Hamilton Co., TN, military units in the War of the Rebellion

During the War of the Rebellion (1861-1865), the standard composition of a regiment was ten companies, usually, but not always, organized into battalions.  The number of companies could vary from a few as eight to as many as twelve.  Independent battalions existed with anywhere from two to six companies.

Provisional Army of Tennessee

Inspired like the rest of his peers in the Southern plantocracy by romantic delusions of grandeur derived from the Victorian writings of Walter Scott, Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard initiated an attack on federally-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor that led to its surrender the next day, 13 April 1861.  Two days later, POTUS Abraham Lincoln issued a call-up to the states remaining in the Union for 75,000 volunteers to defend that Union enforce its laws, making that day, 15 April, one of the worst Mondays in American history commemorated every year on the IRS’ Tax Day.

Musters of militia forces throughout the State of Tennessee began almost immediately after Lincoln’s call-up, but no legal basis for that existed until 6 May 1861.  On that day, the General Assembly passed a declaration of independence and articles of secession, followed the same day by authorization for what became the short-lived Provisional Army of Tennessee.  Gov. Isham Harris became commander-in-chief of the new outfit.  Two major generals supervised operations in the field, Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow and Maj. Gen. Samuel Anderson.

The first regiment organized was in Virginia days before the secession vote in Tennessee.  The 1st Confederate Infantry, also known as the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, PACS, was organized under Col. Peter Turney at Winchester, Franklin Co., Tennessee, on 29 April 1861, arriving in Virginia to be mustered in on 8 June 1861.  The same day Turney’s organized his regiment, the Hamilton County Home Guards were being organized at Chickamauga, Hamilton Co., Tennessee, by Capt. George L. Gillespie, who joined Turney’s regiment three days later.  The first regiment organized for the Provisional Army of Tennessee was Maney’s 1st Tennessee Infantry organized under Col. George Maney at Nashville on 9 May 1861; it was mustered into Confederate service with that designation on 1 August 1861.

Harris divided the Provisional Army of Tennessee into three geographical departments.  He assigned Maj. Gen. Pillow overall command of the Provisional Army of Tennessee with headquarters in Memphis and direct command of the Department of West Tennessee; Maj. Gen. Anderson command of the Department of Middle Tennessee with headquarters in Nashville; and Brig. Gen. Richard Caswell command of the Department of East Tennessee.  In addition, Harris assigned Brig. Gen. Robert C. Foster command of militia forces at Camp Cheatham, Robertson Co.; Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer command of militia forces at Camp Trousdale, Sumner Co.; Brig. Gen. Frank Cheatham command of Camp Brown at Union City, Obion Co.; and Brig. Gen. John L.T. Sneed command of Fort Wright at Randolph, Tipton Co.

These arrangements did not last long as the units, facilities, arms, munitions, and other supplies were transferred into Confederate service.  Initially the state’s Dept. of West Tennessee came under direct Confederate control on 13 July 1861 when Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana (which he remained until killed in battle) and chief founder of the University of the South at Sewanee, Franklin Co., Tennessee, assumed command of the Confederate Department No.2 (essentially the West that lay east of the Mississippi and south of the Tennessee).  The state’s Dept. of Middle Tennessee was fully Confederate by 31 July.  In the state’s Dept. of East Tennessee, the troops mostly remained in the Provisional Army of Tennessee well into the fall, though Brig. Gen. Zollicoffer, taken into Confederate service on 9 July 1861, was given command of the Confederate District of East Tennessee under Polk’s Department No. 2 on 1 August 1861, though his troops had not yet been mustered into Confederate service and still belonged to the Provisional Army of Tennessee.

Though local units immediately began organizing all across the state, there were two major call-ups for troops state-wide: one at June for volunteers to muster in Nashville, and one in September for volunteers to muster in Memphis.  Interestlingly, state records show that a regiment-sized group of freedmen mixed with a few slaves reported to Nashville in June, while two regiment-sized groups of freedmen and slaves reported at Memphis.  Both groups were accepted into the Provisional Army of Tennessee, but were rejected for Confederate service when the units were transferred.

Confederate units from Hamilton Co.

These are the Confederate units either organized in Hamilton County or organized elsewhere made up partially or wholly with men from Hamilton County.  Though many of these units were operational locally many months before the first date for them, they are listed in order of the latter for convenience.

During the war, supporters of the Confederates government in or from the county organized one company of artillery, one company of dragoons (mounted infantry), nine companies of cavalry, twelve companies of infantry, one battalion of partisan rangers (mostly men from out of state), two guerrilla companies, and two home guard companies.

PAT = Provisional Army of Tennessee
PACS = Provisional Army of the Confederate States
ACSA = Army of the Confederate States of America (planned as the CSA’s regular army)

(Gordon’s) Mountain Rifles (later the Raccoon Roughs), organized under Capt. John B. Gordon in the tri-state area mid-April 1861 with men from Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, originally as cavalry.  After being refused for service in Tennessee and Georgia, it became Co. I, 6th Alabama Infantry, PACS, on 14 May 1861.  They later became Co. D, 6th Alabama Infantry, PACS.  The regiment surrendered under Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appamattox, Virginia, on 9 April 1865 as part of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Hamilton County Home Guards organized under Capt. George L. Gillespie at Chickamauga, Hamilton Co., Tennessee, on 29 April 1861 with men from the county.  Gillespie signed on with Turney’s 1st Confederate Infantry three days later, but the Hamilton County Home Guards remained local.

Chattanooga Home Guards organized under Capt. Michael Harrington about the same time (April 1861) as the outfit Gillespie organized at Chickamauga.  Needless to say, it ceased operation with the federal occupation of the city in September 1863.

Hamilton Grays, Tennessee Infantry organized under Capt. John D. Powell at Chattanooga in May 1861; originally it was a local militia outfit called simply the Volunteer Company.  On 11 June 1861, it became Co. B, 2nd East Tennessee Infantry, PAT.  On 15 August 1861, it became Co. A, 19th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  The regiment ended the war as Cos. C and H, 3rd Consolidated Infantry, Army of Tennessee, and surrendered under Lt. Gen. Alexander Stewart at Durham Station, North Carolina, on 25 April 1865.

Marsh Blues, Tennessee Infantry organized under Francis M. Walker at Chattanooga in May 1861.  On 11 June 1861, Co. A, 2nd East Tennessee Infantry, PAT.  On 15 August 1861, it became Co. I, 19th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  The regiment ended the war as Cos. C and H, 3rd Consolidated Infantry, Army of Tennessee, and surrendered under Lt. Gen. Alexander Stewart at Durham Station, North Carolina, on 25 April 1865.

(Ragsdale’s) Lookout Rangers, Tennessee Cavalry organized under Capt. William Ragsdale at Knoxville, Tennessee, on 15 June 1861 with men from Hamilton County, Tennessee.  On 29 August 1861, it became Co. A, 4th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS.  On 24 May 1862, the 4th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion consolidated with the 5th Tennessee Cavalry Battlion and Co. A, 4th Battalion became Co. H, (Ashby’s) 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, PACS, then commanded by Hamilton County resident Col. Henry Marshall Ashby.  The regiment surrendered under Lt. Gen. William Hardee as part of the Department of Tennessee and Georgia at Durham Station, North Carolina on 26 April 1865.

Snow’s Company, Tennessee Cavalry organized under Capt. William Snow at a Methodist campground in northwestern Bradley County, Tennessee, on 7 August 1861, with men from eastern Hamilton County.  It soon became Co. C, (Brazelton’s) 3rd Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS.  On 27 March 1862, the company was redesignated Co. B, Brazelton’s 1st Tennessee Cavalry, PACS, but that unit never fully materialized.  On 12 May 1862, the battalion was reorganized and the company became Co. C, (Carter’s) 14th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS.  On 14 November 1862, with the addition of four companies, including two from Thomas’ Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, the battalion finally did upgrade to a regiment, and the company became Co. B, (Carter’s) 1st Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  At the end of the war, it was in the Department of East Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia under Brig. Gen. John Echols, who disbanded his command at Christiansburg, Virginia, on 12 April 1865.  However, Brig. Gen. Echols and several units formerly of the command, including Vaughn’s Brigade of which Carter’s 1st Tennessee Cavalry was a part, attempted to link up with Gen. Joe Johnston’s command then others.  Carter’s 1st Tennessee Cavalry surrendered under Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn as part of his brigade at Washington, Georgia, on 9 May 1865.

Spiller’s Company, Tennessee Cavalry organized under Capt. C. C. Spiller at Chattanooga on 11 August 1861, with men mostly from the Third Civil District of Hamilton Co. (North Chattanooga, Red Bank), Tennessee and some from North Alabama.  The company became Co. B, (McClellan’s) 5th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS, on 29 August 1861.  When the battalion became part of Ashby’s 2nd Tennessee Cavalry on 24 May 1862, this unit became Co. B, Spiller’s Cavalry Battalion, PACS (the other known unit was Ingles’ Co. F, also formerly of McClellan’s Battalion).  In August 1862, the battalion dissolved and this company became Co. H, (Murray’s) 4th Tennessee Cavalry (while Ingles’ company became Co. B of that regiment).  On 23 January 1863, Murray’s regiment dissolved and this company became Co. H, 8th Tennessee Cavalry (also known as Baxter Smith’s 4th Tennessee Cavalry).  This last regiment ended the war as part of Wade’s Cavalry Command and surrendered under Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton at Charlotte, North Carolina, on 3 May 1865.

Bird Rangers, Tennessee Cavalry organized under Capt. John F. White at Knoxville on 24 August 1861, with men from the Fifteenth Civil District of Hamilton County (southeast corner, east of Ooltewah Creek), Tennessee, North Georgia, and North Alabama.  On 7 January 1862, it became Co. F, (Roger’s) 1st Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  On 12 August 1862, it became Co. A, 13th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS.  On 16 December 1862, it became Co. A, (McKenzie’s) 5th Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  On 9 April 1865, the regiment was with Hampton’s Cavalry Command, but surrendered with the Army of Tennessee as part of Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps at Durham Station, North Carolina, on 26 April 1865.

Co. G, 3rd East Tennessee Infantry, PAT, organized under Capt. C.D. McFarland at Knoxville in August 1861 with men from Hamilton County, Tennessee.  In October 1861, it became Co. G, 26th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  On 8 November 1862, it became 2nd Co. K, 1st Confederate Infantry, ACSA.  The regiment surrendered under Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appamattox, Virginia, on 9 April 1865 as part of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Co. H, 3rd East Tennessee Infantry, PAT, organized under James Clark Gordon  at Knoxville in August 1861 with men from Hamilton County, Tennessee, and North Georgia.  In October 1861, it became (1st) Co. H, 26th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  On 8 November 1862, it became (2nd) Co. I, 1st Confederate Infantry, ACSA.  The regiment surrendered under Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appamattox, Virginia, on 9 April 1865 as part of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Co. D, 1st East Tennessee Rifles, PAT, organized under Capt. Rufus M. Tankesley at Chattanooga in August or September 1861 with men from the Second and Third Civil Districts of the county (Moccasin Point, North Chattanooga, later Red Bank, Browns Chapel).  On 26 October 1861, it was redesignated Co. D, 7th Tennessee Infantry, PACS, as part of a temporary brigade under Brig. Gen. William H. Carroll, the regiment’s former commanding officer. In December 1861, the unit’s designation was changed to Co. D, 37th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  On 9 June 1863, the 37th Tennessee Infantry consolidated with the 15th Tennessee Infantry as the 15th/37th Tennessee Infantry.  On 28 September 1864, the 15th/37th Tennessee Infantry was consolidated with other regiments as the 2nd/10th/15th/20th/30th/37th Tennessee Infantry.  At the end of the war, the unit was part of the 4th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry (2nd, 3rd, 10th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 26th, 30th, 32nd, 37th, 45th regiments), which surrendered under Lt. Alexander P. Stewart at Durham Station, North Carolina, 26 April 1865.

Co. H, 1st East Tennessee Rifles, PAT, organized under Capt. Isaac B. Nichols in Hamilton Co. Tennessee, in August or September 1861 with men from the Fifth and Fifteenth Civil Districts of (southeast corner, Concord, Chickamauga, Tyner, Zion Hill), Hamilton Co. and North Georgia.  On 26 October 1861, it was redesignated Co. H, 7th Tennessee Infantry as part of a temporary brigade under Brig. Gen. William H. Carroll, the regiment’s former commanding officer. In December 1861, the unit’s designation was changed to Co. H, 37th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  On 9 June 1863, the 37th Tennessee Infantry consolidated with the 15th Tennessee Infantry as the 15th/37th Tennessee Infantry.  On 28 September 1864, the 15th/37th Tennessee Infantry was consolidated with other regiments as the 2nd/10th/15th/20th/30th/37th Tennessee Infantry.  At the end of the war, the unit was part of the 4th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry (2nd, 3rd, 10th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 26th, 30th, 32nd, 37th, 45th regiments), which surrendered under Lt. Alexander P. Stewart at Durham Station, North Carolina, 26 April 1865.

Co. I, 5th East Tennessee Infantry, PAT, organized under Capt. John Pack at DeKalb County, Alabama, in early September 1861, mostly with men from that county but also from Hamilton and Bledsoe Cos. in Tennessee.  It was soon redesignated (1st) Co. I, 35th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  The company disbanded April 1862 and its men were redistributed to other companies in the regiment.

Co. K, 5th East Tennessee Infantry, PAT, organized under Capt. Lawson Guthrie at Ooltewah, Hamilton Co., Tennessee, on 17 October 1861 with men from eastern Hamilton County.   On 14 December 1861, it became Co. K, 43rd Tennessee Infantry, PACS, the regiment commanded by Col. James W. Gillespie of Euchee in Rhea Co., Tennessee.  At the end of the war, it was in the Department of East Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia under Brig. Gen. John Echols, who disbanded his command at Christiansburg, Virginia, on 12 April 1865.  However, Brig. Gen. Echols and several units formerly of the command, including Vaughn’s Brigade of which the 43rd Tennessee Infantry was a part, attempted to link up with Gen. Joe Johnston’s command then others.  The 43rd Tennessee Infantry surrendered under Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn as part of his brigade at Washington, Georgia, on 9 May 1865.

McKenzie’s Company, Tennessee Cavalry organized under Capt. George W. McKenzie on 1 November 1861 at Decatur, Meigs Co., Tennessee, with men from Meigs and Hamilton Cos.  On 7 January 1862, it became Co. B, Rogers’ 1st Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  On 12 August 1862, it became Co. C, McKenzie’s 3rd Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS.  Finally, on 16 December 1862, it became Co. C, McKenzie’s 5th Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  On 9 April 1865, the regiment was with Hampton’s Cavalry Command, but surrendered with the Army of Tennessee as part of Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps at Durham Station, North Carolina, on 26 April 1865.

 (Lea’s) Lookout Rangers, Tennessee Cavalry organized by Capt. Allen Lea at Nashville on 1 November 1861, with men from DeKalb Co., Alabama, and Marion and Hamilton Cos., Tennessee, as part of (Smith’s) 10th/11th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, PACS, which later grew into Smith’s 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  In the summer of 1862 Smith’s 2nd Tennessee Cavalry dissolved.  Some of the former Lookout Rangers joined Co. A, 11th Alabama Cavalry Battalion; most reorganized under Capt. Lea as Co. D, 19th Alabama Partisan Ranger Battalion (aka 2nd Alabama Partisan Ranger Battalion), PACS.  From 15 April 1863 forward,  it was Co. I, 7th Alabama Cavalry, PACS, which later became the 9th Alabama Cavalry, PACS.  The regiment surrendered under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart as part of the Army of Tennessee on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, North Carolina.  Lea, by then a major, resigned his commission on 30 January 1863; he later enlisted in the 1st Tennessee and Alabama Vidette Cavalry, USA, on 19 September 1863, ultimately rising to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

Co. H, 36th Tennessee Infantry, PACS, organized under Capt. James Warren Clift with men from northern Hamilton County, Tennessee, and became part of the 36th Tennessee Infantry when it organized at Knoxville on 26 February 1862.  The regiment only survived until the end of June, and on 30 June 1862 this company was combined with Cos. I and K of the same regiment as Co. L, 35th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  From September 1863, the 35th Tennessee Infantry formed a consolidated regiment with the 48th Tennessee Infantry, but by July 1864 it was separate again.  At the end of the war, the regiment formed Cos. A and F, 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry (4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, 48th regiments), surrendering under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, North Carolina, as part of the Army of Tennessee.

Co. K, 36th Tennessee Infantry, PACS, organized under Capt. John A. Smith with men in the vicinity of Harrison, Hamilton County, Tennessee, and its environs, and became part of the 36th Tennessee Infantry when it organized at Knoxville on 26 February 1862.  The regiment only survived until the end of June, and on 30 June 1862 this company was combined with Cos. H and I of the same regiment as Co. L, 35th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  From September 1863, the 35th Tennessee Infantry formed a consolidated regiment with the 48th Tennessee Infantry, but by July 1864 it was separate again.  At the end of the war, the regiment formed Cos. A and F, 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry (4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, 48th regiments), surrendering under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, North Carolina, as part of the Army of Tennessee.

Tyner’s Company, Tennessee Cavalry organized at Tyner under Capt. John S. Tyner with men from Tyner, Harrison, and Ooltewah in Hamilton County, Tennessee.  On 1 April 1862, the company joined with three other Tennessee companies, two Alabama companies, and Major Henry Clay King’s Kentucky Cavalry Battalion as the (2nd) Co. K, 1st Confederate Cavalry, ACSA (also known as 12th Confederate Cavalry) organized at Spring Creek, Madison County, Tennessee.  Ultimately it became part of Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps, then was detached from the regiment as Tyner’s Company of Sappers and Miners.  The company later transferred to Forrest’s Cavalry Corps, PACS, and surrendered under Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest at Gainesville, Alabama, 9 May 1865.

Lookout Battery,  Tennessee Light Artillery, also known as Barry’s Company, organized under Capt. Robert L. Barry at Chattanooga on 15 May 1862 with men from Hamilton Co., Tennessee.  Attached to several brigades and sometimes operating independently, on 12 June 1864, it became part of Myrick’s Artillery Battalion.  It surrendered under Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor as part of his Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana on 4 May 1865.

Carter’s Company, Tennessee Cavalry organized under George W. Carter at Chattanooga on 14 June 1862, and in August 1862 became  Co. A, (Murray’s) 4th Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  After Murray’s regiment dissolved on 23 January 1863, Carter formed Carter’s Battalion of Mounted Scouts, an independent partisan unit.  In September 1864, the company consolidated with Windle’s 1st Co. A of Gore’s (previously Dibrell’s) 13th Tennessee Cavalry (aka 8th Tennessee Cavalry) as (2nd) Co. A, 13th Tennessee Cavalry, PACS.  At the end of the war, it formed part of Hampton’s Cavalry Command and served as part of President Jefferson Davis’ escort under Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn, who surrendered at Washington, Georgia, on 9 May 1865.

Clark’s Independent Company, Tennessee Cavalry organized under Capt. J.W. Clark at Chattanooga on 31 August 1862.  Much of its duty consisted of being the escort of various generals, most often Maj. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, under whom (by then a Lieutenant General) the company surrendered at New Orleans, Louisiana, along with the District of Arkansas and West Louisiana of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi and the Army (but not the Department) of the Trans-Mississippi on 26 May 1865.

Mitchell’s Mountain Rifles, Tennessee Infantry organized under Capt. Thomas Mitchell at Chattanooga on 1 October 1862.  On 23 January 1863, it became (3rd) Co. F, 35th Tennessee Infantry, PACS.  From September 1863, the 35th Tennessee Infantry formed a consolidated regiment with the 48th Tennessee Infantry, but by July 1864 it was separate again.  At the end of the war, the regiment formed Cos. A and F, 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry (4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, 48th regiments), surrendering under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, North Carolina, as part of the Army of Tennessee.

Co. D, Avery’s 23rd Squadron of Georgia Dragoons, PACS, organized under Capt. William J. Rogers at Wauhatchie, Hamilton County, Tennessee, in October 1862.  In January 1863, that battalion became the nucleus of (Avery’s) 4th Georgia Cavalry, PACS, which in January 1865 was redesignated the 12th Georgia Cavalry, PACS.  It surrendered under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart as part of the Army of Tennessee on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, North Carolina.

19th Alabama Partisan Ranger Battalion, PACS, usually called the 2nd Alabama Partisan Ranger Battalion, PACS, organized under Maj. Zachariah Thomason at Chattanooga on 21 November 1862, intended to be part of Howard’s Legion (3rd Confederate Cavalry).  In practice, that never happened and the battalion operated independently or alongside Mead’s Partisan Rangers.  On 15 April 1863, Thomason’s battalion combined with Maj. John C. Malone’s 14th Alabama Partisan Ranger Battalion as the 7th Alabama Cavalry, PACS, known after 5 September 1864 as the 9th Alabama Cavalry, PACS.  The regiment surrendered under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart as part of the Army of Tennessee on 26 April 1863 at Durham Station, North Carolina.

Snow’s Scouts organized under Capt. William Snow in the Snow Hill and Ooltewah vicinity after his resignation from the army on 12 May 1862.  Apparently his plantation house had substantial earthworks around it, probably qualifying it as a fort, since it is reported to have withstood a cannon barrage by Union troops during the occupation.  The unit dissolved when Snow and his family moved to what became Lake County, Tennessee, near the end of the war.

Osborne’s Scouts organized under Capt. Thomas Osborne in what was then the Fifth Civil District, Hamilton Co., Tennessee (Spring Creek, Concord, Chickamauga, Tyner), probably in 1863.  The unit operated in the mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.  After Osborne was killed in June 1864 during a raid by Col. George W. Kirk of the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, himself an irregular, the unit was known as Jenkins’ Scouts, after its new leader, Capt. Lafayette Jenkins, operating into the spring of 1865.  Jenkins’ Scouts surrendered under Gen. Joe Johnston as part of the Division of the West.

Postbellum Confederate Veterans & Allied Orders

United Confederate Veterans Association

On 15 September 1885, former Capt. Joseph Shipp organized Confederate veterans of Hamilton County as N.B. Forrest Camp No. 3, Confederate Veterans.  Shipp became the chief instigator and organizer of UCVA.

N.B. Forrest Camp No. 4, Chattanooga & Hamilton County, 1889, one of the founding camps of the UCVA.

United Sons of Confederate Veterans

In the summer of 1890, N.B. Forrest Camp No. 4 organized the Francis M. Walker Camp No. 1, Sons of Confederate Soldiers, which later became the county’s chapter of this organization, which dropped the “United” in 1912 to become just the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Jonathan W. Bachman Camp No. 3, Chattanooga & Hamilton County, one of the founding camps of USCV, 1896

United Daughters of the Confederacy

Precursors to the Chattanooga chapter of this organization include the Confederate Memorial Association and the Confederate Monument Association, both founded in 1867, combining in 1874 as the Chattanooga Confederate Memorial Association.

Founded in Nashville in 1894 as the National Association of the Daughters of the Confederacy, UDC was and is not connected to the UCVA or the (U)SCV.  It is not a veterans organization but one promoting Confederate heritage and the memory of the Lost Cause.

Gen. A.P. Stewart Chapter No. 81, Chattanooga, 5 September 1896

Gen. Francis Marion Walker Chapter No. 784  (founded as Gen. John B. Gordon Chapter), St. Elmo, 1904

Children of the Confederacy

A subsidiary of the UDC founded in 1896.

Jonathan W. Bachman Chapter No. 21, Chattanooga

Union units from Hamilton County

These are the Union units either organized in Hamilton County or organized elsewhere made up partially or wholly with men from Hamilton County.  Though many of these units were operational locally many months before the first date for them, they are listed in order of the latter for convenience.

During the war, supporters of the Union government in or from the county organized one company of cavalry, one regiment of dragoons, one company of dragoons, four regiments of infantry, one regiment of militia, and one company of home guards.

7th Tennessee Federal Militia, referred to in some Confederate dispatches as Clift’s Home Guards (not to be confused with the later unit raised by Capt. James Clift of Warren Co.) organized under Col. William Clift at Sale Creek Campground on 10 August 1861.  It was based on the county’s prewar 37th Tennessee Militia of which Col. Clift had been commander.  The regiment voted to disband on 13 November 1861, with one group dispersing to the mountains, one group traveling north to join the federal army, and the smallest group, including Col. Clift and Lt. Col. Shelton, trying to carry on guerrilla warfare.

Co. I, 2nd Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, USA, organized under Capt. William H.H. Robins at Sale Creek, Hamilton Co., Tennessee, on 27 November 1861 (probably with vets from Clift's 7th Tennessee Militia), and mustered into the regiment at Cumberland Ford, Kentucky, on 28 February 1862 for a 3-year term of service dated from the unit's organization.  The unit, known locally as the Sale Creek 65, was among the majority of the regiment captured at the Battle of Rogersville on 6 November 1863 by the troops of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, CSA.  They were first sent to Richmond, Virginia, for a few months before being transferred to the notorious camp at Andersonville, Georgia, where they were reportedly singled out for especially harsh treatment.  Most of the unit died there, with only a handful returning home after the war.

For more on these soldiers, see:  David Brown’s “The Sale Creek 65 And Their Civil War Fate” at https://www.chattanoogan.com/2022/12/5/460420/The-Sale-Creek-65-And-Their-Civil-War.aspx

Co. C, 5th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, USA, organized under Capt. Charles McCaleb at Harrison, Hamilton Co., Tennessee on 25 February 1862 with men from the county.  It was mustered into service on 28 March 1862.  It mustered out 4 April 1865.

Co. G, 5th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, USA, organized under Capt. Judge B. Clingan at Pine Knot, Campbell Co., Tennessee, in May 1862 with men from Hamilton and Bradley Cos.

In addition to the above two companies, Hamilton Co. men served individually in Cos. E, F, H, I, and K of the 5th Tennessee Volunteers.

7th (East) Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, USA, organized under Col. William Clift at Huntsville, Scott Co., Tennessee, beginning 1 June 1862, with men from Hamilton (many of them veterans of Clift’s previous regiment), Scott, Anderson, and Morgan Cos.  After serving for a year as a partisan unit, the regiment disbanded on 1 June 1863 and its men distributed to other units, most of them previous to that date.  Cos. A and F, 8th Tennessee Volunteers, USA, were initially composed entirely of 7th Tennessee veterans, including their commanders.  The regiment’s cavalry soldiers mustered into Cos. A, E, and G, 11th Tennessee Cavalry, USA; the regiment later consolidated with the 9th Tennessee Cavalry, USA.  Other units with 7th Tennessee Volunteer veterans were Co. I, 1st Tennessee Volunteers, USA; Co. I, 5th Tennessee Volunteers, USA; and Co. I, 2nd Tennessee Volunteers.  Col. Clift himself was assigned to the staff of Brig. Gen. John M. Shackleford of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, XXIII Corps.

44th U.S. Colored Troops, USA, organized under Col. Lewis Johnson at Chattanooga from 7 April-16 September 1864.  It was based at Chattanooga throughout its existence, though it did garrison duty in various parts of North Georgia, took part in the Nashville Campaign, and fought guerrillas in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.  It mustered out 30 April 1866 at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

42nd U.S. Colored Troops, USA, organized under Col. Joseph R. Putnam at Chattanooga and Nashville from 20 April 1864-6 July 1865.  This regiment was specifically organized as an invalid regiment, one for men unfit for the rigors for combat, and it remained at Chattanooga doing garrison and fatigue during its entire existence.  It mustered out 30 January 1866 at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Co. E, 5th Tennessee Mounted Infantry, USA, organized uder Capt. Polasky W. Norwood at Cleveland, Bradley Co., Tennessee,  on 8 October 1864 with men from Hamilton, Bradley, and Meigs Cos.  It mustered out at Chattanooga on 17 July 1865.

Co. D, 10th Tennessee Cavalry mustered under Capt. Calvin Simmons at Nashville on 25 Janaury 1864 with ment from Hamilton and McMinn Cos.  It mustered out with the rest of the regiment at Nashville on 1 August 1865.

18th Ohio Veteran Infantry, USA, organized under Capt. John M. Benedict at Chattanooga on 31 October 1864 with veterans of the 1st, 2nd, 18th, 24th and 35th Ohio Infantries.  It mustered out 9 October 1865 at Augusta, Georgia.

6th Tennessee Mounted Infantry, USA, organized under Lt. Col. George A. Gowin at Chattanooga on 24 October 1864.  It mustered out at Nashville on 30 June 1865.

Civic Guard of Chattanooga organized under Col. Edwin McCook at Chattanooga on 3 December 1864.  It was dissolved on or before 30 April 1866, the day the last military units of the federal occupation mustered out.

Postbellum Union Veterans & Allied Orders

The Grand Army of the Republic was first established in 1866, but activity waned significantly.  A revival in the 1880s brought expansive growth to the organization and its off-shoots.

Grand Army of the Republic

In addition to Chattanooga being headquarters for the Tennessee Department of GAR, Hamilton County supported these chapters.

Lookout Post No. 2, Chattanooga, est. 28 February 1882

Chickamauga Post No. 22, Chattanooga (for veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops), est. 25 September 1884

Robert L. McCook Post No. 36, Soddy

Mission Ridge Post No. 45, Chattanooga, est. 5 June 1886

Gordon Grainger Post No. 84, Sale Creek

Sons of Veterans U.S.A.

Created by the G.A.R. in 1881, this association adopted the name Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in 1925.

Chattanooga Camp No. 7, est. 1914

National Woman’s Relief Corps

The GAR organized this association as its official women’s auxiliary in 1883, and it still exists nationally.  Units of the NWRC were attached to brother posts of the GAR and carried the same name, except in the case here of Liberty W.R.C.

Mission Ridge W.R.C. No. 1, Chattanooga, est. 3 December 1886

Lookout W.R.C. No. 2, Chattanooga, est. April 1888

Chickamauga W.R.C. No. 7, Ridgedale, est. 1880s

Liberty W.R.C. No. 4, Chattanooga, est. 1915

Daughters of Union Veterans

Originally named the National Alliance of the Daughters of Veterans of the United States of America

Mary West Gahagan Tent No. 5

Society of the Army of the Cumberland

This organization established in 1870 for veteran commissioned officers of that particularly Union field army had two chapters in the county. 

Lookout Mountain Camp, SAC

Moccasin Point Camp, SAC

In the 1880s, the two camps merged as the Mountain City Club.

A Tale of Two Revolutions: Russia and Iran

After Tom Perez’s “Night of the Long Knives” purge of progressives and entrenchment of centrists at the Democratic National Committee, no self-respecting leftist can hold anything for the Democratic Party but contempt.  A thoroughly corrupt organization cannot be reformed, period.  Capitalism cannot be reformed.  Neoliberal bodies such as the EU or the UK of GB and NI, and the US of A for that matter, cannot be reformed.  The U.S. Democratic Party cannot be reformed.  With the direction of the Democratic Party now locked in with a jammed autopilot headed for the same neoliberal destination to which it was been turned since the late 1970s, it’s time for any true leftist remaining in the party under delusions of changing its nature to say “No!”, or rather, “No more!” to the Scorpion and to abandon ship.  In the second decade of the 21st century, a vote for a Democrat is a vote for Trump just as much as a vote for a Republican.  Resistance is not futile, but hoping for change from an establishment whose foundation is the status quo is.

Speaking of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, which has been a topic of much discussion this year, I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that in the 20th century there was just not one major workers’ revolution on the planet but two.  The revolutions in China, Cuba, Viet Nam, Nicaragua, etc., were anti-colonial more than proletarian and tainted by the fact they followed the post-Revolution Comintern doctrine, which is why I don’t include them.  The other revolution I’m talking about is the Iranian Revolution, the one which eventually overthrew the Shah and actually began in the summer of 1977.

In June 1977, after a long train of abuses and usurpations inflicted by the imperial government returned to power by the mullahs in 1953, the police were sent into South Tehran to clear the slums for Pahlavi-style gentrification.  Thousands fought back and continued to do so throughout the summer.  On 27 August that summer, the Shah’s police finally gave up and left.  During this time, other forces began to stir.  Mosaddegh’s National Front woke up, the Bazaar Association of small businesses reorganized, and the Writers Guild began to call for radical change. 

Later in the fall, the student movement for democracy was born and the Khomeinist mullahs organized into the Combatant Clergy Association.  On this latter, it’s important to recognize that in Iran at the time, there were two strains of Islamism, the Black Islamism of Khomeini which was fundmentalist, reactionary, and clericalist, and the red Islamism of Ali Shariati, which was more of a Muslim form of Christian Liberation Theology and progressive, popularist, and democratic.  One was for the benefit of the few, the other was for the benefit of the many.

By December 1977, the National Front and the Freedom Movement, an organization which represented a point between its secular partner and the Red Islamists, announced the the Iranian Committee for the Defense of Freedom and Human Rights, brainchild of Red Islamist Ayatollah Abolfazl Zanjani and Fatollah Banisadr, brother of the later president Abolhassan Banisadr.

Though students, bazaaris, and clergy led and participated in many of the demonstrations that began in January 1978, it was the repeated massive local and national strikes by workers throughout the country which brought down the government.   Though such actions began in 1977, they did not begin in earnest until a year later in the fall of 1978.  Strikes shut down the country, particularly  after oil industry workers joined the struggle and began to issue political as well as industrial demands.  Strikes of workers were invariably supported by sympathy strikes by bazaaris and students.  The economy of the country all but froze solid.  Workers took over factories and plants and refineries and ran them through shoras, which translated into Russian is soviets.  Community governance and order was maintained through komitehs, or committees, mostly controlled by workers, peasants, or other people’s groups, at least at first.

By the end of 1978, the Khomeinists had adopted much of the rhetoric of its Red Islamist counterparts following the tenets of Ali Shariati, which is when they began to talk about raising the fortunes of the Mostazafin, the Dispossessed.

The Iranian Revolution ended with the Ten Days of February, just as the Russian Revolution ended with Ten Days in October.

Almost immediately after the victory on 11 February, Khomeini, whose full name and title at the time was Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Mostafavi Moussavi Khomeini, organized forces to usurp control of the people, the workers, the bazaaris, the peasants, and the poor and place it in the hands of his own close acolytes. 

On 12 February, he announced to formation of the Central Revolutionary Komiteh to take control of all the local komitehs. 

On 24 February, he established the Central Revolutionary Court, which began executions on 5 March. 

On 26 February, he repealed the progressive Family Protection Acts which provided legal protection for the rights of women in marriage. 

On 7 March, Khomeini dismissed all female judges and imposed compulsory hijab on women entering government buildings, though was forced to back down temporarily on the latter by the enormous turnout in opposition the next day, International Women’s Day.

At the end of March, the population voted in a referendum in which the two options were the constitution drafted ostensibly by the Provisional Revolutionary Government but actual following explicit dictates of the Council of Islamic Revolution, or a return to constitutional monarchy under the Shah.  The additional feature of the ballot not being secret ensured a 98% approval, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was proclaimed on April Fools Day.

On May Day that year, the march of 1.5 million workers through the streets of Tehran, plus countless others across the nation, signalled the beginning of a general strike against the changes being made against the will of the people.  Six days later, Khomeini established the Army of the Guardians of the Revolution, or Revolutionary Guards (known in Farsi as Sepahi), to put down the general strike, rid the komitehs of secular elements, and destroy the proletarian shoras and replace them with Islamist versions.  Even these latter were eventually crushed when they began to follow their own interests rather than that of the central cabal.

A year later, Khomeini went after the universities, closing them down for the Iranian Cultural Revolution carried out by the Basij-e Mostazafin, or Basiji, under the auspices of the Cultural Revolution Headquarters led by Ali Khamenei and its subordinate Islamic Holy Councils of Reconstruction.  The Sepahi and the Basiji did not originate as instruments of national defense against US-instigated Iraqi aggression but as instruments of oppression.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 bears striking resemblance on many points to the Russian Revolution of 1917: both usurped revolutions from broad-based coalitions of disparate forces led by workers; both had significant 10-day periods, “Ten Days that Shook the World” vs. “Ten Days that Changed Iran”; both imposed constitutions on their respective countries without any debate; both turned on and slaughtered allies that had helped them come to power; both faced invasion and war almost immediately after coming to power; both used those wars as an excuse to eliminate dissidents in mass numbers; both carried out mass purges and executions a decade after their assumption of power; both became one party states – the Communist Party in the USSR and the Party of God in the IRI; and both were led by bitter, vindictive, unscrupulous long-term exiles who lied about their intentions, gave lip service to the goals of the true left, and pursued absolute power in the name of ideology and the establishment of a totalitarian state.

Tune in next time for a short critique of ideological Leninism and brief details of what a truly Cooperative Commonwealth would look like.

Esteghlal, azadi, edalat-e ejtemah-e.  Independence, freedom, social justice.  Rooz-e ma khahad aman, omidvaram.  Our day will come, inshallah.  Keep the faith.  Peace out.

Outline of the Iranian Revolution and the Early Islamic Republic: http://notesfromtheninthcircle.blogspot.com/2011/06/outline-of-iranian-revolution-and-early.html

A Response of Shaun King and Others on the Las Vegas Massacre

Despite killing 59 people and wounding 527 in a fusillade of gunfire that lasted nearly ten minutes, Stephen Paddock was not a terrorist.  At least as far as we know at this time.  He sowed terror, no doubt, as did the Son of Sam, but neither of the two left any sort of manifesto or even single statement detailing political motives, or motives of any kind, for that matter.  A political motive is what separates a terrorist from a generic mass murderer.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

About two weeks before the Las Vegas massacre, Emanuel Kidega Samson, a Sudan-born legal resident and apparently practising Christian, walked into Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee, to which he had once belonged, and sprayed it with gunfire after shooting down one of the parishioners in the parking lot.  No reputable news source referred to Samson as a terrorist, despite the fact that he is non-native and non-white.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

A little over two years ago, a Palestinian-American named Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez attacked two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was at first branded as a “terrorist”.  However, investigation quickly showed that Mohammad, a graduate of a local high school and of the city’s university, had been suffering from severe depression and bipolar disorder accompanied with abuse of several different substances, and by the end of the week, local authorities and media were talking about him more as a long wolf who had a mental breakdown.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

About a year later, Omar Mateen, an Afghani-American U.S. citizen, walked into The Pulse nighclub in Orlando, Florida, an establishment catering primarily to the gay community, and killed 49 people and wounded 58 with gunfire.  Though at the time he swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, spiritual leader of Daesh or ISIS, and claimed to be part of the mujahadeen, investigation turned up no prior connection between Mateen and al-Baghdadi or any other part of Daesh, so the claims were dismissed and this brown-skinned immigrant citizen of Middle Eastern origin was labelled a “lone wolf” by both law enforcement and reputable media sources.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

Each of these shooters was a “lone wolf”, and has been described as such by both law enforcement and media sources.  A “lone wolf” is someone acting outside of an organization on their own.  Many of the recent terror attacks in Europe have been carried out by just such “lone wolves” and have been referred to as such by law enforcement and media at the time.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

Andreas Breivek, who killed 77 and wounded 319 people in Norway, targeting the Norwegian Labour Party, was another such “lone wolf”.  However, since he most definitely carried out his atrocity for definite political reasons, he without a doubt fits the definition of a “terrorist” and was called such by law enforcement and media sources at the time.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

The Wounded Knee Massacre carried out by troopers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry was a mass murder inflicted almost entirely with gunfire but is different than what is now called a “mass shooting” on several accounts.  First, it was carried out by agents of the state, not a single private individual; second, there were many more shooters than a single individual or couple of individuals; third, it counts more as a genocide.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

While the mass killings of African Americans such as those in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Rosewood, Florida, and Philips County, Arkansas, involved a lot of gunfire, those were perpetrated by mobs, sometimes with their intended victims returning fire in self-defense and often lasted more than a whole day.  Hate crimes?  Yes.  Genocide?  Yes.  Mass shootings, in the modern sense of the word?  Nope, not unless you’re an ally of the NRA trying to draw attention from the catastrophes caused by their change in direction with the beginning of their acceptance of money from the arms industry’s merchants of death.  Sorry about that, Mr. King.

The reason white people, or really any other variety of human native to or legally resident in the United States is not charged as “terrorists” is because the federal government has no statute that covers such incidents.  That is an omission that should be corrected, along with establishing Australian levels of gun control to stop our ongoing Holocaust of each other.  One Nation Under Fire, from each other and from the police.

Vegas, the Pledge, the Anthem, and Black Lives

On the evening of Sunday, 1 October, a single human in Las Vegas, Nevada, using his arsenal of assault rifles with extended clips, killed 59 other humans and wounded 527 more humans, making 586 human victims in all, in the space of about 10 minutes.  That same amount of time is roughly equivalent to one of my pieces for a Left Ungagged podcast.  So, remember that number, 586, and let’s start counting: one, two, three, four…to be continued.

This mass shooting was brought to you by the archaic and badly misinterpreted Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the National Rifle Association, the Federalist Society, the conservative wing of the Supreme Court, the Republican Party, the Christian Right, and American ammosexuals from sea to shining sea.  To these individuals and groups, Second Amendment rights and the rights to profit of the arms industry’s merchants of death count more than the rights to life, health, and safety and freedom from fear of his victims.  Don’t be surprised if one day the government alters the U.S. national motto to “There is no god but Profit and Ayn Rand is its Prophet”; in the name of truth in advertising, of course.

By 1426 EDT on today, 4 October, there had been 46,873 shooting incidents leaving 11,725 people dead by gunfire and 23,795 people wounded by gunfire in the USA in 2017.  The Christian Dominionist words “under God” inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance after the phrase “one Nation” should be changed to “under fire”.  Because that’s what the USA is; one nation under fire.  Or, to put it another way, “Houston, we have a problem”.

The Pledge of Allegiance, by the way, originated as nothing more than a sales gimmick.  Its author, Francis Bellamy wrote it and devised the ritual for its recitation for a campaign by the mail order company he worked for to sell flags to every school in the country.  He introduced the Pledge on Columbus Day in 1892, which is fitting from pretty much any point of view.  The method Bellamy prescribed for saluting the flag during recitation of his pledge was with a stiff right arm palm down fingers pointed to the flag, a gesture that became quite familiar in Europe during the 1930s, and now you know the true origin of that salute.

Until Bellamy’s campaign, the only institutions which flew the national flag were buildings of the federal government and military and naval installations.  Within a few years, nearly every school in the United States had its own flag to which its children were marched out and lined up daily to pledge their loyalty and submission to American imperial capitalism.

Francis’ cousin Edward Bellamy wrote America’s third best selling novel of the 19th century novel published in 1887 called Looking Backward, a utopian science fiction conception of a completely socialized America a century later that launched a primarily bourgeois socialist movement which swept the country.  Locals were called Nationalist Clubs and the philosophy of the movement became known as Nationalism, in this case meaning the Nation, as in the people, against Capital.  This is the first known link of nationalism with socialism.

Looking Backward is not the only fictional work to launch a movement.  In 1905,  Thomas Dixon published the novel The Clansman, a highly romanticized view of the post-Civil War Reconstruction and of the Ku Klux Klan.  In 1915, D.W. Griffith turned it into the pioneering film The Birth of a Nation.  Besides being the first film ever shown in the White House and leaving the very racist President Woodrow Wilson in tears, it inspired a group of anti-Semitic terrorists known as the Knights of Mary Phagan to reorganize themselves as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.  The latter organization was established at the future site of candidate Bill Clinton’s “tough-on-crime” speech in Stone Mountain, Georgia, during the 1992 Democratic primaries standing in front of row upon row of Afro-American inmates from the nearby prison.

In 1899, the US Navy adopted the Star-Spangled Banner as its official song.  Racist-in-Chief Wilson adopted it for military occasions in 1916, and the National Baseball League started playing it at the World Series in 1918.  To distract the nation from the stock market crash and Great Depression in 1929, a movement began to adopt the Star-Spangled Banner as the USA’s official national anthem.  It culminated in 1931 with President Herbert Hoover, signing the law making it so.  The anthem did not become standard before all baseball games until World War II, and while it’s been played before football games since the same time, players never appeared on the field for it until the 2009 season, when Barack Obama’s Department of Defense began paying money to the National Football League (that’s “football” as in American football, not what we Yanks call soccer) for them to do so.

Which takes us partly back to the beginning of this piece so we can move forward.  Of the 11,725 people killed and 23,795 people wounded by gunfire in the USA thus far  in 2017, 1,560 of those people were shot by cops, with 908 victims of police homicide dying by gunfire or some other means, a disproportionate number of them people of color, mostly black.  That bodycount is the original reason for the “take a knee” protests started last year by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, now spreading across the NFL and spilling over into Major League Baseball as well as college and high school football.

Pastor John Pavlovitz suggested that if your immediate response to the shooting of a man or woman of color is to try and justify why he or she is dead instead of asking why they were shot, you are part of the problem.  Think of Trump’s statement after Charlottesville that “there was violence on both sides, both sides”.  Think of every time when a person of color was gunned down by a trigger happy cop when Obama invariably said, “We don’t have all the facts yet.  We don’t really know what happened”, even though there were almost always dozens of witnesses and/or video of the event.

To those in power, and to too many juries in America, blue lives always matter more than black, no matter what the complexion of their own skin may be.  The very reason for the slogan “Black Lives Matter”, according to Alicia Garza, is because to in America, especially to those in power, they don’t, even though they should.

This morning in their weekly meeting, the commissioners of Hamilton County in Tennessee voted along party lines to keep the bust of Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart, wearing his Confederate uniform, on the courthouse lawn right in front of the main door.  True, after the war, Stewart, a distant relative of mine, played a huge role in the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park for its first 25 years, but having his statue on our county’s front lawn with him in the uniform of an army that attacked this country is a bit like having a statue of Kurt Waldheim is his Waffen SS uniform on the front lawn of the United Nations because of his service as secretary-general. 

It would not surprise me a bit if next week the commission passes a resolution supporting the NRA’s view of the outdated Second Amendment, which is in serious and urgent need of repeal.

…581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586.