How Does the South Reclaim its Legacy?

Part 4 of 4

Economics as an effective political influence

If you remember earlier in the paper we talked about NASCAR. Remember the Confederate flag proudly waving. Not anymore. When the big money came to NASCAR the monied people made the removal of the flag non-negotiable. And throughout the universities in the South the same has happened.

It’s time for Southerners to reverse that. How?

If a cause comes to you for money, tell them you want some indication they are proud of their Southern roots. If they won’t, then refuse to donate. Make it known why, make it known you want a Southern presence, or you will look elsewhere to contribute.

If it comes to purchasing as a consumer, don’t buy from those who attack the South, or Christianity. Boycott; it doesn’t have to be loud, it just has to be long and growing to be effective. And you need to talk to your family and friends about it. At the same time, those businesses that are Pro Southern and Pro Christian deserve support. You need to buy from them, and you need to tell them why.

If one town is supportive of the Cause and another not; go to the one that is supportive and purchase from them. Tell them why. On the way home, go to the town that is not supportive, take your receipt into the equivalent store, hand it to them and tell them why your money went somewhere else.

Money has to flows towards the South, not just geographically, but towards the South we want to revive if it is to happen. Money has momentum. It may start as a small trickle towards the Cause, but as more and more people hear and make the same consumer decisions, the trickle can become a roaring tide.

While we may not like the power of money to influence reality, the fact is that if we don’t accept its role and turn it to our own ends we shall forever fail to reach our goal. If you want a Southern Legacy it will take money to create it, sustain it, and protect it.

In the 1970’s - 80’s entertainment dollars flowed towards musical groups like Alabama, Allman Brothers, and many others.

Cultural Identity

At first glance, for some, Cultural Identity may seem obvious, or a no brainer. I would contend it may be the most difficult part of reclaiming the Southern Legacy.

In 1860 the South might easily claim to be more diverse in cultural identity than the north. The South not only had most of the same Euro migration sects as the north, but obviously had a multi sect slave class, plus a somewhat integrated Indian element, (like the Cherokees in North Carolina, and the Six Nations of present day Oklahoma) but also had the mixture of French – Spanish Cajuns, and the Mexicans of Texas. All of these peoples were a part of the South and all contributed to the Cause.

One point missed in most histories of the war is that the South’s 3 million slaves did not revolt at home while the men were away at war. The Emancipation Proclamation which claimed to free the slaves in the portions of the states still in rebellion did not serve its hidden purpose. Even the offer of freedom was not enough to motivate the slaves of the South to kill their masters and their families. Has anyone ever given serious thought to what would have occurred in the summer of 1863 if, while Lee’s forces prepared for an invasion of the North, thousands of slaves had started a violent revolt in the deep South? Who would have put it down? What would the governors have done, what calls upon Jefferson Davis would have been made to send help to home! Would desertion have increased as men found their families threatened? And yet, that never happened.

After the war, it was deserters from both armies who caused the great fear in the South, not freed African Americans. And we see over and over again blacks attending Confederate Veterans reunions because of their service to the Cause. Divisions between white and black appear to have been exacerbated intentionally in the late 1950’s – 60’s to the present. Unfortunately, racism exists today on both sides of the color line. For the South it is time to mend fences, time to recognize the South as a whole. When the north and globalists hurt today’s South it is all of it, not just the white portion of it. When borders are not closed, it is Southerners of all ethnicities that must accept trespass of property, the violence of drug wars, and the higher costs at the state level because the federal government is NOT doing its primary job.

The whole South fought the Union. Slave did not revolt during the war. Had 3 million slaves, or even a relatively small percentage of them, revolted during the war it could have changed the course of the war and brought it to a much quicker conclusion. The opposite occurred. The slaves, for the most part, remained loyal and even participated at the front in the armies.

So if this element of the history were to be revealed it might work to heal some of today’s wounds and possibly change attitudes. But that is not the only challenge for the new South. Like the rest of America, millions of illegal immigrants have settled in the South. And then of course, there are large numbers of Yankee immigrants who bring with them a Yankee slant.

For there to be a real revival and rebirth of the South, as a region, accommodations would have to be made to include and assimilate different cultures. If this issue is not addressed and considered, the new South would continue the problems created by America’s century’s old hodge - podge immigration policy. At its core, the South would still retain its Christian anglo – celtic traditions though somewhat diminished by the absorption and inclusion of so many other cultures. Some in the Southern movement have real problems with this reality.

In the ante bellum era the South was strong because of the living and working relationships of its various peoples. Somehow this “Southern unity” must be recreated through equality and not submission.

Another aspect of the Cultural South must see revival. Southerners need to embrace their colors, the battle flag of the Confederacy. Too many Southerners attempt to divide the South on these colors. But what region of the nation has a single flag which represent it? Which region of America has a symbol recognized around the world as our is? And when other people across the planet see our colors what do they think? Racism? No. They see defiance of tyranny, and a willingness to fight for independence. Look what flag was present when the Berlin Wall fell! Which flag was it that was flown in Afghanistan as the Russians were chased out of the nation?
The Confederate battle flag is a symbol as well known as the Golden arches of McDonald’s or the Star of the Dallas Cowboys. Where commercial enterprises have spent billions to create worldwide recognized symbols, the battle flag has no money behind its recognition. Only the blood and valor of our Southern ancestors is the investment for this symbol of the South. These colors must be re-embraced by all in the South.

The Southern national anthem must reclaim its place at events across the South. This snappy, optimistic song has only one home. It is Southern. And each time it is played it re-asserts the Legacy of the region.

Reclaiming the Legacy of the South is about restoring the pride of a people, the independence of people and the willingness by all, on all sides in the South to make this region of the nation the engine to rebuild America in the twenty first century.

Summation

As you can see from this brief and incomplete presentation, there will be a lot of work to revive a Southern Legacy, a modern version. Looking at it, it seems so daunting, so large that no one could possible achieve it in a hundred years. And yet, as Christians we know the power of our God, and that all happens in His time. So it is possible, and it can happen faster than we could ever imagine if it be His will and His time.

The question is will you pray on this? Will you consider it? Will you talk to others about it?

What happened in Memphis is neither a beginning, nor an end. If we do nothing these won’t be the last parks renamed, or the last time the South will endure embarrassment. And if we do determine to commence a real campaign and do the work in the political arena it still will be decades before things may change.

I have done what I have been given to do.

Respectfully,

Mark Vogl

How does the South reclaim its Legacy?

Part 3 of 4

By Mark Vogl

The Politics of Governance

Where the South and its guardians have been completely inept is creating a “living” agenda to take to the government to implement. The Southern movement has been passive – lying on the porch like a lazy hound dog, barking only after some coyote has snatched Brer Rabbit. There has been absolutely no initiative, or offensive campaign to re-assert the Southern Legacy in terms of local, state and federal policy.

Were you to attend a Veterans’ organization (VFW, Legion, Vietnam Vets, Amvets, etc.) state or national convention you would find that a great deal of time is spent on creating a legislative agenda for the organization. Tens, if not more than one hundred, resolutions will be addressed at the various veterans conventions concerning everything from defense and foreign policy issues, to veterans programs, budgeting, pay and benefits, etc. Like heritage organizations, the veterans are prohibited from any activity that aids in the actual election of favored candidates. However, the V.F.W., American Legion, Amvets, Vietnam Veterans, etc. work hard to influence government policy no matter who is in office!

And this is where the South has been dismally inept and the heritage organizations derelict in their duty.
A real reason for the failure of creating a Southern agenda is apathy. Yes apathy. Most Americans pay very little attention to the work of governing the nation, or expend little of their own resources and time to participate in the practice. This apathy is as prevalent in the Southern movement as it is anywhere else in society.

Part of this is caused by the Southern tradition of wanting to ignore government as much as possible. There is a Libertarian strain in “Southernness,” one that abhors government. In Texas it is almost sacred. Government is like the small pox, you don’t want it. I completely understand this feeling.

But the real danger in this kind of thinking is that yankees, and other sorts will take advantage of the vacuum created by Southern absence to take everything government can give them (which means Southern monies collected in taxes). Then the yankees will cry about what they did not get. Their agenda is endless. The have an appetite that cannot be quenched, as is evidenced by a 16 trillion dollar debt.

Southern heritage organizations have failed completely in this duty. There is no legislative agenda, no legislative directors at the federal and state levels. There are no liaison officers from camps and chapters to local government, and state and federal officials. (Something all veterans’ organizations do.)

While the Southern agenda need not be overly expensive, it does need to have funding requests connected to it to make it real. Money is value and in politics it is one of the currencies of deals and power.

For the South, its conservative ideology, and promotion of the South dollars could be connected to:

a. Confederate cemeteries (like the ones in Richmond) that should have decent headstones promised by the Veterans Administration but never coming.

b. Funding for Confederate and Southern museums, festivals, cultural events which promote not only the old South, but the present one. These funds should be unhindered by Yankee interference, or political correctness in telling the Southern story.

c. Block grants to states to provide domestic services currently administered at the federal level, but which should be conducted at the state level. These grants should be reduced through time, allowing the states to fund them completely. (State sovereignty)

d. Closure of the Department of Education at the federal level, and ending all subsidies for public education by the federal government. (Possibly the greatest threat to individual freedom and the concept of the Republic is the U.S. Department of Education)

e. Funding for Confederate, Pro South historical interpretations at federal and or state parks dedicated to the War for Southern independence. Possibly even the creation of an Office of Southern Heritage within the Department of Parks, reserving the right to fill these job positions by the states represented in the Confederate Congress.

f. Seeing inclusion of the Southern point of view in the historical interpretation of the ante bellum years, secession and the invasion by the Union.

Some in the Southern movement would point to lawsuits as their favored method of interacting with government. I submit that this form of interaction is:

a. Ineffective and costly, syphoning off resources from other more worthwhile publicity, recruiting, marketing and educational activities.

b. Severely restricts the chance to engage the membership.

c. Removes an opportunity for recruiting

d. Plays the game most likely to end up in the status quo’s favor, in part because a small elite leadership decides what deals to cut, and what actions to prevent within its own organization to forward the cause. (Repeated failure demonstrates either a conspiracy within the leadership, or just as bad exceptionally poor judgment.)

Further, to meet the Charge, organizations should establish committees to analyze the Confederate Constitution to extract specific proposals (like those listed below) for implementation within the present United States government, possibly through amendment. Among these could be:

a. Prohibition of commercial and bank bailouts as stated in the C.S. Constitution.

b. Restricting legislation to one, and only one subject.

c. Providing the President with a Line Item Veto.

d. Requiring a two thirds vote of each house to raise spending levels above that of the President’s proposed budget

The point of this portion of the paper is to illustrate that there are means to participate in the political arena. In Virginia and Georgia groups calling themselves Flaggers are investing time in public protest on behalf of the South. Their devotion, self-commitment, tireless work are to be commended and supported. But left to only this tactic I am afraid progress will be very slow, if at all.

In politics, as in war, there are arsenals of weapons with different purposes and uses, all to be used together to attain the objective. Public protest, rallies are one form, or one weapon in the arsenal. But, like infantry, if unsupported by artillery, air cover, naval bombardment, tanks, helicopters, missiles, etc., the infantry can easily be contained and defeated by a force with just one more asset, one more weapon not committed to the infantry.

A campaign to reclaim the Southern Legacy must include all aspects of political operations; fund raising, marketing, polling, media messaging, rallies, communications, base building, etc.

It would be easiest to commence this activity within existing heritage organizations. They have the chain of command, the membership, the structure. But alas, that fifth column has already infested and paralyzed these organizations.
So if there is to be a revival of the South, it seems that there must be a new organization created with one purpose; to affect a Southern agenda. Now the Southern National Congress (S.N.C.) has claimed this ground. The Congress is only a few years old.

Their efforts to date are a promotion of peculiar non-starter causes that have no real basis in the South, or today’s Southerners. They make no effort to represent the South, to determine what the people of the South actually think, but instead remain isolated as a small group with nothing else to do. In existence for a few years, I have yet to hear of public forums, nor have I seen any effort to solicit the real thoughts of the majority of the people of the greater South. No political party has started. Worse, they deal in unreality instead of the political reality of today.

Politics is not some unstructured, anything goes type of activity. There are specific ways to participate in the activity and affect the outcomes. You may not like it, you may even dislike it, but if you want the South to reclaim its Legacy you have to accept the tools you have and use them. The South is being whipped every day because it refuses to play in the game of politics.

For the South to live, to revive, a realistic assessment of today’s people and views is essential. Certainly there are Southerners who revere the originally South, but they appear to be few. Even native born, generations here Southerners do not know the true history and political values of the South.

There is a lot of room for work here.

1 One that is broad, created annually by a wide, active southern movement. It should not be an agenda peculiar to one organization or group. Instead it should reflect a broad consensus of the people of the South. However, the starting point should be the Confederate Constitution and other documents, traditions, etc. that have both historical foundation and contemporary popular support within the Southland as demonstrated by current polling, state legislative action, etc.. To claim that something is “southern” must rely on present day evidence, not a hope of a small group.
2 It should be noted that one National Commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Rick Griffin, did establish a political action committee, and attempted to ignite within the S.C.V. a sense of citizenship. However, there was no depth of commitment behind what Commander Griffin attempted to do.

Part 4 of this series will be posted in the next day or so.

If you find this contemporary view of the South interesting I invite you to look for my book on ebook, “Southern Fried Ramblings with Grits and all the Fixins” coming this week.

Cheraw, South Carolina

The city of Cheraw, South Carolina has placed the following advertisement in the current AAA regional “GO” Magazine. As a longtime AAA member I have written the company regarding accepting such ill-conceived ads, as well as the city of Cheraw celebrating the unfortunate visit of an invading army led by a war criminal. The latter’s actions while devastating South Carolinians are best captured by Dr. Clyde Wilson’s words taken from a recent Chronicles Magazine issue:

“It might be worth a moment to pause and remember February 17, 1865. On that winter day, the U.S. Army, with malice aforethought, robbed, raped, and burned out the white and black people of the beautiful city of Columbia, South Carolina. Although the city was undefended, had already been surrendered, and was of no military significance. Besides many homes, businesses, beautiful gardens, warehouses, and churches, deliberately set fires consumed, after looting, an Ursuline convent school, a Christian art collection, printing presses, a scientific museum, documents and relics of the American Revolution, and the means of subsistence of thousands of women and children.”

Please feel free to contact the city of Cheraw, especially if you are a AAA member, at www.cheraw.com, as well as on Facebook to demand that ads in better taste and forethought be utilized in the future. Let Cheraw know that it would be far better to honor and celebrate South Carolinians who served, defended and honored their State, and help visitors learn of their patriotism and heroism – and as examples for Americans to emulate.

Bernhard Thuersam
bernhard1848@att.net

SOUTHERN HERITAGE

By Eileen Parker Zoellner

Many good people have been working in recent years to preserve public acknowledgment and celebration of our Confederate history. Our fights have been largely defensive reactions to the innumerable strokes of our enemies.

Confederate battle flags were seen among American fighting men, in real life and film, during World War II and Korea, and Vietnam. Douglas Southall Freeman’s R.E. Lee and Lee’s Lieutenants were celebrated as accounts of American military valor. When President Roosevelt inaugurated the first completed dam of the TVA, he did so on a platform that flew US and Confederate flags.

That world does not exist anymore! The people who want to do away with Confederate symbols are not people who will come around when you argue a little historical interpretation with them, or when you point out (as you know to be true) that your forebears were not fighting for slavery, or prove that you are a loyal American whose heart contains no hate and violence.

They do not care! They have no heritage of their own and do not know what a heritage is. They believe in their own self-interest and fashionable abstractions. We do not and will not in the foreseeable future live in a world where Southern heritage will be publicly honored except by us. We live in a regime where Confederate symbols are scheduled for complete obliteration. At present, we can expect no help from our own institutions, the politics of Southern states being dominated primarily by Big Business.

The Compromise is broken. Northern society has periodically gone through fits of fanaticism which have focused upon us. When was the last time you thought about telling people in New York or Seattle what to do? Never, because it is not a part of our national character as Southerners. But hundreds of thousands of Northerners are thinking about you and about their right to suppress your evil ways. In their fantasy world, which is the only culture of any significance they have, you are the evil obstacle to making the world perfect. They have always been that way.

It has nothing to do with you. It is their problem. It has nothing to do with the South except that the South lies convenient for their aggressions. They cover up their emptiness, hatred, hypocrisy, and insignificance by identifying you as the Enemy. This is the way Puritans behave when they lose their religion. Our forefathers saw this clearly. It was that kind of society and people that they fought to be free of!

WAKE UP! You can either honor your Southern heritage and preserve your Southern identity, or you can give unthinking obedience to the America of today. You cannot do both without engaging in self-defeating contradiction.

Here are a few suggestions.

Don’t compromise. Compromise is only a defeat and a springboard for another attack. Don’t think that being a good sport will make the other side good sports. Who follows an uncertain trumpet? You will probably lose. But a loss on principle preserves a rallying point. John C. Calhoun says: a defeat on principle is not an overthrow, while a victory by compromise is a defeat.

Be worthy of your ancestors. Don’t be a goody goody "American" humbly begging to be allowed to keep a shred of your heritage. You are a member of a great people who are under attack and have been betrayed by their leaders. It is needed to defend the Southern people here and now and not just the noble Confederate soldier.

Think like a Southerner. We cannot defend just our Confederate forebears, as important as that is. They are but a part of Southern history. Lay claim to all of Southern history and culture. To concentrate on Confederate history alone is to concede to the enemy that the Confederacy can be segregated off as an evil episode of slavery and treason. It also plays into the North’s everlasting tendency to claim anything Southern that is good, as "American," that is, non-Southern. George Washington is just as Southern as Robert E. Lee. Thomas Jefferson is just as Southern as Jefferson Davis. Andrew Jackson is just as Southern as Bedford Forrest. Alvin York, and Audie Murphy, and the Alamo are just as Southern as Stonewall Jackson. Lay claim to all your heritage!
Avoid argument with the enemy and concentrate on educating yourself and members of our people, especially the young, not forgetting the many Yankees of good will. In Heritage Haters you are dealing with people who send their children to private schools while busing yours and still think they are morally superior to you because they are in favor of busing and you are not. They are not interested in debate or evidence. Remember, they are not attacking your great-grandfather’s war: they are attacking you! This goes double for the academic "experts" in the war era, who are even less interested in evidence and perspective than the ordinary flag hater.

Don’t be discouraged. So beautiful and powerful is our heritage that it has taken them decades to cut away as much as they have. It will take some time and hard work to recover lost ground.

If you have to argue, turn the tables. The significant factor is the North’s motives! They are the ones who invaded us, violating the fundamental American principle of the consent of the governed.

If you must debate, don’t make any indefensible statements.

The worst thing that can happen to the South is to be turned into an appendage of the bland, principleless elements represented by the PC crowd today. Think like a Southerner, not like a knee-jerk "conservative."

If you want to be a good American as defined by the ruling institutions today, forget about your Southern heritage. For those of us who are true Southerners, we care for family, place, Christian social order, courage, loyalty, honor – all things besieged in America today. That is, after all, why we love our heritage.

Deo Vindice!

How Does the South Reclaim its Legacy? - Part II

By Mark Vogl

Politics – Economy – Cultural Identity

The campaign the South needs to engage in occurs on three fronts, politics, economics, and cultural identity.

In the 1960’s the South was the anchor of the Democrat party. It was a solid block. As solidly Democrat then as New York, Massachusetts and California are today. And the South was still the South. If you went to an Old Miss game or for that matter a Friday night high school football game you were likely to hear “Dixie” as a fight song, after you prayed. If you went to a NASCAR event you would see the Confederate battle flag waving not just from the stands, but actually painted on the cars that raced around the track. Many, if not most Southern political leaders had some affiliation with their local Sons of Confederate Veterans.

In many respects the defiance of the South was then unreconstructed. Some of what went on in the South, and in the North, the racism, was an evil of Satan. But most of what the South was, was good. It was family, God, state. Air conditioning had only been recently invented back then, and the Yankees had not come in their second wave of invasion yet.

But they were about to. And this time their weapon would not be the bayonet but money.

Money, Yankee money and foreign money would change the South, alter its cultural center of gravity. It would take advantage of a Tory element that had existed even in the heat and passion of secession. These Tories had never been a part of the South spiritually and in modern times they are ashamed of Southern history and Southern culture. They are the fifth column within the South. In the heritage organizations they are called “grannies,” the men and women who wear uniforms and period dressed but shutter whenever anyone suggests a more aggressive stance towards the promotion of the South. They see their “vindication of the Cause” in small, quaint social events of no consequence, and do all they can to block the formation of modern Southern legions prepared to enter the fray of modern American politics with an objective of reasserting the Southern Legacy. They warn “we are prevented…”

I would assert that many of these grannies are actually modern liberals whose personal inclinations are driven by causes outside those of the South. They could be government workers, union members, atheists, Libertarians, or others who place their personal agenda above the retaking of the South. They assert that there are “proud of their heritage” but their love for the old South ends there. They don’t want to bring it back. They like America and the South as it is, and as it is evolving, ever leftward and ever more agnostic.

So within the very ranks of the Southern movement is the first line defense against a revival of the South, and a revival of America. (While many in the Southern movement cannot see the two together, I do. And because I accept secession as American, I can accept a states right to secede. In fact I see that right as essential to maintaining the original checks and balances within the Constitution itself.)

Back to the Democrat Party. When the Liberals in the 70’s and beyond took over the party and consolidated their position, they began to embrace political concepts like socialism that were anathema to the South. For a time, the South stayed Democrat despite these moves because of their justified hatred of the other party. Reconstruction left a bitter taste that was not easily forgotten. But in 1980 a man came along who had a bottle of mouth wash, Ronald Reagan. And from that time, until recently, the South has been solidly Republican. Why? Because the South is conservative, and the Republicans had demonstrated (at least for a while) they were significantly more conservative.

But the Republicans, though they needed the South for its Senators, and its electoral votes had long had its own ruling elite. Dominated by the mid-west, and northeast, Republicans were more conservative solely because of commercial reasons, and the threat of the Soviet Union. They made accommodations to the South because they needed them. However, with the fall of the Soviet Union, much changed.

Today we see the Republicans as narrowly defending some of their commercial interests to the exclusion of all else. But a lot of the commercial interests are now focused on foreign markets, and foreign production. Asia is seen as the next bonanza for profits. And corporations which during the Cold War had waved the flag, now have put the American flag in the closet. While main street is still in America, Wall Street is everywhere but.

The Republicans have replaced God, with their God, commerce. Anything that hinders commerce, including God, borders, morality, patriotism, standards, nationalism are all to demeaned and eradicated.

For the Southerner this creates a real question. How do we forward our colors in the arena of politics.

Actually, there is a great opportunity here. Neither party, at their core, is pro Southern, or pro any values which are Southern. So that makes the choices a tactical one, depending on who needs our votes the most. Whoever will do the most to forward our cause deserves consideration.

We who want a Pro South agenda must do what other special interests do. We must place our Cause above other priorities in our lives. Politics is about choices and priorities. I believe that for grannies and others who seemingly sabotage Southern initiatives, their motives are certain, their purpose to stall the South.

But at the moment we are treading on ground forbidden to heritage organizations. Let’s move towards the politics that is fertile ground for the Cause. That fertile ground is the governing of America, your state, county, board of education, etc.


1 In central and western North Carolina the term Tory was applied to Yankee sympathizers at the time of the war.
2 Important to note here that many scholars, etc. in the world of Military Affairs believe the United States is re-orienting its military focus to the Pacific, despite the promised Obama reductions.

The BARD of the CONFEDERACY

By Bob Hurst

Almost eight years ago, when I first began writing this column, it was my intention to write about the great figures of the Confederacy during the War for Southern Independence and to also discuss the activities of the descendants of those great Southerners by chronicling events and actions of heritage and historical organizations, especially the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that are active today in protecting the memory and true history of those magnificent Southerners.

Naturally, many of my articles have been about the iconic figures of the Confederacy, and rightfully so. Not enough can ever be written about the greatness of Lee, Jackson, Davis, Forrest, Stuart, Cleburne and so many more. I have also, occasionally, written about lesser-known Confederates that I thought made outstanding contributions to the Cause and would make for interesting reading for you fine people who read this column each month. A few examples of these are Jedediah Hotchkiss, Sally Tompkins, General James Lane, General Hylan Lyon, Bennett Young and Richard Kirkland.

Interestingly, I have generally gotten more feedback from readers about these columns and most of it dwelt on the theme that they were happy to read about Confederates who were hitherto unknown to them.

I am sure that this column will fall into that category for most of you. In fact, until I recently came across a reference to the individual who is the topic of this piece, I had never heard of him. I just had to research him and what I found was an amazing story of an extremely interesting person who made great contributions to the Confederacy during the War without firing a single shot or giving a single order.

His name was John Hill Hewitt and his contribution to the Cause was to give hope, joy and inspiration to the Southern people through his gift of music . What makes his contribution even more remarkable is that John Hill Hewitt was not even a Southerner.

John Hill Hewitt was born in New York City in 1801. His father, James Hewitt, was a noted musician in New York and in his native England. Interestingly, the father did not wish for the son to become a musician, nor did the son desire to. John wished for a military career and, at age 17, entered the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Hewitt was at the Academy for four years and completed the course of study. Unfortunately, his grades were not sufficient for him to graduate and receive a commission. To rectify this, the superintendent of West Point recommended that he repeat his senior year. This brought about from young Hewitt a display of the temper for which he would become well known - he challenged the superintendent to a duel. Fortunately, the duel was not fought and Hewitt quickly resigned from West Point.

In the meantime, his father had formed a theatrical company and invited young John to become a songwriter and musician for the troupe. John agreed and went South to join with the group which was then performing in Augusta, Georgia. Unfortunately, disaster struck soon afterwards and fire destroyed the theater where the group was performing and, in the process, also destroyed their props and instruments.

The troupe broke up and most, including John's father, returned to New York. John, however, in the short time he had been in Augusta, had become enamored with the South. He decided to stay in Augusta and open a music store where he sold instruments and also taught music lessons (he was proficient on the organ, piano and flute).

After a year in Augusta, Hewitt moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to study law and teach music lessons. Unfortunately, he soon became entwined in a scandal involving a young female music student. He soon moved to Greenville, South Carolina, to teach music at a Baptist Female Academy and give private music lessons on the side. It was while Hewitt was living in Greenville that he wrote "The Minstrel's Return from the War" (1825) - a song that became America's first international hit song.

Following his father's death, Hewitt moved to Boston in 1827. Boston was where his brother had moved the family's music publishing business. John took a job working for a newspaper and soon married, but the newspaper closed the following year and the Hewitts headed South. They ended up in Baltimore and John took a job with a newspaper and also edited a magazine. Here he began writing poetry, plays and songs on the side.

Unfortunately, the temper that was first displayed at West Point again came to the fore. Especially unfortunate was that the target of his ire this time was one of the most popular of America's writers - Edgar Allan Poe. The dispute with Poe, in fact, continued until Poe's death in 1849.

Another target of Hewitt's vitriol was the Ulster-Scots entertainer Harry McCarthy who, in 1861, would write one of the most beloved of all Southern songs - "The Bonnie Blue Flag". Other than our beloved "Dixie" , there is no other song that stirs Southern hearts like "The Bonnie Blue Flag".

So who could imagine that with this background John Hill Hewitt would become the Confederacy's most prolific songwriter? He most assuredly did, though!

John Hill Hewitt's Confederate Odyssey began on a less than auspicious note. In 1861, Hewitt approached President Jefferson Davis and asked for a commission in the Confederate Army. Since he had completed four years at West Point he considered himself a graduate of the Academy. He presented himself to President Davis as a graduate and expressed a desire to serve his country (by now he was a committed Southerner). The president refused his request for a commission but offerred him a job as a drillmaster for new recruits. Since this was well below his desires and expecrations, the energetic 60-year-old Hewitt decided to return to what he did best.

By mid-1862, Hewitt was managing a Richmond, Virginia, theater and writing songs at a rapid pace. These were not merely songs, though, but rather tunes that became instant classics and were beloved throughout the South.

Hewitt was adept at writing both melodies and lyrics. For some of his songs he would write the melodies and use the lyrics of others. Some example are: "Dixie: the Land of King Cotton" (1863) with lyrics by Captain Hughes of Vicksburg; "Flag of the Sunny South" (1860) with lyrics by E.V. Sharp; "The South" (1862) with lyrics by Charlie Wildwood; and the most famous of his Southern songs, "All Quiet Along the Potomac To-Night" (1863) with lyrics by "Lamar Fontaine", a pseudonym for Mrs. Ethel E.L. Beers.

His jaunty melody "The Stonewall Quickstep" (1863), however, was written purely as an instrumental piece.

Hewitt would also take an established melody and apply his own lyrics as he did with "The South Shall Rise Up Free" (1863); "When Upon the Field of Glory" (1864); and "Yes We Think of Thee at Home" (1864).

And then there were the songs where he wrote both the melody and the lyrics such as "The Young Volunteer" (1863); "The Unknown Dead" ((1863); and "You are Going to the Wars, Willy Boy!" (1863).

Undoubtedly, the melody written by John Hill Hewitt that has been heard the most is the beautiful "Somebody's Darling" (1864), with lyrics by Marie Ravenal de la Coste, which was selected by MGM to be a part of the score for one of the most popular (and rightly so) motion pictures of all time, the magnificent GONE WITH THE WIND.

After the War, things did not go well for Hewitt as he experienced almost ten years of constant moves and job changes. In 1874 he moved back to Baltimore and opened his own music school. Being multi-talented, he supplemented his income by writing for newspapers and journals, and writing plays and musicals. He also completed his autobiography which was published in 1877.

He remained active into his late 80s writing and managing productions. He also found time to walk five miles a day. Sadly, he fell down some stairs in 1888 and broke a hip. He never recovered and died in October of 1890.

His body of work was prodigious. He composed more than 300 songs including ballads, polkas, serenades, romantic ballads, marches, hunting songs, descriptive songs, cantatas, quadrilles, operettas and more. He was also noted as a poet and an essayist in addition to being an acclaimed theater manager.

His greatest legacy, though, is his role during the Great War of 1861 to 1865. The historian, Richard Harwell, explained it well when he said that Hewitt's story is "... the story of music in the Confederacy." Although he never wore a uniform or carried a weapon, his place in the pantheon of Southern heroes is secure. During a time of great hardship, distress and sadness caused by the invasion of our beloved Southland by the hordes from the North, the music of John Hill Hewitt delighted Southerners and brought joy, hope and inspiration into their lives. This unique individual was truly "The Bard of the Confederacy".

DEO VINDICE

Note: Previous articles of CONFEDERATE JOURNAL are available in book form. Articles from 2005-2007 are in Volume 1 which can be ordered online at http://createspace.com/3540609 while articles from 2008-2009 are in Volume 2 at http://createspace.com/3543269.

Bob Hurst is a Son of the South with 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 also 2nd Lt. Commander of the Florida Division, SCV. He can be contacted at confederatedad1@yahoo.com or 850-878-7010 after 9PM Eastern Time.

How does the South Reclaim its Legacy?

(Part 1 of 4)

By Mark Vogl

Preface

A few days ago I wrote an article about the political defeat in Memphis and the City’s decision to rename three Confederate parks. The failure was not at the local S.C.V. – U.D.C. level, but a much larger failure in terms of citizenship and the Southern movement and society. Questions came, what could we have done? To break this paper down into more digestible pieces, it will be presented in four parts to you.

Introduction

This article is intended for all Americans, and those in the South who see the ongoing attack on American history, heritage, culture, exceptionalism, and nationalism as a coordinated multi-pronged effort to neuter the United States of America. I submit that the attack on the South, since the late 1960’s, is the point of the spear being driven into the very heart of the United States.

It is an assumption of this essay that the South is a region within the United States unique in it’s own “sub - national identity,” way of life, history, and view of the Constitution. The South was always more than the single issue (slavery) most associated with the region. The South’s reputation as the Bible Belt is perhaps the single most important definer. Christianity is at the core of its culture, and the South was instrumental in its contribution to America’s political systems. While this author recognizes that each geographic region within America has degrees of culture, history, pride and politics, it is my assertion that the South, with its Confederate battle flag and regional anthem of Dixie, stands alone. The American South is world recognized through its revered symbols.

It is the premise of this essay that the attack on the South by the secular social engineers is an important aspect of their larger attack on the United States because of the innate loyalty of Southerners to their region. The goal of these engineers is to re-arrange America so as to make it an extension of the Euro Union, and a broken state eager for assimilation into a global government[1]. Therefore, the preservation and perpetuity of Southern Legacy is vital to the national interest of the United States.

To save the Legacy of the South is essentially a political activity. This activity is not inherently partisan (Democrat or Republican), though for the moment the first steps towards a revival of the South must be focused on the Republican Party, or its conservative replacement should the GOP collapse.

In my soon to be released book, “Southern Fried Ramblings with Grits and all the Fixins” I provide a broad survey of the contemporary Southern movement, the issues, the different people, groups and organizations involved and whether their activities are successful in growing their membership. (If you are interested in the future of the South I recommend this work to you.) But one thing is evident, the various groups do not coordinate their efforts, nor is there a long range plan for restoring a unified Southern presence in America.

Before we talk about how to organize a revival of the Southern Legacy, I should like to share my thoughts on why, when, how and where the glory and cultural heart of the South became a target of the present day ruling elite, an elite that is neither solely Yankee, nor solely American. I am sure you will easily recognize everything discussed in the next paragraphs, but possibly you never connected them all to see the broader picture. I assert that our opponents, the people behind the assassination of the South do see the bigger picture, and do have an objective even larger than the great Southland. Their real target is the United States.

I believe the attack on the South began sometime after the 100th Anniversary of the War for Southern Independence in the years 1961 – 1965. Though just a child at that time, I can remember many things across America honoring both the war and the South. At that time, television, radio and print media were still regionalized. National broadcasting was still in its infancy, and had not as yet attempted to erase regional viewpoints for one consolidated eastern establishment “theology.”

In movies, whether it be Sgt. York, or Gone with the Wind, or Disney’s Song of the South, the great Southern traditions of faith, family and patriotism were evident. The relationship between white and black in the South was portrayed more as a united, friendly, even loving relationship. Probably much more as it really was, than is portrayed now. (I am not defending slavery, I myself condemn it as sin. Still I know from my grandmother that slaves were treated as family in the hills in west central North Carolina, and possibly most of the rest of the South.) Andy Griffith had no trouble including humorous references to the war, and the South in his popular, long running national television show.

But with the late sixties and seventies the America of old was invaded by a horde, seemingly coordinated by a central evil that sees the Constitution and this nation for what it was intended, a place for Christ to flourish. Their target is the destruction of the America founded in 1776. When you look at the arsenal of their victories it is difficult to come up with any other conclusion;

a. The legal slaughter of 55 million innocents as a result of a tyrannical decision by the Supreme Court. The supposed guardian of the Constitution struck at the “right to life” and set a standard, a flag flying marking the arrival of Satan.

b. The massive use of illegal drugs by a large percentage of the American population, operating an underground commercial operation that dwarfs all but the largest of legal American business.

c. The gutting of the F.C.C. and the downward moral spiral of entertainment across the spectrum, from Hannity’s bold embrace of profanity to the garbage stories of destroyed human lives and spirit which fill our living rooms in the evening.

d. The use of lotteries and other forms of gambling to fund government, and the infestation of casinos on the lands of America’s first people.

e. The chasing of God from our public schools and the continuous attack on the Church. Now the First Amendment is clearly an objective where the central government attempts to force the church to abide, to bend their knee to Caesar.

f. The social ills of homosexuality, divorce, broken families, the confusion of the roles of man and woman, and the wrong-headed ideas of tolerance and diversity.

g. The attack on the concept of States’ Rights and the diminution of the sovereignty of the creators of the Union, both states and individual citizen.

h. The trashing of the concept of national patriotism (begun with the Vietnam War antiwar crowd, but extended throughout the society today.) so that a commercial concept of globalization could then remove the idea of the nation – state, and instead look for a one world government!

i. The replacement of the concepts of work, savings, patience, and building a life with God, one brick at a time to credit, debt, a fast food mentality on self-gratification and an anything goes morality.

All of these things are occurring throughout the United States, so where does the Southern Legacy fit in?

Simple, all of those things are anti-Southern. When one reads the Confederate Constitution, the bedrock of Southern political thinking, we find a document which begins with a recognition of God in the Preamble, and a national aspiration to be His, to seek His guidance, and His protection. From the very first, the Southern nation extended but more boldly proclaimed one of the foundational underpinnings of the creation of the United States, the role of God in governing the place![2]

Ok so how did the South become the target?

From here on we will go somewhere you may not want to go. At least many connected to the modern Southern movement in the heritage organizations have resisted. From here we go to the arena of politics!

The next section to be sent will be: Politics – Economy – Cultural Identity

* If you wish a copy of the whole paper write me at johnyreb43@yahoo.com

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[1] Rush Limbaugh just weeks before this article was written spoke several times over a series of days about the attack on the South by the main stream media.
[2] To really understand the founding of the United States I strongly recommend “Forged in Faith,” “The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States,” and Chapter 5, “The South Was Right”

Statement to Committee Meeting - Memphis, TN

by HK Edgerton
President Southern Heritage 411
hk.edgerton@gmail.com

Mr. Chairman, Honored members of this Committee, and those present. I have placed before you to peruse; a copy of the Historic March Across Dixie Pictorial Journal. It is a very important vehicle that is at the forefront of breaking down the Wall of persona non grata (being personally unacceptable or unwelcome) of the Confederate Battle Flag. And that of the Honorable Beings who stitched it together, carried it into battle, shrouded the bodies of their loved, and who placed it atop the buildings that governed those who deeply believed in giving love to their fellow man, as was proven when one of the Almighty Gods' ultimate test was thrust upon them; " The Economic Institution of Southern Slavery".

General Nathan Bedford Forrest was one of those Honorable Beings, and unquestionably by his actions; a friend to the African of his time, be they freed or indentured. There are many Black folks here in Memphis who owe their very existence to the kind General who answered a knock at his door from a plea of African whose wife had just been sold to cover his masters debts, and the General found himself in the saddle, buying back a slave that he would never use, just to bring peace to a kindly soul.

A man that had his horse shot from under him many times in battle, with never a fret because he knew that one of those forty plus Black men who went off to war with him; had his back when he hit the ground. And as the shirt before you reads in his own words: These boys stayed with me... and better Confederates did not live."

There are those like Commercial Appeal Reporter Wendi C. Thomas who write calumny (false and malicious accusation) about the General, with the intent of exciting from the public a level of hate that is a danger to public safety. The United States Congress exonerated General Nathan Bedford Forrest at their Klan Tribunal, of any crimes associated with the Klan or Fort Pillow. And I never heard her mention one time the terror heaped upon the citizens of Tennessee and the South by the Union League, be they Red, Yellow, Brown, Black or White. Or that it was the Klan during the time of Forrest that broke the back of reconstruction in the South; 12 years of terror for all Southerners, with the exception of the scalawags who climbed into bed with the Carpetbaggers, and Northern appointed military Governors and their tribunals that stole and raped and murdered all the way to the bank.

And never to forget in closing the North plan to divide Southern Whites and Southern Blacks from each other, starting first with the teaching of the Almighty God by Southern Ministers like the Honorable R.L. Dabney of Prince Edward County Virginia who spelled out in his famous letter to the head of the so called Freedman Bureau in September of 1865, all the things that the South had done to try and do right by the African people held in bondage, and all the things that the Yankees should do, and stop doing to a hapless people (vagrancy laws and entrapment of the company store to name a few) now that they had all the money and national resources fully in their command.

Even Dr. Martin Luther King could not be persuaded to attack the Southern Cross or those who fought and served under it;" sons of former slaves, sons of former slave owners, and far too many that were neither". I am the immediate Past President of the Asheville Branch of the NAACP, and at no time do I recall that David Duke or any leader of the KU Klux Klan, invited by that organization, or for that matter the Commander In Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, or the President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy invited to give the Keynote Speech at their National Convention. However, here was the Pole Bearers of Memphis, Tennessee, a forefront of organizations like the NAACP, inviting the General to do just that. The first and only White man to be given that high Honor. If it makes any difference to a woman that hates as Ms. White does, have her read that accounting that sums up who General Forrest truly was.

A monument is defined as a lasting reminder in remembrance of a person or event, and it is the duty of those who follow to see that this mandate is protected. Political correctness and the lies and distortions of those who hate it are no excuse to do otherwise. As much as I deplore the likes of Lincoln and his son having a monument of their likeness at the Tredegar Iron Works in Virginia, or on the Capitol Mall in Washington, I cannot dig the war criminal up, or that of President Grant who owned slaves as he entered the White House as the lies ran forward to the world that his Commander In Chief Lincoln had him fight a war to end the economic institution of slavery. Good help was hard to find was his excuse.

We here in the South need to embrace our history and heroes of the past while searching out truths not told by those who took a criminal road of Total Warfare upon defenseless men, women, and children. Thank you for having me, and I hope that you will take a path that can lead to a better community and will earn the respect of many across this land who call themselves Southern, and the many of the North who believe in a sense of fair play.

33rd Annual Spring Civil War Mosby Bus Tour

Saturday, June 15th , 2013

Please arrive at 8a.m. to sign in. The bus will leave Truro Parish (10520 Main Street, Fairfax City, VA) promptly at 8:30a.m. We will be visiting Miskell’s Farm, Duffield Station, The Greenback Raid Site, The Bower and much more! We will arrive back around 5:30p.m.

Tour Leaders will be Don Hakenson & Gregg Dudding

Special Guest will be noted Mosby Historian Tom Evans.

Price: $65 for members of the Stuart-Mosby Historical Society or $75 for non-members.

To Sign-up for the tour please contact:
Don Hakenson – Phone: 703-971-4984 or email: dhakenson@cox.net.
Or send a check made payable to:
Don Hakenson, 4708 Lillian Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22310

Sorry, no refunds after June 1st , 2013

We will be stopping for lunch at noon…but lunch is not a part of the fee.