All of the fury, all of the drama of one of the most significant actions on the Mississippi River during the South's quest for independence is captured in this magnificent artwork.
In spite of appearances, our last meeting was very productive. Our sisters of O.C.R. were issued apologies that were long overdue from past S.C.V. state officers.
We are now on the eve of Confederate History Month. We have gotten most of our local declarations. We start Confederate History Month with our adopt-a-highway cleanup, which will have already taken place by the time this reaches you. The first weekend in April our camp will be participating in the Cub-O-Ree at Cocodrie Park just off I-10 in Jennings. Myself and members of Semmes Battery will be there with one of Semmmes Battery's guns and members of the O.C.R. The past two years in a row I have attended this event. We camp with them. I have a full schedule of activities for both days which will be conducted by members of Semmes Battery, O.C.R. and hopefully our camp.
I need camp members to man a recruiting table both days and camp members to give presentations to these Scouts. These Scouts are extremely receptive to what we have to teach. Remember, compatriots, if all our children were honestly educated about their heritage, there would be no battles to fight today. In a world where so many of our youth are misled and misguided, here is group of our youth who are receptive and because they are Scouts, they are a group of positive minded youth whose parents are like-minded as well. There is no S.C.V. camp between Lake Charles and Lafayette. Jennings is ideally located for a camp and at the very least, it is a good place for the Bryan Camp to recruit. Join us in Jennings April 6th and 7th. If you can participate, please call me at 433-8054.
Don't forget a canned good for our canned food drive. If you forgot last month then you'll have to bring two like me! I also would like to close Confederate History Month with a solemn candle light ceremony at the South's Defenders Monument. We'll discuss this at our April meeting.
Your obedient servant,
Terrance Lee, commander
Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390
(From the American Press, 22 March 2002 for educational purposes only)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is trying again to boycott South Carolina. It succeeded in getting a Confederate battle flag removed from the Capitol dome. It now flies at a Confederate monument in front of the Capitol. The NAACP wants it removed from the state grounds.
The NAACP's campaign against all things Confederate began in 1991, when the organization was wracked with scandals and, having won all of its legal battles, found itself with nothing to do. It needed a new "enemy at the gates," and so it picked the Confederacy and the battle flag in particular.
The campaign has been scurrilous and stupid. It's stupid because no black American today faces any problems at all as a result of Confederate monuments and Confederate battle flags. The claim that blacks are offended by the sight of the flag doesn't hold water. No one has a constitutional right to be unoffended, since whether something is offensive is purely subjective.
The claim that the battle flag is a symbol of slavery doesn't hold water, either. The battle flag - the red one with the St. Andrews cross - was not the official flag of the Confederate States of America. It was the battle flag carried by soldiers. In the days before radios and walkie-talkies, flags were necessary so that soldiers could tell where their own lines were during the fog of war. If the battle flag is a symbol of anything, it is a symbol of bravery, honor and a desire for independence.
Nor was the secession and war all about slavery. For a minority in the North and a minority in the South, slavery was the primary issue, but the majorities in both North and South fought for something else. In the North, it was to preserve the union. In the South, it was to preserve the constitutional republic. At any rate, all those issues were settled more than 130 years ago. There are no slaves, no slave owners, no advocates of slavery. The problems our generation must solve are unrelated to that long-ago struggle.
Naturally, there are some blacks who are trying to scam folks into paying reparations. Why anyone who was never a slave owner should have to write a check to someone who was never a slave doesn't make any sense at all. We cannot blame our ancestors for either our virtues or our faults. Nobody in 21st-century America can justly blame his failures on the fact that a distant ancestor was a slave. They can be thankful to their ancestors that they were born in North America instead of in Africa, where slavery originated and still exists.
I can't think of any problems facing black Americans that are a result of white racism. There are laws in every state against discrimination, and even laws that allow discrimination in favor of blacks and other minorities. Black and white alike suffer economically from the export of American jobs to cheap-labor countries. Black and white alike suffer from a devalued currency, from a lack of affordable housing, from the sky-high cost of medical care. None of these has anything at all to do with racism. Both also suffer from poor leadership. There are still too many charlatans running around the country and living high on the hog by conjuring up white racist conspiracies where none exist. There are too many white liberals who encourage and support these charlatans. That is paternalistic.
The way to show respect for a black man is to treat him exactly the same way you would if he were white. If he's a crook or a hoodlum, you condemn him. If he's wrong, you argue with him. Making excuses for his failure or his bad behavior is an insulting form of paternalism.
So I have no problem at all defending the Confederate flag. Taking it down would not result in a single benefit to any person, black or white. The NAACP boycott won't amount to a hill of beans. Black problems will start getting solved when blacks decide to give up the crutch of blaming whitey for their own mistakes and failures.
Charley Reese can be contacted at briarlearthlink.net. (c) 2002, by King Features Syndicate
March 2002 In 1888, Mrs. Annie Howard Parrott had built, as a memorial to her father, Charles T. Howard, the Howard Memorial Library. Located on Howard Avenue at Lee Circle, the library was designed by Louisiana native Henry Hobson Robinson and featured the neo-Romanesque architecture that he had done so much to popularize.
The library immediately became a popular gathering place for the city's surviving Confederate veterans, meeting as the Louisiana Historical Association - and therein lay a problem. The old vets became so rowdy and rambunctious during their meetings that they disturbed the library's patrons. Mr. Frank T. Howard decided to solve the problem by giving the veterans a place of their own. Consequently, in 1891, he had Confederate Memorial Hall built. Designed by architects Sully and Toledano, it was built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style to harmonize with the design of the Howard Library next door.
On January 8, 1891, Frank Howard, as Secretary/ Treasurer of the Howard Memorial Library Association (HMLA) and as President of the Louisiana Historical Association, (LHA), sent the following letter of donation to the LHA.
"It is with deep satisfaction that I perform the act of formally putting into your possession the Building, which, while it is an Adjunct of the Howard Memorial Library Association, is to be set apart forever for the use of your organization.
I take pleasure in adding that it is to be also the Headquarters of the Louisiana Division of the Army of Tennessee, The Army of Northern Virginia and The Cavalry Veterans.
This building was conceived and has been built by me with a two-fold motive. First, I desired to connect by an indissoluble tie the Institution erected by my sister in memory of my father, with an object which he profoundly revered and with these army organizations which were bound to his heart by the tenderest associations. Also, it has been my hope and wish, not only that in this building may be gathered and preserved the objects, which by their visible presence will aid in keeping alive the knowledge of the many occurrences and the numerous personages which give such interest and dignity to the History of our own State; but that also therein may be collected, and with fondest care saved from oblivion, and perpetuated, the manuscripts, the trophies, the arms, the flags, the standards and the other memorials connected with the Southern Armies in the late Civil War; that thus there may be in our midst, forever under securest guardianship, the remembrances and attestations of the unstinted devotion of our whole people to the great cause of civil liberty, as embodied in local governments - the height and depth and the length and breadth of sacrifices and achievements - the loftiness of their heroism - in their determined struggle for the preservation of their rights inherited from their fathers.
May this building consecrated to these high purposes and you and those who should succeed you in the custody of it and its treasures proclaim to the ages as they come in their far extending procession, how a brave people and their descendants hold the name and fame of their heroes and martyrs with admiration undimmed by disaster or defeat and with a love unquenched by time.
I am
Very Truly
Your Friend and Obt. Servant
Frank T. Howard"
Confederate Memorial Hall quickly became the headquarters and assembly place for all of the Confederate associations in New Orleans - the Camps of the United Confederate Veterans, the Chapters of Daughters of the Confederacy, the Ladies' Confederate Memorial Association, the Camps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Jefferson Davis Monument Association. It was also the headquarters of the Louisiana Division of Confederate Veterans and the depository of the archives of the general organization of the United Confederate Veterans.
Time, as they say, passed. The Howard Library was closed in the 1940's and the building was purchased and renovated by the Times-Picayune radio station. Oil man Patrick F. Taylor later purchased the building in the 1980's. And in October 1998, the LHA donated Confederate Memorial Hall's land, buildings, improvements, artifacts, existing working library, and all monies in bank accounts to 929 Camp Street Museum, Inc., now called the Memorial Hall Museum, Inc.
In the early 1990's, art collector Roger Ogden donated his collection of 1200 works by some 400 artists to The UNO Foundation. The UNO Foundation soon announced plans to display the art in the Odgen Museum of Southern Art, a two building complex which will consist of the Patrick F. Taylor Library and Goldring Hall, a new 5 story building to be built at 925 Camp Street. The Taylor Library, which Mr. Taylor had donated to the UNO Foundation in the 1990's, will house the collection's 18th and 19th century works, while Goldring Hall will house those of the 20th and 21stcenturies. There was just one problem - the buildings are not adjacent to one another - they are separated by Confederate Memorial Hall. In order to view the entire art collection, the Ogden museum's patrons would have to exit one building, walk around the corner, and enter the other building - at the very least, an inconvenience.
In early 1997, the suggestion was first made that a passageway be constructed through the back of Memorial Hall's basement to allow the Ogden Museum's patrons to travel from one building to the other without having to go outside. The passageway idea seemed to be a win-win situation. The Ogden Museum would obtain a passageway between its buildings and The UNO Foundation would install a second fire escape in Memorial Hall to bring the building into compliance with the state fire code. A passageway/fire escape agreement was drawn up between Memorial Hall and The UNO Foundation in April 1998 and then - nothing happened. Memorial Hall was ready to sign the agreement but nothing further was heard from The UNO Foundation.
Months passed and then, in the fall of 2000, Tulane University, through the HMLA, indicated it wanted to sell Memorial Hall. The UNO Foundation offered the HMLA $425,000 - Memorial Hall, convinced it owned the museum, offered nothing. On December 4, 2000, the HMLA, for the agreed upon $425,000, sold the UNO Foundation a "quitclaim" deed to Memorial Hall.
The fact that the HMLA could only provide a quitclaim deed is significant. There are a number of different types of deeds that can be used in Louisiana, but the "standard" deed, the one you received when you purchased your house, is what is known as a "warranty" deed. A seller, by providing a warranty deed, is pledging that he legally owns the property, and that there are no outstanding liens, mortgages, or other encumbrances against it. A warranty deed is also a guaranty of title, which means that the seller may be held liable if the buyer discovers that the title is defective. So how does a warranty deed differ from a quitclaim deed?
All that a quitclaim deed does is relinquish to the buyer whatever title - IF ANY - the seller may have in the property. A seller, by providing a quitclaim deed, is NOT pledging that he legally owns the property and is NOT providing any guaranty that his title is valid. So why is the fact that the HMLA sold the UNO Foundation a quitclaim deed, rather than a warranty deed, significant?
In any real estate transfer, the title to the property is researched and abstracted, and then a title attorney renders an opinion as to whether the seller has a clear title to the property. The fact that the HMLA sold the UNO Foundation a quitclaim deed is significant because, at the very least, it suggests they couldn't provide a warranty deed, it suggests that they couldn't show they legally owned the property and that they couldn't provide any guaranty their title to the museum was valid. And that is the slender reed on which the UNO Foundation is basing its claim that it owns the museum.
In any case, the UNO Foundation lost no time in declaring that it now owned Memorial Hall and announced plans to evict the Confederate Museum. The Foundation was adamant that the word "Confederate" would be removed from the museum's name. They also declared that the SCV and the UDC would, under no circumstances, be allowed to hold meetings in the museum, and that, while they might allow some of the flags to remain on display, all of the military artifacts would have to go. Not surprisingly, Memorial Hall stood by its claim that it owned the property and had no intention of vacating the building.
Memorial Hall and the UNO Foundation remained at loggerheads until March 2001, when UNO contacted Memorial Hall once again, seeking permission to run the passageway through the Hall's basement. After considerable negotiations, a new agreement was drawn up in May 2001. Under the terms of the new agreement, the UNO Foundation would be allowed to build its passageway through the Hall's basement. In exchange, UNO would replace the museum's slate roof, replace and repair several trusses in the museum which had been badly damaged by termites, repair the damage to the museum caused by pile driving for the Goldring building, and install a second fire escape. Memorial Hall promptly signed the agreement but the UNO Foundation didn't sign until August 2001.The agreement included several provisions that the UNO Foundation had to fulfill in order for the agreement to be enforceable on both parties. Among these conditions, the UNO Foundation had to obtain property insurance to protect the museum's collection against damage during the repair work, and had to obtain permission from Mr. Pat Taylor and from the YMCA to use space on their properties for the second fire escape. Again, months passed. On December 4, 2001 Memorial Hall filed a "Petition To Be Maintained In Possession And For Damages" against the UNO Foundation. Memorial Hall asserted that it had acquired possession of the property through Frank Howard's 1891 donation and had openly and continuously possessed the property for more than 100 years. It asserted that the UNO Foundation had disturbed Memorial Hall's peaceful possession of the property by filing a quitclaim deed and asked: 1) that Memorial Hall be maintained in the peaceable possession of the property; 2) that the offending quitclaim deed be removed from the public conveyance records, and; 3) that the UNO Foundation be ordered to pay reasonable damages, as well as Memorial Hall's attorney's fees and costs.
On December 13, 2001, the UNO Foundation filed its "Answer To Petition To Be Maintained In Possession And For Damages And Reconventional Demand For Judgment Recognizing Ownership." In brief, UNO claimed that they and not Memorial Hall owned the Confederate Museum, asked for Memorial Hall's suit to be dismissed with prejudice, and asked that the UNO Foundation be found to be the owner of the property. In a particularly coy bit of race baiting, UNO, throughout its pleading, continually refers to Memorial Hall as "Confederates."
Memorial Hall quickly filed its "Answer To Reconventional Demand" in which it responded to the UNO Foundation's claims and reasserted its claim to the property.
The filings in the case are now complete - the next step will be the discovery phase during which both sides will gather documents and depositions from each other. Eventually, one or the other party will ask for a court date to be set. The case will be heard in Orleans Parish Civil District Court by Judge Hunter King.
At its January 14, 2002 meeting, Memorial Hall's Board of Directors reviewed the UNO Foundation's performance since signing the passageway agreement 5 months earlier. UNO had not fulfilled any of its obligations - it had not obtained property insurance to protect the collection during construction and it had not obtained permission from either Mr. Taylor or from the YMCA to use their properties for the new fire escape for Memorial Hall. Consequently, the Board voted to cancel the passageway agreement with UNO.
The Board also voted to sue the UNO Foundation for causing the termite damage to Memorial Hall and to sue Gibbs Construction for the damage they had caused to Memorial Hall's external walls and roof, and for the subsequent water damage to artifacts in the museum. These suits were filed in February 2002.
To date, Memorial Hall's legal fees in these matters have been $125,778. The Memorial Hall Foundation and special donations have covered these expenses. Donations to the Memorial Hall Foundation, an IRS certified non-profit corporation, will be needed to cover the future costs of the litigation. The Foundation plans to solicit funds by advertising in Civil War and patriotic periodicals.
Last year, the museum was host to 17,120 visitors, including 75 student groups comprising 3,628 students. Gross income was $166,738 and the museum had expenses of $159,316, not including legal fees.
These bare facts of Ashby's wartime exploits scarcely convey the majesty and shaping force of the legend that grew around him while he lived and fought. Anderson explores how and why Ashby's admirers in the Shenandoah Valley made him into their essential icon of "home." Anderson also demonstrates that Ashby's image - a catalytic, mesmerizing, and often contradictory combination of southern antebellum cultural ideals and wartime hopes and fears - emerged during his own lifetime and was not a later creation of the Lost Cause.
Recognizing the power of Ashby's fame as knightly horseman, family defender, natural man and savage, and Confederate warrior, Anderson boldly organizes his study in four radial chapters that capture and reflect the circular energy of those images, each facet reinforcing and refreshing the others. With superb scholarship he shows that the force of Ashby's image was double-edged: it inspired admirers in the Shenandoah Valley, but it also shielded them from the savagery of a war that challenged the very ideals at the heart of their defense of home.
Members of various Confederate veterans camps will perform a reenactment of the Battle of Calcasieu Pass with cannons.
A barbecue beef meal will be served at 1 p.m. at Cooper Farms, on Waldeck Road about 2 miles from the cemetery, for $6 per person. Please reserve your meals by 1 April 2002 by sending payment payable to the Waldeck Cemetery Association and mail to Marceil Malak, treasurer, 7444 Meiners Road, Ledbetter, Texas 78946.
Signs will be posted in the general area, but you may call for specific directions if needed:
Ralph Mueller, president (979) 249-5485
Harvey Meiners, Program Co-ordinator (979) 249-5349
Della Markert, Secretary (979) 249-3381
Marceil Malak, Treasurer (979) 249-5940
All of the fury, all of the drama of one of the most significant actions on the Mississippi River during the South's quest for independence is captured in this magnificent artwork.
This release from the late Artist Joe Umble, of Virginia, is a colorful historic work depicting the highly accurate fire of Port Hudson's Confederate River Batteries upon a portion of the Union fleet of Admiral David G. Farragut. The grounded and burning USS Mississippi lies helpless as the bonfires on the western bank backlight her and provide a perfect silhouetted target for the gray gunners to continue her destruction by the blasting of deadly accurate hot shot. Her fate is sealed. The attempted passage lasted three hours and would cost the Union Navy 110 casualties and the loss of the USS Mississippi. It was this single Confederate victory that incited the Union forces to lay siege in order to silence the guns of this "Bastion on the Mississippi".
"Contemporaries and historians have labeled the passage a tactical failure and not because of Confederate gunfire. Yet they also generally described it as an important strategic victory. The failure of five out of seven vessels to pass the batteries confirms the first conclusion, but the Confederate gunners deserve the credit."
Lawrence Lee Hewitt, "Port Hudson, Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi" - LSU Press.
This beautiful piece of historic artwork is available as an artist signed limited edition print ($135 including shipping) through the Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390 Sons of Confederate Veterans Lake Charles, LA All proceeds go to further the cause of our Confederate Heritage. Contact the camp commander for purchasing the print.
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