April is
also Confederate History Month
By: Calvin
E. Johnson, Jr., Chairman of the National and Georgia Division,
Sons of
Confederate Veterans, Confederate History Month Committee---www.scv.org
1064 West
Mill Drive
Kennesaw,
Georgia 30152
Phone: 770
428 0978
“A people without the knowledge of their past
history, origin and culture is like a tree without
roots.”—Marcus Garvey
On
Thursday, March 12, 2009, the Georgia State Senate passed bill No.
27, by a vote of 48-2, designating April as Confederate Heritage
and History Month. I understand that it has now been voted out of
committee for a full House vote. Supporters of this bill say
quote,
“The
measure would be a boom to the state’s tourism industry,
encouraging visitors to come to Georgia’s Civil War Battlefield
sites.” Unquote
Read information on the bill at
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/sb27.htm
The
diversity of the Old South still holds the imagination of many
people who come from around the world to see; Southern Belle’s
with hoop skirts, Confederate flags and soldier memorials like the
Confederate Memorial carving of: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson
and Jefferson Davis at Stone Mountain Memorial Park near Atlanta.
This story
is written in the spirit of the Sesquicentennial, 150th
Anniversary of the War Between the States, which will be
commemorated throughout the USA from 2011 to 2015.
Americans
observe Black, Jewish, Hispanic, Native American and Women’s
History Month…..And in April we also remember ‘Confederate History
Month’ in tribute to those Americans who took their stand for what
some historians call the ‘Second American Revolution.’
April is an important month in America's history. The Great
Locomotive Chase, where Union spies attempted to steal the
Confederate Locomotive "The General" and destroy rail lines and
bridges, took place on April 12, 1862. The month of April has
become to be known as Confederate History and Heritage Month when
proclamations will be signed by Governors, Commissioners and
Mayors.
The
Congress of the United States has officially in past years
recognized America's war, of 1861 to 1865, as the War Between the
States. This tragic war claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands
of brothers, uncles and husbands. Though they were enemies on the
battlefield, after the war, the men of blue and gray sponsored
reunions at such places as Gettysburg. The soldier told war
stories while the United States and Confederate flags flew briskly
in the warm summer breeze.
Why do some schools ignore the teaching
of American history? Boys and girls once learned about American
soldiers who for over 200 years marched off to war. The church
hymn book once included "Onward Christian Soldiers." The young
people read about: George Washington, Robert E. Lee and Booker T.
Washington. Northern and Southern children stood up proudly to
sing patriotic songs from a standard song book that included
"Dixie".
After the end of the War Between the
States, Northern and Southern women formed memorial organizations.
They made sure all soldiers were given a Christian burial and a
marked grave. Memorial Days were begun in many states North and
South of the famous Mason-Dixon Line. Confederate graves were also
cared for in the North and Union graves in the South. Great
monuments were also erected that still cast a giant shadow over
many town squares and soldiers' cemeteries across the U.S.A.
April 26, has become to be recognized
as Confederate Memorial Day in many states. For over one hundred
years the Ladies' Memorial Association, United Daughters of the
Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans have held memorial
services on or near this day. Other Southern States recognize this
day, which began as Decoration Day, on May 10th and June 3rd,
which is the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Efforts to mark Confederate graves,
erect monuments and hold memorial services were the idea of Mrs.
Charles J. Williams. It is written that she was an educated and
kind lady. Her husband served as Colonel of the 1st Georgia
Regiment during the war. He died of disease in 1862, and was
buried in his home town of Columbus, Georgia.
Mrs. Williams and her daughter visited
his grave often and cleared the weeds, leaves and twigs from it,
then placed flowers on it. Her daughter also pulled the weeds from
other Confederate graves near her Father.
It saddened the little girl that their
graves were unmarked. With tears of pride she said to her Mother,
"These are my soldiers' graves." The daughter soon became ill and
passed away in her childhood. Mrs. William's grief was almost
unbearable.
On a visit to the graves of her husband
and daughter, Mrs. Williams looked at the unkept soldiers' graves
and remembered her daughter as she cleaned the graves and what the
little girl had said. She knew what had to do.
Mrs. Williams wrote a letter that was
published in Southern newspapers asking the women of the South for
their help. She asked that memorial organizations be established
to take care of the thousands of Confederate graves from the
Potomac River to the Rio Grande. She also asked the state
legislatures to set aside a day in April to remember the men who
wore the gray. With her leadership April 26 was officially adopted
in many states. She died in 1874, but not before her native state
of Georgia adopted it as a legal holiday.
Among the gallant women of the
Confederacy was Captain Sally Tomkins, CSA who was the only woman
to be commissioned on either side of the War Between the States.
Commissioned by Jefferson Davis, she took care of thousands of
soldiers in Richmond, Virginia until the end of the war.
Those who served the Confederacy came
from many races and religions. There was Irish born General
Patrick R. Cleburne, black Southerner Amos Rucker, Jewish born
Judah P. Benjamin, Mexican born Colonel Santos Benavides, Cherokee
American Indian General Stand Watie- the highest ranking officer
on either side, and Major Gen. Camille Armand Jules Marie,
Prince de Polignac born in France.
Please go to:
http://confederateheritagemonth.com or
http://confederatehistorymonth.com
to read more about Confederate History
Month.
Sir
Winston Churchill said that the Confederate Army's fight against
overwhelming odds is one of the most glorious moments in
Anglo-Saxon history.
Lest We Forget!!
|
From
the May, 1893 issue of "Confederate Veteran,"
the
Origin of Memorial Day
It
is a matter of history that Mrs. Chas. J. Williams, of
Columbus, Ga., instituted the beautiful custom of decorating
soldiers' graves with flowers, a custom which has been
adopted throughout the United States. Mrs. Williams was the
daughter of Maj. John Howard, of Milledgeville, Ga., and was
a superior woman. She married Maj. C. J. Williams on his
return from the Mexican War. As colonel of the First Georgia
Regulars, of the Army in Virginia, he contracted disease,
from which he died in 1862, and was buried in Columbus, Ga.
Mrs.
Williams and her little girl visited his grave every day,
and often comforted themselves by wreathing it with flowers.
While the mother sat abstractly thinking of the loved and
lost one, the little one would pluck the weeds from the
unmarked soldiers' graves near her father's and cover them
with flowers, calling them her soldiers' graves.
After
a short time while the dear little girl was summoned by the
angels to join her father. The sorely bereaved mother then
took charge of these unknown graves for the child's sake,
and as she cared for them thought of the thousands of
patriot graves throughout the South, far away from home and
kindred, and in this way the plan was suggested to her of
setting apart one day in each year, that love might pay
tribute to valor throughout the Southern States. In March,
1868, she addressed a communication to the Columbus Times,
an extract of which I give:
"We
beg the assistance of the press and the ladies throughout
the South to aid us in the effort to set apart a certain day
to be observed from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and to be
handed down through time as a religious custom of the South,
to wreathe the graves of our martyred dead with flowers, and
we propose the 26th day of April as the day."
She
then wrote to the Soldiers' Aid Societies in every Southern
State, and they readily responded and reorganized under the
name of Memorial Associations. She lived long enough to see
her plan adopted all over the South, and in 1868 throughout
the United States. Mrs. Williams died April 15, 1874, and
was buried with military honors. On each returning Memorial
Day the Columbus military march around her grave, and each
deposits a floral offering.
The
Legislature of Georgia, in 1866, set apart the 26th day of
April as a legal holiday in obedience to her request. Would
be that every Southern State observed the same day.
|
eMail this Page
|
