CALCASIEU GREYS September 2013 Lake Charles, La.

NEXT MEETING

      Then next meeting of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at Hollier Cajun Kitchen, 1709 Ruth St., Sulphur, La. Compatriot Mike Jones will present the program on the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Sabine Pass. Please come and enjoy great food and Confederate fellowship.

CAMP MEETING SCHEDULE FOR 2013

          Please see the list below for meeting dates and places for 2013. The restaurants have been contacted and their calendars marked accordingly. Meetings last from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

         Logan’s Road House (Lake Charles) August 13, and October 8 (Nomination of officers).

           Hollier Cajun Kitchen (Sulphur) -  September 10, November 12 (elect officers).

           The camp Christmas party date would be December 10 with the location to be determined

CAMP NEWS

Proposed Changes to By-Laws of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390

[Proposed Changes are in brackets & boldface]

ARTICLE VI - Meetings:

Section 2. The regular meetings of the Camp shall be on the second (2nd) Tuesday of each month at [6:30] o'clock P.M.; except for the December Christmas Party and the January "Lee-Jackson Banquet" at which times and places will be voted on by the general membership.

ARTICLE VIII – Officers

Section 1. The officers of the Camp, at a minimum, shall be Commander, First Lieutenant Commander, Adjutant/Treasurer, Historian/Editor, Chaplain, [Quartermaster], and an Executive Committee. Nominations for officers will be held at the regular October meeting. All officers, except those of the Executive Committee, shall be elected by a majority vote by ballot at the annual meeting of the Camp. They shall hold office for one year or until their successors are elected. Officers elected at the annual meeting shall take office at the "Lee-Jackson Banquet" conclusion.
Section 2. No Change
The Executive Committee shall be composed of the Commander, First Lieutenant Commander, Historian/Editor, Adjutant/Treasurer, and the Past Commander. No Past Commander shall be eligible who has failed to maintain good standing in the Camp.
ARTICLE XVI – Amendments
Section 1. Any proposed amendment to these by-laws may be introduced by any member of the Camp at any regular meeting, or special meeting called for that purpose. A vote may be taken upon the proposed amendment, provided a copy of the intended amendment has been sent to each member in good standing, by United States Mail, [Camp Newsletter, or E-mail] at least ten days prior to the meeting.] A two-thirds vote of the members present, by secret ballot, will be necessary to pass any proposed amendment to, or revision of, the Camp By-Laws.

ARTICLE VII - Elections/Eligibility:

Section 1. No member shall be eligible to hold any office in the Camp which also comprises the Executive Committee until he has been a member in good standing for a minimum of one full year.

Section 2. No member who has been considered suspended or expelled from the Camp; may vote upon reinstatement until he has been a member in good standing for a minimum of one full year.

Section 3. The Executive Committee, as per their listed duties, will promptly check the eligibility of all nominees for Camp office.

Section 3A. The Executive Committee will immediately notify any nominee that it deems ineligible. The nominee will have ten (10) days to present evidence to refute its finding. If satisfactory proof of eligibility is not presented on time, the nominee's name will be removed from consideration.

Section 3B. The Executive Committee, or their designee, will promptly draw up a ballot containing all nominees names deemed eligible for each contested Camp office. There will be one ballot made per member in good standing, eligible to vote, as determined by the Executive Committee. Each ballot shall contain an original signature of the Adjutant, the official Camp stamp, or both. [A copy of the ballot will sent to each member in good standing via the Camp Newsletter.]

Section 4. The Executive Committee, as per their listed duties, will also promptly check the eligibility of members to vote.

Section 4A. The Executive Committee will immediately notify any member that it deems ineligible. The member will have ten (10) days to present evidence to refute its finding. If satisfactory proof of eligibility is not presented on time, nominee will be removed from the approved list and any consideration of voting in the election in question.

Section 4B. The Executive Committee, or its designee, will promptly mail out to each eligible voter/member an official signed/stamped ballot containing all approved nominees names for each contested office.

[Section 4B. The election of officers will be held at the regular November membership meeting of the Camp. All members in good standing attending the meeting will be eligible to vote. In the event of a contested office, the election will be by secret ballot. The ballot will be prepared as described in Section 3B of Article VII. All ballots will turned over to an election committee appointed by the Commander and counted. If no Camp offices are contested, the officers may be elected by acclamation or unanimous consent of the members, in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order.]

Section 4C. The members receiving ballots may return them, after voting, by U.S. mail to the Camp Adjutant, or bring them in person to the annual meeting. Ballots should be sealed in a plain, unmarked envelope. All ballots will be turned over to an election committee appointed by the Commander and counted. Any ballot not received by thirty (30) minutes after the official start of the meeting by the Camp Commander will be deemed void and will not be opened or counted.

Note: The proposed changes were approved by the Camp Executive Committee on August 12, 2013 for presentation to the membership at the August 13, 2013 general meeting.

CAMP FLAG CONTEST

     Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 is announcing a contest for a camp flag. All Camp 1390 members in good standing may submit entries on a 8-inch  by 11^1/2-inch piece of paper. The flag design should have lettering with the camp’s name, number and Lake Charles, La. Entries may be submitted at the September, October and November meetings. A vote will be taken at the November meeting. The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate for our Quartermaster Store. Here are a couple of examples that were on display at the Vicksburg National Reunion.

         Please feel free to submit other historic Confederate flag-types as the basis of your design, such as the First National, Richard Taylor-style, Van Dorn-style, etc.

Here is a good web site for Confederate flag types:

http://txscv.tripod.com/csa.htm

Here is a good book on the subject of Confederate flags.

The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History.

By Devereaux Cannon Jr. (Pelican Publishing, 1994)

128 pages; illustrations.

A CONFEDERATE CATECHISM

[The following was excerpted from A Confederate Catechism by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Third Edition, Nov. 21, 1929.]

10. Why did Lincoln break the truce at Fort Pickens and precipitate the war by sending troops to Fort Sumter?

Lincoln did not think that war would result by sending troops to Fort Pickens, and it would give him the appearance of asserting the national authority. But he knew that hostilities would certainly ensue if he attempted to reinforce Fort Sumter. He was therefore at first in favor of withdrawing the troops from that Fort, and allowed assurances to that effect to be given out by Seward, his Secretary of State. But the deciding factor with him was the tariff question. In three separate interviews, he asked what would become of his revenue if he allowed the government at Montgomery to go on with their tem percent tariff. Final action was taken when nine Governors of high tariff states waited upon Lincoln and offered him men and supplies. The protective tariff had almost driven the country to war in 1833; it is not surprising that it brought war in 1861. Indeed, this spirit of spoliation was so apparent from the beginning that at the very first Congress, Grayson, one of our two first Virginia Senators, predicted that the fate reserved to the South was to be “the milk cow of the Union.” The New York Times, after having on March 21, 1861, declared for separation, took the ground nine days later that the material interest of the North would not allow of an independent South!

11. Did Lincoln carry on the war for the purpose of freeing the slaves?

 No. He frequently denied that this was his purpose in waging war. He claimed that he fought the South in order to preserve the Union. Before the war, Lincoln declared himself in favor of enforcement of the fugitive slave act, and he once figured as an attorney to drag back a runaway Negro into slavery. When he became President he professed himself in his inaugural willing to support an amendment guaranteeing slavery in the states where it existed. Wendell Phillips, the abolitionist, called him a “slave hound.”

 12. Did Lincoln, by his conquest of the South, save the Union?

No. The old Union was a union based on consent. The present Union is a great Northern nation based on force and controlled by Northern majorities, to which the South, as a conquered province, has had to conform all its policies and ideals. The Federal authority is only Northern authority. Today the Executive, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, (with one exception), the Ministers at foreign courts are all Northern men. The South has as little share in the government and as little chance of furnishing a President as Norway or Switzerland.

Brandy Station Battlefield

(Brandy Station, Va.) – The Civil War Trust, America’s largest nonprofit battlefield preservation group, today announced that it has successfully completed a $3.6 million national fundraising campaign to preserve 56 acres of historic Fleetwood Hill on the Brandy Station Battlefield in Culpeper County, Va., site of the largest cavalry battle ever fought on the North American continent.  In celebrating the success of this project, one of five most ambitious in the organization’s history, Civil War Trust president James Lighthizer issued the following statement: “This is a day that those of us in the preservation community have long dreamt of, the day we can finally say that Fleetwood Hill is protected forever. Prior to this, the Trust and its partners had protected some 1,800 acres at Brandy Station, but without those crowning heights set aside for future generations, no visitor could gain a full and definitive understanding of this critical action. Now that we have raised the full purchase price and closed on this property, the heart and soul of the Brandy Station Battlefield, we have turned a preservation success story into a triumph. “This achievement simply would not have been possible without the cooperation of the entire battlefield preservation community — particularly the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground and the Brandy Station Foundation, whose assistance, both advisory and financial, has been indispensable. Moreover, the enthusiastic support of the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Civil War Sites Preservation Fund has meant the difference between dream and reality. Without the vital matching grants supplied by these two programs, an undertaking of this scale would have been all but insurmountable. “I also offer my heartfelt thanks to each individual who contributed to this effort. The outpouring of support that the Trust received toward this project, illustrating the number of Americans who firmly believe in the respect and protection of our shared history, has been inspirational. Much work remains on this tract, as we lay the groundwork to remove modern structures and restore the land to its wartime appearance, but I know that all of our members and allies join me today in celebrating this tremendous achievement.” The Battle of Brandy Station is considered by historians as the beginning of the momentous Gettysburg Campaign.  Union cavalry, long considered inferior to their Confederate counter parts, launched a bold crossing of the Rappahannock River in the early hours of June 9, 1863.  They initially surprised the Southern horsemen, with charge and countercharge raging across the landscape for much of the day before the Federals retired back across the river.  All told, more than 20,000 cavalrymen fought at Brandy Station.  The epicenter of the fighting was Fleetwood Hill, which overlooked much of the battlefield and served as headquarters for Confederate chieftain, General James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart. Historian and preservation advocate Clark “Bud” Hall calls Fleetwood Hill “without question the most fought over, camped upon and marched over real estate in the entire United States. Cumulatively, the Civil War Trust has protected more than 1,850 acres at Brandy Station and maintains a public interpretive trail across the battlefield. 

JONES PRESENTS LIBRARY  PROGRAM

      Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 Editor Mike Jones presented the Tidbits of History program September 3 at the SWLA Genealogical and Historical Library at 411 Pujo St. in Lake Charles. He was also interviewed by Channel 7 TV Station.

     Jones’ topic was “The Calcasieu Tigers at the Siege of Vicksburg.” He pointed out that the Calcasieu Tigers was a volunteer military company for the Confederate  Army organized at the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse on March 7, 1862 by our camp namesake, James W. Bryan, who was elected captain and commanding officer, The unit went on to fight at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Dec. 28, 29, 1862, and the Siege of Vicksburg of 1863.

      The presentation was based on his new book, The Vicksburg 28^th Louisiana Infantry (Createspace.com, 2013).

CONFEDERATE OF THE MONTH

Lt. Col. Elijah V. White

35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry

BE A MUSEUM FOUNDER

          The truth about the South's struggle to form a new nation is under attack as never before. The National Battlefield Parks have been taken over by the “it's all about slavery” provocateurs. Museums have changed their collections and interpretations to present what they call the cultural history of the War for Southern Independence. In reality this new perspective is nothing more than South bashing. The forces of political correctness have gone into high gear. They attempt to ban any and all things Confederate through their ideological fascism. Even what was once a highly respected museum now claims proudly they are not a museum for the Confederacy, merely about it.

      There needs to be at least one place where the people of the South and others can go to learn an accurate account of why so many struggled so long in their attempt to reassert government by the consent of the governed in America!

       The General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans  made the commitment in October of 2008 to start the process to erect a new building that will have two purposes. One of the uses of this new building will be to give us office space and return Elm Springs to its original grandeur. However the main function is to house The Confederate Museum. We are planning a museum that will tell the truth about what motivated the Southern people to struggle for many years to form a new nation.  At the SCV Reunion in July of 2009 the GEC set up a building fund for this purpose. One of the goals is to provide an accurate portrayal of the common Confederate soldier, something that is currently absent in most museums and in the media.

You are invited to make your stand for the future by contributing to this fund.

Send checks to:

Sons of Confederate Veterans

c/o TCM Building Fund

P.O. Box 59

Columbia, TN 38402

Or you can call 1-800-MY-DIXIE to pay by credit card.

Future generations will thank you for your efforts in erecting The Confederate Museum.