Once the Confederate soldier was praised and his blood stained Battle Flag was raised to his honor.

Some say one of the first Confederate Memorial Days took place in Columbus, Mississippi on April 25, 1866. Today, it is held on April 26th in some states. For over 100 years the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Ladies Memorial Association have kept the memory of the Confederate soldier eternal.

Thursday, April 26, is Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia. Did you know a copy of the Confederate Constitution can be viewed on this day at the University of Georgia in Athens?

Southern newspapers once reported Confederate soldiers marching in Confederate Memorial Day parades and sounding off with a husky Rebel Yell of "Yip, yip, yip" that turned the tides of many battles.

Tennessee Senator Edward Ward Carmack said in 1903, "These Confederate soldiers were our kinfolk and our heroes." He also said, "The people of the South have the right to teach their children the true history of the War Between the States, the causes that led up to it and the principles involved."

There was a time when businesses and schools closed in observance of Confederate Memorial Day. It was a day when many thousands of people would congregate at the Confederate cemetery for the day's events that included: a parade, memorial speeches, military salute and children laying flowers on the soldiers' graves. The band played "Dixie" and the soldier played taps.

Today, those of little knowledge about those men of gray attack the Confederate flag that was bravely carried in many battles...And they want the Confederate flag removed from the Confederate statue at the State Capitol in Columbia, South Carolina. When the soldiers of Blue and Gray walked the earth, few criticized these men.

The month of April is being proclaimed throughout the South as Confederate History Month but sadly some have given in to political correctness and deny the remembrance of yesterday's soldiers.

John W. Jones, a runaway slave, made his home in Elmira, New York (home to an infamous POW camp). For many years he took care of the Confederate graves at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, New York. This is a man who should be remembered. The Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy have held memorial day services there.

Many memorials are held in memory of soldiers but in Roswell, Georgia a service will be held on Saturday April 28, 2007 at 10AM for the mill workers who worked at the Roswell Mills during the War Between the States.

A monument was erected a few years ago by the Roswell Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to 400 mill workers, mostly women and children, who were arrested by Union invaders and taken north. They would not be seen again. The monument is located off of Sloan Street. There were other mills, like Sweetwater Creek, whose fate was the same.

Please go to: www.confederateheritagemonth.com for Southern Memorial events during the month of April. Ask your historical group about planned events for Confederate Memorial Day.

Lest We Forget!!!!

A native of Georgia, Calvin Johnson lives near the historic town of Kennesaw, home of the locomotive "The General" from the War Between the States. He is Chairman of the Confederate History and Heritage Month for the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans and he's the author of the book When America Stood for God, Family and Country. His email is: cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net.