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.  Hope is certainly something that I think  we
all  will  agree is needed this year as we charge full force
into 2009.                                                  

If you are like me you know people who  have  been  directly
affected  by  the  recent economic downturn in the economy -
from a decrease  in  sales,  to  housing  foreclosures,  and
people  losing  their  jobs.   Companies  that  have  called
Richmond home have had to either make  some  very  difficult
decisions  with  employee  lay-offs,  or  simply close their
doors for good.  Employees have seen their job benefits  get
cut  back  or  get  cut out completely leaving their familes
without any insurance coverage.  This economic downturn  has
affected everyone, and unfortunately I feel it will continue
for some time.  We have not seen anything  like  this  since
easily the early 1930's, but we should take some solace from
a much earlier time  when  things  were  a  lot  harder  and
harsher  than  they  are  now.   Remember  the  riots around
Richmond ??  Bread riots ??  Hard  to  believe  but  it  did
actually  happen  during  the WBTS - riots in the streets of
Richmond because there was not enough flour, bread, food and
clothing to feed and clothe the Southern populace.  Inflation
was rampant, and wide-spread; unemployment was  through  the
roof;  our  Southern economy was in total shambles - the war
had exacted a heavy toll on the Southern  people-men,  women
and  children.   Yet  these  same Southern people persevered
through it  all.   They  withstood  the  constant  harassing
attacks from Northern Cavalry, and they defended their homes
and their families, often at the expense of their own lives,
and  when  the  fighting  was  finally  over  they helped to
rebuild their homes and their communities.  They  persevered
through it all, and so can we.                              

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 as much as I did.  We had a
wonderful turnout, a great guest speaker (Thank  you  Taylor
and Walter), 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-especially  Patricia Walton.
Definitely it was a wonderful evening.                      

A reminder that the annual Lee-Jackson program will be  held
again  this month at the old House Chambers in the renovated
State Capitol  Building.   The  ceremony  will  be  held  on
Friday,  January 16th, and will start at 6 P.M.  If you have
never attended, or haven't attended in a while - I encourage
you  to  do  so.   The  event  is  sponsored by the Virginia
Division SCV and the UDC, and it promises to be an  exciting
evening.                                                    

I  have  been  asked  to  remind  all  the  members  of  the
Longstreet Camp, a proposed book is being developed with the
help  of  members  of  the Virginia Division-SCV.  This book
will contain photographs of our ancestors that we  are  able
to  copy  and  furnish  along with a small, but vital bit of
historical information for each.  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 any members of other SCV Camps within
the Virginia Division, let them know about this so they  can
get  their  camp members to participate in it.  This book is
for us, our ancestors and  their  families  -  this  is  our
chance to get their stories out for everyone to see and read
about.                                                      

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

Membership certificate of our newest member Donald E. Jewett
has  been  received from headquarters, and we plan to induct
him at our January 20 meeting.  Don is  the  father  of  our
late  member  Chris Jewett.  Their ancestor Armistead Nelson
Wellford was a surgeon at Hospital # 9 in Richmond.         

Saturday weather finally cleared November 22, enabling Clint
Cowardin,  Lee  Crenshaw, Gene Golden, Lewis Mills and me to
clean up our one  mile  section  of  Studley  Road,  Hanover
County near Enon Church.  There seemed to be much less trash
to pick up this time.  Perhaps the recession  caused  people
to  drive less and eat more at home.  Many thanks to all who
helped.                                                     

Thanks also to Peyton Roden for appealing to the Camp at our
November meeting for donations to the Buck Hurtt Scholarship
Fund.  Several members responded, putting  us  in  a  better
position.   Reasonable  contributions  from  now through May
will enable us to again award $ 500.00  to  the  outstanding
senior history student at Douglas S. Freeman High School.   

January  is a time for reflection, as well as a time to look
ahead.   Three  events  stand  out  in  2008,  the  year  of
Jefferson  Davis.   The  Museum  of  the  Confederacy  (MOC)
sponsored two events, a symposium in February  held  at  the
Library  of  Virginia  featuring four historians focusing on
different aspects of the Confederacy's only  president.   In
September  the  MOC  presented  a  panel of three historians
speaking on  the  prospective  treason  trial  of  President
Davis.   One  panelist  was  Kent  Masterson  Brown,  widely
advertised as a speaker at the  February  2009  Lincoln  vs.
Davis program in Charleston SC sponsored by the Stephen Dill
Lee Institute.  A second speaker was Clint  Johnson,  author
of  Pursuit:  The  Chase,  Capture, Persecution & Surprising
Release of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Sandwiched
between  these  was  the Virginia Division SCV's outstanding
June commemoration of President Davis's  200th  birthday  at
Hollywood Cemetery.                                         

Looking  ahead, 2009 will see the beginning of activities of
the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States  (SWBTS).
Opening  event  of  the  Virginia Commission SWBTS will be a
signature conference Wednesday April 29 at the University of
Richmond  chaired  by  its  president Dr.  Edward L.  Ayers.
Outstanding historian Gary Gallagher  will  be  one  of  the
speakers.   The  conference  is  free,  but  registration is
required.  a box lunch priced at  $13.00  can  be  reserved,
with  payment being made the day of the event.  Registration
can be made on  the  website  of  the  Virginia  Commission,
http://www.virginiacivilwar.org.   You  can  also sign up on
the  website  to  receive  informational  emails  from   the
Commission.   We  have our work cut out for us over the next
seven years in seeing  that  the  history  of  this  crucial
period in our nation's history is not distorted through 21st
century lenses.                                             

Several events will be taking place in the first two  months
of  the  year  to  honor Confederate heroes in the months of
their births.  The Virginia  Division  SCV  will  sponsor  a
program  Friday  January  16  at  the  State Capitol at 6 PM
commemorating the birthdays of Robert E.  Lee and  Stonewall
Jackson.    The  same  two  gentlemen,  along  with  Matthew
Fontaine  Maury,  will  be  honored  by   the   Stuart-Mosby
Historical  Society  (SMHS)  at 11 AM Saturday January 17 at
the same location.  On Saturday February 7 SMHS will hold  a
service  at  the  Hollywood  Cemetery grave of General James
Ewell Brown Stuart.                                         

I look forward to seeing you at our January 20th meeting.

					Walter

GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET CAMP #1247

NEXT MEETING - TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2009

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 SPEAKER

Our good friend, Mike Gorman,  will  present  a  program  on
historical   War  Between  the  States  era  photographs  of
Richmond that have been restored and digitized and  are  now
available on the website of The Library of Congress.        

Programs  of  this  type  exhibit  the  unbelievable quality
obtained  from  glass  negative  restoration  using   modern
computer technology.                                        

Be  sure  to  attend  this  meeting  and  bring a guest or a
prospective member.  It will amaze and entertain them.      

NOVEMBER PROGRAM

Past Virginia Division Commander Henry Kidd spoke about  his
historical  novel  Petersburg,  War  on  the Doorstep, which
covered the action in that area from June 17 through  August
1, 1864.  The book moves chronologically through the period,
telling what is going with both armies, both at  the  fronts
and  at  headquarters.   In  Henry's  words  the  book is "a
historical novel, where all the history is true."           

On  June  17  the  Yankees  breached  the  second  line   of
Confederate   works.    General  Beauregard  was  frustrated
because he had been sending messages to General Lee for  two
days telling him that Grant's army was attacking Petersburg.
He was unable  to  produce  the  proof  that  Lee  demanded.
Beauregard's  men  later captured prisoners from the Yankees
II and VI Corps, providing the needed evidence.   Beauregard
then  sent  Major  Giles  Cooke  to  Lee  with  the critical
message.                                                    

In the Union lines east of Petersburg,  General  Ledlie  was
drunk and unable to function.                               

As  the  bulk  of the Confederate army came into Petersburg,
local citizens welcomed particularly the 12th Virginia  with
its large contingent of local boys.                         

Colonel  Henry  Pleasants  of  the 48th Pennsylvania (mostly
coal miners) received only lukewarm support from  Meade  and
Grant  for  his  idea  of digging a tunnel under Confederate
lines.  They agreed primarily because it would keep the  men
busy.  Digging began at the end of June.  Confederates could
hear digging and were able  to  investigate  down  16  feet.
However, the Yankees were 30 feet down.                     

Pleasants  asked for 12,000 pounds of black powder, but only
received 8,000.  Yankees lit a fuse at 3:30 AM July 30.  With
no immediate explosion, two men were sent in, and they found
a break in the fuse.  This was repaired  and  the  explosion
took  place  at  4:44  AM.  Soldiers and earth were sent 200
feet up  in  the  air.   Miraculously,  a  couple  of  South
Carolina  soldiers  survived,  but  were partially buried by
falling earth.  Yankee soldiers helped dig them out.        

General Burnside selected a black division  to  attack,  but
Meade got cold feet, changed Burnside's order of battle, and
had another group lead the assault.  Eight hundred of Little
Billy Mahone's soldiers stopped the black troops and gave no
quarter.  Some Union doctors would not tend to black troops,
saying, "We're not going to soil our hands."                

Fortunately  for  all,  a  cease fire two days later enabled
both sides to deal with the dead and wounded.               

The Battle of the Crater was a Union disaster.  Once  again,
the  infamous  Ledlie  had  a  part  in  the defeat.  Finger
pointing began, as Meade  and  Burnside  each  attempted  to
blame  the other.  A Meade stacked court of inquiry assigned
the blame to Burnside in its decision rendered September  9,
1864.   The  Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of
the War convened December 1864 and concluded  February  1865
assigned primary responsibility to Meade.  Meade remained in
command of the Army of the Potomac.  Burnside resigned  from
the Army April 14, 1865.  In civilian life he was successful
in  railroads,  industry  and  politics.   He  was   elected
governor  of  Rhode  Island  three  times  and served in the
United States senate from 1874  until  his  death  September
1881.                                                       

					Walter

2005-2009 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, 2008.  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
Taylor Cowardin
Raymond Crews
Mike Hendrick
Jack Kane
Peter Knowles,II
Bob Moore
Joe Moschetti
John Moschetti
Waite Rawls
Bill Setzer
Tom Spivey
Walter Tucker
John Vial
David Ware
Harold Whitmore
Bobbie Williams
Hugh Williams

Legend:                                    
* - Multiple contributions                 

HURTT SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Lee Crenshaw
Jack Kane
Peter Knowles, II
Joe Moschetti
Walter Tucker
Hugh Williams
Tom Vance
Anonymous

VIRGINIA DIVISION, SCV FUND

Walter Beam
Crawley Joyner
Bob Moore
Cary Shelton

DECEMBER BANQUET !!
 

Once  again  we  had  a  program  where  the  written  words
describing  it  are  woefully inadequate to convey the drama
and the  emotion  of  the  performance.   At  our  Christmas
banquet  at  the  Westwood Club retired attorney Bill Young,
co-author with his wife Patsy of the regimental  history  of
the  56th  Virginia  Infantry,  became  the  Reverend George
Williamson Finley.  Bill dressed and spoke as  Finley  would
have done in 1908, that year being 45 years after the Battle
of Gettysburg, where Finley was a lieutenant in the 56th..  

Finley, first  a  student  at  Hampden-Sydney  and  later  a
graduate  of  Washington  College  (now Washington and Lee),
married Margaret Elizabeth Booker  in  1859.   In  May  1861
Finley joined the Confederate Army.                         

The   56th,   of   Garnett's  Brigade,  Pickett's  Division,
Longstreet's First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, marched
into Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863.  The regiment spent
the night of 1 July at Chambersburg.  They were  ordered  to
cook  three  days'  rations,  a  sure  sign  of an impending
battle.  They marched 25 miles and made camp at Marsh Creek,
seeing no action 2 July.                                    

The  following  morning the bugle sounded at 3 AM.  The 56th
marched to a wheat field behind Spangler's Woods.  They were
ordered  to  lie down and case colors.  A signal gun at 1 PM
marked the opening of a two hour  artillery  duel  with  the
Yankees.   When  the firing ceased, the regiment saw General
Longstreet, affectionately known as "Old Pete,"  riding  the
Confederate  lines.  General Pickett gave the order to stand
up.  42 regimental flags, some red of the Army  of  Northern
Virginia and some blue of the Commonwealth of Virginia, were
unfurled, and 12,500 Confederate soldiers began the advance.
General  Lee's plan this day was to attack the center of the
Union  line.   He  felt  that  his  Army  could   accomplish
anything.   His  soldiers  loved  and respected him, feeling
that being part of his Army was akin to being  part  of  his
family.                                                     

Too many Confederate fell in the attack.  It took nine color
bearers of the 53rd Virginia to plant their  colors  on  the
enemy   line.   Cushing's  Yankee  artillery,  protected  by
General Alexander Webb's Philadelphia Brigade fired canister
into  the ranks of the Confederates and stopped the advance.
Beloved Confederate  general  Louis  Addison  Armistead  was
mortally wounded.  A Yankee lieutenant ordered Confederates,
including Finley, to lay down their arms.                   

Finley spent nearly two years as a prisoner of  war,  during
which  time  he  felt called to the ministry.  He was one of
the "Immortal 600" Confederate officers who were taken  from
Fort  Delaware to Morris Island, Charleston, South Carolina,
an area occupied by the Union  and  into  which  Confederate
artillery fired.  They were later returned to Fort Delaware.

Finley's  religious  faith sustained him throughout his Army
service.  From the Old Testament he recalled the first verse
of  Psalm 27.  " The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of  whom
shall  I  be  afraid?"  A  New Testament verse meaningful to
Finley was 2 Timothy 1:12, which read " For the which  cause
I  also  suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed:
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is
able  to  keep  that which I have committed unto him against
that day."                                                  

George Williamson Finley was paroled 1 May 1865  and  walked
117  miles  in  17  days  to  get  home.   He  entered Union
Theological Seminary in 1866, but took only a partial course
load due to bad health caused by his prison life.  He became
a Presbyterian minister and held several  pastorates  before
arriving  at  Tinkling  Springs Presbyterian Church, Augusta
County, Virginia.  He died 23 April 1909 and  is  buried  in
the church cemetery.  Nine of his 14 children survived him. 

					Walter

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL !!

We had a really good get-together  for  our  2008  Christmas
Banquet  at  the Westwood Club.  The food was very good, the
program was excellent and the conversation great.           

Here are some of the photos taken there.                    

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

May all of our readers have a happy and prosperous year  and
may  the  global slaughter cease and our Nation and the rest
of the World be blessed with Peace.                         

					Editor