April is Confederate History Month in Dixie

Do young people know about men like Father Emmeran Bliemel, O.S.B. who was the first American Chaplain to die on the battlefield? Bliemel was killed during the War Between the States Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia on August 31, 1864.

As Chaplain of the 10th Tennessee Regiment, Bliemel courageously and unselfishly ministered to the spiritual needs of his Confederate Comrades, both under fire and behind the lines.

Let me tell you about the "Heroes of the South" who are affectionately remembered during "Confederate History and Heritage Month" in April. Proclamations will be signed by Governor's, Mayor's, and County Commissioners.

Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia has issued a proclamation declaring April 2008 as Confederate History Month. The proclamation specifically recognizes and honors Bill Yopp, a Black Confederate from Laurens County, Georgia. Descendants of Bill Yopp were present at the signing ceremony.

Let us also remember women like Lizzie Rutherford, of Columbus, Georgia, who on a cold day in January worked to clean the graves of Confederate soldiers. She, along with the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, led in efforts to take care of soldiers' graves and get "Confederate Memorial Day" recognized throughout the South.

A monument marks the graves of Jewish Confederate soldiers buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia with these words inscribed: "Shemang Yisroel, Adonoy Elohainoo, Adonoy Achod!" Hear, O Israel in blessed and eternal memory of the South's sons and daughters of Abraham, upon the battlefields and home fronts in Dixie's Land, They gave all to the cause of the Confederacy.

There are 245,000 Servicemen and Women, including their families, buried at Arlington. Arlington National Cemetery is located in the shadow of the Custis-Lee Mansion "Arlington House" that was home to General Robert E. Lee and his family until the beginning of the War Between the States.

In 1864, Union soldiers were first buried here and by the end of the war in 1865, the number rose to 16,000. The Union burial site at Arlington National Cemetery is located at section 13. Arlington is also the burial site of; President John F. Kennedy, General Jonathan M. Wainwright and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Arlington is also the burial place of men who fought for the Confederacy that is located in section 16.

In 1898, United States President William McKinley, who was a former Union soldier, spoke in Atlanta, Georgia and said, quote "In the spirit of Fraternity it was time for the North to share in the care of graves of former Confederate soldiers." unquote

In Consequence to his speech, by Act of the United States Congress, a portion of Arlington National Cemetery was set aside for the burial of Confederate soldiers. At this time 267 Confederate remains from near Washington, D.C. were removed and re-interred at this new site.

In 1906, the United Daughters of the Confederacy asked permission from William Howard Taft to erect a monument to the South's soldiers. Taft was at the time serving as the United States Secretary of War and was in charge of the National Cemeteries.

With permission the Arlington Confederate Memorial Association was formed and the United Daughters of the Confederacy were given authority to oversee work on the monument.

An agreement and contract was made with Sir Moses Jacob Ezekiel who was a Jewish Confederate Veteran by the record of his service at the Battle of New Market while he was a Cadet at Virginia Military Institute.

On June 4, 1914, the Arlington Monument was unveiled to a crowd of thousands that included both former Confederate and Union soldiers.

This Memorial Event was presided over by President Woodrow Wilson and the people applauded the stirring speeches given by: General Bennett H. Young--Commander In Chief of the United Confederate Veterans, General Washington Gardner--Commander In Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic and Colonel Robert E. Lee--the grandson of General Robert E. Lee.

The Confederate Monument unveiling was concluded by a 21 gun salute and the Arlington Monument was officially given to the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the UDC gave it back to the United States War Department for keeping and was accepted by President Woodrow Wilson who said: "I am not so happy as PROUD to participate in this capacity on such an occasion, Proud that I represent such a people."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, www.scv.org, have proudly proclaimed 2008 as the "Year of Davis." Activities commemorating the 200th birthday of Jefferson Davis will include the reopening of "Beauvoir" the last home to Davis and family on June 3, 2008.

Go to: www.confederateheritagemonth.com for events and stories about Confederate History Month.

Here we go. We can now anticipate a 4000-post thread about How The Confederates Were All Traitors—No They Were Not.

I don't see anything wrong with the sentiment in the posted article about honoring brave Confederate soldiers and the mention of past promotions of reconciliation between the two formerly enemy sections.

But it's hard to hold back from responding in kind when you read the great Republican hero Abraham Lincoln denigrated. If this thread goes 4000 posts, that will have something to do with.

As a Southerner, I believe that Abraham Lincoln and his victory in the Civil War was the greatest thing that ever happened top Dixie. But that does not make me believe that there is anything wrong about the SCV honoring those brave soldiers.

Lincoln had it right about malice to none, charity to all.

But it's hard to hold back from responding in kind when you read the great Republican hero Abraham Lincoln denigrated.

What about when its the truth?

Do states have a right of secession? That question was settled through the costly War of 1861. In his recently published book, "The Real Lincoln," Thomas DiLorenzo marshals abundant unambiguous evidence that virtually every political leader of the time and earlier believed that states had a right of secession.

Let's look at a few quotations. Thomas Jefferson in his First Inaugural Address said, "If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left to combat it." Fifteen years later, after the New England federalists attempted to secede, Jefferson said, "If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation ... to a continuance in the union ... I have no hesitation in saying, 'Let us separate.'"

At Virginia's ratification convention, the delegates said, "The powers granted under the Constitution being derived from the People of the United States may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression." In Federalist Paper 39, James Madison, the father of the Constitution, cleared up what "the people" meant, saying the proposed Constitution would be subject to ratification by the people, "not as individuals composing one entire nation, but as composing the distinct and independent States to which they respectively belong." In a word, states were sovereign; the federal government was a creation, an agent, a servant of the states.

On the eve of the War of 1861, even unionist politicians saw secession as a right of states. Maryland Rep. Jacob M. Kunkel said, "Any attempt to preserve the Union between the States of this Confederacy by force would be impractical, and destructive of republican liberty." The northern Democratic and Republican parties favored allowing the South to secede in peace.

Just about every major Northern newspaper editorialized in favor of the South's right to secede. New York Tribune (Feb. 5, 1860): "If tyranny and despotism justified the Revolution of 1776, then we do not see why it would not justify the secession of Five Millions of Southrons from the federal Union in 1861." Detroit Free Press (Feb. 19, 1861): "An attempt to subjugate the seceded States, even if successful could produce nothing but evil – evil unmitigated in character and appalling in content." The New York Times (March 21, 1861): "There is growing sentiment throughout the North in favor of letting the Gulf States go." DiLorenzo cites other editorials expressing identical sentiments.

Americans celebrate Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but H.L. Mencken correctly evaluated the speech, "It is poetry not logic; beauty, not sense." Lincoln said that the soldiers sacrificed their lives "to the cause of self-determination – government of the people, by the people, for the people should not perish from the earth." Mencken says: "It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of people to govern themselves."

In Federalist Paper 45, Madison guaranteed: "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." The South seceded because of Washington's encroachment on that vision. Today, it's worse. Turn Madison's vision on its head, and you have today's America.

DiLorenzo does a yeoman's job in documenting Lincoln's ruthlessness and hypocrisy, and how historians have covered it up. The framers had a deathly fear of federal government abuse. They saw state sovereignty as a protection. That's why they gave us the Ninth and 10th Amendments. They saw secession as the ultimate protection against Washington tyranny.

Walter E. Williams

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