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The Morehead chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have been denied a request to march in the Ironton Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade. The 5th Kentucky Infantry Camp #2122 received a letter from Arthur J. Pierson, parade grand marshal, rejecting the group’s request to participate in the parade, without giving any reasons why. “Your parade request for SCV, 5th Kentucky Infantry camp #2122 Morehead, KY, has been considered and NOT APPROVED,” the letter stated. The 5th Kentucky wanted to march with a color guard that would feature two Confederate flags – the Kentucky Confederate flag and the Confederate battle...

A Confederate re-enactor has pleaded not guilty to reckless handling of a firearm in the accidental shooting of a Union re-enactor during the filming of a Civil War documentary in September. Joshua Owen Silva of Norfolk appeared in court Wednesday on the misdemeanor charge, which stemmed from the shooting of 72-year-old Thomas Lord Sr. of Suffolk. A June 24 trial date was set, but prosecutors say they hope to reach a plea agreement with Silva before that. Lord was struck in the right shoulder by a .45-caliber musket ball during the filming of the "Civil War Overland Campaign Web Series...

They had hoped to celebrate freedom -- freedom for blacks once bound by chains of slavery. What the 100 people who gathered for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's annual Emancipation Proclamation program Thursday got was a wake-up call and a history lesson. President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation 146 years ago had less to do with freedom and more to do with a need to beef up Union forces during the Civil War, Lonnie Randolph said. "The Emancipation Proclamation really didn't do anything," the state NAACP president said from Rock Hill's Agape International Ministries....

May 5, 2008: The U.S. Civil War continues to kill. Sam White, a Virginia based collector of Civil War munitions, died recently while cleaning up a nine inch, 75 pound, cannon ball. White had previously restored or examined over 1,500 of these shells. But the one that killed him was different. It was fired from a ship board gun, and was designed to be more waterproof than shells used by land based artillery. This kept the fuze, and black powder explosive charge, dry and viable after 150 years. Mister White was using metal tools to clean up the shell, which...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Central Florida man's Confederate flag prompted a free-speech battle with his employer, who doesn't want it displayed on company property. The flag is attached to Bobby Tillett's pickup truck, which he drives to work every day, WJXT reported. Because his employer has banned the flag from his parking lot, Tillett is forced to park far from his job. "If I take it down, that means you know the politically correct people would have won, and that's wrong," Bobby Tillett said. "If you believe in something that strong (you) should have no problem whatsoever to fly it."...

A student and his family have filed a federal lawsuit demanding that a popular European history teacher at California's Capistrano Valley High School be fired for what they say were anti-Christian remarks he made in the classroom. Chad Farnan, a 16-year-old sophomore, says the teacher, James Corbett, told his students that “Jesus glasses” obscure the truth and suggested that Christians are more likely than other people to commit rape and murder. Farnan recorded his teacher telling students in class: “What country has the highest murder rate? The South! What part of the country has the highest rape rate? The South!...

Artifacts suggest that the South Carolina site that archaeology students and faculty from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been excavating was indeed the home of UNC founder William R. Davie, but contradict the local lore that Union troops burned the house in 1865... [T]he researchers and their undergraduate collaborators did not find the key evidence that would suggest a fire. "We would expect masses of charcoal and burned window glass, and we just didn't encounter that," Riggs said. "It's possible that such evidence was obliterated, but we really doubt it." ...Two years ago, student and faculty...

Outdoors Corner By Bob Sheldon Guest Columnist Of the cartridge repeating rifles used in the American Civil War the best known today is the colorful Henry with its yellow receiver. Total production of Henry rifles was tiny compared to quantity Spencer rifles and carbines purchased by the US Army. Total production of Henry rifles was only about 12,000 with sales to the Federal Government only about 2,000 rifles. Some states purchased Henry Rifles for their militias and other rifles were purchased by individual soldiers or their families. If a soldier had a Henry rifle the Army would issue him cartridges...

CARY, N.C. - The joke around here is that this town's name is really an acronym for "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees." As far as Vernon Yates is concerned, they haven't been contained well enough. Nearly surrounded by pricey subdivisions, the cinderblock Yates Grocery and Farm Supply sells neither anymore. As if things weren't bad enough, style maven Martha Stewart has chosen this Raleigh suburb to build a signature neighborhood of houses designed after her homes in Maine and New York. Holding court near a potbellied stove, the 69-year-old man in the suspenders and NASCAR shirt laments that his old...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

The modest brick house, with its yard full of wilting tulips and rusted old cars, isn't a candidate for the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. But on a spring day in 2002, it was just what Nealie Pitts had in mind. She approached the owner, Rufus T. Matthews, and asked the price. According to court documents, Matthews said the house was selling for $83,000 - but that a deed restriction meant only whites were eligible to buy it. "I was hurt and angry, like he had slapped me in the face," Pitts, who is black, said in an e-mail....

World Grits Festival dishes out heaping helpings of family fun BY DENESHIA GRAHAM ST. GEORGE--Someone by the name of George got dibs on this small, Dorchester County town before grits could. Regardless of where it got its name, the town's heart belongs to the distinctly Southern staple. The love affair has been celebrated for two decades. Day two of the World Grits Festival took place Saturday. Thousands of grits-goers from near and far, some armed with flimsy paper plates of fried food, filed past one another, each heading to a variety of events. Commencing at 7 a.m., activities included a...

New Orleans – "What’s the South like?" said the man in the white suit at the next table, mulling over the question. "That’s what they all ask. Well, that depends on which South you mean — the antebellum mansion, the fly-specked roadhouse, or the latest of the New Souths, the Sunbelt. Or northern Mexico, aka Texas. Or one of the uncountable other Souths. Which image is the facade for which?" The man in the white suit soon warmed to his inexhaustible subject: "One South fits into the next like one of those Russian dolls. Do not be quick to decide...

As a Louisiana native who is now living north of the Mason-Dixon Line, I am well aware of the concerted effort to erase Southern culture from the nation's collective consciousness. I have written numerous articles addressing this social cancer, and every time I do I inevitably hear from people who have the audacity to call me an extremist. "The Civil War is over," they say. "The South lost. Get over it!" Sure. Never mind that those of us who defend the South do so in response to the increasingly virulent attacks on our heritage. Forget that political correctness has...

We talk a lot in this town about diversity and embracing differences. On Presidents Day, before dashing for holiday markdowns at the mall, we may even rest a beat to reflect on our history. But if the story of your particular diversity is told in Southern accents -- especially if it dares breathe a word about historic roots stretching back to the Confederacy -- you're more apt to get a slug than a hug. Marjorie Reeves knows that from personal, painful experience. The Alabama transplant wasn't all that "Southern," she says, before moving to Seattle in 1998. But the minute...

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — When Becky Cleaveland is out with her girlfriends, they all pick at salads, except for the petite Atlanta woman. She tackles "The Hamdog." The dish, a specialty of Mulligan's, a suburban bar, is a hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that is deep-fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions, and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah: It's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries. "The owner says I'm the only girl who can eat a whole one without flinching," Miss Cleaveland said proudly. Click to learn more... Amid a national...

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- When Becky Cleaveland is out with her girlfriends, they all pick at salads except for the petite Atlanta woman. She tackles "The Hamdog." The dish, a specialty of Mulligan's, a suburban bar, is a hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries. "The owner says I'm the only girl who can eat a whole one without flinching," Cleaveland said proudly. Amid a national obesity epidemic and the South's...

It is the sort of stuff that one can read on a regular basis in the contemporary media. An impassioned crie de coeur against American presidential tyranny of the type that is voiced at protest rallies around the world. "The men in power are attempting to establish a despotism in this country, more cruel and more oppressive than ever existed before,” declared the speaker. But these harsh words of denunciation were not uttered against the USA Patriot Act or the national security policies of President George W. Bush. Nor were these sentiments expressed by supporters of Australian Guantanamo detainees David...

The idol of the South to this day, Virginian Robert E. Lee had some difficulty in adjusting to the new form of warfare that unfolded with the Civil war, but this did not prevent him from keeping the Union armies in Virginia at bay for almost three years. The son of Revolutionary War hero "Light Horse" Harry Lee-who fell into disrepute in his later years attended West Point and graduated second in his class. During his four years at the military academy he did not earn a single demerit and served as the cadet corps' adjutant. Upon his 1829 graduation...

Celebrate today the birth of a great American: Gen. Robert E. Lee 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 KENNESAW, Ga.--Why do Ameri- cans continue to remember their past? Maybe, 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...

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...

If you have visited the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, you know that it is called the Arlington of the Confederacy due to the fact that many famous Confederate people are buried there. Upon entering the cemetery, one finds Confederate President Jefferson Davis first. Then you drive to what is called on the map as President's Circle. In the middle is James Monroe. A few yards away is John Tyler. Aside from these two presidents, there are 26 Confederate generals buried here. Among the more famous are JEB Stuart, George Pickett, Henry Heth and Fitzhugh Lee. John Tyler was an...

At our Sabbath eve dinner table Friday night I was attempting to describe to our lovely (liberal) theater person guest the Civil War battle in which, as I recall it, they stopped the fighting for a brief period so they could evacuate the wounded from the field, then resumed. But I couldn't remember the name of the battle. Unless I've made this up, I know somebody on this board will know off the top of his head which battle it was. If said person would enlighten me, I'd be most grateful.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A high-ranking member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans says he is unfairly being labeled a racist in criticism over his recent appointment to the state Board of Education. Ron Wilson, former head of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, was appointed to the board last week by the Anderson County legislative delegation. His appointment drew criticism from civil rights organizations, which have linked him to racist and anti-Semitic activities. The only reason they think this guy is racist is because he HONORS his family that died in the civil war by placing markers on their graves!!!!! The...

Thanksgiving    FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS Recently, I had an argument with a friend over whether Thanksgiving was a civil holiday or a religious holiday. What do you think?   Thanksgiving is definitely a religious holiday rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of our country. Although the secularism of our present culture may have turned the focus more to feasting, football, and family gathering, we must not forget the history and the religious significance of this American holiday. Actually, the first Thanksgiving Day observance originated in Virginia. On Dec. 4, 1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation on the James River...

Update at 4:30 pm nov 3 results for all presidental candidates ALL CANDIDATES CANDIDATE VOTE TOTAL VOTE % John Kerry, Democrat 55,104,702 48% George W. Bush, Republican (incumbent) 58,640,799 51% Ralph Nader, independent 392,219 0% Michael Badnarik, Libertarian 374,741 0% Michael Peroutka, constitution party 129,162 0% David Cobb, green party 104,591 0% Leonard Peltier, peace and freedom party 21,616 0% Gene Amondson, Prohibition Party 1,895 0% Andy Andress, Unaffiliated (no websites for candidate or party )716 0% Walter Brown, Socialist Party USA 10,258 0% Roger Calero, socialist workers party 5,263 0% Earl F. Dodge, Prohibition party 122 0% Thomas Harens,...

Don't get me wrong. I live in the south, and I love the south. I spend my Saturday afternoons watching the Georgia Bulldogs and other southern college football teams; I enjoy true quality peaches and real grapes known as scuppernongs; I eat my fatback and grits; and the people are very nice. I simply disagree with them about politics and religion. The political beliefs of white southerners drag this country down. It has always been this way throughout American history starting with the issue of slavery. Most northern states gave up slavery as early as 1800, but for economic reasons,...

By PETER COOPER Staff Writer A vote is a voice, and celebrity provides a microphone. Thus — especially in an election year — it's common for politically minded artists and musicians to use their fame as a platform to push agendas and candidates. That's been the case for hundreds of years in hundreds of countries, and the American tradition includes plenty of singing and stumping.

Wrong Song of the South: The Dangerous Fallacies of Confederate Multiculturalism. David T. Beito and Charles W. Nuckolls During the last decade, the League of the South and other “southern heritage” groups have fought to preserve the state flags of Georgia and Mississippi. Some members of the League have demanded that universities hire Southern born professors. Others have promoted antebellum style dances. Nearly all are quick to champion their “heroes,” including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, against any slights. The jargon of group rights and identity politics, normally the domain of the politically correct, permeates their pronouncements. In Georgia,...

When asked by a caller how we could get Southern voters to vote for a democrat again, "Comic" Bill Maher just went on the following tirade against the South, Christians and Second Amendment patriots: You know, that's a sore point with me in the South, the way they have a stranglehold on the electorate because... excuse me... and I love playing the red states, because when I play the red states in my stand-up act, you know, I get all the people who don't usually have someone like me come to their state, so there's a great bonding. And I...

Lonoke (AP) - Governor Huckabee and Republican sportsmen took aim at the Democratic presidential ticket Wednesday. Huckabee says hunters should be up in arms over what the governor says is the threat that a John Kerry (website/newsbio) presidency would pose to gun rights. Speaking at a gun club shooting range run by the Remington Arms company, Huckabee criticized Kerry's comments that the Second Amendment right to bear arms should stop with state militia and should not extend to individuals. The governor also cautioned Southerners not to be fooled by North Carolina Senator John Edwards as Kerry's running mate. The governor...

Not only was William Tecumseh Sherman guilty of many of the crimes that some apologists portray as "tall tales," but also his specter seems to haunt the scandal-ridden halls of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Sherman had a relatively poor record battling armies. His lack of preparation nearly destroyed Union forces at Shiloh. He was repulsed at Chickasaw Bluffs, losing an early opportunity to capture Vicksburg, Miss. The result was a bloody campaign that dragged on for months. He was blocked by Gen. Pat Cleburne at the Battle of Chattanooga and needed to be bailed out by Gen. George...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

A letter to the editor...had quick consequences in the run-up to...Celebrate America festival, leading organizers to change TV ads for the fest just days before....In the video, (Mark)Wills climbs out of the car driven by the Dukes of Hazard, which has the (Confederate) flag painted on its roof....organizers blurred it from view in commercials that aired after Wednesday.

Winfield Scott Hancock’s shot straight. July 1-3 is the anniversary of the turning point of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg. As we remember Gettysburg, we should take care to remember the man who was dubbed "The Hero of Gettysburg." After proving himself one of the greatest American generals of all time, he later became the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Throughout his life, he offered a model of honesty and patriotism which should forever be emulated by Americans. When he was a child, he befriended and defended the victims of bullies. At a time when...

Chicago (CNSNews.com) - Jesse Jackson accused the Republican Party, conservatives and the retailer Wal-Mart of attempting to "push the ideology of the Confederacy" in America. Jackson made the comments in several speeches he delivered during his 33rd annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Conference in Chicago. "The ideological right in control of our nation knows what it wants," Jackson said. "The right wing fights for a series of constitutional amendments. They intend to have their ideology protected by law. They intend to push the ideology of the Confederacy and continue to challenge the vision of the Union," Jackson told conference delegates on Monday....

They Aren’t What They Used to Be May 27, 2004 If I had to sum up American history in one sentence, I’d put it this way: The United States aren’t what they used to be. That’s not nostalgia. That’s literal fact. Before the Civil War, the United States was a plural noun. The U.S. Constitution uses the plural form when, for example, it refers to enemies of the United States as “their” enemies. And this was the usage of everyone who understood that the union was a voluntary federation of sovereign states, delegating only a few specified powers, and not...

<p>MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Three days of tributes to Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, began yesterday with her body lying in repose at the First White House of the Confederacy as re-enactors in gray uniforms stood guard.</p>

The University of the S**th by Gail Jarvis Political correctness has gained such a strong hold on the minds of college administrators that many rush head-over-heels into unwise decisions, often acting as though possessed by mass hysteria. Let me present an example to illustrate how utterly bizarre their behavior has become. The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, is a unique little liberal arts college, founded in 1858 by the Episcopal dioceses of ten Southern states. In 1941, alumnus and poet William Alexander Percy, uncle of novelist Walker Percy, wrote this about the University in his autobiography, Lanterns on...

In his article "A Class War" Victor Davis Hanson paints the picture that General William T. Sherman and his army were fighting a war of equality. He seems to think average "agrarian" men of the northern states, were so inspired they would lay down their tools, leave their families and join the Union army to invade the Southern States on a campaign of social equality. Hanson states Sherman's objective was "freeing the unfree and humiliating the arrogant." This is a nicely packaged version of history that reads well, though historically inaccurate.The Draft - Yankees RiotSupport for invading the South was...

Speakers Assail 'Political Correctness' and Explain What Thousands of Soldiers Fought For Sometime around dusk Sunday, people wandered among the plain, age-stained tombstones of Confederate soldiers in Winchester's Stonewall Cemetery.They read from the slates, sending names and dates of births, deaths, and battles fought into the twilight. Most only spoke loud enough for themselves and perhaps one or two nearby to hear.Members of the 33rd Virginia Company D Honor Guard (above) participate in the 138th annual Confederate Memorial Day Service at Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester Sunday. Emma MacBeth, 7, of Stephens City (below) reads the tombstones of Confederate dead...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Christine Iverson 202-863-8614 Washington, DC — An analysis of key votes in advance of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference this weekend in Florida shows that Senator Kerry is out of step with both Republicans and Democrats in the South.On issues ranging from support for the President’s middle class tax cuts to funding for troops in Iraq, to the Defense of Marriage Act to the ban on Partial Birth Abortion, John Kerry has consistently voted against issues supported by his Democrat colleagues in the Senate who represent constituents in Southern states.“Once again, John Kerry’s greatest problem is...

Once a Democratic stronghold, Northeast Florida is now, without question, Republican country. When local politicians and experts discuss that drastic shift over the past 20 years, they point to one familiar face -- that of former President Ronald Reagan, who died Saturday at 93. "He's the one that started that movement, here and in the whole state," said Bill Taylor, who chaired the state Republican Party from 1974 to '80. "He had the faith, and it was contagious." Reagan, politicians and observers say, made it acceptable for local officials to be Republicans. The former president's message of keeping money in...

Most analysts say Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts could have a hard time carrying Southern states, with the possible exception of Florida. Here's a look at the region's political landscape: NORTH CAROLINA(15 ELECTORAL VOTES) The most recent Democrat to carry the Tar Heel State was Jimmy Carter of Georgia who beat President Gerald Ford by 11 percentage points in 1976. The only Democrat to come close since then was Bill Clinton, who in 1992 lost to the elder President Bush, 43.4 percent to 42.7 percent. In 2000, George W. Bush easily defeated Vice President Al Gore, 56 percent to 43...

GRAND BLANC - Bringing flags bearing the Confederate insignia to school could cost two Grand Blanc High School seniors their diplomas. School administrators met Thursday to determine the fates of the two students and a third who was involved in an altercation sparked by the flags. School officials wouldn't announce the outcome of the meeting. The Confederate flag has sparked a heated debate at the school about whether it's simply a symbol of the South or one of racial discrimination and slavery. The two students who brought the flags to school Wednesday said there's nothing racist about the Confederate flag....

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died Monday, ending an unlikely ascent from poor sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st century Confederate history buffs who paraded her across the South. She was 97.

After 35 years hosting a talk radio show I’ve become habituated to being labeled as everything but a child of God.  Offensive?  Certainly, sometimes.  Insensitive? You bet!  Guilty as charged.  Life is insensitive, so is the truth.  I don’t hide from either.Well, this column ought to certainly stir the puddin’.  I wish to make an observation that I dare say most of you are going to find both offensive and insensitive.  I really don’t expect to make any friends here, but I may just cause a few people to think for a few minutes.One day in the late 1970’s I...

To the Editor/ The New York Times: Your "Political Points" article in the 23 May Sunday New York Times, reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is reading Grant, the biography of the Civil War general, Ulysses S. Grant, as a morale booster. But if Rumsfeld is going to adopt Grant as a role model or source of inspiration, he (and you) should be aware that Grant’s policies and actions included the following: • Ordering the expulsion on 24 hours notice of all Jews "as a class" from the territory under his control (General Order # 11, 17 December, 1862), and...

Dear History Professor,It was wholly a pleasure to get your thoughtful letter, and read your response to my comparing the bitter remnants of the old Confederacy and the new terrorists of the Arab world. You seem to have thought this thing through. Yes, both old guards, Arab and Southern, represent a reaction against modernity and all its works — and both are heirs of a once great civilization that brought on its own ruin. Neither can come to terms with its own history. ("Forget, Hell!") As you note, "Both are/were led by cultured elites representing traditional, agrarian societies in which...