Sons of Confederate Veterans Prattville Dragoons Camp 1524 Meeting for September 2023

Members and friends of the SCV Camp 1524 Dragoons met on Thursday evening September 14th at the Prattville Masonic Lodge for their monthly meeting with about twenty-four in attendance.  Rob Schwartz played his guitar and sang a number of songs to entertain folks in the social hour before the meeting began.  He then led everyone in the Invocation (as well as the Benediction later) to start the meeting in Chaplain Brantley's absence. Color Sgt Dennis led everyone in the pledges and salutes to the flags then Commander Waldo read the SCV Charge.  New member Maynard Lee James was sworn in, always a great event for the camp. and he received his certificate and lapel pin.  The Commander  then reviewed the upcoming events including reenactments, the Division Yellow Hammer Jammer scheduled for September 30th at Confederate Memorial Park, the camp's fall muster scheduled for the end of October and the holiday season activities rapidly approaching.  The results of the camp's Dixie butt fundraiser were announced and applause offered to everyone who contributed.  

The guest speaker for the camp meeting was Reverend Ed Shirley of Trinity United Methodist Church who spoke on Circuit Riders.  He began recollecting John Wesley's birth in 1703 in England.  The Wesley brothers decided to become ordained ministers of the Church of England like their father.  John attended Oxford University.  They immigrated to America to minister to the settlers and natives, arriving in the Savannah-St. Simons Island GA in 1736 having limited success and returned to England.  Around that time, Charles Wesley was born again, filled with the Holy Spirit and John soon thereafter.   This resulted in their impassioned belief that the Church of England needed a revival and a movement of the Holy Spirit but their enthusiasm was shunned by the Church.  George Whitefield, a friend of John's shared how they could reach people thru preaching outdoors and they started groups called Methodist Societies around 1739, so called because of their methodical meetings.  

Methodist preachers were assigned a route to ride to preach and they were thus called circuit riders.  500-800 miles was the typical route/circuit in the Americas which saw their rise around 1770.  The circuit riders were the common preacher for the common people.  They were faithful in the execution of their riding - it was said in inclement weather they only crows and circuit riders were outside.  The Methodist circuit riders assembled a Book of Discipline which contained rules for the preachers - that they were truly converted, that they knew the rules, that they commanded attention with a loud voice for the outdoors in which they were preaching and, that they had a horse.  

There were many dangers in the 18th century Americas for the circuit riders who made only about $50 per year for their service.  They had to rely on hospitality along their routes, a barn to sleep in and food for sustenance.  There were wild animals including bears and panthers and also Indian tribes all along the way.  Their saddlebag had their few possessions including a Bible (Rev Ed showed a Bible dating to 1860), their Book of Discipline (again, Rev Ed showed one dating to 1870), a hymnal, and food consisting of jerky and unleavened bread.  Circuit riders became illustrative of American faith.  Many of the circuit riders became chaplains during the War Between the States.  In 1861, the Confederate Congress established the post of Army Chaplain including pay rate.  The Union Army did likewise and specified a uniform including a black frock coat.  Rev. Ed sang a song describing circuit riders and played his parlor guitar accompaniment. 

There were about 3700 chaplains assigned in the Confederate and Union armies at all levels from camps to brigades. Rev. Ed provided statistics on the denominations of the chaplains with around 30-40% Methodists, 12-14% Baptists, 10-14% Episcopalians, 8-18% Presbyterians as well as Catholics and non-denominational chaplains.  Isaac Taylor Tichenor, the fighting Baptist Chaplain was among the most famous of the War's chaplains serving the 17th Alabama Regiment and earned acclaim as a sharpshooter rallying the troops at Shiloh.  He later, after the War, served as President of the Alabama State Agricultural and Mechanical College which became Auburn University and also led the Southern Baptist Convention.  The War saw a great spiritual revival with some 150,000 Confederates saved, certainly may with the ever-present danger of death enhancing their recognition of mortality. By 1890 with the frontier disappearing and horses replaced by trains and automobiles, the circuit riders largely disappeared also.  

The Golden Age of Southern Movies

 1938-1946 - The “Golden Age” of Positive, Southern-themed Movies

If you enjoy old movies and would like to see the Antebellum South presented in a positive light, there are five movies you may want to see.

The Toy Wife - 1938

Set in antebellum Cajun Louisiana and lavishly produced by MGM, the film heralded the studio’s newest starlet, German actress Luise Rainer. In some ways it was MGM’s answer to Warner Brothers’ hit, “Jezebel” (1938), starring Bette Davis. Rainer is the lead female character, Gilberte “Frou Frou” Brigard, who has returned from strict convent school in France to her father’s immense plantation in Louisiana. Just as in “Gone with the Wind,” released a year later, Frou Frou is flighty and has a “devil may care” attitude towards practical things, including a possible future husband. While infatuated with the debonair and undisciplined Andre Vallaire (Robert Young), she ends up in a loveless marriage with the far more practical and worldly George Sartoris (Melvyn Douglas). Parallels with “Gone with the Wind” abound in this movie.

Maryland - 1940

The film “Maryland” was a big-budget Twentieth Century-Fox color production, with deluxe casting of Walter Brennan, John Payne, Fay Bainter, Charlie Ruggles, and Hattie McDaniel, who had already established herself as a major player in “Gone with the Wind”. In contemporary America we are too apt to think of Maryland as one big suburb of Washington, DC. But Maryland was traditionally a Southern state, and this film reflects the long and honorable Southern tradition of fox hunting and racing champion horses.

The Vanishing Virginian - 1942

Stars Frank Morgan (the Wizard in “The Wizard of Oz”), Spring Byington, and North Carolinian Kathryn Grayson, whose exquisite soprano voice in heard during the movie. Beginning in pre-World War I times, “The Vanishing Virginian” traces the history of the Yancey family and its head, Robert, who was prominent in Virginia politics for several decades. But it is also the recounting of how Southern and Virginia traditions survived and met the headwinds of the twentieth century, including women’s suffrage.

Colonel Effingham’s Raid -1946

A Twentieth Century-Fox production, this is a relatively short, black and white film, of 70 minutes, but a true gem just the same. It stars Charles Coburn as Colonel Will Seaborn Effingham, who returns home to Fredericksville, Georgia, after years in the US Army, there to be received by his young second cousin Albert Marbury (William Eythe) and by his older cousin Emma (the versatile actress Elizabeth Patterson). He stumbles upon the plans of the town fathers, who are mostly Yankee transplants only concerned about the almighty dollar. They intend to tear down the historic courthouse which dates from the antebellum period and perhaps remove the giant Confederate monument commemorating Fredericksville’s honored dead. Effingham launches his final “raid,” organizing the citizens and the UDC in a campaign to save the historic courthouse. Effingham finally convinces the town officials that the courthouse should remain and be appropriately repaired, not torn down. In the final scene, we see Effingham in his military uniform reviewing members of the Georgia National Guard as they march off to muster (the film is set in 1940). As they pass in review, the band strikes up the sound of “Dixie” to an enthusiastic crowd.

Virginia - 1941

This film is perhaps the best, and certainly the most openly pro-Southern. It is a lavishly-produced, Technicolor Paramount feature, in a sense that studio’s answer to the major films from Fox and MGM celebrating the South. And what a film! Starring a young Fred MacMurray, Madeleine Carroll, Sterling Hayden, and Louise Beavers, the movie recounts the return of Charlotte Dunterry (Carroll), heiress to the old Dunterry family plantation in northern Virginia. The plantation house, reportedly designed by Thomas Jefferson, has fallen into disrepair, and Charlotte who has spent much of her life in New York, intends to sell. MacMurray, whose name in the film is Stonewall after the great general, is a neighbor and fierce defender of Southern heritage and tradition. He tries to convince Charlotte to stay on, not to sell. The return of an ancient black servant, Ezechiel, home to Dunterry house to die persuades Charlotte that she, too, should stay faithful to her family and her traditions. And she orders that the giant portrait of her Confederate officer grandfather be hung once again in the central hall. One rewarding scene occurs when Charlotte suggests that Southerners should just get over the war which was, she asserts, about slavery. Stonewall, or Stony as his friends call him, quickly corrects her and explains that Yankee overreach and aggression were responsible for the war, and, indeed, for much of the resulting poverty that has afflicted the Southland. “Virginia” is worth searching out and is recommended to any Southerner interested in a favorable view of our traditions and heritage.

This information was provided by Prattville Dragoons compatriot Tyrone Crowley and extracted from “Gone But Not Forgotten” by Boyd Cathey on the Abbeville Institute blog, 1 September 2023.  See https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/gone-but-not-forgotten/

Dragoon Compatriot Works the Prattville Dragoons Monument Grounds

Dragoon Tyrone Crowley went down to the Dragoon Monuments site on Saturday Sept 9th and pulled a few weeds, straightened the decoration at the base of the older monument and generally tidies the monument grounds.  He stated he did this work in honor of those Dragoons who continue working the grounds maintenance at the local Robinson Springs and Indian Hill cemeteries.  Outstanding work by this long standing compatriot.  

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

Battle of Decatur Reenactment – September 2-3rd, Decatur AL 

Dragoons August Camp Meeting – Thursday, September 14th  6pm, Masonic Lodge, Prattville AL  

Raid on Little Generals Farm – September 16-18th, Gallant AL 

Yellowhammer Jammer – Saturday, September 30th, 9am-3pm at Confederate Memorial Park

Autauga County Fair – Tuesday Oct 10th thru Saturday, Oct 14th , 5pm-10pm (noon-10pm Sat) at Autauga Cty Fairgrounds

Fall Muster – Saturday, October 28th, 10am at Philip Edward’s place in Posey’s Crossroads

Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Chaplain's Column for September 2023 - Grief in Loss but in Everlasting Hope an Faith

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Grief. We see and experience it alot in life. We look at our Camp Prayer List and see loss or anticipated loss and the grief and sadness that comes with it. 

Then comes the anger! When my Dad died 7 years ago from Dementia complications, I was angry! God, why would you let this happen to somebody I loved? 

Then I sought out scripture. Lazarus died. And Jesus wept. Jesus asked God to let the cup of crucifixion to pass, but lamented, "Thy will be done!" Jesus felt the fear of abandonment on the Cross and asked God, "Why have you forsaken me?" When Jesus died on Calvary the skies became as night and storms raged! God was angry, too! 

God sent Jesus to us to not only buy our salvation from sin, but also so that we know that He understands us. What Jesus felt and experienced shows God's caring about our lives and our humanity. He gets it. He gets us. Even though Jesus knew he would bring Lazarus back to life, he wept. He lost his dear friend. Like us, he grieved. 

We are not alone! We have the hope and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Pastor Tim Challies wrote about grief from the Christian perspective a few years ago:

"This life is full of loss and full of grief. Though there are times we experience great swells of joy, we also experience deep depths of sorrow. No sorrow is deeper than the sorrow of loss. At such times it is important to consider how Christians grieve. Christ has Lordship over all of life, even grief. The gospel informs all we do, including our grieving. When dealing with the loss of a fellow believer, it is a privilege to grieve in a distinctly Christian way—to grieve in one way instead of being left to grieve in another way.

What is that way? How do Christians grieve? Paul provides helpful instruction and begins with these words: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

The first thing is this: Grieve! It’s good and right to grieve. We grieve genuinely and unapologetically. Death is tragic; death is sorrowful; it is good to grieve and this text gives us permission to do so. While it’s always important to ask “what does a text say?” it’s equally important to ask, “what does a text not say?” In this verse Paul could have said something like, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve.” He could have ended his sentence there are forbidden all grief. He could have been a good Stoic and insisted that Christians must not waste their time and emotional energy in crying. But no, he doesn’t say that. He doesn’t tell us we must not grieve at all. Rather, he tells us we must not grieve in a certain way. There is a way that Christians must grieve. What is that way?

Christians experience grief but without despair, sorrow but without defeat, sadness but without hopelessness.

Grieve hopefully. When Paul says, “you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” he is really saying something like, “we grieve, but not in the same way as all those other people who have no hope.” Or, “even though we do grieve, we grieve differently from those other hopeless people.” Again, we see there’s a distinctly Christian way to express grief. We must not grieve like unbelievers do. What is this Christian form of grieving? Christians experience grief but without despair, sorrow but without defeat, sadness but without hopelessness. It’s true sorrow and true hope. These things don’t cancel out one another. We feel the great weight of sorrow and the great thrill of hope. In moments of deep sadness, we feel both. But why? How? How is it that we can have hope?

The reason we have hope is that Christians grieve temporarily. We grieve genuinely but hopefully because we grieve temporarily. Our grief will come to an end. Paul proves this by pointing back in time, then pointing forward: “For since we believe that [in the past] Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will [in the future] bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Paul anchors future hope in past reality. He first points back in time to the historical events of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus truly died and truly returned to life and his resurrection is a promise, a proof, and a down payment that we, too, will return to life. What happened to him will happen to us. If it wasn’t for Jesus we’d have no hope! But Jesus rose so we have the greatest hope!

Having pointed back, Paul points forward. “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” He goes from the past to the future. He points forward to the time when Christ will return. He points forward to the time when the great promise will be fulfilled. At that time those who are dead and those who are alive will be reunited. They will be united to Jesus and live together forever. Here is how the passage continues: “The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” Our hope for the future is that we will be with the Lord. We will be with the Lord together and forever. Those who have gone before and those who remain will be reunited in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus conquered death, they will conquer death. Because Jesus lives, they live.

While our loved ones have left us, they have not ceased to be. They’ve simply gone on ahead. Because Jesus rose again, they will rise again. Because Jesus conquered death, they will conquer death. Because Jesus lives, they live. And so we grieve. We grieve in times of loss and our grief may last many days, weeks, or years. The pain is real, the sorrow is real, so the grief is real. But we grieve hopefully because we are convinced we grieve temporarily. No wonder, then, Paul concludes in this way: “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Commanders Column for September 2023 - Pursuit of Truth in History

 Recently took a vacation trip with the family and the hotel where we stayed hadt a small library which interestingly had a number of books on the War Between the States including a three volume series entitled “Lee’s Lieutenants, A Study in Command”, “How the North Won”, “Battlefields of the Civil War” and others.  On one shelf was a 28-volume series by Time Life entitled “The Civil War”.  Interesting to see books of this sort in a hotel and these comprised the majority of the books on the shelves there.  I sat down to look at one of the Time Life books as I had not seen these previously.  The first thing I did was check the copyright date.  It was in the early 1980s. You see, nowadays, you have to judge a history book largely by its cover or at least what’s just inside the front cover as that date may reflect on the mindset and predisposition of the historians of that period.   

As the fortunes of the Confederacy waned in 1864, General Patrick Cleburne stated, “Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War; will be impressed by all the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision.”  Today, historians are agenda driven and seek to produce publications by adhering to the modern narratives especially in regards to the War for Southern Independence which they would refer to as Lincoln’s War to Free the Slaves in the Rebellious Southern States.   The Project 1619 history curriculum gained traction to indoctrinate our children in schools across the country.  A certain Jeremiah Jasper Johnson on Twitter states on his profile, "History is a set of lies agreed upon." - Napoleon Bonaparte

It is enlightening to read the posts for some of the accounts on Twitter.  Jefferson Davis (@Jeff_Davis 1808) uses quotes from statesmen and officers of the period to make his points for his voluminous tweets.  Using direct quotes of the characters or witnesses who were living in the period is called first person accounts.  “Some of the most interesting and useful artifacts from history are the first-person accounts we find in journals and interviews. Students can gather those today as they chronicle and attempt to understand an event from the past or the things unfolding in our present.” (https://inspiredteaching.org/document-history-with-first-person-accounts/) Truly, this is the most accurate accounting of the historical record.  Obviously too, analysis of historical documents such as constitutions.  

But today, even eye-witness accounts may not provide accurate unbiased reporting as for instance the main stream media has proven to be agenda driven and more so provides opinion pieces instead of factual reporting.  We look at historians as sources of historical accounting but today, it is accepted that classwork and doctoral theses are often tilted to accommodate the bias of the institution and the reviewing professors.  Fairly, if one can categorize your thoughts as politically incorrect, you may actually be onto the scent of truth.  

We must be careful to recognize our own bias and potential for becoming comfortable and complacent in our own echo chamber as members of the SCV.  We are fortunate to have had many uniquely qualified and objective speakers at our camp meetings including Dr. Grover Plunkett, Col. John Eidsmoe, and our own Jayson Altieri who provide factual information about their subjects.  The SCV educational forums are excellent opportunities to hear qualified exceptionally learned speakers such as Brion McClanahan and Thomas Dilorenzo.  Brion is a frequent tweeter and blogger and focuses on our nation’s founding principles to which we should always refer in defense of our ancestors fight for Southern Independence.  The Stephen Dill Lee Institute is another venue providing a great opportunity to hear and learn from true historians.  As our Southern heritage and history are attacked and literally dismantled in regards to monuments and vestiges of our historical record by woke politicians and mobs, the Abbeville Institute seeks to “preserve the history and culture of the American South…to view the South’s history through an academic lens to help others understand the rich traditions and culture that was born here.  The Institute is operated by a group of scholars from the American South who have dedicate their studies and research to the cause. Our goal is to never rewrite history or erase the past, but to remove the negative stereotype that hangs over the South.”  (abbevilleacademy.org)

As the Reconciliation Monument is dismantled at Arlington and after the Army forts have all been stripped of the names of universally recognized heroic honorable iconic Confederate general officers, it takes no question of presumption as to the intent of our government to minimize the recognition and value of our Southern heritage and culture. They are attempting to erase Southern history and the founders ideals of limited federal government, self-reliance and liberty which emboldened our Confederate ancestors to seek Southern independence.   It is up to us as Sons of Confederate Veterans to perpetuate the truth and educate ourselves and our loved ones for the sake of future generations as the Charge implores us to do.  

August Cemetery Grounds Maintenance at Historic Robinson Springs Cemetery

 Members of the Prattville Dragoons, Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 performed the regular grounds maintenance at Robinson Springs Cemetery on Friday and Saturday August 25th and 26th.  ON Friday, Comms Officer Doug Butler brought his riding mower out and but the large areas of the cemetery grounds.  Then on Saturday morning Brigade Commander Harold Grooms, Camp Commander Stuart Waldo, Quartermaster Bill Myrick and compatriots Rob Schwartz and Thomas Griffith all pitched in to complete the mowing and trimming and leaf blowing.  The maintenance of this historic cemetery is performed by Camp 1524 as part of the SCV Guardian Program.