J.D.R. Hawkins

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

Archive for the tag “White House”

29 Oct 2019

Bringing the Dead to Life

With Halloween rapidly approaching, costumes, parties, and Trick-or-Treating are imminent. One popular costume that has been prevalent for a few years is the zombie. My youngest son loves them. He even made a music video last year featuring numerous zombies. 

Preview YouTube video In The Wilderness – Apocalypse (Official Music Video)

The undead have always been fascinating – hence the popularity of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.  Following several Civil War battles, the dead were heaped up in piles. Amazingly, after the carcasses were being carried off for burial, some men buried under the carnage came back to life and lived to tell about it. I have always found it interesting how the Victorians saved hair from their loved ones, both dead and living, and made hair flower pictures out of them. They also loved to pose deceased people for photographs, making them look as lifelike as possible. They even went so far as to paint pupils on their subjects’ eyelids, and prop them on stands to make them look like they were standing up. Creepy!

Disturbing-Victorian-Art-Of-Death

Some old photos of the Civil War, which of course were all originally in black and white, have had color added. I think that it adds a lot to the photos, and brings them to life. It’s hard to imagine the people and scenes in the old tintypes, because they seem so ancient. But with added color, it makes them seem more real, somehow.

Civil War

My grandson is dressing up as a Ghostbuster this year. His dad did when he was little, too. Like zombies, ghosts are always fascinating. There are too many haunted places related to the War Between the States to mention. Some are more eery than others, but all are interesting. Of course, Gettysburg is probably the most haunted battlefield, since it is positioned on a lay line. There are also many haunted mansions, prison camps, cemeteries, and museums located all over the country. Even the White House is haunted with Lincoln’s ghost. Alas, these apparitions just cannot be brought back to life. If they could, think of the amazing stories they could tell.

ghost

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17 Sep 2015

“Black Lives Matter” Interfering With National UDC Convention

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I was recently alerted to a dismaying situation that I find daunting, to say the least. Apparently, the group Black Lives Matter has threatened the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s annual convention. I am a proud member of the UDC, and I find it a national calamity that violence and intimidation of this nature is being tolerated. To single out any group and attack them is unacceptable. Because they are targeting the UDC, it only shows their ignorance toward the organization and what it has done for this country, particularly the South. Not only does the UDC honor our current veterans, but we show honor toward those who fought for the South during the Civil War. To attack this organization is insane, and it’s extremely sad that this is being allowed to happen.

According to the UDC’s website, “the UDC was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia on July 18, 1919. As stated in the Articles of Incorporation, the Objectives of the society are Historical, Benevolent, Educational, Memorial and Patriotic.”

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Below is a letter written by my friend, Mark Vogl:

For the first time in my life, I am now experiencing what so many human beings, in so many third world nations experience.
 
The United Daughters of the Confederacy annual convention in Louisiana is being targeted by a violent, out of control group which has caused the host hotel to block all vendors from selling items at the convention.  Therefore, I was called today by the president of the La. UDC and told that I could not be a vendor…at an event planned for more six months… product ordered a year ago, made overseas, shipped into the US …not allowed to be sold because of the threats of violence and vandalism at the host hotel!
 
The women are experiencing threats of violence.
 
Business interests now must fold to the threat of violence. 
 
Investments, travel plans, etc.
 
The police in Baton Rouge appear unable to provide security for the event.
 
This is the result of the Obama Presidency, the Supreme Court, and the McConnell – Boehner leadership in Congress.  America…petrified.
 
Where is the FBI?  Where is Homeland Defense when this kind of domestic terrorism occurs?
 
Folks, if you think this is limited to Southern heritage organizations you are forgetting 1968, and you are forgetting Ferguson and every other race based riot.
 
It would appear that President Barack Obama has either lost control of “community” or is encouraging a state violence in order to declare martial law… something America has never done, not even during the Civil War!
 
Thank you to all those in public office, or have been in public office who have allowed this situation in the United States of America.  This is the result of rejecting Christ, rejecting American heritage and culture, and the election of race oriented, anti-American socialist into the White House.  If you say that is not true, please show me President Obama’s reaction to the ongoing violence in this nation?!  Please show me his Executive Orders directing the FBI and other agencies to crack down on Black Lives Matter, the New Black Panthers and other Hate groups!
 
Remember the Jews in Germany?  That’s how I as a Southerner feel now..but there is one difference…and I will use it to defend my life, my home, my family and my faith.  And I stand ready to follow that leader who will react to this direct attack on the American Way.
 
God Bless the South, and I pray for His Protection and Providence.
 
Mark Vogl
As you can tell, Mark is very upset about this. Let me know what you think we can do to end this type of unnecessary intimidation and threats of violence.
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05 May 2015

Racehorses and the Civil War

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Many racehorses were used during the Civil War. My new book, Horses in Gray, discusses this topic. At the start of the war, Southern gentry thought that thoroughbreds would outperform other breeds, and thus assure victory for the Confederacy. Southern soldiers brought their steeds with them, and most were nimble, well-bred stock from Virginia and Kentucky. However, it didn’t take long for both armies to figure out that thoroughbreds were too flighty and unpredictable under gunfire, so they switched primarily to Morgans, Percherons, and Saddlebreds, and used various other breeds as well.

Thoroughbreds were mostly ridden by commanding officers after that, to give them the appearance of dignity and nobility. General Grant’s horse, Cincinnati, was a descendant of Lexington, a record-breaking thoroughbred. Grant was supposedly offered $10,000 in gold for Cincinnati, but he declined the offer. President Lincoln rode the horse on occasion, and reportedly enjoyed riding him very much. After Grant was elected president, Cincinnati went with him to the White House.

General Lee’s horse, Traveller, also had royal racing blood in his veins. His lineage stretched back to English racehorses; from Diomed, to Sir Archy, to Grey Eagle, which was Traveller’s sire. Grey Eagle was a famous, full-blooded thoroughbred, and set many records. Traveller’s dam was a half-bred grade mare named Flora. After the war, Traveller accompanied Lee to Washington and Lee University in Alexandria, Virginia, where Lee served as president. The general gave rides to the town’s children on Traveller, and everyone could set their timepieces to the punctuality Lee displayed when riding Traveller through town.

On this date in 1973, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby. It was the first of Secretariat’s Triple Crown victories. It should be interesting to see how American Pharoah, last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby winner, does in his two upcoming Triple Crown races. Thoroughbred racing was a very popular sport in this country since its birth, and fortunately, still is today.

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31 Oct 2014

Haunted Lincoln

It is said that ghosts are the spirits of people who met traumatic, violent, untimely deaths. Abraham Lincoln, of course, is one, because he was murdered by John Wilkes Booth about a week after General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops to General Grant at Appomattox, and on Good Friday at that. Before his assassination, the president foresaw his own death in a dream, where he was wandering around the White House, and was told by a soldier that the president had been killed.

Since then, Lincoln’s ghost has been roaming the halls of the White House. Jenna Bush, one of President George W. Bush’s daughters, said that she had heard phantom opera music coming from the fireplace in her bedroom while she was living at the White House. In the same breath, she expressed her disappointment about never seeing the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. It’s common knowledge that Lincoln’s spirit still resides within the Executive Mansion, as the White House was called during the Civil War. Several heads of state have witnessed the ghost of Lincoln, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, President Coolidge’s wife, Grace, President Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Ronald Reagan’s daughter, Maureen.

The president’s widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, said that her husband’s ghost often visited her. She became an avid believer in the supernatural and regularly attended seances, usually under an assumed name to disguise her identity. In one photograph, an eerie manifestation of Lincoln appears behind her. It could have been a photographer’s trick, but many other witnesses have seen his ghost as well.


Sightings of Lincoln’s ghost have occurred near his grave in Springfield, Illinois, and at his former home there. It has also been seen at the Loudon Cottage in Loudonville, New York, which belonged to one of the women who was sitting in the president’s box at Ford’s Theatre when he was shot. The President’s spectral funeral train has been observed on the anniversary of its journey from Washington D.C. to Springfield, thundering through the darkness to its spooky destination.

Fortress Monroe, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis was incarcerated for several years following his capture at the end of the war, is said to be haunted by Lincoln, as is Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was shot.

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