UPDATED: Memorial Day Event Set for Johnson's Island, May 30th

[Image: Camp #1321 Archives; "The Lookout" Monument at Johnson's Island, 1989]

 Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321 (Dearborn, MI) will be observing Confederate Memorial Day this year on Monday, May 30, 2016 (the same day as "national" Memorial Day) at the Confederate Stockade Cemetery on Johnson's Island, near Sandusky, OH. (You can see Cedar Point from the cemetery.) We hope all who are able will make it out for this, our most important event of the year.

It is our intention to place flags at the 206 marked graves, and also at 'The Lookout' monument. Flag placement will begin right around 10 a.m., with a small memorial service taking place shortly afterward to honor the hundreds of Confederate Prisoners of War interred at the site.

For those planning to attend:
- There is a toll booth to get on to the island. The cost is $2.00 (two dollars) in coins or paper money with a machine to accept the money, which then opens the gate. Bring quarters and one dollar bills.
- Please bring a small cooler with something to eat and drink for yourself and guests attending with you. Most of us are bringing some lunch meat, bread - basic sandwich stuff.
- If you require outdoor seating, feel free to bring a lawn chair.
- At this time it appears as though we will have access to the Johnson's Island Property Owners Association (JIPOA) Clubhouse, located right near the cemetery. This will provide us a place to use the restroom, and shelter from the elements if weather is an issue.

Our Camp has observed Confederate Memorial Day at Johnson's Island numerous times in the past. In 1995, our camp was instrumental in getting the Veterans Administration to restore the statue, 'The Lookout,' that stands guard over the cemetery.

Between 1862-1865, the U.S. Federal Government confined more than 10,000 Confederate military personnel (mostly officers) at a military prison facility on Johnson’s Island. All that remains of this POW Camp today is the Cemetery.

Some sources say that more than 300 Confederates died while interred here. Originally the graves were marked by simple hand-carved wooden markers, but over time these deteriorated. In 1890, the 206 old, worn markers that could still be found & read were replaced with marble headstones. Recent efforts using ground-penetrating radar have located 267 graves in and around the cemetery boundaries.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE: Report of the Deputy Chief of Heritage Promotions (May 2016)

It is with permission from SCV Commander-in-Chief Barrow that I republish this message from Byron E. Brady, Deputy Chief of Heritage Promotions for the SCV. Thanks CiC. Barrow!
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In these days of unjust and ungodly attacks upon our Confederate Heritage, it is imperative that we keep our flags flying. CIC Barrow and Chief of Heritage Operations Stevens have the same philosophy regarding the flying of our flags.
 
“When they take one of our flags down, we need to put two flags up.”
This should also be the same philosophy of every SCV member.
 
The Heritage Operations Committee has funds to help you get Confederate flags placed in prominent areas of the country. Please contact our headquarters at Elm Springs if your camp has a project that can accomplish this goal.
 
Let’s show this country just how proud we are of the Confederate flag.

Byron E. Brady
Deputy Chief of Heritage Promotions
Sons of Confederate Veterans

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

Restricting CSA Flags at National Cemeteries (Heritage Violation in Progress)

Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted to allow an amendment to the annual spending bill that will ban the flying of large scale, historically accurate Confederate flags over the graves of our fallen heroes in gray. As a token of our good rulers' kindness, they'll still permit us to place small Confederate flags on individual Confederate graves on two dates a year - Memorial Day & Confederate Memorial Day. The vote passed with 265 in favor and 159 against.

We should all let those members of the House know exactly how we feel. Click the following link to see how each Representative voted. Once you're there, scroll down to see if your Representative has a "Yea" next to his or her name, click their name, get their contact info, and CALL 'EM UP! Be polite and respectful, but be firm in voicing your opposition.

Vote On Agreeing to Amendment 15 to H.R. 4974 (GovTrack.us)

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

Camp #1321 Goings On (May/June 2016)

[Image Credit: The Michigan Camps of the SCV, 2015]

Spring has sprung here in Michigan, though the past day or two some might think the spring has unwound, as here in southeastern Michigan we saw some very light sleet and snow flurries on the third Sunday in May! Despite the crazy weather, the SCV Compatriots of Camp #1321 have been working on things for the coming summer.

As has already been reported here on the Camp blog, our camp will be hosting a Memorial Day event at the Confederate Stockade Cemetery on Johnson's Island near Sandusky, OH on May 30th. Besides being held on the date of the national holiday, May 30th is also the date set aside this year for Confederate Memorial Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We're very much looking forward to this event, as Memorial Day is our most important Camp event of any year. We hope everyone interested will come out to honor those brave men in gray who are buried so far away from the Southland they so bravely fought to defend.

Then in the month of June, we'll be holding our bi-annual Camp elections at our Jefferson Davis Birthday Picnic & Meeting! I cannot stress enough for members of Camp #1321 how important this meeting will be. A Camp is only as strong as it's membership makes it, and this is the opportunity for Camp members to elect the officers who will serve them for the next two years. If you're a member of the camp, you should have received an email from Adj. Frank Peters about this meeting with more details.

We look forward to seeing all members of the camp at our various meetings and events over the next few months as we head into the summer. Remember, the life of the local camp is only as strong as the membership makes it, and the local camps are the strength of the national organization. We must stand up for own heritage; nobody else will do it for us.

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

Cmdr. Jim Perkins (Camp 2257): CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY, CHATTANOOGA 2016

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 [Happy to present the following from Cmdr. Jim Perkins, Maj.Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne Camp #2257 (Grand Rapids, MI). Many thanks to Cmdr. Perkins for sharing this with all of our readers! - J.M.]
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[Image courtesy of Jim Perkins]

For Confederate Memorial Day I visited the old Confederate Cemetery in Chattanooga, where General Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp #3 held a ceremony for three Confederate veterans, two from Alabama and one from Arkansas. One of these men was my cousin Captain Sidney F. Lister. 

[Image courtesy of Jim Perkins]

 CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY, CHATTANOOGA 2016

A TRIBUTE TO CAPTAIN SIDNEY LISTER, 58TH ALABAMA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

 

- by Jim Perkins

 
  Sidney F. Lister was born in 1838, the second son and one of six children of Samuel and Delila Morgan Lister in St. Clair County, Alabama. Only nineteen years prior, Alabama had become a state, and the Listers were in many ways typical of early settlers in St. Clair County, which is located just east of Birmingham. Settlers there tended to be former Pennsylvanians and South Carolinians.

   By 1850, Sidney was twelve years of age, and his father Samuel owned $700 worth of real estate. In 1854, the sovereign state of Alabama established public schools, however, little money was allocated for education during that time. Quite possibly the fact that Sidney’s own mother, Delila could not read or write, factored into his decision to become a school teacher near Ashville in 1859.

   In 1859, Alabama ranked only second to Mississippi in cotton production, and the 1860 Census indicated that Sidney’s father, Samuel’s real estate was valued at $2,000, while his personal state was worth $6,600 (about $176,000 today), including six slaves. Furthermore, in 1860 Sidney married Louisa Neely on 27 November, and later they had one child, Albert in 1861.

   It is interesting that St. Clair County lies within the Coosa River Valley where steamboats frequently cruised in order to load thousands of cotton bales from the numerous planters in the area. Between the years of 1850 and 1860, land values tripled in the valley, as the world demand for finished cotton goods exploded. With England’s textile mills operating at full bore, seventy-five percent of the cotton purchased there was the high quality product supplied by the Southern states.

   Unfortunately, during this time the over-bearing, powerful, and greedy industrial hierarchy of the Northeast, coupled with the hypocritical New England Radical Republican Congressmen, stepped up their ruthless attack on the South. Consequently, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 proved that the South had lost he voice in government. Therefore, on 11 January, Alabama became the fourth state to cast her lot with the Confederacy.

[Image courtesy of Jim Perkins]

     After the war broke out, Sidney Lister enlisted 18 March 1862 with the 18th Alabama Volunteer Infantry, where he was elected 2nd Lieutenant by the soldiers of Company G. Following the initial excitement, Sidney soon found that life in the army was not always glorious, as Colonel John Inzer noted: “Lts Lister & Reavis, Pvt Crump and myself put our blankets down between the cabin and cook house, quieted down. All had to turn at once. Slept rather poorly, got up at 4 A.M. Lister got up, throwing up and throwing down, neither of us ate breakfast at 7 this morning.”

   By late March, the Yankee army under U.S. Grant invaded Tennessee, and Lt. Lister saw his first action at the Battle of Shiloh, and following the first day the 18th Alabama, under the command of Brigadier J.K. Jackson, was detailed to remove Federal prisoners to the rear. Later in 1862, the 18th was transferred to Mobile until later returning to the Army of Tennessee in March 1863. During this period, Sidney Lister was promoted to Captain of the newly formed 58th Alabama Infantry, Company F.

   At Chickamauga in September, the 58th under the command of William Bate, was recognized for gallantry on the field for capturing a Yankee cannon, however, the bloody battle was costly as the 58th lost 480 man, or 56% of the regiment. Following the Confederate victory at Chickamauga, the Federals retreated to Chattanooga, where the Army of Tennessee eventually surrounded them. The Battle of Missionary Ridge, fought on 25 November 1863 in Chattanooga, proved to be Captain Lister’s final battle. While defending the extreme Confederate left, and serving under Brigadier H. D. Clayton, the last mention of Sidney was noted in Colonel Inzer’s diary: “Before a great while, I discovered the enemy was flanking us on the left. He was coming up a hollow some 100 yards from the left of our regiments, moving by the flank (Capt. Lister first called my attention to the fact). It was during this portion of the fight that Sidney Lister caught a Yankee minie ball below his left knee, that shattered his fibula.

   Seriously wounded, Captain Lister became a prisoner following the army’s retreat, underwent an amputation of the left leg, and ligation of the damaged artery. Thirteen days later, Sidney F. Lister passed away due to gangrene infection, and was subsequently buried near in the Confederate cemetery along the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

[Image courtesy of Jim Perkins]

    Post war years witnessed several floods that often washed away the soldiers’ grave markers along the river, and today, thanks to the S.C.V. General Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp 3, as well as the local UDC Chapters, these gentlemen are still annually honored in eloquently carried out ceremonies where new stones are placed. Congratulations ladies and gentlemen, thank you, and Deo Vindice!

[Image courtesy of Jim Perkins]

Louisville Confederate Monument ['Confederate Veteran' Magazine, Oct. 1895]

[The following is an article from the October 1895 edition of the Confederate Veteran Magazine about the unveiling of the then brand-new Confederate monument in Louisville, KY. It is reprinted here for historical purposes, and to show how there once was a time when America honored all of her military veterans - J.M.]

LOUISVILLE CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

Louisville has honored Kentucky and the South by the handsome Confederate monument erected there late in July. The ceremonies were witnessed by many thousands.

In the introductory prayer, Rev. J. S. Lyon said:

"God bless these noble women; in all the fierce struggle their patriotism was the purest, their patience in suffering was the sublimest; and in the hour of defeat their cup of sorrow was the bitterest. Accept this labor of their love as an effective instrument in thy providence of perpetuating the memory of the brave, and accomplishing that wide and profound peace which will make our united nation that happy and blessed people whose God is the Lord, in the name and for the sake of our adorable Redeemer. Amen."

In his introductory address, Chairman Jacob said:

"Ah! the trials and tribulations of the noble women, who, like Rachel, mourned and would not be comforted, because her children were not; when every letter was written with a tear, and every word was the noise of a broken heart."

Chairman Jacob spoke feelingly of the deep affliction which had come upon Mrs. Susan Preston Hepburn, President of the Kentucky Women's Monumental Association, in the loss of her niece, Mrs. Kinney, daughter of Col. William Preston Johnston, and granddaughter of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. He said that at the request of Mrs. Hepburn, and by the unanimous request of the ladies of the Executive Committee, the honor of unveiling the monument was conferred upon Mrs. W. N. Haldeman, which she gracefully performed, and the instant the massive bronze figure surmounting the shaft stood out against the sky, cheering and clapping of hands began and continued for some time. Scarcely had this ceased when the band struck up with "Way Down South in Dixie," while the throng of people met the sentiment with ringing cheers.

Gen. Basil Duke was the orator of the occasion, and spoke at length. He dwelt upon the heroic devotion to principle of Confederate soldiers, and on this line he said:

"Was it for gold or rank that they gave their breasts to the battle? Were they lured by the thirst for fame? Did they leave home and family, the rooftree beneath which all that was dearest to them on earth was gathered; the father who had hoped that the boy he had reared would be the staff of his declining age, and the mother whose tender love the tenderest care could never requite; perhaps wife and little ones, dearer than life itself; was all this wealth of happiness relinquished for the bubble, reputation, or any wish of gain? We know that such thoughts had no part in determining the choice they made. 

"With youthful ardor and fiery zeal they rushed to arms, believing their cause invincible because they believed it just. When terrible disaster, which their victories could neither arrest or disguise, had dispelled all hope of ultimate success, they yet remained as firm in their fealty as in their convictions, and fought on with resolution unabated and devotion unimpaired. No change in the conditions or in the aspect of the struggle affected in anywise their heroic steadfastness of purpose. 

"We may not claim for them the wreath of the victor; even when we speak their eulogies we may sound no strain of triumph. But while our eyes are dimmed with sorrow when we think of them fallen, our hearts beat with pride when we remember how and for what they died."

Faces changed quickly to expressions of sadness as the Confederate Choir sang sweetly and touchingly "Tell the Boys I'm Coming Soon."

In the closing prayer Rev. J. M. Weaver said:

"May the memories of the brave and suffering ones of the past ever influence us to deeds of charity and kindness in our intercourse with our fellow-countrymen. Bless our rulers and grant them wisdom to so conduct the affairs of state that Thy great name may be glorified and the people benefited."

The multitude sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee." There was no Confederate flag to be seen in all the decorations, but at the conclusion of the ceremonies the Rev. G. B. Overton and Capt. John H. Weller, held up from the front of the stand for display a large silk Confederate flag, which had been torn and bullet-pierced while upheld by gallant Kentucky soldiers.

The Association worked very hard to raise the funds for the monument. The whole amount raised is about $10,200, and represents the toil and devotion of the women.

The Courier-Journal states:

"In the decade that has passed many entertainments and public affairs have taken place under the auspices of the Association, that have made the social bond of interest among members very binding. The public has had the pleasure of many evenings of entertainment, and cannot fail to look back over the numerous entertainments with regret that such associations have now ended. The first money for the fund was obtained by a lawn fete at the country home in Jefferson County of Mrs. Flora Williams. The second entertainment was a picnic at Fisherville. The third was a children's entertainment given at the private school of Miss Henrietta Johnston, on Breckinridge Street near Fourth. An oyster supper was given at the home of Mrs. Albert Smith. The following four entertainments were the greatest financial successes, and from which the first large sums were realized. They were a bazar, given at the residence of Mrs. W. N. Haldeman; the Kindersymphony, Ben Hur, and the World's Fair, the latter having been given at Music Hall in May, 1894. The following are the present officers of the Association:

President — Mrs. Hepburn, Vice-President — Mrs. H. W. Bruce, Treasurer — Mrs. Basil W. Duke, Secretary — Mrs. Andrew Sea.

The Executive Committee — Chairman, Mrs. W. N. Haldeman, with Mrs. John Herndon, alternate; Mesdames Walker, Benedict, Z. L. Wallis, Charles Semple, David Yandell, A. Carrington.

Auxiliary Committee — Mrs. Reginald Thompson, Chairman.