The End of an Era

Update: The change-of-command ceremony will take place at Camp 22’s monthly meeting on Feb 5, 6:30PM at Sam’s Hofbrau on Watt Avenue.

Brad Schall (left) speaks at a headstone dedication ceremony

Don Wilt (right) at Stockton Cemetery

For the past several years, Company B of the 8th California Regiment of the Sons of Veterans Reserve has been led by commanding officer Capt. Brad Schall and adjutant 1st Lt. Don Wilt. Under their leadership, Company B has been very active and has grown into one of the largest SVR units in the west.

Brad and Don have been tireless in their devotion to the unit, and are to be commended for their work. They’ve developed multi-level school programs spanning elementary school to college-level, attended numerous re-enactments and living history events. and—above all—they’ve successfully recruited and grown the membership of the Camp and the Company.

David Salyer at GAR Monument

Unfortunately, Brad and Don have decided to step away from their duties, so we now have a new Company B commanding officer: Capt David Salyer. David is a seasoned re-enactor and has the experience and knowledge to continue the success of Company B. He will be assuming command in a brief ceremony at the next Camp 22 meeting, on February 5 at 6:30PM at Sam’s Hofbrau (2500 Watt Avenue, Sacramento).

A reminder courtesy of 1st Lt Don Wilt of Company B:

This coming Saturday, 25 Jan 2014 is our big day at Fort Point.  The Fort opens to visitors at 10:00 AM.  Management has requested that we be setup and ready before the general public is admitted into the Fort.  We have been asked to park in the spaces well away from the Fort so as to allow visitors to park in the adjacent parking lot.  There are only a few Handicap parking placing next to the fort.

Be sure to bring a lunch and something to drink as there is no close by eateries.  Since food is not allowed in the fort, we are expected to eat in our cars.

Company B Commander Brad Schall would like a head count of who will be attending.  Please contact him if you will be attending.

Fort Point National Historic Park

The first 2014 meeting of Camp 22 will be at 6:30PM on January 13, at Sam’s Hofbrau. We will be joined by Sharon Patrician, Old City Cemetery’s Preservationist, who will be presenting the Camp with a G.A.R. grave marker discovered in the cemetery’s artifact collection. Representatives from the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War will also be at the meeting, and we will discuss plans for a joint ceremony to place the G.A.R. marker on an appropriate grave.

Please note the meeting date is a Monday. We will return to our usual Wednesday meetings beginning in February.

Welcome to Sacramento, Mr. President! It is indeed an honor to host the 16th president on his visit to Old City Cemetery. He will be giving a very special address there at 10:00AM. Please come out and hear this historic speech!

Many thanks to the folks at KFBK for airing an interview with Joe Marti, the organizer of the upcoming Gettysburg Address anniversary commemoration at Old City Cemetery.

The ceremony will begin at 10:00AM on Tuesday, November 19, and features well-known Lincoln impressionist Wayne Scott. In addition to Mr Scott’s Lincoln portrayal, we will also unveil a newly repaired grave marker of a Civil War veteran and former Sacramento police officer.

Parking is available across the street from the cemetery entrance. There will be a covered  spectator area, but please dress for the weather!

Mark your calendars: on Saturday, December 14 we will have a live-fire session at one of two local ranges. Brother Bob Maerdian is supplying muskets and ammunition, but you are free to bring your own. Also bring ear and eye protection, if you have it.

The location is yet to be determined, but we should have it nailed down soon. Check back here for updates.

[mantra-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”33%”]”…on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”[/mantra-pullquote]

On November 11, 1918, at 11:00 on the morning, a lasting quiet finally descended on the trenches of World War I. The armistice agreement between the Allies and Germany brought an end to a war that caused the deaths of more than 16 million people. Most of the Allied nations now celebrate a holiday on November 11 to commemorate the servicemen killed in the war.

The 2012 Veterans Day procession at Sylvan Cemetery.

In the United States, our celebration is slightly different. The holiday we know as Veterans Day honors all American veterans, whether living, dead in action, or deceased from other causes. The official national remembrance of war dead instead falls on the late-May holiday of Memorial Day, which became entrenched in that role in the decades immediately following the Civil War.

The Sylvan Cemetery in Citrus heights will hold Veterans Day ceremony on November 11 at 11:00AM. The ceremony includes a procession of veterans through the cemetery led by Citrus Heights Police and local Boy Scouts. The Sylvan Cemetery is the final resting place of many veterans, and features a military memorial garden. The cemetery was opened in 1862, and is one of the oldest continuously operating cemeteries in the Sacramento region.

Capt. Brad Schall talking with Alcatraz visitors.

“The Rock” was the nickname of the famous prison located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. However, the island was originally used by the US governement as a for during the Civil War. The Alcatraz, along with Fort Point and other key positions around the Golden Gate were used as defensive gun emplacements to defend the bay and the city in case of Confederate attacks. Why would San Francisco be considered a possible target during the Civil War? One word: gold.

The gold that was mined in the Sierra Nevada was sent to San Francisco, where it was shipped to banks on the east coast to fund the war effort. An interruption in the supply of money could have changed the course of the war, so San Francisco was well worth defending.

On September 28, Alcatraz will return to it’s origin days when dozens of Civil War re-enactors will be on the island to lead the public through presentations and demonstrations of life on the island in the 1860’s. For more information on teh event, contact The Friends of the Civil War Alcatraz.

Flag design of the 1st Cherokee Rifles Brigade

Join the members of Gen. Wright Camp 22 as we welcome historian and author Guy “Red Corn” Nixon to the California Military Museum on October 2 at 7:00PM.

Guy is a Native American, whose family history in California goes back to 1846, when his ancestors moved to El Dorado County from Oklahoma. He ahs done extensive research on his ancestry, which includes Osage, Pawnee, and Cherokee heritage.

Among his famous ancestors: a first cousin to his family is Sequoyah, the man credited as the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. Another relative, John Mathews, a cousin of his grandfather, is reputed to be the first American pilot credited with an air-to-air combat kill in World War I, and was also the first Native American to attend Oxford University.

At the October 2 meeting, Guy will be talking about his Civil War heritage, which includes ancestors who fought in Native American brigades for the Confederacy.

Guy has written a number of books about his ancestors, and about his genealogical research process. Titles include: “A River Divided The Story & Biography of ‘ Chief ‘ Coppa Hembo,” “Slavery in the West,” “The Battle over Hell Hole and Rubicon in El Dorado and Placer Counties, California 1907,” “From Warrior to Judge The Biography of Wahshashowahtinega Bill Nixon Hapashutsy of the Osage Tribe 1843 to 1917,” and “Finding Your Native American Ancestors.”

For information about Guy, see this article in the Mountain Press Democrat.

The Placerville Library is hosting two very special Civil War events this month. The first event, on September 14, is an in-depth examination of two of the most important battles fought in Virginia, Chancellorsville and Frederickburg.

The second event, on September 21, is an interactive display of Civil War camp life and medical practices. Both events start at 11:00AM, and are at the Placerville Library, 345 Fair Lane, Placerville, CA.

For more information, contact the library at (530) 621-5540 or visit the library’s website.