The SCV and the Formation of Manassas National Battlefield Park

Transcription

1 Army of Northern Virginia Maryland Division Camp #1398 Colonel William Norris See Inside Annual River Crossing Huge Success Guest Speakers: D.S. Freeman, Gregg Clemmer Adjutant Activities Happy Birthday Montgomery County! Mechanized Cavalry Honors Students Norris Camp Road Cleanup Calendar off Upcoming Events October 2011 The SCV and the Formation of Manassas National Battlefield Park The recent activities surrounding the Sesquicentennial of the 1 st Battle of Manassas harkens back to the formation of the national park in Manassas and the role of the SCV in making it a reality. In a time when the old Confederate veterans were still alive, members of the SCV realized that the Confederate South had yet to memorialize a single battlefield. Battlefield Parks were the domain of state park systems or the Department of the Interior through the agency of the National Park Service (NPS). The SCV viewed the important historical land as particularly neglected since the battle. The initial plan began with the obtaining of an option in 1920 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to purchase the Henry Farm, a 130-acre tract of land where the most famous aspects of the battle had occurred. One year later, the Manassas Battlefield Confederate Park, Inc., an SCV auxiliary, was created to raise the necessary $25,000 option purchase price. It was the purpose of the SCV to have the park stand as a Southern battlefield memorial to the Confederate soldier. At the time, other historical projects seemed to often omit Southern soldiers, valor and their achievements. For example, much ado was made when the amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery omitted the Southern soldier. Education and history would be its hallmark but in no way would the Northern soldier be ignored. Monuments and memorials would be encouraged from both warring sides. Even so, the corporation had a great deal of infighting with one faction forming. This faction wanted the word Confederate removed from the corporate title (much like the problems today s Museum of the Confederacy faces). There was also internal litigation over control of the property. The SCV soon found that raising the money to execute Continued on page 8

2 Page 2 2 Civil War Vet s Son One of Few: Elberton Man s Father Served in Andersonville By Wayne Ford ELBERTON Henry Victor Booth may be the only man alive whose father worked guard duty at Georgia's infamous Andersonville prisonof-war camp, where nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died during the Civil War that began 150 years ago. "He said that was the awfulest place he'd ever seen in his life he said people were dying there like flies," Booth said. Booth, who sometimes raises eyebrows when people learn he is the son of a Confederate soldier, has told the story many times over the years. His father, Isham Johnson Booth, was born in 1847 and enlisted in 1863 when he was 16. After Booth's first wife died, he married the younger Miranda Lou Dunn. "She was 38 years old when I was born, and Daddy was 72," said Henry Booth, who turned 92 last December. Booth is one of a dwindling number of stillliving sons and daughters of Civil War veterans. Mississippi resident Larry McCluney Jr., a historian for the National Headquarters of the, said about 30 sons still are alive, but he had no figures for daughters. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War updated its website in June, listing 37 known living sons and daughters of Union veterans. Typically, they are children of Civil War veterans who in the 20th century married younger women and continued to have children. Henry Booth, who lived in the Vanna community of Hart County for 40 years, is a veteran himself. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, assigned to a landing craft ship that took equipment like tanks to the beaches. He was at the major battle sites of Iwo Jima, Guam and Okinawa. His father didn't talk much with his young son about his experiences in the war, but Booth said he overheard him talking with visitors to their home. Booth's father was a sharecropper and never purchased his own house. Isham Booth, who had 12 children, including one who died at birth, died in 1934 and is buried at Antioch Baptist Church, north of Elberton. "He was quite a man," Booth recalled about his father. "He'd rent a farm a two-horse farm and put out some oats, corn and wheat. He always liked a big branch on it. "He was a land renter. He didn't want to own nothing. He said a poor man didn't need nothing but a burial lot," Booth said. "He hated to pay taxes more than any man you've ever seen in your life." Booth heard his father talk about a stream that coursed through the prison camp and provided water to the prisoners. "I've seen that branch. I've been down to it Continued on page 4 Henry V. Booth (left) poses at age 3 with his father, Isham J. Booth, who worked guard duty at Georgia s Andersonville prison-of-war camp, where nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died during the Civil War.

3 Page 3 Douglas Southall Freeman Compatriot, author and historian Gregg Clemmer played a recording of a Douglas Southall Freeman speech near the end of his career. Douglas Southall Freeman, a Richmond College of 1904, is one of the university s most illustrious alumni. He went on to Johns Hopkins University to earn his Ph.D. in history in 1908 and had 25 honorary doctorate degrees, including ones from Yale, Princeton and Columbia. In 1923, Freeman received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University Freeman of Richmond. Dr. Freeman served the University of Richmond as a member of the Board of Trustees for 25 years 16 of them as rector. The university laid the foundation of his intellectual life, according to his daughter, Mary Tyler Cheek McClenahan, H 85, and was a source of proud devotion as long as he lived. At Richmond, he studied history under Dr. Samuel Chiles Mitchell, one of two men who Mrs. McClenahan says had the greatest influence on his life. The other was his father, Walker Burford Freeman, who fought with Lee s Army of Northern Virginia. Freeman listed the accomplishments during his tenure as rector at the University of Richmond as surviving the Depression without a deficit, establishing a retirement system for professors and raising $1 million for Keller Hall, the library and other structures. He helped reorganize the law school to meet the highest professional requirements and developed a new business school. In 1936, friends of Dr. Freeman established the Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman Library Fund for the purchase of books in history. The University Mace was donated to the University of Richmond by Freeman in 1947 and was to be inscribed each successive year for a full century with the name of the outstanding student at the University of Richmond. Freeman Hall, opened in 1965 as a residence hall at the University, was named for Dr. Freeman. In 1983, the Douglas Southall Freeman Chair in History was established to honor this man, whom Admiral Chester W. Nimitz called the most outstanding historian of our time. Each year, the chair brings to the university nationally prominent historians who interact with students, faculty and the Richmond community as Freeman scholars-in-residence. The fund has sponsored several symposia on historical topics. This two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his biographies of Robert E. Lee and George Washington was admired by presidents and generals. As military historian/biographer, editor of the Richmond News Leader for 34 years, Richmond radio news commentator, scholar, lecturer and teacher, his influence on his country, state and city was profound, as were his contributions to his alma mater. David Johnson, a 1987 graduate of Richmond Law, said that when Freeman appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1948, he was at the apex of his national reputation. He was known as the greatest military historian and biographer in America. Today, his books Lee s Lieutenants and R.E. Lee are still the definitive authority on these topics. The passing years brought Douglas Southall Freeman many activities and honors. He served as a member and trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the General Education Board and the Council of the Library of the Congress. He served for years as a director of the Southern Railway. He and William Faulkner, a Nobel Prize novelist, were the only Southern members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. (From the Richmond University website.)

4 Page 4 Happy Birthday Montgomery County Norris Camp Commander Steve Gill and Bob Brewer set up the display and flags. They were joined by Keith Silliman of the Gen. Smallwood Chapter of the Sons of American Revolution and filled in for the Antietam Camp #3 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Attendance was light, but the public was delighted with the display and quite a few questions were answered. Elberton Man s Father Served in Andersonville Continued from page 2 two or three times. It came into the camp at one end with a pretty good flow of water, and he said when it came out the other end there wasn't nothing. They used the water up," he said. While serving as a guard, the teenage soldier became sick with a fever. He was sent home by horseback to recover and ordered to return when well, Booth said. His father recovered and headed back to Andersonville, but had traveled only about 16 miles from Elberton when he learned at a store that the war had ended, so he returned home. In 1865, Booth was listed as a deserter. In 1927, he was urged to have the record changed because despite not reporting back to the camp he had never actually deserted. "He had to go to some old people who knew the story and get a sworn affidavit on it," Booth said. The old soldier once insisted he would never go back to Andersonville, but in 1931 he did, his son said. A World War I veteran who lived in Elberton, Evan Fleming, bought a new 1931 Chevrolet with money the government gave him from service in the war. "He came over to Daddy's house and said, OK, Uncle Jonce, let s go, Booth said. Nobody knows what the old man thought about the return visit, but Booth himself visited Andersonville in April for Confederate Memorial Day. "You have a different feeling of the people that were there," he said. "It's worth the trip." Wayne Ford is editor of Oconee Living/Madison Living for online athens.com. Permission to reprint this article was given by the Athens Banner- Herald, Athens, Ga.

5 Page 5 Adjutant Activities DUES: We have several members that have not paid yet! After I receive the payment, I process it, and send it in to SCV International Headquarters. The annual dues are $40.00 plus $5.00 for paper newsletter for Regular members an $10.00 plus $5.00 for paper newsletter for Life members. Each payment received by them AFTER October 31 st, is assessed a penalty of $5.00 (This applies for Regular members only, not Life members). So PLEASE get your payment in. If you just need a little more time, please contact me at dept911@gmail.com or and I will get this payment into HQ before this penalty is accessed. MINUTES: Due to the lengthy (and enjoyable) Douglas Southall Freeman recording, the hour was too late to conduct any camp business. However at this next meeting the following issues must be addressed: The ballot must be developed for the next election in December. (most urgent) The gravesite of the Col. Norris family in Reisterstown needs some attention. A River Crossing after-action committee must be appointed by Commander to make recommendations for how to improve this event. MARYLAND DIVISION MEETING There will be a Maryland Division on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 0900 in Annapolis at Broadneck Library. All SCV Maryland Division SCV members are welcome to attend. If you have any issues that you desire to address, please let me or Commander Gill know. Your participation is most welcome. MARKER REQUEST Compatriot David King Jr. has stepped up to make arrangements for a marker for Marinus Willet Sheckell of 7 th Va. Cav. and 2nd Md.Cav. buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington Sept. 6 Camp Meeting The meeting was called to order by Commander Steve Gill after the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag, the salute to the Confederate Flag and the reading of the SCV Charge. There were 10 members and guests attending including compatriots. Frank Brown, Jr., H. Bruce Funk, Tom Keefer, Steve Ferndandez, Gregg Clemmer, 1st Lt. Commander Bob Brewer; Camp Commander Steve Gill and Adjutant/Treasurer Harold Ford. Our special guests were Kate Brewer and Lt Col John P. Zebelean, III, USAF (Ret) from the Trimble Camp.

6 Page 6 Guest Speaker Nicholas Redding Deputy Director for Advocacy, Civil War Trust Topic: CWT s Preservation Program Over the Years Nicholas Redding is a graduate of the George Tyler Moore Center for the study of the Civil War at West Virginia s Shepherd University, He was previously employed as a National Park Service interpretive ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Since joining the staff of the Civil War Trust in 2007, he has worked in both the real estate and policy departments. In his current position with the Trust, Nicholas is responsible for organizing battlefield activists in targeted localities (including those involved in the recent "No Casino Gettysburg" campaign), generating support for favorable preservation-related legislation at the state level (in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland), and supporting the Trust's overall land preservation and Civil War education missions. In 2010, he was appointed to the Frederick County, Md., Historic Preservation Commission. He was a contributing editor on the Trust's latest publication, The Civil War 150, and recently completed his first book, A Guide to Civil War Shepherdstown. Two-Hour Tour of Brandy Station Cavalry Battlefield On Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011, we plan to have a 2-hour tour of Brandy Station Cavalry Battlefield near Culpeper at a cost of $10 per person. Please RSVP to me that you are coming. If as many as 5 confirm participation, then the tour is a go. If we get as many as 20 or more to confirm, then we can have a full-day tour of the battlefield at the same cost per person. Additionally, if it is a 2-hour battlefield tour, there is also the Culpeper Museum ($3 admission) available to see along with the Graffiti House ($3 admission) in Culpeper if interested. Please confirm with me as soon as possible so that we can lock in our tour guide. Thanks, Michael Virts Major General Fitzhugh Lee Camp # 1805, 5 th Brigade, Virginia Division, ANV

7 Page 7 Little-Known Sites in Washington, D.C.. WOK AND ROLL 604 H St. NW, Washington, DC Doubts may linger about Mary Surratt's guilt in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, but it is a fact that John Wilkes Booth and his circle including Surratt's son, John Surratt Jr. met at her H Street boarding house. Here they plotted to kidnap the president, then decided to murder him instead. Although the Surratt Tavern in Clinton is better known, Booth stopped there to pick up guns and whiskey after the assassination. It's now a museum. This building is just as important a site. It is little changed from its 19th century appearance, though it now houses the Wok & Roll restaurant. The major difference: The entrance was originally on the second floor, reached by a staircase from the street. Church of the Epiphany 1317 G St. NW, Washington, DC One of the few areas of common ground for Union and Confederate leaders was the churches of Washington. Before the war, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was a member of the Episcopal congregation at the Church of the Epiphany, as were several Confederate cabinet members. (During the war, Secretary of War Edward Stanton worshiped there, along with Union service members.) But the Church of the Epiphany - one of the few remaining pre-civil War churches in Washington - also had ties to the common man. Between July and December 1862, the building was a temporary hospital. Boards were laid across the tops of pews to create beds for the wounded. The interior has been modified over the years, though the exterior still resembles the old photos seen on the historic marker outside. One noticeable difference: The original 1857 church tower had four tiers, two of which were removed after being damaged in an 1897 storm.

8 Page Sons 8 of Confederate Veterans Page 8 Manassas Continued from page 1 the deal would be difficult. Not only was the South still prostrate financially from the War Between the States, the entire nation was mired in the Great Depression. In 1939, the organization had 1,753 members with a treasury of only a few thousand dollars. Projects, such as Stone Mountain in Georgia, were competing for limited Southern resources. Despite financial issues, the SCV was meeting its financial obligations and an accounting of the organization s finances in 1938 showed they were fiscally sound (but not wealthy). Still, it seemed a nearly impossible task to reach the original goals of the park. In 1933, conversations began with the NPS. The possible transfer caused a great deal of apprehension in the South who was leery of federal ownership and federal park interpretation and management. To make a long story short, the $25,000 was raised and in 1939, an agreement was worked out with the federal government for the SCV to donate the Henry Farm to the NPS for the purpose of establishing a national military park. Herein lies the rub. Despite the severe financial problems the SCV had at the time, the organization seemed equally concerned with the way the tract would be interpreted should the NPS obtain the Henry Farm. In the conveyance deed, the SCV stipulated that strictest accuracy and fairness be demanded in the erection of monuments and markers and opposed anything that would in any way detract from the glory due to the Confederate soldier. Care was to be taken to preserve the battlefield without prejudice to either the North or South. These clauses in the deed became covenants running with the land, enforceable by a court of law. At the time, many were concerned that The Grand Bargain struck between Union and Confederate veterans was falling apart. This unwritten truce allowed the country to heal from the war and reconcile without finger pointing or recrimination. Today, The Grand Bargain is a relic of the past. It is open season on the interpretation of Confederate history and the causes of the war. In many ways, the America of 2011 still is divided on a sectional basis. The old veterans seemed to be able to coexist while today, the government, academia and the media are re-opening many old wounds, often demonizing the Confederate soldier and the cause for which he fought. On Feb. 16, 1940, the Department of the Interior accepted the deed. The NPS remained leery of the restrictive covenants and internal memorandums and letters and at the time urged caution in their interpretation lest they bring a court challenge. For $1, the Sons of Confederate Veterans generously donated the critical piece of the Manassas Battlefield, the Henry Farm and Henry House Hill, where the battle was decided and where the immortal Jackson earned the most famous sobriquet in military history Stonewall. Manassas was supremely important to the people of the South. Two decisive Confederate victories occurred on the plains of Manassas. Today, the Manassas Battlefield is a wonderful attraction luring thousands of tourists every year. A bronze plaque denoting the SCV gift is exhibited prominently in the Manassas Visitors Center. The SCV surrendered much in their donation. The potential revenue of running its own Manassas Park (potentially millions) was considered at the time. Internal SCV memos were already noticing the visitation at other national parks. The Henry Farm donation would be similar to donating the Burnside Bridge at Sharpsburg, Marye s Heights in Fredericksburg or Little Round Top at Gettysburg. The generous donation was a true act of both patriotism and national reconciliation on the part of the South and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

9 Sons of Confederate Veterans Army of Northern Virginia Maryland Division Camp #1398 Page 9 The newsletter of the Colonel William Norris Camp #1398 is published 12 times a year by the camp as a service to its membership and to the public. Officers Heritage Violations Notify the Camp Heritage Officer compatriot Jim Stargel (jim.stargel@ffa.gov) of any heritage violations. Harold E. Ford Adjutant/Treasurer Colonel William Norris Camp #1398 Steve Gill, Commander Horizon Place Phone: Derwood, MD StevenGill@Lycos.com Robert Brewer, 1st Lt. Commander 205 E. Deer Park Drive Phone: Gaithersburg, MD brewer000@verizon.net Major David King Jr., 2nd Lt. Commander 5611 Oak Place Phone: Bethesda, MD Dejota.King@verizon.net Dan Buckingham, 3rd Lt. Commander Front Field Lane Phone: Potomac, MD danbuckingham@hurrisafe.com Harold Ford, Adjutant/Treasurer Jacobs Road Phone: Mt. Airy, MD dept911@gmail.com Thomas Keefer, Chaplain Cross Bridge Way Phone: Germantown, MD tskeef@yahoo.com Mitch Mroczka, Recruiting Officer 7333 Brenish Drive Phone: Gaithersburg, MD mroczka1@verizon.net Jim Stargel, Heritage Office/Quartermaster jim,stargel@ffa.gov