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The Battle Of Fort Dickerson, November 11-13, 2005

I would like to thank the Tennessee Division for a memorable time
and especially Sheila and all the pistol packing ladies from the
Ellen Renshaw House Chapter of The United Daughters Of The Confederacy
, who came and saved me from a bunch of Yankee soldiers bent on
kidnapping me at the close of the reenactment of The Battle at Fort
Dickerson this past weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee ; fed and loved
me like a brother.

I am some what humbled by the show of love that I received from
all the children who either visited the Confederate encampment ,
or were family members of the reenactors. However, far too many
of them had horror stories to tell about the treatment they were
receiving from school officials who viewed the Southern Cross as
a symbol of shame, and the men and women who defended it as treasonous
and not worthy of any display that depicted their cause. They talked
to me about school officials having this thing called implied immunity
that allowed them to take away their limited 1st amendment rights
at the school house doors. With the exception of the few who were
home school, none knew of the Morril Act, the original 13th amendment,
14th amendment. They all knew some horror story about the Ku Klux
Klan, but nothing about the Union League .

I will probably not be invited back because on Sunday morning ,
I chided all the Southern Christian White folks for sitting back
as they had done in Maryville and Blount County Tennessee and allowing
the children of the enemies of their grandfathers to hold office
on an elected school board , effectuate policies that not were not
only anti Southern, but to force all our children to remember some
of the most honorable and courageous men and women on God’s earth
with shame. To add to these unconstitutional acts of flagrant discrimination
, they further fuel the flames of the hate constructed by their
very own ancestors during reconstruction as they continue to try
and separate black and white folks in the South with distortions
of our history and relationships. Those little white and black babies
need to know why those African mothers were so proud of the sons
they sent in the defense of what had become their homeland. Those
little White and Black babies need to be able to call out the names
of those Black Confederate heroes like Levi Carnine, Holt Collier,
Napoleon Windbush, John Mills, Rev. Mack Lee and the many others
like them and their deeds of courage.

On this weekend of fun and entertainment, I would again be reminded
by my babies that things are not right in the South, and they wanted
help in making them so. I want to thank the many of them and others
who bought my historical Dixie OutFitter Shirt. The purchase of
this shirt allows me to move about in this war for vindication of
my Southern family ; and I send a special thanks to Dewey Barber
and my Dixie OutFitter family for making it so.

HK Edgerton