THE GILMOR BLADE Those who allow the surrender of their history, also surrender their future! Official Newsletter of THE COL. H.W.GILMOR CAMP, No. 1388, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS May Camp meeting focus: Confederate Memorial Day By Michael Williams, Cmdr. The next meeting of the Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp will be on the 9th of May beginning at 7:30 PM. The meeting location is the same as it has been - The Baltimore County Historical Society, located in Cockeysville. Our meeting will be the last prior to the installation of the marker stones on Confederate Hill and the Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies on June 2nd. {see information on this event elsewhere in this issue} Accordingly, the majority of the meeting will be focused on these two events and several future events and programs. We would always like to have everyone s input and participation. Please join us on the 9th. We are looking forward to seeing you there. Interested in marching with us? Have you watched the posting of the colors at the Lee-Jackson Birthday celebration or at Confederate Hill on Confederate Memorial Day, and wished you could participate? Do you have the interest, but no uniform to wear? The Gilmor Camp would like to help get you involved! Contact Bruce Null to see if we can put together what you need in order to march with us and show our flags on these occasions. May, 2012 The Charge "To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we submit the vindication of the Cause for which we fought; to your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles he loved and which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations." Minutes: April 11, 2012 Camp meeting The meeting was opened at 7:31 p.m. by Commander Michael K. Williams, who offered the Invocation and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag and the Salute to the Confederate Flag. Thirteen members were in attendance. The Camp had the honor of swearing in two new members: J. Carroll Holzer and Jason Spivey. Commander Williams discussed the presentation of SCV War Service Medals. Adjutant Cummings summarized the Minutes of the meeting of March 14, 2012. MOTION: To accept the Minutes as summarized. PASSED Compatriot Dan Pyle reported that he and Dick Isaac had a very successful SCV information table at Carroll County Community College. Commander Williams announced that the Maryland Division SCV Annual Convention will be hosted by the Captain James I. Waddell Camp on April 14, 2012 in Severn, Maryland. Commander Williams announced that there will be a work day in late April or early May to install 57 markers at Confederate Hill, Loudon Park Cemetery as part of the Adopt A Confederate Program. Compatriot Steve Smith reported that the Gilmor Camp has processed 562 adoptions represented by See April minutes, p. 6 Inside this issue: Confederate Memorial Day Ready to set the stones? 2 2 Somervell Sollers 3 We Are Family, Part 2 Corbit s Charge is coming! 4 4 Pvt. J.B. Clark 5 President Street Station event Passing of oldest living real son 6 6 1
Confederate Memorial Day ceremony slated for June 2, 2012 Confederate Memorial Day is celebrated in Maryland each year on the first weekend in June nearest to the birthday of President Jefferson Davis. Once again this year the Colonel Harry W. Gilmor Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has the honor of assisting the Maryland Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in planning and presenting the Confederate Memorial Day ceremony at Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland. The purpose of the ceremony is to honor the thousands of soldiers who served the Confederacy, over 600 of whom are buried at Loudon Park. They include Colonel Harry W. Gilmor, General Bradley T. Tentative Program: *March on of troops *Invocation by UDC Chaplain *Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag *Salute to the Confederate flag *Introduction and welcoming remarks *Presentation of memorial wreaths (please contact Elliott Cummings if you plan to present a wreath) *Dedication of 57 new Adopt a Confederate grave markers *Rifle salute *Benediction *Refreshments provided by the United Daughters of the Confederacy Johnson, and Colonel James R. Herbert. This year s ceremony and its predecessors have been held on the Hill since the 1860s. The march on of the Color Guards, the firing party and music begins at 10:30 AM. After the ceremonies, refreshments are served to all in attendance. You and all of your friends are welcome and encouraged to attend. If you can help with setup of flags and equipment, please join us beginning at 8:30 AM. Loudon Park Cemetery is located at From L to R: Rick Franklin of the Pratt Street Patriots Camp, Hobert Halsey, Bruce Null, Jason Danker and his son Logan, John Ross and Steve Smith. Not pictured are two Mikes. Mike Garland and Mike Williams. May, 2012 the 3800 block Frederick Rd. in SW Baltimore, about three to four miles east of Exit 13 of the Baltimore beltway, Rt. 695. Loudon Park Cemetery will have both the Wilkins Avenue and the old Frederick Road entrances open prior to and after the ceremonies. Get ready to set this year s stones! The day may have been overcast but that didn't dim the prospects of getting 57 holes dug for this year's Adopt-A-Confederate Dedication. While it wasn't record time, it was still quick. The new marker stones will be in by May 4 th and have to be cemented in the ground in time for the services on Confederate Memorial Day, June 2, 2012. Many hands will be needed to do the work and complete the task in time for the ceremony. Can you give us a Saturday or even a cou- ple of hours on a Saturday? If you have never done anything like that before - we'll train you and have you work along side those who have been doing this since the beginnings of the project. Yes, you will most likely have a few sore muscles. However, those twinges are nothing when offset by the elation and pride of having accomplished a difficult task. You will also be living out The Charge given to us by Gen. S. D. Lee. Don't know what that is? Just look on the front page of the Blade. Read it and put it into action. Hopefully we'll see you on Confederate Hill the Saturday we set the stones. If you can give us some help, please contact Bruce Null or Steve Smith. 2
continued May, 2012 Somervell Sollers, a true son of Maryland Information provided by Elliott Cummings Somervell Sollers, (not Somerville), was born on September 9, 1837 in Calvert County.Maryland. He was the son of Augustus Rhoades Sollers and Rebecca Dawkins Somervell. Augustus Sollers was elected to Congress as a Whig for the term 1841-1843 and 1853-1855. Somervell was educated at the Charlotte Hall School in St. Mary's county. In 1859, he was given a position in the office of the clerk of Calvert County. The national archives records show Somervell as a member of Weston's Battalion which disbanded in June, 1861. Later in June, 1861, Somervell Sollers enlisted in Co. H, 1 st MD infantry CSA. Somervell is mentioned on page 32 of Mchenry Middleham Chapel, burial place of Somervell Sollers Photo courtesy of http://www.middlehamandst peters.org/directions.html The historic White House at Charlotte Hall, built in 1803, served as the headmaster s home. In 1977, the state of Maryland purchased Charlotte Hall and converted it into the only existing Veterans Home within the state. Image courtesy of http://www.charhall.org/history.htm Howard's book "Recollections of a Confederate Soldier" in the period June 1861. Somervell served at First Manassas, July 21, 1861. Records show that he was ill in the autumn of 1861 and the spring of 1862. In the autumn of 1861, he went on a furlough with John Bond of the 1 st MD to Alabama. They went to visit the family of John Bond's cousin, James Basil Duke of the Alabama cavalry and his wife Ada Davis Duke, niece of Jefferson Davis. James Basil Duke was originally from Calvert County, Maryland. A letter from Virginia governor Letcher to C. G. Menninger, dated April 15, 1862, recommends Somervell for a clerical postion in Richmond due to ill health, but Somervell recovered and was present at the Battle of Gaines Mill June 27, 1862. The 1 st MD infantry was disbanded in August 1862 and reorganized into the 2 nd MD infantry battalion. At the Battle of Winchester June 1863, Somervell was reported as wounded in the shoulder. He was in the hospital at Jordon Springs at the time of the battle of Gettysburg and joined the army at Martinsburg on its return from PA. He was present at the battle of Second Cold Harbor, June 1864, and participated in the defense of Petersburg in A.P. Hill's III corps, Heth's Division, Archer's Brigade. He was wounded at the battle of the Weldon railroad on August 19, 1864. In August 1864, he was in Chimborazo hospital in Richmond. Somervell was on furlough when Richmond fell to the enemy. He made his way to Lynchburg, VA then through Greensboro to Salisbury, NC where he joined General Bradley T. Johnson and received his parole on May 2, 1865. Upon the surrender of General Joseph Johnston, and not being able to return to Maryland, he traveled to New Orleans for the purpose of joining the command of General Kirby Smith in the trans- Mississippi. After two weeks in New Orleans, however, he returned to Baltimore by way of Fort Monroe. He was immediately put under arrest but was released without taking the oath of allegiance. His first business venture was to farm in Calvert County. In 1867 he was elected clerk of the county court for a six year term. He was defeated in 1873 and made deputy for six years. In 1879 he was again elected for a six year term. On August 11, 1880, he married Rosa Somervell. On March 3, 1882, the Calvert County courthouse caught fire and Somervell saved some of the important records. When his term expired in 1885, he moved to Baltimore where he accepted a position as receiving teller in the sub treasury where he worked for four years. He then became clerk of the court of common pleas See Somervell Sollers, p. 5 3
We are family, Part 2 A continuation of an article by H. K. Edgerton This article in its entirety appeared in The Confederate Voice, Vol.1, Issue 1, Feb 2012 It was trusted black hands left on the plantation to guard the mistress and her children from the hand of the invader. It was skilled black labor that worked in the new southern factories making the implements of war that kept Southern armies in the field for 4 years In the Confederate navy, some black men mustered in as sailors on the Confederate navy vessels, manned the rigging, manned the guns, and stoked the fireboxes, and even served as pilots. erate army would have quickly ground to a halt. Black men served as teamsters, cooks, blacksmiths, farriers, laborers, servants, and, in many cases as the close friend of the white man he accompanied. Many of these black auxiliaries were to prove their worth in combat, even though by law they could not be compelled to fight, and would not be legally allowed to enlist as soldiers until the last days of the war In cases too numerous to mention, boyhood friends, black and white, went off to war together, sharing together the hardships of camp life, the camaraderie of army life, the stress of campaigning, the excitement of battle, the agony Without the untiring sweat of black men, the Confedof the hospital, and the painful separation of death. Stories abound of faithful black friends and servants seeing to the comfort of their white friends last moments on earth, and with tearful countenance and broken hearts began the sometimes difficult and arduous task of obtaining proper burial of his friend and then bringing the painful news home. Only love can explain such a bond, fear of the lash cannot explain it, and our northern friends dismiss it as so many fairy-tales. These Northerners miss a very important point. We are Southerners, too. By 1861 we had worked with white Southerners for 2 centuries. South Carolina, May, 2012 or Georgia, or Tennessee was our home When Sherman marched to the sea he destroyed black homes as well as white, his soldiers raped and killed black women, and forced loyal black men to volunteer for their army at bayonet point or more commonly to act as laborers so that white Yankees could sit on their backside. Sure, many blacks voluntarily went over to the Union army, but history will never record how many of them sincerely regretted their decision later The June issue of The Blade will print the conclusion of this article. 149 th anniversary of Corbit s Charge slated for June 23-24 The Multi Service Center, 224 North Center Street, Westminster, MD will resound to the sights and sounds of life during the War Between the States during the 149 th anniversary re-enactment of The Battle of Westminster. Since 2003, this educational and entertaining event has been enjoyed by thousands of people. Visitors may tour a Civil War living history encampment to view the daily lives of soldiers, take guided tours of the battle site of Corbit s Charge, and even meet with President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee, CSA. A ceremony will be held at the Corbit s Charge Battle Monument. Civilian re-enactors will demonstrate various Civil War era dances, and invite visitors to learn them. The daily lives of civilians of the era will be on display, including children s games. Period artisans will be on hand to demonstrate crafts of the Victorian era. Admission to all of these activities is free! On Saturday, June 23 at 7:00 PM, Douglas Jimerson and the Civil War comrades will present a Civil War Music Concert. This event has received rave reviews from participants and the local press. For more information and photographs visit the Pipe Creek CWRT at http://www.pccwrt.org. 4
May, 2012 One of Mosby s men on Confederate Hill: Pvt. Joseph B. Clark Information compiled by John A. Sipes, who has adopted Pvt. Clark.. The new stone for Pvt. Clark s gravesite will be one of those dedicated on June 2, 2012 at the annual Confederate Memorial Day commemoration.. There was a television show in the late 1950 s called The Gray Ghost that was based upon the exploits of John Mosby s Partisan Rangers. The show began with a poem: We took our men from Texas, Kentucky, and Virginia Joseph Clark was one of these men. He was born in 1847 on a farm in Bowling Green, Virginia about thirty miles from Powhatan County where Mosby himself was born. He joined the cavalry in 1863 at the age of sixteen and remained at the rank of Private until the Rangers disbanded in 1865. Having survived the war, Joseph Clark returned to the family farm in Bowling Green. The 1890 US Census lists Joseph there with his widowed mother Virginia as head-ofhousehold, an 18 year old sister also named Virginia, as well as ten farm hands. Joseph Clark had finished grade school and could read and write. No records were found until the census of 1910 that show Joseph B. Clark living at a boarding house managed by James and Della Thrift at 609 S. Paca Street in the Ridgely s Delight area of Baltimore. The same census also indicates that he was a retired farmer (now 65) and that he was widowed, apparently having married and lost his wife during the past 20 years. The Paca Street house has been restored and is still standing. 2012-14 MD Division officers elected at April Convention Maryland Division SCV Officers: left to right, Michael Glenn, Treasurer; Jay Barringer, Commander; Rob Long, Lt. Commander; Carl Berenholtz, Judge Advocate; Terry Klima, Adjutant. Sadly, the US Census of 1920 is the last for Private Clark. He is listed as a patient at Springfield State Hospital, now at age 74. He passed away on August 11, 1921 and rests with his comrades at Confederate Hill in Loudon Park. 609 S. Paca Street as it looks today. Photograph courtesy of John A. Sipes Have you been thinking about adopting one of the veterans on Confederate Hill? Don t wait too much longer! Thanks to the generosity of our many adopters, fewer than 25 unadopted veterans remain! Check the website: http://www.mdscv.org/1388/adopt-aconfederate/ Contact John Ross, Steve Smith, or Bruce Null Somervell Sollers Continued from p. 3 in Baltimore where he was employed for 25 years. While in Baltimore, he lived at 1311 John Street and was a member of the Society of the Confederate States Army and Navy. In December 1901 he was an honorary pall-bearer at the funeral of Major William W. Goldsborourgh, author of "The Maryland Line in the Confederate Sates Army". He had worked in the office of a Mr. Deupert until two weeks before his death at the age of 83. He was known as the "grand old man" of that office. Somervell Sollers died on August 12, 1920. He is buried at Middleham Chapel near Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland, which still stands, at 10200 H.G. Trueman Road, Lusby MD. 5
May, 2012 April minutes Continued from p.1 551 markers for the Adopt a Confederate Program. There was a discussion of placing a Veterans Administration marker at the grave of the ancestor of Compatriot Carroll Holzer in Loudon Park Cemetery. Commander Williams announced that Confederate Memorial Day will be held on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at Confederate Hill, Loudon Park Cemetery. Assistance is needed starting at about 8:30 a. m. in placing flags at graves, setting up the podium and speakers, putting programs together, etc. There was a discussion on the direction the Camp should take during the coming year. Compatriot Bruce Null asked for volunteers to march in the President Street Station Parade and ceremony on Saturday, April 21, 2012. Announcements: June 2, 2012 Confederate Memorial Day, Confederate Hill, Loudon Park Cemetery. Dedication of Adopt A Confederate markers. June 2-3, 2012 Jerusalem Mills June 23-24, 2012 Corbitt s Charge, Westminster, Md. Sept. 7, 2012 150th Anniversary of raid on Westminster The meeting was adjourned with a prayer at 9:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted, G. Elliott Cummings Adjutant President Street events remembered Perfect temperatures and just enough of a breeze to wave the flags made for a picture-perfect 151 st Anniversary First Blood Parade and Ceremony on April 21, 2012. Stepping off from Thames Street in Fells Point, the parade made its way to President Street Station. The 6 th Massachusetts re-enact- ment group, who travel all the way from up North every year to participate, led the parade. The Gilmor Camp Color Guard led the Southern contingent, followed by the MD Division SCV Color Guard and other civilian and. military marchers. World s oldest living real son passes The Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the world, lost its oldest living "Real Son" of a Confederate veteran recently with the death of Mr. Arthur John, 106 year old son of Joseph John, 1st Sergeant, Company "K", 54th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Mr. Arthur John was also an Australian WWII veteran in his own right, being a Major in the Australian Defence Force; in charge of the re-education of Japanese civilians in Japan, under General Douglass McArthur, after the war s end. L to R: Bruce Null, Steve Smith, and Steve Adamski prepare for their Gilmor Color Guard duties. Mr. John was a 'Life Member' and Historian of the 'William Kenyon Australasian Confederates', Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 2160 in Australia. Condolences can be sent to the family by email through his sonin-law, Mr. Stanley McGeagh at smcgeagh7@bigpond.com. 6
May, 2012 The Blade offers space within its pages for business advertising by SCV members and non-members. For $5.00 per issue, an individual can purchase a business card-size space on the Blade s Ad Page. Remember: the Blade is sent to locations all across the country, though by far most readers live right here in Maryland. Wherever the Blade goes, your message can go with it! Interested? Please contact Bruce Null, 2600 Masseth Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21219 410-388-0894. Send a copy of the ad you wish to place in the Blade, a short letter of explanation, and a check payable to the Col. H. W. Gilmor Camp #1388, SCV amounting to $5.00 for each issue in which you want the ad to appear. That s only $50 for a whole year (we do not publish in July and August) of ads!
THE GILMOR BLADE Bruce and Nancy Null 2600 Masseth Avenue Baltimore, MD 21219 The Gilmor Blade is the monthly publication of the Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp #1388, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Subscriptions are available for non-members for $6.00 per year. Any individual interested in a subscription should send a check payable to Col. H.W. Gilmor Camp #1388, SCV, to the Editor at the address above. SAVE THE DATE: May Camp meeting 5/9/12