As part of the week-long Summit Sesquicentennial celebration, on Sunday, April 13, 2008, the Sons of the Confederate Veterans Stockdale Rangers led tours of Summit's Woodlawn Cemetery and provided commentary on prominent veterans buried therein.  The group also conducted gravestone dedications for two veterans, Colonel James P. Parker and Private Charles A. Ligon.  The grave markers for these Confederate veterans had been missing or destroyed.

Pictured in this post are members of the fourth organization of the Stockdale Rangers.  The group is named in honor of Thomas Ringland (T.R.) Stockdale (1828-1899), an educator (at the Peabody School in Summit), a lawyer, congressman, and Mississippi State Supreme Court judge.  The group was initially organized in McComb on December 10, 1994, with the following charter members:

Commander: Dr. William Calvert, Lt Commander: L. W. Guy, Adjutant: Ed Funchess, Sergeant at Arms: J. Alford, and Chaplain: William Greg Barron.

Within six months total membership had reached 33.  Presently there are 22 members and there have been as many as 42.  Present officers are as follows: Commander: Wayne Parker, Lt. Commander: Glen Nunnery, Adjutant: Joe Abbott, and Chaplain: Leroy Springs.

Headstone of T.R. Stockdale, next to the grave of one of two of his children who died at a very young age.

The mission of the Stockdale Rangers is to tell the true story of the Confederate soldiers who were called into service by the state of Mississippi.  Other activities of the group include: providing speakers for schools and civic clubs; setting up living history exhibits; locating Confederate graves and providing markers if necessary; and coordinating activities with other groups of similar interest, e.g., UDC (the United Daughters of the Confederacy) and the Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans.  The Mississippi Division SCV owns and operates Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis, President of the CSA (Confederate States of America).  The  Stockdale Rangers' symbol is the square battle flag, also known as the ANV (Army of Northern Virginia) battle flag.  Through the national organization the group provides grants and scholarships, leadership training, and summer camp for boys and girls.  For more information, please visit the national Sons of Confederate Veterans website at http://www.scv.org/ and the Mississippi Division website at http://www.mississippiscv.org/.  See also the website of the Summit Historical Society.  Many thanks to Mr. Joseph Abbott for his dedicated assistance in the preparation of the material for this article.

Wayne Parker presenting Summit Mayor Percy Robinson with a certificate of appreciation.

I've posted just a few of the pictures here.   *To see more pictures of this and other area events, please visit www.photoworks.com/members/tmorgan100.  (Click on "View all" to see albums not pictured on the first page.  Note: You can view the photos as a slide show, but you cannot read the descriptions which may occur under some of the photos in full-screen mode.  You may need to scroll down to read the descriptions.) 

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*To buy or sell real estate in Southwest Mississippi, call on me--Tom Morgan.  http://www.swmsre.com/  Thank you for visiting!