Florida – Save Southern Heritage – FL announces today that Confederate Memorial Day Observances commence around the state tomorrow and will continue through the rest of the month. “April is Southern Heritage Month and April 26th is Confederate Memorial Day” said David McCallister, spokesman for Save Southern Heritage – FL. Confederate Memorial Day was first observed in 1866 in Georgia and has been continuously observed around the South 151 years hence. It was established to remember those who died serving in the armed conflict of 1861-1865 on the Southern side. Details of the events around the state have been posted on the Save Southern Heritage - FL web site: www.sshfl.org. Criss-crossing Florida like the Southern Cross, observances will be held from Miami to Pensacola and Jacksonville to Ft. Myers over the coming week. Held in cemeteries, at cenotaphs and memorials, observances will include music, colorfully dressed re-enactors and ladies bedecked in hats, fresh flowers including roses and wreaths, music including bagpipers and hymns, and speakers and “Roll Calls of Honor”. Activities kick off in Tampa tomorrow with a ceremony at Hillsborough County Confederate Veteran Memorial Park including two color guards, one provided by a camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and another provided by a local High School’s ROTC, and the dedication of a memorial marker to the C.S.S. Florida and a roll call of honor to 30 Veterans. This ceremony is sponsored by the Augusta Jane Evans Wilson Chapter 2640 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Judah P. Benjamin Camp #2210, Sons of Confederate Veterans. “These are somber ceremonies honoring all the South’s dead” said McCallister. “Extremists claim observing Confederate Memorial Day is “racist” but they couldn’t be farther from the truth – it’s about remembering dead family members” added McCallister. In discussing the Southern citizen-soldier, James Tokley, Hillsborough County’s Poet Laureate acknowledged “the sweet diversity of our ancestral south”. “We honor all the Confederate dead Native-American, Hispanic–America, Black-American... the park in Tampa has memorial markers to the diverse peoples who comprised the South then, as it does now” McCallister added.
HK Edgerton at Hillsborough County Confederate Veterans Memorial Park - Confederate Memorial Day Ceremony and Dedication of Black Confederate Memorial Marker - April 2016
It has been estimated that one half of American's population descends from someone who fought during the war on the side of the South.
“Fair minded Floridians realize many of their friends and neighbors lost family members during the war, and that they simply are seeking to keep the 6 Commandment - “Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother”” McCallister concluded.
SAVE SOUTHERN HERITAGE Inc. is a 501 c(4) public welfare corporation that educates & advocates on behalf of Southern Heritage & History. It was started in 2015 in response to the knee-jerk Anti-Southern institutionalized bullying and “Eracism” levied against the people of South Carolina by Governor Nikki Haley, after she broke all previous agreements about how South Carolina’s historical veterans and their symbols should be treated and respected. The Florida branch was activated in mid-January 2016, in response to three initiatives in the Florida Legislature that are part of a hate campaign led by Anti-American extremists, who refuse to respect the various cultures that make up the fabric of Florida’s society. Since that time, it has grown in membership and has been active in Heritage battles throughout Florida including the “We’ll Remember in November Campaign” that resulted in #heritagehater candidates to loose elections in Florida. More info: www.sshfl.org.
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