Next Meeting
Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 will meet Tuesday,February 11 at Logan’s Road House in Hwy 14. Our meal
begins at 6:00 p.m. with the business session at 6:30 pm.
Program begins at 7:00 pm. Mike Jones will present the
program on the life and times Lt. Col. King Bryan, the uncle
of our camp namesake, Capt. James. W. Bryan. Col. Bryan
led a fascinating life that spanned the Texas Revolution,
where he fought at the first Siege of the Alamo, to the War for
Southern Independence where he served as a company commander
in the 5th Texas Infantry and commander of the regiment
and of Hood’s Texas Brigade. He played an important role in
such battles as Gaines’ Mill, Second Manassas, Gettysburg and
The Wilderness.
2014 Meeting Schedule
SULPHUR – Place to be announced.
March 11 – Hollier’s Cajun Kitchen, 1709 Ruth St.
May 13
July 8
September 9
November 11
LAKE CHARLES – Place to be announced.
April 8
June 10
August 12
October 14
Meetings are from 6-8 p.m. with business at 6:30, program 7.
Finding Your Way Home
Commander’s Column February, 2014One of our SCV State Divisional Commanders
recently penned the following thoughts about Robert E. Lee:
Do you remember when American school and military
bands played “Dixie” and country music legend Johnny Cash
sang “God Bless Robert E. Lee?” Cash’s song included these
words: “I won’t ever stop loving you my Dixie till they put
me in the ground. And the last words they probably hear
from me are God bless Robert E Lee.”
During Robert E. Lee’s 100th birthday in 1907, Charles
Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Army colonel who
commanded an infantry regiment and grandson of President
John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at
Washington and Lee College in Lexington, Virginia. His
speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers
and is said to have lifted Lee to a higher level of respect and
admiration among the American people.
Can you imagine the President of the United States,
members of Congress or a cabinet member speaking publicly
today in tribute to General Lee? Good luck on that taking place.
But in 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt delivered an
historic tribute to Robert E. Lee while touring the South: The
president told a group of Confederate Veterans in Richmond,
Virginia: “Here I greet you in the shadow of the statue of
your Commander, General Robert E. Lee. You and he left us
memories which are part of the memories bequeathed to the
entire nation by all the Americans who fought in the War
Between the States.”
Our Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 honored
Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson and our own
Confederate ancestors at our Lee-Jackson Banquet, Saturday
January 18th. Our Camp Adjutant Luke Dartez reports that
this year’s attendance of forty one was our largest ever! The
program was inspirational and the fellowship excellent. Ted
Brodie’s keynote address on The Rations of Confederate
Soldiers was one of the most informative presentations I have
heard. A special thanks to our outgoing Commander Archie
Toombs, Adjutant Luke Dartez, and Editor Mike Jones for
all the arrangements, door prizes, and everything that made
this year’s Lee-Jackson Banquet a memorable experience.
Thank you for every member who contributed items to be
given away as door prizes especially the beautiful scarves
given by Anita Floyd and the three excellent books donated
by Mike Jones and Greg Newton.
A special word of appreciation to Archie Toombs who
has faithfully served as our camp commander for the past two
two years. Archie loves the SCV, the South, and each
member of our Captain James W. Bryan Camp. We are
deeply grateful for the contribution Archie has made in
time, energy, and hard work on behalf our camp. Archie
will continue to be actively involved in the work of the
Captain James W. Bryan Camp and begins his second
year as the State Captain of the SCV Louisiana
Mechanized Calvary. We have been privileged to serve
under a number of very effective commanders - Mike
Jones, Travis Lanier, Tommie Curtis, and Gordon
Simmons. But I do not think any commander has worked
any harder than Archie Toombs. Thank you Archie!
This spring will be a busy time for our camp. If you
have been in attendance at one of our meetings lately you
have heard mention of the 150 year anniversary of the
Battle of Mansfield, April 25-27, 2014 at the Mansfield
Battle Park. The Richard Taylor Camp from Shreveport
and the 11th Louisiana Infantry will be the primary
sponsors but members of our camp will be needed to assist
with registration and other tasks. I hope you will be able to
attend.
We need all the members of our Captain James W.
Bryan Camp to be present for commemorating the 150
Year anniversary of the Battle of Calcasieu Pass on
Saturday, May 3, on the grounds of the Cameron Parish
Courthouse, 10:00 am-12:00 noon. This will be the first
time our camp has attempted to conduct an event on such
a large scale. I have requested Division Adjutant Bobby
Herring put the word out to all Confederate re-enactment
groups in Louisiana and have e-mailed Paul Gramling,
requesting his assistance. Our own Mike Jones is the
resident scholar and expert on the Battle of Calcasieu Pass
and we will be depending upon his assistance as our camp
seeks to promote this historic commemoration throughout
Southwest Louisiana and honor the men who gave their
lives in this strategic victory for the Confederacy.
Thank you for the privilege of serving our camp
as your commander. I view leadership in terms of service
and strive to function as a servant leader. I will never ask
you to do anything I am unwilling to undertake myself. I
commit to work hard, listen, and provide positive direction
for our camp. It is not important that I receive credit for
anything; only that our members and ancestors are both
recognized and honored. I love you and will seek to serve
in accord with the great values and traditions of our
Confederate ancestors.
As I begin my first year as your camp commander I
believe the key to the growth and effectiveness of our work
is our unity of purpose, our willingness to work together.
Significant things will be accomplished by the Captain
James W. Bryan Camp for the Sons of the Confederate
Veterans and our Southern Cause by the unified effort of
members, each contributing to the fulfillment of our
purpose. The optimum word is together…Together bricks make a wall.
Together players make a team.
Together instrumentalists make a band.
Together trees make a forest.
Together links make a chain.
Together soldiers make an army
Together 100 cents makes a dollar.
Together each individual member will enable our
organization to move forward.
Yours in Our Great Cause,
Dr. Andy Buckley
Commander
andybuckley1224@g mail.com
My Confederate Ancestor
The Calcasieu Greys will soon feature the storyof a James W. Bryan Camp member’s Confederate
Ancestor on a monthly basis.
Beginning this spring our Captain James W.
Bryan Camp will feature the stories of camp member’s
Confederate ancestors in our monthly newsletter
Calcasieu Greys. We would like to invite members to
submit a brief biography of your ancestor for our
upcoming issues. The biography should be 750 words
or less and include all service information, rank, place
of enlistment, branch and unit, the battles in which
your ancestor fought, final resting place, family
information, and any anecdote concerning your
ancestor. Please include a photograph of yourself and
your ancestor. Send your biography to Mike Jones,
Editor at m4082@msn.com or Dr. Andy Buckley
Commander at andybuckley1224@gmail.com.
Special Guest Speaker
At our March 11, 2014 meeting in Sulphur, atHollier’s Cajun Kitchen, Joe David Pool of DeRidder
will share about a project he has been researching and
composing for fifty years entitled "A Journal of the
Louisiana 17th Infantry Regiment in the Civil War."
It is written through the eyes of one individual soldier
of that unit. The book is not written from the
commanding officers' viewpoints, but from the
common combatant. In his presentation, you will hear
about misery and death. You will hear about friendship
and entertainment. Of course, you will hear about their
participation in battle... at Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw
Bluffs, Port Gibson, and Vicksburg. He has the rolls of
the companies of the regiment and a list of the dead.
Mr. Pool has published five books and four magazine
articles. He likes to write about the people of Louisiana
in which his family has lived for over 200 years. He
was Dr. Joe Grey Taylor’s teaching assistant at Mc-
Neese State University where he earned the Master of
Arts in History. He taught at Barbe, LaGrange, and
Sulphur High schools; and on the Navajo Indian
Reservation in New Mexico.
MY ANCESTOR
By Greg NewtonWilliam Martin Clark was born May 22,1831 in
Newton, Newton County TX, died there Nov. 21, 1906,
and is buried in City of Newton Cemetery. He
enlisted as Pvt. in Broocks' Co. C, 27th Regiment of
Whitfields' 1st Texas Legion. at San Augustine, TX Oct.
10, 1861. Though a Legion was properly a Regiment of
mixed arms, generally composed of infantry, cavalry,
and artillery battalions, Whitfields' Regiment was
composed of only cavalry companies. March 6-8, 1862
the 27th fought at Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), AR after
which the battalion was dismounted by order of Gen.
Van Dorn and the horses sent back to Texas. The battle
was a Union victory as Gen. Van Dorn’s forces were
swept from the field. W. M. Clark was promoted to Cpl.
as the Corinth, MS Campaign began in June of '62
fighting in the Siege of Corinth from April 29 to May 30
'62. The Confederates abandoned Corinth leaving the
strategic railhead under the control of Grants' forces.
The 27th began the Battle of Iuka, MS Sept. 19, '62 as
skirmishers in front of Littles' Division where the
Texans put up a particularly fierce fight. In this battle,
another Union victory; Cpl. Clark was wounded taking
a shell in the leg and captured as Prisoner of War. He
was eventually paroled home unfit for duty. No records
exist of the actual date of parole. It was in this time of
recovery back at home in Newton that he married
Caroline Isabel DuBose, the daughter of Lt. Amos
DuBose of the 13th Texas Cavalry, another of my
ancestors. In 1870 to 1875 Clark purchased and
Captained a steamer, the Texana and developed a
profitable business hauling cotton and other products
between Orange and Logansport. Caroline Isabel lived
until 1938 and often said that the suffering during the
Great Depression wasn't a drop in the bucket compared
to the privations experienced during the War and under
Reconstruction. William and Caroline’s son Edward
later became the Texas Secretary of State. As a young
boy I still remember many conversations at family
reunions about Grandpa Clark as he was still fresh on all
the family's memories. They would often tell the story
that the shell he took in the leg remained there all his
life and that he never fully recovered from it.
 |
| Greg Newton at the grave of his Confederate ancestor William Martin Clark. |
.jpg) |
| William Martin Clark |
A CONFEDERATE CATECHISM
[The following was excerpted from A ConfederateCatechism by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Third Edition, Nov. 21,
1929.]
19. Would Lincoln have saved the South from the
horrors of Reconstruction if he had survived the war?
No. Lincoln had shown no kindness to the South while he
lived, and there is no reason to suppose that he would have
done so had he survived the war. His war violated every
law of humanity, and instead of offering pardon to
everyone who would submit, as the British General Howe
had done in his amnesty proclamation of November 30,
1776, Lincoln in his amnesty proclamation of December 8,
1863, excepted from the benefits of his proclamation
everybody in the South of any leading intelligence. It is
absurd to ascribe Andrew Johnson’s policy of
Reconstruction to Lincoln, for Lincoln in his proclamation
of July 8, 1864, professed that he was not bound up to any
fixed plan whatever. The closest companion of Lincoln and
the mastermind of this Cabinet was Edwin M. Stanton, who
hated the South and all that concerned it. President
Johnson, to his credit, drove him from his Cabinet.
Lincoln’s reputation for kindness is based upon a number
of trivial incidents and on his knack of juggling with words
and using rhetoric to cover his absurd and often times
outrageous statements by a jingle of sentences. He
repeatedly backed down before his cabinet and had little of
the backbone of his successor, Andrew Johnson.
20. Is there any truth in the statement that the South
seceded from the Union because it saw itself menaced
with the loss of the rule which it had enjoyed from the
beginning?
None whatever. The Southerners never ruled the Union in
any real sense. They controlled the executive department,
but this department was confined to giving directions to the
foreign relations and to executing the laws made by
congress. And this body, the lawmaking – the real ruler –
was managed by the North from the very start. With the aid
of a few delinquent Southern votes, the North could always
count upon a majority in Congress. The revenue was
chiefly levied on the products of the South, and was mainly
disbursed in the North. Never once did the South use the
machinery of the Federal Government to enrich herself at
the expense of the North. The funding of the National debt,
the assumption of the State debts, the bounties for shipping,
tonnage duties, bounties for the fishermen, the restrictions
on foreign trade, the National bank, the tariff, the pensions,
land grants, internal improvement, etc., were all in interest
of the North. And this one-sided development remains
today exactly like it was of old. The South is still “the milk
cow of the Union.”
BE A MUSEUM FOUNDER
The truth about the South's struggle to form anew 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.
