HPAC filed lawsuits against the City of Reidsville, the UDC, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) in April.

The issue began one year ago this Wednesday, when Mark Anthony Vincent of Greensboro drove his company’s vehicle into the monument. The solider on top of the monument was knocked off its pedestal and into Vincent’s van. The solider shattered and his head became embedded in the vehicle. It was later removed and placed in the Reidsville Public Works building for safekeeping.

HPAC spokesperson Ira Tilley explained in April the rationale behind the lawsuits and said, “Unfortunately, you know, the city took the monument down without going through the proper channels, which would have been to contact NCDCR and NCDOT,” Tilley said. “We’re having to bring the NCDCR and DOT into this because they ruled (in a declaratory ruling filed Dec. 7) we have no standing.”

In the same interview in April, Tilley said the UDC was being sued because, “she is maintaining, she meaning Ms. (Aileen) Ezell (President of the state UDC). maintains for some reason she thinks, I know partly why, Mr. (Michael) Pearce (Reidsville’s city manager) told her that they (the UDC) own the monument, but she believes in her heart for some reason that they own all the monuments in North Carolina and they don’t,” Tilley said. “It’s public property, which is why we’re having to include them.”

Having lost Norfolk, Va., in March 1862, Confederates realized the James River was open for a Federal advance on Richmond.

The Confederate army needed to select a position along the river that would command all traffic on the James.

That second-line was a bluff overlooking a sharp bend in the river. The bluff, named after Confederate Capt. Augustus Drewry, was the location of the battle of Drewry’s Bluff on May 16, 1862.

Cpl. John Mackie.

Groans and incoherent mumblings of delirium rose and ebbed as the wagons bumped and swayed along the rutted road. Aid workers gagged and grimaced, assaulted by the stench of blood, vomit and worse.

The horrors were being repeated at the nearby railroad depot as dead and wounded were unloaded there. Charlottesville was being spared from the destruction brought about by the Civil War, but not from its butchery.

The city had become a major medical site for several reasons. It was easily accessible by road and rail, it was relatively near Richmond, and it had a large number of doctors and students at the university’s medical school.

So it was that Charlottesville became a shore on which the ghastly waves of war washed up its wreckage. New convulsions of agony were delivered as nearby battles such as First and Second Bull Run, Cross Keys, Port Republic and Cedar Mountain upped the carnage.

As the Grounds of the university became ever more saturated with blood, its cemetery grew. By war’s end, 1,097 graves held the remains of soldiers, including two Confederate generals — Turner Ashby and Carnot Posey.

What initially had been intended as a temporary burial ground became the UVa Confederate Cemetery. Although few headstones had been put in place, meticulous records had been kept on where each soldier was buried.

In 1866, the Ladies Confederate Memorial Association was founded with the purpose of placing rough woodenmarkers on each grave with the name of the person and his unit on it. The women also collected $1,500, which they used to build a stone wall around the cemetery.

These days, members of Albemarle Chapter 154 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy help watch over the cemetery. At 11 a.m. Saturday, they and Sons of Confederate Veterans will hold a Memorial Day service at the site located on the corners of Alderman and Cemetery roads.

The speaker for the event will be Rob Craighurst. His talk will focus on Charlottesville General Hospital during the Civil War. Re-enactors in period garb also will participate.

Food vendors will be present, and refreshments will be served following the ceremony. The event is free, and visitors are encouraged to bring chairs.

The blood of war long since has dried, and birds of spring now sing above the graves containing soldiers from every state in the Confederacy. In 1890, Mrs. Charles S. Venable, the leader of the memorial association, sent an appeal for funds to all the states having soldiers in the cemetery.

“The United States Government spends great sums in protecting and beautifying the graves of the Federal dead,” Mrs. Venable’s letter begins. “Our dead are as sacred to us, and though we cannot build such beautiful cemeteries or splendid monuments, we can, without great pecuniary sacrifice, at least keep their graves green and rescue their names from oblivion.”

The Intrepid is a centerpiece of the Genesee Country Museum’s 150th anniversary commemoration of the Civil War. It replicates one of the hydrogen-powered balloons troops used to telegraph intelligence that allowed ground forces to train guns on enemies they couldn’t see.

But with its scheduled debut fast approaching, museum officials fear the $400,000 one-of-a-kind project will fall flat.

Helium is in short supply because of the 1996 Helium Privatization Act that called on the government to sell off most of its helium reserves by 2015.

The fliers were placed in and around Sherwood Drive, Linville Drive, Reids School Road and Poplar Street in the city.

Annie P. Pinnix and her husband were among the residents who received the flier.

“I’m a little bothered by it,” Pinnix said.

Pinnix said the flier was found in her and her neighbors’ driveways, rolled up like a newspaper and tied with a yellow rubber band. Reidsville Police Chief Edd Hunt confirmed other residents found the fliers in a similar fashion.

The flier reads, “Join us, the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for a rally and cross lighting, Saturday, May 26, Harmony, North Carolina. Free Admition (sic)-White People Only. No alcohol, drugs, fighting, glass bottles or weapons. Free on site camping-all major motels in area. Souvenirs. Vendors. Food and beverages for Sale. Cross lighting at dusk-a white unity event. Live country band. Security provided by LWK.”

The flier also provided contact information for those wanting to attend the event.

Pinnix’s husband found the flier in their driveway. She said he wasn’t bothered by it, but she said it really makes her wonder what’s going on in Reidsville and if any of her neighbors called the hotline to attend the event.

Pinnix has lived in her neighborhood for at least six years and said it’s the first time she has seen something like this.

Hunt said the police station has received a few phone calls informing them about the fliers, but heard no real concern from residents. The issue has been passed on for the detectives’ division of the police department to look into.

Hunt said he isn’t sure if there is a connection to the KKK protests in Eden on May 8 or if the group passing out fliers has any connection to Reidsville.

The Lexington Police Department confirmed it obtained several calling cards and literature left by the True Invisible Empire Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Police said it was left on mostly public property.

The leader of the Southern Legal Resource Center, Kirk Lyons, confirmed he was among the first to assist Brandon Dorsey and the Sons of Confederate Veterans Stonewall Brigade with researching a lawsuit against the city after it banned flying the Confederate flag on city flagpoles, banning most all flags in fact.

Lyons is listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center‘s Hatewatch page as a white supremacist and so-called Neo-Confederate.

Lyons, whose law firm assists in either researching or defending Confederate flag cases, claims such assertions are non-sense, saying the Southern Poverty Law Center casts him as the Boogeyman in order to raise money.

Frank Ancona, the imperial wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, claimed not to know who left the calling cards in Lexington.  The cards were found during last January’s Lee-Jackson Day rally.

Ancona confirmed the cards were a form of recruitment.

Ancona’s group recently won an important legal round in federal court when the judge blocked a move by the State of Missouri to prevent his group from holding a rally at a historical site.

Dorsey said the Sons of Confederate Veterans Stonewall Brigade in Lexington is offering a $500 reward for information on whomever left the Klan cards on private property in the city.

Ancona said, since it was his group, he would happily collect.

Ancona said the KKK doesn’t hate anybody but does support the separation of the races.

Ancona also denounced Neo-Nazi Bill White, who left Roanoke for residence in Rockbridge County not long after his release from federal prison.

In an letter to the editor of the Rockbridge Advocate, a monthly periodical published in Lexington, White said he was at the last Lee-Jackson Day festivities free-lancing as a journalist.

In the letter, White said he had little in common with the KKK’s belief system, and referred to Dorsey as acting like “white trash.”

Dorsey said if a guy like White didn’t like him, then he’s just fine with that.

Winkler received 182 votes.

During a candidate forum, Winkler told attendees that his Klan ties would not have affected his performance as sheriff.

“Most people don’t know that we don’t just oppose the Jews and the negroes,” Winkler said at the forum. “We also oppose sexual predators and drugs of any kind.”

Beyond its monetary worth, the collection had a sentimental value: The husband, who was also a dealer, spent a lifetime assembling the Confederate currency, Indian Head pennies, a 1934 $1,000 note and other rare finds, police said.

The theft, which occurred around 7:20 p.m on April 14, may have been targeted, according to authorities. The couple had just returned from a Charlottesville coin show to their home in the 3800 block of Stuart Circle.

“Nobody would have known that the stuff was in the car or where it was located,” said Officer Shelley Broderick, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman. “The detective definitely feels they were followed home from the show.”

The items were inside three brown leather briefcases, two document holders and a leather backpack, which were all hidden under a blanket in the rear hatch area of the car, police said.

Detectives believe the items may surface for sale at a future coin show or be offered to collectors.

The couple declined to talk to the media and photos of the missing coins and notes were not available.

“With the volatility of gold and silver, dealers have increasingly become targets for theft,” said Doug Davis, the founder and president of the Numismatic Crime Information Center, which tracks thefts of coins.

The missing items include:

•1929 National Notes in increments of five, 10 and 20 dollars. These notes are from but not limited to: The Peoples National Bank of Leesburg, the 2nd National Bank of Culpeper and Fauquier National Bank.

•There are also additional notes from these selected Virginia locations, Fairfax, Warrenton, Hot Springs, Staunton, Harrisonburg, Waynesburg, Strasburg, Roanoke, Marshall and Charlottesville.

•Numerous Confederate notes in denominations of one, two, five, 10, 50 and 500 dollars stored in a document book with plastic holders.

•1932 Indian Gold piece

•Numerous commemorative half dollars

•One dollar gold pieces

•Confederate Obsolete notes (no other specifics)

•1922 Plain penny

•Numerous U.S. small currency notes (no other specifics)

•1909-S VBD penny

•Book of Confederate notes (no other specifics)

•Box of Indian Head and Lincoln pennies

•Two 1934 $1,000 notes

•1934 $500 note

•1928 $500 note

The landmark law that fueled a Western land rush, helped define the American spirit, and inadvertently triggered the Dust Bowl, turns 150 this month. And across the West, settler cabins that owe their existence to the 1862 Homestead Act still stand testament to their owners’ luck and perseverance …or hardship and failure. Several of these historic homesteads are on national wildlife refuges in Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, where visitors can see them and learn about their owners’ travails.

At some sites, such as the historic Miller Ranch at National Elk Refuge in Wyoming or the Whaley homestead on Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in Montana, visitors may find a complete, stabilized or preserved structure. At others, such as the Anna Flook Homestead at Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in Oregon, they may find a “sagging remnant of log walls,” says Refuge System visitor services specialist Shannon Heath. Regardless, she says, the discoveries will “bring to mind the struggle of pioneer settlers who came to the West in search of freedom and new beginnings on land that demanded backbreaking toil for limited yield.”

Passed by Congress on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act promised 160 Western acres to each settler who agreed to cultivate them for five years. Eligibility was limited to citizens (or prospective citizens) 21 and older who had never fought the government (thus excluding Confederate soldiers and former soldiers). Women and minorities could also claim land – a first.

So great was the demand that the United States handed over 10 percent of its lands – 270 million acres – to private citizens.

But harsh conditions forced many settlers to quit. West of the Mississippi, homesteaders found land with thin soil, unreliable moisture and a short growing season. In some places, over-farming destabilized fragile soils. Some failed or unclaimed land parcels ultimately became national wildlife refuges that now conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat.

Here are some historic homesteads you can visit in the National Wildlife Refuge System:

MONTANA: 
Whaley Homestead, Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge. A sign out front identifies the 1885 farmhouse of retired Indian Agent Peter Whaley and his wife Hannah. Thehouse, now on the National Register of Historic Places, is made of logs covered in clapboard. Period farm implements are scattered nearby, as if their operators just took a break. “If you close your eyes, you can envision how those people lived 150 years ago,” says refuge outdoor recreation planner Bob Danley. “It’s pretty incredible.” The house is closed but visitors can approach it.
Shambow Homestead, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge: On land claimed by homesteaders Levi and Mary Jane Shambow, Levi and his son William built an unusual house of vertical log walls, now covered in asphalt siding. Levi, a Union veteran of the Civil War, operated a nearby stage stop en route to Yellowstone National Park. The house is normally closed, but ask at the visitor center or email manager Bill West (Bill_West@fws.gov), and someone may open it for you.

NEVADA: 
Last Chance Ranch, Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge: George B. Hapgood regarded this 19th-century homestead, which he built near a high desert spring, as his last chance to raise livestock. To the original wood plank walls he later added a stone addition. The refuge rehabilitated the ranch house exterior in 2000 and 2001. Visitors can drive to the ranch and enter it; the interior is unfinished and unfurnished.

OREGON: 
Anna Flook Homestead, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge:  Women could be homesteaders, too. Kansas housekeeper Anna Flook built a log cabin, then a schoolhouse on this plot with a creek in central Oregon’s high desert. Land records refer to her as Mrs. Anna Flook but contain no mention of a Mr. Flook. Stop by the refuge office for directions to walk to the house. The refuge plans to seek funds to stabilize and interpret the structure.

WASHINGTON: 
Whitcomb-Cole Cabin, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge:  The homestead cabin, restored about 10 years ago, is open to the public. It is located near refuge headquarters.
Hartnett Homestead, Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge: Visitors can walk around and inside the stabilized Charles Harnett barn, located close to the refuge headquarters in scenic Bear Creek Valley. The refuge plans to install an interpretive panel and make the property a stop on a refuge driving tour. It is also seeking funds to complete restoration work.

WYOMING: 
Miller Ranch, National Elk Refuge:  Each year from about Memorial Day to Labor Day, visitors can enter three rooms of the 19th-century ranch of Grace and Robert Miller, restored with period furnishings. Check exact dates here. A fourth room is a bookstore. When, in the early 20th century, growth of nearby Jackson disrupted elk migration and elk began starving, Robert Miller helped bring the issue to public attention and push for winter feeding of the animals.