NEWS: Confederate Flag Day; Michigan Event Announced for March 5th

 The following was announced in the Sept./Oct. 2015 issue of the Confederate Veteran Magazine (the official bi-monthly publication of the SCV):

The SCV will be celebrating the upcoming Confederate Flag Day, which is in the SCV Standing Orders as March 4. Each member is encouraged to fly a Confederate Flag on March 4, 2016. The logic behind this date is that March 4, 1861 is when First National Flag (Stars and Bars) was hoisted over the Confederate Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama Confederate Veteran and on March 4, 1865 President Jefferson Davis signed a bill into law creating the Third National Flag.

On Saturday, March 5, 2016 every Division and every camp without a Division will sponsor a Flag Day observance somewhere within their state. Past Commander-in-Chief Chuck McMichael has agreed to be the national coordinator of this occurrence and will be sending out a format for all Divisions and camps without Divisions to follow. Once times and locations are determined, PCIC McMichael will make them public so members are aware of the particulars.  Be sure to mark your calendar now so you and your family can attend.

The Michigan Camps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are proud to announce that we will be attending the Confederate Flag Day Rally on March 5th in Clarklake, MI, hosted by the Confederates of Michigan!

The Confederates of Michigan is a Facebook group that was organized last summer in response to the wave of 'Confederaphobia' after the horrendous murder of nine folks in a South Carolina place of worship last June. Founded by freedom loving Americans here in the Great Lakes State, many of them having southern roots, the group has over 4,500 followers on social media.

The gathering will be held at the "Park & Ride" alongside S.R. 127 (S. Meridian Rd.), just north of Jefferson Rd. This will be a two part rally, beginning as a standing rally along side the road, with guest speakers and lots of flags, and then we'll be hopping into our cars and turning to a rolling rally with many folks displaying flags on their vehicles as we travel down the road. This is going to be a fun and family friendly event, with kids and pets more than welcome!

This is also a national event, with rallies being held as far west as California, and our Michigan event is currently the farthest north to be scheduled. Twenty-four states total are currently listed as having Flag Day events scheduled on that date.

For more information, you can click on the following links...
- Michigan SCV Camps [Facebook]
- Confederates of Michigan [Facebook]
- Flag Rally Event Page [Facebook] 
- Official CSA Flag Day Site

If you have further questions about directions or anything else related to the event, you can reach us through our Facebook page, or leave a comment here with your email address and we'll be happy to get back with you.

If you're in the state, or maybe even in northern Indiana or Ohio, and you want to come out and join in as we honor our heritage and display our flags, we'd be more than happy to see you there!

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

Why So Many Reject Black Confederates

In our continuing celebration of black Confederate patriots during Black History Month, I thought that the following article might be of interest. All credit for what follows belongs to Dr. Vernon R. Padgett of the SCV's California Division.

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Twelve Reasons We Don't Believe in Black Confederates
By Vernon R. Padgett, Ph.D.

Many people reject the evidence that thousands of the South's 3,880,000 blacks, both free men and slaves, labored and fought, willingly, for the Southern Confederacy.

Why do they not believe, given the many accounts in the Official Records, contemporary newspaper reports, photographs, pension application records, and recollections of black Southerners? Here are 11 explanations.

1. It may force us to change what we believe. 

2. It is not what most others believe. 

3. It might contradict a prejudice. 

4. It complicates our simple stereotype of blacks vs. whites as separate groups. 

5. How do we now teach Civil War history in 10 minutes? 

6. It complicates the simple portrayal of the North as Good driving out the “Wicked Southern Slave master.”

7. It weakens support for the claim that the War was About Slavery

8. Many whites disbelieve that there were black Confederates because of "White Guilt."

9. It is inconsistent with the culture of Victimhood. 

10. It brings up the annoying question: Why did blacks fight?

11. It brings up another annoying question: Why did anyone fight for the North?

12. We want to believe The War was about slavery (because we need a reason that can justify & balance out the deaths of 600,000 Americans in The War.)

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You can learn more by clicking the following link to read detailed analysis for each of the points Dr. Padgett presents: [TWELVE REASONS WE DON'T BELIEVE IN BLACK CONFEDERATES]

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

Joseph C. Ford: Michigan's Resident Black Confederate Veteran

Here in "The Great Lakes State," we don't have any grand monuments to Confederate veterans adorning the grounds of our courthouses or capitol building, no flags flying on public lands to honor the memory of the many Confederate veterans who gave their lives in the defense of Southern independence, and no large cemeteries filled with rows of headstones under which the dead men in gray lie. We're located in a state that was solidly pro-Union during the War Between the States, and such displays certainly reflect that fact. That doesn't mean, however, that there aren't any Confederate veterans buried within the borders of Michigan.

Given the large number of Southerners who moved to this state for work after the Yankees decimated the Southland, there are likely untold dozens of Confederate veterans who lie under Michigan soil. While only a handful have been located, one Confederate veteran buried in Michigan started his life as a slave in the land of "The Old Dominion State."

Born a slave to the Bill Alsop family near Fredericksburg, VA in around 1852, Joseph C. Ford was just a young boy of about 8 or 9 years when war broke out among the states. Almost right from the start of the conflict and practically up through to the bitter end, Ford served the Confederacy faithfully. His service began as a personal attendant to several different men in the 30th Virginia Infantry. Ford also said that he served in the Confederate commissary, and recalled later in life of having had the honor to hold the horse of Lt.Gen. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. Ford told a Fredericksburg newspaper in 1932 that his service had been such as to entitle him membership in Confederate Veteran camps.

About five years after the close of the war, Mr. Ford left Virginia and headed north for work. He would come under the employ of the railroad, and would quickly become the chief porter for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company, a position he would hold for more than 45 years. It was through working for the railroad that Mr. Ford would come to settle down in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1872.

In 1881, Mr. Ford began supplementing his railroad income by taking a job as an attendant in the cloak room for the Michigan state senate in Lansing, MI. He arranged his schedule with the railroad so that he could be present at each session of that legislative body, and eventually became appointed in charge of the cloak room. So appreciated was the work he provided to the Senate that he was called upon every four years by the Michigan Republican Party to attend that party's national convention with the Michigan delegation as their "majordomo." For more than 55 years he would hold these positions, personally meeting and developing relationships with many of Michigan's leading statesmen and big names in the Republican party from the late-19th and early-20th centuries, affectionately obtaining the unofficial title of "Senator Joe." In 1937, Mr. Ford would be honored by the Michigan State Senate in an official resolution "for the ardent and genuine service rendered by this loyal and patriotic citizen."

As a citizen of Grand Rapids, MI, Joseph Ford was a well respected man, and was a leader among that area's African-American community in the effort of obtaining "equal rights" (an issue usually attributed only to the South by those who would have us believe racism didn't exist among folks in the north...), even being elected mayor for the African-American resort community of Idlewild in the northwestern area of the state's lower peninsula in 1916.

Joseph C. Ford died in January of 1939 at about the age of 86. He had been preceded in death by his wife of more than 50 years, Emma Warren Ford (in 1937); his only son, Chandler (in 1916); and his only daughter, Theola Ford Lewis (in 1938). He was survived by only one grandchild. Burial for "Senator Joe" took place in Grand Rapids at the Oakhill Cemetery, beside his wife and very near both of his children.

In commemorating Black History Month, we here in the Michigan Camps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans honor Mr. Ford for his faithful service throughout the War for Southern Independence, and also for his years of service to this state in the decades immediately following the war.

If you would like to join us in honoring Mr. Ford's Confederate service, feel free to visit his Find a Grave Memorial at the following link and leave a message of your appreciation and gratitude. [FindAGrave.com - Joseph C. Ford]

MAY GOD ETERNALLY BLESS THE MEMORY OF JOSEPH C. FORD!

DEO VINDICE!

- Jonathan McCleese

Sergeant-at-Arms, SCV Camp #1321

"Black History Month"

Frederick Douglass, the famed & often celebrated abolitionist, said in September of 1861...

"It is now pretty well established, that there are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may to destroy the Federal Government and build up that of the traitors and rebels. There were such soldiers at Manassas, and they are probably there still." ... "That the Negroes are numerous in the rebel army, and do for that army its heaviest work, is beyond question. They have been the chief laborers upon those temporary defences in which the rebels have been able to mow down our men. Negroes helped to build the batteries at Charleston. They relieve their gentlemanly and military masters from the stiffening drudgery of the camp, and devote them to the nimble and dexterous use of arms."

Though Douglass' knowledge of such matters was probably not first hand, reports and accounts of the situation on the battlefields down south were so numerous and reputable that, after 5 months of armed conflict, the presence of African-Americans in the service of the Confederate military was "pretty well established.

Annually, in this month of February, the United States officially recognizes "Black History Month," a celebration of individuals of African descent who have made contributions to the country throughout history. There is a portion of "black history," however, that will either be omitted from the remembrances all together. or distorted, if any mention is to be made at all: the honorable service of thousands of African-Americans in the Confederate military during the War Between the States.

The service of these men does not fit the official revisionist-narrative of history, as written by the victors - the fiction that the war was fought over the issue of slavery. These "men of color" who served in gray, both those who were slave at the time of service & those who freely served, were very proud of their service in the struggle for Southern independence. While the Confederate government did not officially declare their eligibility to serve until late in the war, the leaders & men who were on the fields of battle would see them as brothers-in-arms much earlier, and they were heroes in their communities to local whites & blacks alike in the years following the War.

Pseudo-historians who teach that the war was all about slavery will never acknowledge these honorable Confederate veterans as being such. Some revisionist-history commentators run around the internet making a name for themselves arguing against their existence. They'll argue that since so many were only serving because they were forced to as slaves they weren't REALLLY veterans of the Confederate military, but using that argument one could say that everyone who didn't voluntarily enlist in the United States military during the draft years weren't really veterans either! They'll argue against the historical record until they're blue in the face that blacks were only used as cooks & servants, or that they only did the jobs that combat soldiers didn't want to do... my father was drafted to serve in the Army during Vietnam, was trained as a medic but stationed in Germany and used mostly as a carpenter... was he any less of a veteran than those who saw combat? Not according to the many combat vets I know, and not according to the U.S. government! While it's completely false to say that blacks were not often used as combat soldiers, there's virtually no difference between my father and any slave that served never seeing combat.

So throughout this month, as the nation honors the contributions of blacks in various areas of American life throughout history, we here in the SCV Camps of Michigan will be honoring some folks of African-descent who will be omitted from the celebrations by the NAACP, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. In the next few weeks we'll be posting about individual's of color who served in the Confederacy and others who might not have served but still supported The Cause. We'll also be spreading the word about Black Confederates through our Facebook page, where today we are honoring Louis Napoleon Nelson, a black Confederate who served under Gen. Forrest and also was a Chaplain to both white and black Confederate troops. (Visit our Facebook page HERE.)

To all of those men of color who served in the Confederate ranks, and to all of those black families who did their part on the home front to support our boys in gray: We salute you, and we will not allow the pseudo-historians to sweep you under the rug of politically correct revisionism! YOU WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!

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