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Cowskin Prairie 2702 Chapter Where No Division

United Daughters of the Confederacy Volume 5, Issue 1 October 2018 Members - 33

President’s Message…

Here's hoping that your summer has been both relaxing and fulfilling.

Sometimes it seems like you just get a chance to catch your breath

and you're off again. Are you ready to get your UDC motor revving? I

hope you will be able to take the time in October to at least attend the

meeting. If you wish to expand the visit, there is a Route 66 museum

opening that weekend and admission to it is free. They have a car

show and motorcycle show scheduled, there will be vendors, you can

purchase concert tickets for every night that weekend, and you might

even participate in our box lunch at the museum before the meeting.

If you will be attending, I do request you bring something you might

Skype with (including your free Microsoft account info) - to help me

test out remote meeting attendance. If you are wishing to present

anything at the meeting, please let me know in September so I can add

you to the agenda. I believe there will be some business take place in

October as well.

As I catch my breath, I have faith those of you who haven't sent in your dues yet will do so ASAP as

our Treasurer can not have a good accounting at the meeting with members in arrears. If you are not

sure if your dues have been received, please contact Fredrea.

If you've had a chance to look over our Chairman list for the next two years, you will see that few of

the members I'd approached felt they were available to Chair committees in the areas I asked them

to. While a few of these will be held open, incase members calendars open up, the vast majority of

members asked, didn't even reply to the invitations. Because of this, if you know of an area of UDC

work that isn't being represented that you either:

[A] are interested in seeing succeed

[B] do already or plan on fulfilling

Please let me know. I realize that there is a lot of work our members do that, for lack of a committee

or reporting, doesn't get recognized. I feel this situation should be improved upon and open

communication is the first step.

Have an amazing Autumn,

Carrie Ann Cook

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Save the 2018 Dates

October 13 Decades of Wheels Grand Opening Weekend Due to all the activities in town, the chapter will enjoy a hot lunch together (meal, drink, and dessert).

Lunch – 11:30 a.m. – Baxter Springs Museum

COST: $10 by Reservation before October 8th Checks to P.O. Box 505, Wyandotte, OK 74370

Chapter Meeting – 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. November 1-5 General Convention – Richmond, Virginia

Some Other Known Special Events Shared by Turkey Creek Fusiliers

2018

9-29 Fall Festival – Newtonia, MO

10-20 Maple Leaf Parade – Carthage, MO

10-27/28 Battle of Lexington – Lexington, MO

11-3/4 Battle of Middle Boggy, IT – Atoka, OK If you do not plan to attend

General Convention, this one may be for you!

12-1/2 Battle of Prairie Grove

Prairie Grove, AR

What have you done during the summer?

Please share it with the Chapter! Email the Editor...

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Historian’s Corner…… Jacquie Cartmell, Chapter Historian

Monument Avenue Commission: Remove Jefferson Davis monument,

reinterpret others honoring Confederacy By Mark Robinson, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Mayor Levar Stoney's rigged and biased Monument Avenue Commission has just released its report of recommendations.

While we are relieved it does not generally recommend for the overall destruction and removal of all of the Monuments - a

rebuke of the Mayor - it does recommend the removal of the Jefferson Davis monument, as we expected, citing a falsehood

that it is "the most unabashedly Lost Cause in its sentiment and narrative." We strongly reject this recommendation and

will never tolerate the dismantling, alteration, or removal or sanitization of history. The

Jefferson Davis Monument is a significant work of art honoring the hundreds of thousands of southern men and women who died during the Civil War, and we will

continue to lobby hard to ensure that the law protecting it remains unchanged.

As for the Commission's recommendation for additional signage adjacent to all of the

monuments, "to reflect the historical, biographic, artistic and changing meaning over time for each," we also reject this as unnecessary. Adding signage, (written undoubtedly

in a biased revisionist perspective) would attempt to alter the meaning of the statues which would in turn violate the law which protects them as veteran’s memorials.

Richmonders and visitors to our city for over a hundred years have not had the need for signs to understand the history and meaning of these monuments. This recommendation

belittles and mocks the pedestrian's intelligence and would lead to a biased interpretation of history. While we reject the entire premise and need for this

Commission and the historical inaccuracies riddled throughout this report, we do, however, support its recommendation for additional statuary to be erected throughout

the city including Monument Avenue - as long as additional statuary is erected with

thoughtful planning, respecting the historic and urban fabric of the Avenue and does not impact its National Historic Landmark status - and reflects the will of the residents who

live on the Avenue.

Finally, we would like to remind everyone that Richmond City Council is not required to

heed this report and that the recommendations are simply that. This commission was formed by a politically opportunistic Mayor and has no legal authority. In the coming

weeks we will be tracking actions made by City Council and will be fully engaged in defending and preserving the Jefferson Davis Monument and ALL of the Monuments as

they are.

Read the full commission report at: https://www.monumentavenuecommission.org

Editor’s Note: This year’s pre-convention tour in November is a tour of ‘Richmond: The Southern Capital’

and includes Monument Avenue and other historic sites of the War Between the States. The importance of

our Confederate history cannot be stressed enough.

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October & NovemberBirthdays! Cheyhoma, Jillian & June Ashley, Michelle & Sandi

Have You Paid Your Chapter Dues Yet?

YOUR Chapter Dues of $30 for the coming fiscal year are now due.

IF you have not already sent them, please send your check to the

Treasurer, ASAP. Please send check made payable to Cowskin

Prairie Chapter, to Fredrea Cook, Treasurer, P. O. Box 505,

Wyandotte, OK 74370.

Appointed Chapter Officers:

Chaplain – Sherry Rollins

Parliamentarian – Barbara Hutton

Chapter Committee Appointments Accepted

Education - Dana Hutton

Historical - Sherry Tunnell Rollins

Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway

Nancy Calhoun

Newsletter - Fredrea Gregath Cook

Patriotic Activities - Mary Jane Parmele

Chapter Book - President and Secretary

Website (Computer) - Carrie Ann Cook

Yearbook - President

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Baby Keira Jae D. Arrived 9-6-18

Our member, Liz D., brought a beautiful

baby girl into the world earlier this

month on the 6th. She and her

husband, Tim, are excited to

welcome this bundle of joy.

Keira Jae D. weighed in at

8 lbs 6 ozs. Liz just finished

out a term as our Chapter VP.

Liz’s mother, Kay F, the current Chapter VP and

Registrar, was on hand to assist with the baby when they came home from

the hospital. Wishing mother & baby the best!

UDC Magazine Cover Shows Member’s Family

The Sepetember issue of the UDC Magazine, which arrived not long ago,

included a front cover which turned out to be quite interesting. The cover

features a photo of the UDC Monument dedicated at the Cherokee Capitol,

Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 1904. In the photo are Barbara’s father, Jesse

Batty Crew, Jr., and her grandmother, Hattie Reynolds Crew. Hattie had

been a member of the UDC in Ft. Smith, Arkansas prior to her marriage and

move to Tahlequah, where she transferred to the William Penn Adair

Chapter. Therefore, the front cover of our UDC Magazine does show family

members of members, Barbara, Dana and Berta.

If you do not subscribe to the UDC Magazine, you may wish to consider

doing so. The magazine is one of the communication tools of our

organization.

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The Poe Museum - Richmond, Virginia By Stefanie

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. His parents were actor

David Poe Jr., and actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. Poe was orphaned as a young

boy and raised by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia. Frances Allan was a

Scottish merchant who dealt in a variety of goods including tobacco, wheat, clothing,

tombstones and slaves. Poe served as a lieutenant of the Richmond Youth Honor Guard.

Edgar stayed with the Allan family until he was a young man. He studied at the

University of Virginia for one semester but dropped out due to finances. Poe attended

West Point but failed as an officer cadet. He enlisted in the army at age 18 and his

regiment was later posted at Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina. Poe was of

Celtic ancestry and was named Edgar after a character of William Shakespeare’s King

Lear, a play his parents had performed in. With ties to Boston, Baltimore and Richmond,

Poe moved back to Richmond in 1835 and worked as an editor for the Southern Literary

Messenger. I think it would be fair to say, at least in part, despite the fact he was born

in Boston, Poe was Southern at heart as he was quite outspoken about the anti-

Southern bias of literati.

I’ve visited the Poe museum in Richmond a handful of times and made a pilgrimage to

his final resting place in Baltimore, Maryland. Although the museum in Richmond, which

is a house, was not his childhood home, it is the oldest house in Richmond and is located

near where his childhood home once stood. Most of Richmond during the early years of

Poe’s life is gone, but you can get a glimpse of Richmond’s past as there is a diorama of

early Richmond located inside the museum. Each building is numbered and there is a

coordinating chart that explains what each building is, if it still stands, and when or how

it was removed. The courtyard and shrine were

inspired by his poem, To Ones in Paradise.

If you take a moment to sit

beside the bust of Poe, you

might just be lucky enough

to be greeted by the two

black cats that mingle freely

throughout the grounds of

the museum. Be sure to

make the Poe Museum one

of your favorite haunts when in

Richmond.

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Poe Museum Garden

Stefanie

The garden was inspired by the following poem, by Edgar Allen Poe.

To One In Paradise Edgar Allan Poe

Thou wast all that to me, love, For which my soul did pine- A green isle in the sea, love, A fountain and a shrine, All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers, And all the flowers were mine.

Ah, dream too bright to last! Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise But to be overcast! A voice from out the Future cries, “On! on!”- but o’er the Past (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies Mute, motionless, aghast!

For, alas! alas! me The light of Life is o’er! “No more- no more- no more-” (Such language holds the solemn sea To the sands upon the shore) Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree Or the stricken eagle soar!

And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams Are where thy grey eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams- In what ethereal dances, By what eternal streams.

Photos Courtesy Stefanie L.

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Sense of Place: The Battles of Newtonia Taken from a piece by Michele Skalicky • September 6, 2018 • www.KSMU.org

Ritchey Mansion

The Ritchey Mansion, east of Neosho in Ritchie, MO, stands tall some 168 years after it was

built. The two-story brick house is in a bucolic setting not far from Newtonia, surrounded by

fields and farm roads. But the area hasn’t always been peaceful. During the War Between the

States, the house, built by Matthew E. Ritchey, served as a hospital for casualties of two battles

that raged nearby. And both Unions and Confederates used the house as their headquarters at different times during the conflict.

Both the Union and the Confederacy were attracted to the area because nearby Granby,

Missouri was a lead mining community with a smelter, from which bullets could be

made. The small hamlet of Newtonia had a mill which could be used to help feed the armies as well as the surrounding community.

Ritchey, a farmer, miller, politician, merchant and slave owner who sympathized with

the Union. He and his slaves built the Ritchey Mansion, about 1850.

This beautiful structure withstood the war and is currently under the care of our friend,

Jim Ridenour. The mansion was purchased in 2001, by the Newtonia Battlefield

Preservation Association. Jim is always willing to share the history of the mansion and area.

Ridenour gives tours of the house and surrounding property, including the Ritchey Cemetery and an adjacent slave cemetery, upon request. Each room of the Ritchey

Mansion contains a bit of history of the house from the War Between the States.

At our 5th Annual Meeting of the

Cowskin Prairie Chapter, funds were contributed to the Newtonia

Battlefield Preservation Association. Those funds have been put towards

signage within the mansion, explaining more about historical

items. You will be pleased to know that each sign will carry a UDC in the

corner, indicating our generosity.

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The Two Battles of Newtonia

Battle of Newtonia September 27, 1862: Confederate troops, under the command of Col. Douglas Cooper, arrived in the Newtonia

area on September 27th. Two days later, Union scouts approached the town, but they were chased away. Reinforcements arrived, and fighting began in the morning on

September 30th. The battle was a Confederate victory with Union forces being forced to retreat. Col. Douglas Cooper had within his command Native American tribal members

form the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee Tribes, in the Indian Territory. This was

one of the few times during the war that Indian Troops fought outside the territory. Since there were native troops on the Union side, as well, it was extraordinary that both

sides had Indians in battle against one another.

Battle of Newtonia October 28, 1864:

The last battle of the War Between the States, fought west of the Mississippi River, took place near the Ritchey mansion. It occurred as Confederate Major General Sterling

Price’s Army of Missouri was in retreat after defeats at Westport near Kansas City and at Mine Creek, in Kansas. The Army had stopped to rest on October 28th near the Ritchey

house when five brigades in the pursuing cavalry division of Brigadier General James

Blunt’s Union force arrived. They caught the Confederates by surprise and attacked their supply chain. According to the American Battlefield Trust, Confederate Brig. Gen.

Joe Shelby’s mounted infantry soon arrived from the rear of Price’s column, dismounted and engaged the Yankees. Shelby’s men forced the Union cavalry onto a cornfield on

the Ritchey’s plantation, where Union forces held out until reinforcements arrived. The Confederates were forced to retreat around nightfall.

A Call for YOUR Service....

Among our membership are many very talented ladies. During our Annual Meeting Awards Banquet, a beautiful red, white & blue wreath (door prize) was won by Jim

Ridenour. Following dinner he mentioned how much he appreciated winning it, as they need wreaths for the Ritchey Mansion, for all holidays and just in general.

Several of our members felt that this is something our members might be interested in

helping with. Beautifying the Ritchey Mansion should go a long way in building interest in preserving this Grand Lady that survived the war. Your wreath could be crafted OR

purchased by you. Just think of the possibilities! It should be 22”or just under 24”.

Making a Chapter visit to the Ritchey Mansion is currently in the early planning stages.

Wouldn’t that be the perfect time for the Cowskin Prairie Chapter to make the contribution of beautiful wreaths??

Do ANY of you want to contribute a wreath for the Ritchey Mansion? If so, please

contact the President or Treasurer and let them know, ASAP.