Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 - Donation to Autauga Interfaith Care Center for Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive

 Dragoons Commander Waldo, 2nd Lt Wade and Adjutant Sutherland delivered non perishables and a check to the Autauga Interfaith Care Center in Prattville on Thursday morning November 14th as part of their annual Thanksgiving canned food drive.  275 pounds of food was received from camp members along with $460 in donations as part of the drive over the past month.  The camp matched that cash donation dollar for dollar so a check for $925 was presented to Denise Brown and Josette Dudle, co-directors of the AICC, that along with the 275lb of canned and non-perishable food items.  The ladies at AICC were most appreciative receiving the donation.  This is another important community service effort the Dragoons perform to help those in our community less fortunate.

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Meeting for November 2023 - Veterans Day; Medical Practices in the War Between the States

Members of the Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1425 met on Thursday evening November 9th at the Masonic Lodge in Prattville for their monthly meeting.  Compatriot Rob Schwartz entertained everyone with some songs on his guitar prior to the meeting.  Chaplain Brantley opened the meeting with an Invocation and Color Sgt Dennis then led everyone in the pledges and salutes to the flags followed by the SCV Charge recited by Commander Waldo.  Upcoming events were highlighted including all those for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.  The camp has a number of veterans and a thanks for their service and wishes for a Happy Veterans Day was expressed by the commander.  

Col. Paul Whaley, a member of Camp 1524 was the speaker who discussed medical conditions and practices during the War Between the States.  Paul passed around a minie ball, a modern example and a period artifact as well as a grape shot round and a fractured piece of an artillery shell.  These emphasized the size and heft of these lethal projectiles used during the War.  Paul reiterated the expression "War is hell" expounding that the depravation, poor food and disease during the WBTS was terrible but if one was injured like hundreds of thousands were, it was worse. The War was the first with modern weapons but Napoleonic tactics which led to massive casualties while there was little knowledge of medicine including infection and disease prevention and few skilled surgeons.  One on four soldiers would die of their wounds. Laudanum, opium, morphine and alcohol were the primary painkillers utilized for surgery and post-op but these led to an epidemic of addictions.  Surgeries were more often than not performed with the patient fully awake, witnessing the removal of their arm or leg. 

620,000 men dies in the WBTS but actually only 200,000 in battle or from wounds, the balance from disease.  There were only a few thousand surgeons in the country at the time of the conflict. Abdominal wounds and compound fractures were almost always fatal due to infection.  Fractured bones resulted in amputation of the limb.  Removed limbs were thrown into piles sometimes reaching window height at the hospitals where blood stained the floors, still visible hundreds of years later. Amputations were performed in just a few minutes as surgeons moved from patient to patient, often working on their feet for up to 36 hours straight following battles. Often, subsequent amputations were necessary to remove dead bone and flesh and these resulted in even higher mortality rates, around 60%. Gangrene, rotting of the tissue followed many operations due to lack of sterilization of instruments and bandage materials. Arteries in the severed limb area would sometimes fail weeks after the surgeries and the soldiers would bleed out then.  Up to 90% of surgeries resulted in eventual death.  One story was conveyed of a surgeon who was injured, with his intestines literally hanging from his open abdomen; he assisted a nurse in rinsing off his intestines and sewing himself back up.  He actually lived til his death decades later.  

An understanding of germs and disease prevention was totally lacking and latrines were often situated in close proximity to kitchens and living quarters. Soldiers would sometimes just step outside their tents to defecate.  Food was often spoiled as preservation using drying, salting or pickling was sometimes not performed properly.  Decomposing meat was sometimes served to and consumed by the troops.  Pork was the most common meat but it was sometimes undercooked.  Bacon grease was the staple for cooking so diets were high in fat and not very nutritious. Diarrhea was common due to the poor food and many died as a result of dehydration - there were no effective treatments and the only option to foregoing poor food was starvation.   

On this Veterans Day weekend, Paul reminded everyone in somber terms of the sacrifices and suffering our Confederate veteran ancestors made during their struggle for independence.  He illustrated the brutality of conflict citing the casualties at  Franklin TN in 1864 where over 7000 Confederates were killed or wounded in the eight hour long battle and compared that to the 3500 incurred during Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.  

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Commander's Column for November 2023 – Defending God, Family and Country

 I was listening to the radio on my commute the other day and a state representative was talking to the host, stating that her family has a history of supporting the military in service including the Marines but no longer.  The host stated that from a Southern cultural perspective, God and country have been foremost ideals.  But today, the military is woke and the POTUS administration is pushing an LGBQT agenda with promotions of such throughout the chain of command and there appears to be a concerted effort to interject American forces in regional conflicts in theatres from Ukraine to Israel to Taiwan.  Many look at what transpired in Afghanistan and particularly the withdrawal and see no point to the sacrifice of our nation’s young men and our treasury in attaining no clear objectives except the enrichment of the military industrial complex and the DC and Wall Street profiteers. 

For generations, God, country and family have been the foundation of the Southern culture.  But today, God in America has been rejected, prayer removed from our schools and atheism and agnosticism dictating what is permissible in the public square.  Yahweh and Jesus Christ are no longer recognized by our leaders as He who bestows our inalienable rights enumerated in the Constitution.  The pedophile Islamic prophet Mohammed is given equal weight.  Increasingly, our legal system views the Constitution as a living document, easily amendable and progressively interpreted and laws formulated based on secular notions.   Christianity has been replaced with diversity and inclusion of faiths foreign to our founding fathers and our ancestors including those in direct conflict with our “Judeo-Christian” morals and values.  Kwanzaa is recognized as a legitimate holiday on par with Christmas and Hanukkah.  Our Confederate ancestors experienced one of the great revivals in history in battlefield encampments during their perilous fight and upon returning to their impoverished families and devasted homes.  The  country churches these Confederate veterans founded sit largely empty now as young people migrate to mega-churches many embracing progressive values including LGBQT leadership and pastors and teachings.  As we approach Thanksgiving this month of November, it should be remembered that the CSA was founded on Christian principles and President Jefferson Davis even proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving on September 18, 1862, as a day of thanksgiving prayers for the Confederate States. 

Our Confederate ancestors fought for Southern states’ independence but largely from an individual soldiers’ standpoint, in defense of their very homes and families.  Today, American military might is used to project power and protect “American interests” across the globe.  It can be said without debate that modern wars and the US military buildup has been pursued in an effort to secure capitalist markets and open trade routes especially for oil products.  That and to ever increase expenditures to support military contractors supplying the latest weaponry to ensure American technological preeminence on the battlefields, on and under the ocean and, in the skies.   Not since a limited incursion by Japanese forces during World War II in the Alaskan Aleutian islands has American soil been fought on.  Our Confederate ancestors fought to defend their very Dixie homeland, not Afghanistan sand and Kuwaiti oil.  The COVID 19 worldwide vaccination mandates, open borders and migrant influxes in Europe and the United States, confiscatory taxation and socialist redistribution, and the shuttering of viable fossil fuel power plants to embrace wind and solar and electric cars to combat alleged human-induced climate change are examples of the adoption of a one-world order and dictates which take away our nationalism and individual freedoms and liberties as Americans.  Would you enlist or send your sons and daughters to fight the DC elites’ latest manufactured excuse for a war?  Does the DC agenda represent the ideals for which you would lay down your life in defense of a country to which you can hardly identify any longer? 

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Chaplain's Column for November 2023 - Better Than Anger

 

"Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.”

Proverbs 29:11 (NLT)

 

One of my greatest sins is my anger, my temper. I used to blame it on being Scots Irish or having a red-headed mother. As the years have passed my anger has grown. It has cost me relationships, interfered with success in jobs and made life miserable for those around me. While I have never physically hurt anyone from it, I have hurt those around me deeply with my words. I do realize I have written on this before, but I feel it is important to discuss on some given occasions.

One such occasion recently would be the "melted face" of Robert E. Lee from the statue in Charlottesville. It was purposefully splashed across social media by our enemies. I and other Southerners took the opportunity to "strike back." While it felt good to lash out, it accomplished very little. Our enemies got the reaction they wanted. I then wondered how General Lee would have responded to this situation. He probably would have told us to reflect the love of Jesus and pray for our enemies. Yet another reason Lee was an infinitely better man and Christian than the author of this column. And we can look to many of our Confederate ancestors who prayed for "those people" while engaged in combat with them.

But what of us? The Bible tells us that the tongue is wicked and the most powerful muscle in the body. Jesus even spoke in the book of Matthew (5:21-24) that you can murder someone with your anger.

I was recently discussing this matter with my dear friend and fellow Dragoon, Rob Schwartz. He passed along this article to me. Unfortunately, the author is unknown.

"If you want to tame your temper, you must resolve to manage it.

You have to quit saying, “I can’t control it!” and realize that you can. Just like love, anger is a choice. When you get angry, you choose to get angry. Nobody is forcing you to get angry. People often say things like, “You make me so mad!” But the truth is that nobody can make you mad without your permission. Anger is a choice, and you must choose to control it if you want to be a loving person. You have far more control over your anger than you may want to admit. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you’re at home and you’re in an argument with somebody in your family. Your voices are raised, and you’re getting agitated. You’re upset. All of a sudden, the phone rings, and you answer sweetly, “Hello? Oh, yes! It’s for you, honey!” What happened? You didn’t want to be embarrassed or have to explain, so you switched your anger off real quick. Anger is highly controllable! The Bible says in Proverbs 29:11, “Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back” (NLT). Do you want to be a foolish person or a wise person? How you respond to a situation is your responsibility and yours alone. Anger is a choice. The time to decide to manage your anger is not when your blood pressure is rising, your adrenaline is shooting into your system, you can feel the flush in your face, and your muscles start to tense. At that point, you’ve already lost the battle. Instead, resolve to manage your anger before you go into that meeting or walk through that front door when you get home. Decide this: “Today, I’m just not going to get angry. I’m not going to let things get to me.” You manage your anger by first resolving—deciding in advance—that you’re going to hold it back."

Amen.

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

Camp 1524 Meeting – Thursday, November 9^th, 6pm at the Prattville Masonic Lodge

 

26^th Annual Bill Anthony Memorial Battle for the Armory – Fri-Sun, Nov 10-12^th on Rifle Range Road in Tallassee AL

 

Prattville Christmas Parade – Friday Dec 1^st starting at 7pm on Court St thru downtown Main Street, Prattville

 

UDC Children of the Confederacy Christmas Party – Saturday Dec 2^nd at 10am at the Confederate Memorial Park, Marbury

 

Dragoons Christmas Social – Friday Dec 8^th starting at 6pm at Buena Vista mansion in Prattville

 

Salvation Army Red Kettle Bell Ringing – Saturday Dec 16^th from 9am-8pm at Winn Dixie, Prattville

 

Vida Christmas Parade – Saturday Dec 16^th (?)