I’m not attempting to flatter you gentlemen. You are truly great men! Look at yourselves. You are descendants of the greatest army that ever existed. How else can you act but the way that you do? Our camp is successful and will continue to be successful…. Because of you.

General Lee and his commanders must have had a sincere gratitude to have been able to lead such noble men. Any SCV commander would and should have the same pride in being in a camp with members like ours.

On another note, we have outgrown the Library. That is our first milestone and you helped make it happen in just a few short months. We will now start meeting at the Western Steer Steakhouse at 7PM for the meal (optional) and 7:30 PM for the meetings. Thanks goes out to Charlie Holland for securing the new meeting place for us.

Until then, thanks to all of you, don’t forget whoever sells the most BBQ plates gets a framed and matted print and whoever sells the 2^nd most gets a battleflag from Commander Kea.

The Dixie Guards had its regular monthly meeting at the Candler Cty Library on July 5^th at 7:30 PM with 33 members present and Commander Rooney Kea as guest. Chaplain Grady Franklin led the invocation followed by the pledge and salutes to our flags by Color Sgt Ben Franklin. 7 new member applications were taken and accepted by the camp. This brings our membership up to 43 members. The camp discussed and adopted Willow Lake Country Club as the site for our Charter Banquet and set the date for September 29^th. It was agreed to try to get Sonny Dixon of WTOC in Savannah as our guest speaker. Commander Crooms plans to invite the are legislators that voted to save our state flag. Commander Kea expressed that if we invited Commander-in-Chief Deason, Army of Tennessee Commander Church and Division Commander Trapp, they’d probably make the trip to join us. Everyone agreed that they should get a special invitation.

Commander Crooms offered a suggestion of a chicken BBQ as our 1^st fund-raiser to provide funding for our charter banquet. The camp decided to do the BBQ. Jason West took the lead on the project. 400 plate tickets were available with members signing up to sell blocks of tickets.

The camp decided to have a called meeting on Monday, July 23^rd at the Library to finalize our plans and to turn in the money from the ticket sales. Commander Crooms promised a framed and matted print to the member who sold the most tickets. Commander Kea promised the member who sold the 2^nd most tickets a battleflag. The camp saw a taped newscast from reporter Jason Miles who grew up in Metter regarding the Georgia Flag, its meaning and its change. The meeting was adjorned in benediction by Chaplain Franklin.

Confederate Georgia Series

Major General Joseph Wheeler

Just before Christmas in 1864, Wheeler and his 3500-cavalry troopers came upon Brigadier General Hugh J. Kilpatrick and his 10,000-15,000 cavalry and infantry troops in the Battle of Waynesboro. Wheeler and his men were all that stood between Kilpatrick and the vital Confederate City of Augusta with its famous Powder Works factory. Kilpatrick and his men had already begun to torch Waynesboro when Wheeler and his men discovered them and gave a full charge.

After heavy fighting, Kilpatrick and his men withdrew. Wheeler and his heavily outnumbered troops had spared Waynesboro and even extinguished the fires. Later, at the Battle of Buckhead Church, Wheeler’s men and Kilpatrick’s forces met again. Finally, Wheeler and his outnumbered troops were pushed back. Instead of pushing his advantage, Kilpatrick abandoned the field. Wheeler had saved Augusta.

In February of 1865, Wheeler and his cavalry would save Augusta a 2^nd time in the Battle of Aiken in South Carolina. Once again, the heavily outnumbered troops engaged Kilpatrick and his men, as they attempted to access Augusta from neighboring South Carolina.

For more reading on "Fightin Joe" and his cavalry, read Cracker Cavaliers, The 2^nd Georgia Cavalry under Wheeler and Forrest by John R. Poole.