SCV Camp 1524, Prattville Dragoons November Camp Meeting

The Dragoons held an enjoyable camp meeting on Thursday evening evening, November 9th at the Shoney's on Cobbs Ford Road in Prattville.  After Chaplain Snowden started the meeting with an Invocation, Commander Waldo read the SCV charge and then went into details on all the upcoming events and camp news.  With the holidays approaching there were a number of camp events of interest including our food bank dry goods donation, Christmas parades, the camp Christmas Social at Buena Vista, and the camp manning the Salvation Army kettle for ringing in the holidays. 

Bob Wieland, curator for the First White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery was the guest speaker presenting, "The First White House in a World Gone Crazy".  Bob described himself as a sojourning Yankee.  While still residing in NY, Bob was active in "Change New York" which was a Tea Party-like state government-centered movement but, he said that the Cuomos undid any good that the group attempted to accomplish.  Following a stint as a legislative aide in NY, Bob relocated to, as he described it, paradise in Hattiesburg Mississippi. But he soon realized that while the surrounding area was a paradise with a people and culture of the Old South, the University of Southern Miss campus was full of post-modernists with a faculty chock full of commies.  It was only thru an ingenious manipulation of the system that he was able to complete his dissertation without complying and conforming with the standard "Gay Saddle Makers of Serbia" academic line of thinking. 

Bob went on to say that the 30000 people a year visit the First White House. The First White House enjoys 4.5 out of 5 ratings from Tripadvisor and Yelp.  Many are foreigners from other countries who are enchanted with the "Gone with the Wind" idea of the antebellum South which is captured by the First White House.  He described a couple recent visitors including a little old lady from Australia who teared up while looking at the collection of artifacts.  Another recent visitor was a man from Cuba who asked for his picture to be taken kissing the Battle Flag as he wanted to remember the Cuban Confederate officers.  French visitors love Beauregard.  These contrast to the German visitors who as a general rule are more conformists who don't appreciate the Cause for which the Confederates fought against the Federalist oppression for liberty and independence. 

Today's national climate has Columbus, Washington, Andrew Jackson and Robert E. Lee being attacked as creeps.  Italian Americans honor Columbus as a great Italian mariner and missionary but enlightened liberal professors decry him as exploiting and enslaving Native Americans. Liberal professors have infiltrated and dominate university liberal arts, history and humanities departments and seek to brainwash and indoctrinate students who are forced to take courses in these disciplines as part of the required curriculum.  There is some nervousness at the First White House with the atatcks on heritage, the Battle flag and Confederate monuments across the country.  No vandalism has occurred and Bob remains hopeful that the First White House will remain a center of history, heritage and tourism in Montgomery for the state of Alabama and people from around the world.