Celebrating the 14th Annual Birthday Party of Ole’ Bedford at Fort Dixie!!!

When: Saturday, 13 July 2013

Time: 3:00 PM til ya wanna go home

Where: “Fort Dixie” Home of Butch & Pat Godwin
10800 Dallas County Road 30
Selma, Alabama 36701
334-875-1690
e-mail - oldsouthrebel@zebra.net

Come enjoy the “Spirit of Memphis” as we celebrate the 192nd Birthday Anniversary & the 14th Annual Birthday Party for Lt. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. Spend the day at Fort Dixie for the BEST “Southern Menu” South of the Mason-Dixon Line – Southern Fried Catfish & all the fixin’s, ice cold watermelon– Live Southern Music, Inspirational Southern “talk” and the BEST Southern Folk in the Heart of Dixie! Auction of GREAT Southern/Confederate items & door prizes, plus drawing for NBF Hot-Cast Bronze Bust. Bring ya kith ‘n kin, ya in-laws, ya out-laws, lawn chairs, umbrellas, patio tents, insect repellant, sunscreen. Dress cool & casual!

BRIEF HISTORY

On May 17, 2001, The Friends of Forrest, Inc. filed a civil rights lawsuit against the mayor of Selma & the City of Selma in federal court in Mobile, Alabama for discriminating against our Southern heritage, Selma’s history, Alabama’s history & America’s history. Dep ositions began on Feb. 27, 2003 & ended April 1, 2003 – court date was then slated for 12 Jan, 2004. However, on Aug. 17, 2003 Judge Brevard Hand dismissed the case. In the course of the following months, the enemy attorneys filed motions for the FOF, Inc. to pay the city’s legal fees & costs. Judge Hand denied their motion & ruled in April 2004 that the City of Selma would be required to pay their own attorney fees & costs which exceeded over $200,000! We consider this, within itself, a win! The city of Selma paid over $200,000 to deny her noble Southern Heritage! This case has proven there is NO justice in these United States for white Southerners! Now, we are at WAR again with the City of Selma because of Selma’s local terrorist, Rose Sanders who has, after almost 12 years, once again waged war on the NBF monument & instigated the theft of the bronze NBF bust in Mar 2012. KTK Mining of VA, contracted by FOF & UDC to secure & develop Confederate Circle at Live Oak Cemetery has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Selma for U.S. Constitution violations of 1st & 14th Amendments – NO DUE PROCESS when the city council voted on 25 Sept 2012 to revoke our building permit. Court date is set for fall 2013.

Please call Pat Godwin @ 334-875-1690 for reservations – for head-count purposes only.

Cost is on DONATION basis only. All proceeds go toward Confederate Circle Security & Beautification Enhancement Project at Live Oak Cemetery, Selma Alabama.

HOTELS: Area Code(334 )Historic St. James–872-3234; Comfort Inn–875-5700; Days Inn 872-0014; Jameson Inn–874-8600; America’s Best Value Inn– 872-1900; Hampton Inn-876-9995; Holiday Inn Express-874-1000

FLAG RALLY AT FORREST PARK

RALLY AT MEMPHIS, JULY 14

Gentlemen and Ladies,

In Mike Daugherty's message below, he says it all, and eloquently. BE THERE for the Forrest Birthday.

Please read all of this, And please pass this on to all your members, friends, and associates:

One of the Memphis City councilmen stated that:

"We can change the park names (Forrest Park, Confederate Park, Jefferson Davis Park) to something less offensive. Besides NO ONE CARES ABOUT SOUTHERN HISTORY ANYWAY."

Do you care??? Did your ancestors care? You betcha -- to the utmost.

Are we going to sit by and let the city tell us that our history and our ancestors don't count ?
Are we going to sit by and NOT be there for the Forrest Birthday celebration ?
Are we going to sit by and let the city council think that there is no one out here ?
Are we going to sit by and let the council think that they can dictate an erasure of Confederate history ? And get away with it ?

I hope your answer is a resounding NO.

We need to show them, by our presence in the park, every Confederate, every FLAG, every musket, every Southern belle, every historian, and every Southern descendent in the region.
THE SOUTH SHALL RISE AGAIN.

Please be there, Sunday, July 14, 2:00 pm. See below.

Bring your flags, bring your chairs and water, and Rally around Forrest.

Lee Millar
"In the trenches against city hall, and waving my flag"


NB Forrest Birthday Celebration, Sunday July 14, 2:00

Members and Friends of the South –

As you know, for the last several months our heritage has been placed under assault by some terribly misguided people in leadership positions in the city of Memphis, particularly where it relates to Confederate themed Parks, Memorials, and other places of Confederate historic significance. I was inspired and encouraged this weekend by the talk among both participants and guests at the excellent Hernando reenactment (which drew some 3000 spectators over 2 days), and in listening to the leadership of various reenactment groups insisting that each man be there, and hearing from other groups in attendance that they planned to be here. Many were from Mississippi and Arkansas, some from East of Memphis and middle Tennessee, some actually from Memphis. All plan to be there. Good PR is part of the way we will win this fight, and what better PR is there than to have the largest crowd EVER attend the Gen. Forrest Birthday celebration at Forrest Park on Sunday, July 14 at 2:00 PM?

I know, I know. It seems to always be on the hottest day of the year. Tell that to the Honor Guard, and the Color Guard, and the other living historians who will be there in uniform with full accoutrements – many of whom will have traveled a long distance to be here for a comparatively short ceremony, standing in ranks sweating their brains out while waiting their turn to pass honors. Tell it to the ladies and gentlemen in attendance in period dress or to the volunteer crew that gets there hours beforehand to set up for the event and stays after to break it down. Volunteers from Citizens to Save Our Parks will no doubt be there with petitions to sign and taking donations to cover our costs relating to the lawsuit against the City, which by the way WE WILL WIN. Besides, the ceremony only lasts an hour or so, and there’s watermelon and cold water to keep you cooled off. The AC will likely still work in your car when we’re done, too, and there’s nothing like that “whoosh” when it first cranks up on a hot day. Yeah, I know, it’s always on a Sunday. Well, yes it is, but church is out at most places long before start time, there are no conflicting holidays or 3-day weekends (although there should be), and the NFL is still only thinking about training camp, so Sunday shouldn’t really be much of an issue either. In reality, if you are a member of the SCV or UDC, a reenactor, or other living historian, or just somebody who loves history - unless you are working, have prepaid out of town plans, a family emergency, or are physically unable to attend, there is no reason not to be there and not to bring somebody with you, especially considering the circumstances this year. This is historical preservation after all, and historical preservation is what we do.

So, while I am not really a leader in this organization, I am personally challenging each of you to be there, regardless as to whatever else may be going on. I’m getting this out to you almost a month ahead of time, so if you put it on your calendar today, July 14th shouldn’t fill up with something else. If you know or come into contact with other like-minded individuals, please invite them to also attend.

This is an opportunity. This is the time. We’ve been to the meetings, we’ve written and spoken to various council members, the mayor, the media, the naming committee, the Parks Commission, State Representatives and other leaders. This is the time for all of us to come out and stand up for and celebrate what we believe in and the history we love and to honor our ancestors and what they fought and died for by making this the largest Forrest Birthday celebration on record if possible, and if not then let’s make it the largest in recent memory. This is the time to show those that would try to attack, erase, and remove those historic places that we love and cherish that we will NOT go quietly into the night and let them do what they will, that these places ARE important and DO matter, and that their names are Nathan Bedford Forrest Park, Confederate Park, and Jefferson Davis Park. And the best opportunity to do that in the immediate future is this event. So show up. Bring your family. Bring your friends. Bring everybody you can, and let’s make this one the biggest, best and most significant ever. See you there.

Deo Vindice!

-Mike

A Hero

By Bob Hurst

War can bring out the best in some people and the absolute worst in others. It can present a stage upon which the character and nobility of some can be recognized while revealing in others the total absence of these two traits.

An event that occurred in New Orleans early in 1862 allowed both sides of this phenomenon to be well demonstrated.

The War for Southern Independence produced many heroes and I have written about a number of these magnificent individuals during the years I have been writing this column. There have been, of course, articles about outstanding military leaders such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, Robert E. Lee, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, JEB Stuart, Pat Cleburne, Turner Ashby, Joe Wheeler and others. There have been articles about those whose realm was of the political nature - Jefferson Davis and the "fire-eaters" come quickly to mind. Some of the Confederate heroes chronicled in this series were quite young like John Pelham, Richard Kirkland, Dewitt Jobe and more. The distaff side has also received attention in articles about Confederate heroes (or should I say "heroines") like Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Belle Boyd and Sally Tompkins.

This article will be different from all those previous articles, however, because this hero (the subject of this article) did not wear a uniform, was not a spy, was not involved with the government and, in fact, was not officially involved with any part of the war effort. William Mumford, you see, was a civilian who rose to the occasion, demonstrated great bravery and, in my opinion, should be recognized as a Confederate hero.

Mumford's story begins on the morning of April 25, 1862, when a federal fleet steamed into the port of New Orleans. David Farragut, commander of the fleet, sent a message to the mayor of New Orleans directing him to remove the Confederate flags that were flying atop city hall, the mint and the customshouse in the city and replace them with U.S. flags.

The mayor politely refused to do so.

The next day a small crew from a union ship went ashore and raised a Stars and Stripes to the top of the flagpole atop the mint after first removing the Confederate flag that had been flying there. They then warned a crowd of New Orleanians who had been watching that if the federal flag was removed the city would be fired upon.

Soon after the union sailors departed to return to their ship, a small group of men, led by William Mumford, made their way to the roof of the mint and removed the Stars and Stripes that had just been raised by the yankee sailors.

True to their word, a union ship unleashed cannon fire on the mint and, during this process, William Mumford was injured.

Two days later, federal land troops under the command of Major General Benjamin Butler reached the city.
{A brief not here about Ben Butler: He was a corrupt individual and an ineffective military leader who was relieved of several commands because of his incompetence. This was not unusual for politically-appointed generals. He had the nicknames "Beast" and "Spoons" -"beast" because of his scandalous and wicked behavior toward civilians, and "spoons" because of his penchant for stealing personal items of civilians in occupied areas, especially their silverware. Not surprisingly, after the war this reprobate was elected governor of Massachusetts.}

In a meeting with Farragut, Butler was briefed on the events concerning the flag at the mint and he vowed to first capture Mumford and then hang him.

New Orleans city officials surrendered the city on April 29 and two days later federal troops began arresting prominent citizens. Many were sent to prison and many others had their personal property confiscated by the Beast and his troops.

William Mumford was quickly arrested and charged with high crimes and misdemeanors and sent in chains to a location where he was held prisoner for the next month. He was then sent before a military commission (even though he was a civilian) where he pleaded "not guilty" to the charges. Only three witnesses were allowed to testify (all for the prosecution) and no mention was allowed that Mumford's actions had taken place before the city had been surrendered to the feds and, thus, was still under Confederate jurisdiction when his "crime" occurred.

William Mumford was found "guilty" by the commission and Butler issued an order for him to be executed. Many citizens of the city (those that Butler had not yet had arrested), Mumford's wife and even some union officers petitioned Butler to suspend his execution order.

The "Beast", of course, would have none of that.

On the day of the scheduled hanging (June 7), William Mumford was taken to the site of the deed which was the courtyard of the mint. The crowd that had gathered there was estimated to be in the thousands.

Mumford was allowed to address the crowd from the gallows. He spoke calmly and indicated that he had indeed taken down the Union flag but had no regrets for his action because it was driven by his patriotism and love for the Confederacy. He continued by saying that as a veteran of the Seminole War and the Mexican-American War, both as a Union soldier, he had a love for the "Stars and Stripes" itself , but a hatred for its uses under "Northern tyranny".

At this point, the trapdoor was opened and his execution was completed.

Eleven days after the hanging, Governor Thomas O. Moore of Louisiana made an address to the people of the state concerning William Mumford in which he stated that his murderers had offered to suspend the execution if he would "abjure his country and swear allegiance to her foe". The governor then continued:

"He spurned the offer. Scorning to stain his soul with such dishonor, he met his fate courageously and transmitted to his countrymen a fresh example of what men will do and dare when under the inspiration of fervid patriotism."

As might be expected, news of this hanging was greeted throughout the South with anger and calls for retributive action directed at Butler. President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation declaring Butler to be a felon and ordering that if Butler was captured that the commanding officer of the capturing force "...cause him to be immediately executed by hanging."

General Robert E. Lee contacted the Union General-in-Chief demanding an explanation to why a Southern citizen was executed for an act performed before the city was occupied by Union forces.

The Charleston MERCURY newspaper editorialized that Butler should receive no quarter from any Southern man and that if captured he should be hanged and if not captured either poisoned or carved up well with a knife.

Although not well-recognized as a Confederate hero, William Mumford displayed courage, character and nobility in choosing death with honor over compromising his beliefs and his patriotism toward the Confederacy.

Even though he never wore the sacred gray, his internal strength and his unquestioned devotion to the Cause make him, in my opinion, one of the bright stars in the galaxy of Southern greatness.

DEO VINDICE

Note: Previous articles of CONFEDERATE JOURNAL are available in book form. Articles from 2005-2007 are in Volume 1 and can be ordered at http://createspace.com3540609/. Articles from 2008-2009 are in Volume 2 and can be ordered at http://createspace.com3543269/.

Bob Hurst is a Son of the South who has special interest 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 serves as 2nd Lt. Commander of the Florida Division, SCV.

Dedication of Confederate Monument, Rose Hill Cemetery, Ardmore, June 22, Noon

The Oklahoma Division of The Sons of Confederate Veterans is pleased to announce the dedication of a Monument to 190 Confederate Veterans buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Ardmore. It will take place on Saturday June 22 at noon in the Confederate section at the North end of the cemetery.

Ardmore was the site of the Confederate home in Oklahoma and many of those residents are buried in this section. Oklahoma was one of the few states that allowed spouses to stay with their husbands and many of them are buried in the section as well.

Guest speaker for the occasion is Dr. Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The Oklahoma Division has 21 camps across the state and over 300 members.

A tent, chairs, bottled water, and portable facilities will be furnished and attendees are encouraged to dress comfortably to deal with the hot temperatures expected.

There will be a special part of the event to honor the five tribes and their contributions to the Confederacy.

The public is invited.

The Battle of Fleetwood Heights, also known as Brandy Station. June 9th 1863.

By Kevin Carroll excerpts and notes taken from Jeb Stuart, written by John Thomason

After the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee decided upon taking to the aggressive and began to reposition the Army of Northern Virginia closer to the Valley for the pending invasion of Pennsylvania. Northern General Joe Hooker, still licking his wounds from Chancellorsville, made no movement south of the Rappahannock.

General JEB Stuart, in charge of Confederate cavalry, positioned his forces in a screen watching the river crossings from Kelly’s Ford northwest past the Rappahannock River bridge to Beverly Ford 2 miles farther up the river to the northwest. He had recently received the brigades of Wade Hampton, Beverly Robertson and Grumble Jones as well as several hundred new carbines that were sent up from the ordinance department so that by the end of May he had nearly 10,000 effectives in his force, the largest cavalry force assembled by the Confederates during the war. Stuart also had five batteries consisting of 20 guns in his battalion of horse artillery.

In early June, near Culpepper, General Lee reviewed the cavalry Division and wrote his wife that “I reviewed the cavalry in this section yesterday, it was a splendid sight. The men and the horses looked well. They have recuperated since last fall. Stuart was in all his glory. Your sons and nephews were well and flourishing……”

On June 8th, following the review, Stuart was ordered to cross the river the next day and cover, on the right, the northward movement of Longstreet and Ewell’s Corps as they began their march north. Stuart established his HQ at Fleetwood Heights, a partially wooded ridge running roughly a mile north of the Orange and Alexandria RR. Brandy Station is at the southern foot of the ridge. Three miles east is the Rappahannock and the road up to Beverly Ford skirts east of the ridge. Six miles southeast is Kelly’s Ford six miles southwest is Culpeper Court House.

Hooker ordered his cavalry commander, General Alfred Pleasanton, to cross the river and smash up the Confederate cavalry before Stuart and his boys could do any mischief. What happened next evolved into the largest cavalry engagement ever fought on the American Continent. Forming in two columns Pleasanton directed the 2nd and 3rd Federal cavalry Division’s along with an infantry brigade under David Gregg to cross the river at Kelly’s Ford with intentions to push hard for Brandy Station coming in on both the Madden and Stevensburg Roads. The 2nd column consisted of the 1st Federal cavalry Division, the reserve cavalry brigade, and Ames’ infantry brigade, under John Buford, to cross the river up at Beverly Ford and sweep down on Brandy Station from the northeast.

At dawn on June 9th, 1863 the battle opened when a brigade of Buford’s cavalry under Davis stormed over the river crossing and into the pickets of the 6th Virginia cavalry. The fighting soon became vicious and Davis was soon killed but his brigade forced the 6th to retire with a loss of 30 men and horses. The Federals pushed up and into the edge of a Confederate artillery camp which surprised them forcing them to also pull out but not before issuing a few welcoming rounds of canister into the charging Yankees. By now the alarms were sounding and Stuart formed a defensive line near St. James Church positioning Jones brigade to the right with its back to the railroad facing north and Rooney Lee’s brigade facing east. Hampton’s brigade rode in and formed to the right of Jones. Buford faced the center of the angle and was effectively blocked. Robertson had moved his brigade down towards Kelly’s Ford but was bypassed by the column of Gregg who had passed the road he was on and moved his column farther west to advance on the aforementioned roads. This effectively took Robertson out of the fight as for some reason he did not bother to adjust or compensate for what was happening on other sections of the field that day. To his left and right and in his rear, the hottest kind of fighting raged on all morning but in keeping with his original orders, Robertson maintained his line on the road between Brandy Station and Kelly’s Ford.

The Federal column under Gregg split up as he sent the detachment of Duffie towards Stevensburg where they were promptly engaged by Wade Hampton and stopped. Gregg’s force met no resistance bypassing Robertson and coming between himself and Hampton on the road up to Brandy Station where he effectively came in on the rear of Confederate cavalry which was effectively blocking Buford’s attack. As Gregg’s column came into site one of Stuart’s staff officers, Major McClellan, sounded the alarm but Stuart and his line were too occupied with Buford to notice. McClellan got one of Chew’s guns and began firing it into the long blue line which forced Gregg to shake out into battle line and call up his own guns which gave a thorough raking to the heights which were all but unoccupied. This artillery gets Stuart’s attention as he yells to a courier “ride back and see what that foolishness is all about!”

McClellan tells a Colonel Harmon from the 12th Virginia coming over to see what was happening, “For God’s sake they are right on you!” Harmon instinctively charges into the 1st New Jersey who by this time was scaling up the slope of the heights forcing them back after heated combat. Stuart now realizes he has been turned and galloping towards the hottest point in the field comes across the spectacle of Gregg’s full force attacking the heights and the scattering of the few Confederate elements fighting for their lives to hang onto the high ground until help arrives. That help soon materializes in the form of Hampton first, followed by Rooney Lee and later Jones who with great skill and audacity kept Buford bottled up while lending much needed support to Fleetwood Heights at the opportune time to support the line.

Harmon’s Virginian’s reformed and charged again gaining a Yankee battery, the blue clad gunners defended their guns with pistols and sponge staffs until support drove back the Confederates again. Then it was Gregg’s turn to charge but was met by Hampton’s column arriving in squadrons, Carolinians followed by Mississippian’s, yelling the rebel yell as they smashed into Gregg’s flank riding through it and into his reserves. Several more Federal guns joined the melee and many of Hampton’s riders fell to the blast of close range canister fire. It was later said that Hampton’s charge involved more close sabre hand to hand combat than at any other point in the war. Hampton’s son was wounded in battle and afterwards he asked him removed from his command due to the stress of having a son in combat with him.

The battle continued to ebb and flow but progressively moved eastward as Gregg reluctantly gave ground realizing the combination with Buford was not going to occur as planned. The other half of his column, under Duffie, was still milling about near Stevensburg and could not get around the cavalry screen that Hampton had left as he moved up to the sounds of the heaviest fighting on the slopes of Fleetwood Heights. General Lee had become concerned about the cacophony of battle happening in the distance and urged General Ewell to march a Division to the support of Stuart. They never made it to the field as by the time they were nearby, the Federals were in full retreat.

The Federals lost 936 men of which nearly have were prisoners, six flags, and three guns. Confederate losses were 523 including one flag. Considering the tactical surprise Stuart suffered he recovered his troops admirably and perhaps fought the men as well as in any battle of the war. Naturally, Pleasanton and the northern press spun their defeat into a victory stating that the mission was on a reconnaissance in force and not meant to break up the Confederate cavalry. Since the mission did nothing to locate the whereabouts of the Army of Northern Virginia it fails that test as well.