May 2003 Issue

The Last Salute

An empty chair now and forevermore will sit at our table in remembrance of those that have gone before.


Commander's Tent

Another productive month! Currently we have set 554 stones, held 104 dedications, located over 637 grave sites, 17 stones on the ground to be set and 20 more stones on order! We are working on this month’s dedications and planning the reenactments for September through October. We are planning to be honor guards in June for the Hunley. See Adjutant Brown if you are planning to be a member of the guards. The Letcher County Public Schools is running a presentation regarding Memorial Day on their local TV channel. Commander Smith, Secretary Taylor, and Lt. Commander Chaltas discussed heritage and ancestry. The Mt. Heritage Committee met on 5/14/03 and approved the Battle of Whitesburg! Permission to use the soccer field behind Parkway Plaza has been given by the city. We need to send a thank you card to them & elect a committee report to the Mt. Heritage Committee.


2nd Reenactment of the Battle of Leatherwood
The Old General


The old general attended the meeting of the Battle of Leatherwood Reenactment Committee. The members present were all complimentary of the camp’s efforts. The following items were brought to the floor. Currently the Hazard Fiscal Court has given us $10,500 for the reenactment! All bills must be submitted to the Court and will be paid through them. Billboards will be placed on Interstate 75 and 64 as well as locally. Several booths will be in place and we are working on the agenda. Currently we are planning a weapons display and demonstration with the hourly firing of the cannons. The skit performed by Richard Smith and Danny Taylor was highly recommended. Plans are to have an old time camp meeting (Old Regular Baptist) on Sunday. Also an execution is planned (to coincide with the actual event) and a period coffin with an area to explain embalming procedures of that time will be discussed. A vast array of antiques and artifacts are in the planning. One of the committee members has access to a collection worth over 1 million dollars. A float will be made for the Black Gold Festival (the flatbed trailer has already been procured). The committee members are working on the theme and are looking for volunteers to ride on the float. A replica campsite of that era is in planning stage and the Ben Caudill Camp has permission to set up a booth at that location to help raise money for the camp and serve as a recruitment tool. Speeches will be given and we must defend the honor of the camp by accepting the challenge of “those people” to a shooting match to be held at the park. They requested that the camp have another dedication to honor those brave men of yesteryear and they are working on a brochure with a map to be sold at the reenactment. A monument is in the planning process and the hopes are to have a dedication of the monument during the three-day festival. Friday is planned as an educational day with Saturday being a day of pushing those people from the field. Sunday will be the more authentic reenactment that will be historically correct. Also appropriated was the sum of $1500 for the Soldiers’ Ball. It will be held at the Whitaker Athletic Complex. The ladies are going all out for this event. They are designing a theme and have contacted several bands in order to find one that can play period music. There will be food and fun for everyone.


My Kepi and Me
Faron Sparkman


My Kepi & Me is a series honoring camp members and their ancestors. The purpose is to share their ancestor’s history as well as the current son occupying the seat of honor. This month let us offer a salute and tip our Kepi to Carlos Brock. Our Sergeant of Arms is a resident of Perry County. He has proven to be one of the hardest working members the Caudill Camp has ever seen. No individual in the Sons of Confederate Veterans has ever tackled as many Confederate stone setting projects as Carlos Brock, not just in this camp but also probably in the

Carlos Brock was born and raised at Typo in Perry County. He attended M.C. Napier High School and in 1966 he married Dorothy Johnson. Carlos and Dorothy have two children, Carlos Junior and Billy Wayne. He moved to Chicago where he worked for approximately five years. He also worked on various construction jobs all over the nation from New York City to Kansas. He eventually returned to Perry County where he worked with Jack Dean and also operated his own business, Brock Fence Company in the 1970s. While working in the fence business he was contracted to put up a chain link fence around the historical grave of Perry County’s oldest Combs resident at Scuddy, which we attest to be an early tie to his future love of discovering and restoring our area’s oldest graves and cemeteries.

He joined the Perry County Historical Society and soon did more than anyone has ever done before or since in locating and recording the cemeteries of Perry County. His work led to the publication of a number of Perry County Cemetery books that to this day continue to provide valuable information to researchers all over the country.

Through the Perry County Historical Society he met Faron Sparkman and joined the Caudill Camp of Sons of Confederate Veterans entering under Private John Whitaker of Company H of the 13th Kentucky Cavalry who enlisted in Perry County in March of 1863. Initially working together with Faron Sparkman on setting stones for Confederate soldiers, the two traveled literally thousands of miles together in Carlos’ red Ford pickup truck. On most of the trips Carlos was joined by his son Carlos Junior who helped set hundreds of stones. Carlos Brock set stones in Indiana, Maysville, Carrollton, Winchester and throughout southwestern Virginia as well as practically every county in Eastern Kentucky including Bath, Breathitt, Carter, Floyd, Jackson, Knott, Lee, Letcher, Magoffin, Menifee, Morgan, Owsley, Rowan and Wolfe. Carlos Brock took special pride in going to extraordinary lengths to see that the Confederate soldiers of his home county of Perry were finally found and remembered. Before Carlos Brock, one Confederate soldier in Perry County had a Confederate marker. After Carlos Brock, 79 Confederate soldiers in Perry County are now properly marked.

Carlos worked countless hours in various libraries throughout the region helping to gather the research that was essential to finding these soldiers. He made countless trips with Steve Bowling in locating and marking lost Confederate graves in every corner of Breathitt County. The stone setting trips made by Carlos Brock with Faron Sparkman, Steve Bowling and other Caudill Camp members included many of the most difficult stone setting missions any SCV camp in the nation has ever encountered including James Allen, John J. Amburgey, Isaac Caudill, John Collinsworth, Daniel Francis, Reuben Smith and the upright marker for Booker Short that required stringing five come-alongs together to winch the stone up a sheer cliff in Menifee County. He also helped set stones for some of the 13th Kentucky’s most important leaders including Major Chenowith, Major Whipple, Captain S.R. Brashear, Captain Henderson Combs, Captain W.J. Hall, Captain Levi Kash, Captain Adam Martin, Captain Hiram Stamper and Captain A.J. White.

Carlos Brock has greatly distinguished himself by being the only known SCV member to set 300 stones and he has been recognized and awarded by the Caudill Camp for this outstanding service to preserve the memory of our Confederate ancestors. One person once asked Carlos how he could set stones like that and he replied, “you pick ‘em up, put ‘em in the truck and you got set em.” A lot of people have the interest, but few indeed in the whole country have the drive and the determination to finish the job it took to set 300 stones high on the remote mountaintops of Eastern Kentucky. The Colonel Ben Caudill Camp tips our kepis and salutes our member Carlos Brock.

Chaplain's Corner
Chaplain John Back


This month’s message is regarding another of the hero’s of the War of Northern Aggression. Another young man who did his best work without using his rifle or bayonet. On December 1862 at the battle of Fredricksburg Sergeant Richard Kirkland saw so many soldiers of both sides lying wounded on the field that he left compelled to take action to ease their suffering as much as possible. Sergeant Kirkland went to his Commanding Officer and informed him of his plan. His Commander was skeptical, telling him that to wander onto the battlefield, no matter how humane his objective was, was simply another method of committing suicide. The sincere earnestness of the young sergeant finally caused him to relent and he sent him away with his blessing. However he was informed before his departure that no flag of truce would be possible. The young sergeant took the news cheerfully and departed for the battlefield.

Gathering every canteen he could find he went to a nearby spring and filled them. He then gathered his filled canteens slipped over a stonewall and headed onto the field. He stopped at each wounded man and administrated water to them, placing packs under soldiers heads, covering them with coats and praying with those that most earnestly desired spiritual help. As the wounded men of both sides realized the sergeants intentions cries of water rang out over the battlefield from Gray and Blue alike. Rifle and artillery fire also ceased as the combatants observed the actions of the young man on the battlefield. After the battle of Fredricksburg Sergeant Kirkland was promoted to Lieutenant. Sadly though the young man did not survive the war, giving his life for his country at the Battle of Chickamauga.

As we reflect on this story we have to ask ourselves, are we as SCV members and more particularly members of the Ben Caudill Camp doing what we can to help ease the suffering of our own members. Perhaps a simple phone call just to say, “How are you.” to a sick or grieved camp member? This simple act of Christian Friendship can do so much to help lift up the spirit of those ill or spirit-grieved. Think about it and may God Bless.

The Hunley Report
Dave Chaltas


Adjutant Brown is arranging a date for the honor of serving as guards over the remains of crew and ship. It will be in partnership with other eastern Kentucky Brigade camps.

Talking with the General
Dave Chaltas


We serve a giving God, a loving God, a gracious God. We worship the same God that our ancestors worshiped and we cling to the same hope. And as we honor those that have gone before on this Memorial Day, let us not forget the Giver of All Things and that the promises of tomorrow rest in His mighty hands. As we remember our departed loved ones, let us not forget our salvation and reunion with those so dear to our hearts rests on the assurances of the great I Am. The men that we honor, above all things followed the white cross on the blue-sky background. Should we not do the same? Have a safe day of remembrance. If you wish to offer a presentation dear to your heart, let me know and I will work you into the agenda. With each of our interests, we can all become better educated about this grand topic. If you have anything that you wish published in our monthly paper, contact the old general and I will be glad to incorporate into the newsletter. Remember, this is YOUR paper and all comments and writings are greatly appreciated.

With honor, I remain your obedient servant,

The Old General



We welcome our guests and give a Rebel Yell to the newest members of the proud decedents of the men who rode with the 13th Kentucky Calvary!


The Volley
By
David Chaltas
January 25, 2003


Fire your volley, Cap’n,
I know the boys will hear.
Please tell the world what happened
And why they died make clear.

They fought for God and Nation;
For love and honor, too.
In death they found salvation
While wearing grey or blue.

So let us lift our sabers
To pay our last tribute.
To our dear friends and neighbors
We offer this salute.

With heads bowed in submission
For those gone on before.
We play a sad rendition
Of “Near to Thee” once more.

Cap’n release the volley,
As taps rides on the wind.
Our hearts are melancholy
This is our last amen.

We pray that God’s beside us
In honoring our dead.
His loving hands must guide us
And comfort the tears shed.


The volley was written as a tribute to those that have gone before and also to honor those that are willing to carry on the tradition of remembrance. I began realizing the concept of the volley as I watched those individuals attending a dedication of a fallen ancestor that have passed beyond this world into another spectrum over 140 years ago. I witnessed descendents of 5 generations with tears of pride streaming down their cheeks. I saw first hand the honor that each person was receiving from a group of individuals willing to give of their life a few moments to reflect and pay homage. I saw a time of healing that would be carried on whenever a hero of the ages falls, we shall remember. I felt in awe of what I was privy to and felt compelled to honor that moment in prose. I felt it fitting in remembrance of Memorial Day.



updated: 02:58 AM 08/10/2003