Saturday, February 21, 2009

Thomas Jefferson could be called a prophet.

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe . Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
Very Interesting Quote
In light of the present financial crisis, it's interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802 : 'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

CONFEDERATE GRAVES IN BRITAIN

by John CollierAbout 12 months ago I received a list of the known Confederates buried in Britain, and was amazed that there were only five recorded cases, knowing that there must be many more I decided to try and locate as many as possible. To begin with asked people who I thought might know of others buried here, like Roy Rawlinson who has a www site about the Liverpool-Bulloch-CSS Alabama connection. This added a few more names and locations to the list .An article I put in two local newspapers generated some interest, and I was informed of three soldiers buried locally.As you will know many of the CS commerce raiders had crews made up almost entirely of British seamen and after getting their names off the ships rosters I put notices on the family notice boards that are on the www. Also by now others with an interest in the war were beginning to hear of my search and some were able to contribute other names to my list.I often passed some of these names onto an associate SCV member here called Tony Jones who would often contact the authorities in the area these men came from and in many cases we were able to record that they had died there.Many of those buried in Britain were born here like Father John B Bannon (whose name I originally got from Camp Adjutant Lars Gjertveit). John B Bannon was one of the greatest of CS heroes ,as was Comm. James Dunwody Bulloch CSN who was American born but died in Liverpool in 1901,he was not covered by the amnesty after the war and he could not return to America.Others made a mark on history too, like Colonel Richard Milton Cary buried in Cornwall who led the 30th Virginia Inf. with distinction, Capt Stephen Winthrop buried in Gloucestershire rode next to Jeb Stuart, and Capt. John Low buried at Golborne brought so much arms and ammunition into America aboard the CSS Fingal that the South were able to fight a huge battle with it !( Shiloh).I must thank all those involved in the search for Southern graves here, people like the 'gravediggers 'of the Southern Skirmish association, Terry Foenander of Australia for giving me so many leads, the family members who recognized their ancestors names on family message boards, my wife Barbie who always makes sure a CS grave is always left tidy and free of weeds, and all those others who gave me so much help.I have estimated that between 400 and 2000 Confederates are buried in Britain, many will never be found and are sadly lost forever, but many are now listed and will be remembered and honoured for as long as there are people to do so.
JOHN COLLIER ,...FULL member SCV Camp # 584( Maj-Gen W D McCain)and associate member SCV Camp # 1770
( Capt J I Waddell)Confederate Soldiers and Sailors buried in Britain And those with monuments or memorial plaques
(1) Comm. James Dunwody BULLOCH ,CSN,buried Toxteth, Liverpool died Jan 7 1901.
(2) Lt. Irvine Stephens BULLOCH, CSN,( CSS Alabama, CSS Shenandoah) buried Toxteth,Liverpool.
(3) James Mc DONALD, CSS Florida buried West Derby Necropolis grave 240,died 20 Mar.1865 aged 28.
(4) Col. James DUFF ,33rd TX Cav. Died London 1900.
(5) Capt John LOW ,CSN died 6 Sept 1906 buried Golborne,Lancs.( CSS Alabama,CSS Fingal ,CSS Tuscaloosa).
(6) Pte. James WEADLEY ,CoE 2nd Tenn Inf ,CSA k.i.a.6th April 1862 at Shiloh, family grave Dean Rd, Scarborough.
(7) Capt Stephen WINTHROP, general staff ANV, died 13 March 1879, buried Painswick, Gloucs.Plot no. 2098.
(8) Capt Charles MURRAY, CSA, buried family vault, Dunmore,Scotland.
(9) Capt John ROWAN, CSA,died Nov 29 1867 buried,St James cemetery, Liverpool grave no C-1061.
(10)Pte.( later Sir) Henry Morton STANLEY ,6th Arkansas Inf.died 10 May 1904, buried Pirbright, Surrey.
(10a) Pte.( later Sir) Henry Morton STANLEY,6th Arkansas Inf.died 10 May 1904 ,plaque on the North wall of St Michael & All Angels church, Pirbright, Surrey.
(11) Michael MARS , CSN. CSS Alabama,believed buried London August 1878,but M.Rigby states he died America 1891.
(12) John CAREN ,CSS Alabama,died Mar1914 buried Anfield, Liverpool, grave 7-642.
(13) George HORWOOD,CSS Alabama & CSS Shenandoah, died 5 Oct 1888 buried grave C28, St James, Liverpool.
(14) Henry W. ALLCOT, CSS Alabama, CSS Shenandoah died 3 Mar 1891, Liverpool.
(15) Samuel BREWER ,CSS Alabama,died 1886 ,Liverpool.
(16) Capt Charles Ambrose McEVOY, CSN, buried Codicote,Herts.
(17) Col. Richard Milton CARY, 30th VA Inf.died 15 March 1886 in Woodfield, Budock, buried Falmouth, Cornwall 1886.
(18) Thomas POTTER, CSS Alabama, died 3 Feb 1867, Liverpool.
(19) Frederick Matthew JOHNS ,CSS Alabama, family grave St James, Liverpool Cof E no.C 432.(20) Gen. Patrick Royayne CLEBURN.plaque at St. Cuthberts church, Cliburn, Cumberland.
(21) Col. Robert Alexander SMITH ,10th Miss Inf.monument at Dean cemetery ,Edinburgh.k.i.a. Mundsfordville,Tenn. 1862.
(22) Samuel HENRY ,CSS Alabama, died Birkenhead 1919.
(23) Comm .Arthur SINCLAIR ,CSN buried 3 June Fleetwood 1865.
(24) Father John BANNON,1st Missouri Brigade died Dublin July 14 ,1913 ( now believed born 29th Dec.1829 died 14th July 1919).
(25)Col. William L KNIGHT ,3rd Alabama Inf. buried Croydon cemetery grave 7742-C5,7 March 1914 age 82. (lived at 42 Addiscombe Court Rd, E.Croydon).
(26) John TALLANTIRE, CSS Alabama, buried Bridlington grave C211buried 3 Sep 1913.DISPUTED
(27) William WATSON, CS Army & blockade runner, buried Seamer (?) , N.Yorks.
(28) James GLEVIN, CSS Alabama, buried 31 Jan 1915 , Maryport, Scotland. DISPUTED
(29) Capt.Henry Wemyss FEILDEN, CSA died 18 June 1921, Burwash , Sussex.buried 21 June 1921 age 82. buried in churchyard extension Burwash.
(30) William McNeil WHISTLER, Orr's rifles.buried London (?)
(31) Llewellyn Traherne Bassett SAUNDERSON, staff officer to Fitz.Lee, died Ireland 30 March 1913.(32) Joseph CONNOR, CSS Alabama, buried Liverpool.
(33) James McFADGEN,CSS Alabama, died L'pool (?)
(34)John DUGGAN,CSS Alabama & CSS Tuscaloosadied L'pool (?)
(35) William CRAWFORD, CSS Alabama, died L'pool(?)
(36) Robert EGAN .as above.
(37) John EMERY.as above.
(38) Edward FITZMAURICE.as above.
(39) James HOGGS or HICKS.as above.
(40) Peter HUGHES..as above.
(41) Thomas WILLIAMS,CSS Alabama & CSS Tuscaloosa,died Liverpool(?)
(42) Joseph PEARSON, CSS Alabama ,died Liverpool(?)
(43) Asst Surg.David Herbert LLEWELLYN, CSS Alabama, plaque at Charring Cross hosp.died June 19 1864.
(43a) Asst Surg.David Herbert LLEWELLYN, CSS Alabama, monument at Easton Parish church,Wilts.
(45) David MARSHALL ,CSS Shenandoah ,buried Liverpool(?)
(46) Asst Sur. Thomas J. CHARLTON, CSS Georgia, CSS Florida, buried Liverpool(?) NOW KNOWN TO BE BURIED IN GA.
(47) Maurice Berkeley PORTMAN, ACD to Wade Hampton died N.Petherton ,Somerset 12 Jan 1888.
(48) Herbert Sydney DAVIES,7th Tenn. Inf buried England(?)
(49) Thomas E. CAFFEY ,Co D 18th Miss,b.London ,buried England(?)
(50) Capt. Charles Hubert BRYNE, Co H ,1st Foreign Battalion CSA,buried England(?)
(51) Edmund Langley HUNT,CS forces,died July 1st 1911,buried England (?). Two of his brothers also believed to be in CS service.
(52) CS Chaplain Thomas Davenport OZANNE,died 20 Feb.1868 aged 48 buried Castel cemetery, St Peter Port, Guernsey.
(53) George Townley FULLAM,CSS Alabama, family grave is at Charterhouse,Hull.
(54) Bennett G. BURLEY CSN, buried Scotland?
(55) Major Henry Ronald MacIVER( Dec 25th 1841-May 1907) ,Scout to Gen.Trimble,buried Scotland?
(56)1st Sgt.William WATSON, 3rd Louisiana Inf, Pelican Rifles, buried Glasgow?
ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE EITHER CERTAINTIES OR VERY LIKELY , THE FOLLOWING ARE "POSSIBLES"
(57) John NOLAN, 2nd Florida Inf.
(59) Thomas Longmain CSS Virginia II ,born England 1842 .
(60) Capt Richard AGAR,CoG. 1st La Heavy artillery.
(61) Capt BURNES, on staff of Gen Bragg.
(62) Maj. Charles Henry FORD,1st Va Bn.
(63) Maj HODGES , Gen Beauregard's Staff.
(64)? PRENDERGAST,10th Tenn Inf.
(65) Stuart James SHORTT,on staff of T. F. Drayton & W. T. Martin.
(66) Lt.John F. RAMSEY ,CSN.
(67) Lt. John GRIMBALL,CSS Shenandoah.
(68) Asst. Engineer, W. H . CODD, CSS Shenandoah.
(69) John MINOR CSN, CSS Shenandoah.
(70)? MacGREFFERY, CSS Shenandoah.
(71) Ernest MUGGUFFENEY, CSS Shenandoah.
(72) Lodge COLTON, CSS Shenandoah.
(73) J. L. GUY,CSS Shenandoah.
Original leads supplied by;-Chris Old..........1,5,7,8,10-21.
Roy Rawlinson ........2,23,28,32-43.
Maurice Rigby..........3,9.
Scarborough B.C. (parks dept)..6
Tony Jones......... 10a
Norman Creaser...... 26,27.
Bill Torrens...........29-31,47-52,59-65.
Terry Foenander........43a,45,45,53,58,66.
Scots -in -the -Civil War.. 54-56.
Lars ( SCV Camp Europe)..24,25.
Steve( SCV Camp # 1770)...67-73.
Unrecorded ..........4,22

Monday, February 9, 2009

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Soldier’s Pay In The War Between the States

White Union privates were paid $13 per month until after the final raise of June 20, 1864, when they received $16. Black Union privates received $10 per month. In the infantry and artillery, officers were as follows at the start of the war:

USA Lieutenant General (Three Star), $758;
USA Major General (Two Star), $457;
USA Brigadier General (One Star), $315;
USA Colonel, $212;
USA Lieutenant Colonel, $181;
USA Major, $169;
USA Captain, $115.50;
USA First Lieutenant, $105.50;
USA Second Lieutenant, $105.50.

Other line and staff officers drew an average of about $15 more per month.
The Confederate pay structure was modeled after that of the US Army. Privates continued to be paid at the prewar rate of $11 per month until June 1864, when the pay of all enlisted men was raised $7 per month. Confederate officer’s pay was a few dollars lower than that of the their Union counterparts.

CSA Brigadier General, $301 instead of $315 per month;
CSA Colonel of the infantry $195, as opposed to $212;
CSA Colonel of artillery, engineers, and cavalry, $210.

While the inflation of Confederate Money reduced the actual value of a Southerner’s military pay, this was somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that promotion policies in the South were more liberal. As for the pay of noncommissioned officers:

CSA Private, $11 per month;
CSA Corporals, $13;
CSA “Buck” Sergeants, $17;
CSA First Sergeants $20;
CSA Engineer Sergeants, $34.

About the same ratio existed in the Northern army between the pay of privates and noncommissioned officers.
Soldiers were supposed to be paid every two months in the field, but they were fortunate if they got their pay at four-month intervals (in the Union Army) and authentic instances are recorded where they went six and eight months. Payment in the Confederate Army was even slower and less regular. However, when payment did come around in the Confederate Army, the blacks and whites were paid equally.

Sources: “The Civil War Dictionary” by Mark M. Boatner
http://www.civilwarhome.com/Pay.htm
March 2001 issue of America’s Civil War magazine, article by Frank L. Grzyb on the all-black 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, page 16.

Congressional Support for Confederate Soldiers

Researched by: Tim Renick, Combined Arms Library Staff, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Member: Brigadier General William Steele SCV Camp 1857.
Edited By: Lt. Col. (Retired) Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr. Member: Brigadier General William Steele SCV Camp 1857.

Background
At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a move in the North was made to reconcile with Southerners. President McKinley was instrumental in this movement. When the Spanish-American War concluded successfully in December 1898, President McKinley used this as an opportunity to “mend the fences”. On 14 December 1898 he gave a speech in which he urged reconciliation based on the outstanding service of Southerners during the recent war with Spain. Remember, as part of the conciliation, several former Confederate officers were commissioned as generals to include former Confederate cavalry general, Wheeler. This is what McKinley said:
“…every soldier’s grave made during our unfortunate civil war [sic] is a tribute to American valor [my emphasis]… And the time has now come… when in the spirit of fraternity we should share in the care of the graves of the Confederate soldiers…The cordial feeling now happily existing between the North and South prompts this gracious act and if it needed further justification it is found in the gallant loyalty to the Union and the flag so conspicuously shown in the year just passed by the sons and grandsons of those heroic dead.”
The response from Congress to this plea was magnanimous and resulted in the Appropriations Act of FY 1901 (below).
Remarks: McKinley’s address as the President is significant. He clearly alludes to Confederates as “Americans”. While the semantics may appear minor, the impact is major. Confederate soldiers were already Americans, however, the President acknowledged this fact officially. They are not addressed as “U.S.” soldiers, but “American” which carries the import of giving them equivalent, not equal, status to Federal soldiers. It did not grant them the right to a U.S. pension, however, it did recognize them as fellow countrymen due the respect and honor accorded to U.S. soldiers.

Congressional Appropriations Act, FY 1901, signed 6 June 1900
Congress passed an act of appropriations for $2,500 that enabled the “Secretary of War to have reburied in some suitable spot in the national cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, and to place proper headstones at their graves, the bodies of about 128 Confederate soldiers now buried in the National Soldiers Home near Washington, D.C., and the bodies of about 136 Confederate soldiers now buried in the national cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.”
Remarks: More important than the amount (worth substantially more in 1900 than in 2000) is the move to support reconciliation by Congressional act. In 1906, Confederate Battle flags were ordered to be returned to the states from whence they originated. Some states refused to return the flags. Wisconsin still has at least one flag it refuses to return.

Congressional Act of 9 March 1906
(P.L. 38, 59th Congress, Chap. 631-34 Stat. 56)
Authorized the furnishing of headstones for the graves of Confederates who died, primarily in Union prison camps and were buried in Federal cemeteries.
Remarks: This act formally reaffirmed Confederate soldiers as military combatants with legal standing. It granted recognition to deceased Confederate soldiers commensurate with the status of deceased Union soldiers.

U.S. Public Law 810, Approved by 17th Congress 26 February 1929
(45 Stat 1307 - Currently on the books as 38 U.S. Code, Sec. 2306)
This law, passed by the U.S. Congress, authorized the “Secretary of War to erect headstones over the graves of soldiers who served in the Confederate Army and to direct him to preserve in the records of the War Department the names and places of burial of all soldiers for whom such headstones shall have been erected.”
Remarks: This act broadened the scope of recognition further for all Confederate soldiers to receive burial benefits equivalent to Union soldiers. It authorized the use of U.S. government (public) funds to mark Confederate graves and record their locations.

U.S. Public Law 85-425: Sec. 410 Approved 23 May 1958
(US Statutes at Large Volume 72, Part 1, Page 133-134)
The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if his service in such forces had been service in the military or naval forces of the United States.
Remarks: While this was only a gesture since the last Confederate veteran died in 1958, it is meaningful in that only forty-five years ago (from 2003), the Congress of the United States saw fit to consider Confederate soldiers as equivalent to U.S. soldiers for service benefits. This final act of reconciliation was made almost one hundred years after the beginning of the war and was meant as symbolism more than substantive reward.
Additional Note by the Critical History: Under current U.S. Federal Code, Confederate Veterans are equivalent to Union Veterans.
U.S. Code Title 38 - Veterans’ Benefits, Part II - General Benefits, Chapter 15 - Pension for Non-Service-Connected Disability or Death or for Service, Subchapter I - General, § 1501. Definitions: (3) The term “Civil War veteran” includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term “active military or naval service” includes active service in those forces.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/titles.html
http://www.criticalhistory.info/html/us_support_for_cv.html

Some Surprising Facts Abut The Confederacy

Michael T. Griffith
2006@All Rights Reserved
In recent years it has become increasingly fashionable in some circles, especially on college campuses and in the media, to demonize anything and everything related to the Confederate States of America (CSA). Some critics have gone so far as to compare the Confederacy to Nazi Germany. Many politicians and liberal groups have sought to erase any trace of Confederate heritage. They’ve labeled the Confederate flag as a “loathsome, offensive” symbol and have tried to ban its display on public property. They’ve also campaigned to rename public schools, roads, buildings and parks that are named after Confederate heroes. In some towns, liberal groups have worked to prevent the Confederate flag from even being flown over the graves of Confederate soldiers in public cemeteries. In response to the ongoing campaign to demonize Confederate heritage, I offer the following facts about the Confederacy:
1. By the latter part of 1864 the CSA was moving toward ending slavery. In fact, there are indications that the Confederacy would have ended slavery even if it had survived the war, as prominent historians like J. G. Randall and David Donald have acknowledged (see Randall and Donald, The Civil War and Reconstruction, Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1969, p. 522).
Critics will reply that the CSA only began to move toward emancipation as an act of desperation in the face of imminent defeat. If so, this proves that Southern independence was more important to Confederate leaders than was the continuation of slavery, that when push came to shove they were willing to abandon slavery in order to achieve independence.
However, this being duly noted, it should be pointed out that it was by no means clear in late 1864 that Southern defeat was imminent. Historians Herman Hattaway and Richard Beringer note that even in February 1865, just two months before the war ended, "a considerable degree of determination and high morale did still persist" in the South (Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, University Press of Kansas, 2002, p. 357). Militarily speaking, the situation was far from hopeless in late 1864. Even when the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered in April 1865, the situation was not completely hopeless. At the end of the war, fewer than one-third of Confederate troops on active duty were deployed against either of the two main Union armies. One of the arguments made by Southern leaders who opposed the arming and freeing of slaves was that the South's situation did not yet require such a measure. There is certainly room for debate about the CSA’s military prospects after the fall of Atlanta in September 1864. It’s also true that Confederate leaders felt that using slaves as soldiers was a matter of urgent military necessity. However, few if any Confederate leaders believed the South would be defeated by April if they didn’t arm and emancipate the slaves. George Rable noted that even after the fall of Richmond "a belief that somehow independence could yet be won persisted" (in Hattaway and Beringer, Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, p. 357). Historian Robert F. Durden of Duke University echoed the observations of Hattaway, Beringer, and Rable:
Wracked though the Southerners were with the agony of a war they were losing, most Confederates, contrary to those persons who prefer to read history backward, did not know in November 1864 that they were beaten. (The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation, Louisiana Paperback Edition, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000, reprint of 1972 edition, p. 101)
One could correctly observe that the only reason the Union started using black troops was that Union casualties were mounting and that Northern resistance to the draft was increasing. One could also point out that Lincoln strongly resisted using black troops until intense pressure from the Radical Republicans coupled with mounting Union casualties caused him to change his mind. Even after Lincoln agreed to the use of free blacks and ex-slaves as troops, he refused to give them equal pay until forced to do so by Congress.
In his book Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream (Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, 2000), African-American author Lerone Bennett presents evidence that Lincoln only issued the Emancipation Proclamation in response to increasing pressure from the Radicals and in order to blunt the effect of a more drastic confiscation measure that Congress had already passed. Bennett also discusses evidence that Lincoln worked to minimize the effects of the proclamation almost as soon as he issued it.
In the American Revolution, the Continental Army only began to use black troops as an act of desperation because the army was running short of soldiers and because the British had offered freedom to American slaves who would fight in the British army (Henry Wiencick, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, pp. 196-22; James and Lois Horton, In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 55-71). George Washington initially barred blacks from enlisting in the army. He relented because he was desperate for more soldiers, because white enlistment was falling dramatically. (Wiencick, An Imperfect God, pp. 196-227). Even then, some New England militias continued to bar blacks from enlistment. It took the Continental Congress two years to formally agree to black enlistment. Another factor that influenced the decision to use slaves and free blacks as soldiers in the Continental Army was the fact that thousands of American slaves were flocking to British lines in response to the British offer of emancipation.
I might add that after the Revolutionary War, American negotiators insisted on a provision in the treaty that ended the war, the Treaty of Paris, that the British return any American slaves who had fled to British lines during the war. One of those negotiators was none other than John Adams. In fact, Adams warmly endorsed the provision (Wiencick, An Imperfect God, p. 254). To their credit, the British later violated this provision and evacuated thousands of slaves with them when they left America.
I might also add that when it began to appear that the British weren't going to return the runaway American slaves, George Washington demanded a meeting with the British general who was in charge of enforcing the Treaty of Paris during the evacuation from New York, General Guy Carleton. Washington tried to persuade Carleton to honor the treaty provision on the return of runaway slaves. To his credit, Carleton stood his ground and refused to hand over the slaves. Carleton said the Americans could apply for compensation for the slaves, but that he would not return them. Carleton insisted the slaves were now free and that it would bring dishonor on England to return them after promising them safe refuge. Lord North, the British prime minister, called Carleton's stand "an act of justice." King George III himself voiced support for Carleton's action "in the fullest and most ample manner." One very rarely finds any mention of these facts in American history books.
The American colonies’ policies on black troops during the Revolutionary War and their insistence on the return of American slaves after the war are admittedly embarrassing and contrary to the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. However, to my knowledge, no American historian has expressed regret that the Americans won the war.
2. The Confederate president himself, Jefferson Davis, came to strongly support ending slavery. So did CSA Secretary of State Judah Benjamin, Governor William Smith of Virginia, and leading CSA Congressmen Ethelbert Barksdale and Duncan Kenner (who was one of the largest slaveholders in the South).
3. The CSA's two highest ranking generals, Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston, both disliked slavery and supported emancipation in various forms. Lee called slavery "a moral and political evil." Johnston called it "a curse." (Johnston initially opposed using slaves as soldiers only because he feared it would be disruptive and ineffective, not because he had any sympathy for slavery. He later came to support the proposal.) Other Confederate generals who supported emancipation included General Daniel Govan, General John Kelly, and General Mark Lowrey.
4. The majority of Confederate generals did not own slaves and did not come from slaveholding families (Hattaway and Beringer, Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, p. 37).
5. Thousands of African Americans, Hispanics, and Indians fought for the Confederacy. Many of the slaves who served in the Confederate army did so because they hoped that by doing so they would be granted freedom after the war or because they were specifically promised freedom if they would serve. The same was true of most of the slaves who fought for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
The chief inspector of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Dr. Lewis Steiner, reported that he saw about 3,000 well-armed black Confederate soldiers in Stonewall Jackson’s army--he added that those soldiers were "manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederate Army" (Issac W. Heysinger, Antietam and the Maryland and Virginia Campaigns of 1862, New York: Neale Publishing Company, 1912, pp. 122-123; cf. John J. Dwyer, general editor, The War Between the States: America’s Uncivil War, Denton, Texas: Bluebonnet Press, 2005, p. 409).
Three Confederate states authorized free blacks to enlist in state militia units. The first to do so was Tennessee, which passed a law on June 21, 1861, authorizing the recruitment of state militia units composed of "free persons of color" between the ages of 15 and 50. In 1862, Louisiana assembled the all-black 1st Louisiana Native Guard, and Alabama authorized the enlistment of creoles for a state militia unit in Mobile.
6. The Confederate Congress specified that black soldiers in the Confederate army were to receive the same pay, rations, and clothing that white soldiers received. In contrast, black soldiers in the Union army were paid much less than white soldiers were paid for over a year. The Union army began using former slaves and free blacks as soldiers in September 1862. They were paid $7 per month. Technically, they were paid $10 a month, but they were forced to pay a clothing allowance of $3, which meant their net monthly pay was only $7. White soldiers, on the other hand, received $13 per month and were not forced to pay a clothing allowance. Thus, in the Union army white soldiers were paid nearly twice as much as black soldiers were paid. Black Union soldiers didn’t start receiving equal pay until June 1864. When the Confederate Congress authorized the recruitment of slaves as soldiers, it stipulated that they were to receive “the same rations, clothing and compensation as are allowed to other troops” (An Act to Increase the Military Force of the Confederate States, March 13, 1865, Section 3). In addition, when the Confederate Congress authorized salaries for black musicians in the Confederate army in 1862, it specified that they were to receive the same pay as white army musicians, stating "whenever colored persons are employed as musicians in any regiment or company, they shall be entitled to the same pay now allowed by law to musicians regularly enlisted."
7. According to the 1860 census, only 31 percent of Southern families owned slaves. Seventy-five percent of the families that owned slaves, owned less than ten and often worked side by side with them in the fields. Approximately half of the free blacks in America lived in the South. The percentage of Southern citizens who held slaves was probably no more than 25 percent (some scholars put the percentage as low as 10 percent).
8. The Confederate Constitution allowed for the admission of free states to the Confederacy, banned the overseas slave trade, and permitted Confederate states to abolish slavery within their borders if they wanted to do so. During the Confederate debate on emancipation, both sides readily acknowledged that under the Confederate Constitution each state had the absolute right to abolish slavery within its borders (see, for example, Durden, The Gray and the Black, pp. 98, 115, 170,195).
9. The Confederate Constitution protected every right for its citizens that the U.S. Constitution protected for U.S. citizens, if not more (Charles Roland, The Confederacy, University of Chicago Press, 1960, pp. 25-27; see also below). Even during the war, the Confederacy held free elections and enjoyed a vibrant free press (William J. Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, Vintage Books Edition, New York: Vintage Books, 2001, pp. 349-519; see also below).
10. The Confederate Constitution contained added protections against runaway government spending, excessive taxation, and harmful protective tariffs. Historian Allan Nevins said the following about the Confederate Constitution:
It differed from the old national model chiefly in its emphasis on State rights. . . . The general welfare clauses were omitted. Any Confederate official acting within the limits of a State might be impeached by the State legislature, though the Constitution, laws made under it, and treaties were declared “the supreme law of the land”. . . .
The most remarkable features of the new instrument sprang from the purifying and reforming zeal of the delegates, who hoped to create a more guarded and virtuous government than that of Washington. The President was to hold office six years, and be ineligible for reelection. Expenditures were to be limited by a variety of careful provisions, and the President was given budgetary control over appropriations which Congress could break only by a two-thirds vote.
Subordinate employees were protected against the forays of the spoils system. No bounties were ever to be paid out of the Treasury, no protective tariff was to be passed, and no post office deficit was to be permitted. . . . Some of these changes were unmistakable improvements, and the spirit behind all of them was an earnest desire to make government more honest and efficient. (Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln, Ordeal of the Union, Volume 2, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950, p. 435)
11. Unlike the federal government, the Confederate government did not imprison well over 10,000 of its own citizens without due process in order to suppress internal dissent (some scholars suggest the number of illegally imprisoned citizens was close to 30,000); it did not shut down the legislatures of two of its states because the citizens in those states elected anti-war majorities; it did not arrest members of a state legislature to prevent the legislature from even discussing a policy it didn’t like; it did not shut down over 300 newspapers for expressing "unpatriotic views"; it did not jail dozens of newspaper editors for expressing "unpatriotic views"; and it did not impose military rule on areas that were far removed from combat in order to suppress internal dissent. The federal government did all these things and more.
The Confederacy showed an amazing degree of respect for civil rights during the war. Renowned Civil War scholar (and pro-Lincoln biographer) David Donald has observed that the Confederacy was "astonishingly libertarian" and that "disloyal elements throughout the South had almost unrestricted freedom." His comments on the Confederacy’s respect for civil rights and on the contrast between the Confederacy’s policies and the Lincoln Administration’s policies deserve to be quoted at length:
If we could free ourselves of the notion that democracy (a “good” thing) must inevitably have been connected with the winning (hence “good”) Lincoln government, we would discover abundant evidence that the Confederacy, not the Union, represented the democratic forces in American life.
The democratic tendencies of the Confederacy were all too plainly reflected in its army. . . .
The Confederacy’s tolerance of democracy was not confined to military affairs. In civil rights, too, the South had an astonishingly libertarian record. Though engaged in deadly war, the Davis government preserved the traditional rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom from arbitrary arrest. . . .
Both Davis and his government were subjected to tirades of abuse. Davis, said T. R. R. Cobb of Georgia, was “the embodiment and concentration of cowardly littleness. . . .” The editor of the influential Richmond Examiner, E. A. Pollard, described Davis as “a literary dyspeptic who had more ink than blood in his veins, an intriguer, busy with private enmities.” Robert Toombs, the Confederacy’s first Secretary of State, declared: “Davis’s incapacity is lamentable. . . .” “How God has afflicted us with a ruler!” exclaimed Linton Stephens, the Vice President’s brother, a leader in the Georgia House of Representatives. “He is a little, conceited, hypocritical, sniveling, canting, malicious, ambitious, dogged, knave and fool.”
Not one of these, nor any of the other critics, of the Confederate President had his liberty of utterance impaired. . . . “When Davis’s advisers were to urge that anti-Administration papers be restrained, he would not hear of it,” Hudson Strode points out. “As a democrat, he believed in maintaining complete freedom of the press.” It is true that in January 1862, the Confederate Congress did pass a law forbidding the publication of unauthorized news of troop movements, but even this slight regulation was bitterly protested and flagrantly ignored. No Southern newspaper was ever suppressed by the Confederate government for its opinions, however critical or demoralizing. The ardent wish of Secretary of War George W. Randolph was realized: that “this revolution may be . . . closed without suppression of one single newspaper in the Confederate States.”
More significant militarily was the Confederacy’s insistence upon maintaining the cherished legal rights of freedom from arbitrary arrest and upon preserving due process of law. This sentiment was so strong that, though the Confederacy was invaded and Richmond was actually endangered, President Davis did not dare institute martial law until he had received the permission of his Congress. While General George B. McClellan was about to assault the Confederate capital in 1862, the Southern Congress debated the question and concluded that their President was “subject to the Constitution and to the laws enacted by Congress in pursuance of the Constitution. He can exert no power inconsistent with law, and, therefore, he cannot declare martial law.” Grudgingly Congress permitted Davis to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus [protection against arbitrary arrest and denial of due process] for three brief periods—once when McClellan was within sight of Richmond, again during the Fredericksburg-Chancellorsville threat, and once more when [General Ulysses] Grant was pushing through the Wilderness. Even then he was allowed to suspend the writ only in limited areas, not throughout the Confederacy. When he came to Congress for a renewal of his authority during the grim winter of 1864-1865, he was refused. . . .
The result, of course, was that disloyal elements throughout the South had almost unrestricted freedom.
(Donald, "Died of Democracy," in Donald, editor, Why the North Won the Civil War, Touchstone Edition, New York: Touchstone, 1996, pp. 82, 86-88)
Donald then examines the federal government’s very different approach to civil rights, noting that “in comparison with the Confederacy, the Union government did curtail civil liberties” (Why the North Won the Civil War, p. 88). Says Donald,
As soon as the fighting started, President Lincoln, without delaying to consult Congress, suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, at first for a small area of the East, later for the entire nation. At a subsequent date he reported his fait accompli to Congress. . . . Congress had little choice but to ratify, and the disloyal citizen [i.e., the citizen who opposed Lincoln and/or the war] had no alternative but to acquiesce. Thousands of citizens were imprisoned in the North for alleged disloyalty or sedition. They were arrested upon a presidential warrant and were kept incarcerated without due process of law. It did the disaffected citizen no good to go to court for a writ of habeas corpus to end his arbitrary arrest. On orders from President Lincoln himself, the military guard imprisoning him refused to recognize a judicial writ even when it came from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney.
Freedom of the press was also seriously abridged in the North. . . . Over three hundred Northern newspapers were suppressed, for varying periods, because they opposed the [Lincoln] administration’s policies or favored stopping the war. . . . (Why the North Won the Civil War, pp. 88-89)
Donald further notes that political democracy thrived in the Confederacy, and that the record was quite different in the North under Lincoln:
Political democracy, too, was unimpaired in the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis took care to abridge no Southerner’s political rights. Elected provisional president through no solicitation of his own, reelected as the first—and only—regular President of the Confederacy, Davis did not believe that he should interfere in politics, either to solicit votes for his friends or to win support for his measures. . . . When North Carolina held a critical gubernatorial election in 1864 to choose between Zebulon Vance, pledged to sustain the war effort, and William H. Holden, dedicated to withdrawing the state from the Confederacy and making an independent peace, Davis expressed no public preference between the candidates. Nor did he make any attempt to secure the defeat of Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia, though Brown, with the backing of Vice President Stephens, did all he could to hamstring the Richmond government. . . . Davis did not try to replace his arch-rival, Stephens. . . .
The record of the Lincoln government is in marked contrast. Lincoln regularly used patronage to build up a political machine dedicated to supporting his policies. . . .
When Republican Governor O. P. Morgan of Indiana was faced in 1863 with a hostile Democratic majority in the state legislature [which majority that had been elected by the citizens of the state], which threatened to curb his appointing powers and his control of the state militia, the Republicans, by prearrangement, walked out of the chamber, leaving the legislature without a quorum and unable to transact any business. The Democrats then adjourned the session, believing that Morton, in order to carry on the government, must call them promptly back. Instead, the Indiana governor made a flying trip to Washington, saw Lincoln and Secretary of War E. M. Stanton, and returned to Indianapolis bearing $250,000 [about $47 million in today’s dollars] extracted from war department funds, on which he ran the state government until the next election, blithely ignoring constitutional regulations and majority rule.
Having learned a lesson from 1862, Lincoln was prepared to take a more active, preventive role in the presidential elections two years later. When he saw that the Northwestern states were going to show a closely balanced vote, he wrote in September 1864 to General W. T. Sherman, whose army was in a tight spot before Atlanta: “Any thing you can safely do to let soldiers, or any part of them, go home to vote at the State election, will be greatly in point.” Although Lincoln added that “this is, in no sense, an order,” he was clearly giving a directive, and it was one which Sherman promptly obeyed. The Republicans carried the Northwest by narrow majorities. In Pennsylvania, too, the Democrats were threatening, and it was found possible to furlough several thousands from Grant’s army before Richmond. Not all soldiers were Republicans, to be sure—but Democratic soldiers found it strangely difficult to secure furloughs.
In 1864 a number of Northern states permitted their soldiers to vote in the field. Republican canvassers were afforded every facility for getting to the front, but Democratic politicians were often harassed by long delays in Washington. (Why the North Won the Civil War, pp. 89-91)
Donald states that most Northern citizens supported the Union cause and either didn’t know or didn’t care “that freedom of the press was abridged or that arbitrary arrests were numerous.” Saying that “most” Northern citizens felt this way might be a bit of an overstatement, since Lincoln’s opponent in the 1864 election, George McClellan, received 41 percent of the vote, in spite of everything the Republicans did to try to keep McClellan supporters from going to the polls. In any case, Donald correctly observes that “the test of civil liberties is not the freedom of the majority but that of the dissenter,” and that “in the Confederacy the dissenter retained his democratic rights down to Appomattox” (Why the North Won the Civil War, p. 89). Indeed, Donald argues that the real "weakness" of the Confederacy was that "the Southern people insisted upon retaining their democratic liberties in wartime" (Why the North Won the Civil War, p. 92).
12. Even though it was being invaded and ravaged, the Confederacy showed more respect for private property and limited government than did the federal government. Critics unfairly claim that the CSA became a highly centralized, micromanaging state, contrary to the doctrines of states' rights and limited government. For one thing, this is hardly a fair argument to begin with, since the Confederacy wouldn't have had to take any centralizing measures if it hadn't been invaded and ravaged. Furthermore, the federal government became highly centralized during the war and engaged in just as much micromanaging as did the Confederate government, if not more.
Moreover, the degree of CSA centralization has been somewhat misrepresented by critics. McPherson notes that while Republicans in the U.S. Congress gave Lincoln the power to seize all railroads at his discretion and that it established a bureau to build and manage railroads, the Confederate government “did not achieve similar control over southern railroads until May 1863 and thereafter rarely exercised this power” (The Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 514-515). In fact, the Confederate Congress did not mandate strict wartime, emergency control over railroads, telegraph lines, and water transportation until February 1865 (Hattaway and Beringer, Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, p. 355).
Critics point out that the Confederate government resorted to impressment to support the war effort. But so did the federal government. When Confederate officials impressed goods, each impressing agent had to show written authority and had to issue the owner of the goods a certificate indicating the value of the goods that were being impressed.
In addition, when the Georgia supreme court ruled that major sections of the 1863 Act to Regulate Impressments were invalid within the state, the Confederate government respected the decision. Marshall DeRosa, a professor of political science, observes that the Confederate government's response to the Georgia supreme court's ruling was "conciliatory" and that there was no support in the Confederate Congress for any legislation that would force the state to comply with the entire impressment act (The Confederate Constitution of 1861: An Inquiry Into American Constitutionalism, University of Missouri Press, 1991, pp. 117-119).
13. One of the first things the Confederacy did after it was formed was to send a peace delegation to Washington, D.C., in an effort to establish friendly relations with the federal government. Lincoln wouldn’t even meet with the delegation, not even informally.
14. The Confederacy publicly offered to pay the federal government the Southern states’ share of the national debt, to pay compensation for all federal installations in the South, and to allow Northern ships free use of the Mississippi River. The Confederacy also hoped to establish good, extensive trade relations with the United States. But Lincoln refused to even consider any Confederate peace proposals.
15. The Confederacy was created by delegates from the seven states of the Deep South soon after those states seceded from the Union. A provisional constitution was produced and a president and vice president were selected, subject to the approval of voters several months later. The Deep South states separated from the Union in a peaceful, democratic manner. In fact, they seceded in the same manner in which the U.S. Constitution was ratified, i.e., by state conventions whose delegates were elected by the citizens of their respective states in special elections. Historian James McPherson estimates that about 80 percent of those states’ citizens supported secession (The Battle Cry of Freedom, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 235).
The Confederacy grew from seven states to eleven states when Lincoln made it clear he was going to launch an invasion to force the seceded states to rejoin the Union. Voters in the Upper South states of Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia initially rejected secession by substantial margins. They were willing for their states to remain in the Union as long as Lincoln allowed the Deep South states to leave in peace. However, when Lincoln left no doubt he was going to use force, new votes were held in the Upper South states, and this time the results were strongly in favor of secession. It should be noted that these four states did not secede because of slavery but because they believed it was illegal and immoral to maintain the Union by violence.
16. Anti-Semitism was more of a problem in the North than it was in the South (Hattaway and Beringer, Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, p. 137). In relation to this, it should be pointed out that the Confederate Secretary of State, Judah Benjamin, was Jewish.
17. Confederate soldiers were among the bravest, most determined soldiers in the history of warfare. Even many Union soldiers testified to the courage and fortitude of Confederate soldiers. This is an especially interesting fact because Confederate troops were frequently poorly fed and often suffered from a lack of clothes and shoes. Some Northern citizens who saw Confederate troops in Maryland and Pennsylvania commented on how surprised they were to see that many of those troops wore ragged uniforms and had no shoes. Confederate leaders did all they could to supply their soldiers, but the Confederacy was being blockaded and invaded; so Confederate authorities had a hard time keeping their soldiers properly provisioned. In addition, Confederate forces were often outnumbered by two or three to one. Yet, in spite of these hardships, they fought bravely and tenaciously. One Union officer wrote with amazement that Confederate soldiers fought so courageously even though they were so poorly supplied:
It is beyond all wonder how such men . . . can fight on as they do; that, filthy, sick, hungry, and miserable, they should prove such heroes in fight, is past explanation. (In McPherson, The Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 539-540; see also p. 535)
18. Even when the Confederacy was winning on the battlefield, Southern leaders wanted to end the war and desired peaceful relations with the United States (McPherson, The Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 650; Hudson Strode, Jefferson Davis: Confederate President, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1959, pp. 299-302). The South hoped that, if nothing else, England and France would prevail upon the Lincoln Administration to end the war or that Lincoln would eventually grow tired of Union casualties and would decide to allow the Confederacy to exist in peace. Jefferson Davis did not desire to conquer the North. He said repeatedly that the South simply wanted to be allowed to go in peace, and that the Confederacy wanted peaceful relations with the federal government (see, for example, William Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, New York: Vintage Books, 2000, pp. 379-380). Davis expressed this position many times. For example, he said the following in his proclamation to the people of Maryland in 1862:
First, that the Confederate Government is waging this war solely for self-defense; that it has no design of conquest, or any other purpose than to secure peace and the abandonment by the United States of their pretensions to govern a people who have never been their subjects, and who prefer self-government to a union with them.
Second, that this Government, at the very moment of its inauguration, sent commissioners to Washington to treat for a peaceful adjustment of all differences, but that these commissioners were not received, nor even allowed to communicate the object of their mission; and that, on a subsequent occasion, a communication from the President of the Confederacy to President Lincoln remained without answer, although a reply was promised by General Scott, into whose hands the communication was delivered. . . .
Fourth, that now, at a juncture when our arms have been successful, we restrict ourselves to the same just and moderate demand that we made at the darkest period of our reverses, the simple demand that the people of the United States should cease to war upon us, and permit us to pursue our own path to happiness, while they in peace pursue theirs. (Proclamation of Jefferson Davis to the People of Maryland, September 7, 1862)
When judged fairly and objectively, it must be admitted that the Confederacy was one of the most democratic countries of its day, if not the most democratic country in terms of the rights that its citizens enjoyed. The Confederacy was more democratic than many countries in our day.
What about the fact that the Confederate States of America permitted slavery? How could the Confederacy have been a democratic country when it allowed slavery? This is a fair question. On the one hand, the Confederate Constitution established a marvelously democratic government for its citizens, but on the other hand it allowed its citizens to own slaves if they wanted to do so (though, as mentioned earlier, only about 25 percent of Southern citizens were slaveholders). Similarly, how could the United States of America have been a democratic country when it allowed slavery and when some New England states made huge profits from the overseas slave trade? This, too, is a fair question. The U.S. Constitution was the most democratic document of its era for the citizens who lived under it, but that document also protected slavery, guaranteed the continuation of the overseas slave trade for twenty years, and mandated the return of runaway slaves. Most Northern states that abolished slavery did so very gradually, so gradually that slaves were held in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island into the 1840s. When the Civil War began, there were over 400,000 slaves in Union states, and most of those slaves weren’t freed until several months after the war ended. Nevertheless, historians who are willing to fairly judge the United States as it was from 1789 to1860 generally conclude that America, for all her faults, was the most democratic nation in the world at the time. I would say much the same thing about the Confederacy.
http://www.factasy.com/civil_war/2008/02/29/some_surprising_facts_abut_confederacy

Black Confederate soldiers overlooked during Black History Month

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ 2/27/5 EDWARD A. BARDILL
Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 11:53:22 PM by SmithL
The month of February has begun and so has the celebration of Black History Month in the nation, schools and communities. Throughout this time, many noteworthy leaders, citizens, scientists and soldiers who fought in wars and conflicts will be recognized.
However, there is one group of African Americans who will receive no recognition again this year during this month. I am speaking of black Confederates who served and fought to defend their homeland from what they believed to be an armed invasion.
The South was home to some 4 million who lived there and had roots going back more than 200 years. Deep devotion, love of homeland and strong Christian faith joined black with white Confederate soldiers in defense of their homes and families.
A conservative estimate is that between 50,000 to 60,000 served in the Confederate units. Both slave and free black soldiers served as cooks, musicians and even combatants. The first northern officer killed in battle was Maj. Theodore Winthrop, who was shot by a black sniper of the Wythe Rifles of Hampton, Va.
The most amazing fact concerning black Confederates is that they served within the Confederate units alongside their white brothers in arms while their Union counterparts were kept separate in all-black units led by white officers (as portrayed in the movie "Glory").
In fact, it was not until 1950 that the U.S. military integrated its units at the start of the Korean War.
On Jan. 22, H.K. Edgerton, a former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in North Carolina, was the keynote speaker for the annual Sons of Confederate Veterans dinner in Knoxville. Although his scheduled appearance to speak on southern heritage and black Confederates was published a week ahead in the local paper, not one representative of any established mainstream news media was present to record his comments.
Edgerton was the second African American to speak on black Confederates and other historical facts in the last five years whose comments were only heard by the attendees and went unpublished. Dr. Leonard Haynes, a professor at Southern University, stated: "When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the South."
For those who have been taught or misled to think the people in the northern cities were more tolerant and supportive of their black population, look up the Draft Riots of 1863.
Maj. Arthur Fremantle of the British Army was an observer for Queen Victoria and spent three months with the Army of Northern Virginia and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Freemantle kept a diary and had arrived in New York City just in time to personally observe and witness the worst riots in our history.
He included in his diary seeing gangs of white men chasing, beating and even hanging blacks. Some black men and women were even pulled from their homes and beaten. Police and militias were called out, and more than 1,200 people lost their lives during the three days of riots.
The rioters resented free blacks being excluded from the draft since they were not considered citizens. The motion picture "Gangs of New York" shows some of this violence.
In closing, I have written this article in the hope that it will ignite people to research, read, study and discover the true historical facts. For me to remain silent as an American citizen, Southerner, retired soldier and living historian and ignore the service and sacrifices of these forgotten soldiers is unacceptable.
I quote the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

TEDDY ROOSEVELT SPEAKS OUT

Compiled by Annette Elam Wetzel


In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife made a tour of the Southern states. This tour was reported in an article entitled "Visit of the President to the South," which appeared in The Confederate Veteran, Volume XIII, No. 9, November, 1905, pp. 488-490.
It was a "different era" in 1905. President Roosevelt's remarks were very "politically correct" for his day. He, however, managed to pay tribute to all of his heritage. All that is required of our President, or any other politician, today is a simple acknowledgement that all Americans have a right to be proud of their heritage.
Speaking at the State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia, 1905 [p. 488]: "Last Memorial Day I spoke in Brooklyn at the unveiling of the statue of a Northern general, under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic, and that great audience cheered every allusion to the valor and self-devotion of the men who followed Lee as heartily as they cheered every allusion to the valor and devotion of the men who followed Grant.....
"The proud self-sacrifice, the resolute and daring courage, the high and steadfast devotion to the right as each man saw it, whether Northerner or Southerner - these qualities render all Americans forever the debtors of those who in the dark days from 1861-1865 proved their truth by their endeavor. Here around Richmond, here in your own State, there lies battlefield after battlefield, rendered forever memorable by the men who counted death as but a little thing when weighted in the balance against doing their duty as it was given them to see it......"
Speaking at the welcome banquet, Richmond, Virginia, 1905 [pp. 488-489]: "Coming today by the statue of Stonewall Jackson, in the city of Lee, I felt what a privilege it is that I, as an American, have in claiming that you yourselves have no more right of kinship in Lee and Jackson than I have.
"There was an uncle of mine, now dead, my mother's brother, who has always been, among all the men I have ever met, the man who it seemed to me came nearest to typifying in the flesh that most beautiful of all characters in fiction, Thackeray's Col. Newcome - my uncle, James Dunwoody Bulloch, an admiral in the Confederate Navy....."
Speaking at the R. E. Lee Camp, Soldiers' Home, Richmond, Virginia, 1905 [p. 489]: "...I honor the State of Virginia because she has taken charge of the Confederate veterans in their old age. All Americans must ever show high honor to the men of the War Between the States, whether they wore the blue or whether they wore the gray, so long as they did their duty as the light was given them to see their duty with all of the strength that was in them. Here I greet you in the shadow of the statue of your commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee. You and he left us memories which are part of the memories bequeathed to the entire country by all the Americans who fought in the War between the States."
Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina,, 1905 [p. 489]: "As I got off the train here I was greeted by one citizen of North Carolina...whose greeting pleased and touched me more than the greeting of any man could have touched me. I was greeted by the widow of Stonewall Jackson."
Speaking in Roswell, GA, 1905 [pp. 489-490]: "It has been my great fortune to have the right to claim that my blood is half Southern and half Northern, and I would deny the right of any man here to feel a greater pride in the deeds of every Southern man than I feel. Of the children, the brothers and sisters of my mother who were born and brought up in that house on the hill there, my two uncles afterwards entered the Confederate service and served in the Confederate navy. One, the youngest man....my uncle, Irving Bulloch....James Dunwoody Bulloch was an admiral in the Confederate service.....Men and women, don't you think that I have the ancestral right to claim a proud kinship with those who showed their devotion to duty as they saw they duty, whether they wore the gray of whether they wore the blue? All Americans who are worthy of the name feel an equal pride in the valor of those who fought on one side or the other, provided only that each did with all his might and soul and strength and mind his duty as it was given him to see his duty."
Mobile, Alabama, 1905 [p. 490]: "While there was a great demonstration in every city visited, it seemed to be in Mobile that the happiest association occurred. This is perhaps because of the fact that the President's proudest Southern association was through two brothers of his mother who performed service for the Confederacy under Admiral Rafael Semmes on the famous Alabama. The guard of honor on the parade was by members of the Raphael Semmes Camp, United Confederate Veterans. Hon. Oliver J. Semmes, son of the great Confederate admiral, presented to the President and pinned upon the lapel of his coat a handsome souvenir badge, as the gift of the people of Mobile.....The President thanked the people for their magnificent reception, and spoke a special word of greeting to the Confederate veterans who formed a portion of his escort. He referred to the fact that one of his uncles was on the Alabama during the War Between the States. The last time he came through Alabama he said he was going with his own regiment to the Spanish war, and in that regiment were more men whose fathers wore the gray than those who wore the blue....."
[Annette Elam Wetzel is a member of Richmond-Stonewall Jackson Chapter #1705, based in Richmond, Virginia]

President Eisenhower Letter-Honor Robert E. Lee

Eisenhower letter regarding Robert E. Lee
President Dwight Eisenhower wrote the following letter in response to one he received dated August 1, 1960, from Leon W. Scott, a dentist in New Rochelle, New York. Scott’s letter reads:
“Dear Mr. President:
“At the Republican Convention I heard you mention that you have the pictures of four (4) great Americans in your office, and that included in these is a picture of Robert E. Lee.
“I do not understand how any American can include Robert E. Lee as a person to be emulated, and why the President of the United States of America should do so is certainly beyond me.
“The most outstanding thing that Robert E. Lee did was to devote his best efforts to the destruction of the United States Government, and I am sure that you do not say that a person who tries to destroy our Government is worthy of being hailed as one of our heroes.
“Will you please tell me just why you hold him in such high esteem?
Sincerely yours,
“Leon W. Scott”

Eisenhower's response, written on White House letterhead on August 9, 1960 reads as follows:
August 9, 1960

Dear Dr. Scott:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War Between the States the issue of Secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.
General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his belief in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.
From deep conviction I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s caliber would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.
Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower

South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford






By Carmen Dixon
Black Voices
A South Carolina state senator has proposed making mandatory a state holiday honoring Confederate war dead. Sen. Robert Ford, who is black, believes that such a holiday would help improve race relations by inspiring a fuller understanding of history. Here's what's going on:
Ford's bill won initial approval from a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. It would force county and municipal governments to follow the schedule of holidays used by the state, which gives workers 12 paid days off, including May 10th to honor Confederate war dead. Mississippi and Alabama also recognize Confederate Memorial Day.
Years ago, Ford said he pushed a bill to make both that day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day paid holidays. He considered it an effort to help people understand the history of both the civil rights movement and the Confederacy in a state where the Orders of Secession are engraved in marble in the statehouse lobby, portraits of Confederate generals look down on legislators in their chambers and the Confederate flag flies outside.
"Every municipality and every citizen of South Carolina should be, well, forced to respect these two days and learn what they can about those two particular parts of our history," Ford said Tuesday.
I understand Ford's point, but I also think that a Confederate day only matters if people are ready to engage in honest, informed, sometimes heart-pulling dialogue about everything, from secession and states' rights to the gangrene of slavery in our nation's past.
In a state steeped in a segregationist past, "there's no love in this state between black and white basically," he said. That's not apparent at the statehouse, where black and white legislators get along, "but if you go out there in real South Carolina, it's hatred, and I think we can bring our people together."
Lonnie Randolph, president of the state conference of NAACP branches, objected to that reasoning."Here Senator Ford is talking about the importance of race relations by forcing recognition of people who did everything they could to destroy another race -- particularly those that look like I do," Randolph said. "You can't make dishonor honorable. It's impossible."
Ron Dorgay, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member from Elgin, said race relations have moved far from hatred, but he hopes Ford's bill brings more understanding of the state's past."
Even in school systems, they don't teach the correct history," Dorgay said.
Once again, this debate looks like it may all come down to one color: green!
Large and small counties say they'll have put up more cash to cover holidays they don't now recognize, largely for law enforcement and emergency worker overtime, municipal and county association lobbyists said.
Ford says the cost is not the key issue here, and maybe he can convince his colleagues that he's right.
-
See the source article here: http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/02/06/black-senator-wants-proposes-confederate-holiday/
Posted by J. Stephen Conn at 6:44

New round of Confederate disputes hits statehouses

The Dickinson PressPublished Friday, February 06, 2009
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Confederate President Jefferson Davis, branded a traitor in his own country, is memorialized at statehouses across the South. But not in Mississippi, where he lived out his remaining days.
A bill to accept a statue of Davis from the Sons of Confederate Veterans is now the latest skirmish in the long battle over Confederate history, often fought on Southern Capitol lawns and rotundas.
This round takes on a new twist with the election of President Barack Obama, the nation’s first black commander in chief.

RELATED CONTENT
Add a comment “If there ever was a time it would be untimely and inappropriate, it would be now,” said Mississippi Rep. Robert Johnson, a black Democrat from the historic river city of Natchez.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans has been shopping for a home for the Davis statue for over a year. It was first offered to a Civil War history center in Richmond, Va., the former capital of the Confederacy. But the Confederate group later rescinded because the center wasn’t sure where the statue would be placed.
The statue depicts Davis holding the hands of two children — his son and a black slave who was adopted by the Davis family.
Mississippi is one of only a few Southern states that doesn’t have a statue of Davis somewhere on Statehouse grounds, said Larry McCluney of Greenwood, a division commander for the Confederate group.
An Army soldier who fought in the Mexican War, Davis went on to serve as a U.S. senator from Mississippi and played a role in what would become the Smithsonian Institute before he was named president of the seceding states that would become the Confederacy.
“He’s overlooked and misunderstood because of the four years of the Confederacy,” McCluney said.
A fellow Democratic lawmaker from Natchez, Sen. Bob Dearing, who is white, introduced the legislation and said he didn’t consider it controversial.
The chances of the statue finding a home at the Mississippi Capitol are slim. The Senate passed a version of the statue bill that would restore a Confederate monument that already exists at the Old State Capitol, now a museum.
The original proposal could have resulted in Davis’ statue standing near the spot once occupied by a bronze figure of Theodore Bilbo, an unabashed racist governor whose political career was mired in scandal.
Decades ago, Bilbo was a centerpiece in the Capitol’s rotunda. Now it stands in a first-floor committee room where the Legislative Black Caucus often meets. The former U.S. senator’s outstretched arm is occasionally used as a coat and hat rack.
“There’s a poetic irony in keeping him in that committee room,” Johnson said. “The person who would be most upset about Mississippi having the largest delegation of African-American legislators in the country has to sit and watch as we talk about policy.”
Other Southern states will again see legislation this year proposing to remove symbols of their segregated pasts.
In South Carolina, a statue on the Statehouse grounds of Ben “Pitchfork” Tillman — an 1890s governor who was proud of the terror he inflicted lynching blacks — has been targeted by lawmakers. State Rep. Todd Rutherford believes the nation can’t move forward with constant reminders of the past and plans to introduce a bill to remove Tillman’s statue. A similar bill died last year.
“Do I think it stands a chance this year? I doubt it, but it’s not going to stop me. I don’t feel that most people in the General Assembly feel this new era of change is going to come about,” said Rutherford, a black Democrat from Columbia.
At the Georgia Statehouse, there’s a statue of Eugene Talmadge, a three-term Georgia governor whose 1930s and 1940s politics was a mix of racism and pocketbook populism.
Martin Luther King’s portrait hangs inside the Capitol, but black Georgia lawmakers are urging the Legislature to hang pictures of other civil rights activists like Rosa Parks.
“I’m not opposed to showcasing our history, but let’s be holistic. Let’s be inclusive,” said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, a black Democrat who introduced the legislation for additional portraits.
Brooks said visitors to Georgia’s Capitol find an “overabundance” of Confederate history and post-Reconstruction and Dixiecrat eras.
“I think America in general is trying to find a way to heal the wounds of the racial divide, but in some of the Deep South states, these states want to go in the opposite direction,” Brooks said.

Lincoln, 16th U.S. president, had Vicksburg ties

By Gordon Cotton
Published:
Sunday, February 8, 2009 2:16 AM CST
Thursday, Feb. 12, is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and this story is concentrated on his connections to Vicksburg and this area.When Abraham Lincoln ran for the presidency in 1860, he got just two votes more in his wife’s Kentucky hometown than he did in Vicksburg, and in the 10-county Bluegrass section of that state he received only 15 votes more than he did in the entire state of Mississippi.So how many votes did he get in Vicksburg and the rest of the state?None. He wasn’t on the ballot. Nationally, with a four-way split in the voting, he became president with the smallest minority ever.Born in Kentucky to Tom Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, he grew up in Indiana and Illinois. He made a trip to the deep South when he was about 19, in 1828, perhaps stopping in Vicksburg when the river town had been incorporated only three years. He might have gotten off the boat, or perhaps he didn’t.Regardless, 33 years later when he was 52 and leader of the Northern states, he realized the military importance of the city on the bluffs and pronounced the possession of Vicksburg as the key to victory. He proved to be correct.Lincoln might not have been on the ballot, but through the national media he was well- known to voters here. Most probably knew only one side of the Illinois politician, for the press was most unkind in accounts and remarks.So antagonistic was one local voter that he offered a reward for the railsplitter: Dr. Richard S. Pryor, who was a pharmacist, deputy sheriff and U S. marshal, placed an ad in the Vicksburg Evening Citizen shortly after the fall of Fort Sumpter, offering $100,000 for the head of Abraham Lincoln, which he wanted to present to Jefferson Davis on July 4, 1861. He probably had nowhere near that much money, but no one misunderstood his feelings.The closest physical connection Lincoln had to Vicksburg was his in-laws. Mary Todd, his wife, was from a well-established Kentucky family, an aristocratic slave-holding household with many relations throughout the South. Mary Todd Lincoln had 11 cousins in Confederate service from South Carolina alone. Two of her brothers were in service to the South, and another was outspokenly pro-Southern. Her favorite sister married a Confederate general. Mrs. Lincoln also had relatives in the Northern army.Some of her close kin, the family of Dr. James Parker, lived in Port Gibson. Parker was her mother’s brother and was married to Mary Jane Milliken from Milliken’s Bend in Madison Parish. They had a son, John Milliken Parker, who was Mrs. Lincoln’s first cousin. Dr. Parker died just before the war began.Much has been written about Robert E. Lee agonizing over whether to stay with the Union or go with the secessionists. He wasn’t the only one — there were numerous others, including Benjamin Hardin Helm. Lincoln summoned Helm, a career soldier, to the White House and offered him a position in the Union Army. He told the president that though they opposed one another politically, that Lincoln had always been kind and generous to him. Helm would make up his mind and let him know.Helm then went to Virginia where he called on Robert E. Lee, who told him that he had just resigned his commission in the Union Army because, “I cannot strike at my own people.” Lee also told Helm he had no doubt of Lincoln’s good intentions, “but he cannot control the elements. There must be a great war.”When Helm told Lee that Lincoln was his brother-in-law, Lee advised, “Do what your conscience and honor bid.” Soon, Helm was wearing Confederate gray, serving with another family kinsman, Gen. John C. Breckinridge, related to Mary Lincoln through marriage.Helm commanded troops at Vicksburg during the bombardment of 1862. His brother-in-law, Alexander Todd, was a soldier here during that same time. He was Mrs. Lincoln’s brother and was later killed at Baton Rouge. The next year, her brother David H. Todd was among Pemberton’s army who were paroled after the siege of Vicksburg. A New Orleans paper described him as “tall, fat, and savage against the Yankees.” It isn’t known whether or not his captors were aware of his sister in Washington.In the fall of 1864, a number of people from Port Gibson were arrested by Union occupation troops, the only charges stating, “To be held as hostages,” on order of Gen. Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana. Of the approximately 20 prisoners most were male, a few were female, and one was a 12-year-old boy.And one was Mrs. Lincoln’s first cousin, John Milliken Parker, who had served in the Confederate Army. There was no hearing, no trial and after three months the prisoners were released. In later years, Parker’s son became governor of Louisiana and vice presidential candidate on a ticket with Theodore Roosevelt.A year after Vicksburg’s surrender, Lincoln ran for re-election, easily defeating Gen. George McClellan. Occupation troops, carpetbaggers and scalawags held celebrations wherever they were in control in the South. On Nov. 14, in Vicksburg, the Union commander ordered a national salute at 5 o’clock. A Union army chaplain, R.L. Howard, described the moment and labeled it “republican thunder” as 420 cannons roared in unison.The official celebration was staged Nov. 30 by the Union League at Crawford Street Methodist Church, of which the Union had taken control. The building was filled to capacity and the army band played “Yankee Doodle” before the Rev. Aiston Mygatt, a New York-born Methodist preacher and one of the most despised men locally, told of the trials and tribulations of Lincoln’s men in Vicksburg.There were other celebrations, private ones, including one at the headquarters of Col. Osband, commander of the colored troops. Two young officers, lifelong friends, had a bit too much to drink, bragged about their personal marksmanship, and decided to test the matter a la William Tell, but with a silver goblet rather than an apple. The one with the goblet on his head was leaning against the wall and decided to stand up straight just as his friend pulled the trigger. His funeral for that era was expensive — $65.A month or so later, on Christmas Day 1864, some Vicksburg ladies expressed how they felt about Lincoln. When the guest priest at Christ Church, on order of Gen. James B. McPherson, prayed for Lincoln instead of Jefferson Davis, they walked out of church — and were banished from Vicksburg.When the president was murdered in April 1865, Confederate truce officials in Vicksburg fled the city for Bovina, fearing for their lives. Union troops and their friends held an indignation meeting at the courthouse where resolutions of sympathy and regret were passed concerning the tragedy.The event divided families, Dr. George K. Birchett chaired the meeting. But his son, a Confederate officer, was described as “too disgusted for expressions” at the public actions of his father. Incidentally, Dr. Birchett’s brother-in-law was Dr. Pryor, the man who had offered a reward for Lincoln’s head in 1861.Following the war, the carpetbagger legislature changed the name of Davis County back to Jones, which it had been originally, and created a new county named Lincoln. His birthday, however, is not a state holiday.

Gordon Cotton is an author and historian who lives in Vicksburg.
http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/02/08/features/doc498c814feb2f4100422312.txt

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Court sides with Missouri school in rebel flag dispute

By Jim Salter
ASSOCIATED PRESS
01/30/2009
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A Missouri school district had the right to suspend a student who wore a baseball cap depicting the Confederate flag, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.The ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis said schools may restrict First Amendment free-speech rights "in certain limited circumstances."Bryce Archambo was a 14-year-old freshman when he was suspended from Farmington High School in September 2006, after wearing a baseball cap depicting the Confederate flag with the words, "C.S.A. Rebel Pride, 1861." A day later, he was sent home again, this time after wearing a T-shirt and belt buckle depicting the rebel flag.Archambo's family pulled him from school, began home-schooling him, and filed suit, claiming his right to free speech was violated. A district court ruling in 2007 sided with the school district, and a three-judge panel of the appeals court affirmed the lower court ruling."I just see it as a ruling for school boards and public school educators to be able to take proactive steps in prevention of potential violence," Farmington Superintendent W.L. Sanders said.Archambo's attorney, Robert Herman, said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court."It's a sad day when a court rules someone's opinion is not protected because it offends other people," Herman said. "The essence of this ruling is Bryce can be punished because he expressed an opinion others found offensive."The suspension occurred during a time of heightened racial tension at the high school in Farmington, a community of 17,000 residents about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis.Court records show that in one case, a white Farmington student allegedly urinated on a black student while saying, "That is what black people deserve." The black student withdrew from the district.In another instance, white students, one with a baseball bat, showed up at a black student's home. When the black student's mother intervened, she was struck in the eye. Later, people drove around the home shouting racial slurs and threatening to burn down the house. The black student withdrew from school soon after that, and the family moved away.The court also cited a confrontation that occurred during a basketball game when two Farmington players who allegedly used racial slurs against two black players from nearby Festus. The schools no longer compete against each other.Farmington has a dress code stating that clothing "that materially disrupts the education environment will be prohibited." Sanders banned clothing depicting the Confederate flag.Archambo has argued that he wore the battle flag clothing not as a racial statement, but as a symbol of pride in his Southern heritage. The courts ruled that was irrelevant."Based on the substantial race-related events occurring both at the school and in the community, some of which involved the Confederate flag, we hold that the District's ban was constitutionally permissible," the appeals court ruling stated.

Remembering George Pickett of Pickett's Charge Fame.


With January coming to a close I noticed that there are a lot of famous Confederate generals' birthdays in January. James Longstreet is on the 8th, Robert E. Lee on the 19th and "Stonewall" Jackson is on the 21st. One famous, or infamous, Confederate general's birthday comes near the end of the month, appropriately, and that's good ole George Pickett of Pickett's charge fame.Born in Richmond, VA, January 28, 1825, Pickett was the first of eight kids. It seems as if he were fated to be either first or last his whole life.At the age of 17 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy by Illinois Congressman John T. Stuart, a friend of Pickett's uncle and a law partner of Abraham Lincoln. Pickett ended up as the class goat, graduating last out of 59 students in 1846. His classmates included Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, A. P. Hill and George B. McClellan.Fame smiled on Pickett during the Mexican-American war. The then second lieutenant became a national celebrity during the Battle of Chapultepec when he took the American flag from a wounded James Longstreet, the man who would be his Corp commander at Gettysburg, and was the first to reach the parapet where he waved the flag over the fort. An image something like the soldiers raising the flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during WW II.Little things always seemed to get George in trouble in a big way. You wouldn't thing a farmer shooting a pig would be too big of a deal but with Pickett involved it almost started a war with England.The territorial dispute, nicknamed the "Pig War" started in 1859, when Pickett and a garrison of 68 men on San Juan Island stood up to a British force of three warships and 1000 men after an American farmer had killed a pig belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company in area the farmer claimed was in the United States.Pickett was quoted as saying, "We'll make a Bunker Hill of it" which may show why he finished last at West Point, the British won at Bunker Hill in spite of the Colonial's impressive defensive efforts. Fortunatly President James Buchanan dispatched Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott to negotiate a settlement between the parties and no shots were ever fired.When the Civil War started Pickett left the army to join with his state, Virginia, along with fellow Virginians R.E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson.During the "Seven Days" campaign Pickett was knocked from his horse by a bullett at Gaines Mill and was out of action until September of 1862, missing the battle at Antietam.Pickett was given command of a two-brigade division in the corps commanded by Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, and was promoted to major general on October 10. His division, however, saw little or no action.During the battle of Fredericksburg Pickett's division was in the middle of Lee's two corps, the only place not attacked by the Union Army. Longstreet's entire corps was absent from the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, as it was detached on the Suffolk Campaign so again Pickett missed all the action.Gettysburg changed everything, all because Pickett was last to arrived.After two days of hard fighting Gen. Lee planned his attack on the center of the Union line. During the planning of the battle it was noted that Pickett's division had missed the fighting having been at the rear of the Column of the Army of Northern Virginia and was last to arrive and therefore should have the freshest troops. Logic dictates fresh troops should lead the attack and Pickett's fate was decided.Following an artillery barrage to soften up the Union defenses, three divisions stepped off across open fields almost a mile from Cemetery Ridge. Pickett inspired his men by shouting, "Up, Men, and to your posts! Don't forget today that you are from Old Virginia."Pickett's division, with the brigades of Brig. Gens. Lewis A. Armistead, Richard B. Garnett, and James L. Kemper, was on the right flank of the assault. It received punishing artillery fire, and then volleys of massed musket fire as it approached its objective. Armistead's brigade made the farthest progress through the Union lines. Armistead was mortally wounded as he cross wall and attempted to turn a Union cannon at what is now considered the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" But neither of the other two divisions made comparable progress across the fields and Armistead's success was not reinforced, and most of his men were killed, wounded or captured.Pickett's Charge was a bloodbath, over fifty percent of the men sent across the fields were killed or wounded. Pickett's three brigade commanders and all 13 of his regimental commanders were casualties. Kemper was wounded, and Garnett and Armistead did not survive. Trimble and Pettigrew were the most senior casualties, the former losing a leg and the latter wounded in the hand and dying during the retreat to Virginia. Pickett survivied the battle unscathed thanks to his position well to the rear of his troops, as was command doctrine at the time for division commanders.As soldiers straggled back to the Confederate lines along Seminary Ridge, Lee feared a Union counteroffensive and tried to rally his center, telling returning soldiers that the failure was "all my fault." Pickett was inconsolable. When Lee told Pickett to rally his division for the defense, Pickett allegedly replied, "General Lee, I have no division."While many said that Pickett blamed Lee for what happened at Gettysburg, when asked years later why Pickett's Charge failed, he replied that "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."After the battle at Gettysburg Pickett commanded the Department of Southern Virginia and North Carolina and then served as a division commander in the Defenses of Richmond. Pickett's division was detached in support of Robert E. Lee's operation in the Overland Campaign, just before the Battle of Cold Harbor, in which Pickett's division again occupied the center of the defensive line, a place in which again the main Union attack did not occur.On April 1st, 1865, April Fool's Day, Pickett's division held the key position known as "Five Forks" on the far right of the Confederate line. Robert E. Lee had orded this position held at all hazard as it kept open the last supply lines to Richmond as well as the Army of Northern Virginia's last hope of escape if Richmond falls.The day lived up to its name. Pickett had accuired some fish, Shad, and invited his officers to a Shad bake some two miles away from Five Forks. While the officers dined, Union General Phil Sheridan attacked and over-ran the position, capturing more than 1,000 leaderless Confederate soldiers and threated to cut the last supply lines. Lee pulled out of the Richmond/Petersburg defenses the next day.One of the last things Robert E. Lee did before going to see General Grant was to relive Pickett of his command along with other officers involved in the Five Forks fiasco. There is some question if Pickett ever received that order but Lt. Col. Walter H. Taylor, Lee's chief of staff, wrote that he issued orders for Lee relieving Pickett, along with Maj. Gens. Richard H. Anderson and Bushrod R. Johnson.Reguardless of the order the war was over. You could almost say that in his lifetime Pickett nearly started a war with Britian over a pig and ended the Civil War over fish.Pickett had difficulty seeking amnesty after the Civil War. Former Union officers, including Ulysses S. Grant, supported pardoning Pickett, but it was not until June 23, 1874 that George Pickett received a full pardon by Act of Congress.Pickett died July 30, 1875 in Norfolk, Virginia. Pickett's grave is marked by an elaborate memorial in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Commissioned in 1875 by the Pickett Division Association, a group of veterans from his division, it was originally intended to be placed at Gettysburg National Military Park at the "High Water Mark" of Pickett's Charge, but was built in Richmond when the U.S. War Department refused permission for the battlefield placement.Even in death success at Gettysburg eluded George Pickett.