remembering lt. john crawford smith
november 11, 2007
From Left to Right: Compatriots Wagoner (Shaver camp), Reverend Pelkey, Locke( Coffee camp), Bandy (Shaver camp) Lacy, Simmons, Simmons , Lawler and Commander Gary Ayers, behind stone, (Coffee camp)
On November 17th, 2007 a memorial service and headstone dedication was conducted for Lt. John Crawford Smith at Hofea Cemetery located at Knobel , Arkansas. The event was sponsored by the John T. Coffee Camp #1934, Missouri Sons of Confederate Veterans with members of both the Coffee Camp and the Robert G. Shaver Camp #1655 Arkansas Sons of Confederate Veterans, as well as descendents of Lt. Smith, approximately 70 attendees were present in all.
Located near Corning in Clay County , an area of Northeast Arkansas that is best known for its rice fields. A short drive from Knobel, down a county road, Hofea Cemetery sets on a tree lined hill. It is a beautiful resting place for Lt. Smith, made even more beautiful by the new headstone that Compatriot Locke had ordered and set for him.
SCV members posted the 1'st National , 2'cd National and Third National Confederate flags to the left of the headstone. To the right of the stone the Missouri Battle Flag, The Missouri State Guard Flag and the famous "Quantrill" flag were placed.
The ceremony began with the Invocation , which was conducted by Reverend Father Wayne Pelkey.
This was followed by a welcome address to the attendees made by Commander Gary Ayres of the John T. Coffee Camp.
Afterwards, compatriot Mark Locke, a Great Great Grandson of Lt. Smith addressed the attendees and gave a brief history of Lt. Smith's record. Mr. Locke explained that the record of Missouri partisans had been maligned and that they were not thugs or murderers, rather were protecting their families from thugs and murderers who had invaded their state.
This was followed by the reading of a quote from John Newman Edwards book "Noted Guerrillas" by Commander Ayres who read:
"They had passwords that only the initiated understood, and signals which meant everything or nothing. A night bird was a messenger; a day bird a courier.... They knew the names or the numbers of the pursuing regiments from the shoes of their horses, and told the nationality of troops by the manner in which twigs were broken along the line of march. They could see in the night like other beasts of prey, and hunted most when it was darkest. No matter for a road so only there was a trail, and no matter for a trail so only there was a direction. When there was no wind, and when the clouds hid the sun or the stars, they traveled by the moss on the trees. In the day time they looked for this moss with their eyes, in the night time with their hands. Living much in fastnesses, they were rarely surprised, while solitude developed and made more acute every instinct of self-preservation. By degrees a caste began to be established.... Free to come and go; bound by no enlistment and dependent upon no bounty; hunted by one nation and apologized for by the other;... merciful rarely and merciless often; loving liberty in a blind, idolatrous fashion, half reality and half superstition; holding no crime as bad as that of cowardice; courteous to women amid all the wild license of pillage and slaughter; steadfast as faith to comradeship or friend; too serious for boastfulness and too near the unknown to deceive themselves with vanity;...starved to-day and feasted tomorrow; victorious in this combat or decimated in that; receiving no quarter and giving none; astonishing pursuers by the swiftness of a retreat, or shocking humanity by the completeness of a massacre; a sable fringe on the blood-red garments of civil war, or a perpetual cut-throat in ambush in the midst of contending Christians, is it any wonder that in time the Guerrilla organization came to have captains, and leaders, and discipline and a language, and fastnesses, and hiding places, and a terrible banner unknown to the winds?"
This was followed by the Laying of the Wreath by Mrs. Kathy Weston, and the Benediction by Reverend Pelkey.
Afterwards a salute was conducted by Compatriot Bandy of the Shaver Camp with a rifle, along with Compatriot Lacy of the Coffee Camp with a 36 caliber "Navy Colt" revolver.
The ceremony concluded with the "Walk of Remembrance" in which everyone walked past Lt. Smith's headstone, touched it and whispered his name. Many "Thank You's" were heard as the attendees passed in somber silence that was described best by Commander Ayres, who had included the following message on the program:
"Today we are remembering Lt. John C. Smith, with these services and the placing of his headstone. This is long overdue but this does reflect that he is not forgotten."
Related:
John T. Coffee Camp website:
Robert G. Shaver Camp website:
http://members.tripod.com/~arkansas/
