Another year is quickly coming to an end and the Christmas holidays are now upon us. 2003 has been a good year and a very busy year for Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158. I think we’ve made some significant accomplishments as a camp that we can all be proud of, as listed below.

One of the most important projects ever undertaken by the camp was the completion of the repair work on the speakers’ platform at Magnolia Cemetery, which was finished in late March, just in time for our Confederate Memorial Day Service. Our Confederate Memorial Day Service on the 19^th of April was very well attended and we had a record number of re-enactors that participated, along with ladies in period dresses. This was one of our largest Memorial Day services in recent years. And after the service our good friend and benefactor Mr. Larry Sconyers fed lunch to all of the re-enactors and women and children in period clothes. Camp #158 recently made an agreement with the manager of Magnolia Cemetery, Mr. Jack Key, to take over the care and maintenance of the Confederate Dead and Confederate Survivors’ sections from the city. We’ve had good involvement from our membership supporting this effort. Our camp participated in a matching-funds grant that funded a structural evaluation of the 140-year-old Confederate Powder Works chimney located at Sibley Mill. The Condition Assessment issued by the Engineering firm stated that the chimney was structurally sound, but needed some cosmetic repairs and restoration work done to the tune of about $150,000. The camp has participated in an Adopt-A-Highway litter pickup program for the last several years and we’ve had very good support from the membership this past year with this ongoing project. The camp also participated in five festivals throughout the year, some good, and some disappointing. Another very noteworthy event that some of our camp members participated in was serving as honor guards for the crew members of the H. L. Hunley Confederate submarine, which is in a conservatory in North Charleston, SC. Some of our members that have Confederate uniforms have also taken part in Living History programs at a couple of the area schools. I think anyone can conclude from this that Camp #158 is a very active camp involved in a variety of activities.

There is one area that we need to focus on now and in the upcoming year, and that’s recruiting new members. It seems that we can get so close to the 100-member mark, but always fall a little short of making it. And on top of that I’m afraid that a substantial number of our current members may not renew their membership. For those that let their membership go so nonchalantly, apparently the SCV charge is a bunch of meaningless words. I wonder if some our Confederate ancestors knew how unworthy some their unappreciative descendants would be, would they have second thoughts about making the ultimate sacrifice for future generations if they could do it all over again. No! Because they had a sense of duty and responsibility and they totally believed in their just and noble Cause. They loved their Southland and they gave their all to defend it, and unfortunately they lost.

I would like to thank all of the members and officers of the camp that have loyally supported me during my first year as commander. I couldn’t have done it without your help, and it’s truly an honor to be associated with such a great organization of Southerners. I look forward to another good year together. I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

Congratulations are in order…to two of our newest members, Allen Johnson and Keith Neal, who were presented with their SCV Membership Certificates at the November 13^th meeting.

Massing of the Colors on Friday, November 14^th, at Fort Gordon in Alexander Hall: This is a traditional ceremony conducted in conjunction with Veterans Day. Ron Udell, Carl T. Miller, Sr., and Fred Bussey attended this ceremony. Ron Udell, in Confederate uniform, presented the flag of Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158, representing the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Approximately 100 people attended this ceremony. Camp #158 appreciates these 3 members representing us at this special ceremony to honor all veterans, including our Confederate veterans.

December 6^th & December 7^th – Battle of Buckhead Church: From Waynesboro, take US Highway 25 South and go approximately 17 miles. The battlefield will be on the right hand side of the road. Follow the signs.

Sunday, December 7^th – North Augusta Christmas Parade starts at 3:00 p.m. Camp #158 is marching in this parade. Please be at the North Augusta Plaza parking lot between 1:45 and 2:00 p.m. Camp members will start lining up in position on Martintown Road at 2:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 11^th - Next SCV Camp #158 meeting at Sconyers’ BBQ Restaurant, 7:00 p.m. Our program speaker will be Mr. Harvie Hogan.

Saturday, December 13^th - The Georgia Division SCV Executive Council will hold its fourth quarter meeting at the "Restaurant on the Square" in Forsyth, Georgia. The meeting will begin at 11:00am. All SCV members are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Thursday, January 8^th, 2004 - SCV Camp #158 meeting at Sconyers’ BBQ Restaurant, 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 22^nd, 2004 - SCV Camp #158 Lee-Jackson Banquet at Sconyers’ BBQ Restaurant, 7:00 p.m. There will be no admission charge. Everybody will order from the menu and be responsible for their own check.

Please bring all raffle ticket stubs and money collected from the sale of raffle tickets to the next camp meeting on December 11^th. Raffle ticket stubs and money should be turned over to Lt Commander Ron Udell.

Psalm 37:4 - "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

1^st John 4 – 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

"Why the Hollywood Left hates Dixie is easy to understand. It is conservative, Christian, traditionalist, hostile to the Cultural Revolution." – Excerpt from an article in the November 26, 2003, issue of World Net Daily, by Journalist Patrick J. Buchanan. The title of the article was "Why do the neocons hate Dixie so?"

"The North isn't a place. It's just a direction out of the South." --Roy Blount, Jr.

"Our country demands all our strength, all our energies. To resist the powerful combination now forming against us will require every man at his place. If victorious, we will have everything to hope for in the future. If defeated, nothing will be left for us to live for." --- Robert E. Lee

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance"
- Union General John Sedgwick spoke these words just moments before being shot dead by a confederate sniper at Spotsylvania

"That old man...had my division massacred at Gettysburg!"

-- George Pickett said these words to John S. Mosby shortly after paying Lee a visit in Richmond

"Well, it made you famous"

-- Mosby's reply to Pickett

Since less than 1% of the millions of descendents of Confederate soldiers will fight for their honor and values, I often wonder if our Grandfathers would have given up everything and endured those extreme hardships when invaded had they known what an ungrateful lot these descendents would become.

The south produced statesmen and soldiers, planters and doctors and lawyers and poets, but certainly no engineers and mechanics. Let Yankees adopt such low callings. --Margaret Mitchell - Gone With The Wind

"And so from the echoes of the Relief and Hospital Association there was organized the Ladies Memorial Association in 1868 to care for the graves of the Confederate dead and to properly decorate them on the annual Memorial Days."

"During the first five years of its existence the Association collected the sum of $458.12, and the entire amount was expended in caring for the graves and grounds in the soldiers’ section of City Cemetery. The section was enclosed with stone coping, grass was planted, and in the center a fountain was placed."

"…. and in three years the ladies collected…. a total in hand of $20,934.04, and as a result…. there stands today on Broad Street between McIntosh and Jackson Streets one of the handsomest monuments to Southern valor in the entire country." – Volume XX (1912) p. 368

(Taken from page 43 of the book Valor in Gray, by Gregg S. Clemmer)

One obelisk stands solemnly in this paupers’ cemetery giving a brief history of this little known piece of Augusta’s past. The city of Augusta removed all of the headstones from the cemetery in the early 1980s, including Confederate headstones, and erected the lone monument that now stands in the middle of the cemetery at Hicks and Bohler Streets (behind the Kroger on 15th Street). This inscription is on the South side of the monument:

The following inscription is on the

North side of the monument:

December 1^st, 1863 – Confederate spy Belle Boyd is released from prison in Washington, D.C.

December 8^th, 1860 – U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb resigns. The Georgia native will become a Confederate Major General in 1863, rendering valuable service to the Confederacy.

December 9^th, 1861 – On the South Carolina and Georgia coasts, Southern planters burn cotton to prevent it from falling into Federal hands.

December 13^th, 1862 – Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia: Over 186,000 troops engaged in the fighting there.

December 17^th, 1860 – At Columbia, the SC Secession Convention issues a resolution in favor of SC seceding from the Federal Union.

December 25^th, 1863 – Federal troops enter the Gulf coast town of Lavaca, Texas. After taking what they want, the Federals burn the business district of the town.

In his recent book, Myths & Realities of American Slavery, John C. Perry, introduces thirty-one "Slavery Facts." These are summary statements regarding some aspect of slavery. To many they may be very surprising, but they are true. For the most part, each "Slavery Fact’ is an undisputedly true "nugget" of information about American slavery. This is the second in a series of "Slavery Facts" presented each month until all thirty-one are listed in subsequent newsletters. Slavery Facts 7 - 11:

7) Slave trade to the United States ended in 1808.

8) A major effort was made by Northerners to relocate all freed slaves to Africa in the early 1800s.

9) The first person killed in John Brown’s Raid, by Brown’s men at Harpers Ferry, was a free Negro.

10) Even Abraham Lincoln condemned John Brown’s "Slave Revolt" raid at Harpers Ferry, calling Brown insane.

11) The vast majority of Southerners did not own slaves; nearly three-fourths of all Southern families did not own slaves.

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Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158