Again this year, we are offering a Confederate-themed wall calendar to our readers. Dates of major battles and birthdays of many notable Confederate persons have been added to civil and Judeo-Christian holidays. Each month shows pictures of notable Confederate persons and places, including a picture with a flying First National flag taken inside Ft. Sumter after the surrender of that most notable of all forts. (Flying flags were usually blurs back then in the age before stop-action photography.)
http://www.lulu.com/content/legacy-lulustudio-calendar/confederate-calendar-2011/9484751
Deo Vindice!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Non-White Confederates?
You know, I started this blog basically to be a very cheap form of advertising. I just want to get the word out about my books that I reprint and sell via my lulu.com storefront. I just wanted to keep it simple. I have actually resisted even having a blog for years just because it was another inane "web presence" to be maintained at the expense of time that might just be better spent elsewhere.
But...since I have this blog, I decided to go ahead and add my two cents' worth here and there, so here goes:
There has been controversy over the Confederate Battle Flag for years, but Southern/Confederate cultural cleansing in the past 15 years has spread like some virulent disease that has gone amok from a Frankensteinian lab. Why now? Didn't the South and all her citizens feel at home singing Dixie at the home games and flying their beloved flag in the parades for all those long decades since the end of the War Between the States? Yet the beloved flag has been targeted by "Civil Rights" activists who are interested in the rights of everyone except those they don't like.
Our response as Southern people? Show that the South was not a lillie-White oligarchy of plantation owners contemplating moonlight and magnolia while sippin' whiskey on the front porches of the "big houses" of the South. My wife has Cherokee ancestors. That almost guarantees Confederate soldiers in her ancestry. Our historic flag collection includes the Cherokee Braves flag. "How White was their cause?" I once asked a White Supremist who tried to recruit me via email some time back.
A wonderful Filipina I used to know in Oregon assured my wife and me of her love for us, but opined that Asians would not be welcome in our beloved Old South. Only after losing contact with her did I learn of a whole company of Filipinoes who fought under the Stars and Bars from Louisiana.
Then there are Black Confederates. Mention them and a whole new firestorm rages around you. "They were just slaves who were forced to serve by their masters," the professional race-baiters and court-jesters cum historians scream. Well, that is true in some cases. The "Chandler Boys," -- one White and one Black -- would refute that thought. The Black Chandler was a former slave of the White, but had been manumitted. They went to war togetheras friends and brothers and when the White Chandler was wounded, the Black Chandler protected him with his own life until he could get him home to mend up.
Yes, most of those Black Confederates were teamsters, valets, cooks and so forth, but to loosely quote Frederick Douglas, runaway slave and Civil Rights demigod, there were at that very minute Blacks who voluntarily fought with "guns on their shoulders and bullets in their pockets." And most of them got no pay because the Confederate Congress had not yet authorized the enlistment of Blacks of any state [in life]. They simply picked up a gun from among the battlefield fallen and moved to the firing line. They were most certainly NOT coerced!
The FACTS of history are there. Southern Blacks loved the South and hated the Yankee invader as much as their White brothers did. Just read The Slave Narratives and you'll see a great many stories that embarass the Civil Rights cabal. Several "emancipated" slaves in that area of Missouri where I grew up ran to the camps of Colonel William Clarke Quantrill after escaping from Jayhawkers who had "liberated" them. (In fact, many "Abolitionists" in the Bleeding Kansas period were, in fact, "freeing" slaves, only to re-sell them in Louisiana or Texas.) Paul R. Petersen in his book, "Quantill of Missouri" documents this. O. S. Barton records John McCorkle (a scout of Quantrill's) telling of free and slave Blacks joining that command and spying for it.
In modern times, I know that Blacks still love the South and her heritage and history. While living in Kansas City, Missouri in the late 1990's, there was a Black family with a big Ford truck that had a Confederate Battle Flag grill cover living in the minority-dominated Northeast neighborhood. While living in Texas, I recieved as many smiles and compliments on my kepi, slouch hat and shell jacket from Blacks who loved the South as I did from Whites. In Bryan, Texas, there is Dixie Tire Company, a Black-owned and operated business with the Confederate Battle Flag right in the company's sign. My friend, John, a former trucker told me once of a Black man repairing his rig in Mississippi who commented on being angry at all the activists who thought they needed to bus themselves in for every flag and statue flap that came up. He apparently expressed (much to John's suprise) anger at their hatred of his flag. I could go on and on with the examples.
Let me chime in one last set of thoughts here:
A) If you are an historian, professional or not, quit reading into history what you want to be there. Stick to the FACTS that you can document in active voice and not passive voice. Blacks loved the Confederacy then and many still do today. Just ask H.K. Edgerton over at www.SouthernHeritage411.com or the good folks who run www.37thTexas.org.
B) If you are an activist, work your home plot. Leave ours alone. You don't belong here. We don't need your busloads of B--- S--- artists coming down to Dixie and race-baiting and hate mongering. We love our home, it's heritage and it's history. And we love it quite in spite of its flaws and warts. Get over yourself and go home. You have plenty to do there. Almost all of the major White Supremist groups are headquartered NORTH of the Mason-Dixon Line.
And, finally, C) Morris Dees, you are not wanted in Dixie. Please leave now. Your strong-arm hate monger tactics are not welcome in our Southern, Judeo-Christian society where we still extend the 5th Commandment to the point of honoring the "Fathers" of our culture and our ancestors, too.
Okay, enough of my rant for now. Next time perhaps I will have a good book to tell you about!
Deo Vindice!
But...since I have this blog, I decided to go ahead and add my two cents' worth here and there, so here goes:
There has been controversy over the Confederate Battle Flag for years, but Southern/Confederate cultural cleansing in the past 15 years has spread like some virulent disease that has gone amok from a Frankensteinian lab. Why now? Didn't the South and all her citizens feel at home singing Dixie at the home games and flying their beloved flag in the parades for all those long decades since the end of the War Between the States? Yet the beloved flag has been targeted by "Civil Rights" activists who are interested in the rights of everyone except those they don't like.
Our response as Southern people? Show that the South was not a lillie-White oligarchy of plantation owners contemplating moonlight and magnolia while sippin' whiskey on the front porches of the "big houses" of the South. My wife has Cherokee ancestors. That almost guarantees Confederate soldiers in her ancestry. Our historic flag collection includes the Cherokee Braves flag. "How White was their cause?" I once asked a White Supremist who tried to recruit me via email some time back.
A wonderful Filipina I used to know in Oregon assured my wife and me of her love for us, but opined that Asians would not be welcome in our beloved Old South. Only after losing contact with her did I learn of a whole company of Filipinoes who fought under the Stars and Bars from Louisiana.
Then there are Black Confederates. Mention them and a whole new firestorm rages around you. "They were just slaves who were forced to serve by their masters," the professional race-baiters and court-jesters cum historians scream. Well, that is true in some cases. The "Chandler Boys," -- one White and one Black -- would refute that thought. The Black Chandler was a former slave of the White, but had been manumitted. They went to war togetheras friends and brothers and when the White Chandler was wounded, the Black Chandler protected him with his own life until he could get him home to mend up.
Yes, most of those Black Confederates were teamsters, valets, cooks and so forth, but to loosely quote Frederick Douglas, runaway slave and Civil Rights demigod, there were at that very minute Blacks who voluntarily fought with "guns on their shoulders and bullets in their pockets." And most of them got no pay because the Confederate Congress had not yet authorized the enlistment of Blacks of any state [in life]. They simply picked up a gun from among the battlefield fallen and moved to the firing line. They were most certainly NOT coerced!
The FACTS of history are there. Southern Blacks loved the South and hated the Yankee invader as much as their White brothers did. Just read The Slave Narratives and you'll see a great many stories that embarass the Civil Rights cabal. Several "emancipated" slaves in that area of Missouri where I grew up ran to the camps of Colonel William Clarke Quantrill after escaping from Jayhawkers who had "liberated" them. (In fact, many "Abolitionists" in the Bleeding Kansas period were, in fact, "freeing" slaves, only to re-sell them in Louisiana or Texas.) Paul R. Petersen in his book, "Quantill of Missouri" documents this. O. S. Barton records John McCorkle (a scout of Quantrill's) telling of free and slave Blacks joining that command and spying for it.
In modern times, I know that Blacks still love the South and her heritage and history. While living in Kansas City, Missouri in the late 1990's, there was a Black family with a big Ford truck that had a Confederate Battle Flag grill cover living in the minority-dominated Northeast neighborhood. While living in Texas, I recieved as many smiles and compliments on my kepi, slouch hat and shell jacket from Blacks who loved the South as I did from Whites. In Bryan, Texas, there is Dixie Tire Company, a Black-owned and operated business with the Confederate Battle Flag right in the company's sign. My friend, John, a former trucker told me once of a Black man repairing his rig in Mississippi who commented on being angry at all the activists who thought they needed to bus themselves in for every flag and statue flap that came up. He apparently expressed (much to John's suprise) anger at their hatred of his flag. I could go on and on with the examples.
Let me chime in one last set of thoughts here:
A) If you are an historian, professional or not, quit reading into history what you want to be there. Stick to the FACTS that you can document in active voice and not passive voice. Blacks loved the Confederacy then and many still do today. Just ask H.K. Edgerton over at www.SouthernHeritage411.com or the good folks who run www.37thTexas.org.
B) If you are an activist, work your home plot. Leave ours alone. You don't belong here. We don't need your busloads of B--- S--- artists coming down to Dixie and race-baiting and hate mongering. We love our home, it's heritage and it's history. And we love it quite in spite of its flaws and warts. Get over yourself and go home. You have plenty to do there. Almost all of the major White Supremist groups are headquartered NORTH of the Mason-Dixon Line.
And, finally, C) Morris Dees, you are not wanted in Dixie. Please leave now. Your strong-arm hate monger tactics are not welcome in our Southern, Judeo-Christian society where we still extend the 5th Commandment to the point of honoring the "Fathers" of our culture and our ancestors, too.
Okay, enough of my rant for now. Next time perhaps I will have a good book to tell you about!
Deo Vindice!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
A Short History of the Confederate States of America
Have you ever read a truly scholarly history book? Unless you're a scholar-type person, it got really tedious, didn't it? I know there have been a couple along the way that just left me going, "What year was that, again?" Jefferson Davis' The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volumes 1 and 2 can really get that way, especially when a very scholarly Davis starts to discuss the minutiae of American and Confederate history. You've got to be a scholar or at least not intimidated by scholarly writing that has fully half-pages of foot notes and digressive discussions to illustrate otherwise simple points to read either of those volumes. In fact, he spends several chapters just leading up to the idea of secession before he ever discusses it. A real tough read, to be sure.
There is good news, though. Jefferson Davis apparently was also one of those rare scholars who did not have trouble relating to or communicating with the common man. He wrote a third volume of Confederate history: A Short History of the Confederate States of America. This is the common man's abridged version of the story of the South's battle for freedom and independence. Here is a very accessible telling of the story which does not skimp on any essential detail of the War Between the States, yet does not bog down in detail, minutiae, or footnotes. This book is wonderfully written and easy to follow, and it was written by Jefferson Davis himself; he is eminently and uniquely qualified to write this story.
You can obtain it here: http://www.lulu.com/content/hardcover-book/a-short-history-of-the-confederate-states-of-america/9560758
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Let's Get This Ball Rolling
I have, for years now, resisted both blogging and social networking. I truly hate fads and I have a relative by marriage that was once constantly trying to get me to join this or that site. I had no interest in it and wanted no part of it.
Alas, I really have to step into the realities of the 21st Century. Blogging and social networking sites are seriously important ways to communicate with potential customers, to make friends, and learn about the world around us. So, in that light, here is my first contribution to blogging: my notice of the release of my first three youtube slide show videos.
The first one was Free South Band's "Toast to Dixie." I liked the song a whole lot when I bought their Free South Project CD a few years past. Then one day, I was standing in the liquor aisle of the grocery store where my wife worked looking for a bottle of whiskey when I noticed that several of the songs lyrics were, in fact, on the bottles' labels! This is a fun song and I think you might enjoy it, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTckU6kGWs
The second one is from T. Warren and the Border Ruffians. It's called "Border Ruffians." This song immortalizes those hearty and brave souls who joined the Partisan Ranger Corps of the Confederate Army or who joined various guerilla commands. They lived off the land as they went, or took in donated goods, food, or services like horse shoeing and sewing from the sympathetic locals. Where I grew up in Jackson and Clay Counties in Missouri, Colonel William Clarke Quantrill and Colonel Upton Hayes are remembered as heroes, not as ego-maniacal killers as the winner's history would have you believe. Here is their tribute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZFW3nqRmw
Finally, there are those of us who are willing, but not terribly able to do much for our beloved Southland. Sadly some of us are not willing for fear of our enemies. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who really can -- and do -- do much to preserve our Southern Heritage. Ray McBerry of Dixie Broadcasting (www.DixieBroadcasting.com), T. Warren of Border Ruffians fame (www.TerryWarren.net), the Free South Band, Chuck Demastus of Southern Heritage News and Views (www.SHNV.net), and let's not forget H.K. Edgerton at southernheritage411.com. There are so many who deserve mention, as well, but space and time prohibit the mention of more than a few. This third video was set to the tune of the Rebelaires' "For the Cause," because these and so many others have given themselves and their time and effort "for the Cause." Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPA_biMrjd4
With this, I will end my first ever blog post! Until next time, Deo Vindice!
Alas, I really have to step into the realities of the 21st Century. Blogging and social networking sites are seriously important ways to communicate with potential customers, to make friends, and learn about the world around us. So, in that light, here is my first contribution to blogging: my notice of the release of my first three youtube slide show videos.
The first one was Free South Band's "Toast to Dixie." I liked the song a whole lot when I bought their Free South Project CD a few years past. Then one day, I was standing in the liquor aisle of the grocery store where my wife worked looking for a bottle of whiskey when I noticed that several of the songs lyrics were, in fact, on the bottles' labels! This is a fun song and I think you might enjoy it, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTckU6kGWs
The second one is from T. Warren and the Border Ruffians. It's called "Border Ruffians." This song immortalizes those hearty and brave souls who joined the Partisan Ranger Corps of the Confederate Army or who joined various guerilla commands. They lived off the land as they went, or took in donated goods, food, or services like horse shoeing and sewing from the sympathetic locals. Where I grew up in Jackson and Clay Counties in Missouri, Colonel William Clarke Quantrill and Colonel Upton Hayes are remembered as heroes, not as ego-maniacal killers as the winner's history would have you believe. Here is their tribute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZFW3nqRmw
Finally, there are those of us who are willing, but not terribly able to do much for our beloved Southland. Sadly some of us are not willing for fear of our enemies. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who really can -- and do -- do much to preserve our Southern Heritage. Ray McBerry of Dixie Broadcasting (www.DixieBroadcasting.com), T. Warren of Border Ruffians fame (www.TerryWarren.net), the Free South Band, Chuck Demastus of Southern Heritage News and Views (www.SHNV.net), and let's not forget H.K. Edgerton at southernheritage411.com. There are so many who deserve mention, as well, but space and time prohibit the mention of more than a few. This third video was set to the tune of the Rebelaires' "For the Cause," because these and so many others have given themselves and their time and effort "for the Cause." Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPA_biMrjd4
With this, I will end my first ever blog post! Until next time, Deo Vindice!
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