose roots go back to Dixie. Listen carefully, you may be hearing its dying breaths.
johnyreb43@yahoo.com
Is there are Southern movement within the complex diverse cultural quilt that is America as we head towards November of 2012? Is there any reason to think the South is what it was, a region of its own values, and political, social and economic interests?
I define the Southern movement as people who see present day value in;
both the original Constitution, as written by the Founders, and in the actions of the people of the South to try to maintain the original political structure of their nation, and a desire to bring those elements into today’s political discourse,
loyalty to the South second only to a Christian God.
the concept of republic, and the legal, accepted right of secession.
To be a movement it must be concerned with today; with the challenges of today, with the politics of today, with the future. This is an essential part of the question and is the standard by which we will measure whether there is a present day movement.
The movement may be enhanced and, to some extent, evidenced through culture, and music. The Southern tradition is about a love of the land, and the place of Christ in daily living. Any Southern movement would not be about the dust of history, but about the needs of today, and the application of the principles, values and character of the men who were the South of 1860.
This article is intended to explore the size and condition of the Southern Movement, if there is one. Is it coordinated or operating along separate and uncooperative avenues? Is the Southern movement engaged in the Culture War? If so, how? Is the South ashamed of its history? Has the most recent invasion of Yankees to the South, in the Post Air Conditioning era, overwhelmed Southern identity? Or is the South resisting the homogenization of regions within the United States into a sort of a “milk toast” Americanism?
Is it coincidence, or part of a divine plan that the United States of America is experiencing the Sesquicentennial (150th) Remembrance of its Civil War at the same time the nation is at a crossroads as big as the one at Fort Sumter?
It’s important to note here that Southern symbols, icons, and culture were still alive and well as late as the 1970’s. Confederate naval ensigns would fly at high school and college football games and decorate cars burning gas on the various NASCAR tracks throughout the South. The Rebels was a common name for high school or college sports team. Dixie would play as often as the national anthem. And Southern icons like Lee and Jackson were still hung in portraits over the bed of a family’s son(s).
Southern bands like Alabama continued into the late twentieth century. Groups like Shenandoah offered hope that Southern music would survive. But modern country just isn’t what it was. Southern rock and roll doesn’t dominate the radio stations of Dixie any more.
Somewhere, and somehow, these regional trademarks were erased or marginalized. The culture war of the sixties continues to this day. Inclusion of some has meant exclusion of others. This has not been about making room at the table for more, but about pushing some out of their seats, so that others could occupy them.
As I researched this article, I tried to look at the widest possible view of what could be considered a part of the Southern movement. One commercial business seemed a real possibility as a participant in the movement. This business uses the Confederate naval ensign and the words Dixie and Southern in its name. Yet, when I contacted them for an interview, the reply was startling. They did not want to be interviewed or mentioned in this article! They did not want to offend anyone’s feelings. I found it confusing that they would so blatantly use Southern symbols to adorn their business, yet refuse an interview for this article.
Let me close the introduction by saying that just because a group or person is mentioned in this article, does not indicate they are a part of a Southern movement, but rather that through my experience and knowledge I felt addressing them in this paper was important. And there may be groups dedicated to modern application of Southern values which are not mentioned because of my limited knowledge. Should those groups see this article and wish to be included in any further work in this area, I hope you will contact me.
Jed Marum
Let’s begin this article with a little known, but very talented musician and song writer whose upbringing was in Boston, Massachusetts. Jed Marum moved to Texas for employment reasons. But as things turned out, he has gone farther and farther down the road of song writer and entertainer. His music is Celtic and also Southern. Yes, that’s what I said, Southern.
One of Jed’s best songs is titled “I Didn’t Know I was a Yankee, ‘til I Moved to Texas!” Jed is fascinated by the South, its story, and the tragedy that it has endured as a result of Yankee invasion and occupation. Jed’s music tells the story of the South from the Southern view. He is operating in the underground that is the Southern movement. He performs for living history and reenactment events, and at meetings of heritage organizations. He has written songs and music for movies about the Civil War.
Jed is unique, both in his talent, and in his vantage point. Because he is not Southern, Jed appreciates the South as only a foreigner can.
The Heart of the Movement
The very heart of what is the movement, if there is a movement, is an ill-defined but beautiful concept known as “the South.” This concept, to my knowledge, has never been succinctly described. But attempts have been made.
One attempt dealt solely with the contest in Virginia, and two of the South’s icons, Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan Jackson. This effort was a video program produced by New Liberty Videos www.newlibertyvideo.com of Missouri titled “Warriors of Honor.” This story paints a picture of the martial South, which wraps together a deep and shared Christian faith that pervaded the leadership of the Army of Northern Virginia with a devotion to duty, a conduct of honor, and brilliance on the field unparalleled in American history.
The South is more than the Army of Northern Virginia. The South’s ideals and essence were described through the creation of the Confederate Constitution, and the great courage and sacrifice made by so many. Alas, there were lesser beings in the South white population, and these men’s blood flows today, just as that of the nobler men. The great individualism, which is a Southern trait, also created fissures and fractures that divided the South through crisis, as it does today.
Still, there was a higher South - a land before heaven, on earth. The Confederate naval ensign is a symbol of this South. It is a rally point for Southern pride, for Southern nationalism, and a reminder of the Constitution of Madison’s hand, and Jefferson’s Declaration. The Confederate naval ensign is an internationally known symbol of the South. With respect to its value as a regional trademark, it would be impossible to estimate in terms of dollars. This flag represents the defiance of the South as it left the union, and could be the symbol of a modern Southern movement.
Heritage Organizations
Any exploration of a Southern movement would be incomplete without consideration of the various heritage organizations which trace themselves back to the Confederacy. These are the largest identifiable groups connected to the South. The largest of these organizations, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (S.C.V.), is somewhere between 25 and 28,000 members. Headquartered in Columbia, Tennessee, its membership extends overseas to Brazil (where a Confederate colony was established after the war) and in Europe. Though their Charge (purpose) is to vindicate the Cause, they are not organized, nor do they conduct activities which would do so. They have no political arm, and their fund-raising efforts are anemic. Their sole strength is at the local level in towns and hamlets across the South.
As a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans since 1994, I first became aware of the different heritage organizations of the South. Foremost among these is the United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C.). It is not difficult to say that this group, more than any other, is responsible for most of the monuments, and preservation of many of the battle colors and documents of the Confederate South. However, in recent times, the U.D.C. has established a series of hurdles to membership that would fatigue most marathon runners. Similar to the S.C.V., a genealogical connection from a Confederate veteran to a potential member is required. But, proof of that reality is in some sense beyond normal standards, and other personal information requested could cause potential members to hesitate in their application.
Another organization, much smaller, and of dubious commitment to the Southern Cause is the Military Order of the Stars and Bars. The MOS&B is not large and seems to have a belief in the genetic properties of leadership, whereby the descendants of the great Southern leaders of one hundred and fifty years ago have somehow secured the leadership traits of the South’s most renowned heroes and will exercise them to control today’s lesser beings.
Other auxiliary groups like the Descendants of Confederate Veterans and the Order of the Confederate Rose are more evidence of fissures and fractures within established heritage organizations, than a rush by the general public to join the Southern movement. Recruiting efforts by these organizations have targeted existing heritage organization memberships rather than break ground into new, untilled areas for membership.
Of course, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is the premier Southern heritage organization with membership just under thirty thousand. (It is not growing despite the Sesquicentennial Anniversary.) Disappointing, given that a genealogical formulae developed by Dr. Ray James of Texas A & M and some of his colleagues, indicates there may be as many as 80 million living American descendants of the Confederacy.
Across the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is probably the most active group concerning Southern heritage. While they do not participate in influencing government policy, they are very active at the camp (local) level in parades, classrooms, and conducting ceremonies honoring their Confederate ancestry. They do maintain a presence, a Southern presence in thousands of cities and villages across the South. Many of their members, and some of their leadership, are devoted to the Charge and the Cause. So the verdict is still out. They do much, but with the right leadership, a change in attitude of a segment of this organization and a modernizing of their Constitutions, they could become a real force in the movement.
The Internet’s Role in the Southern movement
The internet plays a big role in the modern 21st Century Southern movement. It provides a whole new, international means to link people of a Southern attitude. Interestingly, if you were to use Google to search the internet for the word “Dixie,” you would find 103,000,000 hits. If you search for the term “Yankee”, you find 23,000,000 hits! A startling discovery.
The most common use of the internet in the Southern movement is for websites. These sites normally act as advertisements for the local organizations, “camps” of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. There are also sites for museums, battlefields, re-enactor units, etc.
Other communication devices used on the internet are email lists. Individuals or groups become news-gatherers for events and issues occurring in the south. Some of these lists can have thousands of members, and are a means for quickly distributing information across the South. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Telegraph is an email list run from their national headquarters in Columbia, Tennessee. In addition, a blog is also operated by the S.C.V.
The Southern Heritage News and Views is both a website and a news distribution point with more than 3,500 subscribers. Charles Demastus, the owner, has been operating this outlet for fourteen years and reports subscribers from all over the world. Mr. Demastus reports that the subscriber list for Southern Heritage News and Views has leveled out over the past couple of years. Given we are in the second year of the Sesquicentennial, one has to ask if the poor economy has cooled enthusiasm? Or does the leveling off reflect reaching the ceiling of people interested in Southern or Civil War history?
One of the venues featuring Southern culture on the internet is a new brand of radio. This “radio” operates strictly off the internet.
One of those radio stations is Dixie Radio, http://www.dixieradio.net/ owned and operated by Winston Boulware of Millbrook, Alabama. Winston says: “I do it for the fun of it.”
Social media like Facebook has created a national network for people who enjoy Southern culture, and/or participate in Civil War re-enactments, cotillions, balls, and living histories. There are a number of Southern Facebook pages set up, each with hundreds or thousands of members.
It is a theory of mine that the personal computer has done a lot to create a whole new wave of authors of varying talents, intellectual skills, and academic training. You need only attend S.C.V. reunions each year to see new authors with new stories and theories. While much of this is probably not central to the development of a Southern movement, some seed may sprout from this wild garden which could ignite increased interest.
African American Confederates
When asked about the diversity of the subscribers connected to Southern Heritage News & Views, Charles pointed to “HK Edgerton, Al McCray and Bob Harrison” as long-time subscribers of African American descent.
Mr. Edgerton is especially well known as a spokesman for his Pro-Confederate views. Recently his brother, Lee, sent out an email announcement about a book he had just completed concerning HK’s famous walk. “ On Oct. 14th, “2002 H.K. and I set off to bring attention to the wrongful removal of the Confederate plaques from the G.S.A. Building in Austin, Texas. This endeavor is now known as The March Across Dixie. We covered seven states and dozens of cities in this endeavor.”
Lee Edgerton refers to a despicable act by then Governor George Bush in ordering the removal of plaques acknowledging the financial contributions of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to build a state building. Bush’s orders were executed in the dark of night to prevent public notice or action. As is the S.C.V. modus operandi, they took the state to court, but failed to get the plaques restored to their original location. However, Mr. J. K. Edgerton’s heroic efforts made him a hero within the Southern movement. For more information about the book, The Historical March Across Dixie, 2002-2003 (Copywriter 2011), call 828-505-1385. This coffee-table-sized book is filled with colorful photos of the march.
In a telephone interview with H. K., I found him impassioned, highly educated, articulate, experienced in celebrating Southern culture and history, and committed to his purpose. H. K. said the enemies of the South “divided the South white and black. The whites who owned my ancestors were not just called master, but family and friend.”
H.K. said he had been invited by a Black and Latino student organization at Wright State University to speak to them. In response to my question what was he going to speak about, he said, “I am going to talk about the African-American contribution to the war effort, as soldiers, teamsters, and operating the plantations and the rest of the home front while the whites were off to war.” He went on, “They are trying to erase the memory of what we did to help the South, and to take away our position of honor in the South.” H.K. mentioned a black soldier who served with Confederate Cavalry leader, Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Some within the Southern movement talk about secession and the creation of a new Southern nation. I asked H.K. how that fit into his work and thinking? “That is not my part of my agenda,” he said. “It’s scary to think about that. But people are tired of the tyranny. The South is still under Reconstruction, each time they attack the Confederate naval ensign, or like Governor Bush taking down the plaques, we see occupation.” H. K. made a point to thank the League of the South for the many times they have helped him on projects.
H.K. was 55 years old when he did his march across the South. But that wasn’t his last walk. H.K. mentioned leading a Martin Luther King Parade carrying the Confederate flag and walking with the Sons of Confederate of Veterans in Cross City, Florida.
For more information on H.K. Edgerton go to www.southernheritage411.com H.K. calls himself a “seven-day-a-week Confederate!”
Another African American very active in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is Nelson Wimbush who has attended many national reunions. I first met Nelson in 1995 in Richmond at the 100th Reunion of the S.C.V.
Race is not the issue reported in the mainstream media. The present modern-day Southern movement accepts the equality of civil rights. The League of the South, the most ardent of the groups within the Southern movement, states: “ The LS disavows a spirit of malice and extends an offer of good will and cooperation to Southern blacks in areas where we can work together as Christians to make life better for all people in the South. We affirm that, while historically the interests of Southern blacks and whites have been in part antagonistic, true Constitutional government would provide protection to all law-abiding citizens…”
In fact, serious research and academic work focused on the contributions to Southern war effort b African Americans are sought after and highly prized. Whether it be on the battlefield, serving as soldiers, or as combat support and combat service support troops constructing trench lines, or driving the supply wagons operating with the armies, or at home, running the plantations, it is becoming more evident each year that the South’s African-American population was essential to sustaining the war effort.
Abbeville Institute
Abbeville Institute http://abbevilleinstitute.org/ in South Carolina is certainly one of the intellectual centers of the Southern movement. Annually, the Institute holds conferences on various aspects of the politics of regional difference, and events that led to secession. Every year, a summer program for college and graduate students is conducted at the Institute. Members see their charge as that of illuminating vast areas of history that clearly indicate the vindictive and aggressive actions of the North against the South.
Dr. Don Livingston wrote me after a telephone interview to say: “The Institute was formed in 2003 by 12 academics at the University of Virginia concerned that the Southern tradition is no longer being taught in colleges and universities across the South, except as fuel for political correctness. The task of the Institute is to critically explore what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition. To this end it holds an annual week long summer school for college and graduate students and an annual scholars’ conference for academics and other thoughtful people. To examine what is valuable in the Southern tradition is at the same time to present a critique of much of American modernity.
The Institute, from its small beginning, now has over 120 academics associated with its mission. These scholars, over the past decade, have produced over 40 scholarly books on all aspects of the Southern tradition. The scholarship of the Institute is necessarily thought provoking. Readers are invited to rethink the nationalist and other paradigms that determine so much of American culture.”
As an example consider this from a recent conference on the topic of Northern dissent from Lincoln’s war:
“Nationalist historians for 150 years have protected Americans from confronting the stark immorality of prosecuting what French philosopher Bertrand de Jouvenel called, “a war such as Europe had never yet seen” to force eleven States into a federation from which their people had voted to secede. Should eleven American States secede today and form a federation of their own, such a war would be judged criminal.”
In a telephone interview, Dr. Donald Livingston described the Southerners of Sumter as “bearing witness to the Jeffersonian view of the Constitution. We see the Southern tradition as looking all the way back to the original Constitution. The South is older than the United States. It had an identity that was recognized before the Constitution was written.”
The Institute’s goals express an understanding of present bias, and establish an over the horizon objective; “This condition in higher education is not going to change overnight. Those who created it are tenured, and will dominate in higher education for at least a generation-- and even longer since they are disposed to hire and tenure only their own. Even so, there are many scholars in America and abroad who take inspiration from the Southern tradition, and many others who are open to what it has to teach. Students too are open. Many feel they are somehow encountering on campus a profound intellectual and spiritual disorder, but they do not know how to think about it.”
Dr. Donald Livingston described the Southerners of Sumter as “bearing witness to the Jeffersonian view of the Constitution. We see the Southern tradition as looking all the way back to the original Constitution. The South is older than the United States. It had an identity that was recognized before the Constitution was written.”
The Institute’s goals express an understanding of present bias, and establish an over-the-horizon objective: “This condition is not going to change overnight. Those who created it are tenured, and will dominate in higher education for at least a generation-- and even longer since they are disposed to hire and tenure only their own. Even so, there are many scholars in America and abroad who take inspiration from the Southern tradition, and many others who are open to what it has to teach. Students too are open. Many feel they are somehow encountering on campus a profound intellectual and spiritual disorder, but they do not know how to think about it.”
The Abbeville Institute is on the cutting edge of bringing the Southern view up to today. Formed in 2003 by a small number of professors at the University of Virginia, the institute now has 120 associates. Its most recent book is Rethinking the American Union for the 21st Century. (Pelican Publishing, 2012). It can’t get more challenging and timely than that.
The Institute also conducts Jefferson Seminars. These are local gatherings of folks to explore a topic guided by an Institute scholar. If you would like to fund one for your community, contact the Institute at contactus@abbevilleinstitute.org.
The Grady McWhiney Research Foundation http://www.mcwhiney.org/mission.html
This not-for-profit foundation is focused on the study of the history of the mid 19th- century United States, Civil War and American military affairs and Texas history. Dr. Grady McWhiney, the founder of this foundation, had a very pro-Southern reputation.
“A well-known and respected scholar, McWhiney served as head of the Southern History Institute at the University of Alabama for many years. His published work, in the form of several books and numerous articles, has been both ground-breaking and provocative. In the course of his nearly forty years as a professional historian, McWhiney earned a reputation for impeccable scholarship that often led to unconventional insights into our nation's history.” Dr, McWhiney earned his PhD, at Columbia University in New York.
Dr. McWhiney did serious work in the study and consideration of General Braxton Bragg, CSA and also Southern history. “His most path-breaking and provocative work, Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South,” is directly taken from the website page describing Dr. McWhiney. So one would think the Foundation is deeply involved in the preservation of a positive Southern history.
Dr. Don Frazier, President and CEO of McWhiney, has been with the foundation for 20 years. He says that the “foundation is open to more interpretation, advancing investigation and scholarship in Southern history,” and went on to say that they had published a lot of Civil War books over the years.
Dr. Frazier said that McWhiney’s work in Cracker Culture focused on “the Celtic influence in the formation of the Southern culture.” Frazier went on to say more work is needed to continue to develop that theme.
Dr. Frazier indicated that the South had been a brake on evolving the Constitution away from a Republic towards centralization. He used the term “obstructionist” to describe how the Southern senators and congressmen had slowed the process until secession. Once their chairs were empty, Lincoln and the remaining Congress were able to begin the process, which has brought this nation to its present condition.
20 years as a professor in the field, Dr. Frazier believes the Southern movement may have “reached its crest and is now subsiding. Part of what they are arguing for has been coopted by the Libertarian movement and other groups nationally. In many ways, what they had been saying were regional (Southern) concerns but now are becoming national concerns. There is a general uneasiness with what is occurring at the national level.”
Lastly, Dr. Frazier said Southerners had made a huge tactical mistake by not condemning racism. Because they would not separate themselves from racism in the post war years, their credibility on other issues and the future of the American society was suspect.
The Stephen D. Lee Institute
The Stephen D. Lee Institute http://www.stephendleeinstitute.com/ is part of the educational arm of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The purpose of the Institute is described on its website: “The Institute’s goal is to organize accomplished and distinguished professional scholarship to inform our members and the general public of the Southern side of the war. To that end the Institute makes available recognized scholars to present such subjects as states' rights and the Constitutional aspects of the war; economic motives for invasion of the South; the dubious benevolence behind the slavery issue; Union Army war crimes and other unsavory aspects of the war against the South in 1861–1865; and other aspects of the true causes and nature of the war.”
Brag Bowling, current Chairman of the Stephen D. Lee Institute, said “We are trying to give a solid academic foundation to the cause of the Southern secession. A lot of people realize that the Stephen D. Lee Institute is becoming an educational force.” Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an arch enemy of the South, called the S. D. Lee Institute the “Confederate think tank.
The Stephen D. Lee Institute convenes in locations around the South bringing academic expertise of great renown together to address questions important to the Constitutional crisis of 1859-1860. Many leaders within the SCV believe that the past struggle has great relevance to what is occurring within the United States today. The next session of the Stephen D. Lee Institute will be conducted in Savannah, Georgia, February 3 - 5, 2012.
The Kennedy twins
Intellectual pursuits are not just the possession of institutes. Two of the most powerful intellects in the Southern movement are the Kennedy brothers, Donnie and Ron. Their book, The South Was Right, has sold thousands of copies, and is must reading for many in the Southern movement. With this book, sold on the shelves of Barnes and Nobles, the South crossed sabers with the politically correct version of history. And if the Kennedys’ writings are electrifying, their ability to communicate from the “pulpit” is an even stronger weapon.
Donne Kennedy said, “I wonder is there a Southern movement? But as compared to the past, there is so much more now…in a broad sense, there must be a Southern movement. The Abbeville Institute is an excellent example of the growth of it in my life time. It’s hard to define, hard to prove it. The Southern movement is in the heart, but not in the Yellow Pages.”
Donnie and Ron became Southern nationalists in the late sixties.. But today Donnie says that Facebook is filled with references to a “Southern movement.” In the sixties we felt like we were by ourselves, but today we see a lot more evidence of people who feel as we do.
Don Kennedy sees the same trends as Dr. Frazier, but from a much more optimistic perspective. Kennedy believes that because Southern views have become more popular at a national level, this should encourage local people in the South to coalesce around a Southern identity. “Now at last we are seen as the wave of the future. Everything that we have said as Southern nationalists is coming to fruition. We have allies now! We are celebrating!”
Ron and Don are looking for a “Ron Paul” for the Southern national movement. That was the whole reason for the Kennedy effort to get into the Republican Primary movement four years earlier. “One day there will be a standard bearer for the South. Ron Paul is setting an example for the future. Just as the Libertarians have had to wait their turn, but it came, so will the turn of the South!”
Kennedy sees the Southern movement as the best answer for America when it collapses under the great financial strains being created by the socialists in Washington and at the state capitals. “We must have a plan, a vision of where to go when the United States collapses.”
Many museums in the South have had to redefine themselves in order to qualify for money. In Columbus, Georgia, a museum dedicated to the Confederate Navy had to reorganize itself as the Civil War Naval Museum in order to qualify for federal monies. Jefferson Davis’ prediction that the winners would write the history seems even truer today than it did in the years immediately following the war. Many Southern leaders wrote memoirs and histories. These writings could not be twisted by the victors. But they are less and less available.
Sea Raven Press
There are a number of publishers who seem to have a connection with the Southern movement. Pelican Publishing in New Orleans, Louisiana, may be the largest and most recognizable; but they are not the only ones. Eastern Digital Resources on the East Coast, and Sea Raven Press in central Tennessee are two small publishers who seek out and publish less well-known writers.
Cassidy Ravensdale, is the President of Sea Raven Press, http://www.searavenpress.com/index.html. Ms. Ravensdale said they “ believe that Sea Raven Press is the world’s number one pro-South publisher.” Lochlainn Seabrook is their primary author and has been writing for over fifteen years, averaging about one book a year. He is presently working on a children’s book. A Rebel Born a defense of Nathan Bedford Forrest was awarded the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
When I asked Ms. Ravensdale if the term “Southern movement” meant anything to her, she immediately became animated in her voice. She responded, “ Over the past 150 years there have been a lot of northerners and misinformed Southerners who know little about Southern culture, the causes for secession and the war. Mr. Seabrook is a truth teller who wants to get the truth out through his writings.” She went on to say that the Southern movement is about preserving the Southern culture in all its truth and beauty.
Sea Raven Press is associated with the League of the South, and Mr. Seabrook’s work has been commended by Michael Givens, present Commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Sea Raven Press is located in Middle Tennessee in Franklin. They sell their books through a wide variety of local vendors, which include both gun shops and hairdressers, and through a variety of larger distributors and book store chains. When asked about the Southern movement in relations to book sales, Ms. Ravensdale said; “Our sales our doubling every six months!”
Mr. Seabrook also writes both country and blue grass music and is related to Elvis Presley and other country and blue grass artists.
Re-enactors
One very large group of men, who could comprise sizeable elements within the Southern movement, are re-enactors. These men are mostly formed in small company-sized units, and have invested money and time in developing themselves as re-enactors. They practice the skills necessary to perform as period correct re-enactors. Their kit, uniform, weapons, tentage, and accessories can easily run more than a thousand dollars. Then there is the cost of travel to far-off places, and possibly the expense of taking off work, or at least using vacation days. Re-enactments are not weather sensitive. Rain or cold, wind or extreme heat can be the environment one could be exposed to for days. So there is a level of commitment to being a re-enactor.
For the larger battles, like Gettysburg, Shiloh and others, thousands of men will travel hundreds of miles. Some will bring horses and cannon. At Gettysburg it is not unusual to have more than 10,000 re-enactors, sometimes as many as 20,000, to refight the famous campaign.
However, the motives for re-enacting are diverse, and because there are literally hundreds, possibly thousands of Southern re-enactor units, it would be impossible to say that even a good sized segment of the men are members of the Southern movement.
A lot of the re-enactors have an interest in history, and probably, a majority do it because brothers, friends, etc. do it, and they love the camaraderie. Les Pettigrew, Captain of the 15th Texas: “Camaraderie is the glue that keeps it all together. Taking care of each other is a large part of the experience, and does help to meld you into a cohesive unit.” Les expects to put 30 rifles in the field at the 150th Anniversary of Shiloh.
“We sit around campfires at night and talk about the history of the war.” In a way, a lot of re-enactors do it for patriotism of the South. Do some have political preferences? All re-enactors have their own opinion, but everybody is still for the Southland.
In response to a question about the Southern movement, Captain Pettigrew said; “Regarding the Southern movement, I think most Southern re-enactors would like to see preservation of Southern values, but there are many ways to do that.”
Museums, Churches, odds and ends
Some not sensitive to the nuances of social intellectual fashion might think the many Civil War Round Tables that are scattered over the nation are an element within the Southern movement. But alas, they are not. While they do have Southerners as a portion of their membership, the Round Tables are more a market for college professors peddling their propaganda, than they are expression of Southern culture.
Modern American academic fashion has swung obscenely to the side of minorities, placing huge amounts of emphasis on the abstracts of history, rather than focusing on its main elements. Diversity has shattered reality as kids learn more about the eccentricities of a time than they do about the major philosophical and political developments of an era. This is most evident in Civil War museums where more and more space is being occupied by the sideshows of the era. Titanic figures like Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jackson and so many others are pushed aside to make room for the stories of slaves, or women, or other novelties of the era.
And while the story of slavery is an essential part of the era, and of the story, the story is broader than the fashion of today. For example, there were 3.5 million slaves in a South where the population was around 9 million. Had the African- American slaves revolted at any point between 1860 and 1865, the war would have come to screeching halt. But they did not. Yet, in what museum will you hear the story of how Southern blacks sustained the home front of the South during the war?
Today’s stories in museums are more about victimization than they are about life and relationships, and the whole South, black and white working together.
While some privately owned museums could be considered part of the Southern movement, only a keen inspection with a vigilant eye could discern that. I remember personal disgust when visiting Stonewall Jackson’s home in Lexington, Virginia, to hear an employee authoritatively spew Yankee history while standing in the home of Ole Jack. My heart broke knowing how many ears this poison had infected.
There are few known national figures who speak for the Southern point of view. Shelby Foote, a wonderful author of the great conflict may be the last Douglas Southall Freeman-type storyteller for the South. These two men wrote the war from a perspective that gave the Southern point of view legitimacy and for a long time, almost the entire second half of the twentieth century, their interpretations of history had great affect on professors and teachers all across the nation. (I have read more than twenty-five thousand pages of history of this era, and no modern historians came close to these two in their ability to relate the Southern perspective of the era, and the war Only the words of Davis, Lee, and other first person accounts are superior to these two men in telling the story.)
Dr. Thomas Di Lorenzo of Loyola College in Maryland may not be a part of the Southern movement, but his work has articulated the Southern view of democracy as no other in modern times. In an article titled The Great Centralizer: Abraham Lincoln and the War between the States http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_03_2_dilorenzo.pdf, Dr. Di Lorenzo follows up on a theme about President Lincoln developed in his book. Di Lorenzo talks at length about how Lincoln undid the Republic to save the Union. For the modern Southern movement, this theme is central to its existence.
Another place you don’t see the South as it once was is in the Christian churches of the South. Here should be fertile ground for the South of old. In the Preamble of the Confederate Constitution, Southerners called on God for His wisdom and protection. Christianity was a large part of the South, and is still. But the connection between the tattered Confederate gray and the Cross is no longer there. Few pastors of the South have read Christ in the Camp, the story of Christian revivals in the Southern armies. And there seems a division or distance between the Southern movement and the great majority of churches in the South.
Political elements within the movement
There are political elements within the Southern movement. One of them, the Southern National Congress, http://www.southernnationalcongress.org, has been active for about five years. This group’s purpose is to formulate and articulate a Southern view point that can echo in the halls of Congress. The group meets annually to discuss issues, and address resolutions brought to the Congress by delegates from all the Southern states. Many of the attendees are writers and thinkers of different disciplines struggling with the America of today.
The Southern National Congress is representative of the people of the South, its views more populist in nature. The Convent of the Congress http://www.southernnationalcongress.org/southernnationalcovenant.shtml is fairly specific in its condemnation of present U.S. policies and its expression of the concept of a Southern nation.
Mark Thomey has been a member of the League of the South and also the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is the present Chair of the Southern National Congress. Coming from Louisiana, Mark Thomey is an unreconstructed Southerner. “There have always been two America’s, one Yankee and one Southern.” Thomey talks a lot about secession, and about a Southern nation. He believes there is very much a subdued Southern nation. Thomey believes that many Southerners have been hobbled by Yankee occupation and brain washing.
Mark said, “Yes, there is a Southern movement, among the people of the South, something is really wrong, and we have to fix it. Southerners believe we are not the same as the rest of America. But this feeling is deep inside, and has been covered over. There is a constant internal struggle.”
“The movement is those of us who have finally decided to look at the U.S. regime for what it really is. Evil people are bent on our destruction as a people.” The Southern National Congress is the tip of the spear. Other organizations are lagging behind in seeing a modern Southern nation.”
Mark Thomey saw recently that a poll indicated as many as one in five people support the idea of secession as a political alternative in today’s world. The SNC is shifting gears so as to try to become an umbrella organization for the movement. “Our first couple of years we were a debating society, but now we are trying to set ourselves up as a more legitimate political alternative to what presently exists.”
Chairman Thomey announced, “The SNC is planning to put together an international conference on secession.”
It is their hope that as Americans, descendants of men who separated themselves from an oppressive monarchy, and as the heirs to Southern secession, they will be able to help Americans understand the position of foreign peoples who wish only for independence and liberty.
In addition, the SNC has set a course for its delegates to engage state legislatures in legislation endorsed by the SNC. This is a tremendous first step toward real political activity on behalf of Southern movement. It begins the process of practicing citizenship and learning how to influence government policy.
Another political group, the League of the South http://dixienet.org/rights/index.shtml, is more concerned with the principle of secession. Formed in June of 1994, the League’s stated purpose is to organize the people of the South to pursue an independent nation. However, the League clearly states it does not seek armed revolution, but rather a peaceful, and legal means of secession.
The League does believe in the absolute connection between the Southern culture and Christianity. They state: “As an organization we do recognize the legacy of Christianity and the universal sovereignty of the triune God. Most League members are Christians, and we base our movement on Christian principles. Trinitarian Christianity cannot be separated or removed from Southern society or culture without both ceasing to be Southern.”
Observation
For the most part, each element or organization within the Southern movement operates without cooperation or even contact with the others. And from my viewpoint, this inability to cooperate epitomizes the Southern failure in the War for their independence, and the present plague of combat ineffectiveness in both the Culture War, and the political course the United States has taken.
While individuals across the South share many hopes, aspirations and values, fissures and firebreaks have been created by leaders in some of the Southern heritage organizations to prevent the formation of political efforts on behalf of the South and its culture. Censorship is used to keep the movement divided. The internet has helped to challenge this censorship, but it has not eliminated it. Leaders decide what they want their people to hear about, and what they don’t. They then censor messages based on those calls.
For some who think about the internal dynamics of the Southern movement, they see censorship as a question of ego and control. But, I think the overt efforts to limit communications, and thus cooperation between the various elements within the Southern movement has a more devious objective - to limit the combat effectiveness of all Southern movement organizations in the Culture War.
THE CONFEDERATE WAR COLLEGE
Some leaders in the South are interested in facilitating communications between the organizations. Some leaders want free speech and the free exchange of ideas. THE CONFEDERATE WAR COLLEGE will be a new addition to the Southern movement. Privately operated, this site will publish articles submitted from whomever. Controversial ideas will be encouraged. The idea is to strengthen the South and expand the cooperation of the different elements. We hope to live by the very virtues of Southerners like Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.
Is there a Southern movement?
Regretfully, I must conclude that there is not. A movement, in political terms, would have a purpose, direction, and degree of unity not present in the disparate groups we have identified. The Southern National Congress does express political ambitions, but it has not grown, and not connected with other elements within the movement.
The heritage organizations, and, specifically, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, are impotent in terms of political power. Despite their membership size and century- old organization, they are combat ineffective in the Culture War. The SCV does not lobby Congress or the state legislatures for their Cause. They do not create a legislative agenda as other similar type organizations do. And efforts to create political action committees (PACs) floundered because of a lack of persistence reflecting a lack of interest at the leadership levels.
In part, the South is dying because her “guardians” are not organized to defend her.
Commercially, the South has failed to take advantage of the thousands of historic sites it is home to. Gettysburg, a small town in southern Pennsylvania, annually nets more than 300 million dollars in tourist revenue, employing more than 6,000 persons. In the South many political leaders/bureaucrats have gone to great lengths not to preserve Southern battlefields, or promote Southern culture as a tourist attraction. The Civil War may well be the most-read American history, creating the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of books, but Southern investors have not seen fit to take advantage of a “prepared” market to develop the historical properties, which would enshrine Southern culture.
Agriculture is still a large part of the South’s economy, but growing cities and a densely populated coastline have overwhelmed traditional Southern views of life. Christianity still survives in much of the South, but more so in the rural areas where there is less population.
It may be more accurate to say that there is a Southern tradition. This tradition shows itself at fairs and parades and cemeteries. You can hear the tradition on the internet from time to time. But the tradition is not reflective of the tens of millions of Americans whose roots go back to Dixie. Listen carefully, you may be hearing its dying breaths.
posted by Chuck Demastus at
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