Supporting the History Groups

While I was at the McHenry County Historical Society Museum in June, I joined this esteemed group.  I am a big supporter of all kinds of historical groups.  They need the membership and the money even worse in these days of the virus because if you ever noticed, most history people are also old, including myself.

I also belong to quite a few history groups myself:

ILLINOIS

McHenry County Civil War Round Table

The McHenry Area Historical Society (The City of McHenry)

The Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp Douglas Camp #516  (Chicagoland area)

NORTH CAROLINA

Wayne County Historical Society

Old Waynesboro Park (Goldsboro, Wayne County)

Friends of Fort Fisher  (Kure Beach)

Federal Point  Historic Preservation Society (Carolina Beach)

NATIONAL

National Trust for Historic Preservation

American Battlefield Trust

So, as you can see a put my money where my mouth is and support these worthy organizations.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Prisons Discussion-- Part 3: A 'Gone With the Wind' Connection and Rock Island

The character Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind" was supposedly held at Rock Island Prison. He said that three quarters of the men who were sent there never came out alive. 

One of our members had just finished reading a book on the Rock Island Prison called "Rebels at Rock Island:  The Story of a Civil War Prison" by Benton McAdams.  He separated truth from fiction in regards to this prison that held tens of thousands of Confederate prisoners.

Rock Island was not without its problems-- mean punishments,  inadequate facilities,  malnutrition and a lack of basic  supplies.  But officers sought to maintain humane conditions as much as they could.

We have two Sons of Confederate Veteran Camps in Illinois which are named after two of the prison camps.

One is in the Chicago area and is called the Camp Douglas Camp, SCV.

The other is in Rockford and called the Rock Island Memorial Prisoner of War Camp.

--Old Secesh

Sons of Confederate Veterans and Veterans Administration Provide Grave Stones for Unmarked Confederate Graves

From the November 24, 2020, Clay  (Clay County, Florida) Today.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Kirby Smith Camp #1209 installed grave stones on unmarked graves of five  Confederate veterans and one for an unmarked grave of a Spanish-American War veteran.

The headstones:

Schley H. Wilson 48th Georgia Infantry

Mathew Mosley  11th Florida Infantry

John Mosley   1st Florida Infantry in Spanish American War

These  unmarked graves were at Federal Hill Cemetery in the Oakleaf area.

************************

At Peoria Cemetery in Doctors Inlet:

William J. Dickinson  1st Florida Cavalry

William Henry Shepard   7th Florida Infantry

Ivey Williamson  3rd Florida Infantry

Kirby Smith Camp, SCV is a heritage organization that focuses on the preservation and legacy of those who fought for then Confederacy during the Civil War.

The Veterans Administration (VA) provides the grave stones because Confederate soldiers are considered American veterans.

--Old Secesh

Sgt. Ivy Ritchie-- Part 6: Changing the Gravestone at Petersburg

Frank sure started something with this man's name.  Thanks a lot Frank.

Back in March 1996, Jim Harwood requested to have Ivy Ritchie's homeplace  designated with a N.C. Highway Historical Marker.  That was denied by the state.

Efforts to have Ritchie's headstone  replaced and to show that he was from North Carolina, not New York, have been a long, arduous  task.   But with the help of Anthony Way of Indian Trail, who solicited the aide of Sen. Elizabeth Dole in February 2006, the ten-year effort recently  received a long-awaited news

In a letter  to Sen. Dole dated May 9, 2006,  Bob Kirby,  superintendent of Petersburg National Cemetery, wrote:  "We were advised by the National Parks Service (NPS) has recently received funding for a major  renovation project for FY 2010, which will involve the replacement of several  headstones.  NPS has agreed to replace the headstone for Sgt. Ritchie once the renovations project begins."

Harwood was especially  appreciative of the efforts of Debbie King in Sen. Dole's Raleigh office for her tireless efforts.

Harwood says that when the tombstone is finally  changed, he and other members of the Ivy Ritchie Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans will travel to Petersburg for a memorial and to sprinkle Surry County red clay on the grave of this American hero.

--Old Secesh

Sgt. Ivy Ritchie- Part 5: About That Grave

Ivy's  body was later exhumed and reinterred  in Poplar Grove National Cemetery near Petersburg.  His tombstone read:  "J. Richie, Sgt. Co. H 14th N.Y. Inf. Died April  9, 1865."  Well, they got the sergeant part right, the 14th and the date of death right, but that was it

Close, but no cigar.  Someone made a mistake somewhere.

Since he first learned about Ivy Ritchie's life ten years ago, Albemarle businessman Jim Harwood, a Wake Forest history major and self-proclaimed history buff, has led  efforts to form the Ivy Ritchie Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

He says:  "Our unit is interested in the history of the Civil War.  We put Southern Crosses of Honor on the graves of those who served in that war.  We started with seven members and have grown to over  180 members today."

Oops.  --Old Secesh

Seven Rebel Gravesites Designated a Cemetery in Arkansas-- Part 1

From the October 14, 2019, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette by Neil Abeles.

The Texas Confederates have been there since 1862, unknown and near the old Spring Bank Ferry by Doddridge.    The ferry was on the Red River in southwest Arkansas.  They were found using a Google Earth image.

Earlier this month, about 100 people turned out as the site was dedicated as a cemetery.

The John B. Barton Camp 1664 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans  conducted a campaign to  to build a park with fencing  and grave markers on the seven graves.

The seven soldiers were from the 13th Texas Cavalry Dismounted and died from measles and typhoid fever and are buried at what used to be Camp Blair , as the cemetery was once called.

--Old Secesh

Calvin Crane, Last Living Confederate Real Son, Dies-- Part 4

Mr. Crane is survived by two daughters and a host of grand children, great grand children and a great-great grandson and another on the way.

The Crane family declined to be interviewed for this article.  However, in 2013, Crane's daughter Cynthia Crane  Jones, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that she has had difficulties convincing others of her Civil War connections.

"I know when I was in like third or fourth grade and we'd start studying the Civil War, I'd say, 'My grandfather was in the Civil War!' " she told the newspaper.  Her classmates and teachers would try to correct her by saying, " 'No, no, that was your great-grandfather.'  And I'd say, 'No, it was my grandfather.'  Mom even had to go to school one time and tell them that it was my grandfather."

--Old Secesh

Calvin Crane, Last Confederate Real Son, Dies-- Part 3: Remaining Confederate Real Daughters and Union Real Sons

Mr. Crane was born on a farm near the White Oak  Mountain community of Pittsylvania County, barely two months before the United States entered World War I.  His family moved to Danville soon after his father's death so his mother could work in the Dan River Mills.  The Crane family financial situation was so desperate, Calvin had to leave school after the sixth grade.

He remembered, "I had a terrible time growing up."

He joined the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in 1993 and attended meetings for over twenty years.  The SCV's national headquarters in Columbia, Tennessee confirmed that Crane was the last living son of a Confederate veteran.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy confirms that there are still five Real Daughters living, none of them in Virginia.David Demmy, executive director of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, says that  their organization knows about two living Real Sons and four living Real Daughters.

--Old Secesh

Calvin Crane Dies, Last SCV Real Son-- Part 2: His Father, James Crane, Married Twice and Had 21 Children

James Crane fathered 16 children with his first wife, who died around 1900.  He was in his 50s when he married his second wife, Annie Eanes, 18.  She had grown up an orphan and lived on a farm near Danville.  Calvin was her youngest of five children by James and was born February 27, 1917.

Gerald Via, a member of the Fincastle Rifles, Sons of Confederate veterans (SCV), confirmed that  Calvin was the last known living Real Son of a Confederate soldier.

I am a member of the SCV, but not as a Real Son.  I am in the organization because of my great great grandfather.

Mr. Crane served in WW II  and won two Bronze Stars while serving in North Africa and Europe in an armored division.  After the war, he moved to Roanoke and worked with an uncle in the dry-cleaning business before joining the maintenance department of the Roanoke post office.

--Old Secesh

Threats Over Civil War Days Investigated-- Part 3: Another View of the Situation

Matthew Evans, 35, of Genoa, Illinois, suggested that Civil War re-enactors should show up at the Lake County Forest Preserve District's board meeting.  He is the captain of the 154th Tennessee Company K, Confederate re-enactor group who goes by the nickname Johnny Reb.  He thinks the cancellation is a power play on Kyle's part.

"I think what the president (Angelo Kyle) did was wrong," Evans said about the abrupt cancellation, reinstatement and now cancellation again and added that Kyle should resign because he is pushing his own agenda.

Evans said he has 16 or 17 ancestors who fought in the war, one for the Union and the rest for the Confederacy.  He is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (and also camp commander of the Camp Douglas Camp based in the Chicago area).

He started re-enacting in high school.

--Old Secesh

Upcoming Protest Calls for Removal of Confederate Mound in Oak Woods Cemetery-- Part 1

From the April 18, 2019, Chicago Weekly Citizen by Katherine Newman.

The Camp Douglas Camp #516 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (which is named after the Union prison in Chicago in which some 6,000 Confederates died during the war) will hold a memorial service on April 22 at the Confederate Mound, where at least 4,000 victims are buried, in Oak Woods Cemetery. 

They will be met by a group calling themselves Smash White Supremacy.

Matthew Evans, the commander of the SCV group said:  We gather to honor the 6,000 men buried at Confederate Mound, who suffered through harsh winters, extreme summer temperature, starvation, human cruelty by the hands of Federal guards, only to die in a prison camp and never return home."

Both groups are planning a peaceful event near each other on April 22.

--Old Secesh

Wyoming Gets New Sons of Union Veterans Camp-- Part 2

Membership in the SUVCW is restricted to men  who have direct or collateral ancestors who served in the Union military, in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Revenue Cutter Service.

The new camp's name is the same as a former camp in Sheridan that was formed in 1890.  Both camps are names after Francis Emroy Warren (1844-1929) who served  in the infantry of the Union Army as a noncommissioned officer in the  49th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers.

At the age of 19, he received a Medal of Honor for battlefield gallantry demonstrated at the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana.  Later he was commissioned as a captain in the Militia of Massachusetts.  After the war, he served as the last territorial and first governor of Wyoming and was the last Civil War veteran as a member of the U.S. Senate.

He is also the namesake of  Francis Emroy Warren  Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

The new camp commander is Karl Falken.

Always good to see a new Civil War organization on the scene.  I myself am a member of the Camp Douglas Sons of Confederate Veterans here in Illinois.

Congratulations Camp Warren in Wyoming.  --Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting Tuesday: Panel Discussion August 14

This Tuesday, August 14, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table will have its monthly meeting at the Woodstock Public Library in Woodstock, Illinois.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. and goes to 9.  This month's topic is a Panel Discussion.  Not quite sure what that is, but imagine  you bring something up and folks will talk about it.  I'm thinking about what we think about the attacks on the Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy.

I know the members of the Sons of Union veterans of the Civil War that I have talked to do not agree with these attacks.  It will be interesting to see what a Civil War Round Table thinks.

Anyway, a group of the people attending will be gathering for dinner at 5:30 at Three Brothers Restaurant on Illinois Highway 47.  All welcome there as well.

SCV and UDC:  Hate Groups or Historical Groups.  --Old Secesh

Confederates In DeKalb Saturday

The Camp Douglas Memorial Camp #516 and the Rock Island Memorial Camp #2229 will be having a joint meeting/luncheon this Saturday, September 30, 2017, in DeKalb, Illinois.

That's right, there are Confederate hereditary groups right here in Lincoln's home state.

Both camps are named after Civil War prisons in which Confederates died, some 6,000 at Camp Douglas in Chicago alone.

Steve Quick will give the keynote address on "The Past and Future of the hereditary Societies."

--Old Secesh

Getting My Civil War On This Weekend: Round Table Discussion Group and Sons of Confederate Veterans

Saturday, June 24, I have two Civil War-related things going on here way up north in Union land here in the Land of Lincoln.

First, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table Discussion Group meets in Crystal Lake to talk about Confederate generals other than Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.  I plan on talking about Gen. W.H.C. Whiting.

Then, I will go to Lake-in-the-Hills to a meeting of the Camp Douglas Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans where we will install new officers.  Our camp is named in honor of the 6,000 Confederates who died at Camp Douglas prison camp during the Civil War.

Getting My Confederate On.  --Old Secesh

The Confederacy Under Attack-- Part 300: The SCV a Controversial Group?

From the July 10, 2016, Google Alerts.

**  Controversial Confederate group hosts national convention in Richardson this week.  (Dallas Morning News)  (?)  The national convention being held is for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  Controversial?  I did not know we are now classified as controversial.  Richardson is a suburb of Dallas.

However, after what happened this past week in Dallas, this could be a bad situation.

--Old Secesh

Springfield, Illinois' Camp Butler: Union Training Camp, Confederate POW Camp

From the Springfield 2016 Visitors Guide.

CAMP BUTLER NATIONAL CEMETERY

Camp Butler was once the site of a Union Army training camp for regiments raised in Illinois.  It later became a Confederate prison.  Now, it is a national cemetery for veterans and their descendants.

It was named for Illinois treasurer at the time, William Butler, not Benjamin Butler as I had thought at one time. William T. Sherman helped pick the site.  It was the second-largest training camp in Illinois, after Chicago's Camp Douglas.  By the end of the war, some 200,000 Union troops had passed through it.

More than 25,000 individuals are buried here, including over 1,700 Union and Confederate soldiers.  As many as 700 prisoners died there during 1862 as an epidemic of smallpox and other diseases ran rampant. There are 866 Confederate graves with a marker placed in their midst in the early 2000s by the Illinois Division Sons of Confederate Veterans.

5063 Camp Butler Road

Honoring the GAR's 150th Anniversary

I missed it by one day, but yesterday, April 6, marked the 150th anniversary of the Grand Army of the Republic.  It was organized April 6, 1866, and composed of all members of the Union military and Revenue Cutter Service.

Its counterpart was the United Confederate Veterans.

The work of both organizations continue on today by their heirs:  The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Sons of Confederate Veterans.

From a SCV Member to the Other Side.  Congratulations.  --Old Secesh

North Carolina's Civil War Story Project Gets Under Way

From the Dec. 15, 2015, Mountain XPress (Asheville, N.C.) "North Carolina History Center launches statewide Civil War story project, seeks oral histories" by Max Hunt.

The North Carolina Civil War History Center plans to collect 100 family Civil War stories from each of the state's 100 counties.  It is one of the largest public history projects ever attempted in North Carolina.  Every family has handed-down stories and this will be an attempt to collect them in the project, entitles "Our State, Our Stories" before they are lost.

The center has now employed "Story Specialists" to assist and plans on canvasing local SCV, UDC and SUVCW groups.

They will be using three  methods of collecting the stories:

1.  Online submission
2.  Oral histories recorded by the "story specialists"
3.  Printed forms

The History Center will cost $85 million when completed and is in Fayetteville, right next to the ruins of the Fayetteville Arsenal which was destroyed by Sherman in March 1865.

--Old Secesh

The SCV Sees the Flag Controversy As a "Nightmare"-- Part 1

From the July 15, 2015, Yahoo! News--  Reuters "Sons of Confederacy sees flag controversy as 'nightmare'" by Gary Robertson.

I sure see it as a nightmare.  Anti-Confederate attacks were bad enough before the Charleston murders, but now, they have no limit.  It is everywhere you look.

Charles Kelly Barrow, Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) says he fails to understand the wave of hostility directed at the Confederate flag following the massacre.  "I'll use the words of Jefferson Davis.  We just want to be left alone."

Barrow and about 1,000 members of the SCV are having their annual convention in Richmond, Virginia starting this weekend.  This is the 120th National Reunion of the organization founded in 1896 to carry on the ideals of the Confederate soldiers as they were starting to die of old age.  Membership is open to male descendants.

--Old Secesh