Gordonsville Grays SCV Camp #2301

07/18/2024

This weekend is a busy one for the Gordonsville Grays and Lee Rides Again. Today through Saturday we will be at the National SCV reunion in Charleston, SC, where we’ll have the Lee Rides Again Model on display. We are looking forward to meeting compatriots from around the country and getting the word out about this important project. If you’re in the Holy City this weekend, make sure you come by and see us!

This Saturday and Sunday we will also be at Cooter’s Place 25th anniversary celebration at the Page County fairgrounds in Luray, Virginia. If you’re anywhere near the valley you don’t want to miss this fun event! Great music, great vendors, and you’re chance to meet some of the original Dukes of Hazzard cast members. Check out the website for more information and to get your free tickets:
https://cootersplace.com/cooters-25th-anniversary-festival/

We look forward to seeing yall this weekend!

05/25/2024

The Gordonsville Grays are looking forward to our 6th annual Memorial Day Service on Monday. If you’re in the central Virginia area, join us as we commemorate the more than 700 Confederate soldiers who died at the Exchange Hospital during the War Between the States. We are very excited to have Teresa Roane, Archivist for the UDC, as our guest speaker this year. A potluck picnic will follow the service. Wherever you are this weekend, make sure to take some time and honor the fallen!

04/10/2024

Today we are excited to show you a new fundraising item for Lee Rides Again! Our good friends at The Confederate Shop in Harrisonburg generously donated these limited edition challenge coins to the cause! If you have seen the other coins from their monument series, you know they are high quality collector’s items.

One side of this LRA coin features an iconic image by Judy Smith Photography of the original Lee monument as well as the battle flag of the 13th Virginia, distinctive for its 12 stars. The Gordonsville Grays were company C of the 13th, A.P. Hill’s first command. The reverse side features the original militia flag of the Grays and the charge to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

This commemorative coin will truly be a keepsake for anyone who wants to be a part of raising the new monument to General Lee! Visit www.LeeRidesAgain.com to find out where we’ll be and get one in person or order yours online:

https://confederateshop.com/store/lee-rides-again-monument-coin-limited-edition/?fbclid=IwAR0nxu1fXzN50Iu-pT1hSTSPR_NItrCmVnmZ0L9M2WnOvHwzyGaq_YXgaZg_aem_AUfzB652e3Zqb2aTNwLJFjTrBs31rzEy4PlWl4kj-LhDrcLfFCwMWUcDTOaYa9286wGuhPJUSTHTB8wB28mMel1d

04/06/2024

Happy Confederate History month from the Gordonsville Grays! This month we remember the proud history of Virginians and all Southerners who defended their homes against a tyrannical federal government. It was April 17th, 1861 when the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded, refusing to participate in a war of subjugation after Lincoln’s call for troops to invade South Carolina. Virginia stood with her fellow Southern states in defense of Constitutional government and refused to allow an invading army to march through her borders. For four long years the Confederacy fought for independence in the face of insurmountable numbers, leaving to us a legacy of patriotism, sacrifice, honor and courage. Today it is our mission as the Gordonsville Grays to preserve this legacy for future generations.

To that end, the Lee Rides Again monument project is moving forward with almost $95,000 raised! We are looking forward to displaying the model at the SCV Virginia Division Convention in a couple weeks. Our artist, Tom Gallo, has been refining it at his studio the last several months and we will soon have updated photos to show the changes and remarkable detail he has added.

Our next step is to have a foundry digitally photograph and map the clay model into a 3D computer model. We are talking with a couple foundries about this process and both are friendly to our cause. One specifically refused to melt the Charlottesville Lee monument when offered the job.

After the model is mapped, we will have a bronze copy made at its current scale. This will be much easier to transport and display than the clay model and in the future it will be raffled off as a fundraiser. Our goal is to have the bronze model on display at the SCV National Reunion in Charleston this July. Smaller copies of the model are still planned as well for donors to be able to have one of their own.

Once we have the bronze model cast, we will be focused on expanding the campaign to those outside of our immediate heritage organizations. Americans are disgusted at the destruction of our history and want to do something about it. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Lee Rides Again project so far! You are all a part of this critical work to preserve the legacy of General Robert E. Lee for generations to come.

To donate or learn more about our effort to recreate Richmond’s Lee monument, visit our website at www.LeeRidesAgain.com. To learn about the park where it will go, visit www.LeeJacksonPark.com.

We will be posting again soon with an exciting new fundraising item courtesy of our good friends at the Confederate Shop! Sic Semper Tyrannis,

-The Gordonsville Grays

01/12/2024

Happy Lee-Jackson Day from the Gordonsville Grays! Today we honor the legacy of these two gallant Virginians as heroes of the Commonwealth, the South, and the nation. Their examples forever stand as testaments to soldierly, Christian character for those who are wise enough to study them.

We look forward to celebrating Lee-Jackson Day with many of our friends and patriotic Americans from around the country as we gather in Lexington today and tomorrow for the annual memorial service and parade. Thank you to our compatriots in the Stonewall Brigade for all the work they do to host this excellent event. An added highlight this year will be laying memorial bricks at Lee Jackson Park, future home of the new monument to General Lee.

We are proud to report that total fund raising on phase one of Lee Rides Again is over $80,000. Behind the scenes, we are spreading the word to the grassroots and reaching out to potential donors who are outraged at the destruction of our history. Last weekend was our first event of the year, promoting the project at the Low Country Relic Show in Charleston. Thank you to everyone who has supported Lee Rides Again thus far. Stay tuned for further updates in the coming months as we work toward producing bronze miniatures.

www.LeeRidesAgain.com

www.LeeJacksonPark.com

While Lee Rides Again takes much of our time as a camp, we have not slowed down our other activities. In 2023 we held our 5th annual Memorial Day service, set up our camp booth at nearly a dozen events, and participated in three parades--taking first place in the Gordonsville Veteran’s Day parade. Most importantly, we put in over 150 volunteer hours caring for our local Confederate cemetery and historic sites. We are full steam ahead and looking forward to what’s in store for this year.

In honor of Lee Jackson Day, we’ll close with an excerpt of a letter from General and President Dwight Eisenhower. As a Kansas Republican, Eisenhower may have seemed an unlikely admirer of Robert E Lee. There was a time, however, when nearly all Americans agreed that Lee and Jackson were worthy of admiration. When questioned as to why General Lee was one of four portraits that hung in Eisenhower’s oval office, the great hero of WWII replied:

"General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation… Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his faith in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.

From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s caliber would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained."

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Aug. 9, 1960

10/28/2023

By now you’ve probably heard that Charlottesville’s Lee monument has been melted down. We’ve been told this was necessary for "healing and reconciliation." The statue was melted in secret, supposedly out of fear that hate groups would target the foundry. The irony is that the Charlottesville City Council and the Jefferson school were the only hate groups involved in the recent court case and destruction of the monument. Everything they’ve done has been motivated by a hatred for Robert E Lee and those who admire him.

City Council gave the monument to the Jefferson school out of hatred, knowing their plan was to melt it down. They removed it and cut it into small pieces out of hatred. They delayed and obfuscated the court case out of hatred (even hatred for the rule of law). They published photos of Lee’s head in the furnace out of hatred. They’ve chosen the anniversary of the statue’s unveiling to announce the selection of a new design out of hatred. Their campaign has been one of division, vindictiveness, and spite, not healing and reconciliation.

The Gordonsville Grays, however, have never been motivated by hatred. Indeed, we are motivated by more powerful things: love and admiration. Love for our Southern heritage that no professor, no city councilor, and no governor could ever tear down. Love for a tradition of duty, honor, and courage that no foundry could ever destroy. Admiration for a man who sacrificed everything in defense of Virginia, the South, and Constitutional government. Admiration for a brilliant general who preferred to be known simply as a humble Christian.

We have chosen to respond to the hatred directed at General Lee by leading the charge to raise a new monument in his honor. The efforts to crush our spirit and make us angry have only encouraged us that our mission is more vital than ever—it is our responsibility to remember our history.

To date we have raised over $70,000. Thanks to the Stonewall Brigade Camp, we have a spectacular location to raise it at the new Lee Jackson Memorial Park. We have a small scale clay model that was unveiled in April. Sculptor Tom Gallo has been hard at work on refining it for the last several months (new photos coming) and we will soon be taking it on tour to help raise funds.

If you are among the millions of Americans who still hold dear the legacy of Robert E Lee, won’t you stand with us? When your grandchildren ask what you did when they melted down the statue of Lee, what will you tell them? Did you sit idly by or did you make a stand against the destruction of our history? The men of the Gordonsville Grays are making a stand and we encourage you to join us. If you’re able to donate you can mail a check to:

Gordonsville Grays
PO Box 204
Gordonsville, VA 22942

*Please note Lee Rides Again in the memo

Or you can donate online (small fee goes to service provider) at givesendgo.com/leeridesagain.

We also need your prayers. Lee’s true greatness was not in his incredible ability to lead men, but in his incredible humility to follow Jesus in all things. We recognize that without God’s blessing we will not succeed. Join us and together we will see to it that Lee rides again.

Learn more about our campaign at LeeRidesAgain.com and learn about the park at LeeJacksonPark.com

09/05/2023

It’s almost time for one of our favorite events of the year—the 47th annual Somerset Steam and Gas Pasture Party is this weekend Sept. 8-10th! We will once again be set up alongside our friends from the Kemper-Fry-Strother Camp 19 from Madison. Bring your family to see some of the finest antique tractors and machinery in the country as well as living history displays and local bluegrass music (www.somersetsteamandgas.org for all the info). Come support an event that supports our Virginia history, including our Confederate history. We’ll be there all weekend to tell folks about the Lee Rides Again project. Stop by and see us!

06/13/2023

Our camp was honored to support the Kemper-Fry-Strother Camp 19 in their 35th annual commemoration of General and Governor James Lawson Kemper’s birthday this past Sunday, June 11th. This year was the 200th anniversary!

A native of Madison county, Kemper served his country and his state nobly throughout his life. As a graduate of both Washington College and VMI, he served in the US Army during the Mexican War. As a Confederate general, he suffered a terrible wound leading his brigade at Gettysburg. He was hit in the groin with a minie ball that traveled up and lodged at the base of his spine. Everyone expected the wound would be fatal, but he recovered well enough to serve as chief recruiting officer for the CS army.

At the end of reconstruction he served his commonwealth again as Governor, winning the vote with the largest margin of victory in Virginia history. Following his tenure as Governor, he retired to his home in Orange county where he spent the rest of his life as a successful farmer.

Here’s to you General Kemper!

06/03/2023

This past Monday evening, May 29th, we held our 5th annual Memorial Day Service at Maplewood cemetery to honor the 750+ Confederate soldiers who died at the Exchange Hospital. Members of our camp recently spent a good deal of time landscaping the cemetery and improving the road. Despite threat of heavy rain we had over 60 attendees and the Lord blessed us with clear weather for all but a few minutes. Thank you to everyone who joined us and especially to our speaker Susan Lee who reminded us that everything we do must come back to a love for our soldiers and the God most of them served.

The significance of the date was not lost on us either, May 29th was 133 years since the unveiling of Richmond’s Lee equestrian monument in 1890. Both Susan and our camp commander had in mind a quote from the keynote address of Col. Archer Anderson. In many ways it could also be said of CS headstones standing across the South:

“Let this monument, then, teach to generations yet unborn these lessons of his life! Let it stand, not as a record of civil strife, but as a perpetual protest against whatever is low and sordid in our public and private objects! Let it stand as a memorial of personal honor that never brooked a stain, of knightly valor without thought of self, of far-reaching military genius unsoiled by ambition, of heroic constancy from which no cloud of misfortune could ever hide the path of duty! Let it stand for reproof and censure, if our people ever sink below the standards of their fathers! Let it stand for patriotic hope and cheer, if a day of national gloom and disaster shall ever dawn upon our country! Let it stand as the embodiment of a brave and virtuous people’s ideal leader! Let it stand as a great public act of thanksgiving and praise, for that it pleased Almighty God to bestow upon these Southern States a man so formed to reflect His attributes of power, majesty and goodness!”

This inspiring quote motivates our camp today, both in caring for our local cemetery and in our work on the Lee Rides Again monument project. 133 years later, Col. Anderson’s words still ring true and we say let it stand once more!

05/31/2023

This past Saturday was a momentous day for Southerners at Lee Jackson park in Fairfield, Virginia and the Gordonsville Grays were proud to be a part of it. It was encouraging to see so many different groups come together in support of the cause. Over 350 people turned out for the mega flag raising and dedication of Lee Jackson Memorial Park, including national SCV leadership. Thank you to The Stonewall Brigade Camp 1296 and to The Virginia Flaggers for all your hard work in putting on such a great event!

Aside from laying our wreath during the dedication and flag raising, the major highlight of the day for us was getting to showcase the new Lee Rides Again model and the sculptor who created it, Tom Gallo. Sons of Confederate Veterans Commander in Chief Jason Boshers was kind enough to stop by and talk to us at length, with nothing but good things to say. Thank you to everyone who came by our tent and donated or gave us an encouraging word.
You can read a great write up and see more photos from the event on the Virginia Flaggers blog: http://vaflaggers.blogspot.com/2023/05/confederate-heritage-groups-join-forces.html

Witnessing the spirit of pride in our heritage on Saturday, it is clear what we can accomplish when we work in unity. We look forward to gathering at Lee Jackson Park again in the future and especially to that glorious day when together we will unveil a new Lee equestrian monument for the world to see!

Visit www.LeeRidesAgain.com to learn more or to make a donation.

05/30/2023

05/28/2023

Our Confederate Memorial Service tomorrow will go forward rain or shine. If the weather is especially bad at 5pm we will direct folks from the cemetery to a nearby picnic shelter to hold the service there. Our ancestors marched, camped, and fought in every kind of weather. A little rain will not deter us from our duty. Come hear an uplifting message from Susan Lee of the Virginia Flaggers and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war for Southern independence.