sales have been used to restore

historic artifacts, members from

state SCV divisions say.

Federal courts have differed

on how far the First Amendment

goes in protecting an individual's

vanity plates and a group's

specialty plates, says David

Hudson Jr., an attorney and First

Amendment scholar with the First

Amendment Center in Nashville.

Hudson says courts have

heard cases on everything from

vanity plates that abbreviate

swear words or spell out "Aryan-1"

to several cases in which anti-

abortion and abortion rights

groups have clashed over "Choose

Life" specialty license plates.

A crucial question with

specialty plates is whether the

plate is a form of private speech or

government speech. The distinc-

tion determines if traditional First

Amendment principles apply, he

says.

"To me, this issue is not going

away. It's a perennial First

Amendment issue," Hudson says,

adding that he could see the

Supreme Court eventually

weighing in on the subject.

On March 30, a federal judge

ruled that Florida's specialty

license plates program — under

which the state Legislature

approves the plates — is unconsti-

tutional because it gives

"unfettered discretion to engage in

viewpoint discrimination." The

state SCV sued the state after the

Legislature didn't approve their

Confederate Heritage plate, says

John Adams, of the SCV Florida

Division.

David Westberry, spokesman

for the Florida Department of

Highway Safety and Motor

Vehicles, says the ruling didn't

order the state to issue the plates

As the nation observes the

150th anniversary of the Civil

War, a Confederate heritage

group is fighting for the right to

place the Confederate flag on

license plates in three new

states — Florida, Kentucky and

Texas.

The Sons of Confederate

Veterans (SCV), based in

Columbia, Tenn., already offers

the Confederate-inspired tags

in nine southern states:

Alabama, Georgia, Maryland,

Louisiana, Mississippi, North

Carolina, South Carolina,

Tennessee and Virginia, says

Ben Sewell, the group's

executive director.

"The plates promote a

positive image of the Confeder-

ate States of America. The

Confederate soldier, he takes a

beating nowadays. We're trying

to divest ourselves of the

negative associations," says

Jay Barringer, the commander

of the SCV Maryland Division.

Critics, including the

NAACP, contend that the

Confederate emblem is a

hurtful symbol and doesn't

belong on state-issued license

plates. "On the one hand, I

appreciate freedom of speech,

but when we talk about

government functions, we have

the authority not to promote

things considered offensive to

the public," says Hilary

Shelton, the NAACP senior vice

president for advocacy and

policy, and director of the

Washington bureau.

SCV members have gone to

court, winning each time a

state has tried to deny, recall

or censor imagery on their

Confederate plates, Sewell

says. Revenues from plate

and that it's up to the

Legislature to decide whether it

will rework the statute.

Adams says the SCV will

use the ruling to insist that a

lawmaker sponsor a bill

backing their plate and, if that

fails, may take the issue back

to court.

Elsewhere:

•The Texas SCV had its

Confederate plate design denied

by the Department of Motor

Vehicles Board on April 14,

says Ray James, commander of

the division. James says his

group, for the time being, plans

to bring their design back up to

the DMV board because the

last vote occurred without the

ninth board member present.

"We exist to honor veterans.

But we're not seen as honoring

veterans. We're seen as waving

the battle flag in front of the

African-American population

out of orneriness, race and

hate," James says.

•The Kentucky SCV is

considering a suit against the

state by this summer because

of what it sees as a double

standard in the state's specialty

plate program, says spokesman

Don Shelton. He says his group

wants to put up money for the

plate in advance and get people

to agree to buy it later — as he

says the sponsor behind a

Lincoln Bicentennial license

plate did in 2007 — but has

been told that method isn't

valid anymore.

•The Mississippi SCV,

which wants to release a five-

part series of specialty license

plates through 2015 to honor

the Civil War. ~~ stolen from

USA Today.

The CourierNewsletter Newsletter Newsletter Newsletter of of of of the the the the Sam Sam Sam Sam Davis Davis Davis Davis Camp Camp Camp Camp No. No. No. No. 1293129312931293

Sons Sons Sons Sons of of of of Confederate Confederate Confederate Confederate Veterans Veterans Veterans Veterans ** ** ** ** BrentwoodBrentwoodBrentwoodBrentwood, , , , TnTnTnTn ** ** ** ** May,May,May,May, 2011201120112011

Flags and Tags in the News

It took some work, but the

Charleston Post and Courier was

able to find someone to agree with

its assertion that Confederate

Memorial Day shouldn’t be a state

holiday.

What else can one take away

from the article the paper ran today

– on Confederate Memorial Day – in

which it found just a single critic to

say the state holiday is a “waste of

public money.” Confederate

Memorial Day is one of 13 paid

holidays for the state’s 60,000-plus

employees.

The paper writes that “During a

challenging budget year that has

seen a host of public service cuts,

at least one critic called the holiday

a waste of public money that would

be better used on education, health

care or job creation.”

(Note: When a paper writes “At

least one critic” it almost always

means it could only find one.)

It then turns to Dot Scott,

president of the Charleston chapter

of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People:

”Our taxpayer money is funding a

holiday for our oppressors’

descendants. It’s gotta go.”

While the paper did interview

Sen. Robert Ford, the black

lawmaker who sponsored legisla-

tion to make Confederate Memorial

Day a state holiday, the article

included nothing from historians,

descendents of Confederate

veterans, or anyone else who might

have a view on why Confederate

Memorial Day should have a place

in South Carolina.

The Post and Courier certainly

has a right to disagree with the

idea of giving state workers a paid

holiday in remembrance of soldiers

who fought for a cause they

thought just, but is seen by some

in the South in a very different light

today.

However, this article would

have been better suited on the

editorial page, where opinion pieces

are typically run.

Annual Camp Picnic set for

June 11th

Please note this date on your

calendars, and come out for some

good food and fellowship. This year

we will meet at Winstead Hill in

Franklin at 4:00 p.m., or there-

abouts, and call it a day around

7:00 p.m. The camp will provide

bar-b-que and fixins, as it has done

in the past, but we ask that all

bring along a covered dish with a

side item, a bag o' chips, or some

drinks to add to the selection. Your

choice. You might also bring a

folding chair along. Our picnic will

serve as our camp meeting in June,

so we may take care of a little bit of

business.

Upcoming Camp Meeting

Programs

We have speakers set for our

July and August meetings, but after

those the schedule is pretty much

wide open according to the latest

information available. If you would

like to present a program to the

camp, or can recommend someone

who would do so, please contact

Cmdr. David Eagan or any camp

officer.

Confederate Memorial Day

While most Southern states

observe Confederate Memorial Day

in April, here in Tennessee we call

it "Decoration Day" and observe it

on June 3rd, Jefferson Davis'

birthday. Although the federal

legislation creating the abominable

3-day-weekend holiday system

effectively removed that date from

the list of official state holidays,

state law still marks it as a "Day of

Special Observance". The Sam

Davis camp has, for the last several

years, conducted a short memorial

service at the Sam Davis statue at

the state capitol on the Saturday

nearest June 3rd. This year that

day falls on Saturday, June 4th.

Members of other Nashville area

camps also participate. So, take a

few minutes out of your Saturday to

remember the sacrifices of the

Confederate soldier by coming out

for this event. In past years, 10:00

a.m. has been the appointed time.

Camp News & Notes

May 26th ~~ Sam Davis Camp

meets at Woodson Chapel Church

of Christ, 7:00 p.m. The Church is

adjacent to the Oglesby Community

Center on Edmondson Pike, 1/2

block South of the intersection of

Edmondson Pike and Old Hickory

Blvd.

June 4th ~~ Confederate Memorial

Service at Sam Davis Statue, State

Capitol.

June 11th ~~ Camp Picnic at

Winstead Hill, 4 p.m. til 7 p.m.

June 18th ~~ Saturday Forest

Homecoming at the Boyhood Home

in Chapel Hill.

November 11th ~~ Veterans Day

Parade.

November 27th ~~ Sunday March

from Winstead Hill

December 11th ~~ Battle of

Nashville Commemoration on

Battery Lane.

December 17th ~~ South Carolina

Secession Party.

Didja Know?How about a little music trivia?

Didja know that Daniel Decatur

Emmett, who wrote (or stole,

depending on who you believe)

Dixie, was a native of New York?

That Stephen Foster was from

Pennsylvania? That the music for

the horrid Battle Hymn of the

Republic came from a camp meeting

song written by a gentleman from

South Carolina? That the melody

for Elvis Presley's Love Me Tender

was originally from a war-era love

song called Aura Lee? Now you

do....

one of these interludes. In this

section of the book, the author

strongly disagrees with William

Marvel's interpretation of the facts

surrounding the "Saltville Massa-

cre".

When the subject of guerrilla

warfare in Tennessee is raised, the

eastern section of the state is the

geographical region most often

discussed. McKnight deserves

credit for bringing the northern

and more centrally located part of

the Volunteer State in focus. The

actions of other pro-Southern

irregulars in those counties are

described in the book as well as

those of unionist guerrillas like

Ferguson nemesis David "Tinker

Dave" Beatty. Counter-guerrilla

operations conducted by regular

union formations are also summa-

rized. Indeed, one hopes for a

scholarly Beatty monograph to

appear someday in the future, as

the sustained attention paid to

Ferguson reinforces the popular

perception that bushwhacking was

the domain of Confederate

sympathizers.

Ferguson's trial and execution

are treated fully in Confederate

Outlaw. The trial result was never

really in doubt, but Ferguson's own

statements often made him his own

worst enemy. The political aspects

of the trial are also delved into.

All the major Ferguson

biographies rely heavily on the

many newspaper interviews

conducted with the guerrilla during

his imprisonment and trial, but

McKnight's research and investiga-

tion is clearly the most thorough

yet. The actions of Ferguson before

and during the Civil War, and the

details of his trial, are presented in

far greater depth in Confederate

Outlaw than both Cumberland

Blood and the first and most

sympathetic of the three toward its

subject, Champ Ferguson,

Confederate Guerrilla by Thurman

Sensing (Vanderbilt U. Press, 1942).

Confederate Outlaw is highly

recommended reading for those

seeking the best modern biographi-

cal treatment of Champ Ferguson's

life and bloody Civil War career. The

book's characterization of the

guerrilla conflict along the middle

Tennessee-Kentucky border is also

particularly insightful.

various works by historian Daniel

Sutherland], the opposite result of

what a status quo preserving

individual would seek. On the other

hand, participants at the time did

not know how this would turn out,

even though many prominent

Confederate military and civilian

minds had such reservations in

mind when opposing the Partisan

Ranger Act of 1862.

In addition to analyzing issues

of motivation, the book also

examines Ferguson's killings in

great detail. Much of the informa-

tion comes from newspaper

interviews with Ferguson himself

(which were often contradictory)

and fiercely partisan unionist

writings such as J.A. Brents's The

Patriots and Guerrillas of East

Tennessee and Kentucky, but

McKnight diligently combed

archives, government records,

newspapers, and published primary

source materials as well as a

multitude of secondary works in

order to construct the most

balanced and full picture of these

events currently available in print.

McKnight also highlights the

dual nature of Ferguson's participa-

tion in the war. Adept at fighting on

his own hook, the guerrilla was also

able to attach himself usefully to

regular Confederate mounted forces

led by men such as John Hunt

Morgan, Basil Duke, and George

Dibrell. One of his most notorious

acts, the killing of wounded Union

prisoners after the October 1864

Battle of Saltville, occurred during

Equally comfortable cooperat-

ing with regular Confederate forces

as killing unarmed former friends

in their beds, Kentucky farmer

Champ Ferguson may very well be

responsible for more face to face

killings than any other Civil War

figure. In bands ranging in size

from a handful of men to well over a

hundred, Ferguson built an

infamous reputation across a swath

of adjoining border counties in

south central Kentucky and north

central Tennessee. Brian

McKnight's Confederate Outlaw is

the second Ferguson biography to

appear within the last three years,

the other being Thomas Mays's

Cumberland Blood: Champ

Ferguson's Civil War (SIU Press,

2008).

In his informative introduction

to Confederate Outlaw, McKnight

addresses critically the Ferguson

literature up to the present day.

Much space is devoted to highlight-

ing differences between the work of

Mays and his own. He rejects as

lacking evidence Mays's contention

that multigenerational motivations

were at work in Ferguson's mind,

but much of the interpretive

conflicts between the two works

appear to be matters of degree.

McKnight offers an answer to

Mays's perplexity over just why a

successful farmer would elect to

become an ultra violent guerrilla.

He roots Ferguson's actions in the

concept of social status anxiety, a

pragmatic response to societal

upheaval with heavy currents of

paranoia. Indeed, Ferguson

consistently defended his wartime

actions as self defense, claiming his

victims were hunting him and

would have acted the same if they

had caught him. There is an

element of truth in this, but many

of his killings were completely

unjustifiable even when viewed in

the context created by Ferguson.

One problem with this thesis seems

to be that participation in Civil War

guerrilla activities tended to

increase chaos and direct it in

unpredictable often negative ways

[a concept brilliantly presented in

Will New ChampBio. Pass Muster?

Published by The Sam Davis Camp #1293, Sons

of Confederate Veterans, P. O. Box 3448,

Brentwood, Tenn. 37024

Commander ~ David Eagan 790-0162

1st Lt. Commander ~ Ronnie Townes

2d Lt. Commander ~ Dennis Pompa

Adjutant ~ Chris Sollmann 453-6299

Treasurer ~ James Turner 335-6944

Chaplain ~ Tony Rocchietti 399-1606

Newsletter Editor ~ Allen Sullivant 373-0058

Web Address ~ http://www.samdaviscamp.org

This Month's Meeting Program

Past Division Commander Dr. Michael Bradley will

join us and give an update on the activities of the

Tennessee Sesquicentennial Commission and its

plans for the commemoration of the 150th anniver-

sary of the War. See you there!

Get a Tag - Save a Flag

Your purchase of an SCV license plate for your car or

truck provides the funding needed to preserve our flags

at the Tennessee State Museum, and also supports the

SCV. You don't have to be an SCV member to buy one!