Prattville Dragoons Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Ring the Bell for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign

On Saturday December 7th, members of Camp 1524 manned the Salvation Army red kettle at Winn Dixie in downtown Prattville, ringing the bell and offering "Merry Christmas" greetings to attract patrons to donate to the annual giving campaign.  Compatriots who helped ring the bell this Saturday included Adjutant Wayne Sutherland, Louis Turner, Bill Branch and Dale Boyles in the morning and Tyrone Crowley, Don Drasheff, Quartermaster Bill Myrick, Commander Stuart Waldo, Color Sgt John Dennis, and 2nd Lt Karl Wade (who coordinated the camp's effort with the Salvation Army office) filling in the afternoon slots.  Over $870 was collected in the kettle manned by the Dragoons on this Saturday greatly exceeding the $350-400 daily average for kettles around the Montgomery AL River Region.  This is a great community service project the camp has embraced over the past few years and supports a very worthy cause, the great work by the Salvation Army and their annual Christmas-time red kettle fundraising efforts.

New Confederate Monument Dedicated in Tallassee AL

The Tallassee Armory Guards Camp 1921 SCV monument was dedicated on Sunday December 8th. It overlooks the Tallapoosa River from downtown Tallassee, Alabama and is adjacent to AL Hwy-14.  The monument is impressive with a base constructed of brick faced  corners and granite monuments embedded into each face listing the Alabama Confederate veterans from the area and tributes to them as well as a listing of the states constituting the Confederacy and the dates of their secession around the top cornice.  Atop the base stands a Confederate soldier resting against his rifle and Confederate national flags and the Bonnie Blue fly on flagpoles forming a backdrop.  

The ceremony was well attended and period music was provided by the Tallassee Camp band " Whistlin Dixie".  A period color guard also provided service.  Alan Parker of the Montgomery SCV Semple Camp was there and found his grandfather listed on the monument.  The ladies of the Order of the Confederate Rose provided refreshments and a splendid time was had by all in attendance.  The Tallassee camp is to be commended for all the hard work making this memorial to our Southern heroes possible.

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1524 Dragoons Participate in the Prattville Christmas Parade

After a mid-afternoon rain shower, the weather cleared and cooled for the annual Prattville Christmas parade on Friday evening December 6th.  The Dragoons placed an entry in the parade again which included a trailer float decorated with lighted garland and a Christmas tree with Confederate period flags standing at the front including the SCV banner, the Alabama state flag, the Bonnie Blue, the Alabama State Secession flag and the First National.  The float was decorated Friday morning by Commander Waldo, 1st Lt Grooms, and Quartermaster Myrick and then tarped to protect it from the weather.  For the parade, Commander Waldo with his family pulled the trailer in his truck while Color Sgt Dennis and Quartermaster Myrick walked alongside the float to keep children from running out and back away from the wheels as the trailer moved down the parade route.  Adjutant Sutherland and 1st Lt Grooms carried the camp banner with the Christmas greeting displayed in front of the truck.  Dragoons compatriot Bill Hamner joined Mechanized Cavalry member Don Owens on their Harley Davidsons to bring up the rear.  Don trailered his trike over from his new home in the east-central part of the state just to participate and represent the Mechanized Cavalry.  The crowds were huge with children and spectators five and six deep all the way down Church Street and Main Street pushing into the street to catch candy.  The Dragoons waved greeted everyone with a "Merry Christmas" and tossed candy to the children and some special SCV Christmas themed coins/ornaments to some lucky spectators along the parade route.  A wonderful holiday event to ring in the Christmas season.

Prattville Dragoon Rocky Mount and Robinson Springs Cemetery Work

On Wednesday morning November 27th, SCV Camp 1524 member Jordan Henderson did some maintenance work, straightening out the Stars/ Stripes and Battle Flags at the Rocky Mount Cemetery in Prattville and the Robinson Springs Cemetery in Millbrook.  Compatriot Henderson installed some new flag holders for the soldier’s who didn’t have one. Jordan looks forward to making more of the Dragoons' meetings and gatherings throughout the coming year and helping out on camp projects as much as possible in the future.                         
 Deo Vindice!                

Commander's Column for SCV Camp 1524 for December 2019

A Christmas Celebration and Reflection in this Time of Division

“Partisan political division and the resulting incivility has reached a low in America, with 67% believing that the nation is nearing civil war, according to a new national survey.  “The majority of Americans believe that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war. That to me is a very pessimistic place,” said Mo Elleithee, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service.  Highlighting findings that show voters angered with compromise and growing (partisan) unfavorable ratings of President Trump and most 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, he said the poll “paints a scenario, a picture of a highly negative campaign that will continue to exacerbate the incivility in our public discourse.  It will be a sort of race to the bottom.”   While it found that 87% are frustrated with the rudeness in politics today, it also revealed that the public really isn’t interested in traditional compromise. For example, a nearly equal 84% said that they are “tired of leaders compromising my values and ideals.”  Elleithee explained, “It seems to me what they’re saying is, ‘I believe in common ground, it’s just that common ground is where I’m standing. As soon you move over to where I am, we’ll be on common ground.’”  The national division is widening. “There is relative consensus that divisions in this country are getting worse.”  (The) pollsters noted that the public blames social media, the news media, and President Trump for the growing division.”  (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/battleground-7-in-10-say-us-on-the-edge-of-civil-war)  The pollster is evidently part of the MSM if they believe Trump as the singular politician is responsible for a divide, ignoring Pelosi, Schiff and the Squad as well as eight years of Obama as evidently bringing us together?

 Well, in this holiday season, we have the opportunity to truly come together in a spirit of thanksgiving for our blessings, a time for renewed hope and faith both in reflection and in celebration of the birth of Jesus as well as in reflecting and in looking forward to the coming year to reaffirm the Cause and support our Southern heritage.  But truly, it is almost imperative to celebrate with friends and compatriots lest you offend someone attending a Christmas Social instead of a Holiday Social or ring the bell for the LGBQT-unfriendly Salvation Army kettles.  We can stand with our brothers and sisters and sing Christmas carols at Buena Vista and offer a Merry Christmas to passers-by while ringing the bell at Winn Dixie.  As Sons of Confederate Veterans, we should be thankful that we can enjoy fellowship with compatriots and we can freely espouse and attempt to emulate the virtues of our Confederate ancestors and their fight for the (few) freedoms we still tenuously hold dear today.  The season is also an opportunity to look back over the last year to celebrate all the Dragoons have done to Advance the Charge.   As part of the SCV cemetery Guardian program, the camp continues maintaining Robinson Springs and Indian Hill and Doster cemeteries.   Our Dixie Butt annual fundraiser brought in record funds for our camp treasury.   The Dragoons were a leader in the Division in participation in SCV events including attendance at the Division and National Reunions and the Division Robert E. Lee Day observance at the State Archives.   Another enjoyable Fall Muster Clay Shoot and BBQ in addition to the spring picnic at Confederate Memorial Park where flags were set.   Billboard ad campaigns fro Confederate History and Heritage Month, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, Robert E. Lee Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas again were a model for the Division.   Dragoons participated in local community events including the Autauga County Bicentennial and Tyrone Crowley again portrayed Daniel Pratt for local events.   Many Dragoons attended the 20th Annual Forrest Birthday Celebration at Ft. Dixie and, a number of our camp’s veterans represented the Dragoons and the SCV at the Memorial Day Remembrance Service for the Fallen at Montgomery’s Trinity Methodist Church.  Our popular Prattville Cityfest and Millbrook Mardi Gras festival booths.  A living history presentation to students at Alabama Christian School.  JROTC H.L. Hunley Awards at Prattville, (Millbrook) Stanhope Elmore and, Wetumpka High Schools.  Key participation in the Brigade Confederate Memorial Day program at Confederate Memorial Park.   Independence Day, Mardi Gras and Christmas parade entries where we are greeted heartily.  A record Thanksgiving canned food drive and donations for the Autauga Interfaith Care Center and our Salvation Army red kettle bell ringing for the Christmas season.  

There is a divide in this country today because of moral relativism and a departure from the Constitutional ideals on which this country was founded.   We are blessed to know the truth of the Cause and to be able to share it and promote it in our community, truths which are very much relevant today.  We can rejoice in this Christmas season, a wonderful time of the year to fraternize with compatriots at numerous holiday events.  The Social, the parades.  The float preparation and walking the parade route with all the Christmas lights and everyone cheerful and gleeful.  The Christmas Social at the beautiful historic Buena Vista mansion with General Lee eggnog and Christmas carols sung together and played on the grand piano.  It is a refreshing affirmation when we still can enjoy a fraternity of like-minded individuals such as the Prattville Dragoons.  Thank goodness for Sweet Home Alabama.  As the lyrics to “Christmas in Dixie” proclaim, “Graceland's all in lights. And in Atlanta, Georgia, there's peace on earth tonight.  In Jackson, Mississippi to Charlotte, Caroline. And all across the Nation, it's a peaceful Christmas time.  Christmas in Dixie, it's snowing in the pines.  Merry Christmas from Dixie to everyone tonight.”   Let us give thanks for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our families, friends, neighbors and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a wonderful holiday season.  

Upcoming Events for Confederate Compatriots

Upcoming Events

Prattville Christmas Parade – Friday December 6^th, 7pm starting at the Autauga County Courthouse downtown

Christmas in the South – Children of the Confederacy, Saturday December 7^th, 10am at Confederate Memorial Park

Salvation Army Kettle Bell Ringing – Saturday December 7^th and 14^th 9am-7pm at Winn Dixie in Prattville  

Prattville Dragoons Christmas Social – Friday December 13^th 6pm at Buena Vista, CR 4 Prattville

Vida Christmas Parade – Saturday December 21^st  12:30-4pm at Vida Community Center, Vida AL

Camp 2002 Semple Lee-Jackson Dinner - Friday, January 17, 2020; 7:00pm, Grace-Pointe Church, Montgomery AL

Robert E. Lee Birthday Celebration - Saturday, January 18, 2020, 10:00 am, Archives and History Bldg, Montgomery

Stephen Dill Lee Institute - Friday, Saturday, February 14, 15, 2020, Raleigh, NC

Army of Tennessee Workshop - Saturday, February 29, 2020, 10:00 am, Oxford Civic Center, Oxford, AL

Confederate Flag Day Observance - Saturday, March 7, 2020,

Alabama Education Conference - Saturday, March 21, 2020, 10:00am – 3:00 pm, Doster Center, Prattville

Living History Weekend - Friday, Saturday, April 24, 25, 2020, Confederate Memorial Park, Marbury, AL

Confederate Memorial Day Observance - Monday, April 27, 2020, Confederate Monument, Alabama Capitol

Alabama Division Reunion - Friday, Saturday, June 5, 6, 2020, Foley, AL

National Reunion - Wed-Sat, July 15-18, 2020, St. Augustine, FL

Chaplain's Column for SCV Camp 1524 for December 2019

Chaplain’s Column  - Defend Your Southern Heritage

“Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southerner apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance." - Jefferson Davis

This quote by the President of the Confederacy is something that applies to us to this very day.

We have so much of our heritage and history being attacked that it is sickening to my stomach.

Satan roams this earth like a Lion seeking whom he may devour. He comes at us from all fronts and we must be prepared.

I call on each of you to pray for our camp, our country, and our heritage. We must remain united behind Christ and Country.

Members, we have several members sick or have family members that are sick. Please, pray for them and their families. One of the greatest abilities we have as a Christian is the ability to talk to our Heavenly Father and Know he hears us. Use that gift and call upon his name!

God Bless and Merry Christmas.