May 2022 Dispatch

NEXT MEETING   --   TUESDAY, MAY 24

• Topic   --   The Last 100 Yards
• Speaker   --   Ed DeVos 
• Ed served his country for more than twenty years as a U.S. Army Infantry officer in both state side and overseas assignments. During those years he was assigned to four U.S. Infantry battalions and was an advisor to several Vietnamese Infantry battalions. His last assignment was to activate and then command the 1st Battalion 87th Infantry (Light), 10th Mountain Division. Ed’s awards include the Silver Star with one oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, U.S. and German Parachute Wings, and he is an Army Ranger. Additionally, he is a graduate of the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College where he received his Master of the Military Arts and Science degree in Military History.
• First and foremost, The Last 100 Yards is about soldiers—infantry soldiers—the heart and soul of our Army. Second, it is a history book, describing how after Vietnam our Army developed new doctrine, new equipment, and a tougher, more meaningful training philosophy. Throughout the mid- 1970s and 1980s, it laid the groundwork for a leaner, tougher, more resilient Army: the same proud organization that now projects U.S. power and strength around the globe. Third, this book will introduce you to some common sense leaders whose principles still impact our military today. And lastly, this book will give you a glimpse into the lives of military spouses and their children, who serve their country alongside their soldiers.
• 5:30   --   Dinner at Fernanda's Grill & Pizzeria, 127 Main. St., Thomson​
• 7:00  --  Meeting at Thomson-McDuffie County Library, 338 Main. St., Thomson

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ANNOUNCEMENTS 

1. Please donate any used books you might have to the Georgia Division, SCV. The funds collected by Georgia Division book sales help support the financial cost of the main office. These books do not have to be WBTS related. Bring them to the camp meeting and they will be delivered to Macon during the June 3-4 Reunion.
2. One of the 2022 goals the camp set for itself was to get iron crosses to place on the graves of five Confederate Veterans that remain unmarked in the Thomson Memorial Cemetery. Terry Johnson provided the iron crosses. Charlie Lyons provided the posts. Jimmy New cut the posts and drilled the holes. The posts have been cleaned and painted. Sometime soon we need to have a short dedication service and place the posts at the cemetery.
3. The Dispatch is your camp newsletter. At any time, you are welcome to add information that you think is important to the welfare of the camp or just general information. This is especially true of members or their family with illnesses and/or outstanding good news. Let me hear from you! Call me or drop me an email or text. Thank you!
4. See photos from our Confederate Memorial Day Commemoration in the Community Activities section of this website. 

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IN MEMORIUM 

          Long before we were the Thomson Guards, many of us were members of the Ambrose Ransom Wright Camp in Evans. Bill Berry was a unique character and a very active member. Bill, Rest In Peace.
          “BILL BERRY left us to be with the Lord on April 21, 2022.
Bill was a man proud of his many accomplishments. I was always amused by his personal business card—it listed all his various positions in the community through the years !
Bill was active in the our SCV Camp until just recently, when his health prevented his getting out to the meetings. Besides the SCV, he was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of Columbus, and St. Mary of the Hill Catholic church. He was President of Irish American Heritage Society in 2007, and he was Grand Marshall of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2010
The funeral is tentatively scheduled for May 9. He is to be a cremated and his remains to be placed in the columbarium at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.”
          Information: The WigWag newsletter of the E. Porter Alexander camp, Augusta. 

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MAY Events During WBTS

• May 18, 1861 - Union forces made their first 'formal' attack on Confederate forces based at Sewall's Point, Virginia. The Unionist Navy sealed off the River Rappahannock, Virginia, which completed the blockade of the state. May 19th: A start was made to massively improving the defences of Washington DC.
• May 25, 1862 - First Battle of Winchester, Virginia. After two weeks of maneuvering and battles at Cross Keys and Front Royal, General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester and successfully drives them from the city. The victory is the culmination of his 1862 Valley Campaign.
• May 22, 1863 - General Grant began a siege of Vicksburg. After six weeks, Confederate General John Pemberton surrendered, giving up the city and 30,000 men. The capture of Port Hudson, Louisiana, shortly thereafter placed the entire Mississippi River in Union hands. The Confederacy was split in two.
• On May 5-7, 1864 - Battle of the Wilderness, in the American Civil War, the first battle of Union General Ulysses S. Grant's "Overland Campaign," a relentless drive to defeat once and for all Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and capture the South's capital at Richmond, Virginia. 

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APRIL PROGRAM -- Pilgrims and Our Heritage by Alan Smith 

​On April 26, Rev. Alan Smith, dressed in period clothing as a Pilgrim, gave an excellent presentation.
Did you know?

• Pilgrims did not wear black:  The black dye was too expensive.
• Pilgrims did not wear buckles:  They had not been invented.
• They came over on two ships:   The Speedwell and the Mayflower.
• They arrived in the year 1620. Of the number of women who sailed, only four survived to the first Thanksgiving.
• What was the name of their unique government?  It was the Mayflower Compact.             

Rev. Smith made learning FUN!

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COMMANDER'S POST 

Robert E. Lee . . . . As Paul Harvey said on his radio broadcast “Here’s the rest of the story!”
          Robert E. Lee is to this day the only person to pass through the US Military Academy at West Point without a single demerit. In the Mexican War General Winfield Scott called him “the greatest
soldier I’ve ever seen.” As an Army Engineer he re-routed the Mississippi River and saved the city of St. Louis. When he inherited slaves from his father in law, he educated them and set them free, and he referred to slavery as “a political and moral evil.”
          He turned down Lincoln’s offer to Command the US Army that would invade the South and his home State of Virginia even though leading that Army would have certainly brought him international fame and likely the presidency. He instead offered his sword to Virginia and fought against that invasion for four years leading an Army that was vastly outnumbered, out supplied and out fed. After the war, as the most beloved figure on either side of the war, he turned down all of the opportunities that would have enriched him by refusing to sell his family name.
          He chose instead to take a job with meager pay at Washington College because he knew that rebuilding the country meant that we needed to raise men of high honor and character. His first act as Dean of the College was to build a Chapel. On Lee’s last visit to Richmond, a lady approached General Lee with an infant in her arms and asked “Would you please hold my baby?” General Lee took the child, looked the woman in the eye and said “you must teach him to deny himself.” Biographer Douglas Southall Freeman pointed out that this one statement characterized the entirety of how General Lee lived.
          As the end of his life was approaching Robert E. Lee was asked, with all of his accomplishments, what should his headstone say. He answered “that I am a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for my salvation.”
          That a monument to this man has been taken down is a monument itself. The barren space where his memorial stood is a testament to the depraved depths to which the morality and character of our society has fallen.

​Unknown Source -- Information was passed along via email.
          Possibly from Paul Harvey’s the Rest of the Story by Paul Aurandt (Author) and Lynne Harvey                (Compiler, Editor), Doubleday, c1977.