HERITAGE VIOLATION: Louisville (KY) Confederate Monument

As the warmer weather comes to us, the servants of hate, intolerance, and ignorance are once again raising their ugly heads around the Southland, hoping to destroy and suppress all public displays of honor for our beloved Confederate ancestors.

The latest monument to be placed in the cross-hairs is the Monument to the Confederate Dead in Louisville, KY. Currently sitting in a median between two streets & surrounded by the University of Louisville, the monument was erected by the Kentucky Women's Monumental Association in 1895. At about 11 a.m., Friday, April 29, 2016 (yesterday), the Mayor of Louisville and the university president gave remarks to express their intentions of removing the monument, stating that they would waste no time initiating the process. By the evening of that very day, work crews had placed a chain-link fence around the site and begun the process of excavating the monument's foundations. The stated plan is to remove the monument and have it placed at, what they deem to be, a more appropriate location, which has yet to be determined.

The Monument is on the National Registry of Historic Places as being significant to the history of the locality where it sits, but this does not offer any protection to the monument.

We encourage everyone who cares about seeing our historic Confederate monuments preserved to make your voices be heard by the "powers-that-be" in this situation! The following are a few ways you can contact the authorities in charge...

Greg Fischer - Mayor of Louisville, KY
Phone: 
(502) 574-2003
Address:527 W. Jefferson Street
4th Floor
Louisville, KY 40202
Email:
(Click here to open the link and then fill out the form)

James Ramsey - President, University of Louisville
Phone:
(502) 852-5417

Address:
Grawemeyer Hall
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
Email:
(Click here to open the link and then fill out the form)
Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/Dr.JamesRamsey
(He's temporarily taken down his Facebook page. We'll update when it's back online.)

Thanks in advance to everyone who lends their voice in support of keeping this monument to our honorable heritage protected!

DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms
Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321 (Dearborn, MI)
Army of Tennessee, Sons of Confederate Veterans

Confederate Veterans Living in Michigan in 1894

While most think of the South as the place to find veterans of the Confederacy, it should shock no one that some veterans of the Confederacy moved away from the Southland in the post-war years. In fact, The graves of many Confederate survivors of that war can be found in almost every state in the Union, including right here in Michigan.

In 1894, the State of Michigan conducted a state census, and as a part of that effort, documented specific information regarding it's military veteran population. Efforts to obtain copies of the original 1894 documents have proven unsuccessful over the years (it is my understanding that those documents have been considered lost or missing), and the published census information that was released in 1896 does not list the names of Confederate veterans living in the state at the time the census was taken. While this is unfortunate, the published findings do contain some valuable information.

We start by reading in the summary that, as of June 1894, there were nearly 43,000 veterans of The War Between the States living in Michigan, and 148 of them were Confederate veterans. Out of that 148: 102 were natural born U.S. citizens & 46 were foreign born; 124 of them were listed as married, 12 as being widowed, 11 as single, and 1 was divorced; their ages ranged from 43 to 82, with 55.41 being the average age.

Continuing through the summary, we get to the most disappointing part... "The list contains only the names of U.S. soldiers of the civil war. Certain facts respecting Mexican soldiers, U.S. Marines, and Confederate soldiers residing in the State [on] June 1, 1894, are shown in the tables, but no lists of their names are published." Had those other groups of veterans not also been excluded, it would be easy in today's world of anti-Confederate lunacy to say that this was discrimination, but that was not the case.

Now lets move on to the tables, the first of those concerning Confederate veterans being Table 4. - The Confederate soldiers residing in the State on June 1, 1894, by ages.

 

The above table does not give us much information, but what it does is informs us of the age ranges we should be searching for in online genealogical databases. With the oldest CSA veteran living in Michigan at the time being around age 82, and the youngest being around 43, we can sort of "guess-timate" our searches of the 1900 Census, for instance, to be for men who were born between about 1810 through about 1852. While that doesn't necessarily limit the search radius much, it will help. Of course, in searching the 1900 Census for men living in the state in 1894, there is the likelihood that some of those men died off before 1900, and some may have moved away.

The next table breaks down the number of CSA veterans by county, and then other statistics.

Here you can see how many CSA veterans were living in each county, and how many per county were natural or foreign born, and the statistical breakdown of the marital status for veterans in each county. 

The question, of course, turns into, "What happened to them all?" As of this writing, I have located the graves of only 24 Confederate veterans here in our state. I have not yet verified where each of them lived in the 1900 census, but some died before that enumeration took place, and others died before the 1894 tally. It is entirely probable that many others died and were subsequently buried here prior to June 1894. Some of those who were counted in the 1894 state census may have moved away and died elsewhere, but likely not enough to account for the lack of Confederate graves found here thus far.

It is my hope that the information that I've provided here can help future research efforts in finding & documenting each Confederate veteran buried in Michigan. If anyone reading this knows of a Confederate veteran's grave in our state, we ask that you would leave the information in a comment below. It is our desire to document them all and to see that they all receive the honor that they deserve.

DEO VINDICE!

- Jonathan McCleese

Sergeant-at-Arms

Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321

Army of Tennessee

Sons of Confederate Veterans

The Unconquerable Confederate Spirit

During the Battle of the Wilderness, in May of 1864, Gen. Lee assumed that U.S. Grant's next move would be to occupy the best strategic ground at Spottsylvania Court House, so he tasked Gen. Richard H. Anderson with getting there first. With some cavalry assistance, Gen. Anderson and his corps executed an all-night forced march on May 7th, and he barely had time to get his artillery & infantry established before the assault came from Grant's Federal troops.

Two of the participants from that battle, Major Robert A. Stiles (an artillery officer) & Pvt. William M. Dame (1st Company, Richmond Howitzers), wrote books about their respective experiences in the service, and both recalled in particular about one young artilleryman who's words & actions would remain with them the rest of their days.

Maj. Stiles recalls...

"There was a tall, black haired, pale faced boy in the company named Cary Eggleston. He was No. 1 at the third gun; said to be the best No. 1 man in the battery, and ... known to be a fellow of most gallant spirit. He was one of that small class of men who really loved a fight for it's own sake. He was not yet fully developed, and ordinarily appeared rather gangling and loose-jointed, but it required only the thrill of action to inspire him and make his movements as graceful as they were powerful and effective."

Pvt. Dame remembered Eggleston the exact same way...

"[Cary was] always bright, full of fun in camp, and on the march, he was at the gun in action, the best No. 1' I ever saw. One of the few men I ever knew who really seemed to enjoy a fight."

Though Stiles and Dame both tell what happened next, Dame was likely a witness from the start...

Pvt. Dame - "Cary ... had his arm shattered, and almost cut away from his body, by a fragment of shell. He quietly handed his rammer to John Ayres, who that instant came up to the gun, and said, 'Here Johnny, you take it and go ahead!' Then, gripping his arm with his other hand, partly to stop the fast flowing blood, he turned to his comrades, and said in his jocular way, 'Boys, I can never handle a spongestaff any more. I reckon I'll have to go to teaching school.' Then he stood a while, looking at the men working the gun. They urged him to go to the rear; he would not for a while. When he consented to go, they wanted to send a man with him, but he refused, and walked off by himself."

Maj. Stiles - "I had been with another of the batteries in the battalion, and hearing the rapid firing around the howitzer position, was galloping down there, when I saw Eggleston walking out. He had his unwounded side toward me, and I called to him to know where and why he was going. He answered by turning his other side and holding up the stump, from which his shattered arm hung by a ragged shirt sleeve, and torn tendon, and then he shook the clenched fist of his sound arm toward the Federal lines, shouting to me that he would soon be back to fight them with that."

Pvt. Dame - "As [Cary] passed back, an infantry officer, seeing what an awful wound he had, and the streaming blood, insisted that one of the men should go and help him to the hospital. 'No,' he said; 'I'm all right, and you haven't got any men to spare from here.' So, holding his own arm, and compressing the artery with his thumb, he got to the hospital.

"His arm was amputated, and a few days after, as the battery passed through Spottsylvania Court House, we went by the Court House building, used as a hospital, where he lay on the floor, and bade him 'goodbye.' He was just as cheerful and bright as ever, and full of eager interest in all that was going on. [Eggleston] said since he had time to think about it, he believed he could handle a sponge-staff with one hand; was going to practice it soon as he could get up, and would be back at his post before long.

"The next day, the brave young fellow died. The 'Howitzers' will always remember him tenderly. No braver, cooler warrior ever lived! ... His bearing, when he was wounded, was simply heroic. No wounded knight ever passed off his last battlefield in nobler sort. All honor to his memory!" 

John Cary Eggleston was a Private in the 1st Company, Richmond Howitzers (also known as Anderson's Virginia Light Artillery Company). He was only about 18 years old when he enlisted to serve at Richmond in 1861. Official records list him as having died on May 27 from his wounds. Pvt. Eggleston is buried at the Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery. [You can pay your respects to Pvt. Eggleston online by clicking HERE to visit his Find-A-Grave memorial page.]

Past SCV Historian-in-Chief, James W. Thompson, once wrote that "it was men like Cary Eggleston who made of the Confederate soldier a figure never surpassed in the annals of military history." It is this author's opinion that Pvt. Eggleston's story is one that should suffice to answer anyone who wonders why we celebrate Confederate History Month, why we are proud to display the flag which Pvt. Eggleston served and died under, and why we must hope to have the same unconquerable spirit when in times like these - times when such a noble and honorable heritage is under constant attack.

Rest well, Pvt. Eggleston... We salute you.

DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms
Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321
Army of Tennessee
Sons of Confederate Veterans

An Unexpected Result of the Lincoln Assassination

150 years ago tonight, between 10:00-10:30 pm EST, John Wilkes Booth shot and fatally wounded Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.  He would die from those wounds around 7:22 am the next morning.

The violent death of a man who caused so much unnecessary violent death & destruction in the Confederate States is not viewed as a great tragedy by many. Some, on the other hand, liken his death to that of Christ's, believing he paid the ultimate price to save our nation from a national sin.

Regardless of how you view his assassination, one consequence of that event cannot be ignored. If Abraham Lincoln had not been shot & killed, it's likely that we would not have as racially diverse of a nation that we have today. What am I talking about? If a real history lesson doesn't interest you, then you might as well stop reading now...

Despite all of the mythologizing of "The Railsplitter" as "The Great Emancipator," a factual look at history will teach you that Abraham Lincoln didn't want black people to be in this country at all, as slaves or free people, and certainly not as citizens. If Lincoln would have had his way, all blacks would have been shipped off after the war. Don't believe me?

Lincoln himself was, as most white people were at the time, a racist. In the fourth of his historic debates with Stephen Douglas during the 1858 Illinois senate race, Lincoln said the following in regards to racial equality:

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." 

Though he realized in 1858 that it would be impractical, Lincoln desired freeing the slaves and colonizing them outside of the United States, in either Liberia, Haiti, Central America or Africa (pretty much anywhere but the U.S.). He met with a group of black men at the White House on April 14, 1862 to discuss and encourage them to support this very matter! In December of 1862, he delivered his second annual message to Congress (what is now known as the State of the Union address), and in it he proposed three new amendments to the Constitution, one of which (if adopted) would have given Congress authority to "appropriate money and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own consent at any place or places without the United States." Lincoln never gave up completely on the idea of colonization. In early 1865, while discussing with Union general (and good friend of Lincoln) Benjamin Butler about what to do with black soldiers after the war, Lincoln expressed, "I believe that it would be better to export them all to some fertile country with a good climate, which they could have to themselves."

Lincoln's (and the Radical Republicans') opposition to the westward expansion of slavery also was not born out of good will toward blacks. They wanted blacks to not be mixed with the white man at all! Take the words of Lincoln himself as proof...

"There is a natural disgust in the minds of nearly all white people to the idea of indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races ... A separation of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation, but as an immediate separation is impossible, the next best thing is to keep them apart where they are not already together. If white and black people never get together in Kansas, they will never mix blood in Kansas..."
 
These are all very inconvenient truths for those who would push the myth of "Lincoln the Great Emancipator." The Emancipation Proclamation itself was merely a war measure, designed to insight a mass uprising of slaves to seek freedom and then force them (enslave them) into the Union ranks to fight for that freedom. Though Lincoln held the opinion that the seceded states were not actually separated from the Union, he could only hold that opinion as long as he could militarily oppress the south into submission (which is hardly a government of, for, and by the people when it's held together by the sharp end of a bayonet). In reality, Lincoln's Emancipation freed no slaves, as it was limited to the slaves in states outside of his control. Meanwhile, to the slaves in the states where he did have control (Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and in certain areas of the Confederacy that were firmly held by Union military force) he did not extend the effects of Emancipation. In the two years of war prior to the Emancipation, Lincoln even fired two generals who had freed the slaves in their areas of operation!  

Of course, many will never accept such a fact based view, and will cling tightly to the mythological Lincoln they most likely learned about in school. Without a doubt, Lincoln was a masterful politician, and he celebrated his ability to manipulate the thinking of others. In regard to the extent he would go in order to preserve the flow of Southern cash into the federal coffers, Lincoln once told a newspaper editor that "I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views." Unfortunately he continues to manipulate the masses today through those who worship him and bolster his myth, but we here in the Sons of Confederate Veterans are committed to an honest look at the facts, and we honor the service of all honorable Confederate veteran, regardless of race or skin color. 

An honest look at these undeniable facts makes it reasonable to assume that if not for a bullet to the head of Abe Lincoln, there would have been no 14th or 15th Amendments in their current form, maybe even no 13th Amendment to free the slaves, and there almost certainly wouldn't be any black people in the United States today. Unlike Lincoln toward the black Union soldiers, white Confederate veterans were grateful to the brave blacks Confederates who fought along side them in the struggle against federal tyranny, and they both were proud of their service to that cause.

DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms
Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321
Sons of Confederate Veterans

Appomattox (April 9-10, 1865)

9 April 1865

One of the saddest dates in American history...

On that Palm Sunday, Gen. Robert E. Lee (CSA) surrendered the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army & Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. While the war's end would not officially be declared for another month, and fighting in certain parts of the country would continue for even longer, this was 'the beginning of the end' of America's 'War Between the States.'

Much has been written about Lee and his decision to finally stop the fighting. Though some have erroneously charged him as a coward, the ultimate motivation behind his surrender was compassion. In November of 1865, only about 7 months removed from the events at Appomattox, Lee granted an audience to an Englishman, Herbert Saunders. Though Lee wished to never have any private conversations or correspondence to become public, Saunders later did write his account of the conversation. Regarding the surrender, Saunders writes: 

"[Lee] spoke of the final surrender as inevitable owing to the superiority in numbers of the enemy. His own army had, during the last few weeks, suffered materially from defection in its ranks, and, discouraged by failures and worn out by hardships, had at the time of the surrender only 7,892 men under arms, and this little army was almost surrounded by one of 100,000. They might ... have cut their way out as they had done before, but, looking upon the struggle as hopeless, I was not surprised to hear him say that he thought it cruel to prolong it. ... [T]he mere disparity of numbers was not sufficient to convince him of the necessity of surrender; but feeling that his own army was persuaded of the ultimate hopelessness of the contest as evidenced by their defection, he took the course of surrendering his army in lieu of reserving it for utter annihilation."

Lee had once said "I would rather die a thousand deaths than surrender," but decided he would rather surrender than to have one more of his brave boys in gray starve to death, freeze to death, die from illness, or suffer fatal wounds on the battlefield in a conflict with no perceivable hope of ultimate victory. Yes, the surrender was an act of compassion from a General who knew the devastating effects war was having on families, loved ones, farms and communities, on every aspect of life in his beloved Southland, and how terribly cruel it would be to carry on for nothing more than spite.

The day after the surrender, around 9-o'clock in the morning, Lee met again with Grant, this time on a knoll overlooking both the Union & Confederate Lines. The conversation between the two formerly-opposed military leaders was private, so no transcription was made, but later that night Grant told some of his subordinate officers what was said. One of those was  Horace Porter (Brevet Brigadier General, U.S.A.), who wrote the following:

"Grant began [the conversation with Lee] by expressing a hope that the war would soon be over, and Lee replied by stating that he had for some time been anxious to stop the further effusion of blood, and he trusted that everything would now be done to restore harmony and conciliate the people of the South. He said the emancipation of the Negroes would be no hindrance to the restoring of relations between the two sections of the country, as it would probably not be the desire of the majority of the Southern people to restore slavery then, even if the question were left open to them."

"After the conversation had lasted a little more than half an hour ... the conference ended. The two commanders lifted their hats and said good-bye. Lee rode back to his camp to take a final farewell of his army..."

It was shortly after this that he issued his famous 'General Order No. 9.' Though so familiar to so many of us, I would be remiss to not include it's text. The General said the following:

"After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the survivors of so many hard fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to the result from no distrust of them. But feeling that valour and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection. With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your Country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

Sadly, Lee's hopes were not to become realized. The compassion for his people that drove him to surrender was not emulated by those in the north & the federal gov't who were out to punish the Southern people. Had Lee known in 1865-66 what he knew at the end of his life, that being the horrors of tyranny & military occupation suffered by the South during Reconstruction and afterward,  this article may have been written much differently.

In August of 1870... five years after The War Between the States had ended, in the fifth year of military occupation in the Southern States, and just a couple of months before his death... General Robert E. Lee said the following words to Fletcher Stockdale, former Governor of Texas:

"If I had foreseen the use those people (Yankees) designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no, sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in this right hand."

DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms
Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321
Army of Tennessee
Sons of Confederate Veterans

Kalamazoo Living History Show (Report - March 2016)

About two weeks ago (March 19-20), members of the 'Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne' Camp #2257 (Grand Rapids, MI) attended the Kalamazoo Living History Show at the County Fair Grounds! Cmdr. Jim Perkins [Camp #2257] said that "Our recruiting weekend went well and ... we referred a couple of recruits to the Semmes Camp, as well as found some other interested prospects for the Cleburne Camp."

Also attending the event was Montie Ocha [Compatriot, 'Adm. Raphael Semmes' Camp #1321]! Compatriot Ocha introduced members of the Cleburne Camp to Michigan based reenactor, Gary Carpenter, who folks might remember from the end of the 1993 motion picture, 'Gettysburg,' as he implored Gen. Lee (played by Martin Sheen) to "let us reform and hit 'em again!" Cmdr. Perkins described the meeting as "a real treat!"

The Cleburne Camp also held a camp meeting that weekend in which several new officers were elected, and we look forward to updating Camp #2257's roster information here on the page very soon.

Here's a few pictures sent in by Cmdr. Perkins from the event for your viewing pleasure.

[Image Credit: Jim Perkins, Michigan Camps of the SCV]

[Image Credit: Jim Perkins, Michigan Camps of the SCV]

[Image Credit: Jim Perkins, Michigan Camps of the SCV]

[Image Credit: Jim Perkins, Michigan Camps of the SCV]

God bless the men and women who make the past come to life as "living historians" and also the men of 'Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne' Camp #2257 for all they do to preserve and convey the true history of the Confederate soldiers & sailors in the War Between the States!

FROM HQ - A Proclamation by SCV Commander-in-Chief Barrow

[Image Credit: Michigan Camps of the SCV]

 The following is an official proclamation by Charles Kelly Barrow, Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans:

WHEREAS: April is the month in which the Confederate States of America began and ended a four-year struggle for states’ rights, individual freedoms, local governmental control, and independence, which they knew to be right and just; and

WHEREAS: The Sons of Confederate Veterans, the direct heirs of the United Confederate Veterans, honor, observe, and celebrate the Confederate States of America, its history, those who served in its armed forces and government; and

WHEREAS: All those millions of its citizens of various races, ethnic groups and religions who contributed in sundry and myriad of ways to the Cause that they held so dear from its founding on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, until the CSS Shenandoah sailed into Liverpool, England and surrendered to Her Majesty’s Government on November 6, 1865; and

WHEREAS: It is important that the Sons of Confederate Veterans and those of Confederate descent reflect upon the Confederate States of America’s past to honor and respect the devotion of her Confederate leaders, soldiers, sailors, Marines and citizens; and

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Charles Kelly Barrow, Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, do hereby proclaim the month of April, as:

NATIONAL CONFEDERATE HISTORY and HERITAGE MONTH and encourage all Compatriots to celebrate their states' historically recognized and designated Confederate holidays; however, during the month of April, Compatriots are urged to participate in properly honoring the Confederate States armed forces, her elected and appointed officials, its citizens, and innovations by creating educational programs, ceremonies, and gatherings.

Deo Vindice!
- Charles Kelly Barrow
Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
@scvcic