Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans file Lawsuit against the DMV



Image from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

The Texas Division Sons of Confederate Veterans has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, asserting  that the DMV infringed on the Confederate's free speech rights by refusing to issue a specialty license plate which would have featured a Confederate flag. Below is a press release from the Texas SCV which was issued in conjunction with the filing of the lawsuit: 

On  December 8th, 2011 a complaint was filed in pursuant of 42
U.S.C. §1983 to vindicate the rights secured to the “Texas Division Sons
of Confederate Veterans” by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the
Constitution.

The Texas SCV is a non-profit organization that works diligently to
preserve the memory and reputation of the Confederate soldiers,
emphasizing the virtues of their fight for the preservation of liberty
and freedom. Like many other non-profit organizations in Texas, the
Texas SCV sought from the State of Texas, through the Department Motor
Vehicles Board, approval of a specialty license plate, both to raise
awareness of their endeavors and to raise additional money to fund their
activities.

This action is in regards to the recent denial of the specialty license
application presented to the Department of Motor Vehicles Board by the
Texas Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. Currently, the SCV has
specialty automobile license plates available to vehicle drivers in
Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, Louisiana,
South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The Texas SCV initially applied for a specialty license plate in Texas
with the Department of Transportation, the proper agency at the time, in
August 2009. That application was denied by the Department of
Transportation.

In 2009, the Texas Legislature amended the Transportation Code to
provide that the Department of Motor Vehicles, rather than the
Department of Transportation, was charged with issuing specialty license
plates. The license plate function moved to the new Department of Motor
Vehicles on November 1, 2009. At the time the Texas SCV reapplied with
the new governing department, to hopefully have a specialty plate in
advance of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, April 12, 2011. The official
public comments were heavily in favor of the Texas SCV’s application for
a specialty plate. Following commentary by both proponents and
opponents, the Board rejected the SCV plate at the hearing by an 8-0
vote without any discussion. At the same hearing, the Buffalo Soldiers
plate, without any discussion, was approved by a 5-3 vote. Since the
Department of Motor Vehicle Board has been charged with issuing
specialty license plates, the Sons of the Confederate Veterans plate is
the first, and only, to be rejected.

Through the members of the Department of Motor Vehicles Board, the State
of Texas has discriminated against the Texas SCV based on the ideas and
message that the Texas SCV supports, in clear violation of the First
Amendment. The Board seeks to bar the Texas SCV from expressing their
viewpoint while allowing all other groups to express their viewpoint:
this type of restriction is exactly the type which the First Amendment
is designed to erase. The only guideline that the Transportation Code
has to offer, which the Board referenced as its reason for rejecting the
plate, is that the Board can reject a plate “if the design might be
offensive to any member of the public…” This, however, cannot be the
standard. It is vague and indeterminable. Essentially, it is no
standard at all to say that the Board can discriminate based upon a
viewpoint if such speech is offensive to anyone. The First Amendment
clearly protects controversial speech. Additionally, even if simply
being “offensive to any member of the public” was sufficient to allow
for rejection, the State has approved numerous plates that are
“offensive to any member of the public.” In fact, the plate approved the
very same day as the Texas SCV plate was rejected – the Buffalo Soldier
plate – is offensive to Native Americans because the all-black cavalry
helped fight Native Americans in the Indian Wars from 1867-1888.

Accordingly, the Texas SCV seeks appropriate injunctive relief,
requiring the State of Texas to approve the Texas SCV’s application and
implement the specialty plate.

Granvel J. Block
Commander Texas Division
Sons of Confederate Veteran

Ohio Bicentennial Marker dedicated to Confederate General

From the Mount Vernon News
Mount Vernon, Ohio

CENTERBURG, OHIO — A little bit of “Dixie” was on hand in Centerburg, Saturday, Nov. 12, as the Ohio Historical Society marker honoring Centerburg native Brig. Gen. Daniel Harris Reynolds, C.S.A., was unveiled in the village park at the corner of Main and Clayton streets.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Roswell S. Ripley Camp 1535, the group that sponsored the marker, were joined by members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Civil War re-enactors, and many members of the community. Also present were several members of the Reynolds family.

The marker honoring Reynolds is the fourth sponsored by the local SCV group and the third to honor one of the six Ohio-born generals that served the Southern cause during the Civil War, or as is known in the South, “The War for Southern Independence.” Other markers sponsored by the group include one marking the escape of Gen. John Hunt Morgan from the Ohio Penitentiary, located in Columbus’ arena district; one honoring Gen. Roswell S. Ripley, located in Worthington; and in Malta, a marker honors Gen. Otho Strahl, who was also a close friend of Gen. Reynolds.


Read more: Bicentennial marker dedicated to Confederate general / Mount Vernon News http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/11/11/17/bicentennial-marker-dedicated-to-confederate-general#ixzz1eMWne49z

Dickson County Confederate Monument, Charlotte, Tennessee

In recent years there has been a movement afoot to remove Confederate monuments and other remembrances of our proud Southern heritage from the landscape.  In such a "politically correct" age it is heartening to see that in some communities monuments to the C.S.A. are still being erected instead of being torn down.  Here is one such example of a Confederate monument unveiled in March, 2001, in Charlotte, Tennessee, 42 miles west of Nashville.

Dickson County Courthouse and Confederate Monumernt

                                  

[Confederate States of America]
Deo Vindice

TO ALL WHO SERVED

IN MEMORY OF THE
CONFEDERATE SOLDIER
OF DICKSON COUNTY, TN

11th Tennessee Infantry, Co. C, E, H, K
49th Tennessee Infantry, Co. B, D
50th Tennessee Infantry, Co. A
10th Tennessee cavalry
24th Tennessee Sharpshooters
Baxter's Co. TN. Light Artillery
Baxter's Batt. TN. Light Artillery
Ross' Cavalry Brigade, Co. A
1861 --- 1865


Erected in March 2001

Dickson County Confederate Monument, Rear View: 
 "Offered in their memory  by W. H. McCauley Camp 260 Sons of Confederate Veterans"

Confederate Symbols become issue in U.S. Presidential Race

This image provided by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles shows the design of a proposed Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate. Eleven years ago, when the NAACP stepped up a campaign to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouses and other government buildings across the South, it found an opponent in then Lt. Gov. Rick Perry. Perry argued that states should honor their history and decide on appropriate displays. A related issue may rise this fall when Texas decides whether to allow specialty license plates featuring the Confederate flag. Photo: Texas Department Of Motor Vehicles / AP       

WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press 

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eleven years ago, when the NAACP stepped up a campaign to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouses and other government buildings across the South, it found an opponent in Rick Perry.

Texas had a pair of bronze plaques with symbols of the Confederacy displayed in its state Supreme Court building. Perry, then lieutenant governor, said they should stay put, arguing that Texans "should never forget our history."

It's a position Perry has taken consistently when the legacy of the Civil War has been raised, as have officials in many of the other former Confederate states. But while defense of Confederate symbols and Southern institutions can still be good politics below the Mason-Dixon line, the subject can appear in a different light when officials seek national office.

For Perry, now Texas governor for 11 years and in the top tier of Republican presidential candidates, a racial issue is already dogging him.

He took criticism over the weekend for a rock outside the Texas hunting camp his family once leased that had the name Niggerhead painted on it. Perry's campaign says the governor's father painted over the rock to cover the name soon after he began leasing the site in the early 1980s and says the Perry family never controlled, owned or managed the property. But rival Herman Cain, the only black Republican in the race, says the rock symbolizes Perry's insensitivity to race.

A related issue may rise this fall when Texas decides whether to allow specialty license plates featuring the Confederate flag. The plates have been requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a nonprofit organization Perry has supported over the years. A state board he appointed will decide.

The NAACP says its initiative against "glorification" of slave-state symbols remains ongoing. "The romanticism around the Old South," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau. "It's a view of history that ignores how racism became a tool to maintain a system of supremacy and dominance."

Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner did not return messages seeking comment on the matter. But Granvel Block, the Texas Division commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the organization appreciated Perry's position on such issues.

Read the rest of the story here:  http://www.chron.com/news/article/Perry-once-defended-Confederate-symbols-2201378.php

Confederate Re-enactment: Comissioning of the Sunny South Guard



Sunny South Guard Confederate Re-enactors in Tampa
Photo by Phil Walters

Story Submitted by Marshall Hester

   GENERAL JUBAL A. EARLY CAMP 556, Tampa,Florida, co-sponsored an authentic re-enactment of the 1861 commissioning ceremony of the Sunny South Guard Regiment, which later became the 4th Florida Infantry Regiment. The event was held September 17, 2011, near the site of the original ceremony in downtown Tampa  It was organized by the Tampa Bay 150 Committee (co-chaired by Early Camp judge advocate David McCallister) and attracted re-enactors from across Florida.

Sons of Confederate Veterans Commander-in-Chief Michael Givens' addressed the gathering, which included his son Chandler portraying a Sunny South Guard volunteer and his daughter Olivia portraying a presenter of the regimental flag. Event co-sponsors and participants also included the Augusta Jane Evans Wilson chapter 2640 United Daughters of the Confederacy, Confederate Cantinieres chapter 2405 UDC, the 3rd Florida Regimental Brass Band, Company K 7th Florida Infantry, The Sunny South Guards Company K 4th Florida Infantry, the Peace River Artillery and living historian Marko Sumney. Early Camp aide de camp Brian Gilmore portrayed regimental commander Capt. John T. Lesley. Veterans of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Franklin, the regiment was surrendered after Bentonville. It was organized with 983 officers and men and lost forty-two percent of the 468 engaged at Murfreesboro, forty percent of the 217 at Chickamauga, and eighty-nine percent of the 172 at Missionary Ridge. The regiment surrendered 23 men in April, 1865

Confederate Re-enactment Ceremony Honors Tampa Bay History

Veterans of Tampa Bay’s own Sunny South Guard will be honored for their duty and sacrifice Saturday, September 17, 2011 at the Poe Plaza in downtown Tampa during a free historical re-enactment.

Tampa, FL –On Saturday, September 17, 1861, 100 of Tampa Bay’s most prominent

citizens formed a civilian militia to protect hearth and home after President Lincoln

called up 70,000 troops to force Florida to re-join the union. They marched off to

defend Florida, in what would become the CivilWar.When the company returned, it

was missing a third of its men. Those that remained went on to become mayors,

sheriffs, State Representatives, and Senators and even a Governor of Florida.

It was sacrifice like this that led the Veterans Administration (VA) to provide

veterans benefits to Confederate and Union soldiers, alike. This is the spirit with

which the Tampa Bay Sesquicentennial Commission will be staging an historical reenactment

of the Flag Presentation Ceremony to the Sunny South Guard that

originally took place on that date in 1861 when Florida seceded from the Union and

joined the Confederate States of America. This free re-enactment will happen just

steps from it’s original Old Fort Brooke location, at 201 N. Franklin Street in

downtown Tampa. During the event, dignitaries will recognize descendants from

the original pioneer families who settled here, and fought for Florida and her sister

states.

“Veterans understand what it means to fight for your country, and to make the

ultimate sacrifice—no matter how popular or unpopular the war,” said David

McCallister, co-chair of the Sesquicentennial Commission. “On this day, we’ll be

honoring descendants of some of Tampa’s most prominent family members who

stepped up to the task when duty called, a honor-worthy act, regardless of political

position”

The re-enactment is being hosted by the Tampa Bay Sesquicentennial Commission, a
group of historical re-enactors, genealogists, descendants of Tampa’s pioneer

families, as well as other civic-minded individuals and organizations interested in

preserving Tampa Bay’s rich history.

Back in 1861, Hillsborough County also included present-day, Manatee and Pinellas

Counties. In June of that year, 100 of the “darling” sons of Hillsborough County

organized themselves into an infantry company known as the Sunny South Guards

and offered themselves to Florida for her defense. Upon receiving orders to report

forWar duty and prior to their departure to Jacksonville in September, the ladies of

Tampa Town presented a company flag in a spectacular, moving presentation

ceremony. It was held at the officer’s barracks at Fort Brooke, Tampa’s militia

headquarters which was captured from Federal hands when Florida seceded.

The unit would be designated the 4th Florida Infantry, Co. K, and assigned to

Hardee’s Corps in the Army of Tennessee, CSA. The “Guards” were engaged at

Murfreesboro and Jackson, and participated in the Campaigns of the Army from

Chickamauga to Nashville and saw action in North Carolina. Some of these men will

killed in the line of duty, some were held as prisoners of war, while others returned

home to help re-build the economy.

The re-enactment will depict the historic events of that day and will include the 11

young ladies that represented each of the States of the Southern Confederacy. Each

will recite a poem and participate in the singing of the “Bonnie Blue Flag.” Up to 100

men in early war attire will portray the Sunny South Guardsmen listed on the Roll of

Honor (see link below to view the Roll and read bios). Onlookers in civilian attire

will represent the families of the men and townspeople who participated in the

ceremony. A special appearance by a re-enactment brass band, the 3rd Florida

Regimental Band, Co. B "St. Augustine Blues"(aka Ancient City Brass Band) in period

civilian attire will play “Dixie” at the end of the flag presentation. One of Florida’s

most famous re-enactors, Thomas Jesse, Cmdr. of the Department of the Gulf, CSA,

will be portraying then US Army Colonel Robert E. Lee.

The Company’s Captain, John T. Lesley, was reported by Tampa Tribune Historical

writer DB McKay in the 1960s to have accepted the flag and said, “Ladies and my

fellow countrymen. It is with humble words, yet in a prideful spirit, that I accept on

behalf of my fellow soldiers of the Guard this beautiful banner of the youthful

Confederate Republic, being delivered to witness before God and the world defense

of the freeman’s inalienable rights as defined by constitutional law.” Lesley, who

was wounded in action, later served as the Mayor of the City of Tampa, Hillsborough

County Sheriff and Florida State Senator.

The re-enactment begins at 3pm a 1860’s brass band concert, followed by the

ceremony and flag presentation re-enactment at 4pm. From 5 to 6pm, guests will

enjoy watching history come alive as re-enactors mix, mingle and discuss the lives

and times of 1861. (Peace River Artillery cannon display)

###

To learn more, visit

http://www.tampabay150.org.

To read the names of the soldiers being honored, visit

http://www.tampabay150.org/roll%20of%20honor.html

Thanks to Marshall Hester for submitting this story.

Confederate Flags on Parade in Brandon, Florida

The Sons of Confederate Veterans Gen. Jubal A. Early Camp 556, Tampa, carried the Colors forward with a vanguard position at the Brandon, Floirida Independence Day Parade, July 4, 2011.  Early Camp's colour guard, led by camp Lt. Commander Wayne Sweat, advanced in front of a camp-sponsored Dixie-themed float.  Camp members and friends gave away 1,400 miniature Confederate Battle Flags to the 50,000-plus spectators.  Early Camp, commanded  by Mike Herring, is home to one of the largest Confederate Battle Flag displays in the United States, a massive banner towering above the I-75 and I-4 junction near Tampa.

Thanks to Marshall Hester for submitting this story and photo.

See the Ad Banned by The History Channel

Video Script:

The Morrill Tariff

Another major cause of the War Between the States of which you've probably never heard was the Morrill Tariff Act initiated in 1859 which increased tariffs on the South from 15 percent to nearly 50 percent. Lincoln's first inaugural address stated his resolve in collecting these taxes no matter what.

He said, "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts (tariffs, in other words), but beyond what way may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion - no using force against or among the people anywhere."

Ultimately, he was willing to sacrifice 620,000 American lives with his illegal invasion of the Southern states who had legally seceded... and all this just to keep money pouring into Washington, DC.

These were the grounds that sparked the first meeting for Secession 150 years ago.

Economic Reason For The War

Below is one of a dozen television spots produced by the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, in commemoration of the upcoming sesquicentennial of the War for Southern Independence.  You can follow the links at the YouTube site to see all of this excellent series.

The New Intolerance

by Patrick J. Buchanan

“This was a recognition of American terrorists.”

That is CNN’s Roland Martin’s summary judgment of the 258,000 men and boys who fell fighting for the Confederacy in a war that cost as many American lives as World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq combined.

Martin reflects the hysteria that seized Obamaville on hearing that Gov. Bob McDonnell had declared Confederate History Month in the Old Dominion. Virginia leads the nation in Civil War battlefields.

So loud was the howling that in 24 hours McDonnell had backpedaled and issued an apology that he had not mentioned slavery.

Unfortunately, the governor missed a teaching moment—at the outset of the 150th anniversary of America’s bloodiest war.

Slavery was indeed evil, but it existed in the Americas a century before the oldest of our founding fathers was even born. Five of our first seven presidents were slaveholders.

But Virginia did not secede in defense of slavery. Indeed, when Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1861, Virginia was still in the Union. Only South Carolina, Georgia and the five Gulf states had seceded and created the Confederate States of America.

At the firing on Fort Sumter, April 12-13, 1861, the first shots of the Civil War, Virginia was still inside the Union. Indeed, there were more slave states in the Union than in the Confederacy. But, on April 15, Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers from the state militias to march south and crush the new Confederacy.

Two days later, April 17, Virginia seceded rather than provide soldiers or militia to participate in a war on their brethren. North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas followed Virginia out over the same issue. They would not be a party to a war on their kinfolk.

Slavery was not the cause of this war. Secession was—that and Lincoln’s determination to drown the nation in blood if necessary to make the Union whole again.

Nor did Lincoln ever deny it.

In his first inaugural, Lincoln sought to appease the states that had seceded by endorsing a constitutional amendment to make slavery permanent in the 15 states where it then existed. He even offered to help the Southern states run down fugitive slaves.

In 1862, Lincoln wrote Horace Greeley that if he could restore the Union without freeing one slave he would do it. The Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, freed only those slaves Lincoln had no power to free—those still under Confederate rule. As for slaves in the Union states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, they remained the property of their owners.

As for “terrorists,” no army fought more honorably than Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Few deny that.

The great terrorist in that war was William Tecumseh Sherman, who violated all the known rules of war by looting, burning and pillaging on his infamous March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah. Sherman would later be given command of the war against the Plains Indians and advocate extermination of the Sioux.

“The only good Indian is a dead Indian” is attributed both to Sherman and Gen. Phil Sheridan, who burned the Shenandoah and carried out Sherman’s ruthless policy against the Indians. Both have statues and circles named for them in Washington, D.C.

If Martin thinks Sherman a hero, he might study what happened to the slave women of Columbia, S.C., when “Uncle Billy’s” boys in blue arrived to burn the city.

What of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, at whose request McDonnell issued his proclamation? What racist deeds have they perpetrated of late?

They tend the graves of Confederate dead and place flags on Memorial Day. They contributed to the restoration of the home of Jefferson Davis, damaged by Hurricane Katrina. They publish the Confederate Veteran, a magazine that relates stories of the ancestors they love to remember. They join environmentalists in fighting to preserve Civil War battlefields. They do re-enactments of Civil War battles with men and boys whose ancestors fought for the Union. And they defend the monuments to their ancestors and the flag under which they fought.

Why are they vilified?

Because they are Southern white Christian men—none of whom defends slavery, but all of whom are defiantly proud of the South, its ancient faith and their forefathers who fell in the Lost Cause.

Undeniably, the Civil War ended in the abolition of slavery and restoration of the Union. But the Southern states believed they had the same right to rid themselves of a government to which they no longer felt allegiance as did Washington, Jefferson and Madison, all slave-owners, who could no longer give loyalty to the king of England.

Consider closely this latest skirmish in a culture war that may yet make an end to any idea of nationhood, and you will see whence the real hate is coming. It is not from Gov. McDonnell or the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Copyright © 2010 Patrick J. Buchanan - All Rights Reserved

This article appears on Mr. Buchanan's website.  You may see it here:
http://buchanan.org/blog/the-new-intolerance-3878

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/  

Secession Monument Proposed for South Carolina

By John McDermott
The Post and Courier

A group seeking to commemorate the 170 South Carolinians who signed the ordinance of secession nearly 150 years ago wants to place a monument to recognize the historic event on the grounds at Patriots Point.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans' South Carolina division is proposing to install an 11 1/2-foot-tall stone memorial as the centerpiece of a 40-foot by 40-foot landscaped plaza at the state-owned tourist attraction.

Designed by Pelion artist Ron Clamp, the rectangular structure would be made from blue Georgia granite and would measure 5 feet wide on each side. It would be lighted and surrounded with benches for visitors.

The group said Tuesday that it would take care of all the up-front costs and set up an endowment fund to cover future maintenance expenses. It asked that the Patriots Point Development Authority pay the electricity bill and have its security personnel include the proposed addition in their rounds to deter vandalism.

Representatives from the group pitched the idea to the authority this week, saying few public monuments exist recognizing the secession convention held in Columbia and Charleston on Dec. 17 and Dec. 20, 1860, helping ignite the Civil War.

The name of each of the signers and the wording of the secession document would be among the text and images engraved on each side of the monument.

Albert Jackson, chairman of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' monument committee, called the secession debate and the subsequent unanimous approval of the ordinance "a significant action" for South Carolina. Most people are not aware of the history behind it, he said.

Jeff Antley, who is in charge of finding a location for the memorial, said organizers want to put the monument at Patriots Points but that they need a firm commitment for a site before they raise the rest of the money for the estimated $160,000 project.

"We believe it belongs out here," Antley said, noting that the waterfront visitor attraction is now a key "gateway to Fort Sumter," where the first shots of the War Between the States were fired in April 1861.

For the complete story go to: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/jan/21/sons-of-confederate-vets-pose-secession-monument/

Photo by Tom Spain

Confederates Remembered in Comanche County, Texas

This colorful monument, erected in 2002 and dedicated on March 24, 2002, stands in front of the Comanche County Courthouse, Comanche, Texas. The recent date on the monument is a testimony to the fact that even as we are approaching the sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, the noble Confederate cause - the struggle for freedom from an oppressive centralized government - is not forgotten.

The inscription reads:

CONFEDERATE

 VETERANS

NOT FOR FAME OR REWARD, NOT FOR

PLACE OR RANK, NOT LURED BY

AMBITION OR GOADED BY NECESSITY,

BUT IN SIMPLE OBEDIENCE TO DUTY

AS THEY UNDERSTOOD IT, FOR FOUR

WEARY YEARS THESE BRAVE MEN

SUFFERED ALL, SACRIFICED ALL, DARED

ALL, AND FACING DEATH CARRIED THE

BANNERS OF THE CONFEDERACY.

THESE SOLDIERS OFFERED THEIR LIVES

ON THE ALTER OF THEIR

COUNTRY'S LIBERTY

DEDICATED BY

THE SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS

2ND TEXAS FRONTIER DISTRICT CAMP 1904

AND PATRIOTIC CITIZENS WHO

GENEROUSLY CONTRIBUTED

A.D. 2002

1861 - 1865

Florida Sons of Confederate Veterans Score a Victory

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, Florida Division, as scored a major victory in its efforts to obtain a specialty Florida license plate for Confederate Heritage.  

Two years ago the SCV applied for a “Confederate Heritage” plate, but politically correct lawmakers, with neither justification nor legal standing, refused to take action on the application. This past January the SCV was forced to file a lawsuit in against the state of Florida, demanding that the legislature do their duty.

The complaint was dismissed by U.S. District Judge John Antoon II in Orlando, citing legislative immunity from litigation. However, the federal judge refused to drop the case against the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The ruling forces the state to either approve the application or fight the lawsuit. Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans feel that they stand on solid constitutional grounds in their demands.

Attorney Fred O’Neal, who represents the group of descendents of Confederate soldiers, said that the judge’s order ``is a huge step forward for our case and the ruling will pave the way for the Confederate Heritage plate to become a reality,''

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, organized in 1896, is the oldest hereditary organization for male descendents of Confederate soldiers. The non-profit fraternity serves as a historical, patriotic, and non-political organization dedicated to ensuring that a true history of the 1861-1865 period is preserved.

Membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans includes Whites, Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Native Americans, and others of varied ethnic backgrounds.  It is open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America.  The organization boasts more than 53 camps and over 1,650 members throughout the state of Florida.

Grave of former Confederate Officer and Mayor of Jacksonville gets Headstone

By Jessie-Lynne Kerr
NewsJacksonville.com

For 83 years, the remains of William H. Sebring have been in an unmarked grave in the Masonic section of Evergreen Cemetery.

Not a very fitting memorial for a man who served as mayor of Jacksonville from 1907 to 1909.

But thanks to the efforts of members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Kirby-Smith Camp No. 1209, which Sebring once commanded, and Solomon Lodge No. 20 of the Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was a member, a headstone honoring his service not only as mayor but as a Confederate soldier will be dedicated in a ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday.

It all began months ago, when Calvin Hart, commander of the Kirby-Smith Camp, was browsing through Uncle Davey’s Americana, a Civil War memorabilia shop in the Lakewood area of the Southside.

“I found a photo of a gentleman in a Confederate officer’s uniform with his name and 'Mayor of Jacksonville’ written on the back,” Hart said. “I had never heard of him.”

Intrigued, Hart began his research at the old City Cemetery. He and fellow members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have been working the past 18 months refurbishing the cemetery and redoing the Confederate bandstand and the Confederate plot of graves from the Soldiers Home landmark. But he found that Sebring had not been buried there.

Next he went to Evergreen Cemetery, where records showed the former mayor had been buried there Feb. 17, 1926, after dying three days earlier at his daughter’s home in Swannanoa, N.C., at the age of 85. But Sebring’s grave was unmarked.

So members of the Solomon Masonic lodge paid $600 for Sebring’s 300-pound-plus headstone to be made of South Carolina white marble.

Hart, who works for JEA, considers himself an amateur historian but a dedicated Son of Confederate Veterans. He is unrelated to Isaiah Hart, considered one of Jacksonville’s founders. The next stop on his research path was the Jacksonville Public Library, searching through microfilm editions of The Florida Times-Union. He also pored through Confederate veteran histories.

Hart found that Sebring was born Christmas Day 1840 near St. Louis and raised on a farm. He attended an academy in St. Louis but at 14 began working as a clerk in a country store. Soon the lure of the West called and he spent several years working on the railroad. At 18, Sebring went to Memphis, Tenn., to read law under Thomas D. Eldridge.

On April 1, 1861, at age 20, Sebring enlisted in the 2nd Tennessee Regiment.

During his service, he sustained a stomach wound that took some time to mend. In 1863 he was transferred to the Confederate Secret Service, carrying military dispatches from the Confederate War Department in Richmond, Va., to various units.

He was captured July 15 that year, tried as a spy and was condemned to be shot. But he and three fellow prisoners managed to escape on June 18, 1864, and made it back across Federal lines to Richmond.

Sebring moved to Bronson, Fla., from Kentucky in 1871 and served as Levy County judge for four years beginning in 1877. He was commissioned a brigadier general of the Florida Militia in 1884. His highest rank in the Confederate Army had been lieutenant.

There's more.  For the rest of the story go to:  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-11-27/story/grave_of_former_jacksonville_mayor_finally_gets_recognized

Photo by Rick Wilson, Florida Times-Union

Confederate flag swept to sidelines in Homestead parade

South Florida Times
By Elgin Jones

HOMESTEAD, FL - A handful of Confederate flag wavers who wanted to participate in Wednesday’s Veterans Day parade were relegated instead to spectators on the sidelines.

“This is a great day, but also a sad one,” said Gary Kalof, commander of a Sons of Confederate Veterans camp in Miami-Dade County. He watched the parade from a sidewalk.

“This is what the NAACP wanted, for us to be banned,’’ Kalof said. “They wanted to divide this community, which is what they always do.”

Dressed in clothing with Confederate battle flag designs on them, four members of two different Confederate states organizations; the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Southern MC [a Confederate motorcycle club] stood in one location, waving their flags.

Banned from participating in the parade procession, the men gathered in a single location along the parade route.

“The parade is great, and I don’t think anyone ever doubted it would be,” Southern MC member James Myers said. “We’re all Americans, and it’s just sad to see a veterans organization banned from a parade in this country.”

Other people who watched the parade had a different reaction.

“This is absolutely great! It’s the most dignified Veterans Day parade I’ve seen in Homestead, and I’ve seen many,” said Rosemary Fuller.

Pat Mellerson, a local business owner, expressed similar views.

“It was a very nice family event, and we look forward to many more,” Mellerson said.

Fuller and Mellerson are the two women who expressed outrage at seeing the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in last’s year’s parade. The next day, they began a successful effort to have the groups and their flags banned from future events. The Miami-Dade NAACP joined their efforts to ban the flag from the parade and other publically sanctioned events.

In the process, they galvanized widespread support from a cross-section of the community in a movement that also saw four Homestead city council members defeated in last week’s municipal elections here.

“This is what we wanted. Respect for others’ feelings, and now we have it,” Mellerson said.

This year’s parade included over 30 organizations, including school bands. Fuller, a regular attendee of the parades, said it was about a quarter of the usual number of floats and organizations, and attributed this directly to the flag controversy.

“Who wants to come to an event where all of this nonsense is going on?” Fuller asked over the blare of police sirens and marching bands. “There are some people who wanted to kill the parade, instead of telling the Confederates now way, but the people spoke, and this just great.”

The Boy Scouts of America did not participate due to the flag controversy, which was not resolved in time for the organization to reconsider. However, a local troop did lead the pledge of allegiance, and stood next to the grand stand during the parade.

The controversy first began during last year’s parade when some black residents expressed outrage at seeing people dressed in Confederate soldier’s uniforms, marching and displaying Confederate battle flags.

Some people associate the Confederate flag with slavery, lynching, and racism. Others view it as a symbol of southern heritage, pride and that of a patriotic veteran’s group.

Mellerson and Fuller said they accomplished their goal, but will continue monitoring the parade and other public events to make sure the ban is not lifted.

“We made sure we stayed until the end of the parade, to make sure no one would try to pull anything, and this is what we will do throughout the year,” Mellerson said.


Photo by Elgin Jone/SFT Staff. Pictured above, from left to right, are Williams Patterson, Gary Kaloff and John Edge.

See the South Florida Times story here:  http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3535&Itemid=199

Confederate statue headed for a new home?

Ocala.com
By Bill Thompson

"Johnny Reb" might be on the march.

County Commissioner Charlie Stone announced on Tuesday that some private groups are interested in relocating the two-story-tall, 15-ton statue depicting a Confederate infantryman from its current spot on the grounds of the courthouse to the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park.

Stone declined to identify who was behind the effort, noting that they were local residents interested in veterans' and historical issues.

Yet, Stone said, they would be willing to "fully fund" the $25,000 that county officials estimate it would cost to move the monument from the Marion County Judicial Center in downtown Ocala to the park, which is a couple of miles away at Fort King Street and Southeast 25th Avenue.

The statue of the musket-bearing soldier, known commonly as Johnny Reb, was moved in 2007 to make way for the $41 million expansion of the facility. Crews moved the monument from its post in front of the five-story county courthouse to a nook in the building's south side fronting Northwest First Street.

That expansion project is expected to be completed in January. But Johnny was expected to stay put.

In December 2007 Pat Howard, the former county administrator, had informed a representative of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who had inquired about the statue's future that Johnny Reb's new site was permanent.

In a Star-Banner article published on Sunday, county officials said new County Administrator Lee Niblock could not justify the cost to return Johnny to the front of the building, or relocating him anywhere else, such as the park, as some have proposed.

Stone told fellow commissioners at Tuesday's meeting that he recently had received calls from the potential benefactors whose interest was based on the county finding a "prudent" way to move Johnny to the park.

The rest of the commission acknowledged that they were interested in exploring the issue, but did not make a formal decision on whether to actually relocate the statue.

The five-figure price tag for moving the statue is attributed to the need for a specialized moving company and the fact that Johnny Reb, which is three parts fitted together, must be dismantled and reassembled.

The statue has been at the entrance to the county courthouse for almost a century - and, in more recent years, has periodically provoked controversy.

Read the complete story here:  http://www.ocala.com/article/20091104/articles/911041011?tc=autorefresh

Eighteen Black Confederates to be Honored in Pulaski, Tennessee

A marker dedication for 18 black Confederates at Maplewood Cemetery is scheduled next weekend in Pulaski.

Members of the Gen. John C. Brown Camp #112, Sons of Confederate Veterans, raised money to buy markers. They needed $2,500 and have raised most of it.

Officials at Maplewood Cemetery offered a plot for the markers — a section with unmarked graves that would not be used for burials. It is at the start of the cemetery’s black section where five of the 18 men are buried.

A tribute will be read to each man at the dedication service. Cathy Wood with the Daughters of the Confederacy, has collected death certificates, obituaries and whatever else she could find along with the pension records. Little is known about some of them, but descendants of four have been found.

The flat granite markers will give each man’s name, date of birth, unit and where he is buried. Wood would like to enclose the plot with a wrought iron fence to call attention to the memorial markers.

The November 8th service will be a traditional UDC ritual, like a military funeral. The ceremony will be open to the public.

To see the story on the WKSR website go here:  http://www.wksr.com/wksr.php?rfc=src/article.html&id=22400

Niece of Black Confederate Veteran tells her Story

Lt. Commander for S.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans hands Alice Gallman a DVD about her great uncle John Alex Sarter, a soldier in the Confederate army who fought first as a slave and later as a free man.

From the Columbia Star

By Jessica Cross

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - Alice Gallman has fought for what she believes her whole life. This 87- year- old Columbia woman's great uncle, a former slave and Confederate soldier, John Alex Sarter, had that same fighting spirit.

Gallman contacted Lt. Commander for S.C.'s Sons of Confederate Veterans and also the founder of radiofreedixie.com Don Gordon and asked him to investigate her great uncle's history. Gordon found Sarter fought for the Confederacy first as a slave and later as a free man. His owner, William Sarter was appointed Captain of S.C.'s 18th Infantry Regiment, Company B on August of 1862. Sarter died the following September from his war wounds. But Alex Sarter chose to enlist after William died.

Sarter was later captured by Union soldiers and forced to help dig a tunnel the army filled with explosives. The Union army used the explosion to divide Confederate forces during the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia. The SCV gave an account of the battle in a DVD Gordon presented to Gallman on September 2, 2009. The footage chronicled a memorial service by the SCV at Sarter's gravesite.

But Gallman remembers Sarter as her wise, old uncle. When she was a girl growing up in Union, the adults would sit around the fire in the winter and have what they called "fireside chats." Gallman remembers sneaking up behind Sarter and eavesdropping on the adults' conversations. She said she learned a lot from the older generations.

Gallman's grandparents were sharecroppers. Gallman was her mother's first bi- racial child. Her father was Jewish. She said her status made growing up difficult. "There were so many days I didn't have a bite of bread," she said. But humble up bringing didn't stop Gallman from giving her time, energy, and skills to other people who needed help.

Gallman taught the poor to can vegetables, so they would have foodstuffs when times were lean. And when she was a teenager she taught people how to construct mattresses made of cotton instead of straw.

Gallman has fought for the poor and she was involved in helping African- American teachers receive adequate books instead of the damaged hand- me- downs used by white children.

Today, Gallman shares her stories and wisdom with younger generations. Gallman worked hard to send her daughter to Heathwood Hall Episcopal School. Her daughter later attended Yale University and went into the law profession. And her son worked at the Pentagon.

Alice Gallman, like her uncle, has been a fighter.

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Reprinted with permission from the Columbia Star. For the original article click here: http://www.thecolumbiastar.com/news/2009/0911/society/041.html

Confederates at an Ohio County Fair

Sons of Confederate Veterans Booth at the Highland County Fair, Hillsboro, Ohio

On the afternoon of September 9, 2009, I visited the Highland County Fair in Hillsboro, Ohio and was delighted to find a booth sponsored by the Cincinnati Camp #1536 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. It is being operated by Bud and Lisa Strausbaugh of Hillsboro. Bud's Confederate ancestors were from North Carolina and Lisa's from Kentucky. They were enthusiastic about their cause and seemed to be having a good week in answering questions about the Confederacy, selling Confederate souvenir items, and recruiting new members to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

It should be no real surprise that a Confederate heritage organization has such a visible presence in a Northern state. After all, a large number of people from Ohio sided with the Confederate States during the War for Southern Independence, including no less than six Confederate generals who were originally from the Buckeye State. In addition, many thousands of Southerners have moved north of the Ohio River over the years. Ohio currently has seven chapters or camps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Both the number of camps and the membership in those camps is growing, and becoming more active.

I had a good visit with Bud and Lisa at the SCV booth. They shared with me several encouraging stories of their activities - speaking in schools, operating Confederate booths, holding memorial services, marching in parades, etc. Recently, the Sons of Confederate Veterans was awarded first place prize in a parade in northern Ohio, near the shores of Lake Erie.

Bud and Lisa Strausbaugh in the SCV Booth, Hillsboro County Fair

Sons of Confederate Veterans is a heritage organization founded in 1896, in Richmond, Virginia. For well over a century they have continued to serve as a historical, patriotic, and non-political fraternity dedicated to sharing and preserving the true history of the Confederate States of America and the War of 1861-1865.

Click here to learn more about the Sons of Confederate Veterans: http://www.scv.org/ .