Volume XXXVII, Issue 6 June, 2017 Camp Officers: Commander: David Rawls 1 st Lt. Commander: David Fisher 2 nd Lt. Commander: Hank Arnold Adjutant/ Treasurer: Pat Acton Chaplain: Jeff Young Color Sergeant: Bill Haas Quartermaster: Tristan Dunn Sergeant At Arms: Sam Nelson Camp Surgeon: Dispatch Editor: Jim Darden Commander Emeritus: Dr. Ira West Chaplain Emeritus: Dr. Charles Baker Fighting Joe Wheeler Camp 1372, Inc. C/O Adjutant P.O. Box 43362 Vestavia Hills, AL 35243 The Next Camp Meeting will be at 7:00 pm, Tuesday June 13 at The New Merkle House 3278 Cahaba Heights Rd, Birmingham, Ala. SCV CALENDAR June 3 Jefferson Davis birthday June 9-11 Alabama Division Reunion Cullman, Alabama June 13 Camp Meeting New Merkle House David Rawls The Nullification Crisis of 1832-1837 July 8-9 AGCA Gun Show recruiting table with Forrest Camp July 11 Camp Meeting New Merkle House July 18-23 Brandon Beck General Forrest and Strait s Raid SCV National Reunion Memphis, Tennessee August 8 Camp Meeting New Merkle House September 12 Camp Meeting New Merkle House Tim Steadman Captain Cummings Lay October 10 Camp Meeting New Merkle House Al Byrd Battle Of Richmond http://www.fightingjoewheeler.org SCV Fighting Joe Wheeler Camp 1372 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 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
June, 2017 Compatriots: As I see it, Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans does indeed serve a purpose. He is a prime example of how far down we as a nation have gone. When there are those who feel comfortable with a moral degenerate who left his wife and family to live in an adulterous situation with his communications director lecturing us on how to live our lives, it shows very clearly how far we have fallen indeed... Yet, there is a glimmer of hope. The Alabama Legislature did finally pass the much needed monuments bill which was promptly signed by Governor Ivey into law. Now it is up to the new Attorney General to enforce the new law and properly protect all monuments throughout the State from those who are determined to expunge history. I also had the opportunity to attend this year s Division Reunion in Cullman. I learned a lot about the long range plans at the Division level as well as the need for us at the camp level to be on the same page so that we can accomplish what needs to be done. I hope to discuss a few matters at the meeting Tuesday night, getting your input and seeing how to go from there in reaching these goals. Now to get off my soapbox and deal with other matters. Coming up at the Camp Meeting on June 13 th I will be giving a presentation on the uniquely American concept of Nullification and how it almost led to armed conflict as early as the 1820s and early 1830s (hint: Slavery had nothing to do with the dispute). In fact, I intend to show that this concept was a major cause of the War for Southern Independence as well as the underlying foundation for a lot of the political division we see even today. Our ancestors fought for a just cause and they deserve far more honor and respect for what they did. Let us always honor their memory! Deo Vindice, David L. Rawls Commander Page 2
May, 2017 Compatriots, True summertime. I haven't heard anything of the Division Reunion. Sorry I could not be a part of it. I would like to report that I been on a scouting mission on the Alabama coast. I have searched the beaches and waters some 35 miles out and am pleased to report that the Yankees I have encountered have been pudgy sunburned infiltrators that don't seem to be a threat at this time. There were 10 that were captured ; 6 were released, the balance will be eaten as if they were snapper. Be sure when you travel with your family to point out areas of historical interest to anyone that will listen. If we don't show them the sights and meaning of events that happened there the places and events will be forgotten. Our SCV creed says we will remember these men and why they fought. It is our duty to share this with our friends and family. Our Governor Kay Ivy has signed the Historic Preservation Act to save our monuments, God bless her! Please thank her and all that contacted the politicians that voted for the act. I hope to see all Tuesday the 13th at the camp meeting. God bless the South!! Hank Arnold 2nd Lt. Cmdr. FJW 1372
Wearing of the Gray J. C. Wood ~ Courier and Scout for John Hunt Morgan J. C Wood was born April 6, 1840 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He moved several times in his life Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, and moved to Alabama about 1905. He was married, but his wife pre-deceased him. He had a son born about 1875 whose name was Joseph C. Wood. His pension application dated 1923 states the last time he heard from his son he was a soldier in the World War. He also stated he had not voted since President Hayes election in 1876. At the time of his application he was living with Mr. and Mrs. Joseph J. Seabourn. Patriot Wood enlisted in Basil Duke s regiment in January, 1863. A record of his service follows as told by two veterans of the War Between The States. He was a member of Camp Wilcox, UCV, Birmingham. Hot Springs, Ark., October 3, 1922, Personally appeared today Louis A. Thomas, who being sworn states I reside in Hot Springs, Arkansas. During the war between the States, 1861 to 1865, I was a member of Company A, 97 th Ohio Regiment Buell s command in Kentucky. And was at one time an inmate of the Shelby House, then used as a hospital at Lebannon, Kentucky. In February I was an inmate of said hospital when General Morgan of the Confederate Army captured the town and Morgan stopped long enough to feed his horses in the court house yard and I saw him through the windows of the hospital. While Morgan was in town some of his men came into the hospital and took my blanket and the blankets of a few others while we were lying on cots sick. The matter was reported to General Morgan and he directed J. C. Wood who was a courier for Morgan to take the blankets from the men who had gotten them and restore them to us, the parties they belonged to And that was done. This same J C Wood is the same person now present and who I understand has an application for a pension pending before the pension board in Montgomery, Alabama. Later in February 1863, when Morgan made his raid through Ohio, when he came to Winchester, I was there, and he pressed me into his service as a guide to the Ohio River. While Morgan was there he asked me where he could find a place to leave some of his sick men and I pointed to a house belonging to J. B. Carlyle and told him he could leave them there. And there I met this same man J. C. Wood, who went to the house with the sick men and left him there, and returned to the command and went with Morgan. This was the second time I met Mr. Wood and he was a both times in the Confederate service under General Morgan. (signed) L A Thomas. Birmingham, Ala, March 1, 1923, Personally appeared today, Joseph H. Davis, who being sworn, states I am now a resident of Dayton, Tex. (near Dayton). During the war between the states 1861 to 1865, I was a member of Co. I under Cap t. Gabe Alexander, Duke s Regiment, Col. John H. Morgans command. I was with various detachments of Morgan s Division, filed as Co. I, 7 th regiment, Kentucky Cavalry. I enlisted with Morgan Jan. 1, 1863 at McMinnville, Tenn; was captured at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, April 10 th, 1863, and paroled at Fort McHenry, Maryland May 2 nd, 1863. I was back with my command and answered roll call August 31, 1863. I was again captured at Richmond, Ky. and sent to Camp Chase and was paroled from there May, 1865, and came home by way of Lexington, Ky, where I again met my dear old Scout and Courier, J. C. Wood who was still on crutches. I served with him on many a trip as a scout and through many a hard rub and narrow call. But at last, in Col. Morgan s second raid on Perryville, Ky., he was, as we all thought mortally wounded with
eleven buck shot and slugs in his left side (editor s note another entry in his CSA pension application states that his horse was killed and had to be pulled off of him). He was taken to Lexington, Ky. to the hospital with several wounded yankees. I never expected to see him alive again. But on my return from Camp Chase, I met Mr. Wood in Lexington, Ky. still on crutches. This was in May, 1865. I left him there and have not seen him nor heard of him since until I met him in Hot Springs this fall. I fully reckognized him as my old chum and messmate. This is my second time to see him since the war. No better nor braver soldier ever lived than was he. (signed) Joseph H. Davis. J. C. Wood died in Montgomery, Alabama July 22, 1925 and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham in the Camp Hardee Plot. John Hunt Morgan flag Miniature flag from Mattie Ready Morgan, widow of John Hunt Morgan