Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11 November, 2018 Camp Officers: Commander: David Rawls 1 st Lt. Commander: David Fisher 2 nd Lt. Commander: Hank Arnold Adjutant/ Treasurer: James Thornton Chaplain: Jim Darden Color Sergeant: Ric Carden Quartermaster: Tristan Dunn Sergeant At Arms: Sam Nelson Camp Surgeon: Dr. Fred Moss Dispatch Editor: Jim Darden Commander Emeritus: Dr. Ira West Chaplain Emeritus: Dr. Charles Baker The Next Camp Meeting will be at 7:00 pm, Tuesday November 13 at The New Merkle House, 3278 Cahaba Heights Rd, Birmingham, Ala. SCV CALENDAR November 13 Camp Meeting New Merkle House Zachary Grizzard Ivan Turchin and the sack of Athens, Ala. December 11 Camp Meeting New Merkle House Ancestor Stories TBD Work day at Elmwood Cemetery to replace broken crosses of honor at the Hardee Plot Do you have a item of interest relative to the War Between The States? Why not share it in a Camp Program? Fighting Joe Wheeler Camp 1372, Inc. C/O Adjutant P.O. Box 43362 Vestavia Hills, AL 35243 Please send articles or other information for inclusion in The Dispatch to Jim Darden Editor 645 South Sanders Road Hoover, Alabama 35226 Or e-mail km4qr@bellsouth.net http://www.fightingjoewheelercamp.org SCV Fighting Joe Wheeler Camp 1372 FJWCamp1372@yahoogroups.com Alabama: We Dare Defend Our Rights The principal for which we contended is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form. - Jefferson Davis, May 1865
Commander s Report November, 2018 Compatriots: This weekend marks the 100 th anniversary of Armistice Day, the official end of the War to End All Wars or as it was later known as World War I. Many men would suffer and die during the conflict while the opportunity to make a lasting commitment to a just and fair peace would quickly be squandered, leading to yet another massive world-wide conflict leading to millions of deaths. In spite of many hardships and sacrifices, the members of the American Expeditionary Forces and their European allies victoriously defended our rights and freedoms. May we keep in memory those men for all they did. Yet, the ultra-liberal American Humanist Association chooses to sue the State of Maryland for the 40 foot tall Celtic cross-shaped war memorial at the Maryland National Cemetery in Blandensburg. After decades of absolutely no controversy the Association suddenly decided the monument commemorating 49 men from the area who died during World War I was a violation of the establishment clause, filing suit to have it removed. Surprisingly, the left wing District Court ruled in favor of the State, holding that there was no intent by Maryland to convert people to Christianity. The 4 th Circuit Court of Appeals then reversed on appeal, claiming the use of a cross for memorial purposes on government property was unconstitutional. This past Friday the Supreme Court announced it was granting certiorari and would hear the case during the current session. A sad statement about the current state of our society. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will reverse the Appellate Court and rule that the cross, which had originally been erected on private property and moved to its current location afterwards, was not a religious statement but rather a simple commemoration of the dead. This ruling could also prove quite pivotal regarding all such memorials in this country. Now to get off my soapbox... I would like to encourage one and all to come to this month s meeting. As usual, we will enjoy a good discussion about things historical, not only learning much but enjoying each other s company. And please, if possible, invite others as well. In divisive times such as these, all of us need to gather and strengthen each other for the fight that lies ahead. Deo Vindice, David L. Rawls Camp Commander Page 2
November, 2018 Camp, We enter November with a local concern. I hear that Union Hill Cemetery is going to be impacted by a proposed cross walk from Starbucks to the cemetery along side the bridge over highway 280. This could impact some of the graves including some Confederate marked graves. We need to contact folks in Homewood and Mountain Brook ( the bridge will connect the 2 towns) who are proposing this bridge. The bridge itself is not a bad idea, but the construction process and foot traffic could damage or litter the historic area and disrespect the graves including some Confederate graves. We have enough attacks on our monuments and culture as is. This proposed action could be damaging to the graves and our heritage. I would hate to think that the folks proposing the bridge are looking at the construction as a way to minimise the flying of the Confederate flags on some of the graves. The additional foot traffic will bring more contact to the cemetery and raise the awareness of the flags flying there. This could be a negative situation. Please think about this situation, contact your local politicians and voice your concerns. Thanks to the folks that helped at the recent AGAC gun show! We had a good turnout both days in "manning the booth". The gun show itself was a disappointment. The show chairman resigned and wasn't replaced. The AGAC president is not able to run the show anywhere near as good as the past show chairman did. Also the Civil War show wasn't as good because the awards were limited. This will be an ongoing issue. Get out and vote Tuesday! The population is being flooded with immigrants that are given voting status and will "vote left", make your vote count! Enjoy the fall, football season, hunting, fall fishing, and promoting your Confederate Heritage! God Bless the South! Thanks, Hank Arnold 2nd Lt. Cdr.
Chaplain s Report The following has been received from the family of Compatriot James Larose: Your kind expression of sympathy is deeply appreciated and gratefully acknowledged by the family of Dr. James Harper Larose. Thank you for the kind note after Jim s death. He enjoyed his participation in the SCV and was proud of his heritage. Our family is consoled by your words of faith and healing. - Jane Larose * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * An excerpt from The Confederate Soldier s Pocket Manual of Devotions, Compiled by Charles Todd Quintard, Chaplin, 1 st Tennessee Infantry; based on a portion of The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:33: For Contentedness O God, Heavenly Father, who by Thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to all them that seek Thy kingdom and its righteousness all things necessary to their bodily sustenance, let me always fully resign myself to Thy disposal, having no desires of my own, and teach me in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Grant me grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches, and so to pass through things temporal that I finally lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN. Deo Vindice, Jim Darden Camp Chaplin
From http://www.alabamapioneers.com. THE PART INDIANS PLAYED IN THE CONFEDERACY By Mrs. Elliott M. Buchanan, Chattanooga, Tennessee (This article was one of a number on the subject written by members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy throughout the country in response to a request by the Editor of this magazine with the offer of a history of Alabama as a prize for the best essay. The essay by Mrs. Buchanan was chosen by a committee appointed by the President of the General U.D. C., as the best of a number submitted.) For four hundred years the question has been- From whence came the Indian? The Indians were without a written history. The males of the Creeks from Georgia and Alabama, Cherokees from Tennessee and Georgia Seminoles from Florida, Choctaws and Chickasaws from Alabama and Mississippi and confederate tribes of the Creeks are tall, erect, and moderately robust. They will endure a great many misfortunes, losses and disappointments with out showing themselves, in the least, vexed or uneasy. If they are taken captives or expect a miserable exit, they sing; if death approaches them in sickness, they are not afraid of it. The Chickasaws were the most active and warlike tribe of the great Muskhogean Indian stock; a branch of the Choctaws. In the War Between the States, they joined the Confederate side; lost about one fourth of their people and were liable to the penalties of treason. By the treaty of Fort Smith, September 1865, they were conditionally restored to their rights. The Chickasaws showed personal bravery and unconquerable spirit and almost endless endurance. The Choctaws, one of the largest tribes of the great Muskhogean stock and before its deportation was the most advanced in general culture of any except the Creeks. Like all the southern tribes they were slave holders and in 1860 had some 5,000 negro slaves. Their Superintendent and agents were Southerners and they joined the Confederate side of the War Between the States. Their population was reduced by one third; and after the war they were for a time deprived of their rights. The Creeks, a once powerful confederacy of Gulf Indians, the strongest Indian power south of New York except the Cherokees. They occupied a large part of Georgia and Alabama and formed the largest section of the Muskhogean stock. In 1836 some of the Creeks joined the United States forces against the Seminoles but others began raiding Georgia and Alabama villages. General Scott reduced them and the government at once began deporting them to Arkansas. The government tried to Christianize and civilize them, but they finally refused either missionaries or schools. In the War Between the States they divided. The Seminole Indians an important tribe of the Muskhogean stock of American Indians. The Seminoles (wanderers) of Florida had broken away from the Creeks, left the main body 1762-1768, and removed to the peninsula of Florida where they have resided since the 16th century. The Seminoles are known to history chiefly through their two wars with the United States the first 1817-1818, provoked by the upper Creeks, and other 1835-18 42, the bloodiest and most furiously contested struggle with Indians in which the Government has ever engaged, resulted from the refusal of a part of the Indians to remove to the Indian Territory under the provisions of a treaty agreed to by them in 1834. From the earliest dates at which we hear of the Chickasaws succeeding the settlements made on the Atlantic coast westward by various European nations, the Chickasaws were firm friends of the English. On the other hand the Choctaws and Creeks favored first the Spaniards and then the French. The first treaty between the United States and the Cherokees was made at Hopewell on the Keener River on November 28, 1775, between a group of men of the United States and the Headmen and Warriors of all the Cherokees. The commissioners were men of the southern part of the Republic. The Keetowha society was originated among the Cherokees by Reverends Evan and John B. Jones in 1859. It is a secret society for the fuller development of the noble qualities of individualism. It has
always been especially active in upbuilding the religious and patriotic instincts of its members and is the only lodge in the United States whose principal emblem is the United States flag. During the War Between the States its insignia was a couple of pins crossed on the left coat lapel and for that reason its members were known as Pin Indians. The failure of the United States government to afford to the Southern Indians the protection solemnly guaranteed by the treaty stipulations had been the greatest cause of their entering into an alliance with the Confederacy. Veterans of the Confederate service who saw action along the Missouri-Arkansas frontier have frequently complained that military operations in and around Virginia during the War Between the States receive historically so much attention that as a consequence, the steady, stubborn fighting west of the Mississippi River is either totally ignored or at best, lost in dim obscurity. There is much of truth in the criticism but it applies in fullest measure only when the Indians are taken into account; for no accredited history of the American War Between the States that has yet appeared has adequately recognized certain rather interesting facts connected with the period of frontier development; vis; that Indians fought on both sides in the great sectional struggle; that they were moved to fight not by instincts of savagery, but by identically the same motives and impulses as the white man and in the final outcome they suffered even more terribly than did the whites. The Cherokees had under the necessities of the situation divided themselves into the Ross or Anti-removal Party, and the Ridge or Treaty Party. After the murder of John Ridge, from whom the party took its name, his nephew, Stand Watie became its leader. He figured conspicuously on the Southern side in the War Between the States. Early in 1861, Stand Watie, Cherokee Chief of the Ridge faction, organized a company to cooperate with the Confederacy and was made its captain. Other companies having been formed they met near Fort Wayne on July 12 1861 and termed the Cherokee Mounted Rifle Regiment and elected I officers. Removal took place in spite of the steady opposition of the Rossities and the Cherokees went west, piloted by the United States Army. For the participation of the southern Indians in the American War Between the States the state of Texas and Arkansas were more than measurably responsible. Governor Rector of Arkansas wrote Chief Ross on January 29, 1861, requesting the cooperation of the Cherokees with the Confederacy to which Chief Ross answered avowing neutrality. The Chief by letters of later dates and in a proclamation, reiterated his stand for this principle. Stand Watie the political opponent of Chief Ross organized his regiment and shortly afterwards the Chief called a general convention of the Cherokees to meet at Tahequah on August 21st. In keeping with the sentiment the Chief wrote General McCollough that We are authorized to form an alliance with the Confederate States which we are determined to do as early as practicable. This determination may give rise to movements against the Cherokee people upon their northern border. To be prepared for any such emergency, we have deemed it prudent to proceed to organize a regiment of mounted men and tender for service. They will be raised forthwith by Colonel John Drew and if received by you will require to be armed. Chief Ross then appointed for Drew s regiment. A treaty was concluded at Hunter s House the residence of George M. Murrell on October 7, 1861, between the Confederate States and the Cherokee nation and two days later Chief Ross delivered his message to the national council. In part he said; Events have occurred that will occupy a prominent place in the history of the world. The United States have been dissolved and two governments now exist. The States composing the late Union has erected themselves into a government under the style of the Confederate States of America and as you know we are now engaged in a war for their independence. The unaninmity (sic) and devotion of the people of the Confederate States must sooner or later secure their success over all opposition and result in the establishment of their independence and a recognition of it by the other nations of the earth. Our geographical position and domestic institutions allies us to the south, the war waged against the Confederate States clearly pointed out the path of our interest. This policy was adopted by the Cherokee nation. Messengers dispatched to General Albert Pike, the distinguished Indian Commissioner of the Confederate States, who established relations
between his government and other Indians in the southwest, proposing on behalf of the nation to enter into a treaty of alliance with the Confederate States. Major N. B. Pearce was made chief commissary of subsistance (sic) for Indian Territory and Western Arkansas; Major G. N. Clarke Depot Quarter-Master. In the sequel of events, both appointments came to have significance rather unusual. The site chosen for this department headquarters was not far from Fort Gibson. The fortifications erected there received the name of Cantonment Davis. Pike s great purpose and perhaps it could with no exaggeration be said his only purpose throughout the full extent of his active connection with the Confederacy was to save to that Confederacy the Indian Territory. The dispersion of Colonel John Drew s Cherokees, when about to attack Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la, forced a slight reorganization and that, taken in connection with the assertions to the command that came m the interval before the Pea Ridge campaign, brought the force approximately to four regiments, two battalions, and some detached companies. The four regiments were: the First Regiment Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles under Colonel Douglas H. Cooper, the First Creek Regiment under Colonel D. N. McIntosh, the First Regiment Cherokee Mounted Rifles under Colonel John Drew and the Second Regiment Cherokee Mounted Rifles under Colonel Stand Watie. The battalions were the Choctaw and Chickasaw and the Creek and Seminole, the latter under Lieutenant-Colonel Chilly Mclntosh and Major John Jumper. Major-General Earl Van Dorn formally assumed command of the newly created Trans- Mississippi District of Department No 2 -January 29, 1861. He was at Little Rock, Arkansas. By February 6th. he had moved up to Jacksonport. His call for troops was; being promptly answered, requisition having been made upon all the state units within the district-missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Indian Territory through Pike and his subordinates was yet to be communicated with; but General Van Dorn had no other plan for Indian troops than to use them to advantage as a means of defense and as a corps of observation. He wanted to protect Arkansas against invasion. To relieve Missouri, he planned to attempt St. Louis, and to drive the Federals out. It was his idea to carry the war, into the enemy s country beyond the Ohio. His own schemes and plans were all rendered utterly futile. At Cantonment Davis, a Choctaw and Chickasaw battalion and the First Regiment had been furnished with arms and clothing. The Battle of Pea Ridge was already fought, March 6-7-8, 1862. It was a three day fight. The real battle was the engagement at Leetown and at Elkhorn Tavern. At Leetown, Pike s Cherokees played a very important part. The Indians then, as always, were chiefly ponymounted, entirely undisciplined and armed with common rifles and ordinary shot-guns. The Indian s most effective work was done under cover of the woods. Indians, as Pike well knew, could never be induced to face shells in the open and it was without discounting, in the slightest, their innate bravery. He allowed Colonel Drew s men to fight in a way that was their own fashion with bow and arrow and with tomahawk. The Indian war-whoop was indulged in, of itself enough to terrify. The death of McCollough and Mclntosh made Pike the ranking officer in his part of the field. Colonel Watie s men under orders from Van Dorn took position on the high ridges where they could watch the movements of the enemy and give timely notice of any attempt to turn the Confederate left flank. Colonel Drew s regiment not receiving word to move forward, remained in the woods near Leetown but finding it deserted, they drew back towards Camp Stephens where they were soon joined by General Cooper with his regiment and battalion of Choctaws and Chickasaws and by two hundred men of Colonel Mclntosh s regiment of Creeks. To the very last of the Pea Ridge engagement, Stand Watie s men were active. General Pike gave them permission to fight in their own fashion, specifically to the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles who were for the most part full blooded Indians, who had stipulated that they should be allowed to fight as they knew how. Colonel Waite and his regiment made their way to Camp Stephens. Some two hundred of Watie s Indians were detailed to help take ammunition back to the main army.