The Lake-Sumter Gazette

Transcription

1 LAKE - SUMTER CHAPTER of the The Lake-Sumter Gazette Editor: Bob Beightol Table of Contents Officer/ Committee 2 Article Allan Lane 5-8 Chairs Sycamore Shoals Fall Meeting 3 News Article 8-9 October 7, 2017 Jim Carl Dues Due 3-4 This and That 9-10 Irma 4-5 Gazette Info 10

2 Committee Chairs Chapter Officers President: Gerald C Hardwich 1 st VP: Allan Lane 2 nd VP: George W Chaffee Secretary: Edward J Riley Treasurer: Ronald L Grove Historian: Richard K Offutt Registrar: John H Moore Sergeant at Arms: Basil Linville, Jr Member at Large: Robert L Beightol Member at Large: Basil Linville Genealogist: Tom Wilcox Public Service: Flag: Good citizen: Veteran Recognition: SAR Service: SAR Tenure: Audit: Awards: Color Guard: Americanism Poster: DAR Liaison: Education: Eagle Scouts: JROTC: Oration: Meeting Donations: Membership: Editor: Nominating: Program: Publicity: Quartermaster: Veteran s Programs: Website Manager: Allan Lane Glen Langston Ralph Nelson Jim Carl Ralph Nelson Ed Riley Allan Lane Allan Lane Glenn Langston Ron Grove Robert Moody Ron Grove Bill Hayes Bill Hayes Ron Grove B.J. Linville John Moore Bob Beightol Ralph Nelson Allan Lane Bob Beightol Basil Linville, Jr George Chaffee Scott Bushnell Important Announcement A September edition of the of the Lake-Sumter Gazette wasn t in the plans; however, realizing that the past 30 days have been tough days and that perhaps we all needed a reminder of better things to come, the decision was made to produce an abbreviated edition to announce that. WOO HOO!!! October meeting time is almost here! 2

3 Next Meeting The next meeting of the Lake-Sumter SAR Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, will be: Date: October 7, 2017 Time: 11:00 AM - General Membership Meeting 10:00 AM - Executive Committee Meeting. Members are encouraged to attend. Place: John Gela Memorial American Legion Post 219, 194 West Fountain Street, Fruitland Park, FL Speaker: Retired CIA, Compatriot Donald Wyman, from the Villages Chapter. Topic: The CIA Museum. Lunch: The Post will be serving their BBQ sandwiches or plates with pork & chicken, baked beans, slaw, and a roll. Coffee $1 with free refills and deserts for $1.00. Canned soda is available in the meeting room. Dues are Due! Editor s Note: With the approach of our first fall meeting on October 7th, comes the need to renew our membership and pay our dues. To help us appreciate what our dues accomplish; Compatriot Ralph D. Nelson Jr., has prepared the following article summarizing Chapter efforts in our Educational Programs to show us what our dues provide. Please give the article a read and if you have questions please ask. This is particularly important for those of you who do not reside in our area and are unable to attend meetings, interact with members and participate in our programs. Remember as you remit your dues, the many benefits our Chapter programs provide and that dues and donations are our only source of income. Where Your Money Goes By Ralph D Nelson, Jr Three schools participated in our poster contest. I spoke to six classes (the schools brought several classes in to hear my talk on the Revolutionary War). I believe that about 50 students made posters. These were judged by the teachers and we provided prizes for first, second, and third place in each 3

4 school (9 in all). We also gave each liaison teacher twenty copies of the NSSAR s booklet containing our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. These were to be given to students that the teacher wanted to reward for good citizenship behavior. Chapter members picked one poster as the chapter winner and sent it on to the state where it won third place. Only one school (Montverde Academy) participated in our oration contest, but they have a strong speaking program, with about ten students. The program advisor picked the best three speakers to compete in the chapter s contest, which we held at Montverde. Six chapter members officiated at the event. The chapter winner went on to the state finals at the Spring Board of Managers Meeting. She came in second in the state. We are doing well to have two contests with contestants who win prizes at the state level. Very few other chapters in Florida do so well. Florida is the second-largest SAR Society in the nation, and Lake Sumter has one of the best records for increasing its membership. I don t think any other chapter has split off a new chapter with over thirty members, but we did that in January of I hope these paragraphs give you useful information for the dues renewal letter. Since many of our members never attend meetings it is particularly important to remind them of all the good their dues do so that they will be happy to re-up and continue to be associated with a winning organization that makes our patriot ancestors proud that we are making freedom ring throughout the land. IRMA, an Unwelcomed Guest Editor s Note: Hurricane Irma came and went this past month with a vengeance. Hopefully everyone fared at least as well as my family during and following the storm. At this point, you may have an additional story or two we can laugh at, survival tips to pass on to others, or simply want to post a comment to let members know you are OK. So, if you have a story, tip or comment, send it and see it printed in your next newsletter. To get you started, my story follows. After ten days of anticipation and preparation, Irma arrived at my home in Mount Dora, FL, late Sunday, September 10, My local family and I survived with no injuries, very 4 little damage and only four days without power which I personally consider being just short of a minor miracle. My local family included my first grandchild, Carlee. What makes this important is that she was born on July 22, 2004, the year in which Florida was struck by four powerful hurricanes, Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, in that order and within 65 days of her birth. Following her birth, my wife and I were still at Carlee s home in Maitland, FL, when Hurricane Charley formed and was projected to

5 strike Pensacola, our home at the time. I rushed back to Pensacola to batten down our home when Charley decided to change directions and make landfall in the Tampa area and ultimately, Maitland. I couldn t make it back to Maitland in time for the storm which played to our advantage. Prior to leaving Pensacola, I purchased gasoline, water and a generator, all of which were in short supply or nonexistent in the Maitland area. Counting Irma, my generator and my granddaughter have now been through their fifth, and hopefully, last, hurricane. Go away Maria! Turning Point in the Revolution Sycamore Shoals and the Overmountain Men By Compatriot Allan Lane Artist Lloyd Branson's depiction of the gathering of the Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals The time was the Fall of 1780 and prospects for American Independence were looking dim. The British had changed to a Southern strategy in 1779 and by the Fall of 1780 appeared on the brink of victory. One disastrous battle after another occurred for the Americans. Charleston had fallen in May and more than 3000 Continental and militia soldiers became prisoners of war. A retreating Virginia Continental Regiment was overtaken on May 29 by Lt. Col. Tarleton s British Legion and was slaughtered at the Waxhaw area of South Carolina. General Gates hastily assembled army of Continentals and militia was humiliated and destroyed at Camden in August. The French were beginning to doubt the wisdom of joining with the 5

6 young United States against Great Britain. As summer ended, Lord Cornwallis moved his army of Redcoats and Hessians into North Carolina and encamped at the village of Charlotte. Cornwallis left was protected by a Tory army composed of two provincial regiments and Tory militia. This detachment of about 1000 Tory soldiers was commanded by a British Army regular officer, Major Patrick Ferguson. Ferguson, who was exceeding his authority, sent out couriers to challenge the pioneers who The meadow on the Watauga where the Overmountain Men were summoned to gather. had settled illegally on the western side of the Smoky Mountains in what is now northeastern Tennessee. Ferguson warned these Overmountain Men to come out from their settlements, surrender their arms and sign loyalty oaths. If they failed to do so, Ferguson boasted he would march his army into their settlements, hang them, and burn their farms. This challenge did not sit well with these independent-minded pioneer settlers. These Overmountain Men quickly put out a call to all the settlers in the Watauga settlement, as it had come to be known, and asked for assistance from North Carolina and Virginia. A loosely organized force of about 1000 militia and settlers marched over the mountains and down into North Carolina in pursuit of Ferguson. Ferguson responded by retreating eastward closer to Cornwallis main force, and he encamped on the top of a rocky outcrop known as King s Mountain along the border area of South and North Carolina. In the early morning hours of October 7, 1780, the force of Overmountain Men and state militia attacked Ferguson in his encampment on the top of King s Mountain. The Americans used their deadly accurate rifled guns to decimate the Tories. After a hard-fought battle, the entire Tory force was killed or surrendered. Ferguson was killed trying to rally his soldiers, his body bearing multiple rifle bullet wounds. Painting depicting the victory of the Overmountain Men at King s Mountain. The Battle of King s Mountain is viewed today as a true turning point in the Revolution. The destruction of a 6

7 substantial part of Cornwallis army, followed by the brilliant American victory at Cowpens, and the losses sustained by the British at Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, ultimately led Cornwallis to abandon North Carolina and move his army to a small port in Virginia known as Yorktown. The rest is history, as we like to say. Who were these Overmountain Men who were so bold as to march 200 miles and attack the man who had so unwisely threatened them? They were our pioneer forebears men and women primarily of English, Scotch- Irish and German descent who had migrated from North Carolina and Virginia in search of new lands and freedom. Some were refugees who had rebelled against corrupt British rule in North Carolina in the Regulator War of 1768 to They settled the area in defiance of British authorities who declared that their settlements violated a treaty the British had signed with the Cherokee in In 1772, these settlers and refugees banded together to form the Watauga Association, which is often cited as the first example of Americans declaring self-rule prior to the Revolution. In 1776, the newly declared State of North Carolina incorporated the Watauga Association as Washington County, NC. This summer my wife and I had the pleasure of spending some time in the Great Smoky Mountains. We took a side trip to Elizabethton, TN, and visited the Sycamore Shoals State Park. The State of Tennessee operates a park, visitor s center and The Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga, which is a place in the river which could be forded except at times of high water. reconstructed fort at the original site on the shoals of the Watauga River where the Overmountain Men gathered prior to beginning their trek eastward in pursuit of Ferguson in September The reconstructed impression of Fort Fort Watauga Watauga memorializes the log fort built about a mile away to protect settlers during Cherokee Indian attacks in A force of men was left behind to man the fort against further Cherokee attacks when the Overmountain Men marched against Ferguson. When the Overmountain Men returned, they arrived just in time to save the fort from an ongoing attack by Cherokee. 7

8 The park and Fort are nicely done and stand as a monument to the Overmountain Men and women who made such an important contribution to American Independence. Young settlers Jacob and Alyssa Lane working in the fort. PVT John George Carl On August 24, 2017, the following news article was published in the East Penn Press, Allentown, Pa. If you haven t recognized the man in the photographs, it is Lake- Sumpter SAR Chapter Compatriot, Jim Carl. While revisiting his roots, Compatriot Carl located the grave of his Patriot, PVT John George Carl, a Revolutionary War soldier. Compatriot Carl was kind enough to provide a copy of the news article with his permission to print the article in the newsletter. Editor s Note: Listed in Article III of the Lake-Sumter SAR Constitution are ten objectives some of which contain the following phrases: Perpetrate the memory ; Promote fellowship ; Inspire the community ; Encourage historical research ; and Acquire and preserve the records relics and landmarks. In telling the world about his Patriot, Compatriot Carl fulfilled at least five of those objectives. Congratulations Jim Carl on a job well done! For more information on our Chapter Constitution, go to our web site, click on the About button and then Constitution. 8

9 Chapter Web Site: This and That /lakesumtersar.org Personal Information Update: Updating member information such as address, e- mail, or phone number is the responsibility of the member. If you are registered on the state/ chapter website (which uses the same data base) and/ or the National website (a different data base) you can update your own information. If you aren t registered on either, or need help completing the update, contact or send the information to our Chapter Secretary Edward Riley, at apej2313@yahoo.com. He can then update the appropriate data base. 9

10 Recruitment: Our individual primary effort should be in the direction of new member recruitment. Remember, male children, siblings and grandchildren are all eligible for the SAR. Should you have candidates, please connect with Registrar John Moore at or via phone at Lake-Sumter Gazette Contact Information Robert L Beightol bogi0104@bellsouth.net Phone: Compatriots, please submit all news items and photos you believe of interest to the membership, via , with a name and telephone number for a point of contact. Remember, if you think it is interesting, chances are your fellow members will too! 10