JINDAL REBUKED BY LA. DIV. SCV

Louisiana Division Color Guard

By  Mike Jones
     HAMMOND, La. -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was officially "rebuked" by the Louisiana Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, at it annual reunion Saturday, May 1, at the Quality Inn.
     The resolution noted the governor had refused for two years in a row to proclaim April as Confederate History Month, in spite of it being a tradition that was followed by both of his predecessors, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, and Gov. Mike Foster, a Republican. Jindal is also a Republican.
     The SCV is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization that endorses neither political parties nor political candidates. A number of other Southern governors have made proclamations similar to the one Jindal refused, including those of Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and Georgia.
David Hill, La. Div. Commander-elect
(Photo by Mike Jones)

      In other business, the group also elected officers for 2010 through 2012. Elected were David Hill, commander, Gen. Richard Taylor Camp 1308, Shreveport, ; Ted Brode, first lieutenant commander, Maj. Thomas Maguire Camp 1714, West Monroe; and Kevin Adkins, second lieutenant commander, Lt. Elijah H. Ward Camp 1971, Farmerville.  Elected brigade commanders were George Gremillion, southwest brigade, Brig. Gen. J.J. Alfred Mouton Camp 778, Opelousas; Thomas Taylor, northeast brigade, Capt. Thomas O. Benton Camp 1444, Monroe; Chip Landry, southeast brigade, Henry Watkins Allen Camp 144, Baton Rouge; and Scott Summers, northwest brigade, Gen. Richard Taylor Camp 1308, Shreveport.
     The convention also voted to select a design for a silver commemorative coin for the Sesquicentennial of the War for Southern Independence. Selected for the front was an image of Judah Benjamin, secretary of state, secetary of war and attorney general of the Confederacy. Benjamin was also U.S. senator from Louisiana before the war. In addition, an image of a Louisiana pelican selected for the back of the coin.
     Other actions by the convention included recommending Michael Givens of South Carolina for the position of commander-in-chief of the SCV, at its upcoming national reunion in Anderson, South Carolina. The Louisiana Division also voted to endorse Paul Gramling of Shreveport as lieutenant commander of the SCV at the national reunion. It was noted that Charles Kelly Barrow of Georgia is also a candidate for the position of lieutenant commander.
     In addition, Todd Owens, former Louisiana Division commander and the current Army of Trans-Mississippi commander, is running for the office of Army of Trans-Mississippi councilman.
Wayne Cosby, luncheon speaker.
(Photo by Mike Jones)

     Wayne Cosby of was the luncheon speaker Saturday. He spoke about the early actions of 1860-61, which led to the creation of Camp Moore training camp at Tangipahoa. Jim Morris Perrin was the speaker at the Saturday night awards banquet. He spoke on the military operations along the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern railroads.
     The only amendment to the Louisiana Division constitution was to abolish the central brigade and consolidate it into the four other brigades. The action was reportedly taken because of a reduction in the number of camps and members in the central brigade.
     The division donated $500 to the annual "Run for the Wall" event. Additionally, attendees at the convention donated over $300 to the effort. The event is a cross-country motorcycle trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. One of the stops is Monroe, La. where the cyclists are treated to a fried fish dinner, gumbo and Southern Confederate hospitality.
     Various attacks on Confederate heritage were discussed. Former Louisiana Division Commander Chuck Morris said the University of Mississippi "Ole Miss," has now banned all Confederate symbolism. He said when he attended that school, Confederate flags were prominently displayed everywhere and the song "Dixie" was played so often by the school band, he became  tired of it. He said license plates with the Confederate flag and an image of "Colonel Rebel" are still available at the Beauvoir gift shop in Biloxi. Scott Summers, a former member of Kappa Alpha Order, formerly proud of its "Old South" heritage and connection with Robert E. Lee, has now banned Confederate uniforms and Old South celebrations nationwide.  
     Compatriot Kerry Cooley encouraged members to request legislative proclamations from their state representative or state senator honoring a former Confederate who was prominent in their area. These official proclamations could become part of a Sesquicentennial book.

LOUISIANA BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION

Louisiana WFSI sites should be preserved
By Mike Jones

LOUISIANA HAS a colorful history, and in the War For Southern Independence, 1861-1865, it was one of the main battlegrounds.

There were six major military campaigns fought in Louisiana, including the capture of New Orleans and the Bayou Lafourche campaign in 1862; the Bayou Teche, Port Hudson and Acadiana campaigns in 1863; and the Red River Campaign in 1864. Each involved major battles, minor skirmishes and many casualties.

More than 12,000 Louisianians died in the war and whole sections of the state were laid to waste.

That alone should be enough for the Louisianians to make sure Louisiana battlefields get proper recognition and historical preservation.

Private individuals and organizations interested in battlefield preservation need to shoulder the burden. A sterling example of this avenue is Camp Moore historic site near Tangipahoa. This was a State Commemorative Area shut down due to budget cuts.

A group of interested citizens wanting the save and preserve this important site in Louisiana's history formed an organization, got a long-term lease from the state and raised its own funds. It is now reopened and has a promising future that will boost tourism for the state.

In addition, Burr's Ferry -- which is the site of a Confederate earthworks — is being preserved by the local camp, Anacoco Rangers, of the Louisiana Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The grounds are receiving upkeep and a nice Confederate flag display has been erected.

Also Niblett's Bluff Park near Vinton, which is another site of well preserved Confederate earthworks, is also being well preserved by the park's board of commissioners. Part of the Pleasant Hill battlefield is being preserved through private sources and is the scene of the state's largest annual reenactment.

While most battlefields in the state have in no way been preserved, the state has established historic sites at Port Hudson, Mansfield, Fort Pike and Winter Quarters State Historic Site. Fort DeRussy is in the process of being preserved. There are many more sites that need to be protected and preserved, including Bayou Lafourche, Bayou Teche, Calcasieu Pass, Buzzard's Prairie, and many more.

Private, state or federal grant money sources can be accessed. Louisiana has a colorful history and many battlefields that are well worth preserving.

BATTLE OF CALCASIEU PASS REMEMBERED BY THOSE WHO WERE THERE

  

 By Mike Jones
CAMERON -- Louisiana history books don't mention the Battle of Calcasieu Pass, which took place May 6, 1864, but the men who fought here never forgot it.
    The commander of the Confederate forces in the battle was Lt. Col. William Henry Griffin.
    A native of South Carolina, Griffin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., on July 1, 1831, 27th in class standing. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 7th U.S. Infantry Regiment and resigned his commission on April 30, 1837.
    Griffin took up farming and lived in Alabama before moving to Texas in the 1840s. He settled in East Texas where he raised a family in Rusk and Upshur counties.
    In 1861, when Texas seceded from the Union, the West Point graduate was called upon to command an infantry battalion, which was assigned to guard the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts at Sabine Pass, Texas and Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.
    Griffin's battalion saw action in the Battle of Galveston, Jan. 1, 1863 and and at the Battle of Calcasieu Pass.
    At that time Cameron Parish was part of Calcasieu Parish and a number of local men took part in the battle as members of Company F of Griffin's battalion, and possibly also Daly's Texas Cavalry, which later became known as Ragsdale's Texas Cavalry.
    Louisiana state Confederate Pension records make it possible to identify some Cameron Parish residents who served in those units.
    Among them were James Monroe Welch, Belazier Duhon and Norbert D. Duhon, all of Company F of Griffin's battalion.
    Serving in Ragsdale's Texas Cavalry were Frederick Vaughan, Valery Doiron, Pierre B. Boudoin, J. Armstrong Smith, Adolphe Hebert and Auguste Gillett.
    Calcasieu pensioners who served in units involved included David Gordon, Spaight's battalion; Caesair Peloquin, Octave Benoit and Valmond Doiron, allin Griffin's battalion; and in Ragsdale's battalion Alexandre Arceneaux, Cyprien Ardoin, James S. Cole, Joseph Derouen, Arvillien Derouen, Francois David, John J. Hayes, John Pinder, James M. Reeves, Arsene Sallier, W. C. Teal, Joseph Carr, Leo Derouen, Tolliver Hayes, Charles Doiron, Edward Doiron and Eurelien Sonnier.
    Other residents who did not apply for pensions probably served as well.
    A rare eyewitness description of the battle is contained in a letter written by one of the participants, C. Walter von Rosenburg of the Creuzbaur's 5th Texas Artillery, made up mostly of German Texans from Fayette County, four days after the battle:
    ''Camp of Creuzbaur Light Battery,
    ''May 10, 1864.
    ''Dear Brother William:
    ''We are in camp on the coast, six miles from Sabine Pass, having just returned from Calcasieu Pass, La., where we had a fight with the Yanks. Brother Alex and I came out of the fight without injury. William Kneiss was killed by the first shot from the enemy.
    ''On the 4th of this month at noon we received orders to get ready to start for Calcasieu by dusk, so that the United States gunboats out in the Gulf observing our coast could not see the movement. A detachment under Lieut. W. Meitzen was up in the country, where part of our horses were grazing, leaving from forty to forty-five officers and men on duty. With what teams remained we had to move the battery to Sabine Pass. There, after completing the teams with mules, the battery was loaded on a steamboat, and we went up Sabine Lake and into one of the bayous, where we unloaded about noon on the 5th and in the latter part of the evening started on our march. The men had to walk on account of the deep sand, which caused slow progress. However, before day we were in position facing two gunboats. Our battery consisted of two twelve-pounder guns, No. 1 and No. 2, and of two six-pounder guns, No. 3 and No. 4.
    ''Captain Creuzbaur was in command of the battery, Lieutenant Welhausen commanded guns Nos. 3 and 4. No. 1 was manned by brother Alex, orderly sergeant, myself gunner, H. Kneiss, W. Kneiss, W. Peters, W. Guers, John Winn, and ------; the drivers were F. Koch and F. Kiel. Guns Nos. 1 and 2 were on the right, facing the gunboat Granite City; guns Nos. 3 and 4 were opposite the gunboat Wave. We were about twelve hundred yards from the gunboats when I was ordered to open fire. Our fire was soon answered, and W. Kneiss fell at the first shot. We continued firing, notwithstanding the fact that we were subjected to a heavy crossfire from the gunboats which were lying in position, a bend in Calcasieu Bayou between them. In a short time gun 3 became disabled; F. Fahrenhold, H. Foerstermann, J. Lynch mortally wounded. Gun No. 4 bravely kept on firing, but could not advance for want of teams, the horses by mistake having been ordered back.
    ''We could not observe whether our shots were effective and Captain Creuzbaur ordered us to advance. Only guns No. 1 and 2 could advance, No. 3 being disabled and No. 4 without horses. At about nine hundred yards I was ordered to throw shells to obtain the distance to the Granite City. Then I followed up with solid shot. We continued to advance, thereby getting out of the cross-fire. Gun No. 1 led the advance up to about six hundred yards, when the Granite City hoisted a white flag just as I gave an order to load. About the time gun No. 2 sank in a swamp, and all efforts of officers and men to raise it were unsuccessful; it was, however, dug up after the fight was over. We had now only two guns left for action; but gun No. 4 being still in the first position without horses, gun No. 1 was the only one that could be advanced in action. There being no officer near, I as gunner ordered an advance on the Wave. This order was executed so quickly by the drivers that when we halted about three hundred yards from the Wave, I was the only man with the gun, and, noticing some infantry to the right behind a plank fence, I called on them to assist in bringing the gun into position. They cheerfully responded, and upon the arrival of the men of No. 1 on a run, led by H. Kneiss, we immediately commenced firing. We were short of men at our gun. W. Kneiss had been killed and W. Guers wounded, although he had heroically attended to his duty for some time kneeling. I sent solid shot at the Wave, and, as subsequently disclosed, our balls went lengthwise through the gunboat. An effort to raise gun No. 2 had been given up, and soon gun No. 1 had men enough to work her and bring up ammunition, which Alex had done for some time alone, for we had exhausted ours.
    ''The Wave had steam up, and we could see men in the pilot house, whereupon Lieutenant Welhausen ordered me to send canister into the pilot house. After a few shots the pilot house seemed to be abandoned. By this time we had plenty of ammunition brought from gun No. 2. Lieutenant Welhausen ordered me to aim for the engine. After a few more shots the steam was seen escaping. At last gun No. 4 came up and took position by No. I, but fired only one shot, when a white rag was raised on the Wave. There being no officer near, I as gunner ordered the guns to cease firing. We called on the gunboat to lower her boats in order to board her, but none were sent. Whereupon Major McReynolds, who had come up, asked: 'What is up here?' I reported to him the above facts. He then called for boats to be put off to shore and, as none were coming, ordered gun No. 4 to send a warning shot over the gunboat; then, turning to me, he said: 'Give it to them.' This done, the white flag came up like lightning, and a skiff left the steamer for shore. Major McReynolds, accompanied by me and several comrades, boarded the Wave. We found that she had suffered fearfully.
    ''Our infantry did splendid service by their constant fire, sweeping the decks of the gunboats and making it difficult for the Yanks to handle their guns on deck. I saw an infantryman standing out by himself in the open field toward the Wave firing unflinchingly. I was anxious to learn his name, but could not. This man's bravery was noticed on the Wave, and afterwards prisoners inquired for him, stating that his daring irritated their men when firing at him.
    ''The battery was ordered back to Sabine Pass and to this camp; the infantry was left in charge of prisoners and gunboats. We captured sixteen guns and one hundred and sixty-six men (Griffin reported 174 captured).
    ''The other forces engaged with us were the 21st Texas, Major McReynolds, and part of Daly's and Spaight's Battalions, in all 250 to 300 men. All the forces engaged were under command of Col. W. H. Griffin, of the 21st Texas Infantry.''
    ''(signed) C. Walter von Rosenburg.''
    A view of the battle from the Union perspective is contained in a letter written by C. W. Lamson, commander of the Granite City:
    ''Sabine Pass, Texas, May 8, 1864.
    ''I am under the painful necessity of informing you that I was captured at Calcasieu Pass on the morning of the 6th. The Wave was also captured at the same time. We fought for an hour an forty minutes; but the enemy's sharp-shooters picked off our men so that we could not keep our guns manned, and their batteries hulled us every shot.
    ''The Granite City had sixteen shot-holes in her hull, near the water line; two officers were wounded, one severely so badly that his right arm was obliged to be taken off at the shoulder. Ten men were wounded; two since dead.
    ''The enemy's sharp-shooters annoyed us most, although we were pretty well cut up by shot and shell.
    ''I am uninjured and in good health. I have met so far with hightoned polite officers, who have shown me every proper attention.
    ''We go from here by steamboat and railroad to Houston. Our destination from there is now to me unknown.
    ''C.W. Lamson, Commanding U. S. Steamer Granite City.''
    The bloody encounter of May 6 left both the field and gunboats littered with dead and wounded.
    Col. Griffin reported that eight of his men were killed in action and 13 wounded. Later, two of Creuzbaur's artillerymen, one of Daly's cavalrymen, and one of Spaight's infantrymen died of wounds.
    The Union casualties have never been fully accounted. Lamson admitted to ten wounded on the Granite City, and two later died. Loring said he had 24 wounded on the Wave, four of whom later died. But indications are there were many more.
    Five days after the battle, Col. Griffin said in a report:
    ''I thought it very strange when I went on board the Granite City that there were so many seriously wounded and so few dead.
    It will now be explained. Five dead bodies have washed ashore, to which weights had been attached and then thrown overboard.
    The probability is, therefore, that some 15 or 20 of the enemy were killed in the late battle.''
    But the mystery as to why the bodies were weighted and thrown overboard in the first place remains unresolved to this day.
    The Confederates also took a total of 174 prisoners, 16 cannons, the stolen livestock, and a large quantity of food, on which the weary infantrymen delightedly feasted. The poor artillerymen had been sent back to Sabine Pass and missed out on the loot.
    Wounded from both sides were taken to Lake Charles and from there to Goosport where they received the best of care in Captain Daniel Goos' home.
    Union gunboats didn't molest area residents for the remainder of the war.

'The Civil War Reminiscences of Major Silas T. Grisamore, C.S.A.'

    By MIKE JONES
    ''The Civil War Reminiscences of Major Silas T. Grisamore, C.S.A.'' edited by Arthur W. Bergeron Jr.; Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA 70893; 227 pages; photographs, maps; footnotes, bibliography, index; $34.95 hardback.
    One of the best accounts of the War Between the States in Louisiana can be found in ''The Civil War Reminiscences of Major Silas T. Grisamore, C.S.A.''
    Grisamore first served as an enlisted man, and then as an officer in the 18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment, which took part in most of the major battles fought on Louisiana soil.
    Grisamore, a native Yankee from Indiana, moved to Louisiana in the 1840s and sided with his adopted state when the conflict between North and South erupted in 1861.
    A resident of Thibodaux where he ran a store, he joined the Lafourche Creoles, which became Company F of the 18th Louisiana that was mostly made up of French-speaking Acadians.
    Grisamore, who had the eye and writing talent of a newspaper reporter, kept a diary during the war and later wrote his memoirs from it for the Thibodaux newspaper.
    He recounts the early experiences of adapting to military life, many of them humorous, the difficulties of life in camp and on the march, and especially the horrors of battle.
    Grisamore gives one of the best eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee on April 6-7, 1862.
    In the fall of that year, he and his regiment were transferred back to Louisiana to defend the state from an invasion led by Union General Benjamin ''Beast'' Butler.
    The regiment took part in the Battle of Labadieville soon after, and in 1863 fought in the Battle of Bisland.
    Grisamore also gives a stirring account of the Battle of Mansfield on April 8, 1864, where General Alfred Mouton and the colonel of the 18th Louisiana, Leopold Armant, died heroic deaths.
    Serving much of the war as the quartermaster of his company and regiment, Grisamore gives rare insight into how Confederate soldiers in Louisiana were uniformed, fed and sheltered.
    He also presented biographical sketches on the leading officers in the regiment and the book contains outstanding uniformed photographs of Cpl. Paul Thibodaux of Company F and Colonel Armant, among others.
    This book is a valuable addition to the literature on the history of the Civil War in Louisiana.

RED RIVER CAMPAIGN OF 1864

By Mike Jones

Pleasant Hill Reenactment 2010
(Photo by Mike Jones)

One of the major events in Louisiana history was the Red River Campaign of 1864. The campaign raged up and down the state from March-May 1864 and resulted in nearly 15,000 military casualties and left thousands of civilians homeless and starving. Vast sections of Louisiana were reduced to utter ruin.

Although meeting with initial success, the Union Army invasion met fatal setbacks at the Battle of Mansfield on April 8, 1864 and at the Battle of Pleasant Hill April 9, 1864.

The Red River Campaign was launched by President Lincoln who wanted to bring Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas back into the Union before the

1864 presidential election, confiscate Southern cotton for idle New England textile mills, counter French adventurism in Mexico and satisfy the ''Texas Lobby'' in Congress which had long been pressuring the government to subjugate the Lone Star State.

The invasion was to be mounted by Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks' Army of the Gulf coming up from New Orleans, and Gen. Frederick Steele's Army of the Frontier coming down from Little Rock, Ark. The two armies were to converge on Shreveport and, with a combined total of 44,000 men, invade East Texas.

Banks' army was supported by a powerful Naval flotilla under Admiral David Porter, which came up the Red River.

Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor
(copy print, Mike Jones collection)

To meet this massive invasion Confederate commander of the Army of Western Louisiana, Gen. Richard Taylor, had just 8,800 men, with another 4,000 later coming from Arkansas to reinforce him. The overall Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department was Gen. Kirby Smith but he stayed in his headquarters in Shreveport through most of the Louisiana phase of the campaign.

Banks met with initial success and won minor victories at Fort DeRussy on March 14 and Henderson Hill on March 21 as the combined army-navy force moved up the Red River Valley.

Taylor, who knew he was greatly outnumbered, fell back in good order waiting for reinforcements and favorable ground upon which to make a stand.

The Union Army brought with it civilian cotton merchants who were to confiscate all the Confederate cotton they could lay their

hands on. Taylor countered by having his men burn all the cotton they could find and they burned thousands of bales between Alexandria and Natchitoches.

One witness wrote, ''In fact the road all the way to Natchitoches, a distance of 18 miles one could say was a solid flame.''

And a Louisiana officer, Arthur Hyatt, wrote in his diary about the frustrating 200 mile retreat. ''During all this march we have not a single tent, and when it rains which is frequently we have to lay and take it.''

He also wrote, ''We have nothing but bull beef, corn bread, dirty clothes and sore feet.''

But the Union troops were brimming with confidence, in fact over confidence. One Union officer scoffed when he heard, ''They said the rebels were boasting that here (Mansfield) was the place they were going to begin to bury the Yankees.''

Banks' over confidence led him into making a critical tactical error when he separated his army from the Union fleet on the Red River in order to take the road going through Pleasant Hill and Mansfield to Shreveport.

Taylor had learned from Stonewall Jackson in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in 1862 how a small army could defeat a much larger one. It was by catching the enemy by surprise and beating him in detail. These were exactly the tactics the Louisiana general employed.

He said, ''The value of the 'initiative' in war cannot be overstated. The 'defensive' is weak, lowering the morale of the army reduced to it.''

Taylor declared Banks would have to pass over his dead body to get past Mansfield. A Texan wrote, ''Fight, fight was the expression of the boys. I never saw men so eager for a chance to try their pluck, and that against overwhelming odds.''

The Northern troops were stretched out along the road with supply wagons mixed in between units, totally unprepared for what was to come.

The first hint that resistance was stiffening was a sharp dismounted cavalry clash April 7 at Wilson's Farm north of Pleasant Hill. After the Union cavalry cleared the way, the advance continued.

On April 8 Taylor had his little army placed in an ideal tactical position three miles south of Mansfield. The Southern army was blocking the road to Shreveport with an open field before them giving a firing range of about 1000 yards.

As the Union Army approached, Taylor rode his horse up to Mouton's Louisiana Infantry Brigade and told them he wanted them ''to draw first blood'' because they were ''fighting in defense of their own soil.''

At 4 p.m. General Alfred Mouton led his men forward in one of the most gallant infantry charges of the war. The Louisianans slammed into the center of the Union line head on and later Walker's Texas Division struck the Union left flank on Honeycutt Hill. Taylor later wrote, ''The charge made by Mouton across the open was magnificent.'' A Federal soldier who was on the receiving end of the charge wrote, ''Masses of rebels, no less than four lines in depth, emerged from the woods and charged with impetuous force, yelling like crazed demons.''

Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton
(Alexandre Mouton House, Lafayette, La.)

Soon the Northern army crumbled and a retreat turned into a rout, but Mouton was dead along with hundreds of his men.

Falling back to Pleasant Hill the next day, the Federals had recovered enough to fight the now advancing Confederates to a standstill. But Banks, realizing his army was whipped, retreated back to the protection of the Union fleet on the Red River.

Although the campaign continued until May 18 with almost constant fighting, the Union army and navy slowly retreated back toward New Orleans. The Federals became vindictive during the retreat and burned every home, outhouse and chicken coop in their path. Observers said the path of the Union Army could be followed by the flames of all the burning houses and barns.

In Arkansas, Gen. Steele turned his army back toward Little Rock when he heard of Banks' defeat.

Although the Red River Campaign was a victory for the Confederates, the cost in lives and property was enormous. Total Southern casualties in the two month campaign in killed, wounded and missing, were 4,275 in Louisiana and 2,300 in Arkansas.

Union losses were 5,400 in Louisiana and 2,750 in Arkansas. In addition Lincoln's troops lost 187 wagons, 1007 draft animals, nine naval vessels and a minimum of 28 naval guns.

The Confederacy was left in control of most of Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas for the rest of the war.

SCV RESPONDS TO ATTACKS

Sons of Confederate Veterans Rejects False and Unfair Smears of SCV and their kinfolk, the late Confederate Veterans

From Sons of Confederate Veterans Headquarters, Elm Springs, Tennessee

Press Release - April 18th, 2010 - For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
J. A. Davis
Public-Media Relations Committee
Sons of Confederate Veterans
770 297-4788
Gainesville, Georgia


The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the historical truth have come under attack from media outlets like MSNBC, CNN, syndicated columnists such as Roland S. Martin (Creators.com) and Leonard Pitts, Jr., of the Miami Herald. They are attempting to lynch Virginia Gov. McDonnell and others of goodwill who recognize April as Confederate History Month --- which has been observed for many years in states across the country.

We applaud the recognition of various groups and organizations interested in the study of their heritage and their part in American history. Black History Month (February), Women's History Month (March), Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May), Native American History Month (November), Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep.15-Oct.15) and many others stand as examples.

Governors and mayors often issue proclamations observing such events and virtually always without controversy of any kind. Why is it that a Virginia governor is singled out for public pillory and character lynching for recognizing Confederate history? Where is the “tolerance” for diversity these malicious voices profess to revere?

The SCV is a strictly historical and educational organization, and neither embraces nor espouses acts or ideologies of racial and religious bigotry. Membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces, regardless of race, colour or creed.

Our Jewish SCV members, like the rest of us, take exception to being labeled as “Nazis”. Our SCV members of Native American, African and Hispanic ancestry, like the rest of us, take exception to being called “racists” and having our ancestors falsely called “terrorists.

CNN's Roland Martin has repeatedly referred to Confederate soldiers and officials as “terrorists” both on televised talk shows (CNN) and in syndicated columns (Creators.com). Martin" April 9th column was entitled, “Confederates, Al-Qaida are the Same: Terrorists”. Comparing Confederate soldiers, recognized as American veterans by an Act of Congress (1958), to Al-Qaida terrorists is over-the-top, absurd and offensive. All Americans of goodwill should condemn this outrage, but it seems that too many media outlets consider it acceptable discourse to smear certain groups.

Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., of the Miami Herald, recently authored a commentary contending that “The South fought to keep slavery, period.” In it, Pitts refers to the Confederate government as a “white racist government” guilty of “high treason.” Pitts' assertions are as false as they are malicious. Pitts cannot explain why President Lincoln and the U.S. Congress repeatedly asserted that the purpose of the war was to “preserve the Union” and denied any linkage to slavery. Pitts makes no effort to explain why Confederate President Jefferson Davis was held in prison for two years without trial after the war. The U.S. government realized that it could NOT convict Davis of treason in a public trial without convicting the Founders of treason for the Declaration of Independence.

In letters to various newspaper editors, SCV Commander in Chief Charles E. McMichael directly refutes Pitts' nonsense:

“Pitts projects a biased and false motivation on the part of Confederates and their union attackers which is not supported by the historical record. The South did NOT fight to preserve slavery nor did the North attack to abolish it. Despite the relentless repetition of absurd distortions by Pitts and other revisionists, the truth doesn't change.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans stands ready, willing and able to defend the true historical record and the good name of Confederate soldiers who are officially American veterans by Act of Congress. We unequivocally refute and condemn any suggestion that they were “traitors” or “terrorists” as recent revisionists have maliciously asserted.


The complete letter from Commander McMichael is reproduced below.

McMichael adds, “My great grandfather was a poor Georgia farm boy of 16 whose family owned no slaves and who endured four years of disease, starvation and deprivation, not to mention being shot at. It borders on the absurd to suggest that he suffered the ordeal of war to defend slavery for the benefit of six percent of the population.”

“The 30,000 members of the SCV will never accept the falsehoods of these malicious revisionists seeking to smear Confederate soldiers as “traitors” or their proud descendants as “racists,” McMichael said. “We challenge media outlets to give the SCV fair opportunity to respond to such smears and distortions with equal space and air time,” McMichael added.

For more information about the Sons of Confederate Veterans, its members, and activities please visit: www.scv.org


Charles E. McMichael
Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
CiC@scv.org


For more information contact:
J. A. Davis
Public-Media Relations Committee
Sons of Confederate Veterans
770 297-4788
Gainesville, Georgia

LETTER FROM SCV Commander-In-Chief CHARLES E. MCMICHAEL FOLLOWS:


Sons of Confederate Veterans
General Headquarters
P.O. Box 59
Columbia, Tennessee 38402-0059

April 17, 2010


Dear Editors:

Leonard Pitts, Jr. of the Miami Herald opines that “The South fought to keep slavery, period.” Please indulge a contrary view.

Confederate soldiers fought to defend their families and homes from an invading and destructive army. President Lincoln and the U.S. Congress made clear that the purpose of their invasion and blockade was to "preserve the union" and preserve federal revenues.

Lincoln in his first inaugural address expressed support for the constitutional amendment to permanently preclude federal legislation abolishing slavery. He stated that he had no intent or desire to interfere with slavery where it existed. The only thing not negotiable to Lincoln was payment of the newly doubled federal tariffs of which the South paid over eighty percent.

The British and European press saw Lincoln's invasion of the south for what it was, “a fiscal quarrel” and the north's desire “for economic control of the South.”

The U.S. House passed a resolution July 25th, 1861 to specify the war's purpose. It explicitly stated the war's purpose was NOT to interfere with “established institutions” of the states, but rather to “preserve the Union”---meaning tariff revenues.

Lincoln, in letters to Horace Greeley in August 1862, again reiterated that his war's purpose was to “preserve the union” and that slavery was not a priority issue. “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it,” Lincoln wrote. With the Emancipation Proclamation published Sept. 1862 (well over a year into the war), Lincoln essentially promised that slavery would continue in all states (including union slave states) IF the seceded states would merely rescind their secession and return to the union before January 1st 1863. The Confederate states declined – clearly indicatinng motivations more involved than Pitts simplified fabrication.

Everyone is thankful that chattel slavery ended in America, but no war was necessary to end it. No other country in the world required war to abolish it. America certainly didn't.

Pitts projects a biased and false motivation on the part of Confederates and their union attackers which is not supported by the historical record. The South did NOT fight to preserve slavery nor did the North attack to abolish it. Despite the relentless repetition of absurd distortions by Pitts and other revisionists, the truth doesn't change.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans stand ready, willing and able to defend the true historical record and the good name of Confederate soldiers who are officially American veterans by Act of Congress. We unequivocally refute and condemn any suggestion that they were “traitors” or “terrorists” as recent revisionists have maliciously asserted.

Respectfully,
Charles E. McMichael
Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Email: cic@scv.org

END

150-YEARS-AGO -- FLAG PRESENTATION TO CREOLE GUARDS

[From the University of Texas at Tyler Digital Archives]
DAILY GAZETTE & COMET [BATON ROUGE, LA], April 25, 1860, p. 2, c. 2

May Day Festival.

For more than two weeks past, preparations have been on foot, for a May day festival at the U. S. Barracks, which is to outstrip and transcend all that has gone before of this kind. There is no authority for it, and it may be that we take from the beauty and novelty of the scene to hint at what will be done; but the following note from one, having authority, gives us the license to speak:

Editor Comet—Sir:

The pleasure of your company is respectfully solicited at a "presentation of a Flag" to the Company of Creole Guards at the Garrison grounds on Tuesday the first day of May next at 10 o'clock A. M.

Respectfully,

H. M. Pierce,

Capt. Creole Guards.

Who more worthy to be the recipient—who can do it with more grace, ease and elegance, than the Captain of the Creoles. Then the banner itself! Why the stars are to be worked in and the stripes fastened down by thirty three of the fairest hands, of the fair daughters of Red Stick, and they are all to march over the green carpet of earth clad in snow white and crowned with flowers. They are to present the banner to the Captain, and the Captain is to receive it in the name of the company. The Schools and Academies are to be on the ground and make the landscape lovely and bright. go Mr. Lytle, with your machine and fasten this picture on the imperishable stone that we may see what the sunlight will do in the brightest moments.