Sgt. John A. Lisk Camp 1502, Sons of Confederate Veterans

05/20/2026

N.C. Secession Day ... May 20, 1861.

05/18/2026

"Thank you" to everyone that attended our memorial service today ... and ESPECIALLY to all that participated!!! I'm very proud of our color guard!!! (The volleys were great!) The ladies in mourning dress looked great and the refreshments were greatly appreciated! "Thank you" all!

05/16/2026

Don't forget our memorial service tomorrow! (See below)

05/16/2026

If preserving slavery was truly the South’s top priority, they should have simply stayed in the Union. That was Presidential candidate John Bell’s basic message in the 1860 election: slavery was already protected by the Constitution, upheld by the Supreme Court, and explicitly safe under Lincoln, who publicly stated he had no intention of interfering with it. There was even a proposed Thirteenth “Corwin” Amendment that would have made slavery permanent and untouchable.

But, to the south, it didn’t matter if an amendment was passed to protect slavery indefinitely because that wasn’t the issue. They wanted to separate anyways. Southern soldiers only fought to defend their homes, family, and homeland to repeal a ruthless deadly invasion.

Yet the Southern states left anyway. Why? Because fundamentally, the conflict was never about slavery. It was about escaping a distant federal government that was increasingly toxic and exploited them.

Northern tariffs and policies funneled Southern wealth northward to fund infrastructure and industry that benefited the North at the South’s expense. The South felt used, neglected, and ruled by people who had little in common. The south basically wanted a divorce for irreconcilable differences.

So, the south responded peacefully. Southern states held democratic elections and voted to secede—South Carolina started the secession, their vote was unanimous, 169 to zero. They sought fair negotiations to depart as friends and settle accounts. Washington’s reply? Your votes are void. You will remain under our control by force if necessary.

The federal government had no moral or constitutional right to nullify the clear will of the people in sovereign states and invade to compel submission. The War of Northern Aggression was about crushing self-government, not freeing slaves.

The South simply wanted what every free people eventually demands: control over their own money, borders, infrastructure, and destiny.

They exercised the same right of self-determination celebrated in 1776. The real tragedy is that Washington chose bayonets over liberty. The South was right to try. The argument for self-rule endures. -RJ

05/10/2026

You're all invited to our 37th Annual Confederate Memorial Service on Sunday afternoon, May 17th, at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in southern Randolph County. It starts at 3:00. We have a great singer and speaker planned, so come on out and join us as we remember and honor those that fought defending our freedom and independence! Refreshments will follow in the church fellowship hall.

05/07/2026

"Thank you" to the Montgomery County N.C. History Museum for posting this article about our namesake! 🫡

OLD CY VIEWS THE PAST….

Colonel John A. Lisk was born near Mount Gilead on July 12, 1840 in Montgomery County, N.C. Only 20 years old at the beginning of the Civil War, Mr. Lisk joined Company F, 44th N.C. Regiment which was commanded by Captain John Gaines, also of Mount Gilead. Private Lisk was soon made corporal, and later; color sergeant, who was responsible for carrying the company’s colors (regimental flag). At the Battle of Yellow Tavern Lisk won fame and the admiration of his comrades by placing the Confederate colors on the breastworks of the Union Army. Captain Gaines was killed and left behind enemy lines, and Major Charles Stedman asked Lisk if he would go into enemy lines and bring back the body of Captain Gaines; and he did.

When General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lisk was close by and was one of the first to reach him. At Jackson’s death Lisk was chosen as a pallbearer and accompanied the remains back to Richmond, where the body lay in state for three days. By special request, Lisk also served as pallbearer for Mrs. Jackson when she died some years later. Lisk was captured and paroled near the end of the war, reaching Mount Gilead the day of the surrender, April 15, 1865. Returning home, he took up the threads of civilian life with his wife, the former Mary Jane Maynor, whom he had married a short time before his enlistment, and together they lived happily for 63 years. Mr. Lisk was a miller and millwright by trade. Later he was the mayor of Mount Gilead, and for many years he was the funeral director and undertaker for the town. He was a vivid and colorful speaker, and wrote articles for “The Montgomerian” newspaper under the name “Old Cy,” from which this pre-Christmas excerpt is taken-

The Montgomerian, Thursday December 12, 1912:

Why does Christmas come so much sooner now than it used to? Old Cy can remember when Christmas seemed like it would never get here. He would be looking for that little candy and perhaps a pair of shoes, as we only got one pair a year then, and later on we looked ahead to that old time quilting and cotton picking, when, after the work was done, we could get out on the floor with the “gals and the mother would “tood-de-lal, tood-de-lal” and we would have – boys, you don’t know anything about good times. And then we would form a ring around a boy and girl and sing: “It rains and it snows and its cold stormy weather!” Then in came the farmer with a big jug of cider, and then we would sing “All around the Rosie Bush.” The next thing was to go home with the girls and sit up and eat “taters” and home-made candy until the old folks would say that it was time to go to our homes, and we boys thought best to go home! But they say we are up to date now and cannot do that way and that we have a better way of enjoyment. Let me tell you: I don’t believe it! - Old Cy

John A. Lisk died June 21, 1939.

Now, let me tell you friends, that I agree with Old Cy (Colonel Lisk) and many of you will as well. As the years fly by on swift wings, the time does go by faster and faster than it used to. The internet has made the world a much smaller place; And now, looking back on how it was in more recent years of the past, what would Colonel Lisk say about everyone wanting the latest version of the iphone or android or whatnot? Did you live in those stirring times, dear reader, before the internet? The latest generation will never know what it was like to live in those halcyon days (the 1950s through the 1980s). Perhaps we can all learn a lesson from Mr. Lisk – that is, that during the holidays we might take the time to put our devices away and sit down and just gaze at the old Christmas tree, take a delicious dinner, if only for an infinitesimal time; just like we did many years ago before the internet. In short- we had a better way of enjoyment- we lived. Good Night, Dear Friends!

05/03/2026

If anyone knows of a highly visible small plot of land in Montgomery County that our SCV camp can buy, please let me know! We want to raise a flag! (or 2, or 3, or 4, ...)

Defend the Southern Cross: Small plots, Big Resistance. Big flag on small plot of land

In an age where woke radicals, cancel culture leftists, and Mao-Marxist ideologues wage relentless war on Southern heritage and American history itself, bold patriots are pushing back with simple, unbreakable resolve.

You can do the same. This Confederate battle flag fluttering beside a North Carolina highway isn’t owned by anyone on this road (although they like it). It’s on a scrap of private land, maybe 5 foot x 5 foot. No big budget required, no permission from the woke city council. Just a flagpole, a tiny plot, and the unapologetic spirit of ancestors who fought bravely for their homes against overwhelming odds.

This is your call to action: Raise your own flag. If you need some help, perhaps partner with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, local flaggers, or any pro-Southern group that refuses to kneel.

These roadside sentinels give hope to drivers weary of leftist erasure—they remind us that the South’s valor, independence, and defiance aren’t erased by leftist tantrums or corporate virtue-signaling.

Evil woke leftists hates America and its fighting heritage; don’t back down. A little land and cloth can reclaim territory in the culture war. Fly it high, change it often, and let the Battleflag, Stars and Bars—or whatever banner honors your forebears—wave as a permanent middle finger to the loons trying to bury our past. The heritage lives. Do your part. -RJ

05/03/2026

"Thank you" to all that supported our annual fundraiser!!! Enjoy those sweet onions!

05/02/2026

We're going to help ... I hope you will too! 🫡 In fact, our camp is matching funds up to a total of $500. If you'd like to contribute through our camp project, send an email to [email protected] for more information.

Moments after the Gordonsville Grays SCV Camp unveiled the Robert E Lee model for the full-size Monument Avenue replica on Feb 16, 2023. It is designated to be erected at Lee-Jackson Park located just north of Lexington, Virginia. Please help contribute to the "Lee Rides Again" Fund raising efforts (https://leeridesagain.com).

Robert E. Lee was no mere soldier; he was the very embodiment of Southern honor, duty, and Christian manhood. A devoted husband and father, a 32-year veteran of the United States Army, a brilliant Confederate commander, and later president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Lee lived a life of unimpeachable integrity that earned him the admiration of friend and foe alike.

Americans once knew this truth in their bones. That is why his likeness graced U.S. postage stamps, adorned the hulls of nuclear submarines and tanks, and gave its name to a U.S. Army post over a century ago.

Yet today, the same evil forces that tear down statues in the dead of night celebrate their vandalism as “progress.” Nowhere was this cultural desecration more grotesque than on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia.

For over 130 years, a magnificent equestrian monument to Lee—21 feet tall in bronze—stood as a proud sentinel of Southern valor. It was a masterpiece of American art, erected by a grateful people who understood that Lee represented the highest ideals of courage, humility, and reconciliation.

Then came the criminal riots of the summer of 2020, when the pathetic, vile, evil leftists—behaving exactly like the Taliban, ISIS, and every communist mob that has ever hated beauty and history—descended upon it in a frenzy of destruction. They toppled the statue in an o**y of ideological rage, then handed its remnants over to the African Black History Museum in Richmond, where the noble general’s monument has been warehoused for the last six years on the grounds of a literal waste treatment plant. It is impossible to feel anything but contempt for an organization so cruel and vindictive that it would treat a 130-year-old work of public art this way.

But the South does not forget.

Enter the Gordonville Grays Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. These dedicated men have shouldered a monumental task: recreating the full-sized bronze equestrian statue at its original heroic scale and placing it on private property.

Recreating the bronze equestrian statue alone will be enormously expensive and technically demanding. The project will take years of painstaking fundraising sacrifice. Yet the Gordonville Grays are determined and dedicated. They are doing what real Americans have always done when tyrants try to steal our heritage—they are rebuilding it themselves.

Their plan is as bold as it is fitting: the new statue will rise at Lee-Jackson Park, a private property owned by the Stonewall Brigade SCV Camp just north of Lexington, Virginia. There, on Southern soil, protected from the mob and the leftist politicians who enable it, Lee will someday once again sit astride his horse Traveller, reminding every visitor what real leadership and real manhood look like.

The ignorant leftist trolls who still sneer that “Lee wouldn’t have wanted a monument” are either liars or fools. Lee was a man of profound humility; he never sought personal glory and would have quietly declined any statue raised solely for his own sake. But he repeatedly affirmed that the soldiers who suffered and died in defense of their homes deserved to be remembered. He believed every fallen warrior earned the right to an honorable memorial.

As Senator Benjamin Hill of Georgia so eloquently declared, Robert E. Lee “belongs on a pedestal as high as George Washington himself”—and Washington, of course, was Lee’s own kinsman. The general’s own words and lifelong conduct prove he would be humbled and deeply honored by this effort to restore what the mob destroyed.

This is not merely about one statue. It is about whether the South will be allowed to honor its heroes or whether we will permit a handful of communistic leftist ideologues to dictate what our children may remember.

The Gordonville Grays have taken up the fight. Now it is time for every man and woman who still loves the South, still respects courage, and still refuses to let woke, cancel-culture vandals rewrite our history to stand with them.

Donate. Volunteer. Spread the word.
The recreation of Lee’s monument is a battle for memory itself. Every dollar given to the Gordonville Grays Camp helps restore a piece of our stolen heritage and tells the cultural Bolsheviks that their reign of erasure will not go unanswered.

Robert E. Lee taught us that duty is the highest calling. Today, our duty is clear: support the men rebuilding his statue at Lee-Jackson Park. With your help, Lee will ride again—proud, dignified, and defiant.

04/30/2026

If all goes as planned, we'll be at the Food Lion parking lot tomorrow, (May 1st), from 5-6 pm for the Vidalia onions pickup. (10lb.bag/$12) "Thank you" to everyone for your support!! 🫡