CALCASIEU GREYS: July 2014

Next Meeting

               The next meeting of Captain James W. Bryan Camp, 1390, will be from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, at Joe’s Pizza & Pasta Restaurant, 1601 Ruth St., Sulphur, La. Our guest speaker will be Camp 1390 member, Dr. Michael Berger0on, M.D. Please come for great food and Confederate fellowship.

Be a Confederate Museum Founder

The time has come for us to step up our efforts toward the building of our Confederate Museum and new office building. At the GEC meeting on July 21, 2010 the GEC approved a new initiative to raise funds. Anyone can take part in this, they do not have to be an SCV member. Camps, Divisions, UDC chapters etc. can also take part.

               Donations can be made by multiple payments over a period of time. To make payment contact GHQ at 1-800-380-1896.

               This program got off to a resounding start. Several members have already become Stonewall Jackson level  ($1,000) Founders. One Compatriot has even become a member of the Confederate Cabinet level ($10,000) Founders. Imagine that during the Bicentennial of the War for Southern Independence that your descendants can go to a museum where they can learn the truth about the Confederacy.

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

Finding Your Way Home

Commander’s Column July, 2014

Dr. Andy Buckley, camp commander

People not born in our beloved South find it strange that we Southerners have for 150 years courageously fought to honor the memory of the soldiers who fought on the side of the Confederacy. On January 2, 1864, Major General Patrick Cleburne spoke a warning to Southern people. He wanted them to understand what military defeat would mean to the South. He stated that Southern children would be taught the Northern version of the War from text books published in the North; that the history of the South’s heroic struggle would be “written by the enemy”; and the North’s version of history would regard our gallant dead as traitors. In addressing this issue Frank L. Owsley wrote the conquest of the Southern mind was calculated to remake Southern opinion, to impose the Northern way of life and thought upon the South; write “error” across the pages of Southern history.

     How has this “remaking of the South” worked out?  For the most part this attempt has been a failure. It has been 150 years since General Robert E.  Lee surrendered at Appomattox and millions of Southerners across our region proudly honor the sacrifices and values of our brave Confederate ancestors and celebrate an accurate Southern history.

     Liberal college history professors (I was not one of them) have succeeded in revising the causes and the meaning of the War Between the States in the minds of millions of   Americans, young and old.  But there is still a significant level of Southern pride in Southern hearts. I see it at memorial services in the faces of our fellow Sons of Confederate Veteran members when we place hundreds of flags on the graves of those Southern heroes who are buried in Calcasieu Parish. I see it in expressions on the faces of those singing “Dixie” at our monthly SCV meetings held in public restaurants.  I see it in the stories we tell about our ancestors. This is the way it should be!

          Charles Richardson was scheduled to speak at our June meeting on the Civil War Experiences of Louisiana Governor Francis T. Nicholls, but was unable to be present due to work responsibilities.  In Charles’ absence I was privileged to present the program, “Seven Causes of the War Between the States.” I originally prepared this talk for the Acadiana Civil War Round Table in May. My purpose was to present the accurate historical factors which contributed to the War Between the States. I tried to explain in detail the complex issues which led the eleven states of the Confederacy to secede from the Union: slavery, tariff issues, economic competition, religious conflict, state sovereignty issues, Abolitionism, and the fragmentation of the two party system.

                    I based my presentation on three basic non-Southern sources of historical scholarship: James M. McPherson, Ante-Bellum Southern Exceptionalism: A New Look at an Old Question; Charles and Mary Beard, The Rise of American Civilization and An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution; and Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War and The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Even these pro-Northern scholars agreed there were significant causes contributing to the War Between the States beyond the slavery issue. If you would like a copy of Seven Causes of the War Between the States,” e-mail me at andybuckley 1224@gmail.com and I will forward it to you.

Yours in Our Great Cause,

Dr. Andy Buckley, Commander

Upcoming Captain James W. Bryan Program Speakers

July 8, 2014: Joe’s Italian Restaurant Sulphur Program.

Speaker: Dr. Michael Bergeron Captain James W. Bryan Camp Surgeon and Memorial Hospital Oncologist.

August 12, 2014: Logan’s Roadhouse Restaurant, Lake Charles Program. Speaker: Charles Lauret former Louisiana Division State SCV Commander and possible Commander Army of Trans-Mississippi. 

September 9, 2014: Joe’s Italian Restaurant Sulphur Program. Speaker: James Ronald Kennedy, former Louisiana Division State SCV Commander and author of The South Was Right. Topic: "Post Appomattox: Reconciliation or Vindication?"

October 14, 2014: Logan’s Roadhouse Restaurant, Lake Charles Program. Speaker: Rev. Shane Kastler member Captain James W. Bryan Camp and author.

November 11, 2014: Joe’s Italian Restaurant Sulphur Program. Speaker: Texas State Representative James White (invited)

December 9, 2014: Captain James W. Bryan Camp Christmas Party.

31st Tennessee Infantry Battle Flag

William Timmons: My Confederate Ancestor

By Shane Kastler

[Captain James W. Bryan Member, Pastor, and Author]

Southern pride ran deep in the Timmons family.  In 1860, John Morgan Timmons, a respected Baptist minister, would represent his county at the South Carolina Secession Convention.  Being the first state to secede from the Union, John would sign his name to the historic South Carolina Ordinance of Secession, which was a link in the process that led to the War's first battle at Fort Sumter some four months later.

               John's cousin (and my great-great grandfather) was named William Robert Monroe Timmons.  He was an orphan when the War Between the States began in 1861. Having lived in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas by the age of 19, William eventually found himself in Trenton, Tennessee on September 13, 1861 being

mustered in as a Private into the 31^st Tennessee Infantry Regiment, Company G.  For the next year, the 31^st Tennessee was stationed at various posts from Fort Pillow, Tennessee to Corinth, Mississippi.

               In the Fall of 1862, as a part of General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Mississippi, the 31^st

participated in the Confederacy’s much ballyhooed “Invasion of Kentucky.”   The apex of the Kentucky campaign was reached in the Battle of Perryville on October 6-7, 1862 near the city of Perryville, a battle which is most remembered for its confusion, and its savagery.  Of the 31^st Tennessee’s 765 members, 100 casualties were reported, one of which was William Timmons.  When first discovered on the battle field, his wound to the face appeared to be mortal.  But he survived the Perryville wound and was back in battle six weeks later. As the Confederates retreated back into Tennessee, now "Corporal" Timmons remained in a Perryville hospital, having been captured as Prisoner of War.  Records show that six weeks later on November 15, 1862, he was exchanged for Union P.O.W.’s in a trade aboard the Union Steamer “Maria Denning” on the Mississippi River, near Vicksburg, Mississippi.

By March 1865, the 31^st Tennessee was in North Carolina struggling valiantly to regain an advantage.  By early April word reached Gen. Joe Johnston that Robert E. Lee had surrendered to U.S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia.  Johnston surrendered to William Sherman, effectively ending the War.  Corporal Timmons, along with the rest of the 31^st Tennessee, was granted parole by the United States government as a part of the Army of Tennessee’s terms of surrender on May 1, 1865 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

               After the war ended, Timmons moved back to Tippah County, Mississippi where he married Mahalla Jane Roten in 1866.  They would eventually move to Arkansas and then settle in Clarksville, Texas.  In 1905, William Timmons succumbed to pneumonia, while visiting his son in Johnston County, Oklahoma. There he was laid to rest; having served in defense of his Southern nation for all four years of the savage war.  His family, including me, remember and honor his faithful service. 

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Louisiana author Danny Brown has written a biography of one of the heroes of the Battle of Mansfield, Colonel James Hamilton Beard of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment. Brown tells the whole story of Beard’s superlative life. He was born  July 28, 1833 in Lowndes County, Alabama. When both of his parents died in a typhoid fever epidemic when he was 11 years old, he and his brother and sister were taken in by their grandmother, but she died four years later. The orphans were then taken in by an aunt and uncle. When he was 17, in 1850, James moved to Louisiana where he had other relatives. Overcoming all adversity, by age 20 he became a successful businessman and postmaster of Red Bluff, La.

               Beard married the love of his life, Kate Tomkies on Sept. 30, 1857 and the couple were blessed with a daughter and a son. The son died infancy. They had moved to Shreveport by 1860, where he was in a mercantile business. His younger brother, Ned, 16 years old, moved in with them about that time and later served in his units in the war.

               With the War for Southern Independence on the horizon, James raised Shreveport’s first military company, the Shreveport Greys, of which he became captain. They went to Pensacoa, Fla. and then to Virginia as Compnay D, 1^st  Special Battalion (Dreux’s) Louisiana Infantry. The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Charles Dreaux, became the first Louisiana officer killed in action when he died in a skirmish with the Yankees near Newport News, Va. on July 5, 1861. Beard was promoted to major on July 15, 1861.

               Beard did routine duty in Virginia until he returned to Monroe, Louisiana in early 1862 to help organize a new unit. He was made major of the 11^th Battalion, Louisiana Infantry on May 15, 1862. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and commander of the battalion on August 3, 1863. On Nov. 3, 1863, the 11^th and 12^th battalions were consolidated with the 24^th (Crescent) regiment, and Beard  was promoted to colonel and commander of the new Consolidated Crescent Regiment. The regiment was placed in Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton’s Louisiana infantry brigade.

               Beard then led the Crescents in Mouton’s famous charge at the Battle of Mansfield where he died a heroic death  carrying the regimental battle in the successful assault on the Yankee line on April 8, 1864.

               The book is loaded with photographs and letters written by Beard and other people in his life. Lives That will Not Rust is co-published by BMC-BIC Media Alliance.  The book is now available online from Amazon.com and BIC Alliance (www.bicalliance.com); $12, 100 pages, trade paperback.

Gen. ROBERT  E. LEE quote         

September 9, 1861 address to his men:

“Keep steadily in the view of the great principles for which you contend . . . . The safety of your homes and the lives of all you hold dear depend upon your courage and exertions. Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the right of self-government, liberty and peace shall find him a defender.”

150-years-ago

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia

            [National Park Service]

When Federal Maj.  Gen. William T. Sherman moved from New Hope Church, Georgia, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was compelled to follow on a parallel line. This shift put the Confederates in front of Marietta, in a battle line extending from Lost Mountain across Kennesaw Mountain to Brush Mountain, a distance of about 12 miles. Pine Mountain, an isolated eminence in front of this line, also was occupied. 

           This position covered Marietta, the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which at this point passed between Kennesaw and Brush Mountains, and the bridges across the Chattahoochee River which would be indispensable if  the Confederates were compelled to withdraw. Proceeding east from New Hope Church, Lost Mountain is approximately 71/2 miles, Kennesaw Mountain 14 miles, and Brush Mountain 17 miles distant. Several days of rainy weather checked military operations. By June 14, however, a portion of the Federal Army had worked close to the Confederates on Pine Mountain. Generals Johnston, William Hardee, and Leonidas Polk rode to the summit of Pine Mountain that day to observe the enemy's line, and while there a battery of Federal guns, three-quarters of a mile distant, fired, one of the shots killing Polk instantly. The Confederate line of 10 miles or more was too long for the number of available troops, and Johnston soon concentrated them on Kennesaw Mountain. 

           The main Federal force now advanced toward Kennesaw Mountain, and as the Confederate position was neared, Sherman's men spread out on a line paralleling it and extending south. There was continuous skirmishing, but the operations were hindered by heavy rains which converted streams into torrents and roads into ribbons of mud. Discerning that the Federals were attempting to envelop his flank by the movement to the south, Johnston moved Hood from the right to the left of his line in an effort to strike the Federals as they maneuvered for position. On the morning of June 22, Federal troops advanced toward Marietta along the Powder Springs Road. By noon they had reached the intersection of the Macland and Powder Springs Roads, situated on a ridge which offered a strong defensive position.

          The Federal troops were massed in the woods around the road intersection, only a portion of them entrenching. During the morning, Hood had concentrated his troops on the Powder Springs Road, and in the afternoon they were ordered to attack. From Confederate prisoners it had been learned that such a movement was intended, and the Federals had a little time to prepare for the assault. It began at 5:30 p. m., the Federal skirmish line being quickly engulfed, but failed to reach the main line owing to heavy artillery fire. 

      Prior to the Confederate assault, Hooker, in command of the Federal column, established his headquarters in the home of Valentine Kolb, which stands on the Powder Springs Road, 4.5 miles southwest of Marietta. Many of the fortifications erected during this engagement are also still in existence.

Indecisive skirmishing continued for several days. Sherman had the choice of making a frontal assault, or attempting another turning movement. The heavy rains and the all but impassable roads would make the turning movement especially difficult. Furthermore, the troops were tired of marching and wanted to fight. Lincoln, running for reelection, needed a Federal victory to bolster his policy of continuing the war. If the frontal assault succeeded, all military resistance in north Georgia might be ended ; if it failed, the flanking movement still could be attempted. These considerations determined Sherman to risk a frontal attack.

The assault was made at two separate points against the Confederate center on the morning of June 27. One column struck south of Kennesaw Mountain along the Burnt Hickory Road. Another was hurled against a salient south of the Dallas Road, defended by General Benjamin F. Cheatham, and known now as Cheatham's Hill. Eight thousand troops were sent against the Confederates at Cheatham's Hill, and 5,300 at the point south of Kennesaw Mountain. At Cheatham's Hill the Federals lost 1,580 men in killed, wounded, and captured, against slightly over 200 in Confederate losses; in the attack south of Kennesaw Mountain, the Federals lost about 600 men, including 30 officers, against about half that number of Confederates. The attack thus failed with heavy losses. Military critics charge Sherman with having made one of his few mistakes in ordering the frontal attack. 

Realizing that the Confederate position could be carried only by a tremendous sacrifice of men, Sherman resumed the flanking tactics which he had employed so often. A Federal column was extended far beyond the Confederate left, and Johnston's line of communications to Atlanta was threatened. Consequently, on the night of July 2, the Confederates withdrew, thus ending the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.