THE CONFEDERATE STATES MARINES…this is a must read!

Tucker’s Marine Brigade Confederate States Marine Corps 
From Drewry’s Bluff to Appomattox Court House1865 by Ray Davidson 

In 1998, Confederate States Marines Charles Cleaper, James Hicks and Joe Johnson names finally were added to the exhibit on Black Confederates at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. A tribute and belated honor to a story worth telling of grey coated warriors that served to the honor of the Corps. 

Cleaper, Hicks and Johnson enlisted in the Confederate Marine Corps in Charleston, South Carolina and served aboard the Confederate States Ship (CSS) Chicora until March 1865. The Confederate States Marine Corps (CSMC), as well as the Confederate States Navy, authorized recruitment of one black for every five whites recruited. These Marines and sailors served along side there white counterparts in integrated units. Several skilled pilots on Confederate gunboats were “men of color” and held an officers rank. One such pilot was Moses Dallas, who served with the Savannah Squadron from 1862 to 1864. A letter from the Savannah Squadron Commander to the Secretary of the Navy gives us a small glimpse of the value of blacks to the Confederate Navy:

“I have also been compelled to increase the pay of Moses Dallas from $80 to $100 per month in order to retain him. He is a colored pilot and is considered the best inland pilot on the coast.” 

Later Dallas was on the expedition that captured the Federal gunboat USS Water Witch on the rainy night of June 3-4, 1864. He was among six Confederates killed in action during the firefight that erupted as they boarded the ship. Another black Confederate Naval Officer, Ben Newell, piloted the captured gunboat back to harbor. 

In early spring 1865 the Union Army was making a concerted effort to capture Richmond, the Southern capitol and defeat Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. All Confederate States Marines along the east coast were ordered to Drewry’s Bluff for defense of Richmond. 

The only obstacle that protected Richmond from a river approach was Fort Darling on Drewry's Bluff, overlooking a sharp bend on the James River their eight cannons in the fort, including field artillery pieces and five naval guns, some salvaged from the Virginia, commanded the river for miles in both directions. Guns from the CSS Patrick Henry, including an 8-inch smoothbore, were just upriver and sharpshooters gathered on the riverbanks. An underwater obstruction of sunken steamers, pilings, debris, and other vessels connected by chains was placed just below the bluff, making it difficult for vessels to maneuver in the narrow river. 

Blunting previous Union nautical assaults Drewry’s Bluff remained an integral part of Richmond's defense until the fall of Petersburg and Richmond in 1865. The garrison at Drewry's Bluff took part in the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg. Once Fort Darling had been abandoned by the retreating Confederates, the Union forces quickly cleared a path through the obstructions in the James River beneath Drewry's Bluff. On April 4 President Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad passed the fort on the way up the James River to visit Richmond. 

BATTLE OF SAYLER’S CREEK 
At Drewry’s Bluff, Cleaper, Hicks and Johnson and the men of the Charleston Squadron joined with remnants of the Wilmington (NC) Squadron and Virginia based personnel to form "Tucker’s Marine Brigade" that was named after its commander, Commodore John R. Tucker. 


The Battle of Sayler's Creek was fought April 6, 1865, southwest of Petersburg. Tucker’s Marine Brigade had joined up with two Confederate divisions led by Maj. Generals Curtis Lee and Joseph B. Kershaw. These two divisions made up nearly one fourth of the retreating Confederate army. At Sayler’s creek they were cut off by Sheridan's cavalry and elements of the Union II and VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac. 

Tucker’s Marine Brigade was the only Confederate unit that didn’t break under the first Federal charge. After repulsing the charge, the Brigade – numbering 300 to 400 men, was surrounded by six Union divisions. Tucker would not surrender and counterattacked, smashing the 37th Massachusetts Infantry into fragments and tearing into the 2nd Rhode Island in hand to hand combat. 

Withdrawing to a wooded area, these Confederate Marines repulsed multiple Federal attacks. Tucker’s Brigade was resilient and did so much damage that the Federal generals estimated the "Marine Brigade" to number some 2,000 men. Tucker was ultimately talked into surrendering towards the end of the day. 

Note: The Slayer’s Creek battlefield was designated a national Historic Landmark in 1985. 

APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE AND THE LEGACY 

The remnants of Tucker’s Brigade; four Confederate States Marine Corps officers and 21 enlisted Marines withdrew to Appomattox and surrendered with General Lee on April 9, 1865. The ranking Confederate Marine Officer was 1stLt Richard Henderson (former USMC Commandant Gen. Archibald Henderson’s son). Standing proudly with Henderson were Charles Cleaper, James Hicks and Joe Johnson, “free men of color” who served with distinction as Confederate States Marines. 

JUST PAY YOUR TAXES, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE…

Secession does not necessitate war; nor was war necessary to end slavery. The rest of the world (including all of the Northern states) ended slavery peacefully in the nineteenth century.

No respectable historian would argue that Lincoln invaded the South to free the slaves. Even his Emancipation Proclamation was only a "war measure" that would have become defunct if the war ended the next day – and it was written so as to avoid freeing any slaves since it only applied to "rebel territory." Both Lincoln and Congress announced publicly that their purpose was not to disturb slavery but to "save the union," a union that they actually destroyed philosophically by destroying its voluntary nature, as established by the founders. All states, North and South, became wards or appendages of the central government in the post-1865 era.

What Lincoln did state is. . . if Southern secession made it impossible for Washington, D.C. to "collect the duties and imposts" (i.e., tariffs on imports, which had just been more than doubled two days earlier), then there will be an invasion. He followed through with this threat, and that is why there was a war that ended up killing 750,000 Americans, in addition to some 50,000 Southern civilians, while maiming for life more than a million; Say very clearly about war in his first inaugural address was that it was his duty "to collect the duties and imposts," but "beyond that there will no be any invasion of any state.

Portions taken from The Official, Politically-Correct Cause of the 'Civil War'by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

No such thing as “The Lost Cause”

A cause that has at it's heart the defense of home and family, freedom from government tyranny and the right to choose methods of work and worship, was not and cannot be a "lost cause".

The South need not rise again, for in spirit it has never fallen. May all our causes be so noble, and our defense of them be as courageous as our ancestors, for in this alone lies the preservation of our liberty.

If in the future we lose our liberties as a result of government tyranny it will be because we failed to defend them and did not demonstrate the grit and determination of our forefathers…

"Look at the South until you are filled with the love of her, and when you are filled with her greatness, reflect that it was acquired by men of daring who knew their duty and feared dishonor in the hour of action." Moreover, "All alike gave their lives and received praise which grows not old.

I speak not so much of that in which their remains are laid as of that in which their glory survives to be remembered forever, on every fitting occasion in word and deed. There are monuments and graves for famous men, but the memorials we speak of today are not so much engraved in stone as in the hearts of men." Dana Sheppard

The memory of these men and their courage is certainly engraved on my heart. 

HERE IS THE POST THAT RESULTED IN THE 3 DAY SUSPENSION FROM FB...

Spreading the wealth 1860s style…

The failure of the South to win the War for Southern Independence was a deathblow to liberty and the reason this country is in the shape it is today.

See if you can spot the connections…(and please don’t insult us with the fallacious slavery argument)

Lincoln believed that import tariffs were necessary, at the expense of consumers. He believed that American industries needed to be shielded from foreign competition and cheap imported goods. The "internal improvements" he advocated were simply subsidies for industry, i.e., corporate welfare. He was the first president to give us centralized banking, with paper money not backed by gold.

The Constitution of the Confederate States of America forbid protectionist tariffs, outlawed government subsidies to private businesses, and made congressional appropriations subject to approval by a two-thirds majority vote. It enjoined Congress from initiating constitutional amendments, leaving that power to the constituent states; and limited its president to a single six-year term. 

When the South lost, instead of a Jeffersonian republic of free trade and limited constitutional government, the stage was set for the United States to become an American Empire ruled by a central authority. In starting his war against the Confederate States, Lincoln was not seeking the "preservation of the Union" in its traditional sense. He sought the preservation of the Northern economy by means of transforming the federal government into a centralized welfare-warfare-police state.

Partially taken from a Lew Rockwell article by Donald W. Miller, Jr.

Switchin sides mid-stream…

Captain Hilbert A. Cunningham of the 15th Tennessee C.S.A. was an in-law of Colonel John A. Logan (Black Jack) who was then commanding the 31st Illinois Infantry. John Logan's wife Mary Cunningham Logan was the sister of Capt. H. A. Cunningham. In addition, prior to June of 1861, many believe that John Logan had entertained the idea of leading a unit in the Confederate forces.

The story of Cunningham and Logan doesn't end there. In May 1863, Capt. Cunningham took a furlough and within a few months was AWOL and then officially listed as a deserter. In the fall of 1863, he was granted a commission in the Union Army and served at the rank of Capt. as an aide to John Logan, who by then was a Major General.

Photo: Black Jack Logan

A resolution was passed in April, 1861, seeking to secede Williamson County Illinois from the Union with the intent of taking the rest of Southern Illinois with it. It was repealed shortly afterward at gunpoint, due to the arrival of Federal troops. However, Williamson and Jackson Counties did send volunteers to make up Company “G” for the 15th Tennessee (Originally called the Illinois Company) and met their fellow Williamson County residents on the battlefield in Belmont Missouri in 1861. 

Former Illinois governor John Reynolds declared that "the revolution in the South is the greatest demonstration of human greatness and grandeur that was ever performed on the globe." A significant number of Illinoisians also believed that the federal government lacked the authority to prevent secession. Even the Ottawa abolitionist G.W. Bassett asserted the "absolute and unqualified right of the people of any State of this Union to dissolve their political connections with the General Government whenever they choose." 

Southern Illinois became a hotbed of secessionist sentiment. The Cairo Gazette declared, "The sympathies of our people are mainly with the South." A public, outdoor meeting in Pope County echoed the South's right to secede, and a rally in Williamson County sought to split Egypt from Illinois and join the Confederacy.


Photo: Lt. Joseph Specht, 15th Tennessee Infantry