Does the South = Racism?

I heard, read a lot of Christians talk about racism lately and how the South is so un-Christlike for being racist. Well, I’m not denying it exists, but let’s not forget where it came from in this country. Before works like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and abolitionist propaganda (they were actually some of the worst racists as they only wanted to end slavery to ship ex-slaves back to Africa…Lincoln proposed to send them to Liberia) the whites and blacks of the South got along just fine. They cared about one another and worked together. Of course there were cases of cruelty and abuse, but overwhelmingly that is a false stereotype. The Northern abolitionists and reconstructionalists caused most of what we know as racism in the South. My great great great grandparents loved their black neighbors and servants and treated them like family. Only when groups like the CRM and the NAACP came along did the history get rewritten and racism was inflamed. Never apologize for being a white Southerner. While on the topic, blacks were integrated in the U.S. army during Vietnam, but were integrated in the CSA army in 1860. Hmm. In the US army of 1860, blacks could not eat, sleep or mingle with white soldiers, received less food, less pay, buried in separate cemeteries. In the CSA army, blacks fought side by side with whites, ate with them, slept with them, and got the same pay and were buried with them. Who’s the racists really? ENOUGH of this apologizing for something that was stirred up by the liberal left.

One final note: This Sunday at 3:00pm, at the Old Presbyterian Church of Pickens, SC, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Order of the Confederate Rose and Daughters of the Confederacy will be honoring a black CSA veteran AT THE REQUEST OF HIS BLACK DESCENDANTS. He was a slave, dearly loved by his white family; he went off to war with his master, refused to leave and died serving the family and was buried side by side with them. I challenge anyone who can’t believe or understand why a Black man would raise arms against Mr. Lincoln’s army and fight for the South to come and see for yourself.

The sad reality is that the NAACP won’t come. What they would witness would defy their dogma and their efforts to tear us apart.

Veterans Day Salute

Today is the 11th of November, originally “Armistice Day” – in memory of the truce ending World War I. Now, the 11th of November is a more general day to remember all United States veterans.

Even though I am not in the military, although I would argue being a color sergeant in the Sons of Confederate Veterans should count for something, I have a great appreciation for the men who put themselves in harm’s way that our citizens may live in safety and peace.

Many men in my family’s history have served, many giving their lives, my country and have secured freedoms I now enjoy. Thanks to my love for history and research tools available, I have been able to discover most of the men’s name who are direct ancestors.

My family’s traceable story begins during the Roman Empire in northern Scotland. Apparently my earliest documented family originated from the Nordic peoples and settled in what was once called “Caledonia,” the ancient Gaelic term for Scotland. Living in the rugged, cold mountains of Scotland, my ancestors of the Gun, MacDonald, Henderson and Stewart clans were descendants of those wild, blue warriors who drove out the Roman invader and made it necessary for Hadrian’s Wall to be erected.  Naturally, I am proud of my heritage. Why not? The main reason many have no pride in theirs is they don’t know it. It is an almost spiritual thing to know that your DNA has been transported down through history on a documented path, which you can trace and study.

Just to paint a historical picture of the way I appreciate the military men in my ancestry, here are some examples of the conflicts they were involved in: they were there when the Romans were driven from northern Scotland, they were present when William Wallace fought and defeated King Edward “Longshanks” at Stirling; they charged the fields of Bannockburn with Robert the Bruce; they made the last highland charge and were butchered at Culloden Moor; they marched with Wellington in the famed Highland regiments battling Napoleon; they charged the Plains of Abraham against the French; they fought the French and Indians as colonial militiamen; they stopped the British at King’s Mountain and Cowpens; they rode with George Washington; they were among the first South Carolinians and Georgians to enlist in the Army of Northern Virginia to defend their homes from the overwhelming Federal invasion; they were at the Stone Wall at Fredericksburg, battling the famed Irish brigade; they were at Gettysburg, Manassas, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Sharpsburg, Kennesaw  Mountain and Appomattox; they were doughboys in the trenches of France in World War I; they were wounded at Pearl Harbor and battled the Japanese until the victory was won. While our family has not been a recent military family, it has indeed seen its share of fighting and sacrifice.

It is because of my appreciation of my family veterans, that I am deeply grateful to all men who serve their country and do their duty up and to the end, all for the sake of keeping their people free, their rights protected and their land unsoiled from the foot of an invader.

To you veterans, thank you and God bless.

KW

 

 

The South Carolina Flag: IT IS NOT A HALF MOON!!!!!

I could not help but post this as I have recently heard so many people call the crescent emblem a half moon.

The crescent is actually a “gorget” an old historic piece of ceremonial armor worn below the neck to protect the throat. It is an ancient symbol of honor.

Asked by the Revolutionary Council of Safety in the fall of 1775 to design a flag for the use of South Carolina troops, Col. William Moultrie chose a blue which matched the color of their uniforms and a crescent which reproduced the silver emblem worn on the front of their caps. The palmetto tree was added later to represent Moultrie’s heroic defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan’s Island against the attack of the British fleet on June 28, 1776.

Interestingly, the flag above is a period SC flag. Unfortunately, many modern reproductions are not historical SC flags but graphic designer attempts to create more definition in the palmetto leaves on the tree. Note the poor definition in this flag. It is the historical flag.

Also, for the Civil War buffs out there, this our current SC flag is a 100% Confederate flag. After the war, many states had to modify or alter their flags per order of the Federal government. Because of the Red Shirt Rebellion led by Wade Hampton, the Federal government left South Carolina alone and she kept her Confederate flag.

Though I am incredibly biased, I believe she is the most gorgeous state flag to date.

Where did the CSA Battle Flag Come From?

The following content is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America#First_national_flag_.28.22the_Stars_and_Bars.22.29

The Battle Flag

Often referred to as The battle flag of the Confederacy it was the design that was the basis of more than 180 separate Confederate military battle flags.^{[citation needed]}

The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag was usually square, of various sizes for the different branches of the service: 48 inches square for the infantry, 36 inches for the artillery, and 30 inches for the cavalry. It was used in battle beginning in December 1861 until the fall of the Confederacy. The blue color on the saltire in the battle flag was navy blue, as opposed to the much lighter blue of the Naval Jack.

The flag’s stars represented the number of states in the Confederacy. The distance between the stars decreased as the number of states increased, reaching thirteen when the secessionist factions of Kentuckyand Missouri joined in late 1861.^[12]

The Battle Flag of the Confederacy

At the First Battle of Manassas, the similarity between the Stars and Bars and the Stars and Stripes caused confusion and military problems. Regiments carried flags to help commanders observe and assess battles in the warfare of the era. At a distance, the two national flags were hard to tell apart. In addition, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion. After the battle, General P.G.T. Beauregard wrote that he was “resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a ‘Battle flag’, which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag.”^[4] He turned to his aide, who happened to be William Porcher Miles, the former chair of Committee on the Flag and Seal. Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general’s complaints and request for the national flag to be changed. The committee rejected this idea by a four to one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. He described the idea in a letter to his commander General Joseph E. Johnston: “I wrote to [Miles] that we should have two flags—apeace or parade flag, and a war flag to be used only on the field of battle—but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter—How would it do us to address the War Dept. on the subject of Regimental or badge flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally on which shall be introduced the stars, … We would then on the field of battle know our friends from our Enemies.”^[4]

Sovereignty or Secession Flag

The flag that Miles had favored when he was chair of the Committee on the Flag and Seal eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the most popular flag of the Confederacy. According to historian John Coski, Miles’ design was inspired by one of the many “secessionist flags” flown at the South Carolina secession convention of December, 1860. That flag was a blue St George’s Cross (an upright or Latin cross) on a red field, with 15 white stars on the cross, representing the Confederate States (assumed to be the 15 slave states), and, on the red field, palmetto and crescent symbols. Miles received a variety of feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described “Southerner of Jewish persuasion”. Moise liked the design, but asked that “the symbol of a particular religion not be made the symbol of the nation.” Taking this into account, Miles changed his flag, removing the palmetto and crescent, and substituting a heraldic saltire (“X”) for the upright one. The number of stars was changed several times as well. He described these changes and his reasons for making them in early 1861. The diagonal cross was preferable, he wrote, because “it avoided the religious objection about the cross (from the Jews and many Protestant sects), because it did not stand out so conspicuously as if the cross had been placed upright thus.” He also argued that the diagonal cross was “more Heraldric [sic] than Ecclesiastical, it being the ‘saltire’ of Heraldry, and significant of strength and progress.”^[13]

According to Coski, the Saint Andrew’s Cross had no special place in Southern iconography at the time, and if Miles had not been eager to conciliate the Southern Jews his flag would have used the traditional Latin, Saint George’s Cross. A colonel named James B. Walton submitted a battle flag design essentially identical to Miles’ except with an upright Saint George’s cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.^[14]

Specifically, the St. Andrew’s Cross is a white saltire on a blue field, as in the national flag of Scotland. The St. Patrick’s Cross, as in the state flag of Alabama, is a red saltire on a white field. The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag has a blue saltire on a red field and is, therefore, neither the St. Andrew’s nor the St. Patrick’s Cross but a saltire as in the proposed but unadopted Second National flag.

Miles’ flag, and all the flag designs up to that point, were rectangular (“oblong”) in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square instead to conserve material. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. Generals Beauregard and Johnston and Quartermaster General Cabell approved the design of the 12-star Confederate Battle Flag at the Ratcliffe home, which served briefly as Beauregard’s headquarters, near Fairfax Court House in September 1861. The 12th star represented Missouri. President Jefferson Davis arrived by train at Fairfax Station soon after and was shown the design for the new battle flag at the Ratcliffe House. Hetty Cary and her sister and cousin made prototypes. One such 12-star flag resides in the collection of Richmond’s Museum of the Confederacy and the other is in Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans.

On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia received the new battle flags in ceremonies at Centreville and Manassas, Virginia, and carried them throughout the Civil War. Beauregard gave a speech encouraging the soldiers to treat this new flag with honor and that it must never be surrendered. Many soldiers wrote home about the ceremony and the impression the flag had upon them, the “fighting colors” boosting morale after the confusion at the Battle of First Manassas. From that point on, the battle flag only grew in its identification with the Confederacy and the South in general.^[15] Later, a 13th star was added for Kentucky.

The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag assumed a prominent place post-war when it was adopted as the copyrighted emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its continued use by the UCV and the later Sons of Confederate Veterans led to the assumption that it was, as it has been termed, “the soldier’s flag” or “the Confederate battle flag”.

The flag is also properly known as the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. It was sometimes called “Beauregard’s flag” or “the Virginia battle flag”. A Virginia Department of Historic Resources marker declaring Fairfax, Virginia, as the birthplace of the Confederate battle flag was dedicated on April 12, 2008, near the intersection of Main and Oak Streets, Fairfax, VA.^[16][17][18]

The Sons of Confederate Veterans consider themselves the direct heirs of their ancestors’ battle flags.

What is the SCV?

The “SCV” stands for “The Sons of Confederate Veterans.” It is a non-secret organization open to descendants of Confederate soldiers who served honorably until captured, killed or paroled. Our message is not one of racism, hate or violence, but of honoring our  noble ancestors and preserving the true history of the South for future generations.

I know many of those reading this are already against it, due to their upbringing or the overwhelming campaign of propaganda they have heard–saying that the Confederate cause was fought over slavery and the battle flag is a racist symbol. I understand why many might be against the South and its cause. The propaganda has been very effective–especially against African Americans, many of whose ancestors were brave Confederate soldiers fighting alongside white Confederates.

Both black and white Confederates fought for:

1. Their constitutional rights and those of their states.

2. Freedom from oppressive and crippling Northern tariffs. (The South bore 80% of the tax burden.)

3. The purity of their Christian values under attack by a Unitarian North.

SLAVERY WAS NOT THE ISSUE

Please know that I and those in the SCV are not “Yankee haters.” I myself hold no anger against anyone for simply being Northern. There were many brave and noble soldiers wearing blue.

One must also keep in mind that the South was invaded by an overwhelming army sent by the Federal government to impose its will on the Southern states. It is only natural for Southerners–especially Southern historians–to become angered over the numerous war crimes committed against Southern civilians. Many Southerners hated the fighting and never liked the idea of firing at other Americans, but did their duty of defending their homes, native states and their constitutional rights. One example is that of a robber who  breaks in, or invades your home. Regardless of your hesitance towards deadly force, any true man will defend his family and his home. There is no shame; there is noble honor in it.

Our relatives did not attack the North, They tried multiple measures of peace, but were ignored by the Lincoln administration. Fort Sumter was defensive action and Lincoln knew it was. Our Southern ancestors were thrust into a defensive war. They did what they had to and are noble for it.

We are in considerable disagreement and contention with those who would deliberately twist the truth of history and slander the Confederate soldier’s good name. The liberal media, groups such as the NAACP and sadly, many historians paint a picture of the South as a racist, white-supremacy fighting to keep blacks in bondage. They portray the Confederate battle flag as a racist symbol of slavery. (Although not one slave was ever brought into the country under Southern governments. All slaves since the nation’s founding were brought in under the Stars and Stripes–the American flag.) How can people call the Confederate battle flag racist? If any flag could be blamed, it is the American flag! But no one would make such an absurd charge against “Old Glory.”

I conclude this “plea for sensibility” with the following statement: The War Between the States is not over. Though the days of muskets and cannon are over, the battles are raging. They are different kinds of battles; battles for truth, history and the preservation of the noble men and women who gave everything that we might be free from tyrannic oppression.

If you come away with anything after reading this article, please remember the previous statement.

If you are interested in joining the SCV, please check out the following links.

http://scv.org/

http://www.scscv.com/

http://www.confederatemuseum.org/

http://www.scscv.com/publications/June%202011.pdf

http://scv.we-care.com/

Connected with the Past

Last Sunday I attended the annual Confederate Memorial service at Springwood Cemetery, Greenville, S.C. This was my second time attending, also my first time participating. I was asked to bagpipe for the 16th Greenville Honor Guard and the 1st S.C. Infantry “Butler Guards.”

Part way through the ceremonies, the commander of the 16thGreenville asked me to take part in the passing of the canteen–a ceremony where color guard passes a canteen and each take a drink, finally pouring the last contents onto an unknown Confederate grave. The ceremony is a symbol of the bond shared by soldiers and a reminder to ourselves and our fallen ancestors that we have not forgotten them.

I share this because recentgenealogical research has uncovered that my great, great, great, great grandfather John Mayfield could have very well been in one of the graves in Springwood.

John fought and died for the South. He joined the Confederate Army and enlisted in Wade Hampton’s Legion, Rifles, SC. The unit was later consolidated into the 1st South Carolina Infantry, Butler’s. He was in F Company. He enlisted 2 January 1862.  He went missing in action between 28 February 1862 and 30 April 1862. It appears he died fighting in the Peninsula Campaign (also known as the Peninsular Campaign,) a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater.  He was either killed in action and not found or was destroyed by cannon-fired explosives. His family received a certificate of his discharge, which indicates he was  victim to cannon fire. His wife lived on until 1889. The 1880 Federal Census shows her living alone with her children still in Anderson, S.C.

His body has never been identified or located. His final resting place is known only to God. It is agonizing to me personally and as a historian; the only information known to our family is that he joined and died in less than four months.

So many questions haunt me. What kind of man was he? Was he saved? Did he die quickly, or agonizingly? How many Yankees did he get? I will never know in this life. One thing I do know: He loved his country more than life. He left a wife and at least 12 children to defend his home and constitution from those who would violate both. I hope and pray I get to meet him someday in Heaven. But regardless of the questions unanswered, I know enough to greatly admire and respect him.

Those ignorant of the true history of the war will say he died for an institution of bondage and racism, but I know better. The history books are full of garbage and propaganda saying Southerners fought for slavery, when the Census of 1850 shows only 5% of Southerners owning slaves. If you believe for a minute a man leaves his wife and 12 children to fight for some rich man’s slaves, you are neither thinking logically nor acquainted with the history of patriotism.

Volunteers don’t fight for institutions, they fight for family, home and values. It is a sobering thought that a father, husband and family man went off to war and his family only knew that he left and never came back. Think of the pain they endured for years after, wondering where their daddy had died and how.

So–back to the memorial service. As I drank out of the canteen, there was a historical awareness and reality that gripped me. However you choose to see it, whether by spirit or DNA, I was connected to the past in a way I have never before experienced. General George S. Patton once made the remark that because of DNA, we all have been places we are not even aware of. Our ancestors carried our blood on battlefields and so perhaps that is what he meant when he saw a ancient battlefield and said, “I’ve been here before.”

It was a chilling reminder of the Hellish atmosphere of war, and I can’t express in words the good it did me to be reminded that these unknown soldiers were not nameless faces lost in conflict, they were fathers, husbands and unique souls that never made it home. The place and manner of their demise is kept from even the most modern scientific research methods. They are known only to God.

The Importance of Studying History

This is an article I have wanted to write for some time now; it is something I strongly believe in, so I must ask you to pardon my passion.

For the many of my readers who do not know, I  was not always a History major at BJU. I started out in Bible and then Pastoral Studies for two and a half years. I had classes in the Old Testament, New Testament, evangelism, Bible Prophecy, Theology, Doctrines, preaching and various other Bible-related facets. I had always believed since early high school that God had called me to be a preacher or pastor of some kind and I therefore needed my undergraduate degree in Bible.

I know now that perhaps what a Christian student needs much more than additional Bible classes is a serious education in History. Now I am not at all seeking to undermine the Bible program, I do however feel that a young man having already received a Christian upbringing for 18 years will not benefit from the Bible program as much as would a new convert or someone from a difficult home situation.

Here is my reasoning for why History is so vital to a Christian student. I will state it in the form of a question. “How can a Christian student form his or her ideas and beliefs and convictions without knowing the history behind such doctrinal positions and ideas?” For example, how can a Christian college student decide if they are going to view certain men as heroes of the faith or check whether or not those men were even converts at all?

History is essential to one’s understanding of theology, especially Church History. Have you ever wondered why there are so many denominations and yet they all claim to be right and the divisions between still smolder today? I’m not even referring to the Mormons or the Roman Catholics, I mean denominations like the Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and the Lutherans. Where did they come from? Which is right? Which will you choose? If you have no education in History, then you are at the mercy of others and will be blindly making serious decisions as an uninformed person.

History is not always the same as truth. There are often great and sinister lies that are made to appear as History. For example. Most Christian children learn early on of “great reformers and champions of the faith” such as Martin Luther.” But did you know that Martin Luther may have never even been truly converted and probably misunderstood the concept of Justification according to the Bible. And it was Luther’s hatred of the Jews that led him to write his “Table Talk” essays venting out ideas how to hinder and persecute the Jews that Adolf Hitler used to implement the Nazi Holocaust. This is just an example of how crucial History can be to our understanding of who our heroes ought to or ought not to be.

It gets scarier. Would you be concerned if you knew an entire theological system that has permeated Fundamental churches was based on the mystical, neo-platonic views of a Roman Catholic who never truly converted and went to his grave believing his salvation was secured in his infant baptism? These things horrify me! And yet, without spending months in historical study, I would have been a part of that very system.

It is through History that I re-became a Baptist. Now I know why I am a Baptist and why I am not anything else. Oh yes, we can play word games and call ourselves “Christians” and refuse denominational  labels, but even the word “Christian” is not Historically a good term. There are those–learned and respected men–I have heard mock the concept of the Baptists originating at the Church in Antioch–but if they knew their History, they would not mock so quickly.

Oh, History is not only relevant for the spiritual, but for the political and morality in general. It is through History–real History, the politically incorrect History–that we learn of the true origins of freedom, democracy and the corruption of governments and the worldwide struggle to rebuild the fallen empire of Rome and engage in a one-world government once again.

We also see the abominable marring of true heroes and the praise of wicked men. We find that History is written by the powerful and the winners of battles–which means it is not always accurate or even  true. American “History” would have you believe that the South rebelled against the North and that the “traitor” Jefferson Davis led an evil rebellion against the Union, commanded by “Honest Abe.” But real History reveals that Lee was the greatest American patriot since George Washington; that Davis loved the Constitution more than Lincoln would–for Lincoln had no regard whatsoever for it, much like our current leader; and that the heart and soul of American freedom–as understood by our nation’s founders–was almost annihilated with Lincoln’s rape of the South; that the Civil War was actually the third war for American Independence and that the issue of significance was NOT slavery, and the Confederate Battle flag is not a symbol of hate or racism–as many Northern historians and the NAACP would love us to believe.

These are just more prime examples of why an educated person and especially a Christian should know some History. If preachers were made to take more History classes, maybe, just maybe we would have to spend less time debating theological issues and have more informed congregations who knew what they believed and why and could spot error more easily therefore saving themselves and their pastor much grief.

I leave you with a great quote on the consequences of neglecting History:

“To be ignorant of the past is to know nothing of the future and to understand little of the present.”