The Sharpsburg Sentinel Volume 10, Issue 8 The Sharpsburg Camp and the SCV denounce racism, racial supremacists, hate groups, and any group or individual that misuses or desecrates the symbols of the Confederate States or the United States. August 2015 Commander s Notes I want Volume to thank 9, local Issue author 1 and historian Stephen Bockmiller for a great tour of historic Rose Hill Cemetery at our July 1 st meeting. We did this tour about three years ago and the weather wasn t that great, but this time around the evening was perfect. There is so much history at this cemetery that you learn something new every time you walk around. The city has a brochure for a walking tour of the cemetery that I believe can be picked up at the Visitor s Center located on the square in Hagerstown and I encourage you all to do so. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, August 5th, 2015, 7:00 P.M., Sharpsburg Town Hall, 2 nd Floor, 106 East Main Street, Sharpsburg, MD. Our guest speaker will be Ms. Nancy Householder who will be presenting a talk on The Monuments of Gettysburg. In addition to our regular meeting in August, on Saturday, August 1 st, 12:00 P.M., we will be hosting a walking tour of Historic Middletown, Maryland with local guide Betsy Estilow who is the curator of the Middletown Valley Historical Society Stone House Museum. Please meet in front of Zion Lutheran Church, 107 West Main Street (Route 40A) in Middletown by noon. Free parking is available behind the church. The tour will last about an hour so please wear comfortable shoes and dress accordingly. The tour is free and is open to the public. Tour booklets will be available for $5.00 each. After the tour we will be meeting at Jim Kehoe s ice cream shop which is located a few doors down from the church for refreshments. By the time of our meeting the national convention in Richmond, VA will be over and that means that it is dues time again. Annual dues are $35.00 and I encourage you all to make it easy on our Adjutant and Treasurer and get them in early. The Battle of Sharpsburg Camp is proud to announce that we have some major fundraisers going on. I instituted the Battle of Sharpsburg Camp Flaggers which will be a fundraiser that we can use to promote Confederate History and SCV Recruitment. There are two ways to donate. The first being our P.O. Box that was established for this and paid for by private donations and the second is our Fundly site. All donations are tax deductible as allowed for by law. Battle of Sharpsburg Camp Flaggers Post Office Box 4571 Hagerstown, MD 21742-8777 Or www.fundly.com And search for Battle of Sharpsburg Camp Flaggers
I want to encourage every single Compatriot and Friend of the Camp to fly Confederate Flags. I have a Third National up now and I ve been flying different Confederate Flags off and on for the past ten years and I ve never had any problems and I live in a very mixed neighborhood here in Hagerstown. Also it s very important that we get the word out and support the Confederate friendly businesses that are in the area. Jim Kehoe who is the owner of Antietam Gallery in Sharpsburg flies a Confederate Battle Flag in front of his shop and he has agreed to give us a portion of the proceeds from every Confederate Flag sold. I consider Antietam Gallery to be the unofficial non PC gift shop for the battlefield and I encourage everyone Volume to 9, go Issue there. 1 Also, Captain Benders Tavern right across from the Town Hall has started flying a Confederate Battle Flag. I ve talked to the owner and as soon as we get it in, we will be presenting him with an Advance the Colors Certificate for flying the Confederate Battle Flag. We did the same for Antietam Gallery a couple months ago. The third business is Bonnie s At the Redbird, they don t fly the Confederate Battle Flag, but they do fly the Bonnie Blue and other flags. I encourage each and every one of you to support these businesses. I want to thank each and every one of you for being a member of the SCV. Remember, this is your camp and I encourage all of you to participate fully. Yours in the cause, Michael David Wasiljov Commander Sons of Confederate Veterans 301-992-3122-C mike24745@aol.com ADJUTANT REPORT MINUTES: The July 1, 2015 meeting of the Battle of Sharpsburg Camp # 1582 was held at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Hagerstown, Maryland. There were 7 Members and Friends in attendance. We also had 5 guests. The tour of the cemetery was conducted by Stephen Bockmiller. Stephen is one of our regular speakers and gave us a very informative visit to various important gravesites. Given this was a tour the normal opening and closing ceremonies were dispensed with. The Camp has been invited on a walking tour of historic Middletown, Maryland on Saturday August 1 st at noon. Also, noted by Commander Wasiljov was that our August 5th meeting will take place at the Sharpsburg Town Hall at 7:00 p.m. Speaker for the evening will be Nancy Householder. The topic will be the Monuments of Gettysburg. Please check the Upcoming Events section for further information.
SPEAKER FOR JULY 1, 2015 MEETING The Rose Hill Cemetery is Maryland s oldest public cemetery. It was chartered by the state legislature in 1865 as a cemetery for the citizens of Washington County. This tract of land was owned by the Wroe family, being granted to them by the King of England during Colonial times. Their home was located on a hill which became known as Wroe s Hill. It was later changed to Rose Hill. In 1869 Maryland Governor Bowie ordered that the state should take care of the Confederate dead. In 1871 Maryland bought land in the Rose Hill Cemetery. With this land the Confederate Cemetery was created as part of the larger public cemetery. Burials in this section included dead from the Antietam, Gettysburg, Monocacy, and South Mountain battlefields. Many of the bodies buried in the Confederate Volume Cemetery 9, Issue had 1 been located very easily. These brave men were hastily buried in shallow graves. By 1869 many of these bodies became exposed. Thus, a proper and sanitary reburial was mandated in this plot of 2.5 acres. A statue of Hope was commissioned and later dedicated in 1877. General Fitzhugh Lee was the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony. Approximately 346 identified and 2,122 unidentified Confederate soldiers have found their final resting place in Hagerstown. Stephen Bockmiller was able to maintain some military discipline as our Camp toured the Cemetery. A number of notable graves were located along with a brief description of each life. Stephen gave a well-balanced showing of important Civil War graves. I will take the liberty of reporting those of Southern importance. For example, Dewitt Rench was planning to enlist with the Stonewall Jackson Brigade when he was killed by pro-union citizens of Williamsport in 1861. Dr. Augustine Mason served as Chief Surgeon in Richmond. He coordinated the care of thousands of wounded soldiers of both sides while dealing with shortages of supplies and medicines. Elias Recher was a prominent photographer of the war and subject of several Camp meetings. Another very interesting man was Private Marcus Allison Company F, 10 th Virginia Infantry. He found himself struggling to keep up with his unit during one of General Jackson s forced marches near Chancellorsville. When discovered by the General, Private Allison was asked why he was not with his unit. After hearing the explanation, General Jackson ordered Allison onto his horse saying well we will need every man for the coming battle. Jackson led the horse to allow the soldier to rest until the General was called away on urgent business. Other Confederates included Samuel Schindel, a Confederate scout that was present with McCausland s Brigade during the ransom of Hagerstown and the burning of Chambersburg. Dr. John Gaines was the first doctor on the scene after the murder of Col. Elmer Ellsworth in Alexandria in May, 1861. He was captured twice during the war and was left behind to treat the wounded. Thanks to Stephen Bockmiller for his informative tour. I would urge anyone that is interested in the history of our area and its people to stop at the Visitor s Center to get a Hagerstown s Civil War Walking Tour Guide. Respectively submitted, Jan Hiett-Adjutant-Newsletter Editor
ADJUTANT COMMENTS Frankly, I am nearly speechless over the developments in the last several weeks. I will not attempt to review the nightmares which have visited our heritage, heroes, history, and flags. It seems like it never ends! I have been overwhelmed so I will do my best to put a positive spin on what you are about to read. First of all the positive response to the Sons of Confederate Veterans has been Volume amazing. 9, Issue On 1 the National level the request for applications keep that office working 24-7. Headquarters, to encourage memberships and reinstatements, has waived the pro-rated fee for July, 2015 and the reinstatement and the new member s processing fee will not be charged through September 30, 2015. We have had two inactive members reinstate their membership. I have at least three pending applications for membership and one Friends application. I am happy to report that David Lee Smith, a regular at our Camp meetings has joined us as a Friend. Thank you David for your support during this time of Southern bashing. Membership renewals have already started to arrive. All current Camp members face the yearly expiration date of July 31, 2015. The renewal rate for both the National and Camp is $35.00. While there is a grace period, payments postmarked after November 1, 2015 will be assessed a late payment fee of $5.00 Please consider paying the dues as soon as possible to make the job for our Treasurer easier to manage. Make your checks payable to the Battle of Sharpsburg Camp # 1582 SCV. Mail those checks to: Glen Stickel 2185 Quarry Road Bunker Hill, WV 25413 Our Division Commander, Jay Barringer notes that one good consequence of those that have recently attempted to destroy our heritage is the interest it has created in the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This horrific attempt at cultural cleansing brings with it the responsibility of each Camp that we ensure that those that want to join our Cause are not just not trying to infiltrate the SCV. Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist but our detractors will do anything to ruin the SCV. We, as officers of the, are prepared for those that would disrupt our organization. The Division has given the Camp s officers a directive on how to handle various situations that might arise. We will do everything to stop anti- Confederate/SCV/Southern agenda activists from entering into our ranks. Sic Semper Tyrannis. Along with this interest in the SCV has come a multitude of e-mails that are necessary to defend our heritage. I apologize for sending so many. I can assure you that I try to limit the amount that I forward to you. I have spent quite a bit of time reviewing these e-mails to ensure that you are receiving only the ones worthy of your time. Since July 1 st this Adjutant has received 85 e-mails on various SCV subjects. This does not count those e-mails that come to my personal account. That would probably put the number at 100 in fifteen days. Some days I get as many as 15 e-mails. That daily number is what I would receive during a full month. An Adjutant s life is a hard life, just ask Past Adjutant Steve Defreytas. Enjoying retirement Steve?
Several weeks ago I attended a Maryland Division Color Guard event in Gettysburg dedicating the Drummer Boy Monument to both armies. Prior to the ceremony, I spoke to Lt. Col. Mike Landree, USMC Retired. He is the Executive Director of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and was one of the keynote speakers invited to help with the program. He had driven from Tennessee for this event. I am happy to report the SCV is in capable hands. He reports that Headquarters is swamped with requests for applications, information, and SCV products. Headquarters is also busy dealing with a large number of Heritage Violations. They have volunteers from local Camps helping Volume 9, Issue 1 them out and they still are many days behind. He does not think this surge of interest will abate anytime soon. For the ceremony, he Maryland Color Guard was sharply dressed with game faces on as we began to unfurl our flags. I have not seen the after-action report on the event but I suspect we had nearly 30 members in attendance. As this process was taking place we began hearing rumors that we were not to participate in this event. While our Color Sgt. Ray Rooks conferred with our Executive Director a plan was prepared. A television news truck arrived in hopes of seeing some poorly behaved, red-necked white trash clash with our opponents. They were disappointed as we stood quietly across the street from the unveiling as our Southern flags caught the northern breeze. To a man, we stood our ground, and behaved respectfully. I think we earned a lot of respect that day. Our UDC ladies stood shoulder-to shoulder with us when they were not handing out Battle Flags to those on our side of the street. We were also joined by some Confederate reenactors. Then civilians that had brought Confederate flags or had gone down the street to purchase them lined up with us. Yes, you can readily find Confederate flags even though the merchants will tell you that they are hard to keep in stock. I must say it was a great time to be a Confederate. The icing on the cake was the fact that the television cameras that were looking for some form of conflict had to face the Drummer Boy statue with a lens full of Confederate flags. One other point I will make to improve the story is that our Executive Director gave a wonderful speech. His counterpart, a Sons of Union Veteran s officer presented his speech and during that speech he turned to the Maryland Division Color Guard making sure the Guard would be recognized for their contribution to the day s event even though we were across the way. Final comment about the event was my conversation with Compatriot Don Goodwin. Don supports the Maryland Division and our Camp in so many ways and should be commended for his efforts. While talking to Don the day after the day, he reported some interesting information he learned while doing some research. Several times during the existence of the SCV, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War have taken an official stance regarding the Confederate Battle flag. Most recently in August 2000, during the 119 th National Encampment of the SUV, issued General Order No. 26. This clarified the official position of the SUVCW by ordering a resolution of support for the display of the Battle Flags of the Confederacy. They elaborated that the use of the Battle Flag as well as the flag of the United States by any and all hate groups is condemned. They support our flying of the flag as a historical piece of this nation s history and oppose the removal of any Confederate monuments or markers to those gallant soldiers on the grounds of it being politically correct. Our good Union friends go on to report that as descendants of Union soldiers and sailors who as members of the Grand Army of the Republic met in joint reunions with Confederate veterans under both flags in the bonds of fraternal friendship. Furthermore, all individual Brothers, Camps, and Departments were reminded that inquiries about their position be directed without further comment or elaboration to the Order s website where it can be read in its entirety (http://suvcw.org/flagres.htm). Given our counterpart s support of our history, heritage, and flag the SUVCW kindly suggest that those who do not honor Confederate veterans fail to honor all veterans. Deo Vindice!
As you may recall in the July newsletter I noted how in the heart of NASCAR land the history of our ancestors has been forgotten. If you got a spare minute you may want to re-read that rant. Well next thing you know NASCAR has their Daytona race. The politically correct folks that get fat off of a sport based on the running of illegal moonshine, offers the fans a chance to turn in their Confederate flags. At Daytona there were very few swaps and at the Kentucky race the following week there were no exchanged flags. NASCAR took a stance on the Confederate flag after last month s church massacre. NASCAR backed Governor Haley s call to remove it from the Statehouse grounds. They further noted it does not allow the Confederate flag on anything it sanctions. The series stopped Volume short 9, of Issue banning 1 the display of the flag but asked fans to refrain from flying them. Spotting a Confederate flag at both of these races was easier than finding a souvenir shop, restroom, or beer stand. They were on coolers, cars, and even tattooed on skin. One fan at Daytona was quoted as saying, It s just a Southern pride thing. It s not racist. In Kentucky another fan noted that, This is a part of who we are. Fans at both venues were having none of what some of them called political correctness. There were no apologies. Some racing fans said they displayed the Confederate flag in direct response to being asked not to fly the flag. Another Kentucky fan said, I m doing it this year to be rebellious. I m tired of the politically correct world. Racing should not be swapping paint with politics. It s wrong for NASCAR to take a political stand on the Confederate flag. Another Southern man noted, We get offended a lot in life, get over it. It s history not racism. COAT TALES PART I Jackson s grim humor as told by Charles Strahan, Company B, 21 st Virginia Regiment. I was sitting on a fence, with a chum, on the old Warrenton road just before the Second Manassas battle, when Stonewall and his staff rode up from the east. General Stuart approached from the west, stopping directly in front of us. General Stuart had just made a raid around Pope s army, capturing his headquarters. General Stuart had little of the West Point etiquette, and, as he approached General Jackson, he called out: Hello, Jackson! I ve got Pope s coat; if you don t believe it, there s his name, holding up a magnificent new major general s coat, which made General Jackson s old gray look like second-hand clothing. Stuart s staff evidently expected a loud laugh, but General Jackson, with his hand at salute, said: General Stuart, I would much rather you had brought General Pope instead of his coat. A big rebel thanks to Don Goodwin for his research into this incident which comes from the June 1926 Confederate Veteran. COAT TALES PART II General J.E.B. Stuart, still unhappy about losing his trademark plumed hat to Union Cavalry on August 18 th, now had General Pope s best dress uniform coat as a result of the raid at Catlett s Station. Although he had gotten even, he also saw an opportunity. Stuart sent Pope a note through the lines, describing the situation and proposing the fair exchange of the prisoners. Receiving no response from the humorless Pope, Stuart sent the coat to Richmond, where it was displayed in the capitol building for all to enjoy! This story was located in the Civil War Road Trip Volume 1 written by Michael Weeks.
UPCOMING EVENTS July 25 Saturday, 9:00 a.m. August 1 Saturday, Noon Grave Marking Ceremony for George Hayth Green Hill Cemetery 486 East Burke Street Martinsburg WV Volume 9, Issue 1 Walking Tour of Historic Middletown meet at the Zion Lutheran Church, 107 West Main Street. After the tour we will meet at Jim Kehoe s Ice Cream Shop. August 5 Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. Camp meeting at Sharpsburg Town Hall Guest Speaker-Nancy Householder Monuments at Gettysburg. August 22 Saturday, Noon Annual White s Ford River Crossing Further information about the above-note events can be obtained by contacting the Adjutant of the Battle of Sharpsburg Camp # 1582 at the Camp meeting or by telephone at 301-797-1021 or by e-mail at bsc1582@aol.com.