Sons of Confederate Veterans
Camp #16
Opelika/Auburn Lee County Alabama
Charge to the Sons of Confederate Veterans:
"To you, Sons of Confederate
Veterans, we will commit 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 which he loved
and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious
and which you also cherish.
Lt. General Stephen Dill
Lee, Commander General
United Confederate Veterans
New Orleans, Louisiana
April
25, 190
NEXT MEETING INFORMATION
The SCV General Robert
E. Lee Camp
will meet for the
2016 Lee/Jackson Banquet
on
Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 6:30 PM
at the
Kitchen 3810 Restaurant
3810 Pepperell Parkway
Opelika, AL
Commander Jerry Purcell will
present
"Lee; The Man and What Set Him Apart"
Following the meal, the program will include
honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
Confederate
generals Lee and Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall)
Jackson have received recognition from many notable historians,
both in America
and Europe, as great military leaders. Their
battle tactics are still studied today at military colleges
and training centers.
Over the years since 1865, numerous books have
been written detailing the lives and military histories of
the two generals. Among
the notable individuals who praised Lee are
U.S. Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.
Roosevelt declared that Lee was the “greatest
of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples
have brought forth.”
Eisenhower said that a nation of men of Lee’s
caliber would be “unconquerable in spirit and soul” and that
today’s American youth
should “emulate his rare qualities and by doing
so our love of freedom would be sustained.”
LETTER FROM OUR SCV COMMANDER-AND-CHIEF
Compatriots and friends,
One hundred fifty years ago the War Against
Southern Independence ended with a devastated South. Since
that time, the South has rebuilt and stands as a shining symbol
of determination and dedication in the face of opposition and
hostility. However in our day, there are those who seek to
place upon the South another "reconstruction." Some have called this a
time of "Southern Cleansing." Their goal is to remove
all things Southern. One such attempt is current in the city
of New Orleans. The city leaders have ordered the removal of
Southern monuments that have stood in this Southern City for
decades. Therefore
WHEREAS, on January 14, 2016, the New Orleans case is brought
before the legal system for hearing, determination, and decision;
and
WHEREAS, it is vital that Southern Heritage be protected via
the preservation of the Southern Monuments in the city of New
Orleans; and
WHEREAS, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is the premiere Southern
Heritage organization in the United States.
NOW, THEREFORE, I Charles Kelly Barrow, Commander-in-Chief
of the Sons of Confederate veterans, do hereby proclaim Thursday,
January 14, 2016, as: "A DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING FOR
THE PRESERVATION OF SOUTHERN HERITAGE"
for all members
and friends of the Sons of Confederate Veterans,
PROCLAIMED this 13th day of January, 2016.
Deo Vindice!
Charles Kelly Barrow
Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION REPORT
August 26, 2015
Dear SCV General Robert E. Lee Member:
I received this outstanding report from one of the staff Members
at Headquarters:
Dave,
I plan to enter a stack of 56 applications in the computer today.
I am currently a month behind. We have received 700+ applications
as well as thousands of renewals and reinstatements. This is
good for the organization but has taken its toll on the staff
here as we are not able to keep up. I do appreciate your patience
and kind words. Hope all is well with you!
Please pray for the staff at Headquarters.
In Christ, Dave Crosslin, Adjutant/Chaplain
By Emily
Esleck | Editor-in-Chief | 07/01/15 2:28pm
SIGN
OUR NEW GUEST BOOK
Tenth Alabama Regiment cemetery in Virginia
uncovered 150 years
later
By Mary
Orndorff -- The Birmingham News
BRISTOW, Va. -- About an hour west of Washington, D.C., on a scrubby
plot of land overrun by pricker bushes and in the shadow of dense
modern townhouse developments, an Alabama cemetery was born.
Civil War preservationists with no personal links to Alabama
admit to muttering a "Roll Tide" or two as they walked
across the newly cleared land, the final resting place of between
75 and 90 soldiers with the Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment.
 |
| Brian Smith, right, and his son Dane consult as volunteers
help clean up part of a Civil War camp site where soldiers
from Alabama are buried. The work is part of the project Dane
Smith embarked upon to earn Eagle Scout status. (The Birmingham
News/Mary Orndorff) |
Historical documents and archeological study pinpointed the burial
grounds, a desperate place in the late summer of 1861, when rampant
disease claimed up to five or six Confederate soldiers a day at
what was known as Camp Jones.
There are other signs. The area is devoid of stones, except for
five large rocks dug deeply into the dirt, each cut on at least
one side by a man-made tool. And the area is pockmarked by man-sized
depressions, not in rows, but haphazardly, as if soldiers were
buried right where they died.
That level of detail, however, was unknown until Dec. 3, when
a crew of about 40 volunteers, led by a 16-year-old Eagle Scout
candidate, descended with chain saws and strong arms and gave sunlight
and a defined boundary to the cemetery.
"It's one of the better Eagle Scout projects I've seen," said
Rob Orrison, site manager with the Prince William County Department
of Public Works Historic Preservation Division. "I was blown
away by the number of people that came out."
The Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park is a new, lesser-known
addition to an area rich with Civil War historical sites; Manassas
National Battlefield Park is about three miles away as the crow
flies.
The Bristoe Station park opened in 2007 after a developer, Prince
William County officials and the Civil War Preservation Trust reached
a compromise. The massive farm property is to be developed for
residential and office space, save for a 133-acre passive park
marking the Battle of Kettle Run in 1862 and the Battle of Bristoe
Station in 1863.
The private owner who sold the land to the developer had farmed
for decades around the unmarked cemetery, indicating he knew its
historic value. But it was overgrown and inaccessible. So when
Dane Smith of nearby Nokesville called up looking for an Eagle
Scout project, park officials recommended clearing the cemetery.
Smith's father, Brian, recalls hearing the details about the project.
"When I heard it was an Alabama regiment, I was like, 'Great,
I work for an Alabama bank,'" Brian Smith said on his second
straight chilly December Saturday at the site. He is the lead Washington
lobbyist for Regions Financial Corp.
The volunteers, under Dane Smith's direction, cleared the underbrush,
cut down trees, put up a split-rail fence and built a bridge over
a creek. Their work was approved by Orrison, who told them which
trees to remove and how not to disturb the ground. Tree stumps
were left intact. The stone grave markers -- three of which Orrison
knew were there plus two others uncovered during the work -- were
marked with bright pink tape. The park had earlier used radar to
detect the disturbed dirt of the gravesites so they could estimate
a cemetery boundary.
Soldiers marching by a nearby road in 1862 wrote of the row of
cedar trees leading toward a clearing with wooden grave markers
engraved with the names of the dead. Several years later, someone
else wrote that the markers were in stone.
"Who knows when they were changed?" Orrison said.
Old pictures indicate that some of the stones were engraved,
but they are missing.
 |
| A muddy trail leads to the section of Bristoe Station Battlefield
Heritage Park being cleaned up as part of Dane Smith's Eagle
Scout project. (Photo by Mary Orndorff) |
Eventually, mulch will be placed on the path to the cemetery,
and Orrison wants to raise the money to pay for a memorial plaque
at the entrance, listing names of the 40 or so soldiers known to
be buried there. He's hoping to have that work done in time for
a September dedication ceremony. The gravesites will be mapped
and the site open to tourists.
Park officials hope that by registering the cemetery, genealogists
and historians will help them fill in the blanks of who else might
be buried there, and descendants will visit their ancestors.
"It is a little sad that we won't be able to tell them exactly
where they are," Orrison said.
The Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment included companies from Jefferson,
Shelby, Calhoun, Talladega, St. Clair, Calhoun, DeKalb and Talladega
counties, according to the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
A second overgrown plot across the pasture is believed to be
where Mississippi soldiers are buried.
Join the conversation by clicking to comment or emailMary
Orndorffat morndorff@bhamnews.com.
