WHAT WOULD THEY DO WITHOUT US...
In spite of our heritage and culture being continually slandered, Southerners have always taken the lead in the military defense of the reunited country as well as before the War for Southern Independence.
During the Korean war alone thirty two of the seventy eight medals of honor went to Southerners. We recently posted on Southern men like Audy Murphy and Alvin York the most decorated soldiers of the first and second World War respectively.
During the war with Mexico the North provided 23,054 soldiers, while the South provided 43,630.
During the War of 1812, the North provided 58,552 troops while the South gave 96,812. This was accomplished while New Englanders were providing beef to British Soldiers in Canada and threatening secession over the war (peace with England at any price, while Washington DC lay in ashes).
Black and white Southerners fought side by side during the Revolutionary War, at the Battle of New Orleans and again 46 years later for Southern Independence.
“New England, which had been too “conscientious” to defend the national honor in the war with Great Britain, poured out almost her whole population to aid the extermination of a (Southern) people…Edward A. Pollard editor of the Richmond Examiner.
It is a fact that Southern troops numbering several thousand would not cross the Potomac into Maryland during the Gettysburg Campaign. It was of such grave concern for General Lee that he issued strict orders on desertion and straggling, which included execution.
They only wished to protect their own homes, not invade the homes of Northerners…All they wanted was to be left alone.
The USS Columbia (CL-56) flew a Confederate Navy Ensign as a battle flag throughout combat in the South Pacific in World War II. This was done in honor of Columbia, the ship's namesake and the capital city of South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union. Some soldiers carried Confederate flags into battle. After the Battle of Okinawa a Confederate flag was raised over Shuri Castle by a Marine from the self-styled "Rebel Company" (Company A of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines).
A Japanese Kamikaze hit the ship at 1729 hrs on 6 January 1945, during the Lingayen Gulf operation. The impact, on the main deck by the after gun turret, with the resulting explosion and fire, caused extensive damage and casualties.
Southern men and women have always answered the call, form 1776 to today…who will deny them the right to their heritage and their flag?
CONFEDERATE ALAMO
“Men, the salvation of Lee’s army is in your keeping.”
– Maj. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox to the defenders of Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865
On the afternoon of April 2, 1865, after a morning of bludgeoning attacks all along the Petersburg lines, 5,000 Federals swept forward to attack Fort Gregg. The 300 Confederates here twice drove the Federals back, but finally the attackers reached the fort’s parapet. For twenty minutes a vicious hand-to-hand battle raged.
At fight’s end, the fort belonged to the Federals. Only 44 Confederates survived the battle unscathed. With the fall of Fort Gregg and nearby Fort Whitworth, the Confederates pulled back to their last, innermost line. The two hours gained by Fort Gregg’s defenders allowed Lee to evacuate Petersburg safely that night.
IS IT JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE SONG IS CHANGED?
"Maryland, My Maryland" is the official state song of Maryland. While the words were penned in 1861, it was not until April 29, 1939, that the state's general assembly adopted "Maryland, My Maryland" as the state song.
Written originally as a poem, the song refers to Maryland's history and geography and specifically mentions several historical figures of importance to the state. The song calls for Maryland to fight the Union and was used across the South during the War as a battle hymn. It has been called America's "most martial poem."
Occasional attempts have been made to replace it as Maryland's state song due to its origin in support for the Confederacy and lyrics that refer to President Lincoln as a "TYRANT," "DESPOT," and "VANDAL," and to the Union as "NORTHERN SCUM."
Maryland, My Maryland
I
The despot's heel is on thy shore,
Maryland!
His torch is at thy temple door,
Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My Maryland!
II
Hark to an exiled son's appeal,
Maryland!
My mother State! to thee I kneel,
Maryland!
For life and death, for woe and weal,
Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel,
Maryland! My Maryland!
III
Thou wilt not cower in the dust,
Maryland!
Thy beaming sword shall never rust,
Maryland!
Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
Remember Howard's warlike thrust,-
And all thy slumberers with the just,
Maryland! My Maryland!
IV
Come! 'tis the red dawn of the day,
Maryland!
Come with thy panoplied array,
Maryland!
With Ringgold's spirit for the fray,
With Watson's blood at Monterey,
With fearless Lowe and dashing May,
Maryland! My Maryland!
V
Come! for thy shield is bright and strong,
Maryland!
Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong,
Maryland!
Come to thine own anointed throng,
Stalking with Liberty along,
And chaunt thy dauntless slogan song,
Maryland! My Maryland!
VI
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain,
Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,
Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
"Sic semper!" 'tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back again,
Maryland!
Arise in majesty again,
Maryland! My Maryland!
VII
I see the blush upon thy cheek,
Maryland!
For thou wast ever bravely meek,
Maryland!
But lo! there surges forth a shriek,
From hill to hill, from creek to creek-
Potomac calls to Chesapeake,
Maryland! My Maryland!
VIII
Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll,
Maryland!
Thou wilt not crook to his control,
Maryland!
Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the soul,
Maryland! My Maryland!
IX
I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!
Harrison, Longstreet's spy...
Born Henry Thomas Harrison in Nashville in 1832, the Confederate soldier joined the 12th Mississippi Infantry in May 1861. He was discharged the same year though and became a spy for Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon. After meeting General James Longstreet in April 1863, he then became a spy for him.
Known only as "Harrison" for decades, the tips he provided (for which he was usually paid in gold), proved both reliable and invaluable, but the one for which he'll be forever famous was the one delivered on June 28, 1863. On that night, he shared with Longstreet the news that Federal forces were located around Frederick, Maryland and advancing north, as well as the information that Union General George Meade had replaced Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac.
With Confederate troops being stretched thin along a wide swath of land in south central Pennsylvania, so alarmed was Longstreet by the news that he sent Harrison to relay it to General Robert E. Lee, who then made the decision to concentrate his troops at Gettysburg.
After the war, Harrison moved his wife and daughter to Mexico, but left them in 1866 to go search for gold in Montana, disappearing for 25 years while his wife presumed him dead and remarried.
He later worked as a detective in Cincinnati from 1901 to 1911 before moving to Covington, Kentucky, where he died in poverty 12 years later. Longstreet took Harrison's true identity to the grave and an application for a military pension in 1912 lists him only as a Confederate veteran.
GENERAL TURNER ASHBY of the MOUNTAIN RANGERS
"The Black Knight of the Confederacy" killed in action June 6th 1862
Ashby's bravery was renown. During the retreat from Winchester in March 1862, he apparently was the last Confederate to leave town. But Ashby lacked military discipline which led him to several confrontations with Jackson. A reckless cavalier with no fear of personal danger, Ashby met his doom at Chestnut Ridge in Harrisonburg, VA in June 1862, leading a charge against a small group of Union soldiers. Jackson reacted to Ashby's death, saying "as a partisan officer I never knew his superior."
The whole South mourned his passing. His body was wrapped in a Confederate flag and buried with honor at the University of Virgina. Poems and songs were written in his memory. His uncle wrote his biography. So many recruits were drawn to Ashby's cavalry that two other regiments, the 12th Va and 17th Va, were made from the overflow.
