I am a nineteen-year old Christian, "Conservative-Libertarian", inclining towards either Anglo-Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. I am a native-born Mississipian, and quite proud of it! I read the Church Fathers, medieval and Southern history, good poetry and literature, botanical tomes, and travel stuff. I am presently a Junior at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, MS. I am majoring in history, with a view towards Early Medieval and Byzantine in particular.

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What I Believe:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

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In case you're wondering about the origin of my screen name, it is from the great Confederate general Patrick R. Cleburne, an Irishman by birth, emmigrated to Arkansas at the age of 21, and soon came to love America and specifically the South. He was detested by the largely anti-Southern, and ironically, anti-Irish "American" Party, and was very much upset by what he saw as Northern aggression and oppresion-it greatly reminded him of English tactics back in Ireland. Thus when the call to arms came at the begining of the war, he promptly left a thriving law business and raised a company of troops to fight in the Confederate Army. He rose in the ranks, proving his excellence again and again in battle, often as the only shining beacon in an all to often bleak sea of officers in the Western Confederate Army. He would earn the fear of foe and admiration of the South. It is worth noticing that the disdain shown to Irishmen in the North was largely absent in the South, despite what you hear all to commonly.

But Cleburne, whose career is most often noticed for his bold statements on the freeing of slaves, would be cut down in the tragic Battle of Franklin in late 1864-it was a terrible fight, a waste of top-quality Southern men. It would soon be over, and Patrick Cleburne would not have to see it.

From the pen of Patrick Cleburne:

If this cause that is dear to my heart is doomed to fail, I pray heaven may let me fall with it, while my face is toward the enemy and my arm battling for that which I know is right.

October 2, 1864

It (defeat) means that the history of this heoroic struggle will be written be the enemy, that our youth will be trained by Northen school teachers; will learn from Northern schoolbooks their version of the war...The conqueror's policy is to divide the conquered into factions and stir up animosity amoung them...

From the Proposal on the Freedom of Slaves, January 2, 1864