Prattville Dragoons Chaplain's Column for July 2014

Chaplain’s Column:  How To Learn God's Will For Your Life

            Have you ever wanted to know what God’s will is for your life? Many times we may wonder what to pray for or in our decision making, we may wonder whether a particular choice is God’s will. How about the question as to whether we are being an effective witness for Christ.

            Because our heavenly Father wants us to know these distinctions, He has provided the Holy Spirit to instruct and guide us. God’s Spirit discerns perfectly because He knows everything that the Father and Son know (John 16:13).

            Just as it takes time and perseverance to develop strong physical muscles, acquiring discernment requires persistence and patient submission to the teaching of the Spirit. But this is our Father’s desire for us. Why would we want anything less?

            Having spiritual discernment is the ability to look at things from the Lord’s viewpoint. In having this spiritual discernment we can begin to see the difference between error and truth. We can then see the difference in what is good and what God sees as best. We can also see what is God’s will in our lives and what is man’s will.

            But as we mature in the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord, we will be able to pray confidently to perceive God’s will and to share our faith. It is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to help us. He will guide us into all truth. We should be willing to cooperate with the Spirit and learn from Him (John 14:25-27; 16:5-15), to study the Word of God (Heb. 4:12-13), and to put into practice what is revealed to us.

            In order to get down this spiritual road of discernment we must  walk closer and closer with God in our prayer life and listen to His still small voice give us direction in our lives.

Please pray for all the Dragoons and their families who are ill and in need of the Lord's healing touch and comfort.  Also we Thank God for the final court decisions in Selma.  the following:

Yours In Christ

Tom Snowden, Chaplain

Prattville Dragoons Camp Dispatch News

The following was highlighted in the recent edition of the Dragoons Camp Dispatch:

Camp News

Long-time Dragoon Harry Rawlinson Encourages Dragoons - Following is an excerpt from a letter received from Harry Rawlinson, as mentioned last month now in an assisted-living home in Alexander City:  "I am now settled in The Meadows Assisted Living Facility in Alex City, Alabama.  I will try to write some things from my early times when I joined the Dragoons.  If I can remember!  You all keep up the good work you have done and I know you will continue to do so.  I never imagined the Dragoons would become so popular and so respected as it has become under the leadership, membership, and work of all Dragoons.  Our Ancestors are Proud!!!  Well Done!!!" --Harry Rawlinson

Dixie Butt Distribution and Indian Hills Cemetery Workday, 16 August 2014 - Dixie Butts will be exchanged for ticket stubs from 7-9 a.m. at Fatman's BBQ, Main Street and Memorial Drive in Prattville.  Tickets will be distributed beginning with our July meeting, and each member of the Dragoons will be asked to “Buy One and Sell One”.  This is our only fund-raiser of the year, and the proceeds allow us to continue successfully to answer the SCV Charge.  This is also a workday at Indian Hills Cemetery, so after you pick up your butts get your gloves and hat and head out there.  This will be the third workday following the initial cleanup in June and the next scheduled on August 2nd.

Communications Officer Will Keep Low Profile This Month - Your editor and Communications Officer Tyrone Crowley will be virtually unavailable for the next couple of weeks as he has two young grandsons visiting from California and they will require all his energy and attention!  Dragoons will look forward to Tyrone's renewed participation following some time with his family.

Prattville Dragoons July Camp Meeting Announced

Dragoon Sam Reid Speaks On Financing during the WBTS at July Meeting

            Dragoon Sam Reid, who educated us so well last January on the Emancipation Proclamation and period slavery, will be our speaker again in July.  Sam is a voracious reader on topics of interest to all of us, and this month we will benefit from Sam's reading of a new multi-volume publication, Bloodstains, as well as books by the Kennedy twins of Louisiana.  Sam will compare the two systems of labor, factory vs. slave labor, as well as the money interests whose influence and actions led to the War Between the States.  If you want some little-known but well-documented facts about conditions and events in the U.S. in the 1850s, don't miss Sam's presentation. This month's camp meeting will be held on Thursday July 10th at 7pm at the Shoney's on Cobbs Ford Rd in Prattville.  Come early starting at 6pm to enjoy fellowship and get yourself a delicious Shoney's buffet dinner or their strawberry pie.  This meeting will also provide an opportunity to purchase your Dixie Butt tickets for distribution on August 16th, the Dragoons annual fundraiser.

Upcoming Confederate Events Announced by the Prattville Dragoons

The following events were announced in the July Camp Dispatch:
July Camp Meeting, Thursday July 10 at 7pm, Shoney's in Prattville on Cobbs Ford Rd.  
 

Work Days at Indian Hills Cemetery.  Saturday 2 August and Saturday 16 August 2014, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.  All Dragoons and our neighbors and friends are encouraged to come and help. From the junction of Highways 82 and 14 in west Prattville, go north (toward Tuscaloosa) on Highway 82 for two miles.  Turn left onto County Road 86.  Go 1.6 miles and you'll see Indian Hills Cemetery on your left.

N B Forrest Birthday at Ft Dixie - 12 July 2014, starting at 3 p.m.  Great Southern gathering featuring fried catfish and all the fixins.  Guest speaker and music. Takes place at “Fort Dixie” (Home of Butch & Pat Godwin) in Selma, Alabama.

Dixie Butt Distribution, 16 August 2014 - Dixie Butts will be exchanged for ticket stubs from 7-9 a.m. at Fatman's BBQ, at the Marathon Gas Station, Main Street and Memorial Drive in Prattville.  Tickets will be distributed beginning with our July meeting, and each member of the Dragoons will be asked to “Buy One and Sell One”.  This is our only fundraiser of the year, and the proceeds allow us to continue successfully to answer the SCV Charge.  A (very) limited number of butts are available for sale that morning at Fatmans but advanced orders are recommended.

SCV National Reunion - Charleston, South Carolina, 16-19 July 2014. For further information as it becomes available, go to http://www.scv.org

Dragoons in Prattville 4th of July Parade

SCV Camp 1524 participated in the Prattville 4th of July parade yesterday with an entry including two golf carts and five additional walkers.  Dragoons included Commander Stuart Waldo and son Forrest, Adjutant Wayne Sutherland and former Brigade Commander Bill Myrick.  Bill walked with his wife Peggy and threw candy to the children lining the entire parade route down Court Street, Main Street and Northington.  Stuart's entire family also participated including wife Kerri and her father and all the little ones who rode and threw candy and handed flags to the parade spectators.  3rd National Confederate mini flags were handed out and these again proved immensely popular with kids rushing the golf carts and all 250 flags were gone midway down Main Street as children and adults alike screamed for them.  Dave Thompson, former member of the SCV Semple Camp in Montgomery, and his wife also participated.  The golf carts were adorned with U.S. flags, Confederate Battle Flags and even a Bonnie Blue.  Kerri's father had music playing including Dixie accompanied by each U.S. military branch service songs.  The weather was wonderful in the morning during the parade with low humidity and temperature in the seventies, a welcome respite from the oppressive summer heat.  Another enjoyable parade with the Dragoons participating in a great community event and getting the Confederate Battle Flag out in front of our neighbors, following the Charge.

Prattville Dragoons, Friends and Family at the 4th of July Parade

Golf Carts with Flags

Selfie with Dragoons Parade Entry Midway Down Main Street

Adjutant Sutherland Carrying the Camp Banner

"12 April" - Book Promotion

Gary Cole of Bullard TX and a member of the General Joseph L. Hogg SCV Camp 972 in Rusk, Texas was promoting his recently published historical novel, 12 April. The attached summary provides a brief introduction to the book which is based on the life of Richard Wesley Cole, a private in the Confederate Army who rode with General Nathan Bedford Forrest during the war. Alabama Division and compatriots of The Prattville Dragoons Camp 1524 will enjoy the many references to General Forrest and Fayette County, Alabama. The book includes the Confederate military service of two Alabama soldiers and the dedication of the Confederate Monuments in Jasper and Fayette, Alabama. 12 April will be a welcome addition to each Compatriot's personal library.

Richard's story begins in Tuscaloosa County on the Alabama frontier during the early 1800's. The first chapter of the book references the War of 1812, the Creek Indian War, and the issues of States' Rights and the strict interpretation of the Constitution that emerged intact from the second war with Great Britain and ultimately divided the Nation. It discusses the division of the Mississippi Territory into the Alabama Territory and the State of Mississippi and Alabama's entry into the Union as the 22nd State. It tracks the growth of Alabama's population from 9,046 in 1810 and follows Richard's experiences common to growing up on the Alabama frontier, including a 100-plus mile trip to the U.S. General Land Office in Huntsville to Patent his forty acres of land. Chapter Two discusses Richard's weeks-long move from Fayette County in 1840 to the Mississippi frontier.

When the War Between the States came, Richard lived in Black Hawk, Mississippi. All of the issues of the era, including States' Rights, slavery, secession, and the brutality of the war and Reconstruction were experienced by Richard and his family and were common to the experiences of families in Alabama and the rest of the South.

"12 April" Front and Back Book Covers