Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, Higginsville, Missouri

Confederate Memorial State Historic Site and Cemetery

 

Missouri, the state of my birth, is usually regarded as a “border state” during Abraham Lincoln’s War to Prevent Southern Independence.  Regiments of Missouri soldiers fought on both sides of the conflict.  Although many of the citizens of Missouri tried to remain neutral, Yankee atrocities and war crimes against Confederate soldiers and civilians alike, both black and white, caused an ever increasing number of the Missouri populous to give their support and allegiance to the Confederate cause.

The war ended in 1865, but many Confederate soldiers survived and continued to live until the mid-20th century.  In 1891, the state of Missouri established a home for aging Confederate veterans on 135 beautiful acres of land in Higginsville, Lafayette County.

Here in the western part of the Show Me State, 1,600 Confederate veterans and their families peacefully lived out their lives, over a period of 60 years.  The last Missouri Confederate veteran did not die until 1950, at the age of 108.  That was five years after I was born.  Every time I am reminded of such realities, it impresses me that the War Between the States was not really all that long ago in the span of History.  The lives of millions of   people living today overlap the lives of our Confederate compatriots who fought in that senseless and unnecessary war.

Two years after the death of the last Missouri Confederate soldier, the Veterans Home became a State Historic Site.  It is an interesting, albeit sobering place, to visit and to contemplate the darkest chapter in the history of our country.

Confederate Chapel and Cemetery

U.S. Marine Recruit rejected for Confederate Flag Tattoo

By Lt. Gene Williams

I have always been proud of my time spent as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. I served in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and, while I was certainly no “John Wayne” type, I tried to do my duty to the best of my ability and I did bring all of my platoon out of Vietnam alive.

This past summer, the son of a frend of mine was very ‘gung ho’ about joining the Marines and asked my opinion, which I tried to give as honestly as possible, warts and all. I don’t know if my discussions had any influence on him, but he enlisted, completed all of the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and went to all of the pre-enlistment meetings. To say the least, he was very excited about serving his country in the Corps.

Shortly before he left Nashville for boot camp, he was told he could not serve his country because he had a Confederate Battle Flag tattooed on his shoulder in an area that would be completely covered by a t-shirt, and certainly by his uniform.

When informed of this, I went to the local recruiting station that had processed this young man to see if I were getting the entire story. The recruiter, a staff sergeant, told me, “Yes, sir. The Marine Corps considers the Confederate Flag a ‘hate symbol,’ but if the young man in question had a state or U.S. flag tattoo, that would be acceptable.”

I informed the young sergeant that my family had defended the State of Tennessee (also his home state) against a sadistic invasion under that flag and to call our sacred flag of honour a ‘hate symbol was an insult to ALL southerners, but especially to those southereners who had risked or even given their lives in service to the Marine Corps. Southerners had served at Belleau Woods, at Taraw and Iwo Jima, at Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir, and at Khe Sahn and Hue City, but now we are no longer wanted in the politically-correct don’t-offend-any-minorities military? (This was just prior to the Fort Hood massacre)

He was polite, even sympathetic, but said the flag policy was a Marine Corps policy from Headquarters Marine Corps and not a local decision. After informing the sergeant that it seemed to me that our military was building a mercenary force of illegal aliens while rejecting native-born Americans in order to have a ready force to turn, without question, on American citizens, I asked the sergeant if he had taken out the trash yet. He replied that he hadn’t.

I then said, “Please add these to the day’s garbage,” and returned my lieutenant’s bars, my gold and silver Marine Corps emblem from my dress blues, my shooting badges and my Vietnam ribbons.

I, like many of you, have always been told, “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” and “There are no ex-Marines, only former Marines,” but for me that is no longer true.

I was born in the South. I was raised here. I raised my family in the South and some day, God-willing, I hope to be buried in the native soil of our Southern homeland. I have always considered myself a Southerner first, and will remain so, despite any other organization that I may temporarily join.

I will never make a critical remark about a veteran, from any branch of the service, but from now on, I will do everything in my power to discourage any Southern young man, or lady, from becoming a future veteran. I am now an ex-Marine.

Gene Andrews, ex-Marine
1st Lieutenant 3rd Marine division
Vietnam

This article can be found on the web pages of the Missouri Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, James Morgan Utz Camp.  Here is a link: 
http://utzfmc.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/a-southerner-speaks/  

An Ohio School Teacher, a Black Freeman, and the Battle of Fort Blair

Here at Historic Fort Blair, Baxter Springs, Kansas, Confederate troops lead by a former school teacher from Dover, Ohio and a free man of color from Missouri, were victorious in a battle against the Union army during the War Between the States.

On October 6, 1863, a Confederate cavalry unit of about 400 men, lead by Captain William Clarke Quantrill, a former Ohio school teacher, traveled along the Texas Road near the Missouri-Kansas border. Helping lead the way was Quantrill’s primary scout John Noland, a free man of African descent, who had joined the Confederate army because his family in Missouri was severely abused by Union soldiers. At least two other black men, John Lobb and Henry Wilson, and Cherokee Indian Adam Wilson were also members of the integrated Confederate company.

Upon approaching Fort Blair, Quantrill divided his force into two columns, one under him and the other commanded by a subordinate, David Poole. Poole and his men proceeded down the Texas Road, where they encountered Union soldiers. They chased the Union troops, killing some of them before they reached the earth and log fort.

Poole's column then attacked Fort Blair, but the garrison fought them off with the aid of a howitzer. Quantrill's column moved on the post from another direction where they encountered a Union detachment escorting Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt who was in the process of moving his command headquarters from Fort Scott to Fort Smith.

Most of this detachment, including the military band, Maj. Henry Z. Curtis (son of Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis), and Johnny Fry (first official westbound rider of the Pony Express) was killed.  Blunt and a few mounted men escaped and returned to Fort Scott. Blunt was removed from command by his superiors for failing to protect his column.  However, he was later restored.

The Union troops took such heavy losses in the Battle of Fort Blair that, to this day, some people tout the Confederate victory as a massacre. They did not call it a massacre earlier when Union soliders committed numerous acts of genocide against innocent Missouri civilians simply because they were suspected of sympathising with the Confederate quest for freedom from an out of control centrailzed government.  It was these Northern attrocities that caused the Confederates to take up arms and defend themselves.

In the spring of 1865, Quantrill rode into a Union ambush near Taylorsville, Kentucky. There, on May 10, he received a gunshot wound to the chest, leading to his death in a Louisville hospital on June 6 at the age of 27.

After the war, when veterans would hold reunions, Captain Quantrill’s troops came to be known as "Quantrill's Raiders." Historic Photographs of the reunions prominently show John Noland, the African-American Confederate scout, with his comrades in the group. At the reunions, Noland enjoyed recounting the story of how the Federals once offered him $10,000 (an enormous sum at that time) to betray the Confederates.  Being a man of honor and integrity, Noland scorned the Yankee bribe.  Other soldiers reminisced that when they were in battle Noland was a true leader, shouting commands than any other of Quantrill's men.

Some Northern apologists have tried to villify Quantrill and his men as blood thirsty, opportunistic outlaws. Those who have come to Quantrill’s defense include none other than a former president of the United States from Missouri, Harry S. Truman. He said, “But Quantrill and his men were no more bandits than the men on the other side. I’ve been to reunions of Quantrill’s men two or three times. All they were trying to do was protect the property on the Missouri side of the line.”

In truth, that’s what Confederates were doing everywhere that they fought in the War for Southern Independence – defending themselves, their families, and their property against a hostile, invading Union Army.

1901 Quantrill Raider's Reunion, Blue Springs, Missouri