Dragoons Attend Eufaula Reunion

 

L to r:  Wayne Sutherland, Larry Spears, Bill Myrick, Bill Branch, Harold Grooms, Tom Huntington

The 2010 reunion in Eufaula was a very successful one due to the efforts of the Dent’s Artillery Camp in Eufaula. The facilities were excellent and extra effort was made to make everyone feel welcome.

There were no contested offices at the State level and all three officers announced their willingness to serve another two-year term. Therefore, Robert Reames, Commander; Tom Strain, 1^st Lt. Commander; and Gary Carlyle, 2^nd Lt. Commander were elected by acclamation. There were no amendments to the Division constitution to consider so the major tasks of the reunion were completed quickly. Officer and committee reports were presented and brigade meeting and elections were held. Your new Southwest Central Brigade Commander is Compatriot Bill Myrick of the Prattville Dragoons. Bill is a past commander of the Dragoons and will serve the brigade well. He will take office August 1^st.

Recipients of Brigade-level Appreciation and Meritorious Service awards were Butch Godwin, Cecil Williamson, Gary Johnson, Buddy Plummer (posthumously), Lawrence Kirk, Tyrone Crowley, Wayne Sutherland, Bill Myrick, Charlie Graham and Larry Owens. If you have not received your award it will be delivered soon. Congratulations to these fine compatriots and we thank them for their leadership.

Bill received his award for his unselfish devotion to duty as Camp Commander of the Dragoons for the last two years and for all his many efforts to answer the SCV Charge. He has given freely and frequently of his time, talents and resources and we are very grateful for his leadership. I also congratulate him on his new responsibilities for the next two years, beginning August 1^st, as Commander of the Southwest Central Brigade. Bill, I will support and assist you any way I can and I know the other Dragoons will do the same—best wishes to you.

And what would we do without the hardest working Adjutant in the state?  Your award was well deserved, Wayne. We love you, even with your strange accent.  Finally, Dragoon Charlie Graham, who also received an award, deserves recognition for always being on the firing line with the local media, standing up for our Cause and fulfilling the Charge with eloquence and knowledge.

Compatriots, I look forward to serving you as Brigade Commander until Bill takes over on August 1. It has been a pleasure working with you during my tenure in this office.

Fraternally,

Commander’s Message

As I write I’m thinking about the upcoming Independence Day holiday.  The spirit of freedom from tyranny that compelled our ancestors to take up arms in order to throw off the bonds that restricted them is cause for immense pride in all Americans.  I am proud to say that spirit is alive and well today.  I see it in the Tea Party movement and in the indignation of all true patriots.  I see it at every SCV meeting and every time I ride I-65 and see our flag waving proudly.

Speaking of our flag, I stopped by the home of a gentleman in my neighborhood who had flown our Battle Flag for years.  He said the storm had damaged it and he had had to take it down.  I immediately offered him another which he gladly accepted.  Now, every student who attends Prattville High can again see it flying proudly.  “It will be there as long as I’m alive,” he said.  I hope every SCV member will contact the Quartermaster and keep a Battle Flag on hand just for such an occasion where one is needed.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting.  Happy 4^th and Deo Vindice!

Harold Y. Grooms

Chaplain’s Column:  Peace Even In The Valley

Where do you go when the storms of life are upon you? Might I suggest, start looking not at how big the storm is but how big God is.

Recently I decided to study up on the life of our great Confederate President, Jefferson Davis. As you may know, we have just celebrated his 202^nd birthday anniversary. I think all of you would agree with me that he was well educated, a true statesmen, and served gallantly as a military leader. He withstood bad health, trials and troubles throughout much of his life. This included the loss of his first wife, being wounded in battle, and withstood the defeat of the Confederacy, which he dearly loved. He was imprisoned for two years after the war, then released due to the inability of the government to find legal grounds for charging him with a crime. He also had a deep-rooted Faith in God, which allowed him to bear up under such trials.

During his capture after the war he was tortured inhumanly by his Union captors to a degree that was hurtful for me to read. This torture included, but was not limited to, solitary confinement and sleep deprivation techniques. In reading about the types of torture used, I became aware that the captors hated not just President Davis but the South herself. The only item that he was allowed to have was a Bible.

It is a known fact that solitary confinement alone can cause a person to go insane. When you combine the other forms of torture, he was forced to endure, it became evident to me that the only way President Davis could have survived this was by the Grace of God and his deep-rooted Faith.

Knowing and trusting God through His Son, experiencing His presence, and living obediently are the elements needed to develop this kind of unshakable faith. Developing steadfast trust takes time. We are born spiritually through simple, childlike faith that receives Jesus as Savior. Convictions are nourished by a growing knowledge of God, and a deepening confidence in Him. Experiencing His protection, provision, and power in moments of testing strengthens our beliefs. I believe President Davis had an unshakable Faith much like that of Job in the Bible. Even mild persecution can cause us to question whether living out our faith is worth the sacrifice. Rest assured it is the best way to live. God responds to faith by enabling His children to endure difficulty, demonstrating His power in their circumstances, and providing contentment and joy.

Yours In Christ,

Dr. Kirk Wood Declares “The South Was Right!”

Dr. Walter Kirk Wood, Professor of History just retired from Alabama State University and author of a pair of books on “original intentions” of the Founding Fathers (with a third in the works), was the speaker for our May meeting.  Dr. Wood filled the room at Shoney’s after making known that his message would be “States' Rights, the Constitution, and the Cause of the South Are Not Lost!  We remain a federal republic and not a 'national' government still, notwithstanding the Civil War of Northern Origins!”

Dr. Wood, we learned, is a native of Virginia, as is his wife Marcia, and wrote the dissertation that earned him his Ph.D. on the same subject discussed at our meeting.  Subsequently, Dr. Wood spent his career defending and amplifying on the idea that our government was never meant to be completely centralized and without limits to its power. 

Dr. Wood stated that from the beginning Americans wanted a balance of power between federal and state governments, and intended for state nullification to ensure that balance.  In other words, as explained by Thomas Jefferson in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798, a state could nullify any law that it deemed was in violation of the limitations placed on the federal government by the Constitution.  Dr. Wood, who Dr. Clyde Wilson of South Carolina says has "an astounding and incomparable” knowledge of the primary documents of early American history, used historical examples going back to the Magna Charta and the American Colonies to illustrate how dearly-held were the "ancient English liberties" that American colonists held to be their own and who wanted to preserve those liberties by means of a federation of small republics known as the "united States" (note the lower-case u of "united") of America.  And of course, if worse came to worst, a state could voluntarily withdraw from the Union, just as it had voluntarily  entered (ratification of the Constitution by the 13 original states took a couple of years, as the states deliberated whether it was in their best interests; Rhode Island was last to ratify).

Camp News

Membership Count for Fiscal Year 2009.  At the end of the 2009 fiscal year, we have 64  members.  –Adjutant Wayne Sutherland.

Upcoming Events

SCV National Reunion – 21-24 July 2010, Anderson, South Carolina

 

The Prattville Dragoons, Camp 1524

Sons of Confederate Veterans

D. Tyrone Crowley, Editor

114 William Court

Prattville, Alabama 36066