COMMANDER'S COMMENTS

Before you know it we'll be in 2006!

With the mercury dropping, the leaves falling and  the  days
getting  shorter, the annual Thanksgiving tradition is right
around the corner.                                          

Despite  what  is  written  in  today's  textbooks,  we   as
Virginians have the true claim to the first Thanksgiving.   

On  December  4,  1619 (a year before the Mayflower even set
sail for America)  Captain  John  Woodleif  along  with  his
passengers  and  crew arrived at Berkeley Plantation.  After
spending weeks at sea, the colonists dropped to their  knees
on  the  shore  of the James, and declared, "We ordaine that
the day of our ships  arrival  at  the  place  assigned  for
plantacon  in  the  land  of  Virginia  shall  be yearly and
perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving  to  Almighty
God."                                                       

Even  John F.  Kennedy, a Massachusetts native, acknowledged
our claim in his Thanksgiving  Proclamation  of  1963  (less
than  a  month before his assassination).  one hundred years
earlier, Abraham Lincoln also recognized Virginia as  having
the first Thanksgiving.  Why don't we celebrate this holiday
in December then?  Well, you can thank Mr.   Lincoln  as  he
set  the  tradition for celebrating Thanksgiving on the last
Thursday in November.  In 1863 he made a declaration "to set
apart  and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of
Thanksgiving  and  praise  to  our  beneficent  Father   who
dwelleth in the heavens."                                   

As   Virginians  and  southerners,  you  already  knew  that
Thanksgiving was first  held  below  the  Mason-Dixon  line.
However,  I'll  that  bet few of you know that Berkeley also
holds the claim to the first distillation of bourbon whiskey
in  America.   In  1621  Episcopal  missionary George Thorpe
produced the liquor and believed it to be "much better  than
British ale."                                               

Did you realize that the main course for Thanksgiving dinner
was almost the national bird?  Had Benjamin Franklin had  it
his way, it would have been..  His dislike of the bald eagle
for the national symbol led him to write: "For my own part I
wish  the  Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative
of our Country.  He is a Bird of bad  moral  Character.   He
does  not  get  his  Living honestly.  You may have seen him
perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to
fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk;
and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish,  and
is  bearing  it  to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and
young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him  and  takes  it  from
him.For  the  Truth  the Turkey is in Comparison a much more
respectable Bird, and  withal  a  true  original  Native  of
America.   .He  is  besides, though a little vain & silly, a
Bird of Courage." Can you imagine having  the  turkey  as  a
national symbol?  I am glad we stuck with the eagle!        

Just  as  our  ancestors  found  themselves  at war when Mr.
Lincoln made his declaration we too find ourselves  at  war.
Please  keep  our  country's  brave service men and women in
your thoughts and prayers as  we  celebrate  what  they  are
striving so hard to preserve.                               

I look forward to seeing you at this month's meeting!


					Taylor

ADJUTANT'S REPORT

At our October meeting  brothers  Greenhow  Maury,  III  and
Deane  Maury  submitted their membership applications.  They
have been certified and  sent  to  Headquarters.   We  shall
schedule  an  induction  ceremony upon receipt of membership
certificates  from  HQ.   Greenie  and  Deane   are   lineal
descendants  of  Captain  Lewis Edwin Harvie, Company E, 4th
Virginia  Cavalry.   In  addition,   they   are   collateral
descendants of Matthew Fontaine Maury.                      

Also  at  the October meeting we inducted Walt Beam into the
Longstreet Camp.                                            

Sunday October 16 was a great occasion  for  the  Longstreet
Camp  with  the  dedication  of  markers  for two of General
Longstreet's staff members, Major Samuel  P.   Mitchell  and
Colonel John G.  Clarke, in Hollywood Cemetery.  The weather
and the ceremony were  magnificent.   Remarks  of  Commander
Cowardin  and  Past  Commander  Boyd were appropriate to the
occasion.  Our Gary Cowardin set up a public address  system
which  was  a great help.  Eddie Willard on his drum and Eve
Barenholtz on her fife provided stirring music  which  would
have enabled us to whip the Yankees on any battlefield.  The
color guard of Cold Harbor Guards Camp  #  1764  posted  the
colors.   The  12th  Virginia  Infantry  re-enactors fired a
salute.  The idea for obtaining these markers originated  in
Bobby Krick's informative talk at a Camp Meeting in which he
mentioned that two of General Longstreets's  staff  officers
were  buried  in  unmarked  graves  in  Hollywood.   We  are
indebted to Bobby for bringing this to our attention and  to
all who planned and worked to make this ceremony a reality. 

On  a  gray  Saturday,  October 22, Lewis Mills led our road
cleanup crew in picking up trash from Longstreet's  assigned
one  mile  stretch  of  Studley  Road  (Route  606), Hanover
County, near Enon Church.  Doing this twice a year makes  it
much  easier.   Clint  Cowardin, Gene Golden, and the writer
joined Lewis for this work day.  Between us we have 55 years
military  service  (active  duty  and reserve), making for a
group well experienced in policing up an area.              

Books about The War continue to roll off  the  presses.   An
interesting  recent  one  is  Leaders of the Lost Cause: New
Perspectives on the Confederate High Command, edited by Gary
Gallagher and Joseph Glatthaar.  There are short biographies
of the eight full generals of the Confederate Army.   Robert
E.   Lee, Joseph E.  Johnston, John Bell Hood, and Pierre G.
T.  Beauregard  are  well-known  and  the  subject  of  full
biographies.   Albert  Sydney  Johnston's  untimely death at
Shiloh made his Confederate Army career  less  than  a  year
long.   Next  in fame (or notoriety) is Braxton Bragg, about
whom the less said the better.  The most interesting  essays
to  me in this book are those about Samuel Cooper and Edmund
Kirby Smith, because they are less famous.  Cooper was  well
connected  and  a  bureaucrat  forever.  He and Sydney Smith
Lee, brother of  Robert  E.   Lee,  were  married  to  Mason
sisters, descendants of George Mason.  Kirby Smith had brief
moments of success and fame at 1st Manassas and at Richmond,
Kentucky,    before    being    put   in   charge   of   the
Trans-Mississippi Department.  The Yankees taking control of
the  Mississippi  River  isolated this area from the rest of
the Confederacy.  Smith had broader powers than  other  Army
commanders,  but  he  had  limited  resources  with which to
exercise that power over this enormous territory.           

The most recent issue of the "Old Dominion Voice"  mentioned
another book edited by Gary, along with Alan Nolan, entitled
The Myth of the Lost Cause  and  Civil  War  History.   Bill
Vallante, the author of the article, wrote that the book was
published in 1991 and that Nolan is  a  Wisconsin  attorney.
The  book  was  actually  published in 2000.  Nolan lives in
Indianapolis, Indiana.                                      

Mr.  Vallante castigates  "assorted  camps  within  the  SCV
(which)  still  continue  to  welcome Park Service people as
'guest  speakers,'  greeting  them  cordially,  instead   of
calling them in and holding their feet to the fire." To this
charge, Longstreet pleads guilty.  As long as  Park  Service
historians  such  as Bobby Krick and Mike Gorman continue to
do outstanding and valuable work which is of interest to SCV
members,  we  shall  continue  to  invite them to add to our
knowledge of The War.  Mr.   Vallante's  suggestion  is  not
only  rude,  it  is useless.  When we're invited aboard Navy
ships in Norfolk, we don't sound off to the officer  of  the
deck,  probably  an  ensign or ltjg, about something said or
done by the Chief of Naval Operations, the Secretary of  the
Navy,  or  the  Secretary  of  Defense  with  which we might
disagree.                                                   

While  not  a  Civil  War  book,  Born  Fighting:  How   the
Scots-Irish  Shaped  America,  by  James Webb, devotes three
chapters  to  the  buildup  to  the  War,   the   War,   and
Reconstruction.   In  the first of these chapters he writes,
"The greatest disservice has been the attempt by revisionist
politicians  to defame the entire Confederate Army in a move
that can only be termed the Nazification of the Confederacy.
Often cloaked in the argument over the public display of the
Confederate battle flag, the syllogism goes  something  like
this:  Slavery  was  evil.   The soldiers of the Confederacy
fought for a system that wished to preserve  it.   Therefore
they  were  evil  as  well,  and  any attempt to honor their
service  is  a  veiled  attempt  to  glorify  the  cause  of
slavery."  Webb  goes  on to point out that when Fort Sumter
was fired on there were eight slave states in the Union  and
seven in the Confederacy.                                   

Webb's study of why men fought for the Confederate States of
America led him to write, "The  Confederate  soldier  fought
because  in  his  view  he  was  provoked,  intimidated, and
ultimately invaded, and his leaders had convinced  him  that
this  war was a war of independence in the same sense as the
Revolutionary War."                                         

James Webb was born in Missouri and had  ancestors  on  both
sides  in  The  War.  He is a graduate of the Naval Academy,
was a highly decorated Marine in the Vietnam  War,  and  was
Secretary   of   the   Navy   during   part  of  the  Reagan
Administration.  For more about him, read The  Nightingale's
Song,  by  Robert  Timberg,  a  parallel  biography  of John
McCain, Robert McFarlane, Oliver North, John Poindexter, and
Webb.                                                       

How  refreshing it is to read a defense of our heritage from
this modern American hero.                                  

Born Fighting is available at the Library  of  Virginia  and
the  Henrico County Public Library.  The Library of Virginia
has both the Gary Gallagher edited books.  Timberg's book is
available at the Henrico County Library.                    

				Walter

GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET CAMP #1247
NEXT MEETING-TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2005

ROMA'S RESTAURANT
8330 STAPLES MILL RD.
LOCATED IN "THE SHOPS AT STAPLES MILL"
TURN LEFT AT FIRST STOPLIGHT NORTH OF
THE WISTAR SHOPPING CENTER

DINNER - SOCIAL 6:00 PM

NOVEMBER PROGRAM

Jon Hatfield - Director or the Virginia War Memoral
He will be discussing the historical program they have
put together for the schools of VA.

OCTOBER PROGRAM

MIKE GORMAN

Mike Gorman of Richmond National Battlefield Park  increased
substantially  our  knowledge  of Richmond's Camp Lee in his
outstanding talk at our October meeting.                    

The Camp Lee area's history goes back to  the  Revolutionary
War.  In 1781 Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson was fleeing
Richmond upon learning of the  approach  of  British  troops
commanded  by  General Benedict Arnold.  A skirmish may have
taken place near the site of  the  future  Camp  Lee  before
American  militia  troops  fled,  although Baron Von Steuben
said that no shots were fired.                              

Later there was in the southern part of this area  a  famous
tavern called Scuffletown with a picturesque sign of a globe
with a man's head coming out of the top and his feet  coming
out of the bottom with a motto, "Help a scuffler through the
world."                                                     

Dissatisfied with ferry service across the James River, John
Mayo Sr.  developed plans and invested money into building a
bridge across the James River.  After  his  death,  his  son
John  Jr.  completed the toll bridge and became wealthy.  He
bought 600 acres north  of  Scuffletown  and  built  a  home
called the Hermitage.                                       

The Hermitage was the location of many parties and dances in
the years that followed.  Maria Mayo, beautiful daughter  of
John, Jr., was courted by Winfield Scott as a captain and as
a colonel.  Maria accepted his proposal of marriage when  he
was a general.                                              

In  1835  the RF&P railroad built tracks near the Hermitage,
diminishing its attractiveness.  The home  burned  in  1857.
Two  years  later,  Scott  sold the property to the Virginia
Central  Agricultural  Society  to  be  used  as  the  "new"
fairgrounds, replacing the former site at what is now Monroe
Park.  The brick kitchens, stables,  and  other  subordinate
structures  were  still  there.   The Prince of Wales (later
King Edward VII) visited the fairgrounds in 1860.           

The site hosted the Virginia cavalry  militia  in  November,
1860  and  was  named Camp Lee in honor of Revolutionary War
hero Light Horse Harry  Lee.   Consideration  was  given  to
moving   his  body  there,  but  events  intervened.   After
secession in April 1861 Major  William  Gilham  of  VMI  was
called  to  Richmond  to  command Camp Lee, which became the
training camp for volunteer soldiers.   A  few  weeks  later
Major  Thomas  J.   Jackson  arrived with 100 VMI cadets who
served as drill instructors for the volunteers.  There  were
5,000  soldiers  to train in the first month.  Dress parades
were held at sunset, which attracted many  spectators.   The
volunteers  were not all enthusiastic about being drilled by
the youthful cadets.  One volunteer soldier  wrote,  "To  be
drilled  by  a  fat  little  cadet is miserable.  He made me
sick."                                                      

Camp Lee became the site of the first  Confederate  hospital
and  was  staffed  with  top  flight surgeons.  The Reverend
Moses Drury Hoge was chaplain.                              

Having trained between 25,000 and 50,000 soldiers,  the  VMI
cadets  left in November, 1861.  Camp Lee was described as a
soldier training machine.   Soldiers  trained  at  Camp  Lee
became the backbone of the Army of Northern Virginia.       

Camp Lee's responsibilities were expanded by the addition of
artillery training.  Overall commander was Colonel  John  C.
Shields,  after whom Shields Lake (a municipal swimming pool
of the  1930's  and  1940's)  was  named.   Passage  of  the
conscription  law  brought  draftees  to  the  camp.   These
draftees required more work to train, since they were in the
Army against their will.                                    

Camp  Lee  also  became a place of execution.  At least four
executions took place, the  most  famous  being  Yankee  spy
Timothy  Webster,  who  had to be hanged a second time after
the rope broke on the first try.                            

A further  expansion  of  duties  took  place  when  paroled
prisoners  were  brought to Camp Lee.  The strain of feeding
and sheltering these troops became so burdensome  that  some
were sent home.  That didn't work too well; so, the idea was
abandoned.                                                  

The VMI cadets returned to Camp Lee after the battle of  New
Market.   In March 1865 the Winder-Jackson black Confederate
troops probably trained at Camp Lee.                        

After the Yankees came to occupy Richmond, Camp  Lee  became
headquarters  for  the Union 24th Corps.  Former slaves went
there, and the Freedmens' Bureau set up schools.  The  black
community was called Goree, after an island off the coast of
Senegal, Africa, which had been  significant  in  the  slave
trade.   The Freedmen's Bureau took charge of Camp Lee after
the 24th departed.                                          

Later, two businessmen rented the property and established a
trotting park and beer garden.  It became the fairgrounds in
the late 1800's and stayed that way until World War Two. The
RF&P built Union Station (called Broad Street Station by all
but Yankees) in 1919.                                       

That station was abandoned in the 1970's and became part  of
the  Science  Museum.   The  possible  move  to the adjacent
location of the Museum of the  Confederacy  means  that  the
Museum  will be going to a place of great, but little known,
historical significance.                                    

Columnist's note:                                           
Everyone is indebted to Mike Gorman for his research and for
his  interesting presentation.  Mike has established himself
as a leading authority on Civil War Richmond.  More detailed
information   about  Camp  Lee,  including  copies  of  some
original  sources,  can  be  seen   on   Mike's   web   site
http://www.mdgorman.com    This  site  contains  a wealth of
material about many other aspects of Civil War Richmond.    


				Walter

In Memoriam

We are sorry to announce  the  death  of  Kathleene  Ragland
Boyd, the mother of our Past Commander, Harry J. Boyd.  Mrs.
Boyd passed away on Friday, November 4, 2005.               

She was a resident of Richmond, formerly of Crewe,  Virginia
and  was  the widow of William J.  Boyd.  She is survived by
Harry, his wife, Barbara and three grandchildren,  James  V.
Boyd, Mallory Trickett and Carrie Trickett, all of Richmond.

Graveside  services  were  conducted  at 3:00 P.M.  at Crewe
Cemetery on Tuesday, November 8, 2005.                      

Our heartfelt prayers go out to Harry and his family.

Death is only an old door
Set in a garden wall.

                            Nancy Byrd Turner

LONGSTREET STAFF OFFICERS HONORED
AT HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY

EDDIE WILLARD- DRUM, EVE BARENHOLTZ-FIFE,
THE COLD HARBOR CAMP #1764 COLOR GUARD
AND THE MEN OF THE  12TH  VIRGINIA INFANTRY REGIMENT
PAY THE FINAL SALUTE TO MAJ. SAMUEL P. MITCHELL



WREATHS WERE PLACED BY LONGSTREET CAMP, THE
EDMUND RUFFIN FIRE EATERS CAMP AND THE MILITARY
ORDER OF THE STARS AND BARS



LESLIE UPDIKE OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM LATANE
CAMP #1690 RECITED HIS POEM ENTITLED
'TIS FOR YOU DEAR SIR'



PAST COMMANDER HARRY BOYD AND
COMMANDER TAYLOR COWARDIN OF
GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET CAMP
#1247 CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO
THE CEREMONIES



A DISTINGUISHED GROUP PAID HOMAGE TO
COL. JOHN J.G. CLARK

2003-2004 CAMP OFFICERS
LONGSTREET CAMP #1247
Commander: Taylor Cowardin                   356-9625
1st. Lt. Cmdr.: William F. Shumadine, III    285-4044
2nd Lt. Cmdr.: Michael Kidd	             270-9651
Adjutant/Treasurer: Walter Tucker            360-7247
Judge Advocate: Richard B. Campbell          278-6488
Quartermaster: R. Preston Nuttall            276-8977
Chaplain: Henry V. Langford                  474-1978

PUBLICATIONS
Webmaster: Gary F. Cowardin                  262-0534
Website: longstreetscv.org                           
War Horse:  David P. George                  353-8392

LONGSTREET'S FIRST CORPS

The following is a cumulative listing of contributors to the
upkeep  of  “The  Old  War  Horse” for the period July, 2005
through  the  current  month. As you  know,  our  cumulative
listing starts in July of each year.                        

Harry Boyd
Lloyd Brooks
Brian Cowardin
Taylor Cowardin
Jerold Evans
Charles Howard 
Chris Jewett
Frank Marks
John Moschetti
Joe Moschetti
Joey Seay
Bill Setzer
Austin Thomas
David Thomas
Walter Tucker
David Ware
Harold Whitmore
Hugh Williams

Legend:                                    
* - Multiple contributions                 
§ - Visitor Donation                       
+ - in memory of Past Cmdr. Tom Lauterbach