Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Quartermaster Bill Myrick Cleans Historic Doster Cemetery

Compatriot Bill Myrick worked at the Doster family cemetery on Thursday June 21st and got it in excellent condition. There are 3 confederate veterans and a War of 1812 veteran interred there.  Those Patriots that rest in Doster Cemetery will rest easier tonight knowing they have been honored.

Prattville Dragoons Executive Committee Approve Bust for National Museum and Sign for Historic Indian Hill Cemetery

In the recent meeting of the SCV Camp 1524 EC, the officers approved moving forward with two terrific projects.  Brigade Commander Josh Stover has been instrumental in designing and sourcing Confederate soldier marble statues which have been erected across the state and has now designed and commissioned a life size bronze bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.  One of these will be donated by the Dragoons to the new SCV National Confederate Museum in Elm Springs.

Clay Model for N.B.Forrest Bronze Bust

The EC also approved an aluminum laminate sign for the Indian Hill Cemetery which the camp has maintained for the past few years after reclaiming from Mother Nature.  The sign will provide a brief history of the cemetery and the community which surrounded it in the early 19th century.  Compatriot Tyrone Crowley who does tremendous work with the Autauga County Heritage Association and many historical organizations researched the Indian Hill area and drafted the following for the historic marker sign:

Indian Hill Cemetery

               Adjacent to this cemetery, circa 1834, on the south side, stood Indian Hill Church, Sabbath School, and Academy, part of a community that predated Prattville.  First known burial is Brantley J. Cheek, who died in 1840.  Lt. A. Y. Smith, who accepted the company flag from Abigail Holt at the Prattville Male and Female Academy before the Prattville Dragoons went away to war in April 1861, is buried here, along with at least four other Confederate veterans: Dixon Sasnett Hall, Julius Thornton Rice, Luther Searcy Rice, and G. Z. Wood.  Students who attended school here and later became prominent in Prattville and Autauga County included Samuel Parrish Smith, Prattville's first doctor, and Jesse J. Cox, steamboat captain and first captain of the Prattville Dragoons.

Indian Hill Cemetery is maintained by the Prattville Dragoons, Camp 1524

National Sons of Confederate Veterans

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Meeting for June 2018

It was a memorable camp meeting on Thursday night for the 30+ members and guests who attended  at a new meeting place which was changed on short notice when Shoney's in Prattville closed for good. The facilities at this temporary meeting place, the Prattville Masonic Lodge, were excellent and the meal provided by member Greg Swanner, wife Felicia and daughter Rachel was outstanding. Compatriot Will Dismukes made the arrangements to meet at the Lodge so many thanks to him and the officers of the Lodge for the accommodations.

1st Lt Harold Grooms led the meeting in the absence of camp Commander Waldo and provided the reading of the SCV Charge as well as announcements of upcoming events and items of note for the camp including the Dragoons' EC decision to donate a life size bronze bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest to the new SCV National Confederate Museum in Elm Springs. The Dixie Butt fund raiser was kicked off by distributing tickets to many members present. The butts remain $29 this year and tickets need to be distributed so the camp can sell as many tickets as possible before our distribution date of 11 August. 

The speaker for the evening was Compatriot Shannon Fontaine who spoke in first person as Confederate Navy Lt. Sardine Granham Stone from Mobile who told stories of his time on the CSS Florida and some of his colorful shipmates. As always, Shannon had a well researched topic and delivered it in factual and humorous style. 

Past Brigade Commander Butch Godwin was present to give out Brigade and Division awards that were presented at the recent Alabama Division Reunion. The Dragoons received the Brigade Camp of the Year award and as Butch said, narrowly missed receiving the state Camp of the Year award. Many individual awards were presented to deserving camp members. Butch has been an excellent Brigade Commander for the last 2 years helping the camp much during his term but will still participate in meetings and events with the Dragoons. 

His replacement as Brigade Commander is Dragoon Josh Stover who is “hitting the ground running” as the old saying goes. Josh spoke about the goals and objectives for the Brigade and the Division for the next 2 years. These goals include placing more Confederate monuments in the state and increasing training and communication at all levels in the Division.

There was a significant and touching presentation by 14 year old Dragoon member Tate Swanner. Tate is pursuing his Eagle Scout designation with the Boy Scouts and explained his Eagle Scout project. He is gathering funds and material to build and provide bookcases, tables, and chairs to the Blanket Fort Hope project; a non-profit organization to help victims of child human trafficking in the United States. This is a sad commentary on our society but it is happening. More details at this website: https://blanketforthope.org   

Tate needs funds and material to build and provide the aforementioned items to Blanket Fort Hope for these children to have a place to gather in peace, talk and read books as they are provided education. If you would like to donate to Tate’s project, make checks payable to BLANKET FORT HOPE with TATE SWANNER EAGLE PROJECT in the subject line. All donations are tax deductible. Checks can be mailed to

TATE SWANNER

1494 COUNTY ROAD 79

BILLINGSLEY, AL 36006 

Thee Swanners Catered a Meal for the Camp Meeting

Camp Meeting Attendees

Shannon Fontaine as Confederate Navy Lt. Sardine Granham Stone

Bill Gill and Harold Grooms Working Dixie Butt Tickets

Commander Waldo Receives Brigade Camp of the Year Award for the Dragoons

Brigade Commander Josh Stover

Greg and Tate Swanner Present Eagle Scout Project to Benefit Blanket Fort Hope

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Workday at Robinson Springs Cemetery in Millbrook

The eight Confederate veterans, veterans of other wars and other Autauga / Elmore county folk who are interred in Robinson Springs Cemetery have a much more respectable final resting place after the Dragoons workday on Saturday June 9th. 

Compatriot Tom Crowley came out to the cemetery on Thursday to get some work done before the actual clean up day. He brought his chain saw and cut and cleaned up a tree that had fallen in the back area of the cemetery. Tom hauled away some of the limbs and did an excellent job getting this tree out of the way. 

On Saturday, five Dragoons worked at the cemetery; Frank Pelt, Bill Myrick, Bill Gill, Conner Lee and Larry Spears. Conner brought his zero turn mower and cut the cemetery as well as trimmed some large crepe myrtles that had gotten out of shape and were obscuring the view of several tombstones. The rest of the crew ran weed eaters, walk behind mowers, picked up trash and did other necessary chores. 

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Chaplain's Column for June 2018

Chaplain’s Column – Controlling Your Thoughts

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7

   There was a sign in a business that said:

"We are not what we think we are; what we think — we are."

What are you allowing into your mind that is thereby controlling your heart, your actions, and your words? God made you so that you can’t think two thoughts at one time. If you’re thinking what’s right, you can’t be thinking what’s wrong. And as you think, so you will become.

     Guard your mind. Center your mind upon the Lord Jesus. Don’t let the devil take away your pure-hearted devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay in love with Jesus and there won’t be any room for those filthy, dirty, wicked, lascivious, lustful, and prideful thoughts that bombard us all.

     Start today to become more active in controlling your thoughts and bringing them into obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). Use Philippians 4:8 as a sieve through which you pass each thought: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

   Please remember all those that are on our prayer list.

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Commander's Column for June 2018

The Nation’s Chilling Changing Political Climate

Rep. Paul Beckman addressed the Dragoons at their May camp meeting to highlight his fight for the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act as a sponsor for the legislation in the 2016 House session.  Certainly highlighting his Southern heritage credentials as Kay Ivey did in her recent radio advertisement and as many politicians are doing throughout Alabama in this campaign season.  I was again listening to 1140AM in the morning on my drive to work on Tuesday May 29th and Kevin Elkins was interviewing Bobby Bright who is running for his old Alabama District 2 U.S. House of Representatives seat.  Bright was asked what three things he would want to accomplish in another term as a House Representative and hemmed and hawed saying that one really can’t expect to influence much as a Representative is but one of 536 politicians in Washington (counting the House, Senate and the President).  So apparently, he just wants the paycheck again.  He was then asked if he had just one wish to realize what would that be and Bright responded with the classic beauty pageant answer, “World peace.”  Switching topics, Kevin then asked Bright if he would agree that it was time for the US as a country to apologize for the wrongs committed against the black community/population in regards to slavery, Jim Crow laws and lynchings.  Surprisingly, Bright actually and emphatically said no, that we must look forward to what we can accomplish together, recognizing the past but working in the present for the future.  He explained that he had no knowledge of nor influence on his ancestors or the Southerners who may have owned slaves 200 years ago and that he certainly is not responsible for nor could he apologize for any of their actions.   Kevin then highlighted the Jim Crow laws thru which those in their 60s and older may have experienced “especially in the South”.  Kevin is a Yankee and went to college in Hawaii so he evidently is permitted to excuse the Northern Jim Crow laws.  For example, in Chicago Illinois “racially restrictive housing” laws were passed in 1927.  In Indiana, in 1869 separate schools for black children were codified and in 1905, laws prohibiting mixed race marriages was passed. Ohio “enacted a miscegenation statute in 1877 and a school segregation law in 1878.”  Rhode Island prohibited intermarriage in 1872.   Last month’s column discussed the fallacy of lynchings as a Southern phenomena.  Every SCV member should be cognizant of the facts around the African nations and United States role in the institution of slavery for 200 years prior to the short existence of the Confederacy. 

You should be aware of the Black Lives Matter movement which is a blatant affront and attack on police officers and our society’s law and order. Related, recently, George Soros has been pumping millions of dollars into campaigns “to back would-be prosecutors (district attorneys) who want to reduce incarceration, crack down on police misconduct and revamp a bail system they contend unfairly imprisons poor people before trial.  The effort is part of a years-long campaign by liberal groups to reshape the nation's criminal justice system. New York billionaire George Soros headlines a consortium of private funders, the American Civil Liberties Union and other social justice groups roiling conventional law-and-order politics.”  "It's really coming from this Black Lives Matter moment of police accountability," said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, criminal justice and drug policy director for the ACLU of California.  Stacey Abrams in Georgia just won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and is campaigning on criminal justice reform saying the system is rigged against poor minorities.  So while campaigns previously ran on a platform supporting police and reducing crime, these new candidates want to hamstring police and make it more difficult to prosecute and incarcerate criminals. This isn’t a fringe movement but a well-funded effort with primary party candidates in California but even in the deep South in Georgia.   Meanwhile, “The former chairman of the New Black Panther Party and current president of Black Lawyers for Justice demanded that President Donald Trump provide reparations for slavery or designate Florida as solely for African Americans.  PJ Media reported Malik Shabazz made these demands speaking at the National Black Men’s Convention in Lafayette Square park across from the White House (on Saturday April 21st). “We must have reparations, full compensation for the theft of our land, the theft of our bodies, the theft of our people from Africa, the theft of our dignity; the desecration of our souls decade after decade,” he said. “We want land. We want our own,” the black leader proclaimed. “You don’t like us, Mr. Trump? Break us off some of this territory. You don’t like us, Mr. Trump? You don’t want to be around us? Then hand over the state of Florida.”  He went on to offer, if Trump (and presumably Florida’s residents) did not want to give up the Sunshine State, then Georgia, Alabama or South Carolina would do.  Shabazz argued proof of Trump’s racism to be his suggestion last fall that NFL owners throw any “son-of-a-b***h” player off the field, who did not want to stand for the National Anthem.  “Donald Trump, the black man is not a son-of-a-b***h,” Shabazz said. “He is the original man. He’s the maker. He’s the owner. He’s the cream of the planet Earth, father of civilization and he’s the God of the universe.  He is your father, cracker. Donald Trump, I’m your daddy,” the conference speaker said. “I’m your daddy and you’re a child that’s out of line.”  Harvard philosophy professor Dr. Cornel West was another featured speaker at the event, and said he was proud to be asked to address the gathering.  “People ask me all the time, ‘Why is it that you spend time with the New Black Panther Party…?’” West said at the rally. “I’m not afraid of any movement because I know what I’m about. I know what my calling is and that is to tell the truth. When you’re in love with black people, you have to tell the truth about white supremacy,” he added, pointing at the White House.  Chilling, the bigoted ignorant vitriol spewed by these left-wing activists but perhaps even more chilling the traction these anti-law enforcement anarchists are gaining in statewide elections.  Reparations, a separate nation… certainly that will never happen.  Right?  Imagine an entire state being governed, controlled like Selma and Detroit. The SCV has proudly taken a position in support of those serving in law enforcement.  We also embrace the Charge and emphasize the importance of honoring and preserving our heritage and recognizing the truth of our history as a platform of a respectful civil society.   It’s chilling what the alternative is.

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

Upcoming Events

Prattville Dragoons June Camp Meeting – Thursday June 14^th at 7pm at Prattville's Masonic Lodge

Prattville Independence Day Parade – the Dragoons will place an entry including decorated golf carts and walkers, Wednesday July 4th, 9am start, Main Street downtown

19th Annual Nathan Bedford Forrest Birthday Celebration – Sat. July 14th at Ft.Dixie, speaker Dr. Samuel Mitcham

National SCV Reunion – Wednesday July 18 – Saturday July 21, 2018, Cool Springs Marriott, Franklin TN

National Confederate Museum Grand Opening – 2pm, Friday July 20, 2018, SCV Natl HQ, Elm Springs, TN

Prattville Dragoons Dixie Butt Sale Distribution – Saturday August 11^th 8-10am at Herrod’s Chevron, 101 N. Memorial Dr, Prattville

Prattville Bicentennial Fair - Friday and Saturday November 16-17, 2018 at the Doster Center, Prattville

NOTE: Cemetery workdays to be announced.  

A Stop at Jefferson Davis' Birthplace

Nearly coincident with President Jefferson Davis' birthday on June 3rd, Commander Waldo of the Prattville Dragoons, SCV Camp 1524 recently stopped by the site of the Confederate President's birthplace in Fairview KY.  The state park is the site of the second highest obelisk in the United States and is the highest cast concrete structure in the U.S..  Driving off Hwy 68 which spurs off I-169, the park is off Jefferson Davis Rd and almost immediately upon getting onto this memorial highway, the huge obelisk comes into view.  It's scale and design will remind you immediately of the Washington Memorial in the District of Columbia.   The park is surrounded by a stone wall and there are historical markers about one which designates the park as the starting point of the Jefferson Davis memorial highway and another near the front of the park which provides information on the site as Davis' birthplace where he was born on June 3, 1808.  Inside the park is a welcome center which also has a small museum with numerous reproduction period as well as a few historical flags.  Across from the information desk is a gift shop and the park offices.  In the corner of the office was a display case with a satchel, canteen, Great Seal of the Confederate States and on the wall overhanging, a Confederate Medal of Honor.  The obelisk was really awesome as it soared into the blue sky.  Inside the obelisk is an elevator in which rides are available up to a viewing platform as well as a stairwell.  At the entrance to the base of the obelisk is a plaque with an excerpt from Davis' speech in 1888 in Mississippi City where he appealed to the Southern citizenry for reconciliation and renewed patriotism.  Just outside the entrance is another historical marker on which his Salute to Kentucky is embossed.  It was a very enjoyable break from a drive down the interstates to see this historic location and the incredibly impressive obelisk monument to one of America's great leaders and statesmen, Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The following photos were provided by Dragoons compatriot Tyrone Crowley who visited the site in 2008 and commented that it was an impressive memorial and certainly worth a visit.  Indeed.

Monument Facts from the Park Museum

Souvenir T-shirt from Bicentennial Celebration of Jefferson Davis' Birthdate

View from the Top of the Obelisk thru Observation Windows