Prattville Dragoons Camp Meeting February 2017

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 held their February camp meeting at Shoney's in Prattville on Thursday February 9th.  Chaplain Snowden opened the meeting with an Invocation after showing photos from past SCV events on his overhead display. Commander Waldo then recited the SCV Charge followed by Announcements and Upcoming Events. Approximately thirty people were in attendance.  Dr. John Killian made the meeting  a very special one as he presented a program on “The  Secession Crisis in Alabama.” Dr. Killian explained the personalities and reasons for the close vote for Alabama to secede at the Secession Convention of 1861.   Alabama was almost evenly divided as opposed to the other Southern states such as South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi which preceded Alabama in secession and whose legislatures voted overwhelmingly to do so.  The votes for secession were mainly from the southern section of the state while most of north Alabama preferred to remain in the Union. He attributed the north Alabama anti-secession preference to followers of Andrew Jackson who had migrated from the coastal upper Southern states. The secessionists were believers in the pro-secessionist stance of William Lowndes Yancey who was well known as a “fire breather.”  The debate on secession was lively and the delegates were split nearly 50/50. On the procedural votes, the secessionists held a slim margin each time. The vote for secession was 61-39 with several anti-secessionists voting to secede when the vote was taken. Some delegates refused to sign the Ordinance of Secession and a few left the convention and went to the Union side. John revealed many details of the feelings and reasoning behind these debates.  He also highlighted that most of those who originally supported remaining in the Union and even voted against secession ultimately supported the state as Confederate legislators and even as General officers.  Dr. Killian took time to answer questions from the camp and talked with everyone about all topics after the meeting. A most interesting and knowledgeable presentation and enjoyable time.