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Lately, much has been said and written about our southern heritage, the Confederacy, and the Confederate flag. The Civil War was one of the great tragedies in American history. Slavery was not the only issue; the war was also a struggle of federalism versus states rights. None of our Stone ancestors in Texas were slave holders; they were simple, hard working farmers. Since we did not live during that era, it is difficult for us to understand the reasons that inspired them to fight in the war. Nevertheless, I consider all of them to be true American heros. I am immensely proud of my southern heritage and the flag that exemplifies it. Today, we are besieged by revisionists whose aim is to alter American history and malign that glorious flag.   (E.W. Hendon)

 " THE SOUTH "

I was born on April 12, 1861, in the Harbor of Charleston, South Carolina and the Constitution of the Confederate States of America is my Birth Certificate. The blood lines of the South run through my veins, for I offer freedom that each State should regulate her own affairs, according to its best interest. I am many things to many people.

I am The South. I am millions of living souls, and ghosts of thousands who died for me. I am the Farmer-made soldier who did not turn his back during Pickett's Charge. I am the Rebel Yell that was heard across many of my rolling fields, protecting our homeland. I am Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson: I stood at Fort Sumter and fired the shot heard through our young nation. I am Longstreet, Hood and Patrick R. Cleburne. I am General's Johnson, Beauregard and President Jefferson Davis. I remember how we fought at Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Vicksburg, and Atlanta. When duty called I answered and stayed until if was over. I left my heroic dead in Chickamauga, in the fields of Shiloh, on the bloody hills of Mannassas and the mountains of Kenneshaw.

I am The South. I am the Mississippi River, and the cotton fields of Alabama and the piney woods of the Carolinas. I am the coal fields of Virginia and Kentucky, the Florida coast and the Louisiana bayou. I am Richmond, the Capital of the Confederacy. I am the forest, field, mountain and rivers. I am the quiet villages and the cities that never sleep. I am the Heritage that's been forgotten, the dying memory of a way of life that is being still. You see me in the twilight and hear me in Dixie, as the past continues to fade away each year.

Yes, I am the South, and these are the things I represent. I was conceived by force, and God willing, I'll spend the rest of my days remembering my birth. May I always possess the integrity and the courage, and the strength to keep my Heritage alive, to remain a Loyal Southerner and stand tall and proud to the rest of the world. Do not forget who we are and where we came from...This is my goal, my hope, my prayer.

(Written by 95 year old Louise Weeks of Hampton, Georgia, two weeks before her death.)