Army of Northern Virginia Maryland Division Camp #1398 Colonel William Norris December 2015 Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination Due to the annual Holiday Dinner, there will not be a regular meeting in December. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held Jan. 5, 2016. On Saturday evening, Dec. 5, 2015, Antietam National Battlefield, in cooperation with the American Business Women s Association, will host the 27 th Annual Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination in honor of those soldiers who fell during the Battle of Antietam. In the event of poor weather, the Illumination will be rescheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015. Like strings of amber beads, 23,000 luminaries candles representing each person killed, wounded or missing in the Battle of Antietam will stretch across Antietam National Battlefield on Saturday. The 27 th Annual Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination, with a driving tour of the candlelit grounds, will memorialize those who fought in the Battle of Antietam the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, Sept. 17, 1862. See Inside Adjutant Report 2 Final Dues Reminder 2 New Friends of the SCV 3 Adopt-A-Road Cleanup 3 Ball s Bluff Tour 4 Annual Holiday Dinner Announcement Continued on page 5 Please come and join in the fun and good food at our annual Holiday Dinner. This year the dinner will be held at the Old Country Buffet on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. This a a family event. Please RSVP to Commander Brown at 240-876-7470 or email at fbrwnmcbrwn@aol.com. Come join in the holiday cheer!
Page 2 Adjutant Report Col. William Norris Camp #1398 Nov. 3, 2015, monthly meeting minutes Commander Frank Brown Jr. called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Members present were: Commander Brown, Dave Redden, Dave King Jr., James Perry, Bob Brewer, Michael Bertocchi, Don Beck, Harold Ford, Bruce Funk and Lawrence Marsh. Special guest was Katie Brewer. The Guest Speaker was Steve Bockmiller. The invocation was given by Bob Brewer. Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag and the Salute to The Confederate Flag was led by Commander Brown. Charge to the was read by Commander Brown. Topics discussed were the Christmas Party, Ball s Bluff and Road Cleanup. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Frank Brown Jr., Commander Final Dues Reminder Attention Norris Camp compatriots! Several regular members have not yet paid the annual dues. Dues are $45 for regular members and $15 for life members. If you would like to receive a printed and mailed newsletter, then dues are $55 for regular members and $25 for life members. The National Headquarters demand an extra $5 as a penalty for dues received after Nov. 1. A humble THANK YOU for those that have paid. Even with the higher dues amounts, we don t actually meet our budgeted expenditures. If you would like to make any cash contributions, it is important to important to remember that the Norris Camp is a 501c(3), non-profit, and legally registered with the Internal Revenue Service. Therefore, we can give you a receipt for any cash donations you make to the camp for income tax purposes. These receipts must be requested at the time you make your donation. Please send your dues at this time! Make checks payable to SCV, Colonel William Norris Camp #1398. Please mail to Commander Frank Brown, 5008 Tothill Drive, Olney, MD 20832.
Page 3 New Friends of the SCV The Col. William Norris Camp welcomed two new Friends of the SCV at its November meeting. Pictured from left to right are Robert Burrows, Commander Brown and Lawrence Marsh. Adopt- A-Road Cleanup The camp held its road cleanup on Saturday, Nov. 21, at Dickerson Regional Park. Camp members John Howerton (left) and Adopt-A-Road Coordinator Dave Redden participated in the road cleanup. Also participating but not pictured was Commander Brown who took this photo.
Page 4 Ball s Bluff Tour On Nov. 21, members of the Norris Camp went to Balls Bluff Battlefield Park by Leesburg, Va. Camp members received a private tour of the battlefield from Tom Tuft, a volunteer for the battlefield and a retired U.S. Navy Captain. It was a beautiful day with no wind and slightly cool temperatures; a good day for history hunting. Captain Tom gave us a background briefing on how this accidental battle came to happen. Starting with a reconnaissance that misidentified trees in the moonlight as an abandoned Confederate camp, a large Yankee force located outside of Poolesville, Md., started a crossing of the Potomac River. The majority of soldiers could not swim and there were no close by fords so the force was crossed using just a few small boats and a captured C&O Canal boat. The crossing took See Ball s Bluff Tour, page 6 Attending the Ball s Bluff Tour were (from left to right) Dave Redden, John Howerton, Don Beck and Commander Brown.
Page 5 Continued from page 1 Notes: Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination 1. If the weather threatens, they will make the decision by 9 a.m. If there is a question, call Commander Brown at 240-876-7470. 2. Meet about 10 a.m. at Mansfield Avenue, which is located at the north end of the battlefield. Enter in the parking area at the Clara Barton Monument. Enter the park and drive past the visitor center until the road turns right onto Mansfield Avenue. We will be located at the top of the rise near the Clara Barton Monument. 3. We will be putting out the luminaries and setting them into place in the morning. 4. Dress warmly. Sometimes it can be pretty cold and windy and/or wet. Please dress accordingly. 5. Around noon or so we will break for lunch. We expect to have hot dogs, desserts, hot soup, chips, sodas and etc. 6. About 2 p.m. we will start lighting the field. Barbecue lighters seem to work best. 7. We will be given a limited number of car passes for the drive-through, so be prepared to team up and pool the cars. At 3 p.m. all cars without passes must clear the battlefield, and we park those cars that don t have the passes down at the foot of Mansfield Avenue on the Hagerstown Pike. 8. At 4:15 p.m. the memorial service begins at the Maryland Monument near the visitor center. Only the volunteers are invited to this ceremony. It features a bagpiper or a bugler playing delayed taps. 9. As soon as the ceremony is over, the volunteers begin the drive through. 10. Please no alcohol beverages. 11. If anyone has any questions, they may contact Commander Brown at 240-876-7470 or at fbrwnmcbrwn@aol.com.
Page 6 Continued from page 4 Ball s Bluff Tour many hours. Therefore, the piecemeal Union forces were slowly dispersing in relatively small numbers throughout the fields and woods a couple miles north of Leesburg. Tom explained how the main battle action consisted of several distinct parts, including a Confederate ambush by Mississippi units, a Union ambush by Massachusetts units, and then a gathering of more and more Confederate forces. In time, the Confederates on the battlefield outnumbered or at least equaled the Yankees. Then with the loss of Union Colonel (soon to be General) Edward D. Baker, who was a sitting member of the U.S. Senate from Oregon (the only to ever be killed in battle), the Union forces started moving back to the river. Tom took us to the bluffs which are very high and proclaimed that the Union troops did not plunge over the bluffs in an attempt to cross back over the river back to the Maryland side. Instead, most troops filed down a single path to the edge of the river below the bluffs and waited for the few small boats to ferry them across. One such group surrendered to (at that time) Private Elijah V. Lige White. This surrender was done in the dark with only a handful of Confederate troops on high ground above the Yankees. Ol Lige White demanded their surrender and stated that an overwhelming force of Confederates had the Yankees cut off. A few shots were fired by the Confederates and this convinced several hundred Yankees to surrender and marched to Leesburg and eventually Richmond as Prisoners of War. Many Union soldiers attempted to wade and then swim the river back to Maryland as the boats were too small and too few to evacuate this Dunkirk of the Federal army excursion. Possibly as many as several dozen up to about 100 Federal troops died in their attempt. Yes, it is true...the Potomac River had blue-coated Federals floating by the U.S. Capital over several weeks. As a result of the embarrassing loss by the Union Army Tom told us that the Congress empaneled the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War that was comprised of several senators and representatives who could investigate anyone they wanted to without even telling the individuals they were being investigated. They could also imprison anyone without even filing charges. Such was the fate of the overall Union commander of the forces at Balls Bluff. Brigadier General Charles P. Stone was imprisoned for 6 months with no charges filed. He was released and saw limited duty, mostly in the western theater. After the war, he went to Egypt and served for 12 years as a military adviser. Returning to the U.S. he oversaw the construction of the Statue of Liberty. He presided over the dedication of the Statue in New York harbor and then died about 3 months later. Attending this event was Commander Frank Brown, John Howerton, Don Beck and Dave Redden. A great meal followed at the Blue Ridge Grill in Leesburg. Don t you wish that you had come along, too?
Sons of Confederate Veterans Army of Northern Virginia Maryland Division Camp #1398 Page 7 The newsletter of the Colonel William Norris Camp #1398 is published 12 times a year by the camp as a service to its membership and to the public. Officers Heritage Violations Notify the Camp Heritage Officer compatriot Jim Stargel (jim.stargel@ffa.gov) of any heritage violations. Frank Brown Jr., Commander 5008 Tothill Drive Phone: 240-876-7470 Olney, MD 20832 Email: fbrwnmcbrwn@aol.com David Redden, 1st Lt. Commander 19109 Dowden Circle Phone: 301-351-7260 Poolesville, MD 20837 Email: daveredden@hotmail.com Major David King Jr., 2nd Lt. Commander 5611 Oak Place Phone: 301-530-7634 Bethesda, MD 20817 Email: Dejota.King@verizon.net Dan Buckingham, 3rd Lt. Commander 11521 Front Field Lane Phone: 301-983-9002 Potomac, MD 20854 Email: danbuckingham@hurrisafe.com Steve Fernandez, Color Sergeant 702 Grandin Avenue Phone: 301-943-0039 Rockville, MD 20850 Email: remissong2730@msn.com Thomas Keefer, Chaplain 12558 Cross Bridge Way Phone: 301-980-9826 Germantown, MD 20874 Email: tskeef@yahoo.com John Howerton, Recruiting Officer 5031 Edmonston Road Phone: 301-779-0519 Hyattsville, MD 20781 Email: jech95@netzero.net Jim Stargel, Heritage Office/Quartermaster Email: jim,stargel@ffa.gov