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Friends,
It is with great sadness that I pass along the most recent news regarding this years' effort at Raymond, MS.
Following the conclusion of the Fort Blakeley event, I activated my phone and realized that I had received an email from the president for the Friends of Raymond asking me to call her. They are the caretakers and POC for our efforts at Raymond.
I had expected this conversation to be in regards to the march that we were to conduct through town on the Saturday of the event. The mayor of Raymond had recently expressed concern regarding our efforts through town, as it might bring "bad publicity to our town," as she put it. This was in reference to the current situation at Ole Miss University and their attempts to move their Confederate marker. I assured her that none of our participants were going to involve themselves in any form of civil discord with any spectators that showed up to picket our efforts. After a four hour back and forth conversation, we agreed to move the march time to earlier in the morning to limit the amount of time the column spent in downtown Raymond. I felt the matter was resolved.
The conversation I had with the Friends of Raymond on Sunday was completely different. I was told that the board held a meeting last Thursday night and had come to the conclusion that our presence in Raymond would be "too great a risk and a political flash point for bad publicity in the city of Raymond." They told me that their constituents in town had already begun to raise concerns about our presence, even though I am aware that there was no publicity of our effort even up to this past weekend. I was told there was no opportunity to salvage the event in any capacity at this point and that we would be unable to do anything at the Raymond battlefield. Their justification for cancelation stemming from their concerns that our presence, as a Confederate living history, would be too great a risk for the town to take in the "current political climate."
To say I am heartbroken would be an complete understatement. I have spent the better part of 18 months preparing for this event and to host you all at what I considered one of the most pristine and important engagements of the Vicksburg Campaign. To each of you, I am truly sorry. I feel I have let you down and wish there was something more I could do. After talking to several of our event planners, we feel this is the best course of action.
For those that registered for the event, there are several options that I am willing to make available to you.
First, for anyone interested in attending "Missouri, 1861," Andrew J. Kasmar has graciously agreed to wave the cost of registration to that event, granted you will still need to submit the event document and impression images.
Second, if you have interest in joining us for the Vicksburg Preservation March in 2020, we will knock $50 off your fee, and you would only be required to submit a final $75 to cover your fee into the event. This is due to the nature of the event and the amount of rations required to supplement 60 participants.
Third, if you would like your registration dollars to still go towards preservation, we will be submitting those funds to the American Civil War Trust to assist in preservation efforts at Fort Blakeley, Alabama.
Lastly, if you feel you deserve a refund, I will be happy to grant the $25 to you via PayPal.
Please understand this will take me some time (as there are 90 of you who registered up to this date), so I will set a deadline of May 1 for folks to make their decision. Otherwise, all left over funds will be donated to the ACWT.
Thank you all for your support and time with this effort. I truly wish that it would have been successful, but it is completely out of my hands at this point. I feel like I have been punched in the gut. Please take the time to support events like "Warlike on the Rapidan," "Pigs and Tomatoes," and "Missouri, 1861."
-- Sam Galyon
It is with great sadness that I pass along the most recent news regarding this years' effort at Raymond, MS.
Following the conclusion of the Fort Blakeley event, I activated my phone and realized that I had received an email from the president for the Friends of Raymond asking me to call her. They are the caretakers and POC for our efforts at Raymond.
I had expected this conversation to be in regards to the march that we were to conduct through town on the Saturday of the event. The mayor of Raymond had recently expressed concern regarding our efforts through town, as it might bring "bad publicity to our town," as she put it. This was in reference to the current situation at Ole Miss University and their attempts to move their Confederate marker. I assured her that none of our participants were going to involve themselves in any form of civil discord with any spectators that showed up to picket our efforts. After a four hour back and forth conversation, we agreed to move the march time to earlier in the morning to limit the amount of time the column spent in downtown Raymond. I felt the matter was resolved.
The conversation I had with the Friends of Raymond on Sunday was completely different. I was told that the board held a meeting last Thursday night and had come to the conclusion that our presence in Raymond would be "too great a risk and a political flash point for bad publicity in the city of Raymond." They told me that their constituents in town had already begun to raise concerns about our presence, even though I am aware that there was no publicity of our effort even up to this past weekend. I was told there was no opportunity to salvage the event in any capacity at this point and that we would be unable to do anything at the Raymond battlefield. Their justification for cancelation stemming from their concerns that our presence, as a Confederate living history, would be too great a risk for the town to take in the "current political climate."
To say I am heartbroken would be an complete understatement. I have spent the better part of 18 months preparing for this event and to host you all at what I considered one of the most pristine and important engagements of the Vicksburg Campaign. To each of you, I am truly sorry. I feel I have let you down and wish there was something more I could do. After talking to several of our event planners, we feel this is the best course of action.
For those that registered for the event, there are several options that I am willing to make available to you.
First, for anyone interested in attending "Missouri, 1861," Andrew J. Kasmar has graciously agreed to wave the cost of registration to that event, granted you will still need to submit the event document and impression images.
Second, if you have interest in joining us for the Vicksburg Preservation March in 2020, we will knock $50 off your fee, and you would only be required to submit a final $75 to cover your fee into the event. This is due to the nature of the event and the amount of rations required to supplement 60 participants.
Third, if you would like your registration dollars to still go towards preservation, we will be submitting those funds to the American Civil War Trust to assist in preservation efforts at Fort Blakeley, Alabama.
Lastly, if you feel you deserve a refund, I will be happy to grant the $25 to you via PayPal.
Please understand this will take me some time (as there are 90 of you who registered up to this date), so I will set a deadline of May 1 for folks to make their decision. Otherwise, all left over funds will be donated to the ACWT.
Thank you all for your support and time with this effort. I truly wish that it would have been successful, but it is completely out of my hands at this point. I feel like I have been punched in the gut. Please take the time to support events like "Warlike on the Rapidan," "Pigs and Tomatoes," and "Missouri, 1861."
-- Sam Galyon
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