COMMANDER'S COMMENTS

I would like to wish all members of the  Longstreet  Camp  a
belated  Happy New Year.  January always seems to bring with
it a  renewed  sense  of  hope  for  us  all  -  New  Year's
resolutions;   the   beginning   of   a  new  year  and  new
opportunities, but it also does give us the chance to  pause
for a moment and reflect on the past year's accomplishments.
Certainly all members of the Longstreet Camp can  appreciate
and relate to this philosophy.                              

The  new  year  also brings with it opportunities.  From the
political arena - we have  the  beginning  of  the  campaign
season   for  the  next  President  of  the  United  States.
Primaries and caucuses  have  already  taken  place  in  two
states  and  more  will  be  happening  in  the coming weeks
including in Virginia.  We will also be having a  change  in
the  leadership  of the Virginia Division occurring in April
when the annual State Convention will  be  held  April  4-6,
here  in  Richmond.  Another opportunity that we have facing
us is the annual History and Heritage Parade  that  will  be
held  on Sunday, April 6th here in Richmond.  As a member of
the Parade committee, I  have  had  the  opportunity  to  be
involved  with the planning and implementation of the Parade
for the last several years-along  with  John  Henry  Taylor,
Harry  Boyd, Taylor Cowardin, and Commander Rob Millikin.  I
hope that all members of the  Virginia  Division,  not  just
those  of the Longstreet Camp, realize that this parade is a
vast undertaking each and every year, and that those  of  us
on the parade committee, and those that assist on the day of
the parade, give of our time  freely.   What  has  become  a
concern  for the parade committee is the continued dwindling
numbers of members of the Virginia Division each  year.   It
almost  seems  that there is a belief amongst the membership
that while the parade maybe  for  all  the  members  of  the
Virginia  Division  -  most members of the Virginia Division
choose not to participate because of what can only be termed
as  petty  differences.   Well  - to me anyway, the time has
come for ALL MEMBERS OF THE VIRGINIA DIVISION to  put  aside
the  petty differences that they may have with leadership or
other members, and remember that we have a common goal  here
- that we wish for the Commonwealth of Virginia to recognize
the month of  April  as  Confederate  History  and  Heritage
Month.   It's  rather  easy  for someone to say - when asked
about our recognition, that why should  they  recognize  the
SCV  when  even  the  members of the Virginia Division won't
come out and publicly show their support.   In  my  opinion,
the  days  of sitting around and saying - Well somebody else
will do it - are over.  To me, this is the responsibility of
EVERY  MEMBER of the Virginia Division - because if we don't
support this parade - who will??                            

For those of you who were able to attend the Longstreet Camp
Christmas  Banquet in December at the Westwood Club - I hope
that you enjoyed the evening.  We had a  wonderful  turnout,
and  there  was  good  food  and  much  fellowship and I was
particularly pleased to see the many guests who were able to
join us that night.  Definitely it was a wonderful evening. 

As  a  reminder to all the members of the Longstreet Camp, a
proposed book to be developed with the help  of  members  of
the  Virginia  Division-SCV is in the planning stages.  This
book will contain photographs of our ancestors that  we  are
able to make copies of, and supply a small, but vital bit of
historical information.   This  book  arrangement  is  being
coordinated by Rosemarie Kidd (no relation), a member of the
UDC Chapter in  Hampton,  VA  -  and  is  being  coordinated
through  Arcadia Books.  I strongly encourage all members of
the Longstreet Camp to participate in this  venture-likewise
if  you  know  of  any members of other SCV camps within the
Virginia Division tell them about this so they can get their
camp  members  to  participate.  This book is for us and our
ancestors and their families - this is  our  chance  to  get
their  stories  out  for everyone to see and read.  There is
additional information  about  the  project  posted  on  the
Virginia Division web-site.                                 

I  have  been  asked  by  a  member of the UDC to see if the
Longstreet camp would be interested in  assisting  with  the
planning  and  coordination  of the upcoming Children of the
Confederacy Convention that will be held in July.  I hope to
have more details to pass along to you in the coming months.
Also, try to come to the State Capitol building  on  January
18th  at  6  p.m.   for  the  annual Lee-Jackson celebration
sponsored by the Virginia Division SCV and  the  UDC.   This
year's  program  will be back in the Old House Chambers.  It
promises to be an exciting evening.                         

Remember - "Longstreet is the camp  boys-Longstreet  is  the
camp!"                                                      

I look forward to seeing everyone at our next camp meeting! 

Deo Vindice!                                                
					Mike

ADJUTANT'S REPORT

A membership application has been sent to  headquarters  for
Joseph  Sterling  Price,  whose ancestor Jesse Calhoun Price
served in the  10th  South  Carolina  Infantry.   Compatriot
Price,  an  Air  Force retiree, presently lives in Ohio, but
plans to move to Vriginia.  He  is  an  admirer  of  General
Longstreet, which is why he selected our Camp.              

Another  new member of Longstreet Camp is Chris Trinite, who
was a member of another local camp.  Chris and his  wife  BJ
have  attended  several  of our Christmas banquets, but were
unable to do so this year because of a scheduling  conflict.
Chris's   business,   Bunkie  Trinite  Trophies,  makes  the
Longstreet Camp individual name badges  which  some  of  our
members  own.   Please  see  me at a future meeting if you'd
like to order one.                                          

We welcome these two gentlemen to our  Camp.   We  have  had
nine  additions  to  the Camp since July 1.  Four are new to
the  SCV.   The  others  are  transfers  or  reinstatements.
Unfortunately,  two  of  our members have passed since then,
and several did not renew.                                  

Camp member Gene Lyon had surgery again  in  November.   His
recovery  is  progressing  nicely.  We wish him the best and
hope that he'll be back with us at a meeting soon.          

We were pleased  to  have  Mr.   and  Mrs.   Donald  Jewett,
parents  of  our  late member Chris, Jean Mahone, widow, and
Kare Faudree, granddaughter of Robert  (Butch)  Mahone,  and
Ann  Lauterbach,  widow  of  our past Camp Commander Tom, as
guests at our Christmas banquet.                            

Congratulations to Camp member Joe Keller  who  was  one  of
eight veterans receiving Congressional Veteran Commendations
presented by 7th District Congressman  Eric  Cantor  at  the
Virginia War Memorial November 20, 2007.                    

Marine Corporal Joe at the age of 18 was one of the first to
land on Pelelieu, one of the Palau Islands  in  the  Pacific
Ocean in September 1944.  Joe was wounded by a Japanese hand
grenade and almost killed by a Japanese  artillery  barrage.
After  recovering, he served on Okinawa, where he maneuvered
his tank to save his crew under enemy fire.                 

Okinawa, although the campaign lasted  longer  and  produced
more  casualties than Iwo Jima, is often overshadowed by Iwo
because of the famous flag raising photo on the latter.  Our
nation  will  always  be indebted to those who serve in such
terrible battles and to those who support the men in combat.

Admiral William  F.   Halsey  tried  to  have  the  Pelelieu
campaign  called off before it occurred, feeling that it was
unnecessary  for  General  MacArthur's   invasion   of   the
Phillipines.   Some postwar students shared Halsey's belief.
Obviously, those above Halsey felt otherwise.  Several years
after  World War Two, Rear Admiral Jesse B.  Oldendorf wrote
to the  Director  of  Marine  Corps  History,  "If  military
leaders were gifted with the same accuracy of foresight that
they are with hindsight, undoubtedly the assault and capture
of the Palaus would never have been attempted."             

 Our  associate  member Dave Ware is commander of James City
 Cavalry Camp # 2095.  This  camp  was  formed  in  2005  by
several  members  of the Longstreet Camp living in that area
and has enjoyed good growth.  There was a  nice  front  page
story  about  the Camp in the November 30, 2007 issue of the
Toano-Norge Times.                                          

January is the birth month of Matthew Fontaine Maury, Robert
E.   Lee,  and  Stonewall Jackson, whose accomplishments and
character cannot be diminished by  moderns  reading  history
backwards.   Those gentlemen acted on the basis of principle
and loyalty.  In 1861 their loyalty was initially  to  their
state.   When  their  state became part of a new nation, the
Confederate States of America, the  loyalty  transferred  to
their  new  country.   There will always be much of value to
learn from  the  lives  of  these  outstanding  men.   Let's
celebrate  their  birthdays  at  the  State  Capitol Friday,
January 18.                                                 

Please communicate with your  representatives  to  encourage
them  to  preserve Fort Monroe as the national treasure that
it is.  Robert E.  Lee was stationed at the  fort.   Abraham
Lincoln   visited   there.   Jefferson  Davis  was  unjustly
imprisoned there.  In Fort Monroe's Chapel of the  Centurion
there is a marker on the pew where General (later President)
Dwight D.  Eisenhower sat during the wedding of his son.    

This site belongs to the citizens of the United states,  and
not  just to the citizens of Hampton, Virginia.  The Army is
closing the base.  Some who feel that  all  land  should  be
developed  would  love  to erect buildings around the moated
fort.  We in  Richmond  have  seen  what  can  happen  to  a
treasured   historic   site  by  looking  at  the  buildings
constructed in the last few years around the Museum  of  the
Confederacy.                                                

In  December 13 a petition with 97 signatures (including our
members who signed at our  November  meeting)  was  sent  to
Commonwealth  of  Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources L.
Preston Bryant, Jr.  urging him to preserve the  fort.   Mr.
Bryant's response was received a week later.  Visit web site
http://www.cfmnp.org and get  involved  in  this  worthwhile
effort.                                                     

					Walter

GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET CAMP #1247

NEXT MEETING - TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2008

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
MEETING STARTS AT 7:00 PM

JANUARY PROGRAM

Our guest speaker will be Jeff Toalson, who will  cover  the
final  months  of  our  Confederate  nation  during  the War
Between the States.                                         

He will have copies of his book, No soap, No pay,  Diarrhea,
Dysentery  &  Desertion:  A  Composite  Dairy of the Last 16
Months of the Confederacy from 1864 to  1865  available  for
purchase and will autograph copies at the meeting.          

Southern Humor

Young feller, you will never appreciate  the  potentialities
of the English language until you have heard a Southern mule
driver search the soul of a mule."

			Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

DECEMBER PROGRAM

The result of the combination of a dramatic speaker  and  an
interesting  subject  is  a  most  enjoyable  evening.  John
Quarstein delighted us as  he  talked  about  John  Bankhead
Magruder, late known as "Prince John."                      

Magruder  was born in Port Royal, Virginia and attended Moss
Neck School.  Highlights of his college years  were  riotous
Christmas  parties at the University of Virginia in 1824 and
at the United States Military Academy in  1827.   Courts  of
inquiry  at  both  places  concluded  that  Magruder was not
guilty of any offenses and had merely stirred the eggnog.   

Magruder did attain the rank of Cadet Sergeant at West Point
and graduated 38th in a class of 64 in 1830.                

Magruder's  uncle  James  Bankhead  was  a friend of General
Winfield Scott and was able to have him transferred  to  the
artillery.                                                  

Marriage  to  the wealthy Henrietta Von Kapff enabled him to
throw lavish parties.  To a British officer questioning  him
about  how  he  could  afford  such  on  a lieutenant's pay,
Magruder responded "What pay?"                              

While serving as  a  captain  in  Corpus  Christi,  Magruder
indulged his penchant for drama while producing plays.      

Service  in the Mexican War won him three brevet promotions,
the highest to Lieutenant Colonel.  Magruder  was  described
as  a brave and Peacetime duties were not too strenuous, and
Magruder passed the bar in  North  Carolina,  Maryland,  and
California.   He  speculated  in land.  Henrietta, tiring of
him, moved to Italy.                                        

Service followed at Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island  and
at Fort Leavenworth.  At the latter he produced plays viewed
by an audience of drunken Indians and prairie dogs.         

Magruder was stationed  in  Washington,  DC,  when  Virginia
seceded  and  returned  to  his  native  state  to become an
artillery colonel.  He successfully led  Confederate  forces
to  victory at Big Bethel June 1861.  He challenged Benjamin
Butler to a duel.  Promotion followed to major general.     

On the Peninsula, he constructed three defensive  lines  and
marched   his   13,000  soldiers  back  and  forth,  leading
McClellan to believe that his army of more than 100,000  was
facing  an  army of 200,000.  At one point in the Seven Days
campaign, Magruder's division held off  four  Yankee  Corps.
His  disastrous  piecemeal assaults at Malvern Hill cost him
the respect of Lee.                                         

Magruder then went to Texas and liberated Galveston.   After
the  war,  he  went  to Mexico and became a major general in
Maximilian's army.   Following  the  latter's  downfall,  he
returned  home  and  gave lectures in New York and Virginia.
Houston, Texas became his home, where he died in 1871.      

Magruder performed well in the early peninsula campaign  and
in  Texas.   Poor  performance in other places imply that he
did more than stir the egg nog.                             

					Walter

2005-2008 CAMP OFFICERS
LONGSTREET CAMP #1247
Commander: Michael Kidd	                     270-9651
1st. Lt. Cmdr.: Taylor Cowardin              359-9277
2nd Lt. Cmdr.: Thomas G. Vance	             282-6278
Adjutant/Treasurer: Walter Tucker            360-7247
Judge Advocate: Harry Boyd                   741-2060
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                  200-1311

LONGSTREET'S FIRST CORPS

The following is a listing of contributors to the upkeep  of
"The  Old  War  Horse" from July, 2007.  through the current
month.  As you know, our cumulative listing starts  in  July
of each year and we do not meet in August.                  

Lloyd Brooks*
Brian Cowardin
Clint Cowardin
Gary Cowardin
Taylor Cowardin
Jerold Evans
Kitty Faglie
Richard Faglie
Michael Hendrick
Michael Kidd
Peter Knowles,II
Lewis Mills
Robert Moore
Joe Moschetti
John Moschetti
Peyton Roden
Bill Setzer
Austin Thomas
John Vial
Jerry Wells
David Ware
Bobby Williams
Hugh Williams 

In memory of Robert Mahone-Raymond Crews
In memory of Hef Ferguson and Chuck Walton-Walter Tucker

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

CHRISTMAS BANQUET 2007