Prattville Dragoons Set Flags on Confederate Veteran Graves for April, Confederate History and Heritage Month

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Dragoons placed flags on the graves of the Confederate veterans at Oak Hill Cemetery in Prattville on Saturday March 29th.  Former camp Adjutant Wayne Sutherland led the effort providing maps of the veterans' graves in the historic cemetery and purchasing the Confederate Battle flags set out.  It was a rainy morning but in addition to Wayne, Brigade Commander Waldo camp Treasurer John Dennis and compatriots Billy Leverette, Darell Haywood, Louis Turner (not pictured) and Todd Rogers participated in this great annual camp event which ushers in Confederate History and Heritage month.  Many flags were still there from last year's flag setting and these were removed and will be retired in a ceremony at the camp's spring picnic upcoming in April.  

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Canp 1524 Robinson Springs Cemetery Grounds Maintenance

 Members of the Dragoons of SCV Camp 1524 performed the first grounds maintenance and cleanup of the season on Friday and Saturday March 21-22, 2025.  Camp Commander Harold Grooms cut the large portions of the cemetery on a riding lawn mower on Friday and then a small group of compatriots finished weed eating and leaf blowing, cleanup and placement of new flags on the veterans' graves on Saturday morning.  Members participating that morning included Quartermaster Bill Myrick, Adjutant Doug Butler, Comms Ofc Eric Davis and compatriot Thomas Griffith.  Robinson Springs is an historic cemetery in Millbrook AL and the final resting place of a number of veterans from the War for Southern Independence as well as 20th century conflicts.  The Dragoons care for historic cemeteries like this as part of the SCV Guardian Program to care for the gravesites of Confederate veterans. 

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Chaplains Column for March 2025 - Peace Thru a Relationship with God

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

John 14:27

 

In the Theology class I take through Samford we most often gather together online. But once or twice a month our instructor affords us the opportunity to meet in person. We meet at the Alabama Baptist Association building here in Montgomery. When there I love to grab myself a copy of the Alabama Baptist to read during breaks. I usually skim the articles and head straight to the Wordsearch. I am a word search junkie. The words are biblical and related to the articles in the issue. Recently, I was almost done with it, but I simply could not find the last word. Peace. After a lengthy struggle, I found it. Satisfied, I put the newspaper away in my backpack and went on with my night.

But I quickly returned to the search. The hardest thing to find was peace. This was so true in my life as well. The hardest thing in all our lives is to find  peace.

Studies show that one of the top issues today is mental health and happiness. We are more connected than ever before with each other, but each successive generation is lonelier than the last. The world tells us we will be happy if we buy the latest gadget, car or clothes. Or if we constantly travel. If we go online we can "find" happiness and peace through alleged connections with strangers in social media or images of a naked girl to temporarily please us. But, the joy, happiness, and peace quickly leave us. So we go and look for something else to help- drugs, alcohol, or sex. But still we are miserable. Nothing fills us up and gives us permanent peace.

Why?

Pastor Chris Hodges of The Church of the Highlands often says it is because we have a "God-sized hole in our hearts and souls" when we are not connected to God. In Phillipians 4:7, Paul writes that a connection to God, to have a relationship with God, gives us "a peace that supasses all understanding."

In a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, finding peace can seem like an elusive pursuit. But one thing to keep in mind- peace is not the absence of conflict or turmoil. Peace is a deep sense of calm and contentment that can only be found in our relationship with God. We must put not just our faith in God, but our complete trust as well. And when you trust in Him, that means casting your fears and worries on Him. This is a complete act of surrender.  “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” – Isaiah 26:4

Trusting in Him can help bring you peace through uncertainty. You cannot solve all the problems in your life. You must cast your worries on him and trust Him to carry you through. Our Southern ancestors looked to the Lord for help during the invasion and occupation of reconstruction. They went to Church and let God handle all that was ahead of them. We must do the same.

If you feel you have wandered away from God too much for Him to care about you, then go and read Psalm 51. King David had sinned horribly. He went to the Lord with a repentant and contrite heart, asking God to blot out his transgressions and give Him peace. After everything David had done, he went to the Lord and was forgiven. David rededicated himself to a God- driven life and found more peace in his later years.

This could be an example for all of us. Let us go to the Lord with a repentant heart and ask for forgiveness. Let us then seek to live our lives with a dedication to casting our worries and fears to Him and find peace in our lives moving forward.

Amen.

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

Dragoons Camp Meeting – at the Prattville Masonic Lodge, Thursday March 13^th, 6:45 pm; social hour at 6 pm.

 

Flagging Oak Hill Cemetery for Confederate History Month – Saturday, Mar 29^th , 8am Oak Hill Cemetery, Prattville

 

Alabama Education Conference – Saturday, Mar 29^th  - Southside Community Center, Southside AL

 

Gone with the Wind -  Noon and 5pm, Saturday, April 5^th  -  Mt. Vernon Performing Arts Center in Tallassee

 

2nd annual Yellowhammer Jammer -  Saturday, April 12^th  -  Cedar Bluff, Alabama

 

Prattville Dragoons Spring Picnic -  Saturday, April 12^th  -  10am at CMP

 

Living History and Skirmish – Friday- Sunday April 25-27^th, 9am-3pm, Confederate Memorial Park, Marbury AL

 

Confederate Memorial Day at Alabama State Capital – Saturday  April 26^th. Starts at 10am

 

Division Reunion – Friday and Saturday, June 6-7^th  - Athens, AL

 

National Reunion - July 16-20^th, Houston, TX (For more information: https://scv130.com)

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Historic William B. Smith Family Cemetery Cleanup

Saturday morning February 22, a handful of  Dragoons of Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 overcame poor road conditions including slick, soupy, red mud to access the grounds of the William B. Smith Family Cemetery just off County Road 3 west of Prattville AL.  CR3 is a dirt road itself running between Hwy 14 and Hwy 82 and the access road to the cemetery is a rough track off that maintained road.  The historic cemetery is the final resting place of Dr. Arch Smith McKeithen who was the son of Callie Smith.  Arch was an original enlistee of the Prattville Dragoons, a Private but having graduated from the Medical College of Virginia prior to the War, he subsequently became the Assistant Surgeon of the CSA Provisional Army.  The men used chainsaws and other hand tools, spending about three hours cutting trees and clearing the original fence line to the cemetery.   Camp Treasurer John Dennis led teh cemetery cleanijng effort and coordinated the workday.  He was joined by Commander Harold Grooms, Adjutant Douglas Butler, Quartermaster Bill Myrick and compatriots Todd Rogers and his grandson Carson Rogers.  The men did a commendable job with first clean up.  Cemetery maintenance is a community service that the Dragoons perform and is also codified by the SCV Guardian Program to care for historic cemeteries which are the final resting place for Confederate veterans.  

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 at the Millbrook Revelers Mardi Gras Festival and Parade

Members of the Dragoons of SCV Camp 1524 participated in the Millbrook Mardi Gras festival and parade on Saturday February 15th.  Despite a misting rain shower first thing in the morning, a number of members showed up at Village Green Park at 7:30am to set up the camp's booth for the festival including a canopy, banners and tables to display all the items for sale and giveaways.  Commander Grooms, Brigade Commander Waldo, 2nd Lt Karl Wade, Quartermaster Myrick, Treasurer Billy Leverette, Color Sgt John Dennis, new Communications Officer Eric Davis, and compatriot Darrell Haywood helped set up the booth to ready it for the opening of the festival at 9am.  Mini-Battle Flags and Alabama Division educational posters and SCV literature were offered to passers-by for free and the camp had extensive stores available for purchase including car tags, ball caps, 3x5ft flags, lapel pins, patches, shot glasses, bandanas and totes emblazened with Confederate flags.  At 11am Commanders Groom and Waldo departed for the parade lineup at Mill Creek Park.  Commander Waldo's family participated riding in a Mardi Gras-apprpriately colored purple Dodge Charger flying Confederate flags and Commander Grooms drove his pickup truck onto which the camp's Mardi Grass banner was affixed.  Compatriot Thomas Griffith walked with Commander Waldo handing out candy, hundreds of mini-Battle Flags and SCV coins.  It was a fun successful Mardi Gras event and the Drgoons got the SCV and the Confederate flag out in front of all their friends and neighbors.  

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Meeting for February 2025 - The SCV Charge

SCV Camp 1524 held their monthly meeting on Thursday February 13th at the Prattville Masonic Lodge.  Members and guests started arriving around 6pm and enjoyed fellowship, snacks and beverages.  At 6:45 Commander Grooms asked Color Sgt Dennis to lead everyone in an Invocation to open the meeting followed by the pledges and salutes to the US, Alabama and Confederate flags.  Harold then went thru details of the upcoming events for the camp and also enumerated the candidates for the officers' positions for teh camp to be elected at the March camp meeting as well as revisions to the Camp Bylaws increasing the number of elected officer positions.  

The guest speaker for the meeting was Mike Whorton of the Southern Cultural Center where the recent Alabama Division SCV EC meeting was conducted.  Mike asked if we as members of the SCV are doing our duty under the Charge.  General Stephen Dill Lee's Charge was given in 1902 in New Orleans.  This was after the Spanish American War and not too many years before World War I. An interesting fact was that Lee was one of three Confederates who went to Ft. Sumter at the onset of hostilities in an effort to negotiate to prevent escalation into War.  Addressing the United Confederate Veterans there in NO, Lee noted the patriotism and enthusiasm of the host city and pointed out all the flags displayed including international flags and of course the US flag but also the Confederate flags.  At the time, New Orleans was the second busiest port in the nation behind only New York.  Mike contrasted this 1902 scene to the dishonor shown to Confederate heritage in NO today.  

Gen. Lee said he loved New Orleans and their Anglo-Saxons. He spoke in a metaphor of the fruit before him, referencing the Confederates but also their progeny in attendance.  Lee praised General Joseph Wheeler for his service as a general officer on battlefields in both the Confederate Army as well as later in the US Army, just as many Confederates served their country.  Lee mentioned the monuments erected to honor the Confederate soldiers who fought to defend their homes (and now look at their desecration).  He believed (and stated such) that we need to honor our Confederate heroes and not leave it to others or future generations and to do so gladly. "They have a place with the immortals, martyr's devotion without the martyrs hope".  Their generation and nation imposed upon them the challenge and their high service.  The issue of the battle was with God but the issue of duty was with themselves.  Mike quoted General Stonewall Jackson in saying, "Duty is ours, consequences are God's."

General Robert E. Lee said that there would have been no surrender at Appomattox if he had foretold the design of the Yankees and the horrors of Reconstruction.  Mike continued saying, let us pass our days such that nothing we do brings us regret or shame. Many Confederates believed their very Christianity was at stake on those battlefields.  The greatest revival in our nation's history was in Confederate camps and the post-War South, the Bible belt. Better defeat than dishonor.  The principles we honor are the basis of our liberties.  It was easier for them to walk into that fire of battle than walk away.  A clear conscience to earn the eternal praise of mankind. We should live with Christian duty of charity and not leave to the government.  The South still reveres our Christian faith for all mankind.  Our monuments and history must be preserved and honored.  Our connection to the soil of our ancestors is integral to our heritage and bound to it forever.