Date published: 8/17/2009 – Fredericksburg.com

BY PETE CIHELKA

Original Article

About a year ago, Jackson Lee Sulcer (above), 7, came to the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg looking for a dirty grave. He happened on the grave site of Virginia soldier Samuel Davis, which appeared unkempt to the boy, so he decided to tidy it up.

"The [headstone] looked scraped and I was kind of putting spit on my finger and cleaning it off," the Stafford County youth said.

Since that day, Jackson–who was voted "history hero" in his Ferry Farm Elementary second-grade class–has become a frequent visitor to the historic cemetery.

About every other week, he checks in on Davis’ grave to make sure it’s tidy. He removes any weeds that may have popped up near the Virginian’s tombstone, and brushes away any leaves that may cover the site.

On a recent visit, he placed a small Confederate battle flag at the base of Davis’ headstone and made an arrangement out of pine cones. Then he paused and said a prayer for the fallen soldier.

Jackson has tried to find information about Davis on the Internet, but hasn’t had any luck. Nonetheless, he believes Davis was a good man who deserves the respect of having a clean resting place.

"I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years," said Jackson’s father, Jason. "I think the fact that he’s remembering this soldier this way is amazing."

Webmaster Comment

  God bless this child for remembering those who sacrificed for what they believed in and God bless his parents for teaching him the importance of honoring those who served.  We can all learn something from his example.

By Calvin E. Johnson Jr.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Originally posted on the SCV Blog

Monday, July 13th, in the year of our Lord 2009, is the 188th birthday of American legend and Southern Hero–Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

President Obama continued a century-old tradition, on Memorial Day, by honoring American Servicemen and women buried at Arlington National Cemetery and sending a wreath to the Confederate and Black Union soldier’s section.

Some criticized Obama for remembering the Confederate soldiers buried at section 16 but, like his predecessors, the president did the historically-correct and Patriotic thing in remembering ‘All’ American Veterans.

Almost a century earlier, on June 4, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson spoke at Arlington National Cemetery on the occasion of the unveiling of a new Confederate Monument by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. His speech echoed praise for the Confederate soldier and he received applause from a crowd of thousands that included Confederate and Union Veterans.

Will the circle, of remembering our American family, be unbroken?

Some, today, seek to ban the Confederate Battle flag, the blood-stained soldier’s banner of many hard fought battles, from Veterans Day events and the soldier’s monument at South Carolina’s State Capitol. There is also a push to ban the Confederate flag at all NASCAR races.

Some groups claim the Southern flag is offensive to Black people.

But, what do they say to Black folks who call the Confederate flag a symbol of Southern Pride like Nelson Winbush of Florida who is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans—www.scv.org? Mr. Winbush speaks truthfully and from the heart about the War for Southern Independence, 1861-65, and of his grandfather who fought for the South. He may even ‘proudly’ show you a picture of himself, as a child, with his Grandfather, Louis Napoleon Nelson, who rode with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in Company M of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry and was buried with his Confederate uniform and Confederate flag draped casket.

Gen. Forrest said of the Black men who rode with him, “These boys stayed with me … and better Confederates did not live.”

You might also ask Black Southern-Historian H.K. Edgerton who marched across Dixie from North Carolina to Texas attired in Confederate uniform, carrying the Confederate flag and educating many Black and White people along the way about their Southern Heritage. Edgerton is also past president of the local NAACP Chapter in Asheville, North Carolina.

Was Gen. Forrest an early advocate for Civil Rights?

Forrest’s speech during a meeting of the Jubilee of Pole Bearers is a story that needs to be told. Gen. Forrest was the first white man to be invited by this group which was a forerunner of today’s Civil Right’s group. A reporter of the Memphis Avalanche newspaper was sent to cover the event.

Miss Lou Lewis, daughter of a Pole Bearer member, was introduced to Forrest and she presented the former general a bouquet of flowers as a token of reconciliation, peace and good will. On July 5, 1875, Nathan Bedford Forrest delivered this speech.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I accept the flowers as a memento of reconciliation between the white and colored races of the Southern states. I accept it more particularly as it comes from a colored lady, for if there is any one on God’s earth who loves the ladies I believe it is myself. (Immense applause and laughter.) I came here with the jeers of some white people, who think that I am doing wrong. I believe I can exert some influence, and do much to assist the people in strengthening fraternal relations, and shall do all in my power to elevate every man, to depress none. (Applause.)

I want to elevate you to take positions in law offices, in stores, on farms, and wherever you are capable of going. I have not said anything about politics today. I don’t propose to say anything about politics. You have a right to elect whom you please; vote for the man you think best, and I think, when that is done, you and I are freemen. Do as you consider right and honest in electing men for office. I did not come here to make you a long speech, although invited to do so by you. I am not much of a speaker, and my business prevented me from preparing myself. I came to meet you as friends, and welcome you to the white people. I want you to come nearer to us.

When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I’ll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand.” (Prolonged applause.) End of speech.

Nathan Bedford Forrest again thanked Miss Lewis for the bouquet and then gave her a kiss on the cheek. Such a kiss was unheard of in the society of those days, in 1875, but it showed a token of respect and friendship between the general and the black community and did much to promote harmony among the citizens of Memphis, Tennessee.

Some people have claimed that Forrest was associated with the Ku Klux Klan but he officially denied participation. He encouraged the friendly reunion of North and South and the remembrance of both the Confederate and Union Dead.

Forrest died on October 29, 1877, in Memphis, Tennessee and is buried with his wife at Forrest Park.

Lest We Forget!!

A native of Georgia, Calvin Johnson, Chairman of the National and Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Confederate History Month Committee—Scv.org lives near the historic town of Kennesaw and he’s a member of the Chattahoochee Guards Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is the author of the book ”When America Stood for God, Family and Country.” Calvin can be reached at: cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net

      I know this post is a small departure from our normal material but I ran across these quotes on a message board I frequent and they really struck a nerve with me so I wanted to share them with my readers. 

    The War for Southern Independence was fought because the states wanted to retain a “Jeffersonian” system of government rather than that of the federalist “Hamiltonian” view.  These things that Jefferson predicted so long ago have mostly already come true or are on the verge of becoming true.

Quotes from Thomas Jefferson

1. "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. "

2. "It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

3. "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

4. "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

5. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

6. "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

7. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

8. "To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which He disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

9. "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

     The economic destruction intentionally inflicted upon the Southern states during the War Between the States and during Reconstruction by the government of the United States was unparalleled in history up until that time. This marked the first instance of “Total War” in which citizens and private property became targets. 

Wikipedia defines the term as follows

“Total war is a conflict of unlimited scope in which a belligerent engages in a mobilization of all available resources at their disposal, whether human, industrial, agricultural, military, natural, technological, or otherwise, in order to entirely destroy or render beyond use their rival’s capacity to continue resistance.”

     Prior to the War the Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina alone produced the vast majority of the Nation’s exports and around 75% of the total income of the Federal Government.  In 1823, Senator Thomas H. Benton made the following statement concerning the financial extortion that the South was subjected to even before the War of the 1860s.

“Under Federal legislation, the exports of the South have been the basis of the Federal revenue. Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia, may be said to defray three fourths, of the annual expense of supporting the federal government, and of this great sum, annually furnished by them, nothing or next to nothing is returned to them, in the shape of Government expenditures.”  

     In Short, the South was paying for everything and receiving nothing in return! During and after the War this trend just got as millions of dollars of private property were intentionally targeted for destruction. The North wanted to ensure that South’s population was left destitute and totally dependent on their new Federal masters so they put to the torch anything of value. Tens of thousands of acres of crops were flooded or burned, food livestock was killed and left to rot, and homes and business were looted and then reduced to ashes.

     It was nearly 50 years after the end of the war before the State of Georgia’s taxable assets equaled what it had in 1860 and some punitive tariffs against the South were not lifted until 1940. 80 years had passed before the Federal Government decided to stop destroying the South’s economy and this was only because the South was needed again to help produce funds to fight World War II! This slash and burn policy against the economy of the South has had long lasting effects. What before the war was the most affluent, well learned, and productive area of the Nation now had become its most poverty stricken and undereducated region. This fact alone should prove that the root cause of the “Civil War’ was about finances and not the false ideal of abolition. Just as most wars are fought over money, this one was no exception!

     You may think that with the lifting of the tariffs against the South in the mid 20^th century that the economic suffering would end and the South would return to flower, but think again! Here are a few more stats for you to ponder.

“The 1980 census showed us that the South was still the poorest part of the country with a poverty rate 20% higher than the rest of the nation as a whole. 41% of all Americans living below poverty    level live in the South. All the states with the lowest poverty rates were in the North. The 1990 census showed that the average worker in the South will make 20% – 30% less than a Northern worker for doing the exact same job! According to the Congressional Quarterly, the South is more populous and out-produces every other region of the U.S. but we are forced to do this for less pay than the rest of the nation. Those unfortunate Southerners who find themselves receiving welfare will find their payments to be 47% lower than in other states. 140 years after The War, the South still has not recovered its economic status.”

     That is right; the South is still suffering from the unfair policies of a bloated and increasingly powerful Federal Government. I bet by now you are saying to yourself, “the damage has already been done, it’s too late for the South to help itself , there is no way to stem this tide”. That kind of thinking is where you are wrong and here is what we can do to stop it! We Buy Southern! We start making a habit of looking to see where the goods we purchase are made. Instead of buying a bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips made in Hyannis, Massachusetts, we should buy a bag of Frito-Lay chips that were made in Dallas, Texas! Instead of purchasing tasteless colorless vegetables shipped in refrigerated containers all the way from California, visit your local farmer’s market and purchase delicious, beautiful, and fresh produce grown by your own neighbors! By taking back the millions of dollars we are stuffing into the pockets of those that persecuted the South for so long, we can help improve the lives and businesses of our friends and neighbors right here in the South.

     I highly encourage you to start looking at who makes ALL the products you purchase, not just food items. If you can, please, keep those dollars in the South by patronizing our Southern owned manufacturers and businesses. If we all start doing this simple thing before every purchase, we can undo the damage that has been done to our glorious homeland and restore it to its rightful place of prominence. I urge you to visit www.buysouthern.org to read more about this effort and find lists of many fine Southern companies that you can feel great about patronizing.

Thanks

Webmaster – GoodOldRebel.com

     The first quiet rumblings of real change are beginning to be heard as more and more states are bringing bills before their legislatures to reclaim the right to assert their sovereignty and bring an end to the unabated expansion of federal power. While this does not mean the states are beginning to look in the direction of secession, it does mean that the states are once again realizing the power that was given to them by the forefathers of this nation.  Once again, the power of the 10th amendment makes itself felt!  The 10th amendment states

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

    That’s right, if the Constitution does not specifically give a power to the Federal government, that power belongs to the states.  Therefore, all those nasty little laws that have been foisted upon us by the U.S. Congress were never valid in the first place because they did not have the right to make that decision on behalf of the states.  While none of the sovereignty assertions has passed the states legislatures yet, they have come very, very, close to passing.  I believe we will start seeing some of these resolutions pass this very year  So far, the following state have already attempted to reassert their Constitutional rights “Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.” and these states are expected to introduce similar measures this year “Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania” 

     While we are not looking at another “Civil War”, we are looking at something very similar to what happened in South Carolina in 1832.  South Carolina decided it would not enforce a tariff that had been levied by the Federal Government upon imports so it refused to enforce it!  This was well in its rights because the Federal government did not have the power to levy it in the first place. This was known as the nullification crisis. What we are seeing now is the result of the same spirit. The states have grown very tired of footing the bill for unnecessary and costly laws that were passed by the U.S. Congress. In short, they are tired of Uncle Sam’s hand in their pockets and who could blame them? It seems I remember that a few years back our Southern ancestors had the same idea and Old Abe Lincoln decided to start a war over it. Go figure!

      When a state finally stands up and refuses to enforce these unconstitutional laws on its citizens, we will finally have the ball rolling and we can start getting back to how the founding fathers meant for this country to be ran. The Federal Governments laws have intruded upon the domain of the states for FAR too long.  Call your state legislators and let them know that you want to be governed as the Constitution specifies and not by some emperor in Washington and his club of cronies. States Rights were good idea in 1861 and it’s a great idea now!

You can read more about this by clicking here.

The music used is the property of Sony Music by Hoyt Axton.

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     In Columbia, South Carolina, a Senate Subcommittee has passed a bill proposing to mandate that all cities and counties in the state provide a paid holiday for workers on Confederate Memorial Day.

     The African American Senator, Robert Ford, who created the bill, said that its goal was to promote understanding by requiring city and county governments to observe all state holidays.  Ford said that this was the original  point when he was successful in passing a bill pairing a state holiday on Martin Luther King Day with the May 10th Confederate Memorial Day several years back. Currently only 10 of South Carolina’s 46 counties observe Confederate Memorial Day.

     The Senator added that spending time focusing on history on Confederate Memorial Day would help both blacks and whites better understand each other.   The bill will now pass to the Senate Judiciary Committee for approval. 

     We definitely need more people in our State and Federal governments that are like Senator Ford.  This is exactly the type of tolerance and understanding that is going to be required before people understand that the Confederate Flag is a proud symbol of Southern Heritage and not something to be vilified. 

It is incredibly ironic that those of us that love the Rebel Flag so dearly have to spend so much time defending the flag against the same intolerance that its opponents say it stands for.  Obviously, the Senator has enough foresight and wisdom to understand that both those who love the Confederate Flag and all it stands for and those who hate it and want it banned, must understand each other’s points of view.  That understanding can only come from the study of our shared history and the realization of the true reasons behind the Civil War.

      Welcome Friends to the inaugural post of Goodoldrebel.com! I hope that this site will become a meeting place for those interested in preserving our Southern Heritage and Confederate History.  All too often today, our culture and heritage as Southerners is coming under attack by the forces of the “politically correct" and misguided individuals who do not understand nor seek to understand our point of view. They seek to make us ashamed of who we are and the values and ideals of our ancestors.  They tell us that our ancestors only fought to preserve the institution of slavery and not in righteous defense of their homes and country.  They wish to tear down our monuments and symbols of reverence.  My Friends, if we are to preserve any shred of our past, this must end.  No longer can we sit idle while our history is removed brick by brick and consigned to the rubbish bin of history.

      This is the time to act! We must preserve our forefathers rebel spirit and not allow this to happen. Educate your friends, coworkers, and neighbors on the “real” story of people of the South.  Talk with those who hate the Confederate Flag and explain to them what it really stands for.  Explain that it is a symbol of our heritage and not an expression of racism or hatred.  Unless we start standing up against this tide of ignorance and misguided intolerance, every shred of the symbols that our southern soldiers fought, bled, and died under will forever be erased from our society.  If the rate at which our elected government is changing the names of streets, rewriting history books, and destroying monuments to our Confederate heroes continues unabated, it is entirely possible that in just a couple generations there will be no public recollection of what our ancestors suffered and paid so dearly for.  All of that struggle and sacrifice will have been in vain and their legacy will fade from the pages of history.  If that is not to be the case, please join me in making our message heard.

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions. I hope this will grow into an invaluable resource for all our visitors.

Sincerely,

Webmaster – GoodOldRebel.com

Lest We Forget