J.D.R. Hawkins

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

Archive for the tag “Texas”

Confederate Symbols in State Flags

I find it interesting that nearly every Southern state has retained its Confederate heritage in its state flag. The flags display representations of the Southern Cross (Alabama, Florida and North Carolina, for instance) or other Confederate flags, such as the Bonnie Blue flag (Georgia and Texas for example). There are a few exceptions to this, like the Mississippi state flag, which was changed in 2021 from this:

to this.

I hate to say it, but in my humble opinion, a flower has no place on a state flag. In fact, it looks kind of wimpy. However, certain PC woke persons just couldn’t stand having the Confederate battle flag represented on their state flag, where it had been for 127 years, so they did away with it. The removal of the Confederate battle flag from the new design was never approved by voters directly. It’s my understanding that this issue may come up again and be voted on in the near future.

I also find it interesting that my new state of residence, California, has its state flag tied to the Confederacy. I’ll bet the PC politicians here don’t know that!

The bear flag flew over Sutter’s Fort in 1846 and was resurrected by secessionists in 1861 to show support for the Confederacy. It was flown on many official buildings, including at the top of the State house. It was eventually taken down by Unionists, and a new version of the flag replaced it. This is the California state flag as we know it today, which flies over the Capitol Building in Sacramento, as well as various other state and Federal buildings around the state.

The next time you look at those state flags, you might just be looking at some hidden or long-forgotten pieces of history sewn into their fields.

More Monument News

Monument

The assault on Confederate monuments, as well as anything related to the Confederacy, continues to rampage and rape the South. Ridiculous as it is, some folks still consider these century-old relics to now be racist. FYI, inanimate objects cannot be racist, but some folks consider them to represent racism, although this wasn’t an issue when the monuments were erected or while they existed for over 100 years. After too many years of destruction, finally, common sense is seeping back into our country’s consciousness.

TEXAS APPEALS COURT INTERVENES FOR MONUMENTS

In June, the city got clearance from a Dallas County district judge who denied a request for a temporary injunction. The monument was covered in black plastic.

Monday, the city of Dallas was ordered by the State appellat court not to remove the monument to the Confederacy downtown. The court also ordered the city not to sell the Robert E. Lee statue unless the sale had been completed. That statue was sold at auction for more than $1.4 million and is already in the hands of its new owner.

The lawsuit was filed by a Dallas man who insists removing the monuments is unconstitutional.

(Article courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, July 5, 2019 ed.)

More on Old Douglas

Women of the Confederacy (Pt. 6)

Loreta Janeta Valazquez

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Loreta Janeta Velazquez (Harry T. Buford)  

Library of Congress 

 

Loreta Janeta Velazquez – Fact or Fiction? 

A spy … 

A civilian pretending to be a soldier … 

A widow four times 

All of these phrases describe one of the most fascinating, thrill-seeking characters of the Civil War. Because she was a woman, Loreta Janeta Valezquez was able to fool her contemporaries while supporting the Confederate cause she so adamantly believed in. 

 Born to a wealthy Cuban family on June 26, 1842, her mother was French-American, and her father, a Spanish government official, owned plantations in Mexico and Cuba, but developed a strong hatred for the U.S. government when he lost an inherited ranch in the Mexican War. In 1849, Loreta was sent to stay with an aunt in New Orleans, where she was taught English and French in addition to her native Spanish at Catholic schools. Her idol was Joan of Arc, and she wished to become just like her. When she was only fourteen, Loreta met a handsome Texas army officer named William, but because her parents opposed their union, they eloped in 1856. The newlyweds traveled around to various army posts until, four years later, when Loreta was eighteen, they were in St. Louis mourning the deaths of their three children. When the Civil War broke out, she insisted that her husband join the Confederacy, and begged to join with him, but he disallowed it, so she simply waited for him to leave. She disguised herself in one of two uniforms she had tailored in Memphis, donned a wig and fake moustache, bound her breasts, and padded the sleeves of her uniform, transforming into Harry T. Buford. Self-appointing herself as a lieutenant, she fooled fellow officers and soldiers by walking with a masculine gait, perfecting the art of spitting, and smoking cigars. She immediately went to Arkansas, and in four days raised a battalion, the Arkansas Grays, consisting of 236 men. She then sent them to her husband in Pensacola, Florida, where she turned them over to his command. William’s astonishment was short-lived, however, because a few days later, he was accidentally killed while showing his troops how to use their weapons. 

The bereaved Loreta turned his battalion over to a friend, and soon after, searched for military adventure on the front, finding it at the First Battle of Manassas, where she observed her comrades. “The supreme moment of my life had arrived, and all the glorious aspirations of my romantic girlhood were on the point of realization. I was elated beyond measure, although cool-headed enough … Fear was a word I did not know the meaning of; and as I noted the ashy faces, and the trembling limbs of some of the men about me, I almost wished that I could feel a little fear, if only for the sake of sympathizing with the poor devils.” 

Soon, Loreta grew weary of camp life, so she borrowed a dress from a local farmer’s wife and made her way to Washington, D.C., where she was recruited as a Confederate spy. She claimed to have met Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton. When she returned to the South, she was rewarded for her services by being assigned to detective duty. Apparently, espionage didn’t offer enough excitement for her either, so she put on her disguise and traveled to Tennessee, where she fought in the siege of Fort Donelson until its surrender. Wounded in the foot, she escaped detection by fleeing to New Orleans, but was arrested while in uniform for suspicion of being a Union spy and impersonating a man. Once she was released, she enlisted again to escape the city, and immediately went back up to Tennessee. There, she found the battalion she had raised in Arkansas, so she joined them in the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862. After the battle, she was wounded by a stray shell while she was on burial duty. Unfortunately, a doctor discovered her. Fleeing back down to New Orleans, she was there when Union General Benjamin F. Butler took control of the city in May 1862. Because she thought too many people were now aware of her true identity, she put away her uniform and traveled to Richmond, Virginia. 

Upon her arrival, she was recruited as a Confederate spy, and traveled all over the country, crossing enemy lines while she wore both male and female disguises to traffic information, drugs, and counterfeit bills to the South. She married Confederate Captain Thomas DeCaulp, but he soon died at a Chattanooga hospital. Traveling back up north, she was hired by Union officials to search for “the woman … traveling and figuring as a Confederate agent,” or in other words, to search for herself. During that time, she attempted to organize a rebellion of Confederate prisoners in Ohio and Indiana, and helped to win the war of Costintin in 1864. 

After the Civil War ended, she traveled around Europe and the South. Loreta married a third time. She and her husband, known only as Major Wasson, went to Venezuela as United States immigrants. He died in Caracus, so Loreta returned to America, this time going out west. She stopped in Salt Lake City long enough to give birth to a boy, and met Brigham Young. Nearly penniless, she traveled to Omaha, and charmed General W. S. Harney into giving her blankets and a revolver. Two days after she arrived to a mining town in Nevada, a sixty-year-old man proposed to her, but she refused. Supposedly, she married a fourth time, but the name of this younger man is unknown.  

It wasn’t long before she was off again. “With my baby boy in my arms, I started on a long journey through Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, hoping, perhaps, but scarcely expecting, to find opportunities which I had failed to find in Utah, Nevada, and California.” Her money was dwindling, so in 1876, she wrote a memoir to support her child. Most of what is known about Loreta was written in her 600-page book, The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and Travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Valazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate States Army. Upon its publication, General Jubal Early denounced it as pure fiction, but modern scholars have found some parts to be accurate. In 2007, the History Channel ran a special entitled Full Metal Corset, and verified some of the incidents described in the book, but there are still many facts in question. 

Loreta is last documented as living in Nevada. She never took any of her four husband’s names. After 1880, there is no further record of her life, including where or how she died, presumably in 1897. 

An Amazing Discovery

Cold Harbor

Every once in a while, stories like this pop up. It wasn’t too long ago that a Confederate soldier who had died at the Battle of Chickamauga was identified and buried with honors. There must be many long-forgotten little cemeteries and family plots that contain Civil War soldiers’ remains. Here is another example of a recent discovery.

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TEXAS CEMETERY DISCOVERY
A routine survey of a small East Texas towns cemetery revealed an amazing discovery. Over a half-dozen War Between the States veterans are buried there.

The find was made at the East Mountain cemetery in Gregg county.

For a town of only 800 people, the find at old East Mountain cemetery was remarkable.

Several of the men had moved to Texas after the war, like many did to start a new life. Texas was “the land of opportunity.”

Cemetery board members plan on having a historical marker dedication to commemorate the site in October.

(Article courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, September 28, 2018 ed.)

What Is Up With That?

I find this downright creepy. Like throwing paint and spray painting “Black Lives Matter” all over our American veterans’ monuments and memorials isn’t bad enough, now some crazy was caught trying to blow one up. How insane is that? Let me know what y’all think of this article.

http://www.texasescapes.com/Houston/Dick-Dowling-Statue-Houston-Texas.htm

FINALLY SENTENCED
Remember Andrew Schneck? Last year he had been charged with attempting to maliciously damage property receiving federal financial assistance. He plead guilty in March.
Now, Schneck’s sentencing comes one year after a Houston park ranger spotted him kneeling in the bushes near the Dowling statue on Aug. 19, 2017.
According to a criminal complaint, the ranger saw Schneck holding two small boxes containing “what appeared to be duct tape and wires.” While Schneck was placing the boxes on the ground, the complaint said, he “took a clear plastic bottle appearing to be full of a clear liquid from one of the boxes” and then “proceeded to drink from the bottle, then immediately spit the liquid on the ground next him.” Schneck then poured the contents of the bottle on the ground next to him.
An analysis of the liquid later revealed it was “most likely nitroglycerin,” which is “one of the world’s most powerful explosives” when undiluted, the complaint read.
The ranger also noticed a timer and wires near Schneck, the complaint said.
“When asked … if he wanted to harm the statue, Schneck responded that he did, and that he (Schneck) did not ‘like that guy,'” the complaint said.
In addition to the suspected nitroglycerin, authorities also found a white powder that was “most likely HMTD,” or hexamethylene triperoxide diamine. “HMTD is used as an initiating, or primary explosive,” the complaint said.

https://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2016/3/1/houston-slavery-confederate-general-richard-dowling-march-2016

(Article courtesy of Southern Heritage Newsletter, Aug. 24, 2018 ed.)

The Case of the License Plates

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The number of Tennesseans now displaying Confederate Battle Flag license plates is higher than at any other point in the last decade, according to state data on specialty tags.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans plate, the proceeds from which benefit the organization’s Tennessee Division, has been issued by the state since 2004.

At the end of the 2018 fiscal year in June, the state reported that 3,273 Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates were active in Tennessee, a number 72 percent higher than at the end of the 2015 fiscal year when the display of Confederate Flags was thrust into national debate.

The number of Tennesseans displaying SCV tags steadily increased in 2016 and 2017, according to data provided by the State, before peaking in the last year.

In Tennessee specialty plates have a $61.50 annual fee. $35 is allocated to the plate’s respective beneficiary, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Highway Fund. So the way it breaks down is that depending on whether the plate is new or being renewed, the SCV’s share is is between $15.85 and $17.50 per year per license plate. According to the Department of Revenue, the Sons of Confederate Veterans received approximately $57,700 from the plates in the 2018 fiscal year.

The State of Texas successfully ended their SCV specialty plate offering. Efforts to eliminate the plate in Tennessee have so far failed. But there is currently an effort to prevent the SCV from receiving the funds generated from the sale of these plates.

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The SCV sued the city of Memphis in January after the Mayor Memphis sold public land to a nonprofit in order to take down the statues of General Nathan Bedford Forrest and President Jefferson Davis. Monies received from license plates may have been used to pay some of the legal fees. Senator Sara Kyles is in the process of drafting legislation that, if enacted by the General Assembly, would prevent funds distributed by the state through the license plates from being issued to an organization that sues the government. Effectively, the new guidelines would target the SCV and prevent them from receiving the revenue from the plates.
(Article courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, July 27, 2018 ed.)

They Won’t Let Up Till They’re All Gone

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A report, released last week by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), shows that 110 Confederate monuments have been removed nationwide since 2015 when a shooting at a black church in South Carolina. Shortly after the alleged shooting by Dylann Roof, poorly photo-shopped pictures surfaced of Roof posing with the Confederate Battle Flag. The left and the media used these as a catalyst against our flags and memorials.
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Still, according to the report, 1728 known memorials remain nationwide. The SPLC has targeted ALL of them for removal efforts. The Culture War continues.

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TEXAS LEADS THE WAY

 

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Having removed more than twice as many Confederate symbols as any other state since 2015, according to a SSPLC report.

The obviously not-so-great State of Texas removed 31 of the 110 Confederate symbols removed across the country.

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The report, published last week, identified 1,728 Confederate monuments that remain in public spaces, 209 of which are in Texas – the second-highest among all states.

Additionally, Texas is home to 58 highways and roads and 36 schools named after Confederates. These too have been targeted by the SPLC.

(Article courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, June 8, 2018 ed.)

Art Imitates Life

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Yesterday on an episode of Designated Survivor, the debate over removing Confederate monuments made the leap from real life to primetime TV. Kiefer Sutherland, who plays President Tom Kirkman, solved the “crisis” easily and appeased the “Reverend Dale,” a Civil Rights leader on the show, by simply moving the statue to a lesser trafficked area. Bingo!

AND MISSISSIPPI MAY SOON DO IT FOR REAL

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Lafayette County may relocate the statue at their  Courthouse, which has sat outside the Courthouse since 1907, with certain restrictions.

In a letter dated Oct. 2, the Mississippi Attorney General’s office told the Lafayette County Board of Superivors they could move the statue if they ever decided to but that: “A monument may be moved within the county jurisdictional limits to some other more suitable location on county property,” the letter stated. “A monument may not be removed from the county or from public property,” it continued.

Matt Reardon, who was arrested earlier this year while standing in support of the statue, said he hopes the County doesn’t take the State up on its offer to move the statue, even if it stays in Lafayette County. “There’s a chance in relocating it that they damage the statue. Why move something that’s been there for 110 years?” said Reardon.

An email was sent to the president of the Board of Supervisors to learn if the board was planning on moving the statue or if it was even up for serious discussion. There was no reply.

AND THE REAL SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

Not the person who plays one on Designated Survivor, but President Trump’s Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, says that the Trump Administration will not remove Confederate monuments from federal lands.

“Where do you start and where do you stop?” Zinke asked a Breitbart reporter in an interview published Sunday. “It’s a slippery slope. If you’re a native Indian, I can tell you, you’re not very happy about the history of General Sherman or perhaps President Grant.” “When you try to erase history, what happens is you also erase how it happened and why it happened and the ability to learn from it.”

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IN A REAL LIFE “COMPROMISE”

We reported a few weeks ago that a San Antonio, Texas school district voted to rename Robert E. Lee High School. Very few of the students or parents wanted the name change. The District ordering the school to change the name over the strong desire of parents, students, and even teachers, to keep it.

So last Monday the Robert E Lee High School voted to rename itself the Legacy of Educational Excellence High School – LEE High school

For now, the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee still stands in the school, and the caricature of the Confederacy’s most prominent leader has yet to be displaced as the mascot. The overwhelming majority of the school’s students have told news agencies that they are proud of the name Lee and plan to maintain the traditions of their school.

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(Courtesy Dixie Heritage Newsletter, Oct. 13, 2017 ed.)

The Sad, Strange Erosion of the South

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Recent events have proven that nothing is sacred, especially Southern heritage in regard to the Confederacy and the War Between the States. It’s strange how everyone these days assumes the Confederate battle flag, otherwise known as St. Andrew’s Cross (a beloved symbol taken from the Celts), represents racism. On the contrary. Southrons fought to preserve their rural way of life. Slavery was being phased out at the onset of the Civil War, but was still prevalent in some northern states. Robert E. Lee had no slaves, but U.S. Grant did, and he didn’t set them free until after the war ended. To say the war was about slavery is so far off kilter that it’s offensive. The destruction of Southern morals isn’t new. In fact, it has been going on for decades. The following article will bring light into what has been happening and why.

A Chronology of Southern Cultural Genocide:
The Eradication of a Region’s Cultural and Heritage
by Dr. Arnold M. Huskins
“But to tar the sacrifices of the Confederate soldier as simple acts of racism, and reduce the battle flag under which he fought to nothing more than the symbol of a racist heritage, is one of the great blasphemies of our modern age.” — Democratic Senator James WebbBorn Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
1970’s: The Univ. of Georgia’s “Dixie Redcoat Marching Band” drops the word “Dixie” from its name and discontinues playing the song which was played after the National Anthem; City of Atlanta, GA renames Forrest Street; University of Texas-Arlington drops its Rebel mascot
1990: NBNC-Texas asks Texas State Fair to discontinue the playing of Elvis Presley’s American Trilogy because of its “Dixie” content
1991: City of Atlanta renames street named after Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon; NAACP passes resolution “abhorring the Confederate battle flag” and commits their legal resources to removal of the flag from all public properties
1993: Governor Guy Hunt removes battle flag from Alabama State Capitol, it had flown there since Democratic Gov. George Wallace placed it underneath the state flag atop the dome upon Attorney Gen. Robert Kennedy’s visit in 1963; Senate votes not to renew patent on the United Daughters of the Confederacy logo; New Orleans ISD renames Jefferson Davis Elementary, PGT Beauregard Jr. High School, Robert E.Lee Elementary School, JP Benjamin School, and George Washington Elementary School (yes, that’s right, George Washington!)
1994: February – Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority votes to remove  the Georgia state flag from the Fulton County Stadium
June – Holiday Inn Inc. orders its hotels in Georgia not to fly the state flag with the battle flag emblem
July – NAACP calls for economic boycott of South Carolina for flying battle flag from its State House; Mayor Bob Coble of Columbia, SC sues to remove Confederate flag from SC State House
September – The University of the South removes all Southern state flags from its chapel.
October – Dixie Youth Baseball drops the battle flag emblem from its logo.
November – Louisiana State Museum removes newly found prototype of original Confederate battle flag from display after receiving complaints.
1995: January – First person killed: A 19-year-old father of twins, Michael Westerman, of Elkton, KY is chased down and murdered for flying a Confederate flag on his truck.
February – City of Cumberland, MD removes battle flag from its historic flag display
April – Jamie Kinley is suspended from his middle school in Anderson, SC for wearing a Confederate battle  flag jacket.
1996: September – Louisiana Senate Secretary remove a battle flag from Memorial Hall; Cracker Barrel chooses to omit the Confederate flag from a set of bookends featuring Gen. Lee  (without a flag)  and Gen. Grant holding a US flag.
1997: The University of the South’s mace, featuring Confederate symbols, is permanently retired.
February – State of New York removes the Georgia state flag from its capitol building.
November – Univ. of Miss. bans all stick flags, namely Confederate battle flags, from its stadium.
December – Texas A& M bans the Confederate flag in its ROTC Corps, equates it with Nazi flag.
1998: The VA discontinues flying the battle flag daily over the 3,300 graves at the Confederate POW cemetery at Point Lookout, MD.
2000: February – City of Pensacola, Fla. removes battle flag from its Five Flags Display, replaces it with Stars and Bars; L. M. Clairborne, Jr. head of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, orders all unauthorized emblems including images of the state flag to be removed from its vehicles.
April – City of Jackson, Miss. votes to remove the  state flag from its meetings and municipal buildings; The president of the Citadel bans the playing of “Dixie” by the band at the school.
May – City of Biloxi removes battle flag from its historic flag display, replaces it with Stars and Bars; Texas A&M official, Herbert Richardson, removes an official portrait of former Chancellor Gilbert Gilchrist from the lobby of the Gilchrist building because the portrait contains an image of Gen. Robert E. Lee in the background. The painting is moved to a conference room with a note explaining why Lee is in the painting and a new painting of Gilchrist (sans Lee) is placed in the lobby; the president of the Virginia Military Institute punishes two cadets during a New Market Day event for playing a few bars of “Dixie.”
July – The first removal of a Confederate memorial: Governor and Presidential hopeful George W. Bush removes two plaques featuring a battle flag and a seal of the CSA from the Texas Supreme Court Building honoring Texas Confederate veterans, Confederate pension money was used to build the edifice.  He also refuses to issue a Confederate History and Heritage Month proclamation; the state of South Carolina removes the battle flag from the State House which had flown beneath the state flag since 1961 when Democratic Gov. Hollings placed it there to commemorate the firing on Fort Sumter during the Civil War Centennial; the battle flag is removed from the legislative chamber as well.
September – Matthew Dixon, an SCV member and mechanic, is fired from his position at Coburg Dairy in Charleston, SC for refusing to remove two Confederate flag stickers from his personal toolbox after a black co-worker complained to company officials. Dixon took his case believing his First Amendment rights and state employment laws were violated.; three Federal judges ruled against him in May 2003.
October – Two employees at the John Deere facility in Pontiac, SC are fired-one for having a small battle flag on his tool box and the other for whistling “Dixie.”
2001: January – The Georgia Legislature votes to change the state flag which included the Army of Northern Virginia’s Confederate battle flag which was placed on the flag in 1956 to honor Confederate veterans. The new flag is not popular and it is changed in 2003. The NCAA announces a ban on tournament games in SC because of its memorial flag on the State House grounds.
March – Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush removes all historic flags, including the battle flag, from an historic flag display on the state Capitol grounds; the city of Madison, Wisconsin prohibits the flying of the Confederate battle flag, which was flown twice a year over a Confederate cemetery in the city.
September – Andrew Jackson Council of the Boy Scouts of America representing 22 Mississippi counties remove a uniform patch that contains the Mississippi state flag;  Ryan Oleichi, an 11 year old boy attending Labay Middle School near Houston, Texas is physically assaulted,  knocked unconscious and threatened with death by a black and Hispanic student and is hospitalized for three days. Prior to the incident, Oleichi wore a shirt with a Confederate battle flag patch and was suspended for three days and forced to apologize  and admit his  racism by the assistant principal.  The School fails to discipline his attackers.
October – A Harley-Davidson employee in York, Pa.  who was sent to the company’s Human Relations Office twice for wearing Confederate flag on his t-shirt and having a Confederate flag on his motorcycle helmet is again sent to HR for wearing his Confederate re-enactor uniform to work on Halloween, which he had done since 1995.  This time, he is suspended from work for three days without pay; Hays High School officials ban several fans carrying the Texas and Confederate flags from entering its stadium.
November – Comedian Dennis Miller compares battle flag to swastika on The Tonight Show; SCV member, Tim Meadows, is arrested for carrying a Confederate battle flag in the Mobile Veterans Day parade Matt Pitts, a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, returns to his dorm room and finds it had been vandalized and his Confederate flag torn to shreds; an 18 year old Illinois native is later charged with throwing a TV out the window and shredding the flag;Seminole County, Georgia School Board bans students from wearing clothing with the Confederate flag; a portrait of Jefferson Davis is removed from the Davis residence hall at Transylvania University in Kentucky and rehung in the Mitchell Fine Arts building.
2002: January – The Confederate Air Force changes its name to “Commemorative Air Force;”Louisville, KY renames street known as “Confederate Place” to “Unity Place;”Va. Gov. Mike Warner advises Lt. Gov. John Hager not to attend ceremony honoring Gens.Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Hager, who agreed to speak one year ago, complies.
March – College student arrested for burning Georgia state flag at private residence in Augusta; Univ. of Mississippi begins to phase out the playing of “Dixie;”Autauga County, Alabama School board removes Confederate memorial monument from school grounds erected by the local SCV who had gotten permission to place the monument by the School Superintendent.
April – “Wings over Dixie” Air Show in Peachtree City, Ga. changes name to Greater Georgia AirShow; Jefferson Davis monument vandalized in Richmond, Va.; Alabama pre med student assaulted for wearing shirt with Confederate battle flag and the words “Dixieland” in Gulf Shores, Ala.;Confederate memorial flag on SC State House grounds intentionally burned;pre-med student, John McDow, is assaulted by blacks in Gulf Shores Ala. for wearing a shirt with a Confederate flag on it.
May – Neosho (Mo.) School District tries to paint over a pavement painting of a Confederate flag that was painted by the  students on Senior Hill; the students stage a “sit in” to guard the painting;Univ. of Vermont Interim President asks students to refrain from hanging Confederate flags in their dorm windows.
June -Federal attorney, John Austin, attempts to stop a Confederate Memorial Day service in Knoxville, Tenn; his wife accuses attendees of using racial slurs.
August – Mobile Tricentennial Commission tells visiting tall ship to remove battle flag from its mast;the crew complies, however the captain, who was away when the flag is lowered, is angered and considers leaving the city; Aycock Middle School in Greensboro NC bans a essay contest sponsored by the UDC, states: UDC is “against basic goals of Aycock Middle School”
September – Vanderbilt Univ. announces plans to remove the word “Confederate” from dormitory hall funded by the UDC; McIntosh Middle School in Sarasota, Fla. bans Confederate flag clothing;sixteen students are suspended in Lawrence County, Ala. for wearing Confederate flag clothing; ten students in Lee County, Ala. are suspended for wearing Confederate flag clothing
October – Mississippi DMV omits state flag from its newly issued US veterans license plate; Florida man fired from 1 ½ day job with Mortgage Investors Corp. for having Confederate battle flag tattoo and the words “born a rebel, die a rebel” on forearm
December – Jefferson Davis statue in New Orleans vandalized; Bel-Air Mall in Mobile, Ala. boots Camo Unlimited from the mall after receiving complaints about its merchandising of Confederate flags and  Southern heritage T-shirts; cartoonist Scott Stantis of the Birmingham News draws a trash can containing symbols of oppressive regimes, one of which is a Confederate battle flag
2003: January The state of Missouri removes two Confederate battle flags at two state historic sites:Confederate Memorial Historic Site near Higginsville and Fort Davidson Historic Site after Rep. Dick Gephardt called for their removal.  The flag at Higginsville flew over a Confederate cemetery containing the graves of 694 veterans;the city of Clarksdale, Miss. votes to remove state flag from all city property;the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announces it will change its name to the “USA South Athletic Conference”  to show “sensitivity to ethnic groups and just making sure that the name is not offensive to anyone.”
February – The Town Council of Exmouth, England, scuttles plans for a ceremony to honor Gen. Collett Leventhorpe, an English General who fought in the Confederate Army, because the observance might be seen to have “racist undertones;” in an official directive (section 13.02 of its Advertising Standards), BellSouth states “Cuts of ALL Confederate flags are PROHIBITED from appearing in Yellow Pages advertising.”
May – Conference planners for a group of judges and court officials from Washington, DC mandate that the hotel staff of the Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center in Williamsburg, Va. remove or cover all images of the Confederate flag in WBTS battle scenes prints at the hotel.  As a result, two images were covered and  two images were removed. Conference planners  feared the images might be offensive  to some of the attendees.
November – The Robert E. Lee Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Richmond, Va. decides to drop the name of Robert E. Lee, which it had borne for over 60 years, from its council and its logo.
2004: May -Chickasaw County Miss. supervisors reverse their decision to allow the SCV to erect a Confederate memorial monument on the courthouse lawn and vote to allow a referendum on the issue;a Kentucky student is denied entrance into her high school prom because of her Confederate flag dress
July – Gettysburg College (PA) sponsors “a hanging of a Confederate flag.”
September – Augusta, Georgia Mayor Bob Young removes Second National Confederate Flag from historic flag display along the Riverwalk display.
November – Robb Gray, director of Oklahoma’s Tourism and Recreation Dept, orders 200,000 copies of their Annual Events Guide destroyed after finding that it featured a photo of a reenactment group with a Confederate flag, his action costs taxpayers $46,000.
2005: March – Charlotte NC removes memorial battle flag and flag pole over Confederate graves in city Cemetery; City of Ringgold, Ga. removes battle flag from memorial after NAACP requests its removal and  replaces it with Hardee Corps flag.
June – Palm Springs ISD renames Jefferson Davis Middle School in Jupiter, FL; Portsmouth, VA Confederate Memorial Monument vandalized
December – Savannah Mayor removes portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee and a mayor who was a Confederate officer from City Hall.
2009: February – South High School in Denver, CO changes its Rebel mascot to a griffin, previously it had changed its yearbook and newspaper names’ from “The Johnny Reb” and “The Confederate” respectively.
March – Dixie State University retires Rebel mascot and the name “Rebels.”
August – Jonesborough, Tenn. refuses to allow bricks inscribed with the names and units of Confederate veterans in the veterans’ memorial park.
October – Homestead, Fla Veterans Day parade bans battle flag
2010: March –  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ignores request for Confederate History and Heritage Month Proclamation.
April – Two Confederate cemeteries vandalized, one in Ala, the other in Miss.;Abilene Baptist Church in Carrolton, Ga. removes and disposes of Confederate battle flags placed on veterans’ graves in its church cemetery.
May -Flags stolen, ropes cut from poles at Confederate cemetery at Brice’s Crossroads Cemetery.
June -Movie theatre in Spotsylvania County, Va. alters War Between the States mural to remove a Confederate battle flag after complaints; potential recruits for US Marine Corps must acquire a waiver if they have Confederate flag tattoos.
October -Univ. of Mississippi discontinues “Col Reb” mascot, eventually choosing Rebel Black Bear as its mascot; Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announces he will no longer issue a Confederate History and Heritage Month proclamation.
November – Confederate memorial monument in Augusta, Ga. Vandalized.
December – History Channel forces local cable companies to remove Georgia Division SCV historical spots.
2011: January – City of Marshall, Ark. votes to prohibit flying of Confederate flag on public property.
May – Confederate statues of Lee and Davis vandalized in Richmond, VA;Memphis VA Medical Center removes paralyzed veteran’s small battle flag from wall and forces him to place it in a drawer; the veteran, a descendant of Confederate soldiers, almost cried when he told it must be removed;City of Reidsville, NC decides not to restore Confederate memorial monument destroyed when a van “accidentally” the statue, NC; UDC decides to move memorial to a local cemetery.
August – NC man fired from Forest City Housing Authority after displaying SCV logo on his vehicle.
September – Lexington, VA bans the flying of First National and Second National Confederate flags on light poles during celebration of Lee/Jackson Day; battle flag sign removed Confederate Powder Works Chimney in Augusta, Ga.
November – Missouri State Univ. President apologizes after its Pride Band plays Dixie during dedication of a new park on campus, states it will not happen again; Third National flag and flagpole removed from Confederate Memorial in Caddo Parish, La.; it had flown there since 1951; Texas DMV votes to prohibit SCV license plates with SCV battle flag logo.
2012: February -A Missouri students is penalized for flying Confederate flag on his vehicle on his high school Campus; a Minnesota student is suspended for failing to cover a battle flag tattoo blending in with a US flag on his tricep.
March – NASCAR prohibits golf pro Bubba Watson from taking the initial lap in his “General  Lee” car at the beginning of Sprint Cup series at Phoenix International Speedway; Statue of Lt Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest south of Nashville, Tenn. Vandalized; Lee and Davis monuments vandalized in New Orleans; vandals steal bust of Gen. NB Forrest from memorial monument in Selma, Ala. Cemetery.
April – Recently dedicated Museum of the Confederacy-Appomattox refuses to fly any Confederate flag on its grounds; a Tennessee student is denied entrance into her high school prom because of her Confederate flag dress.
confederateflagdress
May -SC Gov. Nicki Haley refuses to issue Confederate History and Heritage Month proclamation;City of Paducah, KY officials condemn flying of the battle flag in a nearby privately owned Confederate memorial park.
July – Las Cruces, NM Tea Party denied $1000 first prize after its historically themed float includes a Confederate battle flag in a 4th of July parade.
September – Confederate POW cemetery’s privately-owned Confederate Memorial Park at Point Lookout, MD is vandalized, a noose is placed around the statue’s neck and a swastika is spray painted on the base of the memorial.
October – Hays High School in Buda, Texas ceases playing of Dixie at football games.
2013: February – City of Memphis removes marker from Forrest Park, renames its three parks with Confederate names-Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park, and Confederate Park.
March 2013: Gov. Pat McCrory authorizes removal of ANV battle flag from historic display in NC’s Old Capitol Museum;City of Orange, Texas condemns the building of the “Confederate Memorial of the Wind”to be located on private property.
May – City of Jacksonville, Texas prevents Marine Corps League from placing Confederate flags on Confederate veterans’ graves;two Confederate flags removed from historic flag display in South Dakota VA Hospital.
September – Memphis’ Gen. Forrest statue vandalized.
December – Knoxville, Tenn. American Legion Post denies SCV to march in Veterans Days Parade; Museum of the Confederacy merges with Richmond’s politically correct Civil War Center.
2014: January – Jacksonville (Fla.) ISD renames Nathan B. Forrest High School.
February – Hero Dogs Inc. rejects donation from Maryland Division, SCV.
May –  California passes law to ban governmental sales or display of Confederate flags.
July – Washington and Lee University removes battle flags surrounding statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in its Lee Chapel, the tomb of Gen. Lee.
August – Univ. of Miss. announces plans to rename Confederate Drive, install plaques to explain Confederate Memorial and limits the use of the term, “Ole Miss.”
2015: January – Dixie State University removes Confederate statue, “The Rebels-depicting two cavalrymen-from campus.
February – Blue Ridge Assembly YMCA in Asheville votes to change name of Robert E. Lee Hall to Eureka Hall.
April – The state of Florida refuses to include three prominent Floridians who served in the Confederate Army in its Veterans Hall of Fame; St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay forms task force to consider removal of Confederate memorial monument in Forest Park, seeks to rename Confederate Drive to Freedom or Unity Drive.
June – Tragedy in Charleston, SC prompts removal of all things Confederate: SCOTUS rules against Sons of Confederate Veterans stating license plates are government property and can regulate its content;  “Dukes of Hazzard” program is removed from TV Land’s lineup;Miami, Fla car museum covers roof of Gen. Lee car on display; Alabama Gov. Bentley removes all four Confederate flags from monument on State Capitol; SC Gov. Haley signs bill to remove Confederate memorial battle flag from State House grounds, flag removed on July 10th;Univ. of Texas removes Confederate memorial from campus; City of Mobile removes all its historic flags from its city seal; Hillsborough County, Fla removes its historic flag display from the government center; Wichita, KS removes battle flag from Veterans’ memorial park; Cities of Columbus, Starkville, Hattiesburg, Magnolia and Grenada, MS remove state flag from city property, Natchez, Philadelphia and Vicksburg will eventually do the same; Virginia and Maryland discontinue their Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate program; National Park Service removes all historic flags from Fort Sumter, discontinues sales of  battle flags in its stores; NPS later reinstates Ft. Sumter’s historic flags on smaller poles; National Cathedral in Washington, DC removes Confederate flag imagery from its memorial reconciliation windows; Amazon, eBay, Wal-Mart, Sears, & Target discontinues sale of any items featuring Confederate Battle flag including already pre-ordered class rings; Flag companies Anin, Valley Forge, and Dixie Flag in San Antonio discontinue sale of battle Flag; Confederate monuments vandalized in Austin, Texas, Asheville, NC, Charleston, SC, Baltimore, MD, Columbia, SC, Richmond, Va. and St. Louis; Nashville restaurant, Acme Feed & Seed, removes Confederate flag artwork; Kentucky State Fair Board bans sales of Confederate flags, merchandise at state fair, fleamarket.
July – Black Confederate flag supporter, Anthony Hervey, killed in a suspicious automobile “accident,” his car had been followed by a car containing blacks who had demonstrated against the flag and whom Hervey had angered;Confederate flag bearing horse removed from carousel in Saginaw, MI; Fort Smith (AR) ISD votes to remove Rebel mascot, end playing of “Dixie” at Southside High; Mississippi state flag removed from state flag display in Santa Ana, CA civic center; Disney removes Confederate Third National flag from its Epcot Exhibit on American history; City of Memphis vows to exhume remains of Gen. Forrest and his wife, move his statue; Monument to Women of the Confederacy vandalized in Raleigh, NC; Confederate Memorial monuments are vandalized in Charleston, Bellmead, Texas, Denton, Texas, Reidsville, NC, Rockville, MD, Cornelius, NC, Durham, NC, Richmond, Va.,Oklahoma City and Charlotte, NC; Golfing Pro Bubba Watson decides to paint over the flag on the roof of his Gen. Lee automobile; Ohio State Fair bans sale of Confederate flags.
August – Univ. of Miss. states its marching band will no longer play any version of “Dixie;”VA prohibits flying of Confederate battle flag on large poles in its Confederate POW cemeteries, the flag was flown twice a year; College of William and Mary removes Confederate flag from its ceremonial silver mace and a plaque honoring students who became Confederate soldiers from its Wren Building; Univ of Texas in Austin removes statues of Pres. Woodrow Wilson and Jefferson Davis from campus grounds; Vanderbilt Univ. reimburses United Daughters of the Confederacy to allow the removal of the words, “Confederate Memorial Hall” from a campus dormitory;  Bexar County, Texas officials remove all Confederate memorial plaques and monuments from Courthouse square-none of which featured an image of the battle flag;  Georgia Gov. Deal renames Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee’s birthday on state calendars to “state holiday;” Confederate monuments vandalized in Memphis, Chapel Hill, NC, Albemarle, NC,Charlotte, and Pensacola, Fla.; Wisconsin and New York State Fairs ban sale of Confederate flags or any other related merchandise; portrait of General JEB Stuart removed by a judge from courtroom in the Patrick City courthouse.
September – City of Winchester removes battle flag from its city seal, replaces with Stars and Bars;  Washington and Lee Univ. officials deny the SCV request to utilize Lee Chapel for Lee/Jackson Day services; City of Danville, Virginia removes Third National Confederate flag from site of last capitol of the Confederacy; City of Albuquerque removes first National Confederate flag from historic flag display; VA Hospital in Grand Junction, CO forces artist to paint over Confederate battle flag in mural depicting scenes from American history; Walton County, Fla. removes battle flag from Confederate memorial, replaces it with “Stars and Bars;” Boone Hall Plantation cancels Battle of Secessionville re-enactment.
October – University of Mississippi and Univ. of Southern Miss. discontinue flying state flag, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, and Alcorn State have long since removed flag, Mississippi State will do so within a year; Florida Senate removes battle flag from its seal; monument to Florida’s oldest Confederate veteran removed in Crestview, Fla; Rockville, MD moves Confederate memorial monument from courthouse grounds to private property; Boone County, MO moves “Confederate Rock” veterans memorial from courthouse grounds to Centralia battlefield.
November – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, known as the “Cathedral of the Confederacy,” removes Confederate flag imagery and plaques that honor Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Confederate soldiers from their sanctuary, other plaques that feature a Confederate flag will be modified to remove the flag;  City of Charlotte NC moves its Confederate memorial monument from city hall grounds to a local cemetery.
2016: January – The words” Confederate Memorial” are removed from Orange County, NC Historical Museum Doorway; Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo bans Confederate battle flag, Second & Third National flags during events; Confederate graves are vandalized in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, NC; Arkansas teen prohibited from joining US Marines because of his Confederate flag tattoo with the words ” Southern Pride.”
March – Fla Legislature votes to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Kirby Smith from Statuary Hall in Washington DC;Austin (Texas) ISD votes to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School, San Diego (CA) ISD votes to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School; City of Charlottesville seeks to remove statues of Gen. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and rename their respective parks; Oregon removes Mississippi state flag from state flag display; Alabama attorney removes Confederate flags from veterans’ graves in Union Springs; Confederate memorial monument vandalized in McCracken County, KY; Washington County (NY) Fair bans sale of Confederate flags, merchandise; San Lorenzo High School in California drops its UNLV “Rebel guy” mascot which was changed in the 1990’s from  a “Colonel Reb” mascot with the battle flag.
April – City of Indianapolis prohibits placement of Confederate flags on the graves of Confederate soldiers buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.
May – Jefferson Davis Highway marker vandalized near Texas State University.
June – The Southern Baptist Convention passes resolution repudiating Confederate battle flag and asks its members to refrain from flying flag; Confederate flag removed from historic flag display in museum at Pennsylvania State Capitol; Douglasville, Ga renames Forrest Street.
July – Mississippi flag absent in state flag display at Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
September – City of Alexandria, VA renames section of Jefferson Davis Highway in the city; Jefferson Davis Highway marker removed from Texas State University campus; State of California bans artist and Civil War buff from displaying artwork featuring the Second National Confederate flag at the Big Fresno Fair.
August – Addison County (VT) Fair bans sale of Confederate flag merchandise.
November – City of Louisville Kentucky removes Confederate memorial monument, later the monument is moved to Brandenburg, Ky.; Long Beach (CA) ISD renames Robert E. Lee Elementary School; Florida State Senate changes its seal to remove its historic flags and removes an historic Five Flags mural from the State Capitol.
December – City of New Orleans votes to remove its three Confederate monuments; Oklahoma Baptist University removes the Confederate battle flag from one its “History and Government” stained glass window in its Raley Chapel.
2017: March – Arkansas separates holiday honoring MLK and Robert E. Lee with no state holiday for Lee.
February – Orlando (Fla.) ISD renames Robert E. Lee Middle School; South Burlington, VT high school drops Rebel mascot.
April – City of Demopolis, Ala. votes not to restore Confederate soldier statue on Confederate monument damaged by accident to original monument; Biloxi, MS mayor removes state flag from city’s municipal buildings; York County (SC) Clerk of Court removes Second National Confederate flag and portraits of Gens. Lee and Jackson from York County Courthouse; Confederate memorial monument in Brandenburg, Ky. Vandalized.
May – Mayor Landrieu of New Orleans removes the statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. P.T.G. Beauregard, and Pres. Jefferson Davis from New Orleans; Confederate memorial monuments vandalized in St. Louis and in Norfolk, VA
June – Baltimore, MD mayor states city wishes to remove and sell its four Confederate statues after initially installing “interpretative plaques” at each; Orlando Fla Mayor moves Confederate Memorial from Lake Eola Park to a local cemetery; City of Gainesville, Fla votes to remove “Ol’ Joe” Confederate memorial; St. Louis, Mo removes Confederate memorial monument in Forest Park; Caddo County, La officials will discuss removal of Confederate Memorial monument; Lexington, KY to consider removal of two Confederate statues; Macomb, Miss. votes to remove state flag from all municipal buildings; The Mayor of Richmond, Va. states the city will create a commission to add context to statues on Monument Avenue
July – San Lorenzo High School in California drops its “Rebels” mascot name; Bexar County, Texas votes to replace Courthouse Confederate Memorial with plaques honoring Texas Medal of Honor recipients.
He who controls the past controls the future.
He who controls the present controls the past.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” — George Orwell 1984
(Courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, July 21, 2017 ed.)

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