J.D.R. Hawkins

One bullet can make a man a hero… or a casualty.

Archive for the category “Southern”

28 Jan 2016
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War Waged Against Everything Confederate in Florida

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According to a letter from David McCallister, the Florida Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Heritage Chairman, there are three pending initiatives in the Florida Legislature. Mr. McCallister believes these initiatives would greatly affect the SCV.

The most dire initiative would make it illegal for anyone in the state to display any Confederate flag or emblem on public property. This includes courthouses and courthouse squares, the Capitol, state parks, museums, libraries, cemeteries and parking lots.
It includes all Confederate flags, not just the battle flag that has recently come under attack across the country. The initiative also includes re-enactments, festivals, such as the Battle of Olustee, or Rifles, Rails and History in Tavares. If anything Confederate is displayed, citizens would have the right to sue.
The initiative is classified as Senate Bill (SB) 154 and House Bill (HB) 243. This is alarming, to say the least, because if these bills are passed, there will be no stopping such atrocities from happening in every state. It is an unfunded mandate from Tallahassee and is imposed on all other governmental entities of Florida. If passed, it could cost Florida residents millions of dollars.
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The second initiative is just as appalling. It proposes to remove the statue of General Edmund Kirby Smith as Florida’s representative in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C. This initiative was sponsored by a history teacher from Pasco County. Apparently, this teacher has never studied Southern history and has no idea who Smith was. The bills are HB 141 and SB 310.
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The third bill proposes to change the Florida State Senate Seal by removing the Confederate flag from the five historical flags display. The argument for this bill is that the CSA was not a sovereign nation, but this is false. The bill is SB 1026.
It is nothing less than shameful that certain politically correct special interest groups are pushing to remove all things Confederate, and thus, attempting to erase a significant part of Southern history and identity. The bills are offensive and discriminatory against Florida veterans and residents.
Posted by jdrhawkins in Confederate Battle Flag, Southern, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , ,
09 Dec 2015

Operation Phase Out Has Begun

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In various places down South, the Confederate battle flag and other reminders of the Lost Cause are gradually being eradicated, and being replaced with more politically correct symbols. In Richmond, the “Cathedral of the Confederacy” has removed needlepoint kneelers and its coat of arms. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis frequently attended services, has decided to shed some images that reflect its historic ties to the Confederacy. The church “voted overwhelmingly to embark on a new journey of racial reconciliation,” church leaders said in a statement. Two plaques honoring Lee and Davis will also be removed.

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In Wichita, Kansas, the Confederate Battle Flag will no longer fly in Veterans Memorial Park. The Board of Park commissioners voted to put up the Kansas state flag in its place. According to a press release, the group behind the push believes the flag was dishonored by the City of Wichita when it was temporarily removed in July amid nationwide controversy surrounding the meaning behind the flag. Several veterans spoke in defense of keeping the Confederate Flag at the park. Among them, one man clarified that the Confederate flag is a battle flag and is a teaching tool of history and a reminder of war’s bloodshed.

“That battle flag means more than just a historical reference. It means divisiveness, it means hatred, it means a whole lot of things that people here in Kansas for whatever reason, don’t seem to understand,” said Larry Burks, a Wichita veteran.

In the criticism of hoisting the state flag at the memorial, some veterans said the Kansas flag is not a “national flag” and does not carry the same representation as the Confederate Battle Flag. Those in support of keeping the Confederate flag down said flying the Kansas flag instead shows that the Sunflower State is an open and welcoming place.

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In Tallahassee, Florida, without a formal vote, the Florida Senate agreed to strip the Confederate battle flag from its official seal, removing one of the few remaining vestiges of the infamous icon in state government. Senators agreed without objection to adopt a new rule removing the controversial emblem from the chamber’s insignia. Approving the change without objection avoided the need for even a voice vote on the emotional issue. Under the rule, the seal would still include other non-American flags that flew over Florida, including the 1513 Spanish flag, the 1564 French flag and the 1763 flag of Great Britain. The United States flag would also remain, while the Florida state flag would replace the Confederate banner on the marker.

“I’m glad that we are taking it down and recognizing the Confederate flag for what it is,” Sen. Oscar Braynon, a black Democrat from Miami Gardens, said after the session. “What it is, is a symbol of a time when this country went to war to keep my ancestors in slavery.”

Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said he wasn’t aware that the chamber was going to take up the issue during the special redistricting session. Bradley also raised questions about whether the Senate should look at other options for the seal, including an overhaul of the symbol that goes beyond simply replacing one flag. “If you look at all the flags on the seal, I think you would find that there were things that occurred in the name of some of those flags that history has now looked upon as being abhorrent and terrible,” he said.

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And in Natchitoches, Louisiana, the Sons of Confederate Veterans were excluded from the Christmas Parade held on December 5. This was perpetrated with a time frame that kept them from legally doing anything about it this year. The Town of Many, Louisiana, did not participate in the Natchitoches Christmas Parade in support of the SCV and invited the SCV to be in their Christmas parade on December 12.

The Mayor of Natchitoches, Lee Posey, refused to allow the SCV to march in the Christmas Parade as it has done for decades unless the SCV agreed to march without the Flags of the Confederacy. The committee organizing the parade agreed to support the Mayor in this act of politically correct exclusion. Members of the Historic District Business Association and the business owners of Front Street were not contacted when the mayor made his decision. They are outraged over the city’s position and supported the SCV being in the Christmas Parade.

 

 

Posted by jdrhawkins in Civil War, Confederate Battle Flag, Southern, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
14 Apr 2015

Killing a President

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150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln became the first U.S. president to be assassinated. On the evening of April 12, 1865, Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theater titled Our American Cousin with his wife, Mary Todd, Union army officer Henry Rathbone, and Rathbone’s fiance, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. While they enjoyed the play from the presidential box, actor and Southern sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, sneaked into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. The president was taken across the street to William Petersen’s Boarding House, where he lay dying for several hours. He expired at 7:22 a.m.on April 13.

Booth escaped Washington with accomplice David Herold. The two men traveled through southern Maryland until they were cornered in a barn in Virginia on April 26. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused and was shot to death. Conspirators of the assassination were arrested, including Mary Surratt, who owned the boarding house where Booth frequented. She later became the first woman in American history to be hung by the Federal government for treason.

The traumatic event left an incredible impact. Mary Todd, who claimed to communicate with her dead husband through seances, was eventually committed to an insane asylum by her oldest son. Henry Rathbone married Clara Harris, and later, murdered her. Rumors abounded for years that John Wilkes Booth had actually escaped and had gone West or to Mexico. The train Lincoln’s body was transported on from Washington to Illinois was seen for many years as a spectral ghost. And the spirit of Mary Surratt haunted the Old Capitol Prison where she was hung until the building was razed in 1929.

Posted by jdrhawkins in Abraham Lincoln, American, Clara Harris, Confederate, conspirators, Federal, Ford's Theater, ghost, Henry Rathbone, insane asylum, John Wilkes Booth, Mary Surratt, Mary Todd Lincoln, New York, Old Capitol Prison, Our American cousin, president, seance, Southern, spectral, spirit, Union army, Washington D.C., William Peterson's Boarding House and tagged , | Leave a comment

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