Clemson



From: “Judi Price” [judi.homerprice@gmail.com]
Date: Sep 12, 2018
Subject: Clemson
To: “H.K. Edgerton” [hk.edgerton@gmail.com]

Here is the letter I wrote just now, tell me your honest opinion of it. Am waiting for your reply before sending it.

Judi Price
3797 Geer Highway
Marietta, SC 29661

September 12, 2018

To whom it may concern;

We are absolutely appalled at Clemson’s recent ban of all things Confederate. We wish to express our displeasure of the undergraduate Senate’s resolution to ban public display of the Christian Cross of St. Andrew on campus and in the campus community. Since we prefer to be Historically Accurate rather than Politically Correct, let us give YOU a history lesson. Perhaps, you need to also give those undergraduates a History lesson.

If it had not been for a certain Confederate General, Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee, Clemson University or Clemson Agricultural College would not exist as it does today. If you who read this, remember the centennial event of several years ago, you know EXACTLY what I am referring to. Let me digress so you know, WHO I am, and why it is vitally important for me to tell you how very wrong you are in this instance. Lest you doubt my right to say this..

Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee. was the only full sibling of my great grandmother Caroline Keziah Rachel Lee who married my great grandfather Captain Samuel Hunter. Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee started United Sons of the Confederacy (now Sons of Confederate Veterans) and I have letters from him to my grandfather, his namesake Stephen Dill Lee Hunter on United Sons of the Confederacy stationary. e copies of both) Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee either ordered fired or fired himself the first shot at Ft. Sumter. ( I have newspaper clippings stating both versions.) After the war, Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee bought 200 acres in the upstate of SC and put it in his sister Caroline’s name. Now this was totally unheard of back then. Caroline died at age 48, but Captain Sam lived till 1906. My grandmother, and my mother lived in the house Caroline and Sam built until it burned in 1929. From the charge Sl. General gave, you will see I was given this right and obligation to educate others about the TRUE facts in this matter.

“To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier’s good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations.” is still used at every meeting of SCV. After the war Thomas Green Clemson and Pitchfork Ben Tillman rode horseback to Vicksburg (MS) where Stephen Dill Lee lived to ask him to become the first President of Clemson Agricultural College which was then in the planning stages. However, he declined, and instead went on to become the first President of Mississippi Agricultural College (now Mississippi State) because it was already up and running and besides he had met the young lady who was to become his bride, Regina Harrison, there in Vicksburg. When Clemson had their centennial birthday celebration a few years ago Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee was prominently mentioned many times, as he was instrumental in the start up of Clemson College (now Clemson University).

I used to be proud to call Clemson my home, and told anyone who would listen that it WAS the most beautiful College campus ever.

I lived at Clemson from the time I was 5 years old until 2002. (FYI I am now 77 Years young.) Over that time I have seen many changes but this effort to change REAL, TRUE, History makes me furious. I THOUGHT I was furious when I saw the “mushrooms” (tiny houses), and “Monstrosities” (the horrendous looking structures across from the Presiden’t house.) However, this time I had to stop, and let the steam cool before I even dared write to you. We no longer live in Clemson and if I had my druthers, we would NEVER go through there again. My father graduated from Clemson and I went there for two years. Many other members of my family have also attended Clemson and a grandson started there this year.

You need to call those young whippersnappers in on the carpet and let them know they CAN NOT change history. They have every right to their beliefs, to free speech, and all that garbage, BUT if you, or they, are going to do or say any of the above, first get the facts straight. I am enclosing a quote here because it says what I want to say so much better than I could in my red, hot furious state.

You Yankee sympathizers and Scalawag turncoats need to get a grip on the truth of our history. You people keep spewing the same tired old line (lie) that the War of Northern Aggression was all about “freeing the slaves”, when the true facts of history do not support this at all. Thousands of letters from Confederate soldiers to their loved ones state that they were fighting for independence and to defend their homeland from an illegal invasion. The Corwin Amendment, proposed by Ohio Congressman Thomas Corwin, offered to forever protect slavery if the seceded states would return to the Union. It was refused. Lincoln’s own words state that the war had nothing to do with slavery, as well as the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution. You Yankees continue to lay the blame for slavery at the feet of the South, when it was the New England slave traders who built the ships and transported the Africans here, and sold them to both Northerners and Southerners, while flying Old Glory high on their masts. No Confederate flag ever flew on a slave ship. You continue your lie that the “noble and righteous” North was on a moral campaign to “free the slaves”, yet it kept over 420,000 slaves in bondage in the Union AFTER the South seceded. So, if the “noble and righteous” North was “freeing the slaves”, why did it not free the more than 420,000 that were in the Union? You can’t have it both ways. You were either freeing them or you weren’t. Slaves in the South were already being freed and the institution of slavery was dying out because it was becoming economically unfeasible to continue using labor with the new farm machinery being invented. To get a true picture of race relations in the South and the lives of slaves before you Yankees stuck your noses in our business, you need to read “The Slave Narratives”.

Since Reconstruction, the real reasons for the War, and Lincoln’s war crimes, have been covered up and lies have been produced and taught as truth. The South was paying excessive tariffs and footing over 85% of the revenues to the Federal Government – wealth redistribution – financing the Northern railroads, infrastructure, and industry, while getting almost nothing in return. In Lincoln’s inaugural address, he stated that the “duties and imposts would be collected, by force if necessary” from the seceded states. He said nothing about “freeing the slaves by force if necessary”. Money, power, and greed is what the war was about. The North wanted to continue to financially rape the South, subjugate it, and steal its natural resources. Over 150 years of Marxist rewritten history has brainwashed the historically ignorant, resulting in the massive cultural genocide we see taking place today in the removal of our monuments, and the name changes of schools, streets, and parks. The good Confederate soldier is slandered, and he is said to have fought to preserve slavery, which is a damnable lie. Our flags are said to be racist and representative of hate. Another damnable lie. Many people, like Mr. H. K. Edgerton, have done the research and discovered the truth of our history and now honor their ancestors who fought for independence against an army of rapists, looters, murderers, and arsonists. You people condemn an honorable man like Robert E. Lee as being a slave owner and “fighting for slavery”, which is a lie, while you say nothing of Union generals like Grant and Sherman who actually did own slaves. You Yankee transplants have invaded our South and taken over many City Councils and pushed your anti-Confederate agenda down our throats for many years. You have brainwashed our school kids with lies passed off as truth concerning the reasons the War of Northern Aggression was fought. Your Marxist teachers send kids home who dare to wear anything Confederate in support of their heritage. You have killed the playing of “Dixie” at sporting events in the South and eliminated it from the airwaves where it once was common. But you will not get rid of us. You will not get rid of our symbols. Those of us who know the truth are working hard to pass that truth on to others and keep the Southern spirit alive. It is that same spirit that filled our Patriot Fathers who fought against Great Britain to gain independence from a tyrannical government. Our Confederate ancestors fought for the exact same reasons. Keep on with your lies, hate, and slander. We Southrons know the truth, and it will survive all your evil efforts to extinguish it.

Jeff Paulk

I want you to share this letter with those undergraduate students, the board of trustees and the WORLD. Please Do NOT Continue to stick your head in the sand in the name of Political Correctness. Stick up for RIGHT, For Accurate History, for the principals on which Clemson Agricultural College was formed, and teach at lest a few, that Political correctness is WRONG of it negates Historical Accuracy.

I know this letter is long but it is much shorter, much more polite, and much shorter than the one I composed in my head as I lay sleepless last night fretting over the Clemson I used to love has become. (You can fill in the blanks above, my grandmother taught me not to say those words.)

Sincerely,

Judi Price