Christmas Message From the Army Of Tennessee Chaplain

Christmas Message From the Army Of Tennessee Chaplain
Rev. Dr. Cecil Fayard, Jr.

Matthew 2:11-12, “And when they [the Wise Men] were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasurers, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed another way.”

We do not often think of the Wise Men as being men of courage, but that is exactly what they were. Herod expected them to come back through Jerusalem and tell him where Jesus was. Instead, at the risk of their own lives, they returned home another way, a way directed by the Lord.

As members of the Army of Tennessee, Sons of Confederate Veterans, it behooves us to be courageous, to stand firm in our convictions, and to, if need be, swim upstream against the liberal tide of our day. In a time when far too many Southerners are trying to forget the past, it is our responsibility to preserve the true history of our past and to present it to our generation. For the Wise Men, Christmas was a time for courage, time to stand up and be counted.

Just as the Wise Men were directed by God, it is my prayer at this Christmas season that you and I will pray for our leadership, especially Commander Tom Strain and his staff , asking God to direct each officer of this great Army of Tennessee. Let us also pray for Commander-in-Chief Michael Givens and the General Executive Council.

The Wise Men had a mission to accomplish, to come and worship the child Jesus and to bring gifts to Him. We, Sons of Confederate Veterans, have a mission. We are to honor our ancestors and keep their memory green. Let us never forget our mission; let us never be deterred or distracted. We have been charged to uphold the good name of our ancestors and emulate their values. It is not really about you or about me. It is all about upholding the honor of our confederate forefathers. Our mission is not making a name for ourselves, but upholding the names of those who now lie silent in the grave and cannot speak for themselves.

There is something else that we need to consider about the Wise Men, they and did not take. They were selfless and not selfish. They were sacrificial and not self serving. May the Lord help each to be Servants not Masters. As they suffered the privations of war, let us stand tall and suffer, if need be, for the cause of preserving our history and heritage.

May the God of all grace bless you this Christmas season, and may you experience the PEACE that He alone can give.

Confederate records found

Carole Hawkins/Staff

Jeanne Lenderman, librarian at the Augusta Genealogical Society, holds a letter written by Stokes F. Ivey, who served in the Confederate Army.

"I don't want to hurt it," she said.

Spidery handwriting inside revealed it was a muster roll from the Thomson Guards, a McDuffie County company that had been part of the 10th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers of the Confederate Army. The list of names was a human snapshot of local Confederate soldiers.

The muster roll came from a box records from one of Georgia's original chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The box was recently rediscovered at the Augusta Genealogical Society. Directors theorize it may have been sent there for safekeeping after an estate settlement.

Many of the documents are member applications for the now defunct Ida Evans Eve UDC chapter in Thomson, which formed three decades after the Civil War. Also included are old UDC charters and scrapbooks of the group's activities during the early 1900s.
"I think it's a very significant find. A lot of these old records don't exist anymore," said Hopson, president of today's William Henry Talbot Walker UDC Chapter in Augusta.

To join the UDC, prospective members must prove direct lineage with someone who served in the Confederate Army. The Ida Evans Eve application records are thus interesting for genealogical reasons, but the records' age also places them a handshake away from history. Many applicants proved their heritage with letters from soldiers who had served with their relatives. The letters sometimes turned personal.
"You may well be proud of your father's name for he was a good man and a brave soldier," Confederate veteran G.H. Embree wrote in a letter to Lillie Paschal McCord.
The Thomson Guards muster roll says the company began its service May 11, 1861, and was made up of mainly planters and their sons from Columbia County and what is now McDuffie County. Only 77 of its 130 soldiers returned home. Some died at Gettysburg, others at Sharpsburg. Next to some men's names was written simply, "died during the war." Nearly as many men died of disease as battle wounds.

Hopson could relate to the sacrifices. Her great-great-grandfather was a Confederate soldier from Mississippi who became a prisoner of war at a battle at Fort Donaldson.
The rediscovered records will be sent next month to the UDC's division headquarters near Stone Mountain, where they will be placed in a museum in climate-controlled conditions, Hopson said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2010-10-26/confederate-records-found?v=1288079242

Fall Muster brings re-enactors to Beauvoir

By DONNA HARRIS MELTON - dmelton@sunherald.com

BILOXI — The South wins most battles at Beavoir.

Saturday’s skirmish between the Union and the Confederacy was no different.

More than 300 re-enactors demonstrated their military prowess on the field near Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ home during the 24th annual Fall Muster.


AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD Smoke billows into the air after a replica Civil War 6-pound smoothbore cannon was fired at the 24th annual Fall Muster.

They’ll do it again today about 1:30 p.m., said Beauvoir’s acting director, Richard Forte.

Admission is $9 for adults with reduced rates for children, military and seniors. Beauvoir is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and parking is free at the Coast Coliseum for Beauvoir visitors.

With attendance down about 25 percent over the summer, Forte was excited by the steady flow of people coming through the gates to see the living history demonstrations and the re-enactment.

“This is the best crowd, I think, since we started back after Katrina,” he said.

The event was held at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in 2006 and 2007, and returned to Beauvoir in 2008.

At the Bama Rose, a sutler tent offering Civil War fashions for ladies, Krystal Ladner of Long Beach perused a table lined with hats, gloves and fans. Her husband, Andrew Ladner, 25, is a second-generation re-enactor with 3rd Mississippi. He has been doing this since he was 7.

“It’s kind of cool,” Krystal Ladner said about the battle. “It’s a good teaching lesson, although they always make the South win.”

Among the sutlers — sellers of clothing, supplies and memorabilia — the Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp 1353 of Hattiesburg is pushing its Confederate sausage dogs for $4. Half of their proceeds go to Beauvoir to support the historic property.

The polish dogs earned the Confederate name because they honor an immigrant from southern Poland who fought for the South during the Civil War, Lt. Commander Robert Ulmer said.

“If you don’t study history, you’re destined to repeat it,” he said.



Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/16/2560079/fall-muster-brings-re-enactors.html#ixzz12dbVABUf

From SCV National

The General Organization of the SCV will be holding a nation heritage Rally each year of the Sesquicentennial of the War for Southern Independence. Below are the locations for each year. Details will be posted as they become available.


2010 - Charleston, SC- December 2010

The Confederate Heritage Trust, in partnership with the South Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, is currently in the planning stages for what will be a grand and memorable Secession play and Ball. This event will commemorate and celebrate the state of South Carolina for the second time becoming an independent nation on December 20th 1860. The evening will begin with a theatrical play recreating the Convention and the men that cast their votes to remove South Carolina from the union know as These United States. Many of the actors will be local and State celebrities and personalities.

Immediately following the play a grand ball and reception will follow with a joyous night of music, dancing, food and drink. The Charleston Gaillard auditorium will be our venue for both events. As an added bonus The State Archives and History Department will have the original Ordinance of Secession available for all to see and enjoy. The Confederate Heritage Trust and the South Carolina Division would like to personally invite you to attend this once in a lifetime event! Please purchase tickets and sponsorships now while space is available and we look forward to seeing you there. Remember all tickets and sponsorships are tax deductable. http://www.scsecessiongala.org/index.html

2011 - Montgomery, AL-February 19, 2011

It is time to mark your calendar for the SCV Sesquicentennial Event to be held in Montgomery, AL on Saturday February 19, 2011. This event will feature a parade up Dexter Avenue to the Alabama State Capitol Building, a reenactment of the swearing in of President Jefferson Davis and a selection of speakers at the Capitol Building. Just like was done for the Flag Rally in 2000 in Columbia, South Carolina and for the Hunley Funeral in Charleston in 2004 - it is IMPERATIVE that this event be well attended. We must show the world that we will not permit the History and Heritage of the Confederacy to be forgotten and unobserved during the Sesquicentennial.

It is up to us to see that this history is remembered and portrayed in the right way so start planning your visit to Montgomery - organize vans and buses - so we can show the world we remember our Confederate Heroes.

http://www.confederate150.com/2011.html

CELEBRATE THE BEGINNING OF THE CONFEDERACY!

Compatriots!

It is time to mark your calender for the SCV Sesquicentennial Event to be held in Montgomery, AL on Saturday February 19, 2011. This event will feature a parade up Dexter Avenue to the Alabama State Capitol Building, a reenactment of the swearing in of President Jefferson Davis and a selection of speakers at the Capitol Building.
Just like was done for the Flag Rally in 2000 in Columbia, South Carolina and for the Hunley Funeral in Charleston in 2004 - it is IMPERATIVE that this event be well attended. We must show the world that we will not permit the History and Heritage of the Confederacy to be forgotten and unobserved during the Sesquicentennial.
It is up to us to see that this history is remembered and portrayed in the right way so start planning your vist to Montgomery - organize vans and buses - so we can show the world we remember our Confederate Heroes.

Basic information:
Host Hotel:
Embassy Suites - downtown Montgomery, AL. The SCV has a block of rooms reserved for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Single and doubles $116.00 per night, triple $126.00, and quads for $136.00 per night. The SCV reservation code will be availabe and posted early next week.

Vendors : Friday, February 18th, 2011 and Saturday the 19th vendors will be setup in the hotel.

Reception: Friday evening the Alabma Divsion will have a meet and greet with entertainment from 7pm to 9pm at the host hotel.
Saturday Events:
Confederate Parade on Dexter Avenue - 12 Noon - details to be announced shortly. Cannons are also need for a firing of a salute on the grounds of the State Capitol.
Swearing in of President Jefferson Davis will take place after the parade on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building.
There will be speakers after the swearing in - Alabama State Capitol grounds.

Saturday evening a banquet will be held with a guest speaker. Cost: $75.00 per couple or $50.00 for an individual.

More details soon - look for posts to the Telegraph and check confederate150.com for event details.

2011 Montgomery Reunion is On Line!!

Below is the link for the 2011 Reunion that is to be held in Montgomery, Alabama.



http://2011scvreunion.zxq.net

Civil War site yields treasure trove of artifacts

By Chuck Mobley
A succession of scholars and officials, including a U.S. congressman, spoke Wednesday during a ceremony to announce the discovery of the exact location of Camp Lawton, a Civil War stockade that housed some 10,000 Union prisoners.

But the real stars of the occasion were five display cases filled with recently uncovered artifacts those men left behind - scarred, dented and rusted testaments to their service and sacrifice.

"We were astonished and humbled by what we found," said Sue Moore, an anthropology professor at Georgia Southern University and one of the speakers at the event, which took place at Magnolia Springs State Park.

Camp Lawton, constructed in late 1864 to help relieve overcrowding at the prison at Andersonville, held Northern soldiers and housed hundreds of Confederates who guarded them. It was hurriedly evacuated in November 1864 as a Union army under Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman approached.

Angry that the camp was empty, Sherman's men burned it. Over the years, its boundaries faded, and the state park was built on the site in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

No one thought the area contained such a rich vein of artifacts until one of Moore's graduate students, Kevin Chapman, began to dig around earlier this year.

"We were looking for the stockade walls, and thought we might find an item or two," said Chapman. However, when the effort uncovered a Union coat button, a musket ball and a large U.S. coin in a matter of minutes, he realized this was the discovery of a lifetime.

The individual artifacts are "little stories" that together reflect the efforts of soldiers to survive, he said.

To protect the site, and to give officials time to develop a plan on how to proceed, a security fence has been placed around it.

"We have to look long-term," said Chris Clark, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Only a small part of the site, perhaps 1 percent, has been excavated to this point, so it represents a huge opportunity to bring heritage tourism to Millen and Jenkins County, he said.

For the short term, the artifacts will go on display Oct. 10 at the Georgia Southern Museum.

Others who spoke at the ceremony included U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah and John Derden, professor emeritus of history at East Georgia College and an expert on Camp Lawton.

The site and the artifacts thus far recovered are reflective of the experiences of prisoners on both sides during the Civil War, Derden said, calling it "hallowed ground."

Eyewitness portrayal of life at the camp


In putting together the effort to discover the location of the stockade walls of Camp Lawton, Georgia Southern University students and researchers used the richly detailed watercolors of the site painted by Pvt. Robert Knox Sneden, a Union soldier held there in late 1864.


"We honestly were surprised by how accurate they were," said Sue Moore, the Georgia Southern University anthropology professor instrumental in the process of locating the encampment.


Sneden's works, which included images of Andersonville, Camp Lawton and a prisoner-of-war camp in downtown Savannah, were discovered in the 1990s.


They were published, along with his diary, by the Virginia Historical Society in two books - "Eye of the Storm" and "Images of the Storm."


To learn more about Sneden and his illustrations, go to www.vahistorical.org.



His family saw both sides of captivity


Civil War re-enactor Steve Burke, who attended Wednesday's event in the uniform of the Burke County Sharpshooters, said he had relatives on both sides of prison-camp walls during that conflict.


His great-great-grandfather, Green L. Lambert, died of pneumonia in December 1864 at the Union camp at Elmira, N.Y., said Burke.


Two of his other relatives, William J. Johnson and James H.W. Oglesby, served as guards at Camp Lawton, he said.


The 53-year-old Burke added that he enjoys participating in living-history events such as the annual re-enactments at Fort Pulaski and Fort McAllister.


http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-08-19/civil-war-site-yields-treasure-trove-artifacts