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Black University of South Carolina Student Defends The Confederate Battler Flag

The Longstreet Society regrets to announce the passing of J. A. (Jeff) Davis of Gainesville, GA descendent of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and friend and member of The Longstreet Society. A memorial service is being planned in his honor by his family for later this month. 

Black University of South Carolina Student Defends The Confederate Battler Flag

By Don Lemon, CNN Interactive
Byron Thomas is 19, black, a freshman at the University of South Carolina Beaufort and a proud Southerner. He hung a Confederate flag in his dorm room window until the university asked him to take it down because several people had complained about it. (The university later stepped back from the request, saying all students have the right to free speech.)
 
"I know it's kinda weird because I'm black," Thomas said in an iReport he submitted. "When I look at this flag, I just don't see racism. I see pride, respect. Southern pride, that's what I see."
 
"Ignorance gave that flag a bad name, ignorant people like the KKK," he told CNN's Don Lemon.
 
The post got other iReporters talking, including Omekongo Dbinga, who said Thomas has the right to fly the flag, but there's no denying the flag's history. Egberto Willies said he doesn't understand Thomas' view of the Confederacy, but he thinks the North and South both have ugly histories with race relations.
 
Thomas said he won't put the flag back up, although he believes he has the right to do so. The university plans to host a discussion about the flag after students return from winter break.
 
Here's what Thomas told CNN In America about the flag and why he probably won't hang it up again.
 
CNN: What does the Confederate flag mean to you?

Thomas: To me, it means more states' rights and no bigger government. The government was getting too big. I believe South Carolina knows me better than the federal government. I personally have a lot of pride from being in the South. I see some freedom from when the South seceded from the North. I know that sounds bad. I see freedom differently than most people see it. Just that you have the right to do what you want to do and form your own opinion.
 
The bottom line for me: I do not see that flag as a racist symbol. Only an ignorant person can say that. I have researched it and studied it.

CNN: Why is it so important to you to be able to display this flag in your dorm room?
 
Thomas: It is very important that I be allowed to exercise my freedom of free speech. I'm one of the nicest people, but today, you can't say anything without people getting offended or hurt by what you are saying. I felt very offended when I was asked to take down that flag because [the housing department] said it violated the racist code. It's a freedom thing to me.
 
The generation before us told us that the flag is racist. It's not going anywhere. No one is going to burn all of the flags. If me or someone else can show my generation that it means something different maybe it won't divide us. I haven't experienced racism myself but it still exists. Maybe if we start now with this flag, racism can continue to get smaller.
 
CNN:  Do you have roommates and what do they think of your flag?
 
Thomas: I have three white roommates and they know I'm not racist. They think what I'm doing is amazing because they have never met a black person like me before because of my opinions. I was starting to make a change because I made my own opinion.
 
Some black students came to me and have said I have changed their viewpoint on the Confederate flag and that I helped change them. They have said [like me] they also don't want to be called African-American anymore. They, too, feel like they want to be American, not African-America, because it's like a second category and they were born in America not Africa. So other people have come up to me, not just my roommates.
 
CNN: When did you hang the flag up and how long was it up for before you were asked to remove it?
 
Thomas: I hung it up in September after a research paper for a class about it. After that, I hung it up because I saw other students hanging things up and I didn't really have anything. It was up for two months and no one said anything about it. I had other black students say they had no problem with it. There were no riots, no complaints, no one was throwing rocks or anything. It was peaceful around here until the housing department asked me to take it down. They said they had been trying to get in touch with me. It was Sunday, November 20. A resident adviser came to my room and asked me to take it down. So I put it up in my living room and then the head housing woman came looking for me and said I was violating the racism code. I asked if I could put up an American flag and she said yes because it's not racist. It's a double standard because some Native Americans could take offense to an American flag. I didn't say that, but I was thinking it.
 
The flag is down [since Monday, November 21] because the housing woman said I had to [remove it.]
 
I might not put it back up now because my parents are disappointed in me. They've said I can do what I want but I want them on my side. I want them to see it as trying to make a change for my generation. I'm sorry if I'm making my family look bad.
 
CNN: Were you surprised when you were asked to remove your Confederate flag? 
 
Thomas: I was very surprised because it wasn't bothering anyone. The big reason is because I'm black and most black people have feelings about it and I have no problem with it. It didn't' become an issue until they asked me to take it down. People came and asked me why I had to take it down and I was embarrassed. I was apparently violating a code I didn't think I was violating.
 
CNN: What do you want your critics to know?
 
Thomas: I just feel like, I should have my right to see a flag the way I see it. Just because someone feels offense to it, why should I have to take it down? They can walk another way. It's not like I have a cross burning or a noose hanging outside my room. I don't see it as a racist statement to me and that's my opinion of it. I don't think I should have to take it down just because someone might take offense. They shouldn't have that control of me. They are not my mom and dad.
 
My generation should have our opportunities to show our viewpoint. We shouldn't have to change it just because the majority disagrees. I'm not trying to make someone cry or hurt them. Why can't we be ourselves and think for ourselves for once? I'm trying to show that I'm not thinking for the majority which is that [the Confederate flag is] racist.
 
CNN: At this point is it about influencing change more than about the flag itself?
 
Thomas: Change has to happen somehow so I said, 'Why can't I be the person who makes the change? Why not start now instead of later?'
 
I've made change before in my community, so why can't I do it on a national level? In my high school, I got them to become a national green and solar school by using solar panels and my school or county didn't pay for a thing.
 
CNN: What have you learned from this experience so far?
 
Thomas: I learned that my generation of people are applauding me and telling me they want to see things different now. I've gotten so many friend requests on Facebook. They are encouraging me. The generation before has mixed views about it, strong views. The generation before won't let us think for ourselves. They had their chance to think and run things but we need to have our chance. We will have our turn to step up to the plate and get out of this mess that we're in.
 
I respect where they are coming from. I'm not saying that what happened didn't happen. We don't want history to repeat itself, but I see where they are coming from. They endured things I might never endure, but why do I still have to feel grounded, that I have to endure it? They weren't allowed to go to school with white people but I am. I have never been to a school without white people. Why can't my generation start making our own history? I respect every black person for the civil rights movement. I just want us to move on from all of the hatred that's still dividing us today. I'm tired of us still being divided.

---

Georigia Power Facing Lawsuit from SCV License Over Cemetery Desecration at Plant Wansley

Press Release
released by Ray McBerry Enterprises, the public relations firm for the Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans.  
 
(Atlanta - October 24, 2011)  In recent weeks, employees acting under the authority of Georgia Power removed flags from the graves of veterans in the Old Yellow Dirt Cemetery.  After the flags were replaced by family members of the deceased veterans on October 8, Georgia Power again removed the flags.  A spokeswoman for the Southern Company subsidiary said in an interview with local reporters, "Yes, we did remove those flags that were put up on October 8, and we will be monitoring.  If they are put back up, we will remove them once again."  Descendants of the buried veterans, and members of the Old Yellow Dirt Baptist Church, have stated their intentions to file a civil lawsuit and, potentially, criminal charges against anyone removing flags again from the graves of those buried in the cemetery.

In 1971, the Old Yellow Dirt Baptist Church was forced to sell the church building and property to Georgia Power for the creation of the Plant Wansley power plant.  Acknowledging the existence of the cemetery, Georgia Power constructed a fence around a portion of the graves in 1972 in order to prevent the desecration of the graves during the construction effort of the plant; no explanation has been given by Georgia Power as to why they failed to enclose the remaining one acre of graves with the fence nearly forty years ago now.

After Georgia Power removed the flags that had originally been placed on the veterans' graves, family members contacted the largest veterans/heritage organization in the state, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who have taken the lead in such violations in the past in Georgia.   Family members of the deceased veterans and church members have attested to the fact that Georgia Power neither owns the actual cemetery nor does it have the authority to prevent family members from marking the grave plots of their family with either flowers or flags.

In addition to the potential charges of trespass and the theft of personal property, Georgia Power is apparently also in violation of those state and federal statutes which protect the graves and memorials of American veterans.  In recent years, Georgia has further strengthened state laws designed to protect any flag or memorial erected or dedicated to veterans on either public or private property.  Family and church members of Old Yellow Dirt Cemetery veterans have already stated that unless Georgia Power replaces the flags prior to legal action, the Southern Company subsidiary will be required to pay additional damages and restitution.

The matter had already been sent to the Judge Advocate for the Sons of Confederate Veterans who was awaiting a satisfactory response from Georgia Power representatives when news was released on Wednesday that Georgia Power had replaced the flags on the graves of the veterans but also stated that no final decision has been made by the Southern Company as to whether the flags will be allowed to remain permanently without litigation.

For interviews or more information about this matter, contact Jack Bridwell, Georgia Division Commander for the Sons of Confederate Veterans at 1-866-SCV-in-GA or online at www.GeorgiaSCV.org. 

Proposed Texas SCV License Tag Creates Controversy

By Nathan Koppel
Writer, Associated Press, as published online via the Wall Street Journal
October 24, 2011 

From sports fans to pet owners, many groups in Texas, as in other states, want a specialty license plate that reflects their passions. But the Sons of Confederate Veterans are meeting fierce opposition to their own proposal of a plate featuring the Confederate battle flag—a symbol of slavery to many black Americans.

As a state board prepares to vote on the matter as early as next month, all sides are weighing in. Critics of the plate say the Confederate flag can be as offensive to blacks as a swastika is to Jews. Supporters say the plate is designed to honor the Civil War service of men who fought to defend the state against northern invaders, not to protect the institution of slavery.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a sponsor of the proposed plate, said it is aimed simply at honoring Texas soldiers. "The debate has been driven by a fear of offending people," he said. "There is too much concern about political correctness."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans says membership is open to the male descendants of any man who served honorably in the Confederate forces. The group, based in Columbia, Tenn., claims more than 30,000 members.

Over more than a decade, the Sons of Confederate Veterans has succeeded in getting specialty plates with Confederate flags approved in nine states, but it has had to overcome significant resistance. The group won court rulings in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia compelling those states to allow flag-emblazoned license plates after state agencies initially rejected the plates as objectionable. It won another court ruling in March, in a Florida lawsuit filed after the state legislature failed to approve a plate; its bid for a plate is still pending.

"In some states, they have discriminated against us" because of the flag logo, said Ben Sewell, executive director of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "It ends up becoming a free-speech battle in court," he said, adding, "We have not lost a case yet."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has gathered more than 22,000 signatures of opponents of the Texas plate, according to Hilary Shelton, a senior vice president of the group. The Confederate flag "is one of the most commonly recognized symbols of racism not only in the U.S. but throughout the world," he said. "The idea that a state would sanction something so offensive is hard to believe."

License plates should be used to showcase a state and promote tourism, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, said in a statement. The Confederate battle flag, she said, "accomplishes none of those purposes."

Rep. Jackson Lee, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and others have called on Gov. Rick Perry to denounce the plate. Mr. Perry, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, appoints the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board that ultimately will decide the matter.

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Mr. Perry's presidential campaign, said the decision on the Confederate flag plate rests squarely with the board of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"Gov. Perry did not bring this plate to the…board and at no time has he asked for it to be approved," Victor Vandergriff, the board chairman, said in a statement. "We continue to encourage the public to share their comments and feedback" on the plate.

If the Department of Motor Vehicles votes against the plate, the Sons of Confederate Veterans says it is prepared to file suit, contending that its free-speech rights have been violated.

"There's nothing wrong with the flag," said Granvel Block, the commander of the group's Texas division. "People just need to move on."

Confederate Powderworks flag 

to be replaced with more "historically accurate" one

By Kyle Martin
Staff Writer, The Augusta Chronicle
Friday, Sept. 16, 2011
The vinyl “battle flag” on the side of the Confed­erate Powderworks chimney will be removed soon and replaced with a more historically accurate flag flying on a pole.

Dignitaries stand at the Confederate Powderworks chimney. The first Confederate national flag will be going up on the site. The first national flag of the Confederate States of America confused troops because of its similarity to the American flag. The Confederate Powderworks near the intersection of Broad Street and the Augusta Canal. The First White House of the Confederacy.

Ron Udell, the commander of Augusta’s Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 158, confirmed Friday that the familiar red flag with white stars will be swapped for the first national flag of the Confederate States of America.

That national flag is identical to the Georgia state flag, but without the state seal within the ring of 13 stars in the upper left corner. Udell said the so-called Rebel flag was placed on the side of the monument during Confederate Memorial Week five years ago and has remained there since. The chimney is the only remaining original structure of the Confederate Powderworks, which produced more than 3 million pounds of gunpowder over three years of the Civil War.

The first national flag of the Confederacy bore a close similarity to the American flag, which caused confusion among Civil War troops trying to distinguish friend from foe in the haze of battle. The X-shaped bars with 13 stars for the 13 states of the Confederacy was adopted by the Army of Northern Virginia, and its use quickly spread among other Confederate troops.

Udell said members of the camp had been discussing changing the flag for the more historically accurate first national flag, which started with seven stars in its blue field and finished with 13 stars. Those plans were accelerated when a past commander was asked to change it by the Augusta Canal Authority, Udell said, adding that it was nothing “that was sprung upon us.”

Bob Woodhurst, the chairman of the canal authority, said Friday that authority members want the chimney to stay in its original state, without any embellishments. In its place, the first national flag will fly on a pole beside the monument.

The authority also plans to add bronze plaques and other historical markers around the chimney so its purpose is not forgotten. Woodhurst acknowledged the flag is considered a controversial symbol by some, but said the decision had nothing to with that. The decision was also made with the blessing of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

“We want to preserve the history, we don’t want to create controversy. Things that happened need to be recorded,” Woodhurst said.

Udell echoed that statement.

“Historically, we want to do what’s right, and this would be the right thing,” he said.

And now a response... 

Web Master's Note: Thomas “Woody” Highsmith Evans is a highly respected SCV compatriot from the Augusta area.The Augusta Chronicle acknowledges Mr. Highsmith as a past commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Brig. Gen. E. Porter Alexander Camp in Augusta;the Georgia Military Order of the Stars and Bars; and the order’s Col. G.W. Rains Chapter in Augusta.

By Thomas “Woody” Highsmith Evans
Published September 20,2011
The Augusta Chronicle

"This article cuts right to the crux of the matter and is spot on!  The attempt to remove the Battleflag by the Augusta cANAL Authority was fueled by concerns over a recent surge in tourism to the canal area around the Confederate Powderworks.
 
According to a story in The Augusta Chronicle entitled, “Confederate Powderworks flag to be replaced with more historically accurate one” on September 16th, The Augusta Canal Authority is mistaken. The Confederate Battle Flag is historically accurate.

In August 1864, all Confederate forces in Augusta, including those under Col. G.W. Rains’ authority, were assigned to the Army of Tennessee under Gen. John B. Hood. The Army of Tennessee battle flag was ordered by Gen. Joseph Johnston and issued to units beginning in January 1864. The rectangular design incorporated 13 white stars on a blue St. Andrew’s cross on a red field. Augusta’s Commanding Gen. A.R. Wright sent 1,300 troops, including companies from the Powderworks, to Macon under the Army of Tennessee battle flag.

If the Canal Authority wants to be truly “historically accurate,” the First, Second, and Third Confederate National Flags, along with the Army of Tennessee Flag, should also be displayed.

In 1993 I placed the first battle flag on the face of the chimney on April 26, and every year after that until I left it attached to the chimney in 2006 (I went to Afghanistan in November). Camp members put up the current metal flag. There has been a battle flag attached to the chimney once a year for 13 years and have been attached for the past five years without complaint or comment.

Now, perhaps to appease the Georgia Historical Society and the local Salvation Army, they demand the historically correct battle flag be removed because of a flimsy “historical accuracy” excuse and a feigned sudden concern for the chimney after receiving a state tourism award for improvements to the Augusta Canal National Heritage Area.

It’s all just a “Kroc.”

The City of Atlanta is considering 

moving The Cyclorama!!!!!

By Hal Doby, 8/25/2011
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and other city leaders plan to hold a meeting in September to discuss the future of the Atlanta Cyclorama. The Cyclorama is not drawing many tourists these days, despite the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. The City is considering relocating the Cylorama to Buckhead, the Atlanta History Center or Downtown Atlanta in hopes of increasing the number of visitors that come annually to the Cyclorama.

"Over the last few years the Cyclorama has seen a drop in attendance and revenue," said Camille Russell Love, the City of Atlanta's Director of Cultural Affairs. She said the study will take a year. "Where the Cyclorama relocates to, should it relocate at all, will be the decision of the committee." Ms. Russell continued; "There are a lot of stories to be told about the Battle of Atlanta that are yet to be told," Love said. "We don't really have the right facility to tell that story."

The central feature of the Cyclorama is the massive cycloramic painting from whence it gets its name. A cyclorama (from the Greek words cycl to circle and orama to view) was the 19th century's version of virtual reality. Back then artists tried to give their viewers the 360 degree surround effect by painting a large-scale, realistic scene on the inside of a cylinder. Standing in the middle of the cylinder, a viewer would feel as if he was seeing a distant place, or observing an event in person.

The painting at one time was the largest oil painting in the world and if unrolled would measure 42 feet high by 358 feet long. The canvas weighs in excess of 9,000 pounds. It held this record until 2004, when it was surpassed in size by a mural at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo measuring 32 feet high by 800 feet long.

Cycloramas were extremely popular and drew very large crowds back in the nineteenth century. Dozens of cycloramas exhibitions were constructed in cities throughout North America and Europe by the late 1800's. some painting were used in travelling displays while other paintings would stay at a location for one or two years before moving to another location. Some times another cycloramic painting was brought in to replace the out-going work. Civil war battles were extremely popular as were works of nature such as Niagara Falls.

Interest in cycloramas faded after the turn of the century as motion pictures began to take public attention. Many of the cyclorama display buildings were torn down and the paintings were either destroyed or cut up into smaller works of art. A fine depiction of the Chicago fire painted in the 1890's for $250,000 was sold to a junk dealer for only two bucks in 1913. Today about 30 or so cycloramas still exist throughout the world today.

The Battle of Atlanta painting was created by the American Panorama Company in Milwaukee by a team led by Germans Friedrich Wilhelm Heine and August Lohr. They consulted Civil War artist and witness Theodore Davis, whom they painted into the work. It opened to display in Detroit, Michigan, in 1887.

During its young life, the painting ended up in the hands of a traveling circus. When this circus came to Atlanta in the late 19th century, few Atlantans wished to see a Northern-biased painting that glorified the defeat that would lead to the destruction of their city. While in Atlanta, the circus owner went bankrupt due to low attendance. The circus assets were sold at auction including the painting and the animals to the grandfather of Robert Woodruff, the visionary man behind Coca-Cola, for $1,100. The animals became the founding attraction at what is now Zoo Atlanta. The painting was then housed in a wooden structure next to the zoo.

In 1919, an amendment to the Atlanta city charter allowed the city to erect a fireproof building to house the painting and thus ensure its preservation. The new building, sited several hundred feet northeast of the old structure, was designed by Atlanta architect John Francis Downing. It was dedicated on Oct. 1, 1921, and the Cyclorama painting has resided there to the present day.

A diorama was added in 1936, providing a three-dimensional foreground that blends seamlessly with the painting. In 1939, Clark Gable came to Grant Park to view the mural during his visit here for the premiere of "The Gone With The Wind". The story goes that Gable said to Atlanta Mayor Hartsfield, "The painting is great; the only thing that would make it better is if I were in it." A mannequin with Gable's likeness was placed in the display later that year and has been lying mortally wounded on his back since 1939.

In 1979, the Cyclorama was shut down for a two-year period while the painting was repaired and the museum and theater were updated. It reopened in1982 with a dynamic new program, rotating seats, surround sound and theater lighting. In 1979-1982, the painting was repaired and re-hung by Gustav Berger and the dirt in the foreground was replaced with fiberglass. Rotating stadium seats and a movie theater were added. Total cost of the restoration was $14 million. Renovation of the Cyclorama is ongoing, and local restoration experts are called on regularly to assist in maintaining the painting.

In addition to the cycloramic painting, the Cyclorama contains a sizable Civil War Museum that includes the locomotive "Texas" that took part in the famous "Great Locomotive Chase" in Northern Georgia on April 12, 1862.  When Union agents hijacked the Confederate locomotive "The General" with the intentions of destroying railroad tracks and telegraph wires, the men that worked the Texas at first were bluffed by the Union agents. Once they realizing what was going on, they took chase after the General until it was abandoned once it ran out of fuel. The General is now located at a Kennesaw Museum that is operated in partnership with the Smithsonian Museum.

It is just simply unimaginable that the City of Atlanta would even consider relocating the Cyclorama. Beginning in the 1960s, the City of Atlanta has seen a dramatic growth and in it wake, a huge number of historical buildings were torn down in order to erect the modern skyline you see today. Even buildings that were modern in the 1960s such as the round C&S building off of North Avenue the Rich’s department store “expansion” with its skywalk to the old building have all been erased from the city.

Not only is the Cyclorama painting itself a very important historical piece of art, never mind if was painted with a Union-bias, but it is a survivor from a period long past. The building it is housed in is also an architectural treasure, worthy of preservation. This is something we as a group need to keep a keen eye on as this story plays out.

Update:
At our November membership meeting Robert C. Jones,President of the Kennesaw Historical Society, was our Guest Speaker. During our refreshment break, I spoke with Mr. Jones and I brought up the status of the Cyclorama. To my surprise, Mr. Jones told me that Atlanta Mayor, Kasim Reed, had visited the Southern Museum in Association With the Smithsonian Institution, of which Mr. Jones is also affiliated.

The reason for Mayor Reed's visit to the Southern Museum was to see if it would be a fitting recipient of the steam locomotive "Texas", which is currently housed at the Cyclorama's Civil War Museum. The Southern Mueum is the home of the steam locomotive "The General". The Texas and The General were the two principle locomotives that were involved in what has become known as "The Great Locomotive Chase". It would make sense that if the Atlanta Cyclorama was shuttered, it would be fitting to have the Texas move in with the General.

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Reed, almost casually asked the group that if they were given the Texas, would they also be interested in receiving the Cyclorama painting itself. Everyone was stunned at the request, yet they were able to say that yes, they would love to have the painting.

While this is my opinion, it seems all but a certainty that Mayor Reed and his minions have already decided to close the Cyclorama exhibit and get rid of its assets, including the painting that has been in Atlanta for nearly 100 years. They are pretending to do some twisted form of due dilligence to make it look like they have made some justified attempt to keep the Cyclorama in Atlanta even though they are already shopping around places to give its assets away to.

More artifacts unearthed at 

Civil War Prison in Georgia

By Phil Gast, CNN Online, August 18, 2011 1:34 p.m. EDT
The Yankee soldier, who had meager possessions, must have been proud of his ring and its distinctive diamond-shaped centerpiece.
 
Somehow, the size-11 ring was lost, discarded or left behind, only to be swallowed by the earth on a rise near Millen, Georgia.
 
Untouched by human hands for nearly 150 years, the ring recently was discovered by archaeology students who have unearthed more artifacts at the site of Camp Lawton, a Civil War stockade and prison.
 
The Georgia Southern University team is finding personal items that will help tell the desperate story of Union soldiers who tried to stay alive while food was scarce and disease rampant.
 

"The camp is as rich in information as we thought it was," said Kevin Chapman, a graduate student who last spring found the first of what promises to be an astounding yield of artifacts.
 
The university in Statesboro Thursday unveiled more than a dozen of the 60 to 70 items uncovered last month. The school's museum also has acquired what's believed to be the only surviving letter from a prisoner at the short-lived camp.

The recent finds include a pocketknife, buckle, a Michigan-made token used for trading and a couple of keys.

 
The man's ring and a uniform or cap badge were found within 10 feet of each other, according to Chapman. The badge also includes a diamond feature.
 
The Georgia Southern team believes the diamonds may represent the Union's III Corps, which saw action in numerous battles, including Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, before a reorganization in March 1864 saw it merged with other units. The corps used a diamond on its flags and insignia.
 
"They were so proud of their service they wore badges long after it disbanded," Chapman said of the III Corps veterans.
 
Chapman says if that portion of the camp is shown to have housed veterans of the III Corps, descendants may one day be able to gaze at the precise spot where an ancestor lived.
 
"You can touch that ground and connect to 150 years before," he told CNN.
 
Chapman found the precise location of the slave-built stockade last year and, in the soil beneath tall pine trees, the first of nearly 300 artifacts recovered at the site of the Confederacy's largest prison.
 
The first find was detailed this time last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Southern University.
 
The prisoner artifacts were located on federal property -- the Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery. The camp's location also extends into state property, the adjoining Magnolia Springs State Park, where the Confederate commissary, hospital and commander quarters existed.
 
Only archaeologists and other officials are allowed on the fenced-in dig site on the hatchery grounds.
 
This discovery of so many Civil War-era items -- including a smoking pipe, uniform buttons, a picture frame, coins, utensils, bullets and objects fashioned by Union prisoners -- is unparalleled for many reasons, archaeologists said.
  
With the exception of a farmer's plow 100 years ago, the 42 acres about 80 miles northwest of Savannah have been largely untouched.
 
That includes being missed by relic hunters and looters who, federal officials say, "are both thieves of time."

Over the years, people have picked clean known Civil War sites, including the notorious Andersonville prison site in west-central Georgia. Camp Lawton was built to help ease Andersonville's overcrowding.
 
The site's remote location and maps describing it as brushy and overgrown likely saved it from relic hunters, archaeologists said.
 
Some of the artifacts are on display at the Georgia Southern University Museum in Statesboro, about 40 miles south of the camp.
 
The university museum recently purchased a letter written by Cpl. Charles H. Knox to his wife in Schroon Lake, New York.
 
Knox, a member of the 1st Connecticut Cavalry, wrote it only eight days before the camp was evacuated when Union forces approached. Knox expresses hope that he will be part of a prisoner exchange between Union and Confederate forces and advises his wife, Frances, to consider selling the family cow to raise money.
 
"I am here & shall get out some time & hope that will be soon, but don't know," Knox wrote.
 
The horseman was shipped back to Andersonville and not paroled until late February 1865, near war's end.

 
Using modern technology along with shovels, prisoner drawings and topographic maps, Chapman pinpointed the prisoner site and found a U.S. cent of a type that was last manufactured in 1858, six years before Camp Lawton opened.
 
Nails and other items showed that the sloped camp was the living area for nearly 10,000 men who built shelters and lean-tos near Magnolia Springs. Having just survived the scorching 1864 summer, they dug into the earth to shelter them from a cold winter, which included a November snowfall.
 
Then, suddenly, in late November 1864, the camp was abandoned. The prisoners were taken to other camps, including back to Andersonville, as the Yankees approached during the famous March to the Sea.
 
Archaeologists think that prisoners may have been taken to the depot in Millen in the middle of the night, and were forced to leave behind their camp belongings and thousands of keepsakes from their homes up north.

Between 725 and 1,330 men died at the prison camp in the six weeks it existed. Officials said they know the "general vicinity" of soldier graves, but have no plans to disturb them.
 
Conditions in Northern POW camps often weren't much better. About 3,000 imprisoned Confederates, for example, died in Elmira, New York.
 
"Some of the saddest part of our history was the handling of prisoners on both sides," John Derden, professor emeritus of history at East Georgia College in Swainsboro, told CNN last year.
 
There are no known photos of Camp Lawton and few details of the stockade, but a Union mapmaker painted watercolors of the prison. He also kept a 5,000-page journal that included descriptions of the misery at the camp.
 
"The weather has been rainy and cold at nights," Pvt. Robert Knox Sneden, who was previously imprisoned at Andersonville, wrote in his diary on November 1. "Many prisoners have died from exposure, as not more than half of us have any shelter but a blanket propped upon sticks. ... Our rations have grown smaller in bulk too, and we have the same hunger as of old."
 
The land slipped into obscurity for about 70 years, when some of it became part of Magnolia Springs State Park. Until last year, a few entrenchments were the only signs of Camp Lawton.
 
That began to change in late June 2010, when federal officials erected a locked and guarded fence to safeguard the artifacts found at its hatchery. They are working with their Georgia counterparts to ensure the site is not touch by unauthorized individuals.
 
Some coins, tokens and other objects that have been found were made in Europe, and indicate Union regiments made up of soldiers with Irish and German ancestry, Chapman, 37, said last year.
 
Chapman said the team wants to learn about daily life for Union prisoners and their Confederate keepers.

"Right now we are estimating the limits of the encampment and the prisoner occupation area," he said Wednesday. "We are going to continue exploring the Confederate side."
 
He estimated less than 1% of the site occupied by prisoners has been surveyed.
 
"We are just getting our feet in the door," said Chapman. "This is once in a lifetime."

City of Atlanta renames Harris Street 

John Portman Boulevard

August 15, 2011
By Hal Doby

The City Council of the City of Atlanta has been deliberating a proposal to rename Harris Street to John Portman Boulevard in honor of his architectural influence in the city. Harris Street was named in honor of Judge John L. Harris who was a very influencial Atlanta citizen in the mid-nineteenth century. At one point in time, this name change was blocked by a federal judge. 

After the legal issues were worked out, the City of Atlanta City Board brought the issue back up at the August 15th meeting. As it was being discussed, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young came forth to make a presentation in favor of changing the name of the street. 

Mr. Young made the announcement that he had "researched" about the life of Judge John L. Harris and discovered some "very disturbing information". Young revealed that Harris was a key leader that was in favor of the State of Georgia seceeding from the United States. Later, he was associated with the killing of the Negro Union soldiers by firing squad that had been captured by Confederate Troups. Whether right or wrong, this was common practice for the Confederacy during the war as most Black Union Soldiers were considered to be escaped Slaves. 

After Mr. Young's appearance before the council, the members voted 8 to 6 with one abstaining to change the street name to "John Portman Boulevard / Historic Harris Street". This was a compromise proposal that was suggested by the council chairman. 

The main objection raised by those who voted against the name change was because those members are disturbed by the number of name changes, particularly to streets in the Atlanta area in the recent past. They are concerned that this is having an effect of erasing the city's past. A good example of this was the City of Atlanta renaming the part of Memorial Drive that resides in Atlanta to the "Cynthia McKenney Parkway".

While the name change is controversial, it certainly does not soil the reputation nor influence John Portman has had in the City of Atlanta. He was born December 4, 1924 in Walhalla, South Carolina. He graduated the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1950. Portman's impact on the city of Atlanta is undeniable as his building designs have quite literally made Atlanta what it is today. His list of buildings in Atlanta include: AmericasMart (formerly the Atlanta Market Center known as the Merchandise Mart), Antoine Graves Annex, Peachtree Center, Hyatt Regency Atlanta, The Mall at Peachtree Center, Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, Peachtree Center Athletic Club, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, American Cancer Society Center, SunTrust Plaza, and the R. Howard Dobbs University Center & the George W. Woodruff Physical Education Center at Emory University. He has also designed many famous buildings around the world.

The History Channel Commemorates The Civil War

By Hal Doby
May 25, 2011
In honor of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, The History Channel has launched a charity project to help promote awareness and the preservation of Civil War historical sites. The program, called the Give 150™ national campaign, is collecting donations starting as low as $1.50. The History Channel will match up to $150,000 worth of donations. All of the funds will go directly to the Civil War Trust and the National Park Foundation, both non-profit 501 (c) 3 organizations, to help protect Civil War sites and lands, and support their interpretation. As of the morning of May 25th, slightly over $51, 000 had been raised. With History’s contribution, that amounts to just over $100,000.

The History Channel will also provide the public with the opportunity to actively give back to your communities through service and preservation projects as part of this initiative.

With the vast majority of Civil War historical sites being in the Southeast, this is a great way to help honor and preserve our Confederate Ancestor’s legacies. You can donate as little as $1.50, $15, $150, any other amount via the JustGive.org website via the History Channel’s portal.

To contribute, please visit www.give150.com via this link.

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Civil War 150 Historical Marker Project

April 15, 2011
In part from the Georgia Historical Society's Web Site
and by Hal Doby

As part of the national sesquicentennial commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the Georgia Historical Society, the Georgia Department of Economic Development and other state and private agencies are collaborating on a project to use historical markers to promote tourism and create better access to Georgia’s Civil War history.

America celebrated the centennial of The War in grand style. In 1957 the Congress passed legislation that formally established a commission to supervision of federally sponsored activities. Part of the pre-centennial activities included the placement of thousands of historical markers that recognized places of importance in The War. The State of Georgia received the most Civil War historical markers with nearly a thousand placed prior to or during the centennial. Once these markers we in place, the Georgia Historial Society was put in charge of administrating the state’s historical marker program.

GHS promotes the use of Georgia history as an economic and educational tool. GHS has reviewed and assessed the representation of Civil War history in Georgia and identified opportunities to promote local history, thus increasing tourism to those areas by the placement of additional Civil War related historcial markers.

Over the past sixty years, the state of Georgia has invested nearly $5 million in historical markers dealing with the Civil War. In 2008 GHS conducted an extensive survey of these 919 markers, noting their subjects, condition, GPS coordinates and accessibility, then uploaded them to a website fully search-able by the public. The survey disclosed that fifteen percent of the markers were missing or damaged, including those along General Sherman’s March to the Sea. Furthermore, it was discovered that over 90 percent of the existing markers dealt strictly with military topics, leaving vast segments of the Civil War story untold. There was virtually nothing relating the war’s impact on civilians, politics, industry, the home front, African Americans, or women.

With assistance and support from the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Georgia Department of Labor, Georgia Battlefields Association, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, GHS commissioned new markers as well as recast and replaced seven missing and/or damaged markers in the original locations along Sherman’s March to the Sea. The new markers interpret previously unrepresented elements of the war, presenting to the public the full spectrum of Georgia’s Civil War experience. Those historical sites and topics include:

Rincon – March to the Sea: Ebenezer Creek
Augusta – Accidents and Strikes at Powder Works factory
Columbus – Women’s Food Riots
Milledgeville – Secession Convention
Dalton – African-American Soldiers in Combat
Quitman – Slave Conspiracy
Jasper – Unionists in Georgia
Atlanta – The Battles for Atlanta
Savannah - Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15

Confederate Entertainment News

Movie, Television, 

& Home Video News

Two Classic D. W. Griffith Films To Be Released on Blu-Ray Disc. 

By Hal Doby, August 29th.
Kino Video has announced they will release on Blu-ray two legendary films by director D.W. Griffith: The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Way Down East (1920). The preliminary release date for both releases is November 22nd.

The Birth of a Nation
Originally called The Clansman, this 1915 American silent film was directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the novel and play "The Clansman", both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken). It was released on February 8, 1915. This highly historic film was the very first true Hollywood Epic.

The film chronicles the relationship of two families in Civil War and Reconstruction-era America: the pro-Union northern Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy Southern Camerons over the course of several years.

The film was a huge commercial success, but was highly controversial. There were widespread protests against the film and it was banned in several cities. The film is also credited as one of the events which inspired the "second era" Ku Klux Klan. The film was used as a recruiting tool for the Klan.

It was the first motion picture to be shown at the White House. President Woodrow Wilson supposedly said the film was "... like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true".

Birth of a Nation fell into the Public Domain around 1990 and there are several companies that have released versions of the film on videotape, laserdisc, and DVD. Kino is renouned for its quality video releases and this release on Blu-Ray disc should be one of the most definitive versions of the film ever made available.

Special features:
The Making of The Birth of a Nation (1992, 24 min. Produced by David Shepard)
Filmed prologue to The Birth of a Nation (1930, 6 min. Featuring D. W. Griffith and Walter Huston)
Civil War Shorts directed by D. W. Griffith:
- In the Border States (1910, 16 min.)
- The House with the Closed Shutters (1910, 17 min.)
- The Fugitive (1910, 17 min.)
- His Trust (1910, 14 min.)
- His Trust Fulfilled (1910, 11 mins.)
- Swords and Hearts (1911, 16 mins.)
- The Battle (1911, 17 mins.)
- New York vs. The Birth of a Nation -- an archive of information documenting the battles over the film's 1922 re-release, including protests by the NAACP, transcripts of meetings, legal documents, newspaper articles, and a montage of scenes ordered cut by the New York Censor Board.
PLUS: Excerpts from The Birth of a Nation souvenir book (1915) and several original programs.

Kino Lorber has announced this DeLuxe Edition will be packaged as a 3-disc set on both Blu-ray and DVD.

Disc One will be the Blu-ray is the 2011 remastered film in HD or the DVD of the remastered film in standard definition.

Disc Two is a DVD of the Griffith Masterworks version of the film.

Disc Three is a DVD that contains the majority of the bonus content.

Suggested Retail Pricing is $39.95 for the Blu-ray set and $29.95 for DVD set. You can now pre-order this title through Kino's web site or Amazon.com.


Way Down East 
Way Down East is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith five years after Birth of a Nation that starred Hollywood idol Lillian Gish. It is the best known of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker. Griffith's version is particularly remembered for its exciting climax in which Lillian Gish's character is rescued from doom on an icy river. Some sources, quoting newspaper ads of the time, say a sequence was filmed in an early color process, possibly Technicolor or Prizmacolor.

Special features:
- Score compiled from historic photoplay music, performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (2.0 Stereo)
- Excerpts from Lottie Blair Parker's original play
- Photos of William Brady's 1903 stage version
- Film Clip: The ice floe sequence of the Edison Studio's production of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Image gallery, including the original souvenir program book
- Notes on the preparation of the music score 

The History Channel's "Gettysburg" Comes To Home Video

Place This In The "Just Too Bizarre" Category

The Conspirator is Released

June 29, 2011, updated August 16th.
By Hal Doby

Roadside Attractions has announced the release to DVD and Blu-Ray, Director Robert Redfords latest film, "The Conspirator". It is now available for rental and purchase. 

Kathleen C. Fennessy writes: "If there's a theme running through Robert Redford's directorial career, it's the drive for social justice. When even one person receives unfair treatment, everyone suffers (like the family in his Oscar-winning Ordinary People). Even school kids are familiar with the fate of Abraham Lincoln, but the ensuing trial has received less attention--and perfectly illustrates Redford's concerns. After the assassination, John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) met his maker, leaving his coconspirators to answer for their attempts on the lives of the president, vice president, and secretary of state. Senator Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) charges Civil War General turned attorney Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) with the defense of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), who ran the boarding house in which the men, including her missing son (Johnny Simmons), used to meet. Though no evidence links Mary to their crimes, judge advocate Joseph Holt (Danny Huston) believes justice should trump fairness, stating, "At times of war, the law falls silent." Though Aiken assumes that his Southern client would welcome revenge against the Union, he aims to represent her fairly, even if that means appealing to a jury of Northerners and dealing with unreliable witnesses. A man of principle, he gives it his all, even convincing Mary's daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) to testify to facts her mother would prefer to keep private. The outcome would lead to legal reforms that are with us today, making for a film with contemporary relevance that remains, nonetheless, somewhat dramatically inert. As a plea for equal protection, however, it's quite affecting."

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