DECEMBER 2001
Confederate Christmas Party
Call OCR member Tina Granger at 436-7867 to co-ordinate foods. Also bring an old-fashioned tree ornament to help decorate our Christmas tree. We'll also have a little old fashioned musical holiday fun with Christmas carols and Christmas story telling. Directions to the PPG Park are:
1. Coming from Lake Charles, on I-10, take the Hwy. 90 exit (by Chateau Charles), continue west on Hwy. 90 to Prater Road. Take a left on Prater Road and continue heading south until you see the PPG Park sign on your left. Turn left and follow the signs into the park.
2. Coming from Lake Charles on I-210, take the first industries exit (immediately after the I-10 loop exit) and turn left on Pete Manena Road. When Pete Manena' T's, take a left on Prater Road and continue heading south until you see the PPG Park sign on your left. Turn left and follow the signs into the park.
3. Coming from Sulphur, head east on either Hwy. 90 or Maplewood Drive and turn right on Prater Road. Continue south until you see the PPG Park sign on your left. Turn left and follow the signs into the park.
To reach Hopewell from DeRidder, LA, go south on US 171 to LA 394 (Dry Creek Road), turn east, and travel about six miles. You will find a sign on the left side of the road. Turn here and go only a short distance (less than 1/4 of a mile).
The ceremony will be at 1pm on Saturday 15 Dec 2001
Go caroling in the park with the Southern Gents and their Ladies.- See a Living History of the soldier's life in camps.- Be entertained by 1860 period dressed re-enactors as they cook on camp fires.- See the blacksmith make Christmas decorations, and other authentic necessities.
The Emperial Calcasieu Spinners and Weavers will be making items of the past. Sulphur's Maplewood First Baptist Church Handbell Choir, Russell and The Little Church Band, and other entertainers will be there to lift you into a wonderful Christmas spirit with their music.
Our most important part of Christmas will be represented by our Children, as they portray The Living Nativity.- If you would like to take pictures of your children as a shepherd, or Mary, or Joseph, please remember to bring your cameras, we will have several costumes.
Please feel free to wear 1860's clothes to Christmas in the Park, get into the act!!- Of course you can wear your clothes of today and just help remember Christmas of 140 years ago--- and all those Confederate soldiers and other folks as they past through the GATEWAY to and from Texas at Fort Neblett. Tell the kids Santa will be there too!- Ask them, if their school or class room are decorating a tree for the contest? If not, they can call to make their reservations for a spot and get in on that ribbon that will be presented to the best decorated 1860's tree.
Stay all day and see the "Night Firing " of the cannons at dark.- It's quite a sight to see, but not toooo Quiet.
Burial was in Consolata Cemetery under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home.
Mrs. Tarver died at 8:18 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 25, in her residence.
She was a native of Natchez, Miss. and had lived in Iowa for the past 25 years. She was a graduate of Natchez-Adams County High School and attended Co-Lin Community College in Natchez. She was a secretary and bookkeeper for Vaughn Brothers Construction Co. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Iowa.
Survivors include her husband, Bruce Tarver of Iowa; two daughters, Teresa and Chrissy Tarver, both of Iowa; two brothers, Mike Waller of Alexandria and Pete Waller of New Orleans; two sisters, Mignon White of Natchez and Jennifer Waller of Jackson, Miss.; and her father, Harold Francis Waller of Natchez.
Burial was in Sallier Cemetery with pallbearers and color guard furnished by Captain Bryan camp.
Compatriot Miller died Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001, in his residence.
He was a native of Lake Charles. He was a descendant of a pioneer Lake Charles family. He was an alumnus of Lake Charles High School, Mexico City College, Louisiana State University, LSU Law School, Northwest Oklahoma University and McNeese Junior College. He was an Air Force B-17 navigator in Europe in World War II. He served in the Korean War and Vietnam, and he retired as a lieutenant colonel. He earned the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters.
He practiced law in Lake Charles for many years. He was a senior assistant general counsel for the state Department of Transportation. He was a staff announcer for KPLC Radio. He worked with Air Force Hurricane reconnaissance.
He was a 32nd-degree Mason. He was a member of the Louisiana Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He qualified for the Sons of the American Revolution and the Sons of the Republic of Texas. He was a member of the Reserve Officer's Association, Air Force Association and the Jewish War Veteran's of America. He was a member of the VFW and the Sons of Confederate Veterans Francis T. Nicholls Camp in Baton Rouge. He was a member of DeMolay. He was a private pilot. He was a member of Temple Sinai of Lake Charles. Survivors include one daughter, Jeneane Miller Elliott of Parker, Colo.; one sister, Doris Elaine Miller Lanier of Lake Charles; one brother, Harry Wilson Miller of Bowling Green, Ky.; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Alexandria, the family said.
Having distributed such poor Christmas gifts as I had to those around me, I have been looking for something for you. Trifles even are hard to get these war times, and, you must not therefore expect more. I have sent you what I thought most useful in your separation from me and hope it will be of some service. Though stigmatized as 'vile dross,' it has never been a drug with me. That you may never want of it, restrict your wants to your necessities. Yet how little will it purchase! But see how God provides for our pleasures in every way. To compensate for such 'trash,' I send you some sweet violets that I gathered for you this morning while covered with dense white frost, whose crystals glittered in the bright sun like diamonds, and formed a brooch of rare beauty and sweetness which could not be fabricated by the expenditure of a world of money...
Think always of your father.
R.E. LEE"
Found scribbled on a piece of paper on the body of an unidentified Confederate soldier on a battlefield.
Archaeologists have excavated to the forward and after bulkheads and have exposed most of the forward bulkhead. They have come to the conclusion that the H. L. Hunley had a crew of eight men. "As was the case in the second sinking of the H. L. Hunley, the third sinking also took eight men to their demise. Previously we had thought the second crew was not a full crew, but now it appears eight men was the full compliment of manpower required for the operation of the vessel," said Warren Lasch, Chairman, Friends of the Hunley. "There's just no room in the sub for another man. We have excavated every place where remains could be, and we came up with eight sets of remains," said Dr. Robert Neyland, Project Director.
Dr. Doug Owsley, forensic anthropologist and his team from the Smithsonian Institution have been at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center sorting the remains. One surprise, archaeologists and historians originally thought that the men of the Hunley crew were relatively young, in their late teens or early 20's. It now initially appears that the crew had a diversity of ages, and some remains are those of more mature individuals. "The age of the crew appears to be from the mid-40's to an approximately 19-year-old teenager who was apparently operating the bellows under the snorkel box during the last minutes of the final voyage of the Hunley. Increasingly, it appears the few records of the actual crew members are incorrect as to who is actually on the sub. The true identity of these people may only be documented by the personal effects hoped to be found in the storage area under the crew compartment seat or in some possible diary or log with the remains of Lt. George Dixon. With what we have recovered, we can put a face and age to each set of remains; but with the exception of Lt. Dixon, the true identity of each of the others still eludes us. Is it a secret to be known only by the crew? Future excavations hold that ultimate answer," said Senator Glenn McConnell, Chairman of the Hunley Commission.
In the forward end of the central compartment scientists have found a wooden plank, which may be a shelf originally attached to the forward bulkhead. On the starboard side, above the shelf, scientists found a wooden box.
Archaeologists believe that the box most likely contains a brass compass, as they have only seen the edge of what may be a compass. The scientists will remove the box, but it's very fragile and is concreted to the forward bulkhead.
Also, a leather wallet that was earlier discovered in the sub on April 19th is being removed in a block of sediment. Archaeologists have not opened the wallet, so no one knows if there is anything inside the artifact.
Archaeologists on the Hunley team will continue to excavate the sub, and hope to have more answers about the H. L. Hunley by the end of the year.
"One thing for sure, the Hunley constantly makes us work for her secrets," said Dr. Neyland.
The award is given to a work, individual or organization that has great affect on public understanding of the Confederacy and the Civil War.
The commission was established in 1995 to raise and preserve the H.L. Hunley, the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. The Friends of the Hunley is a nonprofit organization assisting in raising money.