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PoP's Southern Thangs: October 2011

10/31/2011

A Prussian perspective on The War Between the States

Southern Nationalist Network
VERBATIM POST
========
By Michael

German-Confederate connections

Sebastian from Bavaria, Germany writes a book review for SNN readers about a Prussian officer who served in the Confederate Army:

Sometimes attics harbor treasures. German Brigadier General Horst Scheibert made this experience while rummaging in the attic of his family’s home. What he found, surprised him – the diary of his grandfather Justus Scheibert, one of the first war correspondents of the world, writing about his experience in the War between the States.

Justus Scheibert (1831 – 1903) was what today would be called an “embedded war correspondent”. On his mission in the name of the King of Prussia, he ate, laughed, mourned and fought for seven months with the Confederate Army of Robert E. Lee and the Cavalry of Jeb Stuart. Scheibert participated in the battles of Chancellorsville, Brandy Station and Gettysburg. He made friends with Major Heros von Borcke, perhaps the most well-known German serving on the Confederate side. Being a fortress engineer in the Prussian Army, Scheibert helped with the fortification of the beleaguered city of Charleston, SC.

It is thanks to the effort of his grandson that Scheibert’s hand-written draft of the internal army report made it into a book and was published in Germany in 1991. While Scheibert managed to publish two books on the issue after his return home back in the day, it is only the internal report published by his grandson that contains all chapters and details.

What sets this book apart from many other eyewitness reports of The War Between the States is that it was written by both a foreigner and a professional. Coming from the Prussian Army, then considered to be one of the best of the world, Scheibert clearly analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederate Army and combines personal impressions with expertise. Also enclosed are a couple of photos and some of the hand-drawn maps of battles, like sketch of the situation of the beleaguered Charleston, SC.

His writing are not only worthy in terms of military analysis, but also as an independent description of the living conditions during the war. More so, his writings clearly reject the idea that the war was fought for the right of a few plantation owners to hold slaves or even white supremacist ideas, as it is portrayed today. Observing how “free” black folks suffered as a Pariah class on the British Bermudas, Scheibert expresses his view that an integration of black Americans as equal civilized citizens will simply take the of another generation. In his introduction, Scheibert also explains the different economic environments in the North and the South as well as the differences in immigration and society, which would eventually lead to a separation. Scheibert can’t help but to feel sympathetic to the desperate struggle of Southern people against Northern aggression.

“Im Feldlager der Konföderierten” makes an excellent gift for your German friends or for people with profound knowledge of German language and an interest in a foreigners perspective on The War Between The States.

Sources:

Im Feldlager der Konföderierten, Verlag für Amerikanistik, ISBN 3-924696-66-7

The attempted English translations on Google Books HERE.
From Free North Carolina

10/30/2011

Bounties for Mercenary “Volunteers”

By mid-1862 General Henry Halleck informed Lincoln that volunteering had all but ceased, and other means of filling the ranks had to be found. Lincoln cared little where States found the recruits to fill their troop quota; many scoured overrun plantations in the South to enlist bewildered black slaves into segregated units in order to keep white Northerners at home. It was often reported that most of the bounty money due the new black recruit remained in the State agent’s pocket.

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
=========

“Complaints having come across the ocean that Northern recruiting agents were in Europe plying their trade, the Senate of the United States passed a resolution on the 24th of June 1864, requesting President Lincoln to inform that body “if any authority has been given any one, either in this country or elsewhere, to obtain recruits in Ireland or Canada,” etc.

On July 13, 1864, Gov. [John] Andrew, of Massachusetts, informed Secretary Stanton that citizens of Massachusetts were recruiting a large number of aliens. On July 14, 1864, the US Congress passed an act authorizing the Governor of each State in the Union to send recruiting agents into any Confederate States, except Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana; and declaring any volunteers these agents might enlist should be “credited to the State, and to the respective subdivisions thereof which might procure the enlistment.”

Thereupon agents were sent from all the New England States, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois…into all the accessible parts of the Confederacy. New Hampshire’s agents, for an example, to receive $20 for each one-year man enlisted, $25 for each two-years’ enlistment, and $40 for each three years’ man; and these recruits to receive, respectively, $100, $200, and $300, a proviso being added to her law that the Governor might, if he found it advisable, pay a bounty of $500 for each three-years’ man enlisted in “the insurgent States.”

But, the “commercial spirit” not having yet taken possession of the South, Secretary Stanton said this in a report to President Lincoln, March 1, 1865: “The results of the recruitments under the act of July 4, 1864, for recruiting in the rebel States, were reported as unfavorable.”

On August 28, 1864, Prov. Mar. Gen. Fry telegraphed to his assistant in Boston: “Hon. J.D. Baldwin writes me from Worcester that towns in his district enlist their own citizens, provide bounties for them, and send them to camp or rendezvous to be mustered in and credited. That after reaching rendezvous they are beset by recruiting agents for other places, especially Boston. These agents, offering higher local bounties, succeed in getting the men credited to other towns, etc.”

“[A] Colonel of one of the negro regiments at Natchez “stated that in consequence of the presence of recruiting agents from Northern States offering large bounties for recruits his men were deserting, procuring citizens’ clothing, and secreting themselves until an opportunity offered of escaping from the place for purpose of enlisting. The same state of things,” he continued, “exists in the other colored regiments….”

On January 19, 1865, the Actg. Asst. Prov. Mar.-Gen., Concord, N.H., wrote to Prov. Mar. Gen. Fry, Washington, saying among other things: “I would respectfully call your attention to the fact that burglars, house-burners, and thieves, felons of all classes and kinds, are daily taken from jails and prisons with the consent of the judges, both high and low, and enlisted under false names and false pretenses in the service of the U.S.”

(The South’s Burden, the Curse of Sectionalism, Benjamin Franklin Grady, Nash Brothers, 1906, pp. 116-118)
From Free North Carolina

Dedicated to Our Warrior Flaggers


Made from steel of Southron blood. As our ancestors stood against overwhelming odds, they too stand, defending our heroes, flags and heritage.

May God bless and protect y'all!

PoP
The Southern American, I salute y'all!

10/29/2011

Update: The President is Black, Hide the Confederate Flag = My Two Cent Check Is Returned

26 Dec 2008
My Two Cent Check Is Returned
=======
My Cousin John finally got his check returned after almost three years!

UNC Wilmington
University Advancement
October
27,2011
John L. Pippin, Jr.
--- --- ----- ---- ---
Fremont, NC 27830

Mr. Pippin

We received your check for the "Confederate Flag Incident." We do not have any area on campus which supports this type of gift so we are returning the check to you.

Thank you,
4 h
Karen Brown
Assistant Director, Advancement Gifts
From Free North Carolina

“North Carolinians Among the Immortal 600”

“Captain Walter MacRae of the 7th North Carolina Regiment wrote:

“On the 7th of September we disembarked at Morris Island and when we finally came out into the light of day and had a look at one another we were astonished to note the ravages made by the terrible heat and the nauseous confinement. One could scarcely recognize his best friends. There were six of us from Wilmington…all badly damaged.”

The rumors of the [600 Confederate] officers being put in the line of fire had become fact as they saw the stockade pen and had never thought that a civilized nation would use prisoners as human shields. They would be held there for forty-five days with artillery fire from their own batteries screaming over their heads and threatening immediate death. Additionally, a battery of Billinghurst-Requa machine guns were trained on the camp in case the prisoners became unruly.

On the evening of September 9th an artillery duel between Morris Island and Fort Moultrie occurred, and most of the firing would be at night. The gunners at Moultrie fired well but occasionally a shell would burst overhead and scatter fragments in the camp. The greatest danger to the prisoners came from the Northern batteries behind them as shells fired could burst prematurely – and throw huge shrapnel into the camp. After one of these incidents a horse was killed by fragments and a man’s leg sliced off. One night “the whole heavens were illuminated and the mortar shells were darting through the heavens in all directions as though the sky was full of meteors.

On September 10, General Jones in Charleston wrote the Northern commander that he had received word that numerous Confederate officers were under fire from Sumter “because I believe you are retaliating on those officers for a supposed disregard of the usages of civilized warfare in the treatment extended to U.S. officers, prisoners of war, now in this city. Those officers are comfortably housed and receive the treatment due prisoners of war.” He urged his opponent to bring his actions within the confines of accepted rules of war.

Though the Northern officers in Charleston had little complaint of their prison fare of fresh meat, rice, bread, meal and beans, the rations accorded the Confederate officers would barely sustain life. Captain MacRae recorded that “Some of the prisoners for the sake of the record complained to the [Northern] colonel. He replied that it was all right; there was meat enough in the meal, bugs and worms, and that if he had his own way he would be only too glad to feed us on greasy rags.”

A Virginia captain wrote about “the amount of dead animal matter in the shape of white worms, which was the mush given us.” Another said they received “one-half pint bean soup, two crackers, wormy and full of bugs. Rations for supper, two ounces of bacon, two crackers, wormy as usual.” The daily ration would change about three weeks later, altered to one-quarter of the previous amount – resulting in severe weakness and intestinal disorders in the prisoners. Water ration was cut as well, and the men began to catch rain or dig for water.

Another Virginia officer said “they are starving us by degrees.”


From Free North Carolina

An Open Letter / Open Report

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: HK Edgerton
Date: Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 9:28 AM
Subject: An Open Letter / Open Report
To: Brandon


Dear Commander Dorsey,
After reviewing the schedule of events planned in Lexington, Virginia on January 13 - 14 , 2012, and seeing no scheduled of appearance of myself or Terry Lee, compiled with the budget restraints we face; I wil not be in Lexington. God bless you and all your efforts to right an injustice there. I shall post my Colors at the site of the Confederate soldiers monument in Reidsville, N.C. on January 13, 2012.
Your brother,
HK

An Open Report
As a part of the Sesquicentennial observations of the War Between the States, and my continued efforts to uplift the spirits of the Southern people, on this the week of October 24- 29, 2012, I would march and post the Colors of the Southern soldier on North Roan Street at the location of Dixie Barbecue in Johnson City, Tennessee, on Highway #9 at the Continental Divide just outside Black Mountain, N.C., on Highway #25 in Travelers Rest ,S.C.,at the doors of Dixie Out Post, and at the corner of Main in Sylvia, N.C, where I would be joined for several hours by the Honorable Commander Mike Parrish of Jackson Rangers Camp 1917 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for several hours posing for pictures, and interacting with the populous.

Please do not forget Korean War Veteran Sgt. Perry Thrasher, and the honorable and courageous Stand that he makes in the spinal cord unit at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, an institution that joins the likes of the Boy Scouts of America, and the American Legion Post #2 of Knoxville, Tennessee, in condemnation and content discrimination of the Southern Cross.

On Thursday morning, October 27, 2011, I would conduct an interview with radio talk show host, Tom Roten of News Talk 800 WVHU , and News Talk 1600 WZZW in Huntington, West Virginia , about my upcoming visit to Guyandotte, West Virginia and the keynote speech that I shall deliver at Guyandotte Baptist Church on Thursday night November 2, 2011, in lieu of the fact that members of the West Virginia Legislator tried to blackmail by with holding funds for the event if they allowed me to come and speak. God bless the Commission who said HK shall come and he shall speak, and speak I shall.

10/27/2011

Bobby Horton On Shiloh & Dixie

10/26/2011

Confederate flag and causes of secession collide with 2012 election


Nolan Chart
VERBATIM POST
==========
by Mark Vogl
If the issue of the approval for the Sons of Confederate Veterans Specialty plates revolved only around the honorable service of the men who served the Confederacy defending Texas from Union attack, the debate would be brief, the plates already approved.

In the modern world, the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia is the single most recognized symbol of a region of the United States (the South) in the whole world. The crimson field framing the St. Andrews Cross has flown over Berlin when the Iron Curtain dividing Germany fell. And it flew in Afghanistan when the Soviet Union was driven from its occupation of that nation.

The Confederate battle flag is an international symbol of defiance, individual liberty and regional unity. While some white supremacist groups have attempted to abscond with the colors, the history and lineage of the colors place it on a platform of honor and sacrifice which cannot pervert its original meaning.

Though American revisionist historians in the late twentieth century attempted to corrupt the reputations of the men who fought under the crimson flag, Generals Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Patrick Cleburne and many other southern patriots remain a noble corps of Christian Americans seeking an alternative government for Dixie. And it is this spirit and pride which drives the 2,400 members of the Texas Division to seek approval for the specialty license plate.

But alas, those who oppose approval of the plates have attacked the meaning of the Confederate battle flag on grounds not directly associated with its’ original purpose. Therefore, in order to defend the values of the men who fought under the Confederate battle flag, the following article has been penned here on Rebel Mountain in East Texas.

God Himself, may be the organizing dynamics behind the controversy in Texas. This article attempts to connect the history of secession and an alternative American Constitution, with the present day troubles and frustrations of our nation. The issues the United States face today, and the normally ignored causes of secession in 1860, combined with the creation of the Confederate States of America, (C.S.A.) provide a startling illustration of the relevance of the Southern nation to today’s troubles. The C.S.A. offered an alternative America, one which has much relevance today, and could provide a route to a new American future.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, (S.C.V.) the Texas Division, the Confederate States of America and the South are all benefitting from the media interest associated in the division application for Texas specialty license plates. Governor Rick Perry's decision to enter and compete in the Republican primary contest for the nomination for President of the United States, has brought the American Civil War Sesquicentennial and our division's efforts to secure a license plate to the fore of the current national campaign. We see repeatedly that news agencies within Texas, and across the nation are contacting local and brigade S.C.V. representatives, and to some extent we are participating in interviews about the issue.

As of now, I have seen none of the interviews, and since I have not seen a standardized Fact Sheet produced and distributed across the division, or at the national level, I can only assume that the interviews are in no way coordinated or developed to send the same messages. Instead, local men, with varying degrees of historical and political knowledge are doing the best they can to respond.

During this ongoing series of events we see that our political opponents are able to hold Press Conferences, attract media attention, and organize their anti-Southern messages for the general public.

And of course, the Perry Campaign is doing what it feels necessary to react. Again, since I have seen no national reporting of the event, nor have I seen Governor Perry make any comments, I can only presume that the Perry campaign is doing the best it can to avoid the issue. Governor Perry and his operatives are running for President and do not feel a need to open up a can of worms by re-teaching American history and governance. Therefore, we cannot anticipate their reaction on this issue to be supportive of recreating an American foundation.

Further, Governor Perry’s avoidance of a detailed discussion of the causes of secession indicates just how non-conservative Governor Rick Perry is. You see, an open discussion of the application for the license plates provides a very unique, very American approach to the current campaign issues which face our nation, everything from open borders with Mexico, to industry bailouts, national health care, and the role of states. The topic of the license plate does provide an opportunity for a discussion of the modern role of the Tenth Amendment, but that is not something any of the Republican candidates have embraced as a center piece of their campaign.

Our opponents are attacking the Sons of Confederate Veterans application for specialty plates for one and only one reason, racism. They connect the Confederate battle flag to the slavery of 1861 - 1865 and to the racism of the mid-20th century. They tie the Confederate battle flag to the KKK and other white supremacist groups and by doing so attempt to strip away support from conservative America. This is their stratagem and it is neither unanticipated, nor ineffective. Many minorities, who have no real economic or social plans which they can openly explain and discuss, use racism as their lone card to play.

For our opponents this is a “bread and butter” no work issue. For decades they have used standardized assaults on the South to build and maintain name recognition for themselves, and unify their cohorts with mindless proclamations which occupy air time.

But for us, the 50 - 80 million Americans whose ancestors fought for the South, for those people who proudly belong to the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, and want to see the state of Texas issue our specialty license plates we have an arsenal of important political, historical, and social lines of argument which should be presented to the American people.

For years, decades, we have argued that the South left the Union for a number of reasons. However, we have done a relatively poor job of painting the full picture, of illustrating exactly what the differences were between North and South. Today, now, in this time, when the United States of America is seeing its national identity destroyed by both the Democratic and Republican parties, and global special interests, this argument concerning the Texas license plates is brought before the people of America by God. He, the Almighty God, has brought forward the history of one hundred and fifty years, and the causes of secession, and the alternative American democracy of the Confederate States of America so that Americans at the beginning of the twenty-first century can see that America could avoid much of what is occurring today. The problems we face are not inherent in our nation. No, instead, because of the Civil War, and the decisions made by Congress and the Supreme Court after 1865, we have chosen the malaise and complications we face today.

As the Lt. Commander of the Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, (responsible for Heritage Defense) I have given much thought to the points of argument I will now present for consideration by the members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, by Texans, and by today's Americans. I offer these thoughts not as a line of argument to secure passage of the Texas license plates, but as a broader line of logic for the future of America herself.

For generations the issue of "slavery” has been an intellectual black hole which has acted as an impenetrable cloud covering secession and an alternative American democracy. Slavery was used to distract students from considering an alternative American government. There have been no serious discussions of an alternative United States because all of the Confederate modifications to the U.S. Constitution have been overshadowed by one issue, slavery. Slavery has been used to prevent students and Americans from considering all of the alternatives included in the Confederate Constitution. The evil of slavery has stood alone as the soul difference between the shattered Union and the rebel South.

But, the differences which were incorporated into the new Confederate Constitution were anticipatory of many of the largest problems we face today. The changes to the Confederate Constitution reflected a region and people who knew the formation of the United States some seventy years earlier, and who wanted to preserve those foundations. Had we done so, America’s future today would be much different.

So to begin this discussion of an alternative American democracy, and the Southern nation, let's quickly, completely, and without reservation condemn the institution of slavery for what it was; an American sin against man which should have never been brought to these shores by the Europeans and Americans from the northeast who operated the ships and markets which transported and sold slaves within the United States.

Slavery was NOT a uniquely Southern thing in the 16th century. The slaves brought to the western world were brought by the Euro powers and deposited all along the coasts of North and South America, and the islands of the Caribbean. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, France, ( which continue to try to rule the world to this day ) facilitated the slave trade. It was the “globalism” of their time, an economic system intended to reap the benefits of the new world. Yes, the South did participate, and yes, the sin is as much that of the people of the South as the people of the North, or the people of South America. But slavery was not a uniquely a Southern thing. Like abortion today, where fifty million American souls have perished, slavery was an American thing.

Unlike the Northerners, Southerners hoped to build an agricultural, rural nation. Slavery was seen as the foundational means to help build this reality. Northerners who early realized slavery could not work above the Mason Dixon Line, did not free their slaves, or return them to Africa. Instead, they sold them south for profit. Slavery would eventually end in the north, after the Revolutionary War, but it was not due to northern Christianity and mercy, but as a result of economic necessity.

So let us here accept that slavery was a national sin, one equally caused by north and South, condemn it, and move to a discussion of the political and legal alternatives offered by the Confederate States of America in their Constitution.

With slavery condemned, let us now look at the alternative America of the Confederate Constitution. It is important to recall that the founders of the American Constitution saw the central government as a necessary evil. A central element behind the creation of the Constitution was this fear of an uncontrolled central government.

When considering where power came from, the Southern perspective first finds political sovereignty in God. From God, sovereignty passes to each individual. The individual surrenders a degree of sovereignty to the state. And then finally, the states shed a small piece of their power to the central government. To further insure that the federal government could NOT exercise power in certain areas, the Bill of Rights was offered simultaneous to the Constitution for approval by the states.

For a more in-depth knowledge of the early United States, the fear of a powerful central government and the roots of Southern political thinking I recommend to you “The South Was Right!” by James and Walter Kennedy.

The Confederate Constitution would incorporate a series of changes which when taken together created a new government with different character. The major changes within the Constitution include:

1. The inclusion of God in the Preamble where the Southern nation called for the protection and guidance of Almighty God. This open inclusion of a Christian God in the Preamble could very likely influence the moral aspects of national law throughout the centuries and avoid what is presently known as the doctrine of “separation of Church and state.”

2. The hope that a “less than perfect union” could survive by not challenging the power of the states.

3. That secession was an inherent right of the state, and therefore the ultimate check on central power.

4. That citizenship came only through birth within the Confederacy.

5. That the single six year term President was given sufficient power to operate the government and most importantly control spending.

6. That Congress was prohibited from using earmarks to pass legislation.

7. That 2/3’s of Congress must approve spending above that proposed by the President.

8. That the central government was prohibited from providing bail outs for industry, and was prohibited from acting on behalf of individual businesses,

9. The Confederacy was much more attuned to the global economy and sought trade as the source of many consumer goods.

A full discussion of these and other changes within the Constitution by learned professors at schools of higher learning could provide modern day America a whole new direction for national development.

What the Southern point of view offered was liberty, state integrity, local control, a fully integrated Christian faith into citizenship, and most importantly the preservation of values of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the other southern founders of our nation.

In the coming years the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be faced with a choice. As a not-for-profit organization we are responsible for the Charge given to us by Lt. General Stephan D. Lee. In that Charge we are asked to vindicate the Cause. In the past, vindication has meant ceremonies at cemeteries, marching in parades, participating in living histories and other relatively benign historical events. It is my view that to live to the Charge members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans must become politically active in reclaiming the ground which was originally America.

There is much to do, but men of Southern heritage are men who can do much working with God as their partner. So let’s get these plates approved and take one more step down the road of the Sesquicentennial.

From Free North Carolina

Lincoln and Roosevelt: American Caesars

It is interesting to compare Lincoln and his treachery in causing the Southern "enemy" to fire the first shot at Fort Sumter, resulting in the Civil War, with Roosevelt's similar manipulation causing the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War II.

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., a well-known American "court historian," has written the definitive defenses for both Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding their reprehensible behavior in causing their respective unnecessary American wars. He clearly documents the unconstitutional behavior of both and offers great praise for the same. He attempts to justify the actions of both presidents on grounds that they were acting during a "crisis" pertaining to the "survival of the American government," and that their unconstitutional actions were thereby made "necessary." Schlesinger has stated that "Next to the Civil War, World War II was the greatest crisis in American history."[1] His defense of these two "great" presidents is as follows:

Roosevelt in 1941, like Lincoln in 1861, did what he did under what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity. Both presidents took their actions in light of day and to the accompaniment of uninhibited political debate. They did what they thought they had to do to save the republic. They threw themselves in the end on the justice of the country and the rectitude of their motives. Whatever Lincoln and Roosevelt felt compelled to do under the pressure of crisis did not corrupt their essential commitment to constitutional ways and democratic processes.[2]

Schlesinger, however, recognizes the terrible precedents that were created by these presidents' violations of the clear constitutional restrictions on their office:

Yet the danger persists that power asserted during authentic emergencies may create precedents for transcendent executive power during emergencies that exist only in the hallucinations of the Oval Office and that remain invisible to most of the nation. The perennial question is: How to distinguish real crises threatening the life of the republic from bad dreams conjured up by paranoid presidents spurred on by paranoid advisers? Necessity as Milton said, is always "the tyrant's plea."[3]

Let us add to John Milton's statement a more specific warning by William Pitt in his speech to the House of Commons on November 18, 1783: "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants."[4]

Finally, it is instructive to compare the circumstances for Lincoln at Fort Sumter with those for Roosevelt at Pearl Harbor. In neither case was there an actual "surprise" attack by the enemy. In fact, there was an extended period of time, many months prior to the "first shot," in which both Lincoln and Roosevelt had ample opportunity to attempt to negotiate with the alleged "enemy," who was desperately trying to reach a peaceful settlement.

In both cases, the presidents refused to negotiate in good faith. Lincoln sent completely false and conflicting statements to the Confederates and to Congress — even refused to talk with the Confederate commissioners. Roosevelt also refused to talk with Japanese Prime Minister Konoye, a refusal that brought down the moderate, peace-seeking Konoye government and caused the rise of the militant Tojo regime. Both Lincoln and Roosevelt repeatedly lied to the American people and to Congress about what they were doing while they were secretly provoking the "enemy" to fire the first shot in their respective wars. Both intentionally subjected their respective armed forces to being bait to get the enemy to fire the first shot.


Behind The Dixie Stars

Via The Battle of Atlanta


7 minute Documentary featuring Nelson W. Winbush, a black son of Confederate black soldier Luis Napoleon Nelson who fought under Nathan Bedford Forest, founder of the KKK. A series of interviews, documentation, stock footage, and reenactments all collaberate to help defend the Confederacy and it's soldiers against it's notorious reputation in regards to black slavery and what the Confederate flag actually stood for.
From Free North Carolina

10/25/2011

Old Dominion Relegated to “District Number One”

Virginia was the first to emblazon on her standard the emblem of her principle, “Virginia for Constitutional Liberty.” Virginian Patrick Henry first struck the note for independence; a Virginian penned the Declaration of Independence; and of course a Virginian led the victorious patriot army. Eighty-some years later revolutionists invaded Virginia’s soil and renamed her “District Number One.”

Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
www.cfhi.net
========
“Something more than twenty years ago there fell upon the South a blow for which there is not parallel among the casualties which may happen to an individual, and which has rarely in history befallen nations.

Upon the euphemism of reconstruction an attempt was made after the war to destroy the South. She was dismembered, disenfranchised, denationalized. The States which composed her were turned by her conquerors into military districts, and their governments were subverted into military tribunals. Virginia, that had given Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Nelson, the Lees, Madison, Marshall, and a host of others who had made the nation, become “District No. 1.”

The South was believed to be no more. It was intended that she be no more. But God in his providence had his great purpose for her and called her forth. With the old spirit strong within her she renewed her youth like the eagles, fixed her gaze upon the sun, and once more spreading her strong pinions, lifted herself for another flight. [This “New South”] is, in fact, the Old South with its energies directed into new lines.

The [Old South] civilization flourished for two hundred and fifty years, and until its vitality, after four years of invasion and war, expired in the convulsive throes of reconstruction. Its tendency was towards exclusiveness and conservatism. It tolerated no invasion of its rights. It admitted the jurisdiction of no tribunal than itself. The result was not unnatural. The world, barred out, took revenge, and the Old South stands today charged with sterility, with attempting to perpetuate slavery, and with rebellion. If, when judged by the narrow standard of mere, common materialism, the Southern civilization fell short…[yet] the sudden supremacy of the American people to-day is largely due to the old South, and to its contemned civilization.

The Northern colonies of Great Britain in America were the asylums of religious zealots and revolutionists who at their first coming were bent less on the enlargement of their fortunes than on the freedom to exercise their religious convictions, however much the sudden transition from dependence and restriction to freedom and license may in a brief time have tempered their views of liberty and changed them into proscriptors of the most tyrannical type.

The Southern colonies, on the other hand, were from the first the product of a desire for adventure, for conquest, and for wealth. The Northern settlements were, it is true, founded under the law; but it was well understood that they contained an element which was not friendly to the government and that the latter was well satisfied to have the seas stretch between them.

The Southern, on the other hand, came with the consent of the crown, the blessing of the Church, and under the auspices and favor of men of high standing in the kingdom. They came with all the ceremonial of an elaborate civil government – with an executive, a council deputed by authorities at home, and formal and minute instructions and regulations.

The Church, which viewed the independence of the Northern refugees as a schism, if not heresy, gave to this enterprise its benison in the belief that “the adventurers of the plantations of Virginia were the most noble and worthy advancers of the standard of Christ among the Gentiles.”

Under such auspices the Southern colonies necessarily were rooted in the faith of the England from which they came – political, religious, and civil. Thus from the very beginning the spirit of the two sections was absolutely different, and their surrounding conditions were for a long time such as to keep them diverse.”

(The Old South, Essays Social and Political, Thomas Nelson Page, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896, pp. 4- 8)

10/24/2011

Today’s Price of a Slave

Confederate Colonel

VERBATIM POST

========

This CNN video clip discusses the price of purchasing a slave today. Yes, today. Despite the widely held belief that slavery started and ended with the Southern states, it has always existed, and still exists today – only at rock-bottom prices. As the report points out, a slave purchased in the 19th century would have cost about $40,000 in today’s dollars. That is a major investment. No one neglects and mistreats a valuable investment if they expect to make a profit. On the other hand, the price of a slave today is only $90, making them about as disposable as a Styrofoam cup.

Where is the NAACP? Why are they not demanding an end to slavery now? The answer: they are too busy being “offended” by the sight of the Confederate flag. Apparently, being “offended” is quite appealing when it comes to fund-raising and political pandering. Real slavery just isn’t very interesting to those who are busy claiming to be oppressed because some people of their race were slaves in America over 150 years ago.

This CNN video clip discusses the price of purchasing a slave today. Yes, today. Despite the widely held belief that slavery started and ended with the Southern states, it has always existed, and still exists today – only at rock-bottom prices. As the report points out, a slave purchased in the 19th century would have cost about $40,000 in today’s dollars. That is a major investment. No one neglects and mistreats a valuable investment if they expect to make a profit. On the other hand, the price of a slave today is only $90, making them about as disposable as a Styrofoam cup.

I AM THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG


by Charles H. Hayes
I am the Battle Flag of the Confederate States of America.

I am a proud flag.
I have led great armies to great victories.
From tall masts I have saluted,
And been saluted by,
The ablest generals in history.

I am a potent symbol.
I have the power to stir the blood
Of those who carried me in battle
Though that blood be continents away
And generations removed from those battles.

I am an honorable flag.
Do not use me for ignoble purposes.
I am a symbol of pride, not arrogance.
I represent love of homeland, not hatred toward anyone.
But no matter who carries me
Or for what purposes, I cannot be dishonored.

I secured my honor in a hundred battles
Where good men dying passed me to good men still struggling;
Where we prevailed against almost impossible odds;
Where we were beaten by overwhelming numbers;
Where I was as bloody, torn, tired, and soiled
As the men who carried me.

I am a worthy flag.
I have stood watch over the graves of patriots.
I have comforted widows in their loneliness.
As a blood-stained rag I have been passed as a rich legacy
To the heirs of those who had lost all for my sake.

I am the Battle Flag of the Confederate States of America.
Do not forsake me.

10/23/2011

Grandaddy's Gun


Good mornin' Friend Brock...............................................................I was sittin' here listening to music as I always do in the mornings before I get into work mode, looking around the war room as Pam calls our dining room, SCV , computer area.......My eyes fixed on Grandpa's ole Sears and Roebuck shotgun hangin' on the wall, and just out of the blue, this song popped up in rotation on this song mix I had mashed on......it was too good not to share. I can't be the only person with memories that are mentioned in the lyrics, thus my reason for sharing it with you. Hope your day is a good one, my best to you and the family.

T

"Wartime Recollections of a Grandmother"

This is a well known story and the hanging of a soldier simply doing his duty to the last was murder, needless to say.
One reckless Confederate soldier from Texas was in the rear guard; he fired on a Yankee soldier, so close were the pursuers to the pursued. After firing he turned and put spurs to his horse, but unfortunately his horse stumbled, and he was captured. The next morning under a guard of soldiers, he was carried by our home, (I looked on with anguished heart) to the grove back of your Grandfather’s, and hung to the limb of a huge tree, under which your uncles and aunts had played in childhood.”
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North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"
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(Mary Norcott Bryan (1841-1919) was born in Pitt County, the daughter of John Norcott and Sarah Frances Bryan. She was the wife of New Bern attorney Henry Ravenscroft Bryan)

“Dear Children – One warm day in April [1865], a great many ladies and children assembled in the public square in Raleigh, near the Capitol, all anxious to hear the news…some one said “It is reported that Lee has surrendered” -- such consternation on the faces of the people, then as the news became more general, such weeping and wringing of hands, such heavy hearts – privation, sorrow, death, defeat and poverty.

Raleigh was now filled with wounded and disabled soldiers; the churches and every available space turned into hospitals. I did what I could, but it seemed nothing. The Episcopal church being nearer to me, I went there mostly; many poor men were on the benches, some in high delirium, some in the agony of death. A young soldier passed away, none knew his name or home; as the coffin lid was being screwed down, a dear lady pressed her lips to his brow, and said: “Let me kiss him for his Mother.” Every heart responded and all eyes filled with tears. Volumes of heartrending and pathetic incidents could be written of our four years’ cruel war. Although we were becoming less hopeful, yet the Fall of the Confederacy was unexpected to the last.

Soon our troops began to pass through [Raleigh, April 1865], weary, dirty fellows, and hungry also, every one that could, fed them; they could not stop but in passing, we stood at the gate and handed them bread and ham; they were marching to the tune of Dixie, the war song that we vainly thought was going to lead them to victory. Our soldiers retreated towards Hillsboro, the Federal soldiers pursuing.

One reckless Confederate soldier from Texas was in the rear guard; he fired on a Yankee soldier, so close were the pursuers to the pursued. After firing he turned and put spurs to his horse, but unfortunately his horse stumbled, and he was captured. The next morning under a guard of soldiers, he was carried by our home, (I looked on with anguished heart) to the grove back of your Grandfather’s, and hung to the limb of a huge tree, under which your uncles and aunts had played in childhood.”

(A Grandmother’s Recollection of Dixie, Mary Norcott Bryan, (1912), Dodo Press, 2010, pp. 28-29)

The Tar River Boys

For nearly 40 years, the Tar River Boys have played mountain music with their own lively style, bringing the high lonesome sound to the flatlands of eastern North Carolina.

As a busy doctor in Tarboro, Dr. Peter Temple often pulled out his guitar to unwind after his long days taking care of patients. And when he finally got a night off, usually Wednesdays, he invited friends to join him.

Soon, everyone knew that for the best music around, you should drop by the Victorian house on St. Patrick Street, have a seat on the porch or stairs, and listen as long as you like. Those with instruments joined in the Wednesday night porch pickin’s. The regulars began performing together, and when bluegrass godfather Bill Monroe visited East Carolina University in 1972, they welcomed him with their new name — the Tar River Boys. And one of eastern North Carolina’s best-loved bluegrass bands was born. (Story continues below the audio clips.)

MORE

From Free North Carolina

10/22/2011

The hardest working man in show business.....

Embedding disabled, so How Do You Stop?

Also, my memories, written when he died.

I saw James Brown three times in concert. Initially in Petersburg, Virginia, 1964 at a cramped, dark, and smoked filled nightclub. It was extraordinary.

I'll save the intervening concert for last and mention the third one which was in Dana Point, California, 1982, where he performed at a somewhat larger nightclub. I saw his midnight show, and although many years had elapsed, he seemed tireless as before. The next morning I took him and his manager to a liquor store in my cab where he stated that his next stop was Georgia, where he would receive a new set of "ivories."

The second time was in Richmond, Virginia, at the Mosque, 1965. This was a once in a lifetime experience. The line snaked for blocks and we all had the requisite pints of Virginia Gentleman in our hip pockets. Everybody was excited, smiling and friendly. The managers would open the doors and allow a certain number of people in and then close the entrances quickly. It became more and more cramped as we drew nearer, and during the last push my date, Anne Ambler, and I were literally lifted off the ground and momentarily carried forward by the crush of bodies. We only saw one other couple that was white there that night. It's a shame that the race hustlers have tried to wedge us apart. We sat in the second level, and though I imagine the term "dancing in the aisles" was coined before this day, it certainly came to full fruition that night. An absolutely amazing performance left no doubt that he was indeed "Mr. Dynamite."

One item I noticed that has been lacking in every article about James Brown since his death concerns the closing of his shows. When the show was scheduled to end, he would feign a desire to keep singing until two men would come out and guide him off stage. Each time, and there were many, he would break away and return to continue. The show would eventually end when the men came forth once more and fitted him with a straight jacket which finally ended the performance to a roaring ovation.

I imagine he is still putting out 101% and being introduced by Bobby Hatfield in "Rock and Roll Heaven" as ".....the hardest working man in show business, the man who sings I'll Go Crazy ... Try Me"... You've Got the Power ... Mr. Dynamite, the amazing Mr. Please Please himself, the star of the show, James Brown and the Famous Flames!"

Brock Townsend


Junior Johnson Appreciation Day



Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South (North Carolina) who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became a NASCAR racing team owner; he sponsored such NASCAR champions as Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He now produces a line of fried pork skins and country ham. (& Midnight Moon - Carolina Moonshine) He is credited with discovering drafting. He is nicknamed "The Last American Hero" and his autobiography is of the same name.

Tarborough Junior Cotillion

Reminds me of Madame Duval's dancing classes in Middleburg, Virginia.
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Cotillion members dancing at the Holly Ball
TARBORO – The Tarborough Junior Cotillion is taking a French word from yesterday and making it a common word for today.

“In the seventeenth century, King Louis XIV hosted lavish garden parties at his French chateau. His guests would often walk through the grass, pick the flowers and wade in the fountains. Since the guests didn’t have gardens at their homes, they were unsure of how to behave. The King placed little signs reading, ‘Keep on the paths’ and ‘Please don’t litter’ around his chateau to give the guests an idea of what to do when attending his parties,” said Laura Ashley Lamm, executive director.

“The French word for ‘little signs’ is etiquette and centuries later the rules of etiquette still guide us in what we should do in unfamiliar situations.”

The Tarborough Junior Cotillion is taking etiquette lessons that are useful for today and teaching them to young adults in the Twin Counties as they learn to dance socially. The TJC will begin its third season on October 29 and children in grades fifth through seventh are invited to participate in this unique social education experience.

The purpose of each session is to provide youth with both memories and instruction of proper etiquette techniques and social graces. Cotillion sessions will consist of lessons in basic etiquette through the use of ballroom dancing during seven hour-and-a-half sessions. Sessions are held one Saturday evening a month from 5 – 6: 30 p.m. at Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tarboro.

10/21/2011

LEXINGTON COUNCIL ADOPTS A FLAG BAN ORDINANCE: SCV CAMP RETAINS LEGAL FIRM TO PREPARE LAWSUIT: SELECTIVE BOYCOTT OF LEXINGTON TO BE IMPLEMENTED

The Silent Aftermath of Gettysburg

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"
========

Twenty-year-old Captain Oliver Evans Mercer of Company G, 20th North Carolina Regiment was killed on the first day of fighting at Gettysburg. A farmer by occupation, Mercer mustered with the “Brunswick Guards” at Camp Howard in Brunswick county in June 1861, along with fellow officers John S. Brooks and Daniel K. Bennett. Hearing of her son’s death in battle, Mercer’s mother wrote Virginia-born Dr. J.W.C. O’Neal who was identifying, recording and burying the Confederate dead left on the battlefield:

“Our Wilmington papers bring the welcome intelligence to many bereaved Southern hearts that you have cared for the graves of many of our Confederate dead at Gettysburg, replaced headboards and prepared a list of names.

May the Lord bless you is the prayer of many Southern hearts. Oh! We have lost so much. There are but few families that do not mourn the loss of one or more loved ones, and only a mother who has lost a son in that awful battle can and does appreciate fully such goodness as you have shown.

I, too, have lost a son at Gettysburg, a brave, noble boy in the full bloom of youth, and my heart yearns to have his remains, if they can be found, brought home to rest in the soil of the land he loved so well. I need your assistance and I am confident you will aid me. No sorrow-stricken mother could ask and be refused by a heart such as yours.”

(Debris of Battle, The Wounded at Gettysburg, Gerard A. Patterson, Stackpole Books, 1997, pp. 200-201)

The 20th North Carolina was commanded by Colonel Alfred Iverson, and Colonel Thomas Fentress Toon of Columbus county. Read more on Colonel (later Brigadier-General) Toon at http://www.cfhi.net/GeneralThomasF.ToonofColumbusCounty.php

Another side of the story: May 25/29/30 1865

Via Southern Nationalist Network
May25
My Negroes have made no change in their behavior, and are going on as they have always hitherto done. Until I know that they are legally free, I shall let them continue. If they become free by law then the whole system must be changed. If the means which I now possess of supporting the old and the young are taken away, they must then necessarily look for their support to their own exertions.

May 29
As Gen. Gillmore's order, based upon Chief Justice Chase's opinion, announces the freedom of the Negroes there is no further room to doubt that it is the settled policy of the country. I have today formally announced to my Negroes the fact, and made such arrangements with each as the new relation rendered necessary. Those whose whole time we need, get at present clothes and food, house rent and medical attendance. The others work for themselves giving me a portion of their time on the farm in lieu of house rent. Old Amelia and her two grandchildren, I will spare the mockery of offering freedom to. I must support them as long as I have anything to give.

May 30
My Negroes all express a desire to remain with me. I am gratified at the proof of their attachment. I believe it to be real and unfeigned.

For the present they will remain, but in course of time we must part, as I cannot afford to keep so many, and they cannot afford to hire for what I could give them. As they have always been faithful and attached to us, and have been raised as family servants, and have all of them been in our family for several generations, there is a feeling towards them somewhat like that of a father who is about to send out his children on the world to make their way through life.

10/20/2011

Nine Michigan students suspended from school for wearing Confederate flag

Via Southern Nationalist Network
Students Revolt
(40 more shirts made to sock it to the Collectivists)


On Tuesday, students walked out of Dowagiac Union High School with their t-shirts proudly tucked in to show-off their shiny, red and blue belt buckles.

Two girls exited together, both had their jeans held up with the same Confederate flag buckles with big, black, bold letters that spell out “Rebel Pride.”

Sophomore Rikki Baker said, “To me, it just represents the people from the South.”

Baker got sent home from school for that very same belt buckle just a few days ago. She was the first student to get called into the vice-principal’s office on Friday. “She asked me to cover my belt buckle or remove it because people were getting offended by it,” Baker said.

The vice-principal told Baker other students had complained about the Confederate flag clothing and the administration deemed the attire to be a distraction, stating it disrupted class which in turn, is a violation of the school’s dress code.

Baker refused to take off or cover up her belt buckle and was sent home for the day, suspended and she wasn't the only one. Quite a few students decided to protest the new policy, nine students were suspended for wearing the Confederate flag.

“So in other words you’re telling me that because someone else is offended of what he’s wearing, he has to give up his right and freedom to express himself because they have theirs,” Chris Matthews said. Her son, Junior at Union High School got in trouble on Monday when he wore a Confederate flag t-shirt to school.

Matthews got a call from her 16-year-old son after he had been sent to the vice-principal’s office Monday morning.

“I said why? I said it’s a symbol of Southern pride for standing up for what you believe in, why would you be punished for this?”

Matthews said she gave her son the Confederate flag shirt, written on the front is a message, “If this offends you, you need a history lesson.”

Lee Decides The Fate Of The Despised Occupiers

Old Virginia Blog
VERBATIM POST
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*Taken yesterday at an "Occupy Wall Street" kumbaya event in Charlottesville:




As Virginia's peerless Chieftain turns and rides away in disgust, he passes judgment on the despised occupiers of Virginia's sacred sod and utters his famous last words: "Strike the tent!"
*Thanks to Doug Hill for sharing the photo.

From Free North Carolina

10/19/2011

Gertie’s Ghost

Via Ann, Belle Grove
In 2000, Bokara Legendre, an artist and a stage performer, inherited her family’s plantation in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. She promptly set about making the place her own, redecorating the antebellum mansion with abstract paintings and a pastel color scheme. But this seemed to unsettle the house. The first night Legendre spent in her redone bedroom, there was a problem with the fireplace, and the chamber filled with thick black smoke. As a member of the plantation staff put out the fire, he glimpsed an apparition: the late mistress of the house, Legendre’s mother, Gertie. She was not pleased with the changes.

Legendre tells this ghost story to illustrate a mortal lesson: It is one thing to live in a house, quite another to possess it. Most people can only fantasize about coming into something like Medway, a pink gabled plantation house surrounded by 6,700 acres of moss-hung oaks, pine forests and swamps. But every homeowner wrestles, in ways great and small, with the recalcitrant spirit of the property he occupies. Legendre, a student of Tibetan Buddhism, says she saw a sort of cosmic opportunity in her mother’s bequest, a chance to "change the karma" of an estate once cultivated by slaves and used by her parents as a hunting playground. She discovered that the gift came with hidden conditions, however; some legacies aren’t so easy to exorcise.

“You Guys”

Via Bernhard

One of my pet peeves.
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“Would you guys like something to drink?”

I could not help smiling at the lady and two men sitting across the table from me in this California restaurant injected into the middle of North Carolina. We had just been deploring the use of this unisex slang expression to mean “ladies and gentlemen” and debating the possibility of asking waitresses to avoid it.

The waitress cocked her head and asked if something was wrong. After a few minutes of embarrassing hesitation, I told her, “This is a lady sitting next to me, not a guy, and the rest of us are men or even gentlemen, not guys or kids or fellows.”

“Then what am I supposed to say?”

When one Southern literary gent at the table suggested “You all,” she protested, “But then I’d sound like a cracker.” We assured her that the best people said “Y’all” and added that if she wanted to talk Yankee, she should talk old Philadelphia and not suburban Des Moines.

“Guy,” whether is derived from the effigies of Guy Fawkes burnt on the fifth of November or, as Mencken believed, from the guy-rope of a circus tent, has nothing to recommend itself as a term of address. Chesterton objected to being called a “regular guy” when he visited America – perhaps he thought he was being accused of being a Catholic terrorist.

The real point in using “guy” is that it is a weapon in the war to eliminate distinctions and to level sexes, ranks and ages into one neutral category that probably includes domestic animals.

Like “citizen” or “comrade,” guys is a political term that does nothing to elevate the waitress but only denies the social reality constructed by men and women, young and old. If pressed, the sweet young thing from Concord might had said she was doing this 50-something old man a favor by treating him as “one of the guys,” but some us old bucks are proud to have got to where we are and can barely tolerate the society of the under-35 guys, chicks, dudes, and hey-mans whose philosophy of life is “I deserve a break today.” Did somebody say “stupid”?

Humpty Dumpty

(Contemptible Familiarities, Chronicles Magazine, (www.chroniclesmagazine.org) February 2000, page 12)

Battle Flag With The "St Andrews Cross"

The Confederate Battle Flag With The "St Andrews Cross" was not the only Confederate Battle Flag, but She was the most known and used late in that great war. She is the most, hated, debated, misrepresented and beloved of all Confederate symbols. She has been tarnished by groups as the, naacp "by way of slander", kkk, aryan nation, skinheads, neo nazi, white supremacy clowns...Just to name a few. She was not a national flag, nor was She a politician's flag, and most defiantly not a flag of hate!..."She was a soldier's flag" a banner of courage, honour and a call to duty. She was a rallying point for battling warriors. Many died to keep Her safe and out of enemy hands, this Flag was stained with the blood of our Southron patriots. Last, and most important, SHE WAS AN AMERICAN FLAG!!

As Southron, we owe it to ourselves and noble ancestry to protect Her and hold Her in reverence. We must stand up to those that slander Her, for that slander is slander toward us and our past. We must never let our past be removed from our future...May God give us the courage to do what must be done to stop the hate of "Those People." ~ PoP

10/18/2011

From our Soutrhron Brother Rab "Campsie" across the pond in Ulster.



From our Soutrhron Brother Rab "Campsie" across the pond in Ulster.

OK Virginians

Virginians, Are you ready to take a stand?

OK Virginians, here's a chance to to defend the Honour of Old Virginian and Her heroes!

See HERE
Virginia Belle needs HELP!

Virginians are rising up, and taking action against the Heritage Haters and those suffering from Confederaphobia in the streets of the Old Dominion. Are you ready to take a stand? Join us Friday, October 28th as we take to the streets of Richmond in a mass flagging protest of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and their forced removal of Confederate battle flags from the portico of the Pelham Chapel/Confederate War Memorial.

For more information, please contact Susan Hathaway



Virginia Flagger
Susan Frise Hathaway

Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821 - 1877)

Use Greek translator HERE, if you have problems with the translated second link below.

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Red Sky Over Dixie Greek

Red Sky Over Dixie English

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From Free North Carolina Blog

Just noticed on his site that the Confederate Veteran below is the one that had
Lee's Surrender, by my great grandfather, April 9, 1865, 146 years ago
Confederate Veteran May-June 1990

25th Anniversary of General Lee's Surrender April 9th, 1865

by John Pelopidas Leach, 1890

A quarter of a century has passed since General Lee surrendered the last hope of the Confederacy at Appomattox Court House.

For more than a year prior to that time, he had, with matchless skill, contended against vastly superior numbers and military resources, and successfully held at bay the grandest army ever marshaled on American soil. In the annals of American history, the name of this village will be preserved side-by-side with Yorktown, New Orleans and Mexico.

A private soldier, though a living witness, cannot describe a battle, much less a campaign. The field of observation to him is circumscribed and limited. But as I went with my companions to the last firing line, I have some vivid recollections of the event and I will relate my experiences and observations as a member of Company C, 53rd NC Regiment at Appomattox.

"Spanish Moss - The South's Mystical Elixir."

Read Anthony's wonderful article below and then view the short video.

Spanish Moss – The South’s Mystical Elixir!

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"Mother, can you make a Confederate Spanish Moss Saddle Blanket?"
or
The Lost Art Of Weaving Spanish Moss



From Free North Carolina Blog

10/17/2011

Video, Georgia Power Removes Confederate Flags From Graves



By OneWayRawk
He's a devoted Southron with many great videos on the Southern movement:
See them HERE

10/16/2011

William. Dorsey Pender WBTS Roundtable: Fort Branch NC

Pictures
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Fort Branch Confederate
Earthen Fort Civil War Site
.. is located two miles below Hamilton, North Carolina and 60 miles upriver of the town of Plymouth. Sitting 70 feet above a bend in the Roanoke River, this Confederate earthen fort provided a safe and clear view of Union gunboats approaching from down river.
Stephen McCall drawing
Eleven cannon offered significant protection for the railway bridge over the river at Weldon, a weak link in the "Lifeline of the Confederacy" between Wilmington, NC and Richmond, VA. The fort also protected the nearby construction site of the ironclad ram C.S.S. Albemarle which later helped regain control of the lower Roanoke River and Albemarle Sound by sinking wooden Union ships. Citizens of the entire Upper Roanoke Valley benefited from the fort, as well.
Today, the site is the winter headquarters for the First North Carolina Volunteers, a Civil War re-enactment group. A battle re-enactment is held annually at the fort on the first weekend in November and includes a unique Living History Program. The annual events schedule often includes a springtime Living History Program and a unique Civil War Christmas celebration, as well.

Visit the site and you can see eight of the fort's original cannon, making Fort Branch the only earthwork fortification in the South with its original artillery in place. You can also see a restored late 1800s steam engine from The Ranger, and local Native American pottery and artifacts from Hoggtown, a nearby eighteenth century river community. Other attractions include rebuilt gun emplacements and an 1850s farmhouse which is being restored.

The Fort Branch Battlefield Commission works to preserve and restore the Fort and its heritage. Browse this web site to learn more about the history of Fort Branch and the ongoing preservation project. We invite you to visit during one of our events and to take part in supporting the fort's preservation.

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From Free North Carolina Blog

10/15/2011

Summer 2011 WBTS Water Finds With the Garrett AT Pro

Jack Sides Memorial Service 08 October 2011 Jacksonville NC


Ceremony for Private Sewell 3rd NC Troops
Rob Huling of Stainless Banners on the far left and Ron Civils Commander of the General Lewis A. Armistead Camp 1302 Sons of Confederate Veterans to his left. Relatives were very appreciative and took many pictures. 3 volleys were fired in salute.

Contact
PoP Aaron
The Southern American

HERE