Recently, in another post, I spoke of how the Eureka, Illinois Civil War monument would be restored to its 1868 glory. Today I can happily report that the work is finished and the monument looks stunning. Please see the photos below. In future posts I will be discussing the regiment honored here, the 86th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and the men who served. Stay tuned.
From the Southern Heritage Preservation Group Facebook site…
It seems that Mrs. Martha Van Scheck, President General of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, filed a Trespassing Enforcement Authorization Letter with the Richmond Police just days after the incident in which the UDC called the police on the Va Flaggers for standing on the edge of their curb to take a photo. As you can clearly hear in the audio, the Richmond Police informed the Va Flaggers that, according to the instructions they received from the UDC, “You are welcome…your person…but they don’t want the flags on there,…so just don’t take the flags on there.” They told us that the letter was filed specifically for the Flaggers, to prevent us from carrying Confederate flags on the grounds of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. They further stated that by the authority the UDC has granted, Flaggers will be arrested if they are caught carrying a Confederate flag on the UDC grounds. This is in direct contradiction to earlier claims by UDC officials that the issues with trespassing had nothing to do with the Va Flaggers, or our flags. For those who may not be aware of what has occurred over the past few months, I have posted links to the correspondence between the Va Flaggers and the UDC.
Here is the first communication, requesting Battle Flags to be raised in support of the Confederate War Memorial and the Va Flaggers: http://www.vaflaggers.com/udc1.pdf
This is the response we received: http://www.vaflaggers.com/udc1.5.pdf
Here is our initial report from the March 10 incident: http://www.vaflaggers.com/udc3.pdf
The statement issued by the President General, UDC: http://hqudc.org/about/pg_statement/index.html …
and our response: http://www.vaflaggers.com/udc2.pdf
Once again the Va. Flaggers get a dose of what private property means. It also appears that they will have a “massive…maybe another turnout of 400 people…demonstration on June 2nd according to their ring leader Susan Frise Hathaway…
For those who choose to defend our heritage, OUR TIME IS NOW.! The line in the sand has been drawn. NO MORE will we sit idly by as our flags are removed and our ancestors are attacked. We are calling on every Southerner to join us in standing against those who would DARE to remove Confederate Battle Flags from the portico of a Memorial Chapel, and, sadly, those whose words and deeds prove them complicit with their efforts.
Saturday, June 2nd, we will be gathering for a mass Flagging on the Boulevard, immediately following the Memorial Service honoring Jefferson Davis’ birthday at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. We invite you to attend the 9:00 a.m. ceremony and then join us on the Boulevard and be part of those who are changing hearts and minds, and forwarding the colors with honor.
We shall see…
Since Connie Chastain/Ward/Reb has declared that this site…as well as Andy’s, Kevin’s and Brook’s…is a South/Dixie-bashing site, I thought I would do some old school Dixie bashing. Also, beyond the fun of “Dixie Bashing” I thought we could make a game out of it. I am going to post a quote that bashes Dixie…or at least is one person opinion of Dixie…and you, the reader, can try and guess the name of the person who made the quote.
So here it is…
“For the first time we have had the chance to examine the effect that slavery produces on a society. On the right bank of the Ohio everything is activity, industry, labor is honored, there are no slaves. Pass to the left bank and the scene changes so suddenly that you think yourself on the other side of the world. The enterprising spirit seems gone. There work is not only painful, it’s shameful, and you degrade yourself in submitting yourself to it. To ride, to hunt, to smoke like a Turk in the sunshine, there’s the destiny of the white man. To do any other kind of manual labor is to act like a slave.”
So, make good guesses and we shall see who the winner is…boy I hope Connie doesn’t win…but she has not told me what history books she reads and I doubt she reads any, so I feel she will not come in first. Best of luck.
This story comes from Right Wing Watch.Org and discusses how..
“…every time Lou Engle leads a The Call prayer rally, the future of America is at stake. Later this month, Engle will be bringing The Call to Fredericksburg, Virginia, this time with the help of televangelist Pat Robertson. Engle said that his rally intends to “intercede on behalf of the blood that has been shed as a result of racism and abortion and ask for God’s mercy on behalf of our nation” by praying at Civil War sites, and Robertson claimed the event is part of a “spiritual battle which can only be won by overwhelming prayer”.
I wonder why in a 150 years of the American people, someone did not think of this before…it is so simple…I mean all I need to do is pray over and over that Neo-Confederates like Connie Chastain/Ward/Reb could somehow understand the history of the conflict and all the racism and hatred that she will not denounce would just wash away.
Also it appears that God is now channeling Abraham Lincoln according to event planner Lou Engle…
“The word Lou received from God is, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.””
It appears all the Lost Causers were right about the sainthood of Lincoln…but they were just a bit off…Lincoln was not canonized by the North, he damn well took the thrown himself and is now talking to evangelicals.
May God (and Lincoln if he can) help us all!
After a few months of being very busy I take time now to continue the series I began months ago called “Their Own Words” and look towards finishing The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl by Eliza Frances Andrews. I last left Eliza and her family and friends traveling across the path of Sherman’s March across Georgia and Eliza hand just recounted how some Confederate soldiers killed Yankee prisoners.
In this post we pick up Eliza’s story as they encounter some of the damage done by Sherman’s men, however you will notice that there is planting for the next season’s crops just three weeks after the passing of Sherman’s destructive army.
“Before crossing the Oconee at Milledgeville we ascended an immense hill, from which there was a fine view of the town, with Gov. Brown’s fortifications in the foreground and the river rolling at our feet. The Yankees had burnt the bridge, so we had to cross on a ferry. There was a long train of vehicles ahead of us, and it was nearly an hour before our turn came, so we had ample time to look about us. On our left was a field where 30,000 Yankees had camped hardly three weeks before. It was strewn with the débris they had left behind, and the poor people of the neighborhood were wandering over it, seeking for anything they could find to eat, even picking up grains of corn that were scattered around where the Yankees had fed their horses. We were told that a great many valuables were found there at first, – plunder that the invaders had left behind, but the place had been picked over so often by this time that little now remained except tufts of loose cotton, piles of half-rotted grain, and the carcasses of slaughtered animals, which raised a horrible stench. Some men were plowing in one part of the field, making ready for next year’s crop.”
Later on they come to more of the destruction and encounter the famed Sherman’s neckties…
“Safely over the swamp, we dined on the scraps left in our baskets, which afforded but a scanty meal. The cold and wind had increased so that we could hardly keep our seats, but the roads improved somewhat as we advanced, and the aspect of the country was beautiful in spite of all that the vandalism of war had done to disfigure its fair face. Every few hundred yards we crossed beautiful, clear streams with luxuriant swamps along their borders, gay with shining evergreens and bright winter berries. But when we struck the Central R.R. at Gordon, the desolation was more complete than anything we had yet seen. There was nothing left of the poor little village but ruins, charred and black as Yankee hearts. The pretty little dépot presented only a shapeless pile of bricks capped by a crumpled mass of tin that had once covered the roof. The R.R. track was torn up and the iron twisted into every conceivable shape. Some of it was wrapped round the trunks of trees, as if the cruel invaders, not satisfied with doing all the injury they could to their fellowmen, must spend their malice on the innocent trees of the forest, whose only fault was that they grew on Southern soil. Many fine young sapling were killed in this way, but the quickest and most effective method of destruction was to lay the iron across piles of burning cross-ties, and while heated in the flames it was bent and warped so as to be entirely spoiled. A large force is now at work repairing the road; as the repairs advance a little every day, the place for meeting the train is constantly changing and not always easy to find.”
Again, despite the destruction, by as early as three weeks later the rails were being repaired and service on the railroad returning to normal. Eventually Eliza and her fellow travelers would make it to their destinations and find living in the track of Sherman’s destruction was not all that horrible.
“ It was delightful to get into clean, comfortable quarters at the Lanier House. Metta got into bed and went right off to sleep, and I lay down for awhile, but was so often disturbed by friendly messages and inquiries that I got up and dressed for dinner. I put on my pretty flowered merino that had been freshened up with black silk ruchings that completely hid the worn places, and the waist made over with Elizabethan sleeves, so that it looked almost like a new dress, besides being very becoming, as the big sleeves helped out my figure by their fullness. I frizzed my hair and put on the head-dress of black velvet ribbon and gold braid that Cousin Sallie Farley gave me. I think I must have looked nice, because I heard several people inquiring who I was when I went into the dining-room. I had hardly put in the last pin when a servant came to announce that Mr. Charles Day, Mary’s father, had called. He was the only person in the drawing-room when I entered and made a very singular, not to say, striking appearance, with his snow-white hair framing features of such a peculiar dark complexion that he made me think of some antique piece of wood-carving. The impression was strengthened by a certain stiffness of manner that is generally to be noticed in all men of Northern birth and education. Not long after, Harry Day called. He said that Mary * was in Savannah, cut off by Sherman so that they could get no news of her. He didn’t even know whether mother’s invitation had reached her.
Gussie and Mary Lou Lamar followed the Days, and I was kept so busy receiving callers and answering inquiries about Mett that I didn’t have time to find out how tired and sleepy I was till I went to bed. Judge Vason happened to be at the hotel when we arrived, and insisted that we should pack up and go with him to Albany next day and stay at his house till we were both well rid of the measles – for it stands to reason that I shall take it after nursing Metta. He said that it had just been through his family from A to Z, so there was no danger of our communicating it to anybody there. Then Mrs. Edward Johnston came and proposed taking us to her house, and on Dr. Shine’s advice I decided to accept this invitation, as it would hardly be prudent for Metta to travel in her present condition, and we could not get proper attention for her at the hotel. I could not even get a chambermaid without going the whole length of the corridor to ring the bell and waiting there till somebody came to answer it.”
This ends my post for today. Next we shall look at how Eliza saw plantation life between Jan. 1 and April 3, 1865.
