Prattville Dragoons Commander's Column for July 2019 - Independence Day

The Dragoons once again participated in the city of Prattville’s Independence Day parade.  It was a very enjoyable way to kick off the holiday festivities throwing candy to the thousands of specators lining Main Street in downtown Prattville.  Over five hundred mini-Battle flags were handed out too with both young and old running after the camp compatriots in the parade to grab a flag.  One lady who approached me and took a Confederate flag asked if I had a “real American flag” also.  I told her that was a real American flag.  She chuckled and said, “No, a real Amercian flag.” So I reitereated that it was most certainly a real American flag, that used by the armies of the Confederate States of America.  When I first joined the SCV I was corrected on this very thing. It is important to remember that many of the leaders of the Confederacy were leaders before in the United States Army and government.  A related bit of trivia is the question as to what American Presidents attedned West Point.  Some who are students of American history may correctly guess Eisenhower and Grant but unless you are a student of the period leading up to and including the War Between the States, you may fail to include Jefferson Davis in that group; certainly another American President.  Some of the greatest Americans were also Confederates, men like Lee, Jackson, Cleburne, Semems, Benjamin and, Davis.    

The Dragoons have participated in the Prattville parade on the 4^th of July for many years now and it has sometimes struck me as a conflict for us as representing the Sons of Confederate Veterans to participate in the celebration of that day which was a disastrous turning point in our ancestors fight for sovereignty and liberty with the battle at Gettysburg and the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4^th, 1863.  I had camp members in the past make the point that instead of referring to the parade as the 4^th of July parade, we should refer to it as the Independence Day parade as we should celebrate our founding fathers successful fight for independence from the oppression of British rule as colonists but also honor our Confederate ancestors fight for independence as they struggled to preserve the founding ideals of state soverignty and individual liberty. The Confederate Constitution was very similar to and replicated that of the United States while strengthening the position of state sovereignty and curtailing the reach of the federal government especially in regards to commerce and tariffs. 

We have many members who have served their country in the Armed Forces, patriots who sacrificed of themselves for the defense of their homes and family, for America but, who are also learned of the true history of the South and the service of their Confederate ancestors.  There should be no quandry as to whether we as SCV members bleed red, white and blue but, we can equally respect the constitutional secession of our state in 1861 and honor the heroic struggle our forebears endured to protect their homes, families, state, culture and way of life.  Their’s was truly a valiant War for Southern Independence which we can commemorate simultaneously.