Descendants 2008 Pilgrimage & Park Dedication
It’s been a long
time coming,
but we raised the funds for Confederate Memorial Park!!
Even The Threat
of Hanna Did Not Stop Descendants and Supporters from Honoring
Those Who Suffered At Pt. Lookout.
Confederate
Memorial Park Has Been Dedicated.
Sprinkled in Holy Water By Fr. Alister Anderson.
Blessed by Rev. Herman White and Pastor John Weaver.
Baptized With Wind & Rain from Tropical Storm Hanna!!
Just a few days
before our event and what happens? The threat of a hurricane! My
emails runneth over with, “Are we going to cancel or reschedule?”
Our members make plans/reservations nearly a year
in advance. Many putting in request for their vacation time in
January, so they can come to Pt. Lookout during our Pilgrimage
weekend. They travel by vehicle as well as by plane to Maryland.
Our newsletters were already mailed, the month before. Our programs
already printed and ribbons made. We already had Georgia & Alabama
members waiting in Maryland. There was absolutely no way I could
have canceled this event.
Besides the above mentioned fact...our ancestors
imprisoned in PL suffered so much more there...in the blistering
sun, in the freezing snow and through several hurricanes without
shelter. Me, standing in the wind and rain to honor them, is a
very humbling experience of which I am not even worthy.
I could not disappoint the spirits of Pt. Lookout,
any more than I could disappoint our members already waiting in
MD. Too late then to turn back.
Were we inconvenienced and did we get wet? Yes
we did. Was it worth it? Yes, it was. And I can truly say, that
I did not hear ONE complaint! Our Lee’s Miserables POW re-enactors
were out there, barefooted, ragged and soaked to the bone. Ladies
dressed in period attire and their Sunday best, got wet. But, their
duty meant more to them than the elements. I did hear many people
say that it just brought them a little closer to what their ancestors
endured while imprisoned in Pt. Lookout.
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Each year, we the descendants, make our
annual pilgrimage to Point Lookout, MD to the hallow grounds
where over 52,000 of our family were imprisoned and over
14,000 died, between 1863-1865. We make this pilgrimage to
mourn our dead, present a memorial tribute in their name,
present a living history with a prison portrayal and have
our descendants' meeting. In addition this year, we dedicated
our project - Confederate Memorial Park!
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Lee's Miserables POW Re-enactors
Descendants and Guests Supper at Bon Buffet, Lexington
Park, MD
Descendants Meeting
Friday, September
5th:
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The meeting was held at the Ridge Volunteer
Fire Department.
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Special guest speaker was Fred
D. Taylor, rising attorney from the Commonwealth
of the Old Dominion state of Virginia. His topic was "Civilian
Prisoners in Point Lookout." |
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HONORING AMERICAN POW VETERANS OF PT. LOOKOUT
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September 6th: |
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Back by popular demand! The Brunswick
County SCV boys cooked their famous homemade
brunswick stew!
They sold bread, crackers, snacks, sweets, water
and soft drinks.
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Striblings Battery gave our cannon
dedication salute and artillery demos in the living
history area.
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James E. Stallings, Sr., author
of GA soldiers who were imprisoned/died at Point
Lookout, MD
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Lee's Miserable Greg Hernandez as Pt. Lookout's
Sidney Lanier and featured guest musican at
descendant's meeting on Friday. |
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Capt. Vincent Camalier SCV Camp #1359
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Saturday, September 6th
at 9:00 am:
Confederate
Memorial Park Dedication Ceremony
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 Confederate
Memorial Park has been the single project of our Descendants
Descendants Org. and today we’re here to
honor the very POWs …men, women & children of all
races, who were imprisoned and who died here at Pt. Lookout
by dedicating
Confederate Memorial Park to them!
Our Descendants Org. was formed in 1991.
Soon afterwards, our organization learned that many names
had been left off of the existing cemetery monument, so
we wanted, as a project to add an additional monument plaque
to the grounds in the cemetery. We started searching/gathering
names. We contacted the Veterans Administration, who owns
the property, for permission to put it in the cemetery.
They decided that they would handle this project and asked
for our list of names. We gave it to them, but they never
followed through on their word of adding this plaque. Then,
we decided that we’d like to place a POW statue in
the cemetery to honor our ancestors. Again, we went back
to the Veterans Administration and asked for permission
and they told us that there was already a statue in the
cemetery – although none of us has been able to find
it. We contacted the state park service and asked them
if we could put our statue in the original pen area down
on The Point…..they’re still out to lunch on
making a decision on that one. All during this time, we
had been able to supply the battle flag in the cemetery
and sell them to fund our plaque project, but in 1998,
the Veterans Administration removed our ancestors’ flag
from their mass grave and it has still not been allowed
in the cemetery. In the meantime, we were having our annual
Pilgrimage/living histories inside the state park (on the
original pen grounds), but the state park service decided
that they had to approve what we could and could not say
in our skits…now, this was also after the Veterans
Administration said that they had to approve speeches given
in the cemetery and if they didn't like what we said, we
could be liable for imprisonment. So, here we were:
- We were denied the opportunity to put up a plaque
with missing POW Veteran names.
- The Veterans Administration went back on their word
to put one up.
- We were denied the opportunity to put up a POW statue
in the cemetery “or” the state park.
- We were denied Freedom of Speech in the cemetery “and” the
state park – by federal and state governments.
Rather than bow down and abide by these
unconstitutional acts of tyranny, on April 9th, 2003 (our
Appomattox, but we won this one!), we bought our own land,
have now raised nearly two hundred thousand dollars to
construct our own memorial to our ancestors and have erected
our own POW statue where our ancestors' battle flag can
freely fly 24/7/365. During & after today’s ceremony
you will be able to witness FREEDOM of speech as the true
history of Pt. Lookout can/will be told.
| Invocation: |
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- Rev. Fr. Alister Anderson
Click
Here to read Fr. Anderson's Innvocation
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| Welcoming Remarks/History of CMP: |
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- President Patricia B. Buck
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| Dedication of Flagpoles & State Trees: |
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- 1st CSA National Flag…Franklin Rifles SCV
Camp #310…Stacy Harris
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- 2nd CSA National Flag…Capt. James I. Waddell
SCV Camp #1608…Cmdr. Stephen LaPlanche
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- 3rd CSA National Flag …Phillip Wood
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- Bonnie Blue Flag…James N. Langley, III
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- National Flag of Scotland…Michael Virts
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- Cherokee Braves National Flag…F. Lee Hart,
III
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- South Carolina Flag…Betty B. Mann
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- South Carolina State Tree…SC Div. UDC,
Theresa G. Pittman, SC UDC Div. Pres.
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- Mississippi State Flag…Butch Godwin
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- Mississippi State Tree…Wayne Taylor
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- Florida State Flag….Jack Crowell
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- Florida State Tree…Doug Nash
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- Alabama State Flag…AL Div. UDC, Pat Godwin
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- Alabama State Tree… Russell & Pam
Darden
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- Georgia State Flag…Kerri Baker
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- Georgia State Tree…James Stallings
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- Louisiana State Flag…Dr. Robert Griffon
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- Louisiana State Tree…Donna Harris
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- Texas State Flag…Seth Latham
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- Texas State Tree…Nikki Harris
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- Virginia State Flag…Old Brunswick SCV Camp
#512…Lee's Miserable Bob Harris
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- Virginia State Tree…Steve DeFreytas & Lori
Hagin
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- Arkansas State Flag…Chris McCall
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- Arkansas State Tree…Stephen DiCarlo
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- North Carolina Flag...Dr. David A. Long, III
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- North Carolina State Tree…Sgt. Ivy Richie
SCV, Cmdr. Joel Fesperman
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- Tennessee State Flag…Bettie Grose
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- Tennessee State Tree…John and Joyce Nash
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- Missouri State Flag…Jim Hubbard
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- Missouri State Tree…Fred Taylor
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- Kentucky State Flag…Rick Griffin
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- Kentucky State Tree…John B. Stober, Jr.
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- Pt. Lookout POW Flag…Jerry Wells
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- Confederate Battle Flag…Betty Mann
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Special Singing: presented by
Wade Harris.
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| Blessing of Flags & Statue: |
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- Fr. Alister Anderson with Holy Water from the
Jordon River in Israel
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| Statue Unveiling: |
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- CMPI Jim Dunbar, Chm and Steve Defreytas
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| Remarks: |
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| DeArden Historical Presentation: |
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- Russell Darden
- The Winner of the Southampton County Ham was
Seth Latham from Bellhaven, NC. The winning name
was drawn by Lydia Casteel.
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| Special Guest Speaker: |
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| Presentation of Memorial Tributes |
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| Artillery Salute: |
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| Benediction: |
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| Amazing Grace |
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