Camp Feature: Camp 1834

   Fort Heiman Camp No. 1834, S.C.V. started 2003, as usual, with our Lee-Jackson supper in Murray. This year, our speaker was Dr. Lonnie Maness, professor emeritus of History at the University of Tennessee at Martin. His topic was Forrest’s career and the missed opportunities when the Confederate high command ignored his advice It was an excellent talk and a fine potluck supper.

   Much of our effort all year was devoted to the preservation of Fort Heiman. On several occasions, political figures visited Murray and brought checks. The last was for six hundred thousand dollars. To call us pleased is an understatement. Later in the year, we met in the Courthouse to watch as the Fort Heiman property was purchased (with that six hundred thousand, plus some more) from the major landowner. At approximately the same time, a local resident was moved to donate an acre of land near the entrance to the proposed park to the Fort Heiman Camp and the SCV, for future use as a Confederate visitor’s center. Work progresses on this.

   We marked a number of graves in Marshall, Calloway, and Graves Counties. Perhaps the largest single event was the marking of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Johnston’s grave. Lt. Col Johnston was the highest ranking citizen of Marshall County on either side of the late unpleasantness. More than 200 people attended the ceremony. On the 4^th of July, we set up a booth on the square in Murray during Amerifest, and represented the organization there. Later in July, we marked the grave of the Adjutant of the 7^th Kentucky, Lt. Roulhac, who was murdered by Union guerillas after the Battle of Paducah.

   We also participated in a major grave marking effort in Fulton, at Confederate Memorial Day, and we co-ordinated the annual memorial service at Columbus during the re-enactment there, in October, and continued to find and mark the graves of members’ ancestors.

We added several new members during the year, and are currently engaged in an effort to get everyone re-enlisted before the end of the year. Our meeting attendance has been fairly constant, but we have not yet outgrown our room at the Murray First United Methodist Church, for which we continue to be eternally grateful.

   Several members continue to be active re-enactors, and this gives us a fairly regular firing squad for ceremonies. Most also remain active in “living history” efforts among local schools. Speaking of schools, with the help of our Brigade Commander, we were able to score one heritage violation victory in our local Middle School, this year, getting a ban on Confederate symbols removed. Deo Vindice!

Originally published in the Spring 2004 The Lost Cause