Finley’s Brigade Camp 1614
November 2005
November 8, 2005 at 7:00 PM will be the date of our next camp meeting. We will continue to meet at the OLE TIMES BUFFET located at 1701 North Monroe.
Our camp elections held in October shifted the duties of office a bit, but leaves us with basically the same leadership. Paul Hurst remains the Camp Chaplin, Hal Avery moves to Lt. Commander, Bruce Childers is the new Sgt. - at - Arms and Marshall Carroll was selected as Commander. The office of Adjutant/Treasure remains vacant. Those duties will be shared by the other officers with the able help of Bill Beckham until the office is filled.
It is an honor for me to be elected Commander of this great organization. Since joining the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1999 I have gone through a huge learning experience and a redirection of some of my interest. Genealogy had directed me to search out my Confederate ancestors if I did have any. Now I can proudly clam twenty five and counting. Until the day I stopped to get a cup of coffee and saw a SCV logo on Bill Beckham’s bumper I knew very little of the organization. That chance meeting has brought me to this point. It’s amazing how fate works sometimes.
Finley’s Brigade has grown and together we have accomplished a lot, but we can’t "sit on our laurels" so to speak. There is much to be accomplished in the future and I realize that it can only be done with the efforts of the membership. Our camp consists of many talents. Lend me your talents. Every project needs a chairman. This newsletter needs help. Consider what you can do and jump aboard. We need to put a priority on recruiting and retention. Strength is in numbers. We need for each of us to recruit one new qualified member by New Years. If you have an ancestor so does your cousin, brother, etc. They don’t have to live in the area or attend meetings although that would be nice. We don’t get new members without asking. Think of sponsoring a young man that does not have the resources to join.
In the near future I will be asking some of you to help with different tasks so be ready to charge at a moments notice. If you have an idea, let me know. We can’t implement all of them of course, but we may be able to incorporate some of them into other projects.
Again I wish to think everyone for their support both past, present and for the future. This camp will only be as good as you are willing to make it. I can’t close without mentioning how proud I am of the Mary Ann Harvey Black Chapter of the Order of Confederate Rose. They have never failed to excel in anything they undertake.
Commander M.Carroll
A hardy welcome goes to our newest member John Booth of Tallahassee and R.L. Massey who reactivated his membership. In last months Cresset the editor misspelled the name of new member Earnest Sumner. How embarrassing!
Caution!! As most of us know by now, Beauvoir the last home of President Jefferson Davis, was badly damaged by the hurricanes of late. We believe it should be and will be salvaged. United Sons of Confederate Veterans is one of the organizations soliciting funds supposedly for that purpose. Use caution when you see the word United. They are not the Sons of Confederate Veterans that we belong to and word is that they are not our friends.
This month in history. On November 11, 1818 at 5:00 AM an armistice was signed between the United States and Germany ending world war one. Armistice Day was celebrated until after WWII when some states began to use it to honor all American soldiers rather than just a celebration of the armistice. The idea caught on and on May 24 1954 Congress officially changed the name to Veterans Day. In October President Eisenhower ask that it be a day the nation remember the sacrifice all of its military men and women. On November 12th we will be celebrating our Confederate American military men at the Fall Muster at the Darby place. See enclosed flyer for information.
The grave of Confederate John Whitner Maxwell in Oakland cemetery has been restored and a Veteran Administration CSA marker has been placed on his grave. That’s one down and two hundred thousand to go.
And the birthday boys for November are; Bill Beckham on the 21st, Harold Davis on the 4th, and Wayne Grissett on the 9th. We wish them a good one and many more to come.
Southern quote and probably the best. It would serve well as our camp motto.
"Sirs, you have no reason to be ashamed of your Confederate dead; see that they have no reason to be ashamed of you." R.L. Dabney Chaplin to General Stonewall Jackson.
Part II of Observations of Conditions in the South
Last months Cresset featured part one of General Grant’s letter to President Andrew Johnson on his observation and recommendations of the conditions in the South. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are as written by Grant. On Grants fact finding trip he visited only four cities in three states, all within a week. It is likely that he only spoke with union officers and reconstruction politicians and few citizens. He alludes to the bureaucratic inefficiency that we know so well today. We will wrap this up in the next edition. Interim editor.
PART TWO: "There is such universal acquiescence in the authority of the general government throughout the portions of country visited by me, that the mere presence of a military force, without regard to numbers, is sufficient to maintain order. The good of the country, and economy, require that the force kept in the interior, where there are many freedmen, (elsewhere in the southern States than the forts upon the seacoast no force is
necessary,) should all be white troops. The reasons for this is obvious without mentioning many of them. The presence of black troops, lately slaves, demoralizes labor, both by their advice and by furnishing in their camps a resort for the freedmen for long distances around. White troops generally excite no opposition, and therefore a small number of them can maintain order in a given district. Colored troops must be kept in bodies sufficient to defend themselves. It is not the thinking of men who would use violence towards any class of troops sent among them be the general government, but the ignorant in some places might; and the late slave seems to be imbued with the idea that the property of his late master should, by right, belong to him, or at least should have no protection from the colored soldier. There is danger of collisions being brought on by such causes. My observations lead me to the conclusion that the citizens of the southern States are anxious to return to self –government, within the Union, as soon as possible; that whilst reconstructing they want and require protection from the government; that they are in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required by the government, not humiliating to them as citizens, and that if such a course were pointed out they would pursue it in good faith. It is regretted that there cannot be a greater commingling, at this time, between the citizens of the two sections, and particularly of those intrusted with the law-making power.
I did not give the operations of the Freedman’s Bureau that attention that I would have done if more time had been at my disposal. Conservations on the subject, however, with the officers connected with the Bureau, with Military Commanders and with citizens lead me to think that in some States its affairs have not been conducted with good judgment and economy, and that the belief widely spread among the freed men of the southern states, that the lands of the former owners will at least in part divided among them, has come from the agents of the bureau. The belief is seriously interfering with the willingness of the freedmen to make contracts for the coming year. In some form the Freedmen’s Bureau is an absolute necessity until civil law is established and enforced, securing to the freedmen their rights and full protection.
Why yankees Can’t Be Paramedics
A couple of yankees were hunting in the great north woods when one suddenly gasp, grabs his chest and falls to the ground. His buddy grabs his cell phone and calls 911. He yells to the operator, "I think Butch is dead!" The operator in a calm soothing voice says, "Just take it easy and follow my instructions. First let’s be sure he is dead."
There is a silence…….and then a shot is heard. Then the yankee comes back on the phone, "Okay, now what?"