Address to the Sons of Confederate Veteran’s Camp 1802 Lee / Jackson Ball
Saturday, March 13th 2004
Clint E. Lacy
Greetings to you one and all. First of all I want to say what an honor it is to be your guest speaker here tonight in Mt. Vernon , Illinois. Or as Commander Terry Warren call’s it “Upper Dixie”
For some of you this is the first time you have seen or heard from me. For others I had the honor of meeting many of you last summer during the flag transfer ceremony at Camp Lincoln in Springfield , Illinois.
I remember when Terry introduced me to many of you that he addressed me as “Clint Lacy, writer and Southern Activist”
What an odd way to describe me I thought. A writer maybe, barely. But an activist? No I just rant every now and then .
His description of me has turned out to be a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I later realized that I had been a Southern activist all my life. And a curse because it was at that point that I also realized I could never quit defending the South’s heritage and our right to display the proud symbols of our ancestors.
I was in my sophomore year of high school and I had corrected my history teacher Ms. Watkins about the role that Missouri played in the war. Her lesson was that only the southeast portion of Missouri was Southern and that Missouri did not secede from the Union.
But woe to her! Upon close examination of a borrowed Missouri history book from my grandmother I realized that history had been re-written. The history book that Ms. Watkins was using was written in the mid - 1980’s. The Missouri History book of my grandmother’s was dated 1946 and it described how the Missouri legislature met in Neosho , Missouri in late October and passed an ordinance of secession and on November 28th, 1861 the Confederate Congress declared Missouri to be the twelfth member of the Confederacy.
Many historians have debated whether or not there was a legal quorum of legislators at the time the vote was taken. For any skeptics that might doubt the legitimacy of the Secession of Missouri, I invite them to visit the General Sweeney’s Museum in Springfield, Missouri and view the articles of secession for yourself.
Many wonder why is any of this important? Who care’s if a hack Missouri Governor took down two Confederate flags? They stood for slavery anyway right? And if this is the case then they must surely be “hurtful” and “divisive” to many minorities .
Do the words “Hurtful” and “Divisive” sound familiar to you? They should they were probably the two most used “buzzwords” of those that oppose the public display of the Flags and symbols of the Confederacy. As many of you know, they were first used by Richard Gephardt in South Carolina, and later by Governor Bob Holden and sadly even U.S. Senators Bond and Talent, Republicans from Missouri echoed these themes and stated they publicly supported Governor Holden’s decision to remove the flags from two of Missouri’s historical sites.
At this point I would like to say that I know that many of you here tonight made the long journey to “Flag” Governor Holden. Some of you twice. Sadly, work prevented me from making this journey and it is at this time that I want to officially convey my most sincere Thanks to all of you for defending my state’s heritage from a tyrant Governor. Missourian’s owe the Illinois Sons of Confederate Veterans a Debt of Gratitude for your efforts.
I would like at this point to dispel the myth that Confederate soldiers fought to preserve slavery. As an example I would like to use facts about the State of Missouri as evidence that the accusations of racism, that liberals try to associate with the Confederate Flag are false. And while presenting these facts I would like to talk about the two most famous groups of Confederates from Missouri, The Bushwhackers and the 1’st Missouri Brigade.
Census reports from the middle 1850’s and unbiased history books tell us that in the 1850’s 75% of Missourians were Southerners. And that the only sizable city in Missouri, St. Louis had the largest population of non-southerners. These were German immigrants who came to Missouri because of the failed Marxist revolution in Germany during the late 1840’s. 60% of the population of St. Louis was compromised of these immigrants. Remember that because that fact will play an important role later on in this address.
History also tells us that the majority of Southerners in Missouri owned small farms, and most held very few slaves if any. In the 1850’s Missouri had a population of 1.2 million people. The number of slaves in Missouri totaled 25,000 or roughly 2% of the state’s total population.
So why then would Missourians fight a war to preserve slavery? The truth of the matter is that they didn’t. Edward Leslie’s book , “ The Devil Knows How to Ride” acknowledges that:
“Most Missouri Southerners that fought did not own slaves and had no hope of owning slaves and many would have opposed the institution of slavery. Many Missourians viewing the federal government as ominously tyrannous , fought for what one Lieutenant, wounded at the Battle of Pea Ridge, called “ the undying principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government”
Leslie goes on to state that:
“They believed they were protecting the legacy of their Grandfathers who fought in the Revolution of 1776. The federal troops, so many of them German, or other foreigners from far away Northern states seemed a hired army of occupation that threatened the hearth home and family that must be driven out. Southerners from western border counties - particularly those who joined Partisan Ranger bands, such as Quantrill’s had an additional and over ridding motivation: a powerful desire to take revenge for the plunder and murder raids committed by the likes of Lane, Jennison , and Montgomery and from the Jayhawking bands from both before and during the war”
It is also important to note that most Missourians had hoped to avoid the war altogether. But the fall of Fort Sumter and President Lincolns call for 75,000 volunteers to repress the rebellion, forever changed the fate of so many Missourians.
After Lincolns call for volunteers, Missouri’s Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson publicly stated that:
“ Missouri would not furnish a single man to subjugate her sister states of the South”
He also appealed for Missourians to rise up and drive out the invaders “ who have dared desecrate the soil for which your labors have made fruitful and which is consecrated by your homes”
On May 3, 1861 a pro Southern militia formed a camp at the western edge of St. Louis. It is believed that they were planning to capture the arsenal there. And it is also believed that the arsenal , which held over one million rounds of ammunition, would be the only tool that would allow the federal government to capture and hold Missouri.
The camp was named “Camp Jackson” after the Governor. The Federal Arsenal was commanded by William Nathan Lyon, a German and devout Unionist. General Lyon soon organized four regiments of Germans and surrounded the camp. Badly outnumbered the Missourians surrendered to the Germans. As they were being marched through the middle of the city, a crowd began to gather and become unruly. They did not like the site of Missourians being taken prisoner by foreign born immigrants. Someone fired a pistol which wounded a German officer, another German officer soon gave the order to fire. The result was the death of 28 civilians, one of them an infant. And Southerners in St. Louis rioted throughout the night.
The state legislature met in emergency session and decided to appropriate the states entire budget, which amounted to $ 8.2 million dollars , for the purchase of war materials so that the impending invasion that they sensed was on the horizon could be repulsed. They also formed the Missouri State Guard to protect the citizens of Missouri, former Governor Sterling Price was commissioned major general.
If there is any question about why Missourians fought the War Between the States then perhaps the next passage will convince you. In a last ditch effort to avoid war, Governor Jackson, Secretary Thomas Snead and Sterling Price traveled to St. Louis by rail to try and work out a compromise with Lyon that would keep Missouri out of the War. They proposed that they would keep both armies out of the state if Missouri was allowed to keep it’s sovereignty.
General Lyons response to the proposal was to rise up and say:
Rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any manner however unimportant I would see you , you and you and every man woman and child in the state of Missouri dead and buried. This means War!”
General Lyon set the precedent for how the war in Missouri would be conducted. He made it plain and simple that every Missouri citizen would pay the ultimate price. In short the war would be conducted against the civilian population.
Lyon was soon defeated by General Price at Wilson’s Creek. And like so many Missouri citizens, Lyon himself paid the ultimate price, he was killed during the battle.
After the Battle of Wilson’s Creek , General Price headed North moving towards the Missouri River. General Freemont the new commander of the Department of Missouri put the state under martial law and ordered that the slaves belonging to Southerners be emancipated. ( note that he did nothing to free the slaves of those that were loyal to the Union) He also ordered Jim Lane and his Kansas Brigade to overtake Price. Lane decided to move cautiously slow and plunder area’s after Price had safely left .
In September Price took Lexington , Missouri Two days later Lane and his Kansas Brigade, entered the City of Osceola , Missouri. Osceola was a prosperous port on the Osage River. It was a bastion of Southern culture in the midst of the Missouri frontier and stood as a painful reminder to the New England immigrants of what could be accomplished in the environment of a Southern culture. Lane’s Kansas brigade robbed burned and looted Osceola, murdering 10 citizens. Lane had all of the records from the courthouse removed and shipped them to Kansas, he then ordered the courthouse burned with the other buildings.
On his way back to Kansas so many former slaves flocked to their new “Liberator” that he formed a “Black Brigade.” Now popular history would lead you to believe that the Union “liberated” the slaves. But what do you suppose Lane did with the newly liberated slaves? He sent them back to Kansas to harvest the fall crops in “free” Kansas.
Price had to leave Lexington when he leaned that Freemont was moving upon him there with 38,000 troops.
As I mentioned earlier, in October 1861 the Missouri legislature met in Neosho and passed an ordinance of secession. Price who had gained a wealth of new recruits found that he could not provide for all of them. During the winter of 1861 Price’s Army camped near the junction of the Osage and Sauk rivers, near Osceola.
It was decided that to best win back Missouri they had to first free the rest of the South by joining the regular Confederate Army and serving in the East. Price encouraged those who did not wish to join the regular Confederate Army to return home. 8000 men went with Price and formed the 1’st Missouri Brigade. They saw service in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. Their motto was “Conquer or Die”. They were well known for their valor and there are monuments to them throughout the South. Of the 8000 that left only 300 lived to return home to Missouri. 2000 men decided to stay in the Missouri State Guard. And many men formed Partisan Ranger units to defend their homes from Jayhawkers and the Union Army.
These men later became known as “Bushwhackers”. Popular history would lead you to believe they were murdering thugs and deserters. The truth is that Price encouraged these men to go home and fight. They are often called murderers because they took no prisoners. But it was Union General Halleck that first issued the order that any Partisans who were captured were to be killed. In other words the Bushwhackers only returned the favor. They were excellent horseman and known for their bravery and are often criticized for their raid on Lawrence, Kansas. But it was not until Union General Ewing who had imprisoned many female relatives of the Bushwhackers in a condemned building in Kansas City, and the subsequent collapse of that building , and the deaths of the innocent female victims, did Quantrill decide to raid Lawrence Kansas. And it was only after 3 years of watching citizens homes being torched, men murdered, women imprisoned and children orphaned , did the Bushwhackers to make the ultimate retaliation. Women and children were not harmed, it was the Bushwhacker code not to harm them, but the town was burned. Ultimately 3000 Bushwhackers forced President Lincoln to deploy over 50,000 Union troops just to hold Missouri. This alone proves that they were indeed brave and definitely not cowards.
After the Lawrence raid General Ewing issued the infamous Order Number 11 which displaced thousands of Missourians, their possessions looted and their homes burnt. It didn’t matter to him whether they supported the North or the South. He did this thinking that it would turn Missourians against the Bushwhackers, and deprive them of their support base.
The end result was that the Bushwhackers found support in other areas and that many more joined them who wouldn’t have, had their homes not been looted and burned.
The Missouri Flag Campaign started by the Missouri League of the South with the help of the John T. Coffee Camp, from Stockton , Missouri, and Commander Terry Warren of camp 1802 and his family was started in Arcadia Missouri, in July of 2003. Since its inception enough flags have been strategically placed so that 81,400 motorist see them each day. It is my belief that this put enough pressure on the state legislature that there are now bills in the House and Senate being debated that would restore the flags that at Higginsville and Pilot Knob , Missouri that Governor Holden took down.
Ironically , one liberal state representative from St. Louis compared the Confederacy’s fight for Independence to the German Holocaust against the Jews. An outrageous statement indeed considering what the citizens of Missouri had to endure simply because they wanted to be left alone, and did not wish to invade their sister states in the South. But this is political correctness at its worst. Facts don’t matter, fables do.
And this is why I encourage each and everyone one of you to display your symbols of Southern Heritage whenever and as often as you can. I am proud to stand before you today and tell you that my home is the only one in town that flies the Confederate flag. I hope that it will encourage more to do so, and to learn about our proud heritage.
We are at a cross roads in history. Do we stand up and reclaim our heritage. Or do we quietly and reluctantly sit back and do nothing because we do not wish to “offend”.
If your choice is the latter, then enjoy this time. For it won’t be long before there will be no Sons of Confederate Veterans. There will be no history to proud of. For it is being rewritten on a daily basis and only we can stop this.
You don’t have to do everything, but if everyone does something, we can preserve our heritage and our symbols. If you do nothing more than write a Letter to the Editor that dispels the myths of a Politically Correct liberal, then you have done something. Don’t worry if you’re not a word smith. All you need are the facts . Remember you have the most powerful weapon that the opposition fears more than anything.
You have the Truth. Don’t be afraid to use it.
Thank You for your time and for this great opportunity to speak before you tonight. It has been an honor and a privilege.
Email Clint E. Lacy : [email protected]