The monument was erected in 1934 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Hot Springs Chapter #80.
Compatriot Nathan Curtis will present the program, a book review of "The Real Lincoln" by Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo. Also we'll vote as a camp for who we want to support for national and departmental officers at the National Reunion in Memphis, Tenn.
It has recently come to my attention that a Brigade Chaplain in a Texas custody case 328th Judicial District in the court of Thomas O. Stansbury case# 115,142 Harrison vs. Harrison was found to be an unfit parent because he is an S.C.V. member and a reenactor! Imagine the precedent this sets in our courts. It's only one court case in Texas now but where will it happen next?
How long must we tolerate these senseless attacks on our heritage? How long before more and more decisions are rendered?
It's time for us to wake up and realize that You as a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have been deemed an unfit parent, unfit to be the guardian of children. Imagine the ramifications of this decision!
Who's children will be next?, mine?, yours? Was there ever a better time to stand up for our Heritage? Please be at our next meeting as we further discuss this important issue!
I, on behalf of the Bryan Camp , would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to our local O.C.R. Eugenia Levy Phillips Chapter President Tina Granger and her family on the passing of her Mother Mrs. Delany Bennett. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you in these troubling times.
Our local U.D.C. Chapter, Calcasieu 1519, has recently started a Children of the Confederacy group in our area. If you are interested in having your children join please contact Mrs. Marylin Thorn. I will trouble Mrs. Thorn for detail at our next meeting if we are blessed with her presence.
God Bless the South
Your Obedient Servant
Commander
Terrance L. Lee
The new bust and pedestal will replace the life-size plaster bust that stood in the rotunda of the Beauregard Parish Courthouse for 80 years.
Donations are still being accepted for the project and a number of items, such as miniature busts, will be sold.
The old bust was knocked off its pedestal in early 2000 and broke into several pieces. It's beyond repair.
Police juror Rusty William-son said he had recently been contacted about the donation of the new bust, valued at nearly $4,000.
Williamson said the donor wants to remain anonymous.
"This is a good thing ... Gen. Beauregard is the namesake of this parish," he said. "The donor wants the bust back in the courthouse, and I agree. It's a real good thing."
Police juror Rex Brumley Sr. agreed. "I don't see anything wrong with that."
The bust is being created by a Virginia sculptor and will be shipped to the Police Jury, which will then have a formal dedication.
Police jurors Carlos Archield and Tommy Brown asked about the safety of the new bust. They wanted some type of barrier around it to prevent it from being damaged.
Williamson said it will be mounted on a heavier base and that ropes could be placed around it.
The only other link to Beauregard is a somewhat faded portrait of him in the clerk of court's office.
Beauregard was born near New Orleans on May 28, 1818, and he died there Feb. 20, 1893.
He graduated second in his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1838. In 1861, he was appointed superintendent of the academy.
He resigned from the Federal Army on Feb. 20, 1861, and days later was appointed the first brigadier general of the Confederate Army.
Beauregard commanded the forces that fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.
Mrs. Penny is the youngest child of Seaborn Lochran Alford, who served as a private in Companies A and C in the 3rd (Wingfields) Louisiana Cavalry.
Records show that he was captured and paroled at Port Hudson in July 1863.
He enlisted at Camp Moore on 13 May 1862. He was born 19 May 1844 in Washington Parish, Louisiana and died 22 November 1919 in Old Alford Cemetery in Mount Hermon, Louisiana.
Seaborn Alford had 14 children from two marriages, Mrs. Penny being the youngest child from the second marriage. She was born 10 April 1918 in Mount Hermon.
If you need a ride or can provide a ride to the ceremony, please contact Mike Jones at 582-6154.
The following is a list of announced candidates.
Commander-in-Chief
Patrick J. Hardy, MD
Frank B. Powell, III
J. Troy Massey
Ronald Wilson
Lt. Commander-in-Chief
Denne A. Sweeney
Army of Trans-Mississippi Commander
John Perry
Chuck Rand
Army of Trans-Mississippi Councilman
Mark "Beau" Cantrell
Paul Gramling
July 7, Port Hudson State Historic Site, Zachary - Firepower! 1 - 3 p.m. From cannon blast to small arms fire, visitors will see demonstrations of weapons used during the Civil War. Call 1-888-677-3400 toll free or 225-654-3775 locally.
July 20 - 21, Mansfield State Historic Site, Mansfield - Living History Encampment, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sunday. Using a period Civil War camp as background, authentically uniformed volunteers will interact with park visitors, describing what life was like for the Civil War soldier in the field. Call 1-888-677-6267 toll free or 318-872-1474 locally.
July 20, Fort Pike State Historic Site, New Orleans - Rifleman, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. An 1860s era uniformed soldier will demonstrate the loading and firing of a Mississippi Rifle. The demonstration will include weapon safety and how bullets were made during the 19th century. Call 1-888-662-5703 toll free or 504-662-5703 locally.
July 27, Port Hudson State Historic Site, Zachary - Genealogy, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Site staff will assist visitors in researching their Port Hudson Civil War ancestors in this program. Call 1-888-677-3400 toll free or 225-654-3775 locally.
A request last week from the Army's chief of military history Brig. Gen. John S. Brown to the Minnesota Historical Society that the flag be returned so it can be housed in a planned Army museum in Virginia was declined.
"We do not consider Gen. Brown's opinion a legal ruling," said the Historical Society's deputy director, Ian Stewart. "We also do not anticipate following his suggestion that we turn over the flag to the Army museum proposed in Virginia."
In a letter to members of the Virginia congressional delegation last week, Brown wrote, "We believe the status of the flag is loaned, not returned. By law, the proper custodian of the flag is the War Department -- now the United States Army. We intend that the flag be returned to the Army" for exhibit at the Army's National Museum, scheduled to open in 2009 in Fort Belvoir, Va.
No threats of direct action to recover the artifact were mentioned.
The flag's travel history is somewhat convoluted. Pvt. Marshall Sherman of the 1st Minnesota Regiment captured it in fighting that is considered some of the fiercest of the entire war. The Virginia regiment suffered 90 percent casualties by most accounts, and the Minnesotans a similarly appalling 80 percent. Sherman's act won him the Medal of Honor. When he accepted the medal, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported, he turned the flag over to the War Department, now known as the Department of Defense.
At some later date, by means unspecified, it came back into his custody. He kept it even during a general request by Congress in 1905 that all captured Confederate flags in private hands be returned to Washington, so they could be redistributed to the states from which they came.
Eventually it found its way to the state historical society. It was last displayed in 1998, but they now have it in storage, saying it's not in condition to be further displayed. This concerns some historians, who suggest that if Minnesota is not going to invest in conservation efforts that would allow the flag to be seen by the public, they should turn it over to someone who will, rather than let it languish in storage.
Aside from the original members of the 28th Virginia, a number of other parties have sought to get the flag away from the Minnesotans
Last year, a Minnesota Senate committee voted to ignore a Virginia request to return the flag.
The Virginia Senate requested the flag in 2000 and got a negative response. Gov. Jesse Ventura's response at the time was "Why? I mean, we won."
Two years earlier a modern-day reenactment group that portrays the 28th Virginia made a request for the flag and were similarly turned down.
Then-Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III issued a ruling saying the law applied only to flags already in the War Department's possession.
The Historical Society's website (http://www.mnhs.org/ ) describes the artifact thusly:
"Army of Northern Virginia battle flag of the 28th Virginia Volunteer Infantry. Blue wool bunting Saltier cross with white cotton fillet sewn over a red wool bunting field. Red field has minor staining and small tears.
Thirteen white cotton stars are sewn onto the cross. "28th Va Inf'y" is stenciled in white paint on the obverse. The flag has a two-inch [5.1 cm] white wool bunting border. The hoist has a white canvas lead with three whipped eyelets. The number "58", a "capture" number applied by the War Department is stenciled in black paint on the lead. This flag was captured by private Marshall Sherman of Company C., First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863."
Courtesy of:
Civil War Interactive: The Daily Newspaper of the Civil War (www.civilwarinteractive.com)
The Warren Lasch Conservation Center is open for visitation on the weekends along with the gift shop so that the public can get a glimpse of the H. L. Hunley. All proceeds go to support the Hunley conservation project. To purchase tickets call toll free 1-866-866-9938 or log onto the Internet at www.etix.com.
To learn more about the Hunley, visit www.hunley.org.
Copyright (c) 2002 Friends of the Hunley.
All Rights Reserved.
For this reason a small film crew and about 50 reenactors will meet at Fort Frederick State Park near Hagerstown, Maryland, this weekend to shoot just a little more footage for Ron Maxwell's production of the movie "Gods and Generals.
Dennis Frye, local Civil War historian who served as associate producer on the film, said that neither Maxwell or any of the "big name stars" of the movie will be present, and the set will be closed to the public.
Visual Effects Coordinator Tom Smith will be in charge of the shooting of what is known as "pickup shots" in the movie biz.
Computer-generated special effects will allow the 50 re-enactors to appear as 5,000 on screen. Since the scenes will depict a wintertime battle, computers will remove the leaves from the trees and create snow, Smith told the Hagerstown Herald-Mail.
Other crews are shooting other pickup shots in front of Jackson's Lexington, Va., home and at Guinea Station, Va., where he died. The short outdoor shots will be used to set the stage for the action scenes, Frye said.
"Gods and Generals" tells the story of the buildup to, and early years of, the Civil War, principally through the eyes of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. It is a prequel to the 1993 film "Gettysburg" which was also directed by Maxwell.
Previously scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend this year, the movie's opening has been pushed back to Dec. 27. No reason for the delay was given.
Those in the vicinity of the 140th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Antietam won't have to wait quite that long to see at least a part of the long-anticipated film.
The Maryland Theatre will host an exclusive half-hour preview of the Civil War movie "Gods and Generals" about three months before the full-length version hits movie screens.
The two showings, set for 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, will kick off the 140th Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of Antietam, Frye said.
Tickets cost $10 each and will go on sale at the theater in Hagerstown no later than Friday, he said.
Frye said he asked Director Ronald Maxwell for permission to show local audiences the same "sneak peek preview" that financier Ted Turner has seen.
Maxwell "sees it as a way to thank this community for all its superb support," said Frye. Maxwell and actor Stephen Lang, who plays Gen. Stonewall Jackson in the movie, are scheduled to appear at the showings.
"Gettysburg" was based on the novel "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. "Gods and Generals" and a third book, "Last Full Measure", were written by Shaara's son Jeff. Maxwell's website ( www.ronmaxwell.com ) notes that he is currently in the planning stages known as "pre-production" on "Last Full Measure" which begins after Gettysburg and covers the final years of the war.
When the final version of "Gods and Generals" opens it will be at a premiere at the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown earlier that month. Specific dates have not been set. Although the final cut has not been made, the movie is expected to run about three hours, Frye said.
Courtesy of:
Civil War Interactive: The Daily Newspaper of the Civil War (www.civilwarinteractive.com)
| This picture of a Confederate Monument was taken by camp member Keith Coleman in Hot Springs, Arkansas, while on vacation. Several ladies were taking care of the flower garden at the time, Saturday morning, June 8.
The monument was erected in 1934 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Hot Springs Chapter #80. |
 | A rare picture of people on the front entrance of the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse on 3 June 1915 celebrating the unveiling of The South's Defender's Monument. Note the large Confederate battleflag in the center top of the picture and the smaller ones on the lamp post. Children were let out of school so they could come to the historic event. (Photo courtesy of McNeese State University Archives) |