Georgia Heritage Coalition - No, We Won't Forget

Steve Scroggins

Steve Scroggins is a volunteer contributor to the Georgia Heritage Coalition who lives in Macon.

No, We Won't Forget – Commentary by Steve Scroggins

I wanted to share an interesting story with you, but first a little commentary.

This story touches on many elements that anyone with human empathy can understand. A father's love for his son. The loss of a child. A brutal war that resulted in many young lives being cut short. For over twenty-five years, this father and the family of a young man who never returned from the war didn't know what happened to their son. They believed him dead, but they didn't know for sure.

This story comes from THE BUTLER HERALD that was published Tuesday, March 17, 1891.

Strange But True

A strange, but true story comes from the Atlanta Journal, told by Dr. John Jones, the venerable chaplain of the State Senate. The 18 year old son of Mr. Jethro Jackson, of Griffin, GA, was killed during the war in the battle Resaca. He was buried and his grave could never be found by his parents. Now comes the strange part of the story. Some years after the war the father had three dreams in which his son came to him and said:

"Father, I am buried under a mound which was thrown up by the Yankees after I was killed. You will know the mound when you see it by the pokeberry bushes growing upon it. Go and take me up and carry me to home to mother."

The dream made such a deep impression on the father that he went to Resaca, and sure enough found the remains exactly as described by this son. The body was identified by the shoes given him by his father and by his name on his clothes.

What a story! I've not yet checked the Atlanta Journal from late February or early March of 1891 to find the original story that quotes Dr. John Jones, chaplain of the State Senate.

Unfortunately, there are too many people now, in the Senate and otherwise, who want to forget the history that's gone before us. Folks with this attitude would have ignored the father's dreams and left the body buried under an unmarked mound. They prefer to forget the sacrifices of these American veterans.

Why, you ask? Some simply because they're self-centered; they're just too busy or too lazy to want to understand American history and its relevance on the American government we endure today. For others, it's simple greed. They'd sacrifice anything to make an extra buck. Whether or not they believe the lies and distortions disparaging Southern veterans, they lack the fortitude to challenge those lies. There's no profit in it to their way of thinking. It's more profitable to cower, to leave malicious lies unchallenged, and slink away in retreat.

Everyone has most likely seen the bumper stickers and car tags that express this sentiment:
"Forget Hell" or "Hell no, I ain't forgettin.'"

Forgive? Maybe. But forget? No way.

From the same March 17, 1891 issue of THE BUTLER HERALD comes the following nugget of information.

One of the Ohio excursionists, who was recently wined and dined by the citizens of Columbus [GA], was a man named Geiss, who was one of Wilson's Raiders and a participant in the burning of Columbus in 1865.

Twenty-five years after the war, there were many who were not yet inclined to forgive and forget the scorched earth war that Yankee invaders inflicted on Georgia.

The LegisTraitors of Georgia stole the people's 1956 state flag of honor in 2001...and then rubbed salt in the wound in 2003 by giving us another politician's flag and a rigged referendum.

There are many among us, descendants of the same proud southern people, who will never forget. We will long remember the malicious torching of the memory of our ancestors. We will remember the days in 2001 and 2003 when hate-filled demagogues stood up in the General Assembly and called our Confederate ancestors "nazis" and "traitors." We will remember that none of you----NOT ONE of you----stood up to defend their honor or challenge extremist over-the-top rhetoric. We will remember that many of you did NOT have the courage to give the people a FAIR VOTE on their state flag. We will remember the mound of lies you piled onto our flag of honor with a rigged referendum. I don't know how long it will take to get justice and vindication...but I can promise you, we won't forget.

Steve Scroggins is Adjutant of the Lt. James T. Woodward Camp 1399, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in Warner Robins, GA and a frequent GHC contributor of parody and political cartoons and graphics.