VOLUME XIII ISSUE 8 2020
ROUGH The Sons of Confederate Veterans – Camp 265
AND
THE
READYS RANKIN DISPATCH
RANKIN
CAMP
265
Home of the Rankin Rough & Ready’s – Brandon, Mississippi
Commander’s Report
Yes, we are going to have our first meeting since the
pandemic started on August 1st, 2020. To have this meeting we
will need to follow CDC guidelines. The tables will be 6 feet
apart, everyone will be required to wear a mask, we will take
everyone’s temperature upon entering the room, we will have
hand sanitizer available, and there will be no contact allowed! If
you do not feel comfortable attending the meeting, please continue
doing what you think is best for yourself and your family.
I think the new precautions are necessary during these
uncertain times, but I don’t think it means we have to stop having
our meetings and doing the things we enjoy. I look forward to
seeing everyone again!
We have a great meeting lined up! Mr. Grady Howell is our
speaker, we will have good food, good friends, and as sure as your
life matters to me, I will probably see you at Fernando’s on August
1st, 2020.
– Tim Cupit
Meeting Agenda for August 1st:
Agenda For August 1st, 2020 Meeting
- Open with prayer at 7pm sharp
- Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag and salutes led by 2nd Lt.
Commander Tom Lilly
- Speaker–Grady Howell; Q & A
Unfinished Business
- Adopt minutes from March 7, 2020, Motion, 2nd, Discussion,
Vote.
- Did everyone sign in & get a door prize ticket?
- [Link] and Facebook stats from Chris Merck
- OCR Report by Brandi Gray
- AR-15 drawing at May meeting, one ticket per $50 of ads sold
for our newsletter or donations collected Brandon resident Hap Bruce prays during the Unity Rally held in front of the
Rankin County Courthouse Friday, July 3, 2020. The speakers advocated for
- Relic Show update the removal of the Confederate monument located in downtown Brandon. The
- Division Reunion update 7-foot-tall display of a soldier on a marble shaft was put up 113 years ago
- Scrapbook update during a project spearheaded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
New Business
- Ray Shores report
- Dues are due! Keep up with what’s happening in and around
- Drawing for an original $1,000 CSA bond at Oct. meeting, Camp 265 by checking out the official
only paid members are eligible Rankin Rough & Ready’s Facebook page!
- Fall muster is on October 16, 17, & 18, 2020 [Link]
Protests, monuments, and our State Flag
- Door Prizes
- Open floor
- Close meeting with prayer at approximately 8:25pm
- Please help with cleanup! Commander’s Quote:
“If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way.
If not- you’ll find an excuse.”
Mary Ann Forrest Chapter of the Order of Confederate Rose
July has been a great month! We started out with a Living History at Vicksburg which was well attended. Brandi presented 2 replica
CW button necklaces to Robbie Lewis and April Skipworth for their dedication to their continuing work with the OCR. Thank you to
the Chatham’s for their kind donation of these very rare necklaces and for helping to decide who would be presented with them.
We are also steadily working with our friends at the John Pemberton Camp in Vicksburg with the upcoming SCV Reunion. We are
also working on some fundraising ideas with the help of Charla Lewis and her connections.
We hope to see you all in August! Stay cool and hydrate often!
– Brandi Gray, President, MAFOCR
For more information on the Mary Ann Forrest Chapter of the Order of Confederate Rose, or to become a member, please visit them online at
[Link]
You can also visit them on Facebook at:
[Link]/maryannforrest23/
For more information about SCV Camp 265,
the Rankin Rough & Ready’s, visit us online at: Charla Lewis visited the Duck Hill / Train Wreck Confederate Cemetery.
ROUGH
AND
[Link]
READYS
RANKIN
CAMP
265
CHAPLAIN’S REPORT
by Tom Fortenberry
GOD IS NOT MOVED
Ecclesiastes 1:9 “The thing that hath been, It is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is
no new thing under the sun.” JKV
To every generation there have been times of testing. Acts 10:34 “Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons.” Whether a person is a believer in Jesus or not, all have been and are, being tested every passing day of
their lives. No one will escape this life without being first brought to times of decision. And so in these days one could say with comfort
and fact, that the whole of humanity has been and is being brought to the test of spiritual and human strength not seen in the world and
our nation for many generations.
Over the past many months the whole world has had to stop, look around, take a deep breath, and decide among all the confusion on their
next step concerning the virus. Call it what you may we are engulfed in an economic sickness and death toll that affects every living soul.
Today, even now God calls upon believers in Jesus to stand fast and be a witness to those who need strength in these times. And many
will look to the SCV and OCR and asked. What will they do in these times where our nation is being torn apart by the ungodly and evil
actions of others?
For us the answer remains in the unified strength each of us who are a part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Order of the
Confederate Rose. Each of us serve a continuing calling and service to our faith in God and to others; to live by our witness in truth and
remembrance of those who also in their times of testing, remained stead fast in measures required of them. The call went out, “will you
fight?” When I was a little boy my mother would sing; “On This Solid Rock I Stand”, all other is sinking sand.”
They may tear down and yet our God is not [Link] He will lift you up on the day of His coming.
May God Bless each of you and keep you. Be of faith and comfort to know that what God has given no man taketh away. And remember
that as a believer in Jesus Christ you are already standing on the front lines of the battle. “Will You Fight?”
– Thomas Fortenberry, Chaplain, Camp 265
SCV &MAFOCR members gathered for an Iron Cross Dedication.
ADJUTANT’S REPORT
by Charles Lewis
“A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a
status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their government.”
– George Washington
Turned out our meeting place was closed for July 4th, so we are going to try to meet again on August 1st.
We had several camp members and OCR ladies attend the living history at the Old Courthouse in Vicksburg on July 4th. It was
hot, but a very successful day's activities.
By the time you receive this newsletter, you will be in the grace period on your SCV dues. You can still pay them for $55.00
until August 26th. Mail check for $55.00 made payable to the Rankin Rough and Ready's camp 265 to :
Charles Lewis
Adj. Camp 265
1324 Rosemary Road
Florence, MS 39073
This will give me 5 days to process the dues and get them and the paperwork to headquarters by August 31st. After Aug. 26th
you will have to pay a $7.50 reinstatement fee plus the $55.00 dues ($62.50 total) to retain your membership.
Upcoming activities:
– Mississippi Division Reunion - August 21st - 23rd, 2020 - Vicksburg, MS
– CSS Arkansas headstone dedication - August 23rd. - 9:00 AM - Confederate Rest, Vicksburg
– Confederate Memorial Service, Magnolia Cemetery - Oct. 4th - 2:00 PM - Magnolia, MS
– Fall Muster - Oct. 17th - 18th - Beauvoir
– Camp officer elections - Nov. meeting
You MUST be preregistered for this year's MS Division Reunion. There will be NO walk in registration due to COVID 19 and
convention center rules.
The following compatriots were elected to National Office at the convention in St. Augustine, Florida, July, 2020.
Larry McCluney - Commander in Chief
Jason Boshers - Lt. Commander in Chief
Jimmy Hill - Army of Tennessee Commander
Carl Jones - Army of Tennessee Councilman
Let's aid them in all possible ways to make their term in office successful.
MS 6th Regiment and Rankin Rough and Ready's at Shiloh.
"Shiloh had been the first great battle in their section of the country. Its impact on a people happily unfamiliar with war
and its bloody consequences was terrific."
Confederate casualties of Shiloh were officially tabulated at Corinth and the Sixth Mississippi emerged as the most bloodied
regiment of the entire battle. In fact, no regiment, North or South, suffered as heavily. Its initial tally listed roughly 48 members
dead and 247 wounded, but actual casualties were later placed much higher. With the loss of between 310 and 325 men out of
425 actual participants the regiment recorded approximately 70.5% loss of its total effective strength and was subsequently
dubbed "the Bloody Sixth." It was the first regiment of the war to be so badly mauled in a single battle, and for the remainder
of the war only three other Confederate regiments were destined to suffer heavier casualties in just one battle. – "Going to meet
the Yankees " H. Grady Howell, Jr.
Stay safe, social distance, and hopefully we will be together in August.
– Charles Lewis, Adjutant, Camp 265
CIVIL WAR FORT BLAKELEY, ALABAMA - Part II
With Union troops and ships on the move from New Orleans Vicksburg had fallen. There were thousands of Confederate
toward Mobile and Mobile Bay, I digress to the Spring of 1862 troops needing those ships sitting below the bluffs of Vicksburg
and Rankin County, Mississippi. to transport them to P.O.W. camps. The officers and Sergeants
of the 39 th had already been transported to Johnson’s Island,
At Jackson, Mississippi that Spring, as Confederate recruiters Ohio, in Lake Erie, off the shores of Sandusky, Ohio.
were canvasing Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Newton, Hinds and,
Monroe counties, two brothers from Langford and Goshen Back in the working world, I had many opportunities to be in
Springs enlisted as Privates in the Army of the Confederacy, 39 Sandusky and see Johnson’s Island first- hand. My impression:
th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. Company B of the 39 th unlike most P.O.W. camps, particularly the “Andersonville of
consisted of Rankin County recruits, and carried the official the North”, Chicago’s Camp Douglas, this was a country club.
banner of “Rankin Rebels” which was sometimes called
“Rankin Rifles”. There were warm, two-story, white barracks, organized crafts,
chairs to sit in, tables to eat from and functions for the detainees.
Unlike the surrounding counties, Rankin was the only county to It is reported that when the Great Lakes froze over, Rebel
put two (2) Companies on the field. sympathizers from Canada would come across the ice and
attempt to help prisoners escape. It is reported that winter winds
The other Rankin County group was Company G, “Price across the ice were tough to deal with for friend or foe.
Rebels”.
The Union surrender error that allowed to 39 th Regiment,
My great-great-grandfather, William Solomon Baker, who is Mississippi Infantry, and all other enlisted Rebel soldiers to
buried in the Holly Bush Methodist Church cemetery and his fight on if they wished? Because Grant needed the boats to
brother, John Rice Baker, who is buried in an unmarked (but move troops, not prisoners, up the Mississippi River, instead of
known location) in the Langford Baptist Church cemetery, swearing the captured soldiers to an “Oath of Allegiance”, an
joined Company B, 39 th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, in the oath to never take up arms against the Union, they swore them
Spring of 1862 at a time when Yellow Fever was rampant and to an “Oath ofAmnesty”, an oath of forgiveness.
affected 25% of the soldiers and officers. The net result was the
39 th spent a lot of time at the Field Hospital in Brandon. Upon taking the administered oath, troops of the 39 th were
even given back their rifles.
Little did they know but they’d face Yellow Fever epidemics
twice, once at home and again in Grenada, where there is today So, those who wished simply marched east and joined up again
a large, formerly untended and unkept cemetery of marked and for the Georgia Campaign where 39 th was almost wiped out.
unmarked graves known as the “Yellow Fever Cemetery.”
According to reports, 152 members of the 39 th Regiment were As the War progressed, tired and worn out, remnants of the 39 th
sick with the Fever while at Grenada. How many died? That’s Regiment were sent to Selma and on to Fort Blakeley. It was
unknown, but I would venture, most of them. thought that since the Mobile Bay area was being fortified and
the Union seemed to be taking its own sweet time about
It’s a long story, but John Rice was captured during the struggle seriously confronting the Confederacy there and armed with
at Enterprise, MS, ended up taking the oath of allegiance on the the realization that the War was nearly at an end, what was left
Indiana banks of the Ohio River and sent back to the Langford of the 39th, including the “Rankin Rifles” was sent there to help
area on foot. create Fort Blakeley and heal. Key words: create “Fort”
Blakeley. It was not on the map in 1862. The actual phrase was
Before John Rice’s capture, the 39 th ’s Rankin Rebels would “to fortify Fort Blakeley”. That’s Government speak for “get
also meet Admiral Farragut when they were assigned to Port your ax and let’s pile up some trees and bushes for the Blue
Hudson, LA where Farragut was attempting to run the Coats to have to run through or around at a place called Blakely.
Confederate blockade and get to Vicksburg. Time and again, he Got a shovel? Good, we need to dig a bunch of holes to hide in.”
was repelled, but finally captured the 39 th Mississippi but not
before Farragut, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans had to The Missouri Regiment sent there is a prime example. Records
ground his shot up flagship, a luxurious paddle wheeler and, run show that every…yes, every member of the Missouri Regiment
for his life. Then again at Mobile Bay, they faced each other. had AT LEAST one major wound. Some had two or more. And
there was theAlabama “Kiddy Brigade”. Some as young as 15.
Their capture signaled the end of the 39 th Regiment,
Mississippi Infantry. Right? Well, almost BUT the Union staff
dealing with P.O.W.’s screwed up while trying to accommodate
General Grant and Sherman. STAY TUNED NEXT MONTH FOR PART 3.....
SCV &MAFOCR members gathered at the Old Courthouse Museum in
Vicksburg, MS for the July 4th celebration.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS - THEY SUPPORT US!
CAPTAIN KEVIN NELMS
SCV MECHANIZED CAVALRY
25 COUNTY ROAD 112
MISSISSIPPI 1G
CORINTH, MS 38834
[Link]
KEVNELMS@[Link]
662-603-2140
The Sons of Confederate Veterans
Camp #265
THE RANKIN DISPATCH NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
317 Lake Heather Road BRANDON, MS
Brandon, MS 39047 PERMIT NO. 265
Our next meeting is August 1st at:
Fernando’s Mexican Restaurant
2146 Hwy 471
Brandon, MS 39047
at 7:00pm. Come early!
