Saturday, March 24, 2018

Prattville Dragoons Conduct First of the Spring Cemetery Cleanup at Robinson Springs


Six Dragoons and one cadet candidate answered the call to manicure Robinson Springs cemetery on Thursday March 22nd.  Compatriot Bear Butler brought his stepson, Seth, who helped clean up the litter in the area and assisted the Dragoons displaying his dedication to duty.  Hoping he can become a cadet in the near future. 

The morning was sunny and a bit cool but the workers finished in about 1 hour as they diligently performed the necessary tasks to have the cemetery looking good for the Easter season. 

The hard working men, left to right are Bear and Seth, Bill Myrick, Bill Gill, Tom Crowley and Don Owens. Not pictured was the camera man, Tyrone Crowley. Tyrone also worked hard today and performed double duty as photographer.  

Carl French of the Cradle of the Confederacy camp had cut the cemetery a few days prior with his zero turn mower so our work was mainly weed eating, using a walk behind mower and blower and picking up litter. The Confederates and other veterans buried here, as well as the Autauga/Elmore county early settlers, have a very respectable final resting place thanks to the efforts of SCV Camp 1524. 





Thursday, March 22, 2018

Alabama Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Education Conference

The Alabama Division SCV held it's 3rd Annual Education Conference on Saturday March 17th and it proved to be a well organized event, flowing smoothly from one outstanding speaker to another. Division Commander Jimmy Hill and 1st Lt. Commander Carl Jones worked together with many other members to bring a high quality of speakers to those attending the conference.  The speakers included Suzanne Sherman, radio talk host, Brion McClanahan, College Professor, Ryan Walters, political expert and Tommy Daniel, College Professor. They shared their knowledge of their areas of expertise with interesting discussions and were available for individual consultation and questions during the breaks after their speaking period. There was a large crowd well over 200 in attendance and everyone left the conference very satisfied with this year's production. 


Pictured below are Commander Jimmy Hill; Camp Commander Stuart Waldo and Josh Stover; Dragoons Harold Grooms, Bill Myrick, Tyrone Crowley, Larry Spears, Bill Gill, Josh Stover, Sam Reid and Commander Waldo. Not pictured are Dragoons Louis Turner and Louis Turner Jr. Also in attendance were Mrs. Peggy Myrick and Mrs. Carol Crowley. The final picture has the 4 speakers with Carl Jones. From the left they are Brion McClahanan, Tommy Daniel, Suzanne Sherman (no relation to the Yankee general) and Ryan Walters. 




Monday, March 19, 2018

Prattville Unveils Historic Cotton Gin Shop Factory Whistle Honoring Founder Daniel Pratt

Daniel Pratt was the founder of Prattville and an industrialist who created what was once the world's largest cotton gin manufacturing facility there.  A transplanted New Englander, he was the primary benefactor for the Prattville Dragoons formed in 1861 and also helped the Confederate cause throughout the War.  The city of Prattville recently unveiled a new tourist highlight at the Marriott hotel on the Robert Trent Jones golf course honoring Daniel Pratt.  An historic whistle like the one used to signal shift change at his cotton gin factory now sounds at 4pm each day and can be heard across the course and throughout the area including nearby neighborhoods.  You can read more at this link - http://www.azfamily.com/story/37683820/new-gin-shop-whistle-unveiled-in-prattville.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Notable Confederate Date - St.Patrick's Day

Today marks the birth date of Confederate General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, the "Stonewall of the West". Some say he was born on March 16 but how fitting to have his birthday tied to St. Patrick's day on the 17th. Cleburne County in Alabama was named for him. Enjoy this short biography of General Cleburne. 


Sadly, March 17 also marks the death of Confederate and Alabama hero Major John Pelham. He only lived 24 years but his exuberance for life and his unmatched bravery in battle endeared him to the hearts of his native Alabamians, the Confederacy and many others. The link provides a letter from his Commander, General Jeb Stuart, to the family of John Pelham after his death at Kelly's Ford, Virginia on 17 March 1863. Robert E. Lee is said to have been the first to call him the "Gallant Pelham.” 

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Prattville Dragoons March 2017 Camp Meeting

SCV Camp 1524 held their monthly camp meeting on Thursday March 8th at the Shoney's on Cobbs Ford Road in Prattville.  Following a supper hour starting at 6pm where many enjoyed Shoney's delicious buffet or menu orders and Chaplain Snowden showed his wonderful slideshow with historical Confederate photos and quotes and some from camp events. At 7pm Chaplain Snowden began the meeting with an Invocation and then Communications Officer Larry Spears led everyone in the flag pledges and salutes.  Commander Waldo then recited the SCV Charge and welcomed everyone.  The March camp meeting is the business meeting for the camp and the first item on the agenda was elections.  Commander Waldo, 1st Lt Grooms, 2nd Lt Wade, Adjutant Sutherland and Chaplain Snowden ran unopposed but the position of Treasurer was contested and Billy Leverette retained his office in a secret ballot.  Following the elections, the upcoming events were discussed as well as some special announcements including report-outs from recent events including the Brigade Flag Day celebration, ACA 4th grade class presentation and, the Division EC Meeting.  1st Lt Grooms and 2nd Lt Wade were absent from the meeting as they were representing the camp at the Salvation Army Appreciation dinner and the Dragoons were recognized as manning a kettle for the Christmas bell ringing.  Commander Waldo then showed the camp the certificate sent by General Headquarters recognizing the $1000 donation Camp 1524 made to the new Confederate Museum at Elm Springs.  Commander Waldo then read reports from Larry Spears for the newsletter, Quartermaster Myrick, and Treasurer Leverette and then presented the commander's report for the past year highlighting all the camp's activities.  It was a busy productive annual business meeting for the Dragoons.

Friday, March 9, 2018

Prattville Dragoons Host SWC Brigade Alabama Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Flag Day


The SW Central Brigade Confederate Flag Day was a tremendous success Saturday March 3rd in Prattville. The Shiloh Mountain Boys played period Southern songs as well as bluegrass gospel that they are we'll known for and the sound was tremendous.  They used a trailer as a stage with hay bales propping up their amplifiers.  After lunch Tyrone Crowley made a presentation explaining the significance of five flags of the Confederacy with the assistance of three young men. There was plenty of food to eat including hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, drinks, Compatriot Bill Myrick's World Famous Baked Beans, and Compatriot Will Dismukes donation of Conecuh smoked sausage.   Compatriot Josh Stover manned a kid's zone with a bouncy house, corn hole bean bag throw, a snow cone machine and popcorn maker. Total attendance for the day was 75+ ranging in age from 2 months to 90 years.  There wasn't a  cloud in the sky with temperatures in the high 60s and a venue with green grass bursting forth in the spring festooned with three Confederate flags on flagpoles, the camp's flag display and another couple of Confederate flags on trucks.  A beautiful day in the Heart of Dixie!











Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Prattville Dragoons Commander's Column for March 2018


Commander's Column: The Confederate Constitution Addressing State Sovereignty and Burueacracy

Mark Levin, whose somewhat conservative but abrasive and anti-Confederate voice I have bemoaned before, recently wrote that he believes our nation is in a constitutional crisis because of the growth of the federal bureaucracy.  In an interview he “discussed the wave of activism and politics in the United States that is running counter to the Constitution (saying), “We are at a precipice now.  The cause is nothing less than saving this republic.”  Levin said the bureaucratic state and forces of progressivism are misreading the Constitution.  Levin mentioned how there are Articles I, II and III in the founding document - laying out the roles of each of the three branches of government but that "someone forgot to put the extra Article in for the bureaucracy."” (http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/02/24/mark-levin-cpac-speech-constitutional-danger-praises-donald-trump)  This is the “deep state” Trump has exposed. Levin and many neo-conservatives of Yankee ilk seem to turn a blind eye to the constitutional crisis that led to the Southern states secession and attempt to form a Confederate States of America.  Just as these founders of the CSA initially sought to retain the look of the Revolutionary U.S. flag as they loved their mother country from an originalist perspective, they sought to emulate much of the U.S. Constitution while clarifying and strengthening the issues of state sovereignty and limiting the federal bureaucracy.  These Southern patriots certainly believed in the Declaration of Independence from 85 years prior which stated, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”  So, in Montgomery in their own constitutional convention they shaped the Confederate Constitution to address their grievances with the Republican-controlled U.S. federal government.
Wikipedia has a good article which provides a (seemingly objective) comparison of the U.S. and Confederate constitutions.  In regard to most articles of the (Confederate) Constitution, the document is a word-for-word duplicate of the United States Constitution.  Regarding the reinforcement of state sovereignty though one difference is the Confederate constitution stating/clarifying, “Each State Legislature is free to make their own decisions except where the Constitution has laid out other rules.  The Preamble to the Confederate Constitution begins, "We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character” and the Confederate States gained several rights that the U.S. states did not have. For example, they gained the right to “impeach federal judges and other federal officers if they worked or lived solely in their state.”   But some state’s rights were restricted, “States lose the ability to restrict the rights of traveling and sojourning slave owners.  No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State, except by a vote of two-thirds” of the CS legislature.  Additionally, the Confederate President must be a resident of the geographical limits of the CSA for at least 14 years and would have a six year term and would have line item veto authority. 
The other issue driving the Southern secession was Lincoln’s tariffs and appropriation of this revenue to build Northern industrialism.  In this regard, the Confederate constitution stated/clarified, “(No) duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate States.” No aids to interstate commerce adding to the US constitution, “nor any other clause contained in the constitution, shall ever be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids to navigation.” Bills allocating expenditures had to specify an exact amount with no eligible additional payments.  Each bill would have just one subject. The CSA Congress would have limited “ability to tax ships and negotiate treaties concerning water ways”.   Limitations on federal overreach and growth of the centralized bureaucracy. 
Some additional differences included the provision that “no state shall be sued by a citizen or subject of any foreign state.”  A 2/3 vote in the legislature was required for constitutional amendments and for adding states.  The CS Constitution mentioned African slavery by name instead of using the term “Person[s] held to Service or Labor” and while both prohibited African slave trade, the CS constitution permitted slave trade with the US while indicating the CS Congress may prohibit same.  One of the final recognized causes for the Southern state’s secession involved the determination of the western states and “the Confederate Constitution added a clause about the question of slavery in the territories (the key Constitutional debate of the 1860 election) by explicitly stating that slavery (would be) legally protected in the territories.” 
Clearly, the Confederate Constitution and the differences between it and the U.S. Constitution after which it was closely patterned reinforce the complexity of the numerous issues which caused the great divide between the Northern Republican interests and those of the Southern Democrats.  It was certainly not a single issue which precipitated the secession and hostilities as is evident by a comparison in the constitutions. The Confederacy sought to preserve the founder’s originalist sovereignty of the states and limit the overreach and bureaucracy of the central federal government.  Levin refuses to accept and acknowledge this historical truth as it does not serve his mainstream politically correct agenda and threatens the lining of his pockets with advertising dollars. 

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Prattville Dragoons Chaplains Column for March 2018

Chaplain’s Column – Spiritual Seasons

Spiritual seasons come into our lives just like the earthly seasons God brings each year. Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter…which would you say is your favorite season and why? I would have to say Spring is mine! I love the change from the cold of winter to warmer days, flowers blooming and plans for future vacations. Even now in the beginning of March, we can go from sunny, warm temperatures in the 70s one day and then drop back down to the 30s the next. We laugh and say – “Well if you don’t like the weather today, hang on because tomorrow’s is sure to be different!”
   What if…what if our favorite season lasted year-round? What if…there was only one season? God knew what He was doing when He created the different seasons. The earth needs each of them, and we need the different seasons He brings into our lives too!
   Just like nature has four different seasons, our lives seem to have different spiritual seasons too. There are those seasons of Spring when everything seems to be new and blooming! Spiritually, this may be when we first come to know Christ as our Savior!
   In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
   Reading God's Word, fellowshipping with other believers, praying & spending time with God every day is new and fresh!  We feel new and fresh...and we are!  Jesus has not only come into our lives and changed us, He has exchanged His life for ours! 
   Seasons come more than once though, and so during our spiritual life we get to enjoy several Springs along the way as God brings new growth as we dwell in His garden.
   Spring is certainly a time of beauty and new growth!  However...showers still come in nature as well as life.  God uses them to help us grow in Him though, and although He does not promise us a trial or rain-free life, He does promise to be with us in the storms!
  

Friday, March 2, 2018

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots


Upcoming Events


Brigade Confederate Flag Day -  at the Dismukes property I-65 exit 176 (follow signs) to include food and bluegrass music entertainment, March 3rd, 2018

Dragoons March Camp Meeting –  Thursday March 8th at 7pm at the Shoney’s in Prattville on Cobbs Ford Rd

AL Division Education Conference -  Prattville Doster Center, Saturday March 17th, 2018, 10am- 4pm

Flag Setting at Oak Hill Cemetery –  Saturday March 31st  at 9am at Oak Hill Cemetery in Prattville as the first observance of Confederate History and Heritage Month in April

Civil War Military & Civilian Life Living History - Confederate Memorial Park, Marbury AL,  April 27-28, 2018

Dragoons Spring Picnic –  Saturday April 27th at 9am (flag setting, dinner at 11am) at Confederate Memorial Park

Confederate Memorial Day –  Monday April 30th at 10am at the Alabama state capital and at 6pm at the Dragoons Monument in downtown Prattville 

Forrest Monument Dedication – Saturday May 5th, 2018 at Cedar Bluff AL

Alabama Division Reunion and Elections - Friday and Saturday May 18 - 19  Gadsden, Alabama