| Missouri League of the South Sponsors First Annual Confederate Memorial Day |
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| Rick Gibbs |
| Clint Lacy |
| On Saturday June 5th, the Missouri League of the South sponsored its first annual Confederate Memorial Day service at Fort Davidson State Historic Site, in Pilot Knob, Missouri. If the names “Fort Davidson” or “Pilot Knob” sound familiar there’s good reason for that. The site was host to the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob, part of General Price’s expedition into Missouri. More recently it was made famous when Governor Bob Holden ordered the Confederate Flag removed from the outside flag pole, (along with the Confederate flag at Higginsville Confederate Cemetery). Pilot Knob is located in Missouri’s beautiful Arcadia Valley, and it is where we kicked off the Missouri Flag Campaign last year. We also met our wonderful friend Mrs. Polly Holly, or “Ms. Polly” as we have affectionately nicknamed her. She is largely responsible for our success in the valley and is a wonderful Southern lady. The service began with Missouri League of the South member Rick Gibbs giving a speech about why it is important to remember our Confederate ancestors . He also informed the citizens who attended that we also there to protest Governor Bob Holden’s decision to remove the flag and called on the Governor and the state legislature to return the flags. “They deserve the respect of a burial and the flag they fought under”, Gibbs stated. He then introduced Mr. Walt Busch, the site administrator of Fort Davidson who gave a brief description of the battle and where the soldiers are buried. Busch stated that there were approximately 250 Confederate soldiers and about 40 Union soldiers buried in the south rifle pit. Rick then introduced me and I gave a speech from a little different perspective. Given the fact that the media and the politicians have labeled our ancestors as “oppressive” and “thugs” I wanted to introduce the crowd to three of the men who fought at the battle. Two of them were Baptist ministers and one was a devout Christian who was the son of a Methodist minister. I told their stories about why they fought and used official records of General Sterling Price and General J.O. Shelby to prove that pillaging was not allowed and the order not to was strictly enforced by Price and Shelby’s officers. I then ended the speech with a letter home by one of the Confederates who was executed by order of Union General Rosecrans. The service was very well received and the editor of the local newspaper. “The Mountain Echo“, interviewed us and was a very nice man. He was genuinely concerned about obtaining the facts about the battle and the men who fought it. I have since received a copy of the front page of the paper and was astonished to see that we were on it! The headline reads: Confederate Memorial Day Celebrated at Fort Davidson. He wrote a very good story about us and we are very grateful. After the speech I told everyone that we had free Confederate flags available to anyone who wished to display one. I then told them to meet me in the parking lot if they wanted to take advantage of the offer. Again to my amazement, everyone that was there showed up and we gave all but 2 of our flags that we brought away! One of them, a Second National Confederate flag went straight to the Iron County Museum. Afterwards we all went to eat at Baylee Jo’s Southern BBQ and had some great food and fellowship among Southern Patriots. It was a beautiful , warm sunny day and it felt as if God himself had shined down his blessings upon us and our ancestors. We can’t wait until next year to do it all over again. A special thanks goes out to Mr. Gary Parkin and his friends "Mike" and "Dave", SCV members who drove up from Poplar Bluff, Mo, with their handmade Confederate flags to join us. Clint E. Lacy Vice Chairman, Missouri League of the South. |
| Confederate Memorial Day Services also held in Higginsville and Columbia , Missouri |
| Also on Saturday, June 5th, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sponsored their annual Higginsville Confederate Memorial Day service. Frank Carlton, chairman of the Missouri League of the South, attended the ceremony along with 11 other Missouri League members. Below are some pictures that Frank provided from Higginsville. |
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| Columbia, Missouri, was the site of the Sons of Confederate Veterans memorial service, which was held at the Boone County Courthouse, on Sunday June 6th. Robert Barksdoll took his family and was there to represent the Missouri League of the South. Robert reports that this too was a well received well performed ceremony. Below are some pictures Robert has provided us. |
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| the Laying of the Wreathes ceremony, Columbia , Missouri |
| Robert Barksdoll and his children at the Columbia service. |
| With 3 different services in 3 different parts of Missouri, there was opportunity for just about anyone and everyone who wanted to attend to do so. The Missouri League of the South salutes all of Missouri's fine Southern Heritage organizations for remembering and honouring our Confederate ancestors. |