CULTURAL GENOCIDE… LET THE BAND PLAY "DIXIE"

No song makes you feel like you are in the South like Dixie. 
Well, maybe not anymore…

Virginia Military Institute has withdrawn the Confederate flag as a school symbol, banned the singing of "Dixie," no longer observes Confederate Memorial Day and deemphasized observance of the New Market Battle of the Civil War, where VMI cadets fought and died. 

In 1997 Ole Miss, banned the Confederate flag at games, and in 2003 removed Colonel Reb from the sideline. School administrators banned the playing of “From Dixie with Love” in 2009.

It used to be when the Ole Miss band played the tune you would see fans from the opposing team taking enjoyment in it. 

Missouri State University Interim president Clif Smart calls “Dixie” an “unfortunate selection” and says he will not allow the university band to play that song again in public.

A Texas high school has reportedly silenced its traditional rendition of “Dixie” during football games, as communities in the Lone Star state debate how to handle vestiges of the Old South.

What’s going on in Lexington is the same thing that is going on everywhere. You will be allowed only the officially-sanctioned, politically correct, far-left revisionist heritage that the special interest cabals let you have.

AND BRING BACK COLONEL REB!!!!

GENERAL FORREST'S HORSE MARINES...October 31 1864 

It seemed that nothing could stop the audacious Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry command. Federal naval officers were not taught to be on guard for an attack from a cavalry unit in the USN training manual. Forrest’s military genius however, did not come from any army manual. He had a natural instinct for tactics and unconventional warfare, coupled with a bold and aggressive personality.

Three weeks after General Sherman’s capture of Atlanta, Forrest and his Corps were wreaking havoc on Federal garrisons, taking 2,360 prisoners and destroying much of the Tennessee & Alabama Railroad north to Pulaski. Returning to west Tennessee, Forrest turned his attention to the United States Navy who was using the Tennessee River as a supply route for Atlanta.

With the help of Forrest’s ever-faithful commanders, General James R. Chalmers, Colonel Tyree H. Bell with his Tennesseeans, and Colonel Edward W. Rucker, a deadly gauntlet of artillery was set up near Paris Landing commanding a mile stretch of the river. 

They didn’t have to wait long for the unsuspecting enemy. After two days of vigorous engagements, the Confederates had captured the gunboat U.S.S Undine, and the transports Cheeseman, Mazeppa and Venus, the latter two each towing barges richly laden with valuable supplies. The Cheeseman was badly damaged and burned along with the now emptied barges. The Undine was one of the largest armor clad boats of her class with eight twenty-four-pound brass howitzers. With some repairs the gunboat was placed back in action. 

On the 31st Forrest decided to organize his own navy arming the Undine and Venus with more guns and sending them to do battle with the Federal flotilla at Johnsonville. Forrest’s success on the river caused the panic-stricken Yankees to destroy and evacuate the huge Johnsonville depot on the 4th of November.

As rain clouds began to cover the autumn Tennessee skies, General Forrest congratulated General Chalmers for their success. Draped across the General’s saddle was the flag of the U.S.S. Undine, a very rare prize indeed. His new gunboats and “Horse Marines” cruised the Tennessee river hearing the cheers of men who had not seen a Confederate flag on a ship for two years, “making the air ring with cheer upon cheer.”

Still more on reconstruction...

Riding roughshod over Presidential vetoes and federal courts, the U.S. Congress put the South under military occupation and formed new Southern state governments. The South, decimated by the war, was powerless to offer resistance. Not satisfied with reducing the South to political slavery and financial bankruptcy, Congress even laid their obscene hands on the pure fabric of the U.S. Constitution. 

They impeached President Johnson and came within one vote of removing him from office. Congress denied the power to raise state militias of their own to all of the former Confederate states. Arkansas, among others, begged Congress to repeal the law, and Congress obliged after some debate. In March 1869, Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Florida, and Louisiana were once more granted the power to establish militias. In 1870 Congress extended the privilege to Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia.

After the end of the War there were laws which were passed that were specifically written against Confederate Partisan Rangers, groups for the most part came out of Missouri. The laws prohibited any Confederate veteran of the Partisan Rangers from voting, holding any public office and from holding office in their local churches. This is just one example of how Reconstruction’s harshness was aimed at a specific group of Southern individuals.

The South was then invaded by what became known as "carpetbaggers," which Webster defined as "a Northerner who went South after the Civil War to profit from the unsettled conditions of the war and Reconstruction period or any person, especially a politician who takes up residence in a place opportunistically." These individuals from the North who came to make money off of the misery of a shattered South. The carpetbaggers bought land for practically nothing from poor and starving Southerners, or simply purchased it from the government because of back taxes due. They were aided in their enterprise by the "Scalawag" as Webster defined as " a scamp, a rascal, a Southerner who supported Republican policy during Reconstruction often for political and/or economic gain." The scalawag allied with the carpetbaggers using the Radical Republican Reconstruction policies to punish the loyal Southerners and profit from their pain.

Steve Perry, a.k.a. “Uncle Steve Eberhart,” c. 1934.
As many know, black men were a fairly common sight at Confederate soldiers’ reunions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Photographs from these reunions are evidence of their service and acceptance in the Confederacy.

Of course some were teamsters, cooks or even musicians and drummers etc. but, never the less gave faithful service to the Confederacy. 

Arguments concerning the role that blacks played in the Confederate army continue to this day. Pundits still contend the degree of contributions made by blacks, in addition to disputing the actual numbers of those freed men or slaves who served with their white southern counterparts. 

With the surviving documents, veteran’s personal accounts and affidavits, official records, and periodicals, it is however remarkable that many want to ‘cover up’ or just deny that southern blacks would serve in, and later be proud of participating in the Confederate army.

Realizing that the northern part of the valley would be difficult if not impossible to defend, General Jackson reluctantly withdrew from Winchester and moved his army to the more strategic towns further up the valley. Federal General Nathaniel Banks then marched into the lower valley with his army of 38,000 men.

General Joseph E. Johnston had given Jackson orders to keep the Federal armies busy and to prevent reinforcement of General McClellan's peninsula campaign to capture Richmond. Jackson was also given council not to expose his forces to the danger of a defeat. But General Jackson had bolder plans. He would aggressively go on the offensive, attack and defeat the Federal invaders.

As General Jackson and his cavalry chief Turner Ashby rode past the historic Shenandoah Court house through the town of Woodstock, no one knew what the future would bring. But one thing Jackson did know, it was he who would decide the fate of the valley, not General Banks.

10 RULES OF A SOLDIER (I found 6 interesting)

In 1898 Charles Swett of Vicksburg, Mississippi, faced the prospect of watching his son, Louie Chase Swett, go off to fight in the Spanish American War. The elder Swett knew from first hand experience the horrors of war. A veteran of the Civil War, Charles Swett had raised an artillery company in 1861, the Warren Light Artillery (Better known as Swett’s Battery), and served with it until promoted to adjutant and inspector general of artillery for the Army of Tennessee in the spring of 1864.

To try and prepare his son for military service, Swett sent the boy a letter in which he laid down his “Rules for Government of a Soldier’s Action.” The following are the 10 rules that Swett counseled his son to follow while serving in the military:

1st. Always obey every command, and show at all times, proper respect for your officers, from the President down to the lowest Corporal in the company. No one can ever know how to command, until he knows how to obey.
2nd. Always be ‘slow to anger’, and ever be cheerful and considerate for the feelings of others; remembering that a company ‘divided against itself’ like a house mentioned in the bible, cannot stand.

3rd. Never turn your back on an enemy unless you are ordered to do so, and in that case give a parting shot if you can, as it may put someone out of the ranks.
4th. Never complain if it can possibly be avoided; and should you have to eat rations cooked 24 hours before, remember that your father, during four years of war, often had to eat corn bread that had been cooked for three days, and at times, beef without bread or salt, and was glad to get it.

5th. Never fire your gun without being satisfied your shot will effect, and not for the purpose of scaring someone, as the Chinese do. The stocks of all army guns [are] nearer straight than the guns you have used, therefore [have] the liability to shoot high.

6th. The primary object is not to kill in war, but to disable; the reason being, if a man is badly wounded, two will be required to carry him off; whereas, if he is killed, you get rid of only one man.
7th. Always aim low, as it will be better for your shot to strike the ground in front of an enemy, than to pass over his head. a ball striking the ground twenty yards in front of the line-of-battle will ricochet and may hit someone not above his shoulders, because of the fact that the angles of incidence and reflection are equal.

8th. When an order is given to you, never reply in order to discuss the case, but go, making every effort to succeed; dying in the effort if necessary.

9th. Never unnecessarily expose yourself, as it would be foolish to do so. If you are ordered to an exposed position, and one of great danger, go in your entire strength, and go in to win, without thinking of the consequences.

10th. Always ‘do unto others as you would that others should do unto you’ in your association with comrades, and be sure to do your duty to your God, your country, and your name, never failing as you go into battle, to invoke Divine protection in the little prayer I used on many fields of blood

– ‘HEAVENLY FATHER, WATCH OVER, BLESS AND PRESERVE US FROM HARM, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, Amen.’ Then go in, not only believing but knowing you are under the protection of ‘One who doeth all things well’.

Father

To Louie Chase Swett

More on Reconstruction...

A visitor to Charleston, South Carolina, described the city as one "of ruins, of deserted streets, of vacant houses, of widowed women, of deserted warehouses, of weed-wild gardens, of miles of grass-grown streets." Once admired for its broad avenues, shaded by beautiful trees and flanked by fine lawns and gardens, the city had become a wilderness of ruins.

Knoxville, Tennessee, had suffered as well. "Burnt houses and solitary chimneys over one whole quarter of the city, showed that the heart of East Tennessee loyalty had not been without its sufferings," reported newsman Whitelaw Reid. Atlanta was clearly stamped with the signs of Sherman justice, left with gaping windows and roofless houses, heaps of ruins on the principal corners and traces of unsparingdestruction everywhere.

Abraham Lincoln, while the war was still in progress, had turned his thoughts to the great problems of reconciliation and devised a plan that would restore the South to the Union with minimum humiliation and maximum speed. But there had already emerged inCongress a faction of radical Republicans, sometimes called Jacobins or Vindictives, who sought to defeat what they felt was too generous of a reconciliation program.

Motivated by a hatred of the South, by selfish political ambitions, and by crass economic interests, the radicals tried to make the process of reconstruction as humiliating, as difficult, and as prolonged as they possibly could. With Andrew Johnson’s succession to the Presidency upon Lincoln’s assassination, the old Jacksonian Unionist took advantage of the adjournment of Congress to put Lincoln’s mild plan of reconstruction into operation. 

On 29 May 1865, President Andrew Johnson issued a “Proclamation of Amnesty” to the majority who fought for the Confederacy. He excluded the benefits of amnesty to many Southern leaders including civil and diplomatic officers and agents, officers above the rank of colonel in the army and lieutenant in the navy and all who had been educated at either West Point or the Naval Academy. Two years later he issued another proclamation on 7 September 1867 that reduced the exceptions to brigadier generals in the army and captains in the navy. Finally on Christmas 1868 Johnson issued a proclamation for unconditional pardon, with the formality of any oath and without exception to all who in any way sided with the Confederacy. 

Via John K. McNeill SCV Camp #674
A Southern View of History
The War for Southern Independence

 The September 1899 edition of CONFEDERATE VETERAN Magazine ran this photo of the reunion of the 22nd Mississippi Infantry on the cover. Dr. George C. Phillips is in the back row on the left.


Dr. Phillips:   “You have asked me to give you my experience in removing the wounded of my brigade from Corinth Miss., after the disastrous battles fought there Oct., 3rd and 4th, 1862 by the Confederates under General Earl Van Dorn. Of the desperate charges made by our men against the enemy’s breast works, line after line of which they carried, until checked on the second day by the enemy, concentrating their entire force on the almost impregnable position of College Hill.

The infirmary corps ambulance drivers and asst. surgeons were informed where to bring the wounded. The surgeons of the brigade then set to work to prepare for the wounded that we knew would soon be on hand, improvising tables from wagon beds or any pieces of board we could get, or door of a house if any was near, having pots of water boiled, buckets of cold water set handy, instrument and bandages put in order. We had no tents. In the mean time the battle had opened and was waging in our front. By the time our crude preparations were finished, the wounded commenced coming in, those who could walk, on foot, others in ambulance, some in wagons, as we had but few ambulances.

The men were taken out and laid on the ground in the shade of trees, and the conveyances sent back for others. Now came hard work for the surgeons, first in the lignating arteries that were bleeding, cutting out bullets that could be felt, laying aside, often a hurried examination, those requiring a capital operation until the rush was over, splinting and bandaging broken limbs that might be saved.
Late in the night, working by candle light. We finished, first work, with the lot of wounded and the poor fellows as comfortable as we could with the scant means at hand, lying on the bare ground with only their one blanket around them. Fortunately it was not cold, early the next morning the battle reopened and all through the day the wounded continued to come in, though not so numerous as the day before, the artillery doing most of the fighting in our front, the infantry supporting it.”

DID YOU KNOW…

For a brief period during the War, Florida was an independent nation.

On Jan. 11, 1861, the Ordinance of Secession was signed after approval by the Secession Convention in Tallahassee. It was an independent nation until joining the Confederate states on Jan. 28.

The new flag included three stars to represent the three states that had seceded at that point - South Carolina, Mississippi and Florida.

This is the first of a new series of posts…

What some in the North called "Reconstruction" meant something completely different to the people of the South. 

During the period of 1865 until the late 1870's, the South was divided into military districts, occupied by United States Army troops and given U.S. Federal Government appointed military governors. Confederate veterans were not allowed to vote nor wear any part of their Confederate uniforms, including the buttons in public. Although Northern contention was that the Southern states remained part of the United States, they charged that the states lacked loyal governments. 

 The Northern federal government needed to invent mechanisms to erect what they called “loyal state governments”.   Men of honor in the South would fight these continually changing and increasing terms.  Since the strong willed, honorable Southern leaders could not be controlled by the Northern Republicans, they simple would purge the leaders, unseat them, and either appoint or cause a re-election of officials to be conducted. 

 They would not allow due process and democratic rule.  They wanted puppet governments to follow blindly whatever notion they had.  The Southern economy and society were decimated. The Southern land lay in ruins from the invading armies. Entire cities were destroyed; all food and supplies were, in large areas, destroyed.

~Robert~

Via John K. McNeill SCV Camp #674  
A Southern View of History
The War for Southern Independence

Photo:  Charleston, South Carolina after the Civil War.   We seldom think of such scenes as being relevent to the US, but the South was at least as destroyed after the Civil War as Germany was after WWII.   Sherman's march to the sea in Georgia was famous for its devastation, but in their letters, many of Sherman's soldiers say they were particularly ferocious in South Carolina.  

Asher Walker enlisted as a private in Company A, the “Calhoun Escopets” Fourth Arkansas Infantry Regiment, CSA, 17 August 1861 at Mt. Vernon, Missouri. The unit was under the command of Col. Evander McNair. The Fourth served in Indian Territory in the fall of 1861, then fought at Pea Ridge in March 1862. 

They arrived too late for the Battle of Shiloh, but served in Price’s Division, the Army of the West, in the Corinth Campaign in May-June 1862. In the fall of 1862 they participated in the battles of Richmond and Perryville, KY, and in December 1862 were reassigned to McNair’s Brigade, McCown’s Division. 

Many battles followed, including Stones River, Jackson, MS, Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mtn., Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Ezra Church, the siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Lovejoy’s Station. In the summer of 1863 they consolidated with the 4th and 34th Arkansas Infantry, and were then reassigned to D. H. Hill’s Brigade for Hood’s TN Campaign.

Asher was a teamster for the unit at the time he was captured, in Roling, Mississippi 22 December 1863. He was sent to Military Prison at Camp Douglas, Illinois 7 November 1864, then exchanged 4 May 1865 in New Orleans, Lousiana.

Tallest Confederate H. C. Thruston 7' 7"

“The Texas giant and the world’s tallest man died at the home of his son, Edward, in Mount Vernon, Texas, soon after his return from the last Confederate Reunion in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of seventy-nine years.

In 1832, he migrated from South Carolina and settled in the western portion of Morgan County, Mo., then sparsely settled, a family remarkable for its uplifting and moral influence and for the physical stature of its men. Five sons ranged in height from six feet six inches to seven feet seven and a hall Inches.

When the great war began, the family espoused the case of the South, and its members never faltered until the end came. In the spring of 1861, George Butler, who married a Miss Thruston, organized the Morgan County Rangers, and was elected as its captain, with Sid Thruston as a lieutenant, Hal Thruston a sergeant, and H. C. Thruston as a private.


When the Federal General Lyons invaded Missouri, he broke up the Legislature and drove the Governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, from the Capitol. He also took prisoners a company of State Guards in St. Louis, shot down women and children in the streets, and proclaimed that the blood of women and children should run as water before Missouri should go out of the Union. Jim Lane and Jennison, the noted Kansas Jayhawkers, were commissioned officers of the United States army, although the government had pursued them all over Kansas, and their leader, John Brown, bad been captured at Harper’s Ferry, Va., and executed. These outlaws advanced at the head of the United States troops, and plundered and burned as they went.

The Morgan County Rangers, eighty strong, went forth under Captain Butler to defend their homes and property. Mrs. Butler upon a cot was carried into the streets of Versailles, Mo., to say farewell to the company; and when our gallant captain, with streaming eyes and frame quivering with emotion, parted with her, she was calm as a summer’s evening, caressed him, and told him to go and fight for his country and remember he was from South Carolina. She soon passed away. Somewhere in the South in an unmarked soldier’s grave is Colonel Butler. It is ‘Fame’s eternal camping ground.’

H. C. Thruston remained with the State Guards until after the battle of Pea Ridge, in which Joe Thurston, a nephew, was killed. The Missouri troops, under Generals Van Dorn and Price, were ordred east of the Mississippi River. In one of the fights after this H. C. Thruston was well in advance. The enemy was camped near a house from which a woman ran out shrieking, ‘Run, boys, run; the woods are full of them.’ Tom Tipton, a noble boy who was shortly afterwards killed, called out to her: ‘Go In the house and get under the bed, or you will be killed.’ 

About that time Thruston caught sight of their major running, and fired upon him. The major lived long enough to tell that he saw the man who shot him while ‘standing upon a stump.’ After that we were transferred to the 4th Missouri Cavalry, Manna- duke’s command, then at Batesviie, Ark., and soon we started the Cape Girardeau raid. John Q. Burbridge was lieutenant colonel under Col. W. I. Preston. 

The next day we were on dress parade; and when Colonel Preston gave the command, ‘Attention!’ he ordered Thruston to ‘get off that stump.’ He gave this command the second time; but as nobody moved, he drew his saber and declared: ‘I will make you obey orders.’ He came running right at Thruston and said: ‘What are you standing on? Thruston replied: ‘I am standing on the ground.’ 

Thruston was afterwards wounded in the side at Poison Springs, Ark., and, strange to say, a bullet grazed the top of his head on Price’s Missouri raid.”

He is buried in the old cemetery in Mt. Pleasant, and on his monument it says that he was born May 14, 1833 and died July 2, 1911. This inscription with reference to his having died in 1911 is certainly in error as the report of his death and a picture appears in the Confederate Veteran magazine of December 1909. There are also buried in the cemetery his wife, Mary, who was born May 14, 1833 and died September 23, 1891; and two of their sons.

He was known among his acquaintances in this area as Colonel Thouston. It seems that practically all Confederate veterans in their later years either became Major or Colonel. His acquaintances pronounced his name as “Thuston.

For many years following the Civil War, he spent most of his time in traveling with circuses, and was always billed in these side shows as being “The World’s Tallest Man”. In order to accent his height, he wore a tall beaver hat, high-top boots and a long coat. As one of his acquaintances said: “This made him look to be 10 feet tall”. In those days, one of the big events of a circus coming to town was the parade through the downtown section, and when the circus that Thouston was with was showing in any of the Confederate States, he would always walk in the lead of the parade carrying a large Confederate flag over his shoulder, and this was one of the most popular things of the parade. 

Then on the other hand, when they were showing in a Union State, he would usually lead the parade, dressed as Uncle Sam, and carrying both the Union and Confederate Flags. Judge R. T. Wilkinson, of Mt. Vernon, was perhaps one of his closest acquaintances in this area, and he says that Col. Thouston was a vain old fellow and proud of his height, and was always willing and ready to recount events of the Civil War and of his life. 

The Judge says that his hands were as big as hams and his feet were so large that he had to have his shoes specially made. He rode horseback quite a bit and when he was riding a small horse, his knees were usually pulled up as high as the horse’s back in order that his feet would not drag the ground. He had a buggy specially built for him with the seat built high up in order that he could ride more comfortably. In fact, Judge Wilkinson said that the old fellow always took great pains to call attention to his great height.

A postcard featuring Colonel J. A. Pattee and his company of Old Soldier Fiddlers visiting the Old Confederate Soldier's home at Richmond, Virginia on February 9, 1912.

 The back states that Vincent Amusement Company presents Col J. A. Pattee and his company of old soldier fiddlers; None of whom can read music, two boys in blue, two sons of Dixie, playing the old time tunes. Vaudeville's latest novelty act. From 1402 Broadway New York.

The card shows the fiddlers and the aged confederate veterans who were residents of the Old Folks Home.

 The veterans name is Silas C. Buck and he lived at Stephenville, Erath County. 

Mr. Buck during the war was color-bearer for the Sixteenth Cavalry, made of volunteers from Alabama and Mississippi. The last fight in which he carried the flag was at Pine Barrens, South Alabama, at which time it was shot full of holes. Mr. Buck was also wounded, a bullet passing through the top part of his head. Being wounded, he turned the flag over to Colonel Spence, who was in command, and until last this day had not set eyes of the flag he carried through the war.

When Mr. Buck reached Dallas he found Colonel Spence there, and to his astonishment he had with him the old flag that he carried in 1864. It was turned over to Mr. Buck along with the Confederate gray hat and jacket that he wore through the conflict, both of which are in a very good state of preservation. Mr. Buck is took these old war trophies home with him, but before Colonel Spence would allow him to do so, he made him agree to return them to him when he had shown them to his friends in Erath County.

Gen. Gordon spoke as seemed he never did before in a defense of the traditions and principles of the South at a joint meeting of the GAR and UCV in Atlanta. He paid fine tribute to the address of Gen. Shawl Referring to his remarks, he said:

“…When I saw the flag I followed and loved go down at Appomattox my heart would have broken but for my faith in God and his overruling providence.

I love this country. I love every acre of it. In these veins runs the blood of the founders of this republic. My forefathers fought and bled for this country's independence, and I believe no man is more ready to serve it in any emergency than myself… 

…But when he tells me and my Southern comrades that teaching our children that the cause for which we fought and our comrades died is all wrong, I must earnestly protest. In the name of the future manhood of the South I protest. What are we to teach them? If we cannot teach them that their fathers were right, it follows that these Southern children must be taught that they were wrong. Are we ready for that? For one I am not ready! I never will be ready to have my children taught that I was wrong, or that the cause of my people was unjust and unholy.

When Gen. Gordon had reached this point, he paused. He could not have continued had he desired to do so. There was one long, continuous yell throughout the large building.   

(A REBEL YELL I PRESUME)

Photo:  Jackson County NC Veterans...

Quantrill’s Reunion, Independence, Mo.

The first reunion of the men who rode with William Clarke Quantrill was held in September 1898 at Blue Springs, Missouri. They continued to hold annual reunions for thirty-two years, until 1929. The reunions were held in various locations, including Wallace Grove (the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Wallace) in Independence, Mo.

This 1906 reunion photo was taken in Independence. Among the attendees was John Noland, first from right on the third row. Born a slave in 1844, he served as Quantrill’s hostler during the war and was used by the guerrilla commander as a scout and spy. Noland died in 1908.

Hiram J. George, second from right on the third row, was born in 1834. He fought as both a guerrilla and a regular Confederate soldier, serving at the battles of Independence and Lone Jack, in the raid on Lawrence, and at Baxter Springs. He died in 1911.

William W. “Buck” Fields, sixth from left on the first row, was born in 1844. He served with with the Missouri State Guard and with Quantrill. Fields participated in the siege of Lexington, the battles of Independence, Lone Jack, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, and Westport, and in the raid on Lawrence. He died in 1937.

William H. Gregg, fifth from right on the first row, was born in 1838. He served as a lieutenant in Quantrill’s command, and fought at Independence, Prairie Grove, and Springfield. He also participated in the raid on Lawrence and in the destruction of General James Blunt’s command at Baxter Springs. Later in the war, Gregg left Quantrill and joined the regular Confederate army. He died in 1916.

John Hicks George, fourth from right on the first row, was born in 1838. He fought with Quantrill at Independence, Lone Jack, Prairie Grove, Lawrence and Baxter Springs. Later in the war he joined the regular Confederate forces and was captured by the Federals in 1864. He died in 1926.

NOTES ON THE 16TH PRESIDENT: 

Lincoln’s law partner states that, "Mr. Lincoln coveted honor and was eager for power. He was impatient of any interference that delayed or obstructed his progress."

Like most people in the country at that time North and South, Lincoln also believed in white supremacy saying, “I as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race…I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes.” 

Lincoln distanced himself from abolitionists, though he coveted their votes. 

Lincoln was committed to protectionist tariffs and government subsidies for railroads and other big business. 

Lincoln did not free the slaves; the 13th Amendment did that, 8 months after the war and after his death.  

Lincoln’s preferred solution to the emancipated slave problem was not assimilation into society, but rather deportation or colonization.  December 1, 1862 in a message to congress he stated, “I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor colonization.”

Although he used religious rhetoric in his speeches when it was politically expedient, Lincoln almost certainly was not a Christian.

Lincoln admirer Carl Marx sent him a congratulatory letter after his reelection in 1864; in which he stationed armed guards at polling places to intimidate voters.   

On giving blacks the rights to full citizenship Lincoln stated on September 18 1858, “If the State of Illinois had that power, I should be against the exercise of it.  That is all I have to say about it.”  

Lincoln struggled with severe depression.  

As a lawyer he defended wealthy slave owners and big corporations.  

Lincoln served as an attorney for several railroad companies, including the Illinois Central whose vice president was none other than George B. McClellan, soon to be Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac and later a presidential campaign rival.  

Sherman states in his memoirs that Lincoln laughed at the fate of southern civilians, who lost everything in the war.  

Famed abolitionist Fredrick Douglas gave a scathing indictment of Lincoln’s racial policies in an April 14th 1876 speech, at which President Grant was in attendance.  “He was preeminently the white man’s President, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men.  He was ready and willing at any time during the first years of his administration to deny, postpone, and sacrifice the rights of humanity in the coloured people to promote the welfare of the white people of this country.”

Hardly seems the description of a Great Emancipator. 

If the opposition were to admit that blacks fought for the South, it would destroy their whole premise as to why the war was fought. 

There are numerous accounts of black participation in the battle of First Manassas in the summer of 1861. Black combatants shot, killed, and captured Union troops. Loyal slaves were said to have fought with outstanding bravery alongside their masters. These reports also provide testimony to the fidelity of black Rebels in combat. General Forrest had high praise for the black troops in his Cavalry Command. 

One black soldier was moving about the field when ordered to surrender by a Union officer. The Rebel replied, "No sir, you are my prisoner," while drawing a pistol and shooting the officer dead. He then secured the officer's sidearm and after the battle boasted loudly of having quieted at least one of "the stinkin' Yankees who cam here `specting to whip us Southerners." Another black Confederate who stood behind a tree allowed two Union soldiers to pass before shooting one in the shoulders, clubbing him with a pistol, while demanding the other to surrender. Both prisoners were marched into Confederate lines. 

An Alabama officer's servant marched a Zouave into camp proclaiming, "Massa, here one of dese devils who been shooting at us, Suh."

“There are at the present moment, many colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty not only as cooks, servants, and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government and build up that of the traitors and rebels.” Black abolitionist Frederick Douglas 

Photo: South Carolina monument to faithful slaves...

One of the reasons for Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was that it might start a slave insurrection, like wise the John Brown raid and seizure of the armory at Harpers Ferry. There is little doubt that both men were aware of the "the horrors of San Domingo." 

The Haitian uprising that killed nearly all of the 40000 whites and 25000 mulattos on that island and featured white infants being impaled and carried on spears, men being dismembered while still alive, and their wives being gang raped on top of their husbands' dead bodies.

Is this what Brown and Lincoln envisioned for their respective insurrections? There was widespread fear in the South of another Nat Turner style Rebellion (also known as the Southampton Insurrection), a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia during August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, slaves killed anywhere from 55–65 white people, the highest number of fatalities caused by any slave uprising in the South. 

No insurrection ever occurred during the war, if it had, the war would have been over in months not years. Instead many Southern black took up arms against the invader...

ANOTHR REASON WHY WE HONOR THEM…

“More than one of those of my regiment who, being wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy spoke afterwards of kindnesses shown them by Southern soldiers. Thanks, noble Confederate veterans, for acts of tenderness to those whom the stern fortunes of war cast at your feet. 

Your names may be unknown to the Northern mothers and sisters of those to whom you showed kindness, but their prayers have gone up to God for you all the same. You yourself may have forgotten your gentle deeds, deeming them little things, but God's angels have kept the records of them all.”
Chaplain Norman Fox, Seventy-Seventh N. Y. V.
Morristown, N. J., September 4, 1898.

WOUNDED CONFEDERATE PRISONER

Among the wounded brought to the rear was a boy in gray, Private Thomas J. Roberts, of Company I, Twelfth Georgia. We lifted him from the ambulance, and, having spread a blanket on the grass and laid him on it, I called a surgeon. 

A minie ball had struck him in the groin, and but a slight examination was enough to show that the wound was fatal. He was a mere boy, and I can still see his really beautiful face as he lifted his dark, lustrous eyes to mine. It was little that I could do for him, but I spoke such words of comfort as I could command. He showed fortitude and cheerfulness for one in so sad a situation, and he told me about his friends at home, speaking also of those from his own family circle who had already been killed in the war. 

While we were talking he asked for a drink of water. I brought it, and as I raised him to a sitting posture, so that he could drink, he leaned his head forward upon my shoulder, and without a struggle was dead. We could give him only the rude burial of a soldier, but over his grave was lifted the prayer that the God of all comfort would tenderly support those far away who would wait in vain the return of the boy of their love and hopes.

Often since that night have I thought of that Southern soldier lad who died actually in my arms, as if in a mother's embrace, and I pen this reminiscence that possibly it may make known to some surviving comrade or dear one that in his last hour what little could be done for him was tenderly performed.

Chaplain Norman Fox, Seventy-Seventh N. Y. V. Morristown, N. J., September 4, 1898.
Confederate Veteran, Vol. VI, No. 11 Nashville, Tenn., November, 1898.

WE LOST LOTS OF GOOD YOUNG BOYS IN THE WAR...I don't know if the one pictured survived or not

October 19th 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek

After an audacious night march, Jubal Early’s troops surprised Union troops near Cedar Creek and drove first one, then another, then a third Union Corps from the field.

As Early paused to reorganize and his hungry men feasted on the food and supplies left by the retreating Union forces, it gave the Federals time to regroup. The rest is history and not good for our side…defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

WHY SECEDE OVER SLAVEY?

Jefferson Davis warned Southern planters that secession doomed slavery. It would be impossible to maintain the institution when freedom was attainable just a river away. 

Wade Hampton was the largest slave owner in the country, he foresaw the imminent end of slavery and had argued against secession for years. 

As the US Constitution protected slavery and Lincoln supported the fugitive slave laws, it would seem to make little sense to secede over the issue. Vice President Alexander Stephens said that slavery was “safer in the Union than out of it” and that “slavery was a drop in the ocean compared to other reasons for secession.”

The notion that Southerners seceded because they were not able to expand slavery into the territories also makes little sense since, once the South seceded, it no longer had any right to the territories. The prospect of slavery effectively moving into the territories when Northern extremists began making an issue of it was no existent. 

That said, slavery was an issue not the issue…remember that four states (Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia) had already voted not to secede and reversed themselves only after Lincoln called for troops to subdue their sister states. 

October 18th 1862 Palmyra Massacre…you will see this reported as the execution of Confederate soldiers, it was not…

When a Union informant was abducted by confederate forces in Palmyra Missouri; 10 civilians who had been jailed on suspicion of being confederate sympathizers; were randomly selected and shot, without trial by order of the Union commander. Those shot ranged in age from 19 to 60; a month later, Lincoln promoted the officer who ordered the execution. Mark Twain called it “hideous, horrible and infinitely pathetic.” 

After the massacre, it has been claimed that Strachan spared the life of one of the intended victims (Tom Humphrey of Lewis County) in exchange for $500 paid by Humphrey's wife. Strachan is also said to have violated the chastity of Mrs. Humphrey, whether as part of the bargain or not. (Capt. Griffin Frost, quoted by Joseph A. Mudd, "With Porter in Northeast Missouri"). In 1864 Strachan was tried for the rape of Mrs. Humphrey and other offences, including misuse of funds. Found innocent of rape but guilty of embezzlement, he was sentenced to prison and was released by General William Starke Rosecrans on the grounds of persecution and an unfair trial, even though his accuser was another Union officer.

The execution of these citizens, which was widely discussed in the media, enraged and horrified people on both sides of the conflict. Ultimately, the massacre is remembered as just one of the many brutal events of the war perpetrated by the Federals. 

I take no issue with the term “Rebel” we’re in good company. 

Founding fathers George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Samuel Chase, Edward Rutledge and others were all called Rebels by their oppressive government. 

This group of slave owning Rebels seceded from England in 1776 for the same reasons that the Southern States seceded from the Union in 1860-61. Independence, high taxes (tariffs) and unequal representation in a Congress dominated by the antagonistic industrial North. 

Ironically, the King also offered emancipation to the slaves of the founding fathers in exchange for their fighting against the Rebels. It didn’t work in 1776 and it didn’t work in 1861.

If Washington and the founders are patriots, Davis, Lee and the Confederates cannot be traitors…

I'M GOIN OUT OR BUST HELL WIDE OPEN...

At Fort Donelson the uninspired leadership Southern generals Floyd and Pillow was a recipe for disaster. Soon, after actually winning the first days fighting, there was talk of surrender.

Lt. Colonel Forrest said, "these people are talking about surrendering, and I am goin' out of this place before they do, or bust hell wide open." 

Forrest a Lt. Colonel at the time, in command of the garrison's cavalry and men from Kentucky infantry regiments contested Grant's march on the fort. Invaded from the land and attacked by the river flotilla, the only course seemingly left open was a break out to the north. Forrest coordinated the attack with Col. Roger W. Hanson, nick-named "Old Bench Leg," of the 2nd Kentucky infantry regiment.

By mid-morning Forrest was acting on his own without orders. With support of "Old Bench Leg" and the Kentuckians, he attacked. Fifty Kentuckians fell in crossing the open field without firing a rifle. As the Kentuckians began their fire from close range, Forrest and his cavalry charged and took a Federal six-gun battery, the first of many guns to be taken by his command during the war.

As the cavalry fought hand to hand for the Federal battery, Rice E. Graves brought his Kentucky battery forward in support. This combined force of Forrest's cavalry and Kentucky "Orphans" opened "A Way Out" for the surrounded Rebels.

Governor Lubbock, of Texas says in a personal letter: "I became so indignant and so completely unstrung and exasperated that I called upon the officers to protect him from insult, threatening to kill the parties engaged in such conduct."

As a prisoner Jefferson Davis was conducted to Fortress Monroe and there imprisoned for two years.

Whatever may have been the animosities that Mr. Davis incited as Chief Magistrate of the Confederacy, whatever may have been the criticism of his executive acts, these were all blotted out by the noble, dignified and uncomplaining attitude which he preserved during this cruel test. Adversity showed him as he really was, a wise, considerate, conscientious man, one who could suffer for conscience sake, and who, when he believed a thing to be right, followed it to the bitter end even if it took him through a dark valley and over a toilsome road.

When first incarcerated he was put in irons (an indignity unheard of in the history of the treatment of State prisoners). The details of this early prison life are simply and plainly told by Lieut. Col. John Craven, post surgeon at Fortress Monroe. 

This Federal surgeon speaks of Mr. Davis during this fearful ordeal in terms of the highest respect, and it was through his intervention that the distinguished prisoner was relieved of his shackles and received such creature comforts, as were the means of preserving his life and reason. 

In his book published in 1866, he writes: "Before history takes up the pen to record her final judgment, the world will be willing to conclude that the man who was our most prominent foe was not utterly bad—had, in fact, great redeeming virtues—and that no movement so vast and eliciting such intense devotion on the part of its partisans as the late Southern rebellion could have grown up into such gigantic proportions without containing many elements of truth and good which it may profit future ages to study attentively."

“As for the South, it is enough to say that perhaps eighty per cent of her armies were neither slave-holders, nor had the remotest interest in the institution. 

No other proof, however, is needed than the undeniable fact that at any period of the war from its beginning to near its close the South could have saved slavery by simply laying down its arms and returning to the Union.”

Major General John B. Gordon, from his book, Causes of the Civil War.

REGIMENT CAPTURED BY ONE CONFEDERATE

Ex-Sheriff Charlie Wells tells a remarkable story of what occurred while the Seventh Georgia Regiment was campaigning in the Valley of Virginia. The hero of the wonderful feat is Capt. James L. Bell, a popular conductor who daily takes his train in and out of Atlanta on the West Point road. The story is strictly true, and is known to all the surviving members 'of the Seventh Georgia regiment. It illustrates how whole bodies of well-disciplined men are liable to sudden and uncontrollable panics.

During Gen. Grant's advance on Richmond the Seventh Georgia regiment, after a day of hard and almost incessant fighting, found itself on the confines of a large field, across the center of which ran a straight deep ravine. The exigencies of the battle had, in a measure, separated the regiment from other commands on either flank, and, although the firing was incessant about them, no enemy was visible in their front. They had just repulsed an attack made by the Nineteenth Wisconsin regiment and a portion of a New York regiment. The latter had fallen back through the field and were lost to view. 

Dusk was fast gathering. The men of the Seventh were weary with a long day's fighting and were taking a needed rest. It was with these surroundings that Sergt. Bell thought he would reconnoiter, and, climbing over the works, he moved stealthily across the field and obliqued so as to meet the ravine at its head. Here he beheld a sight which almost paralyzed him. The ravine was full of Federals, and he had run full upon them. To retreat would have been dangerous. It was one man against hundreds, and Sergt. Bell determined in a moment to capture the regiment and take the colors with his own hands. 

Without a moment's pause he dashed boldly forward, firing his musket full into the ranks of the enemy, crying: "Surrender! Throw down your arms!" The Seventh Georgia heard the cries and shot, and dashed across the field, but too late to rob the gallant Bell of the honor achieved by his daring act. Bell had captured them single-handed, and had in his possession the colors of the Nineteenth Wisconsin Regiment. The captured regiment was sent to the rear amid great laughter, and Sergt. Bell became the hero of the hour.
It was the opinion of many that had the regiment appeared across the field it would have been saluted with a volley and an obstinate fight would have ensued; but the sudden apparition of a single wild figure darting out of the gloom, yelling and firing into their midst, so disconcerted them that they yielded to a genuine panic and were prisoners almost before they knew it. When Sergt. Bell dashed at them at the end of the ravine one man arose up and surrendered, then another and another, and in less than two minutes they were all prisoners.

Capt. Bell is a hale, handsome man of about fifty-five, with grizzled hair and mustache. He is as modest as he is brave, and this story comes from the lips of his comrades who were with him and who witnessed the remarkable feat on that October day. 

Application was made for a furlough for Sergt. James L. Bell, Company K, Seventh Georgia Regiment, dated at Fair Oaks, Va., November 30, 1864, in the following language:
"This is to ask leave of absence for thirty days on behalf of Sergt. James L. Bell, Company K, Seventh Georgia Regiment, to visit his home in Atlanta, Ga, because of his having advanced four hundred yards in front of his command, capturing the colors of the Nineteenth Wisconsin regiment, and causing the surrender of many officers and men. For this and other Acts of gallantry I respectfully ask that this application be granted.

"THOMAS WILSON, Lieut. Commanding Co. K.
This application was indorsed as follows: "J. F. Kiser, Major Commanding Seventh Georgia Regiment; G. T. Anderson, Brigadier General; C. W. Fields, Major General Commanding Division; Respectfully approved and forwarded for special gallantry-James B. Longstreet, General Commanding Corps."
"Respectfully approved and returned."

"ROBERT E. LEE"
Confederate Veteran, Vol. VII, No. 1 Nashville, Tenn., January, 1899.

In 1886, Mr. Benj. Williams, of Massachusetts, wrote in the Lowell Sun: "When Mr. Davis was a prisoner, subjected to the grossest indignities, his proud spirit remained unbroken and never since the subjugation of his people has he abated in the least his assertion of the cause for which they struggled.

 The seduction of power or interest may move lesser men; that matters not to him; the cause of the Confederacy as a fixed moral and constitutional principle, unaffected by the triumph of physical force, he asserts today as unequivocally as when he was seated in its executive chair at Richmond. 

Now, when we consider all this—what Mr. Davis has been and, most of all, what he is today, in the moral greatness of his position—can we wonder that his people turn aside from time-servers and self-seekers and from the common-place chaff of life and render to him that spontaneous and grateful homage which is his due? 

The Confederacy fell, but not until she had achieved immortal fame. Few great established nations in all time have ever exhibited capacity and direction in government equal to hers, sustained, as she was, by the iron will and fixed persistence of the extraordinary man who was her chief."

The one who starts the war is not the one who fires the first shot, but the one who causes the first shot to be fired. 

In order to coalesce the forces in the North, Lincoln had to stage an incident to inflame the populace, which he did. The firing on Sumter was by his own admission a setup for just such action. Lincoln was aware that provisioning Sumter could provoke a war.

The Providence Daily Post said “For three weeks the administration newspapers have been assuring us that Ft. Sumter would be abandoned”, but “Mr. Lincoln saw an opportunity to inaugurate civil war without appearing in the character of an aggressor”. 

The Jersey City American Standard wrote concerning Lincoln’s behavior, “there is a madness and ruthlessness which is astounding… this unarmed vessel… is a mere decoy to draw the first fire from the people of the South, which act, by the predetermination of the government, is to be the pretext for letting loose the horrors of war.” 

Many Northern States had laws called "Black Codes" forbidding free blacks from moving into their states. These included Rhode Island, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana,Wisconsin and Oregon.

" No free Negro, or Mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this state, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; an the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws, for the removal, by public officers, of all such Negroes, and Mulattos, and for their effectual exclusion from the state, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state, or employ, or harbor them.”
Oregon Constitution 1833 - Article I Section 35 (The free Negro clause was repealed, November 3, 1926.)

As an Illinois representative Lincoln introduced a bill to have all blacks removed from the state. 

Antebellum New Orleans was the largest most prosperous community of people of color; many were educated, middle class and property owners. 

Antebellum Washington DC was home to the largest slave market on the continent…Per PBS

Photo: A late 18th century New Orleans collage depicting a Free woman of color. Much better dressed than most poor women of any race.

Capt. Daniel Oakley 2nd Mass.  Voluntary Infantry…"It was sad to see the wanton destruction of property...there was no restraint."  He goes on, "No houses escaped robbery, no woman escaped insult, no building escaped the firebrand, except by some strange interposition. War may license an army to subsist on the enemy, but civilized warfare stops at live stock, forage and provisions.. It does not enter the houses of the sick and helpless and rob women of their finger rings and carry of their clothing."

General Joshua Chamberlain condemned the actions of sherman's troops and General Don Carlos Buell resigned because he was helpless to stop the outrages...

London Times. 7 November 1861: "The contest is really for empire on the side of the North and for Independence on that of the South"

Winning by less than 40% of the popular vote, almost 61% of the people voted for someone else. 

Lincoln was never president of the Southern States; He was not even on the ballot in 10 of the 11 states that would eventually secede. When he took office the country was already divided into two separate countries, it was not reunited until after his death. 

Our one and only president was Jefferson Davis. As we are faced with another presidential election, ponder the words of our Commander in Chief, are they not relevant? 

“The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert it’s self, though it may be at another time and in another form.” President Jefferson Davis, Confederate States of America…

Defiant unreconstructed Southern women...(I happen to know this spirit is still alive in some of our beloved Southern women today) THANK GOD!

One of the major problems that confronted by Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler on his occupation of New Orleans in April of 1862, was the abuse his soldiers endured from patriotic Confederate women. Bitterly resentful of the Union occupation, whenever any of Butler's men were present they would contemptuously gather in their skirts, cross streets, flee rooms, cast hateful glances, or make derisive comments. Some sang spirited renditions of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" and other Confederate songs, or spat on soldiers' uniforms, while teaching their children to do the same. One woman emptied a chamber pot on Capt. David C. Farragut from her window shortly after the mayor surrendered the city to him.

The women hoped their actions would force a retaliatory incident serious enough to incite paroled Confederates to revolt against the occupation troops. Butler dealt with the problem on May 15 by issuing General Orders No. 28, carefully worded to be self-enforcing:

"As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation."

The "Woman's Order" provoked criticism throughout the Confederacy and in Europe from people who considered his proclamation an unpardonable affront to womanhood. 

Jefferson Davis on hearing of Butler’s General Order against the women of New Orleans said:

“Butler is branded a felon, an outlaw, an enemy of Mankind, and so ordered that in the event of his capture, the officer in command of the capturing force do cause him to be immediately executed by hanging.”