Free Republic

RINGGOLD — In a dark warehouse, the 700-pound bronze statue of a Confederate general most people have never heard of lies on its back under plastic wrapping. The likeness of Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, set down next to an old phone booth, represents the seven-year dream of some quirky history buffs who believe the man deserves belated honors. And it is the hope of a small town that this obscure figure will bring visitors with fat wallets. The statue almost was not finished because for years organizers couldn’t scratch up the money to pay the sculptor. When it’s put on...

I see that the Curator of African-American & Community History for the North Carolina Museum of History, Mr. Earl Ijames, is back in the news. Mr. Ijames was recently the keynote speaker at a new Confederate monument dedication in North Carolina. A news story quotes Mr. Ijames as saying: "We need to present a more balanced history," he said, adding that the black Confederate soldier has been lost to history. "They never got recognized, but we are starting to change that," Ijames said.

TEMPLE TERRACE — Bart Siegel, an outspoken advocate for the display of the giant Confederate flag near the intersection of Interstate 4 and I-75, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot in his Temple Terrace home Thursday. Siegel, 50, was a Republican accountant who penned long letters to newspapers and verbally sparred with columnists. In 2000, he announced his desire to "stir things up" by running against then-Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court Richard Ake, a Democrat unopposed since 1986. Siegel lost, but kept stirring things up. In the face of a protest, Siegel professed his love for the...

This Day In History | Civil War May 2 1863 Jackson flanks Hooker at Chancellorsville Stonewall Jackson administers a devastating defeat to the Army of the Potomac. In one of the most stunning upsets of the war, a vastly outnumbered Army of Northern Virginia sent the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Joseph Hooker, back to Washington in defeat. Hooker, who headed for Lee's army confident and numerically superior, had sent part of his force to encounter Lee's troops at Fredericksburg the day before, while the rest swung west to approach Lee from the rear. Meanwhile, Lee had left...

This Day In History | Civil War May 10 1863 Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson dies The South loses one of its boldest and most colorful generals on this day. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson died of pneumonia a week after losing his arm when his own troops accidentally fired on him during the Battle of Chancellorsville. In the first two years of the war, Jackson terrorized Union commanders and led his army corps on bold and daring marches. He was the perfect complement to Robert E. Lee. A native Virginian, Jackson grew up in poverty in Clarksburg, in the mountains of...

All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth. – Robert E. Lee The men and women who serve our nation in its armed forces are true American heroes. Gen. Robert E. Lee served this country valiantly and will always be a hero among the people. This article is dedicated to all the great people who have served and are presently serving to keep their country free. God bless them all!Many commemorations will be held throughout...

All the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our Forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth. --Robert E. Lee Why do Americans continue to remember their past? Perhaps it is because it was a time when truth was spoken. Men and women took their stand to give us the freedoms we now enjoy. God bless those in military service, who do their duty around the world for freedom. The Hall of Fame for great Americans opened in 1900 in New York City. One thousand...

Stratford Hall Robert E. Lee was born here Jan. 19, 1807, at the impressive H-shaped brick home built in 1730-38 by ancestor Thomas Lee. It's in Westmoreland County, about 40 miles east of Fredericksburg. A leading figure under English rule, Thomas Lee produced sons who were leaders of the Revolutionary War. Two sons -- Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee -- were the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence. Thomas' granddaughter, Matilda Lee, inherited the house and married another notable Lee, her second cousin Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee. "Lighthorse Harry" was a Revolutionary War hero, a governor...

Friday will mark the 200th birthday anniversary of future Confederate Gen. Robert Edward Lee. Lee was born Jan. 19, 1807, at Stratford House in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the son of "Light Horse" Harry Lee and Ann Hill Carter Lee. Lee would be educated in the schools of Alexandria, Va., and in 1825 he entered West Point Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit, a record that still stands today. In June 1831, Lee wed Mary Anna Randolph Custis, the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, who was the grandson...

Which is why not all the rains that have come and gone since his time have been able to wash out the single name that still sums up whatever is best in us and in this, our ever fecund, always forgiving South: Lee.

Robert E. Lee, Military Leader / Civil War Figure Born: 19 January 1807 Birthplace: Stratford, Virginia Died: 12 October 1870 (natural causes) Best Known As: Leader of Confederate armies in the Civil War Name at birth: Robert Edward Lee Lee was the Confederacy's most famous general in the American Civil War. He attended West Point (graduating second in his class) and became an engineer in the United States Army, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War. As the Civil War broke out he resigned his commission and joined the forces of the South. In 1862 he was made commander...

The Selected Civil War Photographs Collection contains 1,118 photographs. Most of the images were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, and a selection of enlisted men. An additional two hundred autographed portraits of army and navy officers, politicians, and cultural figures can be seen in the Civil War photograph album, ca. 1861-65. (James Wadsworth Family Papers). The full album pages are displayed as well as the front and verso of each carte de visite, revealing...

In response to Abraham Lincoln winning election as President of the United States as well as a list of grievances against the Federal govt, the state of South Carolina voted (thru a Convention) to secede from the United States of America. The Convention was held in Charleston and issued a Declaration of Secession at the end of the convention. That document can be seen here: http://www.thevrwc.org/historical/SouthCarolinaDeclarationofSecession.html Comments or opinions - anyone?

Scientists: Hunley's hatch was unlocked Scientists say they may have found an important clue in the mystery of why the Confederate submarine Hunley sank 140 years ago after making history by sinking an enemy warship in battle. Archaeologists and others working to restore the submarine recovered six years ago from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Sullivans Island have found evidence the forward hatch may have been opened intentionally on the night the sub sank. The forward hatch was one of two ways crew members got in and out of the sub. It is covered in...

Kevin Willmott's ersatz documentary "CSA: The Confederate States of America" is an act of provocation that's sheer genius in its conceptual simplicity. Fairly unoriginal, too. Writers and historians have been penning "what-if" scenarios predicated on the War Between the States going the other way for decades; I recall MacKinley Kantor's "If the South Had Won the Civil War" on my elementary school reading list years ago, and more recent authors such as Harry Turtledove and Roger L. Ransom have addressed the matter as well. Willmott isn't interested in academic niceties. He wants to make you laugh and hurt at the...

Missing view port muddies long-held theory of Hunley's disappearance By JOHN C. DRAKE, Published Wednesday, December 28, 2005 COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Scientists chipping away the hard layer of mud that covers the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley have discovered that a view port on the front of the vessel is missing. If no pieces of the view port are found in the ship, then it is possible the tower was knocked off when the sub sank. That would conflict with the prevailing theory that the tower was blown in by an enemy warship, causing the Hunley to fill with water....

Students marching Saturday to ban a Confederate flag, dyed in LSU's colors met the most fiery opposition from tailgaters since the students began protests of the popular game-day decoration three weeks ago. Police arrested three people for throwing objects at or inciting protestors as about 200 mostly black students trekked from the African American Culture Center to Tiger Stadium before LSU's homecoming game with Appalachian State. The arrests were the first made during any of the three protests staged so far this fall, LSU Police Capt. Ricky Adams said. Chanting "ban that flag" and "LSU unite," protestors were met by...

CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, through the eyes of a faux documentary, takes a look at an America where the South won the Civil War. Supposedly produced by a British broadcasting company, the feature film is presented as a production being shown, controversially, for the first time on television in the States. Beginning with the British and French forces joining the battle with the Confederacy, thus assuring the defeat of the North at Gettysburg and ensuing battles, the South takes the battle northward and form one country out of the two. Lincoln attempts escape to Canada but is captured...

Aug. 9, 1862, was a hot and dusty day, a grueling time to be marching into war. Confederate soldiers struggling through the blistering heat on their way from Gordonsville that day were about to engage in a battle that would go down as the deadliest in Culpeper County history. The Battle of Cedar Mountain, the only time Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is known to have drawn his sword in combat, is approaching its 143rd anniversary, and the fledgling preservationist group Friends of the Cedar Mountain Battlefield has planned a weekend of activities to commemorate the event. The group, in partnership...

Jason McKenney of Half Moon Bay wanted to make a political statement. Not by marching in the streets. Not by boycotting big business. Not by signing a petition. But by growing fruits and vegetables naturally. In this day and age of mega-scale corporate farming, 34-year-old McKenney, who studied environmental studies and biology at Brown University, ekes out a living growing organically on all of three leased acres along the coast. There, among the rows of potatoes, garlic, onions, kale, chard, arugula, mustard, parsley and Forellenschluss (an heirloom lettuce with green leaves speckled with burgundy), McKenney makes his point. ``This is...