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Monday, October 27, 2014

CALCASIEU GREYS -- November, 2014

NEXT MEETING
           The next meeting of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, will be from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, November 11, at Joe’s Pizza and Pasta, 1601 Ruth St. in Sulphur. We will elect 2015 officers and hear Tommy Curtis’s presentation on Steven Read, CSA veteran and the first judge in Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish. Our special guests will be the ladies from Calcasieu United Daughters of the Confederacy, under the direction of President Jan Craven. The ladies will present an overview of their work and answer any membership questions from interested SCV wives. Please plan to attend this important and entertaining meeting.

Captain Bryan Camp To Participate
in Sulphur Veterans Parade
     Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 will participate in the 2014 Sulphur Veterans Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8. Here is some information about the event from the Sulphur Armed Forces Committee:
       The Veterans Day celebration will honor all who served in the armed forces. The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Cypress St. at W.W. Lewis Middle School,  and proceed to SPAR at 400 W. Parish Rd. where the ceremony will take place at approximately 11:30 a.m.
       Captain Bryan Camp took part in the parade last year and was very well received Sulphur. Any camp members who would like to participate contact SWLA Brig. Cmdr. Archie Toombs at fxe74@hotmail.com. 



FINDING YOUR WAY HOME
Commander's Column, November 2014
Dr. Andy Buckley, camp commander
           As the year 2014 winds down, I am grateful for what we have accomplished together as the Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp. To avoid a paragraph composed of one long rambling run-on sentence, allow me to list our projects and involvements this year:
1. We have reached new members for the SCV.
2. We have strengthened our monthly programs by involving a variety of interesting speakers.
3. We have established a printed agenda for our monthly meetings.
4. We commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Calcasieu Pass.
5. We marked the graves of the nearly two hundred Confederate veterans buried in here in Calcasieu Parish.
6. We assisted our Louisiana SCV Division in conducting the Spring Reunion in De Ridder.
7. We participated in the Sulphur Veterans Parade for the second year.                                                      8. We continued our support of Niblett's Bluff, the only park in Calcasieu Parish that flies the Confederate Battle Flag.

9. We developed a closer relationship with the ladies of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
10. We have developed regular monthly coverage of our work in the Lake Charles American Press.
11. We presented the SCV Hunley Award to JROTC students at La Grange and Washington-Marion High Schools.
12. We participated in Louisiana Division SCV commemorations at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill.
13. We sent members to the SCV National Reunion in South Carolina.
14. We supported the successful candidacy of Archie Toombs for the office of Southwest Brigade Commander.
15. We visited Camp meetings in Orange and Woodville, Texas; Lafayette and De Ridder, Louisiana to encourage fellow SCV members.
16. Our Commander served as the keynote speaker at the Acadiana Civil War Roundtable in New Iberia, Louisiana.
17. We raised the funds necessary to pay the second half of our college scholarship at McNeese.
18. We worked tables at three Southwest Louisiana Gun Shows in Lake Charles.
19. We cut the grass several times at the Confederate Memorial construction site in Orange, Texas.
20. We had the highest attendance in the history of our camp for the Lee-Jackson Banquet with 35 present.
      If you didn’t know it before now, the Captain James W. Bryan Camp is a busy and active organization. Thank you for the contribution you have made this year by attending our monthly meetings, inviting new people to join the SCV, volunteering to work the Gun Show, supporting the camp financially, serving as an officer, and involving yourself in one of our worthy projects and events. We could not have accomplished what we have done without your involvement and support.
     I am grateful for the confidence you have expressed in me through the privilege of serving as your Commander this past year. I have said before but will say it again, I have some big shoes to fill following the leadership of Past Commanders Archie Toombs, Gordon Simmons, Mike Jones, Tommy Curtis, and Travis Lanier. They have provided a solid foundation for our future.
     The SCV is really no different than any other organization in respect to our attendance and our work. Each member gets out what they put in. We all have talents and abilities which should be employed to advance the work of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Our detractors in the liberal press and the political correctness and revisionist historians in academia are working overtime to remove all remnants of Confederate heritage from our culture, educational institutions, and national consciousness. It is time all of us get actively involved in the fray!
      Edward Ward Carmack was an attorney and Tennessee newspaper man who served as a U.S. Senator from 1901 to 1907. Senator Carmack was a strong supporter of the Confederate soldier, our Southern way of life, and an early SCV member. Over one hundred years ago Carmack referred to the great challenge facing all true Southerners of every generation:

      "The Confederate Soldiers were our kinfolk and our heroes. We testify to the country our enduring fidelity to their memory. We commemorate their valor and devotion. There were some things that were NOT surrendered at Appomattox. We did not surrender our rights and history; nor was it one of the conditions of surrender that unfriendly lips should be suffered to tell the story of that war or that unfriendly hands should write the epitaphs of the Confederate dead. We have the right to teach our children the true history of the war, the causes that led up to it, and the principles involved."
     We face some challenging times with so much misrepresented information about the South and our Southern Heritage. (See the story on the decline of NASCAR) We must stay the course and remain very diligent in the defense of our beloved South and its precious heritage. As your Commander I want every member of the Captain James W. Bryan Camp to make it a goal this year to recruit at least one new member to the SCV. There are millions of Americans with Southern and Confederate lineage. We need to recruit and retain these likeminded men into our organization.
      Please make every effort to be present at our next meeting, Tuesday, November 11 at Joe’s Pizza in Sulphur. We will elect 2015 officers and hear Tommy Curtis’s presentation on Steven Read, CSA veteran and the first judge in Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish. Our special guests will be the ladies from our Calcasieu United Daughters of the Confederacy, under the direction of President Jan Craven. The ladies will present an overview of their work and answer any membership questions from interested SCV wives. I can hardly wait, so until we gather together again. Until then I remain… 
Yours in Our Great Cause,
Dr. Andy Buckley, Commander

THE REASON FOR NASCAR'S DEMISE               
      It's no secret that NASCAR attendance is dropping across the country, including here in Atlanta. Perhaps there's a reason.
       Early in 2013, NASCAR announced that it would no longer be publicly divulging attendance estimates of its races. In Atlanta, we know that the size of crowds has been progressively getting smaller and smaller in recent years; and now it appears likely that NASCAR will cut back to a single major race in Atlanta each year, effectively ending the tradition of a major Labor Day race in Atlanta. But the trend is not just in Atlanta, as races are being cut from other venues; and some venues are reportedly cutting out huge portions of their grandstand capacity for the remaining races.
       NASCAR, and car racing in general, has long been a primarily Southern sport gone national. The popularity of racing spread nationally over the last 20 years after existing for multiple generations mainly at Southern tracks with rural Southern blue-collar fans in Southern states. In fact, just a few short years ago, NASCAR racing appeared poised to become one of the largest national sports in America, even boasting the largest average attendance of any sport. So what has happened within a single decade to effectively end that chase for popularity and, instead, turn into a situation where major racing venues, especially across the South, are having trouble even filling their stands where once it was literally standing room only? 
      In 2012, NASCAR made the decision to ban the appearance of the "General Lee" Dodge Charger from the former television series "Dukes of Hazzard," citing as their reason, "The image of the Confederate flag is not something that should play an official role in our sport as we continue to reach out to new fans and make NASCAR more inclusive," according to NASCAR spokesman David Higdon. Ben Jones who played "Cooter" on the former television show -- and who now serves as the national Chief of Heritage Operations for the Sons of Confederate Veterans -- said this about the decision back in 2012, "At a time when tens of millions of Americans are honoring their Union and Confederate ancestors during this Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, NASCAR has chosen to dishonor those Southerners who fought and died in that terrible conflict by caving to 'political correctness' and the uninformed concerns of corporate sponsors."
     But NASCAR made the decision to abandon its Southern roots right after the turn of the new century. Echoing the sentiments of NASCAR spokesmen and executives, Dale Earnhardt, Jr said as far back as 2003 in an interview with Complex Magazine about the Confederate flag, "Anybody who is trying to show that flag is probably too ignorant to know what the hell he's doing."
      More and more over the last decade, NASCAR has become dependent upon television deals to make up for the declining attendance of actual people at their races -- the rank and file rural Southerners who have been the traditional fan base of racing since the first moonshiners raced out of the hills with their cargo and defiance of what they viewed as tyrannical and intrusive federal authorities.
      Back in 2010, NASCAR spokesman Steve Phelps reportedly stated in an interview, "We don't condone that type of display and putting the flags out, the Confederate flags. That is not something that we think is good for the sport, candidly. So it's something that we see, candidly, we see fewer and fewer of them as you go to races and you know, ultimately it'll be something that'll die away completely." Ironically, NASCAR's continued attack upon the Confederate battle flag and Southern heritage symbols appears to be having unintended consequences, not the least of which is that it appears that it is NASCAR racing, itself, that seems to be dying away.
(Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans Press Release Atlanta - September 4, 2014)

MY CONFEDERATE ANCESTOR

At left are three pictures of Rev. William D. Chadick at various stages of his ministrty, in the early years, as a uniformed Confederate chaplain, and in his mature years. (Photos courtesy of  Dr. Jack Thielen, M.D.)

      November’s issue of the Captain James W. Bryan Camp Confederate Greys Newsletter features the story of one our newest member’s Confederate Ancestor, Cumberland Presbyterian Minister William Davidson Chadick, Ancestor of Dr. Jack Thielen, M.D.
             Rev. William Davidson Chadick, Cumberland Presbyterian minister, was born January 22, 1817, in Overton County, Tennessee, and died September 4, 1878, in McMinnville, Tennessee. He was the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Crutchlow) Chadick. The family moved from Tennessee to Jackson County, Ala., when William was quite young, about 1820, settling seven miles west of Scottsboro.
     In the family were five sons, all of whom became ministers: James, a Methodist; William D., Stakeley and Isaac, Cumberland Presbyterians; Albert, a Methodist; and Charles, Cumberland Presbyterian.
     Rev. William D. Chadick was not only a minister of the gospel but was also editor of the Banner of Peace, the publication of the Cumberland Presbyterian church in the South. He was a Democrat and a Mason and his education was the equivalent of college/seminary training, with theology and ministry courses.
      At the age of nineteen years he enlisted and served in the Creek Indian War. During the War Between the States Chadick was appointed chaplain of the Fourth Alabama regiment with the rank of captain and was later promoted to major and finally lieutenant colonel. As a chaplain Chadick performed the same duties as a minister of the Gospel: he conducted church services, counseled soldiers, distributed religious literature and Bibles, comforted the sick and wounded, and conducted funerals. He wrote letters for the illiterate soldiers to be sent home and wrote letters of bereavement to inform kinfolk of the death of their loved ones. The Confederate Army authorized chaplains with a pay of $80.00 per month, comparable to a company-grade officer. The chaplains were provided privates rations and had to provide their own uniforms and forage for their horses.
     In the heat of conflict at the First Battle of Manassas, on July 21, 1861, Captain Chadick picked up a rifle and fired at the enemy, earning him the title the “Fighting Parson.” Six weeks after the battle Chadick attended to the mortally wounded Colonel Egbert Jones and then accompanied his body home for internment in Alabama. During his short stay at home, Chadick helped raise an infantry battalion, the 1st Alabama which became part of the Alabama 26th and 50th Infantry Regiments. His unit fought in the Battle of Shiloh where nearly all officers were killed leaving Colonel Chadick in command. After Shiloh Chadick stayed in bed for six weeks in Mississippi recovering from rheumatism so severe he could not move his hands or feet.
      Chadick was made chief of staff to Governor Shorter, of Alabama, and was for some time in command of the North Alabama forces acting under the Governor. With Federal guns boats upstream at Florence, Alabama Governor Shorter called for the formation of four Calvary regiments to prevent the invasion and occupation of South Alabama. Colonel Chadick was sent out into the hills of North Alabama to raise the units. He brought them in, old and young, mounted on old horses, colts, and mules, and, as it was cold, and blankets scarce, every man of them brought a bed-quilt. All these quilts were of different colors leading to the regiment being named the “bed-quilt regiment."
      Reports indicated Colonel Chadick was much beloved by his men. He never lost sight of his duties as a Christian and the high and sacred position he held as a minister of the gospel. Following the war Rev. Chadick continued to serve as a notable pastor, evangelist, and denominational leader within the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Alabama.
       Mary Jane Chaddick the wife of Rev. William D. Chadick, wrote the only known diary chronicling the Union Army's occupation of Huntsville from 1862-65. The Civil War diary of Mary Jane Chadick of Huntsville, Alabama, has been a popular source for historians since it first appeared in serial form in the Huntsville Times in 1937.Chadick's witty observation of life under military occupation and the social and cultural tension of southern women living in a wartime world are quoted by writers of many books about the Civil War.
 Grave of Rev. William D. Chaddick

Mary Jane Chadick's wartime journal


OFFICIAL CAMP BALLOT
           As required by Captain Bryan Camp by-laws to publish the official ballot at least two weeks before the  camp election, it is published below:

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­THIRD NATIONAL
CONFEDERATE FLAG
CONTINUES TO FLY IN
DANVILLE, Va.
       DANVILLE, Va. – A move to remove the Third National Confederate Flag from a war memorial at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts has been thwarted, according to news reports.
       City Manager Joe King said recently that under Virginia law, the city has no legal authority to remove the flag on the museum grounds.
        The controversy began with a request by the Danville Museum of Fine Arts that the flag be removed by the city.
         The museum is located in the Sutherlin Mansion and the city became owner of it in 1914 with the help of Anne Eliza Johns Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy. The museum leased the mansion in 1983 and the historical monument was installed in 1994 by the Heritage Preservation Association. It consists of a 7-foot granite obelisk and a flagpole flying the Third National Flag. Danville was the last capital of the Confederacy.
         The last meetings of the Confederate cabinet were in the Sutherlin Mansion.



Sunday, October 5, 2014

CALCASIEU GREYS-October, 2014

Newsletter of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Lake Charles, Louisiana.


NEXT MEETING
           Our October meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, October 14, at Logan’s Roadhouse, 3506 Gerstner Memorial Prkwy. (Hwy. 14), Lake Charles, La. Our guest speaker will be the Rev. Shane Kastler, author of “The Redemption of Nathan Bedford Forrest” (Pelican Publishing, 2010). This will be a great program that you don’t want to miss. Please come and enjoy good Confederate fellowship and delicious food.

ANNUAL DUES
           Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 annual dues are now due. If you haven’t already paid, please do so as soon as possible. The renewal total is just $42 for the whole year. Checks may be made out of Sons of Confederate Veterans and sent to Camp Adjutant Luke Dartez, 908 Henning Road, Sulphur, La. 70665. Our local camp has been very active and involved in the community in getting out the message about the true history of the South, the War for Southern Independence and the true causes of the war. There has been a concerted “culture war” going on the America for quite some time now to wipe out all aspects of traditional American history and values, especially the history, heritage and moral values of the South. The Sons of Confederate Veterans is and has been battling for the good name of our Confederate ancestors, the values they truly stood for, such as those espoused in the Declaration of Independence, the original U.S. Constitution and the Doctrine of States Rights as formulated by Thomas Jefferson. Membership is vital to our mission. Please renew right away if you haven’t already.

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Finding Your Way Home
Commander’s Column October, 2014

Dr. Andy Buckley, camp commander
                In 1899 four reporters from Denver, Colorado met by chance in a hotel bar. Al Stevens, Jack Tornay, John Lewis, and Hal Wilshire represented the Denver Post, the Denver Times, the Colorado Republican, and the Rocky Mountain News. Each reporter faced the task of finding a scoop for the Sunday addition.
As they discussed their situation in a nearby hotel bar, Stevens suggested they make up a sensational story. They agreed the story would have to be a whopper. It would probably have to describe some event in a place far away to prevent other journalists from investigating and revealing their duplicity. They agreed they would make up a story about China.
The false news story they created claimed American engineers were on their way to China to demolish the Great Wall. To make the story believable Stevens suggested the destruction of the Great Wall would be done as a sign of international goodwill in order to promote foreign trade. By 11:00 P.M. the four reporters had worked out the details of their story and the next day all four Denver newspapers carried the hoax on the front page: “Great Chinese Wall Doomed! Peking Seeks World Trade.”
The entire story was a tall tale made up by four newsmen in a hotel bar. But amazingly their story was taken seriously and soon newspapers across America printed the breaking news. When Chinese nationals heard that American engineers would soon arrive to demolish the Great Wall, riots and protests erupted. Particularly angry were members of a Chinese secret society called the Boxers.
          Moved to action by this false story, the Boxers attacked American and European missionaries, murdering hundreds across China. The Boxers surrounded the U.S., British, Dutch, German, French, Belgium, and Russian embassies in Peking. Their siege of Western embassies lasted for fifty days and was only broken when an army of twelve thousand troops from seven countries invaded China to put down the revolt. The conflict, created by a journalistic hoax fabricated in a Denver saloon, was called the Boxer Rebellion.
          There is great power in the written and spoken word both positive and negative. For 150 years our beloved South has endured the curse of revisionist history assaulting the true and accurate account of the War Between the States and the noble cause for which our ancestors fought. Much like the Denver newspaper men, whose hoax created the Boxer Rebellion, liberal journalists and college professors have used print media to tell an inaccurate story of the War Between the States, denigrating the culture and values of the South.
Let me share with you a contemporary example. The University of Mississippi is renaming a street known as Confederate Drive and adding historical context to Old South symbols that have long stood on the Oxford campus. "Our unique history regarding race provides not only a larger responsibility for providing leadership on race issues, but also a large opportunity - one we should and will embrace," Chancellor Dan Jones wrote in a report that was developed with the help of a university committee and outside consultants.
The report says Confederate Drive, a short street near Fraternity Row, will be renamed Chapel Lane and plaques will be installed to explain the history of symbols such as a Confederate soldier statue near the main administrative building. The report recommends that the university do more to tell the history of slavery, secession, segregation and their aftermath in Mississippi. You see, from the perspective of the Chancellor of Ole Miss, what the overwhelming majority of Southerners, like you and me,  believe is not true and must be revised.
Two things make me very angry.  The first thing that makes me angry are liberal, politically correct attacks made upon all things Southern. I am more than a rebel. I am a Southern Confederate rebel! I am proud to be the ancestor of honorable and courageous men who fought on the side of the Confederacy. I am deeply committed to the vindication of the cause for which my ancestors fought, the defense of my ancestor’s good name, the guarding of their virtues, and the perpetuation of the precious principles my ancestor’s loved. An attack upon all things Southern is an attack upon my ancestors, my life, and my family.
The second thing that makes me angry is the idea that what we are doing through the SCV is unimportant and insignificant. In the last issue of the Louisiana True Delta, our Second Lt Commander, J.A. Hanna made the statement: “As we all know, some of our camps have either stopped having meetings or closed entirely due to a lack of membership.” If there was ever a time when the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Captain James W. Bryan Camp #1390 needed our wholehearted involvement, it is now. Other camps have become inactive and closed their doors but may it never be with SCV Camp 1390.
Our camp needs each member to be personally active in our meetings, willing to use personal leadership gifts through service, and generous financial support of our programs.  The enlistment of new members is probably our most significant need at this time. If the curse of revisionist history and the degradation of all things Southern is to be resisted and turned, it requires every able bodied Southerner to stand and fight with all our strength.  Will you join with me in doing all you can do in this great cause?
Dr. Andy Buckley, Commander, Camp 1390
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Guest Speaker for October Meeting
Rev. Shane Kastler
Rev. Shane Kastler, a local pastor, SCV Captain James W. Bryan member, and published Southern author will present our October program, Tuesday, October 14, 6: 00 pm at Logan’s Roadhouse Restaurant Hwy 14 in Lake Charles. Shane will speak on the subject   "Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption" which tells the true story of Forrest's Christian conversion after the War.
Shane Kastler serves as Pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) and Northeastern State University (Bachelor of Business Administration.). In addition to pastoring, he is the Co-Host of "Church and State" heard every Thursday from 8-10 AM on KELB, 100.5 FM in Lake Charles.
Rev. Shane Kastler
He writes a weekly newspaper column called "Seeking Higher Ground" and has contributed articles to "Sword & Trowel" magazine, the "Economic Policy Journal", LewRockwell.com, and the "Reformed Libertarian.” He is the author of "Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption" (Pelican Publishing, 2010) a biography of the great Confederate general. Shane also teaches at Covenant Grace Academy, a Christian school in Lake Charles.  He and his wife Erin are both native Oklahomans, who now make their home in Lake Charles with their 3 children.
Shane will have some signed copies of his book on hand if anyone would like to purchase a copy for $20.
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U.S. Naval Raid on Lake Charles

It was 152 years ago this month that a raiding party from the U.S.S. Kensington, a blockading gunboat, ascended the Calcasieu River to capture the blockade running steamboat Dan, owned by Captain Daniel Goos of Lake Charles, Louisiana.   The gunboat was too large to come up, but Lt. Frederick Crocker, 2 other officers and  12 sailors sailed up on a sloop with a boat howitzer on Oct. 3, 1862. They succeeded in capturing the Dan, burned the schooners Conchita, Eliza and Mary Ann, bombarded Lake Charles and captured Col. Nathaniel Clifton of the Calcasieu Regiment. There were no killed or wounded on either side.
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New Secession Poll
                A new Reuters/Ipsos Poll shows that 25 percent of Americans agrees that their states should have the right of secession – the right to withdraw from the Union. That right was among the God-given rights outlined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
                The poll showed that support for secession is strongest in the Southwest, with 34 percent supporting it, and least popular in New England at 19 percent. The Southeast section, which included Louisiana, favors secession by 25 percent; the Far West, 22 percent; Rocky Mountain states, 26 percent; Plains, 21 percent; Great Lakes region, 22 percent; Middle Atlantic state, 21 percent.
                The Southwest section included Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico. Louisiana was lumped in the poll with states as far north as Virginia and to the east, Florida, which have become demographically very different from traditional Southern states, that haven’t changed that dramatically. It is likely Louisiana would  fit in with the 34 percent category like its neighbor Texas.
                The poll included 9,000 Americans, a large sampling even for a national poll, that was taken in September.
                The Declaration of Independence clearly states that when a government fails to protect the essential interests of its people, those people have the right to withdraw and create a new government that better accommodates the needs of that people.—Mike Jones
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SOUTH HAD PRECEDENTS FOR SECESSION
                October 2, 1835 marks the beginning of the War for Texas Independence with the skirmishing and capture of Mexican soldiers by Texas settlers at Gonzales, Texas. The war lasted less than seven very eventful months until the Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto April 21, 1836  gained Texas Independence. The Republic of Texas lasted for 10 years when the people voted to join the United States in 1845. It is just one example of a successful secession by people exercising their God given right to govern themselves under a government of their own choosing. That is a right very well recognized and spelled out by the great secession document, the Declaration of Independence.
                And of course possibly the greatest example of successful secession was the War for American Independence, 1775-1783. Another, less known example, was the West Florida Republic, which was formed in what is now Southeast Louisiana when the people of the Spanish colony of West Florida seceded from the Kingdom of Spain in 1810 to form their own independent nation. The West Florida Republic lasted only three months before the United States took it over peacefully, claiming it was rightfully part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The national flag of the West Florida Republic was the Bonnie Blue Flag, a banner that made a deep impression on the people of the South. The Bonnie Blue Flag was one of the banners that represented the Texans battling for their independence, and was incorporated into the Texas state flag and its nickname, "Lone Star State."
So, when the people of the Southern states exercised their God-given right to govern themselves under a government of their own choosing in 1861, they had those successful examples of secession in mind and every reason to believe that their quest for freedom and independence would be successful too. The Bonnie Blue flag became a popular secession banner.  And, many leaders of the War for Southern Independence were the sons of veterans of the War for American Independence, including President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and General Joseph E. Johnston. – Mike Jones.



















Harry Macarthy's popular hit song of 1861, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" spread the popularity of the flag that was made originally for the secessionist West Florida Republic in 1810 by Melissa Johnson. (Library of Congress)

OLE MISS AND THE NEW BIGOTS

By Ben Jones
SCV Chief of Heritage Operations
The brilliant editor H.L. Mencken had a way of being succinct that sparkled with wit. "There is no idea so stupid that you can't find a professor who will believe it," he remarked.  Mencken would have a field day with the recent actions of the University of Mississippi. If you have ever wondered why academia is often the butt of ridicule and humor, you need only to read the report from Ole Miss President Dan Jones entitled, "Action Plan on Consultant Reports and Update on the Work of the Sensitivity and Respect Committee."
We are told that the Extended Sensitivity and Respect Committee has decided that the new Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion will work with the Institute for Racial Diversity and the Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement.
          Fellow compatriots, I am not making this up. This is not a satire, this is what the taxpayers of Mississippi are dishing out their hard-earned money to pay for.
          President Jones further stated, "It is my hope that the steps outlined here reflecting the hard work of University committees and our consultants will prove valuable in making us a stronger and healthier university, bringing us closer to our goal of being a warm and welcoming place for every person, every day, regardless of race, religion, preference, country of origin, ability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or gender expression."
          In my opinion, this is an as astounding a demonstration of politically correct, "feel-good", unadulterated hogwash as has ever been uttered by a man on the public payroll. And having spent four years in the United States Congress, I have heard some world-class hogwash in my day.
          President Jones, sounding a lot like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, has listed every possible group that might be sensitive to not being "included" in this unlimited "diversity", even one I've never heard of: "gender expression." Well, whatever that means, I figure it is o.k. if one expresses their gender at Ole Miss.
          There is one very large group that is not included, however. It is those of us whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy during the War Between the States. There are over 70 million of us, but it is as if we do not exist, or have deep feelings toward our forefathers.
           In fact, without a straightforward explanation, the famous Oxford Street named Confederate Drive is being renamed by these academics in the name of "inclusion". That intentional insult puts the lie to any pretense of "inclusion" or of respect or of diversity on the part of the University of Mississippi.
            The Confederacy existed. Thousands of young Mississippians died for it. That conflict has been the crucible event of American history. Everything before led up to it. Everything after has been influenced by it.
           The entire student body of the University of Mississippi enlisted in the Confederate Army and those young men suffered 100% casualties. That war is an historical reality and we do not flinch from that reality and its consequences. Those men and their descendants built the University and kept it going through good times and bad, and through the social changes of the past 150 years.
            That street was named for those brave young students. The University, in its narrow-minded rush to be politically correct, has banished that little bit of respect by renaming Confederate Drive. In their
sanctimonious zeal, they have demeaned the honor and reputation of our ancestors.
            In the last fifty years or so we have witnessed a truly remarkable revolution in race relations in the South. Where once there was Jim Crow and strict segregation, there is now new center for a multi-cultural society that has the fastest growing economy in the United States. Men and women of good hearts have come together in brotherhood and cooperation to enjoy racial relations that are an exemplar for other regions. This "bridge-building" has been built on an acceptance of the past and the promise of a shared future, not the divisive finger-pointing of the academics and the politicians.
            These politically correct crusaders are practicing a new kind of bigotry. It is a movement that demonizes the Confederacy and lays the sins of America entirely upon the South. If they continue to have their way, they would eradicate every vestige of our cultural history. They ask for respect but give none.
              Once again, we must make our voices heard in every way possible. We must demand the respect that our families deserve. We are the last line of defense for the dignity that our ancestors earned.

OCTOBER EVENTS

Port Hudson State Historic Site:
                October 11, 2014     Time11.00 AM
“Smack dab inta reb country!” This program will take John Ford’s 1958 film “The Horse Soldiers,” and discuss the actual events of Colonel Benjamin Grierson’s Civil War raid through Tennessee, western Mississippi, and ending in Baton Rouge during April and May, 1863.
            Port Hudson Ghost Stories     October 25, 2014     Time11:00 AM & 3:00 PM. A Port Hudson SHS ranger, in conjunction with Halloween, will regale site visitors with a plethora of ghost and ‘things that go bump in the night’ stories associated with the Port Hudson battlefield. The tours will start at the museum and then proceed down the trail to Fort Desperate.
Address: 236 Hwy. 61, Jackson, LA 70748.

On October 25, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, costumed performers will re-create the tragic and grisly aftermath of a Civil War battlefield. You will be led on a candlelight night tour of the actual battlefield, where almost 30,000 men made war on each other. Frightening and educational at the same time! 
Is the battlefield HAUNTED?
COME SEE FOR YOURSELF!
•A Safe Halloween Environment
•Park Rangers on Duty
•Static Scenes; No Grabbing or Chasing
•Staff Assisted Parking
Admission is FREE to this event!

Mansfield State Historic Site is located on State Highway 175, three miles south of Mansfield. Admission is $4.00 per person; children 12 and under and seniors 62 and over are admitted free.