Sunday, May 30, 2021

SCV Camp 1524 Prattville Dragoons Chaplain's Column for June 2021 - The Ultimate Sacrifice

 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

I write this on Memorial Day weekend. This Monday we will take a day and remember the great sacrifice of many who have laid down their lives for our freedoms.

Jesus was, of course, the greatest sacrifice for our freedom overall. He went to the Cross for our freedom from sin because God loves us!

Veterans also sacrifice for us some times with their lives. What greater love?

Below is a small article by Franklin Graham on why we must always remember:

"Why is it important to set aside a day to remember those service members who’ve died serving the United States?"

It’s extremely important that we remember the price that was paid for our freedom. And that’s the lives that were lost fighting the wars of this country. And for us to be able to honor them and remember them, but also to remember to pray for [their] families.

Especially [with] the recent wars, what we’ve seen in Afghanistan and 9/11 and all of the troops we have in that part of the world. We still have enemies out there that want to destroy this nation.

It’s important that we remember those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice where they shed their blood and gave their life for our freedom.

It can also serve as a reminder of what Christ did to provide us with spiritual freedom.

Christ laid down His life so that we could have eternal life. He gave His life and shed His blood for our sins. We deserve the cross; we deserve to die. We’re the ones who are guilty. He’s not guilty.

But He loved us so much that He took our guilt. He took our shame; He took our sins. And He died in our place and shed His blood on the cross, was buried. But God raised Him to life. And that’s our hope. That if we put our faith and trust in Christ, that we’ll have eternal life.

Jesus paid the price for us to have eternal life. How will you respond to His sacrifiice

*Make sure you take a moment and remember their sacrifice for us. After all, Memorial Day was started by Southerners to honor their Confederate Dead.

*I want to ask for a prayer of thanks to the members of this camp who are working so hard to make sure this year’s Division Reunion is a success! Make sure you attend June 4th and 5th!

May God continue to watch over you and your families and protect you all. And may God save the South!

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Prattville Dragoons Cemetery Maintenance and Cleanup

SCV Camp 1524 members were busy this past week performing community service repairing fencing and cleaning the grounds at the McLendon Cemetery and mowing and trimming at the Robinson Springs Cemetery.   Dragoons John Dennis, Rob Schwartz and Bill Myrick helped with all the work at the McLendon Cemetery in Ramer AL.  The old fencing was damaged from fallen trees and new attractive fencing has now been installed.  Quartermaster Myrick was busy also over at the historic Robinson Springs Cemetery in Millbrook AL on Friday along with 1st Lt Harold Grooms and Comms Officer Doug Butler.  This cemetery, the final resting place for many veterans and area founders is maintained by the camp as part of the SCV Guardian Program.  




McLendon Cemetery Before

McLendon Cemetery After




Friday, May 14, 2021

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Meeting for May 2021

The Dragoons of SCV Camp 1524 held their monthly meeting for May 2021 on Thursday May 13th at the Prattville Masonic Lodge.  About 24 compatriots were in attendance.  The camp Chaplain opened the meeting with an Invocation followed by Color Sgt Dennis leading the pledges and salutes to the US, Alabama and Confederate flags.  Commander Waldo then recited the Charge to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.   Upcoming events including the state and national conventions and the bicentennial of General Nathan Bedford Forrest's birthday were highlighted along with other pertinent news for the camp.  The program was presented by Dr. Robert Wieland of the First White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery.  


Dr. Wieland noted we were meeting at the Masonic Lodge and said that he has found no proof that Jefferson Davis was a Mason although his background as a Jacksonian common man and Episcopalian faith could have perhaps led one to believe.  Bob also noted the print of New York City on one wall there and said that Varina spent her later years in NY City.  She was a cousin of Joseph Pulitzer and this certainly opened the door to social connections there.  It should be noted though that NY City was full of Copperheads who opposed the War and there was also the 1863 riots there in opposition to the Union draft.  There are volumes written on Lincoln's war with the North, most specifically those who opposed his policies.  


Bob gave those in attendance an update on what had transpired at the First White House in 2020 and 2021 since the COVID pandemic struck.  He was actually out in Texas attending UDC and SCV meetings in mid-March when he was forced to return home.  The staff at the First White House used this time to do a thorough inventory of the artifacts and objects in the house.  Then of course in mid-2020 attacks accelerated on Confederate monuments led by those in Virginia and North Carolina.  The First White House has resisted the woke influence to date and interpretives in the house still refer to the War for Southern Independence.  Bob reaffirmed his belief that the Confederacy of 1861-1865 was the greatest Republic in history.


While VA and NC were tearing down Monument Avenue and Silent Sam, renovations also were undertaken at the First White House with exterior wood and interior walls restored and an enhanced security system installed including gates and rooftop cameras.  At one point in 2020 it appeared BLM might be targeting the First White House but security was dispatched for a period around the clock and the Montgomery mayor's office also assisted in defusing the situation and discouraging those groups from coming down from Birmingham.   Things cooled down some since although the result of this environment and these movements saw the removal of the Lee statue from Montgomery's high school and a Rosa Park statue erected where a Confederate historic marker stood downtown.  


Dr. Wieland expressed his desire that all monuments be left in place as instructive for future generations but while it could be viewed as a tragedy that General Lee's statue was removed from Lee HS, that school was no longer representative of the standards to which Lee should be associated and it is an appropriate new location in Lee County off I-85 there.  Renovations were completed and displays including the relic room were reworked to include displays of Confederate currency and other items which were discovered in the inventory including photos and videos of former regents of the First White House and Lee's christening cup.  Visitors to the First White House have been very receptive and appreciative of the historic house and the enhancements since it reopened in March 2021 with new hours 8am-3:30pm weekdays.  




Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Commander's Column for May 2021 - Lincoln’s Treatment of Native American Indians Parallels That of Southerners

 We know all too well the unconstitutional acts which Lincoln committed during his term in office including invading the Southern states which he considered to still a part of the Union and waging a total war on the Southern civilian populace, starting the War Between the States without congressional approval, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, imprisoning thousands of political prisoners without trial, shutting down opposition newspapers and of course ignoring the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution which provided for the sovereignty of the states and was the basis of the Southern states secession.   It is illustrative that Lincoln similarly infringed upon the Native American Indians similar atrocities in an effort again to marginalize those outside his Republican political machine and to destroy those who stood in the path of his imperial ambitions and industrialization as his vision of the Union.

“In fact, Abraham Lincoln is not seen as much of a hero at all among many American Indian tribes and Native peoples of the United States, as the majority of his policies proved to be detrimental to them. For instance, the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 helped precipitate the construction of the transcontinental railroad, which led to the significant loss of land and natural resources, as well as the loss of lifestyle and culture, for many tribal people. In many cases, government-appointed Indian agents (from the Bureau of Indian Affairs) outright stole resources that were supposed to go to the tribes.”  (https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/janfeb-2013/lincoln-no-hero-to-native-americans/) This can be viewed as a parallel with the Republican platform which largely precipitated the Southern states secession, that prohibiting slavery in the western territories which would have permanently shifted the balance of power in the federal legislature.   Lincoln also prosecuted the War in order to retain his revenue stream from the tariffs collected at the Southern ports and viewed these funds as well as the natural resources and agricultural goods from the Southern states as fuel for the Northern factories and industrialization and infrastructure.

“In other cases, the Lincoln administration simply continued to implement discriminatory and damaging policies, like placing Indians on reservations. Beginning in 1863, the Lincoln administration oversaw the removal of the Navajos and the Mescalero Apaches from the New Mexico Territory, forcing the Navajo to march 450 miles to Bosque Redondo—a brutal journey. Eventually, more than 2,000 died before a treaty was signed.   Several massacres of Indians also occurred under Lincoln’s watch. For example, the Dakota War in Minnesota in 1862 led to the hanging of thirty-eight Indian men.  The Sand Creek Massacre in southeastern Colorado in 1864 also resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Cheyenne and Arapaho.”   These policies and incidents parallel the campaign of total war against the South and the civilian populace which many historians have compared to war crimes.   The South during the Reconstruction period was subject to carpetbagger policies which confiscated the Southerners wealth and damaged the Southern economy and families’ livelihoods for generations. 

W. Dale Mason describes Lincoln’s policy toward Native Americans in his essay “The Indian Policy of Abraham Lincoln.” “President Lincoln … continued the policy of all previous presidents of viewing Indian as wards of the government while at the same time negotiating with them as sovereigns,” Mason writes. “He made no revolutionary change in Indian-white relations as he did in black-white relations with the Emancipation Proclamation. While he called for reform of the Indian system in his last two Annual Messages to Congress, he provided no specifics and he continued the policy, already in place, of confining Indians to reservations after negotiating treaties.”  It should not be surprising to see Mason’s erroneous view of the Emancipation Proclamation as conforming to the main stream yankee narrative of the Great Emancipator when in fact we know that proclamation freed no slaves in Union held territory and only sought to incite a rebellion of slaves in the Southern states as a war measure.  No mention of Lincoln’s desire and actions to relocate freed slaves back to Africa.  But, Mason’s summary of Lincoln’s policies toward the Indians as “wards of the (federal) government” and insincere negotiations certainly parallels Lincoln’s view toward the Southern states, attempting to pacify them with the hollow words of his inaugural address and offering a 13th Constitutional Amendment preserving the institution of slavery all the while inciting the War to “preserve the Union” and federal authority at the sake of the founder’s ideals of state sovereignty. 

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Chaplain's Column for May 2021 - Make Time for God to Have Solace

             “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

 

   This passage is a direct command from God to stop…and stand in awe of Him and His mighty power (lordsguidance.com).

   Wow. How often in this chaotic time do we stop and sit still and rest in the presence of God? How often do we sit still and rest for anything anymore?

   I have noticed that even when we do we are distracted by our phone, television, or a myriad of electronic devices.

   We never stop running. And we carve out such little for our Lord. We might give Him a quick prayer for meals and bedtime. We might even throw in a quick five minute devotional for good measure.

   God has put this verse on me in several instances of late. I have been guilty of a quick “thanks” or a fast prayer.       

   Read the Bible? Who has time for that? Sit and be still and talk to God? I have texts to reply to.          

   Remember, the Bible is our defense against the devil and his minions. It is our spiritual armor. If we are not in the Word, praying and sitting with the Lord daily, other than Sunday for an hour, then we will be consumed by our enemies.

   The devil is the ultimate agent of chaos. He wants us distracted and disconnected from our Heavenly Father. Why?       

   1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “Be sober, be watchful, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone (souls) to devour.”

   Let us each take time to be in the word, prayer, and sit still and be with God. Remember, He loves you as a father loves their children. He wants a relationship with you.

  

*I want to raise up a prayer of thanks to the members of this camp who are working so hard to make sure this year’s Division Reunion is a success!

May God continue to watch over you and your families and protect you all. And may God save the South!

Friday, May 7, 2021

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

 

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

Prattville Dragoons March Camp Meeting – Thursday May 13th at 6:45pm at the Prattville Masonic Lodge

AL Division Reunion – Friday-Saturday June 4-5th, Prattville AL hosted by the Dragoons SCV Camp 1524

SCV National Reunion – Wednesday-Saturday July 21-24th, Metairie-Kenner, LA hosted by the Beauregard Camp 130

Bicentennial Forrest Birthday – Saturday July 31st, 3pm til, hosted by Butch and Pat Godwin at Ft.Dixie