The past month was a busy month for the camp. Camp #158 members participated in a number of camp activities and area events. Coming into the end of the summer and the beginning of autumn, a very busy season is approaching. The camp is currently scheduled to participate in at least eight upcoming events in the area between now and the end of the year.

During the last month we’ve had a couple of workdays at Magnolia Cemetery. The work at the cemetery is coming along quite well and the city of Augusta certainly appreciates our assistance. As I’ve emphasized before, we can always use more help from camp members not currently participating in the ongoing cemetery cleanup project.

I’m still in the process of soliciting donations from private donors to fund the restoration work on the Confederate Powder works Chimney. I’ll also ask the Georgia Division and SCV National to assist us in our search and solicitation of funds. SCV Field Representative Jack Marlar has already volunteered his services to assist Camp #158 in finding private donors.

Last month’s meeting was very well attended by members and guests, and in fact it was one of the most highly attended meetings that I remember since I’ve been a camp member. Our program speaker, Steve Burke, gave an excellent presentation on General William T. Sherman called "Sherman the Man," which focused on Sherman’s entire life and not just the War years.

Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158 Sons of Confederate Veterans Web Site link:

Congratulations to new member Ernie Franklin who was presented his SCV Membership Certificates at the August 12^th meeting.

Saturday, August 14^th – Camp #158 set up two booths at the Barnyard Flea Market, one for selling Confederate memorabilia and raffle tickets, and another for doing living history presentations. This also gives us an excellent opportunity for making new contacts and recruiting new members into the camp. The flea market is located on Doug Barnard Parkway (Highway 56 Spur to airport) at Bobby Jones Expressway.

The following members participated:

Ron Udell (in Confederate uniform)

Ben Creech (in Confederate uniform)

Camp #158 especially thanks Mae Gilmer for her participation and assistance with the merchandise booth. Other camp members that stopped by the booth to visit throughout the day were Jerry DeLaigle, Ed Strickland, Randall Brownlee, and also our regular visitors to the camp meetings, Jerry and Diann Grigsby.

Friday, August 20^th – David Powell and Tim Hardin worked at Magnolia Cemetery. David and Tim cut the grass in the Confederate Dead section and also in the Confederate Survivors section.

Saturday, August 21^st – At the Peanut Festival, which is held annually in Brooklet, Georgia, Camp #158 members Ron Udell, Ben Creech and David Powell, all in a Confederate uniform, marched in the parade.

Friday, August 27^th - Ron Udell worked at Magnolia Cemetery several hours raking magnolia leaves in preparation for the workday on Saturday.

Saturday, August 28^th - Nine camp members participated in the workday at Magnolia Cemetery cutting the grass and raking leaves in the Confederate Dead section, the Confederate Survivors section and the 7 Confederate Generals’ monument section. The grass was cut and cleanup done at the gravesites of Mary Hall, General E. Porter Alexander, General Marcellus Stovall and General Victor Girardey. Members that participated in the cleanup were Bobby Crawley, David Powell, Tim Hardin, Ron Udell, Keith Neal, Jack Bailie, Randall Brownlee, Terry Bowers and Nick Posey.

Saturday, August 28^th – Commander Nick Posey and Lt Commander Ron Udell attended the 5th Brigade Meeting in Millen, held by Brigade Commander Michael Mull. Some of the various items and issues discussed were how to improve communications between the camps in the Brigade, recruiting and membership retention, upcoming events in the brigade and encouraging camps to work more closely together and support each other’s events.

Editor’s Note: I’ve read the book. It was very enjoyable, suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. I don’t usually read novels, but The Rutherford Cipher, by veteran Southern writer William Rawlings, is truly a great Southern novel that captivated my attention from the time I picked it up. – Nick Posey

"Negroes in the Confederate Army," Journal of Negro History, Charles Wesle, Vol. 4, #3, (1919), 244 - 245 - "Seventy free blacks enlisted in the Confederate Army in Lynchburg, Virginia. Sixteen companies of free men of color marched through Augusta, Georgia, on their way to fight in Virginia."

From James G. Bates' letter to his father reprinted in the 1 May 1863 "Winchester [Indiana] Journal" (the 13th IVI ["Hoosier Regiment"] was involved in operations around the Suffolk, Virginia area in April-May 1863) - "I can assure you [Father], of a certainty, that the rebels have Negro soldiers in their army. One of their best sharp shooters, and the boldest of them all here is a Negro. He dug himself a rifle pit last night [16 April 1863] just across the river and has been annoying our pickets opposite him very much today. You can see him plain enough with the naked eye, occasionally, to make sure that he is a "wooly-head," and with a spy-glass there is no mistaking him."

The 85th Indiana Volunteer Infantry reported to the Indianapolis Daily Evening Gazette that on 5 March 1863: "During the fight the artillery battery in charge of the 85th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was attacked by two rebel Negro regiments."

After the action at Missionary Ridge, Commissary Sergeant William F. Ruby forwarded a casualty list written in camp at Ringgold, Georgia about 29 November 1863, to William S. Lingle for publication. Ruby's letter was partially reprinted in the Lafayette Daily Courier for 8 December 1863: "Ruby says among the rebel dead on the [Missionary] Ridge he saw a number of Negroes in the Confederate uniform."

Federal Official Records, Series I, Volume XVI Part I, pg. 805: "There were also quite a number of Negroes attached to the Texas and Georgia troops, who were armed and equipped, and took part in the several engagements with my forces during the day."

Federal Official Records, Series I, Vol. XLIX, Part II, pg. 253 - April 6, 1865: "The rebels [Forrest] are recruiting Negro troops at Enterprise, Miss., and the Negroes are all enrolled in the State."

Federal Official Records, Series I, Vol. XIV, pg. 24, second paragraph - "It is also difficult to state the force of the enemy, but it could not have been less than from 600 to 800. There were six companies of mounted riflemen, besides infantry, among which were a considerable number of colored men." -- referring to Confederate forces opposing him at Pocotaligo, SC., Colonel B. C. Christ, 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, official report of May 30, 1862

Frederick Douglass, Douglass' Monthly, IV (Sept. 1861), pp 516 - "…there are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate Army…as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government...There were such soldiers at Manassas and they are probably there still."

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31-32

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:6-10

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psalm 51:1-2

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  -  Matthew 5:13

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. - James 1:5

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. - Psalm 84:10

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. - Psalm 121:1-2

We had buried her at sea as we had christened her, and she was safe from the polluting touch of the hated Yankee! – Raphael Semmes on the sinking of the CSS Alabama, June 19, 1864, at Cherbourg, France.

I consider it a privilege to die for my country. – Confederate General Paul Jones Semmes upon learning that the wound he received at Gettysburg on July 2^nd was mortal. He died on July 10, 1863.

Time changes and men often with them, but principles never. – Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy

A few days will determine whether my destination will be the bottom of the sea, Richmond, or some Northern Bastille. – Said by Mosses Drury Hoge (1818-1899) as he departed London with $20,000 worth of Bibles and religious texts for the soldiers of the Confederacy in February 1863

It has one advantage over the city, sir: you will not be there. – Eugenia Yates Phillips’ (1819-1902) reply to Yankee General Benjamin "Beast" Butler, who banished her to prison on Ship Island after she reportedly laughed during the funeral procession of a Yankee soldier in the occupied city of New Orleans in 1862.

All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the schools. – As written by Robert Lewis Dabney on the 19^th century feminists’ idea of equality, from Volume Four of "Dabney’s Discussions," circa 1862.

Whatever your responsibilities may be to government, to society, or to individuals, meet them like men. The attempt to establish a separate and independent Confederation has failed, but consciousness of having done your duty faithfully and to the end will, in some measure, repay for the hardships you have endured. – From General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s farewell address to his troops at Gainesville, Alabama, on May 9, 1865.

"Although suffering a sabre wound to the head from the previous day, General Hampton, by personal example, led his men in a desperate charge against a determined foe. While the fighting swirled hand-to-hand, General Hampton felled three of the enemy with his revolver and ran one through with his sword. Spotting one of his own troopers battling alone, surrounded by several assailants, General Hampton single-handedly charged to the soldier’s aid, saving the man’s life by knocking his closest attacker out of the saddle. Despite a second sabre wound that fractured his skull, General Hampton refused to abandon the soldier. Blinded by his own blood, he fought on, killing several attackers with his sword despite yet another wound to his side."

(Taken from the book Valor in Gray, by Gregg S. Clemmer, page 391)

One often hears a historically challenged person ask or declare, "You must still be fighting the Civil War." A dumb statement doesn’t deserve a serious response so I tell them: "No, I’m not. I haven’t killed a Yankee now for several months and just so you will know, there was a civil war but it did not pit the Army of Northern Virginia against the Army of the Potomac. The Civil War took place in New York City in the draft riots in 1863 where hundreds of Yankee rioters chased down blacks, injuring many and stringing up one to a tree on 45th Street. They attacked the Provost Offices doing considerable damage and attacked and burned a colored orphanage stripping it of its linens and personal items. So to answer your question, yes, I am still fighting the ‘civil war’ because I am opposed to New Yorker’s burning colored children’s orphanages or any orphanage for that matter."

Another appropriate response would be, "I will stop fighting Lincoln’s war when Reconstruction ends." The textbooks say that Reconstruction ended in 1877 when the last Confederate state was readmitted into the Union. Every true southerner knows that reconstruction continues today. The recent Voting Rights Act applied only to the South; the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied disproportionately against the South, Constitutional amendments as to due process and equal protection notwithstanding. The true and actual driving force behind the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to halt the flow of blacks into the North. The Civil Rights Acts were not enacted because Congress wanted blacks to have more rights; it was enacted to give them the incentive to stay in the South and not venture north where they were not welcome.

We have all heard about the Tariff Act of 1828 that the North imposed through Congress despite opposition from the South that imposed as high as a 25% tariff on imports, which forced the South to buy shoddy manufactured goods from the North rather than better quality goods from England. It favored commercial restrictions in favor of domestic manufacturers subjecting the South to a serious if not fatal economic loss. (Epochs of American History, Division & Reunion, 1829-1889, Woodrow Wilson, 1929.)

Slavery that was imposed on the South shut the South out from the development of manufactures. The only hope of wealth lay in free commerce so it could sell its agricultural products to any market in the world. Tariffs forced the South to sell cotton to northern mills.

As the famous author Charles Dickens remarked, the war was not fought over slavery, "that was just a bunch of ‘humbug.’ The real cause of war was that the North wanted economic control of the South." Economic control that it had and kept. In the United States after the war, all the major railroads were owned by Northerners, including even the Southern Railroad. Through the use of discriminatory freight rates, all manufacturing would be confined to the North and the South would keep its agrarian and raw material economy.

If one wanted to ship raw materials from South to North, the freight rates were low. The rates on manufactured goods from North to South were likewise low. Freight rates on manufactured goods moving out of the South or within the South were exceedingly high. The effect of discriminatory freight rates kept the South from making any headway in industry and manufacturing and had the further disadvantage to the South of choking off all Southern ports to overseas shipments.

There was nothing illegal about discriminatory freight rates at that time. Even though Georgia had great granite mines in Elbert County and marble mines in Pickens County, the Georgia state capitol in Atlanta, finished in 1889, is built of neither. It was constructed primarily of Indiana limestone because it was cheap to ship finished limestone from Indiana to Atlanta and prohibitively expensive to ship granite or marble across part of Georgia due to the discriminatory freight rates.

In 1943, Ellis Arnall was Governor and was fed up with it. As Governor of Georgia, he filed suit in the U.S. Supreme Court against twenty railroads, none of which were citizens of Georgia, alleging that the railroads had conspired to fix freight rates, which violated the anti-trust acts and discriminated against Georgia. The anti-trust acts were enacted in the twentieth century starting in 1914 with the Clayton Act.

Governor Arnall successfully invoked the original jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court, under U.S. Constitution, Art. 3, Sec. 2. State of Georgia v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co. & others, 324 US 439 (1945).

Governor Arnall won this suit when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he could file his bill of complaint in the Supreme Court and ruled that conspiracy to fix rates in restraint of trade were subject to anti-trust laws.

Prior to 1945, the Southern ports saw very limited traffic but look now at Savannah, Brunswick, Charleston, Mobile, and New Orleans. These ports now are major U.S. shipping ports and should have been all along.

It took over 100 years for the South just to correct this injustice.

This part of Georgia and American history will not be taught in the classrooms because it is history as it happened rather than as it has been rewritten. Any lesson that shows the South as victims is politically incorrect. If it doesn’t denigrate the South, don’t publish a book or make a movie about it.

The SCV, UDC, MOS&B, and other Southern Heritage groups are not merely the last line of defense against the assault on the South; we are the only line of defense, which makes our commitment to the cause even more challenging.

Come join us at around 6:30 to eat barbeque before the meeting.

The Official Monthly Newsletter of

Brigadier General E. Porter Alexander Camp #158