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Volume 27, No. 10 – October 2014Volume 27, No. 10 The President’s Message The Roundtable depends upon its members for suggestions as to future programs, including talks by members as well as invited speakers. If you want to make a presentation, contact Bob Schuldenfrei (e-mail: bob@s-i-inc.com), Steve Seftenberg (seftenberg1020@gmail.com), or me (honeybell7@aol.com). Gerridine LaRovere, President October 8, 2014 Program We are in for a real treat: Monroe Ackerman, one of the earliest members of the Roundtable and a superb speaker, will introduce us to "The first 40 days of Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency." September 10, 2014 Program Robert Krasner started his talk by saying that it wasn’t until Memorial Day 1977 that the first "Confederate Medal of Honor" (designed in 1968 and cast in 1977) by the Sons of Confederate Veterans ("SCV") was awarded at Smyrna, Tennessee to Pvt. Sam Davis, "The Boy Hero of the Confederacy," for service in Coleman's Scouts at Pulaski, Tennessee. On November 27, 1863, Davis, then 21 years old, was captured with documents detailing Union military plans. Because he refused to identify his informants, he was executed. Eventually only 51 medals were awarded by the SCV, the last one in 2013 to Maj. James Breathed for his bravery as an artillery officer in the 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia. Krasner then asked, "Why did it take 115 years to honor bravery in defense of ‘The Lost Cause’?" For the answer, we must go back to 1862. Wanting to improve morale at home and at the front, on October 10, 1862, the Confederate Congress passed and President Davis signed an act authorizing medals and badges of distinction to be awarded for courage and good conduct on the field of battle. Political infighting over the design of the medal and who would get the contract to make it, as well as shortages of metal and military reversals, meant that the war ended with no medal ever designed, made or awarded. There was, however, a Confederate Roll of Honor which recognized a small portion of these Confederate soldiers and their deeds. General Order No. 131, dated October 3, 1863, explained its purpose: "Difficulties in procuring the medals and badges of distinction having delayed their presentation . . . to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the armies [and later, of the navy] of the Confederate States conspicuous for courage and good conduct on the field of battle, to avoid postponing the grateful recognition of their valor . . . it is ordered" that the names of all those reported as worthy, be inscribed on a Roll of Honor, to be preserved in the office of the Adjutant and Inspector General for reference in all future time, read at the head of every regiment at the first dress-parade after its receipt and published in at least one newspaper in each State. Uniquely, the men (and one woman) to be honored were to be selected by their fellow soldiers. During the war, in excess of 2,000 names were placed on various Roles of Honor. Military defeat and occupation, Reconstruction, displacement of people and a depressed economy meant that it took about 40 years before any real effort was made to honor the memory and valor of Confederate soldiers. Between 1900 and 1913, the Daughters of the Confederacy issued 78,761 "Southern Crosses of Honor" (see picture of Southern Cross below). In June 1896, descendants of Confederate veterans formed the SCV to honor the memory and valor of Southern soldiers. Today, the SCV calls itself the "heir" to the United Confederate Veterans ("UCV") formed in 1889 and modeled on the North’s Grand Army of the Republic. On April 25, 1906, in a speech given at New Orleans, Louisiana, Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee, one of the last surviving senior Confederate officers, gave the following charge to the SCV:
However, nothing was done about recreating a Confederate Medal of Honor until August 16, 1968, when the SCV passed a resolution at its annual convention to reestablish the medal. To avoid controversy, there had to be certified proof that each recipient performed "above and beyond the call of duty, at the peril of one’s life" (Requirements similar to those for the United States Medal of Honor after 1917). Even then, it was not until Memorial Day 1977 that the first medal was actually awarded, as Krasner noted in his introduction. The silver-and-bronze medal is a 10-pointed star bearing the Great Seal of the Confederate States and the words "Honor Duty Valor Devotion." Krasner then read 25 of the 51 citations. [Only 8 citations and pictures of 4 medals could fit in the print Newsletter, but your editor will try to put the other 17 citations in an addendum to the web-site.] Private Samuel Davis, Coleman’s Scouts, Pulaski, Tennessee,
November 27, 1863 Sergeant Richard Rowland Kirkland, 2nd South Carolina
Infantry, Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 14, 1862 (The “Angel of
Marye’s Heights) Private Wilson J. Barbee, 1st Texas Infantry, Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, July 2, 1863 Captain Samuel Jones Ridley, 1st Mississippi Artillery, Bailey’s Creek, Mississippi, May 16, 1863
1st Lt. Richard William Dowling, 1st Texas Heavy Artillery, Sabine Pass, Texas, September 8, 1863
Private William Thomas Overby, 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, Front Royal, Virginia, September 23, 1864 "Captured with five others in a skirmish outside Front Royal, Private Overby and his companions, instead of receiving the humane treatment accorded prisoners of war, were ordered to be executed. Reviled and beaten by his captors, Private Overby could only watch as three of his fellow prisoners were wrenched away, dragged through the streets and summarily shot. Private Overby nevertheless remained erect and defiant. Despite a noose around his neck, he refused to give his executioners vital information that could compromise his battalion, even in exchange for his life; instead, with his last words, issued a dark prophecy of revenge." Private Albury V. Hancock, 19th Mississippi Infantry, Spotsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864 "During the desperate struggle for he salient, with much of the fighting hand-to-hand, and with the fate of the army hanging in the balance, Private Hancock voluntarily left the cover of the traverses and braved a terrific storm of musketry--perhaps some of the most intense of the war–to bring badly needed ammunition to his exhausted comrades in arms. Although detailed as a courier to the brigade commander, he repeatedly risked his life to cross the bullet-swept terrain in the all day fight in the rain, promptly returning each time with more cartridges for the men in the works with little concern for his own safety. Private Hancock’s unselfish action despite witnessing the death or wounding of so many others in the same attempt, was valor of the highest order, and marked him for special notice from the brigadier general commanding." Captain John Singleton Mosby, Mosby’s Regulars, Raid on Fairfax
Courthouse,
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