COMMANDER'S COMMENTS

Well,  the  dog  days  of  summer  are  definitely  upon  us
regardless  of  what the calendar may show - just a friendly
reminder to all members to make  sure  to  drink  plenty  of
liquids  when participating in any outdoor activities during
the days when it is 90+ degrees outside.  It is truly a  bit
ironic  that  as  I am writing my comments, it is June 6th -
D-Day!  It has been called by historians the single  largest
amphibious   assault  on  the  European  continent  -  where
causalities were as high in many units as they  were  during
the War Between the States.                                 

I  am  often  reminded of those casualties,especially when I
think of some of the units that came from Southwest Virginia
near  where  I  grew  up  in  Roanoke.  The city of Bedford,
Virginia suffered  the  highest  causality  figures  of  any
community  in  America  on D-Day, and the good people of the
area have honored those "Boys of Bedford" and all  of  their
comrades with a wonderful memorial in their honor.          

I  have  had  the  honor  of  visiting the D-Day Memorial in
Bedford, Virginia, and I encourage any and all  members  who
have not traveled that way to do so.  It is definitely worth
the time to go, and if you're lucky, you may actually get to
meet  one  of  the  "Boys  of Bedford" who still come to the
memorial.  This the only way that young people can  actually
learn  about the Second World War - by speaking with someone
who was there and lived to talk about it.                   

Back in the late 1970's my family and I moved to live  in  a
community  near  my high school.  One of our neighbors was a
gentleman who had fought in the  South  Pacific  during  the
Second  World War.  He was a wonderful neighbor to have, and
a great source of stories of fighting in the South  Pacific.
When  I go home now to visit, I often think of our neighbor,
Connie Ferguson, and the way that he could tell  a  story  -
and all the fascinating tales he had to tell.               

The  remembrance and preservation of our Southern history is
what being a member of the Sons of Confederate  Veterans  is
all  about  -  I  sometimes  think  that some of our members
forget that, but the bottom line is simple  -  if  we  don't
work  towards  preserving  and remembering our history - who
will ??  Our children ??  Our families ??   Our  friends  ??
Maybe,  but then again maybe not - regardless, we can't take
that chance.  There have been several stories lately of  how
history  in Richmond continues to be replaced (or disappears
completely from view) of other things that are considered to
be   more   important  -  like  parking  lots  and  hospital
"expansions.".  Our school systems have shown us  that  they
are  only  interested  in  teaching  our  children  what the
Commonwealth of Virginia requires them to teach - especially
when it comes to history, and specifically Virginia history,
and nothing more than what is required of  them.   Gone  are
the  days  of  when sitting in an American history class (or
Virginia history for that matter)  meant  actually  learning
some things about American or Virginia history that were not
necessarily printed in a book, but experienced in real  life
by real people.                                             

I  mentioned  this  in a previous Commander's Comments but I
feel it is worth stating again.  As  we  continue  with  our
struggle  of  trying to save our history and our heritage, I
am reminded of what the great  reporter  Edward  R.   Murrow
once  said  - "We can deny our heritage and our history, but
we cannot escape responsibilities for the results."  I  dare
say  that  the  leaders of our fair city should take heed to
Mr.  Murrow's words - as should others as well.             

I was very pleased to have Ms.  Devin  Miller  and  her  two
sons  join with us at our camp meeting last month to discuss
how the Longstreet camp could assist with the  planning  and
coordination  of  the  upcoming  Children of the Confederacy
Convention that will be held  in  July.   I  was  also  very
pleased  to  see  the  response  from Camp members after the
meeting as well - Ms.  Miller sends her many thanks  to  the
Longstreet Camp for its support.                            

I  had the distinct privilege of being present at the recent
Douglas S.  Freeman Senior Awards Night  at  Trinity  United
Methodist   Church   to   present  this  year's  Buck  Hurtt
scholarship award.  It was my pleasure and honor to  present
the  scholarship  to  this year's winner - Emily Anthony.  I
hope Ms.  Anthony and her family  will  attend  one  of  our
up-coming meetings as our guests.                           

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

We were honored to have several distinguished visitors  with
us  at  our  May  meeting.  Representing the Children of the
Confederacy (COC) were UDC member Devin Miller and her  sons
Jacob  and  Zac,  both  COC  members.   Devin  expressed her
appreciation for the donation our Camp made to  the  COC  to
assist   with   expenses  of  that  organization's  national
convention, which is being held in Fredericksburg  in  July.
The theme of this year's convention is "Remember Davis."    

Our  new 2nd Brigade Commander, Mike Thomas, stated that one
of his goals is to have good two way communications  between
the  Virginia  Division  Executive  Council (DEC) and camps.
Mike named four issues to be considered at the DEC's June 29
meeting:                                                    

	
Dues                                           
Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission 
General business                               
New business                                   

Mike intends to visit each camp in the  2nd  Brigade  during
his  two year tenure as Brigade Commander.  We told him that
he  will  always  be  welcome  to  attend  Longstreet   camp
meetings.                                                   

We recently received from Virginia Division Adjutant Michael
Rose a letter containing dues procedure for the fiscal  year
August  1, 2008 through July 31, 2009 and a Camp roster with
a request that we notify him of corrections  needing  to  be
made.  The corrections were emailed to him Saturday, May 31.

In  August  the  Division will mail a renewal dues notice to
every member which will include Camp, National, and Division
dues.   Members  will  be  instructed to mail their dues and
remittance  slips  to  camp  adjutants.    Adjutants   after
depositing  checks  will  mail  to Division periodically the
amounts due National and Division with the remittance  slips
and  with a transmittal letter.  Division will mail National
its  portion  of  dues  every  two  weeks.    Two   distinct
advantages to camps under this new procedure are:           

	1.  The camp will know at all  times  which  members
	have paid;                                          

	2.  The camp will have its portion of dues available
	immediately upon receipt from members and  will  not
	have to wait to receive it from Division.           

The new bill form can be viewed on the  Virginia  Division's
web site.                                                   

Longstreet  Camp  has  four  National  life  members and one
Virginia Division life member.                              

The Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission has  been
named  and  has  a web site http://www.virginiacivilwar.org 
Membership of the Commission consists of 12 members  of  the
Virginia  General  Assembly and three members who are not in
the Virginia legislature.  The latter are outstanding  Civil
War   battlefield  preservationist  Jack  Ackerly,  Virginia
Historical  Society  President  Dr.   Charles   Bryan,   and
Virginia  Tech's outstanding Civil War Professor and author,
Bud Robertson.  The Commission is fortunate to have  men  of
the caliber of these three.  Bud Robertson's experience with
the  1961-1965  Civil  War  Centennial  Commission  will  be
particularly helpful to the Sesquicentennial Commission.  In
addition to the Commission, there is a  49  member  Advisory
Council,  which  includes  such  familiar  names  as Pamplin
Park's Will Greene, our fellow Camp member and Museum of the
Confederacy  President  Waite  Rawls,  both  Bob  Kricks, Ed
Bearss, and  past  Virginia  Division  SCV  Commander  Frank
Earnest.  Let's pray that they have lots of influence.      

The  Commission  is  scheduled  to  meet  June  10th and the
Advisory Council June 24th.                                 

The Commission's Signature Tour kickoff will be at  Harper's
Ferry  June  25-26,  2009  commemorating  John Brown's raid.
Before then I plan to read The Secret Six:  John  Brown  and
the  Abolitionist  Movement, by Otto Scott.  This book sheds
light on the Yankee backers of that murderer  who  became  a
martyr.                                                     

By  the  time you read this, two significant Jefferson Davis
events will have taken place.  The long awaited reopening of
President  Davis's  post war home Beauvoir was scheduled for
Tuesday,   June    3.     Visit    Beauvoir's    web    site
http://www.beauvoir.org.   Second  event  was  the  Virginia
Division's  Jefferson  Davis  commemoration   at   Hollywood
Cemetery Saturday, June 7.                                  

With  the  Sesquicentennial  making more people aware of the
War Between the States from now through 2015, it behooves us
more  than  ever  to stand up for our great heritage and for
our ancestors who defended their states  and  their  nation,
the  Confederate  States of America.  All of them gave much,
and some gave  all  in  that  terrible  war  brought  on  by
political  leaders who chose to ignore how the United States
of America was created and who chose further to violate  the
Constitution  which  was  the bedrock of our government from
1788 until 1861.                                            

					Walter

GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET CAMP #1247

NEXT MEETING - TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 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

JUNE PROGRAM

Our speaker will be Arthur Candenquist and his topic will be
"The Great Train Robbery.  Stonewall Jackson's appropriation
of the B&O Railroad Equipment in 1861.                      

MAY PROGRAM

Brent Morgan, a retired employee of Graybar Electric Company
and   an   amateur  genealogist,  gave  a  very  interesting
presentation on researching ancestors which he titled "Civil
War  Gen  Research." He used "Gen" because "genealogical" is
too long.                                                   

He gave us a charge worthy of Stephen Dill Lee, "We need  to
keep the true history alive."                               

Brent  suggested  talking  to our oldest living relatives to
learn of the stories they have heard and to  get  from  them
any  written  materials  of  our  ancestors.  In his case he
obtained valuable information from his great Aunt Hazel.    

He recommended a number of books and web  sites  helpful  in
research.   He  gave  us a three-page handout listing these.
Please contact me if you'd like to have a copy of this.     

Brent then took  us  through  several  interesting  findings
about his ancestors.                                        

The  National  Archives  contain  a  wealth  of information.
Confederate pension records are housed in state libraries.  

He gave us a great quote by David McCullough in one  of  the
National  Archives  publications, "The feeling you have when
working with this surpassing, national  collection  is  that
nothing  and  no one has been lost.  That may have seemed at
first a mountainous dusty old paper-deadly  stuff  from  the
dead  past-becomes  vital  evidence.   You  are  caught  up,
carried  forward  by  all  the  elements  of  surprise   and
fascination.                                                

It  is  what is called the serendipity of original research.
The driving force is the excitement of discovery.  You  feel
a  bond  with  those  vanished  people.   They  are not just
anybody and nobody any more and they will never be  for  you
ever again.                                                 

'This  building  holds  in trust the records of our national
life' reads an inscription...  and it  is  that  feeling  of
life that draws us here.                                    

That  above  all.   We  can never know enough about those in
whose footsteps we follow.  We  will  never  tire  of  their
stories.   As  much as has already been found in the records
of our past there is still more to be found, much more."    

					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
Ray Crews*
Jerold Evans
Kitty Faglie
Richard Faglie
Michael Hendrick
Michael Kidd
Peter Knowles
Lewis Mills
Conway Moncure
Robert Moore
Joe Moschetti
John Moschetti
Preston Nuttall
Peyton Roden
Bill Setzer
Rufus Sarvay
Will Shumadine
Austin Thomas
Mike Thomas
Walter Tucker*
John Vial
Jerry Wells
David Ware
Harold Whitmore
Bobby Williams
Hugh Williams 
Keith Zimmerman

In memory of Robert Mahone
Raymond Crews

In memory of Hef Ferguson and Chuck Walton
Preston Nuttall & Walter Tucker

In Memory of Ed Thornton 
Walter Tucker

Legend:                                    
* - Multiple contributions                 

BUCK HURTT SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

The Buck  Hurtt  Scholarship  Award  given  by  the  General
Longstreet  Camp  # 1247, Sons of Confederate Veterans, is a
one-  time  financial  grant   awarded   annually   to   the
outstanding senior history student, as chosen by the history
faculty, at Douglas  S.   Freeman  High  School  of  Henrico
County.

The  purpose  of  the  award is to assist the recipient with
first-year college expenses.                                

Longstreet Camp Commander Charles E.   "Chuck"  Walton,  Jr.
presented the first award in June 2003.  Chuck died suddenly
and unexpectedly of a heart attack  one  month  later.   The
Camp   decided   then   to  name  the  award  after  Chuck's
Confederate ancestor William H.  "Buck" Hurtt, a farm boy of
King and Queen County, Virginia.                            

Buck Hurtt enlisted as a private in Company C, 26th Virginia
Infantry Regiment of the Army of the Confederate  States  of
America  at  Gloucester  Point, Virginia, July 20, 1861.  He
transferred to Company G of the  same  regiment  August  13,
1863.                                                       

Buck Hurtt and a number of his fellow soldiers were captured
at Jordan's Farm, near Petersburg, July 15,  1864.   He  was
taken  first  to  the prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout,
Maryland and later to a similar camp at  Elmira,  New  York.
Both  camps  were notorious for harsh treatment of prisoners
and for terrible living conditions.   Buck  died  at  Elmira
March  14,  1865,  only three weeks before General Robert E.
Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox,
effectively ending the War Between the States.              

Buck  is  buried  in  grave  #  2382  at  Woodlawn  National
Cemetery, Elmira.  The Confederate flag flies every day over
the Confederate section of the cemetery.                    

Buck's  surname  is  spelled  with  one  "t" in contemporary
Confederate records.  However, Chuck Walton told us that his
mother  spelled  it  with  two "t's", and he wasn't about to
contradict his mother!                                      

The scholarship donors as of 4/15/08 were:                  

Brian Cowardin			Clint Cowardin 
Michael Hendrick		Lewis Mills    
Bob Moore			Preston Nuttall
Waite Rawls			Peyton Roden   
Rufus Sarvay			Walter Tucker  
Tom Vance			Will Wallis    

(Plus many anonymous members over this year  and  last,  who
put something in the "pot" at each meeting.)                

CALENDAR OF VIRGINIA EVENTS


JUNE  12  "Moses  Ezekiel:  Civil  War   Soldier,   Renowned
Sculptor"  lecture  in  the  Robins  Family  Forum, Virginia
Historical Society, Richmond, Noon.  Keith Gibson  lecturer.
For information, (804)698-7661, www.virginiahistorical.org

JUNE  13  "In  the Vortex: A Walk on the Slaughter Pen Farm"
with Frank O'Reilly, 7 p.m.  For information  Fredericksburg
and  Spotsylvania  National Military Park, (540) 373-6122 or
(540) 373-5167.

JUNE  16  Richmond  Battlefields  Association  annual  tour,
speakers  and  meeting  at  the  White  House Landing on the
Pamunkey  River,  New  Kent  County.   Members  and   public
welcome.       For      information:     (866)     808-1861;
www.saverichmondbattlefields.org

JUNE 20 "Bloody Homecoming: David Kyle and The Ordeal of the
Bullocks,"  with  Greg  Mertz.   7  p.m.  from Hooker Drive,
Chancellorsville     Battlefield.      For      information:
Fredericksburg  and Chancellorsville National Military Park.
(540) 373-6122 or (540) 373-5167.

JUNE 20-23 "The Road to Appomattox" three day tour of  Lee's
retreat  to  Appomattox in April 1865, Led by Chris Calkins,
Jeffry Wert, Eric Wittenberg.  Includes Five Forks,  A.   P.
Hill's death site, Pamplin Historic Park, White Oak Road and
Battlefield Park, Lewis Farm, Sutherland  Station,  Sailor's
Creek,   High  Bridge,  Appomattox  Courthouse.   Hosted  by
Shenandoah  Civil  War  Associates.   For  Information:  Ben
Fordney,   (540)   433-2275.    Registration,   events   and
conferences,  James  Madison  University,  (540)   568-8043;
www.shencivilwar.org

JUNE   21-22  12TH  Annual  Civil  War  Weekend  at  Pamplin
Historical Park, Petersburg.  Living History Demonstrations,
lectures, book signings, storytelling, musical performances.
For information, (804) 861-2408; www.pamplinpark.org

JUNE  27  History  Revealed:  Civil  War  Secrets   on   the
University  of Mary Washington Campus with Eric Mink, 7 p.m.
For information, Fredericksburg  and  Spotsylvania  National
Park.  (540) 373-6122 or (540) 373-5167.

SECOND BRIGADE COMMANDER
VISITS OUR CAMP!



Commander Mike Thomas

We were greatly honored to have Mike  with  us  at  our  May
meeting.   It was a pleasure for all to meet him and to have
the opportunity to  speak  with  him.   We  wish  him  great
success  and  hope  that he will return to Longstreet in the
future.                                                     

2008 BUCK HURTT PRESENTATION


Commander Kidd presents the award
to our 2008 winner, Emily Anthony

Congratulations, Emily!  You have our very  best  wishes  as
you start your new life!                                    


"Add the fact  that  to  have  conscientiously  studied  the
liberal  arts  refines behaviour and does not allow it to be
savage."                                                   
			Ovid 43 B.C--A.D. 17

CHILDREN OF THE CONFEDERACY VISIT US!


Mrs. Devin Miller (UDC) and her
two sons Jacob and Jack (COC)

We certainly enjoyed our visit with these Confederates! Such
a bright and happy trio to come before our camp and for such
a good cause.                                               

We wish them a successful and great national  convention  at
Fredericksburg in July!!                                    


"The childhood shows the man,
as morning shows the day. Be famous then
By wisdom: as thy empire must extend,
So let extend thy mind o"er all the world."

			John Milton  1608-1674

CAMP AUTHORS AND SPEAKERS

Longstreet is made up of a group of  wonderful  Compatriots,
many  of  whom  are real historians fascinated by the people
involved, both civilian and military, in  the  rise  of  the
Confederacy,  its  struggle  as  a nation under fire and its
defeat and occupation.                                      

Many  of  you  have  anecdotes,  family  papers,  your   own
research,  etc.  that all of us would like you to share with
us.                                                         

Consider writing an article or a book review for publication
in  the "Old War Horse" or making a presentation of your own
before the camp.                                            
			                     Dave