CALCASIEU GREYS -- July 2012

NEXT MEETING

          The next meeting of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 will be from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, July 10, at the Pitt Grill Restaurant, 102 Benoit Lane, Sulphur, (near the intersection of I-10 and Ruth Street).

            Cmdr. Archie Toombs will give part two of his program on Confederate general and Secretary of State, Robert Toombs.. Please come and enjoy the meeting if you can make it. 

Pvt. John M. Sellers, Company  G, 16th Louisiana
Infantry. (Courtesy of Robert Albanese and Dan
McCollum.)

Confederate image identified       

          A descendant, Dan McCollum, saw a copy of this photo of Private John M. Sellers of Company G, 16th Louisiana Infantry in the June issue of Calcasieu Greys, which was then unidentified,  and contacted Archie M. Toombs, commander of Capt. J. W. Bryan Camp, and identified it as being his relative. Another descendant, Robert Albanese, a great-great-grandson, provided the excellent quality copy seen at left.

            According to Mr. McCollum, Sellers is listed in the Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederacy of the National Park Service system, as a member of the 16th. Mr. McCollum said Sellers was living in north Alabama, where his family comes from, when the war started. He left Alabama and went back to Louisiana where he had been living and enlisted. After the war he returned to Alabama and died there June 8, 1895 in Blount, Alabama.

          According to Sellers military  service record, he was present for  the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, and was wounded in action at the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee on December 31, 1862.

           Sellers was absent in the  hospital recovering from his wound and he returned to duty in July, 1863. He was then present for the Battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, 1863 where nearly one-third of the regiment was captured. Sellers then fought at the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863. He was then absent in the hospital from January 6, 1864 until May 1, 1864 when he  returned to duty.

          Sellers was then present  for the Atlanta Campaign and fought at Mill Creek Gap, May 7; Resaca, May 14-15; and New Hope Church, May 25-28.  He was also present when his regiment participated in the  battles of Atlanta, July 22, Ezra Church, July 28; and  Jonesboro, August 31. The 16th helped capture Florence, Alabama on October 30, 1864 and  Sellers was in the Battle of Nashville, December 15-16, 1864.

          The regiment was then stationed as part of the garrison of Mobile, Alabama in February, 1865. Sellers was present for duty on the last roll of the war from April 20-30, 1865. John M. Sellers  was truly a faithful soldier and a Southern hero.

Confederate Memorial Day

            Members of  Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 observed Confederate Memorial Day, June 3, in Calcasieu Parish by decorating graves of Confederate Veterans and holding a memorial ceremony at the South's Defenders Monument at the Calcasieu Parish Court House in Lake Charles. Cemeteries all over the parish were covered in the grave decoration effort, including Niblett's Bluff Cemetery to the west to the historic cemeteries in Lake Charles. Many others around the parish were covered as well. Thanks go out to all who took part in this effort and did our duty as a camp for our  Southern heroes.

Sick from Freedom

African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction

University of Oxford Press, USA

Jim Downs

          Bonds people who fled from slavery during and after the  Civil War did not expect that their flight toward freedom would lead to sickness, disease, suffering, and death. But the war produced the largest biological crisis of the nineteenth century, and as historian Jim Downs reveals in this groundbreaking volume, it had deadly consequences for hundreds of thousands of freed people.
          In Sick from Freedom (University of Oxford Press, USA, 2012), Downs recovers the untold story of one of the bitterest ironies in American history--that the emancipation of the slaves, seen as one of the great turning points in U.S. history, had devastating consequences for innumerable freed people. Drawing on massive new research into the records of the Medical Division of the Freedmen's Bureau-a nascent national health system that cared for more than one million freed slaves-he shows how the collapse of the plantation economy released a plague of lethal diseases. With emancipation, African Americans seized the chance to move, migrating as never before. But in their journey to freedom, they also encountered yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, dysentery, malnutrition, and exposure. To address this crisis, the Medical Division hired more than 120 physicians, establishing some forty underfinanced and understaffed hospitals scattered throughout the South, largely in response to medical emergencies. Downs shows that the goal of the Medical Division was to promote a healthy workforce, an aim which often excluded a wide range of freedpeople, including women, the elderly, the physically disabled, and children. Downs concludes by tracing how the Reconstruction policy was then implemented in the American West, where it was disastrously applied to Native Americans.
           The widespread medical calamity sparked by emancipation is an overlooked episode of the Civil War and its aftermath, poignantly revealed in Sick from Freedom.

Features

          Reveals that the moment of emancipation triggered widespread illness and death among African Americans. 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of the unofficial liberation of the slaves during the Civil War and 2013 the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The first in-depth study of the Medical Division of the Freedmen's Bureau, the first system of national medical care created by the federal government.

Connects the federal government's response to emancipation to the displacement of Native Americans on reservations.

Product Details

           280 pages; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-975872-2ISBN10: 0-19-975872-7

About the Author(s)

Jim Downs is Assistant Professor of History and American Studies at Connecticut College. He is the editor of Taking Back the Academy: History of Activism, History as Activism and Why We Write: The Politics and Practice of Writing for Social Change. 

‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’

What It Really Means

By

Michael Dan Jones

One of the most enduring traditional American hymns and patriotic songs is Julia Ward Howe’s “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It is a staple with many Christian church choirs and hardly a patriotic holiday passes without this song being sung and played at ceremonies nationwide. But is “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” truly appropriate for religious hymnals and patriotic ceremonies? Who was the author? What motivated and inspired her? What message was she trying to convey? What do the words mean? What meaning do they have for us today?

The author, Julia Ward Howe, was born in 1819 in New York City. She married a prominent physician, Dr. Samuel Howe Gridley (1801-1876) in 1843 and they lived in Boston, Mass., where they raised five children. She was a much celebrated author, a tireless supporter of the anti-slavery movement, preached in Unitarian Churches, and was a zealous worker for the advancement of women, prison reform, world peace and other humanitarian movements. She died October 17, 1910 at her summer home in Oak Glen, Rhode Island.

News reporters of her day delighted in describing this unusual woman. She was diminutive in stature, barely over five feet; invariably wearing a white trimmed, black dress and lace cap and had the habit of peering over her silver-rimmed glasses as she read her lecture in a crisp Boston-Yankee accent.

But her literary works had dark themes, such as murder, suicide and betrayal, perhaps reflecting her own unhappy marriage with her domineering and unfaithful husband. Her church, the Unitarian Church, although it claimed to be Christian, denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

And although she was devoted to the anti-slavery movement, like many other Northern radicals of her time, such as Abraham Lincoln, her own words reveal her to be a hypocrite on the subject of race. Julia Ward Howe believed and wrote the “ideal negro” would be one “refined by white culture, elevated by white blood.” She also wrote “the negro among  negroes, is coarse, grinning, flat- footed, thick-skulled creature, ugly as Caliban, lazy as the laziest brutes, chiefly ambitious to be of no use to any in the world….He must go to school to the white race and his discipline must be long and laborious.” Her own disgusting words expose the kind of hypocrisy that was rampant in the abolitionist movement.

Mrs. Howe and her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, were supporters of the most radical and violent wing of the anti-slavery movement. These “disunion abolitionists” wanted to tear apart the American republic of sovereign, independent states, and reconstruct it along their own radical political, cultural and religious ideals. History records only how too well they succeeded with their treason.

Her husband and her pastor, Unitarian Rev. Theodore Parker, were conspirators in the treasonous group known as “The Secret Six.” These wealthy Northeasterners financially supported terrorist and murderer John Brown in his insane Harpers Ferry raid, and advocated slave rebellion that would destroy the original American republic.

Brown’s Anti-Southern terror campaign started in Kansas in the mid-1850’s. There, on May 23, 1856 Brown and his murderous band descended on a settlement of Southerners at Pottawatomie Creek. They carried with them newly sharpened swords, an image that played a prominent part in Mrs. Howe’s song (her hero and his fellow terrorists literally hacked to death five innocent men). Northern historians try to excuse this crime by saying Brown was exacting revenge for atrocities committed by pro-slavery “Border Ruffians.” This is a lie!

The first three victims, James P. Doyle and his sons, Drury and William, were Catholics from Tennessee who moved to Kansas to get away from slavery. They never had a thing to do with the institution. But because they spoke with a Southern drawl, and possibly because they were Catholic, Brown marched them to a clearing where their heads were split open with the sharpened swords. Drury’s arms were chopped off. Mrs. Doyle was later asked why her husband and sons had been so brutally murdered. She replied, “Just because we were Southern people, I reckon.”

The other victims of Brown’s murderous rampage were Southern settlers Allen Wilkinson, executed while his wife and children stood by in horror, and William Sherman, whose mutilated body was found floating in the creek with his left hand hanging by a strand of skin and his skull split open with “some of his brains” washed away.

When she got word of the massacre, Julia Ward Howe’s own words reveal her to have been perversely thrilled and inspired by this grisly crime. The “terrible swift sword” in her song was terrible indeed, but hardly reflecting Christian values. Mrs. Howe and Brown mutually admired one another, as their own words demonstrate. Mrs. Howe wrote Brown was “a Puritan of Puritans, forceful, concentrated, and self-contained.” Brown wrote of Mrs. Howe, in a letter to a friend, that she was “a defiant little woman” and that her personality was “all flash and fire.” After the failure of Brown’s bloody raid on Harper Ferry, her husband, who was deeply involved in the treasonous conspiracy,  like a coward in the night, fled to Canada until he was assured he was safe from prosecution in Massachusetts.

Mrs. Howe, in a letter to her sister at the time, made it clear she was in complete sympathy with the attempt to start a slave rebellion in the South, and tear the nation apart. She wrote, “I have just been to church and hear [James Freeman] Clarke (another Unitarian minister) preach about John Brown, whom God bless, and will bless! I am much too dull to write anything good about him, but shall say something at the end of my book on Cuba; whereof I am at present correcting the proof-sheets. I went to see his poor wife, who passed through here some days since. We shed tears together and embraced at parting, poor soul… [Brown’s] attempt I must judge insane but the spirit heroic. I should be glad to be as sure of heaven as that old man may be, following right in the spirit and footsteps of the old martyrs, girding on his sword for the weak and oppressed. His death will be holy and glorious--the new saint awaiting his martyrdom, and who, if he shall suffer [execution], will make the gallows glorious like the cross.

What “martyrs” could Mrs. Howe have been speaking of in her letter? Surely she could not mean the early Christian martyrs who were slain in many perverse, cruel and cold-blooded ways by the ancient Romans, just as her hero, John Brown, slew the Southern martyrs in Kansas. Her fascination with his sword is also revealed in the letter. This grotesque and warped view of Christian values is reflected in her violent and bloody war song.

Here we have the author of the much revered “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” condoning murder and treason by a ruthless and brutal killer. Her dark fascination with Brown’s bloody sword and the killer’s unbridled violence seemed to thrill the diminutive author. Clearly, the seeds of inspiration for her “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” had been planted in the poisonous soil of murder, rebellion and treason.

But what was the final inspiration for the famous lyrics? In November 1861, after the start of the tragic war that the Howe’s had for so long worked to instigate, a party which included the Unitarian Rev. James F. Clarke and Mrs. Howe, visited an outpost of the invading Union troops in Northern Virginia. However an unexpected Confederate attacked cancelled the review. Mrs. Howe and her party were waiting in a buggy while Northern troops came marching by, returning from the skirmish. The camp visitors heard the Yankees merrily singing an obscene version of “John Brown’s Body.”

When the party returned to Washington, D.C., the Rev. Clarke asked Mrs. Howe if she could supply more dignified words for the popular tune. So, inspired by the memory of her late, “martyred hero” John Brown, and the skirmish that so rudely interrupted her review of her beloved invading Northern vandals, she wrote the words for the famous Anti-Southern abolitionist anthem, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” by candlelight in the middle of the night at the Willard Hotel.

James T. Fields, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, accepted the song and published it as a poem in the February 1862 issue. This bloody, hate-filled song has been marching on ever since. The “hymn” sung by so many church and school choirs, was inspired not by the Bible or a stirring religious sermon, but by a dastardly killer, John Brown, and by the march of Northern invaders trampling over Southern soil, Southern lives and Southern rights, in quest of subjugating or killing the Southern people. And what horrible crime was the South guilty of to warrant its extermination?

The people of the South were guilty only of wanting independence for a government of their own choosing, a pro-Christian, God-based government that safeguarded states’ rights, individual liberty and put strict limits on the national government. This was the type of government the founders established in 1776, and the South was trying to preserve it as handed to them.

It was Abraham Lincoln, who is said to have cried the first time he heard the abolitionist war song, and radicals like Mrs. Howe who were the real revolutionaries. It was their forces who, by brute force of arms, destroyed the original voluntary union of sovereign, independent states at the cost of 620,000 dead Americans, and changed the nations into an involuntary union of defeated, militarily occupied, captive states.

In 1863, Mrs. Howe recited, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at a gathering of fanatical abolitionists. One of those who saw and heard her commented that she had a “weird penetrating voice.” Considering the bloody, ungodly history of her war song, what a chilling experience that must have been.

In summary, here is a “hymn” celebrating the killing of Southerners on Southern soil, written by someone involved in the most radical causes or her day, who supported the most extreme and violent response to the South, who wrote the song after being inspired by the murderous career of John Brown and her northern vandal invaders of the South. Whenever “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is played, five innocent men hacked to death by the “terrible swift sword” of John Brown should be remembered. It is also a dirge for the 620,000 Americans who died in the War for Southern Independence and which war transformed America into a despotic centralized state with practically unlimited powers.

What meaning does the song have for the South today?

It is, in effect, a "stealth" heritage attack. It is conditioning Southerners to accept the Yankee myth of history: that their Confederate ancestors were wrong, and their Northern “betters” were right and they should be glad 260,000 Southrons were slaughtered in the War for Southern Independence. The message of the song is, “Believe in Mrs. Howe’s almighty centralized government to tell you what is right and what is wrong.” Don’t listen to the founders of 1776 or 1861, is the message of this hymn. Yes, Mrs. Howe’s abolitionist hymn is still doing her work, quietly and covertly, of destroying Southern heritage by conditioning Southerners to accept her fanatically leftist cultural and religious philosophy.

How ironic that such a joyous traditional Southern song as “Dixie” is now all but banned throughout the South, while a vicious Anti-Southern war song such as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is sung by churches and patriotic ceremonies all over the Confederate states.

What meaning does it have for the Church?

Did Jesus Christ teach that God is a vengeance seeking, sword-wielding maniac that slaughters innocents and tramples people under His wrathful feet, as Mrs. Howe’s violent and bloody lyrics would have you believe? No, such lyrics don’t fit in with any Christian liturgy I’m familiar with. They do fit in the theology of radical egalitarianism which says everyone must be equal in all aspects of life, or the full force and power of the federal government will destroy you. It also fits in the philosophy of giving to the government god-like powers to declare a whole segment of humanity as non-persons, such as the unborn, who can then be legally slaughtered by the millions at the whim of the mother and abortionist.

If Americans truly care about individual liberty, limited, constitutional government, and the sacred right of self-government of the people in their assembled states, then all such false icons as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” must be exposed and rejected.

CALCASIEU GREYS

June 2012

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY -- June 3 is the official Confederate Memorial Day in Louisiana. It is a legal state holiday!

NEXT MEETING

Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, Sons of Confederate Veterans, will meet from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, at Piccadilly Cafeteria in Prien Lake Mall in Lake Charles. The  business and program part of the meeting will get underway promptly at 6:30 p.m. Camp  Commander Archie Toombs will present the program on Confederate general and secretary of state Robert Toombs of Georgia. He was the first Confederate  secretary of state and led his brigade at the Battle of Sharpsburg, Va. Where he was wounded in action.

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY

                June 3 is the official Confederate Memorial Day  in Louisiana, a legal state holiday, and will be observed as usual in Southwest Louisiana by Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 by decorating Confederate graves and holding a memorial service at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at the South's Defender Monument on the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse grounds.

          Flags will be distributed for decorating Confederate graves at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at the grave site of Captain James W. Bryan at the west entrance off Broad Street of Orange Grove-Graceland Cemetery in Lake Charles. We'll decorate graves in that cemetery and then fan out to other cemeteries in Calcasieu Parish. If you'd like to volunteer to help with sacred duty and honor, please be at the cemetery at the appointed time.

            Compatriots are asked to participate in putting flags on Confederate Veteran’s graves in West Calcasieu on Saturday, June 2 in observance of Confederate Memorial Day.  We will be putting flags on graves in the following cemeteries:  Antioch, Big Woods, Dutch Cove, Farquah, Niblett’s Bluff, and Royer, totaling approximately 100 graves.  All compatriots interested in participating can contact Commander Archie Toombs at 304-1849 or Adjutant Luke Dartez at 583-7727 for more information.               

LOUISIANA SENATE RECOGNIZES

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY

                Louisiana Senator Blade Morrish of District 25, representing Jeff Davis and Calcasieu parishes in the state senate, signed a Louisiana State Senate resolution recognizing Confederate Memorial Day, which is already a legal state holiday here.
                The resolution states, "June 3, the birthday of Jefferson Davis, the only President of  the Confederate States of America, was established as Confederate Memorial Day in Louisiana by act of the legislature in 1902 as a day of public rest and legal holiday."
                It also states,  that "Confederate Memorial Day  was established to commemorate the four-year struggle for states' rights, individual freedom, and local government  control by the Confederate States of American."
                The resolution also notes that Louisiana declared herself to be a free and independent state and subsequently joined the Confederate States of America of which it was a member state from 1861 to 1865.
                Other interesting highlights are that it recognizes Louisiana Confederate soldiers took part in every major battle of the War Between the States and contributed leaders and sailors to the Confederate service
                It encourages people to  reflect on the state's past and to respect the devotion of her Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens to the cause of Southern liberty.
                The resolution also decries the politically correct revisionists who  would have Louisiana children believe that their Confederate ancestors fought for slavery when in fact most Louisianans joined the Confederate armed forces to defend their homes, their families, and their proud heritage as Louisianans.
                Also published in the resolution as a wonderful poem, "Poem for Confederate Memorial Day" by Oliver Reeves.
                It invites all Louisianans to honor those men and women who died for Louisiana, and also all the Louisianans who came afterward and benefited from their legacy of honor and devotion to our  state.
                It ends: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, June 3, 2012 is hereby officially recognized as Confederate Memorial Day in Louisiana and Louisiana schools and citizens  are hereby urged to join in efforts to become more knowledgeable of the role of the Confederate States of America in the history  of our state and country.
                Thank you Senator Morrish for this excellent resolution!

A LETTER FROM OUR STATE COMMANDER

                By being a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, you have demonstrated a commitment to your Confederate ancestry and your Southern Heritage. This commitment extends to our organization, the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Some have stated that they dislike the “politics” in our organization. Please do not allow the current situation in Washington, D.C. to taint your opinion of the operation of our fine organization. “Politics” are a necessary evil to every successful organization, even ours.

                But….the men we elect to lead our organization is OUR choice. This summer, as we gather for reunion at Murfreesboro, we will elect the men that will lead the S.C.V. for the next two years. It is important that we elect someone that will be OUR voice, and will help our organization grow. Now, more than ever, our Southern Heritage is being erased on a daily basis. I have seen it in my hometown, and I’m sure you have as well. Heritage defense is one of the most important issues we face.

                This being said, I urge you and your camp to send a delegate to YOUR national reunion in July, AND cast your votes for a Compatriot that has a proven record as a voice for the membership, stands behind what he says, and will represent our organization for the next two years. That Compatriot is Paul Gramling, Jr. Those of you that attended our division reunion just recently will remember that the division voted unanimously to support Paul in his bid for 1st Lieutenant Commander. Not only your vocal support, but you MUST send a delegate to Murfreesboro to cast the votes for your camp.

The future of OUR organization depends on you!!

Lest We Forget

David Hill

Louisiana Division

SW Brigade Cmdr. Richard
Brians presented the SW
Brigade "Compatriot of the
Year" Award to Mike Jones of Camp
1390.

 LOUISIANA DIVISION REUNION 2012

                 At the 2012 Louisiana Division Reunion on May 12th in Shreveport, the following items of interest are reported;
                A memorial luncheon was held were the names of passed compatriots were call in their remembrance. Representatives from each camp shared their memories of these men.
                A memorial service was held at Oakland Cemetery in Shreveport, where a brief history of Confederate Shreveport was presented along with the dedication of a headstone to the memory of Richard Taylor, Jr. and Zachary Taylor, the young sons of Lt Gen Richard Taylor, who rest at Oakland in unknown graves.
Constitutional Amendments
Amendment 1 - passed
Amendment 2 -passed
Louisiana Tiger Awards
                The following camps were awarded the Louisiana Tiger Award for distinguished camp(s);
Henry Watkins Allen Camp 133, Baton Rouge
Brig Gen J J Alfred A Mouton Camp 778, Opelousas
Claiborne Invincibles Camp 797, Claiborne Parish
Lt Gen Richard Taylor Camp 1308, Shreveport
Capt Thomas O Benton Camp 1444, Monroe
Sgt James W Nicholson Camp 1478, Ruston
Lt Elijah H Ward Camp 1971, Farmerville

 Brigade Compatriot of the Year;

                 The following men were chosen as "Compatriot of the Year" for their respective brigades
SE Brigade - John Pigott, Camp Moore 1223
SW Brigade - Mike Jones, Capt James Bryan Camp 1390
NE Brigade - Kevin Adkins, Lt Elijah Ward Camp 1971
NW Brigade - Jeff Bogan, Lt Gen Richard Taylor Camp 1308

Resolutions;
                The Resolution Committee offered the following resolutions, all were passed unanimously;
1. Rebuking Governor Jindal for his refusal to recognize our Heritage during Confederate History Month
2. Commending the host camp, Lt Gen Richard Taylor 1308, and specifically its commander Bobby Herring, for hosting our annual reunion
3. Commending Division Commander David Hill for his service during his recent term as Louisiana Division Commander

Next Year's Reunion;
The Time and Place Committee reported that no camp stepped up to host the 2013 Division Reunion. The incoming commander will therefore appoint a committee to host the camp at a central location of their choosing. (If any camp not present at reunion wishes to host the 2013 reunion, please let your intentions be known ASAP)

The following men were elected to serve the Louisiana Division for the next two year term.
Division Commander - Theodore Brode, Sr. (McGuire Camp 1714)
1st Lt Commander - Kevin Adkins (Ward Camp 1971)
2nd Lt Commander - Donald Kimbell (Nicholson Camp 1478)
SE Brigade Commander - George Gottschalk (Forrest Camp 1931)
SW Brigade Commander - Richard Brians (Anacoco Rangers Camp 1995)
NE Brigade Commander - Thomas Taylor (Benton Camp 1444)
NW Brigade Commander - J C Hanna (Taylor Camp 1308)  
                Congratulations to all award recipients and
We wish these men Good Luck and Godspeed in there upcoming term as Louisiana Division officers.
Lest We Forget
David Hill
Commander, Louisiana Division  www.lascv.com

HUNLEY AWARD PRESENTED
          An awards ceremony was held on  May 3 at Washington-Marion Magnet High School for the US Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. Sons of Confederate Veteran Veterans Camp James W. Bryan 1390 in Lake Charles presented the H. L. Hunley Award to Cadet Brittany N. Newby, a second-year Cadet at Washington-Marion Magnet High School.
          This award is presented in memory of the Confederate States Army and Navy. The H. L. Hunley was a submarine that was a joint project of the Confederate States Army and Navy. The two commanders were army  officers and the crew were volunteers from the Confederate naval ships in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The Hunley was the first submarine in military history to sink an enemy ship, the U.S.S. Housatonic on February 17, 1864 just out of Charleston Harbor. The Hunley never made it back to port after the attack.
          The crew had the commitment to step forward, with the courage, knowing their lives were literally on the line, to defend with honor, their homeland. These qualities are used as the basis to select a rising second-year cadet who has demonstrated strong core values of honor, courage and in particular commitment to his/her unit throughout the school year.

MOUTON HOUSE MARKS SESQUICENTENNIAL

by Mike Jones



This portrait of Gen. Mouton
by Ken Hendrickson was donated
to the Mouton House Museum by
Mrs. Elizabeth Domingue and un-
veiled at the Sunday presentation.
(Photo Courtesy of Museum's
newsletter)

          LAFAYETTE, La. -- The Lafayette Museum/Alexandre Mouton House celebrated the Bicentennial of Louisiana Statehood  with a special exhibit, a War Between the States living history and a lecture by imminent scholar and historian Dr. William Arceneaux on the lives of Gov. Alexandre Mouton and his son, Brigadier General Alfred Mouton.

          On Saturday, May 19, the Mouton House hosted the living history put on by the Pelican Battery, Louisiana Artillery, General Mouton Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the 114th N.Y./18th Louisiana Infantry.

          The reenactment groups set up an encampment and gave demonstrations of infantry drill and artillery drill. The reenactors also gave the public  talks on the War for Southern Independence, and the details of military life in the 1860s.

          On Sunday, May 20, Dr. Arceneaux gave his lecture on the lives of the prominent father and son Moutons and heroes of the Acadian people.    

            After reviewing the lives of Gov. Mouton and his son General Mouton, Dr. Arceneaux had a surprise for the gathering reading a letter written by  General Mouton to his cousin just three days before he was killed in action April 8, 1964 at the Battle of Mansfield, La. His cousin, Captain Eraste Mouton of Company A, 26th Louisiana Infantry, who had been captured at the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, and was then in a parole  camp at Keachi, La., about 16 miles away from Mansfield. General Mouton offered to share his tent and food with this cousin and said, in French, that he would be mad if he didn't accept his invitation. The letter is in the posession of local descendants of Captain Mouton.

CALCASIEU GREYS

May 2012

NEXT MEETING

Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, Sons of Confederate Veterans, will meet at the Pitt Grill Restaurant, 102 Benoit Lane, Sulphur, (near the intersection of I-10 and Ruth Street), from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 8. Cmdr. Archie Toombs will give  the program on  Robert Toombs of Georgia, an important Confederate military and political leader. We'll have a great Confederate fellowship and plenty  of food so please come to this most important meeting. We'll also be discussing the upcoming State Reunion May 12  and the National Reunion in July. Please make every attempt to attend this important meeting.

Camp Historian Al Cochran his Confederate
ancestor's grave marker (for William Alfred
Cochran Sr.) at the April 28 dedication ceremony
in the Bivens Cemetery. (Photo by Luke  Dartez)

CONFEDERATE HISTORY
MONTH HIGHLIGHTS

          BIVENS, La. -- A busy Confederate history month for Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, Sons of Confederate Veterans, reached its zenith with the grave marker dedication ceremony for William Alfred Cochran Sr. of Company H, 13th Texas Cavalry, in the Bivens Cemetery on April 28. The ceremony was organized by his  descendant, Al Cochran, who is a member of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390.

          At the event, State Rep. Dorothy Sue Hill read a proclamation authored by her proclaiming April as Confederate History Month in Louisiana. The Hood's Southeast Texas Brigade of the Texas SCV conducted the ceremony and the Worth Camp 1790 of Woodville, Texas provided the musket and cannon salute. Captain James W. Bryan Camp's color guard and many members supported the event. Camp Color Sergeant Greg Newton read a history of the 13th Texas Infantry and Compatriot Al Cochran read biographical summary of his ancestor. The United Daughters of Confederacy laid roses at the newly dedicated grave marker.

            Also during Confederate History Month, Camp 1390 manned information tables at the Civic Center  gun show in Lake Charles, the Spring Festival at Niblett's Bluff Park and the Pleasant Hill Reenactment.

Funeral Arrangements for

Compatriot's Daughter

     Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390's Second Lieutenant Commander Ronnie Fox recently lost his daughter, Donna Rene Fox Swaggart. Our camp expresses its most sincere condolences to Compatriot Fox and his family. Below is the full obituary from Christensen Funeral Home in DeQuincy.

Donna Rene Swaggart
(February 7, 1959 - April 29, 2012)

            Donna Rene Fox Swaggart, age 53, a native of Lake Charles, La and a resident of DeQuincy, La., died Sunday, April 29, 2012 at her residence. She was a Christian and a member of The Refuge Church.

            She is survived by her father, Ronald Fox of DeQuincy, Louisiana, one brother, Troy Fox, Sr. and wife Patsy of Quitman, Louisiana, one nephew, Steven Fox of Lake Charles, La. along with numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.     She was preceded in death by her daughter, Tana Marie Fox Dautriel and her mother, Jeraldine Collins Fox.

            The family will receive friends from 3:00 P.M. to 5:00 P. M. on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at Christensen Funeral Home, 1810 West Fourth Street, DeQuincy, Louisiana and a funeral service will be held beginning at 5:00 P.M. at Christensen Funeral Home with Bro Matthew Myers officiating. Family and friends are invited to leave condolences at www.christensenfuneralhome.com

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Louisiana Division Reunion

May 12, 2012

      Members of the Louisiana Division SCV; I would like to remind you that our Division Reunion in Shreveport is fast approaching. If you are planning to stay the night at the Holiday Inn I would like to remind you that the cut-off date for a guaranteed room is April 27th. After that date rooms will be available on a first come basis. With the gas & oil boom in Shreveport rooms fill up months in advance so I would suggest you do not delay.

      If you have not sent in your registration yet, I hope you will please do so. The cut-off date for registrations

will be Saturday May 5th. Your registration must be in our hands by then so that we can tally the number of meals ordered and get the information to the hotel.
      You will still be able to register at the door to attend the Reunion for the same fee of $15, but you will not be able to participate in the lunch or banquet.
      For your convenience a link to the Registration Form and Lodging Information is listed below.
      If you have any question you may contact me at goodolerebel@comcast.net or 318-422-3663.

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SHILOH BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION

            Shiloh, Tenn. – The Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission’s annual signature event commemorating 150th anniversary the Battle of Shiloh, the Civil War Trust joined with the National Park Service and State of Tennessee April 5 to make announcements regarding the permanent preservation of 925 acres on the Shiloh Battlefield.         The achievements discussed were threefold: the transfer of 167 acres from the Trust to the park; the launch of a $1.25 million campaign to preserve an additional 491 acres inside the park; and the successful completion of efforts to purchase 267 acres at Fallen Timbers.

                “We believe that every acre we save is an investment in our country's future. There can be no more lasting and fitting tribute than protecting the sites where the war’s outcome was decided — the battlefields themselves,” said Trust President James Lighthizer.  “As a permanent and meaningful legacy of the sesquicentennial, we give our children and grandchildren the opportunity to walk these same fields unblemished and undisturbed.”

                The Battle of Shiloh, fought April 6–7, 1862, at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., was the bloodiest battle in American history up to that point, with more than 23,000 men falling as casualties. Although the Confederate attackers met with initial success, the arrival of Union reinforcements left the Southerners outnumbered and unable to carry the field and sent them retreating to the vital rail hub at Corinth, Miss.  This Union victory, following on the heels of the surrender of Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson, led to Northern domination of Tennessee which and played a role in the ultimate surrender of Vicksburg, dividing the Confederacy in two along the Mississippi River.

                To learn more about current fundraising projects and the Trust’s ambitious sesquicentennial preservation effort, Campaign 150: Our Time, Our Legacy, please visit www.civilwar.org/campaign150.

Bivens Cemetery ceremony group 1.

Bivens Cemetery ceremony group 2.

Confederate's Last Letter Found by Oakdale Resident

          OAKDALE, La. - A letter written May 10, 1862 by a Confederate soldier following the Battle of Farmington, Mississippi, May 9, 1862 gives a fresh eyewitness glimpse of what battle was like for soldiers in the War For Southern Independence. The letter was first published in the Lake Charles American Press on April 11, 1962 soon after the centennial of the  Battle of Shiloh.

            The letter was written by Private Silas Griffith of Company H, 16th Louisiana Infantry to his brother John in Bayou Chicot, St. Landry Parish (modern day Evangeline Parish) Louisiana:

May 10, 1862

A solider of the 16th Louisiana Infantry,
identification lost.

          Dear Brother: I  take these few lines to let you know that I am still in the land of the living and enjoying good health and hope this finds you the same. John, I was in a fight yesterday [the Battle of Farmington, Mississippi], it lasted about an hour and there was but one of our  company who got wounded and he was  shot through the hand.    I, and C. K. O'Neal, old Burns' son-in-law, were detailed as infirmary corps to carry off the dead and wounded. There was about 15,000 Yankees and our force was about 2,500 when we charged on them. I never saw fellows run so in my life

                It was one of the awfulest sights I ever saw . . . to see the poor fellows dying on the field. There were two men shot dead within ten feet of me but I never got a scratch. O'Neal got his canteen shot all to pieces and he had his overcoat rolled up and tied in front  of him and a ball struck it and went  through two doubles of it. It would have killed him but the coat was all that saved him. All of our company stood fairly well but about four who left when the balls began to come pretty thick. There was a Mississippi regiment that ran when the enemy was pouring the fire in on us. I expect they will be brought up today.

                General Ringgold took the flag and rode ahead of us and hollered "Hooray for the Louisianians." I tell you we made them Yankees kick up the dust. The Colonel of the 11th Louisiana [Colonel Samuel F. Marks] run up and down  the lines when the balls were coming as thick as hail and he would tell us to give them boys hell. I thought once that he was struck and I asked him if he as hurt. He answered, "no . . . a damn Yankee" could not kill him. He is just as brave a man as I have ver seen on a battle field.

                John Montgomery stood  right up to them. It is the first battle that he and I was ever in, but John and I never expect to get that close again and come out alive. There were somecertain, that did not  land more than two  inches from my head. I am telling you actual facts. I was a little scared about that time . . . but after they fired several rounds, I did not mind at all.

                The Yankees had the advantage of us in one respect. They were all in deep  washes and it was an old field about six miles from here where the fight began from a little town called Farmington. We set fire to that place and came back. Everybody  had left there, sometime. The Yankees had just put them up a telegraph from there to the river so they could telegraph back to their  main force but we tore it down as we came back night before last.

                The enemy was within a mile  of our breast works and we thought by our going outside of breastworks and attacking them, that they would come up and give us a fight so we could use our big guns on them. But they  know we are fixed here and I don't think they will ever attack us here. I know that was their intention, to starve us out and which I don't think it would take more than six months. They  say we have got provisions enough to last about that long.

                Cyrus  is at the hospital yet but I have not  heard from him since he left camp. There is no way to get a letter to Louisiana without sending by somebody out there. There are two men out of the Big Cane Company that we are going to start for  Washington [La.]  tomorrow. I thought I would write you a few lines tolet you know that I am not killed yet.

                You must write to me if you have any chance of  sending a letter. I must bring my letter to  a close as I have to cook.

                Give my  respects to all

Yours most truly,

Silas Griffith

                The  letter was found in the old abandoned O. C. Griffith home at Bayou Chicot by Mrs. Josie Griffth Horne of Oakdale. The Griffith family settled in the Bayou Chicot area in the late 1790's. Silas Griffith was captured at the Battle of Murfreesboro,  and died Dec. 31, 1862 at Murfreesboro as a prisoner of war.

CALCASIEU GREYS -- April 2012

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 will be from 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, April 10, at Piccadilly Cafeteria in Prien Lake Mall in Lake Charles. Comptriot Luke Dartez will give the program on Louisiana Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton.

April is Confederate History  Month and we also have plenty of activities to discuss. There is the Spring Festival at Niblett's Bluff, the big reenactment at Pleasant Hill and the grave marker dedication in Bivens Cemetery. Please attend the meeting and take part in as many activities as you can.

William Alfred Cochran Sr.
Veteran of the 13th Texas Cavalry
(Photo courtesy of Al Cochran)

 

GRAVE MARKER DEDICATION

     Compatriot Al Cochran is inviting all compatriots to the  Confederate Grave Marker dedication ceremony honoring his ancestor, William Alfred Cochran Sr. on Saturday, April 28 at 11:00 am at the Bivens Cemetery in Bivens, La. (outside of Merryville).

     Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 Color Guard will be taking part in the ceremony. April is Confederate History Month and this is an excellent event to celebrate the month.

       William Alfred Cochran Sr. was a native of the Republic of Texas, having been born there on October 20, 1839. A Southern patriot, Cochran joined Company H of the 13th Texas Cavalry under Colonel John H. Burnett. The regiment was organized at Crockett, Texas, during the winter of 1861-1862 with about 900 men. Some of its members were from Centerville, Crockett, Madisonville. It was assigned to O. Young's and Waul's Brigade in the Trans-Mississippi Department. The unit participated in various conflicts in Louisiana and Arkansas including the engagement at Jenkins' Ferry. It disbanded during the late spring of 1865.

     Cochran died March 11, 1923 in Bivens, Louisiana and is buried in the Bivens Cemetery.

SCV GEC calls on Museum of the Confederacy to fly flag at new facility

Photo by Mike Jones

     [Editor's note: The following resolution was passed by the  General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans]

Resolution adopted unanimously by the GEC March 26, 2012:
      These being the facts: The Museum of the Confederacy has long been on a path to downplay it's role in commemorating the Confederacy. It is opening a new facility in Appomattox where it refuses to display a Confederate flag on a pole outside the building.
      Thus be it resolved: The General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans does call upon the Museum of the Confederacy to display a Confederate Flag on a pole on the outside of the Appomattox facility. That such a display is both historically accurate and morally necessary.
     Be it also resolved: The General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans does strongly urge it's Compatriots not to be participants in the opening ceremony of said facility. To do so lends credence to the claims of those refusing to display the Confederate flag in its proper station.

      

LOUISIANA DIVISION REUNION 2012

                The Louisiana Division SCV Reunion 2012 will be held May 11 and 12 at the Holiday Inn West,  5555 Financial Plaza, Shreveport. Registration is $15.

               

PLEASANT HILL REENACTMENT 2012 SCHEDULE

      The annual Battle of Pleasant  Hill reenactment will  be held Saturday and Sunday,  April 14-15, on the actual battlefield, about 3 miles north of the present town of Pleasant Hill.

      Here is the schedule for the event:

Festival / Parade / Re-enactment

April 14th, 2012 (Saturday)

Event: Breakfast

Time: 6:00 - 10:00 AM

Place: American Legion Hall

Event: Parade

Time: 10:00 AM

Place: Downtown Pleasant Hill

For more information contact Erin Stockton if you would like to be in the parade 601-297-2178 or email ewhstockton@yahoo.com

Parade Application

Event: Open Camp Activities

Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Event: Battle Re-enactment at Pleasant Hill

Opening Ceremonies: 1:30 PM

Time: 2:00 PM

Event: Confederate Ball and Court Presentation

Time: 7:30 PM

Place: American Legion Hall

Must be in period dress to participate. Those not in period dress may observe.

April 15th, 2012 (Sunday)

Event: Breakfast

Time: 6:00 - 10:00 AM

Place: American Legion Hall

Event: Open Camp Activities

Time: 10:00 AM to Noon

Event: Church Services (open to all)

Time: 10:00 AM

Event: Mail Call

Time: After Church

Event: Battle Re-enactment at Pleasant Hill

Pleasant Hill re-enactments and activities in the re-enactors camp will take place 3 miles north of Pleasant Hill at 23271 Hwy. 175, Pelican, LA

150-Years-Ago THE BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN, Virginia

Gen. Stonewall Jackson

The Richmond Daily Dispatch
March 31, 1862

     The Rockingham Register, of March 28th furnishes some detail of the fight at Kernstown, near Winchester, Va. We make some extracts, and refer the reader to the original account in another column of this paper for fuller details.
     As in the case of battles generally, many exaggerated and incorrect reports have gained circulation respecting the battle on Sunday last, between the forces of General Jackson and Gen. Shields, near Winchester. The belles is entertained in some quarters that General Jackson was most disastrously defeated. Not so, however. General Jackson's gallant little army maintained their ground fully until the shades of night closed on the felicity contending forces, and compelled each party to retire and so far as the result of the contest is indicative of victory, the triumph is on the side of General Jackson. His loss is not over fifty killed and one hundred and fifty wounded, while the loss of the enemy, both in killed and wounded, is, beyond doubt, at least three times that number. One regiment alone of the enemy lost fully half its men, by attempting to dislodge a regiment of Gen. Jackson, protected by a fence. When night came on Gen. Jackson retired with the great body of his army in good order, saving all his wagons and horses, and everything except two or three field-pieces (the horses of which had been killed) and two ambulances. This battle was a decided victory to our arms, and reflects the highest credit on the little Confederate army, that stood upon gallantly for two or three hours against. more than three times their number.
     After the battle, Gen. J. retired for the night immediately in the vicinity of the battle ground which is another indication that he was not defeated; and the following morning he retired slowly from Newtown to the vicinity of Strasburg, the enemy making no advance until a late hour in the forenoon.
     The proportion of wounded to the number killed of Gen. J's men, is large, yet it is gratifying to know that but few are seriously or mortally wounded.

Pvt. John J. Rhodes, Co. K,  5th Va. Inf.
(Library of Congress)

     The regiments engaged were the 2d Virginia, (Col. Allen,) 4th Va., 5th Va.33d Va., (Colonel Cummings,) 27th Virginia, (Colonel Echols, who was wounded in the right arm) 23d Virginia, 37th Virginia, the far famed Irish Battalion, the 21st Va., Ashby's Cavalry, Rockbridge Battery, (Col. Pendleton, who lost two Parrott guns.) West Augusta Battery, Carpenter's Battery, and Chew's Battery.
     Gen. Jackson has returned to Mt. Jackson, and will be ready, should the enemy come up the Valley high enough, to give him a chance to try his mettle again. Let every man now rally to the standard of the heroic Jackson, and assist in driving out the invader of our peaceful homes. Our Valley is surely worth the effort for its preservation.
     The Lynchburg Republican says:
We regret to hear that Captain William Bayliss Rector, from Campbell county, is reported among the killed in the late battle near Winchester. Private Walker Brown, a son of the Rev. Richard G. Brown, of this county, also shared the fate of his brave commander. There are four men missing from the company, who are supposed to have been taken prisoners. We could not ascertain their names.
     The Lynchburg Virginian has further advices, from which we copy:
The Second Virginia Regiment commanded by Colonel Allen, and composed chiefly of Jefferson and Frederick men, seems to have suffered terribly. Amongst the killed and wounded reported are several of our personal friends. Lieutenant Richard Henry Lee, wounded, was the Commonwealth's Attorney for the county of Jefferson, an elegant and accomplished Christian gentleman, who bears a great historic name. We sincerely trust that he is not seriously wounded. T H. Turner, of Shepherdstown, Jefferson county, represented his native county in the Legislature some years since, as did also his father before him. He was attached to the command of the late Colonel John F. Hamtramck, who commanded the Virginia Regiment in the Mexican war. We regret to hear that he was killed. Many of the best men in our native county of Jefferson were in the Second regiment, and we fear that little county, now overrun by the enemy, will be full of mourning for her gallant sons, slain by the ruffians and marauders of the North. B. B.

SCV GEC calls on Museum of the Confederacy to fly flag at new facility

[Editor's note: The following resolution was passed by the  General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans]

The South's Defneder Photo.

Resolution adopted unanimously by the GEC March 26, 2012
      These being the facts: The Museum of the Confederacy has long been on a path to downplay it's role in commemorating the Confederacy. It is opening a new facility in Appomattox where it refuses to display a Confederate flag on a pole outside the building.
      Thus be it resolved: The General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans does call upon the Museum of the Confederacy to display a Confederate Flag on a pole on the outside of the Appomattox facility. That such a display is both historically accurate and morally necessary.
     Be it also resolved: The General Executive Council of the Sons of Confederate Veterans does strongly urge it's Compatriots not to be participants in the opening ceremony of said facility. To do so lends credence to the claims of those refusing to display the Confederate flag in its proper station.

An unidentified Confederate cavalryman with a slant breech

 Sharp's carbine, two knives and two  revolvers.

(Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War

 Photographs, Library of Congress)

MANSFIELD BATTLEFIELD MUSEUM

MANSFIELD -- Effective March 19, Mansfield State Historic Site will close to the public due to renovations of the site’s museum. Renovations include the installation of new track lighting, flooring and wall treatments in preparation for new exhibits about the historic Civil War battles at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. The site is scheduled to reopen by the end of April.
          The new exhibit is scheduled to be installed in late July. The exhibit will feature artifacts, letters,
uniforms, and other materials related to the battle of Mansfield, the Red River Campaign of 1864 and the everyday life of the Civil War Soldier. Other themes include the impact of the war on the lives of local community members, as well as the roles played by women, slaves and freed slaves.
          The Battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill were significant losses for the Union Army, possibly
delaying the end of the Civil War by several months. The Red River remained in Confederate
hands until the end of the war as a result of the Battle of Mansfield.   In 1973, Mansfield State Historic Site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary designation for significant historical sites. The site is located in De Soto Parish, four
miles south of the town of Mansfield, along La. 175. The site hosts tours daily, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

MUSEUM NEWS

   (From the  March 2012 Newsletter of Memorial Hall Foundation)

               Museum Curator Patricia Ricci was recently the recipient of the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal. The Medal was presented in a ceremony held by the Louisiana Division United Daughters of the Confederacy, Raphael Semmes Chapter 2218. The Medal recognizes her significant contributions to the cause of preserving Confederate history. Patricia has been at Memorial Hall for 32 years.

                The Museum was recently featured in an AP news story that ran in papers and on websites around the world. While the article contained numerous errors and misstatements of facts, it did generate significant interest and aided in increasing our attendance. The attendance has been steadily climbing in 2012 and our outlook is optimistic  for the coming year due to the many sporting and cultural activities the City of New Orleans will be hosting.

                A United States Commemorative Postage Stamp will be unveiled Tuesday April 24, 2012 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Fall of New Orleans. The ceremony will be held at the World War 2 Museum. The Memorial Hall Museum will sell first day covers and commorative postcards to commemorate this event.

                Memorial Hall is currently producing a DVD outlining its history. The DVD will be sold in the gift shop and will be circulated to organizations to solicit funding for Memorial Hall.

                The University of  Houston, Bauer Business College is currently upgrading the Memorial Hall Foundation's web-page. The newly designed page will allow members to renew their dues on line, make donations, purchase items from the gift shop as well as view a selection of  items from the museum displays.

                An exhibit to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the  Battle of Shiloh will open in early April.

                Confederate Memorial Hall Museum is located at 929 Camp St., New Orleans, La., phone, (504) 523-4522; memhall@aol.com; www.confederatemuseum.com.