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Greetings USCT and Sailors families! Just a quick e-communication in
response to President Smith's Desk.
My person will develop a more detailed narrative for posting on roll
call next week. It will be a report about my paying $50 to obtain a
booth at the Mississippi NAACP State Conference held in my hometown of
Natchez November 12-14-09. I was an exhibitor at this conference. My
objective was to reach African descendants from across the state all in
one place. The product vended was an Exhibit of Forks of the Roads
Enslavement Markets and our Black and Blue Civil War Living History
Encampment Equal History and Tourism Democracy Campaign (the basis for
my title Slavery Meets Freedom at the Forks of the Road Living History
Play back in 2005 held at the Forks). My person as part of the exhibit
dressed in USCT Heavy Artillery and U. S. Navy White Uniform for
impressions and local Natchez area history.
Let me tell ya! It was a hit the nail right on the head "I didn't
know there were blacks in the Civil War".
The exhibit with graphic images and one live presenter in uniform
astounded the NAACP adults and youth.
I spoke with the NAACP State President briefly about the Mississippi
Sesquicentennial
Commission having fifteen members, but none are AA and no AA
organization is represented. He said let's meet, provide him with
guidance and he can have the State Legislature enacted Bill 2288
establishing the Commission amended to designate a seat on the
Commission for the AA community.
Will meet with him as soon as I come back from Corinth Mississippi.
The Commission's second meeting of their existence is being held up
there on 11-19-09 at 11 A. M.
If my twenty year old car makes it up there, I am leaving first thing
tomorrow morning to make sure I am in position to attend this meeting.
As I did for their very first meeting, I am putting up the flag of
inclusion and designation of Black and Blue as an official component of
the State's Commission carrying out it's legislated mandate of
Commemoration.
One other note: This past weekend, 11-14 & 15- 09 the Historic
Jefferson College (same place where we hold our B & B Camp) held its
annual "Battle of Natchez" Confederate Wirt Adams so-called raid on
Natchez December 1863. Jefferson College, a State Commemorate Site, has
been holding this event for a dozen or more years. White re-enactors
from all over the deep south show up.
I normally go out there each year and glean information and make
contacts. This time I focused on Union Navy re-enactors and obtained
some valuable information and contacts.
At one camp site, while taking names of some folk who want to be part
of our B & B, another white male kept harassing me about "the forgotten
soldiers, the blacks who fought for the Confederacy." I kept saying to
he over and over, I don't do black confederates, Yankees or
confederates! I don't get into such discussions. I keep my eyes on the
prize of our USCT freedom fighters.
This dude continued to try driving home whatever his propaganda
intents were.
I said out loud like a "ghetto brother" so others around could here.
If I ever do get into a discussion about "Black Confederates" I tell you
this, they fought on the wrong side of justice, and got their asses
kicked! Then I walked away watching everyone look at the back of my
white Union Navy Uniform and the dude smoldering slowly turning red.
By way, about five or six years ago, I hustled up $500 and brought
Sergeant-Major Norman Fisher's First Mississippi Colored Regiment
Infantry Re-enactors down to Jefferson College from Jackson. I printed
up Wirt Adam's complete report to his commander where it said he could
not recapture Natchez because it was: Occupied by 1200 white soldiers
and 1500 Negro soldiers! We then crashed their Wirt Adams Battle of
Natchez" with Norman and 'em in blue and handed out print outs of the
whole Wirt Adams report to attendees. Norman's USCT troops were welcomed
by the white Union Re-enactors and put on the re-enactment battlefield.
Norman's became awfully incensed afterward, because on the first day the
Confederates won. He was not there with his troops on the second day
when the Union won. Norman's is a Milliken's Bend re-enacting group and
don't like to lose.
In their public announcements and releases to the Newspapers, the
folk at Jefferson College always leave out this most important fact of
the failure of Wirt Adams to recapture Natchez. In fact they turn a
small skirmish Adams had where he chased some Union troops down the
road, into a "Battle of Natchez!" This smells of the efforts by some
neo-confederates to fabricate a mountain of "Black Confederates" out of
a mole hill of impressed enslaved and persons of "color" servants,
cooks, teamsters, laborers, food growers on plantations, and weapon
supply handlers, with a few in between protectors of good ole master(s)
confederate soldiers!
I will keep ya posted on what happens with the follow-up with the
State NAACP President.
Ser Boxley
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