Merry Christmas!

I can remember chatting with my grandmother when I was a boy and listening to her tell stories about life growing up in rural southeastern Kentucky. Born to a poor farming family in 1914, Granny never had an easy childhood, and things didn't get any better when the Great-Depression hit in her teen years. She told me about the days when they were lucky to get more than beans & cornbread for dinner, and about those Christmas times when it lit up her world just to get some candy and maybe a pair of socks in her Christmas stocking. These were people who truly knew what hard times were, yet they were also very aware that things would have been worse had it not been for the grace of God and the blessings which He bestowed upon them.

Granny had a paternal grandfather (John Gibson) & maternal great-grandfather (John Bumgardner II) who also knew what hard times were like, as they were among the thousands of suffering private soldiers in the Army of the Confederacy.

So devoted were the men of The South to the cause of Southern Independence that they usually went without many of the comforts afforded to men of the Union Army. For the average Confederate soldier, Christmas was possibly a chance for a little rest and a hot meal, and whether they got even that depended on a great many factors. Camps in very short supply may only have been able to spare a little extra hardtack, a little mule jerky, or maybe some extra sassafras tea. Despite all of the hardship, they almost certainly would have marked the birth of the Savior with the singing of hymns, prayer, and Scripture reading.

On Christmas Day of 1862, General Robert E. Lee wrote these thoughts in a letter to his wife:
"My heart is filled with gratitude to Almighty God for His unspeakable mercies with which He has blessed us in this day, for those He has granted us from the beginning of life, and particularly for those He has vouchsafed us during the past year.  What should have become of us without His
crowning help and protection?  Oh, if our people would only recognise it and cease from vain self-boasting and adulation, how strong would be my belief in final success and happiness to our country!  But what a cruel thing is war; to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbours, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world!  I pray that, on this day when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace. ...  My heart bleeds at the death of every one of our gallant men."

The gallant men of the south were not the only ones to suffer. The sting of war touched nearly every southern home where wives, mothers, sisters, and children were left to wonder about the fate of their husbands, sons, brothers, and daddies. Surely at no time was this sting felt more acutely than at Christmas time.

In writing to his daughter, Agnes, on the day after Christmas in 1862, Gen. Lee described seeing the suffering of those left behind at home. He wrote: "I have seen the ladies in this vicinity only when flying from the enemy, and it caused me acute grief to witness their exposure and suffering.  But a more noble spirit was never displayed anywhere.  The faces of old and young were wreathed with smiles, and glowed with happiness at their sacrifices for the good of their country.  Many have lost EVERYTHING.  What the fire and shells of the enemy spared, their pillagers destroyed.  But God will shelter them, I know.  So much heroism will not be unregarded."

Of course, I cannot but help to think of my own Confederate ancestors at this time. My great-great-great grandfather, John Bumgardner, joined as a private in the 7th N.C. Cavalry Battalion in November of 1862. When he enlisted, his wife was about 8 months pregnant, and it's likely he was not able to be there when my great-great grandfather was born on Dec. 11th. Shortly thereafter, while on a Christmas Day march along the Watauga River near Dugger's Ferry, the men of the 7th NC Cav. Btln. were ambushed by bushwackers, with one soldier being killed and several wounded. Some of the bushwackers were killed in the fight, and several captured & executed. Fortunately for my family, John Bumgardner would live beyond this date, and lived a number of years beyond the end of the war.

Another of my Confederate ancestors, John Gibson (my great-great grandfather), served for one year as a private under the command of Capt. Ben Caudill in the 5th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, enlisting in early November of 1861. Reports say that the Winter of 1861-62 was unusually bitter. For three weeks the men of the 5th Kentucky were cold and starving. Many of the soldiers were nearly naked and one report claimed that there were 350 barefoot men and fewer than 100 blankets for over 700 soldiers. One visiting general was appalled and ordered one thousand outfits sent to Gen. Humphrey Marshall’s men (Marshall was the commanding officer of the Army of Eastern Kentucky, to which the 5th KY Mtd. Inf. belonged). Unfortunately, when the suits arrived they were found to be of summer cotton, rather than of wool. In mid-December the following appeal appeared in the Abingdon Virginian: "...we saw on Sunday last over one hundred barefoot, thinly-clad, but heroic Kentucky soldiers near Pound Gap, shivering with cold and marching to and fro over frozen ground, with feet as red as those of pigeons, assisting to keep off from your hearths the Vandal scoundrels who have already invaded their own. Can you not spare them a few pairs of woolen socks, flannel shirts and other necessities?” On November 28, they were reinforced by the 29th and 54th Virginia Infantry Regiments. The Confederate forces stayed near Pound Gap for about two weeks and then headed to Abingdon, Virginia to re-supply. While camping there, they are said to have been visited by Generals Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart! As thrilling as such an event is to imagine, the conditions these men had endured for two-months around Christmas are hard to fathom.

Now in our present day, we in the Confederate-heritage defense movement are in the middle of our own struggle, and we should be thankful that ours is merely a war of ideas and not one usually involving bullets or bloodshed. Let us pray as Gen. Lee so earnestly prayed in the above quoted letter, that in this time "when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace."

Before I close, I would like to ask each one who reads this to remember and pray for the men and women serving away from their loved ones this Christmas in the United States Armed Forces, especially those who are deployed in hostile lands. Also pray for the loved ones they leave behind. Our nation's law enforcement personnel must also not be forgotten when we seek the Lord in prayer, for they are our modern day home guards and are under constant threat at all times while donning the badge of service.

To the men of 'Adm. Raphael Semmes' Camp #1321, 'Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne' Camp #2257, and to all members in the many camps worldwide of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May God bless each and every one of you and the work in which we are engaged, and may He continue to bless our beloved Southland and the entire United States of America!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms, SCV Camp #1321