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We Remember!

The Scripture tells us in Ephesians 6: 2 & 3, “Honour thy father and mother;(which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” And, this is what we do. We, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Order of the Confederate Rose, the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, and others. We remember! This morning my wife and I returned home from Tyler, Texas where last evening we attended a Lee/Jackson banquet in remembrance of those two great military leaders and fine Southern gentlemen. It was an impressive event in which I learned much. Our Texas Division Commander, Ray James, gave an informative and interesting presentation on snipers in the Confederate Army. We were also treated to very inspiring and challenging addresses by H.K. Edgerton and his brother. Of course we took a number of photos to help us remember the occasion. Photographs do help us remember, and most of us enjoy looking at photographs, especially old photographs. We realize the people we are seeing in these old pictures were real, just as we are. They were alive and active. They were doing something before the camera snapped, and they continued doing something afterward, but we have one instant in their lives that is forever frozen in time. That’s what makes this, and all old photographs, so interesting. There were a lot of photographs taken during the War for Southern Independence. Many of them were done after a battle, and since they were taken by photographers with the Yankee invaders, they often show the bodies of Confederate soldiers. We’ve all seen them, and these photographs of our Confederate dead should give us a very clear perspective of the work and mission of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. They should help us to remember. There is one photograph of a young Confederate lying dead in a muddy ditch. He had a mother, a father, brothers, sisters, and other family members that loved him. They cared about him and worried about his welfare. Now he was dead and they didn’t know it. They may never know what happened to him. They may only know he, like so many other brave Confederate soldiers, just didn’t come home. It is their honor that is at stake. It is their memory that is at risk. It is the respect they are rightfully due, that is being viciously attacked. It is the Cause for which they fought and died that is being maliciously twisted to suit the agenda of the Unionists. It is their homes, country, and heritage, as well as ours, that is being subjected to ridicule by the willfully ignorant. It is their flag that is being made a symbol of shame and bigotry, by bigots who have no shame. And who is going to speak for them? Who is going to be their voice? Who is going to defend their honor? Who is going to stand up and say, “I am the proud descendant of a brave Confederate soldier. The South was right and their Cause was just.” Who? We are! It is our duty. It is our mission. Because, we are the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and that’s what we do. We remember! May God bless each of you in His service, and in service to our just and most worthy Cause. Brother Len Patterson, Th.D Chaplain, Army of Trans-Mississippi