Perry Herron recruited new member Thomas Lowe. Camp #158 appreciates Perry’s efforts for bringing in this new member.

This is a big thanks on behalf of Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158 to the five members who, during the past month, wrote letters to the editors of The Augusta Chronicle and the Columbia County News Times (CCNT). These letters were in defense of the South and rebuttals to anti ’56 Georgia Flag editorials. Members that submitted letters are as follows:

Woody Highsmith – Letter to the Chronicle

Carl T. Miller, Sr. – Letter to CCNT

Tom Stafford – 1 Letter to CCNT & 1 Letter to the Chronicle.

P. K. Fitzgerald - Letter to CCNT

Bill Quattlebaum - Letter to CCNT

On Sunday, January 11^th, Lt Commander Ron Udell, representing Camp #158, attended a Grave Marker Dedication Service at Black Creek United Methodist Church in Sylvania, Georgia. Jerry & Diann Grigsby and Wayne & Kathy Grubbs, who are regular visitors at our camp meetings, also attended this ceremony.

SCV Camp #158 Adopt-A-Highway Litter Pickup - Saturday, January 17th - Eight Camp members participated in the cleanup of the roadway between Wheeler and Wrightsboro Roads. It took us one hour to complete this task. Signs with our camp name, number and SCV Logo are placed at the entrance of Augusta West Parkway on both ends and our organization's name gets displayed on a very busy main thoroughfare. This is good exposure and free publicity for Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Members that participated were Ron Udell, Bill Quattlebaum, Carl T. Miller, Sr., Woody Highsmith, Tim Hardin, Tom Stafford, Perry Herron and Nick Posey.

The Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158 Lee-Jackson Banquet was held on Thursday, January 22^nd, 2004, at Sconyers’ BBQ Restaurant, at 7:00 p.m. The banquet was well attended by camp members and a good number of visitors. The program speaker, Colonel Bob Kerner, gave an outstanding talk on "Robert E. Lee – The Last Five Years."

On January 31^st and February 1^st, Camp #158 members Ben Creech and David Powell participated in the reenactment of the Battle of Rivers Bridge near Ehrhardt, SC.

On Saturday, January 31^st, at 4:00 p.m., the Jeanie Benson Chapter #884, Children of the Confederacy, held a Confederate Flag Retirement Ceremony at Sunset Hill Cemetery in North Augusta, SC. Members from Camp #158 that attended the ceremony were Lt Commander Ron Udell, our Treasurer Lee Herron and Associate Member Chris Dabrowski. The children of Jeanie Benson Chapter #884 would like to have your old and tattered flags of the Confederacy, i.e., Confederate battle flags, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd National Confederate flags, Bonnie Blue flags, etc., so that they can properly dispose of these flags with a Confederate Flag Retirement Ceremony once or twice a year.

Sonny "The Liar Perdue" was flagged on Saturday evening, January 31^st, at the Augusta - Richmond County Civic Center. He was attending the opening ceremonies of the Augusta Futurity. We didn't have any pictures because of the short notice we had of Sonny's visit here. And we didn’t have time to get a "Demonstrating Permit," which is now required for groups larger than 4 people. This is beginning to work in our favor, though - groups of four here and groups of four there, etc. SCV Camp # 158 as well as LOS and JBS members in Augusta did the flagging. Thanks goes out to Commander Nicholas Posey, Bill Quattlebaum, Ron Udell and his daughter Katie, Past Commander Woody "Chicken Man" Highsmith, Perry Herron, Carl T. Miller, Sr., Tim Hardin and myself. A gentleman, Steve Monk, in a Confederate uniform who had an uncanny resemblance to General Pickett, also accompanied us. He flagged Sonny earlier in Atlanta and then came to Augusta to get him again. What a trooper!

We had three trucks continuously circling the block around the civic center. Two of the trucks had frames made of 2X4s, which had an assortment of four "SONNY LIED" and "LET US VOTE" signs on each side, a total of eight signs per truck. Our 2nd Lt Commander, Bill Quattlebaum, came up with this innovative idea and it worked great. These signs were like rolling advertisements against "Liar Perdue" and were seen by thousands of people as they approached the civic center. The third truck was flying three Real Georgia Flags, two window flags and a 3'X5' flag, another great advertisement for our flag of honor.

The next Camp #158 Meeting will be on Thursday, February 12^th, 2004, at Sconyers BBQ Restaurant, at 7:00 p.m. The program speaker will be Mr. Phil Kent, former Editorial

book, "The Dark Side of Liberalism," and relate how and why liberals are attacking our Southern culture, history and heritage.

Reenactment of the Battle of Broxton Bridge near Ehrhardt, SC. – March 5^th thru 7^th

It is the official position of the Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, that neither of the flags currently included in the referendum scheduled for March 2nd is worthy of support, neither flag is the choice of the people of the State of Georgia, and neither flag is the choice of the Georgia Division. Both were adopted at the prompting of special interest groups determined to thwart the will of the people of Georgia. We will not be satisfied until the people of Georgia are heard on this issue, we will not support the adoption of any flag other than the 1956 flag, and we oppose the continuing efforts of special interest groups to stifle the will of the people of Georgia

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." -- Thomas Jefferson

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."-- George Washington

"If it is a crime to love the South, its cause and its President, then I am a criminal. I would rather lie down in this prison and die than leave it owing allegiance to a government such as yours." -- Confederate spy Belle Boyd

Lincoln's war implied, and the Gettysburg Address set to words, a firm message to the States of the Union - "I love you all, and if you leave me, I'll hunt you down and kill you." The Address was not the sagely comments of a wise statesman, rather the vain, obsessive rantings of a power-hungry demon engaging in a blood-thirsty mission of self-aggrandizement, no matter the volume of corpses required to attain it. -- Lewis Goldburg

"The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture and its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was." --Milan Kundera

A British newspaper, the London Spectator, stated in an article: "the Union government liberates the enemy's slaves as it would the enemy's cattle, simply to weaken them in the conflict. The principle is not that a human being cannot justly own another, but that he cannot own him unless he is loyal to the United States."

"Captain, the secret treachery that caused the war will come to light, and justify the South. Truth is deathless!"-- Admiral Raphael Semmes, C.S.N.

(Taken from the book Valor in Gray, by Gregg S. Clemmer, page151)

February 4^th, 1861 – At Montgomery, Alabama, the Confederate States of America is organized at the first session of the Provisional Confederate Congress.

February 5^th, 1861 – At the Secession Convention at Montgomery, a resolution is offered which calls for the formation of "a Confederacy of the states which have seceded from the United States."

February 6^th, 1863 – The Federal government refuses a French offer of mediation between North & South.

February 8^th, 1861 – The Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States is unanimously adopted at Montgomery, Alabama.

February 9^th, 1861 – Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens are elected President and Vice President of the Confederate States of America.

February 11^th, 1812 – Alexander H. Stephens born at Crawfordville, Georgia; Stephens was Vice President of the Confederate States of America, a U.S. Congressman and Governor of Georgia; Died at Atlanta in 1883.

February 17^th, 1864 – Off Charleston, SC, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley becomes the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship in combat.

February 18^th, 1865 – At Columbia, SC, Sherman’s men destroy most of the city, burning all railroad property.

February 28^th, 1863 – Near Fort McAllister, Georgia, the CSS Nashville is destroyed by the Federal monitor Montauk.

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 fourth in a series of "Slavery Facts" presented each month until all thirty-one are listed in subsequent issues of the newsletter.

21) The sale of a slave (or slaves) that resulted in the breakup of a family was a very uncommon occurrence. Only rarely would slave families be split up.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

In the Field, Rome, Ga., October 29, 1864

Brigadier-General WATKINS,

Calhoun, Ga.:

Cannot you send over about Fairmount and Adairsville, burn ten or twelve houses of known secessionists, kill a few at random, and let them know that it will be repeated every time a train is fired on from Resaca to Kingston?

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major General, Commanding

Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158