June 2017 Alamo City Guards Camp #1325 FROM HEADQUARTERS, Russ Lane DUES PAYMENT CHANGES: In the past, dues were payable in July and due by 1 August with a 90-day grace period (1 November) for payment of dues before becoming delinquent. Effective immediately, the grace period has been reduced to 30 days. Dues must be received by 1 September to avoid becoming delinquent. Please plan now to submit your dues by 1 August 2017. Egon Tausch discusses the CSS Shenandoah at the May 2017 meeting. Photo courtesy of Martin Callahan. Compatriot Egon Tausch provided an informative presentation on The CSS Shenandoah at our last meeting. In June, we will have Jackson and Britton Woodard present their winning essays on Minority Contributions to the Confederacy. We will present their awards after the presentations. Please attend and bring family members, friends and potential recruits with you. Let 1Lt Commander Raymond Reeves, defiantray53@gmail.com, know if you can make a presentation or recommend someone for future meetings. The Flambeau Parade on 29 April and Confederate Decoration Day activities on 30 April were both well-attended and successful events. Compatriot Robert Giffin performed Chaplain duties and Compatriot Dale Schultz conducted a concert of period music by a brass band following the ceremony at the Cemetery. Planning for the Confederate Heroes Day Dinner in January continues. Please mark 13 January 2018, 6 pm to 10 pm, on your calendars. We need donations for the silent auction. All donations are tax deductible. Please contact Jo Ann Seiler to coordinate donations. Her email address is jseiler@grandecom.net. We will have a surprise this year. Details will be forthcoming. We will have a Camp Cook Out on 10 June, 11 am 3 pm, for members, Roses and their families. There will be no business conducted. This will be an opportunity to get to know each other better and have fun. We will be Pavilion #2 at Eisenhower Park, 19399 NW Military Highway. The Camp will provide burgers, hot dogs and all the trimmings. Guests are asked to bring side dishes and their own beverages. Let Joseph Ellis, know who is attending and what side(s) will be provided. josephellis88@gmail.com, Include the ages of any children who will attend. Submit this information to Joe no later than 1 June. Let s make this a huge success! Recruiters get credit for new members, new Cadets, new Friends, reinstating members and transfers. Consider giving a membership as a gift to your eligible family members who are not already members. Current recruiting results for the new recruiting year are on page 6. Let us all keep working to help the SCV continue to grow. If you are aware of any recruiting opportunities, please notify our Recruiting Officer, David Calandra, at davidcalandra202@yahoo.com.
Page 2 June 2017 This is Racist? Scott C. Woodard, Editor It seems that there is a weekly deluge of some group being offended or inconvenienced in the matters of self-esteem. The era of political correctness is driving me nuts. (No offense to squirrels) Memorials, statues, and cenotaphs are being desecrated and removed because of perceptions of ignorant people. (No offense to stupid people. I use the term in the literal meaning of one who is uninformed or lacking in knowledge.) I cannot understand how a small, yet very vocal group, can demand destruction of public or private property under a threat of violence to those standing in their way. (No offense Taliban zealots) Confederate monument desecration in Denton, Texas. (https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2015/07/20/ video-shows-pair-vandalizing-confederate-monument-indenton) Where does all this end? Based upon the poet laureates script, Confederate soldiers were racist. I believe slavery is abhorrent. Notice that I express my distain for it in the present tense. Slavery still exists today throughout the world. While I disagree with a practice of the past, I know that people of the past are men of their times. Recognition of the soldier s sacrifice is honorable. It doesn t have to speak of their government s rule of law. In fact, monuments to United States soldiers from the American Revolution, War of 1812, and the Mexican War if judged by the same criteria used by groups destroying Confederate soldier memorials, should also be deemed racist by the governing principles established by law within their government. A system of human bondage was the established and protected law of the United States until 1865. Yes, I said 1865. Under this logic United States troops from slave-holding Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. at least in the first year of the war should also be deemed racist. Slavery was still permitted in these areas. In fact, slavery in Delaware did not cease until the final passing of the 13th Amendment in December of 1865. Selective outrage. Confederate images and symbols are just the low-hanging fruit in the path of the progressive trail of fears. Statues and namesakes of Robert E. Lee have been attacked, removed, and vandalized for his leading an armed rebellion and command of an army fighting against the central government. His record of slaveholding certainly cannot be used against him since those he inherited by marriage he freed. So, if you add the criteria of slave-holder, you have just described George Washington. Yale University s Committee to Establish Principles of Renaming not only sounds like it should be in George Orwell s 1984, but it is highly ironic. The controversy within the Ivy League school stems from the push and eventual renaming of the undergraduate school at Yale, Calhoun College. John C. Calhoun was a Yale graduate and Vice President of the United States! Here s the kicker... Elihu Yale, namesake and benefactor of the school, was a slave trader. Even my dog knows to not s**t in her own bed. The Confederate Monument clearly depicts a Black Confederate and mammy at Arlington National Cemetery. (http://etc.usf.edu/clippix/ picture/confederate-soldiers-relief.html)
Page 3 June 2017 The Rutherford County Confederate veterans gathered in front of the Confederate monument on the Square in Murfreesboro for their annual reunion in 1929. A.C. Uncle Albert Everett, the only black veteran in the group, in on the far right of this photo in front of the Charles Store. (http://rutherfordtnhistory.org/4504-2/) Double standard? Following through with their moral outrage, it s only logical to soon find the Confederate Monument in the Arlington National Cemetery (confiscated land from Robert E. Lee, by the way) painted over. Will the red lettered racist appear on the Black Confederate and mammy receiving the Confederate officer s child? When the Confederate monument in Murfreesboro, Tennessee is vandalized, will the ghost of A. C. Everett scold the snowflakes that desecrated the monument to him and his fellow Confederate Veterans? What it means to be Southern and our heritage is not just confined to the four years between 1861 and 1865. The South and our ancestors who defended their homes rely upon us to defend their honor. As Stephen D. Lee implored our fathers,... 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 he loved and which made him glorious and which you also cherish. [Scott C. Woodard is a retired US Army officer and currently an Historian for the US Army. His opinions are his and do not necessarily reflect the US Army or the Sons of Confederate Veterans. His ancestor, Private Thomas T. Woodard, Company E, 24th North Carolina Infantry, was killed in 1864 at Bottom s Bridge, Virginia. Unit history records that he killed the Yankee who killed him. According to the US Census Records of 1860, his family were farmers and neither he or his family owned slaves.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHERE: EISENHOWER PARK 19399 NW MILITARY HIGHWAY PAVILLION #2 ALAMO CITY GUARDS CAMP COOK-OUT WHEN: SATURDAY, 10 JUNE 2017, 11AM 3 PM WHAT: BURGERS, HOT DOGS AND ALL THE TRIM- MINGS WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE CAMP. GUESTS ARE ASKED TO BRING SIDE DISHES AND THEIR OWN BEVERAGES. Pavilion #2 is near the playground and restroom facilities. Even if you have already signed-up, please let Joseph Ellis, josephellis88@gmail.com, know who is attending and what side(s) will be provided. Include the ages of The Times Clarion, Longview, Texas, dated Sept. 21, 1905 reported a Confederate Veterans picnic sponsored by the John B Gregg Confederate Veteran Camp held on Gregg County Court House Grounds. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txgregg/military/ ConfederatePicnic.html any children who will attend. Submit this information to Joe no later than 1 June. We hope to see many of you and your family members in attendance!
Page 4 June 2017 San Antonio Civil War Round Table We Meet on 3 rd Thursday of Odd Months: July 20, Sep. 21, Nov. 16 Confederate soldier and Union soldier meet in friendship to talk and remember the great conflict. We Meet at Grady s Barbecue 6510 San Pedro @ Jackson-Keller Social Hour/Dinner at 6:00 pm Program/Speaker/Trivia/Raffles at 7:00 pm. We Would Love to Have You There! (Rebel, Yankee or Undecided ) *Find us on Facebook*
Page 5 June 2017 http://txdivreunion.com/ http://scvmemphis2017.org/
Page 6 June 2017 "To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we submit 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 he loved and which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee, Commander General, United Confederate Veterans, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1906 Camp Officers Commander Russ Lane, alamocamp@yahoo.com 1Lt Commander Raymond Reeves, defiantray53@gmail.com 2Lt Commander Dave Kunz, dave_kunz@hotmail.com Adjutant Jim Evetts, jevetts@satx.rr.com Past Commander Rudy Krisch III, rkrisch@sbcglobal.net Genealogist Joyce Manuel, southern_heart_ranch@juno.com Judge Advocate Egon Tausch, ertausch@aol.com Chaplain Ken McAllister, jlckenmca@gmail.com Color Sergeant Scott Davis, historicalone@hotmail.com Web Master Michael Climo, mclimo@ca.rr.com Communications Officer Russ Lane, alamocamp@yahoo.com Newsletter Editor Scott Woodard, scott.c.woodard92@gmail.com Recruiting Officer - David Calandra, davidcalandra202@yahoo.com RECRUITER OF THE YEAR STATUS Total recruited since 1 August 2016-31 July 2017 (New, Reinstated, Cadets, Transfers and Friends): 17 Communications Officer (Not eligible for the award): 5 Adjutant (Not eligible for the award): 1 Kevin Smith 3 Rusty Mahan 1 John Carleton 2 Scott Woodard 1 Ted Terrazas 2 Ruben Perez 1 Rudy Krisch 1 Upcoming Events 29 May, Sunset Memorial Park cannon salute, 11:30 am 1 June, Monthly Meeting - Jackson and Britton Woodard will present their winning essays on Minority Contributions to the Confederacy 2-4 June, Texas Division Reunion 24 June, Cemetery Dedication, Blanco, TX 4 July, Leon Valley Independence Day Parade (tentative) Meetings are on the first Thursday of the month at Luby s Cafeteria, 911 N. Main at I 35 South in San Antonio. Visitors are always welcome. We meet to eat and visit at 6 PM; meetings start at 7 PM. Bring a family member, a friend or another potential recruit. Remember, the Confederate Battle Flag is the internationally recognized symbol of resistance to tyranny. Fly it proudly and defend it!