I AM THE SOUTH
I was born on April
12, 1861, in the Harbor of Charleston, South Carolina and the Constitution of
the Confederate States of America is my Birth Certificate. The blood lines of
the South run through my veins, for I offer freedom that each State should regulate
her own affairs, according to its best interest. I am many things and many
people.
I Am The South. I am
millions of living souls, and ghosts of thousands who died for me. I am the
Farmer-made soldier who did not turn his back during Pickett's Charge. I am the
Rebel Yell that was heard across many of my rolling fields, protecting our
homeland. I am Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson: I
stood at Fort Sumter and fired the shot heard through our young nation. I am
Longstreet, Hood and Patrick R. Cleburne. I am General's Johnson, Beaugard and
President Jefferson Davis. I remember how we fought in Gettysburg, Cold Harbor,
Vicksburg, and Atlanta. When duty called I answered and stayed until it was
over. I left my heroic dead in Chickamauga, in the fields of Shiloh, on the
bloody hills of Mannassas and the mountains of Kennesaw.
I Am The South. I am
the Mississippi River, and the cotton fields of Alabama and the piney woods of
the Carolinas. I am the coal fields of Virginia and Kentucky, the Florida coast
and the Louisiana bayou. I am Richmond, the Capitol of the Confederacy. I am
the forest, field, mountain, and rivers. I am the quiet villages and the cities
that never sleep. I am the Heritage that's been forgotten, the dying memory of
a way of life that is being still. You see me in the twilight and hear me in
Dixie, as the past continues to fade away each year.
Yes, I Am The South,
and these are the things I represent . I was conceived by force, and God
willing, I'll spend the rest of my days remembering my birth. May I always
possess the integrity and the courage, and the strength to keep my Heritage
alive, to remain a Loyal Southerner and stand tall and proud to the rest of the
world. Do not forget: who we are; what we are and where we came from.... This
is my goal, my hope, my prayer.
{Written by 95 year
old Louise Weeks of Hampton, Georgia, two weeks before her death.}
